EVS Chapter 20

“So you’re saying I need to gain Geon-joo’s favor?”

“Keep your voice down. The kid will hear.”

“Where on earth is a 22-year-old kid?”

Sa-yoon, who had brought Jongsik to his office to explain after he had been jealous of Geon-joo the entire way back to the guild after the meal, couldn’t help but think he shouldn’t have said anything.

He hadn’t explained in detail and had only mentioned that he needed to gain Geon-joo’s favor to resist the system. He thought he should at least tell Jongsik so he could get some support, but now it seemed fortunate if Jongsik didn’t ruin the plan, let alone support him, being blinded by his hurt feelings.

“If he’s that old, Geon-joo should be able to handle things on his own, so why are you being so attentive to him? Go in and sleep, take vitamins if you’re tired, you’re being so caring.”

Jongsik, who said that, was thirty-two. When Sa-yoon raised his eyes at the man who always called him “hyung-nim” despite being older than him, Jongsik, who quickly lowered his tail, mumbled, “It’s just a figure of speech.” Sa-yoon, just in case, expanded the range his senses could detect to the maximum. His heightened five senses scanned for any presence outside the door.

Although the Night Rats had a total of just over 80 members, including the elite guild members residing in the guild, there was no presence of people felt on the floor of Sa-yoon’s office, located just below the top floor. By now, everyone would be busy with work piling up to make time for the welcome party in the evening, so in a way, it was natural.

After carefully examining, thinking it was better to be safe than sorry, he lifted his head. He saw the bear-like man leaning against the sofa, engrossed in something.

“Previously, it told you to find the Disposition holder, and now it’s telling you to get close to him, so doesn’t Geon-joo have something?”

“For example?”

“Like skills or something.”

“Come to think of it, I didn’t properly check his skills.”

At the villa, Sa-yoon had been so focused on confirming if the Disposition matched that he hadn’t properly checked the status window. He couldn’t even remember what exclusive skills Geon-joo had, so Sa-yoon, who sat across from Jongsik, wiggled his toes.

Since he had told Geon-joo to go in and sleep because he would be tired, it was unreasonable to call him right away and check. It seemed he would have to check when the welcome party was over.

Having settled his thoughts there for now, Sa-yoon turned his gaze toward the desk. Jongsik, who had been coordinating with him for a long time and had a good sense for work, noticed what he wanted and handed him the documents that had been placed on the desk.

“How’s the gate clear time?”

“There’s one that’s faster than scheduled.”

“Is it a change?”

“I sent a raid team to the C-grade gate, and judging by the lack of abnormalities after they entered, it doesn’t seem to be a change.”

“I’ll assign a scout, so have another team on standby. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

The gates that Sa-yoon had forcibly saturated were all someone else’s gates or unregistered gates with no owner. Since he thoroughly controlled the gates managed by the Night Rats, he instructed them to be careful and handled the remaining work. The management of the merger with Yongho was handed over to an executive who knocked on the office door just in time.

As if pleased with the new task, the executive-level Hunter who had come up to report left the office with a face that looked like he was about to cry at any moment after receiving the gift.

Jongsik, who watched the closing door with a pitiful expression, handed over the remaining documents.

“Please stop tormenting Chanhui.”

“What do you mean tormenting? I gave him more because he’s good at his job. Haven’t you heard that being busy is a good thing, Jongsik?”

“Doesn’t he leave crying?”

“That’s an expression of being moved to tears.”

Sa-yoon responded nonchalantly. Jongsik clicked his tongue, saying not to talk nonsense.

“He’s a quick-witted guy who joined after a long time. If Chanhui quits, I might quit too.”

“He can’t quit because he’s my fan.”

“Yes, well, I suppose so.”

Jongsik was well aware of Chanhui’s fervent fandom for Sa-yoon. Jongsik, whose mind only worked swiftly when he had work in his hands, casually replied and continued with the remaining reports. The work that had been put off while searching for the Disposition holder was helped by Jongsik, and with executives coming in to assist from time to time, it was sorted out as swiftly as it had been delayed.

Sa-yoon, who had handled everything that would be troublesome if left for a long time, confirmed that three hours had passed while working and sprawled out on the sofa. A groan escaped his mouth.

“While other guild leaders are enjoying themselves, why do I feel like I’m always working, Jongsik?”

“Didn’t you mostly play around for the past 3 months?”

“Was that playing? Was it? Are you going to use up all my vacation days?”

He couldn’t simply regard lying down unconscious after overexerting himself using skills to the point of fainting while frantically searching for Han Geon-joo as a mere rest. When Sa-yoon threatened Jongsik with vacation for speaking carelessly despite seeing him struggle beside him, Jongsik, who quickly lost his spirit, grumbled in a small voice that he should have told him to take it easy.

“You’re the information guild leader in the first place, so how can you play? Of course, you have more work to handle than other guilds.”

“That’s the problem, Jongsik. It’s getting tough, so I’m thinking of just changing it to an assassination guild and running it. Either way, it’s a criminal guild.”

“The moment you change it like that, you’ll become a target for the government.”

“That’s true.”

Although they were a criminal guild, as an information guild that had spread its reach globally, the country couldn’t recklessly lay hands on them now. However, if they changed to an assassination guild, the sponsoring companies that had been providing funds would also be cut off, and they would be isolated while giving the government and the association justification. If they were small-scale, it might be different, but having already inflated their size as much as possible, having many enemies all around hindered the transition of the operating method.

Since the fees for being entrusted with information sharing from various confidential matters and domestic and foreign celebrities were quite substantial, it wasn’t easy to give up. Of course, even if they gave up, the earnings were still good, but money was originally better the more you had. This was probably why rich people climbed higher and acted meanly.

Sa-yoon, who had been groaning and moaning, reached the conclusion that there was no other way and tilted his head under the armrest of the sofa. His hair flowed down, succumbing to gravity. Seeing Sa-yoon lying down as if his neck would snap, Jongsik flinched.

“Please change your posture. It’s scary every time I see it!”

“How can you be so timid? You’re scared when I smile, when I lie down, when I get angry…”

“Your smile is eerie, your lying posture is utterly bizarre, and of course it’s scary when you get angry.”

In the past, when Sa-yoon criticized him, asking how he could be so timid, Jongsik would make excuses saying that wasn’t the case, but now it seemed he had adapted and countered quite nonchalantly. The sight of him crying out that it wasn’t true had a cute charm to it, but now it was just annoying. Sa-yoon, who clicked his tongue, checked the time and picked up his cell phone.

As the welcome party was about to start soon, he had to tell Kyungjin in advance to take good care of Geon-joo.

“Are you not going to the welcome party this time either?”

“Why should I go when there will be plenty of people even if I don’t? It’s dizzying.”

“Didn’t you say you need to get close to Geon-joo?”

“I can get close to him later when it’s just the two of us.”

Now that he had brought him to the guild, there would be many opportunities to get close. Seeing no need to attend the cramped welcome party, Sa-yoon replied indifferently and sent a text to Kyungjin. A reply of ‘o’ came back, and Sa-yoon’s eyes narrowed.

“At this rate, next time he’ll really send back a single dot.”

“Kyungjin?”

“Yeah.”

“You should have treated him better. Give him at least half the attention you give to Geon-joo. Don’t just keep giving him work.”

Indeed, recently, he had been throwing too much work at Kyungjin. Thinking of Kyungjin, who must have struggled with various things, such as finding the Disposition holder and taking on other tasks, Sa-yoon used a gift-giving service through a messenger to gift him a massage machine.

When he sent a text telling him to take it easy, a read receipt appeared immediately. However, the reply didn’t come back, and while Sa-yoon was expressing doubt, a brief reply from Kyungjin arrived a little late.

<Notice>

• Detailed report on Han Geon-joo’s character
• Investigation of Yongho Guild’s embezzlement
• Continue the weekly report on ‘One who defies the flow’ in case of emergency
• Raid team performance report
• Collect information for the second half of the year’s gate auction

All by tomorrow.

[Me: Sa-yoon sent you a gift and a message! ‘Eye-Relaxing World Massage’]

[Me: You said it’s hard. Take it easy.]

[Slave No. 2: 凸]

“……”

He got cursed at for giving a gift. When Sa-yoon showed the text to Jongsik, telling him to take a look at this, Jongsik, who had scanned Sa-yoon’s cell phone screen, eventually made a call to somewhere.

“Is this Kyungjin? Yeah. No, I was thinking of assigning some guys to you. …Okay, see you later.”

Listening to the phone call, it seemed to be Kyungjin, so Sa-yoon stared at him intently. Jongsik, who finished the call and put down his phone, let out a sigh.

“Just… If you’re going to take care of Kyungjin, please supplement the manpower in the information management team. Don’t give him gifts like that. By the way, does your system window say anything else?”

“Not yet. It’s about time for a new quest to pop up soon.”

Quite some time had passed since the novice killing quest, so it was about time for a new quest accompanied by compulsion to appear. Sa-yoon muttered that he wanted to receive one that could be completed in a short period this time, and Jongsik, who looked at him with pity, sat down next to him. The space under Sa-yoon’s feet, who had been lying down, sank deeply as Jongsik sat down.

“What exactly is going on with your system window, Hyung-nim?”

“How would I know? It’s been a mystery even after spending 10 years together.”

It was the one that gave him a status window after 10 years. There were many things he was curious about, such as why only his system was different from others, what the one who gave him the system did, and what the intention of the system was, but he didn’t know any of them. The system was that thorough.

And it was also vicious.

“……”

What if this whole thing is just a prank by the system?

What should I do if the system is just giving false hope?

Sa-yoon, who briefly closed his eyes and hypothesized the worst-case scenario, narrowed his brows. Although he had somehow managed to endure well so far, he wasn’t sure if he could endure it even when that time came.

If he went crazy and committed indiscriminate murder, Jongsik and Kyungjin would surely stop him.

They would confine him, even if they had to put a leash on him, and wait until he regained his sanity. Since he had trained them to do so if he lost his reason and went berserk, Sa-yoon dismissed the possibility that the Resister had nothing to do with the true evil of humanity and that this was all a prank by the system.

He had always acted based on the worst assumptions, but this time, he wanted to have positive expectations.

Instead of uncomfortable imaginations, Sa-yoon, who tried to think of Geon-joo as a hope that could break through this bleak situation, checked the quest window. His relationship with Geon-joo was still maintaining the interest and wariness stage well.

It’s not a bad relationship.

Doesn’t all fondness originally start from interest and curiosity?

Usually, when you think, ‘What’s with this guy?’ it turns into ‘Oh?’, and then it becomes fondness. That was the way of human relationships, as all the relationships Sa-yoon had built so far had been like that, so he hummed a tune.

He had thought he had buttoned the first button terribly wrong, but it seemed he had somehow managed to get by.