– It seems that you will have to choose a different guild.
“Ah… just a moment.”
I pressed my temples and fell into thought. Since Haetae didn’t submit an application, there’s no way to submit an additional application now. The application period already ended yesterday.
I quickly recalled the other guilds that were my backup plans.
– I’ll send you the list, so you can think about it some more and call me back later. I was surprised too.
“Ah, thank you. I will.”
Fortunately, the kind association employee gave me some time. I hung up. Before I knew it, I had reached the front of the consultation center while on the call.
As soon as he finished speaking, my phone vibrated briefly. It was a file sent from the association, and I opened it without hesitation.
The logos and names of familiar guilds filled the page. I scrolled down, but Haetae was not there.
“Seriously, it’s not there.”
It seemed that Jin Se-ah was mistaken about something.
I called her.
***
At the Haetae Guild headquarters in the heart of Seoul.
Wi Jae-wan entered the office, dragging his weary body while chewing on the cold convenience store gimbap. There had been no time at all to eat.
The point where such indiscriminate guild chores and field support were dumped onto him, the team leader and scout, was probably the day.
Yoo Seon-woo.
Since the day his cherished junior left the guild on his own. This unreasonable external work might be the price for that.
The planned strategies since that day had fallen apart. Because he, the team leader, had to bear the “responsibility” spoken of from above.
“I guess I’ll have to manage it.”
It was something I had somewhat mentally prepared for.
I thought it should have been this way. I didn’t particularly regret it.
He entered the office with a wry smile.
However, there was already a visitor in his seat.
In the farthest corner of the office, overlooking the scenery was the team leader’s seat. She was sitting in his place.
Holding a cellphone in one hand.
“Hmm… there seems to have been some misunderstanding. I must have skipped on checking.”
Long hair that was unclear whether it was gray or silver, like moonlight. And, even in broad daylight, her golden eyes shone brightly like jewels.
The heart of the Haetae guild.
The one called a one-man legion.
S-Class Hunter Jin Se-ah.
She was seated, holding the phone in one hand and on a call. The tone of her voice over the phone was bright, and it was full of charm.
“Yeah, no, it can’t be helped….”
The voice on the other end of the line was Yoo Seon-woo.
In fact, it was something that was already obvious without needing to listen closely.
“Yeah! I’ll definitely tell him to apply next time. Seems the team leader made a mistake. I’m sorry for bothering you while you’re busy~ Call me when you get home!”
And just like that voice, her face was also full of happiness and excitement. Her slightly flushed cheeks and gently curved eyes.
To anyone, it was the face of a girl in love.
– Thud.
But the moment the call ended, all expressions vanished from Jin Se-ah’s face.
It was an unbelievable sight for someone with that sweet voice.
She slowly, very slowly turned her head and looked at Wi Jae-wan, standing at the door. And quietly opened her mouth.
“Team leader.”
Her cold golden eyes scrutinized Wi Jae-wan. The charming voice from earlier had vanished.
“Why did you do that?”
Her tone suggested she was already certain that he was the cause. And it was indeed correct.
He forced a calm expression and spoke in the most composed voice he could muster.
“Haha… Se-ah… there seems to be some misunderstanding.”
He smiled stiffly and began laying out the logic he had prepared.
He had a convenient excuse ready, knowing she would come here upon realizing it. He just hadn’t expected her to come so quickly.
“Seon-woo is from our guild, right? He’s the number one counselor; his popularity is immense, so imagine if he says he’ll come to our guild for his first royal visit. There’d be immediate accusations of favoritism and whatnot.”
He nodded and continued speaking.
“Complaints would arise from other guilds, and some would suspect collusion. So… for now, we decided to let the first application slide. It was approved from above too.”
Even upon rethinking, it was a plausible excuse.
“….”
He paused for a moment, gauging her reaction. But Jin Se-ah kept her chin up and listened quietly until he finished his entire explanation. So, Wi Jae-wan hurriedly added one last thing.
“That would also be good for Seon-woo. He needs to last long, and we need to protect him; we can’t be a burden, right?”
Upon hearing Seon-woo’s name, the frosty expression on Jin Se-ah’s face softened, as if snow were melting in sunlight.
“Hmm….”
She released her chin and whispered softly.
“Still, you crafted a decent excuse this time.”
There was a very faint hint of mockery in her voice.
“Team leader.”
She was definitely smiling. But her eyes showed no sign of life.
“You don’t need to worry about Seon-woo anymore. I’ll take care of him.”
She asked with her chin rested, as if genuinely curious.
“After all, he’s not a team member you need to look out for anymore, right?”
At those words, Wi Jae-wan couldn’t respond at all.
***
“Ah, hang up.”
I closed my cellphone.
It was as expected.
There was no problem or anything like that.
Jin Se-ah simply didn’t know anything. She didn’t even know whether Haetae had applied or not.
She sometimes shows such a reckless side when not in combat or missions. I smiled and poured myself a glass of water.
An empty waiting room. Again, there were no hunter patients visiting in the afternoon.
I understand.
Since it’s the first day, it is always the guild’s responsibility to feel the need for mental care for hunters and outsiders. It’s hard to think that successful hunters or outsiders would have problems with themselves.
Even if confidentiality is promised, they wouldn’t want to admit their own weaknesses enough to come all the way here.
Now that Haetae was out of the picture, I had to choose a backup plan. I looked at the list of prominent guilds on the computer screen.
Aegis, Hwarang, Polaris…
The strongest guilds in Korea, their names alone made my heart swell.
But I thought differently.
‘If it’s something I have to do anyway, wouldn’t it be better if it also helps me?’
In the current world, guilds are broadly divided into two types.
The first type is guilds composed mainly of awakeners, not outsiders. Such guilds tend to scout outsiders like me as secondary elements or outright exclude them.
Guilds that exclude outsiders and only accept pure local awakeners are also called pure-blood guilds.
The second type consists of exclusive groups where only outsiders from specific worlds, like the Cheongcheon Alliance, gather together.
However, there’s one guild that doesn’t fall into either category, a breed apart. I scrolled down and stopped at the name of the guild ranked sixth.
‘Union Guild.’
True to its name, it has a strong characteristic of being a union of outsiders.
Originally, the Union was just a small guild.
However, at the early stages of the transmigration phenomenon, when other guilds were wary of and excluding outsiders, they were the first to accept and absorb them, rising to their current status.
They didn’t check backgrounds. They only looked at abilities and the will to survive in this world.
Warriors from the central plains, knights from empires, beastmen… it is a superior guild that has created an environment where outsiders from various defined worlds can rely on each other.
Being an outsider myself, I’d find common ground and be able to communicate well.
Most importantly, moving forward, I would be the first to welcome the outsiders arriving in this world as a hunter counselor.
Gaining early exposure to their characteristics would be good experience.
The decision didn’t take long. I called the association again.
“This is Yoo Seon-woo.”
In the brief silence while the employee on the other end awaited my next words, I spoke the name of the guild that would be my first patient.
“I’ll go with Union.”
The confirmed date would be… next Monday.
***
That night, when the lights of the Cheonma Hall were extinguished and deep darkness settled in, two shadows gathered in the depths of the training ground beneath the congregation.
And behind them, dozens of demons stood in formation, holding their breaths.
Now, the Ten Demons had become five. Among them, only two faced each other in heavy silence.
One was Hyeok Yeon-bo, the left protector of the congregation and a member of the Ten Demons. The other was the most sinister and inscrutable figure of the Ten Demons, Mook Un-hyeon.
Finally, Hyeok Yeon-bo quietly muttered.
“Did you see it, Mook Un?”
His deep voice eerie echoed in the empty training ground.
“Wasn’t I right?”
A few days ago, Hyeok Yeon-bo had secretly told these Ten Demons, “It seems the Lord has fallen to the heart demon.”
One among the Ten Demons had scoffed in rage, disbelieving it, while another had dismissed it as nonsense.
And the last Mook Un had come to align himself with Hyeok Yeon-bo here.
However, today’s events at the Cheonma Hall changed everything.
Jahwa-yeon had taken the first move. Positioning the guard knight at the protector’s seat was clearly a scheme aimed at the left protector.
Hyeok Yeon-bo continued.
“The Lord is in a precarious state if he appoints an ordinary guard knight to the seat of the protector.”
His voice began to take on a fevered intensity.
But at that moment, one of the demons cautiously spoke.
“However, Lord Protector… even so, if he is the Lord who inherits the will of heaven…”
“Foolish talk!!”
Hyeok Yeon-bo interjected sharply. His eyes gleamed ominously.
“Is it loyalty to watch over a master bit by a venomous snake! The right course of a true loyal subject is to extract the poison embedded in the master’s body and restore his mind and body!”
He spread his arms towards one of the Ten Demons following him and the dozens of demons lined up behind them. In his eyes burned a terrifying flame, mixed with ambition and righteousness.
“We must rescue the Lord from that dreadful torment of the heart demon! And before his condition deepens and leads this congregation to ruin, we must set it right first!”
This is not rebellion.
For the future of the congregation… and for the throne’s owner.
“It’s a restoration.”
“To set all things right.”
His declaration filled the underground.
This time, there was no one opposing his words.
