NOVEL NEXT Chapter 61
Chapter 61. Museum
The headquarters building of the Dice Guild.
Most floors there are wide open to its guild members.
From the relatively new underground training center to the floors where staff promoting guild projects reside, and the spacious break room and sleeping quarters where heroes can relax…
On specific days, if permission is granted, outsiders not related to the guild can freely tour the inside.
However, on the floor just below the top floor, which only Guild Master Yoon Do-ha could permit entry to.
Even guild members are occasionally allowed access only if they’re part of a Rank 2 or higher party.
Yoon Do-ha was brewing coffee in front of the water dispenser on that floor.
Swoosh—
Hot water was poured into a paper cup containing coffee grounds.
The amount of water was exactly 77.7mL.
“Always so finicky.”
Muttering as he measured the water down to the decimal, he placed the paper cup on a plastic tray.
On that tray, there were not only mixed coffee but also plain water, cold Sikhye, and a paper cup containing civet coffee extracted from the droppings of a civet cat.
He picked it up and entered through the automatic door on the same floor.
Thud!
Yoon Do-ha roughly placed the tray of drinks on the table.
At that moment, three arms stretched out toward it.
“Thank you!”
“I’ll enjoy it!”
“Dice is the best. Always great service.”
“Is it really 77.7mL?”
The people in the room grabbed their drinks as if they had been waiting for it.
Except for the plain water, the drinks on the tray disappeared in an instant.
“Why are you looking for service here?”
Yoon Do-ha frowned as he held the last remaining cup of water.
The leader of a large guild doing such menial tasks himself.
Still, this level of effort was nothing…
Because everyone gathered here were all guild masters of other large guilds.
“Complaining while getting such good service each time.”
The person who took the Sikhye was a massive, muscular figure taller than anyone else in the room.
Gilju’s Guild Master, Kang Jun-il.
“Mmm~ Smells great.”
The one holding the civet coffee was the only woman present.
Kim Min-jung, the Guild Master of Snowball.
“I think this is about 0.1mL too much?”
The young man with bright red hair who took the mixed coffee with 77.7mL of water.
Baek Kang-cheon, the Guild Master of Red Hole, known as the number one guild in South Korea.
Yoon Do-ha waved his hand dismissively at Baek Kang-cheon’s complaint.
“Shut up and drink.”
“Yes, yes.”
Baek Kang-cheon smiled and sipped his coffee.
“Any news from the other guild masters?”
“Not really.”
It was a gathering where Yoon Do-ha had invited the leaders of the top 10 guilds in South Korea.
He invited nine people excluding himself, but only three who usually kept in touch were actually present.
Even among those not overseas, most didn’t come, citing busy schedules.
“Looks like no one else will be coming, so let’s start.”
Yoon Do-ha operated the remote control and turned on the monitor in the room.
What appeared on the screen was the Fire Goemi discovered on Gye-yang Mountain.
“You’ve all heard the news.”
“Gye-yang Mountain has a Goemi Cave now.”
“And.”
“At Rank 4 MA, that Fire Goemi showed up.”
“And there was a queen as well?”
Yoon Do-ha nodded at Kang Jun-il’s question.
“Rumor has it one of the non-combatant survivors found inside the cave has been controlling the Goemis.”
“Does that make sense? They’re not just seeing things?”
“Controlling? I’m not sure, but it’s clear they weren’t attacked by the Goemis.”
“……”
“And after an investigation by the Hero Department, it turns out this survivor is a member of the IUPC.”
IUPC.
When the International Union for Creature Protection was mentioned, Kang Jun-il sighed.
Recently, a party from Warriors had already been disrupted by them on-site.
“Those guys again.”
“Looks like they’re involved in every incident lately.”
The IUPC had been increasingly active recently, appearing near various MAs and organizing protests, much more than before.
With their numbers growing daily, many guilds, including the Hero Department, were suffering losses both big and small because of them.
“You know about the rumors of monsters disappearing in the provinces, right? They say IUPC is involved in that too.”
“What do they intend to do…”
“Where’s the person caught this time?”
“They’re still being interrogated by the Hero Department.”
The IUPC member captured by Yoo Ji-han on Gye-yang Mountain was currently being questioned by the Hero Department.
However, aside from the information gleaned from her identity, there was hardly any gain.
She had remained tight-lipped as if in a vow of silence to every question.
Thud!
Kang Jun-il smacked his right fist into his left palm and said.
“Can’t we just stomp them out?”
“Would that actually work, you idiot.”
“A Fire Goemi came out of the Goemi Cave. If we pull out a few Goemis and sprinkle them in their eyes…”
“They’ve already caught on at IUPC.”
“Tsk.”
The news that an IUPC member had been caught had also spread outside.
In front of the Hero Department’s Seoul branch, other IUPC members were protesting for her release.
Recently, the Hero Department had been facing considerable criticism due to the continuous mutations and deaths of heroes.
They couldn’t easily disregard the rising powers.
“This is the current map of the Goemi Cave we’ve identified.”
Ding!
A large map-like image appeared on the screen.
Beneath the image of a mountain, it showed the map of the Goemi Cave that the mages had created after the Goemis were completely eradicated on Gye-yang Mountain.
“Whoa, they really dug deep…”
The Goemi Cave, twisted and winding with multiple rooms, was not something that could be constructed overnight.
Kim Min-jung pointed at the screen and said.
“Isn’t this gonna make the mountain collapse?”
“The work to fill in is currently in progress. I plan to lend a hand after the meeting ends.”
“If Do-ha oppa goes, it’ll be finished in no time.”
Using the Earth Spirit, Mumu, would surely allow for much faster work than bringing in a large excavator.
Meanwhile, Baek Kang-cheon, who was looking at the Goemi Cave, raised a question.
“Where did all that dirt go?”
“That’s the most suspicious part.”
With that amount of dirt, it’s impossible not to have caught someone’s attention while moving it.
But the fact that there hadn’t been any reports about it…
“Magic, maybe.”
“Probably.”
It wouldn’t be possible without the help of someone wielding magical power, not ordinary people.
Though very low probability, could it be that a holder of Earth Spirits like Yoon Do-ha helped out?
If not, it would likely be the doing of mages who cast spells.
“A human helping monsters…”
“I’d like to see their face.”
“Hmph! As you can see, it must be the work of non-humans.”
Kang Jun-il speculated this incident to be the doing of non-humans.
He believed that those usually dissatisfied with humans had worked to get humans in trouble.
Most non-humans migrating from another world had magical powers, so chances were definitely there.
“You remember that incident? When we got screwed over.”
The case where the non-humans, thought to have settled well in Korea, secretly attacked humans at night.
Though the Hero Department had instructed not to disclose detailed circumstances to the public, fearing that the already poor perception of non-humans would worsen.
Everyone present was aware of that.
“Non-humans should be completely driven off Earth.”
“Don’t say stupid things.”
“Who else could have done this? They teamed up with the IUPC to stir up trouble.”
“Coexistence with non-humans is an unavoidable long-term challenge.”
“Like you know anything about it.”
Yoon Do-ha was inclined to support harmony with non-humans.
However, the Warriors, who had suffered significant losses from invaders in the past, did not share that view.
“What about you, Baek Kang-cheon?”
“I prefer peace.”
Baek Kang-cheon of Red Hole asserted peace with a grin.
“We have a few non-humans mixed in among our kids.”
“Min-jung, how about you?”
“I’m neutral. But peace would be preferable if possible.”
“Well, who actually hates peace?”
Kang Jun-il sulked as it seemed he was the only one expressing a different opinion.
Yoon Do-ha looked at the other guild masters and spoke.
“Then I’ll take it as everyone agrees… Let’s each select personnel for monitoring the IUPC in our guilds by next week.”
“Monitoring?”
“Their movements are suspicious, so we need to keep an eye on them.”
Yoon Do-ha was thinking of collaborating with three other guilds to monitor the IUPC’s activities.
He couldn’t just allow those causing constant disruptions to roam free.
“The non-human organizations have been quiet lately?”
“Indeed.”
Organizations gathering non-humans that settled on Earth.
In the past, they had constantly caused troubles, but lately, their activities had been sparse.
“They might have some connection to the IUPC. I’ll investigate that separately.”
“Oppa Do-ha, you’re working hard by yourself.”
“If you know, then lend a hand.”
“Sure~”
Contrary to the ‘troublemaker’ moniker given by the public, Yoon Do-ha was secretly busy at work behind the scenes.
At that moment, Baek Kang-cheon raised his hand and said.
“I have a question for you.”
“What is it?”
“Didn’t you recently look for someone?”
“……”
Yoon Do-ha’s eyes narrowed at Baek Kang-cheon.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Underestimating Red Hole’s intelligence is a mistake.”
“What a leisurely intel source.”
“A guild with only a Rank 5 party. What did you find them for?”
“Acquisition proposal.”
Kim Min-jung and Kang Jun-il’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You personally proposed to acquire a guild?”
“Where was it?”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s already out in the open.”
“Whoa! You declined the acquisition proposal from Dice?”
A mere Rank 5 party kicking away a proposal from a large guild!
This was an exceptionally rare occurrence in history.
“Now I’m even more curious! Can we reach out to them?”
“Of course. If you want to fight me.”
Yoon Do-ha said with a grin.
As if he would hand over something he couldn’t have to them.
It was that kind of response.
“Tsk, then I’m out.”
“So am I.”
“……”
When everyone else let it go easily.
Baek Kang-cheon simply kept smiling without a reply.
Yoon Do-ha found that smile somewhat annoying.
*
“…Yes, yes. I understand. Thank you!”
With a bright expression, Kim Si-hu lowered the mobile phone from his ear.
Yoo Ji-han, who was waiting beside him, asked.
“What did they say?”
“They said they’d let Sweet Fun take all the Goemi found in the cave, from the Queen Goemi to the Fire Goemi, in exchange for giving up ownership of all other Goemis.”
“That’s great.”
On the day the Goemi Cave occurred on Gye-yang Mountain.
After discussions on how to divide ownership of the Goemis hunted there with Kang Si-wook’s party and the Hero Department.
Yoo Ji-han’s party managed to yield ownership of non-special types of Goemi like the Worker Goemi and Soldier Goemi, while acquiring ownership of the special individuals.
‘That’s a win.’
Considering that ordinary Worker Goemi didn’t sell well in the market, this deal was quite agreeable.
Especially acquiring the only Queen Goemi from the cave could be seen as a significant gain.
“We can immediately deliver the Queen Goemi to the museum.”
“I’ll contact Mongdang.”
Currently preparing to open a Monster Museum in Seoul.
It was a facility where monster corpses would be treated specially for permanent preservation, allowing the public to view them.
According to the news received from Mongdang, they were looking to acquire a Queen Goemi.
‘As expected, they didn’t say much.’
The acquaintances of Moon Kyung-jin, who had been there on-site, weren’t particularly opposed to Yoo Ji-han’s party taking ownership of the Queen Goemi.
It was only reasonable, as they had mainly talked and played no significant role in capturing the Goemi.
‘Just showing and proving.’
In contrast, Yoo Ji-han had put in the most effort, even riding on the back of the Queen Goemi to capture it.
The reason they had remained silent when leaving the Goemi Cave was justified.