Chapter 74

Chapter 74

 

Ha-kyung opened the link Yu Se-ha had sent him.

Then a string of ridiculous posts continued one after another.

Most of the content was similar.

[AI Raid] See that sparkling behind Lee Ha-kyung when he charges in? That’s the Support Skill I used. It must’ve been so perfectly timed that he turns around and gives me a thumbs-up! Ha! It was insane.

―Wait, is this real?

└Of course it is. It’s an authoritative AI Raid Video.

└Wow! If they’re good enough to run a dungeon with the Undying One, aren’t they top-tier too?

└Looks like they’re an Awakened active in The Void, the hot place these days. But they look kind of young.

└Awakened don’t really age much anyway. They could be in their thirties despite looking like that.

└By the way, the quality of The Void merch  they’re selling is good.

└Monster loot brought back from The Void? How am I supposed to resist that?

“Hah!”

Ha-kyung let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.

It was the kind of post that made a baffled expression appear on its own.

It was obviously a scam no matter who looked at it.

But amazingly, purchase inquiries were pouring in.

Ha-kyung showed the post to the team members and said,

“Surely people aren’t actually believing this and buying it, right?”

“You never know. The video looks quite plausible, and there’s no way to verify it.”

At the Great Sage’s answer, Ha-kyung’s expression turned bitter.

Then Park Jeong-jin added his opinion.

“Once you become famous, trash like that is bound to cling to you. You need to step forward and clean this up yourself.”

“How?”

“If you sue a few of them and make examples out of them, they’ll all vanish. Like cockroaches.”

“If that’s the case......”

Ha-kyung smiled meaningfully.

He did not think he needed to step forward personally.

Because a capable subordinate would take care of it on his own.

He immediately called somewhere.

Riiing! Click!

“Mr. Jeong Tae-won? I’m sorry for contacting you out of the blue when you’re busy.”

―Not at all, Committee Member. What is it?

“A huge number of accounts selling my name have appeared on social media.”

―I was already in the middle of crushing the bastards who were posting malicious comments last time, so this works out well. I can deal with them all at once.

“Please take care of it.”

―Just leave it to me, Committee Member.

“Yes, then.”

Click.

Ha-kyung calmly ended the call.

Then he suddenly felt a heavy gaze.

When he looked around, the team members were staring at him with strange looks in their eyes.

From Ha-kyung’s perspective, it was bound to be flustering.

“Why are you all suddenly doing that?”

“Oh...... As expected, a Special Advisory Committee Member really is different. Is this what power is?”

“No, what are you talking about? All of you have far wider influence than I do, don’t you?”

In truth, that was only half right.

Guild Masters like Park Jeong-jin had legal teams.

But Awakened who worked as Guest Members did not go quite that far.

Of course, if they paid money, they could find as many lawyers as they wanted.

When Ha-kyung stared at them with an incredulous expression, John nodded.

“I’ve been watching from beside you all along, bro. You’re a proper person of power. You make really good use of the authority you’ve been given.”

Since it was honestly not wrong, Ha-kyung could not refute it.

He shrugged and said,

“Isn’t it strange not to use something I have?”

“That’s true.”

“Now that we’ve shaken off the awkwardness, shall we set out?”

At Ha-kyung’s words, the team members smiled and nodded.

Since it was a small dungeon, the Raid Team had only five people.

But the Escort Team had been staffed with the maximum number of capable members.

After all, the field of The Void was dangerous too.

It was an unspoken rule learned after a few rounds of trial and error.

Namely, that if the Escort Team was sloppy, you would get robbed on the way back.

As they headed toward the dungeon.

Someone suddenly spoke to Ha-kyung.

“Hello, Mr. Lee Ha-kyung.”

“Who are......”

“I’m Jeon Geon-woo, formerly of Black Water Guild. We ran a few Dungeon Raids together early this year.”

“Ah, you’re a Black Water Guild member.”

“Haha! Th-that’s right.”

To be honest, at first, Ha-kyung did not recognize him at all.

So he simply thought they had not run into each other much.

But then a certain scene suddenly flashed through Ha-kyung’s mind.

‘I remember. A guild member who was protesting to the General Affairs Team Leader of Black Water Guild.’

He was one of the seniors who had shouted at Seo Jun-hyuk.

They had not had much contact inside dungeons, but a bad connection was still a bad connection.

As Ha-kyung roughly wrapped up the greeting, a question occurred to him.

‘Formerly?’

If he was a Black Water Guild member, then he was a guild member.

Why answer in the past tense?

Ha-kyung immediately asked Jeon Geon-woo a question.

“I take it you’re no longer affiliated with Black Water?”

“Yes, for various reasons, it didn’t really suit me. I’m working as a Guest Member now.”

“I see.”

More than half of Healers were Guest Members.

There were many places looking for them.

And if they wanted to run multiple dungeons, this side was more convenient.

But belonging to a guild did not mean they could not work as Guest Members.

Just look at Seo Jun-hyuk’s case.

There was no reason at all to leave a place like one of the Four Great Guilds.

Ha-kyung roughly saw through Jeon Geon-woo’s circumstances.

‘He must have lost the trust of both his Guild Master and his colleagues.’

You could infer ten things by seeing one.

Even the way he had protested to the General Affairs Team Leader was enough to guess.

Had he not been knocked flat in one blow by Guild Master Yoon Chang-ho’s reprimand?

He was a textbook example of someone weak to the strong and strong to the weak.

Ha-kyung decided to keep as much distance from Jeon Geon-woo as possible.

‘I’m glad he’s not on the Raid Team. We probably won’t run into each other much.’

But the atmosphere in the Escort Team was subtle.

Amazingly, Jeon Geon-woo was receiving looks of admiration.

It seemed to be because he had spoken with Ha-kyung.

“So that’s why he came to greet me.”

When Ha-kyung muttered to himself unconsciously, John, who had been listening, opened his mouth.

“Bro.”

“What is it?”

“Want me to crush him?”

“I’d like to do that, honestly, but we’re working. And this isn’t even a team I put together.”

“I’m dying to punch him in the face. Aren’t the bastards selling your name on social media exactly like that?”

“I didn’t know someone would do it in real life, but it is similar. Let’s leave him be. He hasn’t done anything that strange yet.”

Ha-kyung calmed John down.

They could not sour the mood before the raid had even begun.

But then, suddenly, the speed of the procession slowed sharply.

Ha-kyung stopped walking and asked the person in front.

STEP! THUD!

“What happened?”

“It seems the path is blocked. Take a look from here.”

“Thank you.”

Ha-kyung poked his head out between protruding rocks.

Then he faintly saw the situation at the front.

Amazingly, a large structure had been built on the extremely narrow path.

Something like a medieval fortress wall.

Ha-kyung could not help but look dumbfounded.

“No, how did they make that?”

At his question, the Escort Team Awakened smiled awkwardly.

Naturally, there was no way this person knew either.

They must have seen something like that for the first time in their lives.

But then, someone suddenly answered Ha-kyung’s question.

It was the Great Sage, who had hurried to the front to grasp the situation and returned.

“It seems those are the foreign Awakened group that appeared on the news.”

“I thought surely it couldn’t be true, but something like that really exists.”

“Indeed.”

“They really are damn unlucky, blocking our path of all people.”

Park Jeong-jin was broadly acquainted with top-ranked Awakened.

And he was known as a fairly moderate Guild Master.

He was somewhat similar to Diamond Wall Yoon Chang-ho, one could say.

But even he would not let something so outrageous pass.

Sure enough.

Raised voices went back and forth at the front.

For some reason, the atmosphere felt as if a fight would break out.

Ha-kyung immediately brought his hand to his waist.

‘If it comes down to it, I need to be ready to cut people down.’

Lately, Awakened who flaunted their wealth had been spreading like a trend.

Looking at bastards like that made a sigh rise on its own.

The Abyss was a cold and perilous place.

It was not the world of a game where people could laugh and hunt for fun.

Moments were bound to come when one had to sever the breath of another Awakened.

Ha-kyung sensed an ominous future.

But just then, right as he was drawing up his tension to the limit.

RUMBLEEEEE!

The ground began shaking along with a sudden vibration.

The Abyss’s ground was extremely unstable.

At times, it collapsed completely or suddenly surged upward.

Ha-kyung immediately drew out bundles of Refinement Rope.

“For now, wrap these around your waists.”

“Oh! Thank you.”

The team members’ faces brightened.

Because enduring together was far better than getting swept away alone.

However, the landslide soon stopped.

And Ha-kyung had to face an unexpected sight.

“They...... brought down the mountain?”

Large boulders had completely crushed the checkpoint.

The foreign Awakened were standing on top of them.

Looking down arrogantly at Park Jeong-jin’s Raid Team.

They even waved their hands and made throat-slitting gestures.

Ha-kyung could not help but let out a hollow laugh.

“What kind of lunatics are they?”

“Seriously, bro. Should we just go over there and cut their heads off?”

“I sincerely want to.”

As he and John fumed together.

Park Jeong-jin soon gathered the team members.

“I tried speaking with them, but there’s absolutely no reasoning with them.”

“Because they’re foreigners?”

“No. Surprisingly, their Korean was quite fluent. The problem was that there was no point of compromise at all. They demanded that we pay a toll, no matter what.”

“How much was it?”

“They didn’t ask for money. They demanded one artifact. Or they said a Dungeon Key would also be acceptable.”

“......Insane.”

Ha-kyung barely held back from cursing even more harshly.

To an Awakened, an artifact had almost the same value as their life.

Because its functions were that remarkable.

The real objective was probably the latter.

The Dungeon Key.

After all, Top-Grade or lower ones had relatively high drop rates.

In any case, it was certain that they were out of their minds.

Ha-kyung stared at the collapsed mound of stone and said,

“For now, it seems we have no choice but to take a detour.”

“This was a path our guild opened too. They really are infuriating.”

The internal structure of the Abyss completely changed at irregular intervals.

Each time that happened, Awakened had to open up new paths.

Although they could only use them for a few weeks or so, it was still a place they had put effort into creating.

Park Jeong-jin looked genuinely furious.

But then, a voice suddenly came from above the collapsed pile of stones.

“You’ll struggle to find another path, won’t you? But it’s useless. That one will be blocked too.”

The team members’ heads turned at the same time.

Then they saw the Awakened who had been speaking with Park Jeong-jin earlier.

A dark face with a high nose.

Deep-set eyes.

It was hard to guess his nationality, but he did not seem Korean.

The man smiled unpleasantly and continued speaking.

“You’re top-grade Awakened who go in and out of The Void? So what? Do you think that means you’ll be able to escape?”

Judging by his confident attitude.

It seemed the thirty or so bastards there were not all of them.

Ha-kyung felt a headache coming on.

‘If they interfere by collapsing terrain like that, it doesn’t matter how skilled we are.’

The rocks of The Void were unbelievably hard.

And the pile of stones created by the landslide looked over forty meters high.

No matter how extraordinary an Awakened was, they would not be able to leap over it in one go.

They would probably get beaten down and fall while climbing.

It was truly a dilemma with no way forward or back.

But right then.

Ha-kyung pushed through the crowd and moved to the rear of the procession.

John immediately followed him.

“Where are you going, bro?”

“We can’t just take this lying down. I’ll bind that bastard, so you pull with me.”

“Can you really do it?”

“We have to try.”

Ha-kyung stopped as soon as he turned the corner.

From here, the enemy would not be able to see him.

He drew the Refinement Rope out long and shaped the end thickly.

Then he began spinning it round and round.

Like a cowboy.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Then, the moment its rotational force reached its peak.

He stepped to the side and hurled it with everything he had.

WHIRRRR! CLATTER!

“Ugh?”

The Gray-White rope, fired at tremendous speed, wrapped around the enemy Awakened.

It was the very bastard who had been spouting nonsense since earlier.

Ha-kyung leaned back and shouted,

“Pull!”

“Heave-ho!”

With John’s strength added, the bastard was dragged down in an instant.

If he simply fell like that, he would definitely die.

So Ha-kyung greatly reduced the bastard’s speed.

With a dropkick that flew in at exquisite timing.

CRUNCH—!

“Urgh! W-what the hell?”

“Pig’s Trotter Chop, you bastard .”

The foreign Awakened lay sprawled on the ground.

Ha-kyung turned to the team members and said,

“Stomp him.”