TRPM 285

chapter 285

After clearing up the misunderstanding among the three of them, I headed toward Yeon Mirae’s office….

“Master, we’ll handle things ourselves, so you should take a rest for now.”
“Chairman Richard contacted us immediately. He said the World Awakened Association and the UN will officially announce their stance.”
“I have some matters to attend to, so I’ll step out right away.”
“……”

… It didn’t feel like the misunderstanding was really resolved.

Anyway, since I was already at the Ironblood Guild, I decided to rest in Yeon Mirae’s office and entered along with Yeon Mirae and Sophia.

Alex?
He ran off, claiming he had some work to do.

Yeon Mirae and Sophia looked at his retreating back as if he were a traitor.

‘Wasn’t Alex interested in Sophia?’

And yet he did something that would ruin his own chances. Of course, maybe he really did have some urgent work.

Once in Yeon Mirae’s office, I checked the documents on one of the desks.

“Let’s see… supply request form and supply approval form…”

I wasn’t very familiar with such paperwork, but from a quick glance, the supply request form seemed to be sent before purchasing items, while the supply approval form was sent afterward for verification.

“What’s this? You changed your computer?”
“Yes. Due to the nature of our work, high-performance computers aren’t strictly necessary, but the old model was lagging quite a bit, so it was inconvenient.”
“Judging from the forms… looks like you’re planning to replace the sofa too?”
“Could you check the sofa now? Its leather got torn because of the Fafnir Alex summoned.”

I turned my head and saw the sofa; indeed, it wasn’t in great shape. Not completely unusable, but clearly needed replacement soon.

“Sigh… even though it’s an enchanted sofa, it tore easily.”
“Well, even magic couldn’t withstand a dragon’s strength.”

Although its power is negligible when not in combat, it would still match the level of an average Awakened.

By the way….

“Fafnir did that? That guy’s smart—he should know what’s allowed and what isn’t.”
“Fafnir made a mistake. He was just playing with a toy on the sofa, and the leather got caught on his wing, tearing it.”

Fafnir knew he’d done wrong, so he sulked quietly in a corner of the room, staring at the wall.

“… He reflected while staring at the wall?”
“Yes. Probably because Alex taught him to do that if he made a mistake.”

… More likely, Alex’s own sense of common sense influenced him.

Fafnir, being a familiar, inherits his owner Alex’s thought patterns. If Alex believes a familiar should reflect on its mistakes by staring at the wall, Fafnir will adopt the same principle. Of course, a familiar isn’t identical to a human, so it’s not a 100% match.

“Wait… does Alex usually keep Fafnir summoned? Isn’t that draining his mana?”
“He told him to remain summoned in the guild to train and increase his mana capacity.”

See the small pet door under the office door? When Alex is in the office, Fafnir sometimes slips through that door to the break room and gets treats from the staff.

“……”

Hearing that, I kept my mouth shut. He’s basically treated like a pet.

‘Well, not just Fafnir—Sarang the Fenrir was treated like a pet too, right?’

Thinking this, I sat down on the sofa. Although it was in poor condition thanks to Fafnir, there wasn’t anywhere else to sit.

‘Other than this, there are only chairs in front of Yeon Mirae, Sophia, and Alex’s desks.’

I didn’t want to take anyone else’s chair, so I stayed on the sofa. Besides, the desk chairs seemed more for work, which made them less comfortable than the sofa.

Yeon Mirae and Sophia sat in their respective chairs at their desks.

‘Sophia… she got straight to work.’

She began filling out the supply request and approval forms.

Yeon Mirae, on the other hand….

“Master, want to play a game with me?”

She invited me to play, completely ignoring that Sophia was working right next to her.

“Sure, I see you have no work, but shouldn’t you at least consider the person next to you?”

The Ironblood Guild probably didn’t give Yeon Mirae office tasks. I’m not belittling clerical work, but giving such tasks to someone of her caliber would be a waste. And yet, inviting me to play a game while sitting right next to someone working seemed inconsiderate.

‘Sophia doesn’t seem bothered, though.’

Sophia is the odd one here. Most people would be slightly irritated in this situation.

‘Sophia probably trained to hide or regulate her emotions for spy work.’

After all, the organization she infiltrated on Mars likely had devices to monitor emotional changes. To infiltrate their headquarters successfully, controlling her emotions was essential. She doesn’t need to control them now, but old habits die hard.

“Still… I get bored in the office. If I went to the training room or break room, I couldn’t train or rest properly because of others.”

Outside, many seek her guidance, so she has no choice but to relax in the office by playing games….

“… Sigh, alright….”

I had a similar experience before my regression, so I couldn’t blame her further.

“Then at least let’s be quiet so as not to disturb Sophia.”
“Yes.”

With that, I decided to play games with Yeon Mirae.

Headquarters of the Korean Awakened Association.

“Yes, yes… understood. I’ll relay it. Yes…”

An employee sighed after hanging up the phone.

“Phew…”
“Senpai, should I get you some coffee?”
“No… my throat is dry, just water, please….”

After asking his junior for water, the employee recalled the phone call.

It was a call from none other than the Ironblood Guild.

Guilds usually earn money by tackling dungeons themselves or taking tasks from the Association. Thus, they often have to bow to the Association.

‘But a guild as large or influential as Ironblood is different.’

Such guilds can accomplish things no one else can, so the Association often bends to them. Popular guilds can also earn revenue from Awakened-related merchandise without taking tasks from the Association. The Ironblood Guild, for example, earns a considerable income from merchandise related to Yeon Mirae and the Mutant Team.

‘So for the guild master to call personally…’

Before the junior could get water from the dispenser, the employee drafted a message per the manual. He attached the recording of his recent conversation with Ironblood Guild Master Ji Hyung-man and sent it directly to the Association president. His task was complete.

“Phew… my hands are shaking…”
“Here’s water. Why are you so nervous?”
“… If you’d heard the conversation, you’d understand.”
“Is it that bad? But it’s not the first time the Ironblood Guild master called, right?”

The junior was right. Ji Hyung-man had called the Association before. The issue was the purpose of today’s call.

“The previous calls from Ji Hyung-man were mundane, just ordinary coordination for tasks that required cooperation with the Association.”
“… Was today different?”
“Different… very different…”

Today’s call was a blatant request.

“A request? That’s not allowed!”

The junior narrowed their eyes. After the corrupt officials in the Association were purged by the Artist, corruption became rare. Employees were generally upright, and the junior was no exception.

“Shouldn’t we report this?”
“No, it’s… justifiable in this case.”
“Justifiable? How can a request ever be justifiable!”

The junior snapped, but the senior, knowing their personality, calmly explained.

“… If the Association doesn’t handle this quickly, the Artist might go berserk.”
“… What?”
“So the Artist made the request to prevent an outburst.”

The junior paused, then concluded:

“… A justifiable request.”

No one wanted to imagine the damage if the world’s strongest Artist went berserk. The junior assumed the Artist had a valid reason for requesting it.

Meanwhile, in the Association president’s office, the president played the attached recording and closed his eyes, bowing his head.

“Sigh…”

Granting the request isn’t difficult, but…

Ji Hyung-man’s request was merely for the Association to express regret over the copyright law recently proposed by the lawmakers and inform the World Awakened Association. This was straightforward and aligned with the Association’s duty to protect Awakened interests.

The problem was….

“… Taxing copyright is actually standard law….”

If you earn money, you pay taxes. This applies even if the income comes from copyright. The database of the Awakened System tracked points, not monetary gains, so taxes weren’t previously applicable.

“The lawmakers can’t clearly identify who registered the technology, so they want to collect taxes from the users instead.”

Thus, both the lawmakers’ and the Association’s reasoning is somewhat shaky.