Chapter 89. Homecoming (3)

Chapter 89. Homecoming (3)

“That child—Cha Si-Eun, was it?—It looked as if she had made a decision…” The Frost Queen muttered, peeking between the crack of the door as it closed.

“Well, I’m an inspirational quote machine. She probably felt touched.” Seo Jun-Ho shrugged.

“Let’s just stop talking.” She shook her head and took her regular seat on the sofa. She hugged the remote and looked up at Seo Jun-Ho.

“Haaa, give that to me.” He was going to turn on the channel she liked, but she shook her head. “No. I can do this myself, so make some tea.” She worked the remote skillfully and switched it onto the drama channel. Seo Jun-Ho stared in awe. She did it so naturally.

“...You know how to use the remote?”

“I am not stupid. Did you think that I would not be able to work a device of this level?”

“Then why have you made me do it for you this whole time?”

“Because it’s fun,” the Frost Queen casually replied. Seo Jun-Ho didn’t know what to say. She held up her slender finger to her lips. “Be quiet, now. It is time for me to watch my dramas.”

“...”

Forget the Agarit tea. He dropped in bitter ginseng into the boiling water and went back to his room. A moment later, the Frost Queen called out. “Contractor! This tea…tastes strange. It makes my tongue pucker.”

“Really? It’s a tea that only nobles on Earth can drink. Do you want something else?”

“...No. I think the taste is beginning to grow on me.”

She scrunched her face as she drank the ginseng tea. Now that he had figured her out, the Frost Queen was no longer his opponent. Seo Jun-Ho checked his inbox on Vita. There, the six messages he was waiting for appeared.

[This is Silent Moon. We wish to propose…]

[This is the mercenary guild Hallem.]

[The Dokkaebi Guild wishes to inquire with Seo Jun-Ho-nim…]

[Silver Constellation…]

[Labyrinth…]

[Sky Soul wishes…]

The Big 6 had responded to his proposal with Specter’s name on the line.

“Well, I already know what they’re gonna say.” Still, he read them out of courtesy. They were full of long-winded rambling, but they all came to the same conclusion.

[We will follow Specter-nim.]

“Not that they ever had a choice.”

Back when he got caught up in political conflicts as Specter, he had learned something important.

“When I offer a choice, I make it so that they’re forced to choose what I want.” It was simple but effective. Seo Jun-Ho smiled, satisfied. Even though it was temporary, he now had the six best information networks in the palm of his hand. He flopped onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

“It sure took a while…”

It had been 7 months since he had broken out of the ice. The memories of the time he had spent so far flashed through his head.

‘Zombies, Leufs, Cinder Fox, Nameless Dragon, Watchdogs, Dark Elves, Rome, and now the Winter Castle…’

He hadn’t noticed while he was running about, but now that he thought about it, he had come far. His seven months was probably the equivalent of several years of activities for the average Player.

“Still, I reached level 34 after seven months… That means I’m going several times faster than in the past.” Of course, there was no use in comparing those two eras. His previous experience as a Player was immeasurably valuable.

‘If I want to, I could go to the 2nd floor Frontier as soon as tomorrow…’

Of course, whether he could or not, he had no plans to go up anytime soon. Now that he had access to the Big 6’s information, he needed to organize the data.

“First…” Seo Jun-Ho skimmed their emails again. They all spoke proudly of their information networks. “Just as I thought. Even though they’re all part of the Big 6, they all collect different kinds of information.”

He divided them into three types. “Hm, I suppose they’re either affiliated with the imperial, noble, or religious factions.”

There was a large empire in the Frontier called Ruben. Most of the explored areas on the 2nd floor were under its control. Guilds on the scale of the Big 6 were already deeply familiar with the empire. After all, they had worked their way up for 25 years.

“Silent Moon and Goblin are affiliated with royalty.” They had focused a lot on fostering their relationship with the imperial family in order to give a positive impression and receive noble titles. As a result, these two Guilds had the most nobles.

‘And the second is the nobles.’

The empire was ruled by the Emperor, but the power of the nobles couldn’t be disregarded. After all, water drops were small, but a steady trickle of water drops could pierce through a boulder.

‘Labyrinth and Sky Soul are in the talks with the nobles.’

They had established themselves by absorbing provinces. They had enough authority to compete with Goblin and Silent Moon, who were affiliated with the imperial family.

“The third is the religious faction. The only Guild affiliated with them is Silver Constellation.” There were many religions in the Frontier. Each god communicated directly with its believers and gave them divine power.

‘Silver Constellation is building a place for themselves in the Ruben Empire’s official religion: the Church of the Sun.’

The Church of the Sun was just as powerful as the royalty and nobility. “The three main powers of the Empire keep each other in check…”

The last Guild was Hallem. They were irrelevant to the others.

“They’re a mercenary guild. They already claimed a territory and have cultivated it a long time ago.” They didn’t even need to worry about vested interest. 25 years after their founding, the mercenary guild was quickly gaining newfound power.

‘At first, they were easily overlooked…’

But now, they had become quite famous and were carrying out their activities all over the Empire.

‘It might not be of the best quality, but they’ll be the fastest at giving me a variety of information.’

Seo Jun-Ho finished organizing his thoughts and closed his eyes.

“Hm, then...Let’s give them a test.” Which Guild would get him information the fastest? Seo Jun-Ho smiled and wrote up an email.

***

Knock knock.

Goblin’s Guildmaster, Shin Sung-Hyun, spoke without looking up. “Come in. What’s the matter?” His eyes were still fixed on the documents he was working on.

“Specter responded.”

His hand stopped.

‘After three months?’

It had been three months since they accepted his proposal and Specter finally replied.

Shin Sung-Hyun finally looked up at the messenger. “What did he say?”

“He requested that we gather information about the fiends and send them to him. The time limit is 30 minutes.”

“An easy request. Send him all the information that’s mid-rank and below.”

“Understood. But…” the messenger hesitated before speaking, “I believe that the other Guilds must have received the same request.”

“Why do you think that?”

“The messengers of the other Guilds rode in the elevator with me to the 2nd floor.”

“...”

The 2nd floor didn’t have Internet, so it couldn’t communicate directly with the 1st floor. To take care of the issue, each Guild always had members on standby in the Dimensional Elevator. A Messenger’s job was to deliver information between the Floors.

“Hm. So that means Specter has requested information from the other Guilds as well.” Shin Sung-Hyun had an amused smile on his face as he spun the pen in his hand.

‘...So he wants us to compete.’

It was easy to see why. Specter was most likely concerned about one thing.

‘He’s probably worried that we’ll cooperate with each other and restrict the information we give him.’

And he was right to be worried. He had given them three months, which was plenty of time for the Guildmasters to meet and discuss.

‘Makes sense since we decided to give him mid-rank information and below.’

But Specter had sent the request to the Big 6 at the same time. Shin Sung-Hyun could only see one reason why he would do that.

‘...He already expected that we would be cooperating. So he’s going to compare our information.’

Since they had already come to an agreement, there wouldn’t be much difference between the information they gave him. Ironically, giving him the same amount and level of information would still reveal what he wanted to see.

‘If that happens and he compares the information we give him, he’ll be able to see which Guild has the best information network.’

But there was another interesting factor that came into play. What if one Guild’s information was far worse than the others?

‘He’ll most likely kick them out.’

In other words, he would only work with the useful ones. Considering Specter’s previous display, it wouldn’t be unlike him to do that.

“Haaa, really… His arrogance knows no limits.” But even if they didn’t want to, they had no other choice but to follow him.

As Guilds grew in size, they started to prioritize quality over quantity. The standards for each Player kept growing.

‘And talented people won’t join Guilds with bad reputations.’

No matter how many benefits they offered, that wouldn’t change.

But Specter’s second condition was greatly beneficial for the Guilds. They would easily be able to shake off the smaller Guilds that were always chasing after them. Their Guild’s reputation would improve without them having to spend a single penny.

“So… I suppose it turned out for the better.”

Like the other Big 6 Guildmasters, Shin Sung-Hyun was proud of his information network.

‘Our Guild’s network is one of the best, even among the Big 6.’

If he broke the promise with the other Guilds and gave Specter higher-level information, the others would pale in comparison. He wasn’t stupid.

‘Six Guilds is too many for him to work with.’

Shin Sung-Hyun made his decision. If things proceeded as planned, Goblin would be the only Guild that would end up working with Specter.

“Give him everything except classified and top-secret information.”

“Then… Does that mean that I should give him everything from the lowest to high-rank?”

“Yes, everything.”

“Y-yes, sir!” As the startled messenger left the room, Shin Sung-Hyun went back to his documents. A satisfied smile appeared on his lips.