Chapter 39…
Korea_Hunter.sorted()
“Ughh…”
Seoya stretched and lifted herself from the bed. After moving her body for the first time in a while yesterday, she felt stiff and sore.
“Good sleep.”
Truly, she hadn’t dreamed at all, hadn’t woken up from any noise, and had slept deeply.
Since arriving on Earth, her body had always reacted sensitively to surrounding noises, so she hadn’t slept this well in a long time. It seemed that moving her body a bit really did help her sleep better.
“Shouldn’t we contact them?”
“Let’s open it first and decide.”
For some reason, the living room looked messy. Seoya turned her head here and there to stretch her neck before opening her door and stepping out.
“Good morning.”
“Did my baby sleep well?”
“Good morning~.”
Baek Yena and Ji Se-in, crouching by the shoe rack and whispering to each other, brightened their expressions upon seeing Seoya. Lee Gayeon, who had been pulled into various press conferences and meetings since last night, was nowhere to be seen.
Yawning, Seoya walked into the living room and froze when she noticed something.
“…What is all this?”
Boxes were piled like a small mountain in front of the shoe rack.
It felt different from the usual deliveries she sometimes received at home. Somehow, it seemed neater, like they were delivered straight from a store…
“Your gifts.”
“Huh?”
…Those? Seoya blinked.
“Where did they come from?”
“The Black Chapter Guild.”
“The Black Chapter Guild…?”
“One of the five major guilds. Ranked 13th Pyeon Si-hoo is the guild master, and ranked 10th Kwon Yoo-seok belongs there.”
“What are the five major guilds?”
“For now: NeverEnding and WithU, then Seoljoong Songbaek, Sohaengseong, and Black Chapter.”
Seoya examined the gifts carefully and noticed something strange.
Since she had never revealed her identity, they shouldn’t even know where she lived. So how did the delivery arrive at her house?
“How did they know I was here?”
“Well… they might have thought that to contact you, they should send the gifts via NeverEnding Guild, and since we’re the executives there, they sent it to where we live…”
“Hmm~ or maybe the info leaked~?”
Ji Se-in, as usual, followed up Baek Yena’s words with a cheerful explanation.
“The Black Chapter Guild is famous for being a small elite group with fast access to information. So it wouldn’t be strange if they had dug up info.”
“Let’s open the gifts first and then think about it.”
Eventually, Seoya sat on the edge of the shoe rack and began opening the gifts one by one with her sisters.
“…They really wanted to show off, huh? They poured all their money into this?”
The more gifts she opened, Baek Yena’s expression grew subtly strange, and Ji Se-in’s expression grew even stranger.
“Are they all expensive?”
“Expensive, yes, but all hunters have money to spare, so price isn’t really the issue.”
From Seoya’s perspective, there wasn’t anything particularly special among the gifts.
Cute-looking bags with fairly high price tags, various bright-colored jewelry, some light makeup products, and a few dolls with gem-like eyes, nose, and mouth.
They were all cute, but Seoya wasn’t interested in such things, so she didn’t feel any excitement.
⌜To Seoya,
I want to meet you. I’ll be waiting for your contact. ^^
Black Chapter Guild Ranked 10 Hunter Kwon Yoo-seok⌟
A small note was attached to the blue bouquet that came with the gifts, though it didn’t feel very sincere.
“Do we have to meet them?”
Seoya asked her sisters in a nonchalant tone. Meeting them would probably just be a hassle.
“Should we? But Gayeon will handle it, so you don’t need to worry about it, Princess.”
“…Right, don’t bother yourself, baby. Don’t worry.”
“Do we even have a reason to meet them?”
If the gifts were meaningless, Baek Yena and Ji Se-in would have just shrugged, as they usually did. At least, that’s how they had been in Seoya’s observations until now.
But their expressions were unusual. Seoya carefully studied their eyes.
Finally, Ji Se-in lowered her voice and whispered something to Seoya.
“…Ah.”
Seoya nodded in understanding. According to Ji Se-in, there actually was a reason to meet them.
But first, it would be good to learn a bit about the Black Chapter Guild.
“Sis, I’m going to use the internet for a moment.”
“What? No!”
Suddenly, Ji Se-in jumped up.
“The internet is a battlefield! It’s a place where people live without thought, full of malice, speaking without manners! I can’t let you go to such a dangerous place!”
“The internet is a dungeon?”
“Hey, just because you’ve been fighting wars online doesn’t mean Seoya is too. You’re a keyboard warrior.”
Seoya shrugged and opened her laptop. Right now, learning about the Black Chapter Guild was more important. She typed “5 major guilds” into the search bar and pressed enter.
「Guild
▶Guild – TreeWiki」
Seoya clicked the top search result.
5. List of South Korean Guilds
5-1. The Five Major Guilds of South Korea
In South Korea, these are commonly regarded as the “five major guilds,” all of which have at least one top 10 ranked hunter.
Because the definition of the “five major guilds” is ambiguous, some suggest including the Iri and BomBi guilds to make seven major guilds. (However, see the respective guild articles for why these two are considered weaker.)
Everyone agrees that WithU and NeverEnding form a two-top system, but the other three guilds lack the systems or achievements to be considered equal.
Seoljoong Songbaek, Sohaengseong, and Black Chapter have benefited in status after being recognized as major guilds. (Perhaps by their own design.)
For detailed achievements and member lists, refer to the respective guild articles.
▶WithU
Guild Master: Na Seong-hyun (Ranked 2nd)
“It’s now an era where even joining a guild requires qualifications.”
Sponsored by the conglomerate NaSeong, WithU was the first of many corporate guilds. Among the five major guilds, it is the most capital-rich and well-organized. Rumor has it they even check TOEIC scores for admission! Known for offering the highest salaries among the five, but also for the lowest HunterPlanet ratings and frequent overtime.
During the formation, there were internal debates about who should be guild master. Candidates included Go Hee-jae, Na Seong-hyun (formerly Na Man-hyun), Kim Iri, and Lee Ji-seon. Na Seong-hyun changed his name to appeal to the corporate guild salary. (This was confirmed in Chapter 39 of Into the Dungeon.)
▶NeverEnding
Guild Master: Lee Gayeon (Ranked 27th)
“Once a national hero…”
The only one of the five major guilds whose master is outside the top 20 rankings. Yet, it maintains the two-top system with WithU. It has many top-ranked hunters, including 4th-ranked Baek Yena and 7th-ranked Ji Se-in.
Vice Guild Master is 33rd-ranked Park Hae-jun. Unlike typical guilds, where the strongest hunter is chosen as master, NeverEnding seems to have chosen leaders considering personality.
It doesn’t have the capital of WithU but includes multiple hunters regarded as national heroes, including Baek Yena and Lee Gayeon.
▶Seoljoong Songbaek
Guild Master: Kwak Man-soo (Ranked 5th)
“A group that prefers knives over skills”
Originally a social band club for middle-aged hunters in Busan, it naturally became a guild. Most members are from Gyeongsang Province and dominate the region.
A joke says that when their favorite sports team loses, dungeon raids become more intense.
▶Sohaengseong
Guild Master: So Eun-su (Ranked 9th)
“Which is the main job, hunter or YouTuber?”
Formed around the siblings So Eun-su (8th) and So Eun-young (9th). The guild was made by Eun-su after his sister awakened as a hunter. The largest membership among the five major guilds, mostly teens and 20s, but ranges from teens to 40s.
Active on YouTube and SNS, popular among young people. They pay attention to public image and often gather civilian opinions.
▶Black Chapter
Guild Master: Pyeon Si-hoo (Ranked 13th)
“Top cited in discussions of hunter misconduct”
Smallest membership among the five major guilds. Ranked 10th Kwon Yoo-seok belongs there, but due to his young age, the master and vice-master are other people.
Famous as the most secretive and hardest-to-join information guild. Unlike other guilds, which accept applications and interviews, Black Chapter recruits only via scouting. Its members are largely unknown.
“All information is held by Black Chapter.” Rumor says they are connected to national intelligence. (Some of these rumors were confirmed in Into the Dungeon Chapters 31, 43, 87, 88.)
After reading all the recorded information, Seoya recalled what Ji Se-in had said earlier.
The gift target is too narrow.
Bags, necklaces, cosmetics, dolls—classic gifts for teenage girls.
“They know who I am.”
Her age had been publicly announced, but knowing she was female was a different matter.
Now that she thought about it, even the blue bouquet seemed suspicious. Its color resembled her hair and eyes.
They definitely know who “Rank 0 Seoya” is.
“The information leaked.”
She definitely needed to meet the Black Chapter Guild.
