Worship, or Jealousy (5)
May 11th.
2:20 a.m.
We left the massive warehouse sitting on the boundary of the Sanctuary and climbed into a large van bound for Yeouido.
The engine rumbled to life.
"Zzz… snrk…"
"Mmmnyaah…"
"…Right there, touch me more right theeere…"
Talk about talking in your sleep. Inside the speeding van, five women sank deep into their dreams, sprawled out without a care in the world.
They'd spent half the night out under a sunless sky working up a serious sweat, so the moment they sat down they were out cold. Even with five of them piled into the back, the van's rear seats still had room to spare.
Only two people in the entire vehicle were still awake. Naturally, that was Kim Seyeon and me, up in the driver's and passenger seats.
"Those survivors will be all right, won't they?"
"We sealed the entrance, the exit, and the roof. As long as they don't try to walk out on their own, there shouldn't be a problem… Let's just believe that for now. We don't have much choice. I only hope they don't do anything sudden."
"Heh. Human impulsiveness is exactly the kind of thing that makes you anxious when you can't see it coming."
One fact remained unchanged: I was still the only person who could freely cross the boundary between the Sanctuary and everywhere else. For everyone else, experiments had confirmed a hard one-hour time limit. And that limit didn't reset every time they came back inside the boundary — the timer simply paused at whatever point they'd spent, then resumed counting down the next time they stepped out.
In other words, people living inside the Sanctuary had a total of one hour they could spend outside it. At least until June 1st.
We've put up the strongest barricades we could manage, so please try to get some rest tonight. If you're still uneasy, posting a night watch is perfectly fine. Just remember that the space leading into the Sanctuary is safe.
Thank you. Um…
Yes? Go ahead.
We're truly grateful for everything you've done. I'd really like to repay the debt somehow…
Even if you want to repay us, it's impossible as long as you can't enter the territory where we stay. Just wait a little longer. We'll do everything we can to find a solution. See you tomorrow.
…Thank you again.
Their leader, Juni, had bowed her head with perfect courtesy and offered me her respects. But the true feelings hidden behind that polite exterior were… difficult to call kindhearted.
Because when she said she wanted to "repay the debt," it inevitably carried an additional request: Let us come and go from the Sanctuary the way you do. It was an indirect expression of the desire she and her companions were nursing.
Not that I failed to understand the feeling. If anything, I considered it a major benefit to the territory to take in people who were not only striking in appearance but also possessed excellent class compositions.
Unfortunately, the reality was that we were in no position to grant Juni and her companions the wish they held so dearly.
Anyone who wanted to enter the Sanctuary had to belong to the Sanctuary.
And belonging to the Sanctuary meant being a resident of my territory, or a guild member of one of my territory's guilds.
In short, the only way those people would have any chance of entering the Sanctuary was if I accepted them as residents of my domain… or if they were taken in as guild members by one of the two guild leaders — Jung Yun or Jung Miju.
Holding that plan in mind, I returned to the territory and got some sleep.
Then, still on May 11th — 8:50 in the morning.
"I regret to inform Your Lordship that it is impossible."
"Mmm…"
I had explained the plan to the friendly NPC and received a negative answer.
The first method — accepting them as residents — had been rejected on the spot.
The one who managed the finer details of the territory system granted to me was none other than my steward. In particular, the person — or rather, the NPC — who handled the final registration of residents was the steward himself.
You could fill out every form and sit through every interview you wanted; if the steward ultimately refused to register them as residents, none of it meant a thing.
And the steward had declared it to my face, without the slightest ambiguity: accepting survivors from outside the Sanctuary as residents was impossible.
"I'm not entirely sure how best to explain this… Ah. Lord Jeong Hoon, when you previously attempted to bring someone from outside the Sanctuary inside, what happened?"
"Well, they ran into a kind of… barrier. Couldn't get through."
I remembered the warehouse — how the people outside the Sanctuary and those inside had been forcibly separated and distinguished from each other, as if an invisible barrier had been thrown up between them. The only person who could move freely through that divide had been me.
"I see. The access privileges granted to me apply most directly to residents who exist within the Sanctuary — and more specifically, within Your Lordship's territory. Should Your Lordship issue a command, I can assign any resident a particular office or order their expulsion. However, for those who exist outside the Sanctuary, or who are inside it but have not become residents, my authority is restricted. Lord Jeong Hoon — do you recall my reaction when you first established your territory?"
"Ah. Back then…"
When Kim Seyeon or Han Sora had tried to ask him something, he had ignored them completely. Only after I told him to listen carefully to the two of them did he finally start conversing.
"I am a form of artificial lifeform whose purpose is to assist in the administration of the territory Your Lordship rules. As such, a great many of my behavioral patterns must rely upon Your Lordship. In other words, interactions you have not authorized are impossible for me. At present, Your Lordship has granted me a wide range of permissions, so there is little difficulty. But in an environment outside the Sanctuary — where neither your rule nor your influence holds sway — it simply cannot be done."
Thanks to the steward's thorough explanation, I understood with painful clarity that the first method was off the table until at least June arrived.
That left only the second method: guild membership…
I convened a morning meeting, summoned my officers and the two guild leaders, and laid the proposal before them. Kim Seyeon responded quite positively.
"That sounds like a good idea. Setting aside the question of whether they'll actually be able to enter the Sanctuary, we can still give them a great many benefits. In particular, if we designate that warehouse as a guild castle or fortress, we can renovate the building and transform it into a formidable shelter. And those celebrity survivors would be a tremendous asset to whichever guild takes them in."
One of the defining traits of the survivors gathered in that warehouse was that the vast majority held combat classes. Warriors especially. Even the mages were concentrated in combat-useful specializations — elementalists and summoners.
Which meant that if we could recruit them properly and foster a sense of motivation — of loyalty — as members of our territory, we could significantly reinforce the military strength needed to defend the domain.
"So that leaves us with two remaining tasks, then?"
"Yes, Jeong Hoon. The first is which guild to place them in… and the second is whether joining a guild will even allow them to cross the Sanctuary boundary."
"I-I don't think the second one is possible, Jeong Hoon oppa. H-honestly, guild membership is… kind of a hack, no… a loophole, a loophole. I really don't think the operators who rule over everything with absolute authority… I mean, the Administrators… are just going to let something like that slide."
Han Sora offered a surprisingly persuasive opinion, delivered in classic gamer terms. The previous Administrator had revealed his slipshod nature just through his voice alone, but the new one didn't seem to possess that kind of carelessness.
His voice alone was so excessively calm and subdued that it put us all on edge. With an Administrator like that, every loophole we tried would probably get shut down cold.
When the first plan had been rejected by the steward, I had a sudden premonition that the second would hit a similar wall. And hunches like that always turned out to be right. Damn it…!
"Well then… Guild Leader Jung Yun, Guild Leader Jung Miju? Would either of you like to take them on as guild members? I'll state the conditions up front… If you accept them into your guild, you'll need to visit that warehouse frequently. No — until June, it would be better if you simply stayed there."
Having heard the consensus reached by me and my officers, Jung Yun and Jung Miju both fell silent, clearly turning it over in their minds.
Before long I saw Jung Yun nod, as if she had made up her mind. The gesture carried the weight of someone who had steeled herself for something serious.
She lifted her head, about to speak with force and conviction before all of us—
"Jeong Hoon-ssi! I'll— I'll take them into my gui—"
"I'll do it. My guild is packed with experienced blacksmiths. Renovating and fortifying the warehouse they're staying in won't take long. More than anything, we have quite a few people in our guild who know how to hold out in life-or-death situations. We can be a real help to their survival."
Jung Miju cut in calmly, volunteering herself.
The quiet composure settled over her face created an atmosphere in which I simply could not nod and say "understood."
It had been this way ever since Seo Hyejin died. Jung Miju's eyes, her entire presence, had sunk into a deep, heavy stillness.
I had assumed time would naturally set things right. And while the other members of the Hope's Wings Guild were showing signs of returning to their usual selves, Jung Miju alone had not.
To put it more bluntly: she wore the eyes and expression of someone who wouldn't care if she died tomorrow. Even now — even as she volunteered to go to a warehouse sitting on the Sanctuary's boundary line — it was the same.
"Hold on! Guild Leader Jung Miju! You're a Blacksmith class! How are you planning to handle their guild enrollment—"
"You know better than anyone that isn't a problem at all. Don't you, Guild Leader Jung Yun?"
She was right — it genuinely wasn't a problem. The only class that could found a guild and become its inaugural guild leader was Lord. But the class of a vice guild leader — or of someone who inherited the previous leader's will and took over as the next guild leader — did not necessarily have to be Lord. There were some restrictions (a non-Lord class could only receive the transfer once), but that was all.
I silently thanked Han Sora, as I always did, for explaining these kinds of fine-grained system details. Thanks, Sora (who's sitting right next to me)!
"B-but still… that's so unfair! You know perfectly well I'm a fan of those idols, and yet you just shamelessly—"
"Yun unnie? Could you lend me your ear for a second…?"
"Huh? Mina, why all of a sudden…"
Jung Yun had naturally been about to push back, but Yun Mina suddenly restrained her from the side, and she never got the chance to fully vent her frustration.
Yun Mina leaned in and whispered something against her ear… Jung Yun's face flooded scarlet with indignation for a moment — then settled.
And she raised no further objections.
"…Fine. Fine, okay? I'll yield to you. Hmph…!"
"Guild Leader Jung Yun has said as much herself. Please grant your permission, Lord Jeong Hoon."
Whatever Yun Mina had whispered to her, Jung Yun had quietly surrendered the position to Jung Miju.
I glanced at Yun Mina, the question plain in my eyes: What on earth did you say to make her give up her personal desire to get close to celebrities?
"…"
Yun Mina simply gave the slightest nod, urging me to accept Jung Miju's proposal already.
I let out a sigh and turned my gaze back to Jung Miju.
"Very well. I entrust their fate to you, Jung Miju, and to the Hope's Wings Guild. We'll depart after lunch — at two-thirty this afternoon."
Once the meeting in the office concluded, I asked Yun Mina to stay behind.
"…Jeong—Hoon—Oppa—ah?"
Han Sora called my name with a razor-sharp look in her eyes, but a single "It's not what you think" was enough to cool the murderous intent radiating off her.
After which Yun Mina said, "Oh my, and here I thought today was finally the day you'd unleash your desires with me in the office… What a shame," sending Han Sora into a full-blown rampage that I then had to sweat bullets trying to soothe. But that's another story.
"Mina. Will you be honest with me?"
"Hmm? About what?"
"About what…"
Obviously, about the whisper that had made Jung Yun abandon her resolve.
"Oh, that? I just told her this: it's better to leave this to Guild Leader Miju. If things go wrong, guild members could be put in danger, so the other guild — the one with far more combat and survival experience — would handle it much better. And I told her she could get celebrity autographs anytime once June rolls around, so she should just be patient."
"That wasn't all of it, was it?"
"Of course not, Orabeoni. You remember why Jung Yun unnie's guild was formed in the first place, right? It was put together as a primarily non-combatant guild specifically to put to rest any suspicion that they might turn against you. Now imagine packing a large number of combat-oriented classes into a guild like that. Do you think the embers of that suspicion would catch fire again? Or not?"
It was an argument with a distinctly political edge. And precisely because it carried political implications, there was room for a counterargument.
"Hmm… But the source of that suspicion — Han Daegeon — isn't here anymore, is he? He's dead and gone. So even if combat classes join, suspicion toward Jung Yun shouldn't swell up again, should it?"
"Well, setting aside whether that man still has a presence or not… even with him dead, stuffing warriors and mages into Jung Yun unnie's guild right now would be genuinely dangerous. First of all, it's been less than a week since we executed that idiot Daegeon — no, since we defeated the Area Boss. People don't completely erase their suspicions in that short a time. And more than anything… Orabeoni, I think you've actually forgotten something…?"
"Forgotten what?"
"…That among our residents, there's still one woman who shares blood with that bastard Han Daegeon. Han Miseon. I'm talking about Han Miseon."
"Ah…!"
She had struck the bullseye with perfect precision.
"She's keeping her head down these days, so her presence has faded, but she's still alive, you know? And if anything, her desire for revenge against you has grown, not shrunk. She's still quietly working to recruit people who have grievances against you whenever she gets the chance. She's just good at not showing it. Now take a woman with a grudge that deep, and dump dozens of combat classes into Jung Yun unnie's guild. Do you think she'd seize that as an opportunity? Or not?"
She had so little presence that her name had genuinely slipped from my memory.
Han Daegeon's younger sister, Han Miseon. She was still living in our territory, working quietly as a blacksmith. She hadn't caused any malicious problems like agitation or solicitation, so I'd left her alone… but the current situation was essentially the same as living with a bomb in the house. Well — a rather weak and pathetic bomb, if you could even call it that.
It wasn't as though no one had voiced concerns. Some residents had even filed a kind of petition with me, arguing that if we were going to punish the ringleader Han Daegeon, we ought to take some measure against his family — his own sister, Han Miseon — as well. Of course, I had no desire to punish someone who had committed no particular crime simply because they were related by blood.
Kim Seyeon had also advised that this kind of "guilt by association" was excessively harsh and would only create bigger problems down the line. So I had dismissed every one of those opinions.
That was all predicated, of course, on Han Miseon continuing to behave herself the way she was now.
"And more than anything, the Hope's Wings Guild is simply more capable than Jung Yun unnie's, isn't it? Honestly, I think they can do more to help the people in that warehouse. Building repairs, wall construction, even non-combatants stepping up to fight… Put your hand on your heart and think about it. When a crisis hits the warehouse people, which guild would be more useful — Jung Yun unnie's, or Hope's Wings?"
It was an argument I couldn't casually dismiss. If anything, it deserved praise.
"That's a very persuasive point, Mina."
"Right?"
But you haven't grasped the true feelings Miju is hiding, Mina.
I swallowed the rest of what I wanted to say. That was something I needed to figure out for myself.
Whether Jung Miju had truly volunteered because she wanted to help the warehouse survivors… or for some other reason — that was something I had to confirm with my own eyes.
And so I decided to make use of lunchtime.
Under the pretext of sharing a private lunch with Guild Leader Jung Miju, I arranged for us to sit together at a table in one of the restaurant's luxurious private rooms, intending to sound out her true intentions.
"I'd like you to answer me honestly, Guild Leader Jung Miju."
"…That depends on the question, Lord Jeong Hoon."
Even with a rather lavish feast set before her, Jung Miju showed no real shift in emotion, responding to me in a dry, flat tone.
Looking at that expression and those eyes, I decided subtlety wasn't going to work. So I threw out a direct question without the slightest hesitation.
"You didn't volunteer to go to that warehouse — the one where those people are staying — because you've made some kind of dangerous resolution… did you, Guild Leader Jung Miju? No — Miju."
"What? A dangerous resolution…? No. I would never harbor anything like that. The thought of turning against you is something I would absolutely nev—"
Jung Miju's face went pale in an instant. Ah. She'd misunderstood it that way. Better to clear that up from the start.
"That's not what I mean. I know better than anyone that you're not the kind of person who would harbor such disloyal thoughts. When I say a dangerous resolution, I mean…"
Just as the additional explanation let her relax, I spoke the next words without a shred of hesitation — words that would freeze her expression all over again.
"I mean a resolve along the lines of being ready to throw your own life away at any moment. Miju."
"…"
She couldn't deny it.