DCRBG 37

Chapter 37

Birds of a Feather (3)

5.

$Youhavemovedtotheslot:1YooJin-seong.$
$Thatslotwillbedisabledfor30minutes.$

I used Ariadne’s Thread to arrive, and the scene that greeted me was not Mirage Guild members holding my brother hostage with evil grins.

“…Seong-woo? Why are you here all of a sudden?”
“What’s this. Hyung. Weren’t you being threatened?”
“You brought me Ariadne’s Thread? Did you hang that up?”
“Of course. Do you think I wouldn’t have some insurance for my family?”

My brother’s face was calmer than I expected. He was seated in an office chair, talking with a “client.” The client wore a neat gray suit and had his hair slicked back. He looked more like a businessman than a player. The man let out a small admiring sound when he saw me.

“The original Ariadne’s Thread truly has astonishing power. Amazing, Player Yuseongwoo. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am the HR director of the Mirage Guild…”
“Do I have to accept that greeting? If you had business with me you should have contacted me directly. I even put my email on my MyTube channel, you know?”

No kindly words were coming out of my mouth. To be honest, I wanted to punch this guy’s face right away. “We couldn’t contact you so we came to your brother” — that’s as lazy an excuse as you can give. Mirage Guild is a top guild. Is it really believable they had no way to contact me?

Squeeeak—!

I dragged a chair over and sat next to my brother. I looked at the man in front of me and smiled.

“No introductions necessary. Convince me if you can.”
“I think there may be a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“I’m simply here on behalf of our guild’s legal team. We needed legal counsel about an incident that occurred during last month’s open recruitment.”

Good nerve. He laid his cards out but told the lie so smoothly his expression didn’t change. He’d make a good politician. Maybe that’s why he climbed to HR director at a big guild. Just as I was about to make a fist, my brother sighed deeply and spoke.

“There’s no way we would need your legal counsel. I know Mirage already has contracts with several well-known law firms.”
“It’s a pretty complicated case. We thought various opinions would help, especially those of Attorney Yoo Jin-seong, who has a high win rate. As I said, if you help us, we can offer you a lot.”

He said that, but his eyes were fixed on me. I snorted and took him in from head to toe. His strength was clearly different from the ones who hunted me before. Even by guesswork, he was stronger than In-seop. At least a 5th-floor player, probably. Maybe that’s why he was so calm — to the point of irritating me.

“What’s your name?”
“Cheon Woo-hyeok.”
“You came to see me, not my brother. Don’t bother my brother — tell me. You said you’d reward my brother if you could meet me, right?”

No pleasant words were going to come from me. I’d normally be polite on first meeting, but I’m not saintly enough to show respect to slimy types. Despite my rude tone, Cheon Woo-hyeok kept smiling and continued.

“I wasn’t lying. We really did need counsel. We came to propose a mutually beneficial offer.” He took some documents from a briefcase and pushed them toward me.

“I heard you’re interested in the 3rd-floor raid. You were assigned an emergency raid response team slot through the Ability Management Department.”

So they’d even stuck a straw into the Ability Management Department. That told me roughly how these guys operated. I was curious how far they’d go.

“And?”
“There hasn’t been an official announcement yet, but Mirage Guild will be participating in the 3rd-floor raid. We’ve selected participants and prepared top-tier equipment.”

I already guessed what he was getting at. In short—

“Our prediction models highly value Player Yuseongwoo’s potential. According to our forecasts, you could enter the 5th floor right away without issue. If a talent like you can’t take part in a 3rd-floor raid, it would be a national loss. Raids are dangerous, but they’re also huge growth opportunities for players.”
“You’ll let me join the raid? In return, join Mirage Guild?”
“To put it plainly — yes.”

They were trying to recruit me. My brother Jin-seong scanned the papers for me. From the corner of my eye, the top read: “Exclusive Player Contract.”

“We promise top industry benefits. We’ll provide top-tier gear for free, and if you want to continue your broadcasting, we’ll organize a dedicated team to support you—”
“These bastards are trying to sell me on the spot?”

Just by visiting my brother, this guild showed a lot: they’d found out Jin-seong was my brother, and they had enough influence to secure raids from the government. From this alone I could judge the Mirage Guild. Big guild? Raid opportunities? Recruitment attempt? Fine. But the problem was this:

“You got the order wrong.”

Whoosh—!

I took the contract from Jin-seong and magically burned it cleanly.

“You think I’d welcome you because you found my family? If you wanted to be nice, sponsor my broadcast.”
“We only wanted to show that joining us would benefit not only Player Yuseongwoo but also his family.”
“Your mindset’s interesting.”

Their sequence was wrong. Finding my family first, then offering them work — that’s the attitude of a subcontractor. Still, I was a little grateful. The fact that a major guild would act like this made it clear at a glance the position large guilds hold in Korea. But I’m not joining them. People who act like this would be a hindrance, not a help, to my path.

“Even if you’d come politely I might have considered it. A raid? I can probably join even without you.”
“It’s only an A-rank difficulty raid. Two years ago our guild cleared an A-rank raid on the 5th floor.”
“You have no intention of apologizing for your rudeness, huh?”
“As I said, I don’t think an apology is necessary.”

Politicians don’t apologize easily. Avalon was like that, and Earth even more so. Once you apologize you’re admitting fault. For people like this the cure is simple.

Slam—!

I slapped him hard. I put some magic into it, and he still seemed like a player. If he’d been a normal civilian his neck might have broken. Return kindness with greater kindness; return rudeness with greater rudeness. I smiled at Cheon Woo-hyeok, who was glaring at me while clutching his cheek.

“There was a mosquito on your cheek. I killed it for you, so you should be grateful. I killed the bug, so it’s not something to apologize for, right?”

If this were a law code, it’d be a landmark ruling. Right?

6.

Violence is best for instilling manners. The arrogant look he’d had moments ago was gone. He sat there holding his cheek, staring blankly at me. Usually he’d feel humiliated, but there was no such expression on his face — only wide eyes. I popped a cookie from the table, leaned back, and shrugged.

“Mosquitoes have gotten vicious these days. They land on your face and all.”

Maybe my voice was a trigger. Cheon Woo-hyeok sprang to his feet. Fine — the proud HR director of a big guild would put up his pride and blame me—

“Thank you for the lesson. We made a huge mistake.”
“Huh?”

What came out of his mouth was not what I expected. In web-novel cliché, the proud guild director would rage and everything would escalate, but that wasn’t happening.

“It seems our guild’s prediction model was wrong. Player Yuseongwoo can handle the 5th floor? We sincerely apologize for mentioning the 5th floor to him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Only after being slapped did I recognize your strength. I sincerely apologize for my rudeness.”

“Uh — are you two-faced or something?”

With his face swollen, Cheon Woo-hyeok kept bowing repeatedly, and then he bowed to my brother Jin-seong as well.

“Attorney Yoo Jin-seong, I apologize for wasting your time. If you seek compensation for the time we wasted, we will gladly accept that offer.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“Player Yuseongwoo.”
“What?”
“If it’s not too rude, would you strike my right cheek as well?”

Is he Christian? “Turn the other cheek” or whatever? But I’m who I am. If someone asks to be hit, I’ll do it gladly.

Slam—!

This time I swung with more force.

Kuuuuuung—!

Cheon Woo-hyeok crumpled pathetically to the floor and lay still for about a minute. …Did he die?

“Hey, hey. Breathe. Breathe.”
“Haaah.”
“Were you trying to stage self-harm to extort recruitment from me and my brother?”
“No, not at all…”

Just then—

Kwangang—!

The office door flew open and a familiar face rushed in. It was Deputy Chief Choi from the Ability Management Department. He looked around as soon as he entered, then, seeing Cheon Woo-hyeok collapsed holding his cheek, ground his teeth.

“Sorry to come so suddenly. I heard Player Yuseongwoo collided with the Mirage Guild and rushed over. But what on earth happened here…?”
“As you can see, I had a pleasant conversation with Mr. Cheon Woo-hyeok.”

Deputy Chief Choi sighed deeply, then suddenly—

“Cheon Woo-hyeok, you crazy bastard!”
“Oh, Seong-hun? Seong-hun. Long time.”
“You came on purpose to get slapped, didn’t you? You thought we wouldn’t know your scheme?”

Surprisingly, they seemed to know each other well — almost like friends. Deputy Chief Choi grabbed Cheon Woo-hyeok by the collar and shook him, then turned to me with a distressed expression.

“Given the situation, I assume, but I have to ask. Player Yuseongwoo, did you have physical contact with this man?”
“About two slaps?”
“…I see. Did he barge in and behave rudely or do anything to be slapped?”
“Oh, a repeat offender?”
“Yes. Director Cheon Woo-hyeok is notorious in this industry. I should have told you earlier…”

“Player Yuseongwoo, Mirage Guild is not as bad as you think. This was my unilateral judgement. If you want to punish me more, I will gladly accept it.”
“Shut up! You masochist.”

Do psychopaths become players, or do players become psychopaths? The situation was hard to understand. Deputy Chief Choi dropped a crucial clue.

“Cheon Woo-hyeok can gauge an assailant’s current strength and potential by the pain they cause him. He has masochistic detection — a kind of detection trait. He used to belong to the Ability Management Department. He was my cohort.”

Masochistic detection? There’s such a trait? I clicked my tongue and shook my head. Just then Cheon Woo-hyeok, bleeding from the mouth, said,

“I’ll make another offer. Of the five seats allocated to our guild for the 3rd-floor raid, I’ll give you one. If you want, I’ll push you all the way to raid leader.”
“Cheon Woo-hyeok, are you crazy? Your boss would never allow that—”
“Player Yuseongwoo! Please become our insurance!”

…Is he truly insane?