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Just like he\'d said, they weren\'t even close enough to be acquaintances.

Kang-Woo looked at the girl with short red hair and continued, "So, what do you need from me? Uhhh…"

"Cha Yeon-Joo…" the girl with short red hair said as she turned to Kang-Woo and walked toward him. "My name is Cha Yeon-Joo."

"Cha Yeon-Joo?"

Kang-Woo thought that he had heard that name before and tried to remember where he\'d heard it.

\'Ah, she\'s one of the Players the people in the waiting room were talking about.\'

He remembered hearing about Players who had gotten an S-rank Trait on their First Awakening.

\'I believe she was the guild master of one of the five great guilds.\'

The \'five great guilds\' referred to the five biggest guilds of Korea—the Hanul, Red Rose, Onnuri[1], Mir, and Angel Wings Guilds. Kang-Woo remembered having read her name among the list of the guild masters of those five guilds.

"Red Rose…?"

"Yeah. I\'m the guild master of the Red Rose Guild."

"…"

If Cha Yeon-Joo was the guild master of one of the five great guilds… that meant she was one of the top ten Players in Korea. The Player that Kang-Woo had met by chance in an internet cafe was far more of a bigshot than he had expected.

\'No wonder she was so strong.\'

Yeon-Joo was so strong that Kang-Woo\'s encounter with her had made him doubt his strength back then. It was natural that he doubted himself because he had been weaker than a woman he\'d met randomly, despite having just gotten his Third Awakening and having reached a level of power two stages above his expectations through the Andras Guild\'s ritual.

\'Is this how I\'d feel if the fat old man from next door was, in reality, the CEO of a huge corporation?\'

He wasn\'t sure if the comparison was appropriate, but it felt similar.

Kang-Woo looked at Yeon-Joo with slightly wary eyes. She was not dressed in the sloppy getup that she had been in that day. Instead, she was wearing a short pair of shorts and a tight T-shirt—clothes that were comfortable to move around in.

Even without dressing up, Yeon-Joo was very beautiful, so she looked even more attractive now that she was wearing clothes that revealed her figure.

\'She dolled up.\'

Yeon-Joo wasn\'t wearing fancy clothes. However, she had put on some makeup, so she had indeed dolled up somewhat. It suggested that she wasn\'t approaching him with ill intentions.

\'She wouldn\'t have taken the time to put on makeup if she\'d come here to pick a fight.\'

After he finished analyzing Yeon-Joo\'s appearance, Kang-Woo asked calmly, "So, what does the guild master of the Red Rose Guild want with me?"

"To be honest, I\'ve investigated you," Yeon-Joo said. Then she took out a piece of paper. "Your name is Oh Kang-Woo. Born in 1995, 28 years old. You grew up in Cheongseong Orphanage, but since no one adopted you, you were forced to leave and live alone. Correct?"

"I don\'t know why you investigated me, but yeah."

"You registered as a Player on May 23rd. That means… it\'s been two weeks."

"…" Kang-Woo waited for Yeon-Joo\'s next words with his mouth closed.

"According to the test results from the Player Management Office, you got an F-rank Trait with your First Awakening. Well, this is surely an incorrect assessment. If you truly had awakened an F-rank Trait, you wouldn\'t be hunting in a C-rank Gate after only two weeks."

"Hmm." Kang-Woo nodded as if asking her to continue.

"To be honest, at first I thought you were a criminal who had bought the identity of Oh Kang-Woo from a broker," Yeon-Joo said calmly. "But your face, fingerprints, and everything else match your previous records."

"How did you get my fingerprints?"

"You got your fingerprints scanned when you first registered for your license, didn\'t you?"

"…I guess big guilds have more power than I thought."

Private information that was protected by the government had entered the hands of the Red Rose Guild all too easily.

"Well, it did cost us a lot of money. Those boomer congresspersons were awfully condescending," Yeon-Joo explained while shrugging. Then she continued, "First, I\'ve affirmed that you haven\'t taken another person\'s identity. Which means…"

She looked at Kang-Woo intensely and stated, "You\'re a Player with incredible talent. Maybe even more than Baek Kang-Hyun or me."

"I\'m flattered," Kang-Woo replied with a smirk. Then he asked nonchalantly, "So, what are you trying to say?"

\'Well, I have a rough idea…\'

There was no need for Kang-Woo to think too deeply about the reason why someone as important as Yeon-Joo had come to see him personally. He knew what his value was. Strength and talent were incredibly valuable on Earth at present, so his value was overwhelmingly high. Kang-Woo had no intention of hiding his value or avoiding using it to his advantage.

\'I was just thinking about trying to make a connection with a large guild, so this is perfect.\'

He had no intentions of joining a guild, but he wanted to have an amicable relationship with one.

"As the guild master of the Red Rose Guild, I want to sponsor you."

"…What?" Kang-Woo hugged his body and looked at her warily. "Were you after my body this whole time?"

"…"

There was a heavy silence between the two. Yeon-Joo looked at Kang-Woo like she was looking at a piece of garbage.

\'You shouldn\'t look at people with that kind of gaze.\' Kang-Woo couldn\'t believe he was receiving such a scornful gaze for making a joke.

"That\'s unexpected," he expressed.

"What did you think I was going to say?"

"I thought you were going to ask me to join the Red Rose Guild."

"Hmph," Yeon-Joo snorted at Kang-Woo\'s answer. "There\'s no way someone hiding his Trait rank would want to join a guild. If you were thinking of joining one, you wouldn\'t have hidden your strength from the beginning."

"Hmm…" Kang-Woo uttered awkwardly.

\'It\'s not like I hid it on purpose.\'

He had gotten an F-rank Trait assessment because the testing device had been unable to assess the power of his Authority of Predation correctly.

\'Well, it\'s better for me if that\'s how she interprets it.\'

Kang-Woo did not intend to join a guild, so he did not need to clarify the misunderstanding.

"So, how are you going to sponsor me?" Kang-Woo asked.

"To put it simply, we\'ll support you so that you can grow faster than you\'re growing now."

"What are you going to ask in return? Maybe to help you with that video game from before?"

"You son of a b—! Ah. Fuuu, fuuu." Yeon-Joo put her hand on her chest and took deep breaths to try and quell her rage.

"Hahaha, I\'m just kidding. I had never played games before, so I didn\'t really know what to do."

"Sigh. I failed to get promoted to silver because of you. Just thinking about it makes me…"

"Hmm? Does that mean you\'re bronze? Hmm. That sounds like the lowest tier for some rea—"

"N-No! My skills are beyond bronze! It\'s just that I have bad team-matching luck!"

Kang-Woo laughed at Yeon-Joo\'s reaction.

She was one of the top ten Players in Korea and the guild master of one of the largest guilds in the country. However, seeing her get angry because of a game made her seem a bit more approachable.

"Well, jokes aside… Why do you want to support me?" Kang-Woo asked.

"Because you\'re going to become stronger."

"You probably know this since you\'ve investigated me, but I\'m just a newbie who became a Player just two weeks ago."

"And in those two weeks, you became strong enough to solo hunt in a C-rank Gate. You\'re going to become stronger, much stronger than you are now. I\'m sure of it."

"…" Kang-Woo looked at Yeon-Joo with great interest.

\'She isn\'t the master of a major guild for nothing.\'

He didn\'t think lowly of himself.

But she probably didn\'t know that he was the demon king who had returned to Earth after ten millennia, or that he had an abnormal power called Authority of Predation.

For her to say that without not knowing these details probably meant she was sure about his talent.

"How will you be supporting me exactly?" Kang-Woo asked.

"First, you\'ll be able to access any Gate up to A-rank freely, regardless of your level. If you need a party, we\'ll provide you Players with classes of your liking from our guild. Also, if you sell mana stones through us, we can reduce the tax deducted from the money you receive."

"Oh?"

"We\'ll even let you rent equipment. Although you\'ll need to pay a security deposit for equipment of grades Unique and above, you can freely rent anything lower than that. If you need it, we\'ll also buy you a house and a car."

\'Why are they treating me so well?\'

The conditions were so good that one would think he was officially joining the Red Rose Guild. No, it was unlikely these kinds of conditions were available even for guild members.

"…What\'s the meaning of this?"

"It\'s an investment for the future."

"Even if it is, I think this is a bit excessive."

It wasn\'t as if Kang-Woo was joining the Red Rose Guild. The guild wouldn\'t be able to do or say anything if Kang-Woo were to just pretend that the deal had never taken place once he had gotten everything he could out of it.

\'Not just that…\'

From the point of view of the guild, it was probably humiliating for their guild master to approach him and make this proposal herself. It wasn\'t just a matter of pride; this could harm the guild\'s reputation.

\'She must have a reason for it.\'

Kang-Woo thought the conditions that Yeon-Joo offered were excessive, regardless of how talented he was. Of course, it would be understandable if she knew his true strength. Then she\'d probably do everything possible to maintain a good relationship with him, but right now, that wasn\'t the case.

"The guild is… going to give you a request in the future. We would appreciate it if you could accept it when the time comes," Yeon-Joo said.

It seemed like the royal treatment was for this request.

"What request?" Kang-Woo asked.

Yeon-Joo smiled bitterly at Kang-Woo\'s question.

It was such a sad smile that it was hard to believe she was the same person who had just gotten angry just because of a game.

Kang-Woo remained silent. He felt like he was seeing Yeon-Joo\'s true self for the first time.

Yeon-Joo erased that sad expression from her face and replied, "I can\'t tell you right now."

"Hmm." Kang-Woo nodded slowly.

He still hadn\'t accepted her offer. Nevertheless, if that request was so important to her, it was understandable that she couldn\'t tell him about it yet.

\'If it\'s something absurd, I can always refuse it later.\'

It wasn\'t like Kang-Woo would be signing a contract in which he would promise to fulfill that request. In the future, he would listen to the details of the request and fulfill it if it was within his power to do so. If it wasn\'t, he would just sever his ties with the Red Rose Guild.

Kang-Woo didn\'t need to consider the proposal for long. It was the perfect opportunity to establish a connection with a large guild and receive a wide range of support.

He wasn\'t stupid enough to let such an opportunity go.

"I accept."

1. Onnuri (온누리) is a pure Korean word (one that is not derived from Chinese characters) that literally means \'world within one\'s arms\', but it is defined as the metaphysical view of the world as a society. ☜