“I think she took it too far,” a member of the Devil’s Guild said.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“I’m talking about Jung Yoo-Ra.”

“Ohhh.”

“Tsk. She’s too obsessed with results…I’m sure the members under her are suffering a lot because of her,” the member said.

“I see,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it so much. I’m sure there isn’t anyone here that thinks badly of you Mr. Ki-Young. Even everyone in our Devil’s Guild agrees that Jung Yoo-Ra took it too far,” they told me.

“That’s a relief. I was worried that I caused trouble…” I said.

“Not at all. There’s always someone in the group that causes trouble. I now understand what people meant when they said that a person’s true nature comes out when you go into a dungeon together. I thought she at least had some manners…I don’t think we’ll be working with the Black Swan Guild anytime soon, especially that Jung Yoo-Ra woman,” they explained.

“The Red Mercenary Guild feels the same way.”

“Looking at it from my point of view, I can somewhat understand…” I said.

“It’s because you’re a good person, Mr. Ki-Young. Getting involved in another party’s issue is an abuse of authority. I can’t believe she was stubborn until the end about how she did the right thing…a sincere apology shouldn’t even be enough. Even if it bothered her, she should’ve handled it with words or talked to the party leader. There are a lot of people that believe that the power of the Guild belongs to them. Excuse me for saying this, but if the Blue Guild’s power was just like at its peak, Jung Yoo-Ra wouldn’t dare to say anything,” the member explained.

“Hahaha.”

“By the way, what did she say exactly?” they asked.

“Oh jeez…I’m not sure if I should tell you…” I told them.

“Please don’t worry and tell me,” a member of the Devil’s Guild said.

Of course, I was planning on telling them since I didn’t have any reason to hide it.

“You see…she told me not to act friendly towards everyone,” I said.

“What? Really? Act friendly?”

“Yes. She said…she didn’t know whether I was here for dungeon control or to make friends. I just wanted to be friends with the members of the Devil’s Guild…but I guess I lightened the mood a bit,” I said.

“No, not at all. Wow, I can’t believe she said that…” they said.

“And I’m not sure if I should be telling you this…”

“You can tell me,” they said, interrupting me.

“You see…do you think the Mercenary Queen will be able to protect you here too…was what she said,” I told them.

“Bitch,” they commented.

I knew they were going to react a bit aggressively, but then, an unknown Red Mercenary's swordsman spoke up uncomfortably.

“S-She’ll hear you,” another member said.

“Let her hear us. Is she completely out of her mind? Jung Yoo-Ra must not know her place if she’s talking down on the Mercenary Queen. That bitch! We’re basically invisible to her, right? Don’t worry, Mr. Ki-Young. If that bitch harasses you again about this, I won’t stand by and watch. How dare she… so ridiculous” the member said angrily.

“Did she really threaten you like that? I think it’s only right to officially complain about her right now. Is she that bored that she would do something that a criminal would do…” another member said.

“No, I’m really fine. I don’t want the issue to get worse,” I told them.

“Tsk. I’m not sure if I’m being biased, but there are a lot of people like her with the thief or assassin job. There’s a reason why people tell the thieves to patch their own injuries instead of receiving holy magic. It’s all because of people like Jung Yoo-Ra,” they explained.

“Hahaha…”

It was important to show that I was trying to stop them because I had to maintain my position as a victim. Though, even if I didn’t take charge, the situation was already going the way I wanted.

The conversation just now wasn’t the only thing that happened. After the big commotion, everyone comforted me and as if they all planned for this, they didn’t hesitate to say something to Jung Yoo-Ra. She was paying a big price for putting us on the hot seat.

‘Of course.’

Jung Yoo-Ra later realized the seriousness of the situation, so she started lurking around different places. Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t effective because everyone found out that she said that I shouldn’t be too friendly with everyone. Her method wasn’t working for I worked hard to get along with everyone.

It came to the point where she wasn’t able to change the other’s opinions about her anymore.

‘That’s why it’s important to be nice on a regular basis.’

It was obvious that she was trying to fix the mess she made[1]and of course, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was to the point that the more she struggled, the more cold stares she received from the members. And once it was found out that she had talked about the Mercenary Queen, the Red Mercenary Guild's members' impression of her hit rock bottom. Choi Young-Ki, who could be considered as the leader of the expedition, even told the party members to bear with it a little because a few of them became irritated and said that they couldn’t continue the expedition anymore. As the mediator, Choi Young-Ki was also having a hard time.

“Okay, let’s head out now,” Choi Young-Ki said.

“Okay.”

To summarize, Jung Yoo-Ra was losing her position within the party and in this situation, the only thing she could do was do her best in the dungeon capture, but based on the mood that Kim Hyun-Sung was giving off, I didn’t think that was going to go smoothly. The most ideal situation for her would be to nitpick at any mistakes we made and say, ‘I knew that was going to happen!’ The extreme case would be that she was hoping that we would make some kind of fatal mistake.

“I’ll be returning to my party,” a member of the Devil’s Guild said.

“Okay.”

The atmosphere of the party changed a bit. It felt as if they were determined not to make any more mistakes. Maybe it was because of the strange vibe that Kim Hyun-Sung was giving off, but everyone started concentrating. He definitely had the qualities of a leader because he could bring people together and change their moods.

“You don’t need to be nervous, Mr. Deok-Gu. Think of it as focusing on the rear as much as possible,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.

“Oh, got it,” Park Deok-Gu said.

“Ye-Ri, the other places don't matter. Focus on the sword wounds…okay? If possible, it would be better to use it with magic,” he told Kim Ye-Ri.

“Okay…” she answered.

“Miss Ha-Yan and Mr. Ki-Young, you two are doing well,” he said, complimenting us.

“Thank you.”

“Miss Hee-Young, you don’t have to keep your eyes on me…”

“Yes, I remember, Mr. Hyun-Sung,” she said, interrupting him.

“Great.”

The other party members were expressing their enthusiasm and it was to the point that I was hoping that the monsters would hurry up and show themselves. Eventually, we managed to leave the safe point.

Since we didn’t know when and where the monsters were going to appear, I saw the archers looking around. Even though it was called a garden, the surrounding area looked more like an enormous jungle. It was really difficult to differentiate between a plant and a monster, so it was only natural for us to keep our guard up. While I was looking around with the others, I heard Kim Hyun-Sung’s voice. “The spell.”

“Okay.”

I didn’t bother asking why I needed to recite the spell now because as long as I did what I was told, a path would open up. Jung Ha-Yan also nodded and slowly started matching my speed.

“Lord.”

“A power that can’t be taken away.”

“The power to protect.”

“Fire.”

“Wind.”

I guess Jung Ha-Yan liked how our voices were overlapping. While matching my casting speed, I saw her gathering her mana. It was like we were building our harmony so it was pretty fun. I inserted mana into a catalyst and continued building my mana.

“Let’s prepare for battle.”

Choi Young-Ki announced.

Now I understood why Kim Hyun-Sung told me to start reciting the spell because a mid-sized monster had just appeared in front of us. To make things worse, this one was bigger than the first one we saw and even though the vanguards were in the front, it seemed that they were cowering a bit.

However…

Roaaaaaar!

I trusted our regressor because that was when Kim Hyun-Sung charged to the front.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

As if she was happy about what was happening, I heard Jung Yoo-Ra complaining about Kim Hyun-Sung’s action, but he wasn’t making a mistake. The monster was definitely looking at Park Deok-Gu and following his advice from earlier, Sun Hee-Young’s holy magic was pouring towards Park Deok-Gu. Before the monster could land its punch on Park Deok-Gu, one of the monster’s arms started splitting. It was obvious who injured that arm.

‘Wow.’

Before he could catch his breath, Kim Ye-Ri’s arrow flew towards the monster’s arm, just like his suggestion earlier. It didn’t take long for the monster to lose its arm. Park Deok-Gu, who was preparing to block the next attack, looked a bit surprised by the sight, but he started moving his position to the right as if he was being possessed by something. I didn’t know the vanguard’s situation, but in my eyes, it looked as if Kim Hyun-Sung told Park Deok-Gu where to go.

Using its other arm, the monster was about to break Park Deok-Gu’s shield to crush him, but even that arm got cut off. The monster no longer had any arms and as it stood with just its body, I knew what we had to do.

“Magic.”

“Fire.”

“Wind!”

Matching the time when Kim Hyun-Sung opened his mouth, Jung Ha-Yan and I used our spells. It was a collaboration between us to increase the power of my fire magic, but it was still a spell that heavily relied on Jung Ha-Yan’s power.

The firestorm that appeared beneath the plant monster immediately devoured it and the monster fell apart as it released a huge scream. Park Deok-Gu looked like he was within the firestorm, but since Sun Hee-Young was watching over him, I was sure that he was going to be fine.

“Next.”

‘Sigh…’

Kim Hyun-Sung’s stats weren’t that high because there wasn’t a big difference between his stats and theirs. Stats weren’t the issue here. It was all about experience and having a good sense. It was difficult to describe exactly what it was, but I definitely felt that Kim Hyun-Sung was the one that was leading us. He kept telling Kim Ye-Ri, the girl with pigtails about when to shoot her arrows. It also felt like he was guiding Park Deok-Gu on where he should move to. It was also the same for me and Jung Ha-Yan. He was guiding us on how we should attack and when we should start reciting our spells, but despite that, he could still explain in detail each and every suggestion he made.

‘It’s here.’

That was basically what he was telling us.

The moment I quickly recited another spell, I cast the spell again when the monster showed an opening.

Before the other parties could help Park Deok-Gu, he started moving on his own as if he was possessed.

‘It’s not like he’s been possessed by a ghost…’

This was the first time I felt that a hunt was easy.

The only thing me and Jung Ha-Yan did was recite our spells and use them. Of course, the monster’s attack pattern was very simple, so it was possible for us to do that, but I just couldn’t understand it. I never imagined that I would see an unusual scene where a monster would fall with just one spell. The other parties were focused on the monster that was in front of them, but they opened their mouths wide when they saw how our party changed all of a sudden. Jung Yoo-Ra looked a bit shocked and was looking at us as if something was wrong.

‘I knew that riding the regressor bus was going to be comfortable…’

Now that he was actually carrying us, it felt better than I expected and it was so comfortable that I wouldn’t have any trouble changing my pants.

“Next.”

‘The bus is great.’

I felt like I was part of the front lines fighting the monster, so I couldn’t help but start smiling.

‘So this is what it feels like to be carried.’

Honestly, calling him a bus wasn’t enough. But I was sure that not even a luxury sedan would be this comfortable either.

1. The original Korean phrase used here was 소 잃고 외양간 고치는 행동 which is literally translated as ‘fixing the barn after the cows have left.’ A similar English saying would be ‘shutting the stable door after the horses have bolted. ☜