A Handshake with the Phoenix
Creak—
The moment I opened the door, brilliant sunlight poured down. I shaded my eyes with one hand and headed downstairs, where the boss’s car came into view.
“How have you been, sir?”
“Swinging a hammer all day, that’s about it.”
“I hope I didn’t interrupt your focus. My apologies.”
“Thanks to you, boss, I get a little photosynthesis. Not bad at all.”
I threw my arms wide in an exaggerated stretch and let the sunlight hit me full-on.
Ugh.
Hot.
I suddenly wanted nothing more than to crawl back into the silent, cozy comfort of the Death Blacksmith.
“Thank you for taking on this difficult request.”
“The Phoenix Guild, right?”
“Yes. Truth be told, they’ve been asking to meet Hunter Park since last time.”
The Phoenix Guild, huh.
Back when I’d been hunting for a C-class gate and just picked somewhere at random, it had turned out to be a site they’d opened up from their exclusive rights—so our paths had crossed. A wave-type gate where packs of raptors attacked on a fixed schedule, if I remembered right.
The thrill of batting aside a mutant raptor’s claws with a sword…
“There shall be no such incidents again.”
Dame Isra.
Don’t say stuff like that with a straight face.
“Worry not! This maiden shall protect her Lord with her life!”
Ah.
I’d like a little real combat experience myself, you know. What am I even learning the sword for, otherwise?
“Do the undead not take after their Lord’s movements?”
“The knight order kids inherit your techniques, don’t they?”
“Tigris and the Armed Zombie Strengthened Soldiers lie outside that influence.”
Damn it.
The fact landed with such weight that I had nothing left to say.
“The Imperial Sword Style contains the essence of every higher martial art. Knowing how to wield it will aid thee in battle, one way or another.”
One remark, and I’d been diced into nanometer-thick slices.
Urgh.
Fact assault, cease fire!
I needed a subject change if I wanted to survive. I racked my brains and finally landed on something else.
“So it wasn’t just one or two calls from the Phoenix Guild?”
“After you closed the Primal Tide Gate, they proposed a meeting at least three times.”
“Yikes. After we blew them off that hard, is it even okay to meet them now?”
“It wasn’t deliberate refusal.”
Apparently, every time Phoenix reached out, something like the Chinese hunter attack would blow up right after, making it impossible to schedule. Once they’d even gotten bumped for a prior commitment with Executive Director Sophia.
“Bad luck, then.”
“Normally, if things fail to line up this many times, they stop calling.”
President Baek clicked his tongue, looking just as troubled as I felt.
One of the domestic Top Five getting their meeting proposals rejected three times? The normal response would be wounded pride and every kind of obstruction they could throw at you. Look at Mir Guild—one rejection and they’d started picking fights over gate auction bids.
“This time, the Phoenix Guild Master herself is coming.”
“That’s… harder to turn down.”
“They’re coming in low, so I think meeting them would be worthwhile.”
Phoenix, huh.
I was already on bad terms with Mir. They’d started it, so I had no intention of backing down—but there was no need to make enemies of the other domestic Top Five as well.
“I’ll take you to the meeting place.”
So that was why the boss had come himself today instead of one of the knights—the meeting.
“I appreciate it.”
The meeting place was a café not far from my studio apartment. A sign reading CLOSED hung on the door, and yet—
“Please go right in.”
President Baek opened the door without the slightest hesitation.
Did you rent out the whole place again?
“This wasn’t my doing.”
It reminded me of the first time I’d met President Baek. Though, compared to Executive Director Sophia booking out an entire large café in the suburbs, the scale here was modest.
Inside, a woman with red hair was waiting for me.
“I’m Yang Seoyeon of the Phoenix Guild. Nice to meet you.”
“Park Minho.”
Guild Master Yang Seoyeon thrust out her hand in a big, open gesture. The frankness of it pulled my eyes, and I took her hand almost without thinking.
“Mind if I talk casually?”
“Go ahead.”
“Hell yeah. Thanks, kid!”
Kid?
She’s moving kind of fast, isn’t she?
“My people owed you, and I never got to thank you properly.”
“Please, don’t mention it. I’m just glad nothing went wrong.”
“Honestly, half of why I’m here is to say thanks. The other half is something else.”
A fair amount of time had passed since the Primal Tide Gate raid. I’d figured she wouldn’t call me out just over an incident from months ago.
“You’re going to turn down a guild recruitment pitch, right?”
“I already have an agency.”
“Director Baek is pretty sharp, I’ll give him that. We wanted to send him a love call ourselves, but he said he was going independent. Shame.”
“Didn’t he get fired for not doing his job?”
“Look at you, being modest.”
I snuck a glance—President Baek didn’t look offended.
Whew.
“Guild Master Yang and I go back. She’ll laugh off a mischievous joke, so don’t worry.”
“Mischievous? I was dead serious, President Baek.”
The two of them were close enough to trade banter. Somehow that made me feel a little more at ease.
“Kid. You’re with Seungcheon Agency right now, yeah?”
“Yes. And?”
“Seungcheon Agency is partnered with GGG and handles their East Asian channels.”
President Baek nodded.
“That’s correct.”
“Man. We had a meeting with you too. Looking back, the goal was this side all along, wasn’t it?”
My conscience twinged for no good reason. Executive Director Sophia had said as much—that meeting with the domestic Top Five was partly to camouflage the real purpose of looking me over.
“Ha, hahaha.”
“I’ll be straight with you. Your potential’s too big for our guild to handle anyway.”
Guild Master Yang Seoyeon slid a document across.
“I’m proposing a partner MOU with Seungcheon Agency.”
“What’s an MOU?”
“A memorandum of understanding. A contract whose performance isn’t legally binding.”
A contract with no binding force? I couldn’t see the point.
President Baek gave a crooked little smile.
“It’s about trust.”
“Think of it as agreeing to help each other when we need it.”
“I’ll review the contract.”
President Baek skimmed through the partnership MOU.
“It’s an agreement between our agency and the Phoenix Guild to assist each other when either side needs strength.”
“No enforcement clause, you said?”
“Correct. Instead, there’s a provision that any aid rendered will be met with appropriate compensation.”
Grand wording aside, it was basically a contract to treat each other like mercenaries on call.
After hearing President Baek’s explanation, one question still nagged at me.
“Would the Phoenix Guild even need to ask for help?”
They were one of the domestic Top Five. Guild Master Yang Seoyeon was an S+-class hunter, and her vice guild master was S-class too. If a situation came up where they needed outside help, wouldn’t that be the real problem? I didn’t think I could handle something like that.
“Could we even get into the Primal Tide back then?”
“Ah. Cases like that, yeah.”
“It also means you can call on us whenever you need our strength, kid.”
Guild Master Yang Seoyeon flicked a glance past my shoulder.
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, though.”
Her eyes went to Dame Isra and Ingrid. She’d gotten a decent read on both of my retainers’ abilities, it seemed. S-class hunters really were different. Sir Gerard and Old Man Alphonse had clocked them just as fast. I guess the strong recognize their own.
I shot President Baek a sideways look.
Help me, Baek-raemon!
“There’s no compulsory performance clause, so you lose nothing by signing.”
The boss repeated the point he’d just made, driving it home.
Ah.
So that was it. I finally understood what he was stressing.
“What the hell. Let’s do it, then.”
I cheerfully picked up the pen and scrawled my signature across the blank line. After meeting the fan club recently, I’d gotten pretty used to this.
“Bold, kid.”
“It’s an honor to enter a cooperative relationship.”
“Likewise. Future SS-class. Looking forward to working with you.”
We shook hands one more time.
Even after Minho left, Yang Seoyeon stayed in her seat, sipping her coffee.
Jingle—
The door opened with the chime of a bell, and a giant of a man nearly a hundred ninety centimeters tall came straight toward her.
“How was he?”
“He’s got something. At least high quasi-S, I’d say.”
Dame Isra and Ingrid. The pressure rolling off those two retainers was no joke. They fell a step short of the Twelve Heroes, so she couldn’t pin them down precisely—but Yang Seoyeon’s instincts had registered, without a doubt, that Minho’s subordinates were special.
“He’s definitely someone who’ll rack up S-ranks back to back.”
“You rate Park Minho highly.”
“Our vice guild master. Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
Jo Yeonghwan, vice guild master of Phoenix. The guild’s second S-class hunter snorted as if the idea were absurd.
“If I were, I’d have opposed the MOU.”
“Joke. It’s a joke.”
The two of them had been together since the guild’s founding—closer than colleagues. People who could joke without restraint and bare what they actually thought.
Yang Seoyeon leaned back into her chair and spread her legs wide.
“Formality really doesn’t suit me.”
“Don’t do that in front of our people.”
“There’s only two of us.”
“There’s staff out in the hall.”
“It’s fine. Blind spot. Blind spot.”
Jo Yeonghwan gave up arguing and sat down across from her.
“So. Did the talk go well?”
“Got the stamp. Heh heh.”
“Good that he took the goodwill without making a fuss.”
A cooperation MOU. From Phoenix Guild’s perspective, it wasn’t urgent enough that they absolutely had to push it through. It wasn’t even the kind of matter that required the guild master to show up in person. Yang Seoyeon’s presence had been a show of sincerity, nothing more.
“I think he caught on.”
“The intent to get a foot in the door was pretty obvious.”
“He’s got Director Baek Seonghyeon right next to him.”
A non-awakened who’d climbed all the way to a director’s seat in one of the domestic Top Five—a living legend. Baek Seonghyeon’s skill at getting things done was something the other Top Five coveted. In fact, the moment he’d submitted his resignation over the Jung Shinho defection mess, Phoenix had shot him an email. With an operator like that backing Minho up, nothing was going to come easy.
“Anyway, we’ve got a foot in the door. Drink up.”
Jo Yeonghwan downed his iced tea in one go, looking unimpressed.
“Someone who’s going to shake up the domestic hunter industry.”
“Instead of getting swept away, we chose to ride the wind with him.”
“If the guild master rates him that high, it must be right. I trust you.”
A connection that had started with the Primal Tide. Through this meeting, Yang Seoyeon felt even more certain she needed to buy more Minho coin.
Looks like he’s heading for a showdown with Mir Guild. We can help him then, right?
In the upheaval to come, which guild would come out ahead? At the very least, Phoenix would profit rather than lose. Who ended up crying about it—well, they’d find out by watching.
Yang Seoyeon threw her head back and laughed loud and hard.
“Dignity.”
“Ah, come on, don’t be so stiff.”
Vice Guild Master Jo Yeonghwan let out a short sigh.