Guild Master

An unprecedented catastrophe had slammed into the Republic of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Korea without warning, and once again a single hero had dragged the nation back from the edge of ruin. Naturally, every newspaper, every television broadcast, and the public itself could talk of nothing else.

Snow's name spilled from headline after headline.

A Dungeon Break. A Gate would run wild for reasons no one could explain, and the monsters sealed in the dungeon beyond it would invade the earth with their power multiplied several times over. More than a few nations had already suffered blows tantamount to annihilation from EX-rank Dungeon Breaks on a scale no one could answer—and the people of Korea, too, had spent the previous night in terror.

But once a terror like that was dealt with, the thrill that followed always struck harder than the relief of surviving any ordinary crisis. Paradoxically, though the entire nation had felt death breathing down its neck only yesterday, today everyone was rejoicing and praising a single hero.

"We're alive! We actually made it!!"

"Woooo!!!"

The hero himself, however...

"Everyone... you all seem pretty angry...."

He was having a rather hard time soothing a chat that had gone up in flames.

Hmm... it's been a while since they burned this hot. This was the day after I'd come back from landing a whale. Strange way to put it? Whatever—the day after I'd finished cleaning up that incident. I stared at a chat hot enough to roast sweet potatoes on, drumming my fingers against the desk while I thought it over.

The truth was, I didn't really understand why everyone was acting like this.

"But, everyone... why are you all so fired up?"

That single line set the chat blazing all over again, but I didn't particularly mind. I said what I'd wanted to say.

"I mean... sure, people were going on about Korea being doomed and all. But everyone already knew that hero called Snow was going to save us, right?"

This wasn't the first time, or the second. Lately, catastrophe-class Dungeon Breaks had been erupting across the Republic of Korea with unnatural frequency, and every single time, I had been the one to stop them.

So why were they suddenly trembling now?

The chat kindly answered that question for me.

"Hmm... is that so."

I accepted what they were saying, for the moment. Not that I would ever doze off and miss a catastrophe, and even if I went overseas I would leave countermeasures in place first, so nothing of the sort would happen. I simply couldn't explain any of that here.

Anyway, once they'd answered me, I looked over a chat that was still demanding compensation for this and that. A small smirk tugged at my mouth, and I gave them the words they wanted to hear.

"All right. Next time I go live... I'll try a different game. I've been fishing a lot lately, anyway."

With that one sentence, the mood of the chat flipped a full one-eighty.

"Then I'll end today's stream here. See you next time, everyone."

And so, in a warm atmosphere I hadn't felt in quite a while, I was able to wrap the short broadcast I'd switched on during the day. Honestly, I'd wanted to keep going.

Someone had called.

Bzzzzzt.

The moment I saw that name glowing on my phone, I ended the stream and picked up.

"Hey, Seol Hee... what's going on?"

Seol Hee—my little sister in this world. I took her call and rose from my seat.

Just as I'd thought. My hunch that things were about to get busy hadn't been wrong.

Since being born into this world, I had gained two younger siblings—a sister, and a brother.

For someone who had been alone in his previous life, having siblings was something rather special, and so I could say, in my own way, that I got along well with them. From the time they were babies, I had practically raised them alongside our parents. That was only possible because the memories of my past life had remained.

Seol Hee, at any rate, was the second child, my younger sister. She pretended to be prickly, but she had her cute corners, and she was one of the very few people who helped me while I hid who I was and stayed shut up at home.

And at present, she was also a hero—the Guild Master leading a guild of her own.

"...No matter when I come, this place is enormous."

A tower of clear, pristine white, climbing so high it seemed to announce with its very shape, I am doing extremely well. I walked straight into the guild building Seol Hee ran.

It was one of the largest guilds in Korea, and perhaps because of that the lobby was fairly crowded.

"Huh? That person..."

I felt the murmuring and the stares the moment I stepped inside, but I ignored them and headed straight for the desk.

"Hello."

"Ah... huh? Ah! Yes! Hello. What brings you to Lumen Guild?"

She had been busy with something else, and the sight of my pure white hair and sky-blue eyes seemed to startle her. She jumped, pulled herself together, and asked me that.

Must be a new hire.

I thought it lightly. She probably hadn't been startled by my looks alone. More likely, I resembled their Guild Master. My sister had the same hair and the same eyes as I did.

That was probably why people were staring at me now, too.

"I'm the Guild Master's older brother. She called for me. Would I be able to see her?"

"The Guild Master's brother... ah! I was told to expect you. Um... please take the elevator on the left."

"All right."

I answered the receptionist with a smile, turned, and headed for the elevator.

Behind me, glances followed, and with them came hushed voices. Too quiet for an ordinary person to catch—but with hearing sharpened as befitted an archmage, those voices reached me just fine.

"Is that the Guild Master's older brother?"

"...Haven't seen him in a long time. He almost never shows his face."

"I heard he doesn't do any work?"

The nerve, talking like that about a diligent laborer of this age who streams faithfully every single day.

Hearing that sort of thing didn't particularly bother me. I boarded the elevator and went up to see my sister.

Reactions like those were something I simply had to live with, in the end.

"Oppa. Um... you came?"

"Yeah. I'm here."

The crown of the building. The highest floor.

At the far end, in the Guild Master's office, my sister Seol Hee opened the door at word of my arrival. The stiff set of her face loosened a little as she greeted me.

"Hyeok-gyu... you can step out. We'll talk next time."

"Yes, y-yes...!"

The hero who had apparently been getting scolded by my sister hurried out of the room.

I dropped onto the sofa in her office and offered a greeting to the sister I hadn't seen in a while.

"You been doing all right? You look busy."

"Guild Master work is the same as ever... the kids cause trouble, I clean up after them... that sort of thing."

She sank onto the sofa across from me, rubbing at the corner of her eye as if worn out.

She must have been tired lately....

Thinking that, I took in the sight of her. The same pure white hair as mine, tied in a ponytail; sky-blue eyes; and a face that was, in its own way, beautiful. Perhaps because we had awakened in the same period, my sister had changed alongside me into a form that resembled my own.

Because of that, anyone who saw the two of us together could tell we were siblings. Even if the aftermath of awakening had a way of changing people's hair color, overlaps this exact were rare.

At any rate, unlike me—a hero who, after awakening, had mostly just rested and done nothing but stream—my sister had worked in earnest, and at a young age had risen to Guild Master of a great many heroes.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

She hadn't awakened as the world's number one, the way I had, but she had awakened quite powerfully herself.

Maybe I ought to take a look at my sister's Status Window, for the first time in a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠while.

Status Window.

As expected, she was still holding that high place—ninth in the Korean rankings.

Has her world rank climbed a little, too?

I was thinking that to myself when Seol Hee, who had been watching me, narrowed her eyes sulkily and asked in a chilly voice.

"Oppa. You're looking at my Status Window right now, aren't you?"

"Ah. How'd you know."

"Honestly... respect my privacy a little, would you."

She shook her head and waved a hand in front of me, as if telling me to stop looking. Waving wouldn't actually hide it, but the gesture was cute enough in its own way that I didn't bother telling her so.

Well. Being able to see someone else's Status Window was an ability only I possessed, to begin with.

She only knew because I had told her, and her alone, that I had a power like this. Anyone else probably couldn't even imagine a person with such a skill. Normally, you had to permit your own Status Window to be shared before another person could see it.

"Haaah. Rank one, and all you do is go picking up weird abilities.... Anyway, you weren't busy? Sorry for making you come all the way here. I should have gone to see you."

At my sister's words, I smiled, gave a small shake of my head, and answered.

"What are you saying. I can't be dragging the busy Guild Master back and forth. Isn't it only right that your unemployed brother comes to you?"

Even as I said it, I was rather moved by how warmhearted she was. To think of her brother like this. The kid was just shy, which was why she snapped and grumbled so often; inside, she was truly warm. Maybe that was thanks to how well I'd raised her.

I was turning that over without a shred of doubt when my sister, glancing my way once more, brought it up as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh, please. Unemployed, my foot. From what I saw, you've been streaming pretty diligently."

"Haha... that's true, but.... ...Huh?"

Seol Hee was smiling at me as she said it.

I went completely still.

The streaming... I never told a single person about that.

How did she know...?