Chapter 35

– Does it make sense that at that age, they receive all the privileges with taxes and live happily like ordinary people? If they received that much privilege, they should make sacrifices. Lee Ayoung only works for a few hours after school, and all the life allowances are added there. She doesn't even come on time for school events and such. But she still receives money far exceeding the annual salary of ordinary people, and even builds recognition. This is absurdity and discrimination. If she didn't have the ability, she would have been nothing.

The conclusion meant that it was irksome that Ayoung was not only active as a 1st-grade hunter but also had good grades. The director of the Reconnaissance Bureau was silently looking inside the window, but his expression showed that he had made up his mind.

He at least had respect for the Operations Bureau, who risked their lives and jumped in front of rifts and mutants. He was also called an agent during the 1st and 2nd Great Rift incidents, and although he didn't go to the field afterward, the memories from that time were vivid.

Moreover, the affection that Lee Ayoung, currently the youngest hunter at the headquarters, received from other hunters in the Operations Bureau could not be ignored. In the first place, it was embarrassing for anyone to hear that an adult over thirty harbored resentment against a nineteen-year-old student for absurd reasons.

After hearing all the circumstances, he took a step back. However, that was regarding the rescue of Kim Jae-hyeok, not the mitigation of punishment for Soram, who used his 1st-grade ability and caused a commotion in the headquarters building.

Next to the director of the Reconnaissance Bureau, who was watching the statement process, sat the director of the Operations Bureau. Park Jae-seon was only looking beyond the glass without saying much.

Inside, for the sake of fairness, a person dispatched from a department unrelated to hunters was listening to the circumstances. However, his expression also gradually became one of "What is wrong with this bastard...?"

– Are you saying that you admit to deliberately lying to the school that a large-scale rift had occurred, even though you knew it was an important day for Hunter Lee Ayoung?

– It was a mistake. A work-related mistake. I'm sure I'm not the only one who makes dispatch mistakes in the Reconnaissance Bureau.

– The opinions of other Reconnaissance Bureau members are different. They said that you showed an attitude of hostility from the moment Chief Jin Soram entered and seemed to have an inferiority complex towards the hunters of the Operations Bureau... Hmm...

– Who says that? That's ridiculous. No, I know who it is. It's you, right?

Inside the statement room, along with the HR team member asking the questions, there was one person each from the Operations Bureau and the Reconnaissance Bureau. The person who came from the Reconnaissance Bureau was Yoon Chang-hyeon. When Kim Jae-hyeok pointed at him, he frowned and came to the side of the HR team leader.

– Yeah. I said it. Honestly, your attitude that morning wasn't normal. Why do you treat people so crookedly in a relationship where we work together, even if our bureaus are different? I wasn't the only one who saw that, so I wrote it down. And speak properly. When a dispatch mistake like that happens, other people usually call right away to apologize and solve the problem. You just left it to ruin Lee Ayoung's exam.

Oh, the director of the Reconnaissance Bureau heard that and nodded his head, agreeing.

"It was because that one bastard was acting strange. There's nothing wrong with the others."

"..."

Director Park Jae-seon continued to watch the screen silently.

– Do you have evidence? Evidence that I did it on purpose.

– ...

– You don't have evidence! Senior Yoon, no, I don't need to call you that anymore. Yoon Chang-hyeon ssi. Do you want to survive by sucking up to the thugs of the Operations Bureau like that?

Kim Jae-hyeok's snickering voice was heard. It was the dissatisfaction poured out to the one who acted like a superior despite being a 5th-grade.

– What?

– Ah, but if you get hit for complaining like me, a 5th-grade can't endure it. Then you have to live by dangling along. You don't know how many messages I received saying it was refreshing, cool, and asking if I'm going to the Operations Bureau since I stood up to a 1st-grade, right?

He lifted his head confidently.

– In the first place, it was strange that a high school kid who can't see ahead and a bastard with a broken personality were 1st-grades. I heard that if I sue and make them lose their qualifications, I might be able to take over Team 7 if I'm lucky.

– ... Ha.

"He's out of his mind."

Finally, Director Park Jae-seon opened his mouth. If he knew how much he cherished the hunters of the Operations Bureau, who risked their lives in front of rifts and became targets of criticism in front of the public, such words could not have come out. Now that he had touched Soram and Ayoung, there was no way the Operations Bureau would ever give him a position.

The director of the Reconnaissance Bureau, who had been trying to maintain a solemn face, checked the person next to him and held his throbbing temples.

"... Is he boasting about that?"

"Besides that, I've heard several stories about him playing around with dispatch to our kids. I adjusted Chief Jin Soram's punishment as you wanted, so I'll personally check on your side."

"I got it, I said I got it."

Director Park Jae-seon also knew. The reason Soram had escalated the situation this much was a signal to turn things around. Soram was already paying the price to the point of overflowing, so the director also intended to make sure that such a thing would never happen to the members of the Operations Bureau again.

This time, it was only to the extent of ruining Ayoung's exam due to petty inferiority, but for the Operations Bureau, dispatch was a matter of life and death. If even a speck of playing around was mixed in there, he would never let it slide.

The director of the Reconnaissance Bureau finally swallowed his words after seeing Director Park Jae-seon's sharp face. The incident that day was also too loud to just gloss over. It seemed that the commotion had reached the ears of not only other hunters in the Operations Bureau but also the higher-ups to some extent. It was true that he had to resolve it in the best possible direction.

Especially if Park Jae-seon was this angry, it meant that a sore spot had been touched. That pathetic bastard, he just had to touch something related to dispatch. The director of the Reconnaissance Bureau clicked his tongue. However, Kim Jae-hyeok inside didn't seem to know his feelings.

– Yeah. Damn, shit, they're going crazy just because I made a little mistake.

– ...

The HR team leader frowned. Honestly, the justification was ambiguous. Personally, it was natural to feel resentful, but the actual disciplinary action could be at most a salary reduction.

Behind the frowning face was Yoon Chang-hyeon with his two fists clenched. Chang-hyeon, who had tried to say a word and back off for the sake of his former superior and the position of the Reconnaissance Bureau, turned red-faced at the insult poured at him.

And what? You endured against a 1st-grade? He walked up to him in big strides before the HR team could stop him.

– Hey, you stupid bastard. You haven't seen the training video of Chief Jin Soram, have you?

If he had seen him lifting an airplane, such nonsense could not have come out.

– Do you not realize that it wasn't you holding up against a 1st-grade, but rather that Jin Soram barely used his strength? That level of self-awareness is almost pathological. It's problematic to judge people by their grades in the first place, but if you're going to compare, you should consider all aspects, not just pick what suits you. Is it special treatment when someone of a higher grade than you is treated well, but unfair when you are looked down upon by me, a fifth grade? Don't ever say that you were under me. It's embarrassing. Realize that you getting beaten up was justice for your own folly!

– Ah, Senior Yoon Chang-hyeon. Calm down.

The HR team leader calmed him down. As the situation subsided, he sighed after flipping through the documents.

– By the way, Hunter Kim Jae-hyeok. I hope you put aside the premature worry that you might go to the Operations Bureau. In the first place, your combat skills are lacking, and well. Senior Yoon is right about the comparison of skills with a 1st-grade. Eating Team 7... That will never happen either.

The HR team leader, who was also annoyed by his confident and boastful appearance, finally added his words. Yoon Chang-hyeon's face bloomed even more refreshingly. On the other hand, Kim Jae-hyeok's face twitched. The thing that most strongly pushes the anger button of a person with an inferiority complex is the words "Who are you?"

However, Kim Jae-hyeok couldn't do anything because of the man standing next to Yoon Chang-hyeon, behind the HR team leader. In the end, the interrogation ended with him clenching his two hands tightly and trembling.

The man standing on one side of the room looked at him expressionlessly until the end. The representative from the Operations Bureau was Han Tae-un.

* * *

The disciplinary action against Kim Jae-hyeok was not decided immediately. The atmosphere in the Reconnaissance Bureau was chaotic all day. When the person in question returned to the office, the fallen desks were set up, but the scattered monitors and stationery remained the same.

Due to the interrogation continuing until late in the evening, all the office personnel had left work. So an uncomfortable situation arose where only Kim Jae-hyeok, who had been interrogated, and Yoon Chang-hyeon, who had been present, were preparing to go home together.

Kim Jae-hyeok left his messy seat as it was and only took his bag and left the office. As soon as he left, there was a loud bang! Startled, Yoon Chang-hyeon turned around and saw him walking away with heavy footsteps and the entrance door with a footprint on it.

"Ha, what a pathetic bastard."

His hand, which had been picking up his bag, also became irritated. Still, the moment he glanced at the seat next to him, he felt a bit of sympathy.

The Reconnaissance Bureau, which has far more personnel than the Operations Bureau, has a relatively conservative organizational structure. Kim Jae-hyeok won't be fired because of this incident, but no one would be unaware that the string to move up had completely fallen off due to the commotion that occurred today.

Moreover, it was against a student, Lee Ayoung, so there were quite a few people who looked at him with cold eyes even within the same Reconnaissance Bureau. There would also be people who would avoid him, conscious of their gazes.

"Tsk."

Yoon Chang-hyeon went to Kim Jae-hyeok's seat, set up the monitor, and picked up the stationery scattered on the floor and put it on the desk. After that, he also pushed in the chair that had been askew and left the office. Ethical issues aside, as someone who had worked in the same office and could predict his situation in the future, he couldn't help but feel worried and uncomfortable.

At this rate, as soon as his former senior who went on maternity leave returns, that bastard might slowly be pushed out during personnel transfers and end up in a remote branch office, or if he's lucky, a dead-end position in charge of rifts in the middle of nowhere. It was essentially a recommendation to resign, which a company that couldn't openly fire someone would do.

Sighing deeply, he punched his access card on the 1st floor and came out. He thought the rain had stopped and the sky had completely cleared, but there was still a gloomy atmosphere lingering. It might be because of his mood.

The moment he set foot at the bottom of the stairs, he noticed Kim Jae-hyeok standing where the building bent. Did he wait for him? Still, did he have the will to reconcile? The expectation he had harbored was completely shattered by his next words.

"Hey. Come here."

"... You're really out of your mind."

"There's something I was trying to say earlier."

"What is it that you couldn't even say in front of a 1st-grade and can barely say when it's just in front of me, a 5th-grade? You're a bastard drenched in inferiority complex."