RG 67

Ronic didn’t always dislike the Circle Guild from the start. I wasn’t around back then, so I don’t know the details, but Ronic and Circle didn’t have a particularly bad relationship. Or rather, to be precise, Ronic didn’t really care about Circle.

About two years ago, Circle was a newly established guild, about a year old, while Ronic had been around for over five years and was fairly well-established. In that situation, Ryu Seonghyeon suddenly awakened as an S-class.

For Ryu Seonghyeon, who had been living a relatively ordinary life, awakening was not an easy change to accept. And being an S-class, there were surely countless people trying to approach him with ulterior motives.

Among those people were Park Huiseok, the guildmaster of Ronic, and Kwon Taehyeok, the guildmaster of Yesung. With Ryu Seonghyeon being an S-class Hunter with light-manipulating skills, he must have been incredibly popular at the time.

Ryu Seonghyeon couldn’t easily decide whether to become a national Hunter or join a guild, and if he chose to join a guild, which one he should join. Given the chaotic state of the world, becoming an S-class DPS meant that no matter where he ended up, he couldn’t avoid bloody battles. For someone who had lived as a regular person, it must have been a tough decision. He probably didn’t even have enough information to make an informed choice about what would be the best path.

In the midst of all that, the place Ryu Seonghyeon finally chose was the Circle Guild, a small, obscure guild that most people probably hadn’t even heard of.

It seems that Ronic was displeased with that decision for various reasons.

If he had chosen Yesung, they would have understood and accepted it, but to choose such a small guild where a Support was the guildmaster—considering Park Huiseok’s twisted personality, he likely felt that Ryu Seonghyeon had slighted him.

After that, Park Huiseok consistently picked fights with Ryu Seonghyeon every time he saw him. What started as minor squabbles gradually escalated over time, eventually becoming a significant issue between the two guilds.

As I recalled all this, a natural question arose.

‘Why Circle, of all places?’

According to Ryu Seonghyeon, he met Song Ji-un by chance, had a conversation with him, and then decided to join Circle. Unfortunately, Ryu Seonghyeon never told me what exactly happened between them, so I don’t know.

The Song Ji-un I met the other day wasn’t the ‘Song Ji-un’ I knew before my regression, yet seeing that Ryu Seonghyeon is still with Circle… Does that mean the past hasn’t changed much? Or was the real Song Ji-un replaced with an impostor after Ryu Seonghyeon joined Circle?

‘I should have held onto him and asked, even if he seemed uncomfortable.’

I’m reminded once again of how little I actually know.

I sighed and unwrapped one of the lollipops I bought for Cha Sahyeon, popping it into my mouth. Since I quit smoking, I figured I might as well suck on something like this instead.

Rolling the tangy lemon-flavored candy in my mouth, I opened the item shop. I hadn’t had time to check it because I’d been so busy, but now that I’d completed the quest to stop the second rift at Ui-dong, I needed to see what rewards I’d received.

‘Might as well stock up on any items I need.’

As soon as I opened the item shop, a cheerful fanfare sounded, and a status window popped up.

《Cash Box: Reward for Surviving the Second Rift in the Main Quest (8,000,000 Cash)》

8 million cash, huh. It’s the same amount as the reward for clearing the quest that put me in first place on the rankings last time, so it seems like the amount of cash given as a reward changes depending on the difficulty of the quest.

《Cash Box: Hidden Quest – Earning Kwon Taehyeok’s Trust, First Stage (Class S) Reward (150,000,000 cash)》

This was also a reward for the hidden quest that I cleared by stopping the rift in Ui-dong.

I was too overwhelmed at the time to think much about it, but… seeing the word “First” written there really bothers me. Could there be a second and third stage as well? With other people besides Kwon Taehyeok?

‘…Just the thought of it is terrifying.’

I forced myself to calm down and closed the status window, then turned my attention to the item shop. Now that I’ve got new cash, it wouldn’t hurt to browse for a bit. After all, I still have to compete in the match. Since I’ve decided to compete fairly, just as Ryu Seonghyeon wanted, I’m not going to use any buff items. My concerns lie elsewhere.

“I should get something that could at least look like a skill, just in case.”

The recent incident at Ui-dong marks the third time I’ve shown my fighting skills as Cover to others. The first was during the ranking match with Kwon Taehyeok, the second with Eun Woojeong, and finally, the Uidong rift incident. Even if these encounters were brief, if I keep showing that I’m not using any skills, it’s only natural that people will start getting suspicious.

Especially this time, since the match will be held in an official arena and has already attracted a lot of attention, there will be many eyes watching.

‘It would be safer to at least show some effects that make it seem like I’m using skills.’

Eun Woojeong, who is particularly perceptive, has already been hinting that he suspects I might not have any skills. I’d prefer to have some kind of precaution in place before participating in the match.

“There’s nothing…”

Despite combing through the item shop list with laser focus, there wasn’t a single item that had flashy effects without any real function.

As if it wasn’t stressful enough to participate as an S-class without skills, nothing seems to be going right.

‘I won’t lose with Brother Seonghyeon around, but still…’

I sighed, biting down hard on the candy in my mouth.

***

The time flew by, and it was already the day of the match. To prepare for the match that started at 8 p.m., the Circle Guild members arrived at the arena at 5 p.m. As they made their way to the waiting room, they ran into members of the Ronic Guild.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the vicemaster of Circle.” Park Huiseok, who was leading his team down the hallway to their waiting room, noticed the Circle Guild and smirked as he spoke, “It seems you’ve just arrived.”

“Yes.”

Ryu Seonghyeon, doing his best to conceal his discomfort, shook the hand that was extended to him. In the middle of the hallway, with both teams lined up behind them, Park Huiseok and Ryu Seonghyeon shook hands.

“Please take care of us.”

“The pleasure is ours.”

“Let’s hope everything wraps up smoothly without any unpleasant incidents.”

After exchanging the usual pleasantries, Park Huiseok glanced over Ryu Seonghyeon’s shoulder, scanning the faces of the Circle Guild members with a sharp gaze. Without dropping his smile, Park Huiseok asked, “It seems the mercenary who’s participating hasn’t arrived yet?”

The mockery in his question was too blatant to ignore. After blinking briefly, Ryu Seonghyeon calmly responded, “Yes. He’ll be here soon enough.”

“Hmm, I see.” After finishing the handshake, Park Huiseok deliberately turned away with a smug expression. “Well then, we’ll be on our way. We have a lot to prepare. See you in the arena later.”

In the tense atmosphere, some of the Ronic guild members following behind Park Huiseok openly sneered at the Circle guild members. Ryu Seonghyeon knew exactly who they were. They were the three A-class Hunters who had gone to Ssangmun Station and assaulted Kim Suho.

“Um, Vicemaster?” One of the Circle guild members, who had been waiting for Ronic to disappear, spoke cautiously, “Is it really going to be okay? I mean, with Cover.”

“…”

“Ever since he visited the guild last time, we haven’t heard anything from him. He hasn’t shown up for any practice… What if he doesn’t appear by the time the match ends?”

“Come on, that doesn’t seem like something he would do…” Another Circle guild member chimed in instead of Ryu Seonghyeon, but their voice lacked confidence all the same.

“He’ll come. We still have some time before the match starts. Let’s not worry too much and head inside.” Ryu Seonghyeon replied with a bitter smile, trying to sound reassuring as he started walking.

But there was no way he wasn’t anxious. There were only about three hours left until the match. Even if Cover didn’t show up, the match wouldn’t be postponed, and it was obvious that Circle would suffer the most.

If it were someone trustworthy, you might believe in them even without contact or practice, but Ryu Seonghyeon and Cover had no prior connection. Trust wasn’t something that could exist between them.

When Ryu Seonghyeon arrived at the waiting room, located on the opposite side of the arena from Ronic, he opened the door and found someone already inside, who quickly stood up from the sofa.

“Hello!”

Seeing the person cheerfully greet him, Ryu Seonghyeon smiled back warmly. “You’re here early, Hunter Han Go-eun.”

Han Go-eun, a woman with a refreshing impression and her hair tied up high in a ponytail, scratched her cheek awkwardly. “It’s my first time at a place like this, so I left early to avoid being late. I ended up arriving before the appointed time, so I just waited in the room.”

Han Go-eun was an A-class Support from the Yesung Guild. Kwon Taehyeok had sent her as a mercenary Support, and she had been practicing with Circle every day for the past week, becoming quite close to them.

As the Circle guild members followed into the waiting room, exchanging friendly greetings with Han Go-eun, she spoke to Ryu Seonghyeon, “By the way, the guildmaster said he’ll be stopping by later.”

Kwon Taehyeok? Ryu Seonghyeon thought. It made sense for him to check in since he had sent a valuable A-class Support as a mercenary, but it still felt a bit surprising. Ryu Seonghyeon hadn’t pegged him as the type to personally oversee such matters.

A Circle guild member, who had been gathering equipment while listening to Han Go-eun, sighed gloomily. “It would be perfect if Cover would just show up…”

Surprised, Han Go-eun, who had heard about Cover during her time with Circle, asked quickly, “Oh, there’s still no word from him?”

When Ryu Seonghyeon nodded with an embarrassed expression, Han Go-eun realized her slip-up and hurriedly tried to offer some reassurance, “Um, I’m sure something must’ve come up. He’ll get in touch soon.”

“I think so too.”

Ryu Seonghyeon gave a half-hearted response, his gaze drifting to the window on the side of the waiting room. The sky outside was painted red with the colors of the setting sun.