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Solo Leveling Novel Chapter 76 Average 5 / 5 out of 1
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Summary
“Hyung-nim, I heard that it might be difficult for us to get the permit for the Gate that appeared yesterday.”
The first thing that the chairman of the Knight Order Guild, Park Jong-Su, did after arriving for work was to harden his expression.
“What was that?”
The Vice-Chair Jeong Yun-Tae hurriedly explained himself.
“The result from the Association folks measuring that thing apparently came out higher than they expected.”
“What, it’s a rank S?!”
“No, not that. They say it’s a rank A, but right at the top of the scale.”
“Gimme a freaking break, man. Really now.”
If it was a rank S Gate, then they could have given up on it without hesitation. The Knight Order Guild didn’t have a single rank S Hunter in their midst, so it wouldn’t make much sense for them to attempt clearing a rank S Gate, after all.
Just like back in the Jeju Island raid, the Association would have to summon every rank S Hunters in the country just to deal with such a Gate.
However, the story would change drastically if the magic energy emission measurement came out to be rank ‘A’. The Knight Order Guild would be ridiculed for being unable to deal with a rank A Gate, even though they were supposed to be one of the five major Guilds in South Korea.
Their already thinning presence could become even more invisible at this rate.
“Hyung-nim, what will you do?”
“Not sure yet.”
“If we don’t get involved, then the folks from the Shining Star would definitely show up….”
The Shining Star Guild from the district of Honam. Fine blood vessels bulged within Park Jong-Su’s eyes when he heard that name.
“You want to gift that big Gate hovering right in front of our house to the hands of Mah Dong-Wook?!”
“No, I’m just saying, hyung-nim.”
“I won’t let that happen, even over my dead body.”
“Then, you wanna take it on, hyung-nim?”
The previously-agitated Park Jong-Su suddenly closed his mouth shut.
His reaction was obvious, though. Just one word from him would decide the fate of not just him, but the rest of the raid team members, as well. Even if he was agitated, he shouldn’t mutter whatever he felt like.
A migraine crept into Park Jong-Su’s head.
‘The rank A Hunters in my Guild can stand toe to toe with the rank As from other large Guilds.’
No, if one were to consider the number or the overall quality of the rank As in the Knight Order’s roster, then his outfit easily equalled the best Guild in South Korea, the Hunters.
The only issue was to do with the lack of rank S Hunters.
Because they didn’t have any rank S Hunters in their roster, the Knight Order was in real danger of being kicked out of the so-called five major Guild of South Korea.
For the same reason, the elites of Knight Order were more than good enough to deal with regular rank A Gates. However, if it was a Gate measured to be at the top end of the rank A spectrum, then as they didn’t have a rank S Hunter, the Knight Order had to risk the lives of their raid team members when attempting to clear it.
Even though it was rated nominally at rank A, the difficulty of clearing such a dungeon would be a lot closer to a rank S in reality. The Hunter’s Association also knew of the dangers, and that was why they hadn’t decided on whether to issue the raid permit or not to the Knight Order.
‘……..’
As Park Jong-Su’s silent deliberation grew lengthier, Jeong Yun-Tae cautiously voiced his opinion to his boss.
“Hyung-nim. If that thing turns out to be a Red Gate, then we’ll all die for sure.”
“I’m sure we will.”
It was already tough trying to deal with the highest-rated rank A Gate, but if it were to morph into a dang Red Gate? Even thinking about that horrified him.
If lady luck was on their side, half of the team would survive. If not, the whole of the raid team, including himself, would perish inside the dungeon.
‘If I think about it objectively, then I should give up on this one.’
But then again, he should consider the fate of the Knight Order as good as finished if the story of them giving up on a rank A Gate gets around. Just which newbie would want to join a Guild that didn’t have a single rank S Hunter, and couldn’t even deal with a rank A Gate?
“In that case, hyung-nim, how about forming an alliance with another Guild?”
Park Jong-Su shook his head.
“Who’d wanna form an alliance with us when they already know we can’t go at it alone and need help?”
Especially when they monopolise everything a rank A Gate could offer if the Knight Order was removed from the picture altogether? And, even if they formed an alliance, it’d prove to be problematic, still.
‘It’s the same as us walking around advertising our incompetence.’
Deep frowns of worry drew upon their faces. It was then.
“If allying with another Guild is a problem, then how about working with a freelancer?”
The two men’s heads snapped in unison towards the direction of the woman’s voice, coming from their side. It was from the rank A Healer charged with mending the elite raid team, Jeong Ye-Rim.
A Healer was given a lot of say in the matters of a raid. And if that Healer just so happened to be a rank A possessing various skills, then there was no need to even mention that.
However, as the fate of the Knight Order Guild was hanging in the balance here, Park Jong-Su couldn’t easily hide his troubled expression.
“We want to go inside the hardest rank A Gate, so how could a single freelancer help…”
But then, Park Jong-Su stopped his words right there.
‘Ah!!’
Because, he just remembered a certain someone in the middle of his own speech. A man capable of sweeping away rank S monsters all alone, never mind rank As!
Unable to suppress his excitement anymore, Park Jong-Su shot up from his seat.
‘If Mister Seong Jin-Woo joins us, then….!’
That man easily brushed off a monster that the combined might of the Korean rank S Hunters couldn’t do anything about. If he chose to participate, then the safety of the raid team members was as good as 100% guaranteed. And, was that all?
They could also avoid the ignominy of having to borrow another Guild’s power to clear a rank A Gate, too.
‘On the contrary, the fame of the Knight Order would increase, instead.’
Allying with the best Hunter in the country to complete a raid would not negatively affect the Guild in any shape or form.
The guaranteed safety of the team members, as well as a boost to the honour of the Knight Order Guild itself – this was a wonderful way to catch two birds with one stone.
Feeling really excited now, Park Jong-Su spoke with an eager voice.
“What is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim doing right now?”
Both Jeong Ye-Rim, who originally came up with the idea, and Jeong Yun-Tae quietly listening from the side, shook their heads.
“Since he cleared the Gate appearing in the middle of the road not too long ago, he’s gone pretty quiet nowadays.”
Jeong Yun-Tae recalled seeing Seong Jin-Woo on one of the TV news broadcasts recently, and pulled his phone out.
“Should I find out the contact number for Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, hyung-nim?”
“No, don’t bother. Put your phone down.”
“Eh?”
“Do you think you should try to solve something this important over a phone call? No, we gotta meet up with him and discuss it face to face.”
“Aha!”
Jeong Yun-Tae agreed with that opinion immediately, and Park Jong-Su continued on with a smile.
“Let’s go up north.”
That evening.
Cha Hae-In was lying on her bed with sheets pulled right up over her head. But she was writhing around in great distress at the moment.
‘Why did I go and say, I think so?! Just why!!’
Wasn’t that the exact same thing as confessing?!
She wildly kicked the sheets away, and finally stopped moving only after a thought popped up into her head out of the blue.
‘Then…..’
How was she to decipher Mister Seong Jin-Woo’s reply, then?
[“In that case, isn’t there a better way than to join my Guild?”]
She wanted to quickly escape from that situation and told him that she’d think about it before leaving in a hurry, but simply from recalling that moment caused such distress that her thought process ground to a complete halt almost immediately.
Blush.
Her face blushed from the memories she remembered yet again.
Back when she looked into the maddened eyes of the enlarged summoned creature, she predicted her unavoidable death. She felt absolute terror. This was the fate of the prey.
Cha Hae-In even squeezed her eyes shut as ten claws descended upon her from both sides. But, then….
She felt the warmth coming from her back. At the same time, a familiar scent gently wrapped all around her.
‘Ah….’
Cha Hae-In cautiously opened her eyes and looked behind her. And she found Jin-Woo standing there, busy glaring with angry eyes at the summoned creature while stopping the claws with his bare hands.
It was true that her heart skipped a beat in that moment.
But then….
[“Are you perhaps interested in me?”]
Wasn’t it patently unfair to ask a question like that in that sort of a situation?!
‘No, wait.’
Cha Hae-In shook her head hard as if to shake off all the distracting thoughts. Even if he asked her like that, she shouldn’t have answered him truthfully.
‘He might start seeing me as a strange person, after all.’
Even though she knew she shouldn’t, her lips parted on their own.
Maybe because her mind felt more relaxed when she was around Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, she ended up revealing a side to him that she always kept hidden. It was as if she wasn’t herself anymore.
‘….As if I wasn’t myself?’
Those words sounded rather familiar for some reason.
Where could it have been from? She could vaguely remember hearing a similar expression from somewhere.
It was then – a piece of memory once erased from her mind brushed past her brain.
- ….Please, pass it on.
Cha Hae-In quickly bolted upright.
‘…..!!’
She finally recalled that voice, a voice that seemed to slowly fade away to the other side, just like a waking dream. Even though it couldn’t have been that long ago.
- ….Please, pass this message on.
‘I, I….’
Cha Hae-In did her very best to remember the contents of the voice as well as the owner of it. The full scope of the memory, blurry and indistinct as if a thick veil of fog was covering it, slowly regained its former glory.
- ….Please, pass on the message that he needs to be wary.
‘….I met with Hunter Min Byung-Gu.’
Back when she lost her consciousness and was being dragged into the endless void, Hunter Min Byung-Gu appeared out of nowhere and pulled her back by her wrist. She felt momentarily displeased from her peaceful rest being interrupted back then.
She remembered being puzzled by the black armour covering the entirety of Hunter Min Byung-Gu. Only his face was visible outwardly.
Even that face seemed quite sad for some reason, which was unlike his usual self.
As the memories of those moments slowly crept back into her mind, Cha Hae-In felt a chill run down her spine.
Hunter Min Byung-Gu spoke to her, his expression barely holding back his tears.
- To Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….
‘To Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, what….?’
- Please pass on the message that he needs to be wary of the power he possesses.
After ending the shower, Jin-Woo stood before the bathroom window.
‘Hmm….’
He sure looked okay from where he was standing, but….
But, to think that he was so good looking that a beauty like Cha Hae-In felt enough interest to try switching Guilds!
‘Am I really that good looking?’
Jin-Woo peered deeper into the mirror. And a smirk leaked out of his mouth. He wasn’t planning to drown in narcissism even if no one told him to.
He was confident of only one thing about himself, and that would be….
….That would be his taut muscles, getting progressively firmer through repeated daily quest routines, as well as his height that suddenly grew up much higher than before, probably due to the influence of the System. That was about it. Meaning, all he had was his body and not much else.
As for his face…. Well, minus his sharper than normal eyes, wouldn’t it be on the level of an average man commonly seen on the streets?
It was at this point that he noticed something.
‘Hold on.’
Jin-Woo’s expression became serious as he stared into the mirror. He leaned his head slightly to the side, and took an even closer look than before. The Jin-Woo of the mirror’s reflection and the Jin-Woo of reality stared at each other for a long while.
‘Uh?’
A strange light flickered in Jin-Woo’s eyes. His gaze swept all over his face. And as he thought…
He really did change.
Those small scars, spots and nicks that couldn’t be seen normally and needed to be looked at really close, had all disappeared from his face even before he had time to notice it.
‘Is this because of the ‘Will to Recover’ buff?’
One of the buff effects he got as the reward for becoming a Player said that ‘all his damaged body parts would be recovered back to their original state’.
This buff even managed to regenerate the leg that got cut off by one of the stone statues, too. So, it wouldn’t be so strange for those little skin damages to be healed completely, as well. However, what really came across as mystifying was….
‘….I think I’ve actually grown younger?’
He was originally in the middle of his twenties. But the him in the mirror looked two, three years younger, in his early twenties. Now that was a surprising thing.
The magical energy apparently could delay the ageing process of the Awakened to a certain degree, so could this be a similar effect to that?
‘Gimme a break….’
Jin-Woo thought that it was a funny notion for a grown man to stare at himself in the mirror like this, so he decided to leave the bathroom. With excellent timing, his younger sister also emerged from her bedroom, and the siblings got to have a brief reunion in the living room.
Jin-Woo grinned and called out to Jin-Ah.
“Hey, sis?”
“Ng?”
“How do I look to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, my appeal as a man.”
“Huh??”
Jin-Ah furrowed her brows.
“And where did you find your baseless confidence from? Because, you’re still the same stay-at-home oppa in my eyes, you know?”
“Alright, thanks for that.”
Jin-Woo grinned and pinched her cheek lightly, and she too threw a rather sharp kick to his shin as a retaliation. Of course, the one jumping around in pain was Jin-Ah.
“You forgot what kind of a person your oppa was? Can you even study properly with that head of yours?”
“What was that?”
Jin-Ah pouted and narrowed her eyes at him.
“I was ranked first place in the mock test in the entire school, I’ll have you know.”
Jin-Woo really enjoyed his sister’s reaction and had a hard time swallowing back his laughter.
One of the best things about having your family around was that, even if you changed, they still treated you the same with exactly the same attitude as before.
Jin-Woo used the towel to rub his wet hair and walked past Jin-Ah.
“Work hard.”
“You too, oppa.”
Just before he slipped into his room, though, he remembered something and looked behind him.
“Ah, right. I’m thinking of creating a Guild soon.”
“Ohhh!”
Jin-Ah’s expression brightly and her eyes sparkled brilliantly as well.
“Oppa, are you going to be called a ‘chairman’ from now on, too?”
“If it all works out.”
“What’s the name of the Guild?”
“That’s what I wanted to hear your opinion on.”
“Oh! What is it? What is it??”
Jin-Woo cautiously asked his little sister busy looking at him with eyes full of expectations.
“What do you think of ‘Solo Play’ Guild?”
“HUH?”
The answer sounded the same but its ‘nuance’ was rather a lot different than the one that came before. If she was kidding around just now, then she was dead serious this time.
“What’s wrong? You think it’s weird?”
“…..Oppa, why are you naming your Guild like that?”
“Because I like moving around solo.”
“It does sound like you, but still, isn’t it a bit strange to name your Guild like that?”
“Why?”
“Isn’t your ability summoning out those black-armoured soldiers?”
“Yeah.”
“So, if you get technical about it, you aren’t fighting alone, right?”
Now that he heard her opinion, that made some sense. Jin-Woo nodded his head.
‘I may think of it as just another one of my skills but it won’t look that way to other people, is that it?’
Indeed, she had a point there.
This Guild might end up accompanying him for the rest of his life, so he wanted to give it a name that best represented who he was. And that’s why he went with ‘Solo Play’, but now….
‘If the true meaning doesn’t come across all that well, it’ll be useless.’
What could be another term that could describe him the best?
Jin-Woo asked his sister’s opinion again.
“How about ‘Ah-Jin’ Guild?”
“Ahjin?”
Jin-Ah mouthed the name for a bit, before asking him back with a smile.
“I kinda like it, cuz it sounds like my name but flipped around. But, what does it even mean?”
“Ah (我) means ‘myself’ and Jin (進) means ‘moving forward’.”
Meaning, only he could tread on this road. And it was a name he wanted to give to the Guild that would grow alongside him.
“Combine them together, and you get the meaning of ‘I shall progress forward’. That’s Ah-Jin (我進).”
“Ohh…”
Jin-Ah came up with the best praise she could think of.
“You know, that doesn’t sound bad at all.”
***
Next day.
Jin-Woo went to the office armed with the new Guild name.
“Hey. It’s about the Guild’s name….”
Yu Jin-Ho had been in the office since early morning, working. When he heard the new name from Jin-Woo, a brilliant smile formed on his face.
“That is an excellent name, hyung-nim!!”
Didn’t they say that a swan floating elegantly on water was kicking furiously under the surface? Yu Jin-Ho had been feeling as desperate as that old saying.
‘Whatever it is, everything will be fine as long as it’s not Solo Play.’
He imagined ‘it’ so, so many times already. And that would be him introducing himself as ‘Hello, I’m Yu Jin-Ho, Vice-Chairman of the Solo Play Guild’.
That seriously tormented him.
He couldn’t be sure of why, but a corner of his heart ached every time he imagined himself saying those words. However, how could he dare to rebel against a name that hyung-nim had worked so hard to come up with?
He resigned himself to that fate but then, a heaven-sent opportunity came knocking in his way!
“Hyung-nim, let’s go with that as our Guild’s name!”
Jin-Woo made his decision after receiving his partner’s genuine consent this time.
“Okay, so we decided on the Guild’s name, finally.”
Yu Jin-Ho began crying out in elation inwardly after hearing Jin-Woo make that declaration. Meanwhile, the latter rubbed his chin and muttered out.
“The remaining issue is the last founding member slot, isn’t it?”
“Oh, that. Hyung-nim?”
“Yeah?”
“What happened to Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim yesterday?”
“I don’t think it’ll work out with Hunter Cha. She’s not exactly who I’ve been looking for.”
‘Keok?!’
Yu Jin-Ho hastily swallowed a shocked gasp. He expected his hyung-nim to hold a high standard, but to think that he’d not be satisfied with a Hunter on Cha Hae-In’s level!
Hunter Cha Hae-In was a rank S, she was still very young, her records were excellent, and to top them all off, she was beautiful as well. No matter from which angle, she was pretty much perfect. At least, from the perspective of an ‘average’ joe, that was.
However, would the word ‘average’ even apply to his hyung-nim?
‘I mean, he almost swept away all the rank S monsters by himself in the first public raid he participated in as a rank S, after all.’
It’d be oh-so-obvious that ‘regular’ rank S Hunters wouldn’t even be able to catch his attention. But, if that was the case then just what kind of a Hunter would satisfy hyung-nim’s strict judging criteria?
It felt as if the hundreds of applications this yet-to-be-named Guild had received recently all due to the name of ‘Seong Jin-Woo’ were about to be thrown into a trash heap now.
‘But, I don’t think anyone will be better than Hunter Cha Hae-In among the rest of the applicants, though….’
Yu Jin-Ho was suddenly beset with worry that the Guild might never get to open its door at this rate, and he cautiously asked Jin-Woo.
“Excuse me, hyung-nim. What kind of a person are you looking for, anyway?”
“Someone with a Hunter licence who doesn’t care much about the Guild’s activity but we can still place our trust in.”
“Uh….?”
Yu Jin-Ho thought up of a person meeting that criteria perfectly right away.
‘Isn’t that…..’
It was then.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the office’s entrance.
“Who is it?”
Yu Jin-Ho stood up from his seat and opened the door. And he found two unfamiliar men standing there looking somewhat awkward and all.
They were none other than Chairman Park Jong-Su and his deputy, Jeong Yun-Tae of the Knight Order Guild, who rushed up to Seoul to have a chat with Jin-Woo.
Park Jong-Su recognised Jin-Woo first and formed a bright smile.
“Oh! You’re here.”
Jin-Woo got up from his seat and asked them.
“Who are you?”
“Ah, where are my manners?”
Park Jong-Su hurriedly walked up closer and extended his hand out for a gentlemanly handshake.
“I’m Park Jong-Su, the Master of the Knight Order.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head in acceptance. Indeed, he thought he had seen this man’s face from somewhere before. Even if he wasn’t all that interested, he’d still recognise a Master of one of the five major Guilds in South Korea. Such a guy would constantly pop up in news and in television shows, after all.
However, the Knight Order was a major Guild based in the city of Busan, so….
After that brief introduction, Jin-Woo could only tilt his head in confusion.
“By the way, what brings the representatives from the Knight Order to Seoul like this, if I may ask?”
“Ahh, the thing is….”
Park Jong-Su hesitated slightly before exchanging a couple of glances with Jeong Yun-Tae. With some difficulty, he opened his mouth.
“We got assigned a pretty big fish among the rank A Gates, and….”
Hesitation disappeared from his eyes almost immediately as he carried on.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, you won’t regret it from hearing us out, that much I assure you. Would you mind taking some time out of your day and listen to what I have to say?”
***
[Citizens cowering in fear at the super-large Gate appearing before the Gwang-An-ri’s coastline….]
[The Hunter’s Association, still deliberating on the raid permit.]
[Will the Knight Order Guild give up on the raid of Gwang-An-ri’s Gate?]
[Will the nightmare of Jeju Island repeat itself?]
Park Jong-Su picked one out of the many online news articles and then, played the video clip embedded in it.
– Hey, look at that. Over there. Are you filming this?
– Uh, uh.
– Wow, how is that even possible? How can a Gate be that huge?
The video footage, obviously taken by a civilian, contained the crowd’s scared voices as its BGM. But, that was understandable – the Gate in the video was just nonsensically too large. It was taller than a ten-story building, even.
This particular Gate was so big that it managed to terrify even those citizens who were now pretty much numbed by the smaller Gates popping up almost everywhere without warning these days.
“The size of a Gate and its ranking don’t always line up, but….”
Park Jong-Su ended the video playback and further explained himself.
“As befitting its nonsensical size, it’s also apparently busy dumping out a massive amount of magic energy as well.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes began gleaming from this rather interesting piece of news.
“Is it a rank S?”
“We’ve been told that it hasn’t reached the rank of ‘unable to measure’, but just below the threshold, apparently. It’s supposed to be the largest Gate to ever appear in Busan.”
Meaning, although it was nominally a rank A, it was far closer to being a rank S, instead.
‘If that’s the case, I can expect a fair bit of experience points, can’t I?’
In contrary to Jin-Woo’s heart quietly gearing up to pump even faster, Park Jong-Su’s voice sounded quite bitter as he carried on.
“As you can see from those headlines, the Association doesn’t want to issue us the raid permit.”
“Is it because it’ll be too dangerous?”
“Our Guild lacks a rank S Hunter, as you might have heard. From the perspective of the Hunter’s Association, they can’t trust us to get the job done.”
Park Jong-Su stopped talking there and sneaked a glance at Jin-Woo.
“If you are still searching for a Guild to join, then how about…..?”
Before Park Jong-Su had the chance to finish his sentence, Jin-Woo pointed at the cover of a file lying on the top of the conference table.
One could quite clearly see the title written on the upper half of the cover.
[List of applicants for the Guild founding member spot]
Park Jong-Su embarrassedly scratched the back of his head and nodded once.
“Aha….”
And with that, Park Jong-Su’s hope-against-hope attempt at reeling Jin-Woo to the Knight Order Guild went down the drain. In that case, it was time to get to the meat of the story.
“The elite Hunters of our Knight Order are in no way inferior compared to those from the Hunters Guild. It’s just that we don’t have a rank S who can lead our rank As. That’s all.”
They had done well up until this point, but ‘anything’ could happen during this particular raid. In case that worried ‘anything’ happens, they definitely needed the presence of the top-ranked Hunter.
Just a single rank S Hunter would be enough to reverse any situation.
Right now, there was no need to search for one from afar. Because, he was sitting right here.
Just as the Hunters of the Korean team were facing complete and utter annihilation, this young man appeared out of nowhere and overturned the situation all by himself. Such a man was sitting right in front of him.
More than that, now that he could see Hunter Seong Jin-Woo up close…. Even though they were the same Hunters, this man simply instilled trust and confidence in others.
‘An autograph…. If I ask him, will he give me one?’
Suddenly, Park Jong-Su could understand where the Healer Jeong Ye-Rim was coming from, back when she asked him to get at least an autograph even if Seong Jin-Woo said no to the idea of cooperation.
“Is there something on my face?”
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
Park Jong-Su smiled and waved his hand about before carrying on.
“Actually, I believe that we’ll get the raid permit for this Gate if you decide to cooperate with our assault team, Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo crossed his arms and leaned against the back of his chair. Before his pondering could get any deeper, though, Park Jong-Su hurriedly added on.
“Of course, we will definitely make sure not to treat you poorly.”
With a smile still etched on his face, he pulled out the prepared contract.
“We will hand over 20% of the revenue generated from this dungeon.”
He was saying that one of the major Guilds was prepared to submit two-tenths of the potential profit from a Gate to a freelancer. Now that was an unimaginable offer for a regular Hunter.
Now typically, a rank S Hunter would only commend around ten percent of the overall revenue when a large Guild raided a dungeon. But the Knight Order was offering up double of that norm. As Park Jong-Su had said, this certainly wasn’t a ‘poor’ treatment by any stretch of the imagination.
Unfortunately, Jin-Woo’s thoughts were a bit different.
“Fifty-fifty split.”
Park Jong-Su’s hand flinched momentarily as it was about to pull out a pen that was supposed to help Jin-Woo sign the contract.
“If you agree to consider me not as a freelancer but as a Guild, then I shall cooperate with you.”
Jin-Woo made sure that declaration was heard loud and clear.
An earthquake erupted within Park Jong-Su’s eyes at the suggestion of splitting the revenue in half.
‘Keu-heuk…!’
However, he didn’t have any means to come out as strongly as Jin-Woo here. It was not an exaggeration to say that the fate of his Knight Order Guild depended on this raid.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was inwardly clicking his tongue.
‘I mean, twenty percent is just not on, don’t you think so?’
He wasn’t trying to exploit the urgent situation the Knight Order Guild found themselves in. But, when calculated from all possible angles, the most sensible ratio of splitting the loot was 50:50.
‘Even if they are the elites of the Knight Order, are they as good as my Shadow Soldiers?’
Either in number or even in quality, they were incomparable. Not only that, his side even included a rank S Hunter, too. If the commission received for all that potential was measly 20%, then that was as good as working for free.
Was there a reason why he should give up on what was rightfully his when both sides were making a straightforward deal in the name of mutual benefit? Besides, Jin-Woo also didn’t want to lower his own worth, as well.
“In that case, how about 40 to 60…..”
“Apologies, but I’m not trying to negotiate with the Knight Order Guild here.”
“Does that mean you won’t accept anything less than 50:50 split?”
Instead of a verbal answer, Jin-Woo nodded once as his reply.
‘Groan….’
Park Jong-Su fell into deep thought.
‘I thought things would work out easily enough because he’s still young and looks friendly, but I see now that he is no pushover.’
But, that made sense. He was someone that not even the combined might of South Korea’s rank S Hunters could defeat.
Park Jong-Su was trying to add such a Hunter to his assault team. He suddenly realised that this young man’s demand might not be as outlandish as it sounded initially.
‘No, that’s not right.’
Park Jong-Su shook his head.
An outlandish demand?
If the other party decided to come out hard and unforgiving, then forget about 50:50, he’d have demanded 80% of the loot for himself, instead. Regardless of what, the one in the bind was not Hunter Seong Jin-Woo in this situation.
The losses to the Knight Order after giving up on this raid would be too enormous to even properly take a guess. But, what would this young man lose in return?
Absolutely nothing at all.
Actually, this was the same thing as this young man unwillingly being dragged into the negotiation table by the other party. But then, he was only demanding half of the share, so wasn’t he being quite considerate here?
‘Is that all?’
If this deal does go through, then the Knight Order would be taking out the most trustworthy insurance policy in South Korea, otherwise known as Seong Jin-Woo.
Inexplicably, Park Jong-Su recalled what Jeong Yun-Tae told him yesterday.
[“Hyung-nim. If that thing turns out to be a Red Gate, then we’ll all die for sure.”]
However, what if Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was accompanying them? This young man didn’t even bet an eyelid as he faced off against thousands of rank S monsters.
And, didn’t Park Jong-Su personally confirm how the ants of Jeju all ended up?
‘Right, that happened, didn’t it?’
Only now did he remember that the man responsible for wiping all those ants out was sitting right in front of him.
Gulp.
Dry saliva painfully slid down Park Jong-Su’s throat.
He witnessed with his own two eyes the killing field filled with massacred ants, but here he was, busy yapping on about 20 to 80 split with the man responsible.
‘Yup, the rude one was actually me, wasn’t it?’
Park Jong-Su finally admitted to his oversight. And then, he became deeply grateful for Jin-Woo’s gracious counteroffer.
However, being grateful would have to wait.
The offer from the other side meant that he’d be taking a step back, so in return, he needed to take something away as well if the fairness of the deal was to be reached.
So, then. What should he do now?
After a lengthy bout of deep deliberation, Park Jong-Su cautiously raised his voice.
“Alright, we will accept. In return….”
“In return?”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, can you take on the boss monster by yourself?”
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