Chapter 293

Ssshhk. Hoooh.

Only the quiet sounds of breathing drifted through the hospital room. Standing across the doorway, I watched the people absorbed in circulating their qi.

Their cross-legged postures, awkward at first, were gradually starting to look more natural.

Not bad.

Team Leader Choi, Butler Kim, Song Song, and finally Im Kkeokjeong.

Before sunset, all four had succeeded in completing a complete circulation. Before long, they were able to perform the Small Circulation on their own.

Not bad for a first step. No, this is better than I expected.

None of the others possessed energy as vast as Team Leader Choi’s, but Kim and Song Song were mages, so they were skilled at handling mana and adapted quickly.

But the person who showed the most unexpected performance was someone else.

Im Kkeokjeong.

I thought he’d struggle for a long time…

I’d forgotten something. Im Kkeokjeong was the only Second Awakener among everyone I knew. Was it the result of blood-soaked effort? Or heavenly luck?

Whatever the reason, Im Kkeokjeong had already once broken past the limits given to him.

So there was a reason he underwent a Second Awakening?

Judging by what he had shown me, Im Kkeokjeong might be the person with the greatest room for growth.

He was still a D-rank Hunter. He had plenty of steps left to climb.

I won’t have to worry about the aftereffects of his injuries, either.

Repeatedly circulating his qi would naturally improve his Muscles and Bones and Sinews and Meridians.

If Im Kkeokjeong could overcome the psychological issues, such as his trauma, he would be able to return to the Guild before long.

And then…

The Guild will have changed quite a bit by then, too.

The changes had already begun. Lee Jungryong had already turned the knife hidden up his sleeve against us, and now he was in a position where he had to pay us the price.

With that compensation, the Peace Guild would achieve dazzling growth. These people needed to be at the forefront of it.

Someone would have to run the Guild, while someone else would have to select talented and trustworthy people and turn them into loyal servants of the Peace Guild.

And those people would be given martial arts.

We need blades, too.

The moment I thought that, Team Leader Choi finished his Small Circulation and opened his eyes with an exhale. A sharp glint flashed across his pupils.

Starting with him, the others began opening their eyes one after another.

Ding.

System

Thanks to your excellent instruction, several people have reached One Star in the Jin Family’s Cultivation Technique.

• The Title Trainee has changed to Training Instructor!

A martial arts drill instructor, huh.

Was heaven telling me to work them to death for a while?

I looked at the people still immersed in the aftereffects of circulating their qi and grinned.

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

During that time, Lee Jungryong and the Peace Guild secretly completed their negotiations. Two more mutated Gate accidents occurred, and a post that attracted a great deal of attention appeared on a Hunter community site.

Peace Guild Final Acceptance Review

I’m a C-rank Hunter who used to work on a Guild Security Team.

I was originally with a major Guild, but my senior coworker was such a pain in the ass (he’s a traitor to the country) that the stress got too bad. I quit a few days ago and was browsing job sites when I saw that the Peace Guild had opened its general recruitment. So I applied on a whim, you know?

Then I didn’t hear anything back, so I figured I’d been rejected.

I already knew their selection process was brutal, so I wasn’t expecting anything in the first place.

But they contacted me after two weeks and told me to report to work tomorrow!

Anyone else joining with me tomorrow, raise your hand!

(Best comment) You got accepted after only submitting an application to the Peace Guild? Hahahahahaha. Some unemployed bastard is sitting there writing a web novel.

└ ???: Big bro. This guy’s laughing.

└ ???: Leave him alone. He must be dreaming about joining the Peace Guild.

└ That ending.

└ The OP is seriously an idiot. If you’re going to write fiction, at least make it believable. The Peace Guild rejected people from the first team of major Guilds, but a C-rank Security Team guy submits an application and gets accepted? Hahaha. I’m leaving after having a good laugh.

└ Is it really that brutal?

└ I actually applied this time, and the competition is 47:1. They even made us take a personality and aptitude test before the interview.

└ What the hell? A personality and aptitude test? Is this high school?

└ Proof that the Peace Guild thinks Hunters are a bunch of weaklings.

└ On the other hand, their basic allowance and incentives are incomparably higher than anywhere else.

└ Please think I’m a weakling.

└ Come to think of it, the Peace Guild must have solid finances. People are transferring over from major Guilds.

└ Exactly. I heard they have exclusive rights to more than twenty Gates alone.

└ (OP) I’m the person who wrote the post. I just called the HR department, and they said they hired me because Jin Taekyung told them to.

└ Hahahaha. How would Lord Fuck know an unemployed loser like you well enough to hire you? Stop writing fiction and go to sleep.

└ Thanks for the web novel. I enjoyed it.

└ By the way, are there any web novels worth reading these days?

└ I recommend Login Murim. It’s pretty good if you can get through the early modern-world chapters.

└ Welcome, Zerobic.

└ That author has been serializing for ten years and has never once done a bulk update.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been dismissed as the nonsense of an attention seeker.

However, the post proudly took first place in the weekly rankings, accompanied by countless recommendations and comments from people making a pilgrimage to the site.

That was because of another post uploaded the following evening.

Guys, that web-novel villain from yesterday was for real;

I’m one of the people who got accepted by the Peace Guild this time. Today, I was touring the Guild house with the other new hires when I saw Lord Fuck, you know?

I was just watching him from a distance, terrified by the majesty of him dragging around slippers with the soles torn off, when he suddenly made a U-turn, grabbed one of us, and asked if he was from the ** Guild Security Team.

When the dopey-looking guy said yes, Lord Fuck laughed like a maniac, went, “Irasshaimase!” and all that shit, then walked away.

I knew Lord Fuck had a weird personality, but he seems to be an even bigger lunatic than I imagined.

(Photo attached.)

I’m posting all the proof so you won’t think I’m lying.

(Best comment) I’m the person who got the best comment last time. In apology, I’m going to perform a full-body prostration and leave.

└ Looking at the verification photo, this really seems to be true…?

└ Wait, what? How does a C-rank Hunter from a Security Team end up at the Peace Guild?

└ It actually happened…

└ (OP) The web-novel villain was assigned to the Security Team instead of a raid team.

└ Oh, then it’s possible. At that level, it isn’t a parachute appointment so much as an ordinary job transfer.

└ They say Korea runs on blood ties, regional ties, and school ties. It can’t be helped—he’s only human—but I’m a little disappointed in Lord Fuck.

└ Who are you to be disappointed?

└ The reason the idiots bashing Lord Fuck right now are idiots: Lord Fuck, who walks around in slippers with the soles torn off, donated nearly his entire fortune to a foundation for Gate victims.

└ The comment above is a fact. Anyone insulting Lord Fuck needs to be beaten half to death with slippers before they come to their senses.

└ You keep doing favors, and they take you for Dooly.¹

But where did the OP go? Tell us more of the story.

└ (OP) I’m on my way to a company dinner.

└ A welcome party for the new hires?

└ (OP) Yeah. I’ve been in the car for an hour already. We must be going somewhere far away.

└ Oh. Is Lord Fuck coming too?

└ (OP) Yeah. But I don’t see the Guild Master or the other Team Leaders.

└ The Peace Guild must be good at team building. Maybe it’s because they’re still a new Guild?

└ (OP) I’m not sure about that, but… the atmosphere feels kind of bad. I asked a Senior who joined earlier than me, and he told me to sleep as much as I could on the way there.

└ Why?

└ Maybe the company dinner is going to last a long time. Who likes drinking with people they aren’t even close to?

└ (OP) Is that it? Oh, I guess we’re here.

└ Don’t drink too much. Don’t forget to bring us the rest of the story later.

└ Have a good time!

└ (OP) It looks like a good restaurant. I’m looking forward to seeing what we’re having for dinner, haha. I’ll be back soon.

And that was the OP’s final comment.

“We’re having dinner at a Gate.”

Murmurs rose from all around at my declaration.

“Excuse me?”

“Huh?”

“Sorry, but did I hear you correctly?”

“I think you said we’re having dinner at a Gate. I must have misheard.”

“Ah, yes.”

I didn’t even need to look at their faces to know. The people having that innocent conversation were new hires on their first day.

The people who had joined only two or three weeks earlier, however, were different.

“I knew this would happen.”

“Fuck…”

“Good thing I brought potions.”

“Big bro, do you have any arrows left?”

“Yeah. I brought another two hundred as emergency spares, just in case.”

“Then could I get a hundred?”

They had less than a month’s difference in their employment dates, but their reactions were worlds apart.

After tossing out a string of curses like sighs, they swiftly pulled armor and equipment from the backpacks they had been carrying.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

Was this what a teacher felt like?

The effects of repetitive learning filled me with satisfaction, and a pleased smile spread across my face.

I turned toward the greenhorns who still had no idea what was happening and asked,

“You all brought all your luggage, right?”

The new hires nodded.

“Ah, yes. You told us to bring it, so…”

“Put it down, take out your equipment, and put it on.”

“Excuse me? Is this some kind of mock battle?”

“What mock battle? You don’t improve much doing that. Real combat is best.”

“…?”

Suspicion crept into their innocent eyes.

“Then, perhaps…”

“Are we really going to a Gate?”

“Yes. A raid to celebrate joining the Peace Guild! What do you think? Nice, right?”

“…”

“The new people don’t seem to like it much. What do the rest of you think?”

The people who had already been worked to the bone for the past few weeks gritted their teeth and shouted.

“That’s a wonderful idea!”

“As expected of King Taekyung.”

“Wow. This. Is. Great!”

Hmm. Just as I thought.

This was also the effect of learning. They clearly remembered what had happened to the few brave souls who had openly contradicted my opinions.

The logic of I can’t be the only one who suffers must have played a part, too.

Right. Everyone should suffer together.

If the new hires were Pomeranians, the others were already Tosa mastiffs.

With the atmosphere blazing with the determination to die together, the new hires hesitated before shouting,

“B-But we weren’t told this! The notice said that only a simple workshop would be held during the first week after joining the Guild…”

“Yes. What we’re about to do is the workshop.”

“What Guild holds a workshop at a Gate? For an entire week?”

“The Peace Guild.”

“That’s impossible!”

“Do the others think so, too?”

I turned my head slightly. The Senior Tosa mastiffs who had tasted hell for several weeks bared their teeth and shouted.

“Why wouldn’t it make sense? It does! Absolutely!”

“Of course this is a workshop!”

“Who rents a vacation house for a workshop these days? You’re supposed to grow closer by killing monsters together at a Gate!”

“We can’t be the only ones getting screwed!”

That last shout was so blatant that it bordered on desperation. Hearing it made me deeply reflect on things.

I guess I need to work them even harder.

They couldn’t be allowed to think of this as suffering. I planned to condition—or rather, train—them until they accepted every bit of this as natural and ordinary.

“Now, everyone quiet!”

Ding.

System

• The effect of the Title Training Instructor activates!

• The trainees who heard your shout become tense!

“Form ranks!”

“Form raaanks!”

“Too quiet. Form ranks!”

“Form raaanks!”

Even after repeating the command back in unison, they all looked dazed.

I smiled at their sour faces.

“Now, follow me inside one at a time. Left foot. Left foot.”

Clack! Clack! Clack!

A human train set off toward the Gate.