The Hidden Intent of Gangryong Guild (1)

Something about this doesn't sit right.

The guild had fallen into my hands far too easily — and that was exactly what made it so suspicious. Who in their right mind would just hand over a guild this freely, promise or no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠promise? If founding and dissolving one were simple, maybe giving it away wouldn't mean much. But compared to the early days, the items required to establish a guild had become drastically scarcer, and anyone who'd already founded one needed a full year before they could create another. Which meant Kang Chan-seong, who'd just transferred this guild to me, wouldn't be able to make a new one for the next twelve months.

I should just dissolve this thing.

Wiping out a perfectly functional guild was a bit of a waste, but it was too suspicious to keep.

Seven members, huh.

I had no idea whether those people even knew their guild had been handed over to me. I felt a little sorry for them — once you were removed from a guild, you had to wait six months before you could join another. Still, keeping this guild around is more trouble than it's worth. I felt bad for them, but I couldn't hold onto a guild when I had no idea what the real motive behind the transfer even was.

So I pulled up the disband button then and there.

I hesitated for a moment, then decided there was no other choice and hit Y.

Huh?

I'd clearly pressed the disband button, but the guild wasn't going anywhere. What the hell is this? No matter how many times I mashed it, the same message just kept repeating.

Damn it. They planted something on this guild. I should have known the moment they handed it over so freely. I'd been too careless.

For now, I headed back to the school and laid the whole situation out for Kang Hyuk.

"That guild — you can't transfer it to someone else either?"

"I've already tried everything. Doesn't look like it."

"That so?"

"What the hell are they even after?"

I couldn't begin to figure out why they'd dumped this guild on me, or why it refused to disband. While I was still turning it over in my head, Hyung seemed to decide we weren't getting anywhere on our own. He stood up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Come with me for a bit."

"Huh? Where?"

"You'll see when we get there."

I followed him out of the school without another word. After walking for a while, Kang Hyuk stopped in front of a dilapidated house.

"Where is this?"

"I'll explain in a minute."

He walked up to the iron gate and gave it a couple of light knocks.

Knock. Knock.

Nothing. No response at all. Honestly, the place looked so abandoned that a reaction from inside would have been the strange part.

"Doesn't look like anyone's home."

"Just wait."

Ten minutes after he'd knocked, I still had no idea what he was doing. If you wanted to check whether someone was inside, you'd knock again — or just go in and look. Knocking twice and then standing around for ten minutes made no sense to me.

"I'll just go in and check."

"No. Wait."

"Who's even in there?"

He didn't answer. He just grinned. It was infuriating, but I trusted him, so I waited a little longer.

About five more minutes passed.

"About time, I guess?"

He stood up without warning and took his place in front of the gate again. What is he doing? I still didn't understand, but I followed him over and stood beside him.

Creeeak.

The old iron gate began to swing open. A moment ago this place had looked completely deserted — the fact that the gate was moving at all meant someone was inside.

And through that opening, a woman came into view. She was dressed in something close to a shaman's robes, and she looked like she'd rather be anywhere else in the world.

"Haaah~ Kang Hyuk. What is it this time?"

She greeted us with a yawn and a grumble. A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties, and from the way they talked, she and Kang Hyuk seemed plenty close.

"Misook-noona. I've got a favor to ask."

"Figured as much. When have you ever come to see me for anything else?"

"Hey, I look after my noona plenty, don't I?"

After a bit of back-and-forth, Kang Hyuk finally introduced the guy standing there like an idiot beside him — me.

"You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know this guy, right?"

"Oh my? Is that Min-seong? It's been a while!"

"Pardon?"

She looked at me like we'd already met.

"You know me?"

"We've met before. Don't tell me you forgot — that's hurtful."

"We have?"

Misook-noona insisted we'd already seen each other. I was certain I had never met this woman in my life.

"Of course! I was the one who yanked that ghost off you!"

"What?"

A ghost. That jogged something. I remembered telling Hyung a while back that my body felt unbearably heavy, and he'd said he knew a shaman, so we'd gone to see one. The shaman that day had her face covered — and it seemed Misook-noona had been that shaman.

"Haha. Thank you for that, then."

"You bet. If I hadn't yanked that bastard off you, you'd have been a goner."

I still wasn't sure whether a ghost had actually been clinging to me or not, but one of this noona's talismans had wiped my exhaustion clean away.

"Hyung, why'd you bring us here?"

We'd been in the middle of talking about the guild when he'd suddenly dragged me out to meet this woman. I had to ask. He put a hand on my shoulder and leaned in.

"She's my informant."

"Huh?"

"A lot of the intel I've been getting — most of it came from her."

That actually explained a lot. I'd always wondered how Hyung got his hands on so much information that nobody else could touch. The person feeding it to him was the woman standing right in front of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me.

"You two have something you want to know, huh?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Come inside. I'll tell you."

We followed her in, and the last time I'd been in this house started coming back in bits and pieces.

"But why did we knock and wait at the door?"

I had to ask. If he'd known this was her house, why go through all that knocking and standing around?

"Ah, that? Look over there."

"Huh?"

He pointed, apparently ready to give me my answer. I looked where he indicated — and the wall was completely empty.

"What am I even supposed to be looki— wah!"

Something burst straight out of the wall.

The things that had come out of the wall drifted through the air as if gravity didn't apply to them at all, phasing straight through every object in their path.

"Wh-what are those?"

"Ghosts, what else?"

"Gh-ghosts?"

Misook-noona answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Were those things really ghosts? And if they were, why could I see them?

"Apparently this noona gained this ability when she awakened as a Shaman. Scared the hell out of me too."

"They're really ghosts?"

"Yeah. Those ghosts love hanging out with her so much that you have to wait at least ten minutes after knocking before she can settle them down and come out."

Kang Hyuk added that he'd once just walked in — and the ghosts had chewed him out for it.

"Alright then. What do you want to know? If it's what you asked about last time, I still haven't found anything."

Looks like she still had nothing on Geum Bit-na-ra, or anything related to the Fruit.

"This guy here picked up a guild recently, and something about it feels off."

"A guild?"

"Yes. A guild called Gangryong."

The moment we said the name, she pulled something from her robes — a tool bristling with bells — and shook it at the ghosts that had been drifting around a moment before.

Jingle. Jingle. Jingle.

The ghosts that had been scattered all over the room lined up in a neat row in front of her, drawn by the sound of the bells.

"You know what happens if you don't listen to me, right? I'll send you straight on to the afterlife."

The ghosts started grumbling, and she hit them with something just short of a threat, pinning them with a look sharp enough to cut. Under that kind of presence, they all dropped their heads and started watching her for cues.

"You heard what I just said, didn't you? Gangryong Guild. Anyone know anything about that?"

A few of the ghosts tilted their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heads like they had no idea. But one of them started fidgeting, like she knew something and couldn't sit still.

"You there! You know something, don't you?!"

The fidgeting ghost was a woman who looked to be in her fifties. At Misook-noona's words she startled and shook her head hard.

"You clearly know something."

Anyone could see it from her face and the way she was acting. But she didn't look ready to open her mouth anytime soon.

"Fine. You talk, and I'll Materialize you for a whole day. How about that?"

Even with the others pushing her, the woman just kept hem-hawing.

Wait. Chan-seong?

The name the ghosts had just used. The guy who'd handed this guild over to me was named Kang Chan-seong.

"Is your son's name Kang Chan-seong, by any chance?"

She startled at that.

"No. We don't know yet either. But if he's doing something bad, shouldn't we stop him?"

She seemed to wrestle with that for a moment. Then, as if she'd made up her mind, she started to talk.

"You don't know why he handed it over to us, then?"

According to her, the guild I'd received was one her son had founded with the people who'd survived this catastrophe alongside him. After creating it, Kang Chan-seong had spent his time helping people threatened by monsters. Then, at some point, he met someone — and after that he started changing, bit by bit, until lately he'd been doing things too cruel to even put into words. It was probably about the methods they'd been using to recruit people into the shelter.

"Who did he even meet that would change him like that?"

"A woman?"