Being aware of your surroundings and the current situation was important for this kind of politics. In other words, it meant that giving choices to the people that had the right to vote was the most important. Politics was basically a fight over public opinion so I had to take other people’s reactions into consideration. With that in mind, I didn’t believe that the timing was right since, unlike Jung Yoo-Ra who had a secure position and a voice, I was nothing but a party member that had nothing. Even if the Red Mercenary Guild looked at me in a favorable light, it would be difficult for them to support me.

I could say that my first task was to solidify my presence within this expedition.

“I’m really sorry,” I said.

I apologized first and naturally, their gazes fell upon me.

“I understand that it’s a bit uncomfortable and nerve-wracking for you to work with us. After all, we are first-timers when it comes to expeditions. But if you give us one more chance, we will do our best and make sure that we’re doing our part,” I said to her.

“But this is…”

“I know which part you’re worried about, but I hope you’ll give us another chance. There won’t be another opening in the formation,” I said, interrupting her.

Being as honest as possible was important because an honest apology was a good method to sway the hearts of the public. As expected, I saw the others nodding and I tried my best to show the utmost respect.

I also noticed that Jung Yoo-Ra was looking a bit flustered because she was starting to realize that she was in a position where she needed to yield.

“I’m sorry.”

Even Park Deok-Gu started bowing his head, but honestly, Jung Yoo-Ra wasn’t the person he needed to apologize to. After all, based on what had happened, it wasn’t like she had been in danger since we were the ones that could have died.

When we bowed our heads, she could have crossed the line by asserting her opinion, but she wasn’t an idiot that couldn’t read the atmosphere. “Dungeon control isn’t a joke and honestly, I don’t like how you asked for another chance, but…I’ll keep an eye out one more time,” Jung Yoo-Ra said.

“Thank you,” I told her.

It was only natural for me to bow and for some reason, Park Deok-Gu looked touched, so he started talking to me. “Hyung-nim, I…really don’t know what to say.”

“It’s nothing, Deok-Gu. Everyone makes mistakes, so pull yourself together and don’t get scared; you can do it,” I told him.

“Hyung…Hyung-nim,” he said.

When I patted his back, I saw him starting to sniffle. If an accident had happened because of this incident, then Jung Yoo-Ra’s words would have been more convincing. If there had been casualties, then we wouldn’t have been able to avoid responsibility for it since it was a situation where we were the ones that made the mistake. It could have even turned into a situation where a simple apology wouldn’t cut it, but in the end, this expedition party managed to overcome the previous crisis so easily. No one got injured and the party succeeded in taking care of the monsters smoothly. The incident and the danger that happened just now were already in the past and saw the members on the front line approach the slightly depressed Park Deok-Gu to comfort him. I felt happy as I looked at that scene.

‘Everyone had been rookies at one point in their lives.’

There was a time when everyone experienced hardships as rookies. No one was perfect and I was sure that this was even more so for the tanks. They were probably constantly stressed that they were responsible for protecting the front liners in their party while blocking attacks from the enemies at the same time. I was also certain that they were burdened by the fact that their mistakes could easily get their comrades killed. The person in that position had to bear all these burdens while fighting, so it wasn’t unreasonable for them to feel sympathetic to someone on the same boat as them.

“Blocking attacks is important, but it’s better to think of it as if you’re trying to let the attacks flow out, rookie,” Choi Young-Ki said.

“T-Thank you,” Park Deok-Gu said.

“No matter where you are, okay? Putting strength into your lower body is important, got it?” Choi Young-Ki told him.

“Got it, sunbae…” Park Deok-Gu answered.[1]

“In our circle, we call the situation just now as floundering…when going up against mid-sized or large monsters, everyone definitely experienced the same thing at some point in their lives. It’s already impressive that you didn’t get stabbed,” Choi Young-Ki told him.

“Stabbed…”

“That’s right. When this guy first encountered a mid-sized monster, he couldn’t even move because he was so scared,” Choi Young-Ki said.

“Hey, didn’t I tell you not to talk about that?” one of the party members said.

“Brother, the fact that you fell backward like that is proof you have courage since it means that you faced the monster head-on without getting scared, so it’s not good to be depressed. Even if you do fall, all you have to do is regain your balance and be persistent about it because I’m sure your party members aren’t weak. Trusting your comrades and enduring it until the end is important and as long as you have that mindset, you can do anything,” Choi Young-Ki said, comforting Park Deok-Gu.

“Thanks, bro…” Park Deok-Gu said.

“So hang in there.”

“Don’t fall over next time.”

“If you do, you’ll be made fun of for the rest of your life! Haha! You’ll be called a flounder, so listen carefully since I’m speaking from experience,” one of the party members said.

Seeing how they were talking to each other while calling each other sunbae, hoobae[2] and brother, I guess the community of vanguards was more closely knit than I thought. Not only were their jobs as tanks classified as a noble job, but seeing as how there weren’t that many of them, I guess they formed a community where they could exchange information with each other.

For some reason, I felt pleased when I saw Park Deok-Gu being surrounded by other members with large frames. They were either patting each other’s backs or flexing their muscles, so I didn’t really want to join their sweaty friendship, but the sight didn’t seem so bad when watching from afar. If it was me, I would have approached him differently since the world was on the side of the weak.

Park Deok-Gu must have felt better because he was smiling towards me and he looked pretty cute. “Hyung-nim!” he called out.

“Deok-Gu, go give these to those people,” I told him.

“Huh?”

“They’re stamina potions and they’re probably better than the ones being sold on the market. It looks like they’ve been teaching you a lot of things, so we should repay them,” I explained.

“Oh, you’re right! Thanks, hyung-nim!” Park Deok-Gu said excitedly.

I saw Park Deok-Gu running towards the group of large-framed men; this was what you called having a social life. If I had to put a price on it, the stamina potion was less than five gold, but this was a great opportunity for us to learn many things. Park Deok-Gu had to hang out with them a bit more because that would be more advantageous for us. Kim Hyun-Sung also nodded and cheered him on.

“This is from my hyung-nim!” Park Deok-Gu said excitedly.

“Thank you so much for this, Mr. Ki-Young!” they said.

“This is obviously a really good potion…has this kind of potion ever been sold on the market?” one of the members asked.

“No way. There aren’t even ranked potions…I guess there was truly a reason why the Blue Guild recruited an alchemist,” another member said.

Of course, increasing my worth during all of this was a plus.

Anyways, the party was entering deeper into the dungeon, and while walking, the large-framed men started to teach Park Deok-Gu the ways of a tank little by little. Even when the next monsters appeared, a repeat of the previous incident didn’t occur. The large-framed brothers were fighting together in the front and they were unknowingly being considerate of Park Deok-Gu. All they did was maintain the balance so that he wouldn’t fall or simply pat his back, but Park Deok-Gu was getting used to fighting against the monsters. But of course, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t making any mistakes. As expected, he was still making small mistakes and Jung Yoo-Ra was using those as fodder. Of course, she didn’t bring it up like she did the first time.

“Whoo…”

Instead, she sighed as if to express that she was unsatisfied.

“He seems a bit unstable.”

But no one really agreed with her and her words were nothing more than an echo in the void.

“It seems a bit complicated since there’s a lot of people. We could’ve finished it a bit sooner…” Jung Yoo-Ra said.

“Hahaha, but we’re making progress safely,” Choi Young-Ki said.

“I’m just saying it because I’m a bit disappointed. I think we could’ve done better…it just feels like we’re getting held back,” she commented.

“I think it’s because we’re not a perfect party. If we were a party that came from the same guild, then we would’ve been in sync, but that’s not the case. I’m sure we’ll get better little by little,” Choi Young-Ki explained.

“Of course, we need to get better. It would be bad if we didn’t since this isn’t like our usual expedition,” she said.

“Haha…then, we’ll take a break before moving on,” Choi Young-Ki said.

“Okay.” Jung Yoo-Ra affirmed.

Well, that was the gist of the situation.

I started walking slowly towards Choi Young-Ki, but it wasn’t because there was something I needed to talk to him about. I simply thought I was eventually going to talk to him at some point and since we decided to set up a temporary camp, I thought that this was the perfect time.

“Mr. Choi Young-Ki,” I said.

“Oh! Mr. Ki-Young.”

As expected, he looked happy to see me since I was the Mercenary Queen’s lover.

“You’re a hard worker,” I said.

“Oh no, this is nothing. Please have a seat here,” he offered.

“Is Miss Cha Hee-Ra doing well?” I asked.

“Hahaha, I was actually going to talk to you about her,” he said.

Jung Ha-Yan was still being held up by the Devil’s Guild, so I didn’t think that I had to be worried about her for now.

“Our master told us several times to look after you, Mr. Ki-Young, haha,” he told me.

“Oh...”

“Despite that, I’m really sorry for not being able to take care of you in many things,” Choi Young-Ki said.

“No, it’s understandable since you’ve been taking care of us in different ways…and I can’t help but feel a bit uneasy about other things,” I said.

“Oh, you mean…”

I was sure that he realized what I was referring to because he quietly glanced over at Jung Yoo-Ra and then continued talking after nodding quietly. “I’m sorry about the incident just now. I should’ve taken better care…”

“No, no. It was our party’s fault and I’m very thankful that the others are so understanding. I wanted to thank you when you blocked that monster for us,” I said.

“It was nothing. A few mistakes were made in the beginning, but all of you are adapting very well. I expected nothing less from the rookies that everyone had high expectations of. When I was in your position, I was like a child that didn’t know anything and I was only able to grow this much because our master really took care of me,” he explained.

“Hahaha.”

“I heard you and our master have been dating since you two were on Earth,” he said.

‘...’

I was a bit flustered because I heard a new piece of information, but I lightly nodded.

“She also mentioned that you helped her a lot when she was going through a lot of things…master said that you’re her savior, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” he added.

This was new as well.

“Oh…yes. I definitely remember that…”

“If you’re our master’s savior, then that makes you my savior as well. If it wasn’t for the Mercenary Queen, then I wouldn’t be here right now,” she said.

But this setup was better than I thought.

‘Thanks, Cha Hee-Ra.’

I wanted to applaud Cha Hee-Ra for coming up with such an original setting. Of course, I was a bit bothered by the fact that Jung Ha-Yan was looking this way, but I was sure that she couldn’t hear our conversation.

“You don’t have to take it so seriously. I honestly didn’t do anything to help her…”

“Hahaha, if that’s not considered as helping, then I don’t know what is. It’s no different from saving her life several times,” Choi Young-Ki said.

‘What kind of bullshit is that?’

I had no idea what he was talking about, but what was important right now wasn’t the past between me and Cha Hee-Ra. The fact that Choi Young-Ki, the leader of the party, had a good impression of me was the important part. I thought that he was a good person, but he was a nicer person than I thought. Seeing that he wanted to help our party somehow, I imagined that he must have considered our party as part of the Red Mercenary Guild since this expedition started. As such, we had a solid foundation to support us if a serious conflict arose.

When I saw Jung Yoo-Ra looking at us with an expression full of dissatisfaction, I couldn’t help but raise the corner of my mouth. If I could yell at her, this was the time when I would say something to her.

The most important part about politics was of course…

‘Taking care of people’s lives.’

1. Sunbae means senior, or more accurately, a senpai ☜

2. Hoobae means that person has less experience than you in a certain field ☜