Chapter 96: Star, The Ice Crystal (3)

Chapter 96: Star, The Ice Crystal (3)

Future Strategy Department Head Shim Geon-Ho was dumbstruck; he could never have imagined that a rookie who had just joined the company would blatantly provoke him that way. Rookies usually yielded to their superiors, no matter how angry they became, right? However, Chang-Sun did not seem to care.

“You arrogant...!” Geon-Ho sputtered, briefly experiencing an inner conflict. Although he wanted to slam Chang-Sun’s head against the ground, too many people were watching, and Executive Director Oh would surely be watching them at the moment. Continuing the confrontation would do him no favors.

“Let’s go,” Chang-Sun said, snorting in Geon-Ho’s face before leaving with Gyeo-Ul, joining the main unit again.

Geon-Ho glared at Chang-Sun’s back with gritted teeth. Suddenly, however, someone came up to him and called out, “Department Head Shim?”

Geon-Ho looked in the direction of the voice with a frown; he saw a familiar-looking man. He was Kim Hyeong-Jun, whom Director Kim Yeon-Seung had introduced as his son who had recently joined the company. However, Geon-Ho remembered Hyeong-Jun as an idiot who had pissed himself in fear of Chang-Sun, who had grabbed Hyeong-Jun by the collar.

“What?” Geon-Ho snapped, his eyes shining sharply.

Hyeong-Jun flinched for a moment, feeling offended when he saw the contempt in Geon-Ho’s eyes. However, now was not the time to get angry about that. He politely said, “I want to talk to you about something. Could you give me a moment of your time?”

“Can’t you see the expedition has begun? Stop saying useless stuff and get ready...!” Geon-Ho scolded Hyeong-Jun.

“It’s about Lee Chang-Sun,” Hyeong-Jun whispered very quietly, worried that somebody else would overhear him; still, it was enough to intrigue Geon-Ho. He continued, “It’ll only take a second. Please spare a moment. You won’t regret it.”

“If you say some nonsense, I won’t forgive you even if you’re Seonbae Kim’s son,” Geon-Ho growled.

“Of course,” Hyeong-Jun said, smiling coldly as he began to devise an insidious plot.

* * *

[You have entered the Dungeon ‘Yeti Hill'.]

[Commencing the Dungeon Quest!]

[Quest theme: Fallen.]

[At the edge of an endless snowfield, there is a legendary castle called the ‘Winter Palace’. Dominate the place and become the master of ‘Winter’.]

[A blizzard rages constantly across the snowfield, and glaciers fill the landscape. Many Yetis settled within this snowfield long ago and became great hunters. Be prepared to face their ambushes.]

[To complete the quest, every participant has been granted access to the <Inventory>, <Status Window>, and <Skill Window>.]

[The instructions are clearly provided below, so please refer to the document.]

[Best wishes to all participants.]

Whoosh!

When the troops passed through the Gate, the first thing they experienced was an achingly cold snowstorm.

“Ugh! Why is it so cold?”

“I did wear winter clothes, just like they told us...but it looks like winter clothes won’t be much help here.”

“I can see why people stopped going to the South Pole after it became a devils’ nest.”

In truth, Ye-Eun was not famous because she was an agent of the Council; even so, almost every experienced Player in Korea knew her. The Iron Witch Cha Ye-Eun was a world-class expert in magic, and the revolver loaded with six magic bullets was her trademark; each pull of the trigger struck like a missile, razing entire areas to the ground.

As Ye-Eun was also an EX grade Player, a rare occurrence in Korea, people naturally believed she could become a high ranker soon. Thus, she had become a symbol of the Council, able to directly influence the manager of the Council’s Korean branch. Even the Clan leaders from major Clans could never take her lightly; thus, Jeong-Gwon laughed incessantly, as the Iron Witch now seemed to be stealing a glance at Chang-Sun.

“Team Leader Seo,” Chang-Sun began quietly.

“Huh, what is it?” Jeong-Gwon asked, tilting his head.

“You’re hurting my ears, so please be quiet,” Chang-Sun requested.

Jeong-Gwon felt silent, and his shoulders drooped like a scolded puppy when Chang-Sun snapped at him. He wanted to get close to Chang-Sun, who had saved him, but it seemed Chang-Sun had no interest in being friendly with him.

In truth, Jeong-Gwon was doing so because he wanted to make Chang-Sun part of his team. He had always known Chang-Sun was exceptional, but going through the [Phantom Maze Circle] incident had strengthened his resolve to never let anyone else take Chang-Sun.

‘Besides, someone who has the guts to openly provoke Department Head Shim Geon-Ho would be perfect as my right-hand man!’ Jeong-Gwon thought, even though he already knew Executive Director Oh had already called dibs(?) on Chang-Sun. ‘Ah, forget it! First come first served(?)! Yeah, sure!’

All Jeong-Gwon could think about was poaching Chang-Sun from the Future Strategy Department and making him join Raid Team 2. Then, he would make Chang-Sun his right-hand man, just as he had done with Moon Yi-Byeol. If he had Chang-Sun and Yi-Byeol by his side, he would surely become the Raid Team Department Head, who would be appointed soon!

Of course, Executive Directive Oh would be furious if he found out what Jeong-Gwon was planning, but Jeong-Gwon planned to worry about that later. However, the problem was that it was difficult to win over Chang-Sun’s favor.

‘Mwhahaha! You wait and see! Little strokes fell great oaks, so you’ll become my right-hand man in the end!’ Jeong-Gwon thought.

Silently observing the situation from beside Chang-Sun, Gyeo-Ul was even more amazed than ever; no rookie other than Chang-Sun would be able to speak so rudely to ‘Smilodon’, who was known to be the most belligerent of the White Tiger Clan’s four Raid Team leaders.

‘Hyung-nim is indeed great,’ Gyeo-Ul thought with a nod. On the other hand, he wondered whether it was alright for a team leader to leave his team members alone and wander around.

Some time later, Chang-Sun came to a halt.

“What’s wrong?” Jeong-Gwon asked, tilting his head and wondering what was going on.

Seemingly having noticed something, Chang-Sun quickly examined the surroundings, and said expressionlessly, “There’s something Executive Director Oh asked me to do, so we’ll get going. Gyeo-Ul, let’s go.”

“Yes, hyung-nim!” Gyeo-Ul answered.

As soon as Gyeo-Ul seeped into his shadow, Chang-Sun kicked off the ground.

[The Skill ‘Windstalking Tiger’ has been activated!]

Pah!

With his exquisite Lightness Skill, Chang-Sun moved forward; his feet did not sink into the snow at all.

“Hey, wait...!” Jeong-Gwon cried, trying to stop him; in the end, however, Chang-Sun slipped out from under his nose.

Just like Ye-Eun, he was also about to become a high ranker, but he could not follow Chang-Sun’s movements; he was left chuckling dumbfoundedly, muttering “What the hell...”

However, soon enough...

“He’s making me want him more and more!” Jeong-Gwon exclaimed, bursting into hideous laughter. His eyes sparkled as he looked forward to seeing what kind of miracle Chang-Sun would create again.