#26
While Jinho and Wonwoo were talking about ‘destiny’ and taking big bites of crème brûlée and panna cotta, Yonghyun was suppressing the urge to throw the resignation letter he held in his heart at the face of Chief Director Ho Junjae.
“So… are you saying you don’t trust me right now? Chief Director.”
Yonghyun really, truly wanted to have a meal with Wonwoo. He didn’t want to create even a little bit of time for Wonwoo and Jinho to be alone.
That’s why he had tried to pass off the gate raiding briefing to someone else, but he was caught by the Chief Director’s message, ‘No matter what, shouldn’t Chief Shin be the one to do the briefing?’
In fact, this wasn’t the first or second time the Chief Director had done this. Each time, Yonghyun had complied with the Chief Director’s demands without much complaint, even calming down his subordinate employees who got angry on his behalf.
But shouldn’t this kind of nonsense depend on the situation and atmosphere? Yonghyun clicked his tongue, tsk, reflecting on whether he had handled things too peacefully and quietly until now.
Yonghyun’s plan to brief on ‘20 good things about joining the Bureau’ while eating delicious food, keep Jinho in check, and pull Wonwoo into his department had vanished into thin air because of one message from the Chief Director.
Arriving at the executive conference room, Yonghyun inwardly clicked his tongue at the high-and-mighty people present, including the Head of the Disaster Response Headquarters.
In front of these humans, he simply couldn’t practice his father’s long-held teaching: the higher your position, the more you should avoid acting rashly and behave properly.
The main topic of the briefing was ‘How was a Class AA gate raided in less than a day?", and Yonghyun briefed diligently, suppressing his emotions as much as possible.
However….
“No, no, Chief Shin. If you put it so extremely, my feelings will be hurt. I always, always trust Chief Shin.”
“……”
“If I don’t trust you, who can I trust in this Republic of Korea. Haha.”
“But telling me to submit a report on the guide by tomorrow, on top of the gate briefing… to my ears, that sounds like you don’t believe my words and are telling me to bring evidence.”
During the briefing, the Chief Director and other executives seemed to be treating Yonghyun’s story as nothing more than a battle story told at a drinking party.
At the mention that an AA-rank gate had appeared in the middle of Seoul, they were busy being surprised, ‘A gate, an A-rank one at that, appeared?!’ and then soon after, they calmly cleared their throats as if talking about someone else’s business, saying, ‘Oh, but it seems it was raided in just a few hours!’
But Yonghyun endured. This was not the first or second time these humans acted this way. All he had to do was say everything he had prepared. Then it would be over. Once it was all over, he would go have a meal with Wonwoo, even if it was late. With that thought, Yonghyun diligently suppressed his emotions.
However, as soon as Yonghyun mentioned the existence of a ‘Guide’ and said he should be scouted for the Bureau, they interrupted his briefing, saying, ‘What kind of nonsense is that? It’s hard to believe, so bring a report.’
“So, where is this person called a guide? Frankly, I’m not even sure what the difference is between a support-type Esper and that ‘guide’…. How am I supposed to look into this if you just make stubborn claims without any evidence or data.”
“……”
“You might as well have said a new S-class Esper appeared.”
“…I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear you.”
“It’s just so strange, the more I think about it, Chief Shin. An A-rank gate appeared in the middle of the city, but there are only injured people and no casualties. So I had a thought.”
“……”
Yonghyun furrowed his brow. But as if misunderstanding Yonghyun’s silence, Ho Junjae continued speaking without a care. Spit occasionally flew like shrapnel from his chattering mouth, creating a sense of disgust.
“Perhaps the dispatch department mismeasured the gate’s rank, or there was an error in detecting the gate’s energy? Aren’t you mistaking a D-rank or C-rank gate for an AA-rank one? The dispatch fee for an AA-rank gate is enormous, so to cover up this mistake, Chief Shin, you’re now inflating the rank….”
“…Chief Director. Right now, can you take responsibility for those words?”
A suppressed voice, sharp-edged, squeezed out from between his clenched teeth and filled the conference room. Yonghyun’s patience, which he had held in once, twice, and until the very end, had finally reached its limit.
Yonghyun crumpled the gate report he was holding for the briefing with one hand and threw it right in front of the Chief Director. A heavy, sharp sound, hard to believe it came from a mere bundle of paper, filled the conference room along with Yonghyun’s chill.
“Do you know much about gates? Chief Director, you who sit there smugly estimating budgets every time a gate appears, are you spouting that nonsense because you know more about gates than I do right now?”
“Um, th-that is, Ch-Chief Shin.”
Yonghyun took off the leather gloves he was wearing and, raising his fist, slammed it down on the desk in front of Ho Junjae. Thwack! The desk vibrated violently from the forceful impact. A chill dripped from Yonghyun’s eyes as if they were embedded with blue ice. At his intensity, Ho Junjae gasped and quickly sucked in a breath.
“Have you ever faced a monster from a gate yourself?”
“…I have not.”
“At the time you received the disaster alert, were you on the Han River bridge? Did you see the gate yourself?”
“……”
“That gate was a dangerous one that, had it not been raided, would have destroyed not just the vicinity but all of Seoul. I did, Chief Director.”
“Sp-speak, Chief Shin.”
“With these hands, I froze and shattered that monster. With the power of a guide. If the guide wasn’t there, if he wasn’t there… it could have been the Han River bridge, the entire surrounding area, that was shattered. But you call a monster of that level D-rank, C-rank? You say it couldn’t possibly be AA-rank? Then wouldn’t that be a disaster in itself?”
“Th-that’s right. It’s in the briefing Chief Shin gave.”
“But is that what you said? Inflating the rank? Are you saying that I… and my team members did something that not even those Stardust bastards would do?”
The moment Yonghyun raised his hand to slam the desk again, someone spoke up and stopped him.
“Chief Shin Yonghyun.”
“……”
“The Chief Director has probably understood enough by now. How about you stop there, so we don’t have to file paperwork for property damage.”
“…Chief Shin Yihyun.”
The Chief Director let out a breath as if he were about to faint and looked at Shin Yihyun with eyes desperately pleading for help.
“I see. I, I got too excited.”
Yonghyun glared at the Chief Director once, then turned his gaze to the Guild Cooperation Chief, Shin Yihyun, who had stopped him. As soon as he met Yonghyun’s gaze, he nodded. Then he continued in a calm tone.
“The Chief Director’s words were harsh, but he said them out of concern, so please be the bigger person and let it go.”
“…I will do that.”
Finishing his words, Yonghyun clenched and unclenched his fist several times to withdraw the chill, then put his black leather gloves back on. A stinging sensation seemed to creep up from his fingertips into his palm. Yonghyun keenly felt the absence of Guide Wonwoo anew.
Seeing Yonghyun show signs of calming down, Yihyun gave a small nod.
“If what Chief Shin Yonghyun says is true… isn’t it a greater blessing and miracle than the appearance of a new S-class Esper? The emergence of a being who can enhance an Esper’s abilities and eliminate side effects. So…”
Yihyun trailed off, looking into Yonghyun’s eyes.
“Please speak.”
“First, I believe the right thing to do is to bring that person, the guide, here. I would like to meet him in person.”
At Yihyun’s words, the others, including the Chief Director, nodded with stiff expressions. Although Yonghyun had withdrawn his chill, his murderous glare remained, so everyone except Yihyun couldn’t even blink easily and kept glancing at him nervously.
Yonghyun let out a deep sigh inwardly.
Right, this place… was a gathering of humans who were not just obsessed with rules and procedures, but couldn't even proceed with work without them. That was why Yihyun had made such a suggestion.
“Yes, I understand.”
“R-right. Chief Shin Yihyun put it well! How about tomorrow? Let’s talk again here tomorrow.”
As if Yonghyun looked like he might slam the desk again, the Chief Director fidgeted nervously before confirming the schedule for tomorrow. Then, as soon as Yihyun said, ‘Then, let’s end it here,’ he cleared his throat and hastily left the conference room.
In less than five minutes, everyone except Yihyun and Yonghyun had left the room. Yonghyun, looking around the now empty conference room, muttered in a low voice.
“His belly sticks out so much, like a pathetic old raccoon.”
An impure metaphor that the usual Yonghyun would not even have thought of was spat out of his mouth. At those words, Yihyun’s stiff expression loosened, and he let out a chuckle like air escaping.
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