The Collapse of Andersen
The thirty-six hunters who defected with Lee Gyu-hwan had been the last major force still standing in Andersen Guild’s executive division after the losses it suffered in its conflict with Race. The moment that core strength vanished all at once, those who had long held a grudge against Andersen bared their fangs in unison.
“What? Andersen’s executive power has almost disappeared? Send our executive hunters at once!”
“Wipe them out!”
They had been waiting for exactly this chance ever since Andersen had begun to show weakness in its struggle against Race. They did not miss the instant the guild’s defenders collapsed, and they sent in the hunters under their command.
On the morning of the second day after Andersen’s mass defection, Guild Leader Ahn Seong-jin was found at his home as a cold corpse. The small number of executive hunters assigned to guard the residence had also been brutally murdered. He must have sensed the threat to his life, because he had hired armed security in abundance, but there was no way they could stop the assault of the executive division, a pack of killing machines.
“Andersen has completely collapsed. All of its key officials have been killed, and we’ve just received confirmation that Chief Secretary Yoo Ji-ah, whose survival was uncertain until the end, was found dead an hour ago. The newly elected mid-level executives have reportedly requested the guild’s dissolution from the General Bureau.”
Taemin reported the news. In less than three days after Gyu-hwan crossed over to Race with the thirty-six executive hunters, Andersen, a Silver-tier guild, had been utterly brought down.
“Good work.”
Hyun-jun nodded at Taemin, then shifted his gaze to the side. Gyu-hwan stood there with a face that had stiffened completely.
“There is no reason for you to feel guilty.”
“Why are you speaking so formally all of a sudden?”
“Because you’re my ally now. I’m not the sort of person who speaks casually to just anyone.”
When he finished speaking, Hyun-jun rose from his chair.
“I’ll head out first. Let’s handle Lee Gyu-hwan’s personnel transfer tomorrow.”
Over the past few days, he had worn himself out hunting more than half of Andersen executive division’s strength alone. On top of that, he had been waging psychological warfare, which had left him mentally drained as well. Now that victory was secure and he could breathe a little easier, he wanted nothing more than to rest in peace for a few days.
“Get some proper rest.”
“Good work.”
Hyun-jun left the office. Taemin turned to Gyu-hwan, then opened his mouth with a rigid expression.
“Would you mind going up to the rooftop for a moment? I’d like to talk.”
“Understood.”
His voice was grave. Since he would now be joining Race, Gyu-hwan felt that it would be worthwhile to build a good relationship with Taemin. So he nodded readily and followed after Taemin, who had already started walking ahead. When the two of them reached the rooftop, one of the guild office staffers who had been enjoying the breeze quickly moved aside to give them space.
“The guild leader is a good man.”
“So it seems.”
It was hard to agree with Taemin’s words, given their first impression of one another, but Gyu-hwan had no intention of starting an argument, so he simply nodded and answered.
“Since you’ve joined Race... I hope you’ll put aside any personal feelings.”
Although Hyun-jun had handled more than half of Andersen’s executive force, roughly a quarter of it had been dealt with by Taemin and Jong-seo. Gyu-hwan knew that, so he had no reason to be pleased with them.
“I’m not an idiot.”
Gyu-hwan did not deny it, but neither did he agree.
“My subordinates came over as well, so... I intend to keep my personal feelings in check as much as possible.”
“You’d better. I’ll be watching. Even if I miss something, there’s no way it will escape the guild leader’s eyes.”
Not long ago, Taemin had been stunned when he saw Hyun-jun pinpoint the schedules of Andersen’s executive division and the locations of its officials with uncanny accuracy. Even for the information division of a Silver-tier guild, that was the sort of intelligence that was difficult to uncover.
“You mean you have private informants?”
“The guild leader is far more impressive than you think. It won’t be easy to hide from his eyes. Well, even if I don’t explain it, the answer should be obvious just from what happened to the Andersen executives who had been moving in secret. They were wiped out in a heap.”
Gyu-hwan swallowed dryly. Taemin put a cigarette to his lips and lit it. Then, after taking a deep drag, he let out a sigh mingled with smoke.
“If you disappoint the guild leader, it won’t end well. Even if he doesn’t get involved, I won’t just sit still.”
Even after Taemin left, those words lingered around Gyu-hwan like an echo. After coming straight down from the rooftop to the parking lot, Taemin got into a car and headed for a small mountain nearby. There, in a secluded stretch deep within the woods, he drew out his weapon.
To protect the guild leader, I have to get stronger.
His eyes gleamed sharply.
*
After returning home, Hyun-jun went down to the basement, spread his equipment out on the cold floor, and checked it over. It had apparently become a habit to inspect his gear after finishing work or wrapping up the day. As he continued his inspection, he found one unfamiliar piece of equipment: a bloodstained blunt weapon. After searching through his memory for three seconds, he finally recalled that it had been the item he found after dealing with the berserker.
“No matter how I look at it, this seems like A-rank...”
Hyun-jun narrowed his eyes and studied the weapon. That was when the Butcher’s Dagger, the Ripper’s dagger that he had taken out beside it, emitted a red glow.
The Butcher craves a blood debt.
The small dagger gave off a low, plaintive cry as if resonating with the weapon. A faint stream of mana flowed out of it, wavering as though it were beckoning toward the blunt weapon. From that sight, Hyun-jun inferred one possible outcome and reached out toward the two pieces of equipment.
Something... something’s happening...
His eyes shone. The moment he brought the blunt weapon and the Butcher’s Dagger close together—
Kyaaaaahhh—!
The Butcher’s Dagger let out a shrill, tearing scream and began to absorb the mana pooled within the blunt weapon. And before five minutes had passed, it had swallowed every last trace of that mana.
“So the mana remaining is about F-rank now...?”
The blunt weapon had lost most of its mana and was left at the level of an F-rank piece of equipment. Meanwhile, the Butcher’s Dagger, which had been carrying mana on the level of B-rank, was now leaking A-rank mana.
I’ll have to take it to the appraisal shop.
The person who had appraised the Butcher’s Dagger before had called it a growth-type piece of equipment. If that was true, then now that it had reached A-rank mana, there was a good chance a new function had been added. To find out what it was, he needed an appraisal.
By then it was already late, so Hyun-jun left the house early the next morning. Finding an appraisal shop was not difficult. After all, these days there was a wonderful tool called the internet.
“Welcome!”
As soon as he stepped inside, the appraiser greeted him brightly.
“I’d like to request an equipment appraisal.”
“May I see it?”
“Here.”
When Hyun-jun took the Butcher’s Dagger out of his subspace pouch and placed it on the table, the appraiser’s mana swept over it once.
“Oh... an A-rank item? This is rare.”
The appraiser let out an exclamation. A-rank equipment was uncommon, so even appraisers did not often get the chance to see it with their own eyes.
It was B-rank when it was first appraised...
Hyun-jun narrowed his eyes and studied the Butcher’s Dagger. It seemed that after absorbing the mana from the blunt A-rank weapon he had obtained by killing the berserker, something had changed.
“Now that I look at it, this is a growth-type item. That’s not a common type.”
There was curiosity in the appraiser’s eyes, but he did not ask where Hyun-jun had obtained it. That was simply the proper way for an appraiser to treat a customer.
“It looks like it has several functions. I’ll organize everything in the appraisal report, so... I recommend that you read it thoroughly when you get home.”
The appraisal report was finished quickly. After returning home, Hyun-jun spread it out and started reading. Compared to the previous report, he could confirm that a function called telekinetic sword control had been added. It was a technique that allowed him to use mana to manipulate the dagger freely in midair. As soon as he finished reading the report, Hyun-jun decided to test it right away.
“Telekinetic sword control.”
He said the activation phrase and poured mana into it. The Butcher’s Dagger rose into the air. Though he could not see it, he could feel it connected to him by mana. There was no problem at all in coating it with Aura Blade, either.
This is enough.
After testing the telekinetic sword control technique for about ten minutes, Hyun-jun cut off the mana supply and recalled the dagger. He had thought it was enough already, but he had sensed someone approaching.
“Guild leader. It’s me.”
“Come in.”
It was Taemin’s voice. After Hyun-jun told him to enter, the door opened and Taemin walked in. Since So-jin and the younger siblings stayed on the second floor, Taemin and Jong-seo generally used the outside stairs whenever they had something to report.
“We managed to secure two A-rank dungeon schedules that Andersen had planned to raid.”
“So once those are cleared, that’s enough results to meet the requirements for Silver-tier promotion, right?”
“Yes. We’ll have secured the missing clear records.”
A-rank dungeons appeared rarely, so the competition for reservations was fierce. By chance, Andersen had been holding raid schedules for two of them. Since the reservations would be released if the guild was dissolved, Hyun-jun had told Taemin in advance to keep an eye on the Dungeon Management Bureau.
The executive chief did the job well.
He had not expected to secure both reservations, but Taemin had proven more capable than expected.
“I’ll need to talk with the raid captain. Could you prepare a vehicle? We need to head to the guild office now.”
This was a matter he had to discuss with Baek Han-su, the leader of the guild’s raid team. Hyun-jun went with Taemin by car to the guild office. In the office, Han-su was already there, having rushed over after being summoned.
“Guild leader.”
Han-su greeted him politely with a slight bow. Hyun-jun accepted the greeting and entered, sitting down in the chair. Taemin left the office for other duties, and now only the two of them remained.
“I’ll get straight to the point. We’ve secured two A-rank dungeon raid schedules.”
“What? It’s hard enough to book just one, and you got two?”
Han-su asked in shock.
“I snatched them when Andersen was being dismantled.”
“Even so, that couldn’t have been easy... As expected, guild leader, you’re incredible.”
“The executive chief did most of the hard work.”
Hyun-jun said it plainly. Taemin really had done most of the heavy lifting.
“Still, it’s true that the guild leader is incredible. Isn’t this proof of Race’s growing influence?”
After the merger, Race had continued to develop brilliantly thanks to Hyun-jun’s achievements. Han-su brought it up again to emphasize the point.
“Thanks for the praise. Back to the main issue. Two A-rank dungeons... they’re two weeks apart. Do you think we can clear them?”
“If the guild leader and Han So-jin are taking part, then as long as we move the first team, the raids shouldn’t be difficult. And two weeks should be more than enough recovery time.”
At Han-su’s words, Hyun-jun nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Good. Notify Raid Team One and start preparing. I’ll tell So-jin as well.”
“Understood.”
Han-su moved quickly, and Raid Team One began its preparations. In addition to them, Hyun-jun, So-jin, and even Lee Gyu-hwan, the A-rank magic-type hunter who had been the executive chief of Andersen, volunteered to provide support. Thanks to that, the two A-rank dungeon raids ended successfully, and Race was promoted to Silver tier.
“Hoo.”
After the promotion party ended and he returned home, Hyun-jun finished showering and lay down on his bed. That was when it happened. An overwhelming surge of mana, unlike anything he had ever felt before, filled the room.
The 990,000 past lives praise your fearless advance and rapid growth. From this moment on, Deus’ absolute will will begin intervening in fate. You will gain a positive change, but they will come to know of your existence.
Along with the voice, the mana that had filled the bedroom poured into Hyun-jun’s body as if rushing inward in a torrent.