Vol 7 Chapter 4

"Mr. Lee is keeping a good eye on things too."

"Dave is always like a ball that could bounce anywhere."

Though grumbling, the man's face didn't look entirely displeased.

"But when are you planning to tell Dave everything?"

Yoon Seok-ho smiled somewhat awkwardly.

"With him... it's not easy to tell."

"You mean you'd rather he didn't know the truth."

The man delivered a sharp rebuke. Yoon Seok-ho didn't answer that.

"I'll have to this time."

"I hope those words are sincere."

"..."

The man who had been watching Yoon Seok-ho's slightly stiffened expression deliberately turned his gaze away and changed the direction of the conversation.

"Ah. So I heard Dave, you, me, and Myung-jin are going to Korea early on business trips... is that right?"

"Yes. He's still here."

"It'll be the first time everyone's gathered since then. And in Korea at that."

"Faster than expected. I'm grateful for that."

The man flashed a smile at the utterly calm words from someone who must know the current situation better than anyone.

"...Yes. Just as you wanted."

"Haha. Though I wanted it, things going this well must be thanks to you handling things well on your end."

"Right. It's all my karma. An audit inspection team, already feeling troublesome."

"Do you regret it?"

The man was silent for a moment at that question. Eventually, a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"If I did, would I be having this conversation with you now? ...How about you?"

Yoon Seok-ho shook his head with a peaceful expression.

"I've never even thought about regret. I would have acted exactly the same if I went back."

"Yes. You would have."

A heavy silence fell between the two men. After a while, the man changed the subject.

"How's the ReL Capsule Project these days? Going well without problems?"

"There haven't been any particular issues so far. Let's hope it stays that way."

"Seems you managed customer service well like I told you before."

The man nodded while muttering, then suddenly looked elsewhere and stood up.

"Oh my. Seeing my set alarm going off, time must be up. If I stay here too long, those guys who finally stopped paying attention to me might notice and come after me, so I should go now."

"Please do."

"Make sure you eat while working."

The man who casually waved his hand at Yoon Seok-ho ended his connection by leaving the room in the port line. Yoon Seok-ho also took off his goggles while saying "End connection." Now what appeared before his eyes was his familiar office.

After staring into the distance for a moment, Yoon Seok-ho turned his gaze to a small list floating in the air in front of him. It was the previous call list he had set to automatically appear after ending calls.

Though the afternoon had barely begun, he could see through it that countless people had called or received calls from him. While scanning through them with an indifferent gaze, Yoon Seok-ho smirked looking at the registered number HR02(L-10) located at the very top of the list.

"Hmm. As expected, my thoughts weren't wrong."

"What thoughts?"

The owner of the brusque voice that came from in front of him was Nam Mugeon, whom he had instructed beforehand to come up while he was on the call.

"Ah. You're here already?"

"Already? I rushed here in the middle of busy work only to find you in a virtual port..."

Yoon Seok-ho smiled brightly at Nam Mugeon who was grumbling with an aggrieved expression.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize how desperately you wanted to see me."

Nam Mugeon immediately shut his mouth with a nauseated expression at hearing the profound voice.

"S-so what were you saying wasn't wrong..."

"Ah. That."

Fortunately, Yoon Seok-ho's attention shifted to the topic Nam Mugeon had desperately changed to.

"I just confirmed the rule that criminals tend to stay close to their targets."

"...What?"

Nam Mugeon questioned back with a blank face at the sudden statement.

"Have you been... reading detective novels lately?"

"Haha. No, I'm playing a detective mystery game. It's quite difficult."

This is... after bothering him every day with all sorts of tasks, he himself had been playing games? Though unable to protest openly, Nam Mugeon's thoughts of grinding his teeth in anger seemed vividly clear to Yoon Seok-ho.

Though he liked that very aspect of taking everything at face value, he really was adorably simple. Yoon Seok-ho moved on to the main topic for which he had called Nam Mugeon while smiling.

"About Kwon Cheon-woo who you pointed out as a spy candidate before. The investigation into his previous career yielded some interesting results that I thought you should hear. That's why I called you."

Nam Mugeon's expression changed instantly. Satisfied with the suddenly chilled atmosphere, Yoon Seok-ho began to continue speaking.

Ilumine greeted Superior calmly, showing no surprise at him bursting out through Kapros's mouth.

"It's been a while."

"Seems you already knew I would come?"

"Yes."

Superior let out a laugh at the plain answer. It felt quite strange listening to his own laughter while not really wanting to laugh.

"Can you read even such things through the heavens? Amazing, as expected."

"No. The heavens don't tell me such things."

"Then how?"

When Superior questioned back, Ilumine looked at Superior's staff at Kapros's waist with a strange smile. In fact, Ilumine's gaze had been fixed there the entire time while conversing with Superior. As if properly knowing that she was talking with Superior, not Kapros.

"Great human mage who was said to have transcended racial limits. I have waited for you here for a long time. Continuously without missing a single moment since you asked me to do so."

Superior had asked Ilumine to wait here?

"I did? To you?"