NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36
Chapter 36. Exchange Meeting (2)
Yoo Ji-han pulled out a chair from the table and guided Min Yu-ri to sit down.
“Thank you.”
“Yu-ri! You said you probably wouldn’t come.”
“Well, originally I wasn’t going to, but when I asked the Hero Department, they said it was fine to come.”
Min Yu-ri’s attendance at the exchange meeting was a somewhat impulsive decision following her conversation with Yoo Ji-han.
If the Hero Department had declined, she would have naturally given up, but when they surprisingly said it was okay, she couldn’t resist her curiosity and decided to attend.
“Min Yu-ri. Here’s your nameplate.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Yang Ji-cheol placed a freshly printed snowflake nameplate beside the Sweet Fun Guild’s sign.
“What’s that patch on your neck, Ji-han?”
“Oh, it’s nothing serious.”
Yoo Ji-han casually replied, not daring to mention that he had miscast a spell and ended up flying too far.
“Hmm… Ji-han?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry, but I still need a little more time to respond to your offer from the other day.”
With an apologetic expression, Min Yu-ri still hadn’t come to a decision in her heart.
Should she continue hunting the Giant Cat Monster as she had been?
Or should she join Sweet Fun Guild to seek new opportunities?
She was still standing at a crossroads of choices.
“Of course. But you should let us know before we become a Rank 3 Party.”
“Are you already preparing for Rank 3?”
“No, I just meant it in general.”
Yoo Ji-han scratched his head awkwardly.
Sweet Fun had only just reached Rank 4 a little over two weeks ago.
To even talk about Rank 3, it would take at least 1-2 years, no matter how fast they moved.
“By the way… who is that?”
Kim Si-hu gestured with his chin toward someone while turning his head toward Min Yu-ri.
Min Ju-yong was sitting at the table, staring at them with a very fierce expression.
“He keeps glaring over here.”
“That’s Min Ju-yong, the hero from the guild that wanted to take me before.”
“So you’ve already received offers from other places, then.”
“The situation is quite different now than it was back then… right.”
Kim Si-hu asked her.
“Could it be that you’re considering an offer from another guild?”
“No, no! That’s absolutely not it.”
“Well, that’s a relief…”
Yoo Ji-han felt a bit relieved inside at her words.
Just then, while they were chatting,
“Everyone! It seems everyone who is going to join has arrived, so let’s start the exchange meeting.”
The auditorium was filled with heroes, leaving no empty tables.
A man who was the MC for today’s event stepped onto the stage.
He brought the wireless microphone close to his mouth and said,
“Thank you very much for attending this event, even though you are busy for the safety of the Republic of Korea.”
“He’s so handsome!”
“Who?”
“That guy!”
“Hey, lady! Don’t ask such obvious questions.”
“Wow, so shameless!”
With a fresh and bold attitude, he was a famous celebrity active on various TV channels recently.
The Hero Department had brought in quite an expensive celebrity for today’s event.
After completing the formal greetings to announce the start of the event, he looked around and said,
“Everyone hasn’t had lunch yet, as you requested, right?”
“Yes!”
“I’ll prepare it right away.”
Clap, clap!
As the MC clapped his hands twice, all the lights in the auditorium suddenly went out.
And then, tense music began to play through the speakers…
Suddenly, the ceiling began to glow softly.
Whoosh—!
Surprisingly, ceramic dishes started appearing one by one on the ceiling where there had been nothing moments before.
The floating dishes slowly began to spin as they descended toward the tables.
Many heroes, including Yoo Ji-han, were gazing up with their mouths agape.
‘Levitation? It seems to be moving to predetermined coordinates etched on the table; probably the dishes themselves are also enchanted with magic.’
Kim Si-hu scrutinized the dishes and analyzed the spells used in this performance.
The results indicated a rather impressive combination of magic.
Shortly after, the dishes landed on the table filled with various dishes.
Most of them were monster dishes made from monster ingredients.
“The result of cooperation between Red Hole and Cooker Guild for today’s exchange meeting. Please give them a round of applause.”
The heroes clapped for the guild that prepared the performance.
It might seem like nothing special just to serve food on the table, but it involved the use of several difficult spells, so the applause was for their effort and passion.
While it might appear trivial, this was a product of collaboration between guilds.
Since the purpose of the exchange meeting was to foster good relations among guilds, it held a certain depth of meaning.
*
As the short meal wrapped up, the Hero Department began their announcements.
The start was a presentation of successful cooperation between guilds.
Stories emphasizing the importance of cooperation, such as different guild parties teaming up to defeat enemies without any fatalities, were shared.
Various similar cases were also presented.
‘To summarize, don’t fight; just get along.’
After that, various mundane announcements continued…
Next came the self-presentations prepared by each guild attending, rather than the Hero Department.
A hero from Red Hole picked up the microphone and said,
“Our Red Hole Guild has provided all Rank 4 parties with Giant Monster Extract…”
It was a brag about how they had consumed potions.
Following this, a hero from Warriors climbed onto the stage and said,
“The Rank 4 party from Warriors has set a new record by challenging 5 MA in just one day…”
This time, it was about setting a record in MA.
The following announcements from other guilds were similar.
Each proclaimed how their guild was superior.
Kim Si-hu yawned widely and muttered softly.
“Boring…”
Hearing how other guilds were doing well just passed by without any interest.
Min Yu-ri, quietly watching the stage, also said,
“It’s less interesting than I thought.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
Yoo Ji-han wholeheartedly agreed with her.
While he hadn’t expected anything incredible from the exchange meeting, it felt more like a place for guilds to showcase their own parties rather than fostering communication between guilds.
He actually found the earlier food performance much more interesting.
“We’ll now take questions! If you have any questions for the Hero Department, please don’t hesitate to ask. You can also ask questions to the other guilds present if you wish.”
“Uh, I have a question for all the other guilds here.”
Just as Yoo Ji-han thought he might have come here for nothing, at that moment, a hero from Red Hole raised his hand.
“Everyone. If you keep up with the news, you might have heard the recent news that the first mutation of the Giant Monster appeared in Korea.”
He mentioned the mutation of the Giant Monster.
Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu exchanged glances.
“That mutation was put up for auction online and caused quite a stir.”
“Oh, I saw that too. We even attempted to bid on it.”
“Interesting. But I’ve heard that the party that hunted that mutation recently leveled up to Rank 4. If my guess is correct, they would have participated in today’s exchange meeting. Are they here by any chance?”
His question silenced the surrounding chatter.
They were all eagerly anticipating the appearance of the party mentioned just moments ago.
‘No, what the…’
The atmosphere suddenly transformed into one searching for a culprit.
Caught off guard, both Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu felt a bit awkward.
Above all, what troubled them was someone from the Sweet Fun Guild staring intently at their table.
With the Red Hole Guild’s information network, they might already know the information leaked from the Hero Department’s research institute.
Kim Si-hu looked at Yoo Ji-han with his eyes.
‘Hyung, what do we do?’
The aces laid out by Red Hole.
Should they raise their hand as they intended?
Or silently hide?
“Uh… they might not be present, or perhaps they feel too pressured to come out.”
“…”
“It seems no one is here, so let’s move on to the next question…”
After pondering deeply, Yoo Ji-han eventually raised his hand.
“…?”
“Oooh?”
Starting with Min Yu-ri, who was sitting at the same table, all the surrounding parties focused their attention on Yoo Ji-han.
He felt the piercing gazes that almost made him flinch.
He stood up, eager to meet their expectations.
Then, looking at the party from Red Hole that posed the question, he said,
“The party you just mentioned is us.”
“So you were here after all.”
“Mutant code name MU-1302. It solely belonged to the Sweet Fun Guild. Although we sold it through the auction recently.”
“Oh…”
The introduction of the party that captured the first-ever mutation, which had not even been revealed in the media.
Heroes looked at him with intrigued expressions.
However, at that moment, someone shouted.
“Looks like you got very lucky!”
It was Min Ju-yong shouting from a table near the entrance.
He was looking at Yoo Ji-han with rather disdainful eyes, up and down.
“Lucky, huh?”
“Yes! Lucky.”
He treated the success of Sweet Fun as mere luck.
Yoo Ji-han scoffed and replied,
“Sure. We were a bit lucky.”
“Hmph. You admit it.”
“And our skill was even greater.”
“…!”
With Yoo Ji-han’s added remark, a whistling sound and laughter erupted from somewhere.
At that, a somewhat offended Min Ju-yong said,
“The mutation probably wasn’t as strong as expected. It’s just a Giant Monster, right? Other Rank 5 parties could have captured it just fine.”
“Of course, the mutation was weaker than us. That’s why we were able to successfully hunt it. The party that was ahead of us then was on the verge of annihilation, though.”
“…”
Min Ju-yong looked at Yoo Ji-han with a displeased expression.
For some reason, he felt uneasy that that guy sitting with Min Yu-ri was getting attention.
As he turned his gaze back to Yoo Ji-han, he smiled mockingly.
“What’s bothering you?”
“It’s just that you’re making a big deal out of something trivial.”
“Well, we achieved that ‘trivial’ thing.”
“Then it’s just because you were lucky…”
“Who knows? If you had encountered that mutation, perhaps you’d have felt unlucky instead.”
“…Are you suggesting I wouldn’t have been able to catch that monster?”
At Yoo Ji-han’s retort, he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
It looked like he was teasing his opponent.
‘That arrogant punk…!’
How dare he ignore me!
Fury welled up in Min Ju-yong’s trembling fists.
If it were up to him, he wanted to teach that cocky guy a lesson right then and there.
However, he shot a glare at Yoo Ji-han for a moment before turning his head away sharply.
He couldn’t cause a ruckus at the exchange meeting.
“By the way, isn’t that Min Yu-ri from the Snowflakes sitting next to you?”
“That’s right.”
This time, someone from another guild directed a question at Yoo Ji-han.
Min Yu-ri, sitting next to him, looked up at Yoo Ji-han.
“Forget about why Snowflakes is attending this exchange meeting, why are you sitting at the same table?”
“It’s nothing special. They said there’s a shortage of tables in the auditorium, and we have the fewest members here. Plus, I have memories of crossing paths with Min Yu-ri at the MA.”
“So your party only consists of two people?”
“Yes. Currently, it’s just the two of us, me and Kim Si-hu, our Guild Master.”
A party that hunted a mutation with only two members skyrocketed to Rank 4 in no time.
A party recognized among Rank 4, enough to sit with Min Yu-ri!
In that moment, the image of Sweet Fun as a new contender began to rise in the atmosphere of the exchange meeting.
‘They’re quiet over there.’
While answering several questions, Yoo Ji-han glanced at Keroes’ Rank 4 party.
However, they subtly turned their heads away without making eye contact with Yoo Ji-han.
After answering a few more questions, Yoo Ji-han concluded with,
“While it’s nice to receive your attention, this is just the beginning. We promise to show you more impressive activities as a Rank 4 party in the future.”
Clap, clap, clap—
Yoo Ji-han received applause as he sat back down.
The small guild party that hunted an unchecked mutation.
Those who attended this exchange meeting would remember their faces.
Some would recall them as comrades in hero activities, others as rivals they must surpass.
“Hmm.”
Seeing the surrounding reactions, Kim Si-hu smirked slightly, lifting one corner of his mouth.