Crazy Old Bastard (1)
The atmosphere in the room was oppressively heavy. Even a newborn would have been able to tell that something was very wrong.
It was some time before Lee Sanghee, who had been hesitating slightly, finally spoke.
“At present, all parties except Blue’s Second Party and Seventh Party are stranded inside Heroic-grade dungeons. We have not yet confirmed whether they are alive, and the rescue signal was first detected this morning. Since no separate signal has been sent since then, we believe something must have happened to the parties that entered the dungeons.”
Is that it?
“The exact time of entry was August 14, and the last contact was around 6:40 this morning. Mr. Seolho?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
If it was August 14, that meant it was before we had even come into Blue. I could already get a rough sense of how things had gone wrong.
Expedition failure.
It was one of the textbook ways a guild or clan collapsed. I had only been in the Free City of Lindel for a short while, but I had already heard the usual sayings that drifted around the city.
One failed expedition can shake a small clan. Two can shake a large guild.
That was how dangerous dungeon conquest and hunting expeditions were.
There was a reason people said things like that. In Lindel, the strong were the collective’s wealth.
If they died by mistake or became unable to move during an expedition, it meant the group’s combat strength would drop dramatically at once.
That was why ordinary clans and guilds poured so much into expedition preparation.
In some of the shadier guilds, there were even rumors that they sent in a trial party first. No further explanation was really needed.
If the discovered dungeon was Heroic-grade or above, then even greater caution was necessary.
Unlike Rare-grade dungeons, where ordinary monsters appeared before a boss monster, Heroic-grade dungeons each had their own mechanics.
I had never entered one myself, but even just reading the adventure logs kept by various guilds was enough to make an educated guess.
Blue will collapse from expedition failure.
Kim Hyunsung must have understood the situation.
Sending a rescue team was already the predetermined course of action.
They could not simply abandon it, either, because the human resources trapped inside the dungeon were far too valuable.
No, more than valuable resources, to Lee Sanghee, the people stranded in there probably felt like family, one by one. Blue had been around for a long time, after all.
With her personality, she would have no trouble forcing herself to go in.
The real issue was what choice we made.
Even as I ran through the options in my head, voices were already breaking out all over the conference room.
Now that the brief briefing was over, they were discussing how to respond.
It’s all armchair theorizing, of course...
“What about requesting support from another guild?”
“We already requested assistance from the Red Mercenaries, but with the Mercenary Queen absent, their reply is being delayed. We don’t know how long it will take to hear back. If this is a situation where every minute counts, then the expedition force may not come back safely.”
“So you’re saying we should go in like this without any countermeasures?”
“That’s not exactly what I’m saying. Still, if we think about the fact that contact was lost this morning, we can’t rule out the possibility that most of them are still alive. They are the guild’s assets.”
“Of course I think sending a rescue team is the right call, but our combat power is far too lacking. Even if the goal is rescue rather than conquest, we honestly can’t manage it on our own...”
“If we’re assembling a rescue force, shouldn’t the retired members join as well...”
“We’re not physically fit for expeditions anymore. Heh. To be honest, even administrative work has become a bit taxing.”
“Still, we’re short on numbers, aren’t we?”
“Short? We still have the Seventh Party, don’t we?”
“......”
“The Seventh Party is...”
“Isn’t the Seventh Party one of our guild’s key strengths?”
These damned old bastards...
They were holding back their words, but it was obvious enough to see how things were going. Whether to send a rescue force to save the stranded party or not.
The guild would certainly have information on the dungeon already.
But if you considered the fact that it was data from a dungeon they had already failed to clear once, then sending people into it was unquestionably dangerous.
The dungeon had devoured five of Blue’s parties. Even if Hwang Jeongyeon, Lee Sanghee, and the rest of us went together, there was no way it would be easy.
At best, we would be confirming whether any survivors remained.
The problem was what to do about it. Since the opinion in favor of sending a rescue team was growing, I had expected the guild would form one, but no matter how I looked at Lee Seolho and the others, they seemed like the sort who hated throwing themselves into dangerous places.
“Isn’t that exactly why we paid so much money to recruit them? They’ll certainly be helpful.”
“They’re a party that hasn’t even properly grown yet, Mr. Seolho.”
“Ms. Hwang Jeongyeon, I’m well aware of that. But isn’t this precisely the time when even a tiny hand is needed? At the very least, it will be better than not bringing them at all.”
“Even so...”
“This is a guild crisis. It’s only natural that we face it together.”
“If that’s what you believe, Mr. Seolho, then why don’t you go with them?”
“My body is old and frail, and I can hardly move it. You have all been devoting yourselves to the guild all this time... someone has to protect it, and as much as that is needed, Mr. Seolho should be the one guarding the guild.”
“Why, yes, of course!”
“Even if we go, we probably won’t be of much help. Ahem...”
“Ahem.”
What a load of shit. These crazy bastards...
Watching the mood in the room, I almost laughed out loud from sheer disbelief.
I couldn’t know the details, but it felt as though they had rehearsed their lines. Their coordination was almost artistic. Seeing that mad old man keep trying to shove us toward the brink, he must have already decided to use this chance to gorge himself. If Blue’s team, Hwang Jeongyeon, Lee Sanghee, and we ourselves all went into the dungeon together, the one who stood to gain the most would be that old bastard, Lee Seolho.
Old and frail, my ass.
It felt like just yesterday he’d been throwing off murderous intent in our direction when we first met.
His stats also looked decent enough. He was old, yes, but there was no way he was a body too weak to move.
It was like watching some vigorous old tyrant strut around like a martial lord outside his house, only to become suddenly frail the moment he stepped onto public transport.
The reason he was making such a fuss was obvious. He didn’t want to throw himself into danger.
He wants to make a killing, huh?
The question of whether to send a rescue team or not had been reframed into whether our party would participate.
“This isn’t an appropriate place for the Seventh Party to enter yet.”
“Heh, heh, heh. But we don’t exactly have another way, do we?”
“They haven’t even been in Lindel for a full year yet.”
“Still, they are members of Blue. They’re guild members all the same. They already came here with a great deal of special treatment, and we can’t keep giving them privileges now too.”
“This isn’t about privilege. It’s common sense. No guild in this city would send a party that hasn’t even been here a year into a Heroic-grade dungeon. Ah, though there is one exception. The guilds that toss in trial parties are mostly the ones that do things like that.”
“A trial party? That’s a bit much, don’t you think? At the very least—”
“Enough.”
It was Lee Sanghee who cut across the back-and-forth armchair theorizing.
“The Seventh Party will remain on standby in the guild house. Mr. Seolho, Ms. Jeongyeon, what you said is correct. However quickly Mr. Hyunsung and the others may be growing... they won’t be of much help.”
That’s it.
“Please stay here and help protect the guild.”
“But...”
“There is no ‘but.’ This is my decision. Everyone else, hurry and prepare for the expedition. The objective is not conquest, but rescue. As for the others, from this moment on, I want you to immediately start looking into whether support can be requested from other guilds...”
“Understood.”
I couldn’t tell whether this was Kim Hyunsung’s aim from the start, but in an ideal world it was an ideal move.
If the rescue team was sent out, only to die or come back bearing serious wounds, then Kim Hyunsung’s party would instantly rise as the most powerful faction in Blue.
In other words, they could swallow a mid-sized guild whole without much effort.
Of course, there would be various problems to handle, but if we assumed the complicated parts could be skipped, there was a lot to gain.
Though it’s not necessarily only that...
On the other hand, there was also the risk of losing people like Lee Sanghee and Hwang Jeongyeon.
If I thought about losing two excellent workers who would later help run Kim Hyunsung’s kingdom, the picture changed again.
I wouldn’t care much if that crazy old man dropped dead somewhere, but those women were clearly favorable toward us.
It would take a little time, but a safe succession of power wasn’t a bad option either.
The most important thing was what Kim Hyunsung would choose.
Not being able to tell what was in his head was maddening. Of course, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t guess at all. If I were in his place, I would certainly consider the option of quietly accepting the honey that dripped down on its own... but if this was the Kim Hyunsung I knew, then probably...
“We’ll go together as well.”
I thought he would say something like that.
“Pardon?”
“I said we’ll go together as well.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but this is...”
Since I was supposed to support the regressor, I naturally had no choice but to back Kim Hyunsung here.
I had hesitated a little, but once I made up my mind, it happened in an instant.
Honestly, if I were sending Hwang Jeongyeon and Lee Sanghee to their deaths, even I would have felt uneasy. They had helped me in more ways than one.
“Mr. Hyunsung is right. We should go together too.”
I’m uneasy, but...
There was surely a reason for it.
He might know the dungeon’s clear method, or he might know what could be gained from going there.
He was kind, but he was certainly no pushover.
Taking another deep breath, I opened my mouth again.
“Recently, the entire party has been able to make noticeable progress. Every single one of us, without exception, has obtained a Heroic-grade third job, and our main attributes are in the low 60s. In Hayan’s case, she has even reached the 70s.”
“That...”
“Is that true?”
“Wow...”
“That’s impossible...”
“Of course I understand that even this isn’t enough. It’s absurdly insufficient for entering a Heroic-grade dungeon. We understand that better than anyone. Still, we are members of Blue too. Our connection may have been formed by signing a contract, but I don’t think that bond is light.”
“Ah...”
“We’ve received help from many people. This time, I’d like to lend you our small hands, if only a little. If at any point you judge the situation too dangerous, we’ll obey orders without forcing anything. Please, allow us to contribute even this small amount.”
I lowered my head slightly, and reactions immediately burst out around me.
It might have looked foolish, but it wasn’t a bad move.
“We really do want to go together.”
“Heh. That’s very moving.”
That was, at least, if the mad old man smiling with his eyes at me had not been there.
“Ms. Lee Sanghee, Mr. Kiyoung and Mr. Hyunsung have said this much. How about letting them come? If they’ve already completed their third advancement, they’ll certainly be useful. Heh heh.”
That old bastard needed to be removed, one way or another.
I suspected I was not the only one thinking that.