Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The talent of pissing people off

Everyone has mana. However, whether they recognize it or not depends purely on talent or luck.

The role of the mana an ordinary human possesses is to support the mind.

So if a lot of mana is taken away, one becomes mentally vulnerable. In severe cases, one may see hallucinations or hear auditory hallucinations. Insomnia may occur, and if this is severe, it can even develop into sleepwalking.

Seo I-hyeon finally understood why they paid 2 million won. It was a hazard allowance.

As time passes, the lost mana is naturally recovered, but until it is fully recovered, it continues to be dangerous.

By the way, the machine broke, so what about the work. Can he get the money?

Thinking that, he let go of the string and waited.

Looking around, everyone who had just been holding the string and pulling hard was standing in an awkward posture. Their faces were full of flustered expressions.

There were only five people attached to the machine on Seo I-hyeon's side. It had become like this when not everyone had even attached yet.

Seo I-hyeon glanced at the machine. More precisely, he checked the place where the gauge was.

Perhaps because the machine exploded, the gauge was still transparent. He also checked the gauges in front of other people, and every gauge was transparent.

Anyway, whether Seo I-hyeon or others, there was nothing they could do besides waiting.

While waiting like that, people appeared in a rush with urgent footsteps.

There were five people wearing white gowns, and five people wearing black suits.

Ten people came just because one machine exploded.

Those wearing gowns were researchers, and those wearing suits were employees of this company.

"First, everyone take your hands off and step back one step."

They did as told.

Seo I-hyeon stepped back and glanced over the people who had just appeared.

The researchers had flustered expressions, and the employees had a very slight irritation on their expressionless faces.

Well, the equipment broke suddenly.

The employees approached each of the five people who had been on the equipment.

"Follow me."

Everyone followed the employees.

The employees took them all to different rooms. As if trying to prevent them from matching words or figuring it out by eye.

Seo I-hyeon followed the employee into a room. In a space that wasn't very wide, there was one table and a few chairs.

It was a room that would be perfect to call an interrogation room.

Seo I-hyeon sat down on his own. The employee sat opposite Seo I-hyeon.

The employee quietly looked at Seo I-hyeon.

"We're grasping the situation, so please wait a moment."

Seo I-hyeon nodded.

"Go ahead."

After that, silence descended. The employee didn't say a word and only checked the tablet in his hand.

The atmosphere gradually grew heavier.

And it was the same for the other rooms.

* * *

In the charging room, CCTVs were densely laid so there were no blind spots. They even installed cameras on the bottom and walls so they could check from various angles.

So if something happened, it was possible to check and grasp the situation very accurately.

Dozens of CCTV screens filled the wall.

And the team leader and section chief of Etherix's external manpower operation team were there.

They rewound the CCTV and carefully checked what had happened.

"No matter how I look, I don't know. Is it really just a simple machine failure? What do the researchers say?"

At the team leader's question, the section chief answered right away.

"They say the ether battery exploded. And the circulation circuit broke as well."

The team leader's face twisted.

"At that level, it's completely broken. Repair?"

Thinking that asking about repair first without asking about the cause was truly like the team leader, the section chief answered.

"First, the battery has to be discarded. The circuit is also irreparable, so the whole thing has to be replaced."

"It would be better than making a new one. The battery is the problem..."

The team leader said while scratching the back of his head hard.

"If we insist to Cheonmyeong that it's a battery defect, it won't work, right?"

Confirming the section chief's eyes as if that wouldn't work, the team leader sighed and said.

"Nothing we can do. We have no choice but to order a new one. Damn, this is still in the experimental stage so there's a long way to go, but the cost is too excessive."

The team leader who grumbled like that asked.

"The cause?"

"The researchers speculate that ether overload is highly likely."

"Ether overload?"

The team leader's eyes flashed.

"If the battery broke due to ether overload, couldn't we at least talk to Cheonmyeong?"

The section chief answered with a cautious expression.

"Then they'll collect the broken battery. Just in case, wouldn't it be better for us to have it?"

The team leader nodded.

"That's true."

What kind of company is Cheonmyeong that a battery made there breaks due to ether overload. This was either a battery that had a problem from the start, or ether that the battery couldn't withstand flowed.

Common sense says the former, but intuition keeps pointing to the latter.

And if they investigate the battery that broke due to ether overload, they might gain something.

"Those guys who were hanging there?"

"We've isolated them for now. Assigned one employee each."

"Their personal information?"

"Here it is."

The section chief held out the tablet he had prepared in advance.

The team leader who checked the tablet had a somewhat peculiar look in his eyes.

"Jeong Sang-cheol. This guy, Myeongjin Pharmaceutical got their hands on him?"

"Yes. They just got their hands on him and left him, so I sneakily took him."

"Well done. But how did you know that? Myeongjin Pharmaceutical isn't a place that manages people so easily."

"There's one contract employee named Kim Guk-yeon. He says he knows him well."

"Aha, so you dug up information through personal connections. Well done. Then... is the possibility high that Jeong Sang-cheol provided the cause?"

The section chief hesitated to answer.

"Section Chief Lee doesn't seem to think so?"

"Wouldn't the possibility of a battery abnormality be much higher?"

"That's true."

The team leader scratched his chin while looking at the tablet. He looked at it for a long while thinking, then soon opened his mouth.

"First, let's hold them all."

"All five of them?"

"Yes. Have them sign a contract using the equipment damage as an excuse. Well, taking about five people won't be a problem. If not while watching, just extract ether with a charger and consume it."

The section chief answered right away.

"Yes. I'll convey it."

* * *

The eyes of the employee who had only been looking at the tablet flashed for a moment.

The instructions sent by the section chief had appeared.

It was an instruction to make a long-term contract using the equipment failure as a pretext.

He had already checked the information of the opponent in this place.

Name is Seo I-hyeon, age is only 25. No particular special notes. At this level, he could be cooked quickly.

Moreover, this room is a place that is particularly helpful for this kind of work.

The employee opened his mouth thinking that.

"Instructions just came down."

At the employee's words, Seo I-hyeon who had been leaning on the chair with an annoyed expression and slumping had his gaze turn to the employee. As if to continue speaking.

"First, I'll tell you the equipment price. 2.5 billion."

Seo I-hyeon whistled sharply at those words.

"It's quite expensive for a manual charger."

At the appearance of Seo I-hyeon speaking as if it was someone else's business, the employee slightly frowned.

"Special devices of this and that are included, so it's expensive."

"I see."

Seo I-hyeon answered roughly. It was a story he didn't particularly want to know. So he looked at the employee as if to get to the point quickly.

"Since you broke such equipment, of course you have to compensate, right?"

At those words, Seo I-hyeon slightly raised one eyebrow.

'Is he crazy?'

As if not interested in what Seo I-hyeon was thinking, the employee continued.

"The five of you each have to bear 500 million, but in fact it's not a small amount, right? So we thought of a method..."

Seo I-hyeon cut off the words right there.

"What kind of bullshit are you saying so earnestly."

"Yes?"

The employee looked at Seo I-hyeon with an expression and eyes mixed with absurdity and fluster.

"What did I do to take responsibility. Do you know how surprised I was because you placed broken equipment? The responsibility should be yours. Isn't this something going wrong? I think I need to check if there's anything wrong with my body and receive compensation for mental damage too?"

The employee was briefly flustered by the words Seo I-hyeon poured out but soon smiled and answered. He had expected this kind of situation too. Of course, he hadn't known Seo I-hyeon would be like this.

'His mental strength seems better than expected.'

In this kind of case, there is only one, when the opponent's mental strength is considerable. He seems to have trained his mind quite a bit by frequently experiencing difficult situations for a long time.

Still, it's okay. Even in times like this, just follow the manual.

The employee firmly pressed the button attached under the table. It was a switch that amplified the power acting in this room much more strongly.

Confirming that the employee badge vibrated slightly, the employee showed the tablet screen to Seo I-hyeon. The accident scene taken by CCTV was coming out on the screen.

"If you look here, a problem occurs the moment Seo I-hyeon-ssi pulls the string, right? It means you can't fully avoid responsibility."

And it was also a threat that he would make him take responsibility somehow. If they went deeper and more complicated from here, anyway Etherix, the side with stronger power, would be advantageous.

"If we proceed further from here, won't it become complicated, difficult, and hard for each other?"

The employee expected it would end if he went just this far. There was a reason for proceeding with this kind of work in this room from the start.

In this room, a power that shakes the opponent's mind to weaken it and blur judgment acts.

Of course, it doesn't apply to the employee. As long as he is wearing the employee badge issued by the company around his neck.

He had even raised the stage just now. In that situation, hearing these words, it would be fortunate if he didn't cry.

The employee looking at Seo I-hyeon with such expectations realized that something had gone wrong.

Seo I-hyeon's cold eyes were creepy as if they would cut him down.

"Haa. You have the talent of pissing people off."

The employee was flustered by Seo I-hyeon's words.

'What? It didn't work?'

The employee urgently pressed the button under the table again. The employee badge vibrated, and he checked Seo I-hyeon's expression. It was the same. Flustered, he pressed the button again.

Still nothing changed, so he reflexively pressed the button again. But the employee badge no longer vibrates.

It meant it was already at the limit.

At that time, Seo I-hyeon said in a low voice.

"That employee badge, it keeps vibrating?"

It was as if a beast was growling. The employee got goosebumps all over his spine. And cold sweat streamed down. He thought he might die at this rate.

In fact, Seo I-hyeon had known all along when the employee pressed the button earlier.

Having a body that slightly exceeds the limits of a human doesn't just mean being strong and fast.

It also means the senses are like that. So he could hear the subtle sound of pressing the button, and through his eye for detail, catch the subtle sense of incongruity that occurred at that moment.

So he could also know how many times the button was pressed and how many times the employee badge vibrated.

Seo I-hyeon's hand moved swiftly. And he grabbed the employee badge hanging around the neck.

Seo I-hyeon snatched the employee badge before the employee could even react. The string was so strong that the employee's upper body was pulled over.

"Huk!"

The employee's flustered breathing rushed over.

Seo I-hyeon grabbed the string with both hands and applied force.

Snap!

The string broke and the employee badge came into Seo I-hyeon's grasp.

Then the employee's condition rapidly worsened.

'As expected, it was this.'

Seo I-hyeon pushed the employee badge in his hand under the table and looking at the employee said.

"Now it's time to speak honestly. Tell me what kind of trick this is without omitting a single thing. Otherwise I'll properly let you know what becoming difficult and hard is like."

The employee couldn't even answer and only streamed tears. No, he was saying something but only muttering sounds that couldn't be understood at all.

A problem occurred because the power acting on the mind was too strong.

Seo I-hyeon who grasped that had veins standing out on his temples.

"This guy is really a crazy bastard."

Didn't it mean he was trying to use the power that ruins people like that on himself right now.

Seo I-hyeon first checked the tablet.

The instructions sent by the section chief were visible. Irritation surged.

He sent the CCTV recording video to his own phone. He decided to secure it in case he might use it later.

After doing that, Jeong Sang-cheol came to mind.

Unlike Seo I-hyeon, Jeong Sang-cheol couldn't withstand this kind of power. Still, there was the bond from spending time together recently, and he was a younger brother who did well and was smooth, so he couldn't just leave him.

Seo I-hyeon took the employee badge and went outside.

Finding where Jeong Sang-cheol was wasn't difficult. Because he had been hearing the voice from earlier.

It was a room with not bad soundproofing, but Seo I-hyeon's hearing was good enough to pierce through that.

There were doors of the same shape lined up, and the room Jeong Sang-cheol was in was two spaces next to where Seo I-hyeon had been.

Seo I-hyeon abruptly opened the door.

It was the moment Jeong Sang-cheol was about to sign on the tablet. His face was somewhat blank, and his eyes were bloodshot.

The employee who had been looking at him with surprised eyes urgently opened his mouth.

"You can't do this! Please go out!"

Of course Seo I-hyeon didn't listen to those words and strode inside and snatched the pen from Jeong Sang-cheol's hand.

And he pushed the tablet straight toward the employee.

The moment the employee tried to take some action, Seo I-hyeon reached out and snatched the employee badge hanging around the employee's neck.

Snap!

He broke the string and took the employee badge, and confusion set on the employee's face.

As expected, this wasn't the first stage either. He didn't know how many times, but it was certain he had pressed the button under the table.

Seo I-hyeon grabbed the nape of Jeong Sang-cheol's neck and lifted him up. And dragged him outside.

Coming out of the room, Jeong Sang-cheol suddenly came to his senses and trembled his body once.

When Seo I-hyeon let go of the nape, he staggered for a moment then regained balance, wiped his face dry a few times, and looked at Seo I-hyeon.

"Hyung-nim. I don't understand what's what at all."

"First let's go out."

Staying here any longer is dangerous. At least for Jeong Sang-cheol.

© Kim Kang-hyeon #12i09