/
Kang Heseop, the Guild Master of Guardians Guild, looked at me with fierce eyes.
“You wouldn’t say you don’t know Seo Yerin, would you? Explain what your relationship is like.”
“Uh… just a friend who lives next door.”
“Lie! Do you hug your friend in such a crowded place?”
Kang Heseop glared at me, referring to what happened in the aftermath of the Poison Ant crack incident.
Certainly, when I think about it now, I feel embarrassed.
I escaped from the cave with difficulty and was emotionally down.
So I acted a little boldly.
“I was emotionally disturbed at that time, so I did it. It’s not because I had any other intentions.”
Despite my explanation, his fierce eyes did not fade.
I answered with embarrassment, but at the same time I felt a little offended by a personal question that had nothing to do with the guild’s work.
Fortunately, Hayoung, who was next to him, moved first before I reacted.
She stabbed Kang Heseop in the side without mercy with the pen she had.
STAB
“Argh!”
Wooo… She was merciless.
For a moment, I almost flinched watching.
“What’s wrong with you Hayong?”
“What’s wrong with YOU? What kind of rude behavior are you showing to the person who was invited as a guest to the guild?”
“What rude behavior? I did what I  had to do as Yerin’s guardian!”
“How old is she now, you’re talking about being her guardian.”
“What about age? She is always a family member of our Guardians guild. How can I leave that innocent girl to this bad liar… Oh! Oh! Stop poking me already…it hurts!”
Hayoung stabbed Kang Heseop mercilessly to the point where her pen almost broke.
Jin, who was next to Hayong, held back his laughter.
“Sorry, Sihyeon. Don’t mind the words of this stupid muscle head. Just listen in one ear and let out through the other.”
“Ah… Yes.”
Kang Heseop grumbled with something complaining.
When Hayoung glared sharply, he flinched and completely closed his mouth.
The power structure of the Guardians Guild seemed to be visible at a glance.
After overpowering Kang Heseop only with her eyes, she looked at me and smiled sweetly again.
“There are rumors about Sihyeon and Yerin’s relationship in the guild. Yerin is a member who receives so much attention in the guild, so please understand.”
I started to understand the reactions of the parking lot security guard and guild staff earlier.
I did something to be misunderstood, so it was ambiguous to feel unfair.
“The order is reversed, but let me briefly introduce myself. I’m Oh Hayoung, the deputy Guild Master of the Guardians Guild. This is Guild Master Kang Heseop, and the last one is Nam Jinhyuk, who you know well.”
I simply greeted each one according to her introduction.
“I’m sorry for contacting you so late. What happened in the cave was a bit shocking for us, too. We needed time to discuss it internally.”
“I was told by Jinhyuk. I was very surprised by the potential of Team 3 that dealt with such a difficult situation. All three applicants were great, but in particular, everyone praised Sihyeon’s performance.”
“Thank you. I didn’t do much. It wouldn’t have been possible without everyone’s help”
Kang Heseop, who was looking at my friendly conversation with Hayoung, suddenly intervened.
“Phew, what’s great is… …when I was alone in a cave I… ….”
-TWITCH
Hayoung’s eyebrows wriggled violently. She warned in a very low voice.
“Guild Master? Do you want to take charge of the paperwork today.? If you keep talking nonsense like this, I won’t let you go home until you’re done today.”
She overpowered him in one shot and looked at me again.
“Hmmm, I’ll continue the story. Did you happen to meet two people who were on the same team outside?”
“Yes, their parents were there, so I greeted them.”
“I was originally going to finalize the guild contract with them before Sihyeon came, but they both offered very unusual terms of contract.”
“……?”
“Their condition is, they would join only if Sihyeon joined the Guardians guild. If I can’t sign a contract with Sihyeon, I won’t get to sign a contract with them either.”
“Ah…”
I now understood why these two were waiting for me…
I was a little happy, but at the same time also felt a little absurd.
“It’s not that long, but you seem to have influenced them a lot.”
“I’m a little confused, too. I didn’t expect them to offer such conditions.”
“We want all three of you in the guild. That’s why Sihyun’s contract became the most important. Do you have any conditions or requirements you want?”
Taeho and Sehe’s contracts were also tied to mine, so I unintentionally became the one holding the key.
I didn’t mean to overuse my power or make unreasonable demands.
Then it’s going to hurt Taeho and Sehe for no reason.
I calmly conveyed to the other person what I had thought about in advance.
What I wanted was very simple.
Guild member status and  guild activities with less restrictions.
I couldn’t be completely tied to the guild because I had to put farm work first.
It’s kind of like having two jobs.
In fact, there were many people who had their main job and worked in guilds as a side job.
However, Hayoung’s expression got slightly worse.
Jin also looked a little unhappy.
“Can’t I be a guild member and work somewhere else? As far as I know, I heard it’s possible.”
“It’s not impossible, but… we were thinking of hiring Sihyeon as an attacker, not as a regular guild member. Your ability can be very efficient for the attack squad.”
Generally speaking, there are two types of activities that the guilds do.
First – Low-risk, low-grade Rifts.
If possible, they temporarily form a team to hunt them with their guild members. When there are not enough people, there are times when guilds collaborate.
Second –  high-risk, high-grade Rifts.
The role was shared and an organized attack team will be created to solve it.
As this involves difficult and dangerous situations, they include the most talented persons in the guild in the attack team.
So the attacker’s ability was directly linked to the guild’s status.
They are trying to hire me for such an important position.
I felt good because I felt recognized, but I had something more important to do.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to quit what I’m doing.”
“Well, I heard from Jinhyuk that you’re working on a farm.”
“Yes, it’s really important to me.”
I replied with an unshakable will.
“That’s too bad. You’d be a big help to the attack team… Then we can’t help it. I will respect Sihyeon’s opinion.”
Hayong gave up persuasion and did not forcefully recommend it.
However, the lingering feelings in her eyes was not easily erased.
Hayoung explained the basic contract terms and procedures for joining the guild.
At the end of the explanation, Kang Heseop, who was quiet, opened his mouth.
“Jinhyuk and Hayong. Can you leave the room for a while? I need to talk to him alone.”
“……?”
“What is it? You’re trying to say something weird again, aren’t you?”
“It’s because I have something important to talk about with him.”
Unlike before, his attitude became very serious.
Hayoung also noticed something and quietly left the room with Jin.
Only me and Kang Heseop were left in the room.
After the two had completely disappeared and the door was closed, he slowly opened his mouth.
“I was asked by Director Lee Seok about you.”
“…!”
“He doesn’t do such things because he knows my personality well, but still he asked me very earnestly.”
Director Lee Seok seemed to have worked hard to make a contract with me.
However, Kang Heseop’s expression says that his efforts were counterproductive.
“I immediately declined the request. ”
As expected…he seemed to have strong values, which he would not break or bend.
“I’ll be honest with you. Why do you want to join our guild? If you have a background like Lee Seok, there would be a lot of good guilds where you could easily enter even if it wasn’t here?”
He was right.
If I simply needed the status of a guild member, there are many easy ways to get it through Lee Seok.
But why did I choose Guardians Guild?
On the surface, I said, it was a place where Yerin, whom I am close with, affiliated.
But that was not the true reason.
“The story will be long. Are you fine?”
Kang Heseop nodded quietly.
I began to talk, recalling my hazy memory from a long time ago.
“Ten years ago, my father owned a farm raising cattle. Even though the farm was small, it was a precious farm that supported our family.”
Most of my memories of my father were of working on the farm.
He worked that hard and ran the farm with great care.
Then one evening. A Rift appeared near our farm.
Nowadays, technology has developed, so we can identify and prepare for Rifts in advance, but that was before such a technology developed.
In addition, it was more vulnerable since it was in a rural area.
We were so lucky that we found the Rift right away, and of course we reported it.
Police cars and ambulances arrived quickly, but no Awakeners came to stop the Rift break.
The Awakeners arrived just before the monsters were about to pour out of the Rift.
And they had been drinking upto their neck before going to raid the Rift.
“What’s going on? o – alcohol? it’s okay, it’s okay! I can finish all the monsters with my eyes closed in this low grade Rift.”
“Let’s finish this quickly and go. I’m waiting for the cute girls.”
As confident as they were, the monsters got wiped off easily.
But……
The magic that one of the awakeners used, by mistake, hit our farm.
The magic flame began to burn the farm in a flash.
When the fire truck arrived, it had already burned down the farm.
The Awakeners  who burned the farm went back as soon as the battle with the monsters was over.
What was left in front of my father was a burned-out farm and the bodies of burned cows.
” Argh…Those punks!”
Kang Heseop, who was immersed in my story, shouted as he hit the table in front of him.
I opened my eyes wide in surprise.
“Sorry, I got a little excited. So what happened?”
“Of course my father tried to hold each of them accountable.”
It was obvious that the fault was on the Awakeners who were dispatched that day.
At that time, there were many witnesses at the scene, and there was overflowing evidence that they had a drinking party before entering the Rift.
My father thought that there would be reasonable punishment and compensation.
But things went completely different from my father’s expectations.
The guild, where the Awakeners who caused the problem belonged, was quite influential, and with that influence, they began to put pressure on various places saying
– there could be some mistakes in the battle. How do you manage things perfectly every time?
Do you think it’s easy to send precious Awakeners to the countryside?
If you keep doing this, it will be hard to send any more Awakerners to that place.
What’s the point in talking about spilled over milk.? Let’s make a moderate agreement.
At that time, in the countryside, where there was a lack of Awakeners, they were forced to be swayed by the power of  the large guilds.
The police also only shook their heads and gave no help.
Even the same villagers began to turn a blind eye to the injustice to our family.
My father struggled under pressure from the surroundings.
He went in and out of the court, which he had never been to in his life, and tried hard to inform the media of the case.
At that time, the only person who helped my father was brother Junho’s family.
At that time a relative of Uncle was the Guardians Guild Master.
Kang Heseop asked back in surprise.
“The former Guild Master?”
“Yes, my father, whom he had never met, heard of the difficult circumstances and tried to help him. He personally introduced us to reporters and published interviewed abouts us. Unfortunately, it didn’t produce any meaningful results.”
My father, who continued his lonely fight after that, collapsed from the stress and never woke up again.
My mother and I had no choice but to let my father’s efforts go in vain.
“That’s when I decided. If I become an Awakener some day, I wouldn’t be with people who ignore the weak… but with the guild that gave us a helping hand. And that thought hasn’t changed over the years.”
It’s been a long time since I brought up a story about my family that I kept closed in my heart.
It wasn’t as painful as I thought, maybe because a lot of time passed.
I felt rather relieved.
Kang Heseop scratched his head and looked embarrassed.
“Well, I misunderstood your intention. I didn’t know there was such a situation…”
“That’s all right.”
“Well, I still don’t want to give preferential treatment or let things slide. As with all guild members, there are no exceptions to rules and procedures.”
“Of course. I’m prepared for that.”
He sprang up from his seat and approached me.
He grinned and held out his big hand to me.
“I’ll introduce you officially. I am Kang Heseop, the Guild Master of the Guardians guild. Congratulations on becoming a guild member.”
I also rose from my seat and held out my hand.
“I’m Lim Sihyeon. I look forward to your kind cooperation, Guild Master.”