Joo-Hyuk couldn’t find Lee Soo-Ah, and there was no way for him to find out whether she was dead or alive. Going off of hasty assumptions could lead to problems, but he needed to prepare countermeasures for any unexpected scenarios as soon as possible. These thoughts buzzed through his mind during the entire time he spent traveling back to the Sky Guild’s mainland.

He finally entered a ghost village in District 13 near the destination. It was a town that his group had to pass through to enter the mainland, but he noticed that there was one attack team preparing to camp there. They were a sloppy group, and they weren’t even one of the top ten squads in the Sky Guild.

Huff-

The large beast Joo-Hyuk was riding on stopped after deeply exhaling through its nostrils. The line in the front and back also stopped for a moment.

“Bring them here,” Joo-Hyuk ordered.

“Yes, sir!”

One of the squad members sprinted toward the group and brought a man over, the captain of the team who was camping. His name was Son Il-Woo. Joo-Hyuk looked down at him without getting off his mount, while Son Il-Woo waited for Joo-Hyuk to respond with a nervous expression on his face.

Son Il-Woo naturally knew the ins and outs behind the symbol of the Sky Guild. All the symbols had a lightning bolt going through it, but the simpler the bolt was, the higher the ranking of the group in the guild. Joo-Hyuk’s squad was using a square crest with lightning penetrating the shape, which symbolized the Shield Squad, one of the top ten attack groups in Sky Guild.

“You said your name is Son Il-Woo, right? Where is your attack unit crest?” Joo-Hyuk asked.

“We didn’t make one on purpose since we will disband after this mission.”

Son Il-Woo studied Joo-Hyuk’s face. Sure enough, cold eyes were staring down at him.

Joo-Hyuk finally responded, “That’s illegal.”

“...”

“What do you mean by disbanding after this mission?”

“I made a deal with them.”

Son Il-Woo continued to explain the situation by looking at his group members. It was easy to understand. Twenty out of twenty-five people on the team were clients, and the other five including Son Il-Woo were employees. Son Il-Woo and his crew provided a safe hunting environment for their clients. In return, they received mana stones as payment and seventy percent of anything they came across during the session.

Joo-Hyuk grimaced as his concerns had become reality. Slaves were coming out of the mainland to collect mana stones…

At that time, a red light flashed in Joo-Hyuk’s annoyed eyes.

[You have partially seen through the subject. (Skill, Night Eye)]

[Name: Son Il-Woo, Level: 172 (Gold)

Health: ??8 (+1), Strength: ??2 (+1), Agility: ?00, Sense: ?00

XP: 2009 / 2114

Attack Power: 36

Trait(1), Skill(2), Insignia(0), Item(2)]

Son Il-Woo flinched as Joo-Hyuk was basically attacking him, but he couldn’t protest. Opposing the Shield Squad captain meant he wouldn’t want protection from the guild in the future.

Meanwhile, Joo-Hyuk frowned fiercely while looking through Son Il-Woo’s status window. The other man’s stats were sufficiently high enough to enter a regular attack squad, but he had no insignias or the items that could help defend himself as their levels were low. He was the type who couldn’t control his lust and gambling addiction. People like Son Il-Woo always needed money.

Joo-Hyuk turned his head to his rear and commanded, “Arrest them all.”

At that time, Son Il-Woo protested with wide eyes.

“Arrest? You are taking us because we didn’t register our crests?”

Joo-Hyuk was adamant as he replied, “It’s illegal.”

***

The mainland of the Sky Guild in District 12 consisted of five villages. The central village, the central stage of Act One, Stage Two, was the kingdom's capital. One of the guards ran toward Joo-Hyuk as soon as he saw him.

“I was about to send someone. The Sky Conference is being held right now. You should go, sir.”

He heard a voice discussing countermeasures in the conference room on the second floor of the guild hall. The atmosphere was as serious as Joo-Hyuk’s expression. For a moment, everyone’s attention was focused on Joo-Hyuk as he was looking for his seat, then they turned their heads away.

“...That’s why I have repeatedly said that we should only allow the authorized attack squads to use the hunting ground. I’ve been emphasizing the matter to you all even before this mess happened. But some high-minded ones among you have opposed it. Don’t you think so, Captain Kang?”

The battle against the Kciphos Corps had ended in victory. The remaining Baclans had spread out to run away, and monsters from Act One, Stage Two were still wandering around, so the area outside the mainland had become a hunting ground. Joo-Hyuk had always supported the idea that they needed to control the hunting ground. He nodded, then the woman continued talking.

“We should restrict access to the hunting ground, and raise the registration tax to join the attack squads to twenty times higher than they were before. Then, things will work out as we want. The slaves should never forget their duties.”

“Your word of choice is… Slaves…? They are our guild members too. I’m afraid someone will overhear this and cause trouble.”

One guy snapped at her sharply. People called him Captain Lee.

“Well, Captain Lee. This is a formal conference. Please be respectful of others. Anyway, if we just let them do whatever they want, our efforts will come to nothing. Don’t you all remember how much time and effort we put into creating such stability in this community?”

“...”

“Even though we have all been infuriated with each other and had arguments, we have always cooperated well together when the entire guild faced a crisis. It was the same as when we had that border war against the Ilsung Guild, and even at the time when the majority of the mainland-born people had been cursed with phobias. We overcame the crisis with one accord. Let me be clear here. Now is the time to unite ourselves again. The slaves are forgetting their responsibility, Captain Lee.”

“Don’t look at me. Go ahead with what you wanted to say.”

“You are the only one who doesn’t understand the seriousness of the current situation, Captain Lee.”

The man looked over the crowd and raised his voice, “I’m fully opposed to your idea. It hasn’t been long since we fought against the Kciphos and the Ilsung Guild, so it’s still early to control the public.”

“That is wrong. You’re still stuck in the before times. When are you going to understand the new reality? They are not the public anymore. They are our people who are being protected by us.”

“That is such a terrible mindset. They are guild members, not our people. Damn, what is the point of me talking about this bullshit? Let me know when you guys come to a conclusion. I’ll follow if the majority agree, but make sure you write down that I voted against all of this.”

Bang!

Captain Lee stood up while he was hitting the round table with both hands. No one but Joo-Hyuk stopped him. Joo-Hyuk said one sentence to Captain Lee’s back, who was about to leave the meeting room.

“I met Odin.”

A horrible silence filled the air in an instant as everyone held their breath. People could only widen their eyes in surprise and look at Joo-Hyuk.

***

Captain Lee sat down while all the attention was focused on Joo-Hyuk.

Joo-Hyuk said, “I met him in District 15, the western village. I didn’t see Lee Soo-Ah and Shin Kyung-Ah. There was just Odin and Kwon Seong-Il.”

No one asked if that was true or not because Kang Joo-Hyuk, the leader of Shield Squad, was the one saying it. He was competing for the highest rank against Kang Ki-Nam from Miracle Squad. Joo-Hyuk only nodded as he made eye contact with others.

“Did you bring them here?” Captain Lee questioned after carefully sitting back in his seat.

“No. They must be still in District 15. They had picked out a site there. I didn’t actually talk to them. I said hi, but they didn’t respond just like the rumors said.”

Odin is back? Lee Soo-Ah, the former guild leader, is back? The other two, Kwon Seong-Il and Shin Kyung-Ah as well?

The seven people on the left side couldn’t open their mouths easily. The fact that these people had returned was disastrous. It was no different from the upheaval that the System caused when it changed all of a sudden.

“...They shouldn’t come back to the village.”

Captain Lee had been the one in opposition of restricting the hunting grounds, but he was the one who said what everyone else was thinking. His face had stiffened the most out of all the people there after hearing Joo-Hyuk’s news. In fact, the mere differences in their outward emotions meant nothing as all seven people in the room were of one heart in this matter. Even the woman who was famous for her poker face began to tap the table with her index finger, betraying her inner turmoil.

Tap. Tap, tap…

The disturbing sound increased people’s anxiety, and the woman finally opened her mouth.

“No, not Odin.”

The seven people frantically exchanged glances. They were good at calculating how many benefits they would get from the decision and what to prioritize.

Joo-Hyuk said with relief, “We have no reason to stop them.”

Everyone knew where the name and lightning shape on the crest of Sky Guild originated from. Lee Soo-Ah didn’t explain the origin of the guild when she created it, but people from the mainland knew that everything began from Odin.

One man picked up where he had left off.

“I have heard a lot that Odin is like the emperor but we are the ones who developed the guild. He should accept reality.”

“That’s right. The current Sky Guild is different from the old one. The name is the same, but it’s on a different level now.”

Then…

Squeak-

“Yes, Odin is a scary guy.”

A middle-aged man entered the conference room, and he was Joo Pan-Seok, the captain of the Gold Squad. However, he was more known by the title ‘President of Mana Stone Bank.’ He was able to hold a strong influence because of the bank. He used to be a merchant who owned the largest store in the village during Act One, Stage One, and then he became a key figure in the local commercial association. Now, almost at the end of the Final Stage of Act One, he was in the positions that Lee Soo-Ah used to hold, including the President of Mana Stone Bank, Chairman of Commerce and Industry, and head of Gold Squad.

He said while slowly sitting down, “You guys should all know that I’m from the mainland, so trust me. Odin is not interested in this political position at all.”

“That doesn’t help. Those from the mainland literally worship Odin…”

Joo-Hyuk rebutted, but Joo Pan-Seok interrupted him.

“Please listen to me first, Captain Kang. Odin himself won’t move, but there’s a high possibility that he’ll send his henchman, like Lee Soo-Ah or Kwon Seong-Il. That’s what Odin likes to do. I heard one of you calling him the first emperor of a dynasty, and that’s the most accurate description. He is different from us. He wants to reign as an absolute power like an emperor, and he knows exactly how to enjoy his authority. He’s nothing like us, very different.”

Joo Pan-Seok added, “There is a way for us to do this. Odin has killed the leaders of the mainland in the past. When I look around, I can imagine many of you getting beheaded by him. Hmm. So, this isn’t a matter to put to the vote.”

Joo-Hyuk exchanged glances with Kang Ki-Nam, the captain of Miracle Squad. When Joo-Hyuk nodded, Kang Ki-Nam began speaking in a deep voice, “As long as all of us agree, we shouldn’t put this to a vote.”

Of course, no one opposed it.

“We will conclude at this meeting that the Sky Guild rejects the entry of Odin’s group.”

Joo-Hyuk opened his mouth, “Let’s discuss measures based on that.”

***

The best-case scenario would be that nothing concerning would happen, such as Odin not sending anyone over and Odin continuing to stay out of the guild politics. Nonetheless, they knew that was unlikely to happen. Power was addictive. As the President of Mana Stone Bank had mentioned earlier, Odin was a man who enjoyed grasping all in his hand.

The outside had gotten dark while they devised measures corresponding to the conclusion they ultimately agreed on. Joo-Hyuk made the decision after much consideration.

“Odin isn’t the only problem. The crack in the bottom of the hierarchy is another serious issue, and we should remain vigilant of the North. Rather than being stagnant by wasting resources, it would be better for us to move first.”

The north was dominated by one man in power, not like the Sky Guild where the authority was dispersed among multiple people. Moreover, the Ilsung Guild must have been laughing at Sky Guild while drinking ramen soup as there was no reason why Odin would appear there. Also, no matter how strong Odin was, he only had a maximum of three teammates. Furthermore, all of the Awakened in the north followed their leader’s command.

“Rather than just waiting for what will happen, it’s better to sort things out quickly. I can tell that you all agree with my idea. We can’t keep working as a guild without getting rid of the root of the trouble.”

None of them had ever thought that they could coax Odin to leave them alone. After all, the rumors said he could never be appeased, and Joo-Hyuk had felt that when he had faced Odin. It was impossible to compromise with him.

“We have a justified reason and the power to do so. It doesn’t matter if he has the bone dragon or anything else. Let’s make sure that he doesn’t even have the guts to even confront us from the very start.”

“To what extent?”

“Let’s mobilize all twenty thousand guild members, even those who aren’t in attack squads.”

That was their plan in using the guild to banish Odin to the north.