Dungeon Raiding Is Politics (5)
His expression was unmistakably displeased.
“There’s no need to apologize, Kiyoung.”
“Pardon?”
“You haven’t done anything wrong. Even if you had, Yura still wouldn’t have the right to point out your faults like that.”
Good.
“After all, Kiyoung is a member of Blue. If I’d thought you’d made a mistake, I would have told you first. I don’t know why Yura felt the need to criticize one of our party members before anyone else, but I find it unpleasant.”
I hadn’t exactly planned this down to the last detail.
My main concern had simply been that I needed to manipulate public opinion, but now that I thought about it again, it made perfect sense for Kim Hyunsung to be angry too.
What Jeong Yura had done was blatant overreach.
I belonged to Blue.
Looking after me was Kim Hyunsung’s job.
For some random outsider like Jeong Yura to butt in at all was absurd.
Maybe from her point of view she’d been speaking as a senior, or maybe she’d wanted to expand her influence, but in Kim Hyunsung’s common sense—common sense built over years of surviving on this continent—it was something he simply couldn’t accept.
In other words, there was an unspoken rule that said you didn’t meddle too deeply in another party member’s business.
Jeong Yura had broken that rule.
She was treating our party like rubes.
If I translated Kim Hyunsung’s words into something simple, that was what they meant.
Who the hell do you think you are, touching our people?
This wasn’t aimed at Choi Youngki, who was leading the raid, the way it had been when Park Deokgu was involved. Dragging me out here just to rebuke me was definitely a problem.
The warmth of Kim Hyunsung’s embrace turned out to be a happier place than I’d expected.
Very nice.
The situation was unfolding beautifully.
After all, the one who tries to stop an angry mother-in-law always ends up looking more hateful than the mother-in-law herself.
Getting into character as the sister-in-law wasn’t easy, but like a fish thrown into water, the role fit me perfectly.
“Hyunsung, Yura was speaking as a senior… I think… She probably didn’t mean it that way….”
“No, Kiyoung. Even so, this is not how things should be done.”
“I’m sure I must have made a mistake too….”
“Let me be clear. You did nothing wrong.”
I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from twitching upward, because Jeong Yura’s face had begun to look flustered.
Her approval ratings were already through the roof in the wrong direction, and watching her—someone whose election was already practically guaranteed by sheer lack of alternatives—getting rattled by something this trivial made it hard to hold back my laughter.
Pfft.
Even then, words of comfort kept raining down on me.
Being comforted was work too.
“He might not know Kiyoung well yet since he’s only just come here, but Hyunsung is right. If you had something to say to Kiyoung directly, at the very least you should have asked the party leader for permission. Dragging him aside afterward and pointing out his mistakes like that… it’s hard to understand.”
“Exactly. No matter what, that wasn’t the way to do it.”
“Blue may be inexperienced and still in the process of learning, but Blue is still one of the parties taking part in this expedition. You’re not being dragged along looking pathetic; on the contrary, you’ve been doing your part well enough. Black Swan’s behavior is genuinely hard to understand.”
The Magician Guild, who were speaking about the basic etiquette everyone should observe, were adding their voices.
“Kiyoung did nothing wrong. If anything, I think he brought the right atmosphere. He’s also been working hard during the raid….”
“Exactly. That’s right. Of course it is. Is it really easy to lead a raid with this kind of atmosphere? Go into another party and fighting and badmouthing each other is a daily occurrence….”
“Communication is important. Honestly, I have no idea what Black Swan thought she was doing, tsk.”
“Tch….”
The Red Mercenaries, who were true to their emotions, were standing with me as well.
Of course.
“I think she went too far. Tsk.”
“Yura, going this far is a bit much, isn’t it? We’re all on the same expedition, after all.”
“Oh dear….”
Jeong Yura herself was now being showered with direct criticism.
Without some meticulous planning in advance, there was no way this sort of picture would have taken shape.
This is why image matters.
That was why the image you built over time mattered so much.
“Oppa… are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. I’m fine, Hayan. It’s nothing.”
“What exactly happened?”
“It’s all right, Heeyoung. What I said earlier was the whole story.”
Honestly, if I’d actually been slapped once, that might have been even better.
Still, Jeong Yura didn’t seem so clueless as to go that far.
If I’d been injured, Jung Hayan might have started planning an assassination attempt on Jeong Yura, so this was probably the right level after all.
In any case, the flow of events was overwhelmingly favorable to my side.
Jeong Yura kept scrunching up her face, and the voices comforting me only kept coming.
The main consensus was that there had been no need to apologize, and that if anything I’d helped create a better atmosphere.
I hadn’t done anything rude, and if anything I’d brightened up the expedition, so the reaction made sense.
Honestly, the thing I was most curious about was what choice Jeong Yura would make here, but the path before her had already been decided.
Admit fault and bow low.
That was still the best option available, but if she took it, the outcome was obviously not going to be especially good for her.
Even if her position was already collapsing, lowering her head would only mean her influence shrank even further.
She had to show that, even if it meant making herself a little unlikable, she had been trying to contribute to the party.
That was the correct choice.
In short, maintaining a middle position was best.
It seemed Jeong Yura had come to much the same conclusion.
“First of all, I’m sorry.”
An apology, but not one so groveling that she’d be crawling on the floor.
How stupid.
“Kiyoung is, after all, my party member and under my jurisdiction.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t let you know in advance, Hyunsung. And I’d also like to apologize to Kiyoung for being hurt by the sudden situation.”
“That’s not the issue….”
“I think I may have reacted a little too sensitively. But I still thought I had to say something. I thought things were far too lacking in tension. If this had been a proper party expedition, I wouldn’t have needed to worry about it, but….”
Idiot.
“As a senior with a little bit of experience, I thought I had to say something. Of course, I fully understand that the way I went about it was wrong.”
“I don’t understand why you’re thinking about correcting discipline in the first place, Jeong Yura. Of course, there were mistakes on our side at the beginning, but after that I don’t believe there were any major issues.”
“Still, it’s true there were some minor mistakes.”
She was handling this better than I’d expected.
To put it simply, this was the gist of it.
I did make a mistake. But you guys made mistakes too, right? Honestly, we’re the ones being carried on your backs here, so you should be able to understand this much. You don’t have any experience. You came here to learn. Then you should be prepared to endure this much. Still, I guess my method was wrong. I am sorry, after all.
It was sophistry, but it was also a valid point.
If she’d been the one riding the wave of public opinion, I might have been the one getting elected instead. It was a pretty excellent response.
As expected, voices started bursting out from Black Swan.
“Honestly, a lot of the tanks have been looking out for Blue’s tanker, haven’t they? If that hadn’t happened, things would have gone a lot more smoothly. Our burden would have been reduced too.”
“Blue’s archer is honestly hard to say she’s pulling her own weight either….”
“And the alchemist isn’t even a combat class, really….”
Even while apologizing, she was still picking at our party as a whole. Naturally, opposing opinions came flying back.
“Still, you can’t say they’ve been a hindrance. Hayan’s magic has helped us more than once, and above all Sun Heeyoung….”
“We’ve gotten help many times. I think the problem is starting to talk about this already.”
But the fact that this had become a controversy in the first place was no good.
In other words, we’d ended up on a judge’s stand for no reason at all.
Whether the atmosphere was positive or negative, being put on trial was clearly a disadvantage.
The top priority was to get our side off the stand quickly and put Black Swan up there instead.
I was trying to figure out how to say it when Kim Hyunsung’s face, slightly hardened, came into view.
Of course.
Even a Buddha would get angry at this.
Just from looking at him, Kim Hyunsung didn’t seem especially used to political games, but he would understand that our party was being subjected to one.
“I’d appreciate it if this didn’t happen again. If you have something to say to our party, you can speak to me directly.”
“Yes. I’m truly sorry, Hyunsung. And I’m very sorry to Blue’s party members, who must have had a hard time because of this. Especially Kiyoung—I really am sorry.”
“It’s all right. I was just a little surprised.”
“I was surprised too. I didn’t realize you’d be hurt by it… let’s talk separately later, all right?”
“No, it’s not like that. I was just a little flustered.”
She had put us on the stand, but she had also lost plenty herself.
She had to know that the moment you lost public opinion, your political life was over.
Maybe she had some move that could reverse things. No, what she had was obvious.
Contributing even more earnestly to this expedition.
In other words, it felt as though she’d forced herself into the role of villain for the safety of the expedition, but making a fake villain into a real one was easier than turning your hand over.
What should I do…?
There were a great many options.
She might look relaxed, but all she’d really done was dodge checkmate once.
She had already been branded as public enemy number one. I thought I could isolate her simply by using that public sentiment, but our Kim Hyunsung didn’t seem interested in solving this with anything so simple.
“Could everyone gather for a moment?”
“Yes.”
The others, having noticed that the party had something to discuss, subtly stepped away and gave us some space, while Kim Hyunsung looked at us and slowly began to speak.
“First, I’m sorry.”
“No. There’s nothing for you to apologize for, Hyunsung. In fact….”
“No. I chose this expedition knowing I’d be in the role of a subordinate, but I never expected you to be disrespected by another party like this.”
It’s not like we were being disrespected…
“I’m sure you’ve learned many things, but….”
“Yes.”
“From here on out, this won’t happen again.”
Kim Hyunsung had always been a responsible man. He’d clearly been provoked. Watching him grind his teeth, I got the sense that he had something else in mind.
“I’ll change the formation a little. I’ll move to the front line a bit more. Deokgu, you keep doing what you’ve been doing. I’ll also give the orders on when to use magic from this side. Heeyoung, focus a little more on Deokgu. You can think of this side as not existing. Yeri, keep doing things as usual….”
“Yes.”
“Hayan, you can increase your firepower a bit more. Heeyoung will keep an eye on Deokgu.”
The man was absolutely not someone you could call a pushover.
Ah.
Only then did I understand what Kim Hyunsung was thinking.
The reason he hadn’t stepped to the front until now had been for our sake.
I couldn’t be certain, but there must have been several reasons.
Maybe he’d wanted us to get more used to hunting on our own. Maybe he’d wanted to rein in any possible arrogance.
Our party had been getting a lot of attention, and with all the easy living lately, the desperate edge we used to have had clearly been fading.
I’ll gladly ride on that.
I wasn’t the only one who wanted to screw Jeong Yura over anymore.
Watching the regressor gripping his sword tightly, I nodded as though slightly possessed.
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