I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 173 : Request (2)

After reaching an agreement with Old Man Jang, I immediately had a meeting with his subordinate, Director Moon.

"I'm Director Moon."

He was dressed like a bodyguard, wearing sunglasses and a suit.

The lower half of his face visible below the sunglasses didn't give an impression of being particularly strong or distinctive; rather, it was closer to an ordinary appearance.

'A good spy should look ordinary.'

But the skill lurking within was nothing short of ghostly.

'He doesn't even want to properly introduce himself.'

I could easily sense that he didn't particularly approve of me.

"I know you're quite clever, but I won't forgive any rash actions that ruin the situation."

Sure enough, from the start, he tried to intimidate me.

"That won't happen."

I answered nonchalantly.

"Good. We'll see."

'Still prickly as ever.'

Of course, I knew this man's identity well.

'Moon Seongil. Age mid to late 30s. A typical assassin type.'

The name of his characteristic was 'Presence Elimination'.

If he activated his ability with intent, it would cause such a powerful cognitive disturbance that it would be difficult to notice his existence even if he was right in front of you.

If he concealed himself among shadows and restrained his breathing and aura, not many could detect his presence.

'If that man decides to play hide and seek, it's absolutely impossible to catch him.'

His weapon of choice was shuriken.

A character reminiscent of a ninja in many ways, and in fact, he was a Japanese who had naturalized to Korea after leaving Japan during the chaotic period of civil war in the Gate Era.

'Taking in and raising a promising young person in an unstable position. That's Old Man Jang's preferred method.'

Moon Seongil was also someone who gave absolute loyalty to Old Man Jang, who had given him an identity and raised him.

As such, his innate power was quite exceptional, especially in the realm of stealth attacks, where he had eliminated countless enemies far stronger than himself—Old Man Jang's sharpest knife.

That was this man.

"I'd like to see the insight that he values so highly. I assume you're familiar with the situation?"

"Yes."

"What do you think we should do first?"

"First, we should find Han Myeongju's affair partner."

Moon Seongil asked with interest at my prompt answer.

"Oh? Why so?"

"Looking at those who have failed so far, haven't they failed while trying to track Han Myeongju's movements directly? Following the same approach that has already failed would be excessively complacent."

"So we should find that woman first?"

"I have several speculations, but those are just possibilities. To put together the scattered puzzle pieces, the correct approach would be to secure statements from people around him first and start drawing the outline."

"Hmm."

Moon Seongil looked at me with eyes and an expression that couldn't be read due to his sunglasses, then nodded.

"Not completely empty-headed, I see."

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Su-hyeon and Moon Seongil met with Han Myeongju's affair partner, his secretary, at a corner table in a quiet cafe.

"What story do you want to hear that made you come all the way here?"

She wore a mask covering the lower half of her face, and with bloodshot eyes and a nervous voice revealing her wariness.

It was evident to anyone that she was under considerable mental strain.

'Not an unusual reaction.'

Su-hyeon thought.

Though not yet officially known.

The blackmail from a competing company, the sudden disappearance.

It was already an open secret within the company that her affair with Han Myeongju was behind his sudden disappearance.

Unable to withstand the gazes and all sorts of speculations around her, she had applied for resignation and was in seclusion.

"There's no need to be so wary. We didn't come with any intention of harming you."

Moon Seongil, who had seated Su-hyeon beside him, conversed directly with the secretary.

"Then what? Are you going to be my lawyer or something?"

Despite the secretary's sharp response, Moon Seongil maintained his composure and answered.

"At the very least, if we find Director Han and reveal the truth, wouldn't you be freed from groundless speculations?"

"Haha. Speculations. Yes, speculations."

"If I may, though they're called speculations, I imagine various words have been exchanged."

"Well, yes. But they're all obvious things anyway."

The secretary laughed sardonically.

"......Well, forget it. Let them talk as they want. It's true that I committed adultery, it's true that I destroyed a family, and it's true that he disappeared after failing to properly manage both his family and career, so."

Su-hyeon and Moon Seongil silently listened to her words.

"......Geez. In a position where I was just playing with fire, I'm not..."

As the secretary spoke as if lamenting, Moon Seongil's eyes gleamed behind his sunglasses as he focused on her words.

'She's subtly portraying herself as a victim.'

Additionally, she was clearly drawing a line that she too was abandoned and knows nothing.

'Let's probe a bit more.'

Reading the secretary's intention, Moon Seongil asked again.

"I heard that Director Han disappeared without even notifying his family."

"Yes, that's what they say. How would I know? He disappeared without saying anything to me either."

"Did he not give any hints beforehand?"

"That man is an idiot. He has no loyalty, and even less courage."

The secretary sneered.

"I don't know. Seeing as he ran away overnight without telling me and hasn't left any trace, I guess he had a talent for running away."

After finishing the conversation with the secretary and coming out, Moon Seongil turned to Su-hyeon and asked.

"What did you think?"

"There are some suspicious points."

"Like what?"

"First, I didn't sense any guilt or embarrassment."

Su-hyeon said.

"She might not feel guilty. Are there only one or two people who are shameless after having an affair?"

"That's right. But given that she herself is entangled with Director Han to the point of resigning and going into seclusion, I didn't feel any despair as if something truly terrible had happened."

"She could have given up."

"She did act that way. But I find it a bit concerning that the secretary gave up everything so easily and became so helpless."

"She doesn't try to defend herself, doesn't make excuses, and cleanly admits everything. Yet she doesn't burn with revenge against the man who abandoned her."

"Yes. That's exactly the point."

Su-hyeon nodded.

"As if she's a third party in this incident, as if she's someone hurt and disillusioned by betrayal. One could dismiss it as her having such a selfish character... but I don't know."

Moon Seongil, who had guessed Su-hyeon's intention, continued.

"In vulgar terms, you mean she seems to have nothing to regret, right?"

"Exactly."

"Then the answer is clear."

Moon Seongil said.

"The first thing we need to do is investigate the woman. Do you agree?"

"For now, I think we should start from there."

The clue lies with the secretary.

The two men had reached the same conclusion.

Moon Seongil, fully utilizing his characteristic, infiltrated the secretary's place at night and installed CCTV and bugs.

It happened during the brief 20-minute period when the secretary, who had gone out for a while, returned after buying daily necessities.

"We'll take turns monitoring, 12 hours each. Pay particular attention to who she communicates with."

"Understood."

Seeing Su-hyeon's seemingly nonchalant expression, Moon Seongil asked.

"Of course, this is unequivocally a crime. Does that bother you?"

"Not really."

Su-hyeon said.

"Then rest first. I'll monitor first."

"Yes."

Su-hyeon, without adding any comments, went to the folding mattress set up in the adjacent room and lay down.

'......A man whose inner thoughts are completely unreadable.'

Moon Seongil thought.

Monitoring hour 19.

Moon Seongil, who had returned to the monitoring room after taking a nap and having a simple meal, was momentarily speechless at an unexpected scene.

"......What are you doing?"

"I thought I'd exercise a bit since it's boring to just sit and watch."

Su-hyeon, who was repeating extremely difficult bodyweight exercises while keeping his gaze fixed on the monitor, answered.

"I'm continuously observing, so there's no need to worry."

"......Results of monitoring so far?"

"She tossed and turned with her eyes closed, then slept for about 5 hours, and after waking up, she paced anxiously around the living room, picking up and putting down her phone several times."

"......I see. Continue to keep an eye on her."

"Understood."

Su-hyeon answered in a calm voice, without even turning around or showing any sign of heavy breathing.

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"What the hell are you doing? Not even answering calls properly!"

A man's irritated voice came through the phone at the secretary's hysterical voice.

[Calm down. Why are you making such a fuss?]

"How can you be so relaxed? Things have become so complicated now!"

The man sighed and said.

[So I'm running around working up a sweat trying to untangle this mess, right? But why are you questioning me so impertinently just because I'm not answering calls well?]

"Ha."

The secretary scoffed.

"You're making me weird."

[Enough. Just tell me what you want.]

"Earlier, there were men who came looking for me, asking about Han Myeongju's whereabouts."

[What?]

The man asked again, perplexed.

[Who? No, more importantly, you went out and answered them directly? Who gave you permission?]

"I'm not your subordinate, can't I even do that on my own?"

[Don't play with words. If the situation gets worse because of your careless actions, you won't be safe either.]

"Hmph. Do you think I don't know that?"

After venting her frustration, the secretary, whose emotions had somewhat calmed, said.

"Avoiding blindly would be even stranger. Couldn't we have anticipated that someone would follow us? If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to deliberately leak information from our side to cause confusion?"

[The intention is plausible, but what specific conversation did you have?]

After listening to the secretary, the man sighed.

[Alright, I understand for now. Who do you think sent them?]

"I don't know either. But wouldn't they be from the side that got hit hard from behind?"

[If that's the case, they could have just sent their internal audit team to ask?]

"Those people are just salary workers anyway. It's better to use professionals, isn't it?"

[Yes. Like you.]

The secretary scoffed.

"That's all I have to say. Strengthen the security before any crazy people start chasing us."

[I have something to talk about regarding that too. Let's meet at that place tomorrow at 1 PM.]

Click.

The secretary threw her phone onto the bed after the man abruptly ended the call after saying what he needed to.

"Bastard. Who are you to order me around?"

Huuuu.

The secretary sighed and spat out curses in irritation.

"Who's the one who failed to properly control one idiot and messed things up?"

What had seemed like it would end easily was becoming increasingly complicated.

Even she didn't know why she felt so anxious.

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"Look at this."

Moon Seongil, who had eavesdropped on the secretary's conversation, twisted his lips.

"We've caught a big fish."

"I didn't expect they'd set up an operation."

Moon Seongil nodded at Su-hyeon's words.

"Yes. I thought it was suspicious."

"I'm curious about what kind of confidential information Han Myeongju leaked to go this far."

"But that's not our concern."

Moon Seongil said.

"More importantly, we need to find out the identity of the man who contacted that woman."

"Is there a way?"

"It's a bit troublesome, but."

Moon Seongil made a call to somewhere.

"Yes, search your intranet and find someone for me. Yes. I'll send you the recorded voice file separately..."

'It should be available within an hour at the latest.'

Su-hyeon's thoughts were spot on.

"Found him."

Moon Seongil twisted his lips upon receiving a message.

"Team Leader Oh."

Moon Seongil stood up after seeing the material containing the man's face and personal information.

"That man said he'd meet with the woman tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Good. Let's prepare."