The Hwarang Guild's Gambit
The Hwarang Guild.
One of the nation's premier player guilds, it had held the undisputed top position in the country ever since the Babel Tower first appeared.
Baekho, backed by the LS Group.
The Phoenix Guild, founded around the same time and locked in constant competition for that top spot.
Countless other guilds had tried to topple Hwarang's stronghold, yet for ten years it had never once faltered.
The throne of domestic supremacy had seemed eternal.
No one imagined it would be shaken by a player who had only been Awakened for a single year.
"Damn it."
Oh Jangwoo, Guild Master of Hwarang, spat the words under his breath, his face tight with frustration.
The conference room was empty.
He had come down early to organize his remarks for the regular guild meeting scheduled in an hour, but his thoughts remained tangled like a ball of thread with no end in sight.
Yu Jinho… Yu Jinho!
Crack.
The corner of the desk splintered under his grip.
Jinho had stood in Hwarang Guild's way ever since the tutorial.
The promising rookie Park Jongwon, on whom the guild had poured massive investment, had been thoroughly humiliated during the tutorial.
And that was only the beginning.
Jinho had then declared his own market value at an absurd 100 billion won, crushing every other headline beneath it.
Should we have recruited him even at that price?
At the time, none of the three major domestic guilds had taken his declaration seriously.
Only Baekho, created by the LS Group, had shown any interest at all.
Even then it had remained mere interest and never developed into actual investment.
Yet in just over a year, Jinho's stature had soared beyond comparison.
In the early days of the first Great Erosion, he had cleared every high-risk gate.
Overseas, he closed gates that foreign powers found impossible to handle and earned the title of hero of the spice system.
And that was not all. He had investigated one of the Ten Great Demonic Realms and handed over concrete data.
Inside the Tower, he was shattering every new record on every floor.
But it was not only Jinho's personal feats that threatened Hwarang.
How in the world did he recruit those two?
The only two rankers who had refused to join any guild.
He had brought Hong Yunsu and Shin Junseok into the fold and founded his own organization.
Even Hwarang, the country's top guild, only possessed three rankers.
The three-way balance that had remained unchanged for years was now facing a disruptive new variable.
"Guild Master, hello… whoa!"
An executive who had just stepped into the conference room sucked in a sharp breath.
Killing intent thick enough to choke the air.
Oh Jangwoo, noticing a moment too late, pulled his aura back in.
"My apologies. I was lost in thought for a moment."
"Haha, not at all, Guild Master."
The executive wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
The conference room filled quickly.
Oh Jangwoo, seated at the head of the table, swept his gaze across the executives.
"Then let us begin."
"Yes, sir. Today's agenda concerns our policy toward the Yeokcheon Guild."
The secretary projected the prepared materials onto the screen.
"Recently, more guilds have been sending love calls to Yeokcheon. The cause appears to be the strengthened mission rewards."
"I thought it was just a baseless rumor. It's real?"
"It is. We have secured testimony from domestic players who completed missions alongside Yu Jinho."
"How is something like that even possible?"
"They reported seeing text indicating that the Constellations had intervened."
"Unbelievable. I can barely hear the voices of the Constellations myself."
One executive grumbled in a disgruntled tone.
Everyone present was a player ranging from Platinum to Diamond rank.
They were veterans who had survived every trial the Tower could throw at them, which was precisely why they had become Hwarang executives.
Perhaps that was why they found the rumor so difficult to believe.
"The important question is not whether the Constellations intervened," Oh Jangwoo said, his heavy voice instantly silencing the murmurs.
"The real issue is how Hwarang chooses to respond."
"The investment deal with the Nine Dragons Syndicate was also nullified, wasn't it?"
Jang Wufei's pointless death.
After the gate break incident in the Dunhuang Desert, the Nine Dragons Syndicate had slid steadily downhill.
The annihilation of their main combat forces!
They had lost their position as China's top guild, and the remaining members had fractured into factions, each scrambling for their own slice of the pie. The syndicate had completely disintegrated.
"It was an action you personally approved, Guild Master. There's little point in revisiting it now…"
An executive muttered while carefully watching Oh Jangwoo's expression.
Such a thing would have been unthinkable in the past.
Oh Jangwoo's repeated blunders concerning matters related to Jinho had cost him considerable influence inside the guild.
"The Association is also gradually reducing Hwarang's share in gate distribution."
"They have connections with Yu Jinho as well, correct?"
"He's a member of the Special Task Force, after all."
"Ha. That damned Special Task Force."
The moment the Player Association learned of the cozy relationship between the Nine Dragons Syndicate and Hwarang, they had begun imposing quiet penalties.
The organization had been virtually powerless only a year ago.
Yet after the gate incidents, the Association's influence had shot sky-high.
A large part of the reason the Association could expand its power so dramatically was due to Jinho's assistance.
"We can no longer afford to oppose Yu Jinho."
"What if we support the Phoenix or Baekho to push Yeokcheon back?"
"That might actually be wiser. Especially since Baekho's forces are currently split."
"Ah, you mean that Seo Jeongmin player?"
"It seems he's built up quite a faction internally. Not enough to overthrow Guild Master Seo Hyeonmin, but significant nonetheless."
Seo Jeongmin, the man who had caused the Black Tiger Rebellion in the original timeline.
Because of internal strife, Baekho would eventually fall from the three major guilds in disgrace.
In the original history they had tried to weaken Seo Hyeonmin's position by involving Jinho, which had twisted the future, yet their position remained the most unstable of the three.
"Let me ask you one thing. If we extend our hand, do you truly believe Yu Jinho will take it?"
Oh Jangwoo's voice filled the entire conference room.
His tone was not particularly loud, yet his presence alone was enough to drown out every executive.
"The water has already been spilled. Before Yeokcheon gains any more momentum, we need to find a way to press them down once and for all."
Oh Jangwoo made no effort to hide his discomfort.
"Guild Master, what if we demonstrate our strength instead?"
"Demonstrate our strength?"
"Yes. Show Yu Jinho the true power of the Hwarang Guild so that he reaches out to us first."
Oh Jangwoo's lips twitched.
The executive who had spoken realized he had successfully caught the Guild Master's interest and continued.
"We propose a joint raid on the Ogre Fortress in Mt. Jiri through the Association."
"Isn't the Ogre Fortress a place where even we would struggle in a full-scale assault?"
"But with Hong Yunsu and Shin Junseok, the story changes completely."
The Ogre Fortress.
An A-rank gate the Association had classified as high difficulty.
After being assigned the gate, Hwarang had chosen not to attack it directly. Instead they had steadily reduced the monster population to prevent it from reaching its critical limit.
Oh Jangwoo tapped the armrest of his chair.
We can display our strength to the Yeokcheon Guild and eliminate this troublesome gate at the same time.
Asking the Association to mediate would lower Hwarang's prestige.
However.
"Contact Association President Kim Wooseong. Tell him I will visit him personally."
He was in no position to be picky.
Oh Jangwoo rose from his seat in the middle of the executive meeting.
The one who suddenly came to see me was Team Leader Han Suchang.
He delivered unexpected news.
"A joint raid on the gate located in Mt. Jiri."
"Guild Master Oh Jangwoo proposed it directly to the Association President."
"The Hwarang Guild owing a favor to the Association. How unexpected."
The Player Association had always been treated as one step beneath the guilds.
Although their influence had grown after the first Great Erosion, they were still a notch below the three major domestic guilds.
Team Leader Han Suchang offered a faint smile.
"It's all thanks to you, Operator Jinho."
"You don't need to tell me what I already know."
Sigh. You still need to learn a little more humility, my contractor.
I brushed off the Goddess's voice with one ear.
"By the way, what exactly is the gate that opened near Mt. Jiri?"
"It's called the Ogre Fortress. As the name suggests, it's an A-rank gate infested with ogres."
Hmm. Even digging through my past-life memories, nothing came to mind.
In the original timeline, it seemed Hwarang had successfully closed it.
"Ogres mean the difficulty is fairly high."
"It's dangerous even for Platinum-rank players."
"The fact that they still haven't cleared it means they've been managing it to prevent the limit from being reached."
"Correct. That's why they expressed their desire to conduct a joint raid with the Yeokcheon Guild through the Association."
It smelled like a trap.
Oh Jangwoo would not have reached out for such a simple reason.
The Hwarang Guild possessed quite a few Diamond-rank players of their own.
If there were no variables inside the gate, they could clear it by investing time steadily.
"Proceed."
"Are you certain? The Hwarang Guild surely has some scheme in mind."
"Whatever they prepare, it won't work on me."
Our forces were more than sufficient.
My own ability had recovered over thirty percent compared to my pre-regression peak.
I had grown strong enough to dominate anything beyond the sixtieth floor.
And what of the colleagues who followed me?
Every single one of them had made a name for themselves even during the era of destruction.
They still had a long way to go before regaining their full past strength.
Yet it was true that each of them already possessed combat ability above their current ranks.
We also had two rankers on our side.
"Besides, it's a good opportunity."
"What sort of opportunity?"
"The opportunity to announce that Yeokcheon is the greatest guild in the country."
I had already decided to concede the title of world's best guild to the Gold Moon Guild and William Rockefeller.
Being number one domestically was something I could claim for myself, wasn't it?
If Yeokcheon's fame rose, it would only help with the next stages of my plan.
Even an elite few needed reputation.
"If they're willingly crawling into their own grave, why should I refuse?"
I had no idea what the Hwarang Guild was preparing.
Whether they intended to compete with us in strength during the joint raid.
Or whether they would try to dig a trap like the Nine Dragons Syndicate had.
Either way, it made no difference to me.
If they wanted a contest of strength inside the gate, I would simply crush them.
If they sought a life-or-death struggle like Guryong-bang, I would simply take their lives.
In the future where the Hwarang Guild had remained powerful, they had ultimately been of little help during the era of destruction.
Therefore.
There was no reason whatsoever to hesitate in removing them.
"Then I will convey that we accept the joint raid proposal."
"Thank you, Team Leader Han Suchang."
The future was changing.
I had no intention of simply letting it flow. I would seize the current and bend it to my will.