Chapter 84
“…Then you can just wear contacts, or even sunglasses.”
I said, looking at Ha-Eun with cold eyes.
“Aha! That would work! True Ancestor-nim, you’re so smart. Hehe.”
Ha-Eun’s face noticeably brightened once again.
…She’s definitely got a head full of flowers.
At that level, she could just say, “Red color contacts are trendy these days, so I tried them on, tehe!” and no one would suspect a thing.
But the shocking truth was that even with this, she wasn’t particularly unusual among my retainers.
How is it that Sera, a medieval knight, is the most common-sense person here?
I swallowed a light sigh and moved on to the main point.
“Anyway, what’s this about a Guild meeting? What do you mean by that?”
“Ah, there’s a guild I signed with right after I Awakened! They asked to have a meeting tomorrow.”
“Which guild is it?”
“It’s called the Taesan Guild.”
Taesan Guild?
I felt like I had heard of it somewhere, but where was it again?
While I was tilting my head, Ha-Eun continued to confess.
“But lately, I’ve been getting recruitment offers from better large guilds too. Honestly, I want to switch to another place, but I’m tied down by the contract. They said the penalty fee is huge, so I can’t. So I’m kind of worrying about what to do.”
‘Hmm.’
Something felt off.
She hastily signed a contract right after awakening, without knowing anything?
“Show this body the contract.”
“Yes! Here you go.”
Ha-Eun took out her smartphone and brought up the screen for me.
I took the device and carefully examined the contents, supplementing them with an internet search right away.
And the results were as expected.
A typical unfair contract full of toxic clauses.
“The profit distribution is absurd, and the penalty fee is ridiculously inflated. This is no different from shackles, is it not?”
“Ye-es…?”
At my words, Ha-Eun’s jaw dropped in shock.
“I, I didn’t even know that… The guild official who first came to me was so kind, and they said everyone starts out like this, so I firmly believed them.”
‘Oh boy… Ha-Eun, oh Ha-Eun.’
Honestly, I felt a bit sorry to say this, but she had the perfect personality for scammers to rip off.
I searched a bit more into Ha-Eun’s information using the unofficial S-rank authority I had previously received from the Association President.
‘Hah.’
When one looked at her, she was barely twenty-one years old, and although she had an A-rank class, she was a rookie who had only Awakened a few months ago.
A young adult just starting out in society got caught up in such a malicious contract, and no one around her stopped it!
“Did your parents not know you were signing such a contract?”
What on earth were her guardians doing?
At my question, Ha-Eun’s complexion darkened.
The cheerful demeanor she had just a moment ago disappeared like a lie.
“…Actually, my father passed away when I was young. And my mother’s health is very poor, so she’s been hospitalized for a long time.”
“…”
“So I kept working part-time jobs since high school to save up money. I was lucky enough to awaken recently, and I thought if I became an A-rank Hunter, I wouldn’t have to worry about hospital bills… My goal is to quickly earn money and bring in an expensive healer to cure my mom.”
Ha-Eun, who calmly confessed her story, looked at me with a serious face, then deeply bowed her head.
“Thank you so much for saving my life twice, and for giving me this great opportunity to start anew. I’ll work hard, True Ancestor-nim!”
“…”
I thought she was just a bright kid who grew up well without any hardships, but that wasn’t the case.
Somehow, the family situations of our Retainers were a bit rough.
Si-Yeon was a child who lived under brainwashing, and Sera had lost her parents too.
And the youngest who just joined has one parent missing and the other sick.
A little while later.
“Then I’ll be going now! See you next time!”
“Head back.”
Having finished all of her schedule, Ha-Eun cheerfully said her goodbyes and returned home.
Since Ha-Eun had a home, there was no particular need to make a room for her in the territory.
‘Hmm…’
I lay on the bed and pondered for a moment, then turned on the vision of No. 7, which I had attached to Ha-Eun.
Normally I wouldn’t have looked since it was an invasion of privacy, but this time the circumstances were different.
It was because I was worried that the malicious guild might try to pull some trick again.
However
‘Whoa.’
The state of Ha-Eun’s house seen through the screen was completely ridiculous.
It was a cramped, old studio apartment that barely let in any light.
It was an environment even worse than the studio apartment I lived in before I Awakened.
Even so, she was an A-rank class awakener in name, so was it right for her to live in a place like this?
“Hmm-hmm~”
But inside that cramped room, far from being depressed, Ha-Eun was humming a tune while doing chores.
The way she neatly folded her clothes and wiped every corner of the floor showed she was a seasoned housekeeper, not someone who had only done it once or twice.
It seemed she had poured all the money she earned into her mother’s hospital bills and had all her profits ripped off by the guild, so she herself had been enduring in this narrow place, saving frugally.
Having finished cleaning, she opened the door of a tiny refrigerator.
Inside, side dishes that looked handmade were neatly portioned into containers and stacked in layers.
Ha-Eun, who had been inspecting the inside of the fridge for a while, took out one of the containers.
“Ah, this has garlic in it. They said vampires shouldn’t eat garlic… But it’s too much of a waste to throw it away.”
Smacking her lips while stroking the container, she muttered to herself, seemingly unable to let it go.
“Wouldn’t a little bit be okay? Should I try just one bite?”
Eventually, she carefully picked up a piece of the side dish with her hand and popped it into her mouth.
“Ugh! Ptoo, ptoo! It tastes absolutely awful!”
She immediately freaked out, sticking her tongue out and coughing.
“Cough, cough! I can’t eat it… Hngg…”
With tears welling up in her eyes, Ha-Eun put the container back down, as if it were a deadly waste, making an expression as if she had lost the world.
Seeing her act so quirky and bright even in such a difficult environment somehow made me feel even more pity for her.
‘…I’m kinda pissed off.’
A quiet anger surged up inside me.
They shoved that kind of unfair contract at a kid like this and tried to rip her off?
I really felt the urge to teach the Taesan Guild a lesson.
I felt like I could easily overturn them just by sending Katarina and Si-Yeon.
But this time, I wanted to use a cleaner and more certain method.
'Hmm. Should I use the Association President’s connections?'
Thinking that, I opened the system message inbox.
'Huh?'
Surprisingly, I had received a message from an unexpected person.
[Title: True Ancestor-nim.]
[Sender: Eun-Seol]
[True Ancestor-nim. Is there anything I can help you with?]
[I would like to help if I can be of even a little assistance.]
It was a message from the Republic of Korea’s S-rank hunter, the Ice Empress Baek Eun-Seol.
Didn’t she send a considerably large donation last time too?
Going one step further, she even contacted me saying she wanted to help directly this time.
Why is she so favorable towards me?
I did save her in a gate once, but she definitely shouldn’t know that it was I.
'Baem-maeng-ming…'
I pondered for a moment, but no particular answer came to mind.
And anyway, I didn’t really need anyone’s help…
No, wait.
Come to think of it, wouldn’t an S-rank hunter be an existence with tremendous influence, capable of resolving a mere guild contract issue in a single breath?
I immediately sent a message to Baek Eun-Seol.
[True Ancestor: One of this body’s Retainers is tied down by a malicious guild contract and is experiencing difficulties. Could you resolve this matter?]
The reply came surprisingly fast.
When I roughly explained the situation, she readily stepped up to help.
[Eun-Seol: You mean the Taesan Guild. Understood. Please do not worry.]
[Eun-Seol: Then I will do it like this…]
As we exchanged a few more words, I couldn’t help but be surprised by what the Ice Empress said next.
‘Huh? She’s really going to go that far for me?’
I didn’t expect an S-rank Hunter to step up so actively for a mere A-rank hunter’s contract issue.
‘Great, this solves it right away!’
I immediately sent telepathy to Ha-Eun through [Sight Sharing].
‘O Retainer.’
- Uh…? True Ancestor-nim? Wow, I can hear a voice in my head!
Ha-Eun on the screen widened her eyes and looked around at the empty air.
‘Yes. About that unfair contract issue you mentioned.’
- Ah, yes!
‘This body has handled the entire problem, so immediately notify those fellows that you will terminate the contract.’
- Ye, ye-es? Really?
Ha-Eun’s jaw dropped.
She seemed unable to believe that the problem she had been worrying about due to the penalty fee was resolved in an instant.
- Thank you!!! Thank you so, so much, True Ancestor-nim!
In her cramped studio apartment all by herself, she continuously bowed her head toward the empty air.
I smiled lightly as I watched her.
Problem solved!
I was already looking forward to seeing what kind of reaction the Taesan Guild would show tomorrow.
* * *
Kang Min-cheol, the HR Department Manager of the Taesan Guild.
Sitting in a cafe in Seoul, he was in a very displeased state.
‘Hah, shit. Why is she suddenly saying she’s going to terminate the contract?’
Song Ha-Eun was the naive A-rank rookie they had luckily scooped up not long ago.
He had been in the middle of planning her schedule, intending to work her to the bone for guild promotions starting tomorrow, but yesterday he received a unilateral notice of contract termination.
‘Did another guild put ideas in her head?’
There was definitely some bastard coaxing her from behind.
But since Song Ha-Eun was a kid who knew so little about how the world worked, if he met her and gently coaxed her or scared her with talk of the penalty fee, she would quickly bow her head again.
However, right before the appointment time, a message that arrived from Song Ha-Eun grated on his nerves.
[Song Ha-Eun: I won’t be going alone today; I’ll be coming with someone else.]
‘It’s this bastard.’
Kang Min-cheol clicked his tongue with a tsk.
The person coming with her.
It was obvious that this guy was the mastermind who put ideas in Song Ha-Eun’s head and urged her to terminate the contract.
‘Let’s see your face. Just which guild’s bastard are you to lay your hands on something someone else already called dibs on?’
He took a sip of his coffee and spat out curses inwardly.
Ding-ling-!
At that moment, the cafe door opened, and Ha-Eun walked in wearing some sunglasses.
And.
One person who followed in after her.
‘…Huh?’
When Kang Min-cheol saw that, his eyes widened greatly.
The coffee he had been holding in his mouth trickled down.
Because.
The person who followed behind Song Ha-Eun was - -
A cold-faced beauty with blue hair.
It was Baek Eun-Seol, the Ice Empress, one of the Republic of Korea’s four S-rank hunters.
‘W-Why is the Ice Empress appearing here…?’