Chapter 36 - Choice and Investment (2/2)

“Even if we just keep the ether in this, the ether soon becomes unstable and creates a reaction that breaks the rod from the inside. We need to solve this problem.”

While she was talking, the rod suddenly shattered and ether poured on the floor. Sharp fragments splattered everywhere as the rod exploded for seemingly no reason.

“Ugh! It broke again!” Choi Eun-chae frowned as she pulled small pieces of glass out of her clothes. “As you’ve seen, we’re still far from our desired result. But if we can stabilize the container and the ether… I’ll get another Nobel Prize next year.”

Il-hyun laughed. “You deserve it!”

“If you think so,” she replied casually. Il-hyun found her confidence amazing.

“Anyway,” she continued, “because it’s still unstable, I need a lot of core fragments to continue my research.”

Il-hyun now understood why she called for him. He liked the sound of where the conversation was going. It sounded like a win-win situation for both of them.

Choi Eun-chae took a big box from one corner. Despite the box’s size and appearance, it seemed not too heavy.

The metal box was placed on the table and was immediately opened.

“Oh my gosh…” Il-hyun remarked at the beautiful sight in front of him.

The box was full of square objects that shined brightly with white light.

A huge amount of ether core was before his eyes.

“President Ryu Jin-tae increased the budget for this project. I did try hard to persuade him, but even I didn’t expect that it would be this much.”

Choi Eun-chae said, staring at Il-hyun with a smile on her face.

“The core rating is not high – all rank E,” she continued. “The goal is to achieve stabilization, so it does not make sense to use high-ranked cores immediately.”

“You want me to eat all this… no, you need me to break the containers, right?”

“Yeah, you don’t want to do it?” she teased.

“No! No!” Il-hyun immediately shook his head. His mouth was watering.

Choi Eun-chae turned around to find another object as Il-hyun stared at the core inside the box.

Suddenly –

She placed another box on the table!

“Here’s one more!” she announced happily.

“No way!” Il-hyun was astonished.

Jiiing!

To make matters worse, Il-hyun received a text message on his phone right at that instant.

The core settlement of the last B0 gate was over, and he is being asked to take his share of the core.

“Uh… Why are you not eating yet?” Choi Eun-chae asked him.

For the first time, Il-hyun worried about overeating.

* * *

Ryu Jin-tae and Lee Soo-yeon faced each other in the conference room.

He placed papers on the desk between them.

She picked it up and started reading, her eyes widening at each word.

“This…”

“Yeah, I had him investigated. I know you and Jin-seong are his team leaders, but in a situation like his, I had to get involved…”

The papers were filled with information about incidents involving Kang Il-hyun.

He stared at Lee Soo-yeon.

“It’s completely accurate. We spoke with witnesses, and such, there are no signs of fabrication.”

“Wow… this is great…”

“I’m happy, but we have a problem,” Ryu Jin-tae scratched his head.

“He can invalidate an Ace Monster’s ability’ his summons completely ignored Jin-seong’s [Stop] ability; he single-handedly caught the foreign man in the site, one whose rating is still unknown… Maybe Il-hyun’s abilities are far beyond what we thought possible.”

There was silence in the conference room after Ryu Jin-tae’s words.

Then, he asked her.

“Do you think we can trust him?”

Lee Soo-yeon thought deeply for a moment.

Really, Il-hyun’s tremendous abilities are beginning to surpass common sense.

Is it appropriate to keep a monster growing?

Lee Soo-yeon’s expression hardened. “I believe him.”

Ryu Jin-tae leaned back in his chair and spoke calmly. “Okay, then let’s not worry about it anymore.”

“First of all,” he continued, “please change the terms of his contract and increase his percentage of core settlement. Since he had a predatory instinct, it’s proper to give him more. At the company level, we’ll begin setting aside core for research purposes. Team A will be driven hard. You will have to get more cores. Understood?”

“I do not know. The other team members will complain.”

“Haha, that can’t be helped.” Ryu Jin-tae laughed as he stood. Lee Soo-yeon stood up with him.

“We will make him stronger. I hope your eyes are right.”