Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
22. Underwater otherworld conquest (2)
The next day after wrapping up Eungwang School’s Choe Pyeondeuk’s followers’ case.
The Association’s Players, who heard about team leader Hong Gyubin arriving 30 minutes earlier than usual, felt a chill down their spines.
“Why did team leader Hong-nim arrive at this hour again?”
“… He planned to take half a day off today, but did he change his mind?”
“Is the case with those guys called followers or shitheads or something not over?”
Work management, development, work handling ability and courtesy towards all of the workplace seniors, supervisors and subordinates.
Hong Gyubin lacked nothing and was pointed out as the most perfect Player in the Player’s Association Korean branch.
However, when he sat upright and worked, everyone looked at him from far away as if they saw a grim reaper[1].
“… Yes, team leader Im-nim. Please. It’ll be within 24 hours after sunset. I’ll send you the coordinates on your device.”
Those who heard the content of Hong Gyubin’s call lowered their voices and whispered:
“If it’s team leader Im-nim… isn’t it Satellite Management team leader, Im Jihwa-nim? There is no day without overtime when something is related to them.”
“Ruined…”
“We still don’t know. We don’t know!”
Association employees who were members of the 1st PR team and the Regulation Enforcement Department held their breaths, then saw a person walking towards Hong Gyubin, and they shut their mouths.
Hong Gyubin’s right hand, manager Yun.
Different in comparison to the kind, considerate Hong Gyubin, manager Yun had no mercy for those who were late or slacking at work.
Employees of lower rank than manager Yun simultaneously hid their heads and started to pretend to fill documents while he started his report.
“Team leader-nim.”
“Yes, manager Yun. Please speak.”
Hong Gyubin side glanced at the hologram he was reading as he spoke.
“There is a chance that a key member of the Eternal Lake is connected to the Fantasy Controversy.”
“Please report in detail.”
Starting with Hong Gyubin, the eyes of every Player within hearing range of manager Yun’s voice turned towards him.
“Among the Players related to both the Fantasy Controversy and degenerate establishments operated by Choe Pyeondeuk, there are people who received foreign remittance for the past 10 years. The person sending that money was a key team member of Eternal Lake.”
“Have you checked the scale of the remittance?”
“It fluctuated more or less each year, but it exceeded 300 million every year.”
300 million each year, for the past 10 years, it would amount to more than 30 billion.
In the Player case, the regulation and fees for foreign remittance were lighter in comparison to ordinary people, and there were not a small portion of Players exploiting it.
Even so, it was a weird case.
Both in duration and scale.
“Why was it confirmed only now?”
“There were attempts to confirm it, but there are only records of sending cooperation requests to the England Branch more than ten times, there are no records of ever receiving a response. The Eternal Lake team is England’s national hero and Fantasy Controversy is Korea’s problem, so I guess they wanted to pretend they didn’t know about this problem to protect them.”
Sighs flowed out from everywhere.
The Association’s employees, who had a terrible time[2] settling the Fantasy Controversy, said with voices mixed with frustration.
“Don’t they know that the Association doesn’t represent the interests of a specific nation? They’re nuts. They should have pledged an oath before joining the Association.”
“I have no idea whether it is a patriotic spirit or fan spirit, but the England branch will have to make personnel reshuffling[3] again.”
“They couldn’t come to their senses even after their cockiness towards Jin people caused a disaster?”
“Will those guys have to work overtime from now on? Ah, they can’t work overtime if they get fired, huh?”
The team members, who lacked enthusiasm until moments ago, started to work, filled with fury.
Looking at the team members quickly starting to work on the tasks that had to be done before he even gave an order, Hong Gyubin lowered his voice to speak.
“It is a case for the Regulation Enforcement Department.”
“There remains a possibility it’s an event unrelated to the Fantasy Controversy, but… This case may have grown bigger because the England Branch tried to clumsily cover it up.”
Coincidentally, he was getting to know the schedule of that Eternal Lake’s person.
“Be ready to meet with them today, manager Yun-nim.”
“Understood.”
“Team leader-nim!”
One employee, who kept his mouth shut all along, suddenly kicked the desk and ran towards Hong Gyubin, shouting loudly.
“Let me also go! I want to go very much!”
It was employee Jeong who went mad when it came to Eungwang School Players.
“… Yes. Employee Jeong-nim is also going.”
“Hurray! At last, a chance for me to see Kwon Jane-nim in reality…!”
Even though the work he was going to do wasn’t nice, employee Jeong was thrilled thinking he could see Kwon Jane who belonged to Eungwang School.
Manager Yun stared at employee Jeong with a face saying he wants to strangle him by the throat right now.
“Team leader Hong Gyubin-nim…”
Hong Gyubin turned away from manager Yun’s gaze as he spoke.
“… Employee Jeong behaves like that, however he has an ability. There is no Player who matches employee Jeong when it comes to fighting many opponents in a short period of time. We should take him in case the Eternal Lake team unites to resist.”
***
Seokchon East Lake.
The walktrail around the lakeside was illuminated by the street lights around.
It was close to main street and the surrounding lakeside was well maintained, but there were no people walking around.
‘There are not many people.’
Even the lights of all attractions on the theme park artificial island operated by Namkung Local Specialities were out.
I heard rumors that the loss was so deep in red that it was smaller damage to just not operate it, but the doors were really closed, huh?
“I asked them to close the door in preparation for any incidents. There are no guests usually, however it’s safer without people around. And you’re doing nothing besides that simple disguise.”
Hwang-ho’s version in his 30’s spoke as at the end of his gaze was me who was looking at the artificial island.
I was wearing a crow mask and clothes which hid my physique.
Rather than showing myself in an appearance changed with Player’s Trajectory in front of Association’s eyes, I thought it was better to show up in front of Kwon Jane in Jo Uisin’s appearance wearing a crow mask, and this was the result.
‘I requested the Association’s help this time for this matter, so it can’t be helped.’
Let’s just let Kwon Jane see me as Eungwang School’s 1st year student who is playing a vigilante in cooperation with an eccentric Ho.
“That’s Namkung Local Specialities theme park, right? How can Hwang Myeong Group decide on the operation hours?”
“It won’t be Namkung soon. For the past years, they were showing an intention of selling it. I asked them to close the door for one day, because I wanted to quietly look around and they accepted it straight away.”
“… Are you buying it?”
“I’ll see.”
The area of this theme park was around 13 hectares, converted to pyeong, it was around 40 thousand pyeong.
It was a theme park located in Sangpu District, what’s more, it was straight up in front of Jamsil station.
Although it was said to be going to ruin, even thinking about the land value only, it was not something you could just ‘see if you’re gonna buy it’.
Hwang-ho’s version in 30’s, who was about to be hated, made a comment that made me hate him even more.
“… Jaeho and also Seoho and Niho showed a lot of interest in amusement parks. If we buy it, we can let the three of them play to their heart’s content.”
What is that guy talking about?
Why are you talking about buying a theme park as if you’re thinking of buying a single toy for a nephew?
“Even so, I’m still worried.”
Were you thinking of buying the theme park in the center of Seoul without worry?
“It’s too close to the place pointed by the Jeop. I’ll put it off until the time we confirm its safety.”
Even though he was worrying, it wasn’t a worry about money, but I guess he was at least worried about the problems related to Eun-ho’s descendants’ safety.
Will that guy also become a leader rank good-for-nothing like that Max Level Cheongryong in front of Yeom Junyeol?
“Jo Uisin, hi.”
While I was worrying about the Ho tribe’s future and fell into thoughts, I heard a familiar voice.
“Team leader Hong Gyubin-nim? Why today…”
Half of Hong Gyubin melted into shade.
It seemed that he was equipped with supernatural protection gear with a hiding effect added.
The protection gear was formed from black coat, mask and leather gloves.
I had a memory of seeing it before.
‘Those are items he was equipped with in the Central Library basement stack room.’
I had seen Hong Gyubin a few times, but I saw him equipped with them only once.
It was when he moved as the Regulation Enforcement Department.
“Jo Uisin, you didn’t say you asked for the Player’s Association’s support? So I let him approach.”
30 years old Hwang-ho’s version looked between me and Hong Gyubin in turn while speaking.
Hong Gyubin spoke while he bowed his head.
“We had taken care of everything Uisin requested from the Association. Currently, I’m here for another matter.”
“Without prior notice?”
“My apologies, Hwangho-nim. It’s a matter of character that it’s difficult to give notice in advance.”
I guess Hong Gyubin was acquainted with this version of Hwang-ho.
When Hwang-ho, who had heard Hong Gyubin’s words, was making a displeased face.
“Hello.”
Kwon Jane accompanied by Jared Lee and a few team members have arrived.
At the same time, I felt Hong Gyubin and the subordinates standing behind his back become tense.
‘No way, is the Regulation Enforcement department here for the case related to the Eternal Lake?’
The moment Kwon Jane finished her greetings, Hong Gyubin opened his mouth.
“We’re from the Player’s Association Regulation Enforcement department.”
“What matters does the Player’s Association Regulation Enforcement department have for us?”
“Team master of Eternal Lake, Kwon Jane. Among your team members there is a person who provided funds to partners of a criminal organization for a long period of time.” [4]
At Hong Gyubin’s words, everyone held their breaths.
“Human trafficking, assault, crippling, abductions, confinement, tax evasion, violation of architecture law… The people, who received more than 30 billion of remittance in Korean currency for 10 years, were involved in an enormous crime case, Fantasy Controversy, and were judged guilty of all those charges.”
Surely, Eternal Lake isn’t tied to Fantasy Controversy, right?
There was no such information in the game.
However, Hong Gyubin wasn’t a person who would say something like this to Kwon Jane without evidence.
“We requested cooperation from the England Branch more than ten times but didn’t receive a response even once. We are unaware whether it was England Branch’s own choice or did the Eternal Lake put pressure on them.”
“Eternal Lake never put any kind of pressure on the Association.”
Kwon Jane’s blue eyes didn’t show any kind of agitation.
It seemed that she was thinking there was some kind of a mistake.
‘Eternal Lake is not a team that would oppress the Association with something like that. It was a team which if there was corruption inside, they would personally dig into it and voluntarily report it to the Association. Hong Gyubin would also know that. Did he want to see Kwon Jane’s reaction?’
I couldn’t see Hong Gyubin’s expression covered by a mask.
“If that is the case, I will ask you to come to the Association and tell us the whole story about this matter. If you don’t respond now, we plan on applying for a rule enforcement warrant from headquarters. Jared Lee.”
It wasn’t just the name of a team member but the name of the Eternal Lake team sub master which came out.
Kwon Jane turned to look at Jared Lee.
Her voice was trembling.
“… Jared. That people you sent money to in Korea, there weren’t any people besides Them. Are they saying that Those People[5], they had ties to the Fantasy Controversy?”
“It can’t be!”
“Jane? Jared? What are you talking about…!”
Except for Kwon Jane, it seemed that other team members were completely unaware of the situation.
Looking at their reaction, I think they really didn’t know anything.
“I would also want to hear what happened. I’ll go to the Association.”
“I’ll also go.”
“Stay here, Jane. You have to check the butterfly’s message you had been searching for with your own eyes.”
Jared Lee decided to obediently follow the Regulation Enforcement department.
It seemed that Jared Lee was accompanied by the member who possessed an international lawyer license.
“My goodness…. It’s more than I heard from rumors… Their names are even on the Fantasy List…”
Kwon Jane, who had checked the Fantasy List with a device, was trembling terribly.
She couldn’t calm down and was swaying on her feet, so two or three members remained by her side to help, and the rest were left to respond to any incidents.
“Uuuk. I wanted to ask for an autograph or at least a handshake…”
“Let’s go.”
A Regulation Enforcement Department member, presumed to be employee Jeong, looked at me and Kwon Jane while mumbling, but he was immediately dragged away by manager Yun.
It seemed for the first time employee Jeong figured out the mood and behaved.
‘There was never a description in the game saying that Jared Lee had ties to the Fantasy Controversy gang. When this case is finished, I should investigate Jared Lee’s case with Hong Gyubin’s help.’
After the Regulation Enforcement Department disappeared.
When everyone couldn’t easily open their mouths, 30 year old Hwang-ho opened his mouth.
“An unexpected matter exploded. Even so, there are no changes with the upcoming plan. Because as a result, only a few of Kwon Jane’s companions decreased.”
“Umum, I have no idea what it is about, but can I go home? I have an ominous premonition and in addition to that, Hwang-ho is here, so I hate being here even more!”
The To tribe head who couldn’t figure out the mood, Ok Toyeon, appeared.
Hwang-ho’s version in the 30’s didn’t hide his annoyance as he spoke:
“Quit if you hate it. It means that ‘one week decrease of the contract period’ will be invalid.”
“Ah! That’s right!… Uuu, I want to meet Eun-ho’s descendants now.”
Ok Toyeon whined, but regardless, she seemed to be thinking of remaining.
Hwang-ho, who had roughly checked Ok Toyeon’s intentions, turned to look at Kwon Jane.
“… I was about to leave the ‘path’ opening to you Kwon Jane, but it seems I will have to do it.”
“My apologies. My power is currently unstable.”
Kwon Jane, leaning against a team member’s shoulder, said with a pale face.
Let alone using her power, it seemed she would collapse right here if something goes wrong.
‘Does Kwon Jane have ties to people connected to the Fantasy Controversy?’
Paaa—!
While I fell into thoughts.
Hwang-ho who opened his power was wrapped in golden light.
“I’ll tie it up to the point designated by Jeop.”
Following Hwang-ho’s gesture, the shape of the ground and location of the water lake changed.
Kukukuu—.
After the ground and lake’s shape changed until the coordinates designated by Nabiryeong were revealed.
The people, who were observing this process, shouted, their voices mixed with shock.
“That is, it’s an otherworld crack…!”
*~*~*
[1] grim reaper – referring to the servant of Great King Yeomra who takes souls to the underground, but it can also refer to western grim reapers. The word literally translates to ‘afterlife messenger’.
[2] had a terrible time – raws: suffered from measles.
[3] personnel shuffling – raws: change dirty water
[4] Hong Gyubin towards Kwon Jane – he may not use -nim, but he is still speaking to her politely and uses a polite ‘you’.
[5] Those People – I’m capitalizing it as Kwon Jane uses a polite form to refer to them.
Translator’s note: So, here we have two heads of the Jin tribes, the master and team members of one of the top Player teams in the world and this one highschool student in a crow mask… I see nothing weird about this composition.
Also, Jo Uisin: the only person in the world who worries about the Hwang Myeong Foundation’s budget.
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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