Chapter 73: Crisis of the Ignis Guild (3)
A quiet afternoon, after all classes had ended.
A street stall stir fried rice cakes shop in Academy City.
The subtle scent of stir fried rice cakes was filling the street.
"Huu! stir fried rice cakes after school is seriously a national rule!"
"Teacher, don't eat it all by yourself!"
"Did you buy it? I bought it. And if you want to eat, order more. This is mine, you know."
Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon were bickering with the stir fried rice cakes placed on the makeshift table between them.
"So cheap! Auntie, one serving of stir fried rice cakes for too. No, two servings and please add one serving of fried food too!"
Seong-hyeon, who ordered several tis more than Yoo jin, looked at Yoo jin's stir fried rice cakes and smiled with satisfaction.
"What the, you called cheap, so why did you order so much?"
"You told to order, Teacher."
"No, still, what are you going to do if you have leftovers."
"I won't leave any!"
"Just try leaving so."
"Absolutely! I won't leave any!"
Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon, holding toothpicks like gladiators, glared at each other as if they were about to fight a round at any mont.
"Don't fight and eat a lot. This is service."
At the stir fried rice cakes shop owner's kindness.
"Wow! Auntie, you're an angel as expected!"
"I love you, Auntie! No, sa, sayonara. This isn't it. Anyway! I'll eat well, Auntie!"
Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon, who looked like they would fight any mont, raised both hands high to express their gratitude for the grace bestowed by the stir fried rice cakes shop owner.
"I'm the one who's always grateful. It's nice to see. I never thought I'd see a teacher and students coming to eat stir fried rice cakes together like this in this day and age."
Whether they forgot the favor in one second, or they just didn't want their stir fried rice cakes stolen by each other.
Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon stuffed stir fried rice cakes into their mouths at a speed where the toothpicks couldn't be seen.
A smile hung on the lips of the owner who captured that sight in her eyes.
Unlike Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon who were tackling the stir fried rice cakes combatively.
Jin-ho and Ye-na weren't even reaching for their toothpicks.
"……."
"……."
Yoo jin, who only now discovered Jin-ho and Ye-na being like that, opened his mouth.
"What the, why aren't you guys eating?"
At Yoo jin's voice, Seong-hyeon, who was eating fried food, also turned his head there along with him.
"What's wrong with you guys? Giving off a depressed atmosphere since earlier."
When Jin-ho and Ye-na looked at each other's eyes and gauged the mood without answering.
"What is it? Speak, you things."
"Right. What are you doing in front of the sacred stir fried rice cakes?"
Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon glared at them holding stir fried rice cakes in both hands as if they were stir fried rice cakes ambassadors.
Jin-ho and Ye-na, who were gauging the mood at Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon's pestering, finally opened their mouths.
"That is……."
"Show him the news."
Ye-na held out her phone screen.
Subtitle of a breaking news headline floated above the stir fried rice cakes.
[Breaking News]
― Ignis Guild, Yeoncheon Subjugation Operation to comnce at noon tomorrow.
― Public expectation at its peak.
― Stepping stone to beco the number one guild.
― Public gaze, raising questions about the Association's directive.
― Is it silent pressure?
Or voluntary choice?
Yoo jin picked up another piece of fried food and put it in his mouth without much reaction.
"The seaweed roll is tasty."
"Right, Teach. It was a good idea to order fried food."
"Agreed."
Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon nonchalantly bumped fists.
"The fried food isn't the problem right now!"
Ye-na sprang up.
"This is sowhat suspicious. Hunter Lee Si-wang…… the Ignis Guild…… they're just going to that dangerous place? Without any reason?"
"……."
"……."
Yoo jin and Seong-hyeon froze at Ye-na's sudden outburst.
Perhaps because Ye-na mustered up courage, Jin-ho who was quiet also opened his mouth with a stiff expression.
"Shouldn't we help? They might really be going against their will."
At those words, even Seong-hyeon who was playing around next to Yoo jin lowered the corners of his mouth and bowed his head.
The atmosphere sank in an instant.
Even the owner who was stirring stir fried rice cakes stopped her hands and was just rolling her eyes.
However.
Yoo jin still chewed the rice cake slowly and calmly.
And then spat out a single word expressionlessly.
"I an. What does that have to do with ."
"……."
The children's expressions hardened.
Jin-ho was speechless, and Ye-na opened her eyes wide for a mont.
"W-What do you an, Teacher."
"It's exactly as I said. Whether there was pressure or not, what does that have to do with ."
"……Teacher."
"Those guys are pros. Pro Hunters. And that is what Pro Hunters do."
"But."
"Lee Si-wang isn't a child. He's the Vice Guild Master of the 3 Great Guilds."
"……."
The children couldn't move their lips anymore.
Because everything he said was correct.
"To put it bluntly, even if the Ignis Guild, even if Lee Si-wang received pressure and is going to Yeoncheon unavoidably, what does that have to do with . I am a teacher, not Ignis Guild."
Silence flowed.
The sound of stir fried rice cakes boiling was heard.
A cool breeze blew as if signaling the coming of night.
Just like darkness visiting the night sky, it seed like the situation and conversation would end like this.
I an.
It's that no one expected this one last word.
"You're friends."
Yoo jin's hand that was biting into stir fried rice cakes stopped.
The only thing moving was Jin-ho's trembling lips that had spat out the words.
The city street where the sun is setting.
Lee Si-wang was walking the street slowly with his head lowered.
The city lights began to turn on one by one, but his shadow was exceptionally long and dark.
Tap.
Tap…….
His steps were slow as if weights were attached to his ankles.
There was no destination.
Night was coming as he walked aimlessly, not knowing what to do.
Like a knot that won't untie.
Feeling as if agony had bound his entire body.
He couldn't co up with an answer.
No, was there an answer in the first place?
He continued to throw questions that wouldn't end at himself, and moved his steps while letting out a long sigh.
While doing so.
Crack!
Crack!
A swarm of insects flocking to a lit lamp entered his view.
To be precise, one installed in front of a shop to catch flying insects.
A pest trap.
‘A moth throwing its body into the fire.’
Himself.
He thought the Ignis Guild was exactly in that state.
"……."
Lee Si-wang, who stopped walking for a mont, took out his phone from his pocket.
The finger that opened contacts and was about to press a familiar na stopped.
Trembling hand.
Whew―.
The phone slowly went back into the pocket.
‘This is, our Guild's…… my share.’
Responsibility.
Pride.
The position of Vice Guild Master.
Every reason made him silent.
And among them.
"There is no reason for him to help."
Returnee.
Needing him.
Hiding him.
All were things the Ignis Guild did arbitrarily.
Neither the qualification to reach out a hand to him.
Nor justification existed.
"……."
Like that.
Lee Si-wang's mind was falling into a bottomless pit.
At that mont.
"Huh? Isn't that Hunter Lee Si-wang over there?"
"Wow! It's real!"
Passersby who recognized him on the roadside raised their voices.
At that sound, all the passersby on the street flocked to where Lee Si-wang was in an instant.
Lee Si-wang surrounded by nurous people before he knew it.
Lee Si-wang raised his head and smiled.
A mask that looked familiar.
But that mask was precarious as if it would break sowhere.
"Can you give us an autograph?"
"I saw the Yeoncheon subjugation article!"
"I'm a fan!"
"You are the hero of this era!"
Cheers from the citizens' mouths.
Notebooks for autographs in their hands.
Expectation and support were directed at Lee Si-wang.
Lee Si-wang gave autographs smiling gently while hiding his complex emotions.
"Please do well on the Yeoncheon subjugation! You will definitely succeed!"
"We'll be rooting for you!"
Hero.
Hope to soone.
However, he was barely breathing, crushed by that expectation.
‘Hero…….’
"If I see faces like those……."
He laughed briefly, but his heart beca even heavier.
"I have no choice but to do it……."
Even knowing it is all the Wily Raccoon's plan.
There was nowhere to run.
Hunter.
Because it wasn't a job he did just for money.
stir fried rice cakes shop.
Jin-ho and the children pouring questions toward Yoo jin.
And Yoo jin's appearance chewing stir fried rice cakes nonchalantly even in that heat.
There was Kang Tae-wook watching that scene wordlessly from a distance.
The children's eyes were clear.
They worried about Lee Si-wang, and trusted Yoo jin.
Even if a cold voice flowed from Yoo jin's mouth.
It wasn't the appearance of the teacher he was used to.
A cold face he had never seen until now.
That appearance shook Tae-wook's heart strangely.
Eventually, he turned his steps heading for the dormitory and went straight to his family ho.
A while later.
When the massive gate opened and he entered the entrance.
"Oh my, what brings you here? There was no word you were coming."
The housekeeper greeted him affectionately.
"Did you eat? Oh right, look at my mind. I will inform the master first."
But Kang Tae-wook quietly raised his hand and restrained her.
"It's okay. I just stopped by for a mont."
Kang Tae-wook, who gave a light greeting, slowly climbed the stairs.
His steps were heading straight to one place without hesitation.
Only one destination.
The deepest room where the most cold air flowed in that house.
It was his father Kang Yu's study.
When he arrived in front of the door, a voice was heard from beyond the door.
"……."
A few minutes of holding his breath and listening for a long ti.
Kang Tae-wook's eyes shook violently.
Because the need to ask disappeared.
The voice heard from inside.
Because all the answers were contained in that voice.
The word Returnee and the na Yoo jin.
A shock as if his whole body was freezing rushed in for a mont, but.
Because now wasn't the ti to be shocked and stay still stupidly.
Kang Tae-wook's eyes narrowed.
And then he turned his body.
‘I must tell Teacher.’
Because he ca to know the reason why the Ignis Guild.
Why Lee Si-wang had no choice but to go to Yeoncheon.
Morning for those who shoulder a mission heavier than death.
That day dawned.
The sky of Goyang City where the sun rose was exceptionally red.
As if foreshadowing that today would not be ordinary.
The Ignis Guild Headquarters located in Goyang City.
In the plaza in front of that massive main building, the sound of hundreds of footsteps was lined up in an orderly manner.
Different weapons and armor.
Combatants wearing neatly arranged combat uniforms were silent.
Only the sound of breathing could be heard.
Those gathered here today were the elite of the elite who cut the breath of monsters just by their nas.
They were the combatants of the Ignis Guild.
But even they were bowing their heads in heavy pressure just for today.
In front of them.
Two n standing with their backs to the flag.
One person was Guild Master Cho Sang-geun hiding determination within an expressionless face.
The other person was Vice Guild Master Lee Si-wang who held a faint smile, but whose eyes were distorted with deep gray.
Nurous gazes were directed at them.
Broadcasters gathered from all over the country.
Everyone standing holding caras was an Awakened.
Because Yeoncheon was a land of death where even the footsteps of ordinary people were not allowed.
Silence.
Tension.
And, resolution.
While all of that was pressing down on the air heavily.
Cho Sang-geun took one step forward.
His voice resonated as is, without a microphone.
"Today is a day that will remain in history."
The silence deepened further.
"Ignis Guild, from now on!"
He looked around his surroundings for a mont.
The sunlight dyed in red grazed over the guild mbers' eyes.
"Will start the Yeoncheon Subjugation Operation!"
Simultaneously with his shout, all Ignis mbers filling the plaza raised their hands with a single movent.
"Wooooooah!"
A roar like thunder followed.
It was a shout of determination that no one ordered, but everyone had prepared.
Lee Si-wang closed his eyes briefly next to Cho Sang-geun.
Even if he was pushed forcibly.
Even if it is a punishnt.
He had no choice but to go.
And he had intended to go soday for sure.
Five years ago.
Because there was sothing he left behind there.
Lee Si-wang slowly opened his eyes.
The soft eyes changed sharply.
"Let's go, to hell."
Like that.
The Ignis Guild.
Started a move that was like a suicide squad.
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