Chapter 16. Northern Army Guild Pt. 2
“Are you going to let things end like this? We just started expanding properly…” someone raged angrily.
A calm and cold voice responded, “Isn’t it more important to strengthen our internal stability than focus on expansion or growth? Haven’t you seen it from the incident this time? This kind of situation only happened because the management of our guild members is a mess.”
The first person snarled, “What bullshit! Those punks did nothing wrong. To think they’re telling me that I have to bow my head to the common person, bugs who live by latching onto Hunters.”
It was a viewpoint more appropriate for the future, but something that didn’t fit within the present day. So much so that the community would have widely discussed it if anyone had heard it.
Still, their guild master, Choi Yeong-Seong, stood quietly. The three who were gathered in the room were the heads of the Northern Army Guild, which was a guild that would grow immensely from this point on.
“That's too drastic of a viewpoint,” said the cold voice.
Jeong In-Chang, one of the two deputy guild masters of the Northern Army Guild, was the one responding now, and this person was the one who wanted to strengthen the guild’s internal stability.
“While they may not have the strength of Hunters, the people are also humans like us…”
As Jeong In-Chang’s volume began to rise a little, the taciturn Choi Yeong-Seong opened his mouth.
“Stop.”
He was a man who always had a smile on his lips, a vicious smile full of cruelty.
“Yong-Su is right.”
Choi Yeong-Seong was referring to the other deputy guild master of the Northern Army Guild who had been raging earlier, Choi Yong-Su.
“Hyung!” exclaimed Choi Yong-Su happily, his anger fading away.
During meetings between the masters of the Northern Army Guild, Choi Yong-Su’s opinions held more significant weight than Jeong In-Chang's, as he was Choi Yeong-Seong’s younger brother.
“They should pay the proper price for latching onto our ankles. Not only that, but I’m also curious to see how it would turn out,” continued the guild master.
"Guild Master!"
When Jeong In-Chang exclaimed in response, Choi Yeong-Seong raised his hand to interrupt the outburst. For him, rather than the guild’s setback or his personal curiosity…
‘They’ve trampled on my face.’
…his face was more important. But he hid this part of his reasoning as it differed from Jeong In-Chang’s viewpoint.
“Moreover, that person also said the same thing I did.”
“...”
“..."
As soon as that person was mentioned, the conference room suddenly became silent. Everyone knew who he was referring to: the person who had been sponsoring the Northern Army Guild.[1] It was a person essential to the future growth of the guild, a person with immense power. This person was the backing behind the sudden expansion of the previously insignificant Northern Army Guild.
“It seems like that person is also a bit curious about that cheeky bastard as well.”
The smirk on Choi Yeong-Seong’s lips grew more apparent.
“That person said they would create the game, so make sure everyone is prepared. Don’t end up dropping the ball,” he said.
There was a saying, “The Northern Army cannot tolerate a single defeat.”
Choi Yeong-Seong’s smile soon contained a hint of something that couldn’t be felt before: a killing aura, disgusting and unpleasant.
***
They were in the E-Grade Goblin Mage dungeon. It was an excellent gate for Lee Jun-Kyeong. Though the rank had increased by one level, the Gate mostly had goblins, which were the monsters that he had gotten used to hunting up until now. Furthermore, while the goblins in this gate were goblins that the goblin mage had strengthened, their overall level wasn’t much different from the ones from before. Instead, there was a different problem.
“Clear. There should be no problem continuing.”
The gate was a completed dungeon type.[2] The gate wasn’t a forest or the outdoors, but instead, it was an underground labyrinth. Therefore, the goblin mage had installed traps in it, and they frequently appeared.
“Go ahead!” exclaimed Yeo Seong-Gu loudly.
A League Guild member with the Sponsor, <The One Who Sees That Which Cannot Be Seen>, had disabled the trap, and the group began to walk forward again.
‘Traps…’
Lee Jun-Kyeong watched and memorized everything that occurred while he attacked the gate with the League Guild, recording everything he felt he lacked.
‘So this is the ability of a Hunter.’
While he had read and heard about it often, he had little real experience in seeing the abilities of other Hunters. Unlike the Hunters from the Tutorial, who hadn’t yet learned skills, the League Guild members were different.
“Earth Wall!”
“Fireball!”
The guild was a reputable one that had already grown to some extent and had often attacked gates of reasonably high grades. Needless to say, most of the League Guild’s Hunters had already learned skills.
Shwick.
Furthermore, Yeo Seong-Gu was quite outstanding. He had been whirling around a longsword this entire time. By the time Lee Jun-Kyeong had stopped musing and returned to reality, the monsters had already been taken care of.
"You’re all incredible," he said sincerely. He had truly been amazed by the impression they had made on him while he had been watching real Hunters hunt.
"Thank you,” Yeo Seong-Gu responded with a smile. To be honest, the League Guild was a guild that was way beyond attacking E-Graded Gates. Instead, it could be described as an upper-middle-class guild that usually attacked much higher-graded gates. But they still had come to the E-Graded Gate because of Lee Jun-Kyeong's request.
“No, if anything, I should be the grateful one. I was the one who requested you come here.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted to see the League Guild’s, no, Yeo Seong-Gu’s current power. While his personal safety and other reasons were also important, they were only supplementary to his main purpose. He had a strong desire to see just how powerful Yeo Seong-Gu was.
Then, Yeo Seong-Gu said, “It would be great if you could say what you really wanted.”
“What do you mean?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.
“Didn’t you want to see my strength?”
Apparently, Yeo Seong-Gu had become aware of his actual intentions. Lee Jun-Kyeong had no intentions of deceiving him, though.
“I told you, you’re amazing,” said Lee Jun-Kyeong.
“...”
“While the League Guild is also amazing, I think the really awe-inspiring one is you, Hyung.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke honestly without any hesitation to Yeo Seong-Gu, who had become like a brother to him once again.
“And… it feels as though you will get even stronger, Hyung.”
It was a statement based on what he had just seen and the knowledge he had of the future. Yeo Seong-Gu seemed sincerely satisfied.
“While that’s that, we would also like to see the skills of the Super Rookie,” said Lee Han-Seong, one of the League Guild Members who had saved him. The man approached him with a humorous smile. Though the gate attack had progressed quite a bit, Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t gone out to fight properly yet. While part of it was because the League Guild had attacked first, Lee Jun-Kyeong had also not gone out deliberately to better understand the League Guild’s skills.
Yeo Seong-Gu also interjected, “I would like to see it once as well.”
At that point, Lee Jun-Kyeong had realized that as much as he had not seen Yeo Seong-Gu’s skills until now, Yeo Seong-Gu had also never seen his own abilities either. Since this wasn’t a one-way street, Lee Jun-Kyeong agreed and stepped forward. While the goblins in front of them had already been cleared, they could hear footsteps ahead.
Thud thud thud.
Completed dungeon-type gates had this drawback: the dungeon’s boss had the ability to see everything and control its troops in order to pressure the Hunters.
‘There are about twelve of them.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong closed his eyes for a moment and counted the number of the approaching monsters while feeling for their presence.
Thud thud thud!
After a while, the footsteps grew louder.
"They’re coming!"
By this point, even the naked eye could see that the monsters were coming.. They weren’t the normal F-Rank goblins he was used to hunting daily. Instead, they were E-Rank goblins strengthened by the goblin mage. Lee Jun-Kyeong raised the shield in his left hand and aimed his spear.
Furthermore, it was time for him to use his new Authority.
‘Reign of Fire.’
“Is that…”
He could hear the surprised voices of the guild members.. Skills were often only able to be activated by shouting their names. If, by chance, he had activated a skill without any trigger words…
“Have you already learned an upper-level skill? He really is a super rookie…”
In fact, it could have been something of an even higher grade.
‘It’s an Authority.’
Only Yeo Seong-Gu had noticed what power Lee Jun-Kyeong was using. The flames that he had evoked weren’t just limited to his spear. Rather…
“To think he could also control it to form a flaming shield…”
The shield in his left hand was flickering with flames. The goblins were racing towards him quickly. Within the F-Grade Gates, he had generally waited for the goblins to rush in.
Swoop.
However, it was different this time. Lee Jun-Kyeong began to advance with his flaming shield in the front.
***
[You have cleared the Goblin Mage’s Dungeon.]
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> supports you.]
[Your experience points have increased slightly.]
A voice notified the group that the dungeon had been successfully cleared.
“Wow, he was pretty incredible, no?” someone marveled.
The background began to change, shifting from the dark and dull dungeon to the place where they had entered. Upon their exit, all of the League Guild members stared at Lee Jun-Kyeong.
Another commented, “Looks like they don’t call him the Super Rookie for nothing.”
A third interjected, “Wasn’t the Guild Master at that level back then too?”
The League Guild members were conversing back and forth about him, the sincere kindness in their voices apparent. They had observed Lee Jun-Kyeong’s performance starting from the middle dungeon onward, and they had been thoroughly impressed by his skills. One of the men who had saved him, Choi Cheol-Yong, grimaced and complained to Yeo Seong-Gu. “Guild Master? What the hell are you doing?”
Suddenly, the atmosphere turned cold after his complaint dropped.
“What are you doing, not recruiting someone with this much talent?” Choi Cheol-Yong quickly clarified while smiling.
Another member mumbled, “I’m telling you, doesn’t that bastard really have a knack for killing the mood?”
“If you’re going to mess around, do it properly!”
“You’re not funny.”
The other League Guild members booed at Choi Cheol-Yong. This was their way of relieving pressure after clearing a dungeon, so the members all enjoyed this moment of laughter.
Furthermore, Yeo Seong-Gu had once again made an attempt to recruit Lee Jun-Kyeong.
"The offer is still valid. As you can see, our guild is strong, and we’ll be even stronger in the future"
Yeo Seong-Gu was right. After having seen it in person, Lee Jun-Kyeong had confirmed they were strong. But more so than the guild, Yeo Seong-Gu’s strength was the most impressive.
“From my perspective…” said Yeo Seong-Gu with a worried face. “It looks like you have a pretty tough road ahead of you.”
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong’s expression stiffened. Among all of the abilities of Heimdall that he knew of, there had been no mention of anything like the power of prophecy. But somehow, the guild master’s words had pierced him to the core and gave rise to a strange sort of feeling. Could his disposition and goals already have been figured out? Considering the guild master’s insight, it was quite possible.
“There is no way that those Northern Army Guild punks would stay still now. I did some research on them as well. But there is no way for them to touch you if you stay with us,” said Yeo Seong-Gu.
He was right. While the Northern Army Guild had been expanding quickly, it still lacked quite a bit compared to the League Guild. If Lee Jun-Kyeong joined the League Guild, it might be easier for him to fulfill his plans.
Yeo Seong-Gu then dropped a bomb, “Join the League Guild, and I’ll give you the deputy guild master position.”
“Guild Master!”
“Oh my god.”
The League Guild members became more and more astonished after hearing what Yeo Seong-Gu just offered. Even if he really liked Lee Jun-Kyeong, it became an entirely different matter when the deputy guild master position was involved. While the guild was fairly large, its deputy position was still vacant. There were a lot of Hunters who had been vying for that position.
‘To think he’d suddenly offer the deputy guild master position…’
Lee Jun-Kyeong had no idea that the guild master would make such an offer. While Yeo Seong-Gu had already known about his frightening growth rate and talent, it was still unexpected. Still, amid a whirlwind of surprise and worry, Lee Jun-Kyeong gave the same answer as before, “I’ll have to refuse.”
***
‘That should be the right decision.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong was well aware of Yeo Seong-Gu’s personality. This proposal would be the last. He wouldn’t extend an invitation to join the League Guild anymore unless Lee Jun-Kyeong was the one to request it first. However, Yeo Seong-Gu or the guild members didn’t take the rejection as an offense as they were as easygoing as Lee Jun-Kyeong was.
“This was a good decision.”
All of his worries had gone away, whether it was about the League Guild or the punks in the Northern Army Guild.
‘Gunther, no, Choi Yeong-Seong is definitely going to make a move.’
He wasn’t the type of person to leave Lee Jun-Kyeong, the person who had interfered with his growth, alone. Furthermore, there was also Choi Yong-Su, the younger brother of Choi Yeong-Seong. While he was weaker than his older brother, he was a hero in his own right. Knowing the inclinations of the brothers, Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure that the Northern Army Guild would create some sort of problem.
Ring.
Just then, his phone happened to ring.
-The Northern Army Guild has started to attack dungeons again.
Kim Su-Yeong was updating him regarding his request as he had been diligently working to uncover the movements of the Northern Army Guild. They had begun to advance again.
Lee Jun-Kyeong planned on moving first, before the swords of those punks came even close to his throat. He sent a text to Kim Su-Yeong.
[Jeong In-Chang. I would like to get the contact information of the deputy guild master of the Northern Army Guild.]
1. The Korean for sponsor here is the same as the entity Sponsor. This is a slight hint for the future but isn’t really explained explicitly later.
2. This dungeon refers to a dungeon in a castle
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