The atmosphere was so grim that even a baby would realize just how serious the current situation was. Lee Sang-Hee started talking after a moment of hesitation.
“Excluding Blue Guild’s parties two and seven, the other parties have been isolated in an epic-ranked dungeon. We’re not sure if they’re still alive and we checked the distress signal this morning. Considering how they didn’t send a separate signal afterward, I think it’s safe to assume that the parties that entered ran into trouble,” she explained.
‘That’s the problem?’
“They entered the dungeon on August 14th and the last time we were in contact with them was at six-forty this morning. Mr. Seol-Ho?” she asked.
“Yes, that’s correct. That’s the exact time,” he confirmed.
If it was August 14th, then it was before we joined the Blue Guild. I had an idea of what was going on.
‘The expedition failed.’
This was one of the typical situations that led to the downfall of a guild or clan. Even though we recently entered the free city of Lindel, I still heard the typical sayings that people said.
‘One expedition failure will make a small clan stagger and two expedition failures will cause a large guild to stagger.’
That basically implied just now dangerous dungeon raiding and hunting was. Strong players were naturally the assets of a guild and if those players died during an expedition or if they became disabled, then it meant that the guild’s power would immediately decline. This was why clans and guilds usually spent a lot of money on preparing for expeditions. There were even rumors that guilds with slightly bad reputations would send in trial parties first before their own members.
If the dungeon that was discovered was epic-rank or above, then there was a need to be more careful. Unlike the rare dungeons where monsters simply appeared along with a boss monster afterward, the mechanism for every epic ranked dungeon was slightly different. I had never entered one but based on the dungeon records of other guilds, I could make my own deductions.
‘Blue Guild will fall because of an expedition failure.’
Kim Hyun-Sung must have known that this would happen and sending a rescue team was already in the plan. The manpower trapped in the dungeon was far too valuable for them to be simply abandoned.
In addition, Lee Sang-Hee definitely considered each and every player in the dungeon as a part of her family before thinking of them as manpower. Based on her personality, I was certain that she might have even entered the dungeon herself if she could. But the main problem was what decision we were going to make.
While I was thinking about the different possibilities, I heard different voices from the meeting room. They were discussing what they should do about this situation after Lee Sang-Hee finished explaining the situation.
‘Even though all this discussion is pointless…’
“How about asking for help from other guilds?”
“We asked the Red Mercenary Guild for help, but the Mercenary Queen is currently away, so we haven’t gotten an answer from them yet. I’m not sure how long it’ll take for us to receive a reply, but if it’s urgent… I don’t think the expedition team will remain safe until we received their response.”
“So are you suggesting that we should just go in there without coming up with a plan?”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting, but even though they stopped signaling this morning, we still can’t rule out the possibility that the majority of the members are still alive. They’re assets to the guild.”
“I agree that sending a rescue team is the right choice, but we lack the manpower. Even though the purpose is to rescue them and not take over the dungeon, going there by ourselves is…”
“If we decide to form a rescue team, then the retired members can also…”
“Our bodies aren’t capable of entering a dungeon anymore. Haha. I honestly feel tired just doing administrative work.”
“But we don’t have enough people.”
“Not enough people? We have party seven with us.”
“...”
“Party seven is…”
“Isn’t party seven part of the guild’s main power?”
‘Crazy gramp…’
Even though we weren’t saying much, the situation was pretty obvious. They were trying to decide whether they should send a rescue team in order to save the trapped party.
The guild surely had detailed information about the dungeon, but after considering the fact that the information had already failed them once, it meant that this dungeon expedition was definitely dangerous.
Even if Hwang Jung-Yeon, Lee Sang-Hee, and our party entered the dungeon that had devoured five of Blue Guild’s parties, there wouldn’t be much that we could do. The only thing we could do was check whether they were still alive or not. The problem was how we were going to do this because it seemed that as the discussion continued, it became apparent that Lee Seol-Ho and the other gramps didn’t want to go to such a dangerous place.
“There was a reason why we spent a lot of money to recruit them. I’m sure they’ll be a huge help.”
“The party hasn't even developed properly yet, Mr. Lee Seol-Ho,” Hwang Jung-Yeon said.
“Miss Hwang Jung-Yeon, I also know that as well, but right now, we need all the help we can get. It’ll be better than not taking them at all,” he explained.
“But still…”
“The guild is in a crisis and it’s only natural for us to work through it together.”
“If that’s what you think, then how about you come with us, Mr. Lee Seol-Ho?”
“He’s old and senile so it’ll be difficult for him to move. He has dedicated himself to the guild all this time… and since we need someone to protect the guild, it’ll be best if Mr. Lee Seol-Ho remains here.”
“Yes, of course!”
“We won’t be much help anyway even if we did go. Ahem…”
“Ahem.”
‘What a bunch of bullshitters. These crazy bastards…’
I couldn't help but laugh all of a sudden because of how ridiculous the situation was.
I wasn’t sure of the details, but it was as if they made a script for all this because their teamwork was amazing. Considering how the crazy gramp kept trying to push us into the dangerous situation made it seem like he was trying to squeeze us our money’s worth. The crazy gramp Lee Seol-Ho would benefit the most if we entered the dungeon with Lee Sang-Hee and Hwang Jung-Yeon.
‘Old and senile my ass.’
It seemed like yesterday when Lee Seol-Ho expressed his violent nature toward me during our first meeting. I could see that his stats weren’t bad and even though he was old, it wasn’t like he couldn’t move his body. It was like watching an energetic old man being dominant at home or outside and then becoming old in public transportation in real-time. It was obvious why he was acting that way. He simply didn’t want to go to a dangerous place.
‘So you want to make a quick buck, huh?’
While they were discussing whether to send in a rescue team or not, they also discussed whether party seven would join as well.
“Party seven isn’t prepared to enter a place like that.”
“Ahem, we don’t have a choice.”
“It hasn't even been a year since they came to Lindel.”
“But they’re a part of the Blue Guild so that makes them guild members. They’ve already received a lot of benefits, so we can’t give them any special treatment this time.”
“It’s not special treatment but common sense. No guilds in this city have ever sent a party that hasn’t been here for one year into an epic-ranked dungeon. Wait, I guess there is one. The majority of the guilds that send in trial parties do that.”
“How dare you say trial party? You’re being too harsh. They’re…”
“Stop.”
Lee Sang-Hee stopped their pointless discussion.
“Party seven will stand by at the guild house. Mr. Seol-Ho, Miss Jung-Yeon is right. No matter how fast Mr. Hyun-Sung and the others have been growing… they won’t be much help,” she said.
‘That’s it.’
“Please remain here and protect the guild.”
“But…”
“No buts. This is my decision. For the remaining members, please hurry and make preparations for the expedition. Our goal is to rescue, not to capture. The other members need to start finding out whether we can receive help from the other guilds…” Lee Sang-Hee ordered.
“Got it.”
I wasn’t sure if this was what Kim Hyun-Sung wanted, but this was ideal for us. If the people that left as part of the rescue team died or returned with severe injuries, then Kim Hyun-Sung’s party would immediately become the strongest party within the Blue Guild. Basically, we would be able to take over a medium-sized guild without lifting a finger. Naturally, we would have to take care of all sorts of problems, but if we skipped the complicated process, we would benefit a lot from this.
‘It’s not just that…’
Losing Lee Sang-Hee or Hwang Jung-Yeon would be problematic as well. Thinking about how Kim Hyun-Sung’s kingdom would be losing two competent workers changed the story. It didn’t matter if the crazy gramp got killed somewhere, but the two women were good enough to join his kingdom.
It may take a bit of time, but safely inheriting power wasn’t a bad option either. The most important question was what Kim Hyun-Sung was going to choose. Not knowing his thoughts really frustrated me, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t make assumptions. I even thought about just staying quiet from a distance and obtaining whatever benefits came my way, but… the Kim Hyun-Sung I knew would probably…
“We’ll go with you,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.
…say something like that.
“Excuse me?” Lee Sang-Hee asked.
“I told you that my party would join you,” he said again.
“I appreciate the offer, but… that’s…”
As someone that had to support the regressor, I had no choice but to cheer him on. I did contemplate a bit, but I immediately made a decision. I would also feel uncomfortable if we let Hwang Jung-Yeon or Lee Sang-Hee get pushed into a dangerous situation since I received a lot of help from them.
“Mr. Hyun-Sung is right. It’s only right for us to go with you,” I commented.
‘Even though I’m a bit worried…’
There was definitely a reason. Kim Hyun-Sung may have an idea on how to take over the dungeon or there could be something that we could obtain through this dungeon expedition. After all, he might be nice, but he wasn’t an overly kind-hearted person.
After taking a deep breath, I spoke again. “Recently, our party members experienced an enormous amount of growth. Everyone obtained their epic-ranked third jobs, making their main stats in the low 60s while Ha-Yan’s is in the 70s.”
“That’s…”
“Is that true?”
“Huh…”
“No way…”
“I understand that we still aren’t capable enough and that our stats are still not enough to enter an epic-ranked dungeon, but we realized that more than anything, we’re still members of the Blue Guild. This relationship may have formed due to a contract, but I have never once taken our relationship lightly,” I explained.
“Oh.”
“We received help from a lot of people and this time, we would like to offer our assistance even though it may not be much. If we believe that we will be in too much danger during the expedition, we’ll do our best to keep ourselves under control. I just hope that you’ll consider our offer to lend you a hand, even if it’s not much,” I told her.
When I slightly lowered my head, there was an immediate reaction. My action looked dumb, but it wasn’t bad.
“We would really like to join you,” I added.
“Hahaha, how charming.”
The crazy gramp was even smiling at me.
“Miss Lee Sang-Hee, Mr. Ki-Young, and Mr. Hyun-Sung are offering their assistance, so why not take them with you? If they’ve already changed to their third jobs, then I’m certain that they’ll be able to help you. Hahaha.”
Getting rid of that old man in any way possible was the right thing to do and I was sure that I wasn’t the only one that had that thought.
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