Chapter 305

Chapter 305

‘...Um. He’s also a constellation...’ thought Lee Changsik as he tried to wrap his head around it.

“Welcome. I was expecting you.”

The chairman of Hwangryong High School came to greet the group personally. He couldn’t sit still when he heard that people from Hanseong Group were coming.

The school was meant to train hunters, but in the end, what mattered the most was how much investment they received. Thus, top investment groups like Hanseong Group were valuable guests that the school couldn’t afford to neglect.

“How much did Hanseong Group pay?”

“I think it was the biggest or the second biggest investment...?”

“...!”

Hearing that, Choi Yeonseung understood why the chairman bowed at a 90-degree angle.

“Okay, let’s go inside.”

The chairman wondered, “By the way, are you perhaps new?” He had been in contact with a lot of hunters, so he could instinctively feel that these weren’t the usual people from Hanseong Group.

‘They’re not ordinary people.’

“Indeed.”

Han Seha lowered her mask, and the chairman was stunned to see the familiar face.

“Hunter Han Seha!”

“This isn’t the only surprise.”

The other two people next to her also revealed their faces, causing the chairman to almost faint.

“W-Why are these shabby people in such a precious place...?”

“Didn’t you mean to say the opposite?”

The chairman picked up a cup with trembling hands. He didn’t even seem to notice that he had mixed up his words.

“I see...! I understand!”

“?”

“Are you here because of Go Cheonsik? Is his potential that great?”

“Uh, no. That’s not it.”

“!?”

What had they come here for if not for Go Cheonsik?

“Ah, right. Go Cheonsik is currently on drugs. Make sure to look into him carefully and quietly. Who knows what he might do?”

“Huh?!”

“I want to recruit a certain hunter using the nomination right of Hanseong Group...”

Before Choi Yeonseung could finish speaking, he was interrupted by someone knocking at the door and then entering the chairman’s office.

“This is rather unpleasant, Chairman. I’m not one to be petty about the order, but how much did Namhyeong Group invest in you? Why should I take the backseat?”

Nam Hakgi ignored Choi Yeonseung and the others and only looked at the chairman. Even though this seemed petty, it was within his right. It was only fair that the one who had invested the most should have priority when it came to discussing and recruiting a prospective hunter.

That was how capitalism worked.

Despite all that, he had found out that someone else had a meeting with the chairman before him. He couldn’t accept something like that.

“Actually, Hanseong Group doubled your investment amount,” explained the chairman. Initially, Namhyeong Group had been the top investor, but then Han Seha had invested her own money before coming to the high school.

-This is enough to be first, right?I’m bringing a guest with me, so if you embarrass me, Hwangryong High School is done for.Get the right amount of money!

-U-Understood!

“...”

Nam Hakgi looked very embarrassed. Who could’ve predicted this?

Namhyeong Group had invested quite a lot, so he had never expected that someone would double their sum in such a short amount of time!

‘Why did Hanseong Group double it? Is Go Cheonsik that valuable?’

“...No?!”

He only realized what was going on when he saw Han Seha sneer at him.

‘Hunter Han Seha...!’

She had doubled the investment to humiliate him. Han Seha was an A-grade hunter with tons of money, so she had the means to do something like that. She was so eccentric that she couldn’t even be considered an A-grade hunter. She only cared about herself!

“That’s so pathetic. You wasted your money like that just to keep me in check.”

“...What the hell are you saying, you asshole?! This has nothing to do with you!”

“Sure thing. You expect me to believe that?”

“You... Do you want there to be a post all over social media about the successor of Namhyeong Group bungee jumping naked from the rooftop of Hwangryong High School?!” growled Han Seha, threatening him as though she were about to kill him.

She really said that...?

In any case, the prospective hunters who had grown up with excessive expectations never wanted to do hard work. Choi Yeonseung didn’t mean to criticize those kinds of hunters, but they weren’t what he and Lee Changsik were looking for.

What they both wanted was a hunter who was hungry for strength like the clan members they were used to!

In any case, it was more difficult to find talents than they had expected.

“Anyway, you can look forward to the next place,” said Lee Changsik confidently.

They were going to a stadium.

Schools that specialized in hunters didn’t train the students quietly. They consistently sent them to competitions in order to gain results, train them, and advertise them to the outside world.

The Iron-Blooded National High School Hunter Competition was one of those competitions. Countless young hopefuls competed fiercely in this competition for an entire day! Because of that, the general public was highly interested in this competition, and many scouts gathered here.

“By the way, why is the name ‘Iron-Blooded’? Shouldn’t it be something like ‘the presidential’ or ‘national competition’?”

“...Ah, you think so?”

Lee Changsik ducked the question, but Han Seha went out of her way to reply, “It was probably named after the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor.”

“Oh.”

“...!”

Lee Changsik cast a resentful look at Han Seha, but she wasn’t the type of person to care about things like that.

***

“Shit...”

Yang Haifeng, a Chinese hunter of the Shaolin Temple clan, let out a disgruntled sound. Those that had come with Yang Haifeng realized he was in a bad mood and avoided looking at him.

“No matter how unreasonable the party is, they should say something that at least makes some sense. If you were Korean, would you come to China? The party would take everything away from them and then throw them away!”

“...”

“...”

There was a reason why Yang Haifeng was stressed out. They had received an order from the Chinese Communist Party.

-Go to South Korea and scout for prospective hunters.

...If the party acted, then the clans below them had to act as well.

Yang Haifeng worked as a scout within the clan and had no choice but to follow the order. The problem was that the task was virtually impossible.

Twenty or thirty years prior, he might’ve been able to lure people with things like “It’s a land of opportunity! Come to China! It’s a vast land that welcomes you!” In fact, many Korean hunters went to China during that time, as the Chinese would lure them with huge rewards and promises of good treatment. However, the results weren’t exactly good.

Whenever the hunters risked their lives in a raid, the Chinese government would use all sorts of excuses to reduce the compensation. Moreover, they would also postpone the promised rewards by sharing it in small portions, and if there was a dangerous area, they would send the hunters first.

Evidently, rumors had spread to South Korea, deterring hunters from going to China. They preferred other countries.

“We need to manage our image. Why don’t the party executives use their brains like I do?”

“A-aren’t you looking forward to this competition?”

This year’s Iron-Blooded Competition didn’t only feature Korean hunters. Prospective hunters from China had also been invited to participate.

They were still young, but they were talented and extremely popular! If they managed to secure a win, it was obvious that the Chinese media would talk about it for a long time.

-As expected, small countries can’t beat a big country...

-The power of the Chinese...

“I’m looking forward to it, but if I can’t get the job done, they’ll rip into me. How can I focus on the competition?”

“Where is Gu Guowu?”

His subordinate changed the topic. He realized that continuing to talk about the competition would only cause Yang Haifeng to swear at him.

“I don’t know. He stayed in his room the whole time, and I honestly don't care. All the better if he doesn’t come out!”

Gu Guowu was the party official supposed to deliver a congratulatory speech as a guest invited to this competition. However, he hadn’t yet left his room, which bothered Yang Haifeng. He should’ve come out to talk to them or give them some kind of help...

“T-the competition is starting.”

“Yes. Let’s watch the competition. We better win.”

Yang Haifeng sighed as he looked away from his subordinate. He could see the young hunters enter the large stadium and greet each other. He was honestly not that interested in the competition itself. He only wanted their hunters to win in order to avoid trouble.

‘Well, we’ll win as long as nothing weird happens.’

The Korean hopefuls might think of this as just a competition, but China’s team had gone through a grueling training session before arriving at the stadium. They were ten times more prepared.

No one could beat them unless something out of the ordinary happened.

“Why are there other people in the VIP seats? Don’t you know that I’ve paid a lot of money for these seats?”

“I-I’m sorry. It was supposed to be a private seat, but an unexpected VIP came...”

“???”

Hearing that, Yang Haifeng turned his head.

What was this ominous feeling?