The Reason Revealed

And Team Leader Jeong’s words proved true.

With the appearance of monsters, Awakeners began banding together more aggressively in pursuit of profit, and the number of newly formed guilds only kept climbing. How much power one could amass now would decide how the spoils were divided later—so the guilds moved fast.

As a result, the number of Awakeners joining guilds swelled, and the scramble to expand influence grew even more frantic.

Yet the ones racing ahead in that scramble were not the ordinary guilds. Surprisingly, it was the organized crime syndicates.

Haewang-hoe, rooted in Busan. Sugwang-hoe, based across Gwangju, Jeju, and the Jeolla region. Gangil-hoe, entrenched in Daejeon and Chungcheong. Gangwon-hoe, a coalition of factions centered on Gangwon Province. And finally Joongang-hoe, consolidating its foundation across Seoul and the capital region.

At first the guilds formed by Awakeners themselves had looked more prominent.

But capital, as always, could not be ignored.

When Gangrim Guild and Jangseung Guild—the two largest in the country—clashed head-on and both suffered catastrophic losses, collapsing into internal chaos, the remaining guilds and Awakeners only deepened their mutual distrust.

Then the monsters appeared. Once people realized the gems harvested from those creatures held immense energy, Awakeners began moving again to expand their power. That was the moment the regional syndicates, with Joongang-hoe at their center, stepped forward and flaunted their strength through the Awakeners they had already gathered.

Those Awakeners did not simply join the crime organizations under their old names.

Joongang-hoe became Joongang Guild. Gangil-hoe became Gangil Guild. Haewang-hoe became Haewang Guild. Sugwang-hoe became Sugwang Guild. Gangwon-hoe became Gangwon Guild. Each syndicate raised a guild built around Awakeners.

It all happened at once.

It unfolded in a climate where, ever since Awakeners first appeared, the syndicates had been uncharacteristically quiet and visibly unsettled.

Social media exploded with speculation about how crime organizations could have organized Awakeners so quickly and unveiled full-fledged guilds in a single stroke.

The answer was simple.

Because The Absolute, Kang Jung-gil, was the heir of Joongang-hoe.

Kang Jung-gil had not been idle.

As Director of the National Safety Group he had been reading the shifting currents of power. Whenever the executive council of the regional organizations under Joongang-hoe convened, Jung-gil attended and took the lead.

Especially after he became Director of the National Safety Group and revealed his strength, Joongang-hoe wielded more power than it ever had before.

There he delivered a clear verdict: the times had changed, so the organization’s direction had to change as well. The executives all agreed.

From the moment Awakeners appeared, the syndicates themselves had been in crisis. Their influence was shrinking; they risked being pushed aside by the newly forming Awakener guilds. If they simply sat still, that outcome was almost certain.

Knowing this, Kang Jung-gil had planned exactly what was now unfolding—recruiting and organizing Awakeners region by region.

The work had not been difficult.

Jung-gil was not an Awakener himself, yet he already carried the title of The Absolute. Some Awakeners still opposed him, but with the National Safety Group’s Awakener ranks swollen to five hundred, plenty of others looked up to him.

Their arrival allowed the power base to expand at speed.

Of course they did not simply walk in. Jung-gil personally negotiated, or appeared in person to display his ability and force, bringing small guilds and individual Awakeners to their knees and folding them into the structure.

In truth most of them had wanted to see The Absolute’s power for themselves, so recruitment and consolidation went smoothly.

That was how Joongang Guild and the regional guilds under the other syndicates were born.

Centered on Joongang Guild, the four others were structured like branch guilds in a pyramid. And at the very top stood The Absolute, Kang Jung-gil.

Combined, the Awakeners belonging to these five guilds already numbered more than thirteen hundred.

Considering that Gangrim Guild—once the largest Awakener guild in the country—had only about a hundred and fifty members, the figure was staggering.

Yet for every action there is a reaction.

When the crime organizations that had stayed quiet ever since Awakeners first appeared suddenly raised guild banners and flaunted their strength, other Awakeners were thrown into panic and felt a sharp sense of crisis.

Small groups in every region began holding emergency meetings, and Awakener guilds started moving toward alliances or mergers.

Those efforts, however, rarely succeeded.

As everyone knew, the feud Seong-min had ignited between Gangrim Guild and Jangseung Guild ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had destroyed trust among Awakener guilds. Without that incident they might have consolidated quickly. Instead the deep distrust he had sown continued to poison every attempt at unity.

Knock-knock.

The door opened and a man in his late forties stepped inside. He bowed deeply, approached the desk, and offered a respectful greeting to the middle-aged man reclining in the office chair.

The older man regarded him with an indifferent face.

“Is it finished?”

“Yes, sir.”

“When did it end?”

“About an hour ago.”

“I see.”

“The young master requested a call.”

The middle-aged man gave a slight nod of permission. The subordinate turned, took out his phone, and dialed. A moment later he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turned back and respectfully handed the phone over.

The middle-aged man’s expression flickered with surprise. It was only natural. John Davis was one of the Awakeners who had built a major power base in the United States, helped the federal government restore order, and was already beginning to make a name for himself beyond America—on the world stage.

Not ordinary, then.

Having finished his stretches, Seong-min stepped onto the treadmill and thought of Joongang-hoe—no, Joongang Guild.

So he wasn’t just quietly running the National Safety Group after all.

Seong-min had been curious. Lately Kang Jung-gil had stayed out of the spotlight and kept a low profile. The National Safety Group itself still moved at the front lines even after the monsters appeared, demonstrating its strength—five hundred Awakeners under a single organization was no small force. Yet its director, Kang Jung-gil, had rarely appeared in public. People said nothing serious enough to require ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his personal intervention had occurred.

Seong-min had wondered whether that was really all there was to it.

Now the reason was clear.

Once he stepped into the open, there was no way that man would just sit on his hands. He took the capital and manpower of the organizations he stands to inherit, added his own influence, and quietly built and organized a power base.

Others might have been shocked. Seong-min was not. He had fully expected Jung-gil to move exactly this way.

This puts the other Awakeners in a real bind.

He had heard how the collapse of Gangrim Guild and Jangseung Guild had shattered trust between guilds, and he had thought the appearance of the monsters might change the situation again. Instead Joongang Guild had risen under Joongang-hoe, and the regional syndicate guilds along with it. Combined membership already exceeded thirteen hundred—a figure the media was buzzing about.

People had assumed the age of the syndicates was ending and the age of Awakeners beginning, that the entertainment-district rackets would shift hands. That assumption no longer held.

I have to keep growing stronger too.

While watching how the outside world moved, Seong-min continued accumulating experience and leveling up, steadily increasing his power. Nothing was more foolish than coasting simply because no direct harm had reached him yet.

Only leveling up could protect him and the people around him.