52. Arahan Gives Fortuitous Encounters For Free (1)

After finishing his threat, or rather his negotiation, with Mister Black, Yujin returned to the Paju workshop.

“Boss. You’re back.”
“You’re back early? You could’ve rested a while longer.”

Yujin answered with a sour look.

There was still time left of the two-week vacation he’d given them. They’d pushed themselves pretty hard expanding the Necropolis’s domain, so he’d handed out a generous stretch of time for them to rest up properly.

“Burn yourselves out and it’ll be a problem.”
“Aw. While you were gone, we got our timing down together, too.”

Kang Minyeong held up two fingers, index and middle straight, and grinned as if showing them off.

“That’s not ‘screw you,’ I take it. What’s it supposed to mean?”
“We hit 2nd Rank. All of us!”
“You went into a gate in the meantime?”

Yujin swallowed an incredulous laugh. The Scraps team were in their late forties, levelwise, and sitting near the upper edge of their Stellar Rank, the experience they needed to climb ran steep.

To hit their level cap, they’d have had to hunt monsters relentlessly.

Monsters of the same Stellar Rank wouldn’t have cut it. Like the Forgotten Shrine, they must have gone into a gate that admitted 1st Rank but spawned monsters of a higher one.

“Running around with me, you’ll have plenty of grueling days ahead — and here you went and wore yourselves out on your own.”
“You taught us how, Boss, so we learned how to get strong. How could we just sit around restin’?”

Lee Seongmin said it loudly, all worked up.

My eardrums are about to fall off.

“Keep it down a little.”
“Ah, sorry.”

He grumbled, but the look in his eyes as he watched the three of them had softened a good deal.

Seizing an opportunity was a talent in itself. The two who would one day make their name as the ‘Mirror Hunters’ aside, even Lee Seongmin was putting in the effort to grow stronger, and that pleased Yujin.

There’s a real satisfaction in raising all three of them.

He couldn’t store away every kind of artifact and Relic the way Sofia could. But the owner of the Space trait, a trait with endless applications, was brimming with drive, and that satisfied him.

Then how about handing down a blessing, at least.

If only he’d keep his mouth shut.

Our backwater riffraff really does have an awful lot of demands. Forever harping on hardship and adversity, going so far as to steep himself in classical heroic epics.

Clinging to those old-fashioned tastes is how you lost to your son.

If you don’t like it, withdraw your blessing.

And when exactly is this second disciple going to come along.

For the Giant of Defiance to take on a devotee other than Yujin, he’d have to pile up feats enough to become a proper Constellation. Well. At a minimum, short of Yujin reaching the 9th Rank again, that was a tall order.

“Boss. There’s one more thing I have to tell you.”
“You’ve still got something to surprise me with?”
“Arahan put in a commission with our team to assist on a gate clear!”

Oh. Now that was surprising, all right, in a rather different sense. A cold smile touched the corner of Yujin’s mouth.

“B-Boss?”
“Out with it. Specifically, what kind of offer was it?”

“That… Arahan says there are three long-uncleared gates the government handed over to them.”
“They want help clearing one of the three?”
“Arahan, the country’s number-one guild, comes holding out its hand to us. That’s something to be surprised about, right?”

Don’t answer a question with a question, you brat.

At Yujin’s cold reaction, all three put on tense expressions and read his mood.

“That job. Did you decide to take it?”
“No. We waited to ask your opinion first, Boss.”
“You’re the team’s representative. Why ask me?”
“You’re a member too, on account of us going in and out of the borderlands. Of course we’d ask your opinion.”

Oh. This brat really does have a sense of loyalty.

“If that’s your will, Boss, we’ll turn it down.”
“Why turn it down?”
“You seem displeased.”
“Forget it. If they make the first move, all the better for me.”

Kang Minho caught the nuance laced into Yujin’s words and let out a short sigh.

“You meant to recruit us from the very start, didn’t you.”
“Ah. So that’s what it was?”
“No wonder. I thought it was strange.”

The two of them muttered, their tone a mix of admiration and resignation. The Scraps team had zero name recognition; there was no reason for Arahan, the country’s number-one guild, to come to them first.

Kang Minho gave a wry smile.

“Looks like your teaching went to our heads a bit, Boss.”
“All three of you have earned the right. Don’t sell yourselves short.”

Yujin spoke with genuine sincerity.

You lot. You’re among the few Hunters who once drove the strongest Necromancer to the brink of death. Enough to leave a strong impression on the mind of the Undying King, one of the few in all the world to have reached the 9th tier.

My neck feels cold.

Recalling his memories from before the regression, Yujin unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck. Owners of talent like that were standing right in front of him.

Take all the pride you want.

Did you think all I ever do is ride people?

He pushed the backwater riffraff’s nonsense below the surface and patted Kang Minho’s shoulder.

“Anyway, lay out their offer in detail.”
“Yes, Boss.”

The Arahan Guild’s offer was to enter a gate whose Break was imminent, together with the Scraps team. They had to clear a site either commissioned by the government or one that a guild which had previously claimed the gate had given up on.

Suwon, Twisted Pit

Chungju, Iron Tomb

Chuncheon, Toy Factory

Hoo. The corners of Yujin’s eyes lifted, drawing an arc.

Now you catch on without me having to say a word.

Those Arahan bastards. They’ve snapped up all the good stuff.

The ‘Toy Factory’ that had opened in the western reaches of Chuncheon was the gate where the Paracelsus’s Magic Cylinder, an artifact that boosted alchemy efficiency, turned up. And the ‘Twisted Pit’ in Suwon was where the Unique-grade Bag of Infinity could be obtained.

Because it was back when I was going hungry. I envied the people who got fortuitous encounters.

It had been back when he’d chosen the path of a magic-line Hunter and barely scraped by, living hand to mouth. Wasn’t that the very reason the Pocket Watch of Kronos had sent him back to this point in time? Or so Yujin vaguely thought.

But the problem is the second gate.

The Iron Tomb. The very gate where a large-scale Break disaster would break out and claim casualties in the thousands.

Yeah. I just didn’t know it was Arahan.

A sealed type: once you went in, there was no coming out until the gate core was destroyed. Its internal layout, its clearing rewards, all of it was a blank, an unknown space with no data whatsoever.

One thing’s for certain, though.

The kind of crisis situation you love so much will crop up often.

Wrong, actually?

Maybe that was the backwater riffraff showing; the fellow had no instinct for it. Yujin sorted out his thoughts and turned to Kang Minho.

“Tell Arahan we’ll do all three.”
“All of them?”
“Nothing wrong with that, is there.”
“Then I’ll set up the schedule.”

As Kang Minho fiddled with his cell phone, Kronos sent over a thought as if it found the whole thing unexpected.

Well, two birds with one stone.

Oh. It’s not really like that, though.

Kronos seemed to have gotten the wrong idea, but Yujin didn’t bother to correct him.

The Iron Tomb means I can get that.

It held the substance he needed to craft a reinforced undead. With 3rd Rank likely within reach before long, securing it ahead of time could only help.

Arahan Guild, Boss. To go so far as to feed me exactly what I need — truly, I thank you.

“Kuhuhuhu.”

Kronos clicked his tongue at Yujin’s vulgar laugh, which showed no sign of ever changing.

The Namhan River cut through the city of Chungju. On its north bank, the parking lot of the nature ecology center was packed with people wearing Arahan badges.

“That’s an awful lot of people.”
“Looks like they all came out from Arahan.”
“The country’s number-one guild really is something else. Boss.”

The Scraps team members’ eyes went wide.

— How gaudy. And without an ounce of substance.

“Shh. Too many eyes here.”

— Damn it.

Instead of spreading any more thoughts around, Fafnir scattered blue ghost-fire in every direction.

“Still, you’re not wrong.”

The maximum number of Hunters who could be deployed into the Iron Tomb was ten. Four of those were the Scraps team, so the Hunters Arahan was sending in numbered six at most.

“A dedicated healing team I get, but an armament trailer?”

— A trailer?

“A vehicle that loans out gear owned by the guild. You don’t see one come out for fewer than thirty people.”

Think that’s where it ends?

Artisans to repair damaged equipment on the spot. Buff personnel standing by outside the gate. Every last one of them was someone there was no need to mobilize for a clear like this.

“We’re in a situation where resupply is impossible. They’ll just come along, eat their fill, and leave.”

— Why is the Arahan Guild throwing money into thin air?

“Because they want to show off.”

Look at the Scraps team standing there slack-jawed.

It worked, which was why they did it. The will to get what they wanted in hand, no matter the cost. This time, that target just happened to be Yujin.

— Unbelievable.

As Fafnir swallowed a groan, one of the Hunters from the Arahan side came walking over.

“Pleased to meet you. You’re the Hunter Cheon Yujin, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m Song Myeongseok, joining you on the Iron Tomb clear.”

Even talked down to at a first meeting, the man greeted him without a wrinkle of offense. Yujin had dropped into casual speech to needle him a little.

Ah. You’re the one in charge of the clear?

A dark current flickered past above Yujin’s eyes.

“Arahan’s Supernova! You’re the Hunter Song Myeongseok?!”

A shrill voice rang out from behind him. Song Myeongseok smiled faintly at Kang Minyeong’s reaction, and as Yujin furrowed his brow, the entire Scraps team came crowding over.

“To think we’d meet an owner of the Heavenly Bone trait in the flesh. It’s an honor.”
“C-could I maybe get an autograph? I’ll keep it as a family heirloom!”

Their eyes have gone bloodshot. Completely.

And that fellow showed not the slightest trace of embarrassment, even at a cringey title like ‘Supernova.’ Yujin slipped back a step and murmured to Kang Minho.

“Is he famous?”
“Boss. You’re not… joking, are you, it seems.”

Kang Minho shook his head from side to side. This was a man who hadn’t immediately recognized even Jang Miseon, the Phoenix Guild prospect who’d earned the title ‘next Sword Saint,’ so it was hardly strange that he didn’t know Song Myeongseok either.

“You know about him. China’s Martial King, Chang Wufei.”
“Why’s the head of the Heavenly Martial Gate coming up?”
“They say the Hunter Song Myeongseok holds the same unique trait as the Martial King.”

Chang Wufei. The man had founded the Heavenly Martial Gate, one of the Seven Great Families located in China, and after Dmitri he had become the second to attain the 9th Stellar Rank, joining the ranks of the strongest in the entire world.

“On top of that, he’s broken every single Hunter record there is, and he’s good-looking too, so he even has a fan club.”

A fan club too?

Ugh. It’s an utter circus. An utter circus.

Song Myeongseok kept his smile in place despite the Scraps team’s rudeness and even signed his name for them.

“Thank you for recognizing me. I’ll have to treat you to a meal sometime.”
“We won’t forget what you just said.”
“Right. We were in the middle of greeting each other. Hunter Cheon Yujin.”

Song Myeongseok approached Yujin once more and held out his hand.

“The Iron Tomb clear. I’m counting on you.”
“Well, I’ll put in enough effort not to be dead weight.”

Yujin retorted gruffly and took his eyes off Song Myeongseok’s hand.

“My arm’s going to fall off here.”
“One of them falling off wouldn’t hurt, would it.”
“Sorry?”
“Just a joke. I’m counting on you.”

The instant their hands met, he jerked his back and turned away. He could feel a gaze pressing against his back.

You’d love to draw a blade and run me through. I provoked you on purpose, after all.

Yujin swallowed a laugh inwardly.