The Private Meeting
On average, anywhere from five to ten Monster Holes appeared each month. That frequency had given rise to the phrase "dungeon hunting," and a single run through a Monster Hole was enough to walk away with a considerable sum.
A single thirty-millimeter Crystal Energy Ore sold for ten million won. Even a common Goblin Settlement Monster Hole could drop anywhere from one billion to well over three billion won in a single clear. Of course, no one got to keep that money entirely to themselves. Under the National Safety Group's oversight, three guilds were randomly selected from those that had applied, and they ran the Hole together.
The proceeds from the Crystal Energy harvested off the slain monsters were then split n-ways — not among individual people, but among the guilds. Say the haul came to one billion: the National Safety Group took four hundred million, and each guild received two hundred million. At two billion, each guild's cut rose to four hundred million; at three billion, six hundred million.
That imbalance existed because the National Safety Group was a government agency while the guilds were private organizations.
Even so, no one complained. A standard Goblin Settlement run still netted each guild a minimum of three hundred million in profit. On top of that, the National Safety Group paid every participant a one-million-won allowance — fifty people meant fifty million more. All told, a guild could expect to clear three hundred fifty million or better.
Under those conditions, every guild in the country wanted into a Monster Hole. With five to ten of them opening every month, the scramble only grew more intense.
Then the dispute erupted.
Its flashpoint was none other than Cheonseong Guild.
Park Chang-jun and the rest of Cheonseong's leadership held a press conference and, in full view of the nation, raised the issue of fairness against the National Safety Group.
Their example was the United States. There, they argued, the guilds with jurisdiction over a given region held priority rights to any Monster Hole that opened within it — but Korea operated differently.
Every Monster Hole in the country was under the National Safety Group's absolute control. Three guild teams were selected to enter, yes — but the National Safety Group itself made those selections. How, Cheonseong asked, could anyone call that process fair?
The announcement sent the entire nation into an uproar.
Who, after all, would dare raise that kind of challenge against the National Safety Group?
Awakeners and ordinary citizens alike were stunned.
At the same time, Awakeners across the country cheered Cheonseong on. The idea that the National Safety Group should monopolize Monster Holes outright was, they felt, simply unacceptable.
And Cheonseong had the confidence to make the challenge in the first place.
What had begun as a Seoul-centered power had grown into a nationwide guild, planting branch offices in every province and drawing mid- and small-scale guilds into its orbit. The number of those affiliates had climbed past thirty — fully ten percent of all officially registered guilds in the country, which numbered a little over three hundred.
Thirty guilds united under Cheonseong's banner. That was no small force.
Cheonseong had taken to calling those subordinate guilds Line Guilds.
Line Guilds — guilds that formed a ring, a line of affiliation, with Cheonseong at the center.
Officially, Cheonseong had begun referring to every guild inside its sphere as a Line Guild.
Most observers read the press conference as a flex — a public display of the influence and following Cheonseong had built.
And one more figure rose into the spotlight: Cheonseong Guild's master, Executive Director Im Seong-woo.
Im Seong-woo was the eldest son and heir of Im Jang-han, chairman of the Cheonseong Group. He was also the guild master of Cheonseong Guild. The Cheonseong Group ranked among Korea's top ten conglomerates, and its prestige had been climbing of late — with Executive Director Im Seong-woo of Cheonseong Guild widely credited as the reason.
Rumors of his formidable skill as an Awakener only added to the picture. More than a few people concluded that Cheonseong's entire expansion had been a calculated campaign from the start.
Which left one question on everyone's lips.
How would Kang Jung-gil, Director of the National Safety Group, respond?
What move would he make in the face of Cheonseong's declaration? That became the question of the hour.
And not long after, the National Safety Group's answer arrived.
The statement's core was simple: Director Kang Jung-gil wished to speak with Guild Master Im Seong-woo about the matter at the earliest opportunity.
Commentators immediately framed it as a bid to settle everything in a private meeting — a one-on-one showdown.
After all, Cheonseong Guild was effectively a subsidiary spun out of the Cheonseong Group. Even the National Safety Group could not simply steamroll an organization of that size, backed by that many affiliates and the full weight of a major conglomerate. The prevailing view was that Kang was choosing dialogue because he had no other choice.
Then Friday arrived.
Crowds of reporters, cameras, and onlookers packed the street as a luxury sedan rolled to a stop.
The man in the passenger seat stepped out and opened the rear door.
A handsome figure in a tailored suit emerged.
Camera flashes erupted in a storm of light, every lens locking onto him.
The man who met that barrage with calm indifference was none other than Executive Director Im Seong-woo.
Reporters thronged on every side. It felt as though the entire nation's attention had funneled into this single spot.
Im Seong-woo took a slow look around.
Then he opened his mouth, his voice steady and composed.
"To the citizens and people of this nation. Today I step into a meeting of great consequence. More than a year has already passed since Awakeners first appeared and monsters began threatening our world. In that time, the globe has undergone profound change. The age of chaos was brought to heel by the rise of exceptional Awakeners, and a measure of stability returned. Those Awakeners, in turn, became the figures who represent their nations."
His voice was calm, unshaken.
He was the guild master of Cheonseong Guild and the heir to the Cheonseong Group, one of the country's ten great conglomerates. Cheonseong Guild itself had become one of the premier Awakener guilds in Korea.
One major power bloc had already taken shape around the Jungang Guild, which had spun out of the Joongang-hoe after it unified the domestic underworld. The guilds that had joined its alliance — now also called Line Guilds — included the Haewang Guild, which held Busan and Gyeongsang Province; the Sugwang Guild, which controlled Gwangju, Jeju, and Jeolla; the Gangil Guild, which dominated Daejeon and Chungcheong; and the Gangwon Guild, which held Gangwon Province.
Every one of them had grown out of regional criminal organizations. They were commonly known as the Gangster Line Guilds. Any Awakener with ties to the underworld ended up under their banner.
Arrayed against them was the force centered on Cheonseong Guild, with Im Seong-woo as its master — a network of branch offices nationwide and thirty affiliated guilds inside its fence. That bloc was called the Cheonseong Line.
The only other camp worth naming was the so-called neutrals: guilds that belonged to neither side. "Neutral" was a polite word. In practice they had woven their own networks into something very much like a third alliance — because without one, they would have been crushed by either the Jungang Guild's Gangster Line or Cheonseong's Cheonseong Line.
In short, Korea's guilds had effectively sorted themselves into three camps. And today, the National Safety Group — still commanded by Kang Jung-gil, the living legend who had unified the nation's underworld — was about to sit down with Guild Master Im Seong-woo of Cheonseong Guild over the rights to Monster Holes. Of course every eye in the country was fixed on the meeting.
Kang Jung-gil might hold the title of National Safety Group Director, but he was also, in effect, the master of the Gangster Line Guilds — the Awakeners tied to the underworld organizations clustered around the Jungang Guild.
This private meeting was a pivotal encounter that could upend the entire order the National Safety Group had imposed on the country.
That was why so many news outlets and social-media influencers had come to film Chairman Im Seong-woo. Live television broadcasts and real-time social streams alike were drawing massive audiences.
"In the United States, and across the nations of Europe, the rights to Monster Holes have been restructured around Awakeners. And it is not only America and Europe. Even in China, where the government's power under a socialist system is immense, Awakeners wield enormous influence. Japan is following the American model. And so… I believe that we, the Republic of Korea, must also move beyond a National Safety Group led by the government. We Awakeners must take the center, and build the capacity to defend ourselves, freely and independently, against Monster Holes and the threat of monsters. That is all."
Camera shutters exploded from every direction.
Im Seong-woo offered a brief bow, then turned with quiet confidence and followed his aides toward the main entrance of the National Safety Group building.
And someone was watching that entire scene from a window, calm and unhurried.
One hand in his pocket, a cigarette between his fingers, he looked down at Im Seong-woo as the man strode toward the building with his back to the press — walking as if he owned the ground beneath him.