Chapter 374 (1/2)

Act 9

A bout of silence descended on the conference venue at what Luslec said.

The only sounds were the intermittent camera flashes of the reporters, and their pens scribbling away on their notepads. As for the officials from the German government, they had basically turned into mutes after failing to think up a suitable response.

Even Luslec himself didn’t seem to expect such a reaction, so he glanced back to Su-hyeun. The latter sighed and then smirked while raising his thumb up.

Only then did Luslec began grinning again, and that grin was the same as pouring oil into the already-incendiary mood inside the conference venue.

“Don’t you think you’ve crossed the line there?!”

“Oh? Should I soften the language a bit, then? Were your feelings hurt just now?”

“No, never mind. In any case, we sincerely hope that you don’t interpret our intentions in such a manner.” Louis Hesse cooled his rage inwardly for a bit, coughed to clear his throat, and then continued to speak, “Our opinion always has been that the dungeon in question was on the brink of being fully raided, all thanks to the sacrifices of the three S-rank awakeners and many other German awakener authority-affiliated awakeners. Yes, we avoided losses to civilian lives, thanks to your efforts, but it will be wrong not to consider their heroic sacrifices.”

What he said was utter garbage.

Lee Ju-ho chuckled hollowly and retorted, “In case an outbreak occurs due to the failure of the raid, all raid operations that happened before the outbreak are no longer acknowledged. Normally, you’d be criticized on moral grounds.”

“Yes, but that’s nothing but criticism on some shaky moral grounds. As I’ve said earlier, we at the Awakener Management Bureau are unwilling to simply forego the resulting articles created through the sacrifices of the awakeners inside the dungeon.”

“Resulting articles, you say.” Su-hyeun quietly closed his eyes at what Louis Hesse said.

Something about this exchange sounded familiar to him.

“Right, this also happened back then,” he thought.

Louis Hesse was also the minister of Germany’s Awakener Management Bureau. However, it wasn’t just him.

The story was exactly the same back when he wasn’t Kim Su-hyeun but Kim Sung-in. Various awakener authorities argued about their ownership over the dungeons he had raided.

“Back then, what did I do?”

Back then, he was fearful of sowing discord.

He didn’t have any attachment to money, and he wasn’t doing it for money, either, so, he just let all those events slide by.

He simply did what they wanted from him, and after letting such things happen once or twice, it soon became a normal thing for everybody. Then, from a certain moment onward, even Su-hyeun began thinking that such a thing was par for the course.

“This incident has caused numerous damage to private citizens’ property. All resources recovered from the indigo-colored dungeon will be used for their sake. Mister Kim, for their sake, please try to understand where we are coming from,” Louis Hess said, changing his approach. He was now saying “Please yield on the account of the citizens” on top of the contributions of the German awakeners.

“Mister Kim, you also spend all the wealth you accrued until now on people encountering hardships in life, don’t you? You can think of this as the same. Please, for their sake, let us come to a favorable arrangement,” he continued while getting up from his chair to bow deeply afterward. He seemed so respectful while performing that gesture.

If someone unfamiliar saw this scene, they would’ve thought of him as a minister genuinely willing to lower his head to a foreign awakener for the sake of his own countrymen.

Of course, you’d instantly realize that that’s not true if you thought about it for a second.

“You say it’s the same thing…”

The smirk on Su-hyeun’s lips grew deeper. However, his eyes weren’t smiling at all, just his lips stretching almost to touch his ears.

Seeing that expression from the side, Lee Ju-ho heard the alarm bells go off in his head. “Yup, he’s pissed,” he thought.

Su-hyeun usually didn’t express his anger outwardly. His personality dictated that he would normally cool his anger inwardly.

However, when he made such an expression, he would cause an incident or two without exception.

Sure enough, such an incident would ensue here.

“So, you trying to cheat the Paragon Guild in whatever way and dodging responsibilities are the same thing as me trying to be a good person now, are they?”

“W—what are you even…?”

“Don’t play dumb, please. Someone has to take the blame for this outbreak. And let’s not forget, all issues related to awakeners and dungeons are primarily the Awakener Management Bureau’s responsibility.”

Su-hyeun’s eyes narrowed to slits.

He was forcibly suppressing his killing intent since his opponent right now was a regular person, but even then, Louis Hesse felt like he’d wet his pants just by being subjected to Su-hyeun’s glare.

Not just the aura he gave off but even the sense of presence Su-hyeun emitted proved to be so much larger and imposing than any politician Louis Hesse had dealt with up until now.

“An absurd excuse and an attempt to appeal to our sympathy. With only those, you plan to steal away the dungeon’s ownership. You even say that you’d look after the citizens affected by this incident with what you took away…You know, none of this would’ve happened if it wasn’t for your greed.”

“What do you mean, our greed? Sir, it was simply a mistake on our part.”

“Did you determine that you could raid that dungeon by yourselves?”

“Yes, we did.”

“The awakeners affiliated with the Paragon Guild, Gordon Rohan, Thomas, Lee Ju-ho, and myself—not once did anyone succeed in raiding an indigo-colored dungeon without us. So, may we hear about what kind of stupid and totally absurd basis prompted you to make such a decision?”

“Well, that’s…” Louis Hesse couldn’t readily answer.

In all honesty, they had no assurance. They were taking a gamble, a shot in the dark, so to speak.

“You probably thought that if things go wrong, you could just request the Paragon Guild for help, didn’t you?”

When Su-hyeun asked that pointed question, Louis Hesse shuddered just a little.

Did he use some kind of skill to read the latter’s mind or some such?

“No, that can’t be it. Using a type of skill that read someone else’s thoughts is definitely illegal unless it’s a special situation,” he thought.

Su-hyeun didn’t seem to be the type to resort to using potentially problematic skills in situations like this one, and he was known throughout the world as an upright person.

“It looks like things worked out according to your plan so far. We did come rushing here to mop up all the crap you left behind, after all. But now, after we cleaned up your mess, you are demanding for us to give up even our own luggage…”

“Mister Kim.”

“You know what, let’s just follow the international law, shall we? We’re wasting time on something petty, anyway.”

Dururuk—

Su-hyeun abruptly got up from his chair. With that gesture, he was indicating that there was no reason to talk anymore.

“According to international law, it’s not a split of nine to one but 10 to zero. And obviously, the 10 goes to us. Oh, and also, please don’t expect the Paragon Guild to pitch in on the repair work on your destroyed city. On top of that, this will be the last time Germany and the Paragon Guild will be in touch.”

“M—Mister Kim?!”

“If similar incidents happen to Germany at a later time, and if a dungeon that’s beyond your capability to deal with shows up, then I advise you to seek out other mercenary guilds.”

Louis Hesse’s expression gradually grew stiff at Su-hyeun’s continuous cold dagger-like verbal shots.