CH 57

“Our guild master has mentioned you a few times during the general assembly! He told us that he had a friend he wanted to scout to our guild. He said it was an amazing player named Kim Gi-Gyu!” Do Bong-Gu was acting as if he was in the presence of a celebrity. 

Feeling embarrassed by the guide’s unexpected reaction, Gi-Gyu lowered his face and wondered, ‘What exactly did Suk-Woo tell these guys? Why is he so excited to see me?’

“By the way, could you…” When Do Bong-Gu murmured, Gi-Gyu caught on immediately and took out his player registration card. This card didn’t include the player’s grade and could only be used for identification. Do Bong-Gu wasn’t comfortable taking this bearded man’s word for it, but he was satisfied after confirming Gi-Gyu’s identity. He announced, “If you’re the Player Kim Gi-Gyu whom our guild master talked about, I am sure I can trust you.” 

Do Bong-Gu finally decided to discuss the offer with his fellow guild members. And together, they quickly decided that it was in their best interest to hunt with Gi-Gyu. 

Do Bong-Gu watched Gi-Gyu with both interest and confusion.

‘He is so different from what the guild master told us. Wasn’t the guild master worried about his friend’s caring nature…?’

Do Bong-Gu's doubts didn’t mean he wasn’t grateful for Gi-Gyu’s help. They were inside the Tower, their enemies were the red players, and Gi-Gyu had every right to kill them. However, that didn’t mean he had to accept that Gi-Gyu had a “caring nature.” After all, Gi-Gyu beheaded that red player without hesitation and was now laughing playfully with the other guild members as if nothing had happened.

Do Bong-Gu couldn’t help feeling a little nervous about Gi-Gyu. However, he was certain that Gi-Gyu meant no harm to the Cain Guild members, which was the only reason Do Bong-Gu decided to follow him. 

‘If he turns on us, we can still run.’

Unlike the battle with the Smurf Guild members, Gi-Gyu was alone. Gi-Gyu's vicious aura alone was enough to make the Smurf players run; even so, Do Bong-Gu felt confident that his group could escape if necessary. 

Do Bong-Gu announced, “Thanks to your help, we could escape the red players, but I think I should still make a report to our guild immediately.”

Gi-Gyu agreed, “Go ahead.”

Do Bong-Gu sent one player from his group to deliver the message, and the rest of them began following Gi-Gyu.

***

“It’s over here.” Gi-Gyu guided the players to an area he cleared a few days ago. By now, some monsters had regenerated, so this was a perfect time to hunt. 

“Ohh!” Do Bong-Gu exclaimed in excitement. They were having a hard time finding monsters this morning, but Gi-Gyu was right. Here, they could see many monsters roaming around. 

Do Bong-Gu asked, “Then I’ll have my players check their weapons and get right to the hunt. Is that okay?”

“Of course,” Gi-Gyu replied. 

Turning toward the other guild members, Do Bong-Gu began to prepare them. 

While Gi-Gyu was watching quietly from the sidelines, Brunheart asked in confusion, 

-Master! Why are you doing this? You said you weren’t going to hunt with the other humans!

‘My friend runs their guild. He helped me a lot in the past, so I want to repay a bit of my debt.’

Gi-Gyu took the time to explain his action. 

‘I also wanted to ask them how things were going outside the Tower. I think it’s time for me to leave, so I need to know if it’s safe to go out now.’

Gi-Gyu could’ve gained all the necessary information from the employees at the portal by using his association mercenary status. However, he was still awkward about using his new authority. So this was the perfect opportunity for Gi-Gyu to help his friend while getting the information he needed. 

‘I hope the reporters outside are gone by now.’

Gi-Gyu believed those reporters couldn’t have found his identity while he was inside, but he still felt overwhelmed by them. Enough time had passed, so Gi-Gyu felt the reporters must’ve left by now. 

Do Bong-Gu returned to Gi-Gyu after completing all the preparations. He announced, “We’ll begin hunting now. We’ll continue until you’ve to leave, Player Kim Gi-Gyu, so please let me know.”

“All right,” When Gi-Gyu replied, Do Bong-Gu ordered the players, “Now, you may begin your hunt. But please don’t go too far out of my sight.”

“Okay!” the Cain Guild members answered with excitement. They had seemingly forgotten all about their near-death experience at the hands of those red players. Currently, they were just thrilled to see so many monsters and ran toward them. 

Only Do Bong-Gu remained standing by Gi-Gyu’s side. Gi-Gyu asked, “Aren’t you going to hunt?”

“I can do it later. I’m their guide, after all, so I must do my duties first.” When Do Bong-Gu answered with a smile, Gi-Gyu realized Suk-Woo did an excellent job training his guild members. 

Seeing the mid-level guide felt refreshing; Gi-Gyu recalled when he used to work as a guide himself. He never reached the mid-level, but he still helped many novice players through the tutorial floors. 

Do Bong-Gu started a conversation. “I heard you used to be a guide yourself.”

“I was.” It seemed Suk-Woo had told his guild members a lot about Gi-Gyu. His voice filled with elation, Do Bong-Gu chatted, “Isn’t guiding the players to the right path amazing?” 

When Gi-Gyu didn’t respond, Do Bong-Gu seemed a little embarrassed. He quickly changed the subject, “When I return to the guild, I won’t forget to tell the guild master that you saved us, Player Kim Gi-Gyu.”

“Haha, I would appreciate that,” replied Gi-Gyu with a laugh before adding, “By the way…”

All the Cain Guild members were doing well with their hunt, so Gi-Gyu didn’t feel the necessity to continue this meaningless conversation. Then, suddenly realizing what he was doing, Gi-Gyu smiled bitterly and thought, ‘I guess I forgot all of my basic social skills.’

The non-bearded him of the past would’ve continued this mundane chat for a while before broaching the main subject. But now, he felt too impatient. 

“What happened to… What is he called? The masked player? That whole deal about the masked ranker. What’s going on with that? Are the reporters still surrounding the Tower?”

“Ah!” The topic excited Do Bong-Gu; he replied, “No! There was a huge incident regarding that.”

“Pardon?” Gi-Gyu had no idea what he was talking about. When Gi-Gyu looked confused, he explained, “The association made another public statement that they couldn’t reveal the masked player’s identity. So all the reporters went home!”

“What?” Gi-Gyu couldn’t comprehend what he had just heard. All those persistent reporters left just because the association made another official statement? Noticing Gi-Gyu’s confusion, Do Bong-Gu grinned. He continued, looking far too eager, “They left because the association president personally made the announcement!” 

Gi-Gyu blinked in shock.

***

“So you’re saying… The association president, who never made a public appearance until now, spoke on TV? He said he couldn’t release any information on the masked player without his permission? And he asked everyone to quash their interest in that player? That’s what you’re telling me, right? Then he also announced various new policies concerning the association to redirect all the attention.”

When Gi-Gyu summarized what he had just heard, Do Bong-Gu nodded emphatically and replied, “Yes! I know the new policies are important too, but this was the first time the association president made a public appearance! Everyone was so shocked! Outside the Tower, the association president is now the talk of the town! People have just forgotten about the masked player!”

Gi-Gyu’s face turned awkward.

‘This is…’

Sometime back, Tae-Gu confidently promised Gi-Gyu he would take care of this situation. However, Gi-Gyu never expected him to reveal his identity to the world for that. Overall, the association president did manage to divert the world’s attention by revealing his identity; thus, he kept his promise. 

‘Or maybe, he planned on revealing his identity anyway, and he just happened to find the perfect timing.’

Gi-Gyu wasn’t naive enough to believe that Oh Tae-Gu, the association president, did this just for him. He was certain that this event had something to do with Oh Tae-Gu’s plan to clean out his organization and begin reforming it. 

Gi-Gyu murmured, “So, I’m not indebted to the president.” After all, he was an association merc, and it was the association’s responsibility to take care of him. This line of thinking helped Gi-Gyu feel much more at ease. 

“Pardon?” Do Bong-Gu probably thought Gi-Gyu said something to him, but Gi-Gyu just shook his head and replied, “It’s nothing.” 

‘They have hunted enough. Time to go.’

Gi-Gyu got the information he wanted, so he was ready to leave. But suddenly, his senses alerted him of something, and he said to Do Bong-Gu, “Please gather all of your guild members immediately.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I can sense numerous players approaching our location; I think they are red players,” Gi-Gyu replied grimly. The aura he picked up was similar to what those red players had.

Do Bong-Gu shouted, “Get ready for battle! Quickly deal with the remaining monsters as a team and—” His words were stuck in his throat because Gi-Gyu was rapidly cutting down the monster population there. It only took a moment, and Do Bong-Gu couldn’t hide how impressed he was. 

‘He’s so powerful.’ From what happened earlier, Do Bong-Gu could tell how strong Gi-Gyu was. 

‘Player Kim Gi-Gyu might be even stronger than our guild master—’

Do Bong-Gu never got the chance to finish that thought since he saw several red players rushing toward them, screaming, “They’re here! Those bastards!” 

Do Bong-Gu calmly took out his emergency flare gun and shot it into the sky. The blue and black smoke quickly spread high up. If the guild member he sent away earlier had reported their situation, their guild should’ve sent additional support to this floor by now. And if they saw this flare, they would come here rushing. 

‘And with Player Kim Gi-Gyu, we can survive till then.’ Do Bong-Gu reassured himself. Even though Gi-Gyu was a powerful player, there was no way he could deal with all of these red players. So, he put his hope of survival on the en-route Cain Guild support team. 

The Cain Guild members gathered in one place, and the red players the Smurf Guild brought surrounded them. Gi-Gyu could tell these red players usually hunted on the floors above the 30th from their aura. 

One of the bigger red players, a bald guy, stepped forward and asked, “Did you assholes kill one of ours?” 

Gi-Gyu, busy gathering the Cain Guild members before, stepped forward and replied, “Not these guys. I killed him.” 

“Huh! You bastard! Are you some kind of philosopher? Nahhh. You a hobo?” The bald player asked rudely. 

Gi-Gyu just studied the Smurf Guild members standing nearby; then, he recognized one.  

“Huh?! You’re…!” Gi-Gyu exclaimed. 

“What? Do you know me?” When the Smurf member asked, Gi-Gyu grinned. Gi-Gyu had been wondering if he would ever see this guy again. He tried to steal Gi-Gyu’s crystal bags back then. Gi-Gyu remembered the day very well. He had just heard his mother’s diagnosis and was depressed, so he locked himself in the Tower for a long time and hunted mindlessly. When he was finally leaving the Tower with his crystal-filled bags, he faced some thieves. 

The same guy who tried to rob him was now trying to kill him. Gi-Gyu smiled and asked, “You’re the thief from that day, aren’t you?”

At the time, this thief warned that he would get Gi-Gyu later, but he failed to recognize Gi-Gyu due to the drastic change in his appearance. 

The Smurf Guild member replied, “What the heck are you talking about? We’re”—the other red players chuckled—"all thieves and murderers.”

Ignoring their laughs, Do Bong-Gu announced, “We’re the Cain Guild! Our reinforcements are nearby, and they would’ve seen our flare by now. They must be on their way, so if you leave us now, you can avoid an unnecessary battle.”

“Huh? Oh, I'm so scared!” the bald player gasped mockingly before leering. Gi-Gyu knew why the red players were so confident right now. Before the bald player could reply, Gi-Gyu explained the situation to Do Bong-Gu.

“We are surrounded by red players right now. It will be too late for us by the time our reinforcement arrives. Is there a war I don’t know about between the Cain Guild and those people?”

“I… don’t know,” replied Do Bong-Gu. 

‘Something doesn’t add up.’ 

The red players acted as if they wanted to go to war with the Cain Guild. Or did someone hire the Smurf Guild to kill the Cain Guild members here?

“Let’s just beat them up first and ask questions later,” Gi-Gyu announced. 

“Pardon?” Do Bong-Gu asked in confusion, but Gi-Gyu just murmured, “Accelerate.”

“There are some women here too! It’s so hard to find women inside the Tower. This is just perfect! Kill everyone except for the wome—” The bald player was giving out his order when a stupid expression appeared on his face. He was looking ahead, but he could somehow see the shock on his fellow red players’ faces: They were standing behind him. And while he was learning that his voice no longer obeyed him, a whisper entered his ear, “Let’s not touch the women, okay? Didn’t your mother teach you anything?” 

To everyone’s shock, the bald player’s head was rolling on the ground. However, the other red players didn’t run this time. One of them shouted angrily, “Kill them! We won’t fall for this again! Our guild members are surrounding this area! Kill that crazy bastard!”

Gi-Gyu scratched his head with Lou’s handle and murmured, “I guess they aren’t going to run this time.” He thought that if he killed the one who looked like their leader, the others would scatter like the last time again; Gi-Gyu was mistaken. 

However, Gi-Gyu’s entire victory strategy didn’t depend on that. He killed the strongest of them just now, so it was just a matter of time before he took care of them all. 

Do Bong-Gu, encouraged by Gi-Gyu’s show of power, ordered, “Cain Guild! It’s time to fight! Kill all the red players!”

“Yes, Sir!”

There was no way to escape this battle now. More importantly, they had no reason to run. The Cain Guild members looked toward Gi-Gyu, the bearded, dirty-looking player. This unexpectedly powerful man had proven himself to be a friend of their guild master. 

With Gi-Gyu by their side, the Cain Guild members felt confident they could survive this fight.