Taika Cooper was still on vacation. There were many gates open in America, but few gates grand enough to require 'Taika Cooper' to handle them. Moreover, such gates always had the interests of large guilds entangled with them.
And handling those things was Oh Seung-woo's job, not Taika's.
During this vacation between gates and gate conquests, Taika usually took care of various matters. It was called a vacation, but he rarely had a real vacation. However, this vacation was an exception.
Thinking of Shen who had left so coldly, Taika was rolling around on the sofa.
Ding.
Taika tilted his head at the alarm that rang on his phone. Unlike his 'official' contact managed by Oh Seung-woo, few people knew this contact number. And soon recalling one of those few people, Taika hurriedly checked his phone.
"There's a huge amount of drugs buried in the basement of the Las Vegas Major & Justin Hotel Casino. Please take care of it :D!"
What is this about?
When he first checked the content of the message, Taika tilted his head.
The moment he saw the emoticon attached after the message, all seriousness flew away.
But the moment he confirmed who sent it, Taika realized he didn't need to verify the truthfulness of this message's content.
"Mr. Oh, do you think the government would like it if we find drugs and such?"
Oh Seung-woo replied to Taika's words without even turning his head:
"They wouldn't dislike it, would they? Though they just say it, they always declare war on drugs. The problem is it's the 3209th declaration."
"They say there's a huge amount of drugs in the basement of a Las Vegas casino? Let's report this."
"What? What do you mean..."
Oh Seung-woo looked at Taika with a dumbfounded face. And soon realizing those words weren't a joke, his face hardened.
"Who is it, that person?"
"Let's go there."
Taika quickly put the phone in his back pocket. Oh Seung-woo sighed and put the glasses he was wearing into his shirt pocket.
Though he didn't know what was going on, he realized it was impossible to stop Taika the moment he saw his eyes shining like a dog who had seen a ball.
* * *
Arriving in Las Vegas like that. Taika, who had pushed all troublesome tasks onto Oh Seung-woo, headed to the hotel with a grinning face.
Though he wore dark sunglasses covering half his face, there was no one who couldn't recognize America's most famous hunter. Everyone's gaze turned towards Taika.
Taika paid no attention to the gazes he felt around him.
"I'm in Las Vegas, where are you?"
Taika sent a message to Shen, but there wasn't even a read receipt.
'What, isn't he here?'
Taika pouted his lips.
Then a voice came from beside him.
"Oh my, who is this."
One person who could call out to Taika when no one else dared approach him.
"...Lockwood?"
Taika took off his sunglasses and looked at the woman walking steadily towards him. Charming bronze skin and cat-like upturned eyes. Taika's eyes crinkled at her appearance.
"What are you doing here?"
"That's what I want to ask. Our milk-breathed kid wouldn't suddenly be interested in such an adult game..."
"If by adult game you mean gambling that ruins someone's life, it's better not to know for life."
Veins popped on Nikki's forehead at Taika's words.
"Gambling that ruins someone's life! The problem is people who think of poker as gambling. Do you know how beautiful a game poker is? Reading each other's psychology, battling with numbers, and in the end the winner takes all! How beautiful a game is that?"
"I heard rumors that you're not good at poker... And if you want to play a psychological game, just play Mafia. Don't burn tens of billions here."
Nikki, who had no words for Taika's bulls-eye, folded her arms and said:
"So what are you doing here?"
"I received a tip that there's an enormous amount of drugs buried in the basement of this casino. Surely you're not involved?"
Nikki's jaw dropped at Taika's words.
"What?"
An enormous amount of drugs in the casino basement. It was shocking news to Nikki who had been enjoying gambling here calmly until just a few days ago.
"No, well. It's not strange..."
The playfulness instantly disappeared from Nikki's face. She too could become a victim of this incident and possibly never see this sun again.
She was already grinding her teeth to blow up what happened here. The problem was that the man who saved her had disappeared without a trace.
'No, wait.'
Nikki opened her mouth.
"The person who tipped you off, who is it? Is it someone you know?"
"Why are you so interested in my informant?"
"No, I was wondering if it might be someone I know."
Taika narrowed his eyes at Nikki's words.
"You think you know my informant?"
"Maybe? If it's who I'm thinking of, rather than saying we know each other, it would be more accurate to say we're close. We played poker together for days! We went through life-and-death crises together."
"...What happened here?"
"Oh my, I can't tell you for free."
Taika shrugged at Nikki's words and said:
"What do you want to know?"
"Did you know the informant originally?"
"Yeah, I know them well."
"Oh my!"
"There's no proof that the person you know is my informant, why are you so interested?"
At Taika's words, Nikki described the characteristics of the man she knew. That he talked unnecessarily well, smiled with his eyes well, and read her heart very well. Also that he seemed quite good at combat too. After hearing about all the friends who accompanied him, Taika intuited:
'It's Shen!'
In the end, Nikki's intuition that Taika's informant and the person she knew were the same was correct.
Nikki's smile deepened as she confirmed Taika's expression.
"So you do know that person?"
"...So what."
"No, I wanted to ask for cooperation regarding this incident anyway. It seems the gang that caused this incident has been completely wiped out, but still, that person is the only one who knows the exact situation."
Nikki added as if making an excuse:
"I did capture a few people who caused this incident, but they absolutely refuse to open their mouths. Yeah, I think the most certain thing would be to meet that person and hear the circumstances."
"So you absolutely must meet this informant?"
"That's right!"
Though she said she even captured the culprits who caused this incident, the reason for wanting to meet the informant, that is, Shen, again was obvious. One hundred percent personal interest.
"By the way, that kid didn't seem to know anything about American hunters? He didn't recognize me."
Taika blinked at those words.
He didn't recognize the guild master of 'Black Comet', the 2nd ranked guild in America? But that surprise was brief. Taika smiled confidently and said:
"He recognized me though."
Nikki's jaw dropped at those words.
"Unbelievable. Aren't I quite famous too, though not as much as you?"
Ria standing next to Nikki said:
"Yeah, you're super famous."
"I'm super famous, but your informant didn't recognize me?"
Taika fanned the flames from the side. Nikki clenched her fist at that face full of laughter.
"Ha! This dirty world that only remembers first place!"
Ria muttered next to Nikki:
"This world remembers second place well enough... He really didn't remember..."
But no one was listening to Ria's words.
"I must be just an ordinary hunter."
But the two people shouting at each other had no interest in Ria next to them.
"Dirty world..."
Ria sighed as she muttered that.
* * *
Norman staggered out of the hearing room with an exhausted face. He had spilled out everything he knew as if being wrung out, but he couldn't satisfy those rushing at him.
To people asking him what on earth all this was about, all he could say was 'I don't know well either.'
Why?
Because he really didn't know well!
The Golden Day mercenary group that said they would provide answers later disappeared overnight without leaving any trace. There were numerous CCTVs in the hospital, but their exit wasn't captured anywhere.
Thanks to that, their disappearance remained a complete mystery.
The problem was there was too much at stake in this incident to just end it as a mystery.
So what happened with the S-rank gate, is it okay to conquer the gates here from now on.
There were too many questions that needed to be answered.
They demanded answers to all these questions from Norman Byron, but Norman couldn't provide sharp answers either.
An agency member who couldn't stand it anymore said:
"We should put out a public wanted notice for them! It's clear they ran away because something fishy is going on!"
"Do you know who last contacted them?"
"Well, it would be Taika Cooper and Agency Oh..."
People's faces hardened at the sudden appearance of those two big names.
While Norman Byron of Salt Bread Agency was a card they could wield at will, they couldn't do that with those two people.
"Ahem, ahem. I'm sure those two don't know anything either. They were all deceived by that Golden Day mercenary group. So the agency that was in charge of that Golden Day mercenary group..."
And then the arrows pointed back at Norman again.
At times like this, Norman felt disillusioned with his job.
Of course, ability is important. But more important than that is ultimately what kind of background you have.
Salt Bread Agency abandoned Norman. They just left him to be picked to the bone in the hearing room, as if deciding to use him as a shield. Being picked apart like that for days.
He thought he had already lost all affection for this job, but experiencing this made him feel really miserable.
Actually, he wasn't sure if he could continue this job anymore. He had already been half abandoned by his agency, and he wondered if any hunter would trust him with such a scandal attached.
'I didn't have much affection for this job to begin with...'
He didn't have affection for a job he started just to make a living, but now that things turned out like this, he felt completely drained.
But he did try his best in his own way. Norman rummaged through his files with a complicated expression.
These files probably won't be needed anymore. Then, Norman's eyes shook at a piece of tissue paper sticking out between the files.
'Come to think of it...'
Norman headed to the lawyer with that contract.
The lawyer who was examining the tissue paper contract closely exclaimed in a surprised voice:
"Did, did you look at this carefully?"
"What? Is there something else to look at carefully?"
"If you look closely here, it says this money is entrusted to you! Norman Byron as an individual, not the agency!"
Individual? Not the agency? He hadn't looked closely at the time, but hearing the lawyer's words, it was clear.
This wasn't entrusting money to Norman Byron, an agent affiliated with Salt Bread.
It was a document stating they would pay all the S-rank gate conquest fees to just Norman Byron.
"By the way, who wrote this contract? It's almost professional level."
"Uh..."
Norman held his tongue. He didn't want to carelessly let slip words here and get into trouble again. The lawyer smiled as if guessing Norman's thoughts.
"Anyway, let's go receive this money right away. It should be quite a sum for an S-rank."
Hearing those words, Norman headed to where they pay out gate conquest fees.
Norman handed various documents to the employee. The employee who briefly made a surprised expression at the tissue paper contract was still a professional.
Soon, words that would change Norman's life were heard by Norman who was nervously shaking his leg.
"...2.8 billion."
All the resentment he had felt disappeared. After receiving the money with trembling hands, Norman called the agency company that had been harassing him.
"I! Quit! The company!"