Betrayal

“Oh my, I’m sorry.”
No, I’m fine.
More importantly, shouldn’t you be making a good impression on the Saintess?
What’s with that hand gesture?
I adopted the mindset of a nagging, old-school Constellation as I looked at Sion.
Startled, Sion avoided my gaze.
“I was so busy admiring your faces that I kept you all standing here. Shall we get going?”
“Yes, let’s go to the guild together.”
The four of them—no, including Emily’s personal bodyguards, several people—exited the private jet’s exclusive passageway.
As soon as they entered the airport lobby, a massive barrage of flashes poured down.
Truthfully, they could have slipped out unnoticed, but Emily had insisted on going this way.
She waved cheerfully at the reporters and said.
“I love you, Korea!”
It was a classic ‘I love Korea’ bit of fan service.
The reporters’ typing quickened.
The flashes intensified.
Soon, nationalistic articles about Emily Taylor would be rampant.
“Did you like Korea?”
“Of course not. It’s just service. I wasn’t even interested until the Calamity made the proposal.”
Sion and Emily whispered closely.
I thought, ‘Hmm, a dating scandal is probably going to break out too.’
After providing ample service to the reporters, Emily Taylor got into the limousine prepared by the association president.
We got in with her.
Even with all the money and connections in the world, you couldn’t get a limousine in a day.
Feeling the smooth ride, Emily Taylor opened her mouth.
“I heard you were favored by the association president, and it seems that was true.”
“Our vice-guild leader is the association president’s niece…”
“I’m not saying anything. Blood ties are a skill too.”
Emily Taylor smiled brightly with her pretty face.
Soon, her expression changed subtly, and she let out a faint laugh.
“So.”
‘Here it comes.’
Sion’s eyes grew cold.
Emily’s eyes scanned my contractors.
“How much did you find out before you called me?”
Emily Taylor.
America’s savior, the second coming of God, the undying priestess, the eternal golden saintess.
She, with her many titles, was quite…
A person obsessed with money.

One day before.

• Emily Taylor is a money-grubber.

• “A money-grubber?”

• Ah, my mistake. A person obsessed with money.

• “The corrected statement doesn’t seem much different.”

• Flip, flip.

The sound of paper turning came from over the phone’s speaker.
Currently, Han Sion was the only one in the guild leader’s office, handling the work by himself.
This was because Han Sion’s fitting for a white suit, simply embroidered with gold decorations, finished much earlier than Baek Jiye’s and Cheon Sanho’s, who had ordered custom hanboks.
I had nothing to get fitted for, so I just stuck to Sion.

• “But what does being a money-lover have to do with the current matter?”

• Guild Leader Han Sion, you really don’t know anything, do you?

• “Well, I’d have to have a chance to know. The Calamity is quiet, and there’s no separate guild leader training. Until recently, I was just a lowly scavenger.”

‘I feel a subtle jab in there, or is it just me?’
I lived up to my title.
I remained silent.

• I mentioned a little while ago that the Calamity sent a proposal.

• “Yes.”

• Then did you not know that the guild has to prepare a separate fee for the service?

• “No.”

• How bold. Didn’t Jiye tell you?

• “It seems Jiye doesn’t know either.”

• Well, she grew up in the association… and the association isn’t a guild.

Hong Yuon, contemplating where to even begin, continued.

• Usually, proposals are limited to individuals, but the content of the proposal Emily Taylor put forward is not.

• “Didn’t you say a moment ago that you didn’t know the content of the proposal?”

• That’s true, but it’s not like I have no idea. If she needed to get something from an individual, there would be no reason for Emily Taylor to come all the way to Korea.

Tap. Tap. The sound of a desk being tapped came from over the phone.

• Is someone sick right now?

• “Cheon Sanho-ssi’s sibling is sick.”

• Then she must have been called to solve that. In this case, you need to prepare a separate fee.

This is what Hong Yuon said.
Usually, proposals are most often used between an individual and a Constellation—that is, when a Constellation is trying to win over a contractor.
But sometimes, that’s not the case.
In such cases, it becomes a matter between an individual and a Constellation-and-individual, creating a moral obligation to provide compensation.

• It’s a moral obligation, so if you don’t want to give it, you don’t have to.

• “But in that case, there would be some disadvantage for us.”

• That’s right. The Calamity succeeded in getting Emily to move, but it’s the Nate Guild’s job to make her act as you wish.

• In short, if we don’t pay properly, she’ll just say ‘I’m not doing anything until you pay up’.
  I understood.

• ‘Administrator, do you have any more Starlight Flowers?’

[That’s a bit rare, so unless you do another pretty deed, I won’t give it to you.]
‘Stingy.’

[The Calamity has the heart of a thief, he says.]
While I was clicking my tongue, Han Sion opened his mouth.
“But our guild has no money.”

• That’s right.

That was true.
Even though we were a guild with an S-rank swordsman, a magician, and a quasi-S-rank appraiser, and had been exposed a lot in the media.
We were a new guild.
One that had never even gone on an official dungeon raid!
All our funds were dependent on Hong Yuon’s personal pocket!
We were a shameless, tiny little guild!

[NO.3 Guild]
The Constellation, Silent Calamity, wishes to build a tower of her own. Establish a guild and rise to the mid-tier rankings.
Success: The Constellation’s Trust, 3000 Coins
Failure: The Constellation’s Disappointment
We haven’t even completed this yet!
What mid-tier, we’re an unbalanced guild that’s still struggling in the lower ranks but has overpowered members and high recognition.

• So… ha, I really didn’t want to deliver this.

• “What is it?”

• The Crow Guild has contacted us, wanting to do a ‘guide raid’ with the Nate Guild.

Han Sion’s hand, which was scanning the documents, stopped.
The document he was looking at happened to be that joint raid proposal.

• “A guide raid, you say…?”

• Have you really only worked as a scavenger? It’s a system where an established mid-sized guild helps a newly created guild with their raid.

• “Yes, I’m aware. But you’re saying Crow specifically pointed us out for that raid?”

Usually, for a ‘guide raid’, a new guild that lacks the ability to raid a dungeon or has never done one before applies to a mid-sized guild through the association.
But we had never applied for a guide raid.
In the first place, the Nate Guild’s strength was two S-ranks and one A-rank.
They could clear any dungeon by just ramming their heads against it; there was no need to ask for guidance.

• “They pointed us out?”

• Yes. This isn’t a matter for the association to decide, so Jiye probably submitted the documents.

• “Yes, I’m looking at it now.”

I also read the document from Sion’s arms.
Since it was an official document, it was written politely without any hint of sarcasm, and there seemed to be no particular problem with it.
Except that the roles of superior and inferior were reversed, and the ratio was a bit strange.

“Pi…”

• “The ratio is… 10:0?”

• Strange, isn’t it?

• “And it’s an A-rank gate.”

• That’s right. And as a bonus, it’s a slime dungeon famous for its sweet byproducts.

Slime dungeons are very famous.
This is because most of the essential ingredients for potion making come from slime dungeons.
Since slime dungeons are very evenly distributed, a smaller landmass means fewer slime gates.
Thanks to that, whenever a slime gate appeared in Korea, the place was swarming with people flocking like a pack of dogs to secure the exclusive rights.

‘There’s something fishy about this.’
I narrowed my eyes and looked at the chat window where I had talked with ‘The Crow’s Ruins’.
Of course, nothing had come.

• An offer you can’t refuse, right?

• “Yes, for now, that’s right.”

• If you run a slime dungeon once, let’s see… you’ll get about 30 billion won, so even if it’s a little short, it’ll be enough to get the Saintess to move.

• “Though she’ll make a fuss about it.”

• You’ll have to deal with that.

I could hear Hong Yuon laughing over the phone.

• “Does the Crow Guild have an S-rank…?”

• No. They have a quasi-S-rank. Guild Leader Seokcheon.

• “Then it won’t be much of a threat. I’ll accept.”

After all, we were the ones in a hurry.
If the conditions were good, there was no reason to refuse.
Of course, I felt a little uneasy.
‘Don’t tell me they’re going to attack our guild members again?’
Nah, probably not.
After their ace A-rank hunter was so soundly beaten in Han Sion’s grade measurement, who had just awakened?
After losing a guild member in Sion’s stability test?
They’re going to pick a fight again?
‘Even a crow wouldn’t think of doing that.’
I’m talking about the crows that actually fly in the sky, not the Constellation.
I read the address of the Crow Guild’s headquarters at the very bottom of the guide raid document.
I was thinking of using my Sun’s Eye for the first time in a while.
“Pipi.”
“Pion, are you going to sleep?”
“Piuk.”
“Good night.”
After returning to my cute room, I lay down on the bed and activated my Sun’s Eye.
After getting used to the third-person perspective for the first time in a while, I spun around once to get my bearings and then flew to the Crow Guild’s headquarters, to the guild leader’s office.
Thanks to the power of a Constellation, I entered the Crow Guild’s office without any trouble.
And I witnessed it.
“Then, I’ll be counting on you.”
“Likewise.”
It was Yeon Taeseon, shaking hands with the Crow Guild Leader.
『…….』
I had been betrayed.