98. Welcoming The Guests (1)

‘Pipe down so I can think.’

This was a little different from the situation with the Kang siblings, Minho and Minyeong.

Those two I met by chance back when they were still green, and recruited before they’d properly begun to make a name for themselves. Even then, it took a fair while before I took them on as comrades.

‘This fellow’s a different story.’

The Mirror Hunters were mercenaries who carried out a contract to perfection. Going by their conduct before the regression, they were the sort you could trust well enough once a bond had formed. But put the same question to Snake Eye, and who could say.

‘That fellow. I killed him.’

‘He came after me right after I hunted down a drake.’

He’ll do anything that turns a profit, and that stretches as far as selling out his own client. The man himself had claimed it wasn’t betrayal, since the commission ended the moment the drake died, but.

Bullshit. Does that even make sense?

Looking at the yellow-haired beast(?), Yujin spoke flatly.

“I’ll pass.”
“I know it’s rude to do this on a first meeting. Even so, please, think it over one more time!”
“No. I’m satisfied with the money I made.”
“I need more money than that. And for that, I need your help.”
“Why should that be my concern?”

Teaching Snake Eye how to make use of his ability had been a bit of fun on the side. An arena I had no idea when I’d ever visit again, a money-copy-paste event(?) that wasn’t exactly common either. So I’d put my future knowledge to work, given the fellow a chance, and made money in the bargain.

But still.

Yujin wasn’t thick-skinned enough to take in a fellow who’d stabbed him in the back before the regression.

“So why is it you need money?”
“My daughter is very ill.”

Hmm. First I’ve heard of any daughter. Snake Eye was always so good at piling up his karma while keeping his private affairs hidden.

Yujin fiddled with his chin.

This information. Played right, maybe I can put it to use.

“My business card.”
“Mister Cheon, Korea?”
“I hold a job called Saint. Your daughter—if you’ve a mind to have her healed, come to Korea.”

Card in hand, Yujin left the dumbstruck Snake Eye behind and walked out of the arena.

‘What mercy?’

‘If I bring the little girl to Korea, she makes a fine hostage.’

If I’d meant to heal her no strings attached, I’d have said let’s go see her face right now. Why else would I hand him a card telling him to come to Korea?

‘For all I know, the healing might not even take.’

Future knowledge doesn’t make me all-powerful. Going by how Snake Eye was still obsessed with money down the line, even if a cure was impossible, it meant he could at least keep her breathing. Then again, who knows. Add the Constellation’s power, Shin Junseok’s alchemical talent, and my own knowledge together, and maybe a solution turns up.

‘Either way, there’s nothing to lose.’

Snake Eye may be a yellow-haired beast, but his ability is the real thing. Real enough that I’d hired him for that drake hunt even while reckoning on the chance of betrayal. And if I get a grip on a fellow like that—find his weak spot and put him to work?

‘Sweet. Real sweet.’

It came out to a bigger haul than even the four billion won.

‘I’m saying I’ll recycle a piece of trash bound for the incinerator. What a kind heart I’ve got.’

Kronos clicked his tongue, the very picture of displeasure.

“What kind of overseas trip is this supposed to be?”
“We got swindled, that’s what.”
“Still, we walked away with an emblem. Thanks to you, Boss.”

That’s Kang Minho for you. I appreciate you taking my side, but the disappointment’s just dripping off your voice too, you know.

Before they headed back to Korea, Alice Kim saw Yujin’s party off.

“Mister Cheon. If you ever need anything on the American continent, call anytime.”
“I won’t say no to that.”

Little Angels.

How vast is America, after all? They were said to be a guild that threw some weight around in California, but they hadn’t stuck in my memory.

‘That said, no reason to turn down a usable card.’

The American side was unfamiliar ground. Just gaining a contact he could lean on when those later windfalls surfaced counted as a solid take.

The moment he returned to Korea, he got the Madam on the phone.

“You do realize you’re the only man who calls me this often, don’t you, Master Yujin?”
“That’s something I’d rather not know.”
“So stiff.”
“Coming from the woman who chases a strictly professional relationship harder than anyone, that’s a bit rich, isn’t it?”

A hmph of a snort came back over the receiver.

“The Rakshasa Guild has been quietly pulling Hunters out of the territories it manages, little by little.”
“It’s obvious enough what they’re after.”
“They’ve been buying up anti-monster weaponry and supplies, too. The mood’s like they’re about to start a war, so the atmosphere in Busan’s underworld is a mess.”
“You pinned it down in pretty fine detail, and in a short window too.”
“And who am I? The Madam of the Galaxy Pub.”

I know full well her ability is first-rate. Even before the regression, I’d profited a fair amount thanks to the Madam’s information network. Once I’d built my Necropolis in Kaesong, getting tangled up with the organizations of Ground Zero had been inevitable.

‘Though we did get closer than in my past life.’

He briefly called to mind a memory buried in a timeline that had since gone awry, then spoke again.

“How long do you figure it’ll take the Rakshasa Guild to finish their preparations?”
“About five days, I’d say.”
“That’s pretty fast.”
“The movements inside Rakshasa Guild territory aren’t ordinary.”
“Thanks for looking into it.”
“Don’t mention it. I’ll give you the change next time.”

The Arahan Guild had founded the Rakshasa Guild to serve as its satellite organization, a handler for its dirty work. The value of intel like that couldn’t be settled in full just by asking her to look into Rakshasa.

“If you hadn’t said anything, I’d have forgotten all about it.”
“Sure you would.”

The Madam laughed shortly and ended the call.

Five days, huh. A pretty tight window to ready a proper welcome for the guests.

‘Guess it’s time to decide.’

When he cut a sidelong glance at the party, Kang Minho stepped a pace forward.

“Boss. Give us your orders.”
“What orders?”
“You’ve got something to say to us, haven’t you.”
“You pick up mind-reading or something?”
“I can still figure out the gist from your face.”

Oh-ho. So now you can tell what I’m thinking just from my expression, can you.

At Kang Minho’s answer, the corner of Yujin’s mouth curled up a touch.

‘Not a bad feeling.’

Subordinates who read my thoughts from the smallest gesture, the slightest shift in expression. On the first run-through, the only ones I could trust like that were the undead I’d subjugated with mind-binding—

A reassurance he’d never once felt before the regression warmed his heart.

Yujin gave the Scraps a short summary of what he’d heard from the Madam.

“S-some kinda war on crime. That sorta thing?”

War, huh. Has a nice ring to it.

“Nobody’ll hold it against you if you don’t take part. If you haven’t steeled yourself to kill someone, you’re better off sitting out.”
“Bro. It stings to hear you put it like that.”
“It stings?”
“It’s like we just latched onto you, sucked up all the honey, and bailed out the back.”

Kang Minyeong spoke in a low, measured tone, enunciating every word, instead of her usual airy voice.

“No. I’m saying you shouldn’t jump in out of some half-baked sense of obligation.”
“I won’t lie, I agonized over it plenty, but I made up my mind not to bail when something like this came up.”
“You two share Minyeong’s view?”
“We do, Boss.”
“I’m scared, but I wanna be there with you.”

Hmm.

When Yujin let out a short groan, Kronos pressed him.

‘It’s a fight with a lot of variables. Honestly, I’d rather not send them out.’

‘Fair enough, I suppose.’

His head was nodding before he realized it. A piece of advice from Kronos, jabbing sharp at a tender spot.

‘Constellation. Thanks for the counsel.’

Muttering it under his breath, he met the eyes of each Scraps member, one by one.

“You’ll follow my orders to the letter.”
“Got it, Bro.”
“Long as it ain’t ‘charge in blind,’ I’ll do as you say.”
“Boss. Just put me to whatever you want.”

Right then. You’ve all agreed, so from here on I’ll work you till you’re ready to puke.

The war with the Rakshasa Guild was a slightly different situation from the spider hunt.

‘Foes fully braced for it.’

For the spider hunt, I’d milked the information imbalance for all it was worth. I’d deliberately loitered around the Black Herb farm, then mimicked the Kaesong man-hunters to lure out the Red Spider’s forces. Since I could force the enemy’s movements, it was easy enough to dig traps by burying corpses ahead of time.

‘A little different.’

The Arahan Guild had dug up every last scrap of my record. By now the fellows had surely grasped at least that I commanded undead. The reason the spider hunt had paid off was that the enemy never realized the corpses were the medium of the blasts.

‘Once Rakshasa goes on the offensive, they’ll comb the battlefield carefully for whether there are any corpses around.’

It was unavoidable from the moment he’d resolved to expand his power.

A good thing I crafted the large undead ahead of time, keeping the man-hunters in mind.

The party crossed straight into the borderlands, making for the spot where he’d built the first Black Obelisk.

— Master. No present?

“No present, but I do have good news.”

When he told Fafnir the situation too, it scattered blue corpse-flames out to either side.

— What’s the good news?

“You get to thrash Arahan’s lackeys with your own hands.”

— Oh. So I do.

Quick to be convinced, this one.

Spurred on by the words, Fafnir grew eager, and even let out a whistle.

To blow wind with a dead body, no less. Just how finely do you have to manage your spirit-power to pull off a trick like that?

“How many Brutals did you make?”

— I’ve crafted five now.

“More than I expected.”

— But there’s a bit of a problem.

“The performance isn’t coming out right, I take it.”

I knew it. Jo Seungcheol’s necromancy proficiency wasn’t high enough to make large undead. The core elements are all handled by the Giant’s Burial Chamber, but in the end it’s the Necromancer at the controls who moves the structure. With proficiency lacking, the Brutals’ quality was bound to suffer.

— How did you know?

“I factored that much in when I left it to you.”

He gathered up the Brutals that hadn’t come out to a high standard. Some had arms of mismatched lengths, and a few had specs that had dropped because part of the mana circuit was engraved wrong.

— My apologies. Master.

“One mistake is fine. Pull the same thing again and it’s no longer a mistake.”

— I’ll bear it in mind.

“Watch closely how I fix this.”

Spirit-power gathered at the tip of the staff socketed with the Shard of the Void. Yujin deftly wielded the pale, whitish energy and swiftly mended the Brutals whose balance had collapsed. The twisted arm positions clicked back into place, and as the broken stretch of mana circuit was repaired, the spirit-power that had been leaking away for nothing circulated through the Brutal’s whole body.

— Master, you really are incredible!

“Don’t state the obvious.”

Fixing the Brutals was only the beginning. Yujin took stock of the undead he’d stationed at each obelisk.

The mainstay of the Necropolis at present was the Armored Skeletons.

Yujin fiddled with his chin.

“This won’t do. Time for a complete overhaul.”

— Trade the Armored Skeletons out for Skeleton Warriors?

“That’s the idea.”

Making a Skeleton Warrior took the corpse of a monster that had been 3rd Rank in life. To raise the Necropolis’s fighting strength, there was nothing for it but to wear out shoe leather to match.

And that wasn’t all.

Roaming the fog-blanketed ground, he raised walls of bone.

The borderlands, where monsters spawned around the clock. With bone littering the ground everywhere to serve as Bone Wall’s catalyst, building out the front line came that much easier.

‘I don’t intend to hold all of it.’

Raising Bone Walls all across the territory served two purposes. The first was to track the Rakshasa Guild’s movements. The second was that they let him funnel the enemy’s path along the lines Yujin intended.

‘Whether or not we deploy troops, it opens up the chance to intercept them on favorable ground.’

The Black Obelisk’s fog already hemmed in their field of vision, and with Bone Walls blocking the way ahead, even the Rakshasa Guild’s Hunters wouldn’t advance easily.

‘As if.’

To welcome guests, you had to prepare with your whole heart. There was no end to the work still to be done.

Yujin shook off his fatigue with the stamina-recovery spell of the Pheidippides’ Necklace.