Since the dungeon control was scheduled kind of suddenly, everyone was pretty busy. Lee Sang-Hee, the mother of our guild, was in charge of training our party, and even after our training, we were detained by Kim Hyun-Sung. This was our daily routine. But to be honest, I had no recollection of us using our individual abilities in a team during a basic hunt.
What we had experienced in the tutorial dungeon could be considered as experience, but tutorial dungeons weren’t categorized into ranks, so basically, our party skipped the typical growth process. An ordinary party would start training near the edge of the Monster’s Forest and they would start their hunting journey by fighting against small monsters first. Since the overall stats of Kim Hyun-Sung’s party was high, it may seem like a trivial task, but still, this kind of growth process was important because even though people couldn’t see it, their stats were getting stacked.
Since we were going to enter the dungeon right away, we were busy acquiring basic knowledge and practicing battle formations so that our movement wouldn’t interrupt the other parties. We also memorized the monster’s type and trait.
It was safe to say that the other guild’s party was in charge of preparing everything that was necessary for the dungeon control, so in other words, they had the advantage. The other guild’s party was being considerate of us.
‘Though I’m not sure if that’ll work well…’
The rookie parties from each guild were really lucky because they were given the opportunity to enter a rare-ranked dungeon. Working with another party may be uncomfortable, but on the other hand, it meant that it was going to be that much safer. I had the opportunity to see how the other parties moved and I could watch how dungeon controls worked. Of course, I couldn’t say that the parties we were going to be working with were strong, but being able to watch my seniors at work was still going to be helpful. Basically, I was lucky in many ways.
“Are you…really thinking about taking her?” I asked Kim Hyun-Sung.
“Yes. It’ll probably be dangerous, but I’m sure it’ll be a good experience. The fact that she’s young may be a disadvantage, but it can also be an advantage,” he answered.
“I see.”
The fact that Kim Hyun-Sung was trying to take Kim Ye-Ri with us was pretty surprising, but I was sure that it was going to be safe.
Since Kim Hyun-Sung was pouring all of his energy into her, he should be able to rule out any threats that would pop up.
Anyways, time continued to pass and the party was becoming more complete. Kim Hyun-Sung rarely went out to attend meetings now and I could feel the Blue Guild’s seventh party’s first expedition approaching.
And on the day of the expedition, an unusually busy morning started.
“Deok-Gu, did you prepare everything?” I asked.
“Of course. A few of the guild members prepared it ahead of time…” he answered.
“Miss Hee-Young, can you please check to make sure that nothing is missing? And if there’s anyone that’s feeling sick…”
“Okay, Mr. Ki-Young,” she answered, interrupting me.
“Ha-Yan, check to make sure there’s nothing wrong with the food, water, and potions,” I ordered.
“Okay, oppa,” she answered.
Honestly, I was the busiest person, and usually, the person that often took the initiative in doing chores was favored by their superior. Of course, I wasn’t talking about intervening in the actual plan of the dungeon control or putting Kim Hyun-Sung in an uncomfortable situation. It was all about the basics of what had to be done, like checking the necessary supplies and making preparations for the expedition ahead of time. They were all chores that had nothing to do with the dungeon control. As such, there wasn’t a need for our lovely regressor to worry about these things.
‘Your hyung will prepare everything, Hyun-Sung, so you don’t have to worry.’
As expected, he was looking at me with satisfaction and since I couldn’t go up against him with my stats or power, it was important that I impress him with these chores.
‘This bastard…even though he’s weak, I really need him.’
It was important that I leave that kind of impression on him.
“Check to make sure that we’re not missing any gear. Ha-Yan, if you’re done, go down to the guild’s storage room and bring the gear that we rented out…” I told her.
“Okay, oppa,” she said.
“Don’t forget to grab the arrows that Ye-Ri is going to use,” I reminded her.
“Okay!” she answered.
Even though we were busy, it was still important to look busier since this was our first expedition. In addition, I had to claim my position within the party in advance.
If Kim Hyun-Sung was the father of the party, then Lee Ki-Young was the mother and it didn’t sound all that bad.
The benefits I obtained were disproportionate to the work I was doing. After all, I was only checking the list and making sure that we were fully prepared for the upcoming expedition. I unknowingly smiled when I saw the happy look on Kim Hyun-Sung’s face.
“I think we’re pretty much done with preparations, so you can do the final check…”
“No, it’s fine Mr. Ki-Young. I’m sure there won’t be any problems. The other parties should be waiting for us outside, so we should start heading out soon,” he said, interrupting me.
“Okay,” I said in agreement.
Being trusted by the regressor was more fun than I thought because he looked at me as if he fully trusted me. I couldn’t help but feel good when he decided not to do one final check.
“Let’s head out,” he said.
“Okay.”
While slowly heading outside, people were looking at us for some reason. Of course, I was sure that there were some that were just looking at us without any reason, but the majority of the people were focused on us.
“It’s Sun Hee-Young. This time…”
“Is that the party that the Blue Guild recruited recently?”
“I heard that the guild paid a lot of money to recruit them, but…we’ll see if they were really worth it.”
“I’m jealous. Sigh…compared to us, it’s like they’re starting out with an advantage. They’re…”
“It’s because they’re that skilled.”
“But they haven’t actually shown anything yet, right?”
“Isn’t that why they’re going out to hunt now?”
“I’m sure they’ll enter a dungeon that the guild is supporting.”
There were some that were jealous of us and others that had different opinions, but it was understandable for them to be jealous of us after looking at the variety of gears we had. Even though they were gears that we rented from the guild’s storage room, the reality was that some of them didn’t even have average-ranked gears. The people that were looking at us enviously were wearing gears that were basically rags, so of course, it was only natural for them to compare their gears with us.
Anyone could tell just from looking at Park Deok-Gu’s gear. Instead of the fragile wooden shield that he used in the tutorial, he was holding an iron shield that was of pretty decent quality, and instead of wearing the leather armor that had been tied together using a shoelace, he was wearing chainmail. If Park Deok-Gu’s strength stat was a bit higher, then he could have worn plate armor and in the spot that was supposed to hold a low-ranked sword, there should have been a blunt weapon. Even though he didn’t have an epic-ranked item, this was more than enough to show that he wasn’t a rookie.
As I was walking while having different thoughts, I saw other members wearing their guild’s insignia.
“Nice to meet you,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.
“Likewise.”
Since the party leaders met a few times before, they were comfortable enough to shake hands and it was the same for the remaining party members.
The members that had the red insignia on their chest were of course from the Red Mercenary Guild. I noticed them looking at me in a friendly manner.
‘Yeah, yeah.’
“Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Young-Ki from the Red Mercenary Guild. I’ve heard a lot about you from our guild master. You…”
“Oh, nice to meet you. My name is Lee Ki-Young,” I said, interrupting him.
It was natural for Cha Hee-Ra, the guild master of the Red Mercenary Guild, to either want to look good in front of me or be in a situation where she was on my side. Seeing as how they were dressed in red overall, their identity was pretty clear.
The people that were greeting Jung Ha-Yan were the party that was from the Devil’s Guild. The insignia they were wearing looked like a magic circle and I guess they were curious about a lot of things because they were already having a conversation with Jung Ha-Yan. The people that were talking to Kim Hyun-Sung were from the Black Swan Guild. They were also wearing their guild’s insignia and the party was made up of five females and one male.
‘It’s exactly as I’ve heard…’
Even though the majority of the members were female, they looked like a unified party even though there was only a small gap between their skills. The red party’s melee line looked strong, the bookworms were skilled as ranged attackers while the black guild had a good balance overall since their stats were between the 40s and 50s. They all looked like the parties that each of the guilds would support and since there were so many of them, greeting each and every person was an issue. It was obvious, but Sun Hee-Young was the most popular among us since she was a priest.
“I guess you’ve decided to become active.”
“Yes, something happened, so…I decided to join the Blue Guild. I look forward to working with everyone,” Sun Hee-Young said.
“You seem very reliable, haha.”
“I’m not. Honestly, I’m not used to going into dungeons, so I’ll need a lot of help. I look forward to working with you,” she said.
“Yes, of course. Let’s head out now,” the other member suggested.
Based on the atmosphere, it looked like Choi Young-Ki of the Red Mercenary Guild was going to be the one leading the dungeon control because not only was he part of the largest guild, but he had decent stats. He didn’t possess legendary-ranked stats, but he had epic-ranked potential and I guess he was a tank because his endurance and stamina were in the 50s. Not only that, but his agility stat wasn’t low either. If I had to explain it, it was as if Choi Young-Ki was an upgraded version of Park Deok-Gu, so if he grew in the most ideal way, then Park Deok-Gu would probably end up being like him.
“Mr. Hyun-Sung, it’s an honor to be able to personally meet the famous party,” he said.
“No, we just happened to be lucky and this is our first expedition…we joined in order to learn rather than to actually do something,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.
“Hahaha, I actually watched you during your last demonstration and I thought…geniuses really do exist. Being too humble can be harmful sometimes,” Choi Young-Ki said.
“Thank you very much for the compliment,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.
“I couldn’t help but think that way about you. Of course, Miss Jung Ha-Yan was really amazing as well,” he said.
Choi Young-Ki of the Red Mercenary Guild was pretty cheerful, but the Devil’s Guild was generally quiet. I wasn’t sure what the black guild was thinking, but they didn’t look like they were wary of us. Of course, that didn’t mean they didn’t have anything to complain about and as I expected, it was because of Kim Ye-Ri’s presence.
That was when the leader of the black guild, who looked as if there was something she wanted while walking quietly, opened her mouth. “Mr. Hyun-Sung, you never mentioned that you were going to bring a child to the expedition.”
“She won’t get in the way. She’s more like a talented archer than a child, but I’ll keep an eye on her so that she won’t be a nuisance,” Kim Hyun-Sung explained.
“But still…”
“I’ll make sure to keep an eye on her,” he said, cutting her off.
“Whew…”
She could’ve said more during the conversation, but I guess that she wasn’t really a nice person after seeing her openly sigh. It was to the point that she openly made the other person feel awkward. I did look into her stats when we first met, but I thought I should look again, so I slowly activated Mind’s Eye.
[Checking Player Jung Yoo-Ra’s Status Window and Potential.]
[Name - Jung Yoo-Ra]
[Title - None. Please work harder.]
[Age - 29]
[Nature - Calculative Strategist]
[Job - Assassinating Thief - Rare Rank]
[Job Effect - Acquired basic archery knowledge]
[Job Effect - Acquired basic dagger knowledge]
[Job Effect - Acquired basic entrapment knowledge]
[Job Effect - Acquired basic assassination knowledge]
[Stats]
[Strength - 41/Above epic growth limit]
[Agility - 55/Above epic growth limit]
[Stamina - 43/Below epic growth limit]
[Intelligence - 40/Below rare growth limit]
[Endurance - 20/Above rare growth limit]
[Luck - 23/Below rare growth limit]
[Magic - 43/Above epic growth limit]
[Overall Review - As an assassin, Player Jung Yoo-Ra possesses useful stats and potential. I can see that her nature, job, and stats go well together and she possesses a talent that’ll help her grow easily. Let’s say that she obtains a legendary-ranked item or job, she’s the type of person that’ll grow immensely. She doesn’t seem to have that great of a personality but compared to you, it’s a drop in a bucket.]
‘Not bad.’
Since I have seen so many amazing stats, I wasn’t that amazed by her stats, but like it was mentioned in the overall review, her potential growth wasn’t that bad and her nature suited her job as an assassin very well. I think it was safe for me to assume that her stats were the ideal stats for completing a rare-ranked dungeon capture. I guess her role was taking apart traps and putting the enemy’s backline in confusion.
I pretty much noticed what kind of personality she had.
“We’re not teachers of a daycare, sigh…” she commented.
My earlier assumption was solidified even more when I heard the words that she whispered into the air as I passed by her.
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