Chapter 73: Kaian and Roa

“Argh! why!?”

Why did this drop instead of a hundred other items?

“Hmm? Why are you here?”

It was then.

“Did you die?”

At the familiar voice, Roa suppressed his grief and turned around.

“Hmm? Why is the guild master here?”

The owner of the voice was the leader of the Koma Guild, Kaian.

“What, I was just looking around the guild house.”

“Ah…”

“But why are you here? Did you really die?”

Kaian asked.

“Yes, I died.”

“How?”

“Well…”

Roa faltered with a conflicted expression. How should he explain this?

“Um, I have a good piece of news and a bad piece of news.”

“…?”

Kaian was caught off-guard by his unexpected expression. What was he saying after he just died?

“So which one do you want to hear first?”

Kaian then fell into thought at Roa’s words.

‘Well, hearing the bad news first is better.’

With the mindset that the good news would cheer him up afterwards, Kaian opened his mouth.

“The bad news.”

“I dropped the map.”

“…The map?”

Kaian felt his mind go blank. If it was what he was thinking…

“That map!?”

“Yes…”

Kaian was lost for words. He just continued to stare at Roa. After a few seconds, he came back to himself and said while sighing.

“Haa…It’s okay. We already went in, so we know. That the map isn’t that big of a help.”

However, that didn’t mean it was useless, but they would just have to deal with it.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. But how did you die? Was it those Demon bastards again?”

“Yes, I was PKed. No, more exactly, I was following someone before getting swept up in magic.”

“…What do you mean? Follow? Who?”

“That’s the good news.”

Roa smiled at Kaian’s question and answered,

“I found Soo Hyuk-nim.”

“Soo Hyuk-nim? The Soo Hyuk?”

“Yes, the person you were searching for, the Demon Hunter Soo Hyuk. I even remembered his face.”

At Roa’s answer, Kaian momentarily forgot about the map. Roa had managed to see Soo Hyuk’s face!

“How did you do it?”

He didn’t know about the other areas, but in Hadrac Soo Hyuk was the most famous person currently.

“Soo Hyuk-nim was the one who killed me.”

“What?”

“There was a promising person at the agency, so I followed him to see his skills. But I was killed by an AOE magic. Then I dropped the map.”

Kaian bit his lip as he thought,

‘It is a good thing that he found Soo Hyuk-nim…’

The Koma Guild had been a constant victim of the Demon Guild, so when Soo Hyuk appeared, they became his instant fans. After the incident, they started to gather information with an aim to form a friendly relationship with him.

‘But how would he feel…’

The problem was about how Soo Hyuk felt about the Koma Guild. He might feel indifferent towards them, but he could also be unfriendly, considering they tailed him. Roa had died to Soo Hyuk, but he had been basically asking for it.

‘Then is this a good thing or not?’

Kaian wondered if he should call this situation a boon or misfortune. Roa, oblivious to his thoughts, continued to ramble.

“The map should be in Soo Hyuk-nim’s hands right now.”

A notification should’ve appeared to Soo Hyuk like how it appeared to him. That meant that he would’ve definitely checked his body and gotten the map.

“And if you wait at the agency, you should be able to meet him.”

“The Mercenary Agency?”

“Yes, that’s where I first spotted him.”

“…Let’s go.”

Kaian mumbled quietly.

“Now?”

“Yes.”

Kaian was already heading to the exit as he spoke.

“Apologise for following him and give up the map. No, it’s a good thing he has the map. You remember his face, right?”

* * *

[You have completed the quest ‘Twin Headed Ogre, the Truth of the Rumour.’]

[You now have the qualification to be promoted.]

[You can now attempt a promotion mission.]

Soo Hyuk smiled as he read through the notifications.

‘I’m finally a C-rank.’

C-rank was only a step away, in the form of a promotion mission.

‘At this speed, I can quickly become an A-rank.’

Out of the users that posted in the Pangea homepage, the fastest person to achieve A-rank had taken 1 month, but Soo Hyuk felt like he could be faster.

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to be a B-rank by today.’

He wasn’t even a C-rank yet; he had just gotten the qualification to attempt the promotion missions. To achieve B-rank, you needed to complete a harder mission than the C-rank. Although he wasn’t sure, he suspected he had to complete around 10 missions. No matter how fast he was, completing 10 missions in 1 day was impossible. The main reason was the travel distance.

“Here you go.”

Soo Hyuk was pulled out of his thoughts when the NPC held out a box containing the rewards. Then after receiving his token and reward, he descended to the 1st floor.

‘But if I continue with this crazy speed, then maybe…’

From F-rank to D-rank in 1 day. If he considered the fact that this normally took 10 days, then he just might be able to do it.

‘Hmm?’

When Soo Hyuk arrived at the 1st floor, his steps stopped as he noticed a user.

‘Isn’t that person the user from yesterday?’

There was a familiar face in the crowds.

‘He looks about the same.’

The man who had been killed accidently. He had memorised his face in case of a potential problem, so he could be sure. That man was Roa.

At that moment.

His eyes met with Roa’s. As Soo Hyuk stared at him, he thought. A PK was a PK. Plus, Roa had even left him a heroic grade map.

“…”

When he watched Roa for his reaction, to his surprise Roa had politely greeted him while bowing.

‘Was it towards me?’

Thinking that Roa’s greeting had been towards someone else, Soo Hyuk looked around ,but there weren’t any users around him.

‘Why?’

Why was Roa, who he PKed, greeting him so politely? Question marks started appearing around his head.

‘And who’s that?’

Roa wasn’t alone either. There was another man standing next him with the same guild mark above his head.

‘What are they talking about?’

After greeting him, Roa turned to the man and started talking.

‘They look like they’re talking about me…’

He couldn’t hear their conversation, but he still noticed their brief glances towards him as they talked. From this, he assumed that they were talking about him.

‘Are they planning revenge…! Wait, but what was that previous bow then?’

When he considered the possibility of revenge, the previous box caught his mind. Why bow towards him before revenge?

Step. Step.

As if their talk had concluded, Roa and the unknown started approaching. As he stared at their nearing figures, he thought,

‘They won’t attack me here.’

Assaulting someone inside the Mercenary Agency? It didn’t make sense. Plus, even if he had gained a bit of infamy, it was a negligible amount, not enough to warrant an attack.

‘But you never know,’

Nothing was certain in this world. There were always people like Adilo. As he prepared against a possible attack, Roa and the unknown man had arrived in front of him.

“Nice to meet you.”

The unknown man then politely greeted him first.

“Ah, hello.”

Soo Hyuk returned the greeting politely as well.

“I’m Kaian, the Koma Guild’s master.”

His identity was a guild master.

“Do you have some time?”

Kaian asked in the same polite manner.

‘What…’

Soo Hyuk thought as he listened to Kaian.

‘This isn’t the atmosphere I expected?’

He had been caught off-guard when Kaian had greeted him. Their approach was too soft. No hostility could be felt.

“Um, do you need anything?”

Soo Hyuk asked Kaian, his words blurring.

“First, I want to apologise.”

“Yes?”

Soo Hyuk’s mind was thrown into confusion at another curveball.

‘Apologise?’

What? Why? It was completely out of the blue.

“Roa, my friend had no ill intentions when he followed you.”

“Ah…”

Soo Hyuk ohed in realisation.

‘So he was following me.’

He had been wondering why Roa had been so near him, and now he found out.

‘But did they wait here just to apologise to me?’

Soo Hyuk stared at Kaian as he thought. Coming to the Mercenary Agency just to apologise?

‘No, they didn’t know I was going to be here.’

How would they know if he was here or not?  It didn’t make sense. There was no way a guild master would personally wait for him, who might’ve not shown up all day.

“Also…”

Kaian continued,

“I’m a fan.”

“…Eh?”

Soo Hyuk was sucked out of his thoughts at yet another curveball.

‘Fan?’

It was completely unexpected.

‘This person…’

Soo Hyuk stared suspiciously at Kaian. Meanwhile, Kaian was now staring at him with shining eyes, much like an actual fan.

“How you dealt with the Demon Guild, I fully support you.”

Kaian whispered after he made sure no one was around them.

“Ah, that…”

“Yes, our guild was also bullied by them, so our hearts were like ‘cheng!’ because of your work. You were brilliant.

Kaian’s mouth was slowly forming a smile as he talked on.

“Excuse me…”

Kaian then stared at Soo Hyuk with sparkling eyes.

“Can we be friends?”

* * *

“Ei, don’t lie.”

Roa retorted. But Kaian shook his head in response.

“It was real. He was level 110.”

The topic of their conversation.

“He beat up the Demon Guild, but his level is that low?”

It was Soo Hyuk’s level.

“Even if he is a double magician, 110 doesn’t make sense…”

He was the Demon Hunter Soo Hyuk. They could understand if the Demon Guild members were below level 50, but the Demon Guild were level 180~250 on average. Level 110? It was impossible even if he was a double magician.

“Wait, don’t you have to be over level 110 to learn Poison Storm?”

Roa asked as he realised. Soo Hyuk had used Poison Storm, but Poison Storm was impossible to learn at level 110.

“I’m curious about that as well. Was it really Poison Storm?”

“Yes! I died to it! Is he actually level 110?”

“Yep. 110.”

“Wah…”

Roa murmured at Kaian’s answer. He then opened his mouth again.

“Then won’t Soo Hyuk-nim struggle in the underground?”

Hadrac’s Underground Sewers. The monsters were incomparable to the ones above ground. It was to the point where if the entire Koma Guild raided it, they would be all wiped out without fail. Kaian had originally planned to ask for help since So Hyuk had the map now, but his level was 110. He did play with the Demon Guild, but could he do the same with Hadrac’s Sewers?

“No, it’s possible for Soo Hyuk-nim. Levels are important but not that important.”

Kaian denied Roa with a shake of his head.

“Plus, we only have 50 days left. Do you think we can succeed in that time?”

The reason they needed to raid the underground was because of a quest. And it wasn’t a normal quest, it was a S-rank guild special quest.

The quest also had a time limit. There were only 50 days left, and even if they focused on levelling, it would still be impossible.

“It’s not something to worry about now.”

What they had to worry about was if they could succeed with Soo Hyuk’s strength or not. However, that wasn’t the most important matter.

“Soo Hyuk-nim could also decline to help.”

Soo Hyuk’s consent was the most important.

“That is correct. So when are you going to ask him?”

Roa asked.

“…”

Kaian paused to collect his thoughts, then decided,

“Strike while the iron is hot. Let’s ask now.”