Chapter 132 (1/2)
EPISODE 132
“That’s impressive.”
While his grandson was freaking out from excitement, Han Kwang-ho, president of the Hankwang Group, calmly observed the livestream.
Right opposite him was a screen covering the entire wall, showing Yoo-seong’s face.
Yoo-seong’s live broadcast was not only open to hunters. President Han Kwang-ho had been watching his struggles along with everyone else.
“It was quite a sight. But that is all,” the president said as he turned his head away. “What do you think, Mr. Joo?”
He was met with silence.
“Mr. Joo?” President Han Kwang-ho narrowed his eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Joo Hwan-jin, President Han Kwang-ho’s two-meter-tall personal bodyguard, as he bowed his head.
Aside from his height, Joo Hwan-jin also had an impressive body structure resembling an inverted triangle.
“It’s very unlike you to have a delayed response,” President Han Kwang-ho commented. “What were you thinking?”
“I was just thinking about this broadcast,” Joo Hwan-jin answered.
“Did it give you something to think about?”
Again, Joo Hwan-jin could not answer right away.
‘How could you watch that video and not have any thoughts about it?’ he wondered to himself.
President Han Kwang-ho did not understand anything at all.
“It was a fairly frivolous show,” the president said as he turned back to the screen.
It was showing Yoo-seong as he traveled down the building.
“Our young friend here was quite eager to reveal himself. However, he does not seem to have the sense and self-control to properly manage the situation. I think he succeeded in giving the entire operation a dramatic effect, but everything was too rash.”
Joo Hwan-jin simply continued to listen in silence.
“Did he need to break away from his image just to show off? It appeared as if he was stripped of his dignity the moment he started bleeding. That was quite an embarrassment, to be honest.”
Tss-!
Joo Hwan-jin could not help but stare at the president as he clicked his tongue. He was trying his best not to speak by biting his inner lip.
‘Does it really look that way in the eyes of the public?’
He knew that it was only natural for everyone to think that way on occasion. For some, what Yoo-seong did was nothing but a show.
Except that it wasn’t.
“It’s just that I think it’s a little too much to say it was all merely a ‘frivolous show.’”
Just moments ago, Oh Yoo-seong had revealed his presence, and Joo Hwan-jin knew.
So far, everyone had been mistaken about this rather famous hunter.
No one really understood the true value of Hunter Oh Yoo-seong.
The Psy and Aura he possessed? The unprecedented level of events he’d participated in overseas? They were really nothing compared to what Yoo-seong had just shown.
“Huh. Yeah, I guess that’s something only you hunters understand,” President Han Kwang-ho said mockingly. It took everything in Joo Hwan-jin not to talk back.
“Perhaps everyone is downloading the video by now.”
Joo Hwan-jin was sure of it.
Every hunter group in Korea must have been downloading Yoo-seong’s hunting footage to watch it over and over.
“I’m sure everyone is thinking the same thing. They will want to study and learn how they can move like Oh Yoo-seong.”
“Is that even possible? Are you saying that just by watching a video, someone’s sloppy skills are guaranteed to improve?” President Han Kwang-ho asked skeptically.
“No, but…”
Of course, Joo Hwan-jin knew that just watching the video would not be enough.
No one could just execute the same operation that Oh Yoo-seong had. It had been a miracle.
However, it might be possible for just a few moments. The skills that Oh Yoo-seong had exhibited were basic enough to replicate.
They did not require a lot of conditions.
No equipment, no CE, no Tech – not even exceptional talent.
What Oh Yoo-seong had just shown was a possibility. That was it.
It had not involved of Tech with limited information or rare equipment that ordinary people could not even see. Rather, it had been a style of hunting that thoroughly excluded such things.
It could be said that every hunter actually had the potential. However, no one searched for possibilities anymore.
Not until Yoo-seong had shown them one.
After analyzing his hunting footage, many hunters would soon follow his steps and combinations.
These hunters would then apply these practices in action.
They now had the chance to use Oh Yoo-seong’s basic skillset in real life.
And, because of that, Yoo-seong was filled with a sense of pride that his skills might be further advanced.
Just like students competing for the top student’s answer sheet right after a quiz, hunters across the country would enjoy this kind of festive competition.
That was the exact reason why Joo Hwan-jin’s heart was beating faster.
“Even so, I don’t know if it’s going to come to anything,” said President Han Kwang-ho as he sat next to Joo Hwan-jin, the business tycoon almost spitting his words in ridicule. “Isn’t everything you’re going to learn from watching Oh Yoo-seong’s videos pointless if you do not possess the skills?”
“Not exactly…”
Joo Hwan-jin tried to explain, but the president ended up cutting him off.
“It has nothing to do with us anyway. The diligent ones do not matter. To be a leader, you must be mindful of those born with talent. You shouldn’t pay attention to those who are easily trampled on.”
Joo Hwan-jin shut his mouth.
He could not help it. After all, he was nothing but a knight.
He was a racehorse that ran the track according to his master’s will. This was the way President Han Kwang-ho looked at the industry.
And no, he wasn’t the only one who thought this way.
The same went for several powerful people who had followed in President Han Kwang-ho’s footsteps, all of whom Joo Hwan-jin had been given the opportunity to meet.
They all thought of the hunter industry as something like a sports business with richer commercial potential.
In recent years, the frequency of cracks, the accident in Japan that happened a few days ago, the Shanghai Shock that had happened prior – the sense of crisis all these brought differed greatly among the government authorities and the business sector.
Of course, the threat posed by the cracks should be stopped at all costs. However, for those who saw the world in numbers, the meaning and weight of what hunters did had long been erased.
In their eyes, exceptional hunters were nothing but stallions, athletes, and followers.
Hunters only strained their bodies in order to gain favor in the public’s eye. Hunters were racehorses bought to maintain their masters’ wealth.
It was one of the main reasons why Joo Hwan-jin had come to work for the Hankwang Group.
In his prime, he was one of the pioneers when the first of the cracks appeared. He was a ranker in the country, a ranker who had failed to survive amid the rising competition within the new generation.
Joo Hwan-jin had seen himself as a failed man, not because he sold his own organization but because of what he had become: Hankwang Group’s Chief Security Officer, who received a hefty salary.
For President Han Kwang-ho, he was a racehorse and luxury item that the president could show off by merely having him by his side. And right now, his master wanted more horses.
“Anyway, that’s what I’m saying. It’s easier than I thought. It would be foolish of you to push back on our previous plans unless you are willing for the risk to rise,” said President Han Kwang-ho.
“Mr. President, with all due respect…” Joo Hwan-jin tried his best to explain. “You underestimate him too much.”
“Do I?” the president asked.
“Wasn’t he involved in issues when he had an operation in Japan? People like Chairman Tatsuo Sukune and the Japanese Prime Minister…”
“Do you really think it was all Oh Yoo-seong’s doing?” President Han Kwang-ho snorted in half-amusement. “Of course,” the president continued, “Oh Yoo-seong might have done a thing or two, but not everything was because he is someone great. The Japanese Prime Minister and the chairman of the Leto group overestimated him. It was their fault that they fought amongst themselves before taking care of him.”
“Chairman Sukune was also a hunter,” Joo Hwan-jin reasoned.
“That’s why he did what he did. I will deal with Oh Yoo-seong as a hunter, but I do not have to consider anything else. That is all there is to it.”
President Han Kwang-ho thought of Yoo-seong as nothing more than a “mere” hunter.
He was certain that there were many ways to deal with hunters, especially with the privileges and influence that he had.