The whole situation had finally blown over.
The next day, at the department headquarters, a massive swarm of journalists and reporters were aggressively trying to interview Baek Jun-hwan, the director of the Overcross Guild. They were grilling him about the incident, demanding to know whether he would admit to the illegal transportation of monsters.
Baek Jun-hwan, putting on a show for the cameras, started by offering his sincere apologies to the victims. However, he smoothly claimed that the Steel Blood Orc was a monster of immense research value, and that they had only captured it because they intended to donate it to the department, despite the risks involved. He couldn't comment any further at the moment, he said, and he was fully cooperating with the monitoring department's investigation.
But he wasn't the media's only target.
As Seo-yul walked past the journalists, they swarmed him too, throwing rapid-fire questions about the incident and asking how a mere rank D hunter had managed to take down such a creature. Fortunately, his manager quickly pulled him away from the crowd.
Even so, one of the reporters shouted out, asking whether the department's response hadn't been completely inadequate. He argued that the department exists solely to monitor and coordinate the major guilds in order to prevent disasters exactly like this one — so didn't the department itself share the blame?
Seo-yul muttered to himself, wondering what kind of absolute garbage this man was spewing.
His manager told him to just ignore it, explaining that the guy was obviously just a sellout who took money from a few guilds to post biased clickbait content, and that giving him an answer would mean playing right into his hands.
But Seo-yul decided to confront this biased YouTuber anyway.
He walked up and asked whether the man was currently live, warning him that he was about to say something, and that he wanted everyone to listen very carefully.
He asked the guy whether it felt good to take dirty money just to wipe the guilds' asses — especially since the department is constantly cleaning up the massive messes their executives leave behind — and straight-up questioned whether he thought that was right.
Director Baek Jun-hwan didn't say a word, responding only with a deeply threatening glare.
But right after that outburst, Seo-yul was dragged away by his manager, literally pulled by his hair.
Baek Jun-hwan watched them go, asking his subordinates whether that was the same little brat who had barely even acknowledged him before. He muttered that a newborn pup truly doesn't know enough to fear a tiger, and coldly ordered his right-hand man to take care of that little piece of trash.
The biased YouTuber's video went live, and the second it dropped, news articles regarding supervisor Seo-yul flooded every single media outlet.
Back at the office, the manager admitted that he knew the kid had spoken out of turn, but he firmly argued that any official disciplinary action would be completely overkill. He defended Seo-yul, stating that the major guilds were clearly the ones at fault here, and that it was painfully obvious these videos were staged, pointing out that there were also countless articles online thanking him for his actions.
However, Koo Hyuk, the chief of the monitoring department, snapped back, saying that whether it was staged or not, people were talking about it everywhere, and their only choice left was to punish him somehow.
The manager fired right back, saying that if anyone deserved punishment, it should be Overcross — or the people who were actually supposed to be managing them.
Koo Hyuk sneered, asking whether the manager was calling him incompetent, and whether he was calling his entire team incompetent.
Manager Lee Han didn't back down, asking whether that wasn't exactly the case, which made Koo Hyuk completely lose his temper and demand to know whether he had lost his mind.
But a high-ranking veteran sitting in the room spoke up, declaring that enough was enough.
He turned to Manager Lee Han and asked whether it was true that the boy possessed a flawless one hundred percent rescue success rate.
The manager stood tall and replied, "Yes, sir."
The superior noted that he was a rare talent they simply couldn't afford to lose. He pondered that while they realistically have to rely on the help of the major guilds, they still must maintain their dignity. Since the guilds had made an interesting opening move, if they couldn't strike back in kind, they should at least give them a proper response.
This man was Kwang-soo, the high director of the department.
Later on, Seo-yul was called in directly by the director himself. After all, there was a highly important matter to discuss.
Taking a slow sip of his tea, the director started by asking Seo-yul that if he were to retake his rank evaluation test today, what rank did he honestly think he would land?
Seo-yul replied that he wasn't entirely sure which one, but it would absolutely be higher than his current status.
The director smiled, noting that lately the kid had pulled off feats that a rank D could never dream of achieving. He added that the boy must know things had been difficult for the higher-ups too, since there was no shortage of people trying to dig up dirt on him.
Seo-yul wondered where on earth he was going with this, questioning whether the director was subtly telling him to spill his secrets.
The department director was a master politician who had held his powerful position for years, and Manager Lee Han had already warned Seo-yul to just be completely honest and humble with him, because trying to play mind games would only screw him over even worse.
Seo-yul followed that advice for the moment, but he still hesitated, wondering whether it was truly all right to mention his unique dungeon.
The director told him not to worry, reassuring him that he wasn't going to ask how he had become so powerful out of nowhere. All that mattered was that the department desperately needed his strength.
With that out of the way, the director got straight to the point and announced that he was sending him out to the countryside.