Chapter 22 (1/2)

Informer (2)

Anyway, the informant’s plan failed. I, who had no seal in my body, was accepted to the Altar of Trials and Awakened on my 19th birthday.

“The Guild Master thought this was an act of retaliation from another guild.”

“Retaliation?”

“If it meant the Team Leader was dragged away, I wonder if they were thinking of spilling such news to the media regardless of the results of the investigation. To say that it turns out that the renowned Celestial Dragon Guild Awakened a minor and was performing illegal training…”

“It’s to ruin our reputation.”

“It’s logical that they would do such. These days, we are taking all the good stuff.”

However, I had a different idea from what Secretary Kim was thinking due to the difference in the information we each had. I had already witnessed Park Chang-hee, who had tried to see through me. Now that I had seen it, was it his master plan to check the Seal of Awakening in my body? For what reason did he guess that I had Awakened? Was it because of the too frequent mana rampages, even as a non-Awakened person? I wasn’t sure of it yet.

“I guess he doesn’t have any suspicion that it’s an inside job…my father.”

“No way. Do you think this is also an act of our guild member? By any chance…”

“Well, how is Team Leader Park Chang-hee?”

Secretary Kim shook his head as if he were sure that he wasn’t the one.

“Even if he’s also one of those who were reported? The report itself stated that Park Chang-Hee himself was also involved in illegal activities.”

“It’s perfect to avoid doubts.”

“To the point that he leads himself to self-destruction?”

“Rather than self-destruction, what about sacrificing oneself? He may have been moved by receiving orders from a superior.”

He spoke with a glance that showed that he disagreed.

“Are you still suspicious of the sub-Guild Master?”

Secretary Kim regarded my suspicion about Han-seol as a mental illness symptom that even amnesia couldn’t resolve.

“It’s very strange. Until you lost your memory, you only trusted the sub-Guild Master, even if you doubted everyone else, but now you’re obsessed with doubting her.”

He shook his head as if he had given up.

“A plan to take the position of the next Guild Master? The person she loved so much? If you, Team Leader, were in that position, would you do so?”

Looking at the guild’s in-depth circumstances, I couldn’t sympathize with the motive to take over the Guild Master’s position, but because of Park Chang-Hee’s actions, I couldn’t resolve my doubts about Han-Seol.

“I wouldn’t do that. But since everyone thinks differently. In the first place, in the current situation, the Celestial Dragon Guild Master’s position is a little…”

I chose an appropriate expression.

“In an analogy, isn’t it like Madeleine? The smell as it bakes is amazing, but when you eat it, the taste isn’t as good as you expect.”

“How do you know of that? Anyway, I’m not suspicious of the sub-Guild Master, but everyone would desire to be the head of Celestial Dragon Guild.”

Secretary Kim admitted the motive yet didn’t doubt Han-seol. I couldn’t sympathize with the motive, but I was still suspicious of Han-seol. Our thoughts conflicted.

‘Well, it’s just that I cannot sympathize, but I understand.’

For Han-seol, the Celestial Dragon Guild might be a guild that was so juicy it was worth being desperate for. First of all, it was the number one hunter group in Korea by current standards. But would it be in the future? In my opinion, it was impossible to stay ‘just like this.’

The reason why the Celestial Dragon Guild’s momentum had exponentially declined in the future was due to the deaths of Han-seol and Seo Jin-wook at the same time in the previous life, and the reason that Seo Gyu-cheol’s growth stopped, but to mention one more, it was because the future planning was all wrong.

‘If you look at the aspect of the hunters, they are excellent attackers at the current level, but there are fewer rookies to lead in the future than other guilds.’

Although the hunters that Han-seol brought in stood out, they all left the Celestial Dragon after Han-seol died in the previous life. Moreover, there weren’t many support hunters relative to the guild’s size because they scouted with too much focus on attack power. For now, most dungeons were cleared by killing the monsters, and even if it were a little tricky, one could find and destroy the nucleus. However, in types of dungeons would appear, and the importance of support type skills would increase. However, I couldn’t tell him all this, so I reasoned it out well.

“The power is good, but there is a problem with the balance.”

“So for you, Team Leader, if the position only smelled good and tasted bad…what? Are you going to give up being the successor of the Guild Master? And hand it over to the sub-Guild Master?”

“No. In the future, I will bake it to taste delicious.”

It wasn’t as attractive as it was, but the story could change once I handled it. Most of all, I didn’t want to die a year later.

“Why must you be this way?”

Secretary Kim complained.

*

It was said that during the training period, I was reported as taking a leave of absence from the guild. In fact, only in name was I the support Team Leader. I was there since I had the connections, and there was already a person who was the acting Team Leader, so they didn’t lack the resources. I heard that the members had a party-like atmosphere, hearing that the crazy bastard Team Leader Seo took a leave of absence.

After that, during the day, I received training from the instructor attached to me by my father, and I pretended to proceed at an appropriate pace while keeping Secretary Kim’s mouth shut. At night, I picked a good dungeon that I had remembered and went in. Unlike the dungeons where I encountered the old Optimus bastards, the state was ‘very stable,’ so there was no risk of collapse, and the field was wide. The monster level was just right as well, making it a perfect hunting ground.

So, instead of attacking and closing it, the Mana core supply continued steadily. Finally, after several of those monotonous days, I checked my condition.

-Active Mana: 5,640 (+3,440 )/2,200

-Potential Mana: 73,000

The mana tank was at the level of 2,000, but because of the mana that I was focused on absorbing, I could contain the 5,000 mana available for a while. I temporarily met the conditions for a C-class hunter. But now, what was more important than the rating was the amount of mana. I tried to reconstruct a skill I had witnessed in my previous life. I was emotionally resentful, but there was a real reason to try it.

[The Controlling Hand!]

This was the skill Angelica used to kill our colleagues. I followed her Mana control that I saw before dying. Only 5,000 mana was needed to activate the skill, but the skill wasn’t activated.

‘Of course, it doesn’t work.’

I confirmed it again with this experiment. No matter how precisely the mana was moved, a unique skill couldn’t be copied. Of course, in the first place, one couldn’t replicate a passive skill that didn’t use mana. Even if I moved the mana in the same pattern as the active skill, the mana remained blue, not turning red like a unique skill.

‘I was wondering if copying this skill would help in interrogation.’

According to the explanation, it was possible to freely control the opponent when it was activated and peek into their memories. If it could be activated, I thought of collecting enough mana to sustain this skill for a few seconds and using it on Ma Sang-Hyun.