After leaving the summoning chamber, I immediately returned to Atlanta and called a meeting. Time was of the essence, and since we had accepted the request, we needed to get started as soon as possible. Fortunately, despite the late hour, the clan members responded promptly without complaint.
The meeting room was silent—so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Sitting on the throne, I slowly scanned the room. The clan members sat with their lips tightly sealed, casting furtive glances around. I smiled bitterly to myself. I had tried to hide it, but the foul mood left by my encounter with Seraph must have shown through.
“We have a new request,” I announced quietly, trying to compose my expression.
“The client is the temple… more precisely, an angel.”
The room stirred slightly. Almost everyone exchanged confused looks. It was understandable—this was the first time an angel had made a request, at least as far as we knew.
“An angel? You mean one of the helpers?” Shin Jaeryong raised his hand and asked. I nodded lightly.
“Yes. The client is indeed the helper you all know.”
“Huh…”
“Since time is short, I’ll keep it brief. The request is to rescue a user. The target is a user from the Western Continent.”
“…?”
Murmurs spread through the room.
As soon as I revealed the details, the noise grew louder. I was about to bang the table a couple of times to quiet them when several users raised their hands at once.
“Clan Lord, a user from the Western Continent? And a rescue mission?” Jeong Hayeon was the first to speak.
I sighed and nodded.
“Exactly as you heard. From what I’ve gathered, the security situation in the Western Continent has deteriorated significantly since the war with us. Some users, unable to endure it, have tried to migrate to the Northern Continent, but a group is pursuing them. The angel referred to this group as outlaws.”
“Wait, why…?”
“I don’t know. I only received a brief overview of the request, no background details.”
“…”
I cut off the questions firmly. I understood their confusion, but I was just as in the dark. How could I explain what I didn’t know? Damn it. Thinking about it just makes me angry again.
Silence fell for a moment.
The clan members kept watching me closely until Shin Jaeryong tentatively raised his hand.
“Clan Lord, sorry to ask, but who exactly are these outlaws?”
“You can think of them as vagrants—vagrants from the Western Continent.”
“I see. So we’re to rescue the users, but do you know how large this outlaw group is?”
“Not exactly. But most of the outlaws are chasing Western Continent users who fled to the Southern Continent. Very few are heading north, so it should be manageable for us.”
I hadn’t heard the details firsthand, but it was probably accurate—after all, Seraph said so.
Reluctantly, I had to admit that angels always act as helpers who advise users correctly without causing harm. They might withhold information they can’t reveal, but they don’t lie intentionally.
Of course, that’s not because they care about us, but because it serves their own purposes. Still, taken at face value, they do fulfill the role of helpers. At least on the surface.
“So… what about the reward for this request?”
“It’s not finalized yet, but we’ve been promised it won’t be disappointing. Those who participate this time will likely receive a different kind of reward than before.”
From that perspective, the reward was also unusual.
Anyway, I decided to move on after that.
“Now, I need to announce the team members for this mission…”
Trailing off slightly, I looked straight ahead.
Surprisingly, the clan members didn’t seem to have major objections.
In fact, a few looked eager, their eyes shining as if they wanted to go. Though some confusion lingered, there was no sign of fear about the request. Whether it was because of the Steel Mountain campaign or the reward, I didn’t know—but either way, it was good. Since this mission needed to be swift and decisive, I quietly began.
“Starting with melee fighters: myself, Ko Yeonju, Nam Daeun, Ahn Hyun, Cha Sorim, and Heo Junyoung. That’s six. Archer: Seon Yuun, one person. Mages… I’ll come back to that. Priests: Ahn Sol and Shin Jaeryong, two people. Special class: Baek Hangyeol, one person.”
I had already thought this through on the way here, so I could announce the lineup quickly.
Except for the mages.
“Mages…”
I crossed my arms and drummed my fingers, sinking into a heavy dilemma.
It wasn’t that there was no one to take. The problem was that Atlanta was still developing.
It was about time to step back, but that only meant withdrawing from the front lines, not abandoning the city entirely. We needed users to stay behind and handle various tasks. Most of the mages were currently assigned to administrative duties. Since we couldn’t predict when they’d return, we couldn’t just take them all along.
“For now… let’s take Vivian.”
I finally named one, and Vivian immediately puffed up her nose, acting as if she had expected to be chosen. Taking her along would probably help, since having her in the city might slow development.
“One should be enough…”
I agonized over it.
“Jeong Hayeon has to stay in the city… Kim Hanbyul is still busy with the elder’s affairs… Sasha isn’t suited for large-scale battles… Won Hyesu and Pyo Hyemi are a bit unreliable… Helena is dead… ah.”
My thoughts landed on Jegal Haesol. I looked up sharply and met his gaze. But he suddenly widened his eyes and quietly looked away. No matter how I tried to interpret it, it didn’t seem like he wanted to go. I wasn’t keen on this mission either, so I wasn’t about to force anyone.
That thought made me chuckle bitterly.
“Do we really have no trustworthy mages in the clan?”
Various circumstances aside, the taste was bitter. I regretted not having trained a summoner earlier.
In large-scale battles, the power of mages is tremendous. We could probably manage without, but I wanted to be fully prepared, at least on the mage front.
“Clan Lord…”
Just then, Jeong Hayeon spoke cautiously.
“If you’re worried about the mages…”
I nodded, encouraging her to continue.
“How about asking Ajubeo for help?”
“Ajubeo? You mean your brother?”
“Yes. Ajubeo. Since this is your request, wouldn’t it be okay for him to join as a mercenary?”
“But he’s busy with city development right now.”
“As far as I know, the Hamil Clan has many users handling administrative work, and they get a lot of support from their subordinate clans. If you ask for help, I’m sure he’ll come running. Besides, it’s a chance to repay the debt from the last raid.”
Jeong Hayeon explained patiently.
I fell into deep thought.
She wasn’t wrong. If what she said was true, asking my brother for help wouldn’t be a big burden. And I knew his abilities better than anyone.
The Thunder Emperor.
Not only in one-on-one combat but especially in large-scale battles, he was a terrifying secret class.
Though I wondered if it was really okay, I couldn’t stop my mind from leaning that way.
“Come to think of it, there’s no rule that we have to rely only on my brother.”
At that thought, I quietly spoke.
“Jeong Hayeon, prepare the communication orb.”
“Understood, Clan Lord.”
Jeong Hayeon smiled and stood.
Baek Hangyeol woke in the middle of the night—around 4 a.m., perhaps.
“Ugh…”
He yawned wide, propping himself up, then suddenly opened his eyes wide. His hands slowly explored his body. He was fully geared up, like a user about to embark on an expedition. Not exactly bedtime attire.
“Oh, right!”
Suddenly, Baek Hangyeol sprang out of bed. Looking out the window, it was still dark. But whatever the urgency, he quickly wiped the sleep from his eyes, checked his gear, grabbed a round shield propped against the bed, and hurried out.
He descended the stairs swiftly, exited the castle, and stepped into the streets of Atlanta. Though dawn was just breaking and darkness still lingered, a few users were already bustling about. Occasionally, someone glanced at Baek Hangyeol and tried to approach, but he deliberately ignored them, signaling refusal.
They were probably dreamers hoping to strike it rich in Atlanta, looking for companions for early morning expeditions.
Thinking that, Baek Hangyeol quickened his pace. Expeditions were fine, but today, something even more important awaited.
Last night. After an emergency meeting was hastily convened and concluded, Kim Soo-hyun gave the clan members participating in the mission one additional instruction. That instruction was nothing less than to designate a meeting point beforehand and to arrive at the rendezvous separately. The idea was to avoid moving all at once in a big group and stirring up unnecessary rumors, aiming instead for the mission to be carried out as discreetly and swiftly as possible.
In any case, Kim Soo-hyun’s demands boiled down to two things:
Arrive at the meeting point without drawing any attention. And absolutely do not be late.
How much time had passed?
Not long after, Baek Han-gyeol arrived at the meeting point in Mule. Along the way, he regretted not pulling his robe tighter when a woman at the warp gate gave him a strange look, but aside from that, he could consider his arrival a relatively successful one.
Unlike Atlanta, Mule was so quiet and deserted that he could move without any interference.
“A modest lady… a modest lady…”
Baek Han-gyeol muttered the name of the building where they were to gather as he made his way toward the shopping district. Perhaps because the city’s development had stalled, the streets were a tangled maze of tightly packed shops. But having memorized the meeting spot from yesterday’s repeated briefings, Baek Han-gyeol’s legs kept moving despite his uncertain expression.
“Turn here…”
Completely lost now, he circled around a worn-down building called ‘Old Man’s Jewelry Shop’ and then walked straight for about five minutes. Soon enough, he spotted an old inn with a sign that read ‘Modest Lady,’ where a woman in a skirt stood demurely.
“Phew. Good.”
Muttering with a noticeably lighter expression, Baek Han-gyeol carefully scanned his surroundings. Even though getting caught wouldn’t be the end of the world, he believed atmosphere shaped the situation. For some reason, he felt as if he were part of a secret society.
Knock knock.
“I’m Baek Han-gyeol.”
Though he could have just walked in, he knocked politely. Peeking inside, his eyes widened in surprise.
The kitchen, the counter, the tables—everything looked like a typical inn.
But the people inside were anything but ordinary. At one table, a woman with her head down was not a mercenary clan member.
Hearing the door open, she stirred awake, squinting and glaring.
“…Who’s that?”
“The Shield of God.”
The answer came from nearby. A man slouched in a wobbling chair, clutching a black spear to his chest. Towering nearly two meters tall, he was clearly not a mercenary clan member either.
The woman spoke again.
“Shield of God?”
“They say it’s a secret class specialized in defense.”
“Hmm. This clan really has some strange folks…”
“……”
The woman spoke softly, and the man closed his eyes gently.
Baek Han-gyeol was taken aback. They seemed to be talking about him, but he couldn’t quite place who those two were. Now that he thought about it, he might have seen them once or twice somewhere before…
Just as he was trying to recall their faces, barely peeking in,
“Damn… am I the last one?”
Suddenly, a cold coat brushed against his back, carrying the chill of the dawn wind.
Reflexively, Baek Han-gyeol turned around.
“Sorry, could you move a bit?”
There stood a man wearing a sleek, jet-black mage’s coat, his eyes flashing golden as they caught the light.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
I think I finally understand what it feels like to have cancer.
Honestly, I’ve felt off all day today.
No, even now.
Sigh… ㅇ<-<….