"Mmmm. It's something like a encouragement. It basically mean he’s watching this and he wants me to do well?”
"Huh. He says he's dropping out, yet it’s a word of encouragement?”
“Mmm. It's used like that now.”
“Why are all the popular phrases so hard to understand these days?”
“Heh heh. People play like that on the internet.”
Woojin started looking at all the comments after her chapters.
“This guy, Spotted Dog, must be a fan. He kept saying he is dropping out after every chapter.”
“I...I guess so.”
Jiwon let out an awkward laugh.
“This is quite fun. Should I start writing too?”
“Huh?”
“Haha. I'm joking. It's a joke. I should start studying the popular slangs.”
Woojin smiled when he thought about Baek-jongdo. When meeting Baek-jongdo in the future, Woojin would be the one teaching him a popular catchphrase.
“Loot at the webtoons. There are a lot of fun stuff here. You'll be very surprised at how creative some of the netizens are."
“Oh. Really?”
Woojin and Jiwon put their heads together and had a fun time looking at their small smartphone.
‘My memories keep popping up in my head. They are still publishing this series.’
They were still publishing the webtoon, 'Sound of the Body'. It was something he read before he had been summoned, and it had brought up old memories. Whenever he recalled his old memories, it would always give Woojin a distant thrill.
He remembered how everything used to be... He felt a feeling of regret.
After talking and playing for a long time with Jiwon, Woojin went to the office.
It was 5 PM.
When he opened the office door to enter, the gazes of several dozen employees fell on Woojin. While everyone else hung back, there was a single person who was approaching him with haste.
“President. You are here?”
“Uh. Sunngoo and Haemin isn't back yet?”
“They are organizing the loots. They should be heading back here by now.”
“All right.”
“Heh heh. Have you eaten?”
Woo-soonghoon let out smile as he sucked up to Woojin. Woojin felt a bit of sympathy for him. He wasn't a bad guy. It wasn't as if his soul was rotten...
Woojin's eyes landed on Soonghoon's name tag.
[Support Division, Acting Section Chief Woo-soonghoon]
“Are you acting like this, because you want a promotion?”
“Heh heh….”
Woo-soonghoon let out an awkward laugh. Even some of the new employees hired much later than him were assigned to other departments based on their abilities and experience. They were either given titles of section chief or department head. As a founding member, Woo-soonghoon was still stuck as an acting section chief.
As he slowly read the signs, Woo-soonghoon felt like he was walking on thin ice every day. Woojin patted Soonghoon's shoulder.
“Don't worry about it. I have my eyes on you.”
“Heh heh. Thank you.”
“You’ll be able to drop off soon, so work hard.”
“…….”
Was Woojin pressuring him into a voluntary retirement?
When Soonghoon's face stiffened, Woojin laughed.
“Why are you freezing up for? It's an encouragement. An encouragement.”
“Ah, yes….”
“Then keep up the good work.”
“…Yes.”
He didn't know why, but his joke sapped more energy out of Soonghoon. Woojin headed towards the president's room.
“I guess I'll take some medicine.”
Woojin opened his inventory, and took out several Reinforcement Stones. He took the Reinforcement Stones for the Stats with no absorption wait time. When Sunggo returned, he would have to feed Sunggoo the Reinforcement Stones again.
Woojin was able to know his exact absorption time by looking at his Status Window. However, Sunggoo didn't have this advantage. Therefore if he repeatedly took Reinforcement Stones on Stats with a wait time, then he wouldn't get any benefit from it and they would just take a loss when the Reinforcement Stones was used up.
Woojin had to pick every Reinforcement Stone taken by Sunggoo.
When he was about to take several more Reinforcement Stones to eat, he heard a knock at the door.
Ddok ddok.
“Uh. Come in.”
The person, who pushed her head through the door, was none other than Lieutenant Che-haesol.
“Oh! Lieutenant Che.”
“I'm in the reserves now.”
Haesol walked and stood in front of Woojin, then she stood straight in a disciplined manner.
“It seems it'll be awhile before you stop acting like a soldier. When did you get here?”
“I've been coming to work since yesterday.”
Woojin shook her hand as he smiled.
Guild Alandal's third Roused.
“We'll talk about the details when Minchan is here. Sit.”
“Yes, sir.”
Woojin looked hard at Haesol.
<Lv 14 Che-haesol>
Ability - Monster Taming, Stat - ….
He used several skills like Observation, Intuition, and Analysis in combination to bring up Haesol's information.
“Ho. You are a Tamer?”
“Huk. How did you know?”
“I can see it.”
“…….”
“I'm sure you had a hard time developing yourself.”
“Haha. Yes.”
Were there any monsters left alive on earth?
When the Dungeon Break happened and the monsters poured out, the troops laid down concentrated fire to kill the monsters. It was their first priority.
There weren't that many opportunities to try out Taming.
If she wanted to, she could have endlessly repeated 1 star Dungeons to slowly advance her Taming skill. However, she had become a Roused when she was already enlisted.
If she requested it, she could have been transferred to the Roused units. However, she chose to stay in her old unit where she had been working.
Even if one were to become Roused, not everyone could live the life of a Roused.
Thus, she was given a choice without actually having a choice by Woojin. She had to quit her dream of being a soldier and then join the Alandal guild.
Woojin pushed forward several Reinforcement Stones.
“Absorb it.”
“What?”
“You don't know how to do it? You just have to eat this one. This one you just have to inject your magic into it.”
“Ah. I know all about that, but...”
Why was he giving her the expensive Reinforcement Stones so easily at their first meeting?
“You have to be tuned-up to be of any use. You are of no help to me right now.”
“…….”
She didn't like being called incompetent to her face, but it wasn't a bad thing. The other person wasn't some averagely strong person. He was a word-class Roused who was probably the best in this world. A person like that was trying to guide her right now.
“Then I'll take it with thanks.”
If one calculated the worth of these Reinforcement Stone, it would easily reach several hundred thousand dollars yet it disappeared in seconds. Che-haesol 's heart was beating faster each time a Reinforcement Stone disappeared. Woojin grinned when he saw this.
“Your growth will be fundamentally faster.”
As the mana increased, the Roused of earth was slowly getting stronger. Even though Haesol hadn't trained at all, she was level 14.
One was a normal human until level 9. Then, one would become a 1st Circle Roused after reaching level 10.
Her level had risen by 4 naturally, so it seemed Haesol's potential wasn't too bad.
It was actually on the good side.
“Your body is quite receptive to the drugs. Eat this too.”
There was no wait time after she absorbed the Reinforcement Stones, so Woojin handed her couple more Reinforcement Stones. Haesol felt burdened, but she kept absorbing the Reinforcement Stone in order, upon Woojin's insistence.
Woojin watched Haesol's Stats increase and thought hard about the Magic scrolls that would suit her. If he had it in his inventory then he would just give it to her right now to learn. If he didn't have it, he’d tell his employees to go purchase one.
Woojin took out an appropriate Magic scroll.
“This is Telepathy.”
“Huk. Is it ok to just give it to me like this?”
He kept giving out items that were worth several hundred thousand dollars like candies. Haesol's sense of reality would grow dull if this continued.
“This is important. You have to keep practicing and growing your abilities.”
Telepathy was important. If one wanted to command one's troop in a chaotic battle, those with a Telepathic skill could be used as a great tool for communication.
Right now the communication network was fine, and many people assumed it would stay that way. However, when a simultaneous Dungeon Break happens, the cities would be the first places to be destroyed.
Infrastructures built by civilization—like the power lines that delivered electricity—would be destroyed.
She was ex-military had great potential. He couldn't say that she was loyal to him, but she was a trustworthy person. She would be the the right person to be put in command over the newly picked Roused.
The Telepathy Skill was an essential skill. Woojin didn't stop there. He gave her a Sword skill, Defensive magic, Wind magic, etc. He gave her all the low rank skills that weren't restricted by Class.
“I...I have to learn all of these?”
“Yes. Why?”
Woojin answered as if the answer was obvious. Haesol had a puzzled expression on her face.
Even though she had developed her own abilities, it wasn't as if she didn't have basic knowledge of the Roused. A Roused had to learn a single discipline, so the Roused's growth would be stable...
“…Isn't that how it is?”
When Haesol started laying out her reasons, Woojin grinned.
“Do you play any games, Haesol?”
“What?”
“Do you have a game character you are growing?”
“…….”
“If you don't want to be left behind, learn all of them. Stop talking as if you have a full stomach.”
“…Yes.”
Haesol couldn't even let out a squeak when Woojin spoke in a forceful manner. She had developed a somewhat of a stiffened-back in the military, but she became intimidated from a glimpse of Woojin's personality.
Without complaint, Haesol started learning each Magic scrolls given to her by Woojin.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
When the door opened, Kim-haemin and Hong-sunggoo entered the president's room with a bit of an urgent expression on their faces.
“Hyung-nim. Is it for real?”
“What are you talking about?”
This was the first time he had seen the president after returning from the US for a month, yet he gave such a greeting... Our Sunggoo had grown a lot.
“Ah… Look at this.”
Sunggoo grabbed the remote on the table, then turned on the TV. After changing several channels, he stopped on a live press conference being broadcasted. There were three people seated in the press conference, and one of them was a familiar figure.
“Isn't that Minchan? He said was going to go eat some food, so what is he doing over there?”
“…….”
Sunggoo became speechless at Woojin's reaction. Woojin pointed his chin to the two people sitting next to Minchan.
“Who are they?”
“They are the Minister of Defense and the Army Chief of Staff.”
“What's Minchan doing with them?”
“…….”
By the looks of Woojin's reaction, he didn't understand what was transpiring. Kim-haemin swallowed his saliva once and then started to explain in a patient manner.
“Alandal guild just entered into an agreement with the government. This agreement gives us support almost similar to a state-owned company. They are making that announcement right now.”
“Is that so?”
“You shouldn't just be saying, 'Is that so?'”
The fine details of planning were all being taken care of by Minchan, so Woojin wasn’t worried about it. At Woojin's cool reaction, Kim-haemin had a shocked expression on his face.
“President. This is the first time Korea has done this.”
“Why are you making such a big deal about this?”
“We are the guild in charge of the national defense... Eh. It basically means we will be treated like one of our nation's forces.”
They’dl be a national security group acknowledged by the government, and they would be under the military.
“So what?”
“That is….”
Woojin frowned. Haemin was having a hard time speaking, so Sunggoo stepped forward.
“Our military life has been lengthened.”
This might be a permanent post in the military...
“Huh?”
That son of a bitch... I said go eat dinner at the Cheongwadae yet he did such an unnecessary....
Woojin let out a sigh.
“After Minchan became the vice president, he did something this big.”
“…….”
It seemed that Woojin wasn't in a good mood, so everyone kept silent.
“When that bastard comes back, tell him to not come to work any more.”
“Where are you going, president?”
“I'm returning to the Dungeon..”
“What?”
“Sunggoo and Haesol will be following me.”
After he finished speaking, Woojin stepped out of the president's room. Haemin quickly followed after him to ready the car.
Sunggoo's eyes turned round as he looked at Che-haesol.
Then his eyes became crescent shaped as he laughed.
Haesol smiled as she faced Sunggoo. Then, she put her hand out for a handshake.
“I look forward….”
Sunggoo refused Haesol's handshake and suddenly hugged her.
“Ooh-uhng. Let's suffer together from now on.”
“Yes….”
Haesol, who was the 3rd Roused to join this guild, felt an uneasy feeling when she saw Sunggoo's reaction. Sunggoo gave a fierce hug as he laughed.
He won't be lonely anymore.
He had a comrade now.
“Let's go before we are late.”
“Yes… So which Dungeon are we going to?”
“I'm not sure. At the very least, it'll be 4 stars. Maybe we'll go to a 5 star today.”
The Dungeons they could use were limited if they didn't have an appointment. Also, they didn't own many Dungeons. Haemin would have prepared everything. Haesol's face stiffened when she heard she was going to the high rank Dungeons.
“Did I mishear you?”
“What?”
“W...we are immediately going to the high rank Dungeons?"
“Probably.”
“I'm only Rank F, so why would I go the high rank Dungeons... Doesn't the lessons usually start from the 1 star Dungeons?”
What kind of a guild would instruct a new Roused in a high rank Dungeon? When Sunggoo saw Haesol's natural reaction, it was funny, sad, and welcoming.
‘Yes. Her response is normal. That's normal.’
Of course, a normal person should think that way.
Until now, he had grown through an abnormal route. Yes, indeed.
“Haha. You will feel like you are dying but in the end, he doesn't let you die.”
Huh? Did her ears hear wrong? She thought she heard some strange words from the cheerful director Hong-sunggoo...
“Hahaha. Let us both come back alive.”
“…….”
Wasn't he too cheerful for a resolutely determined Roused?
The director of miscellaneous work was too happy at the thought of having a comrade even if it was a confused newcomer.
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