It was Sunday, and Junhyuk had planned to train with Sarang. He went looked for a house around where Sarang lived, gave her extra money and found a place where she could move in right away. The owner of the place agreed to empty it by Monday, so Junhyuk gave them extra money and signed the contract. Then, he made sure Sarang could move in by Monday evening, and that she had finished the preparations for the move. Once he paid the fees agreed in the contract, he called Sora.
Junhyuk set up a lunch meeting with Sora and headed to the meeting place. After arriving, he pulled out a tablet and checked the news.
Everything was about novices nowadays. Ghana had used novices to deal with monsters, and they were glorifying novices.
There was a story about two of Ghana’s novices disappearing, and once he saw it, he knew they wouldn’t return.
“A novice’s survival rate isn’t that high.”
The novices around Junhyuk were lucky, and they had returned, but ordinarily, their chances were low.
Usually, novices were completely massacred.
Thinking that the turn of events was only natural, he sat comfortably and closed his eyes. Mana was coming through his bracelet, so he used it to fatten his living spirit. Then, he felt someone coming toward him.
Sora was standing in front of him, smiling.
“Can I have a seat?”
“Please do.”
She took a seat, and he ordered food. He turned to her. She had Kaljaque as an enemy and she had returned. She was lucky.
“How is life at the company?”
“It’s just like I told you before. Nowadays, we don’t have much to do. They must’ve found everything there is to know about novices. My only job is to run away with Elise.”
Junhyuk thought that it had been a good idea for her to stay with Elise. After taking a moment to think, he said, “If that’s the case, you don’t have to stay there.”
“But it is a good job.”
“You haven’t been to your house yet, right?”
“I can’t do anything about that.”
Junhyuk laughed. When their orders came out, he smiled.
“Let’s eat first.”
Sora’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, but he didn’t speak further. Once they finished the main course, the dessert came out.
“Sora.”
“Yes.”
He had wanted to meet her, so she was expecting something from him. Junhyuk looked at her and spoke slowly.
“As a matter of fact, I want to recruit you.”
“Recruit?”
“You know how Ghana glorified their novices?”
“Yes, I know.”
“From now on, every country will try to do the same. Developing countries are displaying such attitudes. And other countries will do the same.”
“They’ll utilize novices to deal with monsters, right?”
“That’s right.”
Sora took a moment to think and said, “I can deal with monsters.”
“That’s not the problem. If the country takes you, they won’t treat you nicely.”
She nodded slowly.
“That is probably true.”
“I don’t think you are well treated right now.”
“But they are treating me nicely.”
Junhyuk showed her three fingers. Sora asked him what he meant by that, and he continued slowly.
“I will pay you three times what they pay you. I’ll also pay the fee to breach your contract.”
Sora kept thinking while staring at him.
“Why are you so nice to me?”
He smiled and said, “I can trust you.”
She couldn’t make up her mind.
“I am just a novice.”
“I know, but you will grow stronger.” His eyes beamed, and he added, “I will help you with your growth.”
At that, Sora’s eyes sparkled. Then, he pulled out a bracelet and set it on the table.
“I just got it. It collects mana and transfers it to whoever wears it. Mana is a source of life, it’s an energy, so even if you don’t have powers, the mana will increase your lifespan. You will gain more benefits than that as a novice.”
“Is it a Dimensional Battlefield item?”
“It is from there.”
“And you are giving it to me?”
“I’m looking for people with powers that I can trust. You are one of them.”
He stared her down, and Sora balled her hands into fists. Junhyuk offered her the bracelet and said, “Come with me.”
After some thought, Sora asked carefully, “If I leave Guardians, won’t my life become difficult?”
It wouldn’t be a good idea to have a hostile relationship with South Korea’s most powerful group. But, Junhyuk shook his head.
“You forget. We are the only ones that can bring stuff back from the Dimensional Battlefield. As the number of novices increase and their return rates increase, there will be competition. The prices of mana stones and bloodstones will drop, but our work won’t suffer.”
“Really?”
“Right now, Guardians has a monopoly on mana stones and bloodstones, but soon, other corporations will jump in, and we’ll be even more valuable.”
“Valuable?”
He nodded slowly.
“Before that, I need people I can trust.”
Sora picked up the bracelet and smiled.
“Let’s do it.”
He nodded.
“OK. If you need anything, let me know. If you need a lawyer to handle the termination of the contract, I’ll introduce you to one.”
“A lawyer?”
“Yes.”
Sora started thinking about her situation, and he said to her calmly, “If you need anything, just let me know.”
“OK.” Nervously, she asked, “Where should I report to now?”
Smiling, Junhyuk said, “When you quit Guardians, just stay home. I’ll prepare a training facility for you to practice.”
“OK. I’ll resign and let you know.”
Junhyuk smiled again and said, “I’ll pay the termination fee, so don’t worry about it.”
“Sure.”
Sora realized how much he needed her, and she held onto the bracelet.
—
Junhyuk had been successful in recruiting Sora, so he looked for another house. He had purchase a house for Sarang to train, but now he needed another one.
He visited a few houses, and after looking at them, he headed to his house in Paju to go to his training facility and focus on his training. Junhyuk trained and hunted, and after, he exited to the bathroom and washed himself clean. When he walked out, his phone rang.
He knew it was Elise’s number.
“Did you get the iron soldiers?”
“They are here, but I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Sora is quitting. Are you behind that?”
He bitterly smiled.
“Right now, your research on Sora is nearly done, so I’m recruiting her.”
“Hm.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No problem, but Doyeol isn’t very happy about it. The termination fee is three times her regular salary.”
“I’ll pay it.”
“Why are you so bent on taking her?”
After thinking, he answered, “I want to make a team with people I can trust.”
“A team made up of people with powers?”
“Yes. If they are trained right, they’ll be able to deal with whatever happens in the future.”
“What do you think will happen?”
“Well, the monster waves won’t stop so easily.”
After being silent for a minute, Elise said, “Come get your iron soldiers.”
“I’ll be right over.”
Junhyuk changed and called Sora, who was surprised to get a call from him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I talked to Elise. You told Doyeol that you are quitting?”
“Yes, he wants the termination fee.”
“Tell me your account number, and I’ll wire the money.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m spending $3 million to recruit you, and that’s cheap.”
Sora had a good amount of health, and her power was useful. He wasn’t sure about the Dimensional Battlefield, but she was of use on Earth. She was also a good candidate for a tank, and he meant to train and grow her.
Junhyuk wired the money to her account, grabbed a taxi and headed to Guadians’ HQ in Seoul. Once there, Sora did not come out to meet him like usual. She was probably busy dealing with her contract situation, so he went to see Elise by himself.
Elise was in the basement research lab, looking at Eunmi on a monitor. She had placed electrodes on Eunmi and was watching her use her powers.
She turned around to look at him.
“You came.”
“I’m here to get my iron soldiers.”
Elise stared at him.
“As you already know, to control an iron soldier, you’ll need a lot of equipment. We have Zaira, and she can control iron soldiers, so you’ll need a supercomputer to be able to control the two iron soldiers.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Elise took him to where the iron soldiers were located. There were two of them.
Junhyuk touched one of them and asked, “Do they have GPS?”
“Sure. They are expensive, so of course they have GPS.”
“Take them out.”
Elise opened the iron soldier’s chest and pulled out a small device. She took it out of both of them.
“To synchronize them with a computer, you need code.”
She handed him the code, and he said, “Thanks for your concern.”
“Well, you are paying me $300 million.”
Junhyuk pulled out some mana stones and asked, “Can I give you these instead?”
Elise smiled brightly.
“I will measure their worth.”
While measuring the stones, she looked at him and asked, “You don’t need any more help?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Junhyuk placed the iron soldiers inside the Spatial Bag, and Elise walked over and asked, “If I can research that, we’ll be able to mass produce it.”
“I can’t.”
Spatial Bags were so expensive on the battlefield that they probably wouldn’t be able to mass produce one. Dragons couldn’t do it either, and he wouldn’t give it to Elise anyway.
“You are hurting my pride.”
Junhyuk shrugged and asked, “What are the measurements?”
“A total of $320 million.”
He smiled.
“You don’t have to give me the $20 million now. I might need something else later.”
Elise laughed brightly.
“OK.” She was expecting more deals with him, so she patted his back lightly. “If you have problems with the iron soldiers, just call me. I’ll help you”
“Sure.”
Junhyuk said goodbye and walked out. He was about to exit the building when he saw Sora coming out.
She saw him, smiled brightly and ran toward him.
“I’ve just resigned. Take responsibility.”
Smiling, he said, “Then, should we go forward?”