Maeng Seong-yong waved his hand and said, “I actually recommend that you join the White Knight Guild as you are. However, you must keep in touch with us and share the information you obtain as a condition. I’m also thinking of holding meetings periodically if the opportunity arises.”
“An organization that moves secretly without anyone knowing, huh?”
“Exactly… We operate behind the veil. If you accept that, it will allow us to continue the services we are providing.”
“… Huh? Services?”
Yeon-hee asked what he meant, and Maeng Seong-yong smiled smugly, raising the corners of his mouth.
‘He must be referring to the tail.’
It had been a long time since Jo Gi-man had set a tail on us. But at some point, the guy who was tailing us fell into a dazed state and could hardly follow us. We already knew this had started after the last ranking match.
“Did you not realize someone was following you?”
“What?! So, we were being followed?”
‘Yeon-hee has really improved her acting skills.’
I had repeatedly told Yeon-hee that we needed to hide our abilities and especially my sensing skills even more.
‘We can’t expose our cards easily.’
“Right. Since we last met, I’ve been working on the guy following you. He’s likely reporting to his clients that you’re just dully grinding in dungeons every day. Ha ha!”
‘That’s quite helpful. But after the test, it means the association is also trailing us…’
Of course, it wasn’t necessarily for evil purposes, but we couldn’t blindly trust the association either.
“Wow… I didn’t know that. Thank you.”
Yeon-hee’s eyes sparkled as if she really didn’t know, and Maeng Seong-yong wore a satisfied smile.
“It’s not necessary to know who ordered the tailing. You shouldn’t ask either. If you hear about the master, you’ll only arouse suspicion when you meet them. Acting naturally should be the priority.”
Of course, I thought the same and didn’t tell Yeon-hee who had ordered the tailing.
Nodding—
Yeon-hee seemed to think her acting was working, as the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, but Maeng Seong-yong didn’t notice.
“But that part is something we could respond to someday too. Are there no other benefits? I’m not sure what we could gain by participating.”
“Oh— it feels very different from what’s known. Experiencing something is the way to understand it. Ha ha ha—”
As Yeon-hee logically dug at the core of the matter, Maeng Seong-yong burst out laughing and appeared to ponder something deeply.
“I’ll give you a portion of the byproducts from the Great Beast.”
“…?! R-really?! How much?”
‘Are you crazy?! Since that’s a pact state, it can’t be a lie. That you would give byproducts from a Great Beast to Intermediate Hunters like us.’
I’m not sure how much we would contribute when subjugating it, but that contribution would probably be minimal compared to other hunters. Yet, to receive such treasures with certainty…
‘I absolutely have to do this.’
Even the byproducts from lower-tier monsters are used to craft S-rank Hunter equipment, so just how incredible would it be if the materials came from a Great Beast?
‘At least, we could make equipment comparable to Hyeon Joong-gil’s prized sword…’
Not long ago, Hyeon Joong-gil had used a sword he received as a reward for his contributions during a Great Beast hunt when he effortlessly cut down the monster “Spike Hippopotamus.” Its value was beyond words.
“I’ll do my best so that at least one orb or staff you’re holding and some armor can be crafted.”
‘One weapon and one piece of armor for each… That’s quite a generous offer. But I should push it a bit more on this opportunity.’
I conveyed my intent to Yeon-hee through Ran, who was perched on my shoulder. Yeon-hee nodded and then spoke again.
“Contribution.”
“Huh?”
“I want a bigger share based on the contribution.”
“…… Pwahahaha!!! This is a splendid stance! Hmm! Good! You need to have that much confidence!”
Even though I was not entirely sure we’d have any contributions worth evaluating with our current power, who knows what could happen by then.
He laughed wholeheartedly at what Yeon-hee said, holding his belly, before soon soberly replying.
“But with gains come losses. How about this? I’ll accept your proposal as you mentioned. But if you fail to contribute at minimum, you’ll lose the right to the byproducts I originally proposed. How does that sound?”
“…… That’s too much.”
“No, it’s not too much, is it? It’s you who’s being unreasonable for wanting a distribution right among the early Awakened Ones and top-tier hunters.”
‘That was your suggestion, right…?’
Nevertheless, Yeon-hee was faced with a crossroads: whether to take the basically assured lottery or aim for something beyond it.
After a moment of stroking her chin, she nodded and accepted Maeng Seong-yong’s proposal.
“Alright! Yup! Good!”
I had no idea what was good, but Maeng Seong-yong seemed to like Yeon-hee a lot.
‘He seems to have a good eye for people.’
It likely wasn’t just because she was the only class. Perhaps it’s this kind of insight that allowed him to take on such responsibilities despite being of a lower rank.
Drawing lower-ranked hunters like us might have been influenced by his undertones.
“I’ll supply contact methods soon. And I believe you know what role you’ll need to take on.”
“Yes. Spreading and containment of the offspring… That’s what you want, right?”
“Exactly. By then, your summoned creatures will be multiplied many times from now. Of course, I expect your friend’s performance too. The biggest bonus for pulling you in this time has been the skeleton beside you.”
‘Because of me? Was Hyeon Yeon-su’s opinion reflected here? Hmm… I appreciate the words, but it’s a bit heavy…’
Maeng Seong-yong smiled, revealing his white teeth in my direction.
We then exchanged trivial chatter that didn’t really matter with Maeng Seong-yong before leaving the place.
The trivial talks were essentially like:
“Do you happen to know anyone?”
“… Huh?”
“No, I have a great young niece—”
“I’m not interested. Absolutely not.”
“……”
That was the gist of it. Worthless exchanges not even needing to be remembered.
After politely bidding Maeng Seong-yong goodbye, we checked if there was anything lacking in the conversation we just had on the way home.
“I feel like I could have squeezed a bit more out of it, but my words failed me, ugh…”
As Yeon-hee expressed her frustration while practicing the craft of extracting bones, I sweetened her mood.
In actuality, I thought it was a perfectly executed negotiation, but since Yeon-hee felt too tense, she vowed to do better next time.
Upon arriving home, Yeon-hee took a nap to catch up on sleep and didn’t wake until late afternoon.
During the time she was sleeping, I continued my swordsmanship practice and bone extraction exercises until she woke up, at which point I mentioned I had somewhere to go.
“The alleyway from before?”
Nodding—
It was the place where Yeon-hee and I had shared some close moments not long ago. It reminded me of the sinister group detected there.
“Let’s go together! I’m stronger now too!”
Feeling enlightened and having grown a level today, she displayed newfound confidence different from before.
‘Hmm…’
With the presence of the earring artifact, I agreed readily. She jumped with joy.
Having finished her preparations, I took Yeon-hee with me directly to the location of those guys.
We landed on top of an office building and activated [Veil].
As I transformed into a humanoid, Yeon-hee gently caressed my face with her hand before snuggling into my arms.
“Ah… this feels nice.”
I embraced Yeon-hee, who’d been through a lot these past few days, planted a kiss on her forehead and then surveyed the mini-map.
However, the nearest nefarious group was marked 20km away, and the surrounding area was neatly arranged.
‘…… Where could they have gone?’
Although it was a different time than before, this was the site where nearly a hundred of them had gathered.
It was strange for not even a single presence to remain, not just a temporary absence.
We entered the building where they had been, and only a clean, organized office space welcomed us.
“The dust hasn’t even gathered. It seems like they’ve been gone only a few days?”
“Right.”
I wondered if the organization here was ‘Blue-eyed’ or possibly related to ‘Do’.
Narrowing my senses solely to the building, I started observing the surroundings.
“Hmm— ‘Inbam’ and ‘Evolved Beasts’…”
“Do you sense them?”
“Yeah… I think I understand now. There’s a faint scent left behind.”
The ones who had been here must have belonged to the organization of ‘Do’.
“The scent… it continues. It seems they trickled out their drug materials as they moved.”
“Really? Can you follow it?”
“Yeah.”
Since they hadn’t been gone long, I was lucky enough to track their scent residuals.
And the place we arrived was where the nefarious group had been detected on the mini-map.
‘As expected. They didn’t go far.’
However, their numbers had drastically decreased, and only a few products related to evolved beasts remained.
‘They might’ve stored some in the space and left the rest outside.’
(What will you do?)
Yeon-hee whispered to me.
Normally, I would eliminate the guys one by one right away, but with her around, I found myself hesitating without realizing it.
Seeing my hesitation, Yeon-hee whispered with a slightly displeased expression.
(I’m fine. Let’s not forgive those bad guys.)
Nodding—
The place where the guys were located was a rather spacious maintenance facility disguised as a container-like building, and there were as many as five exits.
‘Ran, bestow the possibility of [Rock Barrier].’
Ran soon awakened the potential of my rock attribute magic and stretched out, releasing the summon.
(I just released it.)
Nodding—
Leading the possibility would take 30 minutes.
Although my stats were greatly reduced with [Veil], with Yeon-hee’s summoned creatures alongside, it should be no problem to suppress E-rank or lower hunters.
It was just that such preparations were needed to quietly suppress them.
[Rock Barrier]
Grrrr—
– Huh?! What’s happening!
– Enemy!!
The guys realized they were under attack, but all their exits were blocked by massive rocks, leaving them flustered.
Then, as a light aura surged around them, the gigantic Lizardman and Orc were summoned, causing them to panic and unleash their skills.
But—
Ting ting ting!
“Grrooo?!”
The Orc looked at them as if to say, “Is this your full strength?” and swiftly overpowered the members of ‘Do’.
“Ahh!!! We didn’t do anything! Really! It’s true—”
As soon as they were overwhelmed, one of them started begging to assert their innocence.
‘There’s no need to ask.’
Having experienced this multiple times, I understood that questioning was pointless.
Creeeak—
– Acquired ‘Fragment of Corrupted Life Potion’. (8/100)
The one desperately claiming their innocence had their head sent soaring, dropping a fragment of life potion.
“If you’re going to lie… you should have at least erased the scent of evolved beasts from your body first.”
I shook my head disapprovingly and cleanly beheaded the guys firmly tied by my summons.
Creeeak—!
Creeeee—!
‘Be grateful I’m killing you quickly.’
– Acquired ‘Fragment of Corrupted Life Potion’. (19/100)
In the end, I wiped them all out without leaving a single one behind.
‘All of them had brand-new phones. Was that a command from their leader?’
The leader of ‘Do’ likely suffered those injuries trying to revert my skill, leading to this outcome.
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