CH 43

The man who was sitting with his chin in a crooked posture twisted his lips at the gaze they met and smiled.

“Why, do you want to hear ‘Hyung’ from me too?”

“…No.” 

I looked at him with longing eyes in my heart, then quickly lowered my gaze. I guess I was too greedy. I should be satisfied with Baek Taera and Chorok. 

The moment I made up my mind, I heard a very ominous sound of laughter reach my ear, and I looked at him anxiously.

“If that’s the case, you can say Master first—” 

“I!”

As expected, I raised my voice as I cut off Lee Jehee, who was about to start talking nonsense. When I suddenly shouted, everyone else looked at me with surprise. Except for Lee Jehee, who looks like he knew it.

An ugly bastard with nothing to give. The ugly bastard gives me one more rice cake, but the rice cake was a waste for that guy. 

“I don’t know if I can join this meeting. I was just following to the dungeon.”

I had this thought since I first attended the meeting. I just followed it to get the best of it, and I didn’t really help. And it was obvious that I wouldn’t be of much help in future problems.

At the words, Baek Taera and Chorok, who were sitting across from me, shrugged their shoulders. They looked as if they had thought nothing of it, and now they realized that it was strange for me to be stuck here.

“You are qualified to attend the meeting. Yeon Seonwoo is the one who will take care of him from now on.”

“…What?”

“Are you going to pretend you don’t know after giving him a name?”

Is he quietly leaving me with the unpleasant work to do? It’s already sad to go into your house and work as a farmhand, but now you want me to take care of a monster?

“Seonwoo…” 

At that moment, Ddari, who was burying his face in my arms, looked up with a tearful face.

Damn it. 

“Okay, okay, so don’t look at me like that.”

I stroke his head a little, and he buries his face in my arms again. Ddari said they were all just scary humans, and he didn’t want to get away from me.

Well, he’d seen how Nightmare died, and the humans in front of him could have been frightening.

“Well, let’s say we have him, and what if a new Keymaster appears?”

“I know right. We had a hard time last time, and managed to catch it—”

Hana helped Baek Taera’s question. Everyone’s eyes turned to Lee Jehee.

As if this meeting was bothering him, Lee Jehee, who was sitting at an angle in a lazy posture, seemed to have felt the gaze and his face was lost in thought for a moment.

“I will have to look at the situation… In the worst case…” 

What does that mean? In the worst case, does it mean that you’re going to go back?

I was curious about the omitted word, so I looked at him, and our gazes met. There was a sense of emptiness in his eyes that had sunk as deeply as the eyes of an old man who had lived for many years. Because of that, I couldn’t dare read what he was thinking.

Still, it seems I wasn’t the only one curious about the meaning of the omitted back words. Lee Jehee burst into a small laugh as he looked at them, waiting for words to continue.

“I’m thinking of a guild alliance. A way to expand is by recruiting from a guild with which you are familiar. If you push with numbers, you’ll see a gap even if you’re the Keymaster.”

“A guild alliance?”

“So there was a way! That’s a good idea, Jehee-ssi.”

Chorok tilted his head as if he was questioning Lee Jehee’s remark that he was thinking of a guild alliance. Next to it, Hana was delighted and liked it, but the impression of Baek Taera was a little different. After all, is it because the vice master will be like a vice master?

That punk was very honest.

“But who is joining us? Everyone hates us, right?”

He really boasts about it. I held back my sarcasm and shook my head without knowing it.

Who will unite with the Yeolmu Guild?

It was mentioned in the game background description, but it has been over two months since I came to this world, and I know that the Yeolmu Guild is one of the most popular guilds in Korea. I also know that they have a high nose and are often criticized by other guilds.

To say it… should I say that it’s like a large franchise that ruins the local business district?

Although it is the object of great admiration for ordinary citizens, the Yeolmu Guild is treated as an ecosystem-disrupting species by people in the same industry.

“We still have time, so we’ll have to negotiate in the meantime. It won’t be easy, but we have a very capable vice-master in our guild, so we’ll figure it out.”

“What?! Why am I coming out there?”

Baek Taera, with a pale face, got up from his seat like someone who heard something nonsense.

Oh, I’m sure that’s how it should be reacted to. It’s obvious that the master has handed over what he has to do to the vice-master now.

“Well, that’s it for the meeting. As the negotiations progress, more details will be added.”

The meeting has now ended on its own. He got up from his seat with a frown that couldn’t be helped because it was Chorok’s master’s will. It was the same with Hana.

When Hana got up from her seat, she immediately approached Baek Taera and patted his shoulder as if to cheer him up.

Baek Taera, who was already sweeping up his disheveled hair with a tired face, pressed his hand near his temple as if he had a headache. It seems that light pink hair looks a little dull these days.

I was looking at Baek Taera with a pitiful gaze, and Lee Jehee, who was sitting with his chin on his hand and listening to it quietly, opened his mouth brightly.

“Then you can do it a little more frantically.”

“….”

“Cheer up, Taera. You will do well.”

Is that bastard really a human being? What’s the use of ghosts, he won’t even take such a bastard.

Baek Taera looked at Lee Jehee’s answer, which was almost like making fun of him, with a fierce look. It was indeed a finite reaction. If it were me, I would have strangled his throat already.

Even if it wasn’t enough, Baek Taera clicked his tongue inwardly and got up. If Lee Jehee had opened his mouth, he would have left the conference room before anyone else.

“Yeon Seowoo-ssi, please wait a moment. I have something to say. You should go out.”

“Me?” 

Why am I the only one left? Did I get caught cursing inside?

I stared blankly at the people leaving the meeting room with a bit of anxiety. Then, the Chorok who approached me took Ddari out of my arm. Ddari was startled and struggled with his arms when he was suddenly lifted up.

“L, let me go, angry human!” 

“You come with us.”

“H, hiik! I hate you! Seonwoo! Seonwoo please save me!” 

Why is he always looking for me when he’s in a disadvantageous situation?

He desperately called out my name, and I pretended not to know Ddari, who was getting farther away.

When the two of them were left alone, I turned my eyes away, pretending to look around the conference room, feeling awkward. The hustle and bustle just before were unbelievably quiet inside.

“Uhm…”

“….”

I was just looking around, but my opponent didn’t say anything. I wondered why the person who said he had something to say was like this, but I couldn’t stand silence, so I had to ask first.

“You said you had something to say, didn’t you?”

“To be exact, I had something to give, so I asked you to stay.”

“Something to give?” 

What else is he going to give me this time? All I got from him was a shiny watch and this unsatisfactory Servant’s ring.

I felt like I wasn’t going to give you anything good, so I took a step back defensively. Meanwhile, he held out the thick paper envelope that he had left on the table throughout the meeting. I wondered what this was, but I took it and opened the envelope.

There was a large amount of A4 paper inside, even at a glance. I looked at Lee Jehee with the meaning of whether I could see it because it was too thick to hold with one hand. He had a cool attitude as if I had to do it on my own, so I grabbed as much as I could get my hands on and took out the contents.

Then the first page written in English greeted me.

〈Dungeon and Gate Theory〉

Even if I turned the other pages to make a fluttering sound, all that was written was English. Or is it a calculation formula with mathematical symbols that are unfamiliar even with the sign? 

What is this? 

It seems that the question was shown on my face. I didn’t even ask, but Lee Jehee understood and started to explain on his own.

“Didn’t you ask me to find out about dungeons, outbreaks, and dimensions before? So, first of all, I chose the most basic information. I asked for more professional information, but it seems it will take some time to get it.”

“….”

“First of all, read it and understand its contents. Then it will be much easier to understand other things later.”

“….”

“Why don’t you say anything?”

Isn’t he doing this because he wants to screw me up? Somehow, it seems that the screw-up skills are improving day by day—.

Seeing that I feel very dirty in an instant, I wonder if I have got a hidden skill somewhere else. 

“Is it… entirely in English?” 

“Yes, few of the theories presented in various ways have been accepted by academia, and they are usually in English because they are mainly based on cases reported in foreign countries.”

“It’s almost mathematics, isn’t it? English and math are very—”

“In order to understand multiple universes, a prior understanding of quantum mechanics or Friedman’s equations is necessary.”

Necessary? Is this necessary?