chapter 69

I must have acted overly excited to get a proper hold of my bearings back at the Garden of Terror.

For some reason, I hadn’t read the atmosphere as easily as I used to. I came as a shock when I was asked, along with my guild, to exit the expedition! While that cunning trickster Lee Kiyoung riled up the group to take his side against mine, he watched from the sidelines and let them do the dirty work for him.

I could still remember that husky, untrustworthy tone of voice, along with the countless times he’d tried to hide his smile as I was in hot water. He was fortunate that I didn’t have my dagger in hand at the time, or he would have been dead.

I clenched my fists tightly upon reminiscing, shaking from where I lay.

‘Abominable offspring…’

Assessing the amount of magical power and profession that Lee Kiyoung possessed, I knew he was the kind of man Lindel needed to get rid of, a pest to be eradicated. He was probably the type of guy who would have been in the slums if he hadn’t found a party to cling to.

It felt ridiculous seeing other people get tricked by him so easily. I knew he was thick-faced from the start, but I wasn’t expecting him to be as shameless as he had acted.

He even dared to apologize to me as if I had threatened him! Though he sounded sincere, that look in his eyes suggested otherwise. He had successfully fooled everyone around us!

When I recalled his expression once more, anger began to rise from within me.

“Shit…”

As I tried to lie still, a voice came from outside my room.

“Yura, are you there?”

“I am. How’s the situation looking so far?”

“Same, it’s all just the same. We haven’t heard anything new yet.”

“Ha…”

“It’s still too early to make a formal protest.”

“Just long will it take for them to assess the situation?”

“Well…”

“Why the hell had we not noticed this? There seems to be some sort of agreement between the Blue Guild and the Red Mercenary Guild. What the hell are these Red Mercenaries even doing, anyway? I have a feeling they’re the ones pulling the strings.”

“We’ve only been told to stay quiet and stay wary. We thought it best not to draw too much attention to ourselves yet… Cha Hee-ra might be watching.”

“What’s the matter with Cha Hee-ra?”

“It seemed that the guild executives have been meeting with the Red Mercenaries.”

“What do you mean? Are they saying that there is no need to understand the situation anymore? Did they not read what we have written in the report?”

“Of course they did, but…”

“And we all know we are not the perpetrators! All witnesses seem to think that we, the Black Swans, are the bad people! Do you want the people of Lindel to treat us like idiots? In fact, why are you all so scared of that whore?! She and that… That Lee Kiyoung! That son of a bitch!”

“There’s nothing we can do for the moment… There are rumors that that man has become Cha Hee-ra’s gigolo. There are also stories that say that they might have been lovers in the past life. Perhaps that’s why the two guilds seem to have such a close-knit relationship… It’s not that I don’t understand where you’re coming from…”

“What?”

“Anyway, it would be better to watch the situation a little more. There will definitely be a chance for payback.”

“Yes, you’re right. I’m not just going to aim for retribution. I will torture Lee Kiyoung endlessly until he begs for mercy. He seems to think that Cha Hee-ra will protect him forever. Let’s see how long that faith will last.”

“Yes, you’re right.”

“Besides, they’ve caused so many blunders during the guild expedition, right?”

“Yes, I mean at first, but now…”

“Ugh, I know what you mean. We’ll still be able to use that to our advantage, however.”

“Anyway, we still have a shot at this. Since they’ve still sent us our items, it means we haven’t been totally ignored, right?”

“Right.”

“Yeah. We’ve received a lot of rare-grade items, and upon looking at the list, we still got more than Blue Guild has obtained.”

“As we should. No matter how protected they are by the Red Mercenaries, we still deserve more rewards than they do.”

“I agree… Anyway, do you want to head out for a bite to eat? I’m hungry.”

“Yes, sure, I’m hungry as well, anyway.”

“I heard that a new restaurant opened up nearby. We should go take a look.”

I nodded and stood up, wanting to rid my thoughts of that oily smirk and calculating eyes. I knew if I stayed cooped up in my room any longer, I would lose it.

Opportunities for revenge would certainly come in the future. No matter how protected Blue Guild is by the Red Mercenaries, they should know better than to mess with one of the large guilds such as the Black Swans. With this thought, I started to feel better.

We left the guild building in no time at all. I did not think much of the unusually large amount of people out until we arrived at the square, where I saw a crowd clustering around.

“Ugh… So trashy people such as these do exist.”

“Even if I close my eyes, I can imagine how barbaric they must be.”

“Tsk.”

Voices dripping with disapproval echoed throughout the square. I might have mistaken it for common hubbub when I noticed that every single person had a newspaper in their hands.

I blinked. This was an unusual scene. The media in Lindel wasn’t powerful or influential at all, and hardly anyone bought the paper. At best, all they had in their published paper were news of new monsters or the Holy Empire. It was usually only adventurers who read the paper.

However, seeing that even non-adventurers all had the paper in their hands, my curiosity began to spike. A dark feeling began to spread all over my body, and I couldn’t resist but grab a paper for myself.

“Oh, unnie…”

“T-This…”

[Bashing on Blue!]

[The first dungeon trip of Kim Hyunsung’s party, who was recruited for a large sum of money in Blue, ended successfully. You may remember all the party members that broke through the tutorial dungeon in the fastest time, and with only four people! This party, called the Kim Hyunsung Party, left Lindel a few weeks ago with the Magical Guild, the Red Mercenary Guild, and the Black Swan Guild to show off their unity with the other guilds.

While there were certain criticisms to be heard about newbies joining veterans, the Magic Guild’s attack log was leaked, causing controversy to spark within the city. It was then that Jung Yura, a member of the Black Swan guild, was revealed to the public.

From the time the expedition started, and the Black Swans were seen to be arriving back separately, many wondered if something had happened in the dungeon, and eventually, these rumors were proven to be true!

The truth is that Jung Yura (29) did not only cause conflict in the party before their departure but had also threatened one of the members of the Blue Guild. Many have testified that she has been too harsh on the Blue Guild’s party, marking a frown on everyone’s faces.

Mr. Kiyoung, who was involved in the case, was conscious of the perpetrators and did not reveal what the threats were about, but rumors spread that physical pressure is part of the picture.

Experts speculate that it is probably due to the dungeon’s contribution rewards, but none of these hunches have been accurately revealed yet. While it is true that both Blue and Black Swans are affected by this, the attention focuses on where this event will lead their relationship.

It is a very familiar occurrence in Lindel, our Free City, to attack dungeons through cooperation between guilds. Of course, the issue of item distribution and contribution also seems to be the same. Everyone will know the tricks cast by particular guilds out of greed for the rewards.

The fact that large guilds keep pressing on the smaller guilds is well-known by everyone. However, it is shocking to see a guild do so in such an unsubtle manner. –Reporter]

‘What is this…’

It wasn’t even the end of it.

[Miss Jung Yura (29) dares the Red Mercenary Queen to protect her subordinates.]

[Miss Yura, a member of the Black Swans and a party member included in the latest guild expedition, has spewed a truckload of remarks that have caused an uproar within Lindel. These remarks hurled at Mr. Lee Kiyoung, a speculated lover of the Queen, have become quite the controversy. When Mr. Kiyoung’s party was seen to be helping the expedition out in such an efficient manner, Miss Jung Yura, apparently worried about their contribution reward distribution, began to threaten Mr. Kiyoung with scandalous remarks.

Upon investigation, it was revealed that she insulted Mr. Kiyoung for being one of the Mercenary Queen’s pillars and even went so far as to question if the Queen would protect him to his face!

What causes such unease is that Miss Yura did not just hurl these statements towards Mr. Kiyoung, but the Red Queen herself. Speculations about what damages this might cause for the relationship between Red Mercenary and Black Swans are still large. –Jung Ilbo]

Several provocative titles continued to catch my eye.

[About the relationship between the Black Swan and the Red Mercenary Guild

Subtitle: Where does Blue stand in this?]

[Dungeon columnist Kim Seong-gyeong]

[How should I look at the controversy caused by Black Swan Guild member Jung Yura? -Lindel Political Department Reporter Yoomi Kang]

[Miss Jung Yura (29) reignites past controversy]

[Who is Black Swan trying to excommunicate – the Red Mercenary Guild, or the Blue Guild?]

In less than a day, my whole world had crumbled. My hands shook as I continued to skim through the paper.

I couldn’t figure out what exactly was going on right now.

However, I could only think of the owner of that blasted oily smirk and the calculating gaze that had been driving me crazy nonstop.

“Damn… they’re lucky Blue Guild is still quite a large guild. If it were us, we wouldn’t just be insulted by them… We’d be dead too.”

“It’s because of people like these that Lindel isn’t progressing at all.”

“Sh, be quiet!”

“No, am I wrong?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Wait… That person over there… Isn’t that Jung Yura?”

“Shh. She can hear you, you know.”

‘This… This son of a bitch.’

It was only now that I truly began to comprehend how this had happened and who had ensured that this would occur.

‘Lee Kiyoung, you son of a bitch…’