Founding the Blacksmith Guild
It had been a while since the guild had a proper outing. I brought Ji Suyeon along too. She had been stuck in the endless loop of house-forge-house-forge, and she was starting to twist herself into knots from boredom, so I had no choice. The place we arrived at was Sejong. It was where the Mercenary Bureau and Prydwen's headquarters were located.
"Doesn't calling it a 'headquarters' sound a little awkward? We're not some bandit gang."
"Hmm… mountain stronghold? Main base? Head office?"
"Government building?"
"For a middle-school dropout, you're pretty sharp."
"And for a high-school graduate, Boss, you're pretty ignorant…"
"Suyeon-ahhhhh─! When did you get here!!!"
We had been trading jabs in the empty conference room when the door burst open and Lee Minyoung stormed in. She immediately wrapped Ji Suyeon in a bear hug, stretching her cheeks and sniffing the top of her head. Just watching it was exhausting.
"How is she so cute? She's too cute! Hnnng! Haaaa─!"
"Unnie… I can't breathe…"
"You're going to suffocate the poor girl."
"I missed you too, Deputy Commander~!"
"Ah, yes… And about the hugging between us…"
When I gently pushed her away, Lee Minyoung puffed her cheeks out like a pufferfish. What was I supposed to do? No matter how much she pouted, certain things were still off-limits.
"I received the dark iron you sent last time."
"I put in requests with the mercenaries for the dark iron too. It's not as good as mana stones, but they said it's pretty profitable. I'll keep sending it steadily."
"…That's good, but the hugging is still a bit much."
"That's right, Chief Minyoung. Stop harassing our VIP and take a seat already."
Park Yeongjun, who had followed her in, pulled Lee Minyoung away. If he had been even a little later, I would have ended up like a fish caught in an octopus's tentacles. I broke out in a cold sweat as we all sat down. The atmosphere finally calmed.
"Deputy Commander, I assume Chief Minyoung has briefed you?"
"Yes. She said we should create a guild."
Lee Minyoung's proposal to establish a Blacksmith Guild. At first, I could only let out a hollow laugh. In the traditional sense, a guild was just a group of people in the same trade gathering to handle various matters. The basic requirement was multiple people, yet the only awakened blacksmiths we knew were me and Ji Suyeon.
Calling just the two of us "multiple people" feels way too forced.
Besides, our relationship was simply boss and employee. If I gave Ji Suyeon something, it was a bonus. If she gave me something, it was just an assistant helping out.
"People usually call a case like ours a 'business with fewer than five employees.'"
"Haha, that's true. However, such trivial details aren't important."
"I'm not really following what you're saying."
"A guild is ultimately just a symbol."
"Do you know the story from the Joseon Dynasty about fighting over mourning clothes? It's called the Yesong Controversy."
"Mourning clothes? Yesong Controversy?"
"Even a middle-school dropout like me knows this. You don't, Boss?"
"I know, I know it, but…"
"See? You don't."
Park Yeongjun subtly raised his hand. At the signal, Lee Minyoung pulled a single sheet of paper from her folder. It was filled with extremely difficult and obscure legal terms.
Special Ability Awakener Operation and Management Act. Commonly referred to as the Hunter Act. The following is a portion of that law.
"An awakener refers to a person who manifests superhuman physical abilities or supernatural powers that distinguish them from ordinary people due to innate or acquired factors."
"I'm already getting sleepy."
"You only need to understand one key sentence, so focus! See here? It says an awakener is someone who has gained powers through whatever means."
"Awakeners have commonly been called hunters. Though that's not a legal term at all."
"But Suyeon, are you a hunter? What about you, Deputy Commander?"
"No, we're blacksmiths… Oh?"
Hunter meant awakener, and awakener meant hunter. That had been common sense. Until now, there had never been an awakener who wasn't a hunter. But Ji Suyeon was different. She could handle mana, but she had zero combat ability. Could she really be called a hunter?
"We want to divide awakeners into several detailed categories."
"Those good at fighting will be hunters, while those who make swords will be classified as awakened blacksmiths. Later, categories like alchemists or meteorologists might appear too, right?"
It certainly seemed plausible. Still, I couldn't quite grasp what they hoped to gain by classifying awakeners this way.
"Suyeon realized she had awakened as a blacksmith. But she still took the test at the Hunter Association."
"If other non-combat awakeners appear, they'll head to the Association as well."
Suddenly, Ji Suyeon's face turned deathly pale. It seemed the trauma from when Gu Cheonhwan had kidnapped her was resurfacing. Lee Minyoung gently stroked her hand, comforting her.
"Cases like Suyeon's could happen again."
"To be honest, there's an even bigger reason. If the hunters absorb the non-combat awakeners, the delicate balance of power we've barely maintained could completely collapse."
"So we'll reduce the hunters' power while increasing ours."
"Correct."
"The problem is… is that even possible?"
The hunters weren't fools. They wouldn't sit quietly while their interests were threatened. Massive checks and pressure were bound to come.
"There's no need to worry. We hold the moral high ground."
"Take Suyeon. She took the hunter test and failed. All hunters are awakeners, but not all awakeners are hunters. She's the perfect example of that proposition."
"Our logic is sufficient with that."
"Just one case?"
"The rest falls into the realm of lobbying."
The realm of lobbying? Beside me, Ji Suyeon furrowed her brow and nodded slowly.
"We see this claim as reasonable, but… in reality, it's a 'call it a nose ring or an earring' situation."
"By custom, the term hunter has been used to refer to all awakeners. Therefore, it's not strange to say awakened blacksmiths also fall under hunters, is it?"
"In the end, we need to persuade the people who will make the ruling."
"We'll have to move the legislators."
The plan was to create a detailed subcategory under awakeners that was distinct from hunters. To do that, the law had to change. The Blacksmith Guild would become the symbol of the Awakener Separation Bill. It would serve as a gathering point for craftsmen outside the Hunter Association's influence. There was a lot of work ahead.
"Then what should I do?!"
Ji Suyeon's eyes sparkled.
"Suyeon-ing just needs to enjoy some delicious malatang daeng~!"
Lee Minyoung rolled over in her wheeled chair and hugged Ji Suyeon tightly.
"Why is she so pretty! Why is she so pretty! Can I blow a raspberry on your tummy?"
"Kyaa! I'm not a dog!"
"That's right, Suyeon. Just keep making rings diligently, study hard, don't be picky with food, and listen to your parents."
"I don't have parents, though?"
"Ah… I'm sorry. Actually, I don't either."
The Gu Cheonhwan-related reports continued day after day. To be precise, the coverage that had been dying down was flaring up again. Information that had been carefully hidden was now pouring out. It was as if someone had thrown a white phosphorus grenade into a fire that was about to go out.
They're doing well.
The roles had been assigned. Prydwen was in charge of managing public opinion.
The Mercenary Bureau was laying the groundwork before creating a full-scale issue. It meant they had begun collecting and managing information on influential non-awakened figures in the political world.
At this level, the work was already halfway done. But half wasn't enough to win the fight. It would just drag on in a boring stalemate. Now it was time for me to prepare a decisive blow that would flip the board. The targets were the politicians who were awakeners themselves.
"Kya! I see your lips twitching. You must be cooking up something fun!"
"Wouldn't you be excited about making them sign a bill that puts a leash around their own necks?"
"It won't be easy, though!"
"Do you know what all the hunter-turned-politicians have in common?"
"Kyaa! I have no idea at all!"
"They're full of deficiencies."
If you asked a random citizen to draw the face of a hunter politician, nine out of ten would draw an irritated expression. These people were fundamentally full of complaints.
"Most of them can't make as much money in the field anymore because their bodies can't keep up. Whether it's because of an injury or because they're getting old."
Being called a congressman or whatever probably didn't excite them much. They had spent their entire lives being treated like kings simply for being hunters. At times like this, if you scratched that itch for them, they'd grant just about any request.
"Kya, is this the data?"
I spread out the personal information on the hunter politicians that the Mercenary Bureau had obtained. It neatly organized each person's abilities and current situations.
"What do you plan to do with this?!"
"I'm going to give them custom weapons packed with mana. It's a bribe."
"Oho! What a surprisingly brilliant idea. Kyakya!"
Was that a slightly teasing tone? Well, even I had never imagined I would make weapons for these bastards. Before starting the main plan, I sent a text to Yeojeong.
Preparations were complete. I might not know much about the physiology of politics, but I knew one thing for certain: once those above decided something, those below had no choice but to follow. Let's aim for the head first. Go Wonsik, the four-term congressman who lost his wrist. You'll do nicely.