Chapter 269: Private Hunting Ground 1
Junhyuk called Eunseo and made an appointment for a lunch date on Sat.u.r.day. He wanted to tell her a few things.
As he looked at her expression, he frowned.
“Are you OK?”
“I’m fine.”
She looked relaxed, but she had just been through the Dimensional Battlefield, so she had to be anxious.
He looked at her and said, “If you can find a trustworthy psychologist, you should see one. We’ll still have to go to the battlefield.”
“Is there a way to avoid going?”
He shook his head heavily.
“As far as I know, there is no way of not going.”
Eunseo sighed, and he thought for a while and added, “I have a favor to ask you.”
“A favor?”
Junhyuk nodded heavily.
“Yes. My Paju home is under Guardian custody. I have to get it back.”
“Sure. They’ve found nothing unusual about the place. We can fill the sinkhole that was made in your house.”
“No, you don’t have to.”
“But part of the house has collapsed there.”
“I won’t have any complaints living there, and I’ll buy the house next door,” he responded.
“The house next door?”
He nodded.
“I’ll buy the house next door and use the current one for training.”
Eunseo stared at him and smiled.
“What exactly do you mean by training?”
He had made a pact with her not to hide anything from her, but he wasn’t sure if that included the things he had brought back from the battlefield.
“When I complete my training facility, I’ll invite you over.”
She nodded, and they talked for a while, eating and finis.h.i.+ng their lunch. At the end, they got up.
“Then, I have to go buy the house next door.”
“Can I come too?”
“No, I’ll be fine on my own.”
They said goodbye, and he headed to Paju. Junhyuk found a realtor in Paju and requested the purchase of the house next door. The realtor called back with an expensive price, but he agreed to it.
Junhyuk told the owners of the house to vacate within a week and paid them $2 million. The owners returned with a positive answer and agreed to vacate within three days. He told them goodbye and headed to his own house.
Once there, looking inside, he sighed. A large part of the building had collapsed and sunk into the hole, but during their time doing research, Guardians personnel had cleaned up the house rather nicely. However, Junhyuk still had more cleaning to do.
“Shall I start now?”
He called the interior decorating company that had done the decorations when he had first moved in and told them his conditions. At first, the company did not want to accept the job, but he told them that if they finished that weekend, he would pay them $100 thousand more, so they agreed to do it.
Junhyuk hung up the phone and pulled out his sword.
“I should clean as much as possible when there’s n.o.body around.”
He swung his sword at the debris made when part of the house collapsed. There was a lot of it, but his attack was stronger than any machinery in South Korea. So, he sliced and diced the debris and dirt and put everything in his Spatial Bag. Then, he poured everything out outside and repeated the process a few times until the house was almost clean.
Soon, the people from the interior decorating company came, measured the size of the sinkhole and made some calls. Meanwhile, the CEO of the company walked over to him.
“Nice to see you. Are you really going to have panic windows?”
“Yes, and I also need covers for the windows?”
“OK. We’ll work overnight and complete it all by tomorrow.”
“I’ll leave for the night.”
He wanted to plant the seeds as soon as possible, but he had to wait. Junhyuk looked at the CEO of the company working with his employees and slowly turned around to see Jeffrey standing right behind him.
“You kept safe.”
Junhyuk stared at Jeffrey and laughed aloud.
“When did you become an expert?”
Jeffrey was shocked by the question and stared back at him.
“How did you know?”
Junhyuk walked toward Jeffrey slowly, which made Jeffrey feel anxious.
“How did you find out…?”
Junhyuk knew a lot, and he could see a lot, and Jeffrey realized it once again that he was not someone Jeffrey could deal with.
Previously, Jeffrey had thought that Junhyuk had been an expert. Looking at him now, however, he knew Junhyuk was a champion and maybe even more than a champion.
Junhyuk walked close to Jeffrey and clutched his shoulders.
“Were you hiding it from me?”
“No, I just barely became an expert.” Jeffrey continued, “I’m not kidding. You are the first person I’m telling.”
He stared coldly at Jeffrey and asked, “Why? You think you can fight me now?”
“No.”
Junhyuk shrugged and continued, “Fine. Can we talk for a minute? I’m having some construction done and can’t stay here.”
“Sure, let’s go to my house.”
He followed Jeffrey to his house and looked around.
“Where is your sister?”
“She went to Members.h.i.+p Training with her friends.”
“Really?”
Junhyuk took a seat, and Jeffrey offered him a beer.
“It’s broad daylight, and you want to drink?”
“It’s only beer. It’s not even liquor.”
Junhyuk popped the can open, took a sip and stared at Jeffrey.
“So, what is your new power?”
Jeffrey smirked.
“Are you going to train me?”
“No.”
“Then, I won’t tell you. Please, understand.”
Junhyuk laughed out loud. Jeffrey wanted to save his power if at any point his life he was in danger, and Junhyuk said, “That’s fine. I understand.”
He crossed his arms and asked, “Do you have any news?”
“There are more novices now than we thought.”
“By how many?”
“Since the monsters appeared, the number has increased, and it’s speeding up.”
Junhyuk pondered it for a moment and asked, “What about experts?”
“I’m not so sure about them. One has to be a novice first to become an expert, and most novices belong to certain groups already.”
“Is that right?”
“Governments are collecting novices as well.”
“Governments?”
“Yes, there was a woman who took care of a monster in China. Since then, the Chinese government is taking every novice into custody.”
Something came to his mind.
“Sora is the only known novice in Korea!”
“Yes, but she can’t be touched.”
“Why?”
“You’d understand if you knew who was funding Guardians.”
“Yeah?”
Jeffrey had meant that the people who funded Guardians were above government control, and Junhyuk suddenly thought of the Dimensional Battlefield management.
Just like management had wanted, the number of people activating powers was increasing, but they didn’t want novices, they wanted more heroes. For that reason, the novices might be in even more danger.
“Are you waiting?”
“What do you mean?”
He raised his hand to cover Jeffrey’s mouth and murmured, “Right. Just let them be.”
More novices were appearing, and they were forming groups. It was possible that there were plans to use novices on Earth. At that point, there were more novices than ever before, but management wanted even more. It would be difficult for any of the current novices to become champions.
“They want heroes…”
They might have to wait a while longer.
“We may be attacked by more monsters.”
“Do you know something I don’t?”
Junhyuk waved his hand and said, “It’s just a guess.”
He wanted to become a hero himself, and the process was already in motion. Getting up, Junhyuk went to the veranda, and Jeffrey followed him.
There was heavy construction equipment coming in and out of his house, and Jeffrey asked, “What are you really making?”
“I’m just cleaning my house,” Junhyuk answered.
Jeffrey shrugged and emptied his can of beer. Junhyuk drank some more and stared at him.
“Can you find out where the novices are gathering as a group?”
“About the novice groups?”
“Yeah.”
Jeffrey looked at him and answered, “I’ll try.”
“OK.”
Junhyuk didn’t speak any further and completely emptied his beer can. Then, he crushed it and looked at Jeffrey.
“See you next time.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have some work to do.”
Junhyuk said goodbye, went outside and grabbed a cab. He was headed to Guardians HQ in Seoul because he was curious about Eunmi Jung and he wanted to meet Elise.
He got out of the cab in front of the gate. Because he had already resigned, he couldn’t get through, so he called Elise. The guard let him in after the call, and he went to see her, heading straight to the bas.e.m.e.nt.
There, Sora came out to greet him, and he walked alongside her as they talked.
“You came back from the battlefield safely.”
“The enemy troll allowed us to win.”
He thought of Kaljaques and smiled.
“That’s nice.”
They walked and talked and, soon, got to the bas.e.m.e.nt lab, where he met Elise. She was holding a tablet and walking over to him.
“You came?”
He nodded and asked, “Did Eunmi ever lose her conscience again?”
Elise nodded.
“There has been one incident since that last one, but we were able to restrain her from far away.”
“Restrain her?”
Elise smiled.
“The iron soldier suppressed her with rubber bullets, but it had a hard time doing it.”
“That’s something,”
The iron soldier was capable of shutting down an expert. They knew about her power and how to attack her from afar. Also, Eunmi didn’t have any equipment, and that helped.
He looked at Eunmi on the screen. She was sitting quietly in her room and, at times, she summoned the green energy. Then, Junhyuk turned to Elise.
“Did she leave for the Dimensional Battlefield on Friday?”
“Not this week.”
He looked at Eunmi again. Due to the poring incident, she had activated two powers and was now an expert. Therefore, she would definitely go to the Dimensional Battlefield and she would get some equipment there. At that point, the iron soldier would be unable to deal with her anymore.
“If she goes to the battlefield and comes back, be very careful. She might purchase new equipment, and the iron soldier won’t be able to do anything.”
Elise frowned at his warning.
“OK,” she said, staring at him, and asked, “Did you bring anything back this time?”
He didn’t want to tell her about the seeds because he needed them for himself.
“Nothing.”