Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Night of the Guild Clash
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“Yeah. The bed was kinda restless.”
Kim Sunwoo answered nonchalantly. Then he started putting food in his mouth.
“The food’s a bit bland.”
Somewhere in Incheon’s Seo-gu district, in Goldwin’s underground hideout.
Around seventy Goldwin members were each checking their weapons.
“My body’s itching for action.”
“Yeah. When are those Comet Guild bastards showing up?”
While the guild members were casually chatting like that for a while, a man slowly walked through their midst.
He was a rugged-looking man who appeared to be in his forties.
His face was covered in knife scars, giving a rough idea of the life he’d lived.
He was Goldwin’s guild master, Jo Wonseok.
“Hello, sir.”
“Yeah, keep at it.”
Jo Wonseok gave a brief greeting to the guild members and walked straight ahead past them.
The place he headed to was the guild master’s office, the space reserved for him as guild master.
When he opened the door, another man was sitting in the massive chair where he always sat.
At the sight, Jo Wonseok instinctively felt tension.
“Mr. Kim Seong.”
The man in the chair, Kim Seong—no, Baek Eunseong—gave Jo Wonseok a friendly smile.
“I took a quick look around, and everything’s well-organized. Excellent.”
Baek Eunseong praised him in a soft voice. Jo Wonseok bowed his head deeply.
“Ah, no, not at all.”
“What did the other guild members say about attacking Comet Guild?”
“There wasn’t much opposition. We’ve been operating in the same area for a while, so we’re not on good terms anyway.”
“I see. That’s fortunate. Anyway, I hope things go smoothly tonight. No, they must go smoothly. It’s quite important to me.”
At Baek Eunseong’s words, which could easily turn sharp, cold sweat trickled down Jo Wonseok’s back.
“You know what I mean, right?”
“Yes, I do. We’ve got all of Comet Guild’s movements tracked through the subordinate I planted in secret, so no need to worry.”
At those words, Baek Eunseong grinned.
“Good. Let’s make tonight a success.”
The day’s schedule was the same as yesterday. We were in the waiting room, munching on snacks and waiting for something to happen.
The only difference from yesterday was that no incidents had popped up, leaving us in a boring stretch of time.
Was this what they called the calm before the storm?
For some reason, thinking about the fight between the two criminal guilds set for tonight actually made me worried.
And after agonizing all night about today’s events yesterday, I hadn’t slept much and was pretty tired.
I yawned alone and slumped over the desk when a small bottle suddenly appeared right in front of me.
“What’s this.”
The bottle was labeled ‘Special Fatigue Reliever.’
Wondering what it was, I looked up to see Choi Seoyoon holding it out to me with a smile.
“You looked tired earlier, so I picked it up on my way back from the convenience store.”
“Oh…”
This was kinda touching.
For the record, I’m extremely weak to these little acts of care.
“Thanks. I’ll drink it well.”
“Huh? Sunbae’s face looks super moved.”
I flinched, embarrassed for no reason.
Did it show?
“…What’re you talking about.”
“Aww~ So sunbae likes this kind of thing.”
Choi Seoyoon narrowed her eyes in a smile and poked my arm.
“You even know to get embarrassed~”
Feeling awkward for no reason, I chugged the fatigue reliever.
Maybe because it was made with special ingredients, I definitely felt a bit of the fatigue lift from my body.
We were killing time boringly again when Officer Kang approached us.
“Oh, right, I forgot to mention earlier—there’s a night patrol tonight. Heads up.”
What? I reflexively asked back, stunned.
“Night patrol?”
“Yeah. It’s scheduled from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.”
I furrowed my brow.
8 to 10 p.m.? That’s when the Goldwin and Comet Guild fight was supposed to start at 9.
For my plan to work, I needed to be free to move during that window.
“Is that absolutely necessary?”
“Yes, of course. It’s all part of the Special Task Force experience curriculum.”
What to do.
This was a completely unexpected variable.
It wasn’t in the plan. Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered hearing that there was a night patrol during the Special Task Force experience even before my regression.
Am I an idiot? Why didn’t I remember that until now?
While I agonized alone, Officer Kang looked around at us and said,
“Oh, and we have to decide on patrol areas—any preferences for where you’d like to go?”
50 minutes before Goldwin’s raid, at 8:10 p.m.
Just as Officer Kang had announced, the night patrol began. It was night patrol, but the sun hadn’t fully set yet, so the sky was dyed red with sunset.
“Alright, shall we start patrolling now?”
The area we headed to was Incheon’s northwest coastal region in Seo-gu, not too far from where the incident would go down, Jinwonpo.
Thanks to my strong insistence, we were assigned this spot.
If the incident happened tonight, it’d naturally give us a chance to get involved.
The plan had gotten a bit tangled, but it wasn’t a big problem. No, if I used this situation well, it might even turn out better.
“But Sunwoo, why’d you want to come here?”
Officer Kang’s sudden question made me think for a moment.
“…It’s a neighborhood with some old memories.”
It was a half-baked excuse, but Officer Kang reacted overly enthusiastically.
“Really? Did you live around here?”
“No, not that.”
“Oh, then a childhood memory spot?”
When I didn’t answer, Officer Kang gave an awkward smile.
“Got it. Must be something you don’t wanna talk about. Alright, seems like there’s a story here, so let’s not pry later, you two.”
Officer Kang said it jokingly to Choi Seoyoon and Yoo Ara.
The two nodded, their faces full of curiosity at first.
And so we patrolled the area thoroughly.
There were strangely few people around.
Incheon was part of the capital area, so it should’ve been bustling normally.
And I wasn’t the only one who noticed—Choi Seoyoon asked Officer Kang.
“But why’s this neighborhood so empty? Most of the buildings are abandoned.”
“Oh, this place? It used to be lively, but then some incident happened.”
“Incident?”
Choi Seoyoon asked curiously. Yoo Ara also looked at Officer Kang with a puzzled gaze.
“Yeah, about 15 years ago? Some crazy terrorists killed a bunch of people here.”
“…Ah.”
Choi Seoyoon nodded. Then she subtly checked on me.
Yoo Ara next to her did the same.
Man, this is awkward for me too.
I had no idea this neighborhood had that kind of history.
“And that’s not all. There’ve been all sorts of bad incidents here. Plagues broke out, people died for no reason. Rumors spread that the land’s cursed, so no redevelopment’s happened.”
“Aha.”
“That’s what makes it weird. That Sunwoo has memories here.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to me. I blankly met their gazes. Should I take back what I said earlier?
“Any other special notes?”
“No, nothing.”
In some abandoned building near Comet Guild’s planned smuggling site at Jinwonpo.
Baek Eunseong was receiving Jo Wonseok’s report.
“Oh, and we spotted a Special Task Force team patrolling the area. Seems like magic school students doing their experience program.”
“Students? Oh, I get it. That experiential activity, right?”
Baek Eunseong said with a smile.
He’d been monitoring Lee Seojun lately and knew a bit about the magic school’s classes.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Ignore the kids. If we end up killing innocent students, the media and association will make a fuss. I want this incident to end as just a war between two guilds.”
Right now, when not all preparations were complete.
If he acted under Jaun’s name, it could create major restrictions for future plans.
Using Jaun’s name would come later.
When he was ready to show himself to the world.
“Understood. But what if those kids barge into the raid site?”
“Block them with a barrier beforehand so that doesn’t happen.”
“Ah, that’ll do it. Got it.”
Jo Wonseok bowed deeply and disappeared somewhere.
Left alone, Baek Eunseong’s pocket buzzed with his smartphone’s ringtone.
“Yeah. Hello?”
—How’s the plan going?
A young woman’s voice.
It was Bert.
“Seems fine so far. Won’t know until those guys get back to Korea.”
—You know not to make this a big deal, right?
“Yeah, I know.”
—Don’t leave a single trace of Jaun. If it gets out that we’re involved, the association will investigate hard.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry. The media’ll report it as a fight between criminal guilds.”
—Mm, okay. Call me after it’s done.
“Got it.”
Click.
The call ended.
Baek Eunseong stood and checked the time.
8:47 p.m.
He walked to the window and stared out at the distant sea.
Beyond the horizon, a single ship was approaching land.
Gazing at the scene, Baek Eunseong gripped his massive spear, ‘Heaven-Piercing Halberd.’
9 p.m., when the incident began.
In a small neighborhood not far from Jinwonpo, we continued our patrol.
It was about time for things to get noisy, but it was weirdly quiet. The incident was definitely supposed to happen at 9 tonight.
“Sunbae, slow down a bit.”
Feeling uneasy, I’d sped up, so Choi Seoyoon said to me.
“Ah, sorry.”
“…No. You don’t need to apologize.”
At my cool apology, Choi Seoyoon awkwardly fiddled with her hair.
“Hm.”
I checked my watch.
Current time: 9:02 p.m. It was slightly past the expected time.
As nothing kept happening, anxiety started creeping in. Maybe the butterfly effect had caused some other variable.
That’s when it hit.
A massive surge of mana vibration came from somewhere.
“What was that just now?”
“Mana explosion?”
Sensing something suspicious, Officer Kang said to us,
“Everyone, follow me!”
We ran after Officer Kang toward where the mana was coming from. The closer we got, the stronger the mana presence grew.
As we neared the spot, multiple mana explosions registered. This had to be where the two guilds were clashing.
“Request backup now!”
I shouted at Officer Kang, who stood there tense-faced.
Officer Kang snapped to attention at my yell and nodded.
“Huh? Oh, right. Got it. Requesting backup. Multiple mana explosions near Jinwonpo!”
Officer Kang grabbed the radio and kept talking into it.
Of course, backup wouldn’t help me get the Elixir of Life. But this was a safety net.
In case things went south, I needed an escape route.
We kept running toward the mana explosions when a powerful magical barrier blocked our path.
“What the— It’s a barrier!”
Officer Kang frowned and stepped back. I pushed past him and approached the barrier.
“Huh? Kim Sunwoo?”
I placed my palm on the magic circle. Then I began modifying the magic formulas forming the barrier one by one.
The barrier glowed and started losing its form.
A trembling voice came from behind me.
“No, what is this…”
After about 10 seconds, the barrier vanished completely.
“Let’s go.”
I glanced back to see Officer Kang, Yoo Ara, and Choi Seoyoon staring at me in shock.
Come to think of it, this was their first time seeing me dismantle a barrier.
“Wow. Seojun sunbae was telling the truth. How do you break a barrier this fast…”
“Not the time for admiration.”
I took the lead and ran ahead.
“Kim Sunwoo! Don’t go ahead!”
Ignoring Officer Kang’s shout, I sprinted forward.
As I kept running, I spotted numerous mages locked in combat in the distance. Way more people than I’d expected.
Officer Kang saw the scene and narrowed his eyes.
“Goldwin?”
“Request additional backup.”
“Huh? Oh, got it.”
Officer Kang hurriedly grabbed the radio and started shouting again. After finishing the call, he said to us,
“I’ll go check if backup’s coming from behind. Hide somewhere safe—it’s dangerous.”
“We’ll help too.”
Choi Seoyoon and Yoo Ara stepped forward with determined faces. Officer Kang shook his head.
“No. Just wait a bit. At least until HQ sends support.”
With that, Officer Kang disappeared somewhere.
I watched his back for a moment, then said to Choi Seoyoon and Yoo Ara,
“I’ll go scout the situation. Stay put.”
“Huh? S-Sunbae! Where are you going?!”
Ignoring the calls from behind, I kept running.