TRPM 259

Regiones Guild headquarters.

Because the Regiones Guild has members spread all over the country, only about half of its members actually commute to its headquarters.

Even so, about 5,000 Awakened and some 20,000 non-Awakened come to work at Regiones’ headquarters.

It’s impossible to fit that many employees into a single building, so Regiones owns several buildings.

Maybe that’s why people who live near those buildings half-jokingly call the road full of Regiones-owned properties “Regiones Street.”

‘…How did I even end up all the way out here?’

I had arrived at a street people called Regiones Street.

At first I was just walking without thinking, but maybe because of what involved me with the Regiones Guild yesterday and today, I found myself heading here without really noticing.

‘Anyway…’

It’s tall.

Looking at the tall buildings rising on both sides of the road made me realize anew that Regiones is the second-largest guild in Korea.

‘…Actually, even the former number-one Taeguk Guild or today’s number-one NightEagle Guild don’t own quite this many high-rise buildings like Regiones does.’

I thought that as I walked between the buildings.

If it were a weekday I’d probably see a lot of Regiones members passing through this street, but it was the weekend today, so only duty staff would be at work—most wouldn’t have come in.

Besides, the roads would be packed with people on weekdays anyway.

Drdrdr…!

While I imagined the weekday scene and walked, I heard the thump of a helicopter overhead.

They had mobilized a chopper to deploy personnel to some urgent site.

It wasn’t that some special accident had happened just today; Regiones is like this all the time. They get so many calls.

The number of dungeon clearances might actually be higher for the Cleaner Guild than for Regiones, but that’s because Regiones usually tackles dungeons that take a long time and require a large raid force.

‘No, that’s not the real problem.’

The real problem was the Awakened supremacists who had probably taken root inside one wing of Regiones.

This was only my guess, but they would definitely cause trouble.

‘I don’t think they’ll start something today, though.’

If they were planning to do something, they wouldn’t be marching openly around the streets like that. They aren’t stupid enough to draw that much attention if they meant to act.

“Hmm….”

That troublemaker I saw earlier might have seemed careless… I thought, and kept walking.

I walked until Regiones Street no longer came into view.

‘Ah, it’s almost lunch time.’

Without thinking much I realized it was already time for lunch.

I looked around.

It felt like my first time in this neighborhood, so all the restaurants were unfamiliar.

‘Pork belly at this hour is a bit much. Cold noodles? Or something simple, if possible?’

The problem was there were so many different kinds of restaurants around here.

Because of that diversity I couldn’t decide what to eat for lunch.

“Hmm? That person is….”

While I was worrying about what to have for lunch, I saw a familiar face.

‘That’s the chairman of the Awakened Association.’

A man I had met before when I sold things in my pocket dimension; I’d run into him whenever big events happened, like when Chairman Richard came to the country.

He was entering a good-value gukbap (Korean soup and rice) shop with what looked like his attendants.

Seeing his back made me suddenly crave gukbap.

‘This is also not far from the Awakened Association’s headquarters… If the chairman goes to that gukbap place instead of the association cafeteria, that must mean the gukbap there tastes better than the association’s food.’

With that in mind I went into the gukbap restaurant.

“Welcome. How many?”

“Just me.”

I told the server and glanced at the menu board on the side.

‘…This looks like the best seller for sure.’

I decided to order the menu item that shared the restaurant’s name. It was probably their signature.

‘There aren’t many items on the menu to begin with.’

I thought while sitting at the table the server led me to.

It was a two-person table, and—

“Pfft…!”

“Chairman?”

Of all places, the table next to the one where the chairman and his attendants were seated.

The chairman, who saw me while drinking, suddenly spat the water back out.

“Cough…! Cough…! Ah, sorry. Could you give me a napkin?”

“Yes, of course.”

He took a napkin from the restaurant, wiped his mouth, threw it in the nearby trash, and then bowed slightly in greeting.

“I didn’t expect to run into you here, Artist.”

At the chairman’s cue, his attendants—who had only just noticed me—also bowed.

“Feel free. It’s not business; I just happened to come for lunch, so it’s just a coincidence.”

Actually, it wasn’t a complete coincidence—I had decided to eat here after seeing the chairman come in—but whatever.

“My identity isn’t exactly a secret, but I’d prefer not to attract attention while eating, so let’s leave it at that.”

Hearing me, the chairman and his attendants returned to their seats.

We waited for our meals.

Not long after, the server brought my gukbap.

‘Oh, even though I came in with high expectations, it’s better than I expected.’

I hadn’t tasted it yet, but the visual and aroma were quite appealing.

The portion was so generous that I worried whether the restaurant could even profit at this price.

Of course they must have set the price after careful consideration.

‘And it tastes good, too.’

If this gukbap joint had been in my neighborhood I’d have come often. It was that good.

While I was enjoying my satisfying lunch, a few more customers came in.

“Boss, four bowls of the usual gukbap.”

“Yes. I’ll show you to a table.”

One of those customers yelled loudly enough that everyone in the restaurant turned to look.

And then…

‘…Huh…?’

There stood the guildmasters of Korea’s four major guilds.

So—there was Shin Chae-geon of NightEagle, the Regiones guildmaster Yoo Won-hun whom I’d met yesterday, Song Eun-ji of the Cleaner Guild, and finally Ji Hyung-man of the Ironblood Guild.

What were the guildmasters doing together…?

“Hmm? Artist?”

“Artist? Where?”

“Ah… there he is.”

Of course they recognized me.

“…Hello.”

The chairman of the Awakened Association also recognized them.

Somehow the people who held the most power in Korea’s Awakened community had gathered together.

Because of that, the chairman’s attendants were on edge and couldn’t properly eat.

But the restaurant owner and staff acted as if this was normal and ignored them.

‘They must come here often.’

Given how close it was to the association and how good the food was, it wasn’t surprising.

“Four of you together—does that mean there’s something important going on?”

“That’s right. We all came to see the chairman but were told he wasn’t there, so we decided to have lunch.”

“It’s a pain, but if we handle it now we’ll be less bothered later….”

The four guildmasters said as they sat down.

“Is there something you need from me?”

“It’s nothing major, but it seems like the number of Awakened supremacists in our guild has been increasing lately.”

Regiones guildmaster Yoo Won-hun said.

…So they’d already been aware that there were supremacists within the guild.

“…What about the rest of you?”

“We don’t have that problem. But it’s worrying that Regiones has so many—so we came together to discuss it.”

The four were competitors running different guilds, but they were also partners sustaining Korea’s Awakened society, so they had been discussing efficient ways to deal with the supremacists.

They hadn’t come up with any sharp solution yet, so for now they’d come to see the chairman.

“Let’s take this to the association after we finish eating.”

Everyone agreed. This wasn’t something to hash out in a gukbap shop.

“Ah—Artist, would you join us?”

“Me?”

In the middle of that, they asked me to attend their meeting.

Well… I had nothing better to do.

“All right.”

Besides, I didn’t like Awakened supremacists either.

After finishing our meal, we went to the chairman’s office at the association.

There we started the discussion in earnest.

“According to the inspection unit under me, we’ve identified that 14 teams inside the Regiones headquarters are composed of Awakened supremacists, and we estimate at least twenty or so teams in the branches are similarly composed.”

“…How many people are on a Regiones team?”

“One team usually has around 10 to 15 people.”

“There are cases with fewer, but that’s the typical size. And each of those teams is usually supported by about twenty non-Awakened staff….”

The Awakened supremacists didn’t treat those non-Awakened well.

Fortunately they hadn’t escalated to sexual harassment or assault, but—

“That’s only a matter of time.”

According to him, the supremacists’ behavior was becoming bolder.

At first they subtly ignored the non-Awakened, but now they openly treated them as if they didn’t exist, or pushed tasks that weren’t the non-Awakened’s responsibility onto them….

“In extreme cases, after clearing a dungeon, they’ve even sprayed the monster blood clinging to their weapons onto the non-Awakened who were guarding the dungeon entrance. Then they claim they were only trying to shake the blood off their weapons.”

Spraying monster blood…

That really crossed the line.

Non-Awakened could easily be infected by the otherworldly pathogens mixed in a monster’s blood, even if an Awakened wouldn’t be affected.

The guildmasters and the chairman’s expressions hardened.

“How is Regiones currently handling their Awakened supremacists?”

“For now, we’ve given them the lowest marks on character in performance evaluations. We’re also doing our best to station non-Awakened away from them, but there are limits.”

That was the situation as of this morning.

Yoo Won-hun lowered his voice as if this was the most important point.

“We have information on crimes the Awakened supremacists are planning to commit. I intend to stop those crimes and arrest them in the act. For that, I need your cooperation.”