Chapter 230: Decision 1
There were many people within Guardians who did not know Junhyuk, especially outside of the administrative and the research departments. Guardians had also hired new employees to help with monster research, so now they had over a hundred people employed by them.
That day was the first time some of those people saw Junhyuk. The research team was working on the building after the poring incident. They were all wearing HAZMAT suits, and Junhyuk looked at Soyeon.
Soyeon and Tsubasa were sitting on the back of an ambulance, covered by trauma blankets.
"First, go to hospital and check to see if there's anything wrong. If you require medical attention, the company will pay for it with its insurance," he told them both.
"I just feel relaxed from anxiety."
"When people get into car crashes, some symptoms appear later, just like now. Go to the hospital. I already made a report." Junhyuk looks at Tsubasa and added, "How are you feeling?"
"I want to return to the company. Is that possible?"
Junhyuk paused to think.
"Then, let's all go to the hospital first, and you can go back to the company with me."
"What about me?"
"Soyeon, you can go home."
"But…"
"Please, do as I tell you."
Soyeon was very nervous, and he didn't want her to go back to work. Tsubasa probably wanted to go back so that she could make her report on her power usage. That's why Junhyuk agreed.
He patted Soyeon's head and got on the ambulance himself.
"Let's leave."
The ambulance started, and Soyeon stared at him.
"How did you manage to stay with a company like this?"
Junhyuk chuckled.
"To be honest, I'm quitting this week."
"What?"
Soyeon and Tsubasa were shocked by the statement and stared at him.
"The new employees were hired to replace me. Not because they were short of people."
Soyeon couldn't keep her mouth closed, and Tsubasa was visibly surprised.
"Are you really quitting?"
Junhyuk nodded.
"I have some work to do."
Soyeon and Tsubasa kept quiet all the way to the hospital and remained silent until all exams were over. Guardians had already called the hospital, and they were able to get examined quickly. Junhyuk was also examined, and they all left right after everything was over.
They had late lunch, and he sent Soyeon home. By taking a cab, he and Tsubasa went back to work. Junhyuk went to Eunseo's office to make his report while Tsubasa went to see Elise.
Eunseo was sitting on her wheelchair, and she offered him a seat when she saw him walk in. After he sat down, she moved over.
"I read the report. Without your quick thinking, casualties would've been much higher."
He stared at her without speaking. He had only gone over there so he could get an answer from her. Things were going from bad to worse, and he wanted her to side with him.
He waited for it quietly.
Eunseo felt his eyes on her and avoided looking at them.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You haven't given me an answer."
She hesitated.
"I haven't decided yet."
Still looking at her, he said, "I'll wait." There was no need to make her feel nervous, so he got up from his seat and added, "You know this is my last week here, right?"
Eunseo fixed her glasses and answered, "I know."
He stared calmly at her.
"I'm going home."
"Please do."
Junhyuk left, and Eunseo walked out. Dohee approached her and asked, "Where are you going?"
"I want to meet Elise."
"Of course."
Eunseo headed to the basement and met Tsubasa standing in front of an elevator. Tsubasa greeted her first, and Eunseo nodded lightly.
"You had tough time today."
"I'm OK."
"If you aren't feeling well, go to the hospital. The company will pay for everything."
Tsubasa smiled and said, "I'll be heading home."
"Please do."
Eunseo went off to meet Elise. She was looking at the moving poring bits that the iron soldier had brought her.
"I have a lot of visitors today." Elise shocked a piece of the poring with electricity and asked, "What's going on?"
Eunseo looked at Dohee and said, "Don't let anyone in here."
"Sure."
Eunseo got up and looked at Elise.
"Do you know it?"
"Know what?"
Elise's eyes widened, and Eunseo stood opposite of her.
"Do you know that I became a novice?"
Elise smiled.
"I didn't think you'd tell me."
"Guardians created a machine to detect novices."
Elise crossed her arms and looked at Eunseo. Their conversation continued in hushed tones.
"Does anyone else know?"
"I'm the only one."
"If Zaira knows, can anyone find out about it? Including my brother?"
Elise shook her head.
"They do have rights to the novice-detecting machine, but they can't see anything unless I authorize it."
"You authorize it?"
Elise extended her arms wide and said, "All rights to Zaira come from me."
Eunseo thought that Elise was too powerful. She was in control of all information.
"I have a favor to ask." Elise waited for her to speak, and Eunseo said, "Hide the fact that I've became a novice."
"Why should I?"
"I will owe you bigtime."
Elise shook her head, saying, "You can't ask me a favor like that."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll be going back to the Dimensional Battlefield every two weeks."
"Do you mean to say you want me to bring back blood and mana stones?"
Elise just smiled.
"Correct. But I'll pay you the correct value for them. However, you have to give me the purchasing rights."
"Why should I?!"
Elise waited until Eunseo calmed down and said, "If you bring back stones, there will only be a few people who would be able to buy them, including Doyeol. If you sell the stones to them, they'll know who you are."
Eunseo was still unable to understand and just stared at Elise. By contract, Elise merely shrugged.
"I will give you weapons coated in monster decomposition liquid," she added.
"Those weapons won't work against heroes."
Eunseo knew about the heroes. She had killed a hero, but she didn't want to go against another one again. Elise's weapons wouldn't even scratch them.
"I'm giving you weapons to kill monsters. Not heroes."
"To safeguard me from monsters?"
Elise nodded.
"You can only keep your privacy if you sell the stones to me, so let's make the deal." Elise said, then, she whispered, "And I'll keep your secret."
Eunseo realized that Elise was just trying to help.
"I'll do it."
"Good thinking."
Eunseo sat back down on her wheelchair and asked, "Is Tsubasa a novice?"
"I can't tell you."
"Right."
Eunseo had watched them kill a poring that day. The iron soldier hadn't done anything at the time, and it wasn't one of Junhyuk's powers. Her guess was that Tsubasa had done it, even more so after she saw Tsubasa leaving Elise's office. Now, she was sure.
"My brother sent her here?"
Elise shrugged, but didn't answer. After that, she left without saying anything else.
While heating a piece of the poring, Elise said, "Zaira. The information on Eunseo can't go anywhere else. Only I'll have access to it."
[Understood.]
Elise looked at the poring and started thinking about using a monster to fight monsters.
"Develop that method…" she murmured to herself. "I have a lot of work to do."
While she was busy researching other things, she planned her secret research on the poring.
"I could use some extra hands in here."
Meanwhile, Junhyuk was talking to the other employees. They had heard about the poring, and congratulated him on returning alive. After handing them some work, he left. He went home and put on his mask, heading straight to GST after.
He saw a few people standing around on the first floor and smiled. They are members of Bakdu's security team. They nodded toward him and went to work while Junhyuk took the elevator to the ninth floor.
When he exited it, he saw Sungtae talking to four foreigners. Sungtae saw him and got up abruptly.
"You came?!"
"Yes, who are these people?"
"The friends I told you about."
Junhyuk looked at them. All of their healths were between four and five, but two of them had a lot of mana. He could tell they were special people.
Junhyuk offered them a handshake.
"I'm Max, GST's CEO."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Chuck."
The man was over 180 centimeters tall, and Junhyuk shook his hand.
"I'm Tirot."
Tirot was from India and was one of the ones with high mana.
"I'm Armando."
After greeting Armando, he saw a woman. Her glasses had such thick lenses that they made him dizzy when looking at them.
"I'm Brita."
"Welcome."
Brita also had high mana.
Junhyuk looked at Sungtae.
"They are all my college buddies."
"Unemployed now?"
"Yes."
"They want to be employed, I presume?"
"Six-hour work days and the rest is free. Those are the terms of the contract."
"Salary?"
"A total of $500 thousand."
Junhyuk thought Sungtae had done a good job in the negotiations.
"You must keep everything you do here secret. Do you understand?"
Everyone nodded, and Junhyuk had them sign the contracts. Sungtae took the group to the sixth floor, leaving Junhyuk alone.
"Concerning my previous instructions, did you find anything?" he asked Ganesha.
[One person activated a power in South Korea, but that person disappeared right away. However, the information still remains.]