Level Up Machine

Chapter 19 Joining the Guild (3)

“Uh… okay.”

Yu-na returned the mini fan to Yeong-sik with an awkward smile.

Yeong-sik put the mini fan back into his inventory.

Seeing this, Yu-na asked curiously,

“Then how did you hunt the Lizardmen?”

“I used the weapon you saw earlier.”

“…Without any skills?”

Yu-na looked at him in astonishment.

Catching Lizardmen without any skills?

It was impossible unless one had exceptional techniques or an exceedingly high level to overpower them.

‘He didn’t seem to be at a particularly high level, though.’

That meant he had caught the Lizardmen purely with his skills.

Yu-na looked at Yeong-sik’s left hand with a fascinated expression.

Noticing her gaze, Yeong-sik responded calmly,

“Since Ara’s skills are ice-based magic, it was easy to catch them. Lizardmen are weak to cold.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Yu-na looked at Yeong-sik with a doubtful expression.

No matter how effective ice magic might be, it was hard to believe that it could have such a tremendous effect from a low-level summoner.

“Have you, by any chance, learned martial arts before?”

“Yes. Enough to protect myself.”

Yeong-sik even kept it a secret from her that he had lost his memory.

It wasn’t too late to tell her about it later.

“Alright. Let’s move on for now.”

Yu-na turned around and started walking through the swamp.

Yeong-sik and his party followed her.

After walking through the swamp for a while, Yu-na turned her head towards Yeong-sik as if she had remembered something.

“Oh, right. There’s one thing I haven’t told you.”

“Please, go ahead.”

Yeong-sik and his party tilted their heads, focusing on Yu-na’s words.

With a somewhat bitter expression, Yu-na continued.

“Our guild master… Tiria is not an Earthling, but a native.”

Yeong-sik and his party looked surprised at her words.

From what they had heard, guilds were created by Earthlings to counter the established powerful native factions.

But a guild master being a native?

It was hard to comprehend.

It was like a white person leading a black civil rights organization.

Of course, unlike the severe discrimination black people faced in the past, Earthlings were more restricted, but the feeling was similar.

“A native guild master… That’s quite unusual.”

In the past two weeks, while gathering information about this world, Yeong-sik had never heard of a guild led by a native, so he spoke with interest.

“She’s a kind and good person. So kind that it’s problematic.”

She spoke with a tone as if swallowing her words. A clear look of anger appeared in Yu-na’s eyes.

Yeong-sik chose not to ask her about it.

Anyway, once he joined her guild and started living with them, he would naturally find out.

‘For now, I just need enough power to protect myself from the Light Shield Guild.’

Yeong-sik thought as he watched Yu-na’s back.

What he needed most right now was at least minimal safety until he became stronger.

He needed to get stronger quickly.

Yeong-sik looked down at his hands with a deep, sinking gaze.

The recent attack made him realize once again that strength was essential to survive in this world.

And for him, gaining strength was not just about adapting better to this world.

It was also tied to regaining his memories.

Yeong-sik followed Yu-na, continuing to think about his future plans.

* * *

The Salvator Guild was located in Luberin, a neighboring city to Belen, where Yeong-sik and his party were staying.

Luberin was clearly a much more underdeveloped city compared to Belen.

The poorly paved roads had holes everywhere, and the buildings along the roads were all old.

The city was vastly different from Belen, which felt vibrant overall.

“Is this your first time outside Belen?”

Yu-na, who was walking ahead, turned around and asked,

“Is this your first time outside Belen?”

Yeong-sik nodded.

“Yes, it is.”

“It’s a bit different from Belen, isn’t it?”

At her question, Yeong-sik nodded in agreement.

The surrounding buildings looked older than the cheap inn where he had stayed.

With a bitter smile, Yu-na continued,

“We originally lived in the capital… but due to the guild’s circumstances, we moved here.”

She looked at Luberin’s streets with a somewhat wistful expression.

After staring at the streets for a while, she changed the gloomy atmosphere with a lively voice,

“Oh, once you live here, it’s not such a bad city, so don’t be too disappointed.”

“Haha… I’m not really in a position to be disappointed.”

Yeong-sik replied with a bitter smile.

As Yu-na nodded and was about to turn around again, a question flashed through Yeong-sik’s mind.

“By the way, why were you passing through the Lizardmen habitat?”

The swamp where the Lizardmen lived was an awful place to use as a path.

A strong person like her wouldn’t go to the swamp for hunting, so there was no reason for her to pass through there.

“Oh, I was looking for a boss monster. There was a report of a sighting in the Lizardmen habitat recently.”

“A boss monster?”

“Yes. Sometimes they appear even in beginner hunting grounds.”

At her words, Yeong-sik asked with a puzzled expression,

“But do you really need to hunt low-level boss monsters?”

“I went half out of curiosity. Recently, boss monsters have been appearing very rarely. Also, even low-level boss monsters can bring in quite a bit of money.”

She said this and then started walking again.

A boss monster.

Following her, Yeong-sik thought about boss monsters.

The only boss monster he knew was Orc Chieftain Krol, which appeared during the tutorial.

And even then, he only heard about it through a message, not by seeing or fighting it directly.

Yeong-sik decided to ask her for a detailed explanation about boss monsters later and continued to follow her.

“We’re here.”

After walking for about ten more minutes, they arrived at a somewhat shabby-looking two-story house.

Yu-na opened the door and went inside.

“Yu-na unnieeee!”

“…So noisy.”

As soon as she entered, a girl with brown twin tails rushed towards Yu-na.

With a weary expression, Yu-na lightly flicked the girl’s forehead as she ran towards her.

– Smack!

“Aah!”

With a clear sound, the girl running towards her fell backwards onto the floor.

She rubbed her forehead, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Ow. That was too much, Yu-na unni.”

“Sigh. Let me introduce you. This little kid is Lee Chae-rin. She’s the firepower specialist of the guild.”

“…Firepower specialist?”

Yeong-sik tilted his head, puzzled by the image of Lee Chae-rin, which didn’t match her description at all.

Yu-na chuckled at his reaction and shrugged her shoulders.

“You’ll find out later.”

With that, she went inside.

In the spacious area that looked like a living room (though it wasn’t that large), there were two men.

One was a young man with sharp features and narrow eyes.

He was silently reading a book with one hand, but slowly turned his head at Yu-na’s entrance.

He was someone whose expression barely changed, as if made of porcelain.

“Ah, Yu-na.”

In contrast, the other young man had a much friendlier demeanor.

His thick horn-rimmed glasses, neatly combed black hair, and the loose robe he was wearing all contributed to his warm appearance.

“This nice-looking guy here is Bae Han-seong. And the one trying to set the mood over there is Yoo Jin.”

“…I’m not trying to set the mood.”

Yoo Jin furrowed his brows slightly and spoke in a low voice.

Yu-na turned her head towards Bae Han-seong and asked.

“Where are the others?”

“They’re currently out on an expedition.”

“Hmm… Got it. Then I’ll introduce you to them for now. This is Yeong-sik, Kim Gil-soo, and Seo Ara, who might become part of our family.”

“…New guild members?”

Bae Han-seong narrowed his eyes and turned his head towards her, as if asking, ‘Are you serious?’

Yu-na nodded with a heavy expression at his look.

“All decisions are made by Tiria unni.”

She spoke firmly.

Bae Han-seong let out a deep sigh and replied.

“Later, you’ll need to properly explain the situation our guild is in, right?”

“Got it.”

“Ah! Yu-na unni! I have a question!”

Chae-rin, who had been following behind her, raised one hand and asked.

Yu-na turned her head towards her.

“What is it?”

“What are everyone’s classes?”

She looked at Yeong-sik, Gil-soo, and Ara with sparkling eyes. Yu-na swallowed hard and said to Chae-rin.

“I’ll explain that later…”

“Ehh?! I want to know now! Tell me!”

She shouted, almost throwing a tantrum. A thick vein appeared on Yu-na’s forehead. She moved her hand to hit Chae-rin on the forehead.

At that moment, Gil-soo’s mouth opened faster than Yu-na’s hand.

“I’m a warrior class.”

Gil-soo looked at Chae-rin with a warm gaze, as if he found her cute.

At his words, Chae-rin burst into laughter.

“Hehe? You don’t look like a warrior at all, mister! You seem more like a priest!”

“Hahaha. It’s not something I can choose.”

Gil-soo laughed heartily with his characteristic good-natured smile.

At his words, Chae-rin turned her head with a bright smile.

“What about the others?”

“…I’m a frost mage.”

Ara answered Chae-rin’s question with a short sigh.

Hearing the attribute attached to the common class of mage, Chae-rin’s eyes sparkled.

“Wow! Is that a hidden class? That’s amazing!”

Ara looked away, feeling burdened by Chae-rin’s enthusiastic reaction. Chae-rin’s gaze then turned to the last remaining person, Yeong-sik.

Yeong-sik shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth.

“I have the class of a mechanical engineer.”

Yeong-sik spoke in a polite tone.

Chae-rin tilted her head at his words.

“Mechanical engineer? I’ve never heard of that before…”

She approached Yeong-sik, looking extremely intrigued.

She scanned Yeong-sik from head to toe and asked,

“Blacksmiths fight with hammers, but what do you fight with?”

“Hmm… I fight with something like this.”

Yeong-sik extended his left arm forward and murmured softly, “Blade.”

The back of his left hand opened up, revealing a sharp blade.

“Wow!”

“It’s a special weapon that only those with the mechanical engineer class can obtain.”

Yeong-sik, deciding to fully conceal his true identity, preemptively explained that the weapon was a part of the mechanical engineer class.

Chae-rin kept expressing admiration while staring at the back of his hand.

Then, as if she remembered something, she clapped her hands and shouted.

“Now that I see it, it looks like that! Jilmat!”

“Puh-hup.”

At the mention of a famous game character’s name from her mouth, laughter burst out simultaneously from Yu-na and Ara.

Although he didn’t remember anything about himself, Yeong-sik still retained his memories of Earth, so he gave an awkward smile.

“Can you shout ‘For Aiur’ just once?!”

“…That’s a bit much.”

Imagining her request made Yeong-sik cringe, and he shook his head with an embarrassed expression.

Chae-rin looked disappointed but continued.

“…What about ‘En Taro Adun’?”

“No, thank you.”

“Puhahahaha!”

Yeong-sik replied to her in a rather firm voice.

Yu-na, listening to their conversation, began to laugh uncontrollably, clutching her stomach.

*Screech.*

“Do we have guests?”

At that moment, someone seemed to have heard the commotion downstairs. There was the sound of a door opening and someone walking out from the second floor.

Yeong-sik turned his head towards the sound.

There, he saw a woman’s figure coming into view.