Chapter 65: 65

“What’s wrong?” Su-hyeun asked .

“Oh, were you there?” Lee Ju-ho answered .

He walked as fast as he could down the corridor . Hak-joon and Yun-seon also heard the commotion and left the room after Su-hyeun .

“There is a guest for you, Su-hyeun,” Lee Ju-ho said .

“Who is that?” Su-hyeun asked .

“Her name is Park Ji-yeon . She is the guild master of Ripper Guild and an S-Rank awakener . ”

Park Ji-yeon . The name sounded familiar to Su-hyeun .

He remembered her name and face . He had never met her in person though .

“Why is she looking for me?”

“I suppose she wants to suggest you join her guild . ”

“She came here herself?”

There were not many cases of S-Ranks working directly for guilds . Unless it was planned long ago, they spent most of their time climbing the Tower of Trials .

Lee Ju-ho thought .

It had been decided a few days ago when Su-hyeun got reexamined . As she led the green dungeon in Ansan not long ago, she might have been interested in Su-hyeun .

“Well, I suppose I can meet her,” Su-hyeun said . He took out his phone and added, “Of course, not in the building right now . ”

***

The lobby of the Authority was noisy with the voices of many journalists and awakeners . They had been waiting for Su-hyeun all this time, but they got louder because of the appearance of a celebrity .

“How long should I wait?”

“W-wait a second, please . I’ve forwarded your business and contact . So, I am sure you can meet him soon . ”

The lobby staff, who was dealing with guests in the lobby, began to sweat . He could not rejoice, even as a beautiful woman standing in front of his eyes . She was a beautiful lady with a milky-white face and dark hair in a bun . She was Park Ji-yeon .

“Is that so?” She thought for a moment, then nodded . “Ok . I will wait . Thank you . ”

“Oh . O-okay…”

The staff, who was worried about her pestering, sighed with relief . Soon after, Park Ji-yeon sat down on one seat and pulled the phone from her pocket . She glanced at the screen and got up .

In a small voice, she said, “I will be back in a minute . ”

“Where are you going?” Kim Seok-jin asked .

“It won’t take long . ”

“Watch out for the paparazzi,” Kim Seok-jin said .

“Sure . Don’t worry . ”

Swish—

As soon as she finished her words, Park Ji-yeon disappeared from her seat . It happened the moment he noticed that she was moving . It would be impossible for ordinary reporters or other awakeners to follow her .

“…I guess she got him . ”

Kim Seok-jin noticed where she went and smiled .

***

Whiz, bam—

Park Ji-yeon flew to the roof of the Authority . She lightly stepped on the wall of the building and went up about 20 floors . When she arrived, she could hear the voice .

“You are coming loudly, Ms . Ji-yeon . ”

She looked at the owner of the voice . It was an unfamiliar face, but she could tell who he was .

“Su-hyeun?”

Su-hyeun, who was sitting on the roof railing, put on a sour face . “…Are you talking down to me?”

“I heard you are younger than me,” Park Ji-yeon said .

She was only one year older than Su-hyeun . She must have heard about his age already . Su-hyeun realized that she had already researched enough about him .

“But we’re meeting for the first time… Never mind . I will talk casually, too . You are not much older than me anyway . ”

“Okay . ” Park Ji-yeon slowly walked toward Su-hyeun and asked, “I heard there were more people . Where are they?”

“I sent them back . I will see them later . Hak-joon and Mr . Ju-ho might be in the trouble by now though . ”

“I guess you don’t like being noticed, do you?”

“More exactly, I don’t like bothersome things . Time is precious, isn’t it? There is nothing much to gain and I don’t like being bothered like that,” Su-hyeun said and looked at Park Ji-yeon’s eyes . “So, unless you have a special case, keep your business short and simple . ”

“I like that,” Park Ji-yeon said .

As the place to talk was made, Su-hyeun rose from the railing where he was sitting . There was no chair or table to sit on, so Su-hyeun and Park Ji-yeon stood and faced each other .

“Do you want to join the Ripper Guild?” she asked .

“You started the conversation by talking down to me and now you are trying to recruit me?”

“But you won’t join anyway, won’t you?”

She was very straightforward . It almost sounded like teasing . If other S-Rank awakeners heard her proposals, they might have gotten mad .

In his previous life, he had not encountered her many times, so he had not seen her act like this . He had heard that she was an eccentric person, but he never personally experienced her personality .

“So, what are you saying now?” Su-hyeun asked .

“I just said so . Well, I really meant it, of course,” Park Ji-yeon said .

“So, since you know I won’t join anyway, you’re just poking around?”

“Yes . ”

“Then, what is your point?” Su-hyeun asked .

“When you join Ripper Guild, that means you literally will work under me . But I am sure that is not what you want…”

“If you don’t want that kind of relationship, what you want is cooperation?”

Park Ji-yeon smiled a little . “That is what I am talking about . ”

Su-hyeun narrowed his eyes . Perhaps things could easily be solved . As a matter of fact, he had been thinking about contacting Ripper Guild .

“What do you mean by cooperation?”

“I heard you had friction with the Dump Guild,” Park Ji-yeon said .

Su-hyeun nodded . Of course, the friction that she said did not mean Su-hyeun had killed the awakener of Dump Guild . She meant that Su-hyeun had spread the information about Dump Guild everywhere .

“At first, I just asked our vice guild master to recruit you… But I changed my mind after I heard you were involved with Dump Guild . I wanted to see you in person,” Park Ji-yeon said .

“Is that why you want to work with me?”

“Yes,” Park Ji-yeon erased the smile on her mouth and replied in a suppressed voice . “The destruction of Dump Guild . That is my goal . ”

If it was not about this in the first place, Su-hyeun would not have met her . If he met the guild master, the only thing they would ask about recruiting him . But…

“Is it a personal grudge?” he continued his thought .

In his previous life, Ripper Guild had disappeared due to an all-out war with Dump Guild . That alone was enough to suggest that Ripper Guild was an enemy of Dump Guild . But he didn’t know whether it was a guild-level struggle or a personal grudge by Park Ji-yeon . Instead, the possibility itself opened .

When he saw her eyes, he could tell — this kind of hostility was more likely a personal grudge .

“I think it will be a long talk . ” Su-hyeun looked down at the people gathered in front of the building and said, “Would you like to talk in some other place?”

***

Lee Ju-ho broke out in a cold sweat . When he looked around, there were a lot of people . More than a hundred people were asking questions at him .

“Is it really confirmed that Mr . Kim Su-hyeun became an S-rank awakener?”

“How did you get to know Kim Su-hyeun? I heard you were acquainted with him before the Anyang outbreak…”

“Wait . Jeez, please move! Hey, Lee Ju-ho! You know me, right? We met last time…”

Everybody was talking about different things . It was so chaotic . Among them, some awakeners from large guilds, who he could not remember the faces of, approached him pretending to know him well and asked about Su-hyeun .

Lee Ju-ho thought .

This was not the first time he had dealt with people to cover up Su-hyeun’s back . Of course, that time, there were not many people like this . Moreover, he had volunteered to do that . Su-hyeun told him to ignore them, but he could not just ignore all these people, considering the reputation of Su-hyeun . Anyway, they were journalists of the big press in this country, and they were the main figures of the big guilds . However, Su-hyeun’s stubbornness was not something that Lee Ju-ho could defeat .

“I think I should meet Park Ji-yeon in person,” Su-hyeun had said in an earnest voice, putting his hands on Lee Ju-ho’s shoulder . “I begging you, brother . ”

But what could Lee Ju-ho do? He just blamed himself because he became soft over that one word . In the end, he had to answer all the questions one by one .

***

The conversation with Park Ji-yeon took place in a room cafe on a secluded street . Unlike Su-hyeun, Park Ji-yeon was known for her face . She was beautiful and high-ranking, so she was quite a famous celebrity .

Even though they took time and came here, their conversation didn’t take long . They talked for about 30 minutes . Park Ji-yeon flicked her finger at the glass on the table .

Chink—

“I guess it is more like a concept of the enemy of an enemy is a friend, instead of cooperation . ”

“Well, that is cooperation . ”

Su-hyeun emptied the remaining beverages in an instant . He was thirsty because he had been talking a lot . At any rate, the goal had been achieved . He did not have to join the guild, but he could get their help when he needed it .

he thought .

The power of a large guild was not just from the number of people . It was the world that one awakener could do more than a hundred people . But he could not hear everything by himself . The power of the large guild was the information it could gather . They could talk and listen to many people . The information was also something that Su-hyeun needed . Of course, the fact that it was a cooperative relationship that benefited each party was a constant fact .

“It is only about the Dump Guild . Remember that,” Park Ji-yeon said .

She drew the line . That way, their promise could only work with Dump Guild . Su-hyeun, who had emptied the glass, nodded his head and got up .

“Besides that, I won’t need help from Ripper Guild for anything else . Don’t worry . ”

“What are you going to do from now on?”

“Why do you ask such an obvious question?” Su-hyeun asked . He finished what he had put off, so there was only one thing he had to do . “I have to keep challenging the Tower of Trials . ”

To Su-hyeun, S-Rank was just a passing phase . He had experienced many things above this . He was once the best awakener of the world . For him, this was the beginning .

“We’ve got a long way to go, haven’t we?”