The Hidden Intent of the Gangryong Guild (2)

Knocking echoed through the room.

“Geum Bit-na-ra-nim. Kang Chan-seong has arrived.” “Ah, let him in.”

Following Geum Bit-na-ra’s order, Kim Ha-jin opened the door and ushered Kang Chan-seong inside.

“Geum Bit-na-ra. I did everything you told me to.” “Is the guild you handed over to that guy definitely transferred?” “Yes. I transferred it to Kim Min-sung.”

“You listened better than I expected. I thought you wouldn’t follow orders.” “Funny. If you didn’t do as told, what were you planning?” “Hehehe. Yeah, right.”

Geum Bit-na-ra looked at Kang Chan-seong with displeasure.

“Now release the skill you put on me. I did everything you told me to.” “Ah, since it’s a promise, of course I have to release it. More than that, surprised. I was thinking of eating that guy’s guild in the plunder war.” “……”

“If I had eaten it, I wouldn’t have stayed silent.”

Geum Bit-na-ra extended her hand toward Kang Chan-seong. White light began to emanate from her palm and was sucked into his body.

Geum Bit-na-ra pressed the Y button. A small pink bead emerged from Kang Chan-seong’s body.

When the bead was pulled away, Kang Chan-seong immediately stepped on it with his foot.

Kwajik!

“Hehe. There were quite a few stacked up, huh?”

“……More importantly, what happens to the others?” “The members of your guild?” “Yes.”

“If you do the things I told you to well, I’ll release their contracts too.”

Kang Chan-seong turned and left the room without looking back.

Geum Bit-na-ra smiled amusedly while watching the door close behind him.

She then called out to Kim Ha-jin waiting outside.

“Geum Bit-na-ra-nim. You called?”

“It seems it’s finally time to wrap things up.” “Already? You said you would postpone the schedule after the Death Tower.” “Ah, after meeting Kim ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Min-sung in that tower and talking, my thoughts changed a bit.”

Geum Bit-na-ra took a bottle of wine from the shelf and poured it into a glass.

Staring at the deep red wine in the glass, she said to Kim Ha-jin, “I need to obtain what I want quickly.”

She then raised the glass and drank while giving instructions on the progress of the matter.

***

“So this is the place where Kang Chan-seong lives?”

“Yes. This is where my son lives.”

An old-looking house.

It was not damaged by monsters.

The building itself was old, and the management seemed poor, so it was doubtful whether anyone could live here.

“No one seems to be inside right now?”

“He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went out for a moment?”

Despite trying to sense any presence, there was no reaction. Entering the house to check, no one was there.

“Shall we wait here a bit longer?”

“There’s no other way, so I guess we have to wait.”

Geum Bit-na-ra and Kang Chan-seong.

Whatever their relationship was, Kang Chan-seong had always been loyal and kind even after this situation arose. According to his mother, there must be some connection to the sudden change.

‘I can’t figure out Geum Bit-na-ra’s intentions at all.’

Geum Bit-na-ra was the one who told me about the shelter Kang Chan-seong had.

Geum Bit-na-ra was also the one who knew about his relationship with Kang Chan-seong.

Given the current situation, it was clear that Geum Bit-na-ra had some plan in mind and had brought up the shelter to me.

And if she had even planned to hand over the guild, there must be a reason why this guild couldn’t be disbanded.

“Min-seong-ah, what do you think about asking Geum Bit-na-ra directly? After meeting her in the Death Tower, she seemed like a pretty decent person.” “That’s true… but she seems to be hiding something.” “Hiding something?”

“Yeah, it felt like she had some unknown intention. Honestly, I don’t know either.”

Geum Bit-na-ra and I had talked a lot before even meeting in the Death Tower.

Our only way to communicate was through a video call using a slime, but I had thought she was a pretty good person.

Even when we met in the Death Tower, my impression hadn’t changed.

She hadn’t done anything to me and instead seemed like an ordinary woman.

Well… when I saw her fighting with her friend at the Sphinx, she seemed a bit hot-tempered, but that was an exception.

Even so, while talking, I could clearly feel that she was hiding something.

I didn’t know exactly what, but there were facts from the scenario quest, and the current situation made it impossible to trust Geum Bit-na-ra easily.

“For now, I need to meet her once after talking to this person and judge for myself. I have no idea what Geum Bit-na-ra is thinking.” “Yeah. Then let’s wait until then.”

According to Kang Chan-seong’s mother, even though the shelter existed, she always came to this house to sleep, so at this evening hour, she would surely come home soon.

And as the sun began to set and night fell.

A person was slowly walking toward this place from afar.

‘Kang Chan-seong.’

When Kang Chan-seong’s figure appeared, his mother quickly flew toward him.

“Aigoo, Chan-seong-ah. Why is your face half like that.”

His mother spun around him, examining every part of his body.

But in Kang Chan-seong’s eyes, his mother seemed completely invisible.

He walked toward his house with a tired expression, then stopped abruptly upon seeing the group standing in front of the house.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

I approached Kang Chan-seong first and spoke.

Kang Chan-seong seemed to hesitate for a moment about what to do.

“How did you find out about our house?” “Well, I’ll explain that later.” “Can’t you explain now?”

Of course, from Kang Chan-seong’s perspective, he had no choice but to be on guard.

So Kang Chan-seong slowly reached for his weapon.

“Ah, no. I came here to talk for real. The location of this house was told to me by your mother.” “Our mother?”

Kang Chan-seong’s eyebrows twitched at those words.

He then took something out of his pocket.

‘A bead?’

As I wondered why he had taken it out.

A bead shot forward like a bullet toward the front.

Whish!

I barely turned my head to dodge the bead that came right in front of my eyes.

But Kang Chan-seong’s attack didn’t end there.

Multiple beads were pulled from his pocket and shot toward our direction at high speed.

“Hide behind me!”

Kwajik!

The beads directly hit the shield I was holding.

After blocking the first attack, I called for Kang Hyuk-hyung and No-nim to take cover and looked at Kang Chan-seong.

‘Why is he so agitated?’

Kang Chan-seong had started to get agitated the moment he heard about his mother and didn’t listen to anything after that.

‘I need to calm him down somehow.’

But because the guy was quite difficult, it was hard to approach.

Since the beads didn’t fly in a straight line but bounced off terrain in all directions.

‘Well, it’s still fast.’

It was honestly just a bit difficult, and the power difference between me and him was quite large.

I was only thinking about how to suppress Kang Chan-seong with as little damage as possible.

‘Should I try this?’

-Quiz given.

-If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you answer the quiz correctly, you will obtain a special ability.

This was the new ability obtained from catching the Sphinx.

I had been hesitant to use it because I didn’t know what ability it would grant, but now it seemed good to test it.

-Quiz given.

-Yes/No Quiz!

Can inventory be used from level 3?

Choose Yes or No.

‘Huh? This? Let me see… correct answer…’

It was really just the ability that gave quizzes.

While I was distracted by the quiz for a moment, Kang Chan-seong thought I was ignoring him and began to pour attacks toward me.

Multiple beads flew toward me.

And when those beads came close to me.

Kwajik!

Kwajik!

The beads that flew toward me exploded, sending a loud boom in all directions.

“Min-seong-ah!”

Kang Hyuk-hyung shouted loudly, startled, as I was caught in the sudden explosion without any preparation.

I was also surprised.

I hadn’t expected the beads to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explode at all.

I had thought that simply blocking the physical attack beads would be enough, so I should have taken some damage from the explosion attack.

But.

-Yes!

-Correct!

Thanks to the quiz effect, I gained an invincibility effect for 2 minutes!

‘This is cheating?’

Thanks to the effect of the quiz given now, I didn’t take any damage from the terrifying explosion attack at all.

“H…how are you still fine?”

Kang Chan-seong looked at me, who was completely fine despite his attack landing exactly, with rabbit-like eyes.

Of course, he knew there was a level and strength difference between us, but he wouldn’t think it was impossible for the attack to have no effect.

“Well… I don’t know either. First, calm down. I really came here to talk for just a moment.” “Calm down after messing up my mother’s oxygen?” “Huh? Oxygen?”

“Did you come here after looking at the map in the oxygen?” “Not at all? The mother over there told me to come.”

Kang Chan-seong looked completely unable to believe it.

Yeah.

I wouldn’t believe it either if my dead mother told me the house location.

But then.

“Chan-seong-ah!”

A voice from somewhere.

“Mom… Mom!”

Kang Chan-seong couldn’t believe his eyes.

Because the dead mother was standing right in front of him.