Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Night of the Welcome Party (1)
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“So, you’re saying we need to win over Geon-ju’s favor?”
“Keep it down. The kid might hear you.”
“Where the hell is a twenty-two-year-old kid?”
After dinner, Sa-yoon had brought Jong-sik—who’d been jealous of Geon-ju the entire way back to the guild—all the way to his office and explained the situation. Watching Jong-sik grumble, Sa-yoon couldn’t shake the regret of having said anything at all.
He hadn’t even gone into detail, just mentioned that winning Geon-ju’s favor was key to resisting the system. He’d figured telling Jong-sik at least would secure some support, but now it looked like he’d be lucky if Jong-sik’s bruised feelings didn’t derail the whole plan.
“He’s that age—he should be able to handle himself. Why dote on him so much? ‘Go rest, take your vitamins if you’re tired.’ Total mother hen.”
Jong-sik, who was thirty-two himself, said this while Sa-yoon shot him a glare. The guy was older than him but still called him hyungnim without fail. Jong-sik immediately backed down, mumbling, “Just saying, y’know.”
To be safe, Sa-yoon expanded his sensory range to its maximum. His heightened senses probed for presences beyond the door.
Night Rat’s elite members who lived at the guild numbered around eighty in total, but there wasn’t a single sign of life on the floor housing Sa-yoon’s office, just below the top level. At this hour, everyone was slammed with work to clear time for the evening welcome party. It was only natural.
After a thorough scan with no issues, he finally looked up. The bearish man was leaning back on the sofa, lost in thought.
“First it was ‘find a trait holder,’ now it’s ‘get close to him.’ There’s gotta be something special about Geon-ju, right?”
“For example.”
“Like some skill or whatever.”
“Now that you mention it, I didn’t check his skills properly.”
Back at the villa, he’d been too fixated on confirming the trait match to bother with the status window. He couldn’t even remember what Geon-ju’s exclusive skill was. Sitting across from Jong-sik, Sa-yoon tapped his foot.
He’d already told Geon-ju to rest since he must be tired, so calling him now wasn’t feasible. He’d have to check after the welcome party.
Putting that dilemma aside for now, Sa-yoon glanced at his desk. Jong-sik, who’d worked alongside him for so long that their senses synced perfectly, caught on and handed over the documents from the desk.
“How’re the gate clear times looking?”
“One’s ahead of schedule.”
“A change?”
“Sent the C-rank raid team in, and there’ve been no anomalies since entry. Doesn’t seem like it.”
“I’ll attach a crow. Put another team on standby. Better safe than sorry.”
The gates Sa-yoon had forcibly saturated were all either someone else’s or unregistered ones with no owner. The ones under Night Rat’s direct management were tightly controlled, so he issued a caution and moved on to the rest. He dumped the Yongho merger oversight onto an executive who’d knocked just then.
The mid-level hunter, who’d come up to report only to receive this “gift,” left the office with a expression twisted like he might burst into tears any second.
Jong-sik eyed the closing door with pity and handed over the remaining files.
“Stop tormenting Chan-hee.”
“Tormenting? He’s good at his job, so I gave him more. Haven’t you heard busy is good for you, Jong-sik?”
“He walked out crying.”
“Looked like tears of gratitude to me.”
Sa-yoon replied breezily. Jong-sik tsked, calling bullshit.
“He’s a sharp one who actually showed up after ages. If Chan-hee quits, I quit too.”
“Can’t—he’s my fan.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Everyone knew about Chan-hee’s fervent fandom for Sa-yoon. Jong-sik, whose brain kicked into high gear only when handling work, brushed it off casually and continued with the reports. With Jong-sik’s help on the trait holder search and executives pitching in midway, they cleared the backlog even faster than expected.
Having wrapped up all the headaches that would’ve festered if left alone, Sa-yoon checked the time—three hours gone—and flopped onto the sofa. A groan escaped his lips.
“Other guild leaders seem to just eat and play, so why am I always buried in work, Jong-sik?”
“You basically vacationed the last three months.”
“That was a vacation? Collapsing from overwork? Should I cancel all your vacation too?”
Chasing down one Han Geon-ju had him pushing to the brink, burning skills until he blacked out—not something to dismiss as mere R&R. Jong-sik, who’d witnessed it all, wilted under the vacation threat and grumbled softly, “I did tell you to take it easy.”
“You’re the head of an info guild—how could you not? You’ve got way more to handle than others.”
“That’s the problem, Jong-sik. I’m getting tired. Why not pivot to an assassin brokerage guild? Still a crime guild either way.”
“You’d paint a target on our backs for the government the second we did.”
“Fair point.”
They were a crime guild, sure, but as a global info network, no country dared touch them. Switching to hits would cut off sponsor funding and hand the government and association a perfect excuse to isolate them. Too big now, with enemies everywhere—changing course would be a nightmare.
The fees from clutching secrets and fielding requests from domestic and international VIPs were nothing to sneeze at, so quitting wasn’t easy. Sure, assassinations paid well too, but money was always better in heaps. No wonder the rich got greedier.
Sa-yoon groaned awhile before conceding there was no way out and let his head loll back over the sofa armrest. His hair cascaded down with gravity. Jong-sik flinched at the neck-snapping pose.
“Fix your posture. It’s scary every time!”
“How do you survive being such a scaredy-cat? My smile’s creepy, this pose freaks you out, yelling terrifies you...”
“Your smile’s eerie, that position’s grotesque, and anger’s obviously scary.”
He used to scold Jong-sik for being too timid to hack it, but now he’d adapted and fired back coolly. No more cute denials—just annoying. Sa-yoon tsked, checked the time, and grabbed his phone.
The welcome party was about to start. He needed to remind Kyung-jin to look after Geon-ju.
“Not going to this welcome party either?”
“Plenty of people without me. Why crowd in?”
“Didn’t you say get close to Geon-ju?”
“That’s for when we’re alone later.”
Now that he’d brought Geon-ju to the guild, opportunities abounded. No need to squeeze into the packed party. He texted Kyung-jin offhandedly. An “ㅇ” came back, and Sa-yoon’s eyes narrowed.
“This punk—next time I’ll send a single dot.”
“Kyung-jin?”
“Yeah.”
“Then treat him better. Give him half the attention you do Geon-ju. Not just dumping work on him.”
He had been overloading Kyung-jin lately with the trait search and everything else. Thinking of his struggles, Sa-yoon used the messenger’s gifting service to send a massager.
Texted Take it easy. It marked as read right away, but no reply. As he puzzled over it, a curt response trickled in from Kyung-jin.
- Detailed report on Han Geon-ju - Yongho Guild embezzlement investigation - Weekly Breaker of the Flow contingency reports continue - Raid team performance reports - Second-half gate auction intel gathering
All due tomorrow.
“......”
Here he’d gone and sent a gift, only to get flipped off. He showed the texts to Jong-sik, who glanced at the screen before dialing somewhere.
“Kyung-jin? Yeah. Thinking of sending some help... Yeah, see you later.”
Overhearing, Sa-yoon stared. Jong-sik hung up with a sigh.
“Just... if you’re gonna look after Kyung-jin, bolster the info team’s manpower instead of cheap gifts. Anyway, anything new from your system window?”
“Not yet. Though a new quest should pop soon.”
Quite some time had passed since the beginner killer quest. It was about time for one with real coercive force. Muttering that he wanted something quick this time, Jong-sik plopped down beside him with a pitying look. The sofa dipped under Sa-yoon’s feet.
“Just what the hell is up with your system window anyway?”
“Like I’d know. Mystery even after ten years together.”
It had even handed him a status window just recently after a decade. Why his was different, who gave it to him, what its goal was—tons of questions, zero answers. The system was that airtight.
And vicious to boot.
“......”
What if this was all just the system screwing with him?
If it was nothing but hope torture, then what?
Sa-yoon closed his eyes briefly, contemplating the worst-case scenario. He’d scraped by so far somehow, but he wasn’t sure he could handle it if that proved true.
He might snap and go on a murder spree—don’t stop me, or whatever. Jong-sik and Kyung-jin would handle it. He’d drilled them: restrain him by force if he lost it, wait till sanity returned.
No need to worry. He dismissed the chance it was unrelated to The Resistor or True Evil of Humanity.
He always planned for the worst, but this time, he hoped for a positive outcome.
Shoving aside grim thoughts, he pictured Geon-ju—the hope to break this mess—and checked his quest window. Relations with Geon-ju were holding steady at interest and wariness.
Not bad at all.
Favor always started from curiosity and questions, right?
First it’s What’s with this guy?, then Huh, leading to liking. That was the natural flow of relationships. All his bonds had followed that path, so he hummed contentedly.
He’d thought he’d botched the first step, but somehow he’d dodged disaster.