It was true that I was half-expecting the Cheng Long Guild to come here with another guild and wanted to see which guild it was. But I did not expect that guild to be the Sunbin Guild. Actually, now that I thought about it, there was a pretty high chance for it to be the Sunbin Guild, especially if I took into account the Sunbin Guildâs current strength.
-Is that how it works?-
For some reason, I had completely excluded the Sunbin Guild, even after I had tried to brush myself off of them.
âJiwon oppa!â Haein had not changed at all. She looked exactly as I had last seen her. That same Haein was running at me full speed with tears welling in her eyes. I did not expect her to act this way at all.
She came to a stop in front of me and looked at me, tears falling down her cheeks. âJiwonâŠoppaâŠâ
âUhâŠ.hi.â It was awkward. Almost five years in all had passed since I last saw her.
âIâm sorry. Iâm so sorry.â
âHuh?â
âI should have looked for you earlierâŠI owed you so muchâŠIâm so sorry.â
âUhâŠno, itâs okayâŠâ I didnât what to say or do as she stood there, crying. I raised my right hand and patted her head. I didnât know why; I just did.
â
-How is he here all by himself?-
-Did he actually get here from the first floor faster than us?-
-How did he get through all of those monsters on his own? Is that even possible?-
The officers of the Sunbin Guild and the Cheng Long Guild had many questions, but all wondered the same thing.
-Just who in the world is that man?-
They all knew who he was; Lee Jiwon was pretty famous now. The whole world knew his name from the battle against the Blood Prince and the San Tuan Guild. His power ranking had gone up quite a bit, and many people looked forward to what he would become in the future.
However, none of them could believe that he made his way from the first to the tenth floor on his own. They knew exactly how powerful the dungeon monsters were on each floor. It took this huge group twenty days to get to the tenth floor. They even lost a few on the way.
âDid he come here with the Myth Guild?â
âMaybe they all died and heâs the only one left standing.â
âBut look at him. Heâs too clean. He doesnât look like he struggled through the floors.â
âIf he truly came with a group, we would have seen signs of large battles throughout the floors. Did you see any? Because I didnât.â
The officers continued to whisper among themselves, but could notcome up with an answer.
â
Before Song Myungsoo had set out for Mongolia, he had met with his father. They talked about many things as father and son for the first time in a while, and the topic of Song Haein and Lee Jiwon had come up.
âI have to apologize. Sheâs your daughter and my granddaughter, but I was too greedy.â
âNo, father, itâs all right.â
âI was blinded by all of our success and growth.â
âFather, please. Youâve done nothing wrong. Look at the guild youâve led all these years. Weâve become so strong that no one can ever challenge us.â
âThatâs true, but sometimes I think that we grew too quickly. We could have taken it slow, but we didnât even stop to smell the roses.â
âThat speed got us this far, father.â
âYouâre not wrong, but I also think about everyone we kicked away to make it possible.â
âWe had no choiceâŠâ
âYes, we can tell ourselves that we had no choice as many times as we want. But know that your own son is one of them.â
ââŠâ Song Myungsoo could not retort. It was a deep wound that will never close.
His son, Song Haechang, had never disappointed him before the Great Change. Song Haechang was full of pride and ambition as the third generation heir to the company, but studied and worked very hard to protect his pride and ambition. He also knew when to bend his pride.
âTry to look for Jiwon as discreetly as possible.â
âLee Jiwon? Why him?â
âThese daysâŠthe memories of when we first met him arenât leaving me. Iâm beginning to see his specialness again.â
âBut to look for him nowâŠâ
âJust go with the flow. Just find him for now.â
âUnderstood, father.â
â
Song Myungsoo carefully scanned Lee Jiwon with his eyes. When Song Myungsoo first met Lee Jiwon, it had left such a powerful impression, so much so that he could never forget that day.
-He stillâŠshines brightly.-
Right now, Lee Jiwon was patting Song Haeinâs head, unsure of what to do, but Song Myungsoo had seen how confidently he stood when they arrived.
âI see you have quite the history with Lee Jiwon,â Wai Chung said, after quietly observing the situation.
âThatâs correct, a very deep history.â That wasnât completely true. In all honesty, their relationship wasnât all that great after the Sunbin Guild had let him go. But Song Myungsoo had developed an instinct throughout the years. It wasnât good enough for politics, but enough for business, and that instinct told him it would be stupid to answer Wai Chung honestly.
âThe Sunbin Guild and Lee Jiwon, eh? Thatâs quite the fearsome pair.â
âIâll take that as a compliment.â
â
âYouâŠyou donât have to cry.â I never had a grown woman cry in front of me before. Actually, I donât think any woman or girl had cried in front of me before, begging for my forgiveness.
âOâŠokay.â Haein wiped away at her tears, sniffling. âI heard so many rumors about you. I should have looked for you thenâŠbut it became difficult to. I should have been there; we shouldnât have sent you away like that. Iâm so sorry.â She began crying again.
âHey, thatâs enough now. Itâs all right.â Iâll admit, it wasnât all right back then, but now it was fine. It didnât matter. I wasnât weak, or needed to expect anything from anyone.
âItâs been a while, Jiwon.â Song Myungsoo came up with his hand extended. I took it and shook his hand.
âWell, this is very heartwarming.â
I smiled at Wai Chungâs sarcastic comment. âThis day is only getting better. You seem quite well, Vice-master Song.â
âItâs all thanks to you.â
âThatâs good to hear, sir.â
âI know this isnât the right place to catch up. Would you be opposed to meeting up on a later date?â
âUmmâŠâ Several thoughts surfaced at what he just said. Was he only inviting me after all this time because I made a name for myself, or was I just overreacting? But there wasnât much of a reason to avoid him.
I was strong now and I was only going to get stronger, faster than anyone else. I stood up straight and looked Song Myungsoo square in the eyes.
âNot at all.â
â
After that, both guilds sat down in the safe zone to take a break. In the middle of the zone, the officers of the guilds gathered to plan out the King-Emperor raid. As the first person to arrive at the Tomb, I was part of the planning as well.
âThe limit is set to 25 members.â
âThe boss type is a humanoid at 4 meters tall and since it uses a sword, itâs a fighter class.â
âWe may have gone up against several fighter class bosses, but this is a high-grade dungeon. We must go at this with the utmost caution.â The Cheng Long Guild laid out all of their information.
âHow do you suggest we fight it?â
âWe believe that mages should be the DPS dealers in the raid. Their magic will be the most effective against a fighter class.â
âWeâll need a few tanks and healers/supporters to go with them and have the rest as mages.â
No one rejected the idea.
âPerfect. Weâll go with that, then. As for the 25 membersâŠâ Wai Chung contemplated for a few seconds. âI believe 13 from the Cheng Long Guild and 12 from the Sunbin Guild will be perfect. What do you think?â he asked Song Myungsoo.
I had thought that we would go with 12 from each guild and me since I was the one who got here first. I got up to say something to this bastard, but I felt someone place on my right arm and I looked to see who stopped me.
It was Haein, who hadnât left my side since. She shook her head.
âThat sounds good.â
âPerfect. Weâll need at least two tanks each; choose your healers and mages accordingly.â
âYes sir!â
âUnderstood.â
âYou all have ten hours to rest and take care of your equipment. After that, meet up at the eleventh floor entrance. We donât have time to set up tactics with either guild, so weâll go in with two separate parties. Weâll just have to make sure to not harm the other party. Does that sound all right?â
âYes, thatâs sounds fine.â
âGood. Iâll see you all in ten hours.â
â
I found myself amongst the Sunbin Guildâs ranks, thanks to Wai Chungâs attempt to keep me in check. That didnât really matter to me; what bothered me more was Haeinâs small smile.
âSukchul.â
âYes, Vice-master.â
âSet up a party of 12. But, be sure to include Jiwon as well.â
âYes sir.â
âJiwon,â Song Myungsoo turned to address me.â
âYes sir.â
âI believe you came here first to participate in the raid, am I right?â
âThatâs right.â
âGood. You will be a free role. Do as you see fit during the raid. We wonât interfere.â
ââŠThank you.â
â
Ten hours laterâŠ
All 25 raid participants had gathered in front of the 11th floor entrance. Wai Chung, Song Haein and Song Myungsoo were there as well.
Wai Chung turned to Song Myungsoo. âShall we distribute the rewards according to the raid contribution?â
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âThat sounds fair.â Song Myungsoo simply accepted Wai Chungâs obvious request. If he was going to be this brazen, there was no convincing him otherwise.
At first, I didnât really want to do much against the King-Emperor. I just needed to do as much as everyone else so that I could be among the first seven to complete the quest.
But now, I wanted to smash that smile off of Wai Chungâs face and show the Sunbin Guild the full extent of my abilities. I wanted to show them all who I really was. I wanted to show them all who they were fucking dealing with.
-Itâd be nice if Shaman Koâs Stat points activate here, like it did against the Blood Prince.-