ETVC C21

Chapter 21

He feigned inquiry, yet in truth, his words were weighted with certainty, pressing me as though upon trial.
“Is it not you who ought to be questioned thus? Otherwise, what cause have you to join this event under the banner of our guild?”

“I shall take that as an admission and prepare another question. As I have told you before, Woojin-ssi, falsehoods do not suit you in the least.”

With idle grace, he brushed the book upon the table with his fingertips. I had thought my acting had improved somewhat, yet before Kang Gwonhoo, such efforts proved utterly in vain.

“And besides, I am no longer the guild master in any official sense. You may not know, but the moment I entered into contract with you, I ceded the master’s seat to my vice-master.”

That the vice-master who inherited the position was but a puppet was so common a rumor that even a dog upon the street might bark it. Even the cat lying docilely by my side must surely know as much.

Though sooner than in the original tale, Kang Gwonhoo had indeed entrusted his guild’s leadership to another. There were matters beyond the guild requiring his hand—such as the organization to which the man I once saw in the warehouse belonged—and, should trouble arise, he might easily shrug away responsibility.

Whilst I was absorbed in thought, Kang Gwonhoo closed the book and rose from his seat.
“I intend to go out for provisions. Will you accompany me?”

The notion was strange—he who looked the very image of a man accustomed to servants and catered meals professing to cook with his own hands.
“Do you prepare your own meals?”

“I possess resistance to most poisons, yet to guard against any unforeseen mishap, I prefer to cook myself.”

Hearing this, I felt most keenly how many foes this man must have. Baek Soohyuk, though master of a great guild as well, was surrounded by loyal confidants, bound to him by trust. Many pledged themselves to his cause, and he, knowing this, did not doubt mankind.

But this man was of another kind. Though he, too, commanded the loyalty of many, he was surrounded by those who merely feigned devotion whilst sharpening the knives for his back. Thus, from the first, he believed in none. Kang Gwonhoo had grown amidst the slums of hunters, where today’s ally was tomorrow’s betrayer, where treachery was the air one breathed. That childhood, steeped in malice, had shaped such a mind.

“Even ere he set foot upon the darker path, he was already thus.”

Despite myself, I felt a flicker of pity for him.

“Very well, I shall go with you.”

Better to accompany him than sit idly, so I followed him towards the entrance.

Crash!

A long spear hurtled toward us the instant we stepped outside. Instinctively, I shut my eyes, bracing for pain—yet none came.

“Urgh…”

Opening them but a fraction, I saw the weapon firmly in Kang Gwonhoo’s grasp.

He caught a flying spear with his bare hand? Surely it had been imbued with skill. How could he seize it so lightly?

With the strength of his grip alone, he snapped the spear as though it were brittle kindling. Then, moving with the elegance and swiftness of a leopard, he surged forward and seized a man into the air.

“Keuk—th-this cannot be—”

The assailant, clad in a hunter’s garb, was a small-framed man. He flailed, choking out broken words, but the tightening grip silenced him.

“Do you bear the guild’s mark?”

“Ugh… th-that I cannot…”

Though his eyes brimmed red with agony, he gave no answer.

“I’ve no taste for stripping men bare, yet if you will not speak, I shall verify by force.”

His intent was plain: he would disrobe him if need be. The intruder, after much babbling, clamped his mouth shut.

“The interface kindly reveals the truth. If you are of the Ju-ro guild, then it is known well enough. That guild master would never entrust the mark to the likes of you.”

Convinced, Kang Gwonhoo raised his fist and brought it down upon the man’s face. No skill aided the blow, yet with but one strike, the body went limp. Once, twice, thrice, the relentless beating continued.

H-he shall die at this rate!

I could not bear to watch a man slain before my eyes. Flustered, I seized Kang Gwonhoo’s arm just as he drew back to strike again. His gaze, half-turned, found me with an unblinking eye.

“Y-you do not mean to kill him, do you?”

Silently, within my heart, I begged him—anything but murder. To me, raised in peace, this was far removed from slaying beasts or monsters; this was a human life.

“He sought my death. This is but self-defense.”

In my former world, no court would deem such brutality the work of self-defense—not when the man striking bore monstrous strength.

“Please… refrain. I cannot endure seeing one who has lost the will to fight beaten further.”

Clinging to his arm, I shook my head fervently. For this moment, I cared not how pitiful I appeared in his eyes.

“You have survived long with such naïveté, Woojin-ssi. My habit is to crush any future trouble before it can rise. But if your will is otherwise, then here I shall stop.”

At his words, I glimpsed the perilous world in which he had lived. He flung the man to the ground as though tossing refuse. Then, bending low, he whispered into the quivering intruder’s ear:

“Bear my words to your guild master. Send tens, send hundreds, it matters not. Better yet, come yourself. If you lack the spine, then sit and wait until I tear apart that wretched face of yours.”

A foul threat laced with vulgarity.

Forget it. I did not hear it. I heard nothing at all.

I cursed Baek Woojin’s heightened hearing as I tapped my ears in vain. With that, Kang Gwonhoo rolled the intruder outside the threshold and led me toward his car. I followed in a daze, dragged like a sack of grain.

“Enter.”

He wiped the blood from his hands with a handkerchief, opened the car door for me, and discarded the stained cloth upon the ground.

“M-my thanks.”

Before stepping in, I cast one last glance at the assailant. He lay still, and worry pricked my heart.

Left thus, shall he not truly die?

Yet beside me, Kang Gwonhoo calmly fastened his seatbelt, as though he had not moments ago beaten a man half to death.

“Pay it no mind. He is a hunter; were he unable to rise, that would be strange.”

Harsh words, cold as ice. Such was the world that had never shown him tenderness, and thus he had none to give.

I quelled the pity rising within me.
What nonsense, to pity a man who commits evil so readily and lives untroubled by it.

Shaking my head, I forced the thought away.

Contrary to my fears, nothing more befell us that day. We shopped and returned safely to his home. Though we crossed paths with guilds also taking part in the event, most kept their distance—too wary upon the first day. And later, Kang Gwonhoo himself prepared our meal, which we four shared heartily. If there was a task to be named, it was waking Ryu Jisoo from her exhaustion after training and sending her home.

And so four days passed.

Now I reclined comfortably upon Kang Gwonhoo’s sofa, reading at ease.

Am I truly permitted to idle thus?

Unease stirred, and I opened the event window.

[Guild War Rankings]
The guild that has vanquished the most others is “Dohwawon.” (Guild Master: Baek Soohyuk, Total Score: 45 points)
The guild that has absorbed the most others is “Chaostic.” (Guild Master: Lee Gowoon, Total Score: 40 points)
“Chronos” has vanquished 3 guilds.
“Chronos” has absorbed 0 guilds.

The tension had waned. Kang Gwonhoo oft returned as he had on the first day, dispatching those who sought us out, and thus without lifting a finger, we had already felled three guilds. At this point, it could scarce be called my guild—it was Kang Gwonhoo’s guild in all but name.

I cast my gaze upon him where he sat reading before me, surveying him from crown to toe.
“Do your guild members not reproach you for this?”

“They do wonder at my designs.”

Which was to say, he offered no clear direction even to his own followers.

“This is hardly the first time I’ve acted so, and since the results have never failed, they choose to trust me.”

It was plain that beneath their trust lay the unspoken thought: and if we do not, what then?

“Things seem turbulent beyond these walls.”

Unlike our tranquil guild, the daily flood of reports revealed chaos without end—this guild toppling that, alliances forming for power’s sake, turmoil unceasing. Guilds that had once kept a modest front now rampaged openly, emboldened by the system’s design. Even civilians had been harmed, leading to penalties, a grim reminder of the cost.