“Yumi-ssi.”
“Yes? Yes!”
Yang Yumi glanced at Jeongwoo with a face that had turned pale. Despite her appearance, Yang Yumi was someone who had experienced all sorts of trials and tribulations, but the current Jeongwoo felt frightening even to her.
Yang Yumi was actually one of the top talents in the country. During her time as a military officer, she had worked in the Defense Intelligence Agency for over three years, and after awakening, she became one of the founding members of the Management Bureau alongside Section Chief Lim Yongtae. Yang Yumi belonged to the Information Department of the Management Bureau, which could be considered the equivalent of the old ANSP or NIS.
The Management Bureau suffered from chronic manpower shortages, so it was unexpected even for Yang Yumi when Section Chief Lim introduced her to Eternal Guild. Yang Yumi understood that Section Chief Lim considered Shin Jaehee and Woo Jeongwoo to be important figures. Two young men who were barely twenty years old. That’s why Yang Yumi tried not to be deceived by their outward appearance and evaluate Shin Jaehee and Woo Jeongwoo properly.
The person known to have the strongest martial power among Awakened Ones was Lee Shinhoo, the guild master of Sahae Guild. Although she thought Woo Jeongwoo had potential that wasn’t inferior to Lee Shinhoo, ultimately the experience that came with age couldn’t be ignored, so Yang Yumi thought the ranking of Awakened Ones placed Lee Shinhoo at number one and Woo Jeongwoo outside the top five. Even that was remarkable considering Jeongwoo’s age.
However, seeing the aura Woo Jeongwoo was emanating today, she had clearly misjudged. Woo Jeongwoo’s current skill level felt like something Yang Yumi had never seen before.
Woo Jeongwoo was coldly and fiercely angry. He was clearly enraged, but his emotions were controlled. Yang Yumi felt chilled by that elegant savagery.
“Please convene the board of directors right now. I think we need to hold an emergency meeting.”
“Yes, understood.”
“And Yumi-ssi, please convey this to Section Chief Lim right now. Tell him that we won’t avoid a fight that’s been brought to us. So if he wants to mediate, he should stop Sahae Guild, not us.”
“…Yes.”
Yang Yumi felt her spine grow cold as she looked at Jeongwoo with his chilling eyes. She had thought they had accepted her knowing everything anyway. But seeing him so overtly treat her as Section Chief Lim’s spy made her neck shrink instinctively.
Some might say that Woo Jeongwoo was more suited to the position of king than Shin Jaehee. Woo Jeongwoo was someone who wore the clothes of a commanding ruler well. But if Jeongwoo was a king, then Jeongwoo was a tyrant. Emperor Nero, who set fire to Rome and sang while plucking the lyre. Woo Jeongwoo was exactly that kind of person. A king who didn’t care about his people at all. On the other hand, Shin Jaehee was the master who held the reins of such a Jeongwoo. As Yang Yumi contacted Section Chief Lim, she thought it was truly fortunate that Jaehee was the king.
Jeongwoo parted with Yang Yumi and went to the guild master’s room, shaking awake Jaehee who was still sleeping.
“Jaehee, wake up. I’d like to let you rest more, but you need to get up. It’s an emergency.”
“Uh, huh?”
Perhaps because Jaehee had been sleeping soundly, he didn’t wake up easily. He sat up rubbing his eyes with a sleepy voice, and Jeongwoo sighed looking at such a Jaehee. In this situation, to think his first thought upon seeing that appearance was that he was pretty. Even he thought he wasn’t normal.
“It’s an emergency. Sahae Guild has issued a statement.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Jaehee asked back in a much clearer voice. Jeongwoo took out a potion that helped restore stamina and a sandwich from his inventory and held them out. Once the meeting started from now on, there was no telling when they’d be able to fill their stomachs, so it would be better to eat quickly now.
“During the eve of the last Night of the Dead, the Sahae Guild master was attacked. And they’re saying it was us.”
“That’s… What! Are they insane? Why would we do such a thing!”
“Right. It’s all bullshit. But they’re insisting we deliberately targeted and sniped the king during the Night of the Dead. If this continues, all the other incidents might end up being blamed on us too.”
“Those Sahae Guild bastards, did they get shot in the head or something? Not even a bolt from the blue, what the hell are they suddenly pulling?”
“It’s all lies and nonsense from beginning to end. First of all, the Sahae Guild master isn’t even a king. But in their statement, they pretended he was a king.”
“King…?”
At Jaehee’s question, Jeongwoo nodded.
“Remember last time? When Shinhoo said with his own mouth that he was Zero. Zero can’t become a king. He’s not given the qualification of a king. But in their statement, they boldly referred to Lee Shinhoo as a king. Until now, even when people asked if Lee Shinhoo was a king, they wouldn’t answer. And now they’re saying we attacked Lee Shinhoo. They’re just lying about everything.”
“Crazy bastards…! I didn’t think Shinhoo-ssi was such a despicable person, but what the hell is he suddenly doing out of nowhere? Could it be that Sahae Guild killed the king who was attacked yesterday? To create plausibility for Lee Shinhoo being attacked, I mean.”
“That might be the case.”
Jeongwoo sighed and held out the potion and sandwich he was holding. It was a sandwich he had bought from a famous restaurant in Hongdae and kept in his inventory.
“First drink the potion and eat some sandwich. From now on, we need to prepare for war.”
“War?”
“Sahae Guild declared war on us. There’s no choice now.”
Jaehee’s mouth fell open. Jeongwoo started eating his sandwich next to such a Jaehee.
* * *
“Since I received the initial report first and have grasped the most information, I, the vice guild master, will conduct this meeting. First of all, everyone, last night three kings were murdered. They all suffered mysterious attacks, and since it happened during the eve, they apparently couldn’t properly identify the assailants. When a king dies, the King’s Veil disappears immediately. The assassin disappeared leisurely in the darkness.”
Among those who attended the meeting as board members, most nodded without being too surprised. Many had already heard from acquaintances.
“However, it seems Sahae Guild was one of the guilds attacked. Sahae Guild is claiming that their guild master Lee Shinhoo is their king, and that we attacked Lee Shinhoo last night.”
“What? That doesn’t make sense. What kind of nonsense…!”
“Not only that, Sahae Guild has even declared war on us. Now we’re in a situation where we need to prepare for war.”
Those sitting opened their mouths wide.
It wasn’t as if there had been no guild wars since guilds were created. However, the larger the guild, the more they valued their image, and guild wars mostly occurred between small guilds due to emotional disputes. Even if small guilds with fewer than ten members had a guild war, it was only a guild war in name; in reality, it was just about the level of a neighborhood brawl.
But for Sahae Guild, said to be the largest guild in the country, to declare a guild war. And right now, wasn’t this a situation with the Night of the Dead mission ahead?
“No, I understand being upset if the attack is true, but suddenly declaring a guild war without any investigation and with the mission starting now—isn’t that a bit much? Why the sudden rush?”
“Was there really an attack? The Management Bureau hasn’t said anything? When there’s a dispute between Awakened Ones, the Management Bureau’s intervention is the principle in the first place.”
“But wasn’t Shinhoo-ssi the strongest in our country? Who would attack such a Shinhoo-ssi?”
The flustered people murmured. Some even asked if our guild really carried out the attack.
They were already busy enough just preparing for the Night of the Dead that would start in a few hours, and now Sahae Guild on top of that. It was truly a disaster.
“Now, now, quiet. First, this is just conveying what Sahae Guild said. The Management Bureau hasn’t said much yet, but through Yumi-ssi, Section Chief Lim has agreed to contact us soon. However, separate from the Management Bureau, we also need to prepare.”
“Prepare…? Against Sahae Guild, you mean?”
Someone asked Jeongwoo in a pale voice.
Though the guild itself hadn’t been launched long ago, even among them, Sahae Guild’s position was unparalleled. It was a guild that had maintained the unwavering number one position without ever losing it since guilds were first created. But such a guild fighting against a guild that was just established a few days ago? First of all, Eternal Guild and Sahae Guild differed by more than ten times in the number of Awakened Ones alone.
“First of all, as Sahae Guild claims, Shinhoo-ssi is not a king. When we met him previously with the guild master, Shinhoo-ssi said himself that he was Zero. In case anyone doesn’t know, let me explain—Zero is a term for those who awakened before going through the tutorial. I know this because I’m also a Zero.”
“…What?”
Looking at the shocked people’s eyes, Jeongwoo continued speaking in a flat voice.
