Chapter 141: Guardians 3
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The goodbye party for Junhyuk and Eunseo was simple. They held it at the best beef barbeque restaurant and spent a fortune, so most people didn"t feel bad because the two were leaving. Many people were sad because Eunseo had to leave, but only two people felt the same way about Junhyuk.
Somin and Mr. Jang were saddened by the news. Mr. Jang just gave him some encouragement to do well once Junhyuk got to his new job, but Somin was filled with sorrow. At the end, Junhyuk told Somin to call him anytime she wanted to, while Jangho stared hard at Somin. Junhyuk, however, didn"t care about Jangho"s stare.
Somin was very happy that Junhyuk"s had said that, and Jangho stared her down again, but Junhyuk just ignored him. In any event, Junhyuk didn"t have time to date. He felt guilty meeting other women other than Sarang.
Once the simple goodbye party was over, Junhyuk headed home. He arrived, fell on his bed, pulled out his tablet and looked for information on the city where he was going to work. It wouldn"t be easy to commute to Paju, so he decided to buy a new house there.
He felt guilty about owning two houses, but he was earning enough, and it was necessary. Junhyuk thought about his new house. It needed to be large, at least fifty meters across, so that he could practice teleporting.
There weren"t a lot of options. Only three houses fit the criteria, and he would visit them all the next day.
He called Sarang on the burner phone.
"Whoa! Why did you call me first?"
"I"m transferring. Starting tomorrow, I report to work at a different place," he said calmly.
"That doesn"t make any sense! You gave up on your dream job?"
"It"s owned by the same company, and I get paid the same. I"ll also continue to work as a model."
"ST Capsule owns the other company?"
"The newly created Guardians."
"Why did you transfer?" Sarang asked, surprised.
"I wanted to learn more about the iron soldiers."
"Won"t it be dangerous?"
"It"ll be fine."
She didn"t think Junhyuk would die, so she quickly agreed.
"Where is the new company?"
"Paju."
"Really?! That"s so far."
"I have to move there."
"Then, you won"t come see me anymore?"
"I could, and I"ll see you every two weeks."
"Hm... We don"t even have time to eat a proper meal over there."
Junhyuk laughed.
"Friday, I have to go to the Champions" Battlefield. We"ll dine together on Thursday."
"Hm... Can you meet me?"
"I"ll wear a disguise, so don"t worry."
Sarang laughed brightly and whispered, "My mom is here. I need to hang up."
"Right. Sleep tight."
Junhyuk hung up and raised his hand. He stared at it and slowly closed his eyes, mumbling, "I have to find a suitable house."
---
In the morning, he got a message on his phone and put the address in the GPS and drove to Guardians" headquarters in Paju.
It was a repurposed and renovated factory, larger than ST Capsule"s headquarters. Junhyuk was stopped by the guards at the huge entrance and showed them the employee ID given to him by Eunseo.
One of the guards verified it and opened the gate. Junhyuk felt the security was top notch and drove in. The large parking lot only had five cars parked in it. Junhyuk parked his car and went inside the building, realizing the security was tighter than he had expected. He saw a female worker behind a desk and walked over.
"h.e.l.lo."
"h.e.l.lo," Junhyuk greeted her, and the female worker smiled.
"The CEO is waiting for you."
"Where do I go?"
"Head to the third floor."
Junhyuk walked toward the elevator and had to pa.s.s through a metal detector. He turned around, and the female worker smiled at him.
"It"s for safety."
Junhyuk went through, and it scanned his body using a blue light. Once that was over, he got on the elevator and went to the third floor. Soon, he saw the door to the CEO"s office and opened it to find a bunch of secretaries inside.
Among them, he saw some familiar faces. The bodyguards who followed Eunseo around and looked well-trained each had ten health. The gla.s.ses showed him the strength of their souls, but they also had physical strength.
The secretaries were commanded by a woman, and the woman also had ten health. She definitely wasn"t ordinary. They were all strong, and he felt awkward.
"I"m Head Secretary Dohee Anh. The CEO is waiting for you."
He wasn"t late, but Eunseo was already there. Junhyuk showed her his ID and said, "Guardians" Junhyuk Lee."
Guardians didn"t have separate departments. Junhyuk would oversee Guardians, but he didn"t know who was who yet. Dohee took him into Eunseo"s office, and he saw her there. She offered him a seat and moved closer to him on her wheelchair.
Junhyuk sat, and Eunseo told Dohee, "Two cups of tea, please."
"Yes, ma"am."
Dohee came back with the tea and left.
"I sent you everything by email," Eunseo said.
Junhyuk checked his tablet and was surprised at the amount of unopened emails. It didn"t look simple.
"There"s an iron soldier in the hangar. Let"s go see it," she said.
"Can I?"
She nodded.
"We are responsible for everything in the Executive Department. Our main priority is the iron soldiers. There is a repair team and a research team, but the responsibility lies with us."
"OK."
Junhyuk was glad that he could get closer to the iron soldiers, and Eunseo sipped her tea.
"I will introduce you to the head of the Development Department we scouted."
"Is it a famous person?"
"It"s the former head of the development team at Robotics, the actual inventor of the iron soldiers."
Junhyuk was curious to meet that person. He wanted to see an iron soldier"s powers and check to see if the current energy system was enough to keep it operational. He definitely wanted to meet the inventor.
Eunseo finished her tea and took Junhyuk to the hangar. There, he saw an actual iron soldier for the first time. It was a two-meter tall humanoid robot and it looked clumsy.
"It looks odd in real life."
He thought it would look sharper, and someone said in a dry tone, "Nothing can be done about that. To equip itself, it has to be large, and because it is large, it carries heavy equipment."
Junhyuk turned around and saw a woman with her hair tied up. He thought Eunseo was strong, but the woman was stronger. She had thirty health and twenty mana. The woman couldn"t be a novice yet, but she would make a strong minion.
Eunseo looked at her and said, "This is the person I want to introduce you to, Development Chief Elise."
Junhyuk felt that she had replied sharply, but that had to be because Junhyuk had said something unpleasant about the iron soldier.
"Nice to meet you. I"m the Executive Department"s Junhyuk Lee."
"Development Department Chief Elise."
She stood next to Junhyuk and looked at the iron soldier.
"As I told you just now, to deal with monsters, it needs heavy artillery. When we a.n.a.lyzed the bears" skins, we found that it couldn"t be pierced by ordinary firepower."
Elise spoke slowly, and Junhyuk stared at the iron soldier.
"I"ve witnessed the power of iron solder. It"s killing monsters all over the world."
"Right. State-of-the-art weaponry is installed on every iron soldier, and they are killing the monsters, but we have a lot more to show."
"That wasn"t everything?"
Elise smiled.
"Of course not. They are state-of-the-art machines. The powers displayed so far are just the tip of the iceberg."
Junhyuk looked at the iron soldier.
"I want to see it, its true power."
Elise shook her head, and said, sounding very proud, "That won"t happen. The monsters can"t bring out the best of the iron soldiers." And she whispered, "Maybe the Dark Knight will do the job."
"The Dark Knight?" Junhyuk asked and turned to her.
She laughed.
"The Dark Knight killed the Han River monsters by himself, displaying amazing power. He has abilities beyond modern technology."
Technology couldn"t match Junhyuk"s powers. Beyond even novices and experts, as a champion, he had supernatural powers.
Junhyuk stared at the iron soldier. It hadn"t displayed all of its power, and Junhyuk frowned. He had already thought it would be difficult to deal with one, and Elise was telling him that wasn"t all.
He turned to look at Elise and asked, "How many employees do you have?"
"I"m alone," she answered.
"What?"
She smiled and continued, "More accurately, I"m with Zaira. But she is an artificial supercomputer. I"m alone with my robots."
Junhyuk looked at Eunseo, and she said, "She brought her things with her. The equipment she put in this place costs over $500 million."
The iron soldier was special and state of the art, and they had already spent $500 million on its inventor. She had brought things with her and had an artificial supercomputer. Guardians probably had invested over $1 billion.
It was understandable why the security was tight. They had all that equipment there. Elise guessed at what he was thinking and smiled.
"No one can break in here. Zaira could spot anyone trying to do it."
Junhyuk nodded and looked at Eunseo.
"What is our priority here?"
"The composition of cooperation doc.u.ments," she answered.
He thought that would be boring, and Eunseo said, "We have rough drafts done. You just have to translate them."
"Count of me for that," he said confidently, and Eunseo looked at Elise.
"Elise, you are doing well."
"Don"t worry. Since I have unlimited support, I will show you what can be done as a scientist."
"I expect big things."
She turned to Junhyuk and said, "I"ll take you to your office."
Junhyuk followed Eunseo and disappeared. Elise watched him through a hangar window. Once he had completely disappeared, she said, "Zaira, what do you think?"
"His physicality is quite powerful. It"s beyond human limitations."
"Is something special about him?"
"He has three items that need to be a.n.a.lyzed and he has a hidden pure mana stone with him."
"A mana stone…" she said, smiling brightly. "Just like Doyeol had guessed."