Chapter 734
Team Leader Choi Minwoo usually shows almost no change in expression. He doesn’t easily reveal his emotions to others, and in interviews with the press, he always speaks concisely and to the point, leaving even veteran reporters—who supposedly grabbed a microphone at their first birthday—flustered.
But even Team Leader Choi Minwoo is, after all, a person with blood running through his veins. He, too, occasionally shows quite rich emotions.
Especially when he’s talking with me, he tends to pour out the emotions he normally keeps buried without reservation.
Just like now.
“Odin Guild, huh?”
“I want to see the face of the owner there.”
No sooner had I said it than his mouth fell open.
His eyelids trembled, and his pupils were already quaking.
This bastard. He thinks I’m about to stir up trouble again.
Team Leader Choi Minwoo, giving me that exact look, finally managed to dredge up his voice after a long silence.
“Are you saying that seriously right now?”
After thinking for a moment, I answered.
“Maybe fifty-fifty?”
“That means you’re half-crazy.”
“Does it come across that way?”
“I’m asking this out of genuine curiosity. Where did you get this insane idea to go meet the Odin Guild Leader right away? Your heart? Your head?”
“My heart.”
Team Leader Choi Minwoo sighed at my short answer.
“That’s a relief, at least. So you’re not completely crazy yet.”
“Calling a perfectly sane person crazy. I’m just going to see his face and have a cup of coffee. Ares Guild has branches in France anyway, so I figured I could use that as an excuse—”
“Not chain stores. Guild branches. And you expect me to believe that? Are you kidding me?”
At Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s serious question, I clicked my tongue.
“Well, if things don’t go well with them, there might be a bit of trouble.”
“I’ll take that to mean a lot of trouble will occur.”
I almost shot back, ‘Why so much?’ but I held it in.
In good conscience, I couldn’t say Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s worries were exaggerated.
It was only a few weeks ago, in modern time, that I’d stormed into the Ares Guild alone and smashed Seok Go-jun’s head.
‘I can’t say anything. I caused it.’
And I’m not an idiot. I knew perfectly well that if I followed my heart right now, I’d be walking straight into a very bad ending.
“Okay.”
“The Eiffel Tower collapses, the guild collapses, public opinion turns to ashes—huh?”
“I said okay.”
Team Leader Choi Minwoo, already suffering from hallucinations, blinked.
“Really?”
I nodded lightly.
“There’s no justification to begin with.”
Even in Murim, where human lives are treated like livestock, you still need at least a minimum justification.
But if I flew to Paris right now and rammed into the Odin Guild, all I’d earn is an Interpol wanted notice.
‘At least when I dealt with Seok Go-jun, I had the public behind me.’
Even though it caused a worldwide uproar, it happened domestically, and unlike now, the testimonies and evidence were clear.
On top of that, there was public fury toward Seok Go-jun for his inhumane crimes.
The reason I managed to avoid becoming a criminal despite acting outside the law was because of all those factors.
‘But Paris will be different.’
My heart is screaming at me to charge into Paris and raise hell right now, but the reason that’s still barely alive in me is looking reality in the face.
At my choice, Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s eyes widened, and Skeleton King—who’d been diligently staring at his smartphone while shoveling down yukgaejang—dropped his spoon with a clatter.
“No way. Did you just say justification?”
“Unbelievable. You monster! What did you do to that wicked human!”
“Jin Taekyung. This is a simple confirmation process, so please don’t take it too offensively. Where was the place we first met?”
“Hey! Doppelganger! Get out of that wicked human’s body!”
They were really putting on a show.
Instead of answering, I smacked the top of Skeleton King’s head with the spoon that had been on the table.
Thwack!
“Skull! My beautiful skull!”
Watching Skeleton King wail, Team Leader Choi Minwoo nodded.
“That’s a relief. It’s definitely Jin Taekyung.”
After finishing that oddly unpleasant confirmation process, Team Leader Choi Minwoo let out a sigh of relief.
“Anyway, I’m glad you changed your mind.”
“If this were something I could solve that way, I would’ve booked a ticket to Paris right now, international crime or whatever.”
“That’s right. If the Odin Guild disappears, another Odin Guild will appear, just like when the Ares Guild was the enemy. The world is wide, and the empty space left by a defeated enemy gets filled by another enemy.”
Just as we took over the Ares Guild through siege, so do they.
Now, it was the duty of the lord to defend the castle from the swarms of competitors around him and expand his territory as much as possible.
And the Odin Guild wasn’t some stray dog that wandered in from who knows where.
A beast with a huge body and sharp claws.
And greedy.
Just like what was written on the tablet PC Team Leader Choi Minwoo had just handed me.
“This is…”
“This is an unofficial participation proposal the Chinese government delivered to the Odin Guild during the Sichuan Monster Wave. Of course, it’s unofficial and has no legal effect.”
An unofficial proposal.
I wondered how Team Leader Choi Minwoo had gotten his hands on data that should’ve been almost impossible to leak, but the answer came quickly.
“President Jong-seok gave it to you?”
“Not Chairman Jong-seok. President Xiao Yang.”
“Yeah. So Uncle Jong-seok.”
“What’s wrong with that? It’s friendly, and that uncle likes me a lot anyway.”
Team Leader Choi Minwoo looked half-resigned and continued.
“As Jin Taekyung knows, the State Council and the Standing Committee of China were reluctant to ask for help from abroad in the early stages. In particular, they strongly opposed support from the Western world.”
Skeleton King, carefully rubbing his skull, suddenly cut in with a puzzled face.
“Opposed? Why?”
Well. Why would they?
There were several ways to explain it, but in the end, it came down to one thing.
I gave him the correct answer kindly.
“Because it’s China.”
“What does that mean? Other humans are dying.”
“It’s China.”
“No, wicked human. It seems you didn’t understand this body’s question—”
“Yeah. China.”
“There is such a thing. You may not know it yet, but.”
Leaving Skeleton King’s face full of question marks behind, I turned back to Team Leader Choi Minwoo.
“But anyway, you ended up requesting support from the Western world, right? Prince Felix of England and Magic Johnson, too.”
“Yes. As the damage from the Arch Lich grew astronomically, the Chinese leadership had no choice but to accept President Xiao Yang’s argument. However, they also had to brace themselves, assuming they would have to pay a reasonable price diplomatically and materially once the situation ended.”
The S-class Hunters gathered that way numbered four, excluding me.
That alone was an overwhelming force, but what mattered now was something else.
The fact that the Odin Guild—who should have been the core alongside the Ares Guild led by Lee Jeong-ryong—had withdrawn.
“But why did they reject the offer? At this level, the Odin Guild should’ve accepted. I mean, it’s the kind of amount you take unconditionally.”
The support money written on the tablet was truly enormous.
Nearly twice what I’d vaguely heard the Ares Guild received, with several additional perks attached.
It was treatment worthy of the name Odin.
But my questions were neatly answered by Team Leader Choi Minwoo’s next words.
“The Chinese government was the one who ultimately rejected it.”
“Yes?”
“Near the end of negotiations, the Odin Guild attached additional conditions.”
“Additional conditions would be…”
Team Leader Choi Minwoo took a sip of lukewarm coffee and continued in a low voice.
“Leasing ten cities—including Chengdu, Meishan, Ziyang, and Suining, the representative historical districts of Sichuan Province—to the Odin Guild for the next ninety-nine years, and allowing the establishment of a formal branch in Beijing.”
“…!”
“It was essentially a proposal to cede Sichuan Province. The formal branch—something prohibited by the Chinese government—was a bonus.”
What did I just hear?
I stared blankly at Team Leader Choi Minwoo and muttered.
“Wow, you crazy bastards. This is worse than the Chinese.”
“According to information provided by President Xiao Yang, the Odin Guild contacted the French government just before negotiations.”
“Even so, how can they make such an insane proposal?”
“It’s France.”
“No matter what, there’s such a thing as common sense.”
“It’s France.”
“…Excuse me, Team Leader?”
“France.”
For some reason, a strange sense of déjà vu crept over me.
Was it just my imagination?
Looking at my sour face, Team Leader Choi Minwoo spoke softly.
“Jin Taekyung. Do you know what Koreans call France by another name?”
“Ah.”
Realization struck, and I blurted it out.
“European Chinese…!”
Team Leader Choi Minwoo nodded.
“They’re just that kind, with different skin colors and cultures. The French don’t care if the president has an affair or does anything else. It’s no coincidence the Odin Guild is headquartered in Paris.”
“Even if there’s gossip, no one makes a fuss.”
“It reminds me of my school days in Paris. When my maternal grandfather’s picture showed up in the history textbook, everyone in class looked at me and tried to tear my eyes out.”
“Ah.”
“The teacher was tearing them too.”
“Ah. Ah…”
“It’s okay. It’s all in the past.”
Pushing aside those painful childhood memories, Team Leader Choi Minwoo continued.
“The most important fact right now is that even the Odin Guild, backed by a French government like that, cannot move easily. So instead of direct threats, they can only end up with warnings—like the assassination of the Wu Xue Ming family this time.”
That’s right.
Right now, Cheon Tae-min’s flag was flying on the walls of the Ares Guild, and the image I’d shown the world so far couldn’t be ignored.
Even if it was the Odin Guild, hailed as the best in the world, it was the same.
And above all—
“People all over the world are cheering for us. The media can’t openly criticize giant guilds, but public opinion against them is considerable.”
Public sentiment.
The strongest weapon and shield we’d gained through releasing the Smiling Mana Cultivation Method.
We needed to squeeze every last drop out of the public sentiment in our hands, until even the Odin Guild couldn’t dare touch us—
“Um. Sorry to break the mood.”
Skeleton King suddenly spoke and held out his smartphone.
“Is this the kind of cheering you’re talking about?”
On the screen was a breaking news flash posted just dozens of seconds ago.
[Odin Guild Declares Support for Ares.]
[Odin Guild Releases New Mana Cultivation Method.]
[High-ranking official, “Project prepared for several years.”]
[“Although one step late, we want to change the world with them.”]
What the hell is this now.