Chapter 305

“Are you feeling any better? You haven’t fully recovered yet.”

“…I’m fine.”

“If you’re struggling, rest. Even if Team Leader Seok is still young, keep pushing yourself and you’ll wear your bones down.”

“I have no excuse.”

Lee Jungryong shot a glance at Go Jun, who answered with a pale face, and clicked his tongue inwardly.

I never expected him to be beaten so easily.

Go Jun was the most useful blade Lee Jungryong possessed.

Although his abilities were not known outside their circle, Lee believed that fewer than five people in all of Korea could stand against him.

Of course, two of those people were Cheon Taemin and himself.

To take him down in a single move… He exceeded my expectations.

Lee could no longer deny it. He had underestimated Jin Taekyung and the Peace Guild.

The gap in strength was laughable, yet he was the one who kept getting humiliated.

Lee Jungryong’s gaze shifted to Go Jun’s bowed head.

“Go Jun.”

Go Jun lifted his head. Lee calling him by name meant that this was a conversation between Master and Disciple, not between a Vice Guild Master and his Head of Security.

“Yes, Master.”

“You are the Disciple I taught with all my heart and soul. Never forget that.”

“I have never forgotten it for a moment. You are more than a parent to me, Master.”

At the unwaveringly loyal answer, Lee Jungryong nodded.

In many respects, Go Jun was a lacking Disciple. But when it came to loyalty, he surpassed anyone.

Lee had put it off because of a faint hope that Go Jun might be enough as he was…but now he needed to sharpen him further.

“You weren’t defeated. You merely fell. I will give you the strength to rise again.”

“Strength, you say?”

“For now, understand it that way. I will make it possible for you to defeat Jin Taekyung with your own hands.”

“…”

Go Jun’s body trembled as he bent deeply at the waist.

“Thank you, Master.”

“Always remember that this Master believes in you.”

Despite his warm voice, Lee Jungryong’s eyes had sunk to unfathomable depths.

Go Jun, unaware of that fact, raised his flushed face. By then, faint sounds from outside the door were drawing closer.

“He’s finally here.”

At Lee Jungryong’s mutter, Go Jun frowned.

“He missed the agreed-upon time.”

“Leave it. It’s only the first year of his term. He wants to enjoy himself as much as possible before the lame-duck period begins.”

“Even so, making you wait…”

“Team Leader Seok. Remember your position.”

“Understood.”

Go Jun returned from Lee Jungryong’s Disciple to the Head of Security for the Ares Guild and closed his mouth.

Not long afterward, five or six people opened the door and appeared.

The middle-aged man at the front strode toward Lee Jungryong and extended his hand.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting. Traffic was especially bad today. It reminded me once again how valuable a security vehicle can be. Ha ha.”

He was someone who could extend his hand first to Lee Jungryong, the practical leader of the Ares Guild, while carrying himself with both courtesy and confidence.

The middle-aged man wearing a Korean flag pin on his chest was entitled to do so.

Lee Jungryong shook his hand with a faint smile.

“Think nothing of it. Thank you for coming, Mr. President.”

Baek Hanseong, the twenty-seventh President of Korea and the youngest person ever elected to the office at the age of forty, nodded.

“It’s been a while, Vice Guild Master Lee. Is this the first time we’ve met since I took the oath of office at the beginning of the year?”

“That’s right. We seem to be meeting more often than expected.”

“Pardon me? Ha ha.”

Baek Hanseong let out a dry laugh at Lee Jungryong’s answer.

He knew very well how much power the man before him wielded.

There was even a saying that Korea had two presidents, and that the Ares Guild House was another Blue House.

Lee Jungryong never once visited the Blue House during the previous president’s term.

The major Guilds were fortresses built from power and wealth.

And Lee Jungryong’s standing, as the man who held the Ares Guild in the palm of his hand, surpassed that once held by the heads of the chaebol conglomerates.

There were two reasons Baek Hanseong could meet him like this, unofficially though it was.

First, Baek was still early in his term and enjoyed the full support of the people. Second, they had a matter in which they could help each other.

“They say people become more relaxed as they grow older. I suppose that doesn’t apply to me.”

“You really are refreshingly direct.”

Baek Hanseong understood the meaning behind Lee Jungryong’s subtle remark and held out a pristine white document envelope.

“An unofficial diplomatic letter from Chairman Xiao Yang.”

“Unofficial, as expected.”

“Yes. As you know, that’s how it is.”

The People’s Republic of China. As its formal name suggested, China remained a deeply rooted communist nation.

And the Communist Party leadership did not want the people to become agitated or their trust in the Party to waver.

“You’ve managed to conceal damage on that scale. I’m not sure whether to call that impressive.”

“If this becomes known, all of China will fall into chaos. By then, it will be too late to undo.”

Even so, among the tiny number of people who already knew the truth, it was being called the Sichuan Catastrophe.

The Chinese Communist Party leadership had announced that the destruction was the result of a major earthquake and deployed the People’s Liberation Army to seal off the surrounding area.

“A Lich, was it? That Named Monster ended up helping China’s Central Committee, albeit unintentionally. I hear even satellites from the United States can’t see what’s happening inside.”

“It’s spatial distortion magic. Extremely powerful spatial distortion magic.”

“I see. I’m still completely ignorant when it comes to magic.”

“It may have helped the Central Committee, but it will have a negative effect on the war situation. We have no idea what is actually happening in there.”

Unlike his unhurried voice, Lee Jungryong’s eyes were rapidly scanning the words written on the documents.

A short while later, after confirming everything, a quiet mutter escaped between his lips.

“Thirty A-rank Hunters and two hundred B-rank Hunters…”

The documents from China were contracts.

Contracts stating that China intended to hire them as mercenaries to resolve the current crisis.

There was also one clause that Lee Jungryong could not simply overlook.

“They singled me out.”

President Baek Hanseong nodded.

“They say the Central Military Commission strongly insisted on it. They believe the Ares Guild and your role, Vice Guild Master Lee, will be decisive in this matter.”

“I imagine so. The situation is becoming urgent enough to spiral out of control.”

“As you know, China has a great many Hunters, but relatively few of them are truly elite.”

“That’s China’s chronic problem.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Lee Jungryong’s fingers tapped slowly against the documents. A calculator was spinning busily inside his head.

The strength China was requesting amounted to twenty percent of the Ares Guild’s total forces.

No. If Lee Jungryong joined them, it would rise to fifty percent. There were fewer than twenty S-rank Hunters in the entire world, making them absolute powers.

They must be desperate.

This was not the first time China had made such a request.

Three days earlier, Lee Jungryong had held a secret meeting with the Chinese ambassador to Korea. The video he had watched along with the proposal had far surpassed his expectations.

That was tremendous magic.

The ability to command more than several thousand monsters. Magic with overwhelming destructive power.

It was on an entirely different level from the Liches he had encountered during the Great Cataclysm. It had been only a single spell, but it was more than enough to understand the danger this incident posed.

However…

Danger always comes with a commensurate reward.

Establishing a foothold in a dictatorship was never easy.

The Sichuan Catastrophe was a disaster to some, but an opportunity to others. And the terms China had offered were sweet—so sweet that Lee was worried his competitors might seize them first.

Either way, as long as I’m there, this won’t fail.

Lee Jungryong finally finished thinking and parted his lips.

“I accept China’s proposal.”

“That is a wise decision.”

A smile appeared at the corners of President Baek Hanseong’s mouth.

If the Ares Guild made a major contribution to this incident, it would have considerable diplomatic value as well. As someone who wanted to achieve a major accomplishment during his term, Baek could not have been more pleased.

“I’m the one who should be grateful that I can help my country and Your Excellency. However…”

Baek Hanseong’s smile faded at Lee Jungryong’s next words.

“I heard a rumor that similar proposals were made not only to the Ares Guild, but also to several of the other ten largest Guilds in Korea.”

“…”

“I know it’s an unfounded rumor. But I thought I’d ask you, just in case.”

After a brief silence, Baek Hanseong answered.

“An unfounded rumor has leaked out. That will never happen.”

At that moment, the chief secretary standing behind Baek Hanseong thought to himself:

I’ll have to remove tomorrow’s unofficial meeting with the heads of Korea’s ten largest Guilds from the schedule.

Only after trimming away those irritating stray branches did Lee Jungryong smile brightly.

“Just as I thought. I understand. I’ll select the necessary personnel immediately.”

But Baek Hanseong was not finished.

“The rumor about the ten largest Guilds is false, but it isn’t entirely baseless.”

Lee Jungryong, who had been organizing the documents, paused.

“What do you mean?”

“Among the Guilds that received China’s proposal, there is one that does not belong to the ten largest Guilds.”

“Don’t tell me…”

A sudden thought flashed through Lee Jungryong’s mind.

At the same time, Baek Hanseong opened his lips.

“The Peace Guild, to which Hunter Jin Taekyung belongs.”

“…”

Lee Jungryong’s face hardened.

Again. Once more, that bastard was getting in his way.

The three syllables of Jin Taekyung’s name were beginning to irritate him more than the name Choi Minwoo ever had.

“That is rather inconvenient.”

Lee Jungryong’s voice rasped like sandpaper.

The young, inexperienced president, whose five-year shelf life had only just begun, had allowed it to happen despite knowing exactly what he was doing.

Lee knew that the new president’s political leanings were anti-Ares, but wasn’t this tantamount to declaring open hostility?

Suppressing the shout that was trying to burst from him, Lee Jungryong spoke.

“When there are too many boatmen, the ship ends up on a mountain.”

“I’m aware.”

“Your Excellency, this is not something that can be handled so simply…”

Lee Jungryong’s words were cut off by Baek Hanseong’s calm reply.

“The boat’s owner personally called for those boatmen, so there was nothing I could do.”

“If you mean the boat’s owner… Surely not?”

“Yes. Chairman Xiao Yang personally named them. He specifically requested that Vice Guild Master Lee, the Ares Guild, and Hunter Jin Taekyung all participate.”

“…”

Lee Jungryong’s eyelids trembled.

At the sight, President Baek Hanseong felt the same thrilling sensation he had experienced when he had defied everyone’s expectations and won the presidential election. He suppressed the smile trying to escape and glanced down at his watch.

“The Peace Guild is a very small operation, so perhaps that’s why they prepared so quickly. They should already be aboard their flight by now.”

—You, wicked human.

“Wow. So this is first class.”

—My judgment that you were a wicked and foolish human was mistaken. I humbly apologize.

“Damn, these cushions are incredible. What kind of alcohol do they have?”

—You are a madman. A madman. A lunatic. A fucking lunatic!

“Look at how spacious the seats are. I could live here.”

—You insane human! Don’t go!

Ah, he’s so damn loud.

Pretending not to hear the Skeleton Warlord screaming inside my Inventory, I asked Team Leader Choi:

“How much does one of these cost?”

Team Leader Choi opened his mouth as though he had been waiting for the question.

“The new model from the German aircraft manufacturer Focke-Wulf, famous for its outstanding technological prowess, costs—”

Here we go again.

Before I had to listen to an explanation about Focke-Wulf’s founder, I hurriedly cut him off.

“I don’t know if it’s Focke-Wulf or Pokémon Black Friday, but I’m asking how much a plane like this usually costs.”

“For an aircraft like the one we’re currently riding, it should be a little over one hundred billion won.”

“Hmm. I should buy one.”

Anyone who overheard me would have stared at me as if I were insane.

But it wasn’t impossible.

I recalled the conversation Team Leader Choi and I had shared only a few hours earlier.

It’s a shame, but please tell Chairman Jongseok¹ I can’t go.

It isn’t Chairman Jongseok. It’s Chairman Xiao Yang. In any case, that is unfortunate.

I’m sorry too. Promoting my name and raising the Guild’s standing both sound good, but that place is a bit much.

They offered ten billion won.

How much?

Ten billion won. If you go beyond the promised period of one week, they’ll calculate an additional ten billion won per week.

Weekly pay? T-ten billion won a week?

It can’t be helped.

B-but I’m still not going. With thousands of monsters and a crazy skeleton mage, even I have to draw the line. It’s not like I’m some money-crazed bastard.

They say they’ll pay fifty trillion won to whoever kills the Lich.

Ah, now I suddenly feel like eating something spicy. I hear Sichuan cuisine is incredibly hot and savory…

…

Fuck it. Let’s go.

All the preparations had been completed in the blink of an eye. Only Team Leader Choi and I were leaving for China.

In any case, Chairman Xiao Yang had originally wanted only me.

This isn’t about the money.

I was going only to help the people of China who were suffering and raise the Guild’s standing.

With an expression full of resolve, I turned to Team Leader Choi.

“But, Team Leader.”

“Yes?”

“If I make fifty trillion won… Do I split that with the Guild too?”

“…”

“Let’s settle this before we go. Money matters need to be clean.”

Team Leader Choi stared at me with an expression of disbelief before answering.

“We’ll split it nine to one.”

This guy was something else, too.

Just as we were looking at each other like a pair of human garbage heaps, the private jet sent by China began taking off with an in-flight announcement.