Chapter 76
“So I’m saying, right? Huh? This princess did it like this, made golems, and bam-bam-bam, everything got solved!”
When I told them my heroic tale of refusing to negotiate with the terrorists, Minyumi clapped along. Suri nodded vigorously. It was basically an insanely cool feat, no different from an S-rank hunter’s.
Unfortunately, the British government wanted to announce that it had been resolved by a black operative from the British Hunter Association, so I can’t proudly brag about it anywhere. But Eloise and everyone there know the truth.
And I guess our goofy gallery bros know the gist of it too.
“What were you two up to? You weren’t just goofing around at home because the princess wasn’t around, were you??”
ㅡKiiit...
ㅡClack!
“You were working with Nova? Really??”
Surprisingly, during the five days I was gone, Minyumi and Suri seem to have trained with Nova hunters at the training facility inside the Nova Guild. Apparently, after Ophelia talked to them, they went and stayed at Nova with Chaerin-unnie.
“Hee, I see. You were doing great! I’ll praise you!”
It had been a while since I saw Minyumi’s moonwalk dance. Now there’s no difference in speed between walking forward and moonwalking. Come to think of it, the moonwalk might actually be faster than normal walking?
After a late lunch, around 2 p.m., I’d finished all my work and didn’t really have any plans for today, so I didn’t know what to do. Ophelia seemed busy, so it felt awkward to ask her to hang out.
She looks like she’s just sitting there, but in Ophelia’s head, the amount of work flying back and forth is basically enough for a hundred million people.
“Hmmm....”
So I just kept fiddling with my phone, doomscrolling the gallery.
[ㅇㅇ : I just took a dump and a kimbap fucking shot out, fuck, for real
I want to show it, but I’m holding back, seriously. Feels like I lost 3 kilos after shitting]
-ㅇㅇ : Just reading that makes me feel gross, seriously.
-Kim Heukgan : Why the hell isn’t this bastard getting banned?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : I haven’t done anything wrong yet, so what would they even ban me for lol
ㄴ Fustar : They’ll block you for a post screenshot, you bastard ㅇㅇ
[The post does not exist or has been deleted.]
“Sigh.... The gallery bros are still the same today.”
[Chekhoe: Recent status of Orders, one of the Four Great Guilds ㅇㅇ...
After the A-rank mass exodus last time, the B- and C-ranks are slowly leaving too
At this point, the Orders Guild really doesn’t exist anymore]
-ㅇㅇ : Wow, they were really something back in the day, and now they’re going out like this.
ㄴ Chekhoe : I think the real huge blow was them trying to force a raid on Silab and failing.
-MaxiMaxi : So did they end up selling the tower?
ㄴ Chekhoe : Probably soon. They can’t hold out anymore.
“I haven’t heard that name in a while.”
Orders Guild, which was one of Korea’s Four Great Guilds and had been responsible for the Chungcheong region. About a year ago, a massive tower-shaped structure appeared, but its interior was so convoluted and difficult to investigate, and the special environmental conditions made it...
But for some reason, out of pride or whatever, Orders insisted on handling it alone without help from another country or guild, and their First Assault Unit got completely wrecked.
Since then they’d been languishing, and it seems the guild has now completely fallen apart.
“How much did they say they bought the tower for again?”
They said they spent so much money that even the Four Great Guilds’ finances would wobble a bit to buy some sort of exclusive raid rights? But now the guild’s blown up completely, so I figure it’ll probably go up for auction.
Besides, they apparently owe the World Hunter Association too, so I guess the auction will be open to the whole world. Even though it’s a dungeon structure in Korea, a guild from another country might end up taking it.
“Aaaagh..!!!”
Because I kept lying on my stomach and looking at my phone, my body was starting to feel stiff. I got up from the bed and walked around swinging my arms for a bit, and Doggo, who was beside me, started walking along too.
“Hm? What is it, Doggo? Are you copying the princess?”
ㅡBeep!
“You’re bored from being cooped up at home too, right? Should I ask Ophelia if we can go visit her?”
Doggo stood up on two legs and flapped its tiny front legs wildly. Such an intense reaction—definitely a dog, through and through. It gets so excited when I mention going for a walk.
“Mm-hm, got it. Let’s go see Ophelia!”
I picked Doggo up from the floor, held it in my arms, and ran to the room where Ophelia was. As always, she was looking through various documents.
“Ophelia, are you busy right now?”
“What is it?”
“I was getting bored from just lying around. Doggo seems like it wants a walk too, so I was going to go outside and take a little stroll together.”
“I see. If you need me to, I will accompany you.”
“Um... no! I think I can go by myself.”
Today, for some reason, I felt like taking a walk alone. Doggo was the one guiding the way anyway, so there was no need to worry about getting lost.
“Then, in case of emergencies, I’ll assign Suri as your escort. If someone keeps following you or if you sense anything suspicious, Suri will signal, so you must promptly call Minyumi.”
“Yup, hehe.”
Ophelia’s mind is always busy anyway. Maybe it’s good for her to have a little time alone like this.
“Oh, right. What happened with that case? The foreigner from before.... What was it, Khmer?”
“You mean the foreigner who speaks Khmer.”
“Khmer! Right, that’s what I was trying to say.”
“At present, the case has been filed and he has been formally booked. The footage Doggo secured from the time of the incident can prove intent, and since he is a foreign Awakened, there’s concern he might flee, so he is being held in custody.”
“Hee, I see.”
Things seem to be moving along smoothly without me even knowing. Even the spoils we got from the Desert Mausoleum—Ophelia apparently negotiates all the detailed splits and the like by herself, all the way to the sale.
Being a solo hunter isn’t supposed to be this easy. When a big raid is scheduled, you go and say, 'Let’s do it like this, let’s do it like that. I’m super strong, so I’ll take a bit more; you’re honestly weak, so take a little less—' that’s how it goes.
It’s not for nothing that people say it’s better to join a guild and operate, even if the scale is small. Or, like Han Dohee, you can gather close friends and form a crew instead of a guild, and then hire a company that handles this kind of thing for everyone, but...
I’m pretty sure Ophelia is the only one who can handle all this by herself so effortlessly.
“Um, Ophelia.”
“Did you call for me?”
“I really think Ophelia is the best.”
Ophelia stared at my thumb for a moment, then gave a faint smile.
“Do you need pocket money?”
“N-no, it’s not like that.... Though it would be nice if I had some....”
I’m not that kind of materialistic person. Well... of course, pocket money is one of those the more the merrier things.
“Thank you. I’ll help you get changed.”
“Yup.”
* * * * *
The headquarters building of Nova, the Hunter affiliate under the Ohseong Group, located on Gangnam’s Teheran-ro.
“So, the estimated asking price looks to be around this much.”
Several people, including Ohseong Group executives, the heads of Nova’s core technology affiliates, and Yu Chaerin, who serves as guild master of Nova, the Hunter affiliate, were present.
Such rarely seen people have gathered in one place, carefully poring over a presentation deck that some poor employee had spent three weeks polishing while pulling all-nighters.
“I see. Then.... We should try to make contact as soon as possible.”
“I think it would be best to resolve it within a week.”
“So it’s come to this after all. I warned them this would happen, too.”
Orders, which had been staggering for the past few months, has now tilted over completely, to the point one knee has been shattered.
They were rival guilds, sure, but even that’s a bit outdated now. Orders, which for years had been far below them, is now on the verge of disappearing.
From Nova’s perspective, one of Korea’s major guilds collapsing is not exactly welcome either. They also have to worry about the Hunters entering the market after originally belonging to Orders.
The main topic of this meeting is securing the raid rights for the tower-type dungeon structure, 'Silence Laboratory,' which caused Orders to fall.
The main force, the First Assault Team, was completely wrecked within just one week of entry, and only 7 out of 12 returned. Entrusting the pre-investigation of the dungeon to a private company in such a shaky state without properly disclosing the information was also a huge mistake.
Yes, if they had left it to the state-run Dungeon Investigation Association, the information would have been made public, but that still doesn’t mean they could just storm into Silence Laboratory, which holds exclusive raid rights.
Even if there were some controversy, it would have been wiser to entrust the investigation to the most credible dungeon research organization in Korea.
“Heh-heh-heh... Looks like there must be some amazing item hidden in there.”
“We’d only know that after properly investigating it. I wonder what grounds they had for deciding there’d be some great treasure in there.”
Once the subordinate employee finished the presentation and the situation had settled somewhat, the executives casually aired their thoughts. Most of it was tinged with regret over Orders Guild making such a foolish decision.
“We need to settle this while Orders still holds the exclusive raid rights.”
Take a stake from Orders now at a cheap price, while they’re clearly desperate for money, and later, after Orders collapses, claim ownership through that stake.
Nova’s plan was to secure the preemptive purchase rights for Silence Laboratory before it went to public auction.
“What are Union and Mujin saying about it?”
“Apparently there’s still no news. We haven’t said or done anything on our side yet either.”
It’s likely that Mujin, one of the Four Great Guilds in Jeolla, will want the Silence Laboratory that Orders owned as well. Unluckily for them, unlike Union, which owns several decent dungeon structures in Gangwon, or Nova, which owns many dungeons nationwide, Jeolla is strangely peaceful.
For people hoping land prices will rise, it may be good news, but from a guild’s perspective, it’s like spreading fertilizer with no seeds.
For Hunter guilds, the most profitable things are dungeon structures, first and foremost, and a very distant second place is entry-type gates.
And an even more distant third place—almost not profitable at all—is open-type gates.
Erosion terrain is a net negative. It takes a lot of effort to purify, and humans still can’t fully control it yet.
Even Atlas, the Hunter affiliate of that huge American company with the famous search engine, tried to manage erosion terrain like a dungeon structure and create a profit model from it, but failed.
“Right, how does Nova itself view this? Do you think Nova’s main assault team can handle Silence Laboratory well?”
The question came to Yu Chaerin, who had been thinking while staring at the coffee cup in her hand. As for Silence Laboratory, beyond its name, appearance, and the difficulty that had utterly smashed Orders’ main assault team, there was nothing public about it.
At this point, with everyone knowing that, a question like that is either just a joke tossed out for fun...
Or it’s some kind of test being thrown at Yu Chaerin, a young woman sitting alone in a place packed with senior executives and middle-aged or older veterans who have spent decades building up their experience, simply because she’s an S-rank Awakened.
“I see it positively. Orders’ main strike force isn’t weak by any means, but there were too many rash judgments made.”
“Oh? Well, that’s a relief.”
At the high-pitched, sharp reply, a deep, middle-aged man’s laugh echoed through the entire meeting room.
‘Haa... I want to smash everything and go home.’
Yu Chaerin needed a rest.