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Chapter 158 Hypocrite (2)

\'Was I being rude?\'

Naturally, I questioned if it was necessary for her to react that way when all I asked was for us to go get a drink and it was to the point that I understood why Song Jung-Wook of the Small Stone Guild said she was inflexible.

"I\'m sorry, but I don\'t know what I said wrong," I said.

"A-Are you being serious?! Even Miss Ha-Yan is next to you…" Jo Hye-Jin said angrily.

"Is Ha-Yan being here a problem?" I asked.

"That\'s not what I meant!" she yelled angrily.

\'What the hell is she talking about?\'

It was then that I realized the reason behind the misunderstanding.

\'Huh…\'

I realized it when I saw her blushing. The issue was the environment we were in, not what I said. She must have thought that I wanted to spend time with her in front of the luxurious inn in the middle of the night. She basically saw me as a person who sexually harassed his co-workers. Even Jung Ha-Yan wouldn\'t have this kind of misunderstanding. When I kept telling her that she was being ridiculous, Jo Hye-Jin must\'ve felt even more embarrassed because her face turned red, but when Jung Ha-Yan spoke up, Jo Hye-Jin realized that she misunderstood everything.

"Wh-What is she talking about?"

"I\'m not sure…" I answered.

"Oh…"

"…"

Cho Hye-Jin started looking around out of embarrassment because she realized her mistake.

"That\'s… well…"

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

"I-It\'s nothing. I must\'ve misunderstood…"

"What kind of misunderstanding?" I asked.

"It\'s nothing," she answered.

"Were you having strange thoughts…"

"I told you it\'s nothing," she said once again.

"I think I know what you think of me, Miss Hye-Jin," I told her.

"That\'s…"

"I\'m a bit disappointed," I added.

"I-I\'m sorry," Cho Hye-Jin said.

\'This is my chance…\'

Being able to tease her like this was really good. When thinking about the type of person Cho Hye-Jin was, she seemed like the type that would decline if someone asked her to drink with them. It was possible that taking us back to the castle was the priority, but in the current situation, there wasn\'t a reason for her to decline my offer.

"Well, I was joking anyway and what I said could cause a misunderstanding. My relationship with the opposite sex isn\'t all pure and innocent so… so it\'s understandable for me to get treated that way," I said, teasing her.

"That\'s… not true," she said.

"You don\'t have to worry about it. I\'m used to it…" I added.

"N-No, that\'s not what I meant," she stuttered.

"Do you really feel sorry?" I asked.

"I do…"

"Then… how about accepting my offer from earlier and killing some time before heading back?" I asked her.

Co Hye-Jin was contemplating. At any moment, she was going to nod in agreement and as expected, I heard her voice. "If it\'s only for a moment…"

"Great, let\'s head in," I said.

"Vice guild master, that\'s…"

"Huh? Does the inn not have a pub?" I asked.

"Oh, no… I\'m sure they do," she said.

Earlier, I only said it to tease her, but I guess to her, I wasn\'t a trustworthy person. Even though polygamy and polyandry were taken for granted, my relationship with women was a mess. She must have thought that I was trying to seduce her.

\'I did think about it…\'

Cho Hye-Jin wasn\'t really interested in me.

When I opened the door to the inn, the receptionist came up to us.

"Do you have a reservation…"

"Oh, we\'re not here to spend the night. We\'d like to go to the bar or the pub," I told them.

When I glanced over at Jung Ha-Yan, I noticed her hurriedly taking gold out of her pocket and handing it to the receptionist.

\'Why did she give them so much?\'

I was sure that they would be happy even with one gold, but since she grabbed however many she could, it seemed like she gave them at least five gold. The receptionist looked as if they hit the jackpot.

"A quiet place if possible," I added.

"Of course. Right this way," the receptionist respectfully said.

Having money did make things comfortable. When we walked upstairs, I noticed a nice spot overlooking the city.

"We\'ll take that spot," I said.

"Okay…"

"What would you like to order?" they asked.

"You can bring anything nice and the price doesn\'t matter," I answered.

"Alright. I hope you enjoy your time," the receptionist said before leaving.

"Thank you…"

When we sat down, Cho Hye-Jin looked at me with a slightly awkward expression as if she wasn\'t used to this. It must be her first time coming to a place like this. It was a bit fancy, but since she used to be one of the key members of the Small Stone Guild, I was sure she had enough gold to come here. But with how she acted, I was certain either Song Jung-Wook was stingier than I thought or Jo Hye-Jin lived a pretty simple life. I wanted to bet on the latter because it was hard to imagine her not getting paid a lot.

"Is this your first time coming to a place like this?" I asked her.

"Huh? Yes…" she answered.

"I heard you spent a long time in Castle Rock, so that\'s surprising. I thought you would\'ve gone to a lot of nice places since you were an executive at the Small Stone Guild… it seems like you\'ve lived a simple life while you were here," I said.

"Simple… I guess you\'re right. I don\'t recall spending gold on unnecessary things," she said.

"Hahaha, it\'s not unnecessary." I pointed out.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Saving gold isn\'t a good thing. You have to spend it to use it as intended. The people who have gold in this society need to use it in order for society to function. I believe you understand what I mean," I explained.

"Ah…"

"The receptionist who received a tip just now will spend that as well and the gold we spend today will be spent elsewhere. If you look below, the ordinary citizens and the people walking into restaurants and shops owned by poor citizens will also spend their gold. I\'m sure you already know this, but the person at the top of the pyramid needs to spend their gold for the economy to function well," I added.

"I understand what you mean, but…"

"Yes?" I asked

"Maybe I\'m misunderstanding, but it sounds like you\'re looking down on those people…" Cho Hye-Jin said.

"I\'m not, but it\'s necessary to be aware," I told her.

"Are you saying that you\'re above those people?" she asked.

"Yes. Personally, having that kind of awareness makes it easier to face them. Basically, you need to keep thinking about your position and the impact your actions will bring," I explained.

"I\'m having a difficult time understanding what you\'re trying to say, Vice guild master," she confessed.

"I must be talking nonsense because I\'m drunk. I didn\'t offer to get a drink to talk about this, but I guess you can consider this as an extension of our conversation. Ahem. I don\'t know if you\'re aware, but the master of the Small Stone Guild and I made an agreement today," I told her.

"That\'s… a relief," she said in a low voice.

As expected, she didn\'t look so good because she probably thought that I heard stories about her. Obviously, I wasn\'t thinking about hiding it; actually, I wanted to have a deeper conversation with her.

"Did he tell you?" she asked.

"About the whistleblower thing?" I asked.

"Yes…"

"Yes, he did. Before I could ask why you left the Small Stone Guild and why you came to Lindel, he told me what happened first. He seemed to resent you a bit and I understand why since you basically betrayed the comrades you were with since the tutorial dungeon," I answered.

"…"

"It seemed like everyone knew what happened. I don\'t know why you were trying to hide it in the first place, but it was a fact that I was going to eventually find out," I added.

"Are you criticizing me?" she asked.

"What did Mr. Hyun-Sung say? When he brought you to the guild?" I asked.

"He said it didn\'t matter," Jo Hye-Jin replied.

She looked a bit relaxed…

\'Ohh.\'

It took me some time to catch on, but to her, Kim Hyun-Sung wasn\'t just an employer to her.

\'He picked her.\'

I wasn\'t sure if it was intentional or not, but Kim Hyun-Sung definitely had his eyes on this woman.

"He actually told me that I did a good job and that it\'s important to stick to my beliefs… that\'s what he said," she added.

"It\'s a reasonable argument and something that Mr. Hyun-Sung would say. I\'m also the same way. I\'m not criticizing you. Didn\'t you report them for illegal monster trading and tax issues?" I asked.

"They were also involved in race slave trading," she said.

"I see. I didn\'t hear about that, but that\'s fine. I\'ll get straight to the point. I\'m not criticizing you, but I do think you\'re an idiot," I bluntly confessed.

"Excuse me?" she asked, doubting her ears.

"You\'re an idiot," I repeated.

"What do you…"

"This society doesn\'t think too fondly of whistleblowers. Even if you did it because of your beliefs, based on the result, you\'re really an idiot. Why in the world would you do something like that?" I asked.

"I don\'t really understand what you\'re saying. Didn\'t you say just now that you weren\'t criticizing me?" Cho Hye-Jin asked.

She seemed as if she was panicking, but it was natural for her to react that way.

"I\'m sure I mentioned earlier that one has to always be aware of their position. Have you once thought about the consequences of being a whistleblower?" I asked.

"Why should I? They committed a crime!"

"I wasn\'t telling you to think about them. I\'m talking about the people who\'ll be impacted because of your actions. I\'m referring to the Small Stone Guild. After that incident, the guild had no choice but to restructure their guild, and even though they\'ve been cleared of all charges, they\'re still involved in tax issues," I explained, cutting her off.

"…"

"It seemed like they let go of a lot of the guild staff members. Many people lost their jobs within a day. From what I heard, some people committed suicide and others went out of their way to go hunting and ended up being in a bad situation," I added.

"That\'s…"

"Female staff members started working on the streets and the men who suddenly became unemployed went hunting to feed their families. The young members who had just been hired lost their jobs and are living in the slums begging for food," I told her.

"Is that… true?" Jo Hye-Jin asked with wide eyes.

"No, I made it up just now," I answered.

"V-Vice guild master? Why would you joke…"

"But it\'s not unrealistic… I\'m sure the things I said just now won\'t actually happen to them, but it\'s possible that a few people will actually have to live that kind of life. We never looked for them, but if we did, I\'m sure we can find them easily. Your former comrades who you reported are living just fine, but I\'m sure innocent people must have been affected," I explained.

"Oh…"

"That\'s the reason why I called you an idiot. Leaving it to your conscience won\'t solve everything, Miss Cho Hye-Jin. If you wanted to put an end to it, you should\'ve planned it out more carefully. In the end, what you did was insulting," I told her.

"…"

"You didn\'t contribute anything. Whether it was Castle Rock\'s development or carrying out your beliefs, you haven\'t done anything right. You basically reported your comrades without submitting any solid proof so you didn\'t do anything other than relieving your personal conscience. Even if your plan succeeded, I still would\'ve called you an idiot."

"…"

"Do you know how many guild staff members there are at the Small Stone Guild? This is also including the people who weren\'t in the workforce or had no choice but to cooperate with the guild master in order to get by. You\'re not someone who can take responsibility for all of those people. At this point, I think it\'s a relief that your plan ended up failing because hundreds of people would\'ve ended up on the streets."

"…"

"Have you ever thought once about the issues I told you just now?" I asked her.