“Doctor! I am the Guild Master of Gwangmyeong Guild! We desperately need your help! Please, just this once!”
A man with a broad forehead bowed down flat at the entrance.
He introduced himself as the Guild Master of Gwangmyeong.
“Ah, I see.”
It wasn’t hard to understand the situation.
It seemed like they needed an urgent evaluation.
His sudden bow startled my parents.
“Uh, oh my, what’s this about?”
“Guild Master? Did you say you’re a Guild Master?”
“I’ll step out to discuss work for a moment.”
The conversation wrapped up quickly.
We agreed to conduct the evaluation today.
There was no reason to refuse.
The specifics of where to start were up to Seonghwa Guild to decide.
Yoo Chae-young must have cleared it, or else they wouldn’t have brought him.
“Looks like I’m getting busy earlier than I thought.”
On top of that, the Guild Master of Gwangmyeong turned out to be a practical man.
“This is a token of gratitude…!”
“Oh!”
A potion for durability enhancement.
Very nice. I pocketed it for later use.
“I’ll go greet my family before leaving.”
“I—I’m terribly sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
Even though it was a brief visit to see my family, it was satisfying.
Yoo Chae-young had gone above and beyond to accommodate.
I should reciprocate the effort.
As for my family, I could visit again soon.
“Mom, Dad, something urgent came up with the Guild. I’ll come back soon.”
“Take some food with you for our daughter-in-law.”
“Alright, take care! A man should pursue great things. Don’t worry about us!”
Both my parents looked radiant.
It was as if they’d taken some miraculous tonic.
Seeing their son succeed seemed to be enough to fill them with pride.
“But didn’t you buy a gift for your younger sibling’s birthday on your way here?”
“What?!”
Yes. Subin’s birthday!
‘Damn it, I forgot.’
On Thea, there’s no culture of celebrating birthdays.
Who has time for that during an endless war?
Having parents who even remember your birthday is a blessing.
The same went for Kyle.
As an orphan, he had no idea when his birthday was.
It wasn’t a familiar tradition to me either.
“Judging by your reaction, I see you forgot. Didn’t you give her pocket money last time? Just let that count as her gift. I’ll explain it to her.”
“Ah….”
I was doomed.
Once, when she was in elementary school, I didn’t get her a birthday gift.
‘She cried like the sky was falling.’
She wouldn’t talk to me for a whole month.
Even now, as a high schooler, she still felt like a child to me.
And she was going through puberty now.
To Kang Hyun, a pubescent younger sister was scarier than the Black World Tree.
‘Wait!’
That’s it!
I quickly retrieved an item from my inventory.
“Give this to her.”
[Garam Butterfly Wing Pair]
[A pair of earrings to be shared by two people.
Allows you to send emergency signals to the other person without distance constraints.]
It was a Perfect Clear reward I had tucked away in my inventory.
I’d been planning to sell it for a high price, but I didn’t need the money anymore.
The evaluations were going to bring in enormous profits.
Keeping a pubescent teenage girl happy was a bigger priority than a mere trinket.
“Oh my, what is this! It’s so beautiful!”
“Wow! When did our son get such great taste?”
Crisis averted.
The item was truly gorgeous.
She’d love it, especially since teens are crazy about accessories.
“Alright, I’m off. Please explain to her why I couldn’t celebrate that kid’s birthday with her.”
“With a gift like this, she’ll understand. But calling her ‘that kid’? You really need to fix your habit of using rough words—”
“See you soon!”
As I stepped out with my group, Subin came out of the elevator.
“Oppa?”
“Yeah. You just got back from work?”
“A high schooler doesn’t ‘get back from work’. Who are the people behind you?”
“Not even curious why I’m here?”
“You came to see the family, obviously.”
Puberty, as expected.
So cold.
She didn’t used to be like this when she was younger.
Back then, she was so cute.
We never had major fights as siblings.
Probably because I’d always had the soul of an adult.
Why would someone my age argue with a little kid?
Mom, who was seeing you off, came out in her slippers.
“Subin, come greet them! This is the Guild Master of Gwangmyeong Guild, and over here is the Team Leader from Seonghwa Guild!”
“…?”
“The Team Leader of the guild your brother works at!”
“……?”
Subin, unable to keep up with the conversation, furrowed her brows.
“Happy early birthday. Check out your present later.”
“What’s going on? What’s all this about Seonghwa? And why is the Guild Master here…? Wait, why are you here?”
As a high schooler, seeing someone as high-ranking as a Guild Master seemed to make her a bit nervous.
It was best to leave quickly.
“Your brother’s busy. See you later—ugh, why are you wearing stockings in this weather? Dress warmly.”
“None of your business. Stop sounding like an old man.”
I grabbed a handful of 50,000 won bills from my wallet—around eight of them—and handed them to her.
“Huh?”
“Let’s go.”
He quickly left with the four of them.
I quickly ushered the group into the car and we set off for the dungeon.
“Please take the back seat.”
“Sure.”
As the car sped toward the dungeon, I took a moment to organize my thoughts.
‘Looks like I’ll be doing evaluations for a while… how long will it take to cover everything?’
There was no way I could handle all of it alone.
It would likely take months to cover all the dungeons in Korea.
And during that time, more abnormal dungeons would surely appear.
I’d do my best, but still…
It would be much easier if I could use Words of Power to create a teleport spell.
‘If I could master spatial magic, I’d be able to move quickly between sites.’
Yet, the realization of spatial magic remained elusive, just out of reach.
‘What if this abnormal situation keeps escalating?’
There had to be a way.
Would I have to march into Thea and settle things directly with the Abyss Legion Commander?
‘For now, I’ll focus on Seonghwa, earn some money, and extract resources in return.’
I closed my eyes to meditate.
###
Seonghwa Guild building, underground welfare bar.
Even in broad daylight, the guild’s underground tavern was packed with guild members.
As combat personnel, they were already prone to drinking, but this was excessive.
Day drinking seemed odd, but it became clear why when I noticed the TV broadcast of delicious side dishes being served.
“Doesn’t it seem like there are even more protesters today?”
“Look at the guild HQ’s broken windows. Bet the breeze feels great in there!”
“Just like my insides. Haha.”
“Those bastards! Throw them all in jail!”
The broadcast was a live feed of the chaos at Palan Guild’s HQ.
Police forces were clashing with protestors once again.
“This is karma!”
“Not yet. They need to suffer more!”
“Yeah, the abnormal dungeon crisis isn’t over yet!”
The fervor was like watching a World Cup semifinal.
The bar was at full capacity.
Some were purely using the news as their side dish.
Others seemed to enjoy the atmosphere, nibbling on snacks while chatting.
Mar belonged to the latter group.
Her expression was noticeably brighter than before.
While the downfall of Palan Guild was satisfying, the real relief came from the fact that Seonghwa hadn’t suffered any more casualties.
“You know, Doctor, you’ve done something incredible!”
“Quiet.”
She giggled, leaning in to whisper while trying not to be overheard by nearby tables.
“Who do you think that Ghost person was?”
“How would I know?”
“You don’t think it’s someone from our guild, do you?”
Flinch.
I flinched slightly.
Why were the people around me so sharp?
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“I mean, Palan caused us the most harm. Don’t you think one of our guild’s hidden talents might’ve snapped and taken revenge?”
I pretended not to hear and sipped my barley tea.
“Tsk. Not listening, huh? But why are you drinking barley tea? Can’t handle alcohol?”
“Alcohol.”
“Huh?”
“Throat maintenance. Troublesome.”
“Uh?”
A mercenary unable to handle alcohol? Ridiculous.
Even when I was Kyle, I ranked second among the Seven Heroes in drinking capacity.
Strangely, even after changing bodies, my tolerance remained the same.
“So, what do you think will happen to Oh Hyuk-jun?”
“He’ll probably end up in a special prison.”
“Hmm, not so sure.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just didn’t want you to be disappointed, that’s all.”
Mar gave me a bitter look.
“People in the know probably already suspect this, but he’ll likely slip out again. It’ll take some time, but it always does.”
I sipped my barley tea and listened.
“What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know what kind of connections he has, but every time he causes trouble, he gets away with it.”
“Really?”
“You don’t seem convinced.”
I responded while watching the protests on the TV.
“He must’ve built up a lot of bad karma.”
“Karma? What karma?”
“It’s about time he faced judgment.”
“What are you talking about? Who’s going to judge him?”
Well, who knows.
But this time, things might turn out differently.
###
Awakened Management Bureau
Dungeon Anomaly Response Committee
In the conference room of the Awakened Management Bureau, researchers were deep in thought.
“Ugh… What a disaster Palan has caused.”
“Exactly. Those bastards.”
Looking at the statistical reports was enough to make anyone sigh.
“Too many Awakened have died…”
This would deal a severe blow to Korea’s Progress.
Progress had already been declining year by year, and now this.
To make matters worse, it was the start of a new season.
No progress had been made to build momentum.
Weeks into the season, and the progress rate was still below 1%.
“Isn’t this season going to collapse completely…?”
“If we can’t resolve the situation quickly, it’s a guarantee.”
The outlook was grim.
“Still, at least the immediate dungeon crises have been contained.”
“Seonghwa Guild really stepped up.”
“Section Chief Choi Young-ho is said to be great at scouting talent. Can’t we somehow recruit the Doctor from Seonghwa?”
If that man joined their research team, it would be an enormous asset.
“What about the simulation results?”
“The same. Three weeks of Golden Time. One week has already passed, so we have two weeks left to resolve this anomaly.”
This was classified information not disclosed to the media.
The deadline was much tighter than the public realized.
Even solving the anomaly wouldn’t be the end.
They’d have to scramble to build up progress afterward.
But with so many Awakened already dead, the loss of Progress was irreversible.
The simulation results confirmed it: without resolution in the next two weeks, Korea would fail to meet its seasonal progress goals.
In other words, destruction.
Not just the collapse of the nation but the death of everyone on the Korean Peninsula.
“….”
The researcher shook his head, trying not to dwell on the grim scenario.
But thinking about such problems was their job.
As they resumed their work in silence, something unusual caught their eye.
“…Huh? What’s this?”
It was a dataset on dungeon anomaly distributions.
“Why are there no anomalies in the central part of Seoul?”
On closer inspection, the anomalies avoided not just central Seoul but also parts of its eastern outskirts.
The pattern wasn’t a perfect circle but irregular, like overlapping circles.
‘This range… It feels familiar.’
Wait.
“Hey! Bring me the E-rank Blessing distribution data! Quickly!”
Could it be…?
