Chapter 44

Chapter 44.

 

In truth, Moon Jeong-hoon was not a person without awareness.

There was no way he did not know that his relationship with Ha-kyung was not very good.

After all, he had annoyed Ha-kyung with a distorted article.

Was that not why Ha-kyung had commissioned the Raiders to teach him a lesson?

It was simply that this man was shameless beyond imagination.

Ha-kyung grabbed Moon Jeong-hoon by the collar and lifted him to his feet.

“I will give you a choice.”

“Oh! Truly? What I want is...”

“It does not matter what you want. Choose one of two options. Either you leave on your own feet, or you ride the Lee Ha-kyung Attraction.”

“Wh-what is the latter?”

“I will throw you over the wall.”

“......”

Reporter Moon Jeong-hoon broke into a cold sweat.

Ha-kyung’s declaration must have been rather terrifying.

Even so, he did not give up.

Moon Jeong-hoon swallowed dryly and hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Please wait.”

“Have you already chosen?”

“No. That is not it. Could you listen to what I have to say? After that, I will absolutely choose.”

“Why should I do that?”

“Come now, did I not make an article properly blow up for you last time?”

He seemed to be referring to the article he had written during the Internal Auction for the A-Grade Skill Enhancement Scroll.

The one about Ha-kyung buying it for fifty billion won more than necessary.

He had written it as though Ha-kyung had hoped it would help the bereaved families of the fallen.

Because of Moon Jeong-hoon’s distorted interpretation, Ha-kyung’s image had improved somewhat.

So Ha-kyung slightly changed his mind.

“Fine. But keep it brief.”

He intended to hear what kind of nonsense the man had to say for now.

At that, Moon Jeong-hoon immediately took out a laptop.

“Now, now. Please take a look at this.”

What appeared on the screen was a short edited video.

However, the content was all more or less the same.

From celebrities to famous Awakened, and even a few ordinary people, all of them shouted with one heart and one mind.

—I hope for their reunion. Axis Prime!

Ha-kyung was left speechless.

Nearly one hundred people were sending their support.

Of course, most of them had probably filmed it because they had no other choice.

Moon Jeong-hoon must have made a request that was difficult to refuse.

Even so, the impact of the video letters was considerable.

Enough to create a small ripple in Ha-kyung’s heart.

However, John, who had been quietly watching, suddenly said something.

“Is it all right for someone raised as preciously as me to witness such an ugly sight?”

Ha-kyung abruptly came back to his senses.

It was because he remembered John saying something like that before as well.

He tilted his head and asked a question.

“Did you not say that before?”

“I did.”

“You must really have been raised preciously.”

“No? I am from Florida. I grew up playing whack-a-mole with alligators and a shovel.”

“Then why do you say things like that?”

“It is a common expression. What is wrong? Did you get hit with a Korean-language nerf patch?”

At John’s shameless answer, Ha-kyung let out a hollow laugh.

In any case, his head finally seemed to be working properly again.

Ha-kyung looked at Reporter Moon Jeong-hoon and said, “So what about this?”

“Truly many people are curious about you and Axis Prime, Mr. Lee Ha-kyung. They wonder whether you are following the legendary footsteps of the Pioneer.”

“Do not make me laugh. What you really want to know is my future relationship with the Raiders, is it not?”

“......”

Moon Jeong-hoon merely moved his lips without speaking.

It seemed Ha-kyung had struck right at the heart of the matter.

Then, in an instant, his expression turned serious as he said,

“That is precisely it. The truth that everyone is curious about! In order to dig it up, I am willing to do even something reckless—”

“John?”

Ha-kyung cut off Moon Jeong-hoon’s words.

At that, John shrugged.

He seemed to have immediately understood what Ha-kyung wanted.

Soon, John grabbed Moon Jeong-hoon by the back of the neck and lifted him up.

“Bad King Bro gave you a choice, but I do not have anything like that.”

“No, why?”

“If you did something like this in America, you would get shot with a shotgun. Do you want to find out whether you can still spout nonsense after taking a twelve-gauge to the chest?”

“Hup!”

Moon Jeong-hoon sucked in a breath.

It was because John was swinging him back and forth as though he was about to throw him into the distance.

Soon, Moon Jeong-hoon’s urgent shout burst out.

“I even wrote a good article for you this time!”

“No questions, no answers!”

Of course, John had no mercy.

Moon Jeong-hoon flew several meters and went over the wall.

Normally, it would have been only natural for him to break something.

However, he landed on a pile of leaf bags and was unharmed.

John smacked his lips regretfully.

“If I had been just a little worse of a guy, I would have thrown him onto the asphalt.”

Ha-kyung, who had been watching, shrugged.

It felt somewhat satisfying, but it left an unpleasant aftertaste.

Ha-kyung asked John a question.

“Where on earth do you learn phrases like that?”

“I often read martial arts novels. ”

“......As expected, you are impossible to pin down.”

“But did that trash journalist not say something just now? I think he mentioned an article.”

“That is right. He said he wrote it very well.”

“Let me see.”

Ha-kyung turned on the tablet that had been left on the table.

As soon as he entered the Awakened news section, his name was at the very top.

It was the very article Moon Jeong-hoon had written.

[Exclusive] Undying One Lee Ha-kyung, not a comet appearing out of nowhere, but a secondhand newbie?

—Lee Ha-kyung, the promising talent and successor of Axis Prime, carries on the ill-fated relationship with the Raiders built up by the previous generation.

└What is this talking about? Pioneer Lee Tae-heon did not dislike Choi Hyun-ki that much. They even collaborated from time to time.

└That does not mean he liked him. Would those bandit bastards ever have met the standards of Axis Prime, who lived for romance and died for romance?

└Then why did they raid dungeons together?

└They only requested help when they really did not have enough people to bring. Even then, it was probably only once or twice a year at most.

└How do you know that?

└It is all listed in the Internal Auction schedule. Why would they do something like that when they went in with only their own people?

└Ah, true. But was Lee Ha-kyung Axis Prime’s successor? Was he not a lone wolf?

└It is an open secret, and this bastard is running his mouth without knowing anything.

Sure enough,

no matter how one looked at it, it was an article written by Moon Jeong-hoon.

A garbage piece that had been twisted cunningly to provoke as much attention as possible.

In truth, there was hardly any substance to it.

Only the comments were holding a tournament of divisive arguments.

If there was anything slightly novel about it, it was only that Ha-kyung’s nickname had changed.

He shook his head.

“As expected, some people are simply beyond help.”

“If I had seen this article first, I would have ground his face against the asphalt.”

John was also trembling with fury at Moon Jeong-hoon’s cunning.

It seemed a stronger lesson would be necessary.

***

Ha-kyung was able to escape the reporters’ encirclement.

In truth, he had not done anything in particular.

The heat of the Ranking Tournament had merely cooled slightly.

After coming outside for the first time in a while, Ha-kyung looked around the area near the mansion.

‘Should I dig a tunnel or something?’

So that he could secretly come and go if necessary.

Of course, building a tunnel would be difficult.

Groundwater inflow, ground subsidence, and the like.

Because of safety concerns, it would probably be difficult to obtain permits.

However, an underground structure integrated with the wall should be fine.

He would create a small gate underground.

Then surround the area with thick reinforced concrete.

Ha-kyung immediately called someone.

“Mr. Jeong, have you been well?”

He was an acquaintance of his father, Lee Tae-heon.

Ha-kyung intended to request help from the person who had built this mansion.

Fortunately, the conversation ended quickly.

While he was at it, Ha-kyung even set the construction date.

At the incredible speed of the work being handled, John clicked his tongue in admiration.

“Holy cow! As expected of the hurry-hurry people. This is why I cannot leave Korea.”

Although the point that surprised him was rather absurd.

Ha-kyung met someone near the Abyss Gate.

The person he had arranged to meet was the Guild Master of the Chang-un Guild.

Wind Facer, Ryu Jae-wook.

“Ah! Over here, Mr. Lee Ha-kyung.”

“It is good to see you. It has been a while.”

“It has, has it not? You must be busy in the aftermath of the Ranking Tournament, so I apologize for calling you out like this.”

“Busy? I was practically imprisoned.”

“Ah, as expected of a winner. The density of attention is on another level.”

“It is so excessive that I feel as though my soul is about to leave my body. In any case, what was the result?”

“Haha! Very good. The scale was massive.”

“Oh! Is that so?”

While he had been holed up at home,

Ha-kyung had not only been training.

The Unknown Grade key he had received from the Association.

In order to analyze it and locate the entrance, he had cooperated with the Chang-un Guild.

The reason he had chosen Ryu Jae-wook as his partner was simple.

Ha-kyung thought of Deputy Chairman Jang Myeong-cheol.

‘He must have distributed keys to other people as well, so everyone is probably busy searching for dungeons.’

The Awakened of the Chang-un Guild had not entered the Ranking Tournament.

Whether they had not received the offer or had refused it, they should have time to spare.

Moreover, Ryu Jae-wook was a fairly trustworthy person.

However, there was a rather big problem.

Ha-kyung opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“In any case, massive? I did not expect that.”

“The admission capacity is as many as one hundred and twenty people, so the key issue is how to fill it.”

“How many people can the Chang-un Guild provide?”

“We will probably only be able to provide one party.”

It was not as though Awakened capable of raiding an Unknown Grade dungeon were common.

And thirty people meant the Chang-un Guild was already putting in a great deal of strength.

It was not that large of a guild, after all.

Moreover, he could not ask only one place for help.

If the gap in power became too great, things would creak and go wrong in many ways.

Even putting aside the possibility of being stabbed in the back.

Ha-kyung’s head throbbed.

‘Now that I am actually the one leading a dungeon raid, there are many things to consider.’

For now, recruiting Guest Members seemed unavoidable.

He organized the things he had been planning.

“It seems we will have to handle it like the last Association-led raid, the Fusion Abyss.”

“You mean you will make roughly half the force out of Guest Members.”

“Yes. Let us post a recruitment notice today.”

“Our guild will take charge of one axis of the remaining half. Then which guild will you cooperate with?”

“Hmm...”

Many names immediately came to mind.

Yoon Chang-ho of Black Water.

Kang Woo-jin of Death Hound.

Both were among the Four Great Guilds.

And both had deep ties to Ha-kyung.

However, he had already received word that they had no manpower to spare.

Next were Jeong Cheol-jin of the Iron Heart Guild and Do Hyun-ah of the Thousand Crimson Guild.

After the Fusion Abyss,

he had contacted them from time to time, so it would not be an impolite approach.

However, as soon as he called, a positive answer came back.

—You are near the Gate? I will be there soon.

The person who soon appeared was the Guild Master of the Thousand Crimson Guild.

The Living Barrier, Do Hyun-ah.

Perhaps because she had just come out of the Abyss,

there was a faint scent of cleaning solution on her.

Do Hyun-ah grinned mischievously and said,

“You have become so famous that it is truly difficult to see your face.”

“It has been a while, Guild Master.”

“I heard your nickname changed this time, so I am not sure how I should treat a god. Hoho!”

“Ah, that?”

Ha-kyung pressed a hand to his forehead.

There had been people who called him the Undying One as a joke even before.

But this time, Reporter Moon Jeong-hoon had gone so far as to put it in an article.

Perhaps because of that, even Do Hyun-ah knew about it.

When Ha-kyung made a troubled expression, Ryu Jae-wook quickly stepped in.

“Now, now. We have a long way to go, so let us begin quickly. How many people can the Thousand Crimson Guild mobilize?”

“You said it is Unknown Grade, correct? We can probably provide about one party.”

“Then how many people will you bring, Mr. Lee Ha-kyung?”

There were not many people Ha-kyung could mobilize.

Ma Do-hyuk, John, and the Great Sage’s group.

At most, it would be around ten people.

After understanding Ryu Jae-wook’s intent, Ha-kyung quietly reached a conclusion.

“We will need to find about fifty people.”

“We are not the Association, and gathering that many Unknown Grade Awakened... It will be quite difficult.”

“Even so, we have to try.”

Jeong Cheol-jin of the Iron Heart Guild had said it would be difficult to participate.

And it felt awkward to ask Ryu Jae-wook and Do Hyun-ah to recommend another guild.

That would ultimately result in power being concentrated on one side.

Left with no choice, Ha-kyung posted the notice.

However, thirty minutes later,

the Association suddenly contacted him.

With a bewildered expression, he relayed the message.

“Uh... They said the number of applicants is already more than three times the target, so they closed it for now. It seems we will have to conduct interviews.”

“What?”

Ryu Jae-wook and Do Hyun-ah could not close their open mouths.

They seemed shocked by the tremendous ripple effect created by Ha-kyung’s name.

Of course, Ha-kyung himself was just as bewildered.

‘This many people gathered? Why?’