The short date ended. I had a good time with Jung Ha-Yan and I got an idea of how things worked in Castle Rock. I was basically doing market research and discovered the prices of items and how high or low the market prices were. If I had to give an overall review, I was very satisfied; Castle Rock’s status was way better than I thought.

‘It’s probably a given…’

The hunting grounds around Lindel were already saturated with people and even though there was a lot of work, it meant there were a lot of people trying to work. Compared to Lindel, Castle Rock was still overflowing with work, so in a way, this was an up-and-coming city. There were plenty of resources and since the free city citizens had already settled here, it was safe to say that Castle Rock was not only a strategic hub but an economic hub as well.

‘It’s more useful than I thought…’

It actually might not be so bad to buy some land here. Merchants and adventurers were moving around busily and there was also a demand for daily necessities. What was even more interesting was…

‘Signs of danger?’

It didn’t seem like a city where a big incident would occur, but according to Kim Hyun-Sung, something was going to happen in this city within a month. Our regressor told me there was going to be danger in Castle Rock while showing me a few documents as proof and that was the reason why we went on an expedition to Castle Rock. The people didn’t seem to care at all about the sign Kim Hyun-Sung had mentioned. Kim Hyun-Sung could’ve made it all up, but the current Castle Rock was peaceful. I was sure that the current mood was similar to his past life and an incident must have suddenly occurred while he wasn’t as prepared as we were right now.

‘The majority of the people here probably died…’

Marilyn and the Small Stone Guild probably weren’t an exception either.

“From the people’s point of view, they’re lucky,” I said.

“Huh? Did you say something, Oppa?” Jung Ha-Yan asked.

“After looking around a bit, I think I know what kind of potion is being distributed here; I just made a comment based on that,” I answered.

“Oh! So you’re saying the people are lucky to be able to use your potion!” she said excitedly.

“Yeah. As it was mentioned before, Castle Rock doesn’t have enough priests so the quality of the potion here isn’t that great and it’s even more lacking compared to the potion I made. To be honest, I think even a child can make a better potion,” I explained.

“I see…”

“It hasn’t been that long since the overall level of alchemists increased and since there’s a high demand, they’ve been selling low-quality potions just like that. Castle Rock is a good place…” I added and started to explain.

“I understand!” she exclaimed.

“I didn’t think the Small Stone Guild were making potions, too,” I said.

“I see…”

I gave a small smile to Jung Ha-Yan who responded positively and as we walked, I saw the Small Stone Guild.

‘It’s fancy…’

The guild house itself was better than the Blue Guild’s guild house and I noticed that it was fairly large. I wasn’t knowledgeable about architecture, but it was obvious that they used high-quality materials and were trying to show it off.

‘It’s not as good as the Red Mercenary Guild though…’

Song Jung-Wook was exactly the kind of person I assumed him to be. He cared a lot about his outer appearance and his ambition.

When we entered the guild, the guild members looked at us. We didn’t need to act awkward because being confident was the better thing to do. When a guild staff member greeted us, I replied and nodded. After speaking with the guide that approached us, we headed toward the living room and saw Mr. Jung-Wook. There were other guild members as well and although their stats weren’t bad, they gave off an intense mood as if they were holding an armed protest. This was the first time I saw Song Jung-Wook after the incident on the streets and as expected, he looked serious.

‘Naturally...’

He had been completely humiliated in front of everyone and as an ambitious man, I was sure that respect was very important to him. With his personality, he must be holding a grudge.

‘So what? What’s he going to do about it?’

It was obvious who had the higher rank, so I didn’t need to act inferior to him. That applied to both Earth and here.

“It has been a while,” I said, greeting him.

“Yes, sub guild master of the Blue Guild. It has been a while,” Song Jung-Wook said.

“Hahaha. Our first meeting wasn’t that great, but I’m glad to see you like this,” I told him.

“Yes, it’s very nice to see you again, Mr. Lee Ki-Young.”

“Hahaha. Please relax, Small Stone Guild’s master. People might think you’ve met your enemy,” I said.

“...”

“You’re going to hurt my feelings, Mr. Jung-Wook. If you keep staring at me like that, I’ll feel disappointed,” I added.

“...”

“Well, it is an important meeting, haha,” I said with a chuckle.

“You seem pretty relaxed for someone who has an important meeting coming up, sub guild master. I can’t believe you went on a date in the middle of the day… I feel like an idiot for making preparations. No matter how famous you are in Lindel these days…” he complained.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah..” I said, cutting him off.

“Castle Rock isn’t Lindel’s subcontractor or subordinate, so you should show some respect, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” he said.

“You seem a bit on edge, Mr. Jung-Woo. Hahaha,” I chuckled once more.

“I’m not joking, sub guild master,” he said seriously.

“I think there’s a misunderstanding,” I told him.

“What do you…”

“The important meeting I mentioned was for the Small Stone Guild, so it’s not that important to me. Haha. Is it rude for me to go on a date with the person I love before coming to this meeting? Pffft!” I burst into laughter once again.

“You…”

“Also… I’m not sure if you were tailing me, but… I think I’m going to be a bit disappointed in you, Mr. Jung-Wook. What you have done was no different from an invasion of privacy,” I added.

He frowned as he started to feel flustered. It seemed like he still didn’t know what I was talking about.

‘I miss Ito Sota...’

Despite being ambitious, he had no idea about power… there was definitely a problem. Even though I gave him a lot of hints, he still had that same attitude so I guess he really didn’t like me. For a guy who grew this large guild, he was pretty close-minded.

‘Uh…’

I knew that my actions must have caused him to despise me, but there could be another reason why he didn’t like me. It could be…

‘Lady Marilyn?’

It was possible since it was common for men who desired power to use immature noblewomen to succeed. I realized that Song Jung-Wook and I were connected in a lot of ways, which made it interesting for me.

‘First Jo Hye-Jin and now, Marilyn...’

I guess he was annoyed by me constantly chuckling because he immediately started talking. “Please go back. I thought it would be good to at least meet you once since Lady Marilyn has arranged it, but I don’t want to work with a rude person.”

“Oh, so you’re going to send me back, guild master?” I asked.

“I’ve asked you politely, sub guild master. The Small Stone Guild will not do any trades with you and it’s not just our guild. The guilds and clans in Castle Rock wouldn’t want to do business with the Blue Guild,” he said.

“You’ll regret this,” I warned him.

“I won’t be polite the second time. If you don’t want to be forced out of here, please leave,” he warned.

“I should be the one telling you that, guild master. I’d appreciate it if you could at least hear me out before you get worked up.” I requested.

“...”

“I’ll take that as you accepting my request. Pffft! I’ll go over the details then, Mr. Song Jung-Wook. When you were on Earth, have you heard of something like this? Young people and artists gather in a specific area,” I started talking.

“What are you…”

“Please listen for now. Haha! I’m not sure what happened, but anyway, the young people and artists started to slowly develop the area they gathered. Their methods may be different since some draw murals, others opened stores with unique concepts, and some held their own festivals and created their own cultures.” I continued.

“...”

“The press will immediately focus on that area. The area where the artists work! They’ll also talk about the delicious restaurants in the area… pffft! Social media influencers and celebrities will visit the area the artists and young people developed as if it was their own neighborhood and that area will become even more famous. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of cases like this,” I said.

“So… how is that related to the situation we’re in?” Song Jung-Wook asked.

“A place like this looks nice when you first look at it, but in the end, the area will experience a painful ending,” I answered.

“...”

“They’ll just appear out of nowhere,” I said.

“What…”

“I’m talking about large capital and big corporations,” I told him.

“Um…”

“The landlord who makes money by not doing anything will immediately raise the rent and they’ll kick out the young artists who developed the area. The young artists would shed tears of blood, but there’s nothing they can do about it because they don’t have the power to do anything. I know my explanation was long, but basically, those people will lose their homes in a foolish way,” I said.

Song Jung-Wook frowned.

“Large franchises and self-employed businesses that want to make money will take this opportunity to move in and the street that was once occupied with young artists will be filled with establishments with large capitals. Here’s the question! In this situation, who’s the young artist and who’s the establishment with the large capitals?” I asked.

Song Jung-Wook’s lips quivered.

“Who has the product that can influence the market?” I asked another question.

The tip of his fingers flinched.

“Who has a close relationship with the Red Mercenary Guild, the Black Swan Guild, and was named the honorable bishop by the Vatican’s cardinal and is close to the Lady of Castle Rock?”

He immediately reacted. I thought he would either get down on his knees or get angry, but it seemed like they picked the latter. As the guild master of the Small Stone Guild, Song Jung-Wook was quietly staring at me, but the people behind him were already yelling as their faces turned red.

“That’s ridiculous!”

“Why… why is it ridiculous?”

Their faces immediately turned pale and they were shaking as if they had been threatened. They looked scared. Obviously, they weren’t trembling because of what I said. The answer would be obvious if you looked at the person they were looking at. They were looking at Jung Ha-Yan standing behind me.

‘Oh… shit. I’m getting goosebumps.’

I also thought that it was scary how Jung Ha-Yan was glaring at them.

‘I take back what I said about marriage…’