Chapter 139 (1/2)

Chapter 139. He Who Wishes to Wear the Crown (3)

Hugo was off in his own world, not responding to anything he said. Unless it was about Seo Yuhui.

'It can't be helped.'

It was selfish to expect his teammates to unconditionally follow and support him. Chohong and Hugo were humans after all, and not machines.

'It really can't be helped, I guess.'

“Wow… just wow. How can a person be so beautiful?”

“Yeah, seriously.”

Seol Jihu organized his thoughts and decided to accompany Hugo in his world to cool off his head.

Seo Yuhui was in the middle of welcoming visitors. Several priests could be seen panting for dear life as they wearily carried ma.s.sive bags into her house.

A sudden question popped up in his mind. Thinking back, he had seen those priests carrying humongous bags back and forth quite a few times.

'What on earth are they carrying inside?'

Seo Yuhui disappeared into her house after relieving the luggage of a young priest. A sigh broke out from Hugo's mouth.

Then turning around, his eyes widened.

“Seol. What's that?”

“That necklace. It's my first time seeing it… but why are you wearing it like that?

As Seol Jihu looked down towards his chest, the pendant was nowhere to be seen. He was positive he had worn it properly.

“Ah.”

Tracing the lace up his shoulders, he finally saw the jewel. The pendant had been behind his back as if it was hiding.

'Huh?'

As he was just about to adjust the necklace properly, Hugo s.h.i.+fted his attention back to the window.

Quietly moving away to a corner, Seol Jihu asked in a small voice.

“Flone, what's wrong?”

[I don't like him!]

The sound of clattering teeth rang in his head.

[I hate that human!]

It was unusual for Flone to express an outright dislike towards someone, so Seol Jihu was astonished.

“Why are you suddenly like this? Did Hugo do something wrong?”

As he soothed her while gently petting the pendant, the barely calmed-down Flone replied with a shaking voice.

[While I was roaming around the building this morning, I heard a voice… it was a terrible scream.]

“A scream?”

[Yeah. Not a human scream but that of a spirit.]

“Are you saying that there's a ghost in the building?”

[No. I was surprised too, so I went and checked and found that the scream was from a weapon. It was a very beautiful axe.]

She must have meant the battle axe that Hugo got after exchanging with Oh Rahee.

[It was a spirit with completely opposite attributes from me, but it was really, really pure. I could feel the presence of a pure soul filled with sacred light… but…]

From Flone's voice which was hesitating, Seol Jihu a felt trace of sadness and despair.

[He was licking it.]

Seol Jihu doubted his ears.

“Excuse me?”

[That b.a.s.t.a.r.d was licking that axe containing that sacred soul! He licked it up and down, asking how it tasted, and told it to stop acting hard to get before he bit on it and started sucking! And he slurped it with that filthy tongue of his!]

Flone's tone was filled with extreme disgust as she ratted out all of Hugo's perverted deeds.

[It's just too heartbreaking. That spirit must have been someone strong and virtuous who ama.s.sed great feats in the past…]

Flone's voice quivered slightly.

After escaping from Hugo, Seol Jihu decided to consult the team advisor. Coincidently, Jang Maldong was sitting on the office sofa as if he had been waiting for him.

“So I heard you want to be the team leader?”

Seol Jihu stared at him with a dumbfounded expression after Jang Maldong spoke up. Jang Maldong's face reddened, realizing he had gone ahead himself.

“Chohong told me.”

Seol Jihu let out an empty laugh. It was a marvel how she managed to already snitch on him in that short span of time.

“What's so funny? So, what did you come to see me for?”

Sitting properly, Seol Jihu went straight to the point.

“I wanted to know how the recruitment of our Archer is going.”

Jang Maldong's eyebrows flinched.

Recruiting a new Archer was the number one priority of Carpe Diem. Until now, Jang Maldong had been solely in charge of this task.

But for Seol Jihu to suddenly interfere at this point; Jang Maldong wasn't stupid enough to not know what this meant.

“Hmm…”

A pair of wrinkled eyes searched through Seol Jihu's face.

Honestly, he was more than a bit worried when Seol Jihu had returned from the Banquet. Seol Jihu hadn't looked too good then.

But when he came back from the Forest of Denial, things suddenly changed. He looked as if he had a change of personality, and the self-doubt he seemed to have disappeared.

The change was clear in his face.

The eyes that met Jang Maldong's gaze were as calm as a lake, without a ripple. When they had first met, Seol Jihu's eyes were unstable like fluttering feathers, but now, there was a new heaviness to his gaze.

But the gaze didn't lose any of its previous gentleness, so it was like looking at a ball of cotton drenched in water.

'This kid…'

He didn't know exactly what, but he could tell that Seol Jihu had overcome many hards.h.i.+ps before and after the Banquet.

But as the ground settled after a rain, all was good since it seemed like he had overcome his burdens.

'I did well to send him.'

Jang Maldong slowly scratched his head. It was a habit of his that came out whenever he was in a good mood.

'It's time, I suppose.'

Jang Maldong's role was the team advisor. Since he vowed not to act on the frontlines after returning to Paradise, it seemed that he could finally focus on his role as the advisor.

…Yes. As long as Seol Jihu didn't stray from his current vision, Jang Maldong would always be behind as his reliable supporter.

“I've been thinking about it a lot.”

And with this, he refres.h.i.+ngly accepted the interference.

“It's not that there is a shortage of applicants. I don't know how many interview requests I've received each day. And as soon as the number started to dwindle, it shot back up immediately after the Banquet.”

It meant that Carpe Diem's intended purpose of attending the banquet was achieved.

“Weren't there any Archers that satisfied you?”

“There were a couple that pa.s.sed the basic qualifications. If there weren't any, I wouldn't be having such a hard time deciding.”

Jang Maldong crossed his arms and tapped his fingers.

“There was an offer that did interest me… I told you that I went around several cities, right?”

“Yes. You said you preferred personally meeting them.”

“I think it was when I went to Scheherazade. A guy I knew asked to meet me there, so I dropped by the White Rose Guild on the way.”

“The White Rose?”

“Their official name is 'White and Rose', and their main operation is mercenary work. Not only do they have a lot of people from Area 1, there are even a few members holding Bronze stamps, so just think of it as a somewhat large organization.”

Explaining in detail, Jang Maldong continued.

“I received a quite interesting offer there.”

“What kind of offer?”

“Do you know the Yi Seol-Ah, Yi Sungjin siblings?”

Shocked at the unexpected mention of these names, Seol Jihu barely replied back.

“Y-Yes. Of course I do.”

“The White Rose asked whether we'd like to recruit the Yi siblings.”

“What!?”

“They were the ones to bring up this proposal first. Not as a contract of lease but under the condition of a full transfer.”

Seol Jihu gulped. He had been thinking of recruiting a pair of siblings but it had been the Heaven-Slaughtering Star and the white headband girl; he had completely forgotten about the Yi siblings until now.

“Sir, I'm sorry but how does this recruitment process work?”

“You're sorry for quite a big thing.”

Jang Maldong snorted.

“There'd be no end if I were to explain in depth but… you said you watched sports before, right?”

“I've only watched a few games when I was bored.”

“It's nothing too complicated. Think of it like the transfer markets of domestic baseball or the overseas soccer teams.”

“Transfer markets… You're talking about the FA or buyouts, right?”

“That's it.”

Jang Maldong continued to speak calmly.

“I've heard that they both have Bronze marks.

“Yes.”

“Considering that it's their first contract, their contract periods should have been around 2 years.”

“Is that in Paradise time?”

“Of course. Why?”

Seol Jihu tilted his head in confusion.

“I've heard that it takes an average of 2 years for Earthlings to pay off the company's initial investment.”

“Hmm.”

“But to think that they'll get released right after the 2 years…”

Seol Jihu became silent.

The invitation stamps, even if they were red or bronze, required an extremely large amount of achievement points to get.

Not to mention the effort that they spent in raising them for 2 years, why did the White Rose suddenly decide to transfer them when they were just starting to become useful?

He couldn't understand their actions.

“Well, there are cases where the initial contract duration is longer, like for those with Silver marks. People with Red marks are exceptions since they're already bound to a contract before entering.”

Jang Maldong continued speaking.

“Either way, bringing an Earthling with a stamp is like slowly scratching off a lottery ticket over the course of 2 years.”

Swinging his cane back and forth, he suddenly asked.

“What do you think is the most important thing when raising a complete newbie?”