Crack.

Some Players in the conference room gnashed their teeth and got angry.

‘So, isn’t this basically saying that they’re going to use us as a meat shield?’

‘It's obvious what the imperial family is doing.’

‘Dirty, foul-playing bastards...’

Meanwhile, experienced Players like the guild masters did not show any emotion on their faces. If they felt any resentment, it was only inside.

“They have done everything aside from going inside… Then I guess we will have to go in."

Shin Sung-Hyun calmly told them what they wanted to hear.

Halo sighed lightly and admitted to it. “Yes. His Majesty wants you, veteran warriors, to explore the inside of Blackfield and find a clue to seal the cracks.”

"Hahahaha!" A slender man burst into laughter. Stealing everyone's attention, he casually waved one of his hands. "Excuse me. It's so funny to hear the words, veteran warriors."

“Kuhumm. Don’t worry, Player Wei Chun-Hak."

"By the way, if you're going to use everyone here, this will cost you a little. Will that be fine?"

The man smiled and rubbed his thumb and index finger. It was a gesture that meant "money" wherever one went in the world.

Halo nodded. "Of course, the imperial family certainly has the authority to summon guilds, but it doesn't mean they can call you over for free. I'm prepared to pay for it as well."

"Well, it's not the kind of thing you can refuse in the first place. Since we're going to do it, we should do it in a good mood.”

The corners of Wei Chun-Hak's mouth curled up. It was a smile that gave a refreshing feeling to all who saw it. However, Halo did not feel comfortable looking at it. He could feel that the Players were deeply dissatisfied. That was why Halo ended the story with a slightly apologetic look.

"The size of the crack was mentioned earlier... And as for how many of them there are, there are three of them in total. So I'm thinking of putting three teams together. We'll start in three days. If you have any Players who can help with this commission, you can invite them as well. The imperial family will pay for their employment."

"Players that can be of help…”

“…”

Kim Woo-Joong, who had kept his mouth shut the whole time, quietly nodded.

‘I know one person. The right Player for this operation.'

Coincidentally, Shin Sung-Hyun sitting opposite him was also thinking of the same thing.

‘Fire and ice are the best way to catch bees. If he and Ju-Ha are present, the damage to the guilds can be minimized.’

They weren't usually that close, but it was a moment when they had agreed on the same thing without realizing it.

***

"Heup!"

Sweat flowed from Seo Jun-Ho's body as he hung upside down on an iron bar, doing sit-ups. An average person would have probably revealed an expression distorted from pain, but happiness exuded from his face.

"Ah, I'm so happy!”

“…” The Frost Queen looked at him like a pervert and asked, "Do you like it that much?"

"Of course. I was so frustrated because I couldn't work out in the goshiwon."

In the goshiwon, his body couldn’t grow or change, and he also couldn’t sweat no matter how much he moved his body. Furthermore, he couldn’t feel the euphoria of having his muscle grow.

"Oh, this is it...”

Looking at Seo Jun-Ho as he was dying of happiness, the Frost Queen smiled.

"Well... I think I know how you feel."

The night they returned to the city after the Battle of Port Lane, the Frost Queen ate three cakes and five cups of tea, which was unlike her. It was a binge somewhat unbefitting of a queen's elegant dignity that she had always emphasized.

"Hmm-hmm, there's definitely joy you can’t feel inside the goshiwon."

"…No, you went a little extreme. You really will become a pig at this rate.”

"I definitely will not become a p-pig…”

The word ‘pig’ made the Frost Queen cringe and shrink nowadays. She seemed concerned with her weight, as the frequency of staring into the mirror every morning seemed to have increased.

Bbiriri, bbiriri.

It was then when Seo Jun-Ho's Vita sounded. Coming down from the iron bar, he opened his eyes wide as he checked Vita.

"What is this random combination?"

As many as three personal messages had been sent to his Vita. Just as he said, it was a very random mixture of messages.

[This is Kim Woo-Joong. I've heard the rumors. Would you like to do a job together?]

[This is Shin Sung Hyun of the Goblin Guild. I'd like to put in a request as a guild member.]

[This is a message from Shim Deok-Gu, the President of the Korean Player Association: Please visit Earth as soon as possible.]

Seo Jun-Ho scratched his head, blankly looking at the messages.

"…It makes me a little nervous for some reason."

He first chose to meet Shim Deok-Gu to understand the situation. He came down to the 1st floor in no time and visited the Korean Player Association’s building.

"Hey, how are you?”

"Jun-Ho!"

It was a face he hadn’t seen in a long time. He had become old, so it was a bit disgusting, but the hot embrace between friends could not be—

Slap!

“???”

Seo Jun-Ho’s back was met with a slap as soon as they met. He touched his stinging back with a dumbfounded look.

"What? Am I having a dream where I was slapped on the back? Am I daydreaming?"

"I hit you, punk! What the hell were you doing on the 2nd floor?”

"What do you mean? I was obviously doing what a Player does." Seo Jun-Ho sat in a very comfortable position on the sofa and asked, "So, just what’s going on?"

"That’s what I want to ask." Shim Deok-Gu dropped a pile of papers onto the table. "You've been contacted by all the world's leading guilds, not to mention the Big 6.”

"Me? Why?"

"Shouldn't you explain that?" Shim Deok-Gu hit himself in the chest in frustration and collapsed on the sofa, looking like he had aged a year. "I received a report. I heard you've improved...”

"A true gambler hides his cards. I am fifty-percent stronger than before."

“I think that's probably why they contacted us, but I don't know the detailed reason. They're making a fuss, asking us to borrow you."

"These are all requests to borrow me?"

Seo Jun-Ho looked at the files with a surprised look. He quickly looked through a few and everyone wanted him, an ice elemental user.

"Hmm." Seo Jun-Ho touched his chin. "Did a war break out on the 2nd floor or something? What's going on all of a sudden?"

"At first, I thought they were asking me to send you in advance to the 3rd floor, but... I don't think that’s the case."

"What's the evidence?"

Tuk.

Shim Deok-Gu handed over a new file. This time, there was a thin report consisting of only three pages.

"It seems that the results of your spending are finally showing."

"What do you mean?"

"Our Frontier's intelligence team is now somewhat usable."

As Seo Jun-Ho blinked and read the report, his eyes changed.

"The imperial family has made a move? The knights and thousands of soldiers headed for the Wailing Mountains in the North?”

That wasn’t the end of it… A few days later, there was a strange phenomenon in which Guildmasters from all over the world had gathered in the capital.

"Something happened at the Wailing Mountains, and for that, the Players received a commission… That is a situation that we can infer from the clues given to us."

"How touching..."

In the past, the Korean Player Association had to twiddle their thumbs doing nothing, as it couldn’t even get such information. However, the association grew at a remarkable pace with massive investment and a strong backing known as Specter.

"Then let's take a look at the discerning eyes of the head of the Player Association."

Seo Jun-Ho put down the report, and his eyes became sharp. The light in his eyes was not the way to look at a friend, but the way an interviewer would look at applicants.

"Tell me what you think. What the hell do you think is going on?”

"…I’m suspicious of Blackfield."

"Blackfield?"

Seo Jun-Ho straightened his posture at the unexpected word.

"Isn't that the area beyond the Wailing Mountains that the first archmage had sealed?"

“That’s right. It's actually suspicious that the imperial family sent the knights and soldiers to the Wailing Mountains."

There was certainly nothing on the other side of the Wailing Mountains. Didn't Seo Jun-Ho go there himself? It was an area full of rugged mountains and fierce wild monsters.

"...There's no need to even subjugate monsters, as there are no cities or towns around."

"Yeah, the fact they are sending so many soldiers in that place means there's a reason to do that.”

"Are you saying that Blackfield is the reason?"

Seo Jun-Ho slowly nodded. As soon as he heard Shim Deok-Gu's story, he felt that it was very close to the truth. "I just got a gut feeling. I think that's right.”

"As expected, right?" Shim Deok-Gu, who had been smiling for a while, paused. "Then there’s also why so many guilds want to borrow you.”

Shim Deok-Gu collected the bunch of papers on the desk, then walked straight to the shredder on one side of the office.

"Hey, hey! What are you doing?” When Seo Jun-Ho hurriedly stopped Shim Deok-Gu, he shook his stern face side to side.

"Jun-Ho, not this. Don't ever think about getting involved."

"Why are you so serious?”

"Listen, the imperial family has no fools."

It was more accurate to say that the emperor, the master of the imperial family, and the leader of the Ruben Empire was a smart and scary human being. At first glance, he seemed very generous, as he gave Players a lot of opportunities, but the reality was that he had drawn a thorough line between himself and the Players. He made sure that his relationship with Players was only in business.

"The current Emperor Ruben is a man called the Iron Blood Emperor."

"Iron Blood Emperor?"

"It means no blood, no tears. You think someone like that doesn’t know how to scheme?”

If Players were taking part, he would show his sincerity because that was the basis of a business relationship.

"He's a man who usually tries to do everything on his own. However, this time, he gave up the opportunity without hesitation and handed it over to the Players. What do you think this means?”

"It shows how dangerous it is..."

Seo Jun-Ho was struck with an epiphany. At the same time, two unread messages in his Vita came to mind.

‘It’s so dangerous that even Kim Woo-Joong and Shin Sung-Hyun of the Nine Heavens had to reach out for help.’

It felt really dangerous, but the returns were likely just as great.

"And that's not the only problem…”

Shim Deok-Gu gave him a new file. It was five times thicker than the one shown earlier.

"What's that?"

"Requests to send you."

"What, we saw that earlier, right?”

"It's different. It's not a request to send Seo Jun-Ho, but Specter."

"Whew, I'm popular.”

When Seo Jun-Ho smiled, Shim Deok-Gu looked dumbfounded.

"Can you even smile now? I feel like I’m going to explode trying to find a reason to refuse."

"Why refuse?"

"What?"

"I don't have any intentions of refusing." Seo Jun-Ho smiled brightly. "Let's hold an auction, it has been a long time.”

"An auction... Are you perhaps going to do that again?"

"The one who offers the most gets the opportunity to join me. It's simple, right?” He took out six out of the hundreds of papers. "But I don't want to be with people whose skills I don’t even know, so try to get these guys."

They were the six most powerful guilds in the world, the Big 6. They were the only ones qualified to join the auction among the hundreds of guilds.