Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Jeju Island
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The atmosphere in the conference room was extremely hostile.
Hanna thought the current situation was bad.
'Damn it. Was it a mistake to take investments instead of borrowing from Mom? I didn't expect it to piss me off this much... Did they plant a spy or something...'
In the end, she had to blame her own inability to judge people.
Still, she couldn't stand by and watch the company fall into the hands of Director Choi Woong-dong, that pig.
There had been complaints from the early days that they were offering rookies overly generous contracts.
To Hanna, it was an investment in rookies with clear growth potential, but it was natural that outsiders couldn't understand it.
Things had quieted down recently with those rookies' growth.
But it exploded again with Park Un-ho's incident.
"Why can't you disclose the contract for a mere D-Rank Awakener!"
"That's... a secret."
"We need to verify if those rumors are true."
"The signing bonus for a mere D-Rank is outrageous..."
"The activities after joining the company... A few F-Rank rift clearances... One participation in a C-Rank subjugation... Barely any achievements... And even that C-Rank subjugation was handled confidentially."
"It's suspicious... Is this some kind of fake resume building?"
The board members tore into Hanna like hyenas.
"Excessive support disproportionate to his rank... We're even hearing rumors that he's the CEO Hanna's lover."
"That's slander. We recruited him because of his growth potential. Just give it a little time and..."
"CEO Hanna, that doesn't explain anything. We acknowledge the CEO's contributions to growing the company this far."
Choi Woong-dong seemed to praise her as impressive for her young age, but it was no praise—it was the attitude of treating a subordinate.
"Even so, if you can't provide a proper explanation next time, you may have to step down from your position as CEO."
Hanna caught the sly smile flickering across Director Choi Woong-dong's face.
'You pig bastard!'
She wanted to hurl curses at his face but held back.
Hanna thought that if she quit, fine, but she couldn't suffer the humiliation of being fired.
Flame Emperor Kwak Sang-hyun was a middle-aged man with red hair and a bold face.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he founded the guild to reclaim Jeju Island.
Home.
Only those who have lost theirs can understand its meaning.
There were strong opposing voices within the guild.
But with the guild master's authority and his thug-like Awakener rank, he steamrolled ahead.
The once beautiful island had become a barren wasteland due to the dimensional rifts.
His heart burned at the sight, but he didn't show it.
'Restoring this won't be easy.'
He even planned to clean it up and move the guild headquarters here.
The guild would have a fit if they knew his feelings.
Unlike Kwak Sang-hyun's heavy heart, the raid was progressing smoothly.
There were many monsters, but fortunately, the highest grade seemed to be C-Rank at most.
Hunter techniques had advanced greatly, and with more high-rankers at C-Rank and above, their overall strength had risen.
And Kwak Sang-hyun himself, the one called Flame Emperor, was actively leading after a long time.
It would be strange if the raid wasn't going smoothly.
With a flick of Kwak Sang-hyun's hand, a D-Rank dimensional rift and the surrounding monsters ignited and turned to ash in an instant.
Only the rift core and mana stones remained.
To collect monster byproducts, this method wouldn't do, but Kwak Sang-hyun wanted to quickly clear out these filthy things.
Thus, Kwak Sang-hyun led the guild members from the front, sweeping through the rifts relentlessly.
A considerable amount of rift cores, monster byproducts, and mana stones came out, but the guild barely profited.
They had poured in so much money, recruiting every Hero and Hunter they could get their hands on.
They expected losses, so breaking even was a relief.
On the other hand, it meant there were that many monsters.
Kwak Sang-hyun cleared the dimensional rifts and finally reached Baekrokdam crater on Hallasan.
There, he and the guild members spotted a massive egg in the center of Baekrokdam.
"Any readings?"
"No detection."
Vice Guild Master Do Yu-hwan reported.
This was rare, but not unheard of.
High chance it was a special entity.
'The rank is the issue...'
Without monster detection, they couldn't tell.
Judging by the egg's size, it looked around A-Rank.
Even if A-Rank, since it was still an egg, they might handle it.
But no A-Rank monsters had appeared in Korea yet.
They didn't know when it would hatch, but protocol demanded withdrawal.
And requesting support from other guild masters.
Kwak Sang-hyun pondered.
'Tch. Things were going too well...'
But his hesitation was brief.
"Withdraw."
Kwak Sang-hyun was a veteran Hunter who had been active since the early days.
He knew how to judge situations even when his heart was urgent.
Even B-Rank required caution—what if it was A-Rank?
Careless assumptions or complacency were forbidden.
"Leave it for now and request support from the other guild masters."
Kwak Sang-hyun planned to clean the surroundings while they arrived.
That was when it happened.
-Crack!
Something like the sound of a rift tearing echoed.
Cracks began forming on the massive egg.
-Craaaack.
The cracks spread across the entire egg in an instant.
Kwak Sang-hyun had a bad premonition.
-Rustle.
The cracked egg shattered, revealing a massive black silhouette inside.
Curled up, it was hard to identify at first.
But soon, the monster unfurled enormous wings, displaying its majesty.
Kwak Sang-hyun broke out in cold sweat at the sight.
"Th-that thing..."
It was a jet-black crimson dragon.
The kind from a fantasy movie.
-Kraaaah!
The dragon roared as if stretching after waking.
Even at 300 meters away, D-Rank and below Awakeners vomited blood and staggered from the roar.
Even C-Rank and above couldn't escape unaffected, clutching their ears in pained expressions.
The dragon then shot a breath into the sky, proclaiming its birth.
A massive beam of light pierced the clouds and soared upward.
Kwak Sang-hyun knew from that it was at least A-Rank.
They couldn't fight it with this force.
Kwak Sang-hyun said with a hardened face.
"I'll buy time. Withdraw quickly."
"Master, that's..."
"Don't say useless things. Hurry and contact the mainland."
Realizing he couldn't be swayed, Do Yu-hwan bowed his head.
But contrary to Kwak Sang-hyun's thoughts, the jet-black crimson dragon shot straight into the sky.
"Huh?"
And then it began flying somewhere.
Kwak Sang-hyun could only stare blankly as the dragon ignored his resolve and flew off.
But instinctively, he knew they were screwed.
"This is insane..."
The direction it flew was toward the Korean mainland.
Lee Jae-eun participated in the subjugation team one last time, as Un-ho had advised.
Contrary to Un-ho's worries, Flame Guild was leading the vanguard and advancing steadily from Jeju Port without major crises.
By taking the most dangerous vanguard position, Flame Guild's reputation among Awakeners was rising.
The surprise was the unexpectedly high number of monsters.
Jeju Island was truly a monster paradise.
But Jae-eun and Hanna were in Busan, not Jeju.
After wrestling with monsters for a while, they took a short 2-night, 3-day vacation in Busan.
The camp facilities weren't bad, but they couldn't compare to the city.
Many Awakeners were rotating shifts to rest like this.
Thanks to all those Awakeners, Busan was in peak season.
The grueling monster hunts were bearable thanks to the unimaginable income.
They endured seeing money pour into their accounts.
Surprisingly, Lee Jae-eun had leveled up while hunting on Jeju Island.
She seemed pleased just to get more money from the rank-up, but Kim Jin-ah saw it differently.
The reason Kim Jin-ah followed Jae-eun was one.
Hanna's ambiguous assessment of Yu Jae-eun's growth potential.
She had never been wrong about Awakeners' growth.
Even Kim Jin-ah herself was included.
Hanna had vaguely said it, but ultimately concluded Yu Jae-eun had no growth potential.
Yet she grew.
But the growth was too casual, without revealing much.
To Hanna and Kim Jin-ah, it was an irregular case.
Kim Jin-ah increasingly felt her hunch that Yu Jae-eun held clues to her own growth was gaining credibility.
Jae-eun and Kim Jin-ah had finished their vacation and were waiting for the ship at the port.
The awaited ship arrived.
As they lined up to board, a streak of light shot up from the distant sea.
People buzzed at the sight. Some quickly pulled out smartphones to film.
"Jin-ah, that."
"Something must have happened on Jeju Island."
Jeju Island and Busan were quite far apart.
They couldn't be sure.
But Yu Jae-eun thought the light burst from that direction, so maybe Jeju.
The flash piercing the sky was vivid enough to see from afar.
Jae-eun didn't see it as a positive sign.
As the mesmerizing light faded, Jae-eun saw Kim Jin-ah quickly making a call somewhere.
"Any news on Jeju Island?"
Kim Jin-ah seemed to be trying to find out what happened.
"Ah, yes, I see. Please report if new information comes in."
After calling around, Kim Jin-ah hung up and told Yu Jae-eun.
"No precise info yet. But the light definitely came from Jeju Island."
The dimensional rifts hadn't been cleared enough for distortion to lift.
No communication inside.
They'd know the situation once people inside came out.
"The ship's here?"
"We're not boarding."
"Huh? But the cancellation fee..."
"The ship probably won't depart either. Safety over fees. Better to grasp the Jeju situation here first."
"Let's move."
"Huh? Uh."
Kim Jin-ah intuited something ominous had happened on Jeju Island.
Fortunately, Busan wasn't close to Jeju.
Even if something occurred, this place was relatively safe.
"So we have more time? Want to hit some good restaurants?"
"More eating?"
"Eating is what you gain anyway."
As Kim Jin-ah drove Yu Jae-eun back to the hotel, she answered a call and grew serious.
"A monster has emerged from Jeju Island."