Chapter 162 - Help And Contact

"Oh my, of course we'll help out. When it's a request from the Director himself, how could we possibly refuse?"

"Thank you."

In an upscale Korean restaurant.

Deep inside, a middle-aged man in a suit and a woman with long light blue hair were having a pleasant conversation.

"This is all because Chairwoman Lee Seol-ah is thinking about the country, isn't it? Hahaha!"

She merely smiled quietly at the man's flattering words.

As the meeting was about to end, she casually spoke to him.

"I hear the opposition party hasn't had much success lately..."

"Oh my... We need to do better."

"I hope things go well this time. Especially... someone as capable as Assemblyman Gam could make significant contributions to the process."

Translation: I'll push hard to get you a good position this time.

Understanding the implied meaning perfectly given his political experience, Assemblyman Gam's face brightened as he repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

Soon, Assemblyman Gam disappeared with a cheerful smile.

Lee Seol-ah, sitting in the back seat of a tinted black limousine, leaned back against the seat, closed her eyes, and fell into thought.

Yu-seong Group. And Lee Seol-ah. She had already succeeded in grasping a level of power that few in the Republic of Korea could challenge.

It was no exaggeration to say that Korea's economy was already essentially in her hands. Based on her overwhelming dominance in the business world, she had gradually begun to devour the political sphere as well, already controlling about half of Yeouido.

In this situation where the government and legislators were cautious of Lee Seol-ah and Yu-seong Corporation.

With a bit of skillful use of carrots and sticks, she could prevent political circles from speaking out against whatever Yu-seong Corporation did, to some extent.

Having already secured control of the ruling party, she had arranged today's meeting to ensure the opposition party wouldn't cause problems either.

"Sigh..."

Meeting with various political figures and coordinating with them wasn't easy even for her, but somehow she managed to finish it.

It was a request from none other than Egostic. Da-in.

"..."

PMC.

This business that Egostic had proposed to her was more problematic than expected.

First of all, it involved a company privately hiring ability users with money, which could lead to accusations that corporations were trying to establish armed organizations.

While this was quite common in other countries that had already become battlegrounds for ability users, it had never happened in Korea before.

So Lee Seol-ah had to approach this cautiously from the beginning.

In fact, the Association was an even bigger problem than political circles or the media, but this could be managed through her strong connection with the Director. After all, she was a hero too. By promising never to leave the Association and offering various forms of support while claiming it was all for humanity, things should work out somehow.

Thinking about this, she found herself reflecting on a conversation she'd had with Da-in previously.

...

"...I'm going to gather ability users and create a private company. A PMC."

"What?"

That day. At the top floor of Yu-seong Corporation.

In what had now become their official meeting place, Da-in had explained to her in a serious voice.

Not even hoping for A-rank, his plan was to employ numerous B-rank and below ability users to create something like a security company.

Of course, that was just the surface; in reality, it would be a PMC prepared for everything from training to actual deployment.

"Do you know why ability users are reluctant to become heroes in the Association?"

Low pay, hard work, and lots of criticism.

In the Republic of Korea, where heroes are routinely condemned for even a single mistake, living as a hero isn't easy. Even A-rank users with good pay might not want to do it, let alone those below B-rank.

After explaining this, Egostic then told her:

Rather than letting this surplus talent go to waste, it would be better to hire them all at high salaries and provide them with training and mental education.

Because...

"In the future, public safety will become extremely chaotic."

Speaking with such certainty as if he had seen the future, Lee Seol-ah found herself unconsciously agreeing. ...Though she had no idea how he knew this.

"In other words... before ability users turn to villainy for money, it's not a bad idea to hire them first. And they'll all be useful."

To summarize his words:

The Republic of Korea will face a day when public order collapses due to some incident and villains run rampant.

In preparation for that day, we need to privately employ ability users in advance and train them as emergency forces.

In truth, these were statements without any evidence or basis.

But Lee Seol-ah believed them. After all, everything he had said so far had been correct... it was Egostic. Da-in's words.

"This is a favor that only you can grant, no one else."

Da-in had said that while looking directly into her eyes.

Creating a private organization of ability users. The moment anyone attempts it, they would be crushed by the backlash from the government and the Association. Unless it was Yu-seong Corporation, which had already consumed half of Korea.

Facing Da-in who was looking at her and speaking so seriously, Lee Seol-ah readily agreed to help. Well... since Korea was practically hers now anyway, protecting it was in her interest too. And she had done some wrong things herself. Plus, she had received so much from Da-in...

'Because this is something only I can help with...'

That's right.

This was something that only Lee Seol-ah herself could do for Egostic.

Something that neither Egostic with his almost prophetic judgment, nor his powerful colleagues, not even Stardus could do.

Something only "she" could do.

"Hmm..."

Back to the present.

For some reason, recalling this fact made Lee Seol-ah feel good, and she unconsciously hummed and swung her legs in the back of the limousine.

Yes. All her efforts to take over Korea had been worth it. Without this, could she have helped Egostic with something like this?

From now on, whenever Egostic thought of the PMC, he would naturally think of Lee Seol-ah too.

And slowly, his heart would turn toward her...

As she was swinging her legs happily in the back of the limousine, she suddenly remembered something and spoke to the driver.

"Oh right. Please take me to this address."

"Yes, Madam."

Yes, since she was in Seoul, why not see Ha-ru's face after so long.

With that thought, Lee Seol-ah had the car turn toward Ha-ru's home.

"Ha-ru..."

I want to see you after so long.

In truth, Ha-ru was almost Lee Seol-ah's only friend. Now Da-in was an exception, but before him, Ha-ru was practically the only one.

They had met as children and spent their school days together...

"I wonder if she'll be happy to see me after so long?"

There had been some minor... friction recently over Egostic-related matters, but not enough to distance them. They had always been each other's confidants. Ha-ru was also the only person Lee Seol-ah spoke informally to.

Anyway, she decided to surprise Ha-ru with a visit. If she wasn't at the Association, she would probably be at home. Especially since it had been over three months since Egostic's last terrorist attack, so she probably had nothing to do. It was obvious where Shin Ha-ru would be, being either a workaholic or a homebody.

With that thought, Lee Seol-ah arrived at the apartment where Ha-ru lived.

Soon she reached the front door.

"Hmm... I should surprise her."

Lee Seol-ah naturally began entering Shin Ha-ru's door password.

They were so close that they had known each other's house passwords for a long time, with an open invitation to visit anytime.

After opening the door and entering, Lee Seol-ah called out cheerfully.

"Ha-ru, I'm here~."

What greeted Lee Seol-ah as she entered with a smile was a somewhat dark house.

Sensing an odd atmosphere, Lee Seol-ah muttered quietly as she moved forward.

"Ha-ru..?"

No answer returned.

As she headed toward the living room, wondering if Ha-ru wasn't home.

She suddenly paused at the sight of Egostic's photo attached to the wall.

"...?"

Egostic's photo, with writing next to it.

Why would this be hanging here in Ha-ru's house?

As her gaze naturally drifted toward it.

"Seol-ah?"

"Eek!"

Startled by the sudden voice from behind, she almost shot ice reflexively.

When she turned around in surprise, she saw Shin Ha-ru with shadows across her face.

As Lee Seol-ah's body froze in the sudden atmosphere of fear.

"When did you get here?"

Shaking the moisture from her blonde hair and smiling faintly as if pleased to see her, Ha-ru turned on the living room lights.

The house brightened again. Seeing Ha-ru looking cheerful, unlike the scary atmosphere from earlier, Seol-ah sighed in relief. Though startled for a moment, Ha-ru was still Ha-ru. Despite pretending to be the strong and aloof Stardus on the outside, she was the kind and warm Shin Ha-ru who only showed her true self to friends.

"I just arrived... You were showering. I thought for a moment you weren't home."

"Ahaha, welcome."

Ha-ru greeted her with a smile.

She had been slightly worried about how Ha-ru was doing lately, but she looked surprisingly cheerful.

Reassured, Seol-ah calmed her still-startled heart and said with a smile.

"I came to see my Ha-ru's face while I was in Seoul. Oh, but Ha-ru, what's this?"

Lee Seol-ah pointed curiously at Egostic's photo hanging on the wall.

Shin Ha-ru answered casually, her eyes darkening slightly.

"Oh. I've been constantly thinking about how to catch Egostic. Of course, since he hasn't been committing terrorism lately, these thoughts alone don't mean much. He's probably just hanging out with his colleagues at home."

Ha-ru laughed "ahaha" as she said this.

...And in that brief moment, Lee Seol-ah instinctively felt uneasy as she caught the slight dark circles under Ha-ru's eyes and her somewhat soulless laughter.

...Actually, Ha-ru wasn't the type to laugh "ahaha" like that in the first place...

"Haha, is that so? Um, I'm a bit thirsty. Do you have anything to drink?"

"Oh. Wait. I'll get you something."

Having barely changed the subject, Lee Seol-ah, with her excellent business acumen, noticed Ha-ru's current state. Hmm. I shouldn't bring up Egostic in front of Ha-ru today. The mood isn't good.

Deciding to warn Egostic again to be careful of Stardus, Lee Seol-ah sat down and began chatting with Ha-ru about various topics.

The atmosphere was pleasant as they caught up after a long time.

...Of course, when Egostic was accidentally mentioned, Shin Ha-ru went on a passionate rant about why she specifically had to catch Egostic, which made Lee Seol-ah tremble slightly.

But apart from that, the conversation was amicable.

More precisely, it was amicable until a call came from the Association saying they were "dispatching an S-rank hero from America to Korea to catch Egostic."