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Chapter 8: Different From His Memories (3)
Lee Shin stayed hidden while leaving all the work to Ban Jung-hoon.
It was his first real break in a long time.
If he could, he wanted to leave everything to Ban Jung-hoon and simply spend time with his younger sister.
But…
“I heard you changed all your plans?”
Lee Jung-ho had summoned him to the main house.
Remembering the tearful face of his sister when he told her he had to leave, Lee Shin decided to finish his business here as quickly as possible.
“Yes.”
Lee Jung-ho quietly looked at Lee Shin standing straight before her.
His eyes showed neither rebellion nor obedience.
They were calm and unreadable.
She disliked not knowing what he was thinking.
“You haven’t forgotten our agreement, have you?”
“Of course not.”
“Even if you run away to Canada, don’t forget that your leash is still in my hands.”
“I’ll remember that.”
His calm attitude revealed nothing.
His appearance and behavior were exactly like his father’s.
A Legendary-class superhuman with extraordinary talent in spirit arts.
But there was one thing he absolutely must not inherit from his father.
He must not leave the family before making a contract.
If that happened, she would never regain the influence over the family that her nephew had taken from her.
“Good.”
“You should remember that.”
“Especially for your sister’s sake.”
Lee Jung-ho glared at him like a warning.
Lee Shin quietly lowered his head.
“Fine.”
“Then tell me.”
“Why are you so determined to enter through Canada’s gate?”
“I heard the Canadian gate is closer to the Fire King’s territory.”
“So you’re abandoning the safe path just for that?”
The areas around Korea’s gate had already been thoroughly explored.
People knew where the spirits lived and where the dangerous places were.
Canada’s gate was different.
Anyone below Legendary rank would die the moment they entered.
Even if they survived, their bodies wouldn’t be able to endure the harsh environment of the Spirit Realm.
“I admit your elemental affinity is exceptional.”
“Not just for your training…”
“For your age.”
“But that’s all.”
“You’re nowhere near ready to survive in a Legendary region without preparation.”
“Once I make the contract, none of that matters.”
“I only need to reach the Fire Spirit King’s territory as quickly as possible.”
“How arrogant.”
“Even contractors of the Fire Spirit King would struggle to do that.”
Yet…
She liked that arrogance.
A successor needed confidence and ambition.
Lee Shin possessed more talent than anyone else.
His arrogance wasn’t a flaw.
It was exactly the kind of quality the Fire Spirit King appreciated.
As long as he doesn’t become complacent because of his talent…
For a moment, she remembered her youngest son.
He had possessed extraordinary talent.
But he lacked determination and ambition.
He threw everything away, abandoned the family, and eventually died.
“Don’t forget the Fire Gathering next week.”
Lee Jung-ho’s voice became quieter.
Lee Shin lowered his head.
A mocking smile briefly appeared on his lips.
She’s probably thinking about Father again.
She was the one who forced him to leave.
She made sure he could never return to Korea.
Even when he begged for help to save his daughter’s life, she coldly refused.
Yet whenever she needed something…
She always remembered him.
The hypocrisy disgusted Lee Shin.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
He politely bowed, hiding his twisted smile.
He didn’t want to stay there any longer.
He quickly left the mansion and headed home.
He had even bought something his sister would like.
The moment he entered…
“Big brother!!”
Lee Rin welcomed him happily before he even showed the gift.
Lee Shin picked up his little sister and walked into the living room.
There, Ban Jung-hoon was lying on the floor, looking completely exhausted.
“What?”
“You’re still here?”
“…You’re back.”
“And why do you look like that?”
“I’ve been playing with Rin.”
So he was trying to win her over.
No wonder she welcomed me so enthusiastically.
She had probably gotten tired of Ban Jung-hoon and was waiting for Lee Shin to come home.
“You should leave now.”
“Wait.”
“I have a progress report.”
“Already?”
Only a few days had passed.
Still, hearing the report couldn’t hurt.
Lee Shin put his sister down and took Ban Jung-hoon into the study.
“So?”
“What do you have?”
“The prototype is finished.”
“That was fast.”
“The technology already existed.”
“No one made it before because it wasn’t profitable.”
“So making it wasn’t difficult.”
“What about the patent?”
“It’s being processed.”
“We requested priority review, so it shouldn’t take long.”
“Good.”
It was an item capable of summoning a spirit that no one currently knew about.
Once people discovered it…
It would sell incredibly well.
Lee Shin had no intention of sharing those profits with anyone else.
More importantly…
It was also the key to freely traveling between worlds.
He needed to obtain it before making a contract with the Divine Fire Spirit.
“And just like you predicted…”
“The situation inside the Ines Guild looks terrible.”
“Oh?”
“Did something happen already?”
“Yeah.”
“Other major guilds secretly contacted us.”
“They offered us better terms if we used their Spirit Realm gate.”
“Hah.”
“What a complete mess.”
“I know.”
“When you first mentioned it, I thought you were talking nonsense.”
“But at this rate…”
“The Ines Guild really could collapse soon.”
If information important enough to change the guild’s future had already leaked…
Then spies had infiltrated important positions.
And not just one guild.
All the other Five Great Guilds knew.
At this point, it almost looked like they had joined forces to destroy Ines.
Was the Ines Guild really that threatening?
The Canadian gate wasn’t explored until the later part of the webtoon.
By then, people only talked about the Four Great Guilds.
There wasn’t much information about Ines.
If all five guilds considered it dangerous…
“Then what should we do?”
“Choose whichever guild offers us the best deal?”
“Or use this information to negotiate with the Ines Guild?”
Lee Shin thought quietly for a moment.
Ban Jung-hoon simply waited.
“Do you know which guilds compete with Ines?”
“And which ones are its allies?”
“Yeah.”
“I checked that while investigating.”
Ban Jung-hoon searched through a stack of paper files.
In an age where holograms were standard, handling paper felt strangely inconvenient.
“Found it.”
Lee Shin accepted the document.
It listed every guild connected to Ines.
As he carefully read through it…
His eyes suddenly stopped.
This…
A certain episode from the webtoon flashed through his mind.
It was an important Dragon Realm story.
So the Ines Guild was connected to that.
Now he finally understood why the Ines Guild collapsed.
Even one of Canada’s Five Great Guilds couldn’t survive that incident.
Because…
It was a disaster.
“Will the Ines Guild attend the Fire Gathering?”
“Of course.”
“Every Fire-element superhuman attends.”
The Fire Gathering was an annual meeting for Fire-element superhumans.
It was hosted by Lee Shin’s family.
Since many famous people attended, even non-Fire superhumans often wanted invitations.
“In that case…”
“Let’s make the game bigger.”
“Bigger?”
The Ines Guild was like a shrimp caught in a fight between whales.
There was no point targeting the shrimp.
He needed to target the whales.
Only then could he seize the Dragon Realm’s resources.
At the Ines Guild…
Meetings had been held every day since they received information from the Rift Management Bureau.
“This is fortunate.”
“We found out first.”
“We were lucky.”
“Our contact happened to be managing the gate when the request came.”
“Isn’t this proof that mana itself blesses the Ines Guild?”
“We’ve always felt limited relying only on mages.”
“The timing couldn’t be better.”
Rather than a meeting…
It felt like a celebration.
Everyone laughed as though everything had already been settled.
Rene Ines disliked what she was seeing.
Father and Mother have only been gone a few years…
How has everyone become this careless already?
Rene Ines, Commander of the Seventh Magic Knight Order, quietly watched the guild members.
“We’ve made sure the Brassier Guild won’t hear about this, right?”
“Of course.”
“Neither Brassier nor the other guilds know anything.”
“Well… not for long.”
They don’t know?
Rene remembered what the Ihwa Guild had secretly told her a few days earlier.
Every one of Canada’s Five Great Guilds had already offered deals involving the gate.
“What?”
“You should probably clean house.”
“Information is leaking within days.”
At first, she hadn’t believed it.
Her parents had left to handle matters in the Dragon Realm.
The guild had become somewhat unstable.
Even so…
These people had worked together like family for years.
She never imagined anyone would leak information important enough to determine the guild’s future.
But now…
Suspicious behavior was impossible to ignore.
It was so obvious that she couldn’t believe she had missed it before.
Though some people hide it better.
Her eyes moved toward one of the vice guild masters.
A man with deathly pale skin sat there.
His hair, clothes, and eyes were all black.
He gave off an eerie atmosphere.
The guild was led by one Guild Master and two Vice Guild Masters.
Her parents occupied the Guild Master position and one Vice Guild Master position.
The remaining Vice Guild Master was Pierre Black.
While her parents were away…
He controlled the entire guild.
There’s no way he doesn’t know.
If he ignored it… then he allowed it to happen.
But why?
Did he want the guild to collapse?
Was there really someone inside the guild hoping for its destruction, just as the Ihwa Guild had suggested?
She didn’t know.
For now…
Protecting the guild came first.
She refused to let her parents return to a ruined guild.
Bang.
Rene lightly tapped the table.
She smiled gently as she looked around the room.
The noisy meeting hall immediately became silent.
Still smiling…
She spoke softly.
“Until this deal is completed…”
“Don’t forget to keep everything secret.”
“If information leaks…”
“…You’ll all be held responsible.”
She was smiling.
Yet an invisible pressure filled the room.
Almost impossible to resist.
Pressure?
Please.
She’s just a child who isn’t even talented at fire magic.
Perhaps unwilling to admit he had been intimidated…
Basil Norman, Commander of the Third Magic Knight Order, laughed loudly.
“That’s obvious.”
“This is our chance to train Spirit Contractors.”
“No fool would throw it away.”
“I wonder if everyone else feels the same.”
“Of course.”
“We all care about this guild.”
Rene simply smiled without answering.
So France is involved…
She remembered another piece of information from the Ihwa Guild.
According to them, one of France’s Three Great Guilds had interfered.
Its goal was to disrupt a joint project between Britain and the Dragon Realm.
I don’t know how much of that is true.
But I should at least inform the Round Table.
The Round Table was the British guild allied with Ines.
Chevalier was the French guild allied with Brassier.
It seemed likely that Ines had become caught in the conflict between the Round Table and Chevalier.
Alliances were important.
But not enough to risk destroying an entire guild.
To Rene…
The Ines Guild mattered more than any alliance.
“They said…”
“We’ll decide our future relationship after meeting at the Fire Gathering.”
The Fire Gathering…
I should attend.
