By Zephyria After Eui-jae’s karma and Sa-young’s threat led to the decision to go to Songdo, time mercilessly flowed, and the dawn of the Artisan Exhibition arrived.
Eui-jae put on the navy suit and shoes that Sa-young had sent and stood in front of the Hanover Soup Restaurant. The A4 paper stuck to the door fluttered forlornly in the early morning breeze.
Closed on the day of the Artisan Exhibition.
Reason: Taking Grandmother to the hospital.
└Hope Grandmother gets well soon!!
The suit Lee Sa-young sent fit perfectly, neither too big nor too small. How did he figure out the clothes size? Eui-jae fiddled with his jacket sleeve for no reason.
After a while, a dark figure appeared from beyond the alley. It was Lee Sa-young, no different from usual. Sa-young slowly walked to the Hanover Soup Restaurant and scanned Cha Eui-jae up and down with his arms crossed. He looked displeased, and Eui-jae glared back.
“What.”
“Tie….”
“Huh?”
“You tied it well?”
It was an unexpected compliment, but Eui-jae shrugged his shoulders with inner pride. It was worth following the tutorial on YouTube. However, Sa-young reached out and flicked the tie with his finger, messing it up.
“I didn’t think you could tie it.”
“Are you picking a fight?”
“I was going to tie it for you if you couldn’t.”
“What kind of nonsense is that so early in the morning?”
Eui-jae clicked his tongue. Sa-young, who had been fiddling with the tie for a long time without answering, soon took out an employee ID and a Gas mask from his Inventory and held them out. The name was written on it along with a photo of an ordinary-looking man he had never seen before.
‘Wave Guild Secretary Team Kim Seung-bin.’
Eui-jae asked as he hung the employee ID around his neck.
“Is he a real person?”
“Yes. Put this on first.”
As he put on the Gas mask, black gloves came and adjusted it. To others, it must have looked strange, a Gas mask helping another Gas mask in front of an old Hanover Soup Restaurant. Fortunately, there were no people passing by so early in the morning.
Sa-young muttered.
“Just in case… when you go there, suppress your voice as much as possible. So that only I can hear you.”
Eui-jae nodded instead of answering. A black finger tapped the filter part of the Gas mask.
“And you know Hunters have good ears.”
“…….”
“From now on, Hyung is part of the Wave Guild’s secretary team.”
A faint smile was mixed in the low voice. Eui-jae roughly guessed what would come next and made a sullen expression. Sa-young seemed to know even through the Gas mask and asked with a smile.
“Honorifics. Can you do it?”
Eui-jae squeezed his eyes shut. This crazy brat… did he ask me to come with him on purpose? Of course, Lee Sa-young’s opinion was valid. If the secretary team spoke informally to their boss, it would naturally stand out.
Eui-jae decided to let go. He felt much more at ease thinking that it was time to show off the acting skills he had built up so far.
“…The title. Guild leader?”
“Lee Sa-young Guild Leader.”
“Too long.”
“How many guild leader-level people will be there…? What if the other guys get confused when they hear it?”
“Okay. I’ll just call you Guild Leader.”
Ignoring the absurd grumbling, Sa-young shrugged his shoulders as he took out an emergency escape paper from his Inventory.
“Suit yourself. Grab my arm.”
“Do you have a lot of those to spare? It seems like you use them every time I see you.”
“It’s too much of a hassle to drive to Songdo.”
What kind of bourgeois remark was that? Eui-jae grabbed Sa-young’s arm and was about to give a long speech about the extravagant spending habits of Rankers. That was the moment Sa-young tore the emergency escape paper without hesitation.
When he opened his eyes, he had already arrived in front of a huge building he had never seen before. It was probably the Songdo Convention Center where the Artisan Exhibition was being held.
On each of the neatly arranged streetlights lining the road, there was an Artisan Exhibition banner with the same design as the ticket, and a huge banner of Hong Ye-seong giving a thumbs-up was attached to the outer wall of the center.
The Artisan returns after 2 years!
Eccentric Hong Ye-seong’s Artisan Exhibition Perhaps because it was early in the morning, there weren’t many people around. There were a few reporters and fans huddled near the entrance with thick padding and blankets, but the Hunters didn’t seem to have arrived yet. It was fortunate for Eui-jae.
Four Hunters with tired expressions were standing at the wide entrance of the center. They discovered the two Gas masks walking towards the entrance and looked flustered.
“Oh? No, at this early hour….”
“Two.”
Sa-young handed over two black tickets without hesitation. The flustered Hunter soon scanned the tickets with a palm-sized machine. Blue light floated like stars on the black surface, creating letters.
Y-yes, your tickets have been verified. Wave Guild Leader Lee Sa-young, and the person next to you is….”
“Secretary.”
The Hunter’s gaze reached the employee ID hanging around Eui-jae’s neck. The Hunter moved his lips as if wanting to check the face inside the Gas mask, but when he received Sa-young’s cold gaze, he quickly bowed his head.
“Yes, please come in, both of you.”
Lee Sa-young’s free pass was great. Entering the center without even having to take off the Gas mask for authentication. So this is the taste of power. Eui-jae looked around the center, checked the restroom sign in the corner, and poked Sa-young in the back.
“Guild Leader, I’ll go to the restroom for a moment.”
Sa-young, who was walking ahead, turned around to face Eui-jae. An aura that he openly didn’t like was overflowing.
“…You’re going to leave me alone as soon as we get here?”
“I think I need some mental preparation to use honorifics all day.”
“Ah….”
Lee Sa-young, with his arms crossed, began to sneer.
“I didn’t think Mr. Kim Seung-bin was the type to be so thorough with his preparations?”
“Are you okay with me swearing in the middle if I don’t prepare myself mentally?”
“…….”
“…….”
Sparks of silence flew between the two Gas masks. What. What are you going to do if I say I’m going to the restroom?
In the end, Sa-young waved his hand first. It seemed to be a sign of permission. Eui-jae slipped away from Sa-young’s side with a backward step and quickly moved towards the restroom he had seen earlier. He could handle the gaze that followed him as he moved. It was a relief that he wasn’t following him!
Fortunately, there were no other signs of people in the restroom either. Eui-jae went into the innermost stall, locked the door, sat on the toilet lid, and sighed silently.
From the day he received the suit until today, he had been memorizing the personal information of famous Hunters with the help of NexB and concentrating his mind, so he was already exhausted. Moreover, he was more sensitive because his vision was limited by the Gas mask.
‘How does Lee Sa-young wear this every day?’
The mask he wore when he was J was a precious item that even automatically modulated his voice. He missed his mask when he had to wear the stuffy Gas mask. It was broken in the West Sea Rift right before he was bounced out to this place, so he couldn’t use it again.
Eui-jae secretly checked his Inventory. Elixir received as gifts from the regulars at the Hanover Soup Restaurant, the Basilisk Fang that generously occupied a spot, the Mana Stone that was the root of all evil, and two black tickets.
Except for the Elixir, just the fact that he had them would be enough to turn the convention center upside down. Is this how a homeroom teacher feels when they’re assigned to a class full of troublemakers? Eui-jae came to understand at least a part of the teacher’s heart, even though he had never been one.
The most problematic of these were… the Mana Stone and the black tickets. The Mana Stone was one thing, but he wanted to stuff these damn tickets into his blanket as they were.
‘I’m so anxious….’
Eui-jae couldn’t feel at ease leaving the house with tickets worth about 10 billion won combined stuffed between his blankets. When he worked at the Hanover Soup Restaurant, there wasn’t a big problem because the entire area was under his view. But now that he was in Songdo, far away from the store, he wouldn’t know if a thief suddenly broke into the store.
‘I’d rather have them in my hands.’
After experiencing situations where things couldn’t be solved with strength alone, such as the time the Hanover Soup Restaurant almost burned down because he left the lights on, or the time he beat up the Awakened without thinking about the consequences… Eui-jae couldn’t help but prepare for the possibility of something happening. Because this damn life doesn’t go the way he wants it to.
Okay, then…. Now that he was in a space without Lee Sa-young, he had to quickly finish what he needed to do. Eui-jae turned on the Ranker Chat for the first time in a while, which he hadn’t looked at since he was forcibly admitted. Information was the most important thing in the minefield that was Songdo.
Ranker Channel 1 would be the place to get the best information. Who came to the Artisan Exhibition, what they were aiming for, and where they were currently located. Lee Sa-young was next to him, but Eui-jae himself had to actively avoid any dangers that could be avoided.
Eui-jae scrolled up and began to read the chats from around midnight today. As expected, the chat started with Inhart addict, chat addict Hong Ye-seong.
[8] IamArtisan : The day of the Artisan Exhibition has dawned^^
[8] IamArtisan : Everyone in Channel 1, are you all coming?
[6] Honeybee : Ye-seong
[6] Honeybee : Did you forge the Rapier?
[8] IamArtisan : I’m a native Korean, so I don’t handle foreign weapons.
[6] Honeybee : You ****
[6] Honeybee : Wait for me in Songdo with your neck washed
[11] Shield Guy : Ohㅋㅋㅋ Honeybee, did you get a ticket?
[6] Honeybee : Yeah
[6] Honeybee : Matthew got it for me
[8] IamArtisan : If it wasn’t for Matthew
[8] IamArtisan : I would have been stealing tickets in Songdo
[6] Honeybee : You’re really dead
[11] Shield Guy : He’s just immature
[11] Shield Guy : Please forgive him just this once;;
[6] Honeybee : ㅡㅡ
[6] Honeybee : Matthew and I are going from the HB Guild
[6] Honeybee : Is Shield Guy coming too?
[11] Shield Guy : Yeah
[6] Honeybee : What about Lee Sa-young?
[11] Shield Guy : He said he was going…
[11] Shield Guy : We’re moving separately, so I don’t know;;
[6] Honeybee : No, how many of you are there that you’re moving separately?
[11] Shield Guy : I don’t know, but I got the corporate card –v
[4] Jung-bin : Good morning, everyone in Channel 1^^ The Artisan Exhibition has returned after 2 years!
[4] Jung-bin : Things you must keep in mind when attending the Artisan Exhibition! I’ll say a word to remind you^^
[8] IamArtisan : Here it comes……
[4] Jung-bin : Please don’t cause any accidents^^
[4] Jung-bin : Don’t be easily provoked by others^^
[4] Jung-bin : I strongly recommend that you don’t talk to others at all^^
[4] Jung-bin : Always maintain a safe distance so you don’t bump into other Hunters^^
[4] Jung-bin : Please be careful so that the building doesn’t collapse just because your shoulders bumped^^
[4] Jung-bin : If you can’t avoid a fight, please handle it in a secret place where there are no reporters and contact the Bureau of Rift Management’s on-site response team 1^^
[4] Jung-bin : I hope you don’t threaten the reporters^^
[4] Jung-bin : I hope you will cooperate for the successful hosting of the Artisan Exhibition and have a good day so that you don’t have to meet me 1:1^^
[50] Romantic Opener : That’s not a word..
[34] Very Small Miracle Mingi Seo : If you read it, it’s technically one word.
[50] Romantic Opener : I’m not curious..
As he read through the mountain of words Jung-bin had written, he couldn’t help but feel solemn. With Hunters who were proud, had terrible tempers, and were sensitive all gathered in one place, accidents were bound to happen….
As he sighed, he felt a light presence approaching the restroom with hurried steps, almost running. Eui-jae closed the chat he hadn’t finished reading and hurriedly hid his presence.
Other presences rushed in like following a herd of bison, but fortunately, they didn’t enter the restroom and stopped in front of the door.
Squeak, bang. The uninvited guest who suddenly came happened to take a seat in the stall right next to Eui-jae. After waiting for a long time, he could only hear rustling sounds, so it seemed like he didn’t come to relieve himself, but to do something alone.
“Aish, why isn’t this working?”
The grumbling voice was familiar. It was a voice he couldn’t pretend not to know. Eui-jae stared at the wall that touched the next stall with a dumbfounded feeling.
Because what he heard from next door was…
‘Crazy.’
It kept playing on repeat on the WeQuiz he had watched over and over…
‘It’s Hong Ye-seong.’
It was Hong Ye-seong’s voice.