FLIA 132

‘If I purify her, even Jeong Siyoung will treat me with respect.’

But now that he was seeing Lee Hyunmook in person, he started to feel greedy. He was not just a high-level awakener but a reawakened high-level awakener. On the internet, there were even rumors that Lee Hyunmook was the strongest awakener in the world.

He was cooperating with the Sunrise Guild as the government contract required, but at this point the best guild was the Taeyang Guild. Go Jaewon was only a mid rank. That meant nothing special. When he imagined receiving protection from Jeong Siyoung and Lee Hyunmook… from all high-level awakeners, Park Seungmin was already thrilled.

“Excuse me, I can purify you too.”

Park Seungmin, who was used to people desperately offering him stacks of money just to receive his purification, tested the waters. Go Jaewon’s face twisted with displeasure at the action that broke the contract clause about purifying Sunrise Guild members only, but since Park Seungmin had the upper hand, he ground his teeth and endured it.

Park Seungmin expected Lee Hyunmook and Seo Yakrin to welcome his purification and politely ask him. But for some reason, even after hearing him, they did not respond at all and just stood there staring straight at him. If he had to put into words the kind of cold gaze they gave, it was something like this.

‘So this is it.’

It was the look of someone who already heard an explanation about him. They not only ignored his words but their gaze was anything but friendly, so Park Seungmin grew embarrassed and his face flushed. He glared at Yohan behind them.

‘He must have spoken badly about me.’

Actually he had long suspected that maybe Yohan had not really lost his memory, so he felt a little worried, but then he straightened his shoulders. Even if that were true, he believed that Yohan could not do anything to him, who was a high-level purifier. His pride wounded, he could not bring himself to speak again to Lee Hyunmook, so he tried to pick on Yohan instead.

“Yohan-ah, should I do it for you then? For our old friendship, I can at least do this much….”

He hurriedly stepped forward and reached his hand toward Yang Yohan, intending to purify him just a little and also use it as a chance to talk more with Lee Hyunmook. But then, a hand smacked his away. Park Seungmin’s eyes widened. Lee Hyunmook had stopped him.

“I would prefer if you don’t lay hands on my guild member.”

“…You make it sound like I was going to do something bad to a friend.”

Annoyed, Park Seungmin retorted, but Lee Hyunmook only looked at him in silence. That gaze was so cold it gave goosebumps, and before he realized it, Park Seungmin shrank back. Seo Yakrin, standing beside, saw it and laughed.

“You really stick well together.”

Seo Yakrin looked at Park Seungmin like he was not even worth dealing with, like looking at an insect. Go Jaewon glared furiously at him, then walked off briskly to go through the inspection first.

Since awakening, this was the first time Park Seungmin ever received such contempt and dismissal. He stood dumbfounded. When he looked at Go Jaewon, he was pretending he had not heard anything, unable to respond at all. It was a pitiful attitude.

“Yohan, you need to go through the inspection too.”

“Yes.”

On the other hand, Lee Hyunmook treated Yang Yohan with extreme kindness.

Park Seungmin’s face burned red. To anyone watching, it looked like the high-level and the low-level had been reversed. Was it reasonable that a mere low-level, just because he had been with them in the Abyss, received this kind of treatment? He was furious but could not say anything back to Lee Hyunmook, so he only bit his lip.

When the Little Lamb team followed behind Lee Hyunmook with curious glances thrown at him, Park Seungmin acted on an impulsive.

“You’re just a parachute, and you brag about being in the Taeyang Guild.”

Unable to hold it in, he said it loudly enough for everyone to hear, glaring at Yang Yohan. The eyes of the Little Lam team members widened. Only then did Lee Hyunmook stop and turn his head to look back at him. That gaze was darker and heavier than he expected, and Park Seungmin hurried back toward Go Jaewon like he was fleeing.

‘…Parachute?’

Go Jaewon stayed quiet, pretending not to have heard, because he did not want to offend Lee Hyunmook or Seo Yakrin. But the Little Lamb team members exchanged restless glances. The rumor that a returnee from the Abyss had joined the Taeyang Guild as a new recruit was still a hot topic. And Yang Yohan was one of the leading candidates. Their suspicion was quickly turning into certainty.

***

“Yohan, good morning!”

The next day, Yohan went to the guild, prepared to be rejected for being called a parachute, but he became puzzled. The Little Lamb team members were not criticizing or mocking him. They greeted him more warmly.

“Didn’t you get sick? I was so nervous I thought I would die.”

“I’m going for morning coffee, anyone want something? Yohan-oppa, you?”

“Ah… I’m fine.”

They exchanged words just like usual, and Yohan felt relieved as he answered them. They must have heard what Park Seungmin said yesterday, but they treated him normally, and he was glad.

Of course, Yohan did not know, but after he went home yesterday, the Little Lamb team had a talk among themselves.

‘Wow, so Yang Yohan really is an Abyss returnee?’

‘Looks like Team Leader Lee Hyunmook pushed him in. He didn’t deny it back there either.’

But the flow of the conversation was not as negative as expected. One of the Little Lamb teameam sucked on the free guild drink and tilted his head.

‘But is he really a parachute?’

‘Yeah. Should we even call that a parachute?’

‘He’s just an experienced new recruit, right?’

If they had not done a rift exploration today, maybe they would have felt a little envious. But after fighting monsters, they understood very clearly. Monsters were terrifying, and rifts were dreadful places. Abyss must have been way worse, it was a place where even Lee Hyunmook’s life had been at risk dozens of times. They respected Lee Hyunmook and the Taeyang Team members, but they also felt Yang Yohan was just as impressive.

‘No wonder he dodged well and caught them well.’

‘Honestly, he doesn’t seem like a low-level, right?’

‘Even if he is, he’ll probably rise to mid soon. Back in the Sunrise Guild, there were plenty of low-level awakeners who became stronger than those who directly awakened as mids.’

Among the people who entered the Taeyang Guild, there was no one who did not respect Lee Hyunmook and the team that had once belonged to the Sunrise Guild. Of course, that excluded Go Jaewon, who was openly called a traitor.

Above all, one reason Taeyang Guild was popular among awakeners was that they did not discriminate against low-level awakeners when recruiting. Normally, guilds as successful as Taeyang prioritized recruiting mids, but Taeyang Guild selected even those with no experience or those who were low-level awakeners, judging by potential and diligence. If a candidate’s personality or reputation was poor, or if there was a proper reason, then even a mid would not be chosen.

Because of this, there were quite a number of members who entered as low-level and grew to mid-level or higher in Taeyang Guild. Even if they stayed low-level, their skills placed them at the top of the same rank. It meant Guildmaster Lee Hyunmook’s eye for people was excellent.

The Little Lamb team members looked around and then huddled together whispering.

‘Yang Yohan was a total veteran by himself.’

‘I couldn’t even swallow water properly, but he ate and rested like he was used to it….’

‘He helped me earlier, I was really grateful. So I don’t have any resentment.’

‘Even if you had resentment, what would you do? The Guildmaster picked him personally. And I’m a low-level too.’

In the end, their conclusion was that even if he was a parachute, it did not matter. If he had backing, the whole team might even get more support, so it was a good thing. After reaching their conclusion, the Little Lamb team sipped on their drinks again. Then one of them shrugged.

‘At least it’s clear he isn’t friends with Park Seungmin.’

Yohan, unaware of this kind of talk, only felt happy, thinking the Little Lamb team members were good people.

“Yesterday was the exploration schedule, so today will be training?”

“They teach everything strictly here, it’s good. My friend’s guild didn’t teach him anything, so he struggled in a rift and ended up mildly corrupted in just a month. He said he even had to buy his uniform with his own money and pay a guild entry fee.”

“What’s with the guild entry fee? They call it a guild, but it’s basically like a company. Imagine if a company asked you to pay an entry fee when you joined. Everyone would laugh.”

“Places like that also take a heavy cut as commission.”

With the world changed like this and life becoming harsher, corporate ethics were naturally ignored often.

Yohan, who grew up gently, was shocked beyond measure hearing about guild thuggery that went beyond his imagination.

“Little Lamb, gather here~!”

A familiar lively voice and clapping drew their heads around. Yoon Seungryong was beckoning along with Ju Hoyoung. The Little Lamb team members immediately stood up, ran over, and greeted them.

“Hello, seniors!”

“Yes, yes, hello. Did everyone eat breakfast? We came to tell you today’s schedule.”

Their tone was gentle, not what you would expect when talking to adults. Having barely received that kind of treatment since graduating high school, they all looked around with their eyes wide.

‘They said he stayed in the Abyss for about ten years, right?’

The Abyss was terrifying enough, but a place where time flowed faster than here was even more frightening. Maybe because of that, the Taeyang Team always treated the Little Lamb team or Ani-Yang Team like children. It was better than treating them badly, but now that they were adults, it always felt awkward.

Ju Hoyoung spoke cheerfully.

“Today we’re going to Hyunsan Hospital Research Center to have the monster byproducts from yesterday’s hunt appraised!”

In truth, it was embarrassing to even say they had hunted the rank 5 monster. It was practically all handled by Lee Hyunmook and Seo Yakrin. But in celebration of their first rift exploration, they generously gave the entire sale money without taking any commission. The Little Lamb team members were moved.

Yohan, who until now had only ever seen monster byproducts used as food except in temporary shelters, felt the same anticipation.