The order of entry to the round table meeting was decided based on the guild’s world ranking. Both the world’s last ranked guild and the top guild, Creator’s Sacred Grace, participated.
That was the reason why Essence of the Straits couldn’t help but attract attention since they were second in the world ranking.
“Phew…” Yoo Yeonha stood in front of the door leading to the meeting hall and arranged her clothes.
She sharpened her collars and made sure there wasn’t a single crease on her clothes.
— The representatives of Essence of the Straits, Yoo Yeonha, and her adjutant, Kim Hajin, are entering.
A voice announced our entrance.
Yoo Yeonha was about to enter when she stopped and scanned me from head to toe. She seemed dissatisfied about something as she extended her hand towards my necktie.
“Can’t you put this on properly? It’s crooked.”
“… I never wore one before.”
She nodded in satisfaction after fixing my necktie.
“Alright, let’s go now.”
The doors opened and a large round table appeared with numerous guild representatives and their adjutants already seated.
Yoo Yeonha held her head up despite the attention she was receiving as she walked to her seat.
Clack… Clack… Clack… Clack…
The sound of her high heels resonated in the room as she walked. I was walking right behind her.
— The representative of Creator’s Sacred Grace, Yun Seung-Ah, and her adjutant, Kim Suho, are now entering.
As expected, the last to enter was Creator’s Sacred Grace.
I eagerly looked at the door in anticipation of seeing a familiar face. Yun Seung-Ah and Kim Suho entered shortly afterwards.
Both of them looked no different from when I was in Cube.
Kim Suho winked at me the moment he saw me… Gross…
The meeting finally started after everyone took their seats. The moderator of the meeting was an executive of the Hero Association, Kim Jonghyuk.
He raised his glasses and said, “Then, we will now commence the meeting.
The first topic at hand was choosing the auction date. Yoo Yeonha chose the first and fourth days of the auction, which were the dates when most of the difficult fields were allocated. Creator’s Sacred Grace made the same choice as her.
Yoo Yeonha was the youngest representative in this meeting, but she led the meeting with charisma. After all, there was no way anyone could speak ill or look down on her simply because of some rumors flying around when she was the representative of the second most powerful guild in the world.
“I am aware that Essence of the Straits is currently raiding a large dungeon and attempting to raid a high-level field at the same time. That is simply too reckless.”
“We can attempt it at the same time because it is a field. A field has no time limit, unlike a dungeon and…”
The representatives were in a heated exchange when the representative from Frost Sanctuary pointed at me and asked, “But… I heard the adjutant from Essence of the Straits is a mercenary. Am I correct?”
I simply nodded in response.
“Then what’s your main weapon? Ah, I’m just asking because I heard some strange rumors that you use a gun.”
Yoo Yeonha replied with a frown, “Yes, he does use a gun.”
“Hmm… Then, is he participating in the field as well?”
Yun Seung-Ah and the other representatives watched with intrigued looks.
I looked at the back of Yoo Yeonha’s head, but didn’t see our dear supreme team leader attempting to respond to the question.
In the end, I simply shrugged and replied on my own, “Yes, I will be.”
“Ohh… Will that work? A field is as dangerous as a dungeon, but taking a gunner as your adjutant…?”
Yoo Yeonha didn’t respond, which made the other guild representatives look at me with curious eyes.
I was a bit burdened by the attention I was receiving, but I simply smiled and replied, “I’m the type that gets stronger when protecting someone. I’m confident in my protection abilities.”
This wasn’t a bluff. The gift [Bodyguard] that I spent a year’s worth of SP on was more than enough to clear the field.
“Really?”
Some of the people in the room gasped at my words. Even the representative from Frost Sanctuary attacking me just now seemed taken aback, but he soon flashed a smug smile.
Everyone else looked back and forth between me and Yoo Yeonha.
I could see steam rising from Yoo Yeonha’s head. Kim Suho seemed to be trying his best not to burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! Then, I look forward to your exploits.”
I wasn’t sure if my response was enough, but the representative from Frost Sanctuary withdrew his blade and stopped attacking me after that.
Wait, should I have said tongue instead of blade…?
***
Yoo Yeonha stormed out as soon as the meeting was concluded.
She checked her watch. The time was seven thirty in the evening and the first auction would start exactly an hour later.
She looked back and said, “… I’ll go to the auction alone.”
Strangely enough, she found it difficult to look Kim Hajin in the eyes. Fortunately, there was a fifty person limit for the auction so it was a convenient excuse to avoid him.
“Alright then, I’ll be waiting outside,” he replied with a smile.
“Do what you want,” she curtly replied and walked away.
However, she couldn’t help but keep looking back for some reason. She would involuntarily glance back after every two steps she took. In the end, she let out a sigh and decided to tackle the issue head-on. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to focus on the auction at this rate because her curiosity got the better of her.
“Hey…”
“Hmm?”
“What did you mean a while ago?”
“Mean what?”
Yoo Yeonha couldn’t respond to the nonchalant response and just stared at him. She never expected that he was this type of a man.
“I mean…” she squirmed while trying to come up with the words, but soon shook her head. “… Never mind.”
“Hey, what is it?”
“I said never mind.”
They continued walking for a while before both of them came to a halt. Yoo Yeonha looked somewhere and her eyes shot wide open.
Kim Hajin’s eyes followed to where she was looking.
“Oh…”
It was Shin Jonghak.
Yoo Yeonha froze in place after seeing him talking to some woman.
Kim Hajin furrowed his brows and nonchalantly said, “… I’ll be going first.”
Yoo Yeonha couldn’t stop him from leaving. She thought of stopping him, but it was too late as Shin Jonghak spotted her.
He looked exactly like how he used to.
“Hey, Yoo Yeonha. You’re here?”
“… Yeah.”
Yoo Yeonha looked beside him at the beautiful woman. She had no idea if that woman was his colleague or lover, but bowed and greeted her.
“You caused quite a scene,” Shin Jonghak said.
He wasn’t the representative for Desolate Moon, but was technically higher ranked than the representative. That was why it wasn’t weird for him to be there and know what happened at the round table meeting.
“Why did you choose a mercenary of all people to be your adjutant?”
Yoo Yeonha shook her head at the criticism and replied, “He has the skills to back it up.”
“Still, you have to think of his background.”
“Anyways…”
Shin Jonghak figured that talking about it any further would just spoil the mood, so he decided to change the subject, “Which dungeon are you guys going for?”
“I’m not sure…” Yoo Yeonha muttered in response.
Shin Jonghak rubbed his chin.
Yoo Yeonha stared at him. He was her first love and she loved him for the longest time. However, that love stopped after eleven years, three months, and thirteen days.
“I can’t tell you that,” she said.
He wouldn’t come to her no matter how much she loved him. He wouldn’t come no matter how long she waited. That was why she stopped and replaced her feelings with a grand ambition.
“I guess you’re right.”
“Yeah.”
Shin Jonghak patted her on the shoulder and said, “I wish you the best.”
It was quite rare for him to touch someone else, but this was his way of showing friendship to another person.
“You too, Jonghak… No, I wish you the best, next vice guild master of Desolate Moon,” Yoo Yeonha said.
Shin Jonghak smiled in response. It was the same smile he had ever since he was a child, an innocent yet haughty smile.
***
The auction came to an end. Yoo Yeonha managed to get the field one level lower than Deshwing, which was Yijieng. It could be considered a success based on the results alone, but the real problem was choosing the raid members.
“Haa…”
She was looking at the hologram monitor to sort the guild members out, but her faction was lacking in many ways. After all, most of them were new recruits or had been in the guild for two years only.
She couldn’t involve her father, Yoo Jinwoong, because that would further complicate things. In the end, she had to choose someone from the vice guild master’s faction, but…
Yoo Yeonha closed her smartwatch and the hologram disappeared. The skyscrapers could be seen out the window.
She was currently staying at the most luxurious hotel in Shanghai, The Essential. It went without saying that this hotel chain was a subsidiary of Essence of the Straits judging from its name. She was currently staying alone on the hotel’s penthouse floor.
“Let’s think about it after we survey the field…” she muttered to herself.
It wasn’t a dungeon, but a field. Surveying it in advance was an absolute must. There were things on the field that couldn’t be seen through videos or reports. That was why it was imperative for the person in charge to personally visit the field and survey it.
Yoo Yeonha gathered her thoughts and sent a transmission to someone.
“Hey, I’m done with my work so you can come now,” she said.
However, there was no response no matter how long she waited.
She tilted her head in confusion and sent another transmission, “Hello? Are you sleeping?”
All she received in return was silence.
“Hey?”
She thought there was something wrong with her smartwatch, so she shook it a few times.
“Hello?”
Then, she tapped on it a few times as well.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
“HEY!”
— Yeah, what?
Only then did she finally receive a response.
She was about to say something when she heard someone snickering from the other end of the line. It was quite high-pitched and sounded something like, Kekekeke! or Kyakyakya!
“… What are you doing right now?” she asked with a hint of disgust.
— … I’m watching you.
“I said, what are you doing right now?”
— I told you. I’m watching you. I can see you all the way from here.
“…”
Yoo Yeonha gritted her teeth. She felt dizzy for a second as her entire body started getting hot.
“Come here.”
— Huh? Why? I can see you from here.
She couldn’t help but feel annoyed by him right now. She brushed her fingers through her hair and clenched her fist. Her palms were sweaty.
“I said come here.”
— Why?
“Hey…”
Yoo Yeonha felt like her pent-up anger would erupt at him, but she immediately changed her plan.
“Cough! Cough!”
She started coughing and spoke in a faint trembling voice, “… I’m sick.”
— All of a sudden?
“My head hurts and I can’t sleep…”
She suddenly heard someone ask, ‘Who are you talking to?’
It was broken Korean, but she was certain that it was a woman. He was currently with a woman right now.
Yoo Yeonha lost her cool and screamed, “COME HERE! … I said.”
— … Wow, there’s absolutely no respect for workers’ rights here. You should let your employee rest when they’re resting, you know.
“I don’t know. Just do what you want if you don’t want to come,” Yoo Yeonha retorted and hung up.
She lay on the sofa as rage started boiling inside her. She gritted her teeth and switched the TV on.
— 在这次会议上……
There was a news report of what happened during the round table meeting. It was roughly about how the representative from Essence of the Straits brought a mercenary as her adjutant.
Five… ten… twenty… and thirty minutes passed.
Yoo Yeonha was restless while watching the news. She couldn’t help but feel bothered.
Where was he right now and what was he doing? How dare a bodyguard go fool around and not protect his employer! Who was that woman?
‘Ha! Unbelievable! Why am I surrounded by disloyal people…? Yeah, I’m not mad because I’m mad. I just wanted to act like I was mad to make him nervous. I mean, why is he fooling around instead of doing his job? A bodyguard should dedicate himself to protecting his employer… I’m stuck in this penthouse while he’s fooling around with some woman…’
“Ah… I can’t take it,” Yoo Yeonha grumbled and stood up.
However, she instantly made a detour and went back to the sofa after seeing that the elevator was coming up to the penthouse.
Ding!
The elevator door opened and someone’s footsteps could be heard. Yoo Yeonha pretended to be asleep on the sofa.
The stench of perfume lingered in the air.
“Are you asleep?”
Yoo Yeonha didn’t respond to the question.
Kim Hajin laughed and looked down at her without saying anything. Then he started playing with her hair.
“… Goodnight.”
Those words made Yoo Yeonha act impulsively. She opened her eyes and pretended that she just woke up.
“Where have you been…?” she asked.
Her acting was perfect. She was confident that anyone would be fooled by her acting skills.
“I was making some money in the casino,” he replied with a shrug.
“I heard some woman’s voice…”
He smirked and replied, “I made quite a lot, so she clung to me. I think she works at the casino or something.”
“…”
Yoo Yeonha was speechless and couldn’t find the right words. She continued staring at him before suddenly remembering what he said earlier today.
‘I’m the type that gets stronger when protecting someone. I’m confident in my protection abilities.’
She was certain the someone he mentioned was her.
In the end, she ended up smiling and spoke in a completely different voice, “… Please don’t go to places like that from now on.”
Kim Hajin was quiet for quite a while. Was he thinking about how to respond to that?
Yoo Yeonha could feel her heart race while looking at his serious face. She couldn’t understand why her heart was beating so fast in the first place.
Then, Kim Hajin finally replied…
“Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?”
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