Chapter 220
Chapter 220: Ho-ae and Seok-gyeong (1)
The interviews were over.
Of the two hundred and fifteen applicants, twenty had been selected and the rest sent away.
All that remained in the Training Grounds was dust and silence.
The sun had already begun to sink, and the evening glow hanging from the eaves was cooling rapidly.
Dong Bong-soo stood in the middle of the empty Training Grounds and looked down at the Guild Quest window floating before his eyes.
․ Solidifying the Guild's Foundation: Raise the average combat level of Guild Members to a certain standard.
├─ Progress: 0%
└─ Reward: Guild Member Cap +10, Guild EXP +100
․ First Resonance of a Martial Name: Resolve a crisis outside Gangdo in the name of Hero Gate.
├─ Progress: 0% └─ Reward: Guild Member Cap +15, Fame +10, Guild EXP +200
Looking purely at the numbers, the expected value of the second option was overwhelming.
But.
'To go outside, and to go the distance, I need to build a hand first.'
The twenty selected today.
They weren't chosen because they were strong. They were chosen because they believed. The 『Faith Weight』 he had deployed today proved as much. They were a resource that believed in him—not combat strength to be sent to a battlefield.
'Not yet.'
There was still no word at all from Dong Mu-toe.
With no knowledge of what decision Formation Tower had made, it was the height of inefficiency for the Guild Master to leave Gangdo.
For now.
'Solidify the inside, then go outside.'
When his finger clicked the upper option, the familiar mechanical sound rang out.
Immediately.
The second option scattered like paper burning to ash, and the first option flipped around to its reverse side like a signboard turning over, replacing itself with new text.
【Solidifying the Guild's Foundation】
―Accepted : Raise the average combat level of Guild Members to 'Upper Beginner' or above.
├─ Current Average: Lower Beginner
├─ Target: Upper Beginner
├─ Progress: 12%
├─ Time Limit: 7 days
└─ Reward: Guild Member Cap +10, Guild EXP +100
12%.
That means there's already a portion that's been reflected.
It reflects the level of Jeon Ra-hwa and the ten children. In the end, it must be determined by the average across thirty members.
Dong Bong-soo quickly ran through an arithmetic assessment of the levels of Jeon Ra-hwa and the children, as well as the newly selected members.
He weighed the standards of this Martial World against their levels.
Talent and levels that were nowhere near enough to forge an elite in a single week.
Yet there were clearly parts where it was possible.
'What the system wants is precisely a level at which survival is possible.'
The line where one can keep their own body alive. It was enough to just cross that line.
He could have closed the Quest UI with that, but Dong Bong-soo stood still for a moment and waited.
And before long.
Boom—
The sound he'd been expecting rang out once more inside his head.
[Emergency! The Guild is over capacity. If the guild is not expanded within one week, all guild functions will be suspended!]
"……"
The corners of Dong Bong-soo's mouth twitched faintly.
'As expected.'
He remembered.
This warning had appeared the moment the Guild had exceeded its member count by even one.
At that time, he had resolved it through facility expansion.
―The system absolutely does not overlook member overflow.
Yet it consistently offers a chance. That was the greatest difference between 'Murim Online' and 'What is Hero.'
Having finished confirming whether this was an exception or a rule, he finally closed the Guild Quest window.
In the meantime, the evening glow beyond the Training Grounds had completely faded.
Lanterns hung here and there began lighting up one by one.
Dong Bong-soo closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, an appropriate warmth had returned to the surface of his face.
He turned his head.
There she was, walking toward him with the registry in her arms.
"Good work."
"Yes, good work indeed. And—"
Jeon Ra-hwa took the registry from her arms and held it out.
"While I was at it, I already drew up the formation plan for the twenty as well."
"Formation plan? What's that?"
"Wow! You went and did all this without even thinking about that?"
"No, well. I made something called a sect, and if there was something like a Founding Ceremony, naturally there'd have to be people called disciples too."
"Then what about thinking through how to deploy those people, how to make use of them, how to make sure they're eating properly—that kind of thing?"
"Hm. Didn't."
"……You didn't, or you couldn't?"
"More like the didn't side."
Kim Rae-won gave an unbothered smile.
"You're here, after all."
"……What if I weren't?"
"Can't have that."
"In this Martial World…… who could guarantee such a thing about the future? At any time, in any way……"
"No."
Kim Rae-won cut through her words with a tone that held not a single waver, not a shred of hesitation, not the slightest faltering.
"You're my signpost. That's something no one can touch or destroy."
"……"
"You are me. As long as I don't die."
"……"
Whoooosh—
Jeon Ra-hwa did not open her mouth until a slightly chilled night breeze broke the silence. For some reason, her heart was beating irregularly, leaning slightly faster than usual.
"……Aren't you embarrassed?"
"By what?"
"Never mind. Forget it. If you don't know……"
Having swiftly recovered her usual composure, Jeon Ra-hwa put on a prim expression.
"Anyway, I organized everything the moment the interviews ended, so at least look at it."
Dong Bong-soo took the registry and flipped through it page by page.
Group classification. Rough assessment of basic martial arts levels. Lodging assignment plan.
She had certainly finished almost everything one step ahead without even being told.
'As expected.'
"Well done."
"That's all the praise I get? Really?"
"What more do you want me to do?"
"Hmm…… Ah, whatever, forget it."
Jeon Ra-hwa lightly ran her hand through her own hair and picked up one sheet from atop the registry. It was the summary of the formation plan.
"Anyway, the real problem is—"
"What?"
"Most of these people have martial arts that amount to nothing more than third-rate level. That's at least ten people. The rest barely reach second-rate, if that."
"I know."
"The only thing I can teach is the Snow Snow Yin Cold Art. That doesn't suit these people, and it's not a martial art I could teach them in the first place."
"I know."
"Wow! Look at this person! You have no plan again, do you?"
"No."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean what?"
What Kim Rae-won needs to do is far too clear. The same goes for him as Dong Bong-soo.
"I'll do it myself."
Jeon Ra-hwa stopped the hand that had been flipping through the registry.
"You? Personally?"
"Yeah. Personally."
"……You do know what 'personally' means here, right?"
"What's so hard about it? For now, I'm going to make sure they don't die."
"……"
"Making them strong comes after that."
Jeon Ra-hwa's expression of utter disbelief was growing more and more spectacular by the moment, but Kim Rae-won paid it no mind.
"Basic internal energy, basic footwork, basic weapons techniques. How to survive—I'll teach that first."
"How long will it take to teach that much?"
"7 days."
"7 days……?"
"Yeah. Once I've taught it all, they'll have to go through actual combat too."
"……No, if it were that easy, why didn't you just recruit them from the start?"
Jeon Ra-hwa's eyes swept across Kim Rae-won's face. Whether she was trying to read something, or confirming something she was already reading.
"Oh, I see. You should have told me in advance."
"Ha. Ha. Ha. That was funny. Really funny."
"After all, you're the only one who laughs at my jokes. The kids all run away."
"……I'm going to run away too. From next time."
"……"
"Anyway, if you say you can do it, then I suppose it can be done. Right?"
"Yeah. It can."
"Yes, it can. Of course it can."
Jeon Ra-hwa flipped through the registry again, the corner of her mouth curling upward. A smile of uncertain kind—whether she meant to hide it or show it.
"Then what about me?"
"What you need to do is what you've been doing. Formation, schedule, supplies, lodging. All administration goes to you."
"That was already my share to begin with."
"So that means you've been doing well."
"Oh, yes. I'm so grateful. So grateful I've been sleeping like an absolute log lately. Ha. Ha."
Then, after a brief hesitation, Jeon Ra-hwa swallowed the end of whatever she'd been about to say next. The hand that had been rising toward her neck hesitated in midair, then came back down.
It was the spot where the jade token was no longer.
But Dong Bong-soo already knew everything.
The circulation of the Snow Snow Yin Cold Art had already grown rougher than before. The flow of energy stripped of its smoothness. The difference between when the jade token was there and when it wasn't was already perceptible.
Even so, he gave a light smirk and said.
"Don't worry. Even without that, you're already more than skilled enough."
"……Skilled, you say. What do you mean, someone like me."
"Well. You'd do well to refrain from saying 'someone like me.'"
"……"
"Because when you actually go out into the Martial World, you'll realize there are thousands, even tens of thousands, below you. After that, are you really going to lump all those people together and call them 'someone like' that?"
Jeon Ra-hwa wore an expression that was the exact physical embodiment of 'Oh come on, really?'
Dong Bong-soo gave her arm a light tap and laughed.
"Trust me, a little. Anyway, one more thing to ask."
"One more thing, you say. Why not just give me a hundred more things while you're at it? A thousand works too."
"Forget it. For now, just bring Ho-ae."
"What? Ho-ae?"
"Yeah. There's something I need to check."
Jeon Ra-hwa tilted her head, but soon nodded and moved her steps toward the children's lodgings.
***
"You called for me?"
Dong Bong-soo looked at Ho-ae and asked.
"Lately you've been the one managing the children's training, haven't you?"
"Yes. More or less."
'More or less' was actually almost entirely, and Dong Bong-soo knew that well.
Every time he checked the individual status of guild members in the system UI, the children's training patterns had been consistent. It meant someone was managing them, and after Jeon Ra-hwa had begun to be buried in administration, there was no one but Ho-ae.
"When the ten of you move together and the formation breaks, what do you do?"
An out-of-the-blue question.
Ho-ae thought for a moment.
"Hmm…… instead of fixing the front from the back, I go to the front myself."
"Why?"
"Because if I shout from the back, the kids at the front turn around to look. That slows things down even more. If I stop from the front, the back naturally stops following."
"……"
An answer that the child could not possibly have learned from a textbook—the kind that only comes out of practical experience.
"Then what if one of the ten gets injured?"
"……It depends on where they're injured."
"Where is the most dangerous?"
"The legs."
"Why?"
"If a hand is injured you can't fight but you can still run. If a leg is injured you can't do anything."
"Say you fought against enemies, and one of your younger siblings had their leg injured by them—what should you do?"
"It's unfortunate for the injured one, but…… for the sake of the remaining children, you'd have to leave that one behind and go."
"Why?"
"Because it's better for nine to survive than for all of them to die. Depending on the circumstances…… I might even have to kill that child preemptively, for their sake……"
Dong Bong-soo heard the answer and smiled faintly.
Not a shred of hesitation.
Environmental influence may play a part, but this is clearly different. This child was born with it.
Like me……