The Mountain Deity's Judgment
Mo Jeong-gyeon was intensely curious about what kind of hound her granddaughter had chosen for the first time.
A former ranker who wanted to hide his identity…….
She was one of the few people who knew almost everything about the inner workings of the Gangneung incident.
That was why Mo Jeong-gyeon had simply watched Lee-hyun from afar at first.
Just how much wildness did this fighting dog, returned from hell, still possess?
And if he did, how vicious was the venom running through his veins?
Would that venom ever turn on its master?
Or did he even have the skill to back it up?
She wanted to confirm everything.
And then—
‘He smashed the former team leader’s head in one blow? Right after clearing a long-unsolved dungeon while exhausted?’
His actions had overturned every one of her predictions.
‘He’ll be back as a ranker soon. And with far greater skill than before…….’
He hid himself as much as possible, yet when the time came to act, he never held back. That resolve radiated from him.
She liked that part.
A hunting dog without wildness was no hunting dog at all.
Especially when she considered who stood behind former Team Leader Jeong.
‘Did he cause trouble without knowing the backer, or did he do it knowing?’
If he had done it without knowing, then he was someone who could read the room yet remained simple-minded enough for her granddaughter to use.
But if he had done it while fully aware?
‘He can’t be used as a hound. A wolf can never become a hunting dog.’
Forcing the issue would only make him bite his own master.
Therefore,
Mo Jeong-gyeon intended to confirm for herself whether Jang Lee-hyun was a hound or a wolf.
If the former, she would give generously.
But if the latter?
‘I’ll have to dispose of him. So he doesn’t become an obstacle.’
One corner of Mo Jeong-gyeon’s mouth twisted upward.
‘Well then, child. Which side are you on?’
The moment Jang Lee-hyun stepped before Mo Jeong-gyeon, he felt an overwhelming pressure.
‘She’s enormous.’
With every step he took, Mo Jeong-gyeon seemed to grow larger.
Even though she remained seated in the same spot.
Even though she merely held the long pipe in her mouth, the pressure she exuded was immense.
‘This person…… is the Mountain Deity.’
She was nothing like the distant figure he had once glimpsed long ago.
It was suffocating.
No, suffocating didn’t even begin to describe it.
It felt as though he were being crushed beneath a colossal mountain ridge.
Was this how Sun Wukong had felt when pinned beneath the Five Elements Mountain?
Among the tens of millions of hunters worldwide, only nine had reached the top ranker position.
Even among them, she was said to contend for the highest seat.
Yet in this moment, Lee-hyun could sense it with absolute certainty.
‘Even if you gathered all eight other top rankers, they still wouldn’t be able to defeat this one person.’
No wonder even Sun Wukong was feeling similar pressure.
「Has a god descended? No, that can’t be. If it were, there would definitely be restrictions from the law of causality. Then an avatar……? But if it’s an avatar, there’s no connection to wherever the soul is linked…… What the hell……」
Sun Wukong wore a bewildered expression, unable to identify Mo Jeong-gyeon’s true nature even with his Fiery Golden Eyes active.
That meant Mo Jeong-gyeon truly possessed a rank comparable to divinity.
Thump, thump……
Lee-hyun tried to steady his pounding heart with deep breaths.
‘Dueoksini’s Deep Breath (A)’ is gradually restoring bodily senses to normal.
‘Relic: Yeouibong’ and ‘Relic: Golden Arhat’s Mask’ are jointly resisting external pressure. Elevated mental barriers are blocking external interference.
Although the mana control device prevented him from properly circulating his mana circuits,
even circulating a handful of mana made breathing far easier.
The crushing pressure remained unchanged.
‘I don’t know why she suddenly wanted to see me…… but she doesn’t hold only goodwill. I need to stay sharp.’
Simply capturing one team leader wouldn’t have made the guild master move personally.
There had to be something more.
‘The total of the Fortuna Dice is 9. There is no middle ground.’
Lee-hyun decided to push forward without hiding anything.
“Greetings, Guild Master. I am Jang Lee-hyun, leader of Dungeon Conquest Headquarters Z-Team.”
Because he had lowered his head, he missed the flash of interest that crossed Mo Jeong-gyeon’s eyes.
“I see. Nice to meet you. Ah, you don’t mind if I speak casually, do you?”
“You look about my age, so for a moment I wondered if you were really the guild master.”
“Ohoho. I know you’re just saying that to flatter me, but it still feels rather nice.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon let out a soft, gentle laugh.
But Lee-hyun was not fooled.
If anything, he sharpened his guard further.
“This is our first time meeting, isn’t it?”
“I saw you once from afar in the past.”
“Hmm?”
“In South Africa……”
“Ah, when we hunted Labu? You were there?”
In the 5-star dungeon that had appeared in South Africa, Labu’s Descent, the lower god Labu that escaped was slain by four top rankers.
Mo Jeong-gyeon had stood at the center of that effort.
Lee-hyun had watched from a distance.
“After witnessing you that day, I first resolved to become a ranker myself.”
“You’re surprisingly skilled at flattery, contrary to appearances.”
“It isn’t flattery. It’s the truth.”
Even now, Lee-hyun could vividly recall the events of that day whenever he closed his eyes.
The sheer ferocity of the tiger, grown to the size of a house, tearing the god to shreds……
“What legacy do you carry?”
“A goblin.”
“More specifically. There are many kinds of goblins, aren’t there?”
“Dueoksini.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon’s smile deepened.
“The King of Goblins? Do you happen to possess Dueoksini’s Breath?”
“You know of Dueoksini’s Breath?”
“Of course. I was the one who gave it to Lee Gun-san.”
“……!”
This time, Lee-hyun was the one shocked.
Lee Gun-san.
His mentor.
The man who had founded the Cheongroe unit and later closed it down.
“You know Lieutenant General Lee?”
“I know him very well. I even know how many pairs of underwear he owns.”
“……?”
“He was my ex.”
“!?”
“Pahahaha! It was a joke, just a joke. We grew up in the same neighborhood as classmates. Technically I’m a bit older, but after a certain age, what does that even matter?”
“……”
Lee-hyun was beginning to lose count of how many times he had been shaken today.
This was someone who knew how to toy with people at will.
‘To think the one who obtained Dueoksini’s Breath was the Mountain Deity……’
So this was how connections intertwined.
The world truly was small.
“Do you want to know why I called Team Leader Jang here?”
“At first I thought it was because of former Team Leader Jeong……”
“You thought that, and then?”
He raised the face he had slightly lowered.
Whoosh!
His eyes were shimmering with golden light.
‘Relic: Fiery Golden Eyes’ reads the killing intent residing in the opponent’s heart!
Combat Sense (C) sharply heightens perception. Proficiency has risen dramatically, reaching B-rank.
……
“Did you summon me to check whether I would become an obstacle to your granddaughter?”
Mo Jeong-gyeon twisted her lips without answering for a moment.
Sharp.
He even knew how to peer into the hidden side of things.
She was starting to like Jang Lee-hyun.
About twenty percent.
However……
“Something like that. So you’d better make good use of your strengths. I have no desire to personally eliminate a talent my granddaughter went out of her way to bring in.”
“I won’t bother making excuses for my rough methods.”
“Oh?”
“I only killed someone who deserved to die.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon burst into hearty laughter.
Normally, anyone under this kind of pressure would be busy making excuses or claiming self-defense.
Yet Lee-hyun boldly revealed himself.
“And who decides that standard?”
“I do.”
“Who are you to do that?”
“I was the person in charge of the dungeon conquest at the time.”
“That’s strange. If I recall correctly, the team leader of Z-Team was Jeong Sun-il.”
“My name was the one listed on the conquest proposal. According to the guild regulations, even if a superior exists within the conquest team, responsibility for the conquest project itself falls to the primary planner.”
Usually, conquest proposals were written and submitted by the entire team, so the primary planner’s name was also listed as the team leader’s.
That was why almost no one inside the guild remembered it, but Lee-hyun seized exactly on that point.
“If you intend to discipline me over my responsibility and judgment at the time, I will accept it willingly. However, leaving an A-rank hunter who had fallen into severe mental contamination and was swinging his blade at his own comrades was absolutely unacceptable.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon liked Lee-hyun even more now.
About forty percent.
“If that was the case, couldn’t you have simply subdued him? Team Leader Jang, you seem more than capable of doing so.”
“I had just cleared the dungeon, so I had no strength left.”
“Lie.”
“……”
“You don’t seriously think you can fool my eyes, do you?”
“Then……”
Lee-hyun gave a bitter smile.
He had wondered if it might work.
Of course it hadn’t.
A god could not be deceived.
A light sigh.
And then—
In an instant, Lee-hyun’s gaze changed.
“I’ll say it plainly. I killed him because I simply wanted to.”
Fifty percent.
Mo Jeong-gyeon felt as though she could finally see Lee-hyun’s true nature.
Whoosh!
At the same time, an enormous storm of rank erupted.
Lee-hyun’s shoulders were crushed beneath the heavy air. His body trembled violently as one knee was forced to the ground.
『Did you think you could act like a spoiled brat just because the people around you indulged you? Does this place look like your playground?』
The god’s voice lent even greater force to the storm of rank.
He wondered if he would be crushed at this rate,
yet Lee-hyun forcibly raised his head.
‘This level of pressure……!’
He had felt something similar once before, inside Monkey’s Den when he first met Sun Wukong.
Red blood vessels bulged around his golden eyes.
“I have never…… once thought of this place as a playground. On the contrary, I have always seen it as…… a battlefield for survival.”
『…….』
“To survive…… one must struggle. That is why I removed anyone who could become…… an obstacle. For my sake…… and for Team Leader Lim’s sake as well.”
『……!』
“Guild Master…… aren’t you testing me for the exact same reason……? To determine whether I can be used as a blade or not……. Grhh.”
Lee-hyun reached the point where he could no longer endure and his remaining knee was about to strike the ground.
At that moment,
[The storm of rank ceases.]
As if it had been a lie, the pressure vanished.
Haa……
Haa……
Lee-hyun wiped away the cold sweat pouring down his face and forced his head up.
Mo Jeong-gyeon was holding the pipe in her mouth.
Her expression made it impossible to tell whether she was smiling or not.
Through the disheveled folds of her clothing, her decadent beauty seemed to radiate even more strongly.
Whoosh—
White smoke billowed outward.
Lee-hyun instinctively knew he had to drive the point home here.
“At the very least, I will not become an obstacle to Team Leader Lim. Both she and I are looking in the same direction.”
“You’re willing to become a blade?”
“Use me however you wish. It was the same when I was in the military.”
“And if our directions ever diverge?”
“I will leave of my own accord.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“My principle is to always repay kindness with kindness. If I ever break that principle,”
Lee-hyun drew another deep breath.
His eyes shone brilliantly.
Like will-o’-the-wisps had been lit within them.
“then take my life. I will gladly offer my head at that time.”
His gaze was firm.
As though it would never be extinguished.
Mo Jeong-gyeon’s lips twisted even wider.
One hundred percent……
Mo Jeong-gyeon lowered the pipe.
Tap!
“You may leave.”
Lee-hyun could not read Mo Jeong-gyeon’s thoughts, but he knew he had at least passed this urgent test.
“Rest well.”
Lee-hyun bowed his head and exited the room.
The sweat clinging to his hands…… still refused to dry.
A sense of relief at having survived.
Yet at the same time,
‘Someday…… I want to stand like that as well.’
A new goal had taken root.
Mo Jeong-gyeon placed fresh leaves into the pipe and brought it to her lips once more.
Whoosh—
“Become a blade……? He sure knows how to say things he doesn’t mean.”
Lee-hyun himself might have spoken those words with complete sincerity.
But Mo Jeong-gyeon knew better.
Someone like him could never be used as a mere blade.
He had the makings of a blade master—no, the makings of someone who would command such blade masters.
“I wondered whether he was a hound or a wolf…… but to think a tiger cub would walk in instead.”
And not an ordinary tiger, either.
A white tiger.
‘White tigers have a hard time surviving because their white fur makes them too conspicuous. But once they fully mature, the story changes. Having overcome such tremendous environmental constraints, they possess both keen intellect and a ferocious temperament.’
Mo Jeong-gyeon found Lee-hyun far too much to her liking.
One hundred percent had become one hundred and twenty.
He was exactly to her taste.
Yet precisely because of that, the question of whether to keep or dispose of him became troublesome.
“Two tigers cannot coexist on the same mountain……”
If a fully grown white tiger were to claim the inner chambers, that would be a problem in its own right.
Unless—
“It would be a different matter if his territory expanded into an entire mountain range.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon’s lips curved crookedly.
Various thoughts flashed through her mind.
Just then,
Thud, thud, thud!
“Grandmother!”
Sudden commotion erupted outside.
Whoosh—
Mo Jeong-gyeon exhaled smoke and let out a dry laugh.
“Just who does he take after to be so utterly lacking in decorum?”
Mo Jeong-gyeon turned her head toward Lim Won-young, who was striding in.
They had much to discuss.