-Donation receipt?

-Why does that matter? Atonement?

-Hey, look at the amount. He donated a lot?

-Hah... The amount of the donation is one billion won.

To be precise, ‘1,060,000,000 won’ was written on the receipt.

“This is the money I’ve earned from working as a proxy knight. I’ve donated all the money to atone for my past. You don’t have to forgive me. However, I realized my mistake and decided to become a better person. Thank you for listening to me.”

Lee Hoon bowed and disappeared from the arena with these words. Then the chat window started to heat up. The audience’s opinions were divided, and they started to fight. The donation of a billion won clearly meant Lee Hoon was repenting for what he’d done in the past. Still, the stream was well done, so it was an investment for the future.

-No, how good is Red Devil’s streaming that he would give away one billion won? He is still just a common arena streamer. If it were you, would you invest one billion won?

-I wouldn’t be able to. Heder just did it because he has a past.

-Eh, no way.

Public opinion slowly crept in Heder’s favor, but it was at a very slow speed. The opinion that he chose to cut himself off from the past by donating the one billion won he had earned while working as a proxy knight became popular.

At this point, Hyeonu intervened in the chat. Hyeonu didn’t add any nuances. He only reorganized the facts. “One billion won isn’t a small amount of money. Investing one billion won in this vague future is like investing in stocks without knowing anything. It is crazy. Anyway, I’ll see you in the next stream.”

***

A laptop was placed in front of Hyeonu where he was sitting on the sofa as usual. Next to the laptop was a plate of fruits sliced into bite-sized pieces and a drink.

“Um...” A groan flowed from Hyeonu’s mouth as he looked at the laptop screen. Aside from Rain, there were four people on the screen. Documents from Gang Junggu, Liu Shei, Mascherano, and Reina were there. The names of as many as two guilds were written in each document, and there was at least one name that Hyeonu was unfamiliar with.

‘JT Telecom, Mano, Blaine, Five Stars, the Tank Corps, and Zenith.’

Among them, Hyeonu had encountered half of the guilds personally. JT Telecom, Mano, and Zenith—all three of them were bad news. There was JT Telecom, which included Jung Hanbaek, and Mano, that Hyeonu had already fought with once. There was also Zenith that Hyeonu had friction with in the Balder Mountains. Once Hyeonu saw those names, his conscience disappeared.

‘The Tank Corps are really famous.’

Unusually, the Tank Corps consisted entirely of Europeans. Germany, Belgium, and France were the main focus. It was one of the best guilds, apart from New World.

‘The master is called Daniel? He’s that runaway.’

Daniel was the man who almost left a stain on Hyeonu’s career when Masked Fighting King had just started. It went well at the time, but Hyeonu’s heart still beat faster when he thought about it now.

‘Blaine and Five Stars?’

It was the first time he was hearing about the guilds—Blaine and Five Stars. No, he knew their names, but that was it. They were large guilds that were famous in Arena, so he couldn’t not know their names. However, he didn’t know any detailed information such as their masters, the main contenders, and the strengths of the guilds.

Nevertheless, Hyeonu wasn’t worried. He didn’t go to the community to find information. After all, Hyeonu had a vending machine for this sort of information.

“Hey, what are Blaine and Five Stars doing?”

It was Yeongchan. Yeongchan barely suppressed his desire to spit out the Coke he was drinking.

“Cough... What? What are they doing? Are you kidding me?”

Yeongchan slammed the glass of Coke onto the table. It was just in case his hand moved with agitation.

“What is it? I’m asking because I don’t know. I only know the names—Blaine, Five Stars.”

Yeongchan sighed at Hyeonu’s words. This friend truly didn’t know.

“You should pay some attention. New World, Red Bull, Warriors... Don’t just think about the people you know. I’ll start with Blaine,” Yeongchan said and sat down on the sofa. It was because this seemed like it would take quite a long time. Then he continued, “Blaine is a guild founded by Anthony, the grandmaster of the arena. As such, there are quite a few arena rankers. They have excellent control, and their raid ability is very good.”

“Really? How is it compared to Mano?”

“Mano? The comparison is a pitiful one. Marco is an early master at most. Anthony is called the grandmaster. They can’t be compared. In addition, Anthony’s personality is good, so many people follow him. The levels of the guild members are different. Mano only got to this position because of Patrick’s resourcefulness.”

In his words, Blaine was a pretty good guild. It was too much to just use and discard them.

‘The information will spread anyway, so I think it is okay to spread it.’

Hyeonu wrote Blaine’s name separately. Then he picked up a piece of fruit, placed it in his mouth, and chewed it.

“Then what about Five Stars? Why is this name so childish? The naming sense is at the very bottom. Kowloon is an exemplar A-grade name.”

“Five Stars was created by five arena master rankers... The rumors about them are bad. It’s rumored that there are organizations within the guild specializing in PK. In any case, they are dirty.”

Hyeonu listened to Yeongchan and quietly listed Five Stars next to Zenith. The guild classification had ended. The list of four guilds, led by JT Telecom, were cannon fodder. On the other hand, Hyeonu distinguished the Tank Corps and Blaine as guilds he could work with.

‘I have to make the equipment and go back quickly.’

Hyeonu pushed the plate of fruit in front of Yeongchan. “Hey, eat this and get rid of it.”

***

The inside of the smithy was filled with hot heat. A muscular dwarf and tall human were facing each other.

“No. Go back.” Edchan, a muscular dwarf, shook his head with a determined expression. “Didn’t I already make that weapon for you? Go back quickly. I have no more equipment to make for you.”

Hyeonu sighed when he saw Edchan’s iron-wall attitude.

‘There isn’t a lot left...’

It seemed he would have to take out his secret weapon. Hyeonu pulled out an object from his inventory.

“I really don’t have a lot of this left.”

“That?!”

The identity of the object Hyeonu took out was a small bottle of alcohol. It was the alcohol he had bought from the East Continent. He was ripped off by the emperor and Edchan the other day, but there were still a few bottles left.

“Groan...” A groan emerged from Edchan’s mouth.

Based on the rapid movement of his pupils, he seemed quite distressed. Would he give up on the good alcohol of the East Continent? Or would he make equipment? A helping hand was extended to Edchan who was engulfed in endless agony.

“I’ll give you two bottles, two bottles. I’ll give you one now and the other when the armor is finished.” Hyeonu ended Edchan’s troubles.

Edchan extended his right hand toward Hyeonu. “I will make the armor you said. Give me the alcohol.”

Hyeonu threw the bottle, and Edchan snatched it away. He opened the lid and started to drink from the bottle. “Kuah! It’s delicious. The heat is different from when I drink beer.”

Edchan closed the bottle with an ecstatic look. “Then take out the materials you’ve brought. I want to see them.”

Hyeonu pulled out the drake leather and heart that were placed in a corner of the inventory. “It is a drake’s leather. This is his heart.”

Edchan’s eyes shook when he saw the leather and heart that Hyeonu pulled out. He never imagined the materials brought by Hyeonu would be so luxurious.

“How did you get these? It wouldn’t have been possible on your own... What treasure warehouse did you steal it from?”

Hyeonu shrugged at Edchan’s words. “It is a secret. However, I’ll tell you that I got them in a very fair way.”

“What do you want?”

“I want you to make me a set of leather armor. A helmet, top, bottoms, belt, and shoes—I want it to have five parts like this.”

“Is that all? I think that there will be a lot of material left over... Tell me more because this is the last time. You won’t have another chance.”

Hyeonu shook his head. There were no more items he could wear.

“Everything that is left over can be for Edchan’s personal use. Those five are enough for me.”

“Really? Then I’m going. Come back in 10 days. Ah! Oh, call Tresha on your way out. Never tell him about the alcohol. Got it?”

‘10 days...’

Hyeonu bowed to Edchan and exited Red Anvil.

***

Hyeonu arrived in the Balder Mountains and ran straight to New World’s camp where Gang Junggu was located.

‘As expected of New World.’

New World beat the other four guilds and was the first to establish itself in the Balder Mountains. During this pioneering period, having a camp was very important. It was because the camp could store materials. The scarcest thing was potions. If potions could be stored in large quantities, then they could be replenished without having to go back to a castle.

This meant an increase in hunting time. It wasn’t just that. With a camp, safety would be guaranteed, so they could log out without returning to the castle. Thus, they could save some time.

‘By the way, why was I called?’

Gang Junggu had contacted Hyeonu by phone and said it was urgent. Hyeonu couldn’t help feeling anxious. This anxiety soon became a reality and flew at Hyeonu.

“Huh? Who has united with whom?” Hyeonu asked in a rare, agitated voice.

“Zenith, Five Stars, and Mano have joined together. They have already killed a few of Warriors’ players. That woman is running around wildly.” Gang Junggu’s expression was one of exhaustion. He was mentally fatigued from trying to stop Reina. Unlike her nickname of Ice Queen, Reina was quite fiery.

“I will go there. Zenith, Five Stars, Mano... How did you select the guilds?” Hyeonu’s voice sank.

The face behind the mask was distorted. He was outraged that his plan had been ruined.

‘The cost is great,’ Hyeonu thought.

Gang Junggu noticed that Hyeonu’s feelings weren’t good and hit Hyeonu’s shoulder several times. It was to comfort Hyeonu that it wasn’t his fault.

“Five Stars was brought by Kowloon, we brought Mano, and Rain brought Zenith. I’m not sure about Rain, but Kowloon and I brought ‘sacrifices’ to thoroughly suck up to them. I never imagined this would happen,” Gang Junggu explained.

Hyeonu nodded.

Sacrifices...

It was a sacrifice for something other than pioneering the Balder Mountains.

“Sacrifices... This time, I will take the sacrifices. Consider other guilds, Hyung-nim. I think we’ll have to reorganize things soon.”

Hyeonu’s eyes were filled with energy.