Chapter 134

Chapter 134

“You’re back! Brother!”

“You must be exhausted! Brother!”

“Celebrating your safe return! Brother!”

In front of the Guardian Guild headquarters.

Ten men and women bowed at a 90-degree angle toward Dojae.

Their booming voices echoed between the buildings.

“What on earth is this?”

Dojae halted his steps and looked at the new guild members.

They were all wearing identical outfits.

Uniforms are commonly worn in guilds to foster a sense of belonging or pride, but the uniforms they wore were somewhat unique.

Thump-thump-thump-!

An Taegun strode out confidently and bowed his head.

He was the new guild member who had received training from Briasius.

He personally carried Dojae’s luggage and said,

“If you’re Do-jun’s older brother, then you’re our older brother too. Eldest Brother, did you have any trouble during your journey?”

“…Haa. Bri… Did Do-jun tell you to do this?”

“No! We are sincerely and wholeheartedly congratulating you, Big Brother, on your safe return…”

“Enough. Just leave the luggage there and everyone go inside….”

“Yes, sir!”

Dojae pressed one hand firmly against his forehead while waving the other.

The new guild members lined up at the door bowed 90 degrees toward Dojae once more before darting inside the building.

“Wow… Brother, when did you rise to the position of eldest brother? That’s incredible!”

Yeongjin, watching from the side, says, desperately holding back laughter.

Knowing Dojae didn’t enjoy being the center of attention, Youngjin understood exactly how he must feel.

A somewhat provocative and childish performance, the kind you’d expect to see in a noir movie unfolding right in the middle of the street.

It drew the attention of passersby. Seeing Do-jae hang his head, Young-jin knew he was deeply embarrassed. In fact, Do-jae was extremely mortified.

“Shut up! More importantly, go find out what happened to those clothes.”

“Yes.”

Do-jae quickly disappeared inside the building.

Young-jin gathered the remaining luggage and followed Do-jae inside.

***

Ding-dong.

– Fifth floor.

Do-jae headed straight for Jung Hoon-hyun.

He needed to meet Briasius, see Eun-hee and Ji-yoon, and also meet Ha Tae-seong, but before that, there was something he had to tell them.

Knock knock-.

“It’s Lee Do-jae.”

Do-jae opened Jung Hoon-hyun’s door and entered.

Jung Hoon-hyun was talking with some old man.

“Huh? Bugilma’s here? Just a moment. Well then, I’ll leave it to you…”

“What could I possibly ask the old man to take care of? I’ll just do as Hwan-su tells me.”

After Jung Hoon-hyun and the old man shook hands, the old man stood up and left the room.

Their eyes met briefly on the way out, but he merely smiled faintly and left without a word.

“Did you handle the task well?”

“Yes, I handled it well.”

“I suppose I should congratulate you… But since you were sent by Hwan-su hyung, I haven’t been able to ask until now… What exactly is Bugilma?”

“What do you mean, ‘what is it’…?”

“Well, it’s funny that someone like Bugilma is stuck in our guild, and he always goes solo on dungeon runs and cleans them out… I mean, thanks to him, the guild has grown this big, but… I’m just curious.”

“Ah…”

Come to think of it, I never told Jung Hoon-hyun about Gelahan.

Kim Se-hoon of Daeho, Kwak Ji-hyuk of Taebaek, Bang Han-su of the Expeditionary Force, Song Jeong-eun of the Association.

And only to Kwon Ran-hee of Manseong.

It was highly likely, no, 100% certain that the story had spread from their mouths to other leaders, but no articles or news had surfaced anywhere yet. That meant the agreement made back then to prevent chaos was still holding.

Monsters, dungeons, awakened ones.

It was impossible to predict how the public would react if it were announced that all these phenomena originated from Gelahan.

Even in this changed world, the fact that ‘God exists’ remains difficult to accept.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I should have told you, Master…”

“No, no! I didn’t mean you had to tell him… It’s just… I mean… We haven’t been together long, but we’re family now… It must be hard to carry all that worry alone, right? Haha… I don’t know if I can help, but at least I can listen…”

“Yes. Actually, I had something related to that I wanted to tell you, so this works out well. I’ll go get the kids over here.”

“Let’s do it.”

Dojae decided to explain everything to Jung Hoonhyun.

And everything about himself too.

At least Jung Hoon-hyun, Young-jin, Ji-yoon, and Eun-hee were trustworthy people, and he needed to tell them.

***

Ten minutes later.

Jung Hoon-hyun’s room fills with people.

Although they had moved and made the guildmaster’s room larger than before, with seven people crammed inside, it looked a bit cramped.

“What’s going on?”

Young-jin was the first to speak.

He couldn’t contain his curiosity, seeing all the key members of Suhwo gathered together.

“Yeah, right? A sudden meeting? What happened in the US?”

Ji-yoon asked Young-jin.

Young-jin tilted his head and shook it.

“Alright, everyone’s here, so let’s get started. Bugilma has something to say. Take your seats.”

Jeong Hoon-hyun seated the standing guild members.

The guild members found empty seats and gathered around Dojae.

“I gathered you all here because I have something important to discuss. It concerns the fundamental reason why you’ve been fighting monsters all this time…”

Dojae began cautiously.

Unlike his usual self, Dojae’s solemn demeanor drew everyone’s focused attention.

“First, just hearing what I have to say won’t drastically change your lives. You’ll keep fighting monsters, surviving monsters… just that from now on, that life will become harder…”

Riiing- Riiing- Riiing-.

The sound of someone’s smartphone alarm interrupted Dojae’s words.

“Who is it? This is an important conversation.”

Jung Hoon-hyun asks in an annoyed tone.

Then, a man turned off the alarm with a bright smile.

Briasius, Do-jun.

“Ah! Can’t miss the hot time slot.”

Then Briasiilius turns on his mobile game and starts playing.

Jeong Hoon-hyun and Young-jin stared at the scene in disbelief, but the others just shrugged it off.

“Come on, even so, that’s a bit much. Playing games in the middle of a conversation?”

“It’s fine. Don’t mind Dojun. He’s always been like that.”

Dojae calmed Junghoonhyun, who looked displeased.

Briasilius didn’t really need to be here. While gathering other guild members, he insisted on taking a seat when key figures started arriving, figuring he should be present too.

Anyway, Briasilius knew about Gelahan’s existence and had no interest in any other lifeforms besides himself, so he didn’t need to focus on the conversation.

Of course, for Young-jin and Ji-yoon’s sake, he also planned not to mention that Briasius was the dragon from the Busan extermination campaign.

“Then let us continue. In the near future, the Republic of Korea will face a cataclysmic-scale monster invasion.”

“……?”

“……!”

Everyone’s expressions changed dramatically at Dojae’s words.

Yeongjin and Ji-yoon’s eyes widened, Eun-hee covered her mouth in shock, and Ha Tae-seong clutched his severed arm.

That’s how shocking Dojae’s words were.

“Remember when Bu-gilma and I visited the Association last week? That’s what came up then. And to prepare for it, under the Association’s leadership, each guild is having close discussions. Investigations are also continuing based on the image described by the prophetess, Helen Lopez.”

Jung Hoon-hyun offered a secondary explanation to calm the guild members’ unsettled minds.

But the chaotic atmosphere didn’t easily subside.

“Don’t worry too much. What I’m about to say concerns me and that destruction. You can decide for yourselves whether to believe me or not.”

Dojae downed a cup of iced Americano.

Then he slowly began his story.

He told them everything: how he became a Golem Sorcerer, the sealed memories and the Transcendence Stone, the otherworld, and even the Seekers and the Renegades.

***

“I don’t doubt what you say, Master Bugilma… but it’s truly hard to believe…”

After hearing all of Dojae’s story.

Ha Taeseong spoke for the first time.

He couldn’t process the immense tale that defied his understanding.

No, it was a story impossible to even process.

“No, I believe what you said, hyung. When we first met, you said you were originally F-grade.”

“That’s right. When I first met him, he said he was an F-grade!”

“I saw it myself. How hard Mr. Dojae, who was F-grade, worked to live…”

Meanwhile, Ji-yoon, Young-jin, and Eun-hee showed Do-jae their complete trust.

Especially Eun-hee, knowing Do-jae’s past before he became a Golem Sorcerer, had no choice but to believe his story, no matter how unimaginable it seemed.

“So you’re saying all the monsters we’ve hunted so far were intelligent beings? Humans?”

Jung Hoon-hyun asked with a troubled expression.

Until now, they had thought of them as mere threats to humans, possessing intelligence on par with animals.

But according to Dojae, ‘monsters’ was merely a name humans had given them, and weren’t they actually a race like humans, called Grey Elves?

“No. In that world too, monsters and other races were clearly distinguished. Not intelligence, but intellect. Those possessing intellect live in social relationships like us humans. The Grey Elves were also engaged in a survival competition with monsters. However… Gelahan’s power transformed them into monsters and is now affecting our world.”

“Intelligence…”

“Monsters and other races…”

Jung Hoon-hyun and Ha Tae-sung fell deep in thought.

The part Dojae worried about most.

The emotions they would feel upon realizing that the creatures they had hunted without guilt, assuming they were simply monsters, were actually beings capable of human-like thought.

Do-jae, who was still conflicted and agonizing over this very issue, hesitated over how to put it into words, but ultimately laid it out plainly.

“But the fact that they’re our enemies right now hasn’t changed, has it? I… I almost died because of that guy.”

Young-jin said, clenching his fist.

When Young-jin first joined the extermination force, he had nearly been killed by the Hoiin.

For Young-jin, at the very least, the Hwain were no different from any other monster.

“If I think of it as a human instead of a monster… I find that difficult…”

“Sis! No matter what they are, those bastards kill us without mercy! Think about the comrades sacrificed by them!”

Ji-yoon snapped angrily at Eun-hee’s hesitation.

It was understandable that Jung Hoon-hyun and Eun-hee felt that way about the other species.

This is the difference between hunters and extermination troops.

Hunters enter dungeons to hunt monsters themselves.

However, the extermination force hunts monsters that attack humans when a dungeon break occurs.

It’s a difference in perspective born from the differing objectives of the two professions.

It was a difference in ideology between those who kill first and those who fight to prevent anyone from dying.

“That’s right. Both Ji-yoon’s thoughts and Eun-hee’s thoughts are correct. So I’ve decided to focus only on this. Gelahan. I’ve decided to focus only on eliminating Gelahan.”

When thoughts are too many and things get complicated, simplify.

Focus solely on one clear goal.

“And finally, there’s one last thing I need to tell you.”

Dojae downed the rest of his Americano.

He had intended to say this only to Jung Hoon-hyun, but ended up telling all the guild members about himself. Still, his final words were these.

“I’m crossing back into the other world in two weeks. This was the promise I made to the Seeker during the Busan campaign.”