The Regressed Dungeo Chapter 33: The back and forth

Chapter 33: The back and forth

In the silence of the office, the two of them continued to stare at each other.

The boss rubbed his eyes. "Kid, I am a blunt person. So just be clear about your intention."

Ray smiled at not being shut down by the boss. He also changed his tone. "In that case, big boss, can I ask you a blunt question?"

The boss raised his eyebrow. "You did not answer ."

Ray raised his hand. "It is connected to the topic."

The boss waved his hand. "Okay, ask."

Ray pointed to his phone. "Boss, why would a person as powerful as you care about these class reset items? Do they really need to be good in the ga? Can’t you send them to the big guilds?"

The boss stared at him with interest. "Kid, you really know a lot."

Ray shook his head. "I barely scraped these pieces of information. I have no idea about the situation on the other side. This is why I am confused about why people at your level started looking for talent."

"People at my level?"

"Yup. Though none of them were as serious as you. This is the big reason I ca to talk with you, big boss."

The boss asked him back, "I heard you are in college. How the hell do you know all this?"

Ray paused for a bit. He knew that none of them would believe him if he said it was all his work. He wanted to avoid anything that could create distrust.

After so ti, he went for the next best thing. "Big boss, actually, I learned this stuff from one of the seniors. I can’t say his na, but one ti he bragged to us about how so big gangs wanted to recruit him to teach their kids."

The big boss raised his eyebrows.

But Ray just looked down and added, "I also got to talk with a few seniors who joined the cafe and got pieces of information from them."

The boss squinted at him. "You really want

to believe this? Why is a college kid like you even interested in gangs so much?"

Ray just pointed to his phone. "Boss, let

show you the reason."

The boss handed him the phone. "You really ca prepared."

Ray said while unlocking his phone, "Boss, there is nothing to hide. The thing is, I have been gathering all the information for about half a year now."

He showed his phone to the boss. "Here." He played the video of him getting beaten up.

The boss squinted his eyes. "Didn’t you say you were not looking for protection?"

Ray shook his head. "It’s not about that, boss. You see, these people are part of the second most powerful team within my batch. The only reason for this beating and

being on the defaulter list was because I refused to join them."

The boss waved his hand. "Kid, don’t explain all this childish fighting to ."

Ray just smiled. "Boss, you know the faction the college operates under. The team leader of that team has already started working with the police chief’s son."

The boss nodded his head. "Nothing is surprising in that. With how much you know, I believe you know the college was a recruitnt ground for them."

Ray sighed. "I only learned about them after the first year. The more I learn, the more I realize just how trapped I am. By the way, do you know about the Thorn Crown guild?"

The boss shook his head. "Why?"

He showed the boss the ti. "The guild leader was part of the quest where I gained the book. She has threatened

to et her by 12 today, or else her people will co to see ."

The boss almost shouted. "What? Who is she?"

Ray sighed. "Well, it’s a guild run by a young miss under the Blue Raven."

The boss just paused halfway and almost mumbled, "Even those guys."

Ray just nodded.

The boss stared at him.

Ray quietly waited for a response, knowing full well that he had successfully laid all his cards.

He was confident in his ga skills, but he knew he had nothing to show. If anything, his ga profile was negative.

This was why he took this back and forth as an opportunity. The opportunity to convince the big boss to invest in him.

After a minute-long stare-down, with the boss checking his phone in between, the boss finally broke the silence. "You are an interesting kid."

Ray stared at him.

The boss just smiled. "Well, I think we need to have a discussion on how we will cooperate."

Ray smiled widely. "You won’t be disappointed, big boss."

The boss leaned back in the chair. "I believe it is better if both of us are on the sa page. So tell , just how much do you know about the workings of the underworld faction?"

Ray beca more focused. Finally, the topic had shifted from proving himself to sothing important for his future.

He was also clear about the limits of what he knew; after all, he was just a victim, so this was a big chance to learn everything.

He thought for a bit about where to start and then raised three fingers. "Boss, from what I managed to gather, it is not even that hidden. In the underworld faction, the real power is still with the guilds. It is just that those guilds are backed by big criminal families and organizations."

The boss did not react much and just asked, "Then what do you think about these cafes?"

Ray said to him, "Boss, I do believe the slave cafe is a very important part of the underworld faction. It is the main factor that lets those criminal-backed guilds compete with the other two factions. But..."

Ray paused, not sure if he should really say the unsaid part aloud.

The boss waved his hand. "No need to be tense. I want to know a player’s perspective."

Ray took a deep breath as his own past-life experience flashed through his head. "Boss, I don’t know what these cafes were actually built for. But I call them slave cafes. Everyone within the cafe is just there to do all the manual work for those criminal guilds."

"I think once you are trapped in the cafe, your only value is to get exploited for the developnt of those guilds. The path forward is only down."

The boss loudly sighed. "You understand it well, kid."