This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 511

‘That aside…’

Where on earth could Yoonseo have gone for her business trip?

One thing’s for sure, she always keeps me updated with texts, so she must be managing well over there.

Still, I couldn’t shake off the pesky curiosity that was creeping in.

I found myself compulsively checking portal sites for news and some community forums that frequently update, hoping to stumble upon any news related to her.

After searching for an entire week here and there, I concluded that I couldn’t find any place that would be urgent enough for someone with Yoonseo’s capabilities to be sent on a trip during these times.

It just raised more questions.

Someone definitely went on a business trip, but there’s no destination worthy of it.

Isn’t that a bit strange, no matter how you look at it?

‘Dare I think…’

What if her business trip is not domestic…?

Even so, would they really decide to send someone like Yoonseo abroad during such a time? But the possibility made it quite concerning.

Thinking back, before the Association went haywire, they did send certain heroes abroad in exchange for specific interests from foreign countries.

I mean, even without looking far, just consider my senior who suddenly gained recognition as a hero after going on a business trip to Japan upon receiving an offer from the Association.

The relations between South Korea and Japan aren’t fundamentally any different here. The Japanese kids going wild over samurai or whatever would’ve been completely mesmerized by her dazzling heroics, leading them to shower her with nicknames like “Silent Samurai” and “Cute Samurai,” which caught the attention of Koreans too.

‘…Anyway.’

The crux of the matter is that when the Association was working just fine, these kinds of arrangements, while not overly frequent, were common enough.

Of course, there’s no way anyone in the Association would be crazy enough to send a properly functioning hero abroad during such a crisis.

But what if… it wasn’t decided recently?

I mean, what if it was a contract made when the Association was still functioning well?

Considering they are dealing with a country, not a company, they had no choice but to send someone they were forced to choose amidst weeping and eating mustard.

Could it be that Yoonseo just happened to get caught up on the Association’s radar?

‘Now that I think about it, that makes a lot of sense…’

Did she really refuse to commute from home to the business trip because of that?

Of course… I know that there are many other possibilities besides what I’ve just come up with.

To be blunt, she could’ve lied to me.

And if that suspicion is true, then the business trip she mentioned must be to that place—the Heogye, which belongs to the Another Ones.

If that’s the case, then the consistent texts she sends me become rather vague in explanation, but then again, the Association might have gotten crafty, or maybe she asked someone else to take care of that.

If I really wanted to dig deep, I could—but… I decided not to think further on that possibility.

Because honestly, I didn’t want to believe it.

I didn’t want to believe that Yoonseo might have lied to me, or that she’s jumped into such a dangerous place.

If that’s true, I can’t even fathom what thoughts led her to make such a decision.

So… it’s probably best to leave negative thinking here.

After all, it might just be pointless worry, and considering I told her to bring back something that day when we exchanged texts, I could just wait and see what she comes back with.

‘I’ve stressed how dangerous Heogye is multiple times, there’s no way she went there!’

So it must be fine.

…Probably.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Today, it hit me all over again how tedious this reporting thing is.

I mean, I had meticulously documented everything on paper, yet here I am, being grilled with questions.

If the questions were about something I’d overlooked or misunderstood from the documents, I might feel a tad annoyed but would ultimately take it in stride.

But these are questions about things that are clearly visible in the documents—of course, I’d get irritated in response.

“Here on the bottom of the document, you’ve labeled this as a peculiar entity exhibiting human-like behavior. What was your reasoning for choosing this description?”

It’s tough to keep my cool when she’s asking me things that are plainly obvious from reading the paperwork.

“The answer is written right there.”

Realizing that I was going to have to work with this person during the ongoing expedition whether I liked it or not made it clear that responding emotionally wouldn’t do much good, yet I couldn’t help but speak with a snappish tone.

This kind of behavior should’ve happened once or twice at most.

Seriously, what’s the point of constantly asking the same questions?

Are they trying to annoy me on purpose?

Even if that sounds far-fetched, they can’t be completely oblivious to how I’m feeling right now, yet they keep at it—making it hard to brush off as a mere coincidence.

But what’s the reason?

What could they possibly gain by provoking me like this?

Or maybe… this is some sort of test?

‘Ah, well…’

The Heogye I directly encountered, a place where monsters that feed on people reside, is a nightmarish realm beyond words.

Having spent nearly a week there, it’s only natural for them to be concerned if we are all still in one piece.

After all, if the heroes dispatched there came back with accumulated stress and suddenly went berserk in public, it would be an unprecedented disaster for the Association.

If they really are acting out of concern for such scenarios, I can’t exactly blame them—yet, my irritation kept boiling over.

It couldn’t be helped, considering they were dragging this out with pointless questions, making me late to visit Dogun.

Sure, it was only about three to five minutes, but those minutes stack up and suddenly become an hour or two, right?

‘At this rate, I might be waiting all night here…’

Is that why Chae-rim suddenly ascended to the vice-chairman position when the chance came?

The thought struck me that it might indeed be the case.

From the perspective of someone working for the Association, the position of vice-chairman must feel way more substantial than being a Special-Class hero.

With all that in mind, it’d be hard to act cocky in front of someone like that.

“We’re looking for the raw, unfiltered emotions Yoonseo felt the moment she faced that creature, rather than a neatly summarized report.”

Seriously… they articulate well.

“If that’s what you want, wouldn’t it make more sense to experience it firsthand rather than asking me like this?”

“Um, it seems our team is composed mainly of those specialized in paperwork…”

“Hey, who asked for anyone to join the expedition? What I mean is… it wouldn’t hurt for the support team to at least have a rough idea of what Heogye is like, right?”

“However, that might burden our personnel…”

“As long as you stay within the base, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Oh, right.”

“Hm… that’s odd…? Since you read the document, you know I requested additional support for the turrets, right? They’ve been performing fairly well.”

“Hmmm, I’ll review that more positively.”

“What about the support team remaining at the base in Heogye?”

“Due to safety concerns… if the whole support team goes to Heogye, things could get tangled further…”

“So can’t the lower ranks just stay here while the decision-makers like the team leaders go over?”

After saying that with a smile to imply their understanding, I felt like it was sinking in that I might have to work in a dangerous space like Heogye. The support team leader’s face turned pale for a moment.

“…I’ll have to reconsider that as well.”

He responded in a much softer tone than before.

Having wrapped up the little revenge for holding me up with useless fuss, the moment I exited the room…

“What’s this…?”

Right as I stepped out, I was handed a shopping bag emblazoned with the title of the team leader’s office.

And not just any shopping bag; it looked like something you’d see from a high-end luxury shop.

“What’s this?”

“That’s, well… a souvenir.”

A souvenir?

Now that I think about it, I did ask Dogun to bring me something back when we exchanged texts.

No way… did he use some method to peek at my texts?

The timing was so suspicious that I initially thought it was that.

But after getting the full story, it turned out otherwise.

Given the sensitive nature of this matter, it seemed they decided to keep everything for this expedition as discreet as possible?

The support team prepared a shopping bag filled with assorted boxes covered in strange characters for that reason, huh?

“So, let me get this straight… you want me to just take this with me and hand out what’s inside to my friends, claiming I was in China for a week?”

“Yes.”

“Well… it’s not something I can’t do, but… are you sure that’s gonna work? I feel like it’s a bit… flimsy?”

“Sometimes, clumsy methods can be more effective, you know.”

And besides, what’s inside the shopping bag consists of items you can only find in China.

The employees from the support team hunted these down themselves on a trip to China… what am I to do about that?

Since I did tell Dogun to pick up something on his way back, I guess I have no choice but to follow orders.