Hwang Jiwoo (1)
...So what you're telling me is.
"For Pokryongi to master Predation, I have to end up in mortal danger?"
"As far as I recall, yes, My Lord. Back then as well, the repeated failures in the Tower of Ordeal had pushed Pokryongi's stress to its absolute limit... and rather than watch that unfold, she awakened the Draconic Authority of her own accord. I expect the same to hold true this time. No—it may prove even worse than before."
"Worse?"
"Yes. Unlike the old days, when you possessed many lives... you have only the one now, do you not."
"Ah."
"That is why I hesitated to speak of it. I did not wish for My Lord to overexert himself. And no doubt Pokryongi would object most fiercely as well."
Hmm.
He had a point.
The Baek Jinwoo of these days wasn't merely far removed from any brush with death—he was cruising down the fast lane. No, cruising didn't cover it. He was practically flying.
And in that situation, he was supposed to court a dangerous moment on purpose, all for the sake of one good skill? A moment that could quite easily carry him straight across to the underworld? Not exactly appealing.
"But say we are talking about a brush with death—how close does it have to be, exactly?"
"Surely My Lord is not seriously considering this?"
"No, no, just asking. I'm curious."
"One moment, please."
Hungyo closed his eyes, pressed a finger to his brow, and thought briefly. Then, before long—
"A situation in which the survival rate falls below ten percent."
"..."
"My Lord would have to create such a situation himself. Taking the Tower of Ordeal, or a high-difficulty standard dungeon, with Pokryongi as your sole companion, for instance."
Hah.
Below ten percent. That was a great deal more brutal than he'd expected...
It amounted to a suicidal stunt for the sake of a single skill. Surely the right answer was to simply not do it? No—"surely" wasn't the word. The right answer was, in fact, not to do it. Even at a ninety-percent survival rate, he would have had to think long and hard.
"There's no other way besides that?"
"There may be, but I am unaware of one, My Lord."
Just as a deep furrow was about to settle between Baek Jinwoo's brows—
"What kind of nonsense is that, Hungyo?"
Pokryongi's voice came from behind him.
Ah. She'd apparently been training in one of the other rooms and had overheard the conversation.
Pokryongi meditated even at night to unlock her latent potential, so one of the house's many rooms had been set aside for her use.
"Pokryongi."
Hungyo's expression turned pained.
"What kind of utter nonsense is that supposed to be?!"
"...I merely spoke because My Lord wished for an answer."
"Jinwoo."
Pokryongi's gaze whipped around to Baek Jinwoo.
"Huh?"
"Please don't get any strange ideas about risking your life. Because I will refuse to deploy."
Uh... he hadn't actually been thinking that, for the record.
Refusing to deploy?
That had existed in Battle of Summoners, too. Neglect a summon's favorability and they would go on something very like a strike—and once they did, you couldn't even open the team setup screen. Players used to say their summons had lain down on the job.
Hoo... Well, this route had been off the table thanks to Pokryongi from the very start.
"Jinwoo must never fight a dangerous battle. Not ever."
"My sentiment is the same, Pokryongi."
"And you, Hungyo—"
Pokryongi shot him a sharp sidelong glare.
"There's something you've misunderstood. The authority that awakened back then was nothing but a fake."
"A fake authority...?"
Oh? Baek Jinwoo's eyes went wide as well. So Pokryongi knew something?
"It's true that my stress reached its limit. And it's true the authority was forced open because of it. But to unlock the true power of the dragon, that method must never be used."
"Then what method is supposed to be used? Do you know?"
"I don't know that either."
...Huh? She didn't know? Then what was all that for?
"Anyway!"
Pokryongi planted both hands on her hips, her expression resolute.
"I told you clearly! If Jinwoo pushes himself too hard, I will not deploy! Abandon ship!"
Abandon ship. Where on earth had she picked up an expression like that? From Ramba, of all people?
"Yeah, yeah. Go on back in and finish your meditation... and don't you worry."
Not that he'd been planning to do it in the first place.
Still, somehow he felt like he'd been scolded for no reason at all.
What kind of player got chewed out by his own summons? Let's see someone else pull that off!
Tch.
Tokyo, Japan.
"Oh, welcome back."
Japan's titan, the man ranked second in the world—Yoshida Hikaru greeted his four rankers.
"Yes, Boss."
Shusuke was dripping cold sweat, yet he struggled to hold his poker face.
Haa. Where to even begin, or how.
Behind him, the other rankers—Ryo included—did nothing but avert their eyes. No answers were forthcoming.
"My, my. Judging by the atmosphere..."
Hikaru broke into a grin.
"Looks like you were properly fleeced, hmm?"
"...Well, about that."
"So? How was it... that Baek Jinwoo fellow. Is he as strong as they say?"
"Yes. Very."
"And you lost?"
"...We did."
Perhaps the memory of that humiliation resurfaced, because Shusuke answered through gritted teeth. But then—
"KHAHAHAHA! You lost?! WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Why, though? Hikaru's expression looked nothing short of delighted.
"The footage! Tell me you have the footage!"
The truth was, the footage had arrived yesterday. The problem was...
Is it really right to show him this? Shusuke agonized.
For one thing, that Yoo Jia woman had tact. She had perfectly excised the infamous scene of Ryo going berserk.
However.
The scene of the scroll being torn was still in there, untouched.
Hah! If you're going to have tact, have it all the way!
"Hey, Shusuke! The footage! Do you have it or not?"
Right. Show him. If he hid it now and got caught later, there was no telling what kind of storm would follow.
"Here it is."
Shusuke smoothly drew a USB drive from inside his jacket and handed it over. Hikaru accepted it with a look of deep satisfaction.
"Good. This footage alone should give me a rough read on him. You all worked hard. I'll gift each of you a nice rune later, so off you go."
"Thank you, Boss!"
Shusuke bowed at a rigid ninety degrees, the other rankers following suit—and just as it seemed they might slip out unscathed—
"Oh."
Hikaru stopped them in their tracks.
"One more thing, actually."
Cold sweat streamed down Shusuke's forehead. The faces of the other rankers, already beginning to relax, stiffened all over again.
Yoshida Hikaru. At times he seemed like a fine boss to serve, but in truth he had a volcanic temper. End up out of his good graces? He would cut you loose without a shred of mercy.
"You didn't make any blunders with Baek Jinwoo, did you?"
"..."
Shusuke swallowed hard. For roughly two seconds, a thousand thoughts flashed through his mind... but he had to answer quickly. Any later than this, and it would amount to a confession.
"Haha, Boss."
Shusuke, half-turned away, beamed brightly.
"Nothing like that. We did make one little wager, though..."
"A wager? What wager?"
Hikaru's eyes sparkled.
"Well... we'd agreed to fight for free, but their side raised a wager. It would've been awkward to turn down, so I accepted."
"Their side... as in Baek Jinwoo?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"As you know, we lost. And we were fleeced out of a hundred billion won."
"Mm?"
Hikaru didn't seem to care about the amount in the slightest. The only thing that mattered to him was whether or not they'd blundered!
"If it was you who got fleeced, then there's no chance Baek Jinwoo took offense?"
"...Right."
Shusuke smiled with his eyes alone. Fresh sweat was sliding down the back of his neck.
Looks like it.
Ryo. That bastard needed to be cut loose, and fast. The moment Baek Jinwoo laid eyes on him, everything would be over. Cutting him from the national team? That much he didn't need to bring to Hikaru. He could settle it within his own authority.
Sorry, Ryo. If the rest of them wanted to survive, there was no other way.
"I see? Then all's well. Go on, get out of here."
"Yes, Boss!"
The rankers filed out of the room.
Whew. Shusuke let out a long breath.
Even now, he was stunned beyond words.
To think Boss Hikaru would take that kind of stance.
Then again, having experienced Baek Jinwoo firsthand, it made perfect sense.
A monster. The word fit Baek Jinwoo to a T.
The world's chessboard would be overturned before long, it seemed. And maybe that was a blessing in disguise. They did say it was better to take your beating early, didn't they? Let's just write it off as one very strong vaccination.
"Ugh."
Baek Ajin had been banging her head against a problem lately. Ever since the gang-sweep incident, her friends had been dropping hints—some subtle, some not so subtle.
"Seriously. Have they lost their minds?"
Smack! Unable to watch another second, she flipped her phone face-down.
After the gang intrusion, security at Yubaek City had been locked down tight. Ordinary civilians couldn't simply walk in, and even the executives of the major guilds could enter only with the personal approval of Yoo Jia, the Group's head. The only people free to come and go were the residents.
Which was why her friends had taken to begging: please, just one group tour.
"Those girls... how old were they, exactly? Begging for a field trip. A field trip."
At first, she'd ignored them. It wasn't a matter she could decide on a whim.
Keep business and personal life separate.
She might be a director, but pulling personal connections into the company? Absolutely not! It would be a disservice to Yoo Jia, too, who trusted her.
And yet, even so—
it kept gnawing at her.
These were girls she'd known since middle school—hardly dangerous people... She'd even heard one of them was an aspiring player.
Maybe that was why. At a private dinner, away from anything official, Baek Ajin seized her chance and asked Yoo Jia.
The result:
"Huh?"
Yoo Jia's eyes went perfectly round.
"And what exactly would be wrong with it?"
"Unni?"
"We put all that work into designing the towers and landscaping the park grounds—I've been waiting for an excuse to show it all off. If they're your friends, they're more than welcome. Invite every last one of them! If anything, I'd be delighted."
"Be that as it may, Unni, it's still a company."
"Ajin."
"Yes?"
"By this company's standards, you count as royal family. You do know that?"
"...I know..."
Her brother was Baek Jinwoo, after all. And the entire company ran for Baek Jinwoo's sake alone.
"Your authority here is far higher than you imagine."
The bare fact that Baek Ajin was Baek Jinwoo's younger sister made her more than worth Yubaek's care.
"Besides, it's hardly a difficult favor... You've been agonizing over your friends' little tour? Then bring them along, cool and simple. I'll issue the invitations."
"Unni... thank you. I'm honestly so touched."
It was unexpected. In business Yoo Jia was ferociously exacting, yet in matters like this she could be so wonderfully extravagant.
After an enjoyable dinner, Baek Ajin returned home, sank into the sofa, and picked up her phone. And then—
"..."
The group chat, once a slow trickle of messages, had gone up in flames.
Was it really that exciting?
A warm smile crept over Baek Ajin's face.
She'd thought she'd gotten used to it all, but moments like this made it hit home all over again—that her brother was truly somebody extraordinary.
The corners of her mouth kept twitching upward, all on their own.