The Merger That Shatters the Balance
"...What the hell is this about?"
During dinner, Lee Gayeon picked up a call from somewhere and checked her phone, her face turning icy cold.
"What's up? Somethin' happen?"
Ji Sein asked casually while deboning fish for Seoya.
"WithYou Guild, these guys..."
Lee Gayeon thrust her phone forward, her hand trembling with barely contained fury.
What the hell does that mean? Seoya blinked wide-eyed, puzzling over the words, but Ji Sein beat her to it, gaping at Lee Gayeon.
"Wait, how is that even possible? SpringRain's no pushover—they're not the type to get swallowed up, and they've got zero prior ties to WithYou, right?"
Oh, right. I remember now.
SpringRain Guild—home to Korea's rank 6 hunter, Lee Jiseon, as guild master. Not one of the big five mega-guilds, but still packing serious punch with a top-10 powerhouse at the helm. Seoya vaguely recalled hearing it was a force to be reckoned with.
"WithYou's been getting aggressive lately," Lee Gayeon said, glancing back at her phone. "But I didn't expect them to swallow up SpringRain... They've focused solely on Seongnam since the early days of the guild system, ignoring Seoul entirely. That's let them lock down the new city developments and build a rock-solid base."
"Told ya—market's booming, no way Na Seonghyeon's sitting still."
Baek Yena kept eating, unfazed.
"This hits us hardest."
Lee Gayeon glanced at Seoya's clueless expression and explained. "Neverending's been holding a two-top balance with WithYou. Now they've suddenly expanded? We either ramp up to match or they claim the throne solo."
"Still, why'd Lee Jiseon sign off? No history with them means a total guild overhaul, and zero reason to ditch her spot as master post-merger."
Baek Yena muttered indifferently, but Lee Gayeon shot her a weird look.
"You use polite speech for Lee Jiseon? Miss 'banmal-from-the-jump even to strangers'?"
"...Somethin' about her. She's got a daughter and all..."
Baek Yena trailed off, picturing Lee Jiseon's perpetual kind smile. Act cocky around her, and you'd get that scolding glare...
"Anyway, yeah—that part baffles me too."
Baek Yena tilted her head at Lee Gayeon's words, firing up her System window to join the chat.
"Ahh, this is too damn fun."
Baek Yena shoveled food with a lotto-winner grin—the brightest Seoya had ever seen. Lee Gayeon shivered.
"Ugh, heh... too fun..."
Ji Sein laughed till she was breathless, face flushed, tears welling. Another unprecedented beam. Lee Gayeon stared like they'd lost it.
And Seoya through it all...
"Sis, tissue please."
Seoya, munching Ji Sein's deboned fish, grimaced and waved her messy mouth. Lee Gayeon swiftly dabbed her chin.
"Sein! Enough! How you gonna debone and chat at once? And why test on the kid first if you can't even do it right?! Baby, spit, spit!"
Lee Gayeon clutched her neck, glaring at Ji Sein. These idiots are killing me daily...
The second Kwon Yooseok popped up, Seoya lost all composure—"Damn Neverending! Damn Na Seonghyeon!"—then shut the System window. Routine for her.
Some strangers suddenly gave her a home, gear, food—top priority, obviously.
But Seoya's real focus lately was elsewhere.
No more dream guy, no higher world intel...
Back to Toda ASAP, then grill Ibin and Taesa. Whatever it took.
Just a bit more... just a little...
Seoya's pencil froze on the paper.
"Ah."
Found it.
Hands shaking, she grabbed fresh paper and scrawled in messy script:
X-coordinate: 1893.25
Y-coordinate: 4761.2
Z-coordinate: 3908.33
World code: W112
Graphs and equations on nearby sheets screamed confirmation.
Finally... finally...
"Equation solved..."
Months of obsession, done.
Seoya gazed reverently at the coordinates when Ji Sein, lounging on the living room sofa, snatched a scribble-covered sheet from her calculations.
Scanning it slowly, she spoke.
"X 1893, Y 4761, Z 3908? One extra value—what's this?"
"Huh?"
It wasn't on her working paper?
Seoya's eyes widened.
"Calculations check out?"
"Uh? Yeah..."
"Our princess is a math whiz! Smart cookie!"
Recalling months of toil, Seoya realized:
Turns out it wasn't that hard...
No arguing if dream guy called her dense anymore.