Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Heave! Ho! Heave...! Ho, fuck it, we're all totally screwed, aren't we?
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S-Rank Active Hero
VS
No.1 Guild Leader
The former comes with an annual salary of 200 billion won.
Sell off artifacts you snag while clearing dungeons, and you get a salary-doubling event.
Women who follow you around because they like you? A whole truckload.
But you have to risk your life fighting once a year.
The latter? Annual salary of 1 billion won.
No need to fight. No need to lift a finger.
You can bully low- and mid-tier heroes under B-rank to your heart's content.
But you have to kiss up to S-rank heroes younger than you.
Your choice...?
While everyone else agonized over it, one man could shout, "Both!"
His name was Park Chung-hyun.
The legendary first-generation hero of Korea and the guild master who founded and built up Justice Guild.
Park Chung-hyun's popularity was insane.
Even kids from the ancient generation of elementary schoolers picked him—not some idol or actor—as the person they respected most...
💬 Comments — Bro's here!! (Mandatory reading for Japan-obsessed weebs) Bro, I'm in the shittiest mood right now. Some collab-loving traitor weebs pissed me off calling Korean heroes babies sucking on milk. Listen up, you thick-headed weebs stuffed with nothing but pretty girl characters. Korea has Park Chung-hyun. Bro Chung-hyun took on and wrecked every single Japanese hero by himself. Do that pro-Japan shit again, and you'll get fucking wrecked. Guaranteed. — Lololol Boom up — Whoa Holy shit — What the hell are you on about with Chung-hyun oppa? Oppa didn't do anything wrong. Park Chung-hyun fangirls get out -_-++ — KIN Boom up — I tried to hit boom up but suddenly a 29,384 km/h gale burst through the window and slammed my mouse toward boom down, but in that instant I unleashed incredible reflexes to swing it back toward boom up, only for Singha hyung to appear out of nowhere swinging an iron club at Mach speed smashing my mouse to bits so I thought I was done lurking but in the split second it shattered I accidentally hit boom down fml Boom down ㄱ- That's a generation that's become ancient history now.
Some loved Park Chung-hyun, some hated him, but one thing was undeniable.
Park Chung-hyun was the icon of his era!
Park Chung-hyun's once seemingly eternal exploits soon began to falter.
He had fallen ill.
"I'm gonna die soon."
Park Chung-hyun muttered in a voice that sounded half-dead, lying on his sickbed.
"Don't say that, Guild Master. You'll recover in no time..."
"The doc says I'm dying."
"No, you can pull through..."
"I'm telling you, I'm dying."
Becoming a hero doesn't make your body invincible against illness.
Awakened or not, get sick and you're on borrowed time.
"Listen up. When I kick it, you're the only one who can lead this guild."
"M-Me...?"
Park Hee-yeon, who had been by his side, looked utterly flustered.
"Look at that smirk creeping up. You happy I'm dying?"
"...I wasn't smiling."
"This is the moment you've been waiting for, right? You figured you'd be guild master someday."
"Not this soon."
"See? You're thrilled."
Park Chung-hyun and Park Hee-yeon.
They were as close as master and disciple could be.
"Anyway, I'm leaving the guild to you."
"I'll do great. I'll make our guild even stronger."
"Stronger? If we avoid delisting, that'll be a miracle."
"...I won't let that happen."
"Maybe sitting still would help more?"
"...I'll devote this body to serving Justice's heroes!"
"Shouldn't you ask the heroes what they think?"
"Argh, then what the hell do you want from me, you bastard!"
"This crazy bitch is hitting a patient...!"
They were master and disciple, but also siblings.
Like most siblings, they weren't always on the best terms.
"If you don't trust me that much, give it to someone else!"
"I want to."
"Then why not?"
"You're the best of a bad bunch."
Park Chung-hyun didn't fully trust his little sister.
It was because she had a completely different personality from him.
"A leader needs to listen, sure, but also know when to ignore complete bullshit."
"Isn't making a guild everyone loves the best thing?"
"Impossible."
"No, you just failed."
"Justice is doomed...!"
"Hurry up and die... No, scratch that. Too harsh for a terminal patient."
"You go to heaven. Let's not meet after we die."
Park Chung-hyun passed away amid the nation's mourning.
Right after, Park Hee-yeon took over as guild master.
It didn't take long for her to realize.
'Bro was a superhuman.'
Running as an active S-rank hero while also managing the guild felt like it required two bodies.
She couldn't fathom how that idiot brother had pulled it off.
And she came to respect him even more.
She'd always felt that way, but now doubly so.
'No heaven for me either. When I die, I'll definitely meet bro again.'
The stronger that thought grew, the fiercer her ambition burned.
'Gotta smash that smug face. Gotta make our guild stronger.'
She said that, but deep down, she wanted to protect the legacy her brother left behind.
No—to grow it bigger and more magnificent.
There was a clear benchmark for her success or failure.
— This is Anthus. A unique constellation tied to stocks. Anthus. The constellation inherited from her brother. If the stock price rises, Queen Anthus will transform into her female form. The Anthus Kingdom will prosper even more, and the queen will lay eggs. Stock price rise means Anthus's power grows.
Fall means decline.
— If the price drops, the kingdom turns barren too. The power of the stigma Anthus gives you weakens. Stock price equals power. Anthus grants stigmas to the guild master through skyrocketing stocks. The guild master uses the stigmas to unite the guild and boost the stock. That virtuous cycle was Park Chung-hyun's secret. I once triggered Queen Anthus's female form. If you're a truly great guild master, you can do it too. Anthus's female transformation.
That was Park Hee-yeon's goal as leader.
Even though after nearly five years as guild master, there wasn't a sign of it.
"Did all the ants croak...?"
She stood before the anthill.
The Anthus Kingdom was in an unprecedented state of desolation.
A few remaining ants with some life left gathered and shouted.
Anthus ants could speak.
"It'll go back up! Let's all heave-ho!"
"Heave!"
"Ho!"
"Heave!"
"Ho!"
The Anthus ants moved grains of sand, desperately trying to dig.
But the work wasn't going smoothly at all.
"Heave!"
"Ho!"
"Heave...!"
"Ho, fuck it, we're all totally screwed, aren't we?"
Anthus wasn't an individual.
It was a collective bound to one stock.
When the price tanked, the population plummeted...
— I've already taken profits. Hey dumbass, say something...! If you bail alone, we're fucked?! — I don't talk to cut-loss morons. You sneaky bastard! Die! They mostly turned on and devoured each other...
Anyway.
Park Hee-yeon remembered what the Anthus ants were like under Park Chung-hyun.
She could vividly recall it even now.
Digging into her memories, it was as if a grand Anthus Kingdom appeared before her eyes.
⭐ Top Comment — Justice is the trend!!! Why bother with other shit? Justice is handing out money for free? We're invincible. Justice is god. Hyungs, time to average down? Let's fucking gooooo!!!! The flourishing Anthus ants.
The population was so huge it filled the vast anthill to the brim.
They'd pray fervently at temples or hold festivals chanting "Heave-ho!" among themselves.
But now...
— Survive on beast heart... Best buy timing is when the market's bloodied... Thanks, supreme Anthus... Just suicide and be done~ Hardly any moving Anthus ants in sight.
Only Queen Anthus pathetically twitching her antennae.
"Human... Is HODLing... victory...?"
"Sorry. This winter's gonna be long and brutal."
Drained Anthus ants suffer massive despair.
At times like this, they pray even more quietly for their kingdom's protection and the stock market's recovery.
"HODLing is... victory..."
Park Hee-yeon had never seen Anthus's female form.
Not even during Park Chung-hyun's tenure had she seen ants more lively than then.
After his death, Queen Anthus stopped laying eggs, and the population crashed.
Park Hee-yeon was a decent guild master, but she fell far short of her brother.
'We won't crumble like this.'
But it wasn't the end.
'Kim Taeyang! Wreck the stock more! So I can rebound harder and bigger...!'
They say crisis is opportunity.
She planned to use Kim Taeyang's rampage as a springboard to trigger Anthus's female form.
The problem was nothing was going her way lately.
"Guild Master! The stock's rebounding...!!"
"What...?"
The secretary was right.
Justice's stock was surging massively.
The momentum was terrifying.
If Justice's dungeon clear rate hit 90%, it might spike like this?
90% was fantasy territory itself... but anyway.
Execs who'd been tearing their hair out over the stock came rushing in, cheering and whooping.
"As expected of the Guild Master! We believed!!"
"You finally did it?!!"
"Goddess of Tactics!!! Park Hee-yeon!!!"
"Where does the blood of founding Guild Master Park Chung-hyun go?!!!"
"Ta-da~"
"No, what..."
Of course, Park Hee-yeon hadn't done a thing.
With dungeon assignments stripped away, all she could do was gently nudge media outlets for softer coverage.
Flustered, she checked online news.
She immediately spotted the good news.
"Wh-What the hell...?"
'Clear rate... 90%?'
It was the kind of article that left her mind blank.
*
"Justice Dungeon Clear Rate Hits 90%! To commemorate, the Leader's sermon! Applause!"
"Waaaaaaah!!"
Clap clap clap clap—
Thunderous cheers and applause poured in.
Definitely different from the early cult days.
The followers were ecstatic over me.
More precisely, over my dungeon assignment skills.
"Hey. 90% clear rate, ain't that great?"
"Precisely 92.3%!"
"Kim Taeyang! Kim Taeyang!"
"You're a god!!"
There was a reason the followers were going wild for me.
Grasping dungeon intel in advance and assigning the right heroes is a guild master's core virtue.
Pair that with an eye for hero talent, and you're a top guild master.
Of course.
I had no such genius insight...!
I could do it because as a game nerd, I knew way more dungeon info...!
But would the heroes know that?
To them, I looked like a competent leader.
And 90% clear rate was legitimately insane...
"Leader."
"Huh?"
Seol Harin smoothly slid over the speech script.
Reading this stuff off a paper isn't my style.
But this time, I decided to follow her lead and rally the cult.
New goal in mind.
Park Hee-yeon, Guild Master.
To steal her tiny constellation...!
"Dear followers..."
But gotta tweak the tone.
Reading it straight is too stiff...
"Hey, you religious pigs! Anyone bragging about the clear rate gets fucking executed?! Huh?!!"
"......"
"The clear wasn't thanks to your power!! It was the guild's intel, systems, and most of all, your goddamn teammates' sick support! Don't forget that!!!"
"Yes...!"
I didn't plan to go harsh.
Just saying the right shit a bit crudely.
"There's a saying: 'One person's courage saves a kitten in peril, but the courage of tens of thousands saves a nation in peril!!!' Your faith, you religious pigs, will save Justice in peril!!! Save Korea in peril... save the world in peril!!!!"
"Waaaaaaah!!"
"Kim Taeyang! Kim Taeyang! Kim Taeyang...!"
Hundreds cheered right in front of me.
Is this the moving wave of humanity? So exhilarating!
Never thought I'd get this kind of fervent support from so many.
Feels like I'm a revolutionary changing the world... chest swelling with pride...!!!
I stepped off stage to their applause.
Seol Harin removed my mic.
"Good job. No idea who you learned from, but that speech was perfect."
"Hey, sow. You wrote the speech, didn't you? Quit pretending after drilling the points into me."
"Hehe. Did I?"
Hm?
Did the lines change or something...?
Whatever.
The speech was gold.
Especially that quote. Hit just right.
"Sow. Who said that quote? Felt familiar."
"No way it'd be familiar. Not exactly common."
"Huh? You think I'm an idiot?! You know how much I read?!!"
"It's not about reading a lot. It's from a pretty famous guy, though."
Damn, Seol Harin and her smartass act...
I read books too, y'know?
In my memory, it was some great general.
Napoleon? Alexander the Great? Or Hannibal...?
"So who?"
"......"
Seol Harin tilted her head up at my question.
Shadow fell over her face.
For some reason, she looked endlessly cold and eerie.
Finally, her heavy lips parted, and one man's name slipped out.
"Adolf Hitler."
"......?"
Uh...?
Harin...?
You... read that stuff...?