Chapter 221

Sitting at my desk, I was reviewing the ledger transferred from the head office’s PC when suddenly, I felt that this couldn’t continue.

Working in an overheated state narrows one’s vision and simplifies thoughts. Sitting here and trying to raise the temperature wouldn’t improve efficiency, and more importantly, there were people waiting for the data I had moved.

While it’s important to go over the year-end summary, since it involves the girlfriends, it’s most crucial to discuss it with everyone.

First, I backed up the data transferred from the head office’s PC to an external hard drive before standing up from my seat.

I intended to cool down on my way home, but even the cold wind of Christmas Eve didn’t calm me down.

The more I reviewed the documents, the more frustration and anger welled up. Thinking about all the things the girlfriends had endured made me feel unjustly treated.

I clenched my fist as if I wanted to punch the face of the head office manager of the Earth Defense Union, whom I had never met, only to release it repeatedly.

If I hit a regular person on Earth in this state, I would surely die. This wasn’t just an emotional outburst; I truly felt such a strong impulse and took deep breaths to regain my composure.

Arriving home with tension, as soon as I entered the living room, I saw the girlfriends looking at me. Fidgeting with the bag containing the laptop, I slowly approached them.

“How did it go?”

“Everything has been transferred. What about you?”

“There was a crisis, but we handled it well.”

Given the weighty nature of the matter, it was expected that there would be risks involved. Happily, it seemed the situation was well managed without causing major issues, so I decided not to worry unnecessarily.

“Did you find anything confirmed?”

“…There is something.”

Hearing YuBin’s response, I momentarily felt relieved that there was no major problem. However, YuRa, who usually had a playful demeanor but today had none, asked a question without any hint of humor, making my voice drop noticeably.

Though I wished to deliver the news as calmly as possible, unfortunately, my current mood prevented me from doing so.

The moment I realized their efforts had gone unrewarded weighed heavily on me, and my heart felt chilled.

Noticing something amiss in my expression and tone, the girlfriends waited for me to speak first rather than asking questions.

Feeling uneasy under the silent expectation, I swallowed dryly and placed the laptop on the living room table.

“I’ll explain it step by step.”

Even thinking about it made my anger not subside, and I wondered if I could fully convey this to the girlfriends.

Contrary to my thoughts, I found myself not getting angrier anymore. Instead, I felt a deeper sense of frustration beyond anger.

To ensure everyone could see the screen, I projected a hologram image above the laptop.

I then carefully explained each item from the documents I had reviewed briefly.

It turned out that wages meant for the HunterKiller Team had been going to the head office, and not only the HunterKiller Team, but other superhumans’ wages were also being diverted.

The girlfriends remained calm. None of them erupted or lost their composure; they simply looked through the documents I had found together.

While they weren’t exploding with anger, they were holding back their fury like storm clouds before a tempest, showing remarkable patience.

“Wow, they really milked this.”

SuA was the first to speak. Although she was financially comfortable, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t get angry if money owed to her wasn’t received.

“I should have thrown it on the sofa earlier.”

Curiosity arose from the cryptic comment, but I felt it wasn’t the right time to ask.

“Let’s check further. Your older brother also noticed it while checking midway, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Since there were many more documents to review, we started looking at other records as YuBin suggested.

The more we searched, the more we discovered that the head office manager was diverting funds. Unlike SuA and YuRa, who were visibly upset, YuBin stared intently at the monitor with an unusually calm demeanor.

“Wait a moment.”

“Why?”

Stopping mid-scroll at YuBin’s words, everyone’s attention turned to her.

“I didn’t notice when looking at quarterly reports, but when looking monthly, the ratio seems off?”

At her words, everyone’s attention shifted back to the monitor.

As YuBin said, the ratio of members’ wages going to the head office was consistent when viewed quarterly, but checking the monthly breakdown revealed slight differences.

In some months, SuA’s money went more to the head office, while in others, Hayang’s money went more. While the total amount leaving was the same, the difference lay in the amount going to the head office, which affected the quarterly ratios.

“Is there another leak somewhere else?”

Thanks to Eunji’s quiet remark, our perspective broadened. Focused on the girlfriends, we hadn’t specifically checked other superhumans’ finances.

Another hole where money was leaking was quickly identified.

“There’s no record of payments going to Team Guerrilla.”

Team Guerrilla, which no longer existed in the Seoul branch, received normal salary payments. While it was less than what the HunterKiller Team should receive, they were receiving multiples of what they had previously received.

“Could the head office be pocketing the other superhumans’ money and giving it to Team Guerrilla?”

“Could they be accomplices? But why to Team Guerrilla?”

YuBin was speculating when Hayang concluded they were accomplices. However, the head office manager’s reason for giving money to Team Guerrilla was unclear, and her frown didn’t ease.

“Could they have been exposed?”

“Could the head office manager have been caught by Team Guerrilla?”

YuBin quickly pieced together the scenario based on Eunji’s words.

“Could this be related to Team Guerrilla’s disappearance?”

While waiting for a hypothesis specific to Team HunterKiller, which could only be made by someone affiliated with the Seoul branch, I tilted my head at SuA’s words.

“Team Guerrilla disappeared?”

“Yeah.”

During her hospitalization, she had heard that Team Guerrilla was under police investigation. The only information she had was that everyone except Gainesboro had been questioned by the police but hadn’t provided satisfactory answers.

Assuming they were still under investigation, it came as a surprise that they had disappeared.

“After the initial police investigation, we couldn’t find Team Guerrilla anywhere.”

“…Just now, I met the head office manager at headquarters, and he called superhumans ‘disposable.'”

Team Guerrilla had been under investigation shortly after the incident, but afterward, their whereabouts became unknown. Thinking along similar lines, Hayang recounted her conversation with the head office manager before coming home.

“Disposable?”

One of the key points I focused on during my investigation of superhumans was their lifespan. Whether it was their actual lifespan or the lifespan of their abilities wasn’t clear, but superhumans’ physical abilities had a limit.

Though still a hypothesis, I held firm to this belief, and the term “disposable” reinforced it.

“Disposable… Could it mean that Team Guerrilla was used somewhere?”

However, hypotheses are just that. Without evidence, no amount of hypotheses can become a solid theory.

Given the possibility of finding the evidence, it’s better to focus on gathering it rather than forming multiple hypotheses.

“Strange.”

While YuBin was examining the documents on the laptop, she murmured quietly, distracting me from our conversation.

“What is it?”

Seeing YuBin’s quiet remark, SuA sat next to her to look at the monitor, and I glanced at the floating hologram display.

“The payment method is odd.”

Superhumans’ wages originally came from the Earth Defense Union, an international alliance. Even though it was only three years since its establishment, there was such a system in place.

Afterward, the management of superhumans’ wages was transferred to national facilities, with their salaries paid from national taxes instead of the international alliance’s funds.

Logically, it made sense for the state to pay superhumans directly, but the Earth Defense Union’s payment method had too many irregularities.

“It’s a structure that makes it easy to embezzle funds.”

The money didn’t go directly to the superhumans; it was first distributed to the Seoul branch and then paid out to the superhumans.

“The method itself isn’t entirely strange.”

Nodding at YuBin’s observation, I agreed. The method of distributing funds through a collective wasn’t unusual and could be seen in various places around the world.

This was true on Earth and in Spacystro as well. I, too, received my payment after passing through the headquarters.

However.

“It’s a very easy structure for the head office manager to interfere with.”

YuBin echoed my thoughts word for word.

“What will we do?”

While I had orchestrated the situation to secure the documents, given the close relationship with the girlfriends, I wanted to leave the decision on public funds embezzlement to them.

Naturally, I first asked YuBin, the team leader. She didn’t immediately respond but looked at the expressions of the other members.

“We should report it. Regardless of anything else, this is a chance to get rid of the head office manager we despise.”

The members nodded in agreement, though their expressions weren’t particularly bright. It was understandable that they weren’t cheerful, but they seemed to be contemplating something.

“But where did all this money go?”

We couldn’t trace the money’s whereabouts. Despite embezzling an unimaginable amount, there were no signs of it within the organization.

Naturally, our attention returned to the monitor. The screen displayed the wages paid to Team Guerrilla.

“But who is this Gainesboro character?”

“Huh?”

Gainesboro’s name caught my eye. In fact, I had noticed something peculiar from the beginning.

When I learned about the progress while in the hospital, Gainesboro had been absent from the police investigation from the start.

Moreover, there was a discrepancy in the wages paid to other Team Guerrilla members, but Gainesboro’s wages showed no difference.

“Gainesboro, we don’t know much about him.”

“We only know him as the one right next to Indigo. He hasn’t done anything particularly noteworthy.”

Although I had encountered Indigo several times, I didn’t remember anything about Gainesboro. In fact, Kakhi, who often talked loudly next to Indigo, left a stronger impression.

“Let’s think about it as we search.”

“Right. Let’s think about how to handle this information right away.”

Instead of dwelling on what we hadn’t yet confirmed, we decided to focus on what we could do immediately.

The issue was how to report it. If we handed the documents to the press, the story would definitely be published.

“People won’t care about superhumans stealing public funds.”

People on Earth seemed to show interest in superhumans, yet they didn’t.

They were ready to jump at any trouble caused by superhumans, but they showed no interest in stories where superhumans suffered losses.

“There is a way.”

Then, an ingenious idea came to mind.

We didn’t need to bring up the topic of superhumans. By using sensational language, if it becomes an issue, people might start paying attention to superhumans.

“How will we do it?”

“Just trust me.”

A cynical smile spread across my face at the thought of involving a despicable person. It was the first time I smiled like that in front of the girlfriends, and I couldn’t hide it. Seeing my face, the girlfriends only tilted their heads.

The end of the year arrived, and the world was bustling with Christmas spirit.

With snow falling, it was a white Christmas, making everyone seem happy.

I wanted to spend Christmas with the girlfriends. I kept pondering how and with whom to celebrate until Christmas Day, but this year, I won’t have to think about it anymore.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to spend a peaceful first Christmas with the girlfriends.

But there is one gift I can give.

Sitting at the headquarters office, scrolling through the monitor on Christmas, I felt happier than ever this Christmas.

[Earth Defense Union Seoul Head Office Head Manager Embezzled Hundreds of Millions of Public Funds Over Several Years]

Anonymously, I distributed the summarized documents and original records to all newspapers.

The public funds embezzled by the head office manager were paid by South Korean taxpayers. If it became known that an individual had embezzled hundreds of millions of tax dollars, it wouldn’t go unnoticed.

Despite the festive atmosphere of Christmas, news of the scandal spread rapidly.

No matter how hard they tried to hide the truth, investigations would be carried out, and citizens wouldn’t let the issue of tax embezzlement slide.

Furthermore, public sentiment towards superhumans and the Earth Defense Union had already reached a low point after the terrorist incident. No matter what happened, it would be difficult to sweep it under the rug.

“Oh wow. Why is it snowing so much?”

Turning to chuckle alone at the monitor, I heard a familiar voice behind me, one I hadn’t heard in a long time.

“Huh?”

“Oh, Alt. What are you doing in the office on Christmas?”

Meeting the eyes of a young man with two-toned blond hair and dark tan skin, he greeted me warmly upon seeing me, and I reciprocated with a smile, glad to see his familiar face.

“Alt. You’re finally here?”

“Yes. I flew in from Japan this afternoon.”

The bio-roid I first met and who called me ‘senior’ for the first time.

Now part of the Spacystro team, Alt had come from Japan to Korea.

“You’re here, but your mannerisms are different.”

“It’s because I watched so many anime in Japan!”

Alt’s speech, influenced by regional cultures, had changed slightly since the last time we met.

He didn’t have such dark skin before, did he?

Staring blankly out the window at the sight of so much snow falling, turning the world white.

Pushing back my silvery hair, which was less white but shiny, I sighed, and white fog formed on the window.

“!”

Startled by a rustling sound behind me, I turned my head.

Though not long ago, Silver, who had been allowed to enter the ward to clean it, met the eyes of a young man with thick brown hair, who had just woken up from a long sleep.

“…Who are you?”

Cruger, waking up from a long slumber, asked who the woman he had never seen before was, lying in the hospital bed. Seeing Cruger awake, Silver couldn’t hide her surprise, but eventually, a smile appeared on her lips.

“I’m a nurse. How are you feeling?”