By Zephyria 
“Doesn’t it feel like the emoticons suddenly went back twenty years?”
“Ah… you’re right.”
“When the first quest completion message popped up, the emoticons suddenly changed to the kind of things people my age would use. I didn’t think much of it then, but seeing it again, I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
Tae-un’s eyes rolled slightly as if recalling a memory.
〈Do people use such complex emoticons these days?〉
〈Some people still keep it simple, but there are also emoticons that are drawn and sold, like the ones I send to you, hyung, and then there are pictographic emojis. There are many. I guess the system is part of the MZ Generation?〉
〈What’s that?〉
〈Um, basically the younger generation. It’s a broad range, so I’m included too.〉
〈The system might be the new generation, but I guess I’m the old generation. I really don’t like these emoticons. They’re distracting.〉
The two had once discussed the emoticons displayed on the system window.
“Does that mean the system is listening to you, hyung?”
“Probably. Since it’s listening, maybe that’s why the noisy emoticons suddenly changed to something familiar to me after I had that conversation with you?”
“It’s highly likely it’s keeping track of your surroundings. It also means its personality is erratic—or rather, bad—since it’s heard everything you’ve been curious about or asked and just ignored you.”
“If this were mak slecht, a few gods with that kind of personality come to mind, but…”
Kim Si-baek tapped his fingers on the table.
“In the first place, it’s impossible to send a divine utterance to a human who isn’t a believer, let alone a priest who serves another god. The god of mak slecht was the one who created divine utterances and status windows for humans. Then, what on earth is the identity of this system?”
“There are many gods on Earth too.”
“If there are others besides me carrying out quests, then it would be one of Earth’s gods.”
If the goal was to prevent the destruction of Earth, someone who had lived and would continue to live on Earth would be far more appropriate than himself, who would eventually return to another world.
“Are you listening to me? Why are you ignoring me?”
The system window remained the same. Instead, Tae-un answered.
“Well, since you’re just as desperate as I am to find a way back to mak slecht, maybe that’s why?”
If so, did the system window already know that Kim Si-baek would return to Earth? With no clues, the more he thought about it, the more tangled it became.
Tae-un peeled a tangerine from the dessert and placed it on Kim Si-baek’s tray. The one eating it was Biyendwe.
“Time is tight, so you’re going to go register right away, right? Driver Tae, your professional chauffeur, will take you—”
“What about your company?”
“There’s a sports day starting this afternoon. If the CEO is just sitting around with his butt flattened while everyone else is having fun, the employees will feel uncomfortable.”
“You’re having a sports day on a weekday afternoon?”
“We’re planning to keep it simple indoors and wrap it up quickly.”
“….”
It was highly suspicious. Of all times, today?
As Kim Si-baek narrowed his eyes, Tae-un’s eyes—which gave a quite sharp impression due to his three-hundred eyes—curled gently like crescent moons. His voice, with a slight lift at the end, was filled with affectionate aegyo.
“Hyuuung.”
“….”
“If Un-i can’t trust me, you can watch the sports day start before you goooo.”
[Death and Beauty hurriedly cover their ears.]
“No. I trust you, of course.”
Since he went that far, it didn’t seem like a lie. Feeling sorry for doubting him, Kim Si-baek rubbed his head. He didn’t imagine that Tae-un, smiling softly as if savoring the touch, was rapidly typing a text under the table.
[Hold the gym this afternoon and conduct a sports day for all employees except those on outside duty.]
Yang Eun-ho, who was enjoying a rare moment of leisure at a restaurant outside the company, read the CEO’s bullshit and immediately called to curse him out, but the phone was already turned off.
✽ ✽ ✽
Lee Han-gyeol, an A-rank hunter who was one of the six Awakened from the Somang Orphanage and a mage of the 7777 Guild, felt like absolute shit.
“No, seriously, fuck. Where in the world is there a sports day announced on the day of?”
Lee Han-gyeol was the type who didn’t even leave his lab, let alone exercise. Aside from hunter work, his only outings were almost exclusively to visit famous restaurants. This was because of his childhood, where he couldn’t eat the food he wanted, and his memories of suffering while isolated in Seoul. If it weren’t for meals, he probably would have lived locked in his lab without seeing sunlight for the rest of his life.
“Is he crazy? Out of his mind? Exercise is just breathing properly; why the hell do we have to gather and throw a samba party?”
“Lee Han-gyeol. I told you to stop swearing.”
“Do you think I wouldn’t be pissed, hyung? I pulled two all-nighters, finally closed my eyes for a bit, and then I’m dragged out with cold water splashed on my face because of some sports day? Can’t you see my hair is greasy?”
“….”
Though for a different reason, Yang Eun-ho was equally pissed, so he had nothing to say in response.
“Whose bright idea was this? It was Director Yoon, right? Once this shitty sports day—or whatever the hell this is—is over, I’m sending a curse to Director Yoon’s house, so don’t stop me.”
However, Yang Eun-ho also knew the most effective way to shut Lee Han-gyeol’s mouth.
“It was the CEO’s order.”
“Huh?”
“Tae-un hyung ordered it.”
When Yang Eun-ho showed him Tae-un’s text, as Lee Han-gyeol looked visibly skeptical, he dramatically shifted his stance.
“If hyung ordered it, then… well… I guess I should exercise… Yeah, a person has to exercise occasionally to avoid dying.”
Among the Awakened of the Somang Orphanage, Lee Han-gyeol followed Tae-un with absolute devotion. If it was Tae-un’s word, he would accept it without question or complaint, even if he were told to climb Hallasan Mountain on a moment’s notice.
In the past, when Tae-un ordered him to ‘make a magical tool to blow up the State Affairs Meeting Room,’ he had replied ‘Okay!’ and actually created a bomb using explosion magic, horrifying everyone. It was a bomb with enough firepower to blow away not just the meeting room, but the entire Government Complex in Daejeon.
Fortunately, the disaster of Tae-un actually detonating the bomb did not occur. Instead, the bullshit—disguised as a special law for Awakened—claiming that departures from the country would be banned to prevent high-ranking hunters from leaking overseas, completely vanished.
If the bill had proceeded, Tae-un definitely would have detonated it. Those who didn’t know might have thought it was just a threat, but they knew. Tae-un was the kind of person who would have done it. Without a shred of hesitation. And Lee Han-gyeol’s name would have gone down in history as the culprit who manufactured the bomb used in a legendary act of terror…
Even though it was an old story, just thinking about it sent chills down his spine. Yang Eun-ho shivered.
‘Since then, the government hasn’t been able to touch Tae-un hyung, so it’s become easier for the hunters to operate as well.’
As the saying goes, a mad dog that doesn’t just bite but kills when provoked shouldn’t be kept in your own house, but let loose to bite and kill others. The government allowed Tae-un to bite and kill magical beasts to his heart’s content.
Separate from his nickname as a ‘mad dog,’ Tae-un received immense support as the savior of Seoul’s refugees and the hero of Busan, which, combined with the government’s tacit approval, became one of the reasons the 7777 Guild could stand at the top, outperforming even the large guilds supported by conglomerates.
“Hyung, I’m going to go play padminton then.”
“Don’t overdo it; just watch and take it easy. If you exercise too hard when you’re sleep-deprived, you could die of a myocardial infarction. Though I doubt you’ll actually work hard.”
“Ugh. You’re only one year older than me, but you always treat me like a kid.”
“That’s the karma of being the youngest.”
As Yang Eun-ho patted his backside, Lee Han-gyeol grumbled and trudged toward the court where padminton was being prepared.
Once it finally became quiet, Yang Eun-ho sighed and looked around the gym. Inside, the hastily organized sports day was proceeding clumsily.
Since there was no time to print banners or placards, ‘7777 Guild Autumn Sports Day’ was printed one letter at a time on A4 paper and taped to the wall. The maximum effort put into decorating was that they used colored paper instead of white.
Imagining that someone would surely post something like ‘The level of the No. 1 guild’s sports day lol’ on the internet made him want to cry. The employees filming the event also looked completely devoid of motivation. He wondered if any photos worth posting on social media would even come out of this.
In fact, it was a miracle that this sports day even opened. As soon as he saw the text, he abandoned his meal and arrived at the office prepared to strangle Tae-un (meaning he only prepared himself, but wouldn’t have actually been able to execute it), but the culprit had already disappeared.
To try and reduce the scale, he sent all the raid team hunters on outside duty and excluded those with urgent tasks for the day. Even so, there were still quite a few guild members left, including office and research staff.
The sports day agency had also expressed reluctance. Even when offered more money, they tried to refuse, saying a same-day afternoon event was impossible, but he persuaded them with even more money. He paid premium after premium to urgently secure a gym, but since the conditions weren’t suitable to cram so many people into one place, he divided them into three teams.
The problems didn’t stop there.