7
A car so luxurious I wondered if I’d ever ride in one again in my life sped down the road.
Sunk into the plush seat inside the flashy car, I felt like some high-ranking official,
but I still had no idea why these people were taking me to the guild, so I couldn’t let my guard down.
Even when I asked who it was that wanted to meet me, they only dodged the question, saying they didn’t know the details.
Should I have just flat-out told them I was busy and to come pick me up another time?
Feeling stifled, I hugged the paper bag I’d been holding to my chest for no reason.
A crumpling sound filled the car, much like the crease forming between my brows.
Before long, the car entered Seoul’s protected zone.
A district that received top priority protection in the event of war or gate-related accidents.
Since Korea’s most renowned guilds were clustered here, there were plenty of buildings and people too.
It felt like the phenomenon once called the Republic of Seoul had been condensed even further.
So many people had died because of gates and monsters that everyone wanted to live inside a protected zone.
Apparently, it cost an absurd amount of money to live here.
They said the monthly rent for a single room was around 1.5 million won or something.
But ironically, thanks to everyone crowding into this place,
someone like me, who had almost nothing, had been able to find a room in Seoul and live alone.
In any case, right in the middle of this protected zone that represented Korea.
There stood a building so large and splendid that it caught the eye immediately, even from far away.
It was the headquarters of the Baegya Guild.
“It really amazes me every time I come here…”
The world’s first guild, built when the issues of gates and returnees first began to emerge in earnest.
As the very first guild to be established, its scale was immense.
The lobby was so spacious and luxurious that every time I entered, I found myself checking my clothes and hesitating for no reason.
When I forced myself to calm down and look around, I could see researchers walking about with all sorts of strange tools, and hunters armed with armor and weapons that looked like they’d come straight out of a fantasy game.
…Every time I come here, it really feels like I’ve stepped into a game.
“This way, please.”
“Yes.”
But the most unreal thing right now wasn’t some staff with a glowing tip or anything like that.
It was this situation, where people in black suits were guiding me deeper into the guild.
‘Who’s that? Does anyone know?’
‘A returnee? She must be crazy strong.’
Apparently, even to the people in the guild, this wasn’t an everyday occurrence, because more and more gazes kept gathering on me.
Among them, there seemed to be some who had mistaken me for someone impressive enough to be scouted.
I’m not that amazing. Please don’t look at me like that…
Partly to escape those burdensome gazes, I slipped into the elevator whose doors had just opened.
And then I stared blankly at the rising numbers.
10th floor… 15th floor… 20th floor… It didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping.
Ding.
The doors opened on the top floor, a place only a select few among the guild members were supposedly permitted to enter.
The atmosphere was quite different from the lobby. Beyond the windows spread a view of the protected zone.
Though it was surely a sight not just anyone could see, I felt more nervous than delighted or amazed.
It was probably because this scenery didn’t suit someone as ordinary as me.
Why had they brought someone like me, who had nothing special about her, all the way here?
Had there actually been something wrong with my test results?
Or had they detected some incredible potential in me as an awakened person?
As I entertained such fantasies and carefully walked along the carpet, a familiar face came into view.
“Thank you for coming all this way. You were a little surprised, weren’t you? They said they wanted to see you as soon as possible.”
We hadn’t met that many times, but she was still someone I knew. Seeing I Runa filled me with a strange sense of relief.
“Ah. I seriously thought my heart was going to stop. You could’ve explained beforehand.”
“I wanted to, but I didn’t have time to contact you separately. This was decided very suddenly.”
When I grumbled for no real reason, I Runa shrugged with an apologetic look.
If she’d been busy, then there was nothing to be done.
After giving that brief explanation, I Runa led me to a room on one side of the hallway.
It was a warm, inviting space where sunlight filtered in softly, filled with colorful sofas and cushions.
Maybe because of the guild’s image, I’d vaguely assumed it would be full of stiff, businesslike rooms. This was unexpected.
“If you sit here comfortably and wait, they’ll be here soon. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“I’m not very good with bitter things… Water or juice, please.”
“Ahaha, I’m not good with coffee either. We’re comrades. I’ll bring it right away.”
A glass filled with orange juice was placed on the low table.
The glass looked luxurious, but the taste was ordinary—the kind of orange juice famous for being brought along on hospital visits.
“So—can I know who it was that called me here now?”
Maybe because the atmosphere was somehow comfortable, I felt a bit more at ease. Thinking she might finally answer, I asked lightly.
“Yes. Our guild’s vice guild master.”
The answer that came back far exceeded my expectations.
“…Ngh?! Cough, cough, kgh!”
Who? The vice guild master?
Why would someone like that call me?
As I wiped the juice running down my chin with a tissue, I recalled what I knew about the Baegya Guild.
As the Baegya Guild was famous worldwide, its members were also incredibly popular.
And if one had to name the most famous among them, it would naturally be the guild master at the very top of the Baegya Guild.
An elf said to have come from another world, she was capable of such outstanding magic that she was called the Sage, and her name could be heard everywhere, from serious news reports to lighthearted videos.
Yes, if anything, had I been told that guild master had called me, I would have been surprised, but not to this extent.
After all, she was famous not only for being the guild master, but also for her thirst for knowledge and her eccentricity. It wouldn’t have been that strange for her to take an interest in me after my sex had changed.
But I Runa had said the one who called me was the vice guild master.
Unlike the guild master, whose name and news could be found wherever you went, the vice guild master’s identity and information were truly difficult to find.
There were occasional articles saying they had visited an orphanage and made a huge donation.
Or that they had stopped by a hospital and healed the injured.
But apart from news of such good deeds, nothing was known, as if they were hidden behind a veil.
There were even bizarre rumors going around that they were a being with no facial features and a height of three meters.
“It probably won’t be bad news for you, Ari. You can think of it as a gift to celebrate your discharge.”
I Runa, who had been laughing as she watched me choke and cough, added that.
…A gift to celebrate my discharge, huh.
If she was going that far, it really didn’t seem like anything bad for me.
Though it was a little irritating that she kept dancing around what the gift actually was.
“Oh, I have something to take care of, so I’ll be going first. Good luck!”
“Ah!”
When I narrowed my eyes and glared at her, I Runa said she had to go work now and fled the meeting room.
I’d known she had a rather absentminded side, but apparently she was quite mischievous too.
Thinking of it as proof that we’d grown somewhat closer made me feel good.
“What kind of gift could it possibly be?”
The comfortable atmosphere, I Runa’s playful attitude as if there was nothing to worry about, and even the word gift.
It was enough to make the tension that had remained until I’d just gotten off the elevator disappear.
All that remained was anticipation. Unable to hide my pounding excitement, I tapped the cup with my fingertips.
Before long, the firmly closed door opened. Someone entered.
“───Hello?”
“…?”
—She was a girl with striking hair as golden as sunlight.
A foreigner? How did she get here? Was she the child of some famous hunter, or here on a tour from somewhere?
Her appearance looked quite young, so such natural thoughts came to mind first.
But then the girl walked leisurely toward me and sat down across from me.
And the moment she opened wide the eyes that had been smiling all along,
those irreverent thoughts about her being a foreigner or here on a tour crumbled into dust and scattered.
“…You’re the vice guild master, aren’t you?”
Her presence was different.
Though the girl was far smaller than even my now-shrunken self and was looking up at me with a bright smile, I could feel an aura that was impossible to ignore.
Would this be exactly how it felt to suddenly encounter a tiger or whale the size of a house while walking down the street?
Though what I felt from the girl was closer to holiness than to any negative feeling like fear.
As the saying goes, extremes meet. To an ordinary person like me, it was a presence so powerful it made my mind go blank.
“That’s right. You recognized me right away?”
“Is that really something worth being praised for?”
“Ahaha! True, oddly enough, everyone does seem to recognize me right away. Still, it feels good to be praised, doesn’t it?”
The girl clapped as if she found it admirable that I had recognized her identity at once.
At that, I laughed in disbelief. Was there anyone in the world who wouldn’t recognize her?
Of course, if you saw her outside, it might be hard to pinpoint that she was from the Baegya Guild.
But unless you were hopelessly oblivious, you would be able to tell at a glance that the girl was no ordinary person.
Her distinctive atmosphere. The eyes that created that atmosphere, and the semi-transparent cross-shaped halo floating around her head.
No matter how foreign someone was, no person had cross-shaped pupils. And even fewer had a halo like that.
“Your name was Yeon Ari, right? May I call you Ari?”
“…Yes. Please call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“Good. You can speak comfortably to me too. Maybe because I only learned this language this way, polite speech feels uncomfortable. If we were somewhere to discuss serious matters, that might be one thing. But I didn’t call you here for that kind of conversation.”
It was the same with other hunters that you couldn’t tell their age from their appearance.
But was it because of the atmosphere she gave off, or because of how casually she approached me? It was especially hard to gauge the proper distance with her.
She told me to speak casually, but her age… I didn’t know, but she held a position far above mine. Was that really okay?
Even when I looked at her face to see whether she meant it, I couldn’t read her expression at all.
“…All right.”
After a brief hesitation, I decided to speak comfortably.
If she was telling me to speak casually, continuing to put up a wall wouldn’t look good either.
And if she later pressured me with, “How dare a mere grade-nine speak informally to the vice guild master?” I could just run away.
Let them kick me out of the guild. It’s not like there’s anything I can do even if I stay!
A person with nothing to lose was invincible anytime, anywhere.
“Wow. You switch fast. I like how straightforward you are.”
“You’re not going to put a bounty on me later for being insolent, right?”
“Ahaha! Of course not. If you really don’t trust me, I can even swear before god. Though the god I believe in probably isn’t one you know.”
Perhaps she liked my reaction, because the girl laughed loudly.
Her laughter, without a trace of pretense or affectation, pure like a girl her age, was so beautiful that by the time I came to my senses, the corners of my mouth had risen too.
“Our guild has decided to debut a VTuber group this time. Do you know about it?”
And just when I thought we were finally getting to the main point.
…Amazingly, the very first thing she brought up was none other than VTubers.
“VTubers?”
“Yes. I did say VTubers.”
I didn’t mishear that just now, right?
VTubers. A word I had never imagined at all came from the mouth of someone who seemed like she would never say such a thing, and for a moment my mind went blank.
Was this a hidden camera prank?
Something like “A vice guild master teases a bottom-rank guild member: honest reaction.avi”?
“I’m pretty sure the name was Vigilante.”
When I first heard the news, I had searched a few times now and then to see if any new information had come out, but nothing in particular had been revealed.
There was no word on a debut date, and no teaser or preview either.
So I had just been waiting. To think I would hear that name in a place like this.
“That’s right. You know it well.”
Hearing my answer, the girl smiled brightly and nodded.
As if it were only natural that I knew the name Vigilante.
Could this girl possibly be one of the members of Vigilante?
If not, then the boss who decided to create the VTuber group?
Nah, that couldn’t be it.
Even as a thought, it was too absurd. Just as I was about to shake my head—
“I suppose this is the right time to introduce myself. Nice to meet you. I’m Anemoia. The vice guild master of the Baegya Guild, and the president of the group 『Vigilante』 that will soon debut from our guild.”
The girl, who had been looking at me with shining eyes, abruptly took my hand and said,
“—So? Won’t you make a contract with me and become my manager?”
Before answering that, I looked around once more.
As expected, I couldn’t see anything like a camera.