Chapter 51 - Guild Leader
“...It’s gone up a lot.”
The stock price of the Hunting Alliance I was checking on my phone was truly hitting the ceiling.
‘Isn’t this the highest ever among Korean guilds...’
Basically, South Korea's guild power was not very strong compared to the world's major powers.
It was true that they ranked high when lined up globally, but compared to all of Europe or the United States, which possessed a lineup of S-rank Climbers, it was true that they were a bit lacking.
But to think they had made the most distinguished contribution to conquering the 11th floor, which had drawn the world's attention, they had now grown from a moderately strong guild somewhere in the East to a level where they could compete almost equally with global guilds in terms of recognition.
The large guilds from the West were probably just watching the situation, planning to jump in when it seemed like they would get the spotlight after eyeing each other out.
But an unexpected Korean guild suddenly popped up and snatched the opportunity.
‘Serves them right for just sucking their thumbs. Stupid fools.’
Come to think of it.
There were quite a few guys in Europe and the US that I needed to deal with later.
Building up recognition like this now was definitely not a bad thing.
If I could further build up the reliable backing of the Hunting Alliance, the Renegade guild I belonged to could also increase its share of the pie.
The person I was scheduled to meet was also called in that context.
-♪
As I was thinking that, a familiar ringtone echoed from my pocket.
I checked the screen to see who it was, and it was Darien.
“...”
Wait a minute.
Darien?
I had never given her my number, nor did I remember handing her my phone.
I couldn't even guess when she had taken it and saved her number.
“...Hello.”
I forced myself to ignore the slight chill running through my body and brought the phone to my ear. An extremely excited voice came from over the speaker.
[Avatar of the Savior? It's the Avatar of the Savior, right?]
For some reason, it was a title with an ominous ring that sent shivers down my spine.
“Who is that.”
[Ah, so it is you!]
“No, I'm asking who the Avatar is.”
[I called because I have something to tell you!]
Right. I get that you have something to say, but listen to me first.
As I was thinking that, Darien, completely ignoring my intentions, began to chatter in a highly excited voice.
[There was something I couldn't say before because I was flustered. There was that mage named Lee Si-yeong, right?]
“There was.”
[I called because I have something to tell you about that mage.]
She probably intended to tell me various things about what she had read from her mind.
Well, it was true that she was a person who hid a lot.
Especially with me, there were quite a few things that could secretly connect us.
In that respect, my answer was already decided.
“I know.”
[...What?]
“I already know what you're going to talk about. So you don't have to tell me.”
[...]
The sound of a dry swallow echoed from the receiver.
Then, a breathless sigh was heard.
‘...A breathless sigh?’
Why would she make a sound like that.
[A-as expected of the Avatar of the Savior... Your insight sees through everything without someone like me presumptuously giving advice...]
“...I'm hanging up.”
Feeling like I was facing a stalker, I hung up the phone with an eerie feeling.
In the first place, I had a good idea of what she was going to say.
“What's this. You called me here and you're playing around with another woman?”
“Even for an acquaintance, you really say whatever you want, Ms. Lee Si-yeong.”
In the first place, I was here to settle that topic with her in person.
***
Lee Si-yeong.
Among the main characters that could be controlled in the game, she was the only one with magic-related abilities.
But I called her here today for another reason.
“What are you staring at?”
“No. It's nothing.”
When I replied that way to the mage who was nonchalantly crossing her legs, Lee Si-yeong pouted and glared at me.
“I'm a pretty busy person, so what's the reason for suddenly calling me out like this. We're not exactly on terms to socialize amicably, are we?”
A hollow laugh escaped me as soon as I heard those words.
Just like in the game, she was a person very accustomed to wearing a mask.
The very fact that she responded to my call despite being so busy proved that she was interested in me.
I was sure that my display of various eccentricities on the 11th floor, which an ordinary Climber wouldn't even think of, had a part in it, but it was more likely that she had been keeping her eyes on me since before then.
“Don't be so cold.”
Because.
“Guild Leader.”
This person.
Was the guild leader of ‘Renegade’.
The younger sibling of Lee Seong-jin, who was seated as a figurehead.
“...”
Lee Si-yeong stared at me silently with wide eyes.
It was the expression of someone who had been perfectly checkmated.
Really, truly.
Her entire face was painted with an expression that said she hadn't expected such words to come out of my mouth, not even by 1%.
“...You.”
Only after a long silence did a heavy, sunken voice finally flow out.
“You'd be surprised if you knew what I do to hide that. Please, if you're going to drop a bomb, could you at least turn on your turn signal?”
“It's a relief you're not denying it. Saves us both the energy.”
“You know, I rate you pretty highly. I'm sure if you're confronting me like this to my face, you have solid evidence. I have a mountain of questions, but.”
“You don't have to ask. I won't answer anyway.”
How did you know, what route did you find out through, what do you want, let's just skip all those trivial things.
There was no reason to have a pointless war of nerves with this person, and above all, she and I had a common goal.
“For now, you just need to know that we're comrades in the same boat.”
“...Comrades?”
“Our purposes are different, but our immediate goal of wanting to grow the guild is the same.”
I continued speaking as I rummaged through my pocket.
“You want to crush the Magic Tower, don't you?”
That was Lee Si-yeong's goal, which she intended to achieve by growing Renegade.
Considering Lee Si-yeong's background, it was a natural motive.
When she was a child, there was an incident where her entire family was annihilated.
The Magic Tower was behind it.
The fact that she bothered to hide that she had created a guild, and the fact that she desperately hid her blood relationship with Lee Seong-jin, all stemmed from that.
And upon hearing my words, Lee Si-yeong's expression became terrifying.
“...You know.”
She said, placing the staff she always carried on the table in front of her.
This was half a threat.
An act on the same level as loading a magazine into a gun.
“No matter how highly I think of you, that doesn't mean I'll let you say whatever you want, you know? Prying into someone's personal affairs is a bit much, don't you think?”
“Go ahead and try, then.”
I retorted in a dry voice.
I had to establish my position clearly here.
Although she was nominally the guild leader, I refused to be in a position where she could order me around as she pleased.
We had to be at a level where we could talk on at least equal footing.
“If you're confident you won't die. Actually, I've been holding back quite a lot until now, you know?”
“For someone talking to a 3rd-grade mage, that's very provocative, isn't it?”
In front of Lee Si-yeong who said that, I laid out two Conquest Tokens next to her staff.
The ones I had obtained from conquering the Mysterious Forest and the Jewel Plains, respectively.
“Shouldn't a person who has conquered two floors be able to say that?”
“...”
Lee Si-yeong quietly looked back and forth between her staff and the Conquest Tokens.
The three stages of accepting the situation were interestingly being displayed on her face.
Doubt. Shock. Bewilderment.
“...Is that, what I think it is? A Conquest Token?”
“What else would it be?”
“Are you the master of some super-large guild or something?”
“You yourself know I'm an F-rank in your guild.”
Lee Si-yeong clutched her forehead with a dazed expression.
It looked as if I could hear the sound of a calculator running furiously in her head.
“...Ahem, hem.”
And with a cough, she retrieved her staff.
Well, a wise decision.
No matter if she was a 3rd-grade mage or what, there were fewer than 10 Climbers in the entire world who had conquered more than one floor.
Since the West monopolized everything from the 1st to the 8th floor, I was practically holding all the Conquest Tokens floating around in the country.
At this, Lee Si-yeong smiled broadly and extended her hand.
“...Sorry for not recognizing you! I was an idiot! Please, please be on good terms with me!”
“...”
The level of politeness in a single sentence had just evolved three times.
It was a display of social skills that seemed to prove she wasn't just running Renegade as a guild master for nothing.
Still, it was a relief she seemed to know who held the upper hand.
Thanks to that, we could proceed with the conversation quickly.
“Since our positions seem to be sorted out, shall we talk about the activities we'll do together?”
“Activities to do together?”
“As I said earlier, expanding the guild's size is a common goal. We will carry out activities for that.”
From now on, I would rapidly expand Renegade.
There was still some time left until the floor where the second trial would be triggered, but the large guilds that had seen a Korean guild conquer the 11th floor would soon start jumping into the conquest competition in earnest.
The competition to conquer the floors would become much more intense than it was now.
And for me to easily eat up the rewards that could be obtained within it, the first priority was to build up a weight class that could at least compete with them.
“So, what's your plan?”
To Lee Si-yeong who asked that, I slid the phone I had been looking at across the table.
It was a diagram of the Hunting Alliance's organization chart, edited by me with red circles around a few names.
“You see the guys circled there, right?”
“Yeah. What about these guys?”
“They're the ones who picked a fight with me before.”
They were the corrupt executives of the Hunting Alliance who were probably looking at Seo Hye-in's recent success with the most jealousy.
They were also the ones who had sent the Heukryongdang after me before.
I had Ahab scrape up their list and memorized each and every one of them.
“...You, you got into a fight with an executive of the Hunting Alliance? What kind of trouble have you been causing?”
“I didn't cause any, they started it on their own.”
“...”
Lee Si-yeong rubbed her temples with a troubled expression.
It was a face that said she had no idea where to even begin pointing things out.
“...Alright. I get it. We have to solve the problem with these guys first to run the guild properly. Understood.”
“It's nice that you understand quickly.”
“So, what are you going to do? It'll be impossible to confront guys like that head-on. An executive of the Hunting Alliance is on a level that an ant-like guild like ours would be embarrassed to even try to mess with...”
Lee Si-yeong, who was about to say that, immediately shut her mouth.
It was probably because she saw my expression.
Seeing my face with a big grin, Lee Si-yeong opened her mouth with a slightly trembling voice.
“...You're not as crazy as I think you are, right?”
“How crazy do you think I am.”
“Don't tell me you're going to fight these guys head-on?”
“Nah, it's not that bad. It won't go as far as a fight.”
“...R-right?”
I smiled even wider at the awkwardly responding Lee Si-yeong and continued.
“Because I'm going to crush them one-sidedly.”
And I planned to do it tomorrow.
“...”
The sight of Lee Si-yeong grabbing her face and burying it in her knees was quite a spectacle.
It was fun to compare her to Seo Ah-in.