The Returnee's Daughter (2)

Chairman Song Hyun-seung of Tae-yeong Group wanted to scout me.

To be honest, I felt a little dumbfounded.

There were several reasons I returned to this world and started this work again.

One was to repay my debt to Shin Ah-yeon, and another was my desire to properly finish the manager job I had once given up on.

Of course, money was also part of the equation.

While I earned a decent income as a manager at Unique, the conditions presented by Tae-yeong Group were jaw-dropping.

A blank check, no less.

It was probably an offer everyone dreams of receiving.

"I..."

As I stared at Song Hyun-seung's outstretched hand, I hesitated for a moment before slowly raising my gaze.

"I'm sorry, but I must decline."

"...!!"

In response to my firm answer, the secretary beside Song Hyun-seung bristled and tried to step forward, but Chairman Song stopped him with a raised hand.

"May I ask why?"

"It's because the offer is too much for me."

"Too much?"

"To be honest, the things I've accomplished so far aren't purely my own achievements."

It could be described as good judgment.

If that alone was enough to earn high praise, then I suppose that made sense.

I helped bring Shin Ah-yeon back from her self-imposed isolation at her mansion.

I supported Soo-ah, who had been neglected by everyone, until she became S-rank.

"But I only helped the two of them; in the end, it was their own talent that produced these results."

It was true that my help allowed them to achieve that much.

But for anyone else to evaluate those achievements properly, they would need to know I had used "knowledge from another world" to support them.

Otherwise, I'm just a manager with good judgment.

Given the information available publicly, the only conclusion is that their talent produced these results.

'But for him to make me an offer based on my insight alone, it's just too bold.'

So why did Song Hyun-seung make such a daring proposal to me?

All he knows about me is that I'm a "returnee" and that I'd been missing for three years.

He doesn't know that I'm hiding knowledge from another world.

He can only make a rough guess.

But he wouldn't have gone this far on just a hunch.

No, if that were the only factor, I would have been cast aside in an instant and the offer would have been meaningless.

Judging by the secretary's reaction, this proposal was solely Song Hyun-seung's own decision.

Having the chairman personally scout me sounded prestigious, but in hindsight, it was nothing more than dropping in by parachute.

That meant I wouldn't have any allies within Tae-yeong Group.

In short, this extravagant offer was the price to buy "me" as a person.

Song Hyun-seung wasn't just looking at me as a manager, but as a returnee.

And he clearly intended to use everything I had.

"Chairman, I'd like to continue working as a manager."

"..."

Song Hyun-seung clamped his mouth shut at my words.

The secretary beside him kept grumbling, but didn't do anything else since the chairman remained silent.

"You're bolder than I expected."

"If you see it that way, I'm grateful."

"I thought my offer would be more than enough to shake you, but I suppose I misjudged."

With that, he gave a short laugh and slumped back into his original seat.

"That's a shame. These days, Jin Su-hyuk's actions have been suspicious, so I wanted to keep him in check."

"You mean, president Jin Su-hyuk?"

"Yes, recently, Jin Su-hyuk has been acting oddly. He's not moving as aggressively as he used to and seems to be searching for something. The problem is, no one knows what he's looking for."

Jin Su-hyuk, the President of Grand Nova.

Three years ago, I worked at Grand Nova, but I only saw his face a few times.

Within the company, Jin Su-hyuk was almost like a religious figure.

Anything the president did was assumed to have a reason.

That's how blind their faith in him was—Jin Su-hyuk was that amazing.

It's not easy to be trusted that much by your subordinates.

In fact, Jin Su-hyuk had started from nothing and became best in the industry in only twenty years.

"Do you know what Jin Su-hyuk is trying to achieve?"

"I'm not sure."

I'd thought he might be expanding his business, but from Song Hyun-seung's reaction, it seemed that wasn't it.

"Jin Su-hyuk has been aggressively growing his businesses, building connections with lawmakers, and accumulating power. I doubt there's anyone in Korea who could take him down. He's popular with the public, so I even wondered if he's aiming for the presidency."

"So, you're saying... you don't think so?"

"I wouldn't go that far. I'm sure he's keeping that in his sights as well, but I have the feeling that's just one step in a larger plan."

Becoming the head of the nation is just a process?

That was beyond my understanding. I'd never been someone who stood above others.

And I had no intention of becoming one in the future.

'If Song Hyun-seung says this much...'

He must sense something is up.

I suppose that's why he made such a proposal to me in the first place—there were several intertwined reasons.

"Chairman Song Hyun-seung."

"...?"

Song Hyun-seung's gaze fixed on me as I calmly spoke up.

Ultimately, his goal was to check Jin Su-hyuk.

His attempt to recruit me was just one move in service of that goal.

"I'd like to propose a deal."

If that's the case, it wouldn't be so bad to take advantage of it for myself.

***

After finishing my conversation with Song Hyun-seung at Tae-yeong Group, I went straight back to Unique.

Either way, I needed to deal with everything I could before leaving for America.

'Chairman Song said he'd contact me later.'

He said he'd consider my proposal too, but he would have no choice but to accept in the end.

After all, I'm probably the only one who could make such an offer.

"Director Song, I brought in an ad from Tae-yeong Group."

"An ad? Really? Who's the ad for?"

"It's for Ah-yeon."

Director Song, who had been wrestling with paperwork, jumped up at my words.

"Wait, it's a cosmetics ad? Since she's good-looking, I guess even hunters get these kinds of ads?"

These days, the perception has changed somewhat, but hunters, after all, were in the business of killing monsters, so they weren't considered ideal advertising models.

Of course, popular hunters sometimes appeared in ads, but never for cosmetics ads that were all about appearance.

"Wow, Tae-yeong Group must really be expecting a lot from Shin Ah-yeon in this film."

"Well... I suppose so."

Technically, this was Song Hyun-seung's way of showing faith in my words, but I let it go. Like Director Song said, if they didn't have high hopes for Shin Ah-yeon, they wouldn't have offered the ad first.

"I've got an ad offer?"

At that moment, Shin Ah-yeon walked in with a Melona ice cream in her mouth.

Her hoodie and shorts outfit made her look perfectly at home.

"Why are you here at the office?"

"What do you mean? I'm part of this company. Why are you so surprised?"

I couldn't help but be surprised.

Normally, this would be the time she's in the middle of gaming.

"Still, you must have some reason for coming."

"... You're so mean."

Shin Ah-yeon grumbled, grabbing hold of my collar.

"I heard you're going to America soon, so I wanted to see your face. I haven't seen you around lately, so I thought you'd already gone."

"I was just busy with work."

"... I know. But you're okay, right?"

She must have heard about my fight with Shim Chun-hoo, so she seemed a little worried.

Maybe she really had come to Unique today just to see me.

"Were you worried?"

"I-I wasn't worried or anything! Geez, so full of yourself. Besides, I know you're strong and healthy..."

Trailing off, Shin Ah-yeon looked me up and down.

"What's wrong?"

"What?"

"Come on, come here for a second."

Only then, seeing her serious expression, did I realize why. I let her pull on my collar and followed her out of the office.

After all, director Song was still inside, so we couldn't talk loudly.

"What's going on with you?"

"Well, I have been through two incidents in a row lately."

"And you say that so casually with the magic power inside you all tangled up? Wait, this isn't even just magic power."

Being sensitive to magic power, Shin Ah-yeon immediately noticed my condition.

After closing an S-rank gate and fighting Shim Chun-hoo, my body had felt a bit worn out lately.

"Is this demonic energy in your body? Or..."

"My blood is a bit special... Something like that. You don't need to worry."

"How can I not worry when I see this? You look fine on the surface but... Are you sure it's nothing?"

Shin Ah-yeon rarely asked with real concern in her voice, but I nodded.

"I'm not even an awakened, so how could I use magic power? It's just that I had some unorthodox treatments over there to maintain my health. I might look a bit off now, but with a little rest, I'll be fine, so don't worry."

"Well, I did think something was up since a non-awakened was using magic power, but... It's not related to demons, right?"

"No. You really have nothing to worry about."

That was the honest truth.

When I was working over there, this much was nothing, but since it'd been a while since I used my strength, I guess my condition suffered a bit.

'I'll have to do a bit of rehab later.'

Since I've been short on exercise lately, recovering after my trip to America wouldn't be a bad idea.

"Still seems suspicious..."

"I'm telling you, you really don't need to worry. By the way, didn't your phone just buzz?"

At my attempt to change the subject, Shin Ah-yeon glared at me but took her phone out of her pocket.

"Who's contacting you?"

"No, it's just a notification from a streamer I subscribed to—they uploaded a new video."

"You watch internet broadcasting, too?"

Apparently, Shin Ah-yeon enjoyed a very varied cultural life.

All day gaming and, in her free time, watching internet streams.

"No, I just happened to find out while looking up information about returnees."

"What does a returnee have to do with internet broadcasting?"

"Look—Alencia Walker, the daughter of a returnee, is a Dwitch streamer."

Alencia Walker?

That name reminded me of the "James Walker" that Director Cha Jae-seok had mentioned the other day.

The guy who went around claiming to be a returnee.

I'd heard his daughter did online broadcasts—so this was her.

"She's on air right now?"

"Yeah, it looks like it's live... There was a preview saying she'd go for an awakened aptitude test today."

"An awakened aptitude test? Did she show signs before?"

"I only started watching recently, and there were no such hints. Her stream was mostly telling stories about her father, and she hardly has any live viewers."

Despite the low live audience, she had a lot of subscribers.

Noticing my thoughts, Shin Ah-yeon elaborated.

"Her father, James Walker, is so famous that a lot of people subscribe, but almost none actually watch the streams."

"I see."

"Wanna see?"

"Sure, I was a little curious."

At my answer, Shin Ah-yeon's eyebrow twitched, but she didn't say anything more.

Alencia's broadcast really wasn't anything special.

She had decent speaking skills, but the few viewers she did have were all trolls, and the comments were pretty toxic.

Alencia probably knew that, but kept on talking, livestreaming the process of taking the awakening aptitude test.

"... Wait."

And as I blankly watched, I found myself involuntarily tensing my face.

"Can you rewind this a bit?"

"Huh? Why?"

"I want to make sure I saw what I think I saw."

Something I glimpsed on Alencia's back during the test.

'No way...'

It looked almost like a 'stigmata'.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Stigmata usually pertains to blessings from god.【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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