Chapter 71: The Shifting Tides of Power

The Price of Power

“Kim Changshik. I’ll ask you one last thing.”

“P-please, go ahead.”

“If I decide to destroy this building, how many people in this conference room would survive?”

“!!”

“Don’t think and answer immediately!”

“Three! Three is the limit.”

“Im Myunghoon. What about you?”

By the time the meeting was about to end, Im Myunghoon,

who had been cornered, suddenly lit up as Shin Sunggwak appeared and ruthlessly knocked Kim Changshik down.

It seemed that this elder had received orders from his father.

His father had indeed chosen him as the next Guild Master.

With an emotional face, he answered.

“I can save everyone!”

“How?”

“If the elder removes the cause of anger, the building won’t collapse, so no one will be harmed.”

”If there’s a mistake Kim Changshik made, I’ll correct it!”

Kim Changshik, taken by surprise at this unexpected remark, realized that the power dynamic was shifting from him to Im Myunghoon.

“Then try to calm my anger.”

Shin Sunggwak stamped his foot fiercely.

<Awakening Ability – Stone Wall>

<Anomaly Skill – Sharpness Wall>

<Anomaly Skill – Land Cutting>

A sharp wall spread along the path of his step.

Everything below his feet the soles of his shoes, the flesh beneath his sitting body,

and his hand touching the ground was sliced by a thin, single layer of the wall.

<Linked Activation – Ground Heaving>

As if the ground was rising, the floor below him surged upward in blocks,

causing the entire space to shake as if it might collapse, trapping everyone in the meeting room.

“AAAH!!”

“Im Myunghoon, do something! Hurry!!”

“Please, save us, Senior!! We’re all going to die!!”

The executives screamed and begged for their lives.

Though he hadn’t yet achieved the status of a senior executive,

Im Myunghoon, a second-generation awakened, had contributed enough to deserve some respect.

Even his colleagues from the previous generation cried out, but Shin Sunggwak’s rage didn’t subside.

“You’re all the same!”

” When young people go down the wrong path, instead of correcting them, those of you who are ‘seniors’ just try to keep your petty titles and watch them ruin everything.”

Kim Changshik, who was infamous,

and Im Myunghoon, who had been following his father’s footsteps as the Guild Master’s son,

as well as all the mid-level executives, newcomers, and managers none of them were able to satisfy Shin Sunggwak.

Shin Sunggwak had foolishly thought that everything would be fine if he just passed the frontline work onto them.

“Heh… huff…”

“Did we survive…?”

“I thought we were dead!”

As Shin Sunggwak released his abilities, all the things that had been lifted into the air came crashing back down to the ground.

“Heh, heh… Mom, I’m scared.”

“My leg… it’s broken…!”

“Kim Changshik, Im Myunghoon, you bastards. What the hell did you do to make us suffer like this?”

Some of them regressed into a childlike state from fear, others screamed in pain from injuries, and some cast angry glances at Kim Changshik and Im Myunghoon.

The meeting room was in chaos.

Shin Sunggwak glared at everyone and declared.

“I’m going to cut a few of you. Some of you are going to leave, and some are going to pack up and go.”

“!!”

“First, Kim Changshik, step down from your position as Vice Guild Master.”

Kim Changshik, who had come so close to the top of the power hierarchy, now trembled as he was told to step down to the bottom. He glared in fury.

“No matter how strong you are compared to us, Senior, you can’t do this! The monster raid was Im Myunghoon’s fault, not mine!”

He knew it himself. He knew it was madness.

Despite his resistance, his chest tightened, and his heart pounded wildly in his chest.

“If proper consequences aren’t enforced, the Guild’s hierarchy will collapse. If you turn a blind eye just because you’re the Guild Master’s son, what’s the difference between us and the third-generation chaebols running family businesses?!”

Shin Sunggwak, acting like a merciless tyrant, wasn’t even listening to his words.

“I won’t step down. I will firmly reject any unjust pressure!”

“Do you think I don’t know that the Gate’s overflow comes from a failed dungeon raid? Do you want me to conduct a full investigation into the cause of the monster raid?”

“Th-thats… no, I… I made a mistake.”

Now that he was cornered, having his weakness exposed, he no longer had the will to oppose.

If this situation escalated, it wouldn’t end with just losing his position as Vice Guild Master.

A big incident would always come with a big rumor, and if the investigation started and the truth came out, the entire Guild would be disgraced.

Kim Changshik would not only have to resign but could even lose his life.

“Im Myunghoon. You step down from your position as Chief of Security as well.”

“Senior!”

“Or I’ll kill you.”

“……”

Pressed flat between the floor and the ceiling, with holes pierced through the blocks that rose intermittently, the once round table, no longer a table, was now a broken structure.

Im Myunghoon placed his Chief of Security badge and employee ID on top of what was once the round table.

“Both of your direct subordinates will be demoted by two ranks. Those who have no place to go will be fired.”

“B-but, Senior Shin Sunggwak. The severance payments for the Guild members are substantial.”

“Embezzlement, fraud, breach of trust. I’m sure there’s plenty of money to be recovered if we look into it.”

The accountant, who had foolishly attempted a timid protest, saw Shin Sunggwak’s burning gaze and realized that many of the executives would be fired, and he himself wouldn’t be spared.

The realization left him feeling hopeless.

“Kim Changshik and Im Myunghoon will be reassigned as team leaders in the support department, and their subordinates will be reassigned as team members. Their main duties will be to perform missions for the Association.”

The shocking news made both Kim Changshik and Im Myunghoon collapse to the ground, their strength draining away.

Guilds, much like medieval fiefs, wielded significant power over their regions, but once assigned to the Association’s missions, they would be forced to shoulder responsibilities matching their position.

Awakened from the Association were often left to deal with missions that had been abandoned due to lack of resources, time, or skill.

The Association, frustrated with the Guilds that only recruited powerful Awakened while sending weak recruits on dangerous missions, treated these assigned individuals harshly.

They were aware of this, and they knew that no one would treat them kindly during their assignment.

‘Kim Changshik’s demotion?’

‘This is impossible. Even though my father is the Guild Master, I’m being demoted?’

Kim Changshik and Im Myunghoon couldn’t bear the shock, and both either let out hollow laughs or cried in frustration.

The executives and senior staff gathered in the conference room witnessed with their own eyes that Kim Changshik and Im Myunghoon’s positions had fallen to the ground.

“The return to the headquarters from the support missions will be after you’ve completed your contribution as stated in the future contract with the Association.”

If they worked hard, there might be a way back.

However, the real problem was that those who followed that path would most likely never return alive.

‘If we want to survive, we’ll need to squeeze out all our strength and wisdom.’

The anger of those who had followed their lines, as well as the enemies created by the outside world, would never let them return to the Guild easily.

The Association would also assign them missions that were tough to contribute to, making it difficult for them to return to the Guild.

“Any objections?”

If there are, I’ll kill you right now.

With that dangerous glint in his eyes, Shin Sunggwak’s glare left no room for anyone to speak out. No one dared defy him.

The establishment of the Support Dispatch Department, large-scale reassignments,

and the dispatch contracts with the Association these proposals that shook the Guild’s power structure from the very foundation were passed unanimously by the executives and senior staff.

When the meeting concluded, the exhausted executives, trembling with fatigue, walked back with shaky steps.

Behind them, Shin Sunggwak quietly spoke.

“All of the executives, stay under me.”

Now that the punishment for the young ones was over, it was time to begin punishing the old ones.

The senior executives, who had been with him in the past and knew of his fearsome capabilities, lowered their heads deeply.

These were seasoned second-generation Awakened, but facing the determination of Shin Sunggwak,

who had no qualms about sacrificing his own lifespan to topple the Guild, they dared not speak.

Even in the martial world, when conflicts arose between prestigious factions,

t wasn’t the individual troublemakers who suffered; instead, the elders within the sect were punished, and the effects were immediately apparent.

‘The Myeongho Guild will certainly pay the price.’

Had Shin Sunggwak, the Executive Director, been a person of the same ilk as the Guild’s young, reckless members,

he would have killed them without hesitation and sought out a higher-ranking figure.

But as Hae Eung Eung observed, Shin Sunggwak wasn’t the type to dirty his hands with petty, meaningless tasks.

He wouldn’t sully his hands with the gutter water, even if it meant disrespecting the elders.

If a person of true skill could have stained their hands with blood, it would have been a different matter, but Shin Sunggwak wasn’t one to stoop to such unrefined acts.

He was confident that he would not let the younger ones get away with tarnishing his dignity.

“Sis, the police have finished their investigation. The mana waste wasn’t caused by Myeongho Guild, but by the convenience store owner who was attempting insurance fraud.”

She had rushed to visit Jeon Ju-ae to share the good news, only to find that the criminal wasn’t the Myeongho Guild after all.

“Sis, did you cause trouble again?”

“Sis, why are you avoiding eye contact?”

Like a puppy caught doing something wrong, Hae Eung Eung was looking toward Ju-ae while her eyes shifted uncomfortably to the side.