Chapter 49
The shattered chandelier scattered across the corridor, the 2nd rank faction members retreating hesitantly while blankly staring at their status windows, me sprawled lifelessly in Shin Shawol’s arms, and…
“What’s going on?”
Cha Si-hyeon, who arrived late.
“What’s all this commotion…”
Cha Si-hyeon looked around in confusion, then quickly approached after spotting me.
“Hey, what trouble did you cause this time? No, why are you even here in the first place?”
Why are you here? I’m sure I only called for Shin Shawol, but Mungchi and Cha Si-hyeon all came.
“Hah… Get up first.”
Cha Si-hyeon glanced at me in Shin Shawol’s arms, then approached and reached out his hand.
My legs weren’t working well, but I tried to stand up, pretending everything was fine.
“What’s wrong with your hand now?”
By the time I realized the problem wasn’t my legs, it was too late.
Cha Si-hyeon frowned deeply as he looked at my swollen right hand.
“Um…”
My eyes wavered, unable to focus. The silence that grew longer as I hesitated was suffocating. After rolling my eyes around, I finally chose to change the subject.
“Let’s get out of here first. I’ll explain later.”
Although it was all over, we were still inside the 2nd rank faction, so it didn’t feel right to have a comfortable conversation here.
“…Alright.”
Fortunately, Cha Si-hyeon seemed to agree.
Shin Shawol, who had stood up with me, started walking. I took a step to follow him, then turned back.
“Our faction…”
The remaining 2nd rank faction members, or rather the former 2nd rank faction members, wore bewildered expressions.
Among them was the face of the one who had been dragging me away just before I lost consciousness. They seemed to have no intention of fighting, seeing Cha Si-hyeon beside me, and just sat down with their heads lowered.
“Your faction leader is still alive.”
I quietly continued speaking to them.
“Go save him if you want. Though I doubt you’ll even make it into the top 10, let alone 2nd place, if you try to rebuild…”
Seeing this scene, Cha Si-hyeon gently waved his hand as if saying we should leave quickly. Alright, we can go. I smirked and turned my back on the despairing members.
“You should have chosen your allegiances more wisely.”
💎
Back at our faction now.
“What exactly happened?”
“Did you change the 2nd rank faction leader, Noona?”
“Explain it to us.”
“Can you hold a sword? Does it hurt when I press here?”
I’m being bombarded with questions…
I wore a haggard expression as I looked at the faction members crowding around me as I sat on the bed. Too many questions? I understand they’re curious, but…
“I’ll answer everything, just calm down first.”
How can I answer if you don’t give me time to?
“Right. Everyone, calm down and take one step back.”
Baek Doha, who was crouched under the bed examining my hand, spoke to the others.
Realizing they had been too pushy, everyone took a step back. The widened distance brought a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived.
Where should I start explaining?
“As you can see, I made Shin Shawol the 2nd rank faction leader.”
I should start explaining from here, I guess.
“Since when did you plan this?”
I pondered for a moment at Lim Yuchan’s question. If you ask me since when…
“Initially, I planned to take over the 2nd rank completely myself.”
However, if that happened, the 3rd rank faction would become 2nd, and there was no guarantee that the newly 2nd rank faction wouldn’t retaliate against us.
“So I thought it would be best to give the 2nd rank faction to Shin Shawol and maintain a balance between the powers.”
“Is there any guarantee that this Shin Shawol won’t attack us?”
I grinned at Du Mansik’s sharp yet expected question.
“I’m certain.”
Shin Shawol identifies opponents’ weaknesses through his skill. However, he doesn’t know my weakness.
“Because Shin Shawol knows that his ability doesn’t work on me.”
In other words, Shin Shawol won’t pick a fight with me.
💎
“Faction Leader!”
As soon as he entered the faction, Shin Shawol habitually covered his ears at Kim Chan-woo’s loud greeting.
“What on earth happened?!”
“What?”
“We, we’ve become the 2nd rank faction!”
Looking around, he could see faction members trying to confirm if what they saw was correct, with surprised expressions.
Shin Shawol, removing his hands from his ears, spoke for the struggling faction members.
“That’s what happened.”
Waaah!! As soon as the fact was confirmed, the faction members let out what could be either cheers or screams.
Watching this, Shin Shawol covered his ears again and moved towards her room with a tired expression.
He had only gone to help Yoo Ijoo, but in an instant, he had become the leader of the 2nd rank faction. While rising in rank was certainly something to be happy about…
“Are we… okay with this?”
Kim Chan-woo, who had followed him in, asked cautiously. Kim Chan-woo, whom he had kept by his side from the start due to his quick wit, seemed to sense something was off, unlike the other faction members. Shin Shawol shrugged.
“Who knows.”
They had suddenly gone from 5th to 2nd place. Would the 3rd and 4th place factions take this well?
He couldn’t be entirely happy. Now, he who had been peacefully holding a decent rank would have to fight ‘seriously’.
‘This must be part of that woman’s plan too.’
A position where they couldn’t touch the 1st ranked faction, but had to keep the lower factions in check. Yet too valuable to refuse.
A hollow laugh escaped him.
“Should I call it clever or cunning?”
Her intelligence was on par with S-class. After feeling relieved that they weren’t completely enemies, Kim Chan-woo, who had been hesitating for a while, carefully asked.
“Do you think… we could beat the 1st ranked faction?”
“What nonsense.”
Shin Shawol laughed as if he had heard something unbelievable.
Fight the 1st ranked faction? That wasn’t even something they could attempt.
“That woman will definitely take first place in the next round.”
Plop, Shin Shawol sat down and slowly crossed his legs.
Right now, Shin Shawol knew exactly what he had to do.
“We just maintain our rank.”
💎
After completing ‘Protect Faction from External Intruders – Stage 1’, many things had changed.
With Shin Shawol becoming the 2nd rank faction leader, the troublesome rankings were somewhat sorted out, and as rumors spread that I had taken down the 2nd rank faction, the looks of those who thought I had become the 1st rank faction leader merely by luck began to change little by little.
‘Above all, even without catching the boss, having three S-rank members meant our Stage 1 performance wasn’t bad.’
It was a very satisfying result. After that, things became quite peaceful.
How peaceful? Well, all I had to do was…
“Wow! There’s even tea in the dungeon? It smells really nice!”
Drink a tea that Baek Doha brought, along with Gi Da-in.
“Right? I only saw one of the guild members picking these tea leaves, but I didn’t know it would smell this good. What do you think, Yi-joo-ssi?”
At Baek Doha’s question, I looked down at the reddish tea.
“…It’s good. It finally feels like I’m getting some rest.”
It was quite nice to drink tea with comfortable people in a warm space.
After spending such a peaceful time that I almost forgot we were in a dungeon, I went outside and ran into Cha Si-hyeon.
I often bumped into Cha Si-hyeon like this after drinking tea in Baek Doha’s room. Then we would have normal conversations.
“Is your hand okay now?”
“It’s been fine for a while.”
“…I should have stepped on that bastard’s wrist just the same.”
I chuckled at Cha Si-hyeon’s muttering.
“I told you, I stepped on it.”
“Is your stepping the same as mine?”
“What’s the difference?”
As I was chatting with Cha Si-hyeon, who always had something to say, whether it was bickering or concern, I saw Du Mansik walking down the opposite corridor.
“Do you have a moment?”
I caught Du Mansik, as I had something to discuss with him.
It wasn’t an extremely serious matter.
“Let’s just do repair work on the passage.”
It was just about the broken passage, after all.
“You’re keeping the passage?”
“Since Shin Shawol became the 2nd rank faction leader. We need continuous exchange with that person, so it’s better to keep the passage.”
Shin Shawol is the type to fight after calculating the chances of winning. So she’ll likely cooperate with us in most cases. After adding that, Du Mansik nodded.
“Yes, I understand.”
After finishing the discussion about internal construction with Du Mansik like this, lastly…
“Mungchi, come here.”
Mungchi, who followed me onto the bed, soon made its body smaller.
It’s always amazing to see it change its body size at will. After a moment of admiration, I collapsed onto the bed.
Lastly, what I wanted to do the most, sleeping with Mungchi.
“Ah… Finally, I can get some rest.”
“Yi-joo-ssi!”
The moment I uttered those words, the door burst open. What now? As I raised my awkwardly lying body, I saw Gi Da-in with a panicked expression.
“I’m sorry for coming in without knocking! But it’s urgent, and I think you need to go outside right away…!”
Why, why, what now?
“Alright. Tell me as we go.”
Seeing Gi Da-in’s extremely troubled expression, I finally got up.
‘Yeah, rest in a dungeon? Forget about it.’
I really felt like crying.
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
