The Owl (2)
When the party returned to Eden Camp, their faces were bright again.
Easy to say, of course—Floor 5 had been hell in its own right. Hyun Si-woon was not the sort to take things lightly, and even on a route he already knew for certain he had put them through endless hardship.
"Elder! We're back!"
Hwang Dae-un's booming voice filled the camp entrance with life in an instant.
"Aigoo, our heroes are home!"
"No one hurt this time either?"
Residents dropped what they were doing and came running. It was a scene that already felt like routine. Si-woon and the others exchanged brief greetings, then scattered to their own quarters—time to shower, change into soft fresh clothes, eat a proper meal, and collapse into a plush bed.
Jang Cha-yul's room.
She lay comfortably on the bed, legs crossed, staring into empty air. At the end of her gaze floated a translucent community window.
Heh. This is the good stuff.
Her username was Chachacha. By now she was a free-board named everyone in the community knew—sharp analysis, frank talk, even a following of her own. As always, she was getting ready to announce her return.
The title was already decided.
An aggro title, but the content was solid—the dangers of Ash-gray Avalon she had lived through herself, monster patterns, even a few hints on the location of the Saint's Ash. All of it cleared with the guild master first. Anything on the hidden route, of course, had to stay out.
She had been writing for a while and was smiling in satisfaction, about to hit the post button, when—
Ding!
You have received mail.
The mailbox icon in the upper right sparkled with a clear chime.
Hm?
Who? The only people on her friends list were the team and Yoon Tae-shik. She had even set it so messages from non-friends wouldn't trigger an alert. Friends saw her real name; everyone else saw the handle Chachacha.
Might as well look.
She pressed it with her gaze.
"……!"
Cha-yul jerked upright on the bed in shock.
Huh? How did they know that?
Did I post something?
No—she hadn't even posted yet. A full-body chill ran over her; cold sweat slid down her spine. She worried, irrationally, that some trace she had left on the community was why they were saying this.
Polite language. A father's aching, desperate plea. But a blade was hidden underneath.
They knew. No—they were certain. That we had cleared Floor 5. And they were using that information as bait to drag us up into the open.
No.
This was not something she could decide alone.
Bang!
Still in her sleepwear, Cha-yul slammed her door open and bolted out—to tell Hyun Si-woon.
"Hmm."
Hyun Si-woon's room. In the silence, Si-woon rested his chin in his hand and stared into empty space. Floating before his eyes was the mail Cha-yul had shared.
"Does this even make sense?"
It was Cha-yul who broke the quiet.
"How the hell do they know we cleared Floor 5? We didn't post the second we got out, and we never left a single trace on the community."
Si-woon kept his eyes on the screen without a word. It was impressive enough that they knew six more people had passed Floor 5. Pinning it on them specifically?
I was going to keep watching them for a while… but this is a different situation.
His gaze cooled and settled. Owl Guild. They might be far sharper and more dangerous than he had thought. With this level of intelligence work, it was not out of the question that they already had most of the party's movements mapped. They would already know Chachacha was Jang Cha-yul.
"Send a reply, noona. Ask them how they knew."
"Uh—yeah. Okay."
Cha-yul wrote with unsteady eyes. The answer came back almost at once, as if they had been waiting.
"……They want a meeting? The tone's still like an official document, at least."
Cha-yul muttered as she shared the reply. Si-woon thought for a moment, then told her to answer again—harder this time. Show your cards first. Otherwise there will be no meeting.
Once more, the reply was immediate.
"……!"
Cha-yul's mouth fell open. The whole reason the Wandering Merchant alliance had been run as a cell structure was to prevent exactly this—and they already had it?
"Huh?"
Even Si-woon, reading the shared mail, opened his eyes wide.
"Well look at them."
They hadn't named <Midas's Hand> or <Medalist>, but it was still plenty provocative. Not a probing tone—almost a statement of fact. An appeal: recognize how valuable we are.
"Si-woon……"
That was when Cha-yul suddenly bowed her head.
"I'm sorry. If I left some kind of trace while I was active on the community……"
"No."
Si-woon cut her off firmly. He leaned back into the sofa.
"It's not your fault, noona. If anything, we've gotten way more out of you than they have."
Thanks to Cha-yul they could pull community information fast—an enormous advantage. The freedom to ignore all of that and focus purely on training.
"The fact they're coming out this hard means they have something beyond what we imagined. Something like Lumi, maybe. This might have been something they'd have figured out no matter who it was—not just you."
Si-woon stretched long.
"Hoo. Looks like I'll have to go meet them myself."
Yoon Tae-shik paced the admin office in agitation. A question from the other side was a good sign. He had cast the bait; now they only had to bite……
Please……
Those few moments felt like an eternity. If they took the offer as a threat and cut the partnership, everything would fall apart. One of the lifelines that could save his daughter, Seo-a, would snap.
Then—
Ding!
You have received mail.
"It's here!"
He opened it at once.
"Uht!"
A low exclamation burst from Yoon Tae-shik. He shot to his feet. Relief and excitement wrapped his whole body at once.
"Shadow!"
"Yes, hyung-nim?"
Yoon Tae-shik called for Shadow.
"Gather the kids. This is an emergency."
National Central Library, basement level one—the reading room.
Ten Owl members were gathered in one place, every one of them an elite of elites, Floor 3 or higher and skilled in information warfare.
"Guild Master, what's this sudden summons for?"
Vice Guild Master Kang Jin-ho asked.
"We have a guest coming."
"A guest?"
"Yes. A very precious one. The Wandering Merchant has agreed to come to our hideout in person."
"……!"
A stir ran through the members.
"Is that real? We're finally going to see the Wandering Merchant ourselves?"
"Whoa, insane…… What do they look like? A woman? A man?"
Voices rose, full of wonder and curiosity. Not everyone reacted that way, though.
"Guild Master."
Kang Jin-ho was cautious.
"Isn't this a dangerous gamble? If they're really the monsters who broke Floor 5…… they'll be stronger than us. Looking at how much TC they pull in alone, we're clearly behind—and we don't have enough trust built to expose the hideout."
A fair concern. Yoon Tae-shik did not waver. He met Kang Jin-ho's eyes calmly.
"Jin-ho. I know what you're worried about. But it'll be fine."
"……"
"I saw countless criminals at the National Police Agency. Just looking at a face, just hearing a voice, I get a rough sense of what kind of person they are. I'm past the point of mastery when it comes to that."
Jang Cha-yul. That woman was not a villain. If anything she was closer to a martial artist with a firm creed. The odds that the leader she served was some extreme, merciless evil were vanishingly low.
More than that—they had partnered with <Dandelion Seed>. They had extended a hand to a gathering of the weak, with no combat power and no intelligence network. Was that the kind of move a villain drunk on greed and strength would make?
Yoon Tae-shik explained all of that thoroughly to the members. Then he drove the final nail.
"You all know how desperate I am. Seo-a doesn't have much time. The Wandering Merchant is my last hope."
"……"
Kang Jin-ho let out a long breath.
This hyung-nim, bringing Seo-a into it here……
By now Yoon Seo-a was like family to the Owl members too. And the Guild Master's words were right—logically and emotionally. But he was the vice master. His responsibility was to put the members' safety first.
"All right, hyung-nim. In exchange, let's at least put some minimal safeguards in place."
"Go on."
"The meeting goes with only the Guild Master and me. The rest of the members wait in ambush around the hideout in case of emergency."
Not a bad compromise. If the Wandering Merchant really was a villain, the order would be to run, not fight.
"Good. We'll do it that way."
At last every disagreement was settled. Yoon Tae-shik sent a quick reply.
Tomorrow night, midnight. He would receive them at the main gate of the National Central Library.