Chapter 40: The Guild Master’s Whisper

[You have used a teleportation scroll.]

[Teleporting to Herum.]

Flash!

Without hesitation, Levan immediately purchased a teleportation scroll and moved to Herum.

‘Why worry about the quest now? The Symbiotic Gauntlet is the priority!’

The amount of money involved in this problem is on a whole different level.

So as soon as Levan received the note, he set up a meeting right away and teleported to Herum, the designated meeting place.

But the moment he arrived and saw a man named Dunkin, Levan couldn’t believe his eyes for a second.

“Huh? You’re…?”

“Ah, hahaha… Hello?”

“You’re the one in that video? What a damn son of a—!”

“I-I’m sorry!!”

Levan knew who Dunkin was.

Because Dunkin was the troublesome customer from the Home that Levan personally dealt with.

So anger welled up instantly, and Levan grabbed the club at his waist.

He suspected Dunkin might have been deliberately tailing him, using that incident as an excuse.

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! Please forgive me!”

Like a caught thief, Dunkin immediately hunched his body, apologizing profusely.

Seeing that calmed Levan’s anger a little.

So Levan tossed the blunt weapon he’d been holding onto the ground irritably and said,

“You’ll explain everything without leaving out a single detail. Or else, forget the Symbiotic Gauntlet—I’ll really kill you.”

“Y-Yes, of course! I’ll explain everything in full.”

Relieved that he wasn’t about to be hit, Dunkin straightened up and began explaining all the events he had gone through.

After quite some time, Levan rubbed his brows and retraced Dunkin’s explanation.

“So… the Amthosrin summoning method was secretly learned by teaching eavesdropping skills to your thief girlfriend?”

“Yes…”

“You recorded a video based on that, and it got advertisement offers, so you met an advertiser in-game. But it turned out to be a trap set by the Black Guild?”

“Yes…”

“They threatened you terribly, so you had no choice but to teach her the Amthosrin summoning method to protect your girlfriend?”

“Yes…”

“But they were wearing crow masks, so you don’t know who’s who or which guild they belong to?”

“Yes.”

Dunkin knelt like a sinner and answered each of Levan’s confirmations.

When all the facts were confirmed, Levan took his hands off his furrowed brow and washed his face with both hands.

‘Wow, this is driving me crazy…’

This was a total mess.

To put it simply, the Symbiotic Gauntlet listed at the auction house does not belong to the Busan couple.

They weren’t even capable of defeating Amthosrin.

But the bigger problem was that the summoning method of Amthosrin fell into the hands of a rude group—the Black Guild.

In other words, the Busan couple were victims of the recent Black Guild crimes and also offenders who caused harm to Levan.

‘No wonder the drops weren’t coming.’

If the Symbiotic Gauntlet is a limited item, the Black Guild that threatened the Busan couple likely took all of them for themselves.

‘I have no clue where or how to start fixing this.’

What a mess.

It was the perfect word to describe the current situation.

Levan sighed deeply.

‘No, more importantly, this isn’t just any quest—it’s a special quest, yet someone overheard it using cheap thief skills…’

Was that even plausible?

But this issue couldn’t be resolved by going after the Busan couple.

Levan believed the root problem lay with the developer’s mistake that made such a situation possible in the first place.

‘Yeah, I’ll file a formal complaint with the developers. But the more urgent matter is how to recover the Symbiotic Gauntlet that’s already starting to circulate.’

Since further farming wasn’t possible, Levan’s target naturally shifted to the Symbiotic Gauntlet held by the Black Guild.

After all, those gauntlets originally should have been his.

Thinking about it made Levan even more irritated, so he glared at Dunkin.

“S-Sorry!”

“Spare me the apologies… I saw the video, and your Busan dialect was so thick. Why are you suddenly speaking standard Korean now? Think it makes you look more pitiful?”

“N-No, that’s not it…”

“Anyway, what are you going to do now? You say you were threatened too, but fundamentally, you stole my info and caused all this trouble, didn’t you?”

“I have no excuse for that. I’m really sorry…”

“Give me your phone number.”

“Huh? W-Why do you need it…?”

“Did you think I’d just let this slide? Haven’t you seen Hotpick? The Symbiotic Gauntlet sold anonymously for a whopping one billion gold. You’re going to compensate me for that?”

“N-No! I-I will!”

Dunkin’s face turned pale at the mention of one billion, and he quickly recited his number.

“This is being recorded. If you ignore my calls, go into hiding, or delete your number, I’ll apply the aggravated offense penalty and make sure you get a heavier sentence.”

“Y-Yes, I’m really sorry. If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll do everything I can, in every way…”

“That’s how it should be. Fine. What was the advertiser’s ID again?”

“Seongho.”

“You said you also sent a friend request?”

“Yes. Though it’s been disconnected now…”

“Friend requests stay in the recent list even if cut, so I have the ID. By the way, how much did you earn?”

“Huh? Earn?”

“Your WarTube channel, WarTube! You posted a single one-minute video and sucked up insane views and subscribers. So how much did you make?”

Levan’s stomach churned thinking about how much that translated to in gold.

He barked sharply.

Shrinking under the pressure, Dunkin began confessing the current situation.

“Ah, I only have one video so far, so revenue hasn’t been approved…”

“That’ll be soon, right?”

“Huh? Yeah… Once I apply for monetization, it should start…”

“So you intend to keep running the channel?”

“Y-Yeah… probably…”

“Then pay me a channel fee. Or delete the channel and pay a settlement.”

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

“If it weren’t for me, how do you think you’d have gathered over 100,000 subscribers? You’re not planning to keep quiet about this, right?”

“Huh? No! Of course not!”

“Then pay the fee. I heard that channels under 200,000 subscribers go for about 100 won per subscriber. So let’s settle neatly at two million. After that, I won’t interfere with your channel anymore.”

“W-What? Two million?”

Two million in settlement.

Levan didn’t think that was excessive.

Because this wasn’t empty talk; in reality, channels were traded at about that rate.

‘No point asking for more than I can get. This should be doable, even if he has to take out a loan.’

Two million.

It’s a lot and also not much.

But in today’s content-driven world, giving up a hot channel with over 100,000 subscribers would be a real waste for Dunkin.

He started hesitating.

‘Damn, the exact amount I saved up to buy a car is two million. What do I do?’

Coincidentally, Dunkin had exactly two million.

That made it even harder.

But there weren’t many options.

Even if he deleted the channel here, Levan would surely demand a comparable amount as a settlement.

So paying the channel fee and keeping the channel was better.

“…I’ll pay two million.”

“This is being recorded. You agree?”

“Yes…”

“That’s all for now. Transfer the money by today. And keep your phone with you at all times. You never know when I’ll call.”

“Why’s that…?”

“I need to catch the guys who stole my Symbiotic Gauntlet, right? You said you’d help in every way. Changed your mind so soon? Should I just sue?”

“No! I was thoughtless!”

“Fine. I’ll call you when I have a plan. Don’t forget that.”

“Yes, understood…”

With that, Dunkin logged out.

There were still four hours of playtime left, but staying any longer would make Levan sick.

Still, even after Dunkin vanished, Levan’s mood didn’t improve.

“Just when I thought things might go smoothly… damn, so unlucky. Kyak, spit!”

Levan wanted to sprinkle salt or something, but with none at hand, he passed.

Instead, he pulled out a carbonated potion from his inventory and gulped it down.

“Ugh, that’s better. So, Seongho, huh? Damn, what the hell do I do about these Black Guild bastards?”

Black Guilds were countless in Warlord.

Levan had seen countless reports of Black Guild crimes on Hotpick and in the news, but never imagined he’d become a victim himself.

“This is annoying. If I’m right, the Symbiotic Gauntlet on Hotpick was definitely posted by those bastards… How the hell do I take it back?”

Honestly, calling them again wouldn’t be hard.

For a Black Guild that’s sensitive to the scent of money and revenge, Dunkin’s information would be a perfect bait.

The problem was how to snatch the Symbiotic Gauntlet back once they appeared.

‘They’re not fools; there’s no way they’d just return it nicely…’

And counting on the police’s authority was futile—this was a special case.

So the only option left was to take it back by force.

‘Easier said than done…’

People compare Black Guilds to hyenas.

Because hyenas have individual fighting power and strong organization, a pack of hyenas can even defeat the king of beasts, the lion.

Most Black Guilds operate with a small elite team, and each member’s combat ability is at least that of a semi-ranker.

So no matter how much of a Legendary class Levan is, or how experienced as a veteran user, he could never face them alone.

‘My one hundred million…’

At minimum, one hundred million.

No, the money that should have been Levan’s might not be one hundred million, but one billion—or even more.

Thinking about it made his stomach ache.

‘Even with just one billion, I could change my fate… damn it…’

Maybe that’s why Levan felt like he had just been robbed of a first prize lottery ticket, and he lacked the motivation to continue the quest.

Then, suddenly—

“Ah, wait a minute.”

A thought flashed through his mind. That thought was none other than:

“Open guild window.”

The Freedom Guild he had been forcibly made to join recently.

‘Why didn’t I think of this sooner?’

He had been too busy and completely forgot.

Levan remembered Romantic Sword’s boast about the Freedom Guild’s specs to lure him in.

‘Did that guy say the guild members are at least triple digits in level? That means…!’

They were holders of tremendous power, comparable to semi-rankers.

Though he had been curt when invited to join, and now asking for help from strangers felt a bit awkward, what choice did he have?

There was billions of gold at stake.

‘I have to try everything I can. If things go well, I can reward accordingly.’

Levan was desperate.

So he decided to put on a bold front and request help from the guild—something he would never normally do.

His gaze moved to the guild window.

‘But are these guys really strong?’

The guild window showed only the guild name and info, the guild’s unique skill, and the IDs of online guild members.

Detailed info wasn’t accessible.

Character info could only be viewed with direct approval in person, even for guild members.

Unfortunately, the only online member now was…

‘Just the guild master.’

Guild Master—the abbreviation for the guild leader and the actual owner of the guild.

Ironically, the Guild Master’s ID was “GuildMaster.”

‘Could it be that his ID is literally GuildMaster?’

Should he call it clever?

Anyway, Romantic Sword said it was made for camaraderie, but still, asking a stranger for a personal favor was awkward.

‘Too bad. I’ll have to wait for Romantic Sword to log in and ask then.’

So he gave up.

No matter how thick-skinned he was, some things just weren’t done.

Levan decided to postpone it and handle other matters first.

Then, at that moment—

-GuildMaster: Hi

…A whisper arrived first from the Freedom Guild’s Guild Master.