Retire 538
by Cristae538 (Hunter Academy Side Story 5) A New Face_2
“Master. They’re asking for some documents from the US.”
“Documents? What documents now? Haven’t we already sent enough?!”
A voice thick with irritation echoed through the director’s office.
“That’s all finished, this time it’s about Mr. Daniel.”
“What about him now?”
“Honestly?”
Despite her superior’s raised voice, the subordinate’s explanation was delivered with an infuriating calm. Lee Mi-seon, chin propped on her hand, glared at her subordinate, Choi Dae-hyun, as he spoke, then buried her face in both hands.
They all knew they were in this together, and she wasn’t mean enough to take it out on others. The Hunters of Daseon, who had known Lee Mi-seon for a long time, had nerves of steel that didn’t flinch at the usual chaos.
“It looks like they’re taking out their frustrations over us poaching Mr. Daniel.”
…Not that it changed the fact that she was suffering because of trouble that had started elsewhere.
“That guy’s résumé is impressive. Once you know his real name, it’s not hard to find him…”
“Healers who can fight are rare.”
Others chimed in quietly.
“I’d heard rumors before, but I never realized it was about Mr. Daniel.”
“But his name isn’t really Daniel, is it, senior? Why do you still call him Daniel?”
“Well, he just… looks like a Daniel, doesn’t he?”
“What does that even mean?”
The conversation veered off in a strange direction.
Lee Mi-seon, still clutching her head, groaned. No one paid much attention—this sort of thing happened all the time. The dignity of a guild master seemed to be slipping away, but when she looked at the pile of work, she found she didn’t care anymore.
“Master, I’ve sent the email.”
“…Why are we taking the heat for bringing Daniel here when it was Woo Hee-jae who recruited him?”
“Who knows.”
Choi Dae-hyun gave a genial, clueless smile.
“Maybe because you’re the director of the Academy?”
“What does that have to do with anything!”
“Mr. Daniel is registered as a teacher at the Academy, after all.”
Choi Dae-hyun pointed this out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Of course, Lee Mi-seon was well aware of it.
But knowing didn’t change reality.
“At private schools like ours, the director is usually heavily involved in hiring teachers.”
“……”
“This all goes back to when you told Hunter Hong you’d handle all the annoying work.”
“So this is my own fault, is it?”
“That’s one way to look at it, at least from your perspective, Master.”
“……”
Lee Mi-seon quietly checked her email. At least, since she’d left her previous job of her own accord, the other side wasn’t being unreasonable. It was a bit of a hassle, but it was work she’d have to deal with eventually.
She still didn’t know what they’d used to lure such a talent to Korea.
If you asked Daniel himself, he’d just look puzzled and say, “I think I might have been scammed.” Hong Seok-young, whenever the topic came up, would laugh so hard he couldn’t breathe. Han Tae-kyung would retort, “You think I’d get involved in something that complicated?” and Kim Chae-min, who had been busy at the time, would just smile shamelessly and say he’d only heard about it later.
And Woo Hee-jae?
“That’s a trade secret.”
“……”
“But really, Daseon and our guild are practically bound by fate, aren’t they?”
Woo Hee-jae would say this with a suspiciously perfect smile.
“Honestly, once the kids graduate, there won’t be many students left. Mr. Daniel won’t have much to do. He may be registered as a teacher, but he’s still a guild member, and Daseon and Mimi have a close working relationship.”
“…So?”
“I’ll lend him to you. You won’t regret it.”
She’d been tempted by those words and missed her chance to protest!
In truth, the former intelligence officer from America was so competent that even Lee Mi-seon had tried to recruit him. It stung not to have brought him to Daseon, but being able to make full use of his abilities without attracting the wrong kind of attention from the Association wasn’t a bad deal.
This… this cleanup, well. If it had to be done, it was better to get it over with quickly.
Work to do… always more work…
“Ah. Wait a moment, Master. I think we have to handle this before the Daniel matter.”
Just as Lee Mi-seon was trying to calm her breathing, an ominous report reached her ears.
“…What is it this time?”
Ji Yu-geon answered with a face that was hard to tell if he was laughing or crying.
“It’s Alex Hope.”
“So, are we really going to keep this year’s first-year class as it is?”
The new semester had started, but the school was quiet.
There had always been fewer students than the size of the school would suggest. Still, you could always hear the kids’ voices around campus.
Even then, people had worried that the school was too quiet, but looking back, that had been a good problem to have.
Now, the cafeteria and dining hall staff, who used to be busy feeding perpetually hungry teenagers, wandered around listlessly, as did Ji Yu-geon. With the way he was acting, you’d wonder if he’d forgotten he was a Hunter.
Lee Mi-seon shot a sidelong glare at Ji Yu-geon as he brought her coffee, then turned her attention to Woo Hee-jae.
“There’s no risk of the school closing for lack of students, but… it’s not ideal either.”
“I know.”
Woo Hee-jae frowned.
“There are plenty of mages who want to enroll. Teacher Kim says he keeps getting inquiries.”
“We’re not accepting any mages for the time being.”
“Why not?”
There were reasons she could guess. Park Seo-hyun and Choi Jin-woo both had unusual backgrounds even among mages. It was rare to find a young mage who hadn’t been influenced by other mages.
If a mage belonged to a family, there was no way to avoid that family’s influence. If you wanted to minimize outside interference, it was best to avoid it if possible.
But—
“I want to avoid interference from mages too. But with Teacher Kim here, shouldn’t it be all right?”
It was also true that it was hard to fill the numbers from elsewhere.
“I’m not saying we should accept everyone, but what about just two or three, just to fill out the class?”
Woo Hee-jae pursed his lips in obvious dissatisfaction.
“If we take mages from other continents, not Asia, it’ll be harder for their families to interfere.”
“……”
“Don’t you think having just one first-year is a bit much?”
But Woo Hee-jae shook his head stubbornly.
“This school is for training Hunters.”
“Yes.”
“I have no intention of training mages.”
“…But mages are usually considered Hunters too, aren’t they?”
“If the proportion of mages gets too high, that’s not good. At minimum, it should match the ratio among graduates.”
Even if she was the director, the school was run by Guild Mimi. If Woo Hee-jae refused, Lee Mi-seon had no intention of pushing it.
She’d only brought it up because she wore the director’s badge. After all this investment, it would be a problem to have to close the school after just two or three years.
Lee Mi-seon looked at Woo Hee-jae. The dissatisfaction faded from his face, replaced by his usual calm. There seemed to be another reason, but the one he’d given was enough, so she didn’t ask further.
“So, you’re really going to keep the first-year class at just one student?”
“No… I’m still talking with Miss Funes. And also…”
“And also?”
Woo Hee-jae hesitated. More precisely, he watched Lee Mi-seon’s reaction.
Lee Mi-seon’s face twisted in annoyance.
“Spit it out.”
“What?”
“You’re about to dump another troublesome job on me, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean, troublesome?”
“Isn’t Daniel enough for you?!”
“I said I’d lend him to you. You snatched him up, so what are you complaining about?”
Woo Hee-jae snorted. But the fact that he didn’t deny Lee Mi-seon’s accusation…
Lee Mi-seon narrowed her eyes.
“There’s not much this Hunter can do for you.”
“So there is something.”
“Dr. Gamble has almost finished sorting things out. We do have some decency.”
Dr. Sandra Gamble’s name here?
Lee Mi-seon’s eyes widened in surprise. If she had to name the most coveted talent in Guild Mimi, it wasn’t Hong Seok-young or Kim Chae-min, but Sandra Gamble. No matter how many Hong Seok-youngs you had, you couldn’t match her talent. In fact, her brilliance was even more pronounced because her field was different. And, unlike the others, she wasn’t hard to work with.
Just look at how she wandered the school like a zombie, exhausted every day.
“Sandra? I doubt the doctor would know any fledgling Hunters…”
“Of course not. But she does know kids who might need a school.”
The choice of words was deliberate. Not kids who would enroll, but kids who might need a school.
And Sandra Gamble.
Lee Mi-seon quickly made the connection.
“…The kids from the Ark who were sent to America?”
“The experiments those kids underwent.”
“……”
“We didn’t uncover everything about the lab, but we know enough to see the experiments themselves were strange.”
“Well…”
Lee Mi-seon didn’t deny it.
“It was hard to guess the purpose. We assume it was due to internal conflict at the lab.”
“But the experiments existed, and from the evidence and Tae-woo’s testimony, it’s clear that artificial awakening was the main focus.”
“…Do you think Tae-woo’s awakening was a result of those experiments?”
“I don’t know.”
Woo Hee-jae shrugged. This time, Lee Mi-seon hesitated, watching him, then asked,
“What about I-rok?”
“I don’t know. Awakening is said to be heavily influenced by genetics, but even I… Well, I’m not sure if my own awakening was natural.”
“……”
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens with So-hee. But Dr. Gamble and Hope have rechecked the orphanage kids they protected.”
“When I checked, none of the kids had awakened.”
“What you checked was just whether the kids were doing well.”
“……”
“I’m not saying you did anything wrong… There was so much going on afterward, it would have been hard for you to keep track of them yourself.”
Woo Hee-jae continued calmly.
He would probably accomplish what he’d planned, with or without help. Lee Mi-seon saw it in his eyes and realized it.
Forget the complicated paperwork and cleanup—this was something Woo Hee-jae could not compromise on. It was that kind of matter.
“Two.”
“……”
“They awakened over the winter.”
“…Two?”
“I’ll check with the kids first, of course.”
While searching for Woo I-rok, Lee Mi-seon had seen many children from the lab scattered in orphanages. There were kids like Kang Tae-woo and Woo I-rok, who had come from the lab, and others who had been abducted.
The ones who could return home were all right. The ones who had never known what a home was…
Her mouth tasted bitter.
“…Are they old enough to enroll?”
“One is. The other is a year younger, but it should be fine.”
“Are you going to go yourself?”
“No. After such a long US trip, I won’t be going anywhere for a while. I can’t leave I-rok alone, either.”
Lee Mi-seon looked surprised; she’d assumed, since he’d come to her directly, that he’d go himself.
“There’s someone more suited than me.”
“…You’re not saying you’ll send Hunter Hong, are you?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Sandra?”
“She’s not exactly the most sociable…”
That didn’t leave many options.
“Don’t tell me you want me to go?”
“I wouldn’t ask someone as busy as you. I do have some sense of shame.”
“I thought you didn’t.”
“That’s a bit harsh.”
It wasn’t a joke at all, but she let it slide.
But Woo Hee-jae’s next words, she wished were a joke.
“There’s someone already in America, isn’t there?”
“…Hope?”
“Yes.”
Woo Hee-jae spoke in a perfectly calm voice, undisturbed by Lee Mi-seon’s shock.
“He already knows the kids.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Yes.”
“You’d trust him with the kids?”
“We can’t keep them at the school.”
“……”
“Kang Tae-woo is still attending school.”
“……!”
“You said yourself you’re short on people, right? He’s surprisingly useful. I’ll lend him to you, too.”