Retire 481

481 Territorial Dispute (3)

The incident involving Hailey Lawton and Henry Lehmann was officially announced as the work of mages who were under investigation for their connections to illegal dungeons.

Blaming monsters would have been a clean solution, but there were concerns that telling the already on-edge citizens—ever since San Francisco—that monsters had appeared again in the heart of the city might spark riots. Not that blaming mages didn’t cause discontent… but it was still preferable to mass panic. Besides, it was true that Lawton and Luise Kruger were mages, so even the mages couldn’t protest.

The Western American Mage Society shifted responsibility to the European Mage Society, to which Luise Kruger belonged, while the European Mage Society evaded blame by claiming Kruger had been missing for a long time.

And what were we doing in the midst of all that chaos?

“What the—didn’t that guy die in the last episode?”

“I just told you, that was a fake! They stole a corpse with a similar build and dressed it up. Look, see?”

“Instead of watching this bloody mess, how about we watch some peaceful cat videos?”

“Oh! Oh, look at that guy! Did he just stab his own sister? What a despicable bastard!”

“I told you, I never liked the look in his eyes!!”

“There’s this really cute cat named Chasey…”

I let out a sigh as I watched the three men huddled in front of the TV, engrossed in a drama.

One of them didn’t seem particularly pleased with what they were watching, but he couldn’t win against the other two.

Kruger and Lehmann had been after us. I wasn’t sure whether Lehmann had reacted to my father or to Kim Chaemin, but judging by what he said—and how my father got drawn in—it seemed he wanted to confirm for himself why Hong Seokyoung had come to America. Since the Mole Dungeon and Kruger were involved as well, perhaps he was also curious about what we were digging into.

Things must have been so chaotic that he resorted to the reckless act of moving personally. After what happened in San Francisco, the arrows were all pointed at Lehmann, and even Michel had rolled up his sleeves and was harassing him directly.

That madman seemed to be under quite a bit of stress because of it. If he’d been a true beast, utterly devoid of intelligence, we would have had a much harder time. But Lehmann did think, in his own way. He was the boss of a criminal organization, after all. Ridiculous as it sounded, Lehmann managed his organization far better than Michel ever did.

I couldn’t call it a “weakness” in any grand sense. But he couldn’t just stand by and watch the garden he’d so carefully cultivated be destroyed.

That was enough. Lehmann tended to his gang with great care, and our scheme—no, our plan—to pin everything on Atlas succeeded splendidly.

“Ah!! That idiot! I told him to stay put!!”

“It’s the language of magic, junior. If you tell someone to stay still, they can’t help but move.”

“That’s exactly what you should never say when raising a child…”

“My Eunyoung couldn’t stay still when she was little, either.”

And so, sitting around watching dramas and grumbling without a care in the world could also be called the price of success…

It wasn’t as if we’d done anything wrong. But even I couldn’t find a way to deliver the message, “Your gang boss hates us,” without hurting anyone’s feelings.

Before things could escalate, we simply played dumb. Daniel eyed us with some suspicion, but didn’t press further. From what I could tell, he just seemed too busy to want any more responsibilities. Lately, Daniel had started seriously looking into the working conditions at Yangseong High.

In any case, what could anyone do if we said we didn’t know? With my father around, that was explanation enough. He looked apologetic as he said,

“I was chasing that bastard too, so it’s probably his grudge against me. Sorry about that.”

After all, it was their side that dragged in “Hong Seokyoung.” They had no right to complain.

But the American citizens had plenty to say.

There were people who’d filmed our fight, so there was no helping it. Even if they’d announced it was a monster, with photos and videos circulating, no one would have believed it. Henry Lehmann, despite his somewhat inhuman appearance, still looked recognizably human.

Even after it was revealed to be the work of mages, citizens complained that foreign hunters were solving problems while their own guilds were nowhere to be seen. That was probably around the time Daniel asked about Guild Mimi’s salary.

That guy—he’d said he was working as a healer at first. But of course, any organization wouldn’t leave a competent person idle. That poor man would be dragged into work that wasn’t even his responsibility. The fate of powerless underlings is the same everywhere.

That’s why I wanted to move up to a reasonably high position. Not one with real responsibility, but a middle manager’s spot—where no one could dump work on me… and if anyone did, I could pass it off to someone else…

“Everyone be quiet! Can’t you see I’m working?!”

In the spacious hotel room, Kim Chaemin, who’d claimed the desk in one corner of the living room, raised his voice.

The desk was cluttered with a laptop and various documents—all related to magic and runes. On the laptop screen, Gamble was smiling awkwardly. I was starting to wonder if that man ever slept.

We decided to take a short break until the attention on us died down a bit. Not that we truly intended to rest quietly in the hotel, but Kim Chaemin said he needed time to analyze Lehmann’s magic, mana patterns, and runes.

“Why don’t you go inside and work? Isn’t it noisy out here?”

“It’s not fair that everyone else is playing while I’m the only one working!”

“…Seriously…”

Kim Chaemin shouted, looking genuinely aggrieved. Gamble, on the other hand, rubbed his sleepy eyes, looking as if he couldn’t care less.

—I’m going to sleep. I’ll let you know what the kids did later… Choi Jinwoo, it looks like he’s managed to expand the use of his magic.

“Jinwoo? How? What kind of expansion? He didn’t say anything to me!”

—He said he stumbled upon it by accident and is still working on it with his mentor. It’s not stable yet. I’m not a mage, so I don’t really get that stuff.

“Why didn’t he ask me!”

—Maybe he wants to surprise you with something he accomplished while you were gone.

Gamble replied indifferently, yawning repeatedly as he spoke.

—If he gets stuck, he’ll ask… Anyway, as long as I can decipher even a bit of this, I don’t care… Oh, right. Almost forgot the most important thing.

But suddenly, his half-closed eyes snapped open.

—Remember the information network I set up with Alex back when we were hustling for operating funds? In South America?

My father, who’d been watching the drama, joined the conversation.

“When you two were making money through scams?”

—Scams? We were working for justice.

“Selling stolen goods and then reporting them—frugal, aren’t you.”

—Could you please say we took care to avoid innocent victims, Master?

Sensing the topic was turning against him, Gamble hurried to the point.

—Anyway, the price of hydra venom sacs has skyrocketed these past few days. Someone’s been buying them up like crazy.

“Correct!”

Hope, who’d been absorbed in the drama, shot his hand up. So he had been paying attention after all.

“Henry, right? Henry’s the one collecting them?”

—He’s not moving openly, but all the people connected to him are sweeping them up… so, yeah, probably.

“Correct!”

This time, Han Taekyung raised his hand.

“Isn’t that right after Mr. Kim gave him a taste of his own medicine two days ago?”

—Yes, yes. That’s correct.

“What’s the prize?”

—Ask the Master for it.

My father grinned at Han Taekyung, but Han Taekyung was not one to back down.

“Chasey’s copyright…”

“Mr. Kim, is there anything you can do with venom sacs?”

“There’s a lot you can do. They’re a versatile ingredient, after all. You need them for making high-quality potions, for example.”

“If they started buying them up two days ago, it must have had some effect.”

“It could be a coincidence, you know?”

“A coincidence? In this line of work? Not likely.”

I looked at my hands. The sensation was still vivid. It was probably because my mana had acted as a bridgehead. Even without seeing, I could hear it. Even without seeing, I could feel it.

Kim Chaemin’s magic had crushed Henry Lehmann beyond the doll. Later, Kim Chaemin gave a lengthy explanation of how it was possible, but honestly, I didn’t understand a word.

It was enough to know that Kim Chaemin was an exceptional mage.

Perhaps Ark’s greatest mistake was attacking Kim Chaemin’s domain and earning his enmity. If not for that, Kim Chaemin probably wouldn’t have joined my father in pursuing Ark. Normally, he was a great mage who rarely showed himself except during urban dungeon breaks, likely busy continuing the research left by his grandfather and father.

If they hadn’t provoked Kim Chaemin… so much more would have gone the way Ark wanted.

Did Michel not know that? Or did he still have reason to target Kim Chaemin, regardless?

Was the rose left by Kim Chaemin’s grandfather truly so threatening that it had to be destroyed?

—I’m really going to sleep now.

The call with Gamble ended, after he’d listed a few more items recently purchased by those connected to Atlas, besides the hydra venom sacs.

It really was convenient having a competent employee.

“Well then…”

My father spoke up slowly.

“We should…”

“…….?”

“This time, I…”

“What is it?”

“…Well, I…”

My father’s words grew slower and slower.

His eyes were glued to the TV. I sighed.

“The culprit is the older sister.”

“What?!”

“It’s obvious. She has motive, she has the ability. Her aunt, who took care of her, committed suicide.”

“But that was because she stole her younger sister’s family’s money to invest and lost it!”

“The older sister doesn’t know that.”

I turned off the TV.

“Hey!”

“What?!”

Hope and Han Taekyung voiced their complaints in unison.

Is this really okay for a guild? Good thing Daniel isn’t here.

“Enough. So, what did you want to talk about? Are you finally going to tell us what you said to Lehmann?”

“Hmm.”

My father glanced regretfully at the TV. This man, honestly. Why did he suddenly start watching a drama he’d never cared about before?

This was all Hope’s fault.

“It’s not that I was trying to hide it. I just needed some time to sort things out.”

“To sort things out?”

“I had a lot to think about.”

A sense of foreboding crept over me.

Nothing good had ever come from my father thinking too much… It was a lesson learned from long experience.

But he’d never taken this long to think things over before, nor had he ever hesitated so much to speak.

“I had my suspicions, but I wasn’t sure. So I spent a lot of time wondering if I was right. But.”

“…But?”

“I think my suspicions were correct.”

He shrugged, brushing off his serious demeanor. His voice was as playful as ever, but his eyes were heavier than I’d ever seen.

“At least once, there’s a future where I kill every last member of Ark.”