Episode 53
Weiver smiled a victorious smile.
‘Heukgui won’t be able to hold out without coming to our guild.’
In Korea, the only guild decent enough was the Dangun Guild.
But if Jonghyeon entered the Dangun Guild, there was the issue of the guild master possibly changing.
Furthermore, Korea's guild system was by no means a meritocracy. Therefore, there weren't many guilds that would accept Jonghyeon.
Rather, if Jonghyeon created a guild, maybe that would be different.
But the Jonghyeon that Weiver had investigated was absolutely not the type to create a guild.
‘Free activity should be enough as a condition.’
Weiver felt deeply grateful for Flame Master's appearance.
He had already been preparing a bill.
It was a bill he had been steadily preparing through his guild member planted secretly in the Committee.
Namely, the Special Hunter Management Act.
The name was grandiose, but its content was actually simple.
A special law to capture Rankers who belonged nowhere—literally, to no nation or guild.
Under the pretext of protecting them, individual Rankers would be prohibited from entering C-rank dungeons and above.
Wasn't what Jonghyeon did ultimately as an individual? His range of activity would clearly shrink, and if he was an ambitious man, he would naturally want to clear high-rank dungeons even while affiliated somewhere.
Weiver reported to the guild master with a joyful heart and received considerable praise.
And there was another advantage to the bill.
A monopoly on C-rank dungeons and above.
There were many types of Rankers in the world.
Teams that formed small groups, registered as guilds, and only sought out high-level dungeons to clear.
Low-rank Rankers gathered to form unions, or there were even a few A-rank Rankers like Jonghyeon who cleared B-rank dungeons alone.
Of course, Raven and some Rankers belonged to nations.
But in the end, the guilds that cleared the most C-rank dungeons and above were the top ten guilds, including Gaia Guild.
If they monopolized dungeons, their influence would naturally grow and their value would rise.
Not to mention the items produced, but the power they could exert on nations or the Committee would grow stronger as well.
The Committee went through a total of three steps to avoid interfering in domestic affairs.
First, the enactment of the bill.
They held a basic vote through internal meetings, and only if the Committee's vote exceeded a majority would they enact a law for dungeon management.
Second, the permission of nations.
This was likewise to avoid domestic interference. Personnel from each nation voted for or against, and this too had to exceed a majority to prepare for the bill's execution.
The last was the permission of guilds and Rankers.
There had been a few bills that failed because Rankers opposed them even after each nation had permitted them.
So the Committee decided to invite representative Rankers from each country to vote as part of the third step method.
A total of 11 nations participated in the vote.
Korea had not been included, but with the Dangun Guild developing into quite a large force and Yu Jinseong appearing, it was included.
But Yu Jinseong had never attended a vote even once.
Representative Rankers were chosen and sent by their nations. In the end, it was merely a confirmation procedure for the second step.
Weiver, who had been maneuvering through various countries, eventually passed this bill and finally booked a flight to Korea.
To go persuade Jonghyeon.
The smile wouldn't leave Weiver's mouth. He was going to deliver a revenge that wasn't quite revenge against the Korean who had insulted him.
‘Will he really be able to refuse this time?’
★ ★ ★
"I'm sorry, but I refuse."
It had been like this the whole time.
The announcement from the Committee had heated public opinion across the nation, and likewise, the doorbell at Jonghyeon's home had been ringing hot.
Excluding the Dangun Guild, it seemed like half the guilds in Korea had visited.
"This is getting tiresome now."
At first, when the bodyguards sent them away, they returned somewhat convinced.
But now it had crossed the line, with people settling down in front of his house and insisting they wouldn't leave unless Jonghyeon showed his face.
Jonghyeon had hung a large sign on the gate saying "No Guild Recruitment," but someone had torn it off at some point.
‘I really want to kill them all.’
Of course, it was only a thought, but being hounded to this extent, he was gradually reaching the point of meaning it.
In fact, Secretary Jang was the busiest.
He managed Jonghyeon's schedule of course, but also took care of all sorts of household matters and Jonghyeon's finances.
Jonghyeon had found this so fascinating that he once asked Secretary Jang,
"Don't you need to hire more people? It seems like you're doing too much alone."
"It's fine. Actually, I've begun to respect you little by little, Jonghyeon-nim. If it really gets hard, I'll let you know. Thank you for your concern."
Jonghyeon had no idea why he was being respected.
But in Secretary Jang's eyes, Jonghyeon shone brightly—someone who didn't bow down anywhere despite being younger than him.
And if he could maintain that light, he thought this level of hardship was fine.
For the first time since Chairman Lee, no—he felt he had met someone he wanted to serve even more than Chairman Lee.
Of course, he was too embarrassed to explain this reason to Jonghyeon, so he brushed it off.
"Jonghyeon-nim. Director Kim Jeongtae requests a meeting."
"Director Kim Jeongtae?"
At Jonghyeon's question, Secretary Jang handed over the phone he was holding.
"Hello?"
"It's not something to discuss over the phone. Can we meet?"
"You know the situation in front of my house, right? There's no way to get a car out right now."
"We'll send a car. Take it and come. It's not like you're going far from your place anyway."
"Yes. Let's do that then."
For a moment, Jonghyeon wondered if the government was working an angle too, but Director Kim Jeongtae's tone didn't seem to be about that.
Shortly after, a black Starex arrived in front of Jonghyeon's house.
At the same time, quite a lot of police were mobilized to drive away the demonstrators.
"They wouldn't budge when I told them to leave. Guess the law is scary. Should I have shown them something scarier after all?"
Thinking that there truly wasn't much in this world that could be resolved by speaking nicely, Jonghyeon climbed into the Starex.
The Starex carrying Jonghyeon started driving somewhere without a word.
"Where are we going?"
Jonghyeon asked the driver, but the driver didn't say a word.
"Hey. Where are we going?"
Jonghyeon asked persistently, but the driver never spoke.
And only after arriving did he understand why the driver couldn't speak.
Director Kim Jeongtae signed something to the driver, and the driver signed back, scratching his head.
Jonghyeon walked over to Director Kim Jeongtae and said,
"By any chance, that person. Is my assumption correct?"
"Ah. Well, there's the security aspect too. It just happened that way, so I employ him. He may look like that, but he's reliable."
The place he took Jonghyeon was near a park in Bundang.
Yuldong Park.
That was written on the sign.
A wide reservoir was formed there, and behind it were quite a few coffee shops and restaurants.
Director Kim Jeongtae and Jonghyeon entered one of the coffee shops, ordered a coffee and an iced green tea, then went up to the third floor.
"What. This cafe has three floors."
"This isn't exactly a place you or I would come to."
Director Kim Jeongtae spoke with a hint of laughter, and Jonghyeon tilted his head curiously.
"There are a lot of couples here."
Jonghyeon couldn't say anything.
The two hadn't said a word until the coffee came out, and only when the coffee and iced green tea arrived did they finally open their mouths.
"Free these days?"
"Well, thanks to that damn bill, all my requests have been canceled."
"Actually, we don't support that bill either."
"But I heard the agreement among state officials is already finished."
"That's the old fogies caving to pressure. It's not us agreeing."
"Does that mean there's a way?"
Director Kim Jeongtae explained the Committee's bill decision process to Jonghyeon.
And the reason he surmised for the bill.
"Are you saying they targeted me?"
"No. It's not just you. They're probably thinking of pulling in individual Rankers including you. And they probably want to catch that Flame Master guy too. If they can just persuade you, they gain another A-rank talent."
So it's politics after all.
"Of course, that's the official reason up to this point."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. Talent is overflowing anyway, so would they really lobby and propose a bill just for talent? I thought you were smart, Jonghyeon."
Jonghyeon thought for a moment, and soon his eyes sparkled.
"A monopoly."
"Exactly. Those bastards finally did it. But the problem is that our nation's representative individual Ranker is Yu Jinseong."
"He......"
Jonghyeon finally grasped the entire situation.
Yu Jinseong naturally wouldn't be interested in such things.
His mission was bodyguarding—what did dungeons have to do with anything?
"He definitely won't participate."
"Right. We can somehow persuade Lee Seokcheon of the Dangun Guild to cast an opposing vote, but the individual Ranker always abstained. And we couldn't find a Ranker to replace him. Until the last bill."
Jonghyeon now thought he knew what Director Kim Jeongtae was getting at.
And Director Kim Jeongtae seemed to realize that Jonghyeon had caught on.
"That's right. We're going to designate you as that representative Ranker. Even the old fogies can't stop that. You're officially an A-ranker after all, and you have no guild. And in the end, we're the ones managing dungeons. We manage most of Korea's guilds. Those old farts aren't interested in that. They're only thinking about how to pick up crumbs without dropping any."
It was a cynical remark that seemed slightly off-point, but the preceding content was important to Jonghyeon.
Jonghyeon looked at Director Kim Jeongtae with a playful expression and asked,
"Come on, now I have to solve that too? I may be a troubleshooter, but this is a bit much."
"Help overturn that bill that'll make you quit being a troubleshooter. I'm asking you as a favor."
Jonghyeon hadn't expected to hear the word "favor" from Director Kim Jeongtae's mouth. He was slightly surprised by that, but he didn't let it show.
"For now, we'll need to talk about the schedule and details. Oh, and who is this Flame Master?"
"We're going crazy over that too. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say his prank led to the bill's proposal."
"You mean that video. It's certainly one of the issues that shakes the foundation. Anyway, let's exchange the details via email."
Jonghyeon said that and tried to stand up. At the same time, he felt something was missing.
I didn't bring a car, did I?
"Um. How should I get back? Could you give me a ride home?"
Jonghyeon spoke with difficulty.
He had come out without thinking, bringing nothing, not even his wallet.
"But. I'm sorry, but there's no car going back. I came in my own car, but I still have work left, and the view here is good so I was planning to work here today. Want to wait until I finish?"
"No. I'll just go. It's not like I came out far anyway."
It wasn't that far from Jonghyeon's house, but it had been an incredibly long time since he had gone somewhere without a car.
He had long since stopped worrying about such things, so Jonghyeon had never imagined something like this would happen.
'I should at least carry taxi fare from now on.'
He was walking home thinking that, about halfway there.
It was already dark outside, and Jonghyeon, passing by the park next to a school, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
---------= Afterword ---------=
A black Starex... Get in one carelessly, and you'll die...