Chapter 31
[ㅇㅇ[나한테욕햇음나쁜놈] : Sorry
I'm going to do Windmill, but I work a part-time job on weekday evenings, so could you give me just a week?]
-백수전사 : Okay, I'll extend it to a week.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ[나한테욕햇음나쁜놈] : Thanks..
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : ㄴㄱㅁㄷ
ㄴ 김흑간 : ㄴㄱㅁㄷ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : ㄴㄱㅁㄷ
ㄴ 우타하의물방울모양팬 : ㄴㄱㅁㄷ
[Husta : Shall we talk about something else now
Windmill-tteok Mimmido]
“Heh-heh, I won.”
Unfortunately, once the head mod stepped in, the gallery-topic mess was quickly sorted out, and then the sub mod even brought up the gallery-topic Mimmido meme (meaning they'd delete any related posts), but that was good enough for me.
When the Sosa Station Windmill verification post goes up later, I can tease them again then.
“Then I guess I'll... right, I need to check the comments.”
Unfortunately, all the featured posts that went up after that got unfeatured, but the A-rank proof brag post I uploaded is still there.
Thanks to that, the upvotes kept pouring in, and I hit 100 upvotes too. Aside from the post I made last time while working part-time at the convenience store, where an obnoxious drunk customer shoved over the display stand, this was the first time I'd hit 100.
Just thinking about that still makes my head spin.
“Huh? Who is this?”
-Amcho : Please check my message.
It's a nickname I've never seen before in the gallery, and there's a comment on the A-rank proof post asking me to check my message.
I've been on the Awakened Gallery for about two years, and I've never seen that nickname.
“Who is it..”
Just in case, I clicked the gallery profile, and sure enough, it's someone active in the Active Hunters Gallery. And as I skimmed through the posts this person had written, this person....
[The rookie who just joined this time is insane at tanking]
[The Sasang District Gate is fucking awful, lol. Move your car so I can get in]
[Mages << are boring and pretentious]
[Back in my day, we just went right into the gate and even took a dump in there, yeah]
“A hunter from the Busan area..?”
The Sasang District Gate is probably referring to that open gate in Busan that opened a while back. And since the posts are full of back-in-my-day stuff, this person doesn't seem particularly young..
“What kind of message did they send?”
Just in case, I checked and found a bunch of messages. Besides Amcho asking me to check my message, there were about eight others?
-Amcho : Nice to meet you, Insaenganmanghetta-nim. First, I sincerely congratulate you on becoming an A-rank hunter. I am Yoon Hyun-do, an A-rank hunter from the Daeryong Guild, active in western Busan....
“Daeryong..? Where's that.”
There was a huge amount of text after what I'd read, but I didn't read it all.
And I'd never even heard of the place before, so it probably means it's a small guild. Besides, if it's not even all of Gyeongsang-do, or even the Gyeongnam area, but just the Busan area, isn't that range a little small?
I searched for Daeryong Guild on the hunter guild info site, and it wasn't as small as I'd thought, but...
“A guild with 120 members? I can't tell whether that's big or small.”
When people talk about Korea's four great clans, the first is Nova. They started in Gyeongsang-do, and while their current core is the metropolitan area, they're still a major clan that dominates the Gyeongsang region.
Union started as a Gangwon-do clan, and as it grew, it moved to the metropolitan area like Nova, though later than Nova did. Even so, there are still many subordinate units of the Union Guild in Gangwon-do.
And one of the two major clans that haven't entered the metropolitan area is the Mujin Guild in Jeolla-do. These days it feels almost like a coalition of all the Jeolla guilds, so it's pretty big.
The Orders Guild in the Chungcheong region is also one of the four great clans, but I heard things have been a little rough for them lately. Was it because an enormous tower-like structure appeared, and it was hard to deal with? It's already been about a year.
Anyway, that's not really relevant, but if I were to join one, I guess it'd probably be Nova, the guild that helped me.
“Ophelia, are you perhaps joining the Nova Guild?”
“No, that is not the case.”
“Eh, why not?”
“Because I judged that, in order for Your Highness to fully make use of the abilities you possess in the future, belonging to any single guild would not be especially advantageous. However, if you ask which clan I'd be closest to, it would be the Nova Clan.”
“Ah... I see. I didn't know that.”
“I apologize for not telling you sooner.”
“Ah, no! It's fine.”
I naturally thought I'd join Nova, since Chaerin unnie helped me with all sorts of things, and in the end I received a ton of insanely expensive magic stones and rare metal.
Seems Chaerin unnie and Ophelia talked when they met last time. Then I guess I can't be part of the swag squad after all.
-Amcho : Our guild values a family-like atmosphere, a comfortable work environment, work-life balance, and putting guild members' opinions first...more
-Insaenganmanghetta : Sorry, I'm not joining a guild ㅠ
-Amcho : If that's the case, may I ask which guild you're planning to join?
-Insaenganmanghetta : I really don't plan on joining any guild.
-Amcho : Ah, then does that mean you don't plan to work as an active hunter?
-Insaenganmanghetta : I think I'll be a hunter, though..
-Amcho : Since you got your evaluation at the Yongsan Measurement Center, if it's because of the location, we can arrange accommodations for you on our side.
-Insaenganmanghetta : No, I really just want to go solo without joining a guild.
-Amcho : Hunter work can be very difficult to do alone. We provide a lot of equipment and other support on our side, so would you take another look?
-Insaenganmanghetta : Nah, I'm not going. Sorry.
-Amcho : Have you perhaps received offers from other guilds? We might be able to make an even better offer, so would it be all right if I checked?
-Amcho : It's because the Daeryong Guild is a really good guild.
-Insaenganmanghetta : Noㅠ
What the heck, this person is persistent. I keep saying I really have no intention of joining a guild. I'm the one who even turned down Nova Guild's confession! Well, Ophelia did it, of course.
After I spent a while wrestling with Amcho on my phone, Ophelia came over and asked me.
“Princess. If replying is difficult, please block them.”
“Ah, but blocking feels like going too far, so....”
“Then would it be all right if I answered for you?”
“You, Ophelia? Hmm, well, I guess that'd be fine.”
-Insaenganmanghetta : If you can guarantee the guild master seat and provide around 30 kg of premium magic stones a year, as well as 0.6 tons of rare metal with over 85% purity every month, I'll consider it.
-Amcho : Sorry. That seems a little difficult to
do.
-Insaenganmanghetta : Take care.
“Uh....”
“It's handled.”
Is this really okay..?
* * * * *
After finishing today's exercise routine, I was lying on the floor taking a short break when Han Do-hee contacted me.
-Han Do-hee : Eve, busy?
-Eve : Not busy. What's up?
-Han Do-hee : Gate? You in?
-Eve : When??
-Han Do-hee : (address) It's scheduled for four days from now.
-Han Do-hee : You got A-rank, lol. It's a gate for a raid party, want to go?
“A raid party..!”
A raid party means that. Not a four-person party, but twelve people all piling in together. But I don't know if it's okay for me to join something like that.
-Eve : Can I go too??
-Han Do-hee : Why wouldn't you be able to?
-Han Do-hee : If you're A-rank, we'd bow and take you in.
-Eve : For real???
Have I already become the sort of person they bow to and take into raid parties? Of course I didn't do anything, but I can't help being happy.
“But it's a raid party.. Then there could be as many as ten people I don't know....”
Han Do-hee is the one who called me, so Han Do-hee would definitely be there. And maybe a little beyond that, like Chaea unnie?
When I worked at the convenience store, I could put up with my shyness to some extent by thinking I was basically an NPC, but attending a raid party while carrying the high-rank label of A-rank would be incredibly scary.
What if I end up feeling like I lagged a little behind people's expectations?? Then they'd gossip behind my back, saying I'm totally water-tier, all foam, a water rocket, and all that....
-Eve : Scawy
-Han Do-hee : lol
-Han Do-hee : There'll probably be about five people you know
-Eve : ?? How
-Han Do-hee : There are a lot of gallery regulars, yeah
-Eve : This cliquey gallery is seriously...
-Eve : There's a group chat without me, isn't there;;
-Han Do-hee : Want me to invite you, lol
-Eve : There really is one;? This isn't okayㅡㅡ
-Eve : Invite me please ㅠ
It wasn't actually some Awakened Gallery backroom clique or anything; it just seems to be the 'usual hangout crew' Han Do-hee mentioned before.
But since people with similar tendencies move together, there are a lot of Awakened Gallery users among them too. I didn't mean to, but apparently out of the 12 people, at least seven—including Han Do-hee—are fixed-nick or anonymous Awakened Gallery regulars.
“Mmmmmm....”
“Are you thinking it over?”
“Ah, Ophelia.”
Come to think of it, this isn't a simple 'let's go' and done! situation; the princess has to look after her subordinates.
If Ophelia already has another appointment, maybe that won't work?
“Ophelia, are you free on this day?”
“Hmm, unfortunately it looks like I have something scheduled that day.”
“Eh.. really?”
“Yes, that's right.”
Unfortunately, our kingdom's strongest combat power, Ophelia, can't go. Then my rank gets downgraded to B-rank, so honestly, that's a bit rough. I've got A-rank on me, but the Ophelia who got me that A-rank won't be attending? That's fraud.
“Then I guess I shouldn't go....”
“However, my schedule doesn't really require much combat power, so there is one way Your Highness can appropriately get through the current situation.”
“Huh? What's that?”
“If you hand over some of the rare metal and magic stone that make up my body—more precisely, just some of the magic stone—Minyumi's combat power will increase significantly.”
Sure enough, the difference between high-grade magic stones and low-grade magic stones is huge.
“Is that possible?”
“I suppose the command-issuance rank will need to go up.”
“Hmm, is there no way to raise it quickly?”
As I was thinking for a moment, Ophelia beside me nodded.
“Looks like I have no choice but to bring this out.”
“Eh, what is it? Don't bring it out.”
* * * * *
[_Princess_Eve]
Hello, nice to meet you.
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“..When was this taken?”
“Because my eyes can record it.”
“Ah.”