Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Sudden Surge in Followers
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After returning from Gangwon Province, we spent the next few days resting without any schedule.
Today was one of those days.
"Yo-na, how are you so good at Korean food too?"
"No, it's just that everyone enjoys it so much."
"Don't say that. This kimchi stew tastes like it was made with three-year-aged fermented shrimp sauce freshly scooped from a jar in the backyard."
"Ah, unnie!"
Seong Yo-na's face flushed at my exaggeration, but I meant every word.
It was the kind of taste that healed the soul.
I could tell just by looking at the others sitting beside me, wolfing down their food without a word.
Geiiing— geiiing—
The thing interrupting this soul-nourishing meal was the smartphone buzzing in my pocket.
"Ah, I think my phone's broken."
I pulled out the phone that had been nagging at me for days and set it on the table as I spoke.
"Your phone's broken?"
Jang Su-ho, who was on his fourth refill sitting next to me, asked.
"Yeah. It keeps vibrating even when there's nothing there. And because of that, the battery drains so fast."
"That can't be right. Isn't it just notifications coming in?"
I turned on the phone at Lee Yu-chan's question, but I couldn't figure out what the notifications were for.
At that moment, Lee Yu-eul swallowed the mouthful of food she'd been chewing and said,
"Isn't that Stargram DMs?"
"DM? What's that?"
"Messages. Messages."
"Messages?"
Did Stargram even have that feature?
As I peered at the screen, poking around, Lee Yu-chan, apparently fed up, snatched the phone, tapped something, and showed me.
"See? DMs. There's a red badge in the corner here."
"No, if it's messages, they should pop up right on the screen! How's someone like me supposed to know?!"
Sure enough, as Lee Yu-chan said, there were tons of DMs.
[ Justice Guild, I love you!! ♥ ]
[ Hello, we are an online viral marketing agency... ]
[ Account manager! If you want to send a gift to Justice Guild... ]
[ Hello. I'm a resident of Gangwon Province. Regarding this gate... ]
[ Kang Han is so cool! Give me your number! Or your personal account... ]
"These days, they even do business proposals like collaborations via DM."
"Ehh? They do that through messages? I had no idea."
"Our account owner is really hopeless at this stuff."
Lee Yu-chan snickered, teasing me.
"You little... Huh?"
"What? Did you get a lucky chain letter or something?"
"No, not that."
I set down the spoon I'd been holding and rubbed my eyes.
Then I looked at the screen again.
"Why's the follower count like this?"
I showed the screen to Jang Su-ho.
"163k? Oh, that's gone up a lot."
"Gone up a lot? That's it? It jumped like this in just a few days?!"
When I yelled at Jang Su-ho's calm reaction—expecting him to freak out more than me—Im Cheong-su, who had been quietly eating until then, shrugged and said,
"Other guilds are around that number too."
No, that's other guilds!
We're Justice Guild!
The neighborhood punching bag Justice Guild!
The hated Justice Guild!
I couldn't quite say it out loud.
But as if reading my mind, Im Cheong-su smirked.
"It's because our guild got so much hate before. Mid-tier guilds hit that number easy."
"Cheong-su, eat more. There's more pork in the kimchi stew over there."
"Yeah, yeah."
Growing teens don't need to worry about that stuff.
I diverted Im Cheong-su's attention to the pork in his kimchi stew and scrolled through the DMs, reading just the previews.
"Hmm."
As expected.
Not all the messages were good.
There were ones straight-up insulting me, and ones cursing us like, 'You think you're gonna keep succeeding?'
'Can't let the kids see this.'
It might shock them.
But I wasn't bothered at all.
If anything, it made me hungrier.
Because spewing trash talk at Justice Guild required first 'recognizing' who we were.
In other words, we'd entered the public's radar.
"Whew, this meal tastes like honey."
After the meal, I dug around online a bit and found the reason for our sudden follower spike.
One of the civilian survivors from the Gangwon guerrilla gate had posted a vivid account.
Survivor from Gangwon Guerrilla Gate
Blackmama | Views: 5,684,207
Went on a mountain club MT trip and it turned into that mess ㅠㅠ At first, I really thought we were goners. We were drinking with friends, and on a drunken whim, we ditched the trail to climb the mountain. I'm seriously regretting it now, so please no hate... Anyway, we ended up climbing into an area with zero foot traffic. . . . Suddenly, the Taesan hunters all rushed out of the gate. They totally forgot about us or something... I thought, this is it, we're dead. So we hid in a rock crevice with my friends. The kids were bleeding nonstop, hurting like hell even with injuries, missing mom and dad ㅠㅠㅠ After a long time with no sounds, I was thinking how to leave a dying message since phones don't work here (good thing I didn't now). Then Lee Yu-chan hunter and Nayeo-ju hunter found us... ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Even thinking about it now makes me tear up. Nayeo-ju hunter, wherever you are, I'm bowing in all directions ㅠㅠ She immediately healed my friends first, and even fixed the back wound I hadn't mentioned because it hurt too much to speak.. Taesan straight-up said civilians should go out and get treated, but she got mad, saying that's not right ㅠㅠ It was so moving. Looked it up after, and civilian rescue really is priority. Why'd Taesan do that... Anyway, thanks to them, my friends are safe and I'm fine too. Everyone, never climb mountains drunk!!
"The comments are good too."
It felt weird saying it myself, but the most common was 'Nayeo-ju hunter is badass.'
"Ahem."
And there were plenty slamming Taesan Guild.
"They deserve it."
It wasn't even a gate you couldn't exit once entered.
Nor was dungeon break imminent.
Unlike us, Taesan had spare manpower, so pulling a few from the rear to evacuate those three civilians first, then rejoining, would've been easy.
In the end, it could only be explained as gate clear greed over civilian rescue.
"Im Cheong-su, did you see that college kid's review post online? Looks like that's why followers spiked."
I waved my phone at Im Cheong-su, who was just entering the training grounds.
"Oh, really? I'm busy now, I'll check later."
"Busy? With what?"
I called out to his back as he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and headed to the workshop.
"Something like that."
"What do you mean 'something like that'?"
When I pressed again, Im Cheong-su sighed deeply and stopped.
"...Trying to make wound healing potions."
"Wound healing potions? You can just buy those."
"They're expensive, so you won't buy them."
"True. Why buy when you've got me."
Regular potions are pricey, but wound healing ones are ridiculous.
One big perk of a guild with a healer like me is not needing to stock them separately.
"Hey, instead of that, make the concentration potion like you mentioned last time. Killer idea. Crafters would lose their minds. You could sell 'em for way more."
At my words, Im Cheong-su finally turned to look at me.
"What. Why are your eyes so wide?"
His expression said it all: This sister, seriously...
After staring at me for a few seconds with that money-ghost glare, he headed back to the workshop.
"I'll make concentration potions too. But wound healing first."
"No, but..."
"I'm busy, so don't bother me."
With that, he slammed the workshop door shut.
What's up with him all of a sudden?
"...Is this our kid's puberty?"
After the guerrilla gate raid, Im Cheong-su wasn't the only one acting different.
"Na Baek-ho, it's hot, you furball. Move over a bit?"
"Kua-woong."
Na Baek-ho plopped right back against my leg after I nudged him away, growling defiantly.
Meaning no.
"What's with the separation anxiety all of a sudden."
It wasn't just Na Baek-ho.
The familiars wouldn't leave their owners' sides afterward.
Click—
Kang Han emerged from training into the living room, with Baek Young coiled tightly around his neck.
"Training over?"
"No. Just taking a break."
Lately, Kang Han had been training pure spear arts without skills.
Like a right-hander training only left-handed—unnatural.
Maybe that's why Kang Han looked extra worn out sinking into the sofa today.
'Wish there was a spear arts teacher.'
Even a protagonist who's good alone wouldn't master an unfamiliar weapon solo easily.
"Nayeo-ju-ssi, could you help recover some stamina?"
"Ah, sure."
I sat up from my slouched position and took Kang Han's hand.
As I restored his stamina, Kang Han's complexion improved noticeably.
But that wasn't the end.
Pling~
With a sound like bubbles softly rising, affection rose.
Not Kang Han's—Baek Young's.
Hoo, well now?