Dungeon & Commander (217)
“What are you doing?”
“Updating.”
“We updated not long ago.”
“Relic interior data update.”
“Huh? Where’d you get that?”
“Association approval came through. All teams participating in the Sokcho raid can use it.”
“...So we’ll be doing relic adaptation tests, then?”
“Probably.”
Sa Yeonggyo changed into her Milan suit in the locker room and joined the others running laps on the track.
Choi Muhyun and Yeom Sang-taek glanced her way. She could feel their eyes naturally scanning her figure.
“You met your great-aunt.”
Skyla said as she jogged up beside her.
Who? Great-aunt?
In that instant, she remembered the family disgrace... the closely guarded secret. If it was dementia and the woman couldn’t even remember her own age, that might have been forgivable.
“Where?”
“Ice factory.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Anyway, thanks to her, I got some help absorbing the cold energy.”
Skyla flashed a grin.
Sa Yeonggyo recalled a story she’d heard in passing. A top-tier ice raider could mass-produce ice using her abilities. Association rules normally prohibited raiders from commercial use of their powers, but her great-aunt was the exception.
The conversation fizzled out.
She overheard Choi Muhyun and Yeom Sang-taek chatting.
Yeom Sang-taek was fretting that his sound-attribute medium, the tarantula he’d bought, had lost its appetite lately. Choi Muhyun offered to introduce him to someone who knew all about tarantulas.
Sa Yeonggyo seethed in silence.
The team leader was in danger right now, but no one seemed worried.
Maybe they didn’t know the internal politics of the expedition team, so they didn’t even feel the need to worry.
Suppressing her irritation, Sa Yeonggyo explained the situation to the three of them. Talking while running made her breathless, but she pushed through.
If they knew the truth, they wouldn’t waste time on tarantulas—they’d help persuade Kim Jun, even if just a little.
Even after she finished, their attitudes barely changed.
“We already know all that.”
Skyla said.
Sa Yeonggyo was floored.
“No need to worry. Kim Jun’ll figure something out.”
Yeom Sang-taek added.
For a moment, Sa Yeonggyo felt like an idiot. She regretted sticking her neck out with the explanation.
Kim Jun and Yoo Min-jeong arrived at the guildhouse with Go Cheolmin.
“Sa Yeonggyo.”
Go Cheolmin called.
As Sa Yeonggyo went up to the master room and sat on the sofa, Go Cheolmin began explaining with a stiffened expression.
A press conference was set for 2 p.m., where they’d announce the new guild master—and reveal her joining the guild as the association president’s granddaughter.
Sa Yeonggyo grasped the implication immediately.
Jeong Myeong-ho might have caught wind of Yoo Wan-seop backing Kim Jun, gotten cold feet, and scrapped this morning’s evaluation placement announcement.
A divine move!
As expected of Yoo Wan-seop. No wonder her grandfather praised him.
When she left the master room, Kim Jun was waiting at the bottom of the metal stairs.
“Got a minute?”
“I’ve got time even if it’s long.”
Kim Jun led her to a quiet corner of the guildhouse, her usual training spot. His face had a slightly pumped-up vibe.
“You heard about the press conference?”
“Just now.”
Kim Jun explained why Jeong Myeong-ho had made that morning announcement and what had gone down last night.
Sa Yeonggyo was speechless.
She’d suspected something fishy about the news, but a blatant lie? The massive coverage was a cunning media play to exploit Kim Jun, a public raider.
And kidnapping and torturing people on top of that!
“What’re you gonna do?”
Sa Yeonggyo asked.
The Kim Jun she’d seen at the awakening test, the one who’d faced crisis with her in the Honor Hall—he wouldn’t back down easily.
Kim Jun grinned and shared his plan.
“I’m accepting the evaluation placement. I’ll take the relic adaptation test seriously too. Then, when the time’s right, we swap out the expedition leader for someone else.”
“...What?”
Sa Yeonggyo thought she’d misheard.
Swap out who?
“Association rules allow changing the captain. I think Hwang In-su, the current sub-captain, could lead the raid fairly without issue.”
Sa Yeonggyo couldn’t believe it.
Replace the captain on her first raid as team leader? If anyone else said it, she’d scoff and ignore them.
But this guy... he might actually pull it off.
No, he’d drag Jeong Myeong-ho off the captain’s perch and shove Hwang In-su into it.
Laughter bubbled up.
Kim Jun stared her straight in the eye.
That deep gaze made her heart race. She barely suppressed the urge to hug him and kiss him.
“What about the new guild master pick?”
Kim Jun slowly shook his head.
Any rational guild master wouldn’t buy into his plan.
Belatedly, Sa Yeonggyo realized why he’d told her all this.
If the press conference revealed the new guild master and her association ties, even a Brave Guild senior like Jeong Myeong-ho couldn’t push the evaluation placement.
If Jeong Myeong-ho backed off, Kim Jun’s bold scheme would lose its spark.
But if she threw a curveball there... the mood would shift.
“You confident?”
“It’s gotta happen sometime.”
Even avoiding Jeong Myeong-ho, the next captain would clash for similar reasons.
Kim Jun grinned and headed to the locker room.
The choice was hers.
Hwang In-su parked across the street from the Uramata Guildhouse and scowled at the swarm of reporters.
Even a solid guild like Omnibus, far sturdier than Uramata, had changed guild masters last year. He’d tipped off every major outlet, but only five showed—lukewarm at best.
“Hyena bastards.”
He’d never liked reporters mobbing like a pack in the name of “truth.”
He just used them.
When needed.
Were they using Uramata across the street right now? Or was Uramata baiting them for clicks?
Ding.
He checked his phone at the text alert.
The captain himself had sent the disinterested Hwang In-su here.
Even the live broadcast excuse didn’t fly. The order to check the vibe in person was bullheaded.
Dirty work or not, raiders had to eat. He wanted twenty more years in the dungeons.
Hwang In-su focused his inner energy into his eyes.
Through his sunglasses, the parking lot zoomed in instantly.
Magnification Gong.
No one knew who named it, but it was hilariously blunt. Probably because it mimicked a telescope.
Still, the skill was damn useful.
Hwang In-su recognized some reporters from the backs of their heads. When they glanced at rivals, he could guess their questions.
Boring questions, canned answers.
A yawn escaped.
He scanned the guildhouse building.
“Tsk tsk.”
It was rundown, screaming for repairs.
Whoever replaced Go Cheolmin as Uramata’s guild master was in for hell.
Small guilds’ fates turned on a dime.
One failed raid, and they’d be torn apart and shuttered.
Shifting his gaze upward, Hwang In-su spotted someone on the rooftop overlooking everything. The reporters hadn’t noticed.
The guy held binoculars.
Wait, that’s the punk.
Hwang In-su double-checked in shock. Definitely Kim Jun.
Why was he up there scoping reporters with binoculars?
Kim Jun swept over the crowd, then the sidewalk, road, and across the street—spotting Hwang In-su in the driver’s seat watching Uramata.
Kim Jun’s face lit up with a broad grin.
Hwang In-su got a weird vibe.
Was he looking for me? That’s why he grabbed binoculars and hit the roof?
Absurd. How would he know I’d be here?
Kim Jun waved at him like mission accomplished, then vanished—down from the roof.
Hwang In-su tilted his head.
“What the hell’s with that guy?”
The press conference was in the guildhouse parking lot. Cars had been cleared out, now packed with reporters.
Sa Yeonggyo sat on a locker room bench, mulling what to say in front of them.
Tension gripped her like ages ago—waiting before a dungeon that might swallow her forever. Her heart hadn’t pounded like this then.
A sly smile crept out.
Thanks to Kim Jun’s plan. Arrogant, intriguing. What face would Jeong Myeong-ho make if he knew?
Her phone buzzed.
She frowned at the number.
“What?”
—Stop it.
The first words from her mom since dropping her on the roadside after the Honor Hall chaos—and ditching her. Memorable.
She’d finally heard from Grandpa about her daughter’s antics.
“About time you found out. But too late.”
—Just go back to Africa.
“No.”
—Why are you doing this? If it’s teenage rebellion, isn’t it over by now?
“Over? We’re just getting started.”
Sa Yeonggyo hung up and powered off the phone.
Mom had cleared her inner turmoil. Mom was the perfect guide—just go the opposite way she pointed.
Sa Yeonggyo opened her laptop.
A video site live-streaming the conference showed the familiar parking lot.
Moments later, Go Cheolmin stepped out and took position. Flashes erupted noisily.
Through the screen, Sa Yeonggyo saw his awkwardness. He pulled a paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and read haltingly.
“Since founding Uramata Guild, I’ve always had one regret. A longing for the dungeons, a kind of nostalgia...”
Sa Yeonggyo sensed what the on-screen reporters craved. Not Go Cheolmin’s return to the front lines, but the new guild master.
“...And now, allow me to introduce Uramata Guild’s new guild master.”
On-screen, Go Cheolmin glanced at the guildhouse.
When Yoo Wan-seop emerged into the lot, silence fell.
Sa Yeonggyo burst out laughing. Those rowdy reporters, struck dumb with those faces.
Exclamations broke out as they snapped to.
“It’s Yoo Wan-seop!”
“Why’s that raider here?”
Flashbulbs exploded.
Sa Yeonggyo admired Yoo Wan-seop’s unflappable poise before the horde. Second only to her grandfather in her respect.
Questions flew from everywhere.
Reporters raised hands, waiting to be called.
“OO Daily’s Hyun-young reporter.”
Yoo Wan-seop pointed to one.
“After Devils Day, you vanished. Where have you been?”
“I tried escaping the world to become a hermit on Jiri Mountain, but foraging grass wasn’t for me. So I came down.”
Laughter rippled through the reporters.
“Jung Won-gyu reporter.”
“With your skills, you could go anywhere. Why Uramata? And why accept guild master?”
Sa Yeonggyo leaned forward. She wondered too.
“If I’m starting as guild master, I want to build from the ground up, step by step.”
Sa Yeonggyo knew that wasn’t all. But if she stood there soon, facing the same question, she’d give a similar answer.
Press conferences weren’t about full truth—just the slice you wanted the world to see.
Then, Daily Raider’s Park Myeong-hoon asked Yoo Wan-seop.
“You saw Brave Guild’s expedition leader Jeong Myeong-ho’s announcement today. As new guild master, your thoughts?”
Reporters’ eyes sharpened—key question.
Yoo Wan-seop swept over them, then stared straight at the camera. Not for the reporters—for everyone watching live.