The Secret Organization
A short while later, Maeng Seong-yong stepped into the space as well.
“Have a seat.”
“......”
Even at Maeng Seong-yong’s invitation, Lee Yeonhee couldn’t easily sit down. The reason was obvious: the right shoulder he had personally severed was now bubbling and slowly regenerating flesh.
Bubble, bubble—
I figured he’d naturally have a regeneration-type trait, but…
The speed of recovery was no joke. It’s not that different from the Chaos Residue… At this point, who’s the real monster here?
“Ahem—”
“Ah, s-sorry—”
Yeonhee, thinking she had been rude after his cough, quickly sat down.
“Does that friend of yours always stick by your side?”
“Yes…”
“Kwa ha ha hat! If I could, I’d want to keep a fun guy like that around me too.”
“......”
“…Hm, hm. No need to be so tense. It’s nothing too serious.”
If it’s nothing serious, there’d be no reason to bring us to a place like this.
It seemed Maeng Seong-yong was trying to ease Yeonhee’s tension by bringing me up, but she remained stiff, staring only at the floor. That was understandable. Anyone would freeze up if a two-meter-tall giant with a missing shoulder that was actively regenerating sat right in front of them.
Clack.
“Here’s some ice water.”
The quick-witted subordinate placed a glass of cold water in front of Yeonhee and promptly left the room again.
“Go ahead and drink. As you can see, I’m still recovering.”
“Y-yes.”
Can’t consume food while regenerating? That’s interesting.
It was a small detail, but information about another hunter’s trait mechanics was always worth remembering.
Gulp, gulp—
After Yeonhee downed the cold water in one go and caught her breath, Maeng Seong-yong slowly rotated his shoulder and began to speak.
“What I’m about to tell you requires an oath, so you must choose. Whether you want to hear it or not.”
“……Huh?”
He had just said it was nothing serious, and now he was suddenly talking about an oath? Did this man suffer from short-term memory loss or something?
In this atmosphere, who could possibly say no…
Without the slightest hesitation, Yeonhee nodded.
“I’ll listen.”
“Oh? Not even a moment’s thought? Is it because of Kang Yeonsu?”
No. It’s because of you.
“…Yes, that’s right.”
“You trust her that much? In the end, she’s just another hunter who moves for her own benefit.”
“…That applies to you too, Examiner…”
“Kuhuhu, fair enough. You’ve got more guts than you look.”
Maeng Seong-yong seemed to like that side of her. He raised an eyebrow slightly and held out the oath document.
“You must not speak of today’s conversation with me to anyone. I added a clause for Kang Yeonsu and a few other hunters last time, but this time there are no exceptions. You must carry this knowledge alone for the rest of your life.”
“Understood.”
A few others… So he’s raising more sprouts besides Yeonhee?
Suddenly, our party members and Cha Jin-hyeok came to mind.
Yeonhee stared at the oath document Maeng Seong-yong handed her for a moment, then infused it with mana and signed. Soon after, her name glowed and rose above the paper.
The bearer of this oath shall not disclose today’s conversation to any living being.
Violation will result in the immediate loss of all mana and permanent silencing of the tongue.
“Good. Then let’s begin.”
Gulp.
What could be so important?
Maeng Seong-yong interlaced his thick fingers and opened his mouth.
“Are you aware of the colossal entity from another world that seeks to invade this one?”
““?!””
The sudden heavy blow left us speechless for a moment. We could only stare at Maeng Seong-yong.
“That look says you already know. Then this will be easy.”
He shrugged and continued.
“Well, you were the ones who stopped those creatures in the Lizardman Swamp dungeon. There’s no way you wouldn’t know.”
“…I was under the impression that the Ilseom Guild stopped them.”
“Kwa ha ha hat—! No need to play dumb in front of me. That friend next to you is the same. You two seem to be full of secrets. But didn’t I sign an oath too? Anything we discuss here, I also cannot speak of to anyone else. The oath sworn to the God of Oaths is absolute.”
“......”
Yeonhee sent a signal through the invisible thread connecting us. I vibrated my mana three times to indicate it was fine to proceed.
“We know. The organization cloaked in shadow mantles. That they serve a colossal entity.”
“Kuhuhu. Exactly. Those damned bastards who worship the one called Blue Eye. We happened to have our astral bodies transferred to the site of one of their rituals and were able to observe their behavior. Of course, it wasn’t me—it was another hunter.”
“Ah…”
He must be talking about that place I was dragged into.
I recalled the time I had wiped out a group performing a ritual in a hidden underground chamber beneath the Flame Monkey dungeon, only to be transported to the place where their astral bodies gathered.
“They were placing hunter and monster corpses on an altar made of black steel wood, gathering the intangible energy obtained from them into one.”
“I see…”
“We believe that power is connected to the force that forcibly opened the gate in the Lizard dungeon.”
“…So it’s not simply an offering to the being called Blue Eye.”
“Well, it seems they have some discretion to use it for actions that align with their ultimate goal.”
That much is easy to infer. So what is their goal?
What he was saying now was merely testing the information we already possessed. Maeng Seong-yong adjusted his posture and continued.
“No need to drag this out. I’ll get to the point. We are currently conducting research to strike at their main base.”
“What?!”
Is he insane? For real? Is that even possible?
A few days ago, I had crossed over to another dimension’s channel and fought the Chaos Residue. I had guessed that place was a world dominated by Blue Eye or the Seven-Headed Dragon. Did that mean the Association could also use such passages? And even if they could, there was no guarantee they could defeat a being as monstrous as Blue Eye. Where did this confidence come from?
They may not be able to cross into our world, but in a world they already rule, they’d be able to wield far greater power…
To me, who had always thought finding a way to close the gates was the realistic approach, this was quite unexpected. For now, I decided to hear him out.
“Let me first explain the current situation. The Blue Eye organization. They are currently spreading gate seeds across the world. We estimate the number has already exceeded a thousand. In fact, the prevailing opinion is that it’s even higher than we suspect.”
“A thousand?! T-that many?”
“Of course, that’s only an estimate. It doesn’t seem like they can immediately connect to our world and bring monsters through.”
“......”
Yeonhee had already experienced the orc horde pouring out once, so she couldn’t help but be even more shocked.
This is actually good. It’s better for her to hear it from someone else.
Yeonhee knew I used to be human, but she didn’t know I was a regressor, which had limited how much I could reveal about the future. Thanks to Maeng Seong-yong, that burden was slightly lifted.
“Yes. They intend to completely destroy our world. But we cannot announce this fact to the public. Doing so would only accelerate the collapse.”
“That’s true… Thousands of those horrific gates…”
Yeonhee kept repeating the words as if she couldn’t believe it. In a way, it was only natural. The dungeon break in the Lizardman Swamp had been the most intense battle we had experienced so far.
“As for how we’ll open a path to their world, I can’t say for certain right now.”
It’s probably not that he can’t say it, but that they haven’t found the method yet.
And I had a feeling they hadn’t even drawn up a scenario for what would happen after they succeeded.
“However, we have a rough idea of what we need. And to obtain those things, we must grow stronger. There are several conditions, but the most important one is this: subjugating a Great Calamity.”
“A G-Great Calamity?! How could we possibly…”
“I know. So far, only two Great Calamities have ever been defeated. And even those were accomplished by the world’s earliest awakeners before the system restrictions applied. It may sound absurd. But we must accomplish it.”
“…Will someone like me really be of any help in subjugating a Great Calamity?”
Yeonhee asked with clear doubt in her voice. It was obvious that defeating a Great Calamity was a condition for opening a path to another world. But no matter how fast we were growing, there was still a long way to go before we could contribute meaningfully to such a battle.
……The reason he’s trying to recruit us… There must be another condition for opening the path.
Something like requiring a hunter with a Unique Class? Was that why he wanted to keep us close under the pretext of preparing for a monster subjugation?
Ugh… I don’t know. What is it? What could it be?
“Kuhuhu, I’m not saying we’re doing it right away. We need more time to prepare as well. And as for the Devouring Creeper, it suddenly went quiet around the middle of last week. That’s fortunate for us.”
“I see…”
Middle of last week… That would be right after we came out of the Dungeon of Nargul.
“Thanks to that, we’ve bought ourselves some time. You’ll be able to build up more strength in the meantime. With the talent to reach C-rank in just two months, who knows? You might even hit A-rank by then. Heh heh— A-rank in less than a year. I wonder who would believe that.”
“......”
“The exact date of execution will be announced later, but we will move within six months.”
“…Who else knows about this?”
When Yeonhee asked with a serious expression, Maeng Seong-yong stroked his chin for a moment before answering.
“Right now, only the Association President, the members of an as-yet-unnamed organization, and a few ultra-elites like Kang Yeonsu. In fact, among them, you and a few others are the only ones who aren’t S-rank. Even the guild leaders and key personnel of the Guild Council have been kept in the dark.”
“Why… why aren’t you telling them? If the strong ones put their heads together—”
“No… That’s not it… From what we’ve experienced so far, when stepping into unknown territory, too many captains only slows the ship down. From now on, we plan to proceed with the smallest possible number of elite members. Of course, when we subjugate the Great Calamity, we will seek help from other hunters. But that will be announced as an effort to stop the monster slowly moving south across our country.”
“Ah… I understand.”
My thoughts exactly. Besides, Jo Giman is part of the Guild Council. There’s no telling what kind of interference that bastard might cause. It’s a good decision.
What I was curious about, however, was how the Association had learned of this in the first place.
I don’t know everything that happened in my previous life, but something crucial seems to have changed.
I didn’t think simply accelerating the world’s clock could cause this much deviation.
After thinking for a moment, Yeonhee asked again.
“Then are you suggesting that instead of joining the White Knight Guild, we should join this organization?”
Maeng Seong-yong looked slightly puzzled by the word “we,” but he let out a hearty laugh and replied casually.