Mr. Kim Strikes It Rich with Auto-Hunting [Novel] Chapter 43

A new function.

[Dispatch Laborers]

– Office (Eye of Truth)

Even without testing it, the purpose was unmistakable.

It was spelled out right there: Dispatch Laborers.

“The destination is the Eye of Truth’s office.”

Why had this suddenly appeared?

Whatever the reason, it was good news.

New features were always welcome.

The problem was what came next.

“It says I have to take them on as a subcontractor.”

Wait.

How was I supposed to accept an offer when I didn’t even know who they were?

[Eye of Truth]

What in the world was this?

Just in case, I asked.

“Eye of Truth? Arthur doesn’t know!”

“Rani’s never heard of it either!”

My two ever-innocent laborers merely tilted their heads.

Right…

That was about what I expected from them.

What about Todd?

Before anyone noticed, Todd had already booted up a tablet and was tapping away at high speed.

Look at that initiative.

Still, would anything actually turn up?

“Eye of Truth is a private detective guild.”

Oh.

It actually showed up?

With a name like that, I had my doubts, but it turned out to be an actual guild.

And a specific kind, at that.

“A private detective guild? Why on earth did they send a subcontractor request…?”

I tilted my head in confusion, and then it hit me.

Could it be?

“Did Yunchang-nim do something?”

New functions in the manpower office never popped up out of nowhere.

Usually, something had to happen to trigger them…

What Yoon Hajun had done today:

Escape room with the laborers, cafe, Korean barbecue.

What else?

I hadn’t set foot in a single dungeon or the tower.

I had promised myself a full day of doing absolutely nothing, after all.

If anything had changed, the person who wandered off on his own was the prime suspect.

“Why don’t you ask him tomorrow?”

“Guess I’ll have to.”

[A subcontractor enrollment request has arrived.]

[Upon approval, a new function will unlock.]

Either way, this request…

Hmm.

Accept or decline?

For now, the decision was on hold.

Information came up in a search, but accepting blindly without knowing the backstory wasn’t an option.

“A private detective guild ought to have swift access to intelligence. Heh-heh, put them to good use, and…”

What was with Todd now?

That chuckle…

It sounded just like the first time we met.

What had caught Todd’s interest this time?

Honestly…

There was just no figuring these summons out.

Complicated, truly complicated.

*

Next morning.

“Ugh…”

Did I go too hard having fun yesterday?

The moment I woke up, my whole body felt stiff.

My eyes barely opened.

I wanted to sleep more, but sleeping in just because I didn’t have to work was a trap.

That was how sleeping late turned into a habit.

I had to drag myself up somehow.

At times like this, lively chaos was the best medicine.

[Summon Fixed Team]

The moment I called my laborers—

“Boss, Arthur came to drink morning coffee!”

“Rani too! Rani wants some too!”

“Laborer Rani, children are not permitted to drink coffee.”

“Good morning, Director.”

Yes.

This was it.

Ah, that woke me right up.

“Grandpa, Grandpa! The meat yesterday was super tasty, where did you go?!”

“Haha.”

“It is fine! Boss brought takeout! Even the rookie can eat!”

“Right! Love beef!”

Wait, what?

Why were all of them looking at me with expectant eyes?

“Boss, can we summon the orc bastards and eat?”

“Eat?”

“First thing in the morning?”

Slurp.

Whoa, hold on.

Robin, swallow that drool.

We’re not eating right this second.

First, let’s hear what our Archmage was up to yesterday.

Starting with the question.

“Yunchang-nim, by any chance, do you know a place called the Eye of Truth? A subcontractor enrollment request suddenly popped up yesterday.”

When I showed the notification while speaking, he gave a nod.

“Haha, that was quick. I intended to inform you once summoned today anyway.”

I knew it.

It really was him.

My gut had been spot on.

Still, how had it led all the way to a subcontractor request?

I listened in anticipation.

“What? Surveillance…? And around the clock?”

The details were downright shocking.

To summarize the core points: a bunch calling themselves China’s Special Operations Unit had attached operatives to shadow my every single move.

Even before I quit construction work…?

“Indeed.”

“Wow…”

Moving house had been the right call.

If they had seen me summoning laborers on the rooftop…

I would have been caught red-handed, wouldn’t I?

“How did they find out? I laid as low as I could.”

I really did try my best.

I made sure not to exchange all the magic stones at once, right?

Just occasionally, one at a time.

Bit by bit…

Because of that, I couldn’t even spend them while they piled up in heaps.

A sudden wave of injustice washed over me.

“Ah, they had not singled the Director out specifically. They were merely monitoring all Awakened who had registered recently.”

What on earth was the Awakening Management Bureau doing?

Letting personal data leak out like a sieve.

Huh?

That was completely unacceptable!

Either way, the information had already leaked.

“What should I do, move again?”

“Hmm… Even if the Director relocates, wouldn’t it all end up on official records? Why not make use of this subcontractor instead?”

“The Eye of Truth place? How do we use them?”

“They handle intelligence and are all hunters, so wouldn’t they prove quite useful for laundering funds?”

Our teddy bear Todd rested a tiny paw on its chin while offering advice.

Hmm.

Not bad at all.

We would need to verify if they were trustworthy first, of course.

If they were reliable, that plan might actually work out nicely.

All right.

Let’s approach from that angle first.

Just as I was sorting through my thoughts—

“Things should remain quiet for the time being. This mage has already disposed of them.”

“Oh…”

What a relief.

I exhaled a breath of reassurance, then froze.

“Disposed of them…?”

What did that mean?

No way.

It couldn’t be, right?

I cautiously looked into his eyes.

Huh.

He gave a slow, measured nod.

“What would be the point of hiding it? The method the Director is imagining is correct.”

Correct?

The only method that flashed through my head at the word ‘disposed’ was killing them.

And that was correct?

“It is.”

*

Shocking news.

A laborer I summoned had killed people.

And not just one or two.

“How many…?”

“Eleven in total.”

Right.

Eleven.

Wait…

“Boss, are you okay?”

“Your face turned into snow…”

“Director, are you all right? You look pale.”

“Y-Yeah. I’m fine…”

Actually, I wasn’t fine.

I was honestly in shock.

Murder?

And eleven people at once?

Why was he so casual about it?

I knew our laborers operated on different values from mine.

I had known that.

Even so…

This was on another level.

“Phew…”

My head spun, but I barely kept my grip on reality.

Right.

Yunchang was a laborer, and the others were laborers too.

Looking back at the laborers I had interacted with so far, even if their values occasionally felt foreign, they had never done anything egregiously bizarre.

There had to be a reason.

“I’d like to hear the full story in detail.”

Let’s hear it out first…

“Did I not mention they possessed a registry of Awakened? Deciding the Director was not among that list, they intended to dispose of everyone on it.”

What?

They were talking about ‘disposing’ too?

Why was everyone so obsessed with that word?

“Arthur thinks the rookie did well!”

“Indeed, Director. Had Laborer Yunchang not stepped in, the casualties would have been far worse.”

“Whew… Yeah.”

Yoon Hajun, twenty-three years old.

A young man who knew how reality worked.

Murder.

It was a word distant from an ordinary life.

Then again?

It was better than being on the receiving end.

It wouldn’t have been just me, either.

Every recently registered Awakened would have died.

The problem was what came next.

“Will it really end here, though?”

With things turning out like this, the reality hit home.

The ability of the Manpower Office Director was convenient, but it wasn’t invincibility.

As an individual, I was an ordinary civilian through and through.

Even if the immediate fire was put out, what if China made another move?

One wrong slip and things could get dangerous.

While I was brooding over it, our brain, the teddy bear, raised a hand again.

“Director, what would you think of an approach like this?”

*

South Korea.

Eleven deaths in a secluded corner of Chinatown.

Before the Korean police could even grasp what happened, word reached China first.

“You lost contact with the operatives?”

The man receiving the report was Liu Hao, General Director of China’s Special Operations Unit.

His brow furrowed at the continuation of the briefing.

“Yes. The scheduled check-in window has passed with no word. Most likely…”

“They are dead.”

Had they been alive, a report would have arrived through some channel.

Ten trained operatives.

Every one of them raised by Liu Hao himself, forged through endless trials pushed far beyond human limits.

Even with all their limbs severed, as long as breath remained in their lungs, routes were in place to send word back.

Yet not a single transmission?

That left only one possibility.

All ten operatives, dead.

And perhaps… simultaneously.

“Unbelievable.”

Who was the culprit?

There was no need to ponder.

It had to be the Manpower Office Director.

No one else could have pulled it off.

Those ten operatives were all monsters in their own right.

Liu Hao had been confident that, working together, they could bring down even Wei Jin, the former rank one.

The current rank one, Chen Yu?

Word had it Chen Yu would soon ascend to the 60th floor.

Liu Hao was certain five operatives at most would suffice to eliminate someone of Chen Yu’s caliber.

They were weapons specialized in hunting humans to that degree…

And every last one of them was gone?

Without even the time to send word.

“That points to two conclusions.”

The likelihood of the Manpower Office Director being on that list was high.

And—

“His abilities are far more formidable than anticipated.”

Extending past mere dungeon conquest into human hunting.

“A true monster…”

All ten dying was a scenario where he hadn’t placed the odds at zero percent.

Facing the reality of it still left him dizzy.

“Whew… Draft the report and send it up.”

The order handed down from above had been simple: locate the Manpower Office Director.

Once found, whether they pushed for naturalization or whatever else would have been their affair.

Right.

That was how it was supposed to go.

The result was failure.

For now, he had to report it.

And afterward?

He would follow whatever orders came back.

Because that was the duty assigned to Liu Hao, General Director of the Special Operations Unit.

“Even if the order leads straight to death.”

What order would come down?

He could predict it accurately without even looking.

[It seems highly likely the Manpower Office Director is on that list. Dispatch operatives once more to pinpoint his identity with certainty.]

To begin with, the lives of operatives were expendable assets.

Since they had caught the scent of the Manpower Office Director’s tail, that was considered enough.

That was likely how the leadership would view it.

Well… it wasn’t as if Liu Hao felt any affection for them either.

They were faceless tools without names.

Even so…

“Against a monster that dealt with them so easily… how?”

Plenty of operatives remained, of course.

What this operation required, however, was quality over quantity.

Elites on par with the ten who died?

Almost none.

He would carry out whatever he was told for now, but he could only hope the orders that returned were reasonable…

*

The same news reached China’s Central Awakened Management Bureau.

“Director, what are your thoughts?”

“Right. I felt an ominous chill from the beginning… To think even those agents would fail.”

The Special Operations Unit and the Central Awakened Management Bureau were rivals.

When one side stacked failures, power naturally shifted toward the other, just as the initiative had swung their way after Wei Jin’s death.

At this moment, however, that rivalry wasn’t what mattered.

“I have a feeling this won’t end here.”

In truth, their course of action had already gone bizarrely off track.

The initial objective was securing weapons from the Manpower Office Director.

And now?

Things were five minutes shy of a total disaster.

After their agents died right on his front doorstep, would he hand over weapons if they asked?

Only a lunatic would comply.

The problem lay elsewhere.

“It doesn’t seem likely the higher-ups will give up like this, either…”

“Indeed, that’s the trouble.”

The President and the highest figures in power — men who still believed China was the center of the world.

Would they give up after a single failure?

Never.

They weren’t the ones in danger.

No matter how formidable the Manpower Office Director’s abilities were, surely he wouldn’t be mad enough to make an enemy of China.

Yes.

Surely…

*

Eye of Truth.

What had been an ordinary private detective guild was now…

“Open a branch in China, you say?”

Receiving a sudden command.

From whom?

A strange teddy bear.

“Indeed. Simply open one under the pretext of expanding the Eye of Truth guild.”

“Uh… wait, why China…?”

The teddy bear that had turned the Eye of Truth upside down gave a smirk.

Why else?

Opening a branch in Beijing meant our laborers could go there anytime.

China?

Go ahead, try pulling another cheap trick.

Right in the heart of your mainland, a highest-grade laborer — and Yunchang at that — would come raining down like a bombardment.