Chapter 17
It happened exactly one week ago.
Hyeonmu Guild headquarters.
The top floor of a building resembling a massive entertainment agency.
And in a room accessible only to Guild Master Yoon Mi-ja, someone had already arrived.
“It is an honor to meet you, Hunter Yoon Mi-ja.”
“⋯Huh.”
A sudden visit.
No, it was an intrusion so blatant that calling it a visit was laughable.
Despite that, the other party bowed deeply and greeted her politely, as though they weren't enemies.
At that shamelessness, Yoon Mi-ja, who had just entered the room, seriously wondered for a moment,
'Should I kill them?'
But then her gaze fell on the other person's clothes.
A pure-white uniform.
A white mask covering their face.
An outfit seemingly designed to make them look like a ray of light in a world being ruined by the gender imbalance and dungeon breaks.
And there was only one organization in the world that wore clothes like that.
“The Reproductive Resources Management Agency?”
“That's right.”
The International Reproductive Resources Management Agency.
The Reproductive Resources Agency for short.
The world's largest international organization, with roots spread across the globe, managing male reproductive resources and genetic information.
One of its employees had secretly infiltrated the guild master's office of Hyeonmu Guild, one of Korea's Big Four guilds.
‘Well, it's only because they don't wage wars⋯ But in terms of scale alone, they're bigger than most countries.’
Even so, it was strange.
The Reproductive Resources Agency was an organization that moved without mercy or compassion when it came to male genes and reproductive resources.
People who managed men, held their genetic information, and influenced childbirth policies.
There was no reason for people in white masks like that to pick the lock on Hyeonmu Guild Master's office and come looking for a Hunter.
Stride.
Yoon Mi-ja took a step.
She was smiling, but her steps were heavy.
And as she approached with enough force to crush the fly before her with her fingertips at any moment, the Reproductive Resources Agency employee said with their head bowed,
“Hunter Yoon Mi-ja. From this point forward, we would like Hyeonmu Guild to absorb Baekho Guild.”
“⋯What?”
With those words, the employee took a document envelope from inside their coat and held it out.
Their first demand after showing up out of nowhere was neither a proposal for checks and balances nor a negotiation between the Big Four guilds.
It was effectively a declaration of war: an order for one side to devour the other.
No matter how large an international organization the Reproductive Resources Agency was, it had no authority to do something like this.
At first, Yoon Mi-ja considered beating this person half to death and dumping them in front of the Korean branch of the Reproductive Resources Agency.
But.
The moment she checked the contents of the document envelope, Yoon Mi-ja's expression hardened.
“What's⋯ this?”
Inside was the current state of Baekho Guild.
Baekho, which toyed with its opponents through information warfare and boasted the most thorough security in Korea.
Baekho's unvarnished face.
Its weaknesses.
And above all, the current condition of Han Yura, who was known to have withdrawn from politics after raiding an A-rank dungeon alone eight years ago to devote herself to raising a successor.
A piercing wound through the waist and pelvis.
Infiltration by highly concentrated dungeon toxins.
An infection around the spine.
Necrosis of the pelvic tissue.
And a long-term condition that had left her effectively beyond recovery for eight years.
The information was written in excessive detail.
“I knew she had been injured that day, but⋯ it was this bad?”
Without realizing it, Yoon Mi-ja tightened her grip on the documents.
How in the world⋯
How had they extracted the internal files of an information-warfare guild ranked among Asia's top ten so easily?
She got goosebumps.
But an even more pressing question came first.
“Why bring something like this to me?”
“⋯⋯.”
“With information this valuable, you could have gotten an even higher price by taking it to Geumseong instead of Hyeonmu.”
The current era's structure made it difficult for guilds to openly wage war on one another, but that didn't mean the Big Four merely kept each other in check.
If a definite opening appeared, that was another matter.
A power capable of tearing through that opening, swallowing another guild's power, and reducing Korea's Big Four guilds to three.
Each of them possessed that much power.
Moreover, of the current Big Four, the strongest was obviously Geumseong.
Capital.
Military strength.
Influence.
And even the symbolism of having a stranglehold on Gangnam, the best land in Korea.
In every respect, Geumseong was a far more blatant predator than Hyeonmu.
And yet this information had come to her.
“Does the Reproductive Resources Agency have a reason to want Baekho's downfall in the first place?”
Yoon Mi-ja's voice dropped.
As mentioned earlier, the Reproductive Resources Agency was an international organization that no country could casually provoke when it came to matters involving men.
In other words, it had no direct connection to the power struggle between Hunter guilds.
At least, not on the surface.
Then.
“It's simple. In exchange for helping Hyeonmu Guild absorb Baekho, we would like you, Hunter Yoon Mi-ja, to provide Hyeonmu's image and connections.”
“Our image and connections?”
“Yes. Securing male resources with superior genetic traits. That's the reason our Reproductive Resources Agency exists.”
Ah.
Only then did the pieces fall into place.
Hyeonmu Guild.
Put kindly, a guild that always achieved above-average results.
But put less kindly, a guild that lacked the one overwhelming strength possessed by the other Big Four guilds.
It had neither Geumseong's overwhelming financial power, Baekho's meticulous information warfare and spy network, nor Cheongryong's ability to break through everything with combat power alone.
In fact, judging purely by its power base, it was the smallest of the Big Four guilds.
Even so, the reason Hyeonmu had remained one of Korea's Big Four guilds until now
was tradition and image.
Korea's oldest Hunter guild.
The successor to a martial clan that had continued since the Joseon Dynasty.
And unlike the countless guilds that had collapsed over those long years, an organization that had survived to the end and transformed itself to fit the modern age.
Hyeonmu knew how to sell its traditions.
Hunters wearing modernized hanbok.
Its symbolic presence at every national event.
And countless connections cultivated throughout broadcasting, advertising, entertainment, and politics.
Much of the Hunter-related industry that made its living off image had felt Hyeonmu's influence, and that was exactly what the Reproductive Resources Agency wanted.
“We need Hyeonmu Guild's help with this year's Reproductive Resources Agency publicity campaign and male registration drive.”
The employee's voice did not waver in the slightest.
“To be frank, hasn't the image of our Reproductive Resources Agency become more firmly rooted in people's minds for all the wrong reasons?”
The survival of humanity.
The protection of men.
The preservation of superior genes.
The causes championed by the Reproductive Resources Agency always sounded admirable.
But reality was different.
Especially in developed countries sensitive to men's rights, people could not help but view the Reproductive Resources Agency coldly.
It claimed to provide lifelong pensions, but in the end, it was an institution that systematically managed and extracted men's reproductive resources.
Their physical condition, genetic information, reproductive ability, breeding compatibility, and so on.
Everything was quantified and ranked.
As a result, the average age at death for registered men was in their forties.
Under the pretext of preserving humanity, it was essentially no different from legally exploiting men.
Because of that, the number of men in Korea reluctant to register with the Reproductive Resources Agency had been slowly increasing every year.
Like some of its branches in developing countries, it couldn't simply drag people away by force.
If it tried that in Korea, the country would immediately be thrown into turmoil over men's rights.
If so, only one method remained.
If force was impossible, they had to make people feel safe.
Famous entertainers.
Broadcasters.
Star Hunters with a positive public image.
Hyeonmu Guild housed more of those people than any other guild.
If Yoon Mi-ja, Hyeonmu's guild master, personally became the face of the Reproductive Resources Agency, even frightened men would lower their guard a little.
And the Reproductive Resources Agency would be able to secure them more easily.
Yoon Mi-ja looked down at the document envelope and let out a low laugh.
“So in the end, you want me to play the clown.”
“Your wording is harsh, but it is not entirely inaccurate.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Unfortunately, we plan to hand this information over to Geumseong or Cheongryong.”
“Either way, you intend to bring down Baekho?”
“Yes.”
The answer was far too calm.
“Both guilds will pay you a comparable price, though perhaps not quite as much as Hunter Yoon Mi-ja. The reason we came to you first, however⋯ could be called a form of 'mercy.'”
“Mercy?”
“Yes. As far as we know, Hunter Yoon Mi-ja, you are acquainted with Hunter Han Yura, who is currently lying in Baekho Guild's underground infirmary, and with her daughter as well.”
Grab!
It happened in an instant.
Yoon Mi-ja's hand closed around the Reproductive Resources Agency employee's neck.
She lifted them straight into the air.
A strangled sound came from beneath the white mask.
But the employee did not struggle.
As though they had already calculated a reaction like this.
“If you kill me⋯ your chance to save Baekho will disappear as well.”
“Save?”
Yoon Mi-ja's eyes narrowed.
“You bastards call one major guild being devoured by another a rescue?”
“But wouldn't that be better than being absorbed by Geumseong or Cheongryong?”
“⋯⋯.”
“At least if it were Hyeonmu, you would not completely trample Hunter Han Yura and Hunter Han Sora.”
Yoon Mi-ja tightened her grip further.
These bastards.
Just how much did they know?
She wanted nothing more than to storm into the Korean branch of the Reproductive Resources Agency that very moment and turn everything upside down, from top to bottom.
No, if possible, she wanted to tear the very roots of that sinister international organization out of this country.
It had been that way for a long time.
In the aftermath of the war, when Korea was the poorest country in the world.
Those white masks that came in under the name of relief, handing out chocolate and powdered milk, while taking innocent boys away one by one at night.
Even as the world and the times changed, their true nature had hardly changed.
They merely wrapped it in more polished words and cleaner paperwork now.
But.
‘You need to face reality now, Yoon Mi-ja.’
This was not something emotion alone could solve.
If this information was true, Baekho had effectively lost the strength to remain one of the Big Four guilds.
More than anything, Baekho had many enemies.
Since it was a guild that had seized and exploited the weaknesses of countless people through information warfare, once it fell, the hyenas that had been gnashing their teeth would come running to tear the mother and daughter apart.
Geumseong would swallow up its power, while Cheongryong would draw blood.
If it were Hyeonmu⋯ at least, if it were her, she might be able to keep the mother and daughter from being completely trampled.
Yoon Mi-ja slowly released her hand.
Thud.
The Reproductive Resources Agency employee dropped to the floor.
Even as they coughed, clutching their neck, the employee never let go of the document envelope.
“I'll give you one month.”
“⋯All right.”
That day, Yoon Mi-ja made her choice.
To save Baekho.
To prevent the balance among Korea's Big Four guilds from collapsing in an instant.
And to avoid watching Han Yura's daughter be torn apart by other beasts, she decided to willingly take on the role of the villain.