Guild (01)
“Jeongwoo, I’ve finished writing the application and introduction here. Could you read it once to see if there’s anything strange?”
“Ah, I’ll look at it now. But have you decided on the guild name? You’ll need to finalize it before submitting the application.”
“Not yet. I’ve just picked several name candidates for now. Father suggested going to a naming agency and paying to have one made, but I still want to try making one myself first.”
“Alright. Think about it once more before submitting the documents.”
At Jeongwoo’s smiling expression, his face reddened for no reason and he turned his head pretending to work. Since Jaehee and Jeongwoo had kissed outside, both of them hadn’t mentioned anything about it. However, whenever their bodies brushed against each other or their eyes met, they would stiffen awkwardly.
Fortunately, they had been busy lately with creating the guild, which helped.
Creating a new guild was a much more complex task than expected. Unlike when guilds were first established, there were now many requirements that needed to be met to found a guild.
Thinking that they could just fill out some documents and apply was a big mistake. When they first submitted the application, it was rejected for incomplete documentation, and they were now on their second attempt.
When writing the second application documents, they received help from Section Chief Lim Yongtae. Section Chief Lim reviewed the application documents in advance and told them what needed to be redone. Even knowing the Management Bureau’s killer schedule, Section Chief Lim Yongtae was grateful in many ways for making time. It was hard to see it as done with pure intentions, but help was help nonetheless.
Father had agreed to handle all the office space and other costs needed for guild establishment. Jaehee had worried about how his father would react when he said he wanted to create a guild, but surprisingly, his father readily agreed to help. Not only that, he joked that “when the king commands, subjects must follow,” which flustered Jaehee.
Actually, what he thought would be the biggest obstacle in establishing the guild was the matter of ordinary people joining.
Section Chief Lim Yongtae was also surprised when he first heard this story, as having ordinary people join an Awakened One guild was something no one had attempted yet. However, when they actually proceeded with the work, this part didn’t become a problem at all. Rather, there was much work for ordinary people to do in guilds, including office work, and people said the existing closed guild operations were the problem, which surprised Jaehee.
Thanks to this, Jaehee’s guild had gained word-of-mouth before its establishment, with people wanting to join continuously increasing.
“Oppa! Can I play with Kyaeng-kyaeng?”
“Kyaeng kyaeng kyaeng!”
Jaehee’s room door opened slightly and Yeong-i peeked her head out. In her arms was Kyaeng-kyaeng, no, Mirang.
Since his timid stepmother would be too scared if he said it was a divine beast, Jaehee had deceived her by saying Mirang was an abandoned dog he found nearby and brought home.
Jaehee’s family had never raised an animal before. Father had shown reluctance about Mirang, but thanks to his stepmother actively taking Jaehee’s side, Mirang came to live with Jaehee’s family.
The one who liked Mirang most was Yeong-i. On the first day she saw Mirang, Yeong-i jumped around like a flying squirrel. However, Mirang didn’t particularly like Yeong-i, but Yeong-i didn’t really mind.
“Yeong-i, do you want to play with Kyaeng-kyaeng? Then you can’t hurt Kyaeng-kyaeng.”
“I didn’t do that! I was saying Kyaeng-kyaeng is pretty.”
Mirang had gained the new name Kyaeng-kyaeng thanks to Yeong-i. At first, when called Kyaeng-kyaeng, she would show distaste and dislike, but now she seemed half-resigned.
Yeong-i claimed she was saying Kyaeng-kyaeng was pretty, but in little Yeong-i’s hands was a handful of Kyaeng-kyaeng’s, no, Mirang’s fur that had been plucked out. She had probably petted her because she was pretty, but Mirang was making pitiful kyaeng-kyaeng sounds.
“If you do this, Kyaeng-kyaeng goes owie, owie. You spread your hand like this and say she’s pretty.”
“Okay. Oppa, can I play with Kyaeng-kyaeng? Mommy said to ask oppa.”
At Yeong-i’s words, Jaehee glanced at Mirang. Mirang expressed her hardship and pitifulness with her drooping tail, but Jaehee pretended not to notice and nodded while looking at Yeong-i. Then he added a pat to Mirang’s head, meaning to take good care of Yeong-i.
“Alright. But you can’t go anywhere else, only play in the yard. Got it?”
“Okay.”
“Have fun playing with Kyaeng-kyaeng.”
“Kyaeng kyaeng kyaeng! Kyaeng kyaeng! Kyaeng kyaeng kyaeng!”
Kyaeng-kyaeng sent a resentful look as if asking how she could do this to her, but it was useless. Yeong-i disappeared excitedly while holding Kyaeng-kyaeng.
Jaehee chuckled while watching Yeong-i’s retreating figure.
After Jaehee returned, Yeong-i had suffered from high fever for about a week and was seriously ill. The hospital couldn’t pinpoint a specific reason, but Jaehee knew the cause.
He felt so sorry inside while watching his restless stepmother and unconscious Yeong-i. The reason Yeong-i was sick was because of himself. Yeong-i had directly accepted a Constellation for his sake, putting strain on her body.
He wondered if giving her a potion would make her better, but Jeongwoo said it would be useless. Until Yeong-i got up from her bed, Jaehee felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
Fortunately, Yeong-i got up after a week passed. But still, whenever Jaehee saw Yeong-i, he somehow kept feeling sorry.
“I didn’t know Yeong-i would like Mirang this much. We’ve never raised an animal at home before.”
“Well, Mirang does look cute. She’s still small enough that you can’t tell if she’s a dog or fox. And it’s probably better for Yeong-i to be with Mirang than to be left alone.”
“You think so?”
“Even like that, Mirang is the blood of Seohuryorang who ruled the entire fox clan. She should be able to protect Yeong-i from most threats. Plus she’s quick-witted, so she must have figured out that Yeong-i is an important person to you. Instead, secretly give her some meat. She keeps kyaeng-kyaeng-ing while eating dog food without being able to show it in front of mother.”
Because Jaehee said Mirang was an abandoned dog, his stepmother had bought dog food. There was no way Mirang, a fox clan member famous for being a gourmet, would like dog food.
“But Jeongwoo, is it really okay to do it like this? I mean the guild.”
“Still anxious?”
“Can I do well?”
“Park Yongpil-ssi and Kim Jisu-ssi also said they wanted to join after hearing you’re making a guild, and several other Awakened Ones have gathered too, right? Even before officially launching, if it’s already this much, there doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about. Plus, if you add the ordinary people who have already expressed their intention to join, quite a lot of people have already gathered. What are you anxious about?”
Jeongwoo glanced through the guild application and guild introduction that Jaehee had written, then put them down.
Jaehee awkwardly scratched his head and let out a deep sigh.
“I’m not sure either. Just whether I can do well… I’m anxious. Actually, in a way, I’m opening a guild instead of using the name of king. If it were just me working hard alone, I wouldn’t be this scared, but thinking that many people’s affairs depend on me, I keep wondering if I’m qualified for this.”
Hearing Jaehee’s words, Jeongwoo nodded.
“You’ll do well.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know everything. I’ve been watching you all this time. That you’ll do well, that you suit being a king more than anyone else – I know all of that.”
“You funny guy.”
Jaehee chuckled while looking at Jeongwoo. After the B-rank Instant Dungeon ‘Subway of Deception’ incident, the Global Mission had been completed. People were initially afraid that something big would happen to those who still hadn’t chosen a king when the Global Mission was completed, but ridiculously, the world had been quiet for over a month now.
So people began quickly returning to their daily lives. Since the Global Mission was completed, there were even talks that maybe everything was over now. No more dungeons had appeared during this time, and the existing dungeons that hadn’t been cleared were being conquered one by one under the Management Bureau’s command.
The collapsed systems had returned one by one, and now people were trying to make movies and dramas about what had happened rather than worrying about dungeons.
But the more this happened, the more anxious Jaehee felt somehow. He suspected this might be a brief calm before a bigger wave came crashing.
“The application seems fine like this. Now we just need to decide on the name?”
“The name… Ha, among the ones that don’t overlap, the one I like most is ‘Eternal,’ but what do you think? I feel like people might tease us a bit.”
At Jaehee’s words, Jeongwoo said nothing for a moment, then soon nodded.
“Good, Eternal. Yeah, let’s go with Eternal Guild.”
“W-wait a minute. Is it okay to decide so casually?”
“What’s wrong with it? It’s good. I wrote Eternal Guild. If we submit these documents today and pass, I’ll have to call you Guild Leader Shin Jaehee-nim now.”
“Hey! Don’t say such embarrassing things. You’re the vice guild leader too.”
Suddenly Jeongwoo called Jaehee in a low voice.
“Jaehee.”
“Yeah.”
Jeongwoo smiled while looking at Jaehee. Jaehee was momentarily defenseless when he saw that, and his face turned completely red.
“You’ll do well, I tell you. I came back from the future and saw everything.”
