An A-grade recovery potion was a precious item that even the Shinseong Group's Assault Corps Leaders were supplied with only once a year.
And yet a recruit who had just joined possessed such a thing?
Lee Jae-in tossed a printout into the 1st Assault Corps Leader's arms.
"It is written in Employee Han-eol's personnel record, so you must already have seen it. Employee Han-eol was selected as Outstanding Intern and received a recovery potion as his prize."
"Whaaat? Outstanding Intern?"
The 1st Assault Corps Leader's eyes went wide.
Every year the Human Resources Team selected the person with the finest performance among the interns as Excellent Intern and gave them a prize and prize money.
In fact, the 1st Assault Corps Leader had also achieved the highest performance among his cohort and received the Excellent Intern award, and to this day he regarded that fact as a point of pride.
But Excellent Intern and Outstanding Intern were entirely different matters.
Cases in which the Shinseong Group's Human Resources Team selected an Outstanding Intern were exceedingly rare. Within the last ten years in particular, there had been none at all.
'And that fledgling was an Outstanding Intern?'
The 1st Assault Corps Leader's heart plunged.
Lee Jae-in scratched at the 1st Assault Corps Leader's insides.
"It is because Employee Han-eol is talent of that caliber that a report went up to the Head of the Strategy Division as well. And yet such a talent withers before he can even bloom, because of unreasonable pressure? As the group's Head of Human Resources, that is rather, you know, a problem for me."
"S, so what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do?"
The 1st Assault Corps Leader threw a tantrum with a mind mixed of one spoonful of embarrassment, one spoonful of self-reproach at not having properly read the new employee documents, and one spoonful of resistance against the odious Head of Human Resources.
Lee Jae-in looked the 1st Assault Corps Leader straight in the eye with cool eyes behind the horn-rimmed glasses.
"What do you mean, what will I do? I will speak to the Head of the Division and have Employee Han-eol moved up to the group's Inspection Department or the Red Team."
"The Inspection Department! The Red Team!"
The color drained from the 1st Assault Corps Leader's face.
If Pioneer Corps Commander Lee Seong-u held in his hands the armed force of five Assault Corps, then Head of the Strategy Division Lee Myeong-u held the chilling weapons that were the Inspection Department and the Red Team.
The Inspection Department, which could conduct internal investigations of and punish any organization within the group.
The Red Team, for the assassination of key figures in hostile cities.
The ability-holders of these two organizations did not go in and out of the Highland, but they were true fighters who went through carnage no less than that of the Highland pioneers.
'If a top talent who appears once in ten years is snatched away by the Inspection Department or the Red Team? What kind of reaction would the Pioneer Corps Commander show when he heard about it?'
For the 1st Assault Corps Leader, this was a disaster he did not even want to imagine.
"No. Han-eol is my kid, assigned to the 1st Assault Corps. Who are you to take my kid away? Huh?"
The 1st Assault Corps Leader slammed the desk with his palm.
The print of his palm was gouged several centimeters deep into the thick desktop.
Lee Jae-in slid his glasses up.
"It is not taking him away. It is that the 1st Assault Corps is working a recruit however it pleases in violation of regulations, so I intend to act for the sake of protecting talent."
"No, who worked him however they pleased? Do you know how much I cherish our Han-eol? Oh come now, making such an absurd misunderstanding. Uh-hem."
For the 1st Assault Corps Leader, Han-eol had gone from 'that fledgling' to 'our' Han-eol at some point.
In fact, this was precisely what Lee Jae-in had been aiming for.
Lee Jae-in did not really understand it, but Head of the Division Lee Myeong-u had instructed him, "For the time being, keep Han-eol in the Pioneer Corps and let him accumulate ample Highland experience."
In particular, Lee Myeong-u had given the strict order, "Absolutely do not send Han-eol to the Red Team, where he would have to fight humans rather than demon beasts."
'Well, this much should have the simple-minded 1st Assault Corps Leader guarding the young master with the greatest of care. Heh.'
Lee Jae-in let a faint smile slip into his eyes behind the thick glasses.
The 1st Assault Corps Leader, unaware of any of it, went on writing bad checks.
"Look here, Head of Human Resources. Do you know how much I cherish our Han-eol? Ah! That is right. You said a moment ago that Han-eol had no choice but to use up his A-grade recovery potion? Well, as it happens, I have one A-grade potion that the group bestowed on me at the start of this year. I am a man who has made up his mind to hand that precious thing over to Han-eol. So who dares make such an absurd slander? Huh? Saying I work Employee Han-eol however I please, this is truly an absurd misunderstanding. I am the wronged party here."
"Oho? Is that true?"
Lee Jae-in deliberately widened his eyes.
"Of course it is true. True and then some."
The 1st Assault Corps Leader thumped his own chest with his palm.
'Heh heh.'
The more he did, the deeper the smile in Lee Jae-in's eyes grew.
***
A few days after his discharge, when Han-eol accessed the Shinseong Group's internal intranet with his mobile phone, a welcome message popped up.
[Armor repair complete]
The moment he saw the message, Han-eol ran to the equipment repair room window on the fifth floor of the building and took receipt of his A-grade vest.
"Do not use your armor so roughly."
At the window, a freckled young woman of mixed heritage with her hair in two braids gave Han-eol an earful as she handed over the A-grade vest.
"Yes. I will be careful."
Han-eol answered politely, but inwardly he grumbled.
'As if anyone uses it roughly because they want to. I keep landing in dangerous regions; what am I supposed to do about it?'
Unlike his sulking inner thoughts, Han-eol's expression was mild and round.
'Huh?'
The freckled young woman looked at Han-eol again as if surprised.
The members of the 1st Assault Corps deployed to Highland pioneering were rough in character to no small degree. They were rage addicts who would shout or swing a fist at even the slightest unpleasant word.
Yet Han-eol was of a different grain from such men.
'A strange one has come into the 1st Assault Corps?'
The freckled young woman watched Han-eol's retreating back as he scampered off in high spirits, the vest hugged tight to his chest, and tilted her head.
"Judging by the employee number he is clearly a recruit, so how did he get that armor? Is he the child of a family with connections?"
Tap-tap-tap.
When the freckled young woman tapped at her keyboard, Han-eol's basic information soon came up on the intranet screen.
"What is this? If he is a Rookie converted to full-time this round, then he is from Old Earth, is he not? Then he would have no connections at all within the Shinseong Group, so how did he get hold of that vest? Hmmm."
The freckled young woman folded her arms haughtily.
In fact, she was not a low-ranking window clerk of the equipment repair room but a famous item crafter who had been granted the title of Master Artisan.
Her name was Rihanna.
Born between an English father and a Korean mother, Rihanna had had her genius-level item crafting ability recognized from a young age and had obtained the Shinseong Group's Master Artisan title at the tender age of her late twenties.
The A-grade vest that had already saved Han-eol's life twice was in fact a limited-edition work made by Rihanna.
Rihanna was not of a rank to be handling repair requests from new employees, but she was upset that equipment that was like her own child had been damaged, so she repaired Han-eol's vest herself.
Going one step further, Rihanna met Han-eol directly at the window and snapped at him to "take better care of the armor."
Yet Han-eol's reaction was quite different from that of other ability-holders belonging to the 1st Assault Corps.
"Somehow that boy does not give off the macho smell peculiar to the combat category. Well, his appearance is odd to begin with. How did a boy with such a docile face and hardly any muscle get assigned to the 1st Assault Corps?"
Her curiosity piqued, Rihanna dug through the intranet and searched for detailed information about Han-eol.
Normally the intranet limits the information one can view according to administrative privileges. However much of a Master Artisan Rihanna was, it was impossible for her to look into detailed information about a member of the 1st Assault Corps.
But Rihanna's father, Gale, was the president of Shinseong Armaments, the affiliate company that took exclusive charge of item distribution for the entire Shinseong Group, and the finest item crafter in Mid-Land Seoul.
And Rihanna was the only daughter whom that very Gale cherished most in all the world.
When Rihanna accessed the intranet with her father's ID and password, Han-eol's photograph and personal information came streaming up.
"Oh! So he won the Outstanding Intern award. The boy is quite something, unlike his looks. Tch, but he is far too young."
Rihanna checked Han-eol's date of birth and pushed out her lips in a pout.
But the disappointment did not last long.
"Well, a twelve-year gap is fine too. These days that is not even a blemish. Hee hee."
At the very hour when Rihanna, skipping several stages ahead, was muttering such outlandish things, Han-eol shuddered from an inexplicable chill.
"Uh, uh, it is not even winter, so why is it so cold?"
Han-eol scrubbed at his goose-bumped forearms.
Two weeks after that, at eight in the morning on June 9, Han-eol knelt on the ground of the secret platform beneath the Han River and pulled his combat boot laces tight.
The corners of Han-eol's mouth trembled slightly from tension.
'Hoooo~, hoooo~, hooooo~.'
Han-eol calmed his sympathetic nervous system through abdominal breathing.
'I have the lucky vest on under my combat uniform, I have the A-grade recovery elixir, and I made several other preparations besides. So there should be no trouble.'
When Han-eol muttered this as if reciting an incantation, his pumping heart seemed to settle a little.
'I am counting on you, you two.'
Han-eol stroked the vest with his palm.
Next he carefully gripped the potion necklace hanging at his neck.
The A-grade vest had finished repairs a few weeks ago, so it was a reassurance.
The A-grade recovery potion was one Han-eol had received as a gift from the 1st Assault Corps Leader a short while back, and frankly this had been beyond Han-eol's expectations.
'Was the Assault Corps Leader not a man who regards us as mere tools? Did I misjudge him?'
Han-eol still could not understand the 1st Assault Corps Leader's prickly-but-soft behavior.
In any case, having the A-grade recovery potion made Han-eol's heart considerably more secure.
'Heh~. I suppose you could call it the feeling of having stashed away one spare life?'
Han-eol let a small smile slip out.
In the meantime the order came down.
'Ah, whatever. It will work out somehow this time too.'
Han-eol leapt into the rippling blue mist.
Some time later, when Han-eol came to his senses again, his surroundings were desolate wasteland.
'Huh? There again.'
This place seemed to be the very spot Han-eol had visited last time. As evidence, Han-eol's watch hand did not spin round and round but pointed precisely in one direction.
What this watch hand made of child metal pointed at was precisely the coupled mother metal. That very mother metal Han-eol had buried beneath the wasteland last month.
'It is a relief that no one caught on to me secretly swapping the watch hand.'
Han-eol let out a breath of relief.
Because the Shinseong Group regarded the loss of child metal as serious, it issued watches to the group's ability-holders right before they entered the Highland and collected the watches again when they returned from the Highland.
Furthermore, each watch was engraved with its user's name and managed without so much as a gap for water to leak through.
There was a valid reason why the Shinseong Group put its nerves on edge over a mere watch like this.
What if a watch were seized by an ability-holder of a hostile city?
Then the hostile city would be able to take that watch hand as a compass and guide-transfer their own forces into the Shinseong Group's Highland pioneering grounds.
This meant that pioneering grounds where the Shinseong Group had shed blood in quantity subjugating demon beasts and ground up its employees to lay a foundation with great difficulty (places such as mana crystal mines, medicinal herb cultivation grounds, or Highland ruins) could be lost to a hostile city in an instant.
For this reason, not only the Shinseong Group but the great powers of other cities also put enormous care into managing child metal.
Then why issue a precious pair of mother metal and child metal to a Rookie like Han-eol?
Even a Rookie, with a bit of luck, can discover an important mine or a relic.
At such a time, the mother metal has to be installed at the point where the Rookie hit the jackpot; otherwise, how would the Shinseong Group's follow-up party find its way there later?
This was precisely why the Shinseong Group distributed a pair of mother metal and child metal to a greenhorn like Han-eol.
Then why was Han-eol not called to account even after losing that precious item?
If Han-eol had lost the watch hand that guide-transferred him to the Shinseong Group's pioneering grounds, he would certainly have been hauled off to the group's Inspection Department for a severe investigation.
Because if ability-holders of a hostile city pushed into the Shinseong Group's pioneering grounds by way of a lost watch hand, the damage would be no small matter.
But what Han-eol had lost was not the watch; it was the pair of mother metal and child metal in his backpack.
In this case the damage the group sustained was negligible.
If one insisted on tallying it, the group did take a loss equal to the price of one pair of mother metal and child metal, but that was nothing compared with the unusual type of demon spirit stone Han-eol had brought back from the Highland, that is, the triangular demon spirit stone.
So who would reproach Han-eol?
Of course, if the fact that Han-eol had swapped out the watch hand came to light, all hell would break loose.
But not a single person in the Shinseong Group imagined that a new employee would pull off something so audacious.