Regressor Instruction Manual - Chapter 146. Whistleblower (1)
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Chapter 146. Whistleblower (1)

Kim Hyun-Sung wasn’t used to receiving gifts. I wasn’t sure what he was like during his past life, but considering the fact that his potential was high, he probably gave more than he received, so of course, he would like the unexpected surprise gift. He looked like he couldn’t hide his feelings and even though he wasn’t laughing out loud, the smile on his face showed that he was happy.

‘He likes it...’

The black griffon was taken care of very well, so if he didn’t show that kind of reaction, I would’ve been sad. The griffon was so rare that you couldn’t put a price on it and on this continent, a method of transportation where you can fly was comparable to a legendary item. Maybe that was the reason why the people around us looked surprised.

“Wow…”

When considering the fact that this griffon belonged to one person and not the guild, it wouldn’t be easy to give it as a gift. Well, it was really easy for me, but it would probably be hard for others and even more so when you think about the many things you’d obtain by revealing this gift to the public.

‘It also shows how close the guild master and the sub guild master are…’

It was a way of reaffirming my power.

‘This means that I’m very loyal to my Hyun-Sung…’

This would instill the image of the loyal Lee Ki-Young into their heads.

Kim Hyun-Sung must be feeling a bit uncomfortable because he shook his head. “I-I’m okay, Mr. Ki-Young. I appreciate the thought, but… I feel bad,” he mumbled.

‘Of course, you should feel that way. Do you know how much this is…’

“You don’t have to feel that way, Mr. Hyun-Sung. You gave me a lot of things so think of this as me repaying for everything you did for me. Oh! I received another one by chance as well,” I explained.

“But…”

I expected that kind of reaction from him since the gift was too grand for it to be a simple gift, but his expression showed that he really wanted it. At this point, I realized that he refused it out of courtesy. Kim Hyun-Sung was ready to receive the griffon and he was like a student refusing to accept his uncle’s allowance. He refused with the knowledge that he was going to get it anyway.

“There was also the Juliena case, so I’ll feel worse if you keep on refusing like this. I have a griffon as well, so you can accept it without any worries,” I told him.

“I see…”

‘Hurry up and accept it. I know you’re going to, anyway…’

We all knew Kim Hyun-Sung wanted to accept the gift. In the end, he nodded lightly. 

“Well if you say so. Th-Thank you for the gift,” he said, stuttering.

‘Stop stuttering…’

“You really don’t have to feel bad. Haha. Think of it as getting back the gifts you’ve given me so far,” I told him.

‘Just pay me back gradually, Hyun-Sung.’

“No, I’m the one that got more. I’ll make sure to repay you for this favor,” he said, smiling.

‘That right there! That's the attitude you should have!’

As soon as I passed the black griffon over to him, he started petting it. When the person receiving the gift looked happy, the person giving the gift would be happy too. It wasn’t just Kim Hyun-Sung who was happy; Park Deok-Gu, Sun Hee-Young, Ye-Ri, Hwang Jung-Yeon, and even Lee Sang-Hee all looked happy. That was the end of the high-quality gifting ceremony. I thought the party was going to end soon, but it seemed like the guild members had been holding in a lot of things.

“Let’s just stay up all night. Yeah! Hyun-Sung, dude, is that alright with you?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“We’ll resume tomorrow’s work in the afternoon, then,” he answered.

“Oh…”

“I’m kidding. It wouldn’t be bad to take the day off and it’s a great day, so it should be fine to get drunk a little bit. Miss Hye-Jin, you should come here and join everyone,” Kim Hyun-Sung told her.

“Okay, Master,” she answered.

I was a bit tired because of the long trip, but I thought it wouldn’t be bad to spend time with everyone.

“Oppa! Try this too,” Jung Ha-Yan offered.

“Sure...”

“Mr. Ki-Young, about the next volunteer work…” Sun Hee-Young said.

“Let’s pick out a date and go,” I suggested.

“By the way, can you tell us what happened?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” I said.

The night was still young and we had a lot of time, so we started catching up once again while slowly drinking all night. Kim Hyun-Sung didn’t say much, but he laughed quietly while looking at us and Park Deok-Gu must be having fun because he was dancing around. Jo Hye-Jin looked like she hadn't fully adapted to the situation, but she still fit in with the group. Jung Ha-Yan and Sun Hee-Young kept asking me questions and when Kim Hyun-Sung told Kim Ye-Ri to go to sleep, the underage girl glared at him before going into her room. There were things I was worried about right now, but I decided not to think about them for now.

When morning arrived, the festival ended and I closed my eyes while feeling restless, but happy.

“...”

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Moments later, I woke up after hearing something outside. I thought about wanting to sleep a bit more, but when I felt something heavy, I couldn’t help but look down.

“Oh…”

Jung Ha-Yan was lying on top of me.

‘...’

I remember taking her to her room last night, so I wasn’t sure how she ended up here, but I thought that she must have come here while pretending to be drunk. She must be thinking that I wouldn’t remember; well, it didn’t really matter, but my body felt numb. I wasn’t sure how long she had been on top of me, but this position was making my arms numb. I wasn’t surprised because I experienced a similar situation when we were on our expeditions, but seeing Jung Ha-Yan pretending to sleep made me think that I shouldn’t move.

Tap.

Tap.

During all of this, I kept hearing something outside my window so when I looked over, I noticed a small bird constantly pecking on the window.

‘I got a letter.’

It seemed like the letter I sent to Lady Marilyn last night had been delievered.

‘Nice…’

I knew I was going to get a reply soon, but the reply came faster than I thought and for someone who was curious about many things, this was good. Naturally, I was curious about Jo Hye-Jin and what happened to her at Castle Rock. I wasn’t planning on using her weakness against her, but I had to know what she was hiding.

I quietly opened the window without waking up Jung Ha-Yan. The small bird entered my room and after grabbing the letter tied to one of its claws, I scribbled my reply and sent the bird back. I told her I would visit her soon, so I was sure she was going to be satisfied with my reply.

When I carefully opened the letter, I saw Lady Marilyn’s letter.

[I’m so happy you sent me a letter so suddenly when it hasn’t been that long since we said goodbye. Even though it hasn’t been a full day, I’ve been secretly missing you, Mr. Lee Ki-Young. The letter touched and warmed my heart that has been abandoned in the bleak winter wind. Is it my misunderstanding to think that you’ve read my mind?]

‘What’s with the unnecessary comment?’

The letter was long, so I thought maybe there was a lot of information written on it, but the majority of them were similar to what she had written before. She must’ve put in a lot of effort because there were traces of her writing over her words several times.

[I’m a bit embarrassed to say this as a noblewoman, but I can still see the dreamy times I spent with you at the castle. How nice would it be if I could fly like the birds in the sky? I hope you’ll recognize my feelings as you read this letter.]

‘What in the world…’

I didn’t know why Lady Marilyn wrote that because we never met alone and we never exchanged strange feelings with each other. We had always been together with Lady Caitlyn. I mean, I did meet her just as much as I met Father Basel, but I didn’t do anything that would cause her to have this kind of feeling. I tried to be as gentleman-like as possible by caring for them, but I didn't think that was enough to make her feel that way so I was a bit flustered by her letter. The more I read the letter, the more ridiculous it became and when I flipped the page over, I saw the information I wanted to see.

‘Nice...’

[I didn’t have enough time so I couldn’t properly investigate, but I believe this is the information you’re looking for, Mr. Lee Ki-Young. I started the investigation by calling for the free city citizens and I also called for the guild member who used to be in the same guild as Jo Hye-Jin. After hearing their story, I realized the Small Stone Guild was closely related to the Castle Rock territory.]

‘Okay…’

This was the information I wanted and I was sure things would be better if I continued reading the letter.

[Basically, Miss Jo Hye-Jin had been a part of the Small Stone Guild, and she was once questioned by the inspection team in our territory. There were many things involved in the investigation, but I remember the charges being about smuggling monster by-products and tax evasion.]

When considering Jo Hye-Jin’s nature, this wasn’t like her. It was getting interesting, so I continued reading and sure enough, the things I expected were actually written in the letter.

[The reason why the investigation started was that a member of the Small Stone Guild reported it to us first. Back then, I was too young to be involved in family matters so I only heard rumors, but I know the person who helped us was Miss Jo Hye-Jin. I heard that despite being part of that guild, she reported to us for her own conscience.]

‘A whistleblower?’

I realized why Jo Hye-Jin came to Lindel and joined the Blue Guild. This was a slightly complicated issue for me but I wasn’t looking down or criticizing her actions. She did the right thing and she deserved to get awarded for it because she had been brave and unashamed about what she did. However, the problem was that her former guild members didn’t have the same opinion. I was sure people talked about this before.

Some of the free city citizens believe that since they didn’t consider themselves imperial people, they didn’t have to follow the laws of the Holy Empire. This was the reason why the Free City of Lindel was built. The free city citizens were stingy when it came to tax issues and avoiding taxes became a norm. In addition, they often ignored imperial law. I was sure the guild Jo Hye-Jin was a part of had the same thought and that probably wasn’t the end of it. If a guild smuggled monster by-products and evaded tax payments, I was certain they were involved in other illegal things as well.

‘Something like slave trading of other races…’

I didn’t know the truth, but the fact that Jo Hye-Jin was a whistleblower who reported the guild’s corruption to Castle Rock’s feudal lord was important. What happened afterward was pretty obvious. She was probably labeled as a traitor amongst the members and was insulted. She was most likely isolated when people made comments about how they shouldn’t have taken her in and that she only cared about herself.

‘That’s what our society is like…’

When thinking about how whistleblowers were treated in the modern age, the answer was easy to find. Jo Hye-Jin probably thought she wouldn’t be able to join other guilds after being kicked out of the Small Stone Guild because no guild would want a member who could harm the group. Even the people who applauded and raised their thumbs at her didn’t want to be directly involved with her.

‘She probably couldn't find a party either…’

I guarantee it. After all, it had been a long-standing practice to manipulate the numbers when reporting the results of a successful party hunt. 

When I continued reading, I realized that my assumptions were correct.

[The Small Stone Guild was able to avoid punishment due to insufficient evidence, but after asking the former guild member, I discovered that Jo Hye-Jin left the guild due to an unavoidable circumstance. Since she couldn’t settle down in Castle Rock, she left for another city. I thought she might’ve gone to Lindel, but I never imagined you would know her, Mr. Lee Ki-Young. I guess this could be considered fate.]

“I’m right…”

Jo Hye-Jin acted based on her conscience, but her actions ended up ruining her life. She was basically a bomb to all the other guilds because no one knew when she would reveal a guild’s weakness. Of course, I personally understood her way of life and I respected her for that, but my feelings were the same as the other guilds.

‘Sigh… this is a big problem…’

I couldn’t help but be a bit worried about a lot of things.