“You finally!”
“What, I was wondering why the guys here talk like that, but they all got it from you, Chunbok?”
“It’s Baengryong!”
“Right, right, Chunbok.”
“Urgh!”
The Yongho Guild Master grabbed his neck at Sa-yoon, who was having a one-sided conversation in his own pace. Seeing him gasping as if he was choking, Sa-yoon, who laughed playfully, took another step inside.
“Let’s drop that kind of talk, Chunbok. You look old.”
“You’re still tactless as ever.”
“And Chunbok still can’t read the room?”
“……”
Sa-yoon thought there was no point in fighting a battle he couldn’t win. Clicking his tongue at the man who grew quiet after being hit every time he spoke, Sa-yoon handed Chang-in, whom he had been carrying, to Geon-joo. With his shoulder lightened, Sa-yoon walked toward the table where the Yongho Guild Master was sitting with footsteps as light as walking on water.
“Actually, I don’t care what way of speaking Chunbok uses or how much you can’t read the room.”
“I told you how many times, it’s Baengryong…”
“But Chunbok-ah.”
As if completely excluding the Yongho Guild Master from the conversation, Sa-yoon cut off his words at once and sat on the table. In that state, Sa-yoon leaned his body toward Chunbok, calmly facing his wavering eyes, and smiled brightly.
“You can do whatever you want, but at least don’t try to crawl up.”
“……”
“I thought the merger was settled three years ago, so why are you turning away and talking big when we send our guys?”
Sa-yoon, who spoke gently, reached out and stroked the Yongho Guild Master’s cheek. Drip, drip, from the chilling cold energy flowing from his fingertips, the man’s cheek slightly froze. Chunbok’s eyes moved intensely from side to side.
“If you’ve received something, you should know to spit it out. What will you do if you can’t achieve results after receiving so much support? Now you don’t even have the finances to run without our support.”
“……”
“Even setting up scarecrows in front of the guild. What’s so unappealing about giving me a guild that’s being run in this way…”
Sa-yoon’s eyes narrowed. Lowering the hand that had lightly patted Chunbok’s cheek, Sa-yoon grabbed his neck and applied force to the point where blood vessels bulged on the back of his hand.
“Making me come all the way here. Hmm?”
“Kuh…!”
As Sa-yoon spoke while choking him, Chunbok let out a groan and grabbed Sa-yoon’s hand.
Whoosh—
Flames erupted from his hand. Even at the sudden rising flames, Sa-yoon didn’t blink an eye and didn’t remove his hand from Chunbok’s neck. Rather, he applied force even more brutally.
The chilling energy rising from the land of severe cold and the Yongho Guild Master’s flames clashed. Although the force of the red flames was quite fierce, as if it were an S-grade skill, Sa-yoon remained firm even in front of the threateningly rising flames.
Nevertheless, the flames that had grown in size became large enough to engulf both Chunbok and Sa-yoon. The Guild Master’s room, which had been cold until just before, instantly heated up with a warm energy. Even Geon-joo, who was far away from the two at the entrance, was sweating profusely due to the hot energy.
Sa-yoon, who was facing the flames with his entire body, twisted the corners of his mouth. Pop, pop, even though his fingers were burning in the flames, Sa-yoon, who didn’t let out a single groan and focused more on choking Chunbok’s neck, made the Yongho Guild Master bite his lips tightly.
It was the Flame.
It was the SS-grade skill he had obtained by entering the gate where the phoenix was said to reside. As it was a gate he had entered risking his life, the clear reward was definite. By using the skill against Taesik, with whom he had frequent disagreements recently, he had learned that it was sufficiently effective even against an S-grade Hunter, so naturally, he thought it would work on Sa-yoon as well.
Wasn’t that the case?
No matter how great the Night Rats was or how strong Sa-yoon was, in the end, he was a youngster not even in his thirties and of the same S-grade. There was no way he could live prostrating himself at Sa-yoon’s feet forever. When such thoughts dominated his mind, the SS-grade skill he had obtained felt like some kind of revelation to Chunbok.
To subdue Sa-yoon with this skill and get out of financial difficulties to rule with dignity.
That’s what he had thought.
“Kuuh….”
Chunbok broke out in a cold sweat as the flames, which would burn any ordinary Hunter black just by touching them, seemed to have no effect on Sa-yoon at all. His face turned red as he suffocated.
Sa-yoon faced the questioning eyes and burst into laughter. It was a cheerful laugh that didn’t match the violent atmosphere, as if they were about to tear each other apart at any moment.
After checking his fingers that had turned black, Sa-yoon gripped Chunbok’s neck with even stronger force, as if to show off. The eerie smile that he couldn’t erase in time filled his dark blue eyes.
“I wondered why you kept crawling up, but you obtained an interesting skill. What, did you think this would work?”
“Kuhuk, …kuk.”
“Did you think something would work just because we’re both S-grade?”
The Hunter grade measured by the System was S at the maximum. So both Sa-yoon’s grade and Chunbok’s grade were the same S, but Sa-yoon knew that just because the rank was the same, it didn’t mean the grade was truly equal.
Would the Yongho Guild Master not know that simple fact?
He would know it too. However, it seemed he had mistakenly thought he could give it a try after obtaining a useful skill this time.
How ridiculous.
The flickering flames had already completely engulfed Sa-yoon’s hand, turning even his arm black. Seeing that sight, Geon-joo opened his mouth in shock.
“They say if your head is bad, your body suffers. Why do you only choose to do stupid things?”
The Yongho Guild Master seemed to have difficulty even groaning now, trembling his arms and legs while being held still by Sa-yoon’s hand. Staring at him silently, as his eyes seemed to roll back soon, Sa-yoon clicked his tongue.
“Withdraw the skill.”
“……”
“I said withdraw it.”
When Sa-yoon warned by applying more pressure to the hand choking Chunbok’s neck, the red energy gradually subsided. After the flames completely disappeared, Sa-yoon released his hand from Chunbok and glanced at his right arm, which had been burned black up to the elbow. Cough, cough, Chunbok grabbed his neck, coughed, and hastily inhaled the air he lacked.
“If you don’t have the ability, you shouldn’t have been greedy.”
“Kuk, huk, ki…”
“Ki what? Want me to buy you porridge?”
“……”
“Laugh, you bastard.”
I tried to lighten the mood, but he didn’t play along with the joke. Sa-yoon, who lightly slapped the cheek of Chunbok, who was still staring at him with a serious face despite the situation, warned, and Chunbok let out an astounded laugh. Geon-joo, who had been watching the scene from behind, looked at his Guild Master with disdainful eyes.
“Kill, kuk…! Are you going to, kill me?”
As if he had been hit by the burning hand pressing down on him, Chunbok coughed a few times like someone who still had difficulty speaking and managed to form a sentence. Sa-yoon, now facing eyes that seemed frightened, shrugged his shoulders.
“Who knows.”
“……”
“Seeing your newly acquired ability, it seems useful, so it would be a waste to kill you.”
Sa-yoon, who spoke nonchalantly, summoned his inventory. Chunbok, who heard the answer that he could save his life, let out a sigh of relief.
Sa-yoon, who had been examining the storage that was mostly full by stuffing items in, took out a contract and a potion. Even with the regenerative power of an S-grade, an arm burned by a high-level skill didn’t heal easily. If he left it like this, even he would have to live with one arm, so before it became an incurable state, Sa-yoon poured the potion on his right arm and threw the small amount of remaining potion to Geon-joo, who was standing behind. Geon-joo, who had been standing blankly while holding Chang-in, caught the flying potion bottle.
“Use that to treat your hand, pretty boy.”
“Ah…”
Geon-joo looked down at his hand, which was still bleeding from the previous battle, and spilled the potion. Watching him, Sa-yoon showed Chunbok the contract he had taken out along with the potion. It was a contract that Jongsik had prepared in advance before coming to Yongho.
“You sign here, Chunbok.”
“What is it?”
“What else would it be? It’s a guild merger contract.”
To be precise, it was closer to a slave contract. Only two clauses were related to the guild merger, and the remaining three dealt with how to handle Chunbok’s position afterward.
In summary, it was a contract like this:
- The Yongho Guild will be merged into and operated by the Night Rats.
- All assets owned by Yongho, regardless of type, will be transferred to the Night Rats, and with this, the debt owed by Yongho to the Night Rats will be fully repaid.
- Hereafter, Park Chunbok, the Guild Master of Yongho, will be assigned as a direct employee under Kwon Sa-yoon, the Guild Master of the Night Rats.
- All of Park Chunbok’s personal assets will be transferred to Kwon Sa-yoon.
- Kwon Sa-yoon may request assistance from Park Chunbok when necessary, and Park Chunbok must not refuse.
The contract Sa-yoon showed Chunbok now was a long version of the above content in the proper format. Naturally, after reviewing the contract, Chunbok got angry, saying it was absurd.
Sa-yoon, who was watching him thrash around indifferently, grabbed the contract with both hands as if he would tear it.
“If you don’t like it, don’t sign this damn contract and just die.”
Geon-joo, who had heard similar words before, flinched in response. Unlike then, Sa-yoon, who was filled with the intention to really kill him, twisted the contract without any lingering attachment. Screech, the end of the S-grade contract tore. Chunbok was shocked to see Sa-yoon tearing it without any hesitation, even though each one cost 8 billion won.
“Wait, wait a moment!”
“What, I told you to just die.”
“I’ll do it, I just need to do it!”
“Really?”
“I said I’ll do it.”
“Then add one condition. As clause 6, ‘Park Chunbok has the obligation to report all incidents that occur while reorganizing and operating the former Yongho Guild after the merger to Kwon Sa-yoon, and if he falsely reports, he allows penalties such as physical harm.'”
“……”
“Don’t like it?”
At Sa-yoon’s question, the hand of Chunbok, who had taken back the contract, trembled. Under the sharp gaze, he reluctantly picked up a pen and added the clause to the contract. Watching him tremble even while writing, Sa-yoon smiled affectionately.
“Oh my, our Chunbok must have gotten older. Your tremors have worsened.”
“……”
“If you’re done writing, you keep it. Anyway, I’m the only one who can tear up the transfer contract.”
“Kuh-huk.”
“Don’t like it?”
As if ‘don’t like it’ was some kind of magic question, Chunbok grew quiet whenever Sa-yoon asked that. After confirming that the signing was finished, Sa-yoon clapped his hands and got up from the table. His right arm that had been burned had completely recovered. However, since the clothes that had been burned along with the arm didn’t recover, Sa-yoon, who ended up exposing his entire right arm, looked at the neatly dressed Chunbok and opened his mouth.
“Chunbok.”
“Are you calling me like that because there’s something else to take?”
“That robe of yours is S-grade, right?”
“……”
“It has a flame resistance option attached?”
“……”
“Give it to me.”
“That…”
“Give it to me, Chunbok.”
Now that we’re in the same boat, you can give me that much as a gift, right?
Sa-yoon said while smiling kindly. Chunbok, who had been moving his lips, eventually looked at Sa-yoon’s darkening eyes and reluctantly took off his robe and placed it on the table.
“Argh, take it all, you damn bastard.”
“I’ll wear it well, Chunbok.”
“I should have held the devil’s hand instead. Why did I ask such a jerk for help…”
Whether Chunbok regretted his past choice in a devastating tone or not, Sa-yoon, who had achieved his goal, put on the S-grade robe and left the Guild Master’s room. Geon-joo glanced at Sa-yoon, who was contacting Jongsik to wait at the entrance, and then looked at the former Yongho Guild’s Guild Master standing desolately in the empty Guild Master’s room.
Feeling like it wasn’t someone else’s business, he expressed a brief condolence and followed Sa-yoon. In one hand that wasn’t holding Chang-in, the potion bottle Sa-yoon had handed him was tightly grasped.