“How long do I have to maintain a good relationship with him?”

“Until he becomes an S-rank.”

“But hyung-nim, you’re already an S-rank, aren’t you?”

“If you’ve thought that far, why can’t you go further, Jongsik? Do you think I’m the one becoming an S-rank?”

“…Don’t tell me it’s that bastard Geon-joo?”

“Yes.”

As Sa-yoon readily affirmed, Jongsik’s mouth gaped open.

“S-rank? Didn’t you say he was a B-rank?”

“Looking at his status window, he seems capable of becoming an S-rank. His temperament is already one of superiority and self-centeredness, so it wouldn’t be impossible.”

“Still, we’re talking about S-rank. It’s not some random dog’s name. Hyung, your system is really…”

Unable to continue, Jongsik glanced at Sa-yoon. Unconcerned about the cursing directed at his system, Sa-yoon sprawled on the sofa and yawned.

Recently, he had been feeling tired more often due to the side effects of the Genius’s Eye skill.

It said it only caused pain. What a fucking scammer.

It was a mistake to take the system’s warning at face value.

“I’ve been thinking about it anyway. No matter how well I maintain the relationship, it’ll be a problem if Geon-joo doesn’t become an S-rank.”

“Do you have any methods in mind?”

“What else can I do? I’ll just have to stick close to him.”

“With that bastard Geon-joo?”

“Yeah. Wouldn’t that be the fastest way?”

For the past three months, Sa-yoon hadn’t entered a gate unless it was a mandatory quest that triggered forced execution in search of a tendency holder. He hadn’t engaged in combat either, and his daily routine consisted of using skills until he passed out, so it was inevitable that his physical senses had dulled.

To regain his lost senses, he needed to grind some gates, and since he had to go anyway, it would help his pretty boy’s growth to take him along.

Sa-yoon smiled, raising the corners of his mouth as he made plans to activate the Resisting One by making Geon-joo an S-rank in the shortest time possible. Other guild members would say he’d die from grinding, but he was enjoying himself while creating a schedule.

At that moment, a presence was detected 50 meters away.

Although he had talked about it lightly, the fact that Sa-yoon was being oppressed by the system and forced to live a life of mandatory quests was only known to Jongsik. Unless they were alone together, he couldn’t carelessly discuss it anywhere, so Sa-yoon straightened his body that had been sprawled haphazardly on the sofa.

Someone was coming this way. He wasn’t sure if it was an attack or a guild member. It was around the time when the welcome party should be in full swing, so Sa-yoon and Jongsik’s eyes narrowed simultaneously.

Knock, knock.

Upon hearing the knocking, Sa-yoon exchanged glances with Jongsik and answered, “What?” It meant they could come in, but he felt the other person standing still in front of the door. Feeling puzzled, he directly told them to enter, and only then did the closed door click open.

“…You really were here.”

They hadn’t met for long, but he had already become familiar with that voice. Sa-yoon stared at the black-haired young man with a soft, unchanging voice that was hard to forget. It was Han Geon-joo.

“How did you know to come here?”

“The others told me.”

“Isn’t it time for the welcome party to be in full swing right now?”

“The guild leader didn’t show up.”

“…?”

“It’s strange that the person who even kidnapped me to bring me here is nowhere to be seen at the actual welcome party.”

It was a subtly pointed remark. What on earth happened at the welcome party for him to be so thorny after not seeing each other for a short while?

When they arrived at the guild, Geon-joo had obediently nodded and left when Sa-yoon told him to rest, but now, although he was smiling faintly, his displeasure was evident. Sa-yoon checked the quest window, but there was no significant change in the relationship section.

While Sa-yoon was puzzled, Geon-joo’s eyes darted to Jongsik sitting on the sofa, then shifted his gaze back to Sa-yoon across from him. Staring at Sa-yoon’s disheveled appearance due to his anger while handling documents, Geon-joo let out a low laugh.

“You’re not coming to the welcome party?”

“I’m not particularly fond of noisy gatherings.”

Strictly speaking, it was closer to not wanting to see his guild members. Although half of them were personally recruited by Sa-yoon for their excellent work, they looked pretty when seen in small numbers, but when gathered together as a group of loose screws, they were incomparably bizarre.

Moreover, Night Owl had many guild members who were obsessed with Sa-yoon to an extreme degree, and there were also those with strange sexual preferences. In a situation where there were even those who begged to be beaten to the point of near-death because it excited them to be ignored and despised, Sa-yoon had no desire to join a place where all those bastards were gathered together.

On other occasions, he would have cursed and kicked them, but he couldn’t behave that way in front of Geon-joo, could he?

They were fellows whose intelligence was inversely proportional to their normal thinking ability.

Suddenly, Sa-yoon became concerned about whether Geon-joo could be safe in this madhouse. Recalling a guild member who had followed him with the enthusiasm to give up his liver just by looking at Sa-yoon’s face, he closely observed the man in front of him.

Come to think of it, Geon-joo was more beautifully handsome than Sa-yoon. His gently upturned eyelashes seemed sufficient to stimulate sexual deviants.

“You have a face that could sell a nation.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, did I say that out loud? Well, just take it as a compliment.”

As talking to himself had become a habit, he must have unknowingly spoken aloud. It was also because of this habit that Jongsik found out about Sa-yoon’s system situation. Waving his hand nonchalantly as if it wasn’t a big deal, enough to make it strange if a skill didn’t manifest from doing it so often, Sa-yoon noticed Geon-joo, who had been examining him, slightly raising the corners of his eyes.

With his black hair and eyes, Geon-joo could have given off a plain and neat impression, but perhaps because his features were sharp and glamorous, his overall appearance was radiant. When such a beauty smiled, there was definitely a subtly peculiar atmosphere.

That bastard probably really has sold himself before.

While having such thoughts, Geon-joo spoke to Sa-yoon.

“It seems you like my face.”

His voice sounded quite intimate. They say flattery will make even a whale dance, and that black-hearted weasel-like Han Geon-joo was smiling at the compliment about his appearance.

Moreover, he was smiling with the corners of his eyes raised, as if trying to seduce Sa-yoon.

It wasn’t just a delusion of self-consciousness; Geon-joo was really making a smile that was subtly similar to when Sa-yoon’s guild members hit on the opposite sex.

And Sa-yoon was a man.

He didn’t recall seeing anything about Geon-joo being gay in the report.

It was written that he had only female lovers and partners. Thinking it might be his imagination, Sa-yoon tilted his head and made a comment befitting a criminal guild.

“Being pretty or handsome helps when committing fraud.”

“Is that all?”

“What else? Well, if there’s something else you wanted to hear, go ahead and say it.”

If his pretty boy wanted it, what couldn’t Sa-yoon say? As he looked at Geon-joo as if he would do anything if he just asked, Geon-joo fell silent. The smile that had lingered in his eyes had disappeared at some point.

While searching for the whereabouts of the vanished smile and contemplating whether he had chosen the wrong option, Sa-yoon noticed that quite some time had passed and gestured toward the door with his chin.

“Never mind then. It’s not a welcome party that happens every day, so go back and enjoy yourself some more. No matter how much I adore you, a newcomer entering the guild leader’s room can easily provoke opposition, so hurry and leave while others aren’t watching. Sleep here after you’ve had your fill of fun.”

“Here?”

“To be exact, in the dormitory on the 2nd floor. The place where you slept earlier is a lounge, so it’s not suitable for long-term rest. The kids will guide you after the welcome party ends, so follow them and sleep.”

The building had a separate dormitory for guild members. Since the 2nd to 5th floors were all dormitories, it could accommodate up to 100 people.

“Will I have the room to myself?”

“Probably. Why? Are you scared to be alone?”

Want me to sleep with you?

At the teasing remark, Jongsik, who was behind them, flinched. Wondering why he was startled by what Sa-yoon said to Geon-joo, Sa-yoon gave him a look and then turned his gaze to Geon-joo, who had an ambiguous expression. After a brief pause, Geon-joo finally answered.

“It’s not like that. I just prefer sleeping alone.”

“There won’t be many staying over, so you should be able to sleep alone. If any bastards barge into your room drunk, kick them out using my name. Now go.”

The break had become quite long. It was time to get back to work, so Sa-yoon waved his hand, but a sudden thought occurred to him, and he stopped Geon-joo, who was about to leave.

“Right, pretty boy. It’s good to have fun, but don’t drink so much that you can’t wake up tomorrow.”

“Are you worried about me?”

“You could say that.”

“Why?”

“Because starting tomorrow, you’ll have to run some gates.”

“Gates?”

Geon-joo expressed confusion at the sudden mention of gates. Sa-yoon slightly raised the corners of his mouth, showing a villainous smile.

“Yeah, gates. You’ll be running them until you want to puke, so you won’t have to worry about a hangover cure.”

Typically, it took half a year to raise one’s rank. That was the standard for going from F-rank to E-rank, and the higher the target rank, the longer the investment time.

So, based on the average of the cases that had emerged so far, it would take at least 3 years for Han Geon-joo to reach A-rank. It could be 5 years if it took longer, and if he was unlucky, he might not be able to raise it for 10 years, but looking at his status window, that possibility seemed unlikely.

Even at the fastest, it would take 3 years.

Of course, considering the efficiency and rarity of the A-rank, it would be worth investing in, but the problem was that Sa-yoon didn’t have 3 years to wait.

His ultimate goal wasn’t A-rank but S-rank, which was one level higher, so how could he wait?

Therefore, he would invest only 3 months.

In the end, running gates would raise one’s rank, and if pushed to the brink of death, stats could also be forcibly increased. Sa-yoon could be certain because he had experienced it firsthand. The higher the gate’s rank, the better the efficiency, so although it was a bit harsh, if he used a high-difficulty method, even a month was worth aiming for.

When Sa-yoon showed the fox-like smile that Jongsik always criticized and asked how it sounded, Geon-joo nodded with a very unpleasant expression.

Noticing Geon-joo’s eyelashes trembling briefly as he murmured his gratitude, Sa-yoon suddenly felt a chilling sensation run down his spine and opened the quest window.

‘Current Relationship: Distrust and Wariness, Slight Interest’

Sa-yoon’s eyes quivered as briefly as Geon-joo’s eyelashes upon seeing that phrase written in the relationship section.

The interest, which had been the only positive element, changed to slight interest, and distrust, which wasn’t there before, was added. Puzzled by the somewhat drastic change, Sa-yoon stared at Geon-joo as he turned to leave. Geon-joo closed the door, making a slightly noisy sound.

Fuck, I’m saying I’ll raise you, so what’s the problem?

A curse came out spontaneously.