Looking after people’s livelihoods wasn’t difficult since it wasn’t any different from what the higher-ups did back on earth. All they had to do was walk around the neighborhood and give off a friendly atmosphere, but of course, my situation was different since I couldn’t say that I was above the party members. But that didn’t mean that it was ineffective at all.

Whenever we took a break, shared stories, and made a camp, I worked hard in taking care of them, and I didn’t forget to show them my serious side during the expedition.

Actually, the Devil’s Guild was being kind to Jung Ha-Yan to the point that it seemed strange. Meanwhile, the party members of the Red Mercenary Guild were treating me kindly.

Having small conversations was effective and of course, apart from Jung Ha-Yan, I had to manage the party members of the Devil’s Guild. The more people believe that being on the same side as me was good, the better.

“Hahaha, I think the effects of this potion are similar to holy magic, Mr. Ki-Young,” a member of the Devil’s Guild said.

“I’m flattered. I’m embarrassed that the priests will hear you,” I said.

“Honestly, the firepower of your magic seems strong as well. How…”

“I feel great hearing that from a member of the Devil’s Guild,” I said.

“No, really. They’re not just empty words. I feel that you’re not so different from ordinary mages,” they said.

“My weakness is that it takes me longer to recite a spell and that I need to use a magic circle, but as long as I have a decent catalyst, I can use an effective spell,” I explained.

“When you talk about effectiveness…”

“I can perfect a spell with decent firepower by using a small amount of mana,” I said.

“Ohhh,” they said.

“Of course, I have my weaknesses. In order to recite a spell, I need to spend a good amount of money for the catalyst,” I added.

“Do you mind telling me how much it costs?” they asked.

“About 30 gold because I mostly use Essence of Magic,” I answered.

“Oh! Essence of Magic,” they said.

“Yes, it costs 30 golds for me to use the Essence for a lower rank magic,” I said.

I noticed that they looked a bit surprised, but more than that, they seemed a bit overwhelmed. Simply put, every time I used a spell, I was using 30 gold, so their reaction wasn’t that surprising to me. But then, I had a lot of average-ranked Essence of Magic piled up in the warehouse because I still had a lot of items that Cha Hee-Ra gifted me.

“I guess you can’t consider that as being efficient. If you use an Essence of Magic that’s above rare rank, will it disappear after one use?” the member asked.

“Yes,” I answered.

“That’s a bit unfortunate.”

“If there’s an essence where I’m able to use an unlimited amount of mana, then that can be considered as a Sage’s Stone,” I explained.

“Sage’s Stone. Ohh…Sage’s Stone…”

These kinds of topics made mages go crazy.

“Can it be made?” they asked.

“It was briefly mentioned in the book that I was reading, but I haven’t officially started my research yet. I’m still lacking in experience to officially start studying it, but I’m definitely going to make it someday,” I answered.

‘Sage’s Stone my ass.’

“Um…when you start your research…”

“Yes, I’ll be sure to show it to you since this can be considered fate too,” I said, interrupting them.

Usually, these were the types of people that were suitable for the mage job. If they were interested in alchemy, then it was only natural for them to want to talk to me and with this, I was able to become close with the last member of the Devil’s Guild.

Anyways, this expedition’s dungeon control was going well and our party was fitting in well with the other parties. I was not sure if Kim Hyun-Sung knew what I was thinking, but we were definitely benefiting from them.

For Park Deok-Gu, he joined the community of vanguards and was learning various tips and as expected, Kim Ye-Ri also succeeded in adapting perfectly. Even though she wasn’t exactly doing her part yet, the girl with pigtails was quietly pulling the bowstring.

For Sun Hee-Young, who had perfect stats from the beginning, she didn’t seem to have any trouble adapting and I wasn’t really struggling either. Since I used magic along with Jung Ha-Yan, my usage of magic wasn't really noticeable. And Kim Hyun-Sung, our fox, seemed like he wasn’t trying to take charge. Since he wasn’t the type to hide his powers, it would be right to say that there wasn’t a chance for him to use his powers rather than he was trying to protect himself because the expedition was going smoothly.

“I think I’m going to use the bathroom,” I said.

“Okay, I think we’re going to spend the night here anyway. Later, if you don't mind, could you repeat what you said earlier? About what the Sage’s Stone is… exactly…” they requested.

“Yes, of course,” I said.

When I broke away from the expedition group to take care of my business, I reached the Safe Point.

‘I knew it.’

Jung Yoo-Ra quietly approached me. I expected her to make a move, but it happened a bit faster than I expected.

“I thought you came here to gain experience, not to make friends,” she said.

I was a bit surprised because of how blunt she was.

‘Did it bother her that much?’

I guess it could have looked like that because whenever we were taking a break, I was busy going around and trying to win over everyone. If she thought that she and I were the same, then it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that she was getting politically threatened. After all, not too long after we started the dungeon control, I succeeded in leaving a good impression on everyone.

“Haha, you have an acid tongue, Miss Yoo-Ra,” I said.

“I’m saying it because you’re overdoing it, Mr. Ki-Young,” she said.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Isn’t it natural for me to be friendly with everyone to improve our teamwork? I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time with them before this,” I said.

“I’m telling you this because it’s excessive,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It means that you’re destroying the adequate amount of tension that is necessary for the expedition. It’s not good to look so relaxed,” Jung Yoo-Ra answered.

“I thought I was doing a pretty good job at keeping my place so that I don’t get in the way of the dungeon control…isn’t it going really well? The tank from our party that made the mistake when we had just started has adapted really well and everyone has been enjoying the expedition so far, so I don’t understand what the problem is,” I explained.

It was the truth.

“Look, Mr. Ki-Young,” she said. “Yes, Miss Yoo-Ra?” I asked.

“I guess you’re unaware since you recently came here, but… a dungeon is a place where you don’t know when or what kind of threats may be coming our way. Even though it’s break time, do you not realize the fact that you’re ruining the mood?” she asked.

“You’re right, I don’t. I think I’m actually helping the party because the mood improved compared to before. Just because you’re frowning doesn’t mean that the others have to do the same. I also realize that having a certain amount of tension is needed. As a matter of fact, I thought I was being serious during the expedition, so I’m not sure exactly what you’re unsatisfied with,” I explained.

When I smiled, I saw her face turning red.

It was a reasonable argument, but when I smiled as if I was teasing her, seeing her instantly react to it was funny. I wasn’t really sure, but I guess I had a face that easily provoked people.

“You’re probably not worried about the influence you have within the party…and you’re definitely not interested in being greedy over the rewards that we’ll receive after completing the dungeon control…so I don’t understand why you’re so agitated because of us. Of course, it’s only natural to be greedy over a rare-ranked item…but you’re being supported by the Black Swan Guild, so I’m sure you shouldn’t get greedy over something like that,” I said.

I was sure that I hit the bullseye.

“There’s a possibility that an epic-ranked item may appear, but…still. Don’t you think your actions are a bit petty all because you want to obtain one good gear? If it was me, I would’ve just let someone else have it. I don’t understand why you’re heavily invested in doing politics…Oh, if I misunderstood, then I apologize,” she said.

Her face was really red and of course, I would be interested if an epic-ranked gear appeared, but pretending like I wasn’t materialistic was easy to do.

“Did I hit…”

“Hey,” Jung Yoo-Ra called out.[1]

“Excuse me?”

“Do you think I’m that easy?”

“No, of course not. There’s no way I would think that about you. You’re Jung Yoo-Ra of the Black Swan Guild. But…”

“...”

“Why are you talking down on me, huh?” I asked.[2]

She looked as if I was being ridiculous, but she was immediately shocked by my sudden change of attitude. No one was here to watch or listen.

“I’m a guild member that has been registered into the official party of the Blue Guild. You shouldn’t be treating me like this, Miss Jung Yoo-Ra,” I said.

“Ha…I guess you think you have everything just because Cha Hee-Ra is supporting you. You don’t think that the Mercenary Queen is able to protect you here, do you?” she asked.[3]

“What you said just now sounds like a threat, Miss Jung Yoo-Ra. Please watch what you say. And it isn’t Hee-Ra noona that I’m relying on,’ I said.

“What?”

I took a deep breath.

She looked like she was waiting for me to continue talking, but I didn’t want to fight about it here because I had to avoid any unnecessary arguments that could ruin my image. Instead, I raised my voice a bit when I spoke to her.

“I’m sorry!”

“What?” she asked.

I had raised my voice loud enough that it could be heard by the party a bit farther away.

“You… What nonsense are you trying to pull…”

“I’m really sorry!”

When I apologized once more with a loud voice, I noticed how dumbfounded she looked. It was only natural for her to react that way because my loud voice came out at a random time. But soon, she looked as if she realized why I was apologizing. I noticed a frown on her face.

“What’s going on?”

As expected, I saw Choi Young-Ki and his friends running towards us, and not only that, but I even saw people from the Devil’s Guild, whom I just had a conversation with a moment ago, approaching us from the camp. Of course, Jung Ha-Yan, Sun Hee-Young, our party members, and the members of the Black Swan Guild approached us as well.

“I’m really sorry, Miss Yoo-Ra,” I said again.

“You…”

“Mr. Ki-Young? What’s wrong?” Choi Young-Ki asked.

“Oh…it’s nothing. It’s really nothing,” I answered.

“Yeah…it’s nothing. Nothing happened,” Jung Yoo-Ra said.

‘Bullshit…’

“I wasn’t asking you, Miss Yoo-Ra. Mr. Ki-Young, could you please explain what happened?” Choi Young-Ki asked.

Thankfully, the lovable Choi Young-Ki of the Red Mercenary Guild started asking for details about this situation. Jung Ha-Yan looked confused about the situation, but when I looked like the victim, she seemed a bit angry.

‘What’s wrong with Sun Hee-Young?’

It was the same for Sun Hee-Young.

Pretending to be the victim was really easy to do and especially in a situation like this where there was an obvious gap in power.

“What happened, Mr. Ki-Young?”

“You see…”

“...”

“It’s nothing. I was just told to be a bit more on edge and to be careful,” I answered.

“Excuse me?”

“I guess she was unsatisfied by how I was talking with everyone during our break time… I think it’s because I put my guard down. She said that I was ruining the mood…” I continued.

“Sorry?”

“I only did it to lighten the mood, but…I guess she didn’t like it,” I said.

Everything that I said was the truth.

When I saw how shocked Jung Yoo-Ra was, I wanted to laugh.

I noticed how pale her face became.

When I revealed the truth and nothing but the truth, she looked as if the situation was incredulous.

“I’m…”

When I was about to apologize once again.

“There’s no need to apologize, Mr. Ki-Young.”

The person that stopped me was my lovely little bro, Kim Hyun-Sung.

‘Is he angry?’

1. Previously, Jung Yoo-Ra had been speaking formally and politely, but she suddenly drops all formality (banmal) and speaks casually and rather rudely ☜

2. He had been speaking formally and politely but switches to banmal with the ‘huh.’ ☜

3. He switched back to being formal and polite, but Jung Yoo-Ra continues to speak in banmal to him. ☜