WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 3: Shameless People

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“...I thought Sword Masters only existed in history books.”

“That makes sense. Even the PAB has shunted him into a backwater post.”

Officer Kim looked puzzled at Sergeant Hwang's calm reply.

“A backwater post?”

“Yeah. I hear they treat him like a disowned child.”

“But why? With a hero like that, shouldn't every organization be fighting to recruit him?”

Officer Kim's question was only natural.

Forget his past reputation. The skill with which he had instantly destroyed Seo Yong-chan's summon was astounding on its own.

Whether it was a guild or a government agency, someone that capable was valuable anywhere.

Sergeant Hwang asked indifferently.

“You've done group projects before, right?”

“Of course.”

“What did you think of the teammate who only complained that this and that were no good, while doing none of the actual work?”

“It was annoying.”

“What if that teammate was broke and ill-tempered, but older than the professors and too well regarded for you to kick out?”

“That'd be fucking annoying.”

“It's the same thing.”

“What?”

Officer Kim looked blank, as though they did not understand.

Sergeant Hwang spoke quietly.

“That man is a Sword Master, not a Player. He can't enter dungeons.”

“...Ah!”

“Get it now? Why everyone avoids him?”

Sergeant Hwang clicked his tongue.

High-level Players were valued for more than their strength.

They brought back treasures from dungeons, creating immense economic, technological, and social benefits.

“What good is being stronger than high-level Players? There's no benefit in keeping him around.”

In that regard, Rimon was the perfect chicken rib.

Unable to enter dungeons, he brought no profit. Yet he was an old-fashioned swordsman whose only expertise was beating people up.

And since he was a hero from the previous era, mistreating him was difficult.

Few people could be such a headache.

“Back then, they put up with him because they needed his strength. But now there are even greater Monarchs around. Who'd want to keep an old fogey around who does nothing but nag?”

“...I suppose so.”

“Now that you understand, get moving. We've got more than enough to do cleaning this up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Officer Kim sighed as they looked at the road Rimon had wrecked by kicking the bull into it.

Then they thought:

Whoever Rimon's superior was, they had Officer Kim's sympathies.

* * *

Bang!

“What the hell have you done?!”

A neatly pressed suit, an expensive watch, shiny hair, and a generous belly.

Director Kang Jeong-su was a middle-aged figure who clearly radiated experience and authority.

At the director's roar, Yoo Na-gyeong blinked her large eyes and asked:

“Do you mean requisitioning the tea leaves and cake from your secretary's office without approval, Director?”

“Not that! No, more importantly, the accounting department has been complaining that my snack expenses have gone up lately. Was that because of you?!”

“Um... could you consider it survival-related corruption?”

“Is that supposed to be an excuse?!”

“I have a condition where my health deteriorates if I don't eat sweets. In that sense, I'd appreciate it if you gave our team a snack budget too.”

“Grrr!”

For a moment, veins bulged on Kang Jeong-su's forehead.

Then they pressed their fingers to their temples and forcibly calmed themself.

There was something more important they needed to question her about first.

“I don't care about snacks. Explain the incident you caused yesterday.”

“Incident?”

“This! This right here!”

Yoo Na-gyeong looked as though she had no idea what he meant.

Unable to contain his frustration, Kang Jeong-su pointed at the report on his desk.

“Oh, the bull incident yesterday?”

“Yes! You deployed without authorization and caused such a massive incident! How do you intend to clean up this mess?”

Kang Jeong-su raged.

Any other agent would have flinched just from hearing them shout.

It was an ironclad workplace rule that employees had to read the room even when their superior merely cleared their throat.

And civil servants were the ultimate example of such rules.

But thanks to her unusual superior, Yoo Na-gyeong's sense of such ordinary workplace etiquette had been thoroughly numbed. Instead, she looked confused.

“Director, I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean.”

“What?”

“The PAB operates on a respond first, report later basis. Why would we need authorization?”

“...”

It was an obvious point.

The PAB existed to regulate Players who caused incidents.

Given how often it had to respond to emergencies, getting approval from higher-ups every time was impossible.

“Besides, all we did was prevent casualties. Why are you calling that a massive incident?”

“Do you really have to ask?!”

“Yes.”

“Grrr!”

Kang Jeong-su's face turned red, then pale.

Normally, this was where an apology should have come.

But Yoo Na-gyeong looked genuinely curious, as if she truly did not know. It left Kang Jeong-su too dumbfounded for words.

“You! How did you train your subordinate for things to end up like this?!”

In the end, Kang Jeong-su changed targets.

Rather than deal with someone so impossible to talk to, they decided to chew out her superior instead.

They knew that if they chewed out the superior, they could naturally chew out the subordinate as well. It was not merely natural for them, but habitual.

“What? You?”

But the moment that superior spoke, Kang Jeong-su clamped his own mouth shut.

They had been so agitated that they had only just remembered why they had never dared chew out Yoo Na-gyeong's superior before.

“That ‘you’ you just used... you weren't talking to me, were you?”

The white-haired young man had been lying on the sofa, yawning as if the director's office were his own living room.

At Rimon's quiet question, Kang Jeong-su swallowed.

Then, gathering every scrap of courage they had, they spoke sternly.

“You, you? How can you speak to your superior like...?”

“Jeong-su.”

“Ah, um. Come to think of it, I have an urgent meeting. I should probably leave right away.”

“Kang Jeong-su.”

“...Yes, sir.”

Kang Jeong-su stuffed the courage he had painstakingly gathered back where it came from.

The moment they saw those cold golden eyes, they knew.

If he did not change his tone immediately, he would soon be in no position to worry about dignity or anything else.

Rimon casually asked the now-silent Kang Jeong-su:

“How old are you now?”

“...I'm forty-six.”

“Really? You've grown up so fast. It feels like only yesterday you were pissing yourself because you were scared of me.”

Pfft!

“Ahem! Sir, those old stories are a little...”

Watching Yoo Na-gyeong cover her mouth as she struggled not to laugh, Kang Jeong-su truly regretted this.

Massive incident or not, he should have just pretended not to see it.

Why had Kang Jeong-su called in this old fogey who only looked young, only to have their dignity shredded like this?

“Ah, forget it. Anyway, do you remember what your grandfather called me when we first met?”

“...He said you were his lifesaver, and that I should never forget your kindness.”

“Right. I saved that bastard's life at least three times on that battlefield. If he had died, you wouldn't even have been born.”

“Th-that may be true, but public and private matters must be kept separate...”

“And what? You called me ‘you’? Is that how your grandfather raised you? Should I call Kang Deok-jin and ask? Huh?”

“I'm sorry! I misspoke!”

Kang Jeong-su immediately wilted.

So what if Kang Jeong-su was the PAB director, powerful enough to make even birds fall from the sky?

Their opponent was someone even their war hero grandfather had groveled before.

And if Rimon told Kang Deok-jin, Kang Jeong-su's father, about today?

Kang Jeong-su's legs might get broken at their age.

“Tsk. Kids these days.”

After clicking his tongue, Rimon planted a foot on the table.

Then, propping his chin with one hand, Rimon asked casually:

“So, what's the problem?”

“Pardon?”

“There has to be a problem if you're raising this much hell first thing in the morning.”

“...Yes, that's right.”

“Then what's the problem? I can't think of anything.”

“Me neither.”

Kang Jeong-su's frustration rose again as they watched Rimon speak so shamelessly and Yoo Na-gyeong quickly chime in.

But neither was playing innocent.

They genuinely did not know why there was a problem.

‘We didn't destroy any buildings this time, did we?’

‘And it isn't as though you beat the suspect to within an inch of his life before dragging him in like last time.’

That was right.

Rimon normally damaged buildings as a matter of course.

And suspects who were arrested often got beaten up too.

Compared to that, this case had been resolved rather gently. They could not understand what the problem was.

If Kang Jeong-su had known why, he would have swallowed tears.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, they could not guess what they were thinking and reluctantly opened their mouth.

“Yesterday, sir, you destroyed Seo Yong-chan's summon, didn't you?”

“Who?”

“You know. The drunk who was riding the bull you kicked away yesterday, Team Leader.”

“Oh, that bastard?”

Rimon nodded.

The Brass Bull had been so memorable that Rimon had forgotten, but now that he thought about it, someone had been screaming beneath it.

“So what about him?”

“Seo Yong-chan has demanded compensation from the PAB over yesterday's incident.”

“What?”

Rimon looked incredulous.

“What kind of bullshit is that? What did I destroy?”

“Well...”

Kang Jeong-su trailed off.

Kang Jeong-su had no idea how to explain this.

More specifically, they had no idea how to explain it without getting grabbed by the collar by Rimon.

Fortunately, that concern ended quickly.

Before he could even speak, the person with the answer arrived.

“Please wait! You can't go in right now!”

“Shut up! That bastard's in here, right?! Are you going to cover for him just because you're both civil servants?!”

“Th-that's not it...”

“Then move, asshole!”

Bang!

Just as the noise outside grew louder, the director's office door flew open.

A bandage-covered young man brushed past the secretary trying to stop him and strode inside.

Seo Yong-chan swept a sharp gaze around the office.

After looking past the startled Kang Jeong-su and blinking Yoo Na-gyeong, he spotted Limon, who wore an indifferent expression. His eyes flashed.

“You the one who cut down my Colchis Bull?”

As though he was already certain Limon was the culprit, Seo Yong-chan did not even wait for an answer.

He simply sat heavily on the sofa opposite Rimon, crossed his legs, and continued.

“Come on, let's hear it. How are you going to compensate me for my bull?”

“Seo Yong-chan, what do you think you're doing?!”

“What? Is there a problem with me sitting on a sofa bought with my taxes?”

“That isn't the issue!”

Kang Jeong-su's face hardened immediately.

They might have shrunk before Rimon, but that was only because their opponent was Rimon.

They were still the director of the PAB, the Players' Grim Reaper.

Yet some wet-behind-the-ears brat like Seo Yong-chan had stormed into their office and acted arrogantly.

Of course they were furious.

“What? Got a problem? Then compensate me first. Huh?”

But Seo Yong-chan did not so much as twitch an eyebrow at Kang Jeong-su.

Instead, he swaggered as he challenged him.

“That...!”

“You blew up someone else's summon without permission, then you've got the nerve to get angry? You shameless bastards!”

“Urgh!”

As Kang Jeong-su swallowed his outrage at Seo Yong-chan, who was berating him like a creditor collecting a debt, Limon spoke uneasily.

“Hey, I don't really understand this...”

Normally, Rimon would have started with a dropkick.

Rimon was not the sort to tolerate someone acting insolently in front of him.

But there was one reason Rimon watched Seo Yong-chan's outrageous behavior in a daze.

It was simply too absurd.

“Did you seriously come here to make me pay for that bullhead I sent flying yesterday?”

“What do you mean, seriously? Were you not even going to compensate me?”

“I just never expected to be asked for compensation.”

“Ha. What an unbelievable guy.”

As though Rimon was the absurd one, Seo Yong-chan shook his head.

Then he glared at Rimon with wide eyes and demanded:

“Do you know how much that summon cost?”

“How much?”

“Over 80 billion won. Eighty billion! You destroyed it, so of course you should compensate me. How dare you pretend you don't know anything?”

“Eighty billion won... That certainly is expensive.”

Rimon nodded.

Even for a Player who had made a fortune from dungeon spoils, that was no small sum.

An ordinary Player could work their entire life and never earn that much.

In that respect, Seo Yong-chan's outrage was understandable to a degree.

The problem was that it was still ridiculous.

“But why are you demanding it from us?”

“What?”

“Under the Special Player Administration Act, all damage caused by unauthorized skill use is the responsibility of the user. Isn't that right?”

Rimon glanced aside, seeking confirmation that his memory was correct.

“The Team Leader is right.”

Yoo Na-gyeong answered immediately.

It was not even something she needed to consider.

The surprising response came from someone else.

“In principle, yes, but...”

“Hm?”

Rimon looked puzzled.

Kang Jeong-su was normally strict about budgets.

Rimon had expected them to agree first, yet they were avoiding an immediate answer with a troubled expression.

“The Special Player Administration Act? Ha, that's funny. You think you can rob me of my money by throwing that nonsense at me?”

As if mocking them for relying on something so trivial, Seo Yong-chan sneered.

Then he lifted his chin arrogantly.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Who?”

“My sister's husband is Lee Cheon-gi. Lee Cheon-gi! All I have to do is make one call, and he can change that Special Player Administration Act or anything else however he wants!”

At that moment, Rimon understood.

Why Kang Jeong-su had been swallowing his frustration.

And what this bastard was relying on to act so arrogantly.

The name Seo Yong-chan had mentioned was one of ten names every modern person knew, even a three-year-old child.

“Your brother-in-law is Lee Cheon-gi, the Infinite Monarch?”

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