Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Intruder During the Meeting
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Yeohae Guild's crushing defeat.
The aftermath it unleashed was immense.
Powerful gates had appeared in Korea before now.
But they had always been conquered by top guilds.
And Yeohae had claimed the lion's share of those victories.
It made sense, given that Yeohae was the only guild in Korea boasting two S-Rank Hunters.
Though Jang Sehun had drifted more toward businessman than hunter these days.
Aside from fulfilling the bare minimum public service requirements.
He'd been steadily distancing himself from gates.
Yeohae's vice master, Lee Gyumin, was no pushover either.
Ranked fifth among S-Rank Hunters.
The man known as the Fist King, with a reputation for his personal prowess that preceded him.
Led by this Lee Gyumin, Yeohae Guild's elite raid team.
They had pierced through every gate that seemed impossible, carving their names into history.
Until today.
At the heart of the Hunter Association.
A place only the leaders of the top seven guilds could enter.
In the meeting known as the Seven Stars Council, Lee Gyumin couldn't bring himself to lift his head for the first time.
"...This is beyond imagination. To think your guild would fail the raid."
Titan Guild's master, Choi Geonwoo, broke the heavy silence.
Jang Sehun ground his teeth softly upon hearing it.
'Talk about the pot calling the kettle black—we're all failures here!'
They'd fled in terror before even reaching the third layer.
No, at least Yeohae had made the attempt, preserving some hunter's pride.
But what had they done?
His sharp gaze fell on Lee Gyumin, who sat beside him with his head bowed.
Lee Gyumin started to raise his head but averted his eyes again, as if ashamed.
Tension hung in the air like walking on thin ice.
Finally, Choi Geonwoo couldn't bear it and spoke once more.
"I'm not trying to blame you. If even you failed, no one here could claim success. No, they'd have failed outright. That's why we retreated—we anticipated it."
No matter that they were rivals he didn't particularly like.
Choi Geonwoo wasn't the type to mock another's failure with a sneer.
His words were a genuine attempt at comfort.
But as the saying goes, the sister-in-law who tries to stop you only makes you hate her more.
To Jang Sehun right now, they grated even harder.
"Spare me the lip service, Choi Geonwoo."
"I mean it. Though I suppose I deserved a little karma for my loose tongue back then."
"Kuh...!"
The day Titan Guild stalled on the second layer and retreated.
Jang Sehun had immediately assembled a third-layer raid team and given a press interview.
The message was simple.
They were different from Titan Guild.
The actual words had been harsher, but that was the gist after softening them.
It could be seen as a show of confidence.
But in sports, trash talk followed by defeat turns you into a laughingstock.
And Yeohae Guild, with Jang Sehun at the helm, bore the full brunt of that karma.
"We were shocked too. To think Yeohae's elite raid team lost half its members in an instant. What on earth happened in there?"
Ryu Sia, leader of Black Rose Guild and current seventh-ranked S-Rank Hunter, seized the opening to ask.
Only one person here knew what had transpired inside the third layer.
Lee Gyumin, still bowed in defeat and defeat, steeped in grief.
Of course, Jang Sehun, as guild master, would have heard the report.
But it paled against an eyewitness account.
"I heard you asked the Association to convene this council... To get intel on the third layer? Ryu Sia."
"Such harsh words, Yeohae's master. Even if it was for third-layer info, is that so wrong? In times like these, we should unite and overcome the crisis together."
Ryu Sia's black eyes sharpened.
For high-level gates, there was an unwritten rule.
If a raid failed midway, or when the allotted time expired, guilds shared info with others.
Gates had become a money-making tool in modern society.
But at their core, they were anomalies that could collapse civilization at any moment.
Overflow was the prime example.
If it happened, casualties among civilians were inevitable, regardless of whether it could be quelled.
Hence the tacit agreement among guilds.
Yet Jang Sehun had never once honored it.
Yeohae rarely failed raids, true.
But even monkeys fall from trees—they hadn't won every battle.
Especially before the guild grew so massive.
Still, Jang Sehun never shared intel.
The reason was obvious.
"For whose benefit? And cut the high-and-mighty crap. Do you think hunting is some volunteer work?"
Petty pride.
And rivalry.
A mindset only for those who saw gates not as anomalies to conquer, but as cash cows and ego boosts.
'Same as ever.'
Even Choi Geonwoo, famed for his poker face.
Couldn't help frowning at Jang Sehun's pathetic display, witnessed firsthand after so long.
"No info sharing this time either, then?"
"Why ask the obvious? Besides, we have nothing to share even if we wanted to."
"What does that mean? More word games..."
"No games."
Jang Sehun shrugged dramatically like a stage actor.
Then glanced sidelong at Lee Gyumin beside him before adding,
"Some idiots rushed in and got wiped in under a minute. No real intel to speak of. Pathetic, right?"
His tone openly demeaned Lee Gyumin and the raid team.
But the guild masters here had no room to call him on it.
"Is that really true? I figured you were hiding info with another lie..."
"Why invent that when it'd tank Yeohae's reputation?"
"...Fair point. Self-sabotage is your pet peeve."
To Jang Sehun, Yeohae was his most valuable asset.
A businessman like him would never devalue his own product.
As the guild masters, led by Ryu Sia, nodded in agreement,
Jang Sehun smirked, tapping the table with his foot and flicking his gaze elsewhere.
"Anyway, that's that. Good luck to the next suckers. It's your turn, right? Yoon Eunjae."
"...Yes."
Kalligo.
A guild mostly composed of assassins and rogue-type hunters.
Its master, Yoon Eunjae, bit his lip hard.
They'd booked the next slot assuming Yeohae wouldn't fail.
Who knew it'd boomerang like this.
Part of him wanted to forfeit right here.
But public anxiety had spiked after Yeohae's retreat from the layered gate.
Backing out without even trying in this climate?
The backlash and outrage would be unavoidable.
At least Titan had cleared the second layer for a fig leaf.
Kalligo would just look like cowardly beasts.
Even guild members might revolt against such a choice.
"Scared? Quit now. Yeohae came back with their tails between their legs—who'd blame you?"
"......"
A natural-born businessman, Jang Sehun read Yoon Eunjae's inner turmoil and shook it openly.
Normally, Yoon Eunjae would've snapped back to shut up.
Not today.
Devil's whispers tempted him to hope someone else conquered the gate.
"Think about it, all of you. If mighty Yeohae failed, what chance do you have? Don't spout hot air like that woman over there. If you're scared, bail. Better than dying for real, right?"
Heh heh.
Despite Jang Sehun's sneers, the conference room remained deathly quiet.
Even Ryu Sia, who'd raised her voice moments ago, couldn't volunteer her guild.
"You still won't step up, even now? Jang Sehun."
All except one: Choi Geonwoo.
"You can't have forgotten. In emergencies, we unite all guilds' strength, even forfeiting raid priority."
A basic rule every top guild master knew by heart.
Even pressed with it, Jang Sehun remained nonchalant.
"After that mess? Lend us your strength? Shameless. The survivors, save Lee Gyumin, are holed up and won't come out."
"...I see."
True or not, he couldn't verify it.
With Jang Sehun digging in this hard, even Choi Geonwoo had to hold his tongue.
Yeohae had suffered the worst from the third-layer failure regardless.
"...Tricky. Is uniting all us guild masters the best we can do?"
"Even that's a stretch. If we all die, then what?"
Ryu Sia's hard-won solution crumbled under Choi Geonwoo's icy logic.
Yes.
That was the biggest reason no one dared volunteer.
If it were just their own life, fine.
But a raid meant steeling yourself to lose at least nine others besides.
Who would shoulder that burden lightly?
But they hadn't realized.
Put another way, it left room for someone unburdened by others.
Someone walking a solitary path to step forward.
Thud, thud!
- ...sir! ...meeting...!
A massive footfall shook the ground, accompanied by faint voices.
All eyes instinctively turned to the conference room entrance.
Then.
BAM!
The heavily secured door exploded inward.
And from beyond appeared a woman radiating mystique.
About 170cm tall.
Silver hair cascading to her waist.
Silver eyes matching it perfectly.
A beauty who could steal anyone's gaze at first sight.
But the guild masters gaped not just at her looks.
"Th-the Sword Empress...?!"
"Han Yuseol, why are you...?"
Sword Empress Han Yuseol.
Ranked second worldwide, the legendary hunter who'd soloed every gate she'd faced.
Not in casual clothes, but fully geared as if ready to dive into a gate.
She spoke without introduction.
No one here needed one anyway.
"I overheard the gist. I'll go."
Her curt, no-frills tone unchanged.
Yet those few words sent massive ripples.
The noisy room fell utterly silent.