Hello? Suyeon Cadet?
"Excellent. Since the young lady of a prestigious righteous sect desires it, shall we get straight to the point?"
Danche Ryeong leaned back in her chair with arms crossed, staring straight at Hwangbo Suyeon.
"I am well aware that you are desperately searching for the author of the novel published by our Danga Sangdan—the writer known as 'Yul-gong.'"
A cold arc curved Danche Ryeong's lips.
"So, allow me to be equally direct. What is the true reason you are so obsessively tracking Master Yul-gong, mobilizing the world's information networks, and causing all this chaos?"
Danche Ryeong's gaze sharpened as if piercing straight into Hwangbo Suyeon's soul.
"Can you tell me honestly?"
Caught off guard by Danche Ryeong's frontal assault, Hwangbo Suyeon took a moment to steady her breathing and suppress her surging inner energy.
There was no reason to lie. She had come here to rescue the author, and she had no intention of hiding her firm deductions and convictions.
Without holding back, Hwangbo Suyeon unleashed the chilling culmination of her delusions straight from her mind.
"I am convinced that Master Yul-gong is a hidden master and eccentric recluse who has turned his back on the world."
Her voice carried an unshakeable, blind faith without a shred of doubt.
"He has cleverly disguised his profound enlightenment in the vulgar form of a third-rate novel and released it into the world."
At her earnest nonsense, the faintest crease formed between Danche Ryeong's brows.
"However, I have discovered that your Danga Sangdan has committed a vile act against this great eccentric."
"We... committed a vile act?" Danche Ryeong echoed incredulously.
"That's right! You uncovered his true identity and seized his fatal weakness through underhanded schemes!"
Hwangbo Suyeon shot to her feet, unleashing her fury.
"Then, you forcibly imprisoned him in this repulsive merchant guild's underground dungeon, where not even a sliver of sunlight enters!"
Her eyes reddened, her voice trembling with intensity.
"Forcing him to grip a brush all day, exploiting him like sucking his blood and marrow to churn out novels for profit—that's what I suspect!"
This was the mad conclusion drawn by the genius girl Hwangbo Suyeon—the most insane deduction in the world.
The haughty young lady of a prestigious righteous sect, worshipping a mere web novel author as a murim recluse, her eyes even welling with tears. An utterly ridiculous scene.
Right after Hwangbo Suyeon's grand, solemn speech echoed through the reception room.
"Pfft..."
A deflating sound leaked from between Danche Ryeong's red lips.
"Ha, haha..."
And that stifled laugh soon erupted into uncontrollable, booming laughter.
"Ahahaha! Hahahaha!"
Danche Ryeong clutched her stomach, laughing so hard she nearly tumbled from her chair.
The pathetic literature teacher from Cheongryong Mugwan, whom she whipped daily with deadlines, squeezing every drop out of him to push serialization ahead—that worthless gambler who tried to poison himself over unpaid debts—was being revered as a legendary recluse by the world's top righteous sect heiress.
How utterly absurd and insane was this situation?
"You... you find my words amusing?!"
Enraged that her heartfelt deduction was being mocked, Hwangbo Suyeon's face flushed beet red.
As she gathered her aura as if ready to draw her sword from her waist, Danche Ryeong wiped tears from her eyes and barely suppressed her laughter.
"Ah, forgive me. Lady Hwangbo's imagination is so extraordinary that I couldn't help but be overcome with admiration."
Danche Ryeong reverted to her icy expression, shattering Hwangbo Suyeon's delusion with a firm, clear tone.
"However, your brilliant deduction is fundamentally, completely wrong from the root."
"What do you mean, wrong?!"
"First, Danga Sangdan has never once imprisoned Master Yul-gong in an underground dungeon." Danche Ryeong held up one finger.
"Second, we are not sucking his marrow—we have simply entered into a legitimate exclusive contract and are serving him accordingly."
Danche Ryeong brazenly lied, thoroughly ignoring the prick of her conscience.
"And third, your delusion that the author is a recluse—that is the most horrific misunderstanding driving this entire mess to its worst."
"A misunderstanding? How would a third-rate loan shark like you comprehend the profound principles of martial arts contained in that book?!"
Their logics clashed without yielding an inch in a suffocating verbal battle.
Danche Ryeong decided to exploit Hwangbo Suyeon's blind fanaticism precisely.
"Very well. Let's concede a hundred times and assume, as you say, that he is a legendary eccentric."
Danche Ryeong leaned forward over the table, locking eyes with Hwangbo Suyeon.
"Then you must burst through that door right now and reveal Master Yul-gong's identity to those thousand beasts outside holding torches."
Her voice dropped chillingly low.
"And dispatch letters to the Murim Alliance, the Nine Great Sects, and the Five Great Families. Tell them a legendary manual-writing eccentric is imprisoned in Nakyang's Danga Sangdan—beg them to rescue him."
Hwangbo Suyeon's pupils wavered in confusion.
"Imagine what would happen next, with that brilliant mind of yours."
Danche Ryeong whispered a fatal hypothesis like offering a poisoned apple.
"By tomorrow morning, every sect and master in the world would swarm Nakyang to abduct the author."
"Th-that would be..."
"Those who recognize the value in his writing would go mad trying to lock him in their own clans and force out more manuals. If even Danga Sangdan can hold him captive, it won't be hard for them."
Danche Ryeong precisely struck the fear that terrified Hwangbo Suyeon most.
"In that vortex of horrific abductions and massacres, do you truly think Master Yul-gong could survive unscathed and pen the next volume?"
Hwangbo Suyeon's snow-white face drained of color in an instant, freezing stiff.
To her, the author's safety and the novel's continuation were catastrophes worse than the world's end.
"W-we, the Hwangbo Family, pledge our name to protect Master Yul-gong perfectly..."
"Arrogant nonsense!"
Danche Ryeong trampled her words and bellowed.
"Do you think one family's power can shield someone targeted by every force in the world? That would drown even Hwangbo Sega in blood!"
Danche Ryeong pounded her chest with a heroic expression, as if she were the author's final bastion.
"I am hiding his identity so desperately, staking the guild's very fate, to prevent that horrific tragedy."
It was nonsense I'd scoff at, but to fanatic Hwangbo Suyeon, it pierced deeper than any truth.
"Why can't you realize that your reckless pursuit to uncover and expose Master Yul-gong's identity is precisely what will drive him into irreversible death?!"
Overwhelmed by Danche Ryeong's flawless acting and logical facts, Hwangbo Suyeon lost her composure entirely.
The guilt that her blind rescue plan would doom her idol crushed her rigid shoulders.
"Ah..."
A despairing groan escaped Hwangbo Suyeon's lips.
"Th-then... what should I do? I only wanted to serve the author safely..."
Danche Ryeong inwardly cheered at the broken Hwangbo Suyeon and tossed her a lifeline discreetly.
"There is one way."
A sly arc curved Danche Ryeong's lips.
"I will arrange for you to meet Master Yul-gong himself—very secretly, as a special favor."
"R-really?!"
Hope exploded back into Hwangbo Suyeon's eyes like a miracle.
But Danche Ryeong dangled a cool condition—nothing in the world is free.
"In exchange, Lady Hwangbo, you must make one very important promise to me."
"Name it! If I can see the author, money is no object..."
"Money is irrelevant."
Danche Ryeong raised a hand to calm Hwangbo Suyeon's excitement.
"Danga Sangdan exerts every effort to protect the author in murim's shadows. But in the sunlit world—where the guild's reach falls short—we struggle to safeguard him."
Danche Ryeong wove a meticulous trap, perfectly turning Hwangbo Suyeon's terrifying strength and background into her shield.
"Thus, Lady Hwangbo, in those places I cannot protect him—discreetly, without anyone noticing—please take full charge of escorting the author."
"Places Danga Sangdan cannot protect... you say?"
Hwangbo Suyeon furrowed her brow in confusion, not grasping the meaning.
What place in murim could a colossal merchant guild commanding the world not protect? And why would a great absolute master need protection from a mere cadet like her?
Countless questions flashed through her genius mind, but the overwhelming joy of meeting her idol paralyzed all rational doubt.
"Understood."
Hwangbo Suyeon rose and bowed resolutely to Danche Ryeong.
"Even if it costs my life, I will shield the author perfectly from all threats in the world."
Danche Ryeong smiled in satisfaction and clapped lightly twice—clap, clap.
"A splendid decision. Then, please escort Master Yul-gong inside."
The heavy air in the reception room tensed taut in an instant.
Hwangbo Suyeon swallowed hard, staring piercingly at the firmly shut door.
Her heart pounded as if it would burst.
Finally, the moment to behold with her own eyes the novel's author—the recluse master.
In her mind unfolded a majestic vision: an elderly sage with flowing white hair and long beard, like an immortal, opening the door.
And at last.
Creeeak.
The heavy reception room door opened with a cautious, somehow pathetic creak.
"Um... Branch Leader, you called for me?"
A servile, hesitant voice laced with fear.
A shabby, familiar figure peeked through the door crack with a hunched neck.
The instant she recognized him, Hwangbo Suyeon's clear eyes widened in shock and froze solid.
No long-bearded immortal—just a frail body ignorant of even the "mu" in martial arts.
Dark circles from deadlines sagged from under his eyes to his chin, his gaze darting anxiously.
He was the lowly Cheongryong Mugwan literature teacher who'd bored her in Lecture Hall 13 just that morning.
Hwangbo Suyeon's red lips trembled as she groaned in disbelief.
"Teacher... Yeon Woon-ryong?"
I, Yeon Woon-ryong, grasped the horrific situation in the room and wanted nothing more than to collapse and faint.
But under Danche Ryeong's chilling serpent gaze and Hwangbo Suyeon's shocked stare, I could only awkwardly force a grin.
"Aha... ha... ha..."
Sweat poured down as I raised a hand and waved awkwardly.
"Hi? Suyeon Cadet?"
In this mad murim world, the grand swindle of a tenth-year web novel author risking his life had its curtain rise in the most nightmarish way imaginable—a total disaster party.