Chapter 16: Snowfall in the Mountains

To begin with, I’d have to at least be capable of clearing Gates. Problem was, right now I was way too much of a fucking nobody.

"Hey, hey. So what do we do then?"

Maybe the silence dragged on too long—Joo Seowon called out nervously. I lifted my gaze from the floor and looked at him. His voice came out probing.

"You can really see all that? Fourteen million futures, like in the movies?"

The fact that he kept thinking up crap like that nonstop was almost impressive.

Anyway, the first goal was strengthening ourselves. Not just me—these idiots too.

'Before I run into Kwon Taehan. But is that even possible?'

Yeah, to grow you’ve got to grind. I sighed and dragged up one guild from memory.

"We need to get into SH Guild."

At my words, Joo Seowon’s expression suddenly stiffened. What’s with that face?

SH Guild. A guild led by A-rank hunter Song Hwayoung—tragically dissolved when she died. And the reason I needed to get into this guild was simple: in his first round, Kwon Taehan grew alongside SH Guild.

The knowledge I had was all from after Taehan’s regressions. But right now was still before he regressed—this was his fifth life. That meant the only usable information I had were the fragmented scraps from the first round.

'So I stick to the routes I actually know.'

Joo Seowon stayed quiet for a long while before slowly asking,

"...Why?"

"To raise our survival odds. We can pick up a few things while running dungeons there. And... we need to grow stronger."

At least until Kwon Taehan regressed.

"No, why the hell am I joining a guild?"

"You got a problem?"

"Of course! I’m not guild material. My main skill is Tracking. And SH specifically is... complicated."

"Why? You scam someone there or something?"

"Why do you keep acting like I’m a con artist! No! I’m innocent! But yeah, there is an issue."

What issue? I gave him a look. He glanced nervously at Do Yehyun before sighing and continuing.

"I once took a request from them, but... long story short, I failed to complete it."

"That happens."

"...It wasn’t me, it was SH’s own issue. The request was nothing big—they just asked me to dig up the whereabouts of a certain hunter. I did it, but not long after, every scrap of info I’d collected got stolen."

The fuck?

He swallowed and kept sneaking glances at Do Yehyun.

"Ah, I don’t feel good about this kid being here."

"......."

"Anyway, yeah, data theft happens. In this line of work, information is power, so plenty of people play dirty. But I got curious and started digging. And...."

"Stop dragging it out. Say it."

"Haeseong was behind it."

Haeseong? Why the hell would Im Haekyung interfere with SH? The power gap was massive—way too big for petty checks. And this wasn’t even in the novel, so I had no reference.

Joo Seowon scrubbed at his scalp with a grimace.

"...So yeah. That’s the problem. Picking a fight with Haeseong is suicide."

"......."

"And besides, I don’t plan on running dungeons in the first place. I hate dangerous work."

I stared off into space, thinking. If Haeseong really was involved with SH, maybe it wasn’t worth joining. But the thought didn’t last long.

"No, we’re joining anyway."

"...Seriously?"

"And you’re running dungeons too."

"Why the fuck me?"

His skills were more useful outside than inside a dungeon, sure. But if we were going by current rank alone, Seowon was actually the strongest one here. Not that he realized it. And I planned on getting him an offensive skill eventually.

The "main skills" shown in a status window were just the dominant ones, not the only ones. Meaning, Seowon still had plenty of potential to develop others.

"I told you I’ll guarantee safety. Just do it. You’ll benefit too."

"Fuck... With you spouting 'future knowledge' I can’t even argue. Shit, this is such a headache."

"You already took the advance payment, and now you’re trying to back out?"

He worked his mouth like he wanted to complain, then reluctantly [N O V E L I G H T] nodded. Not that it mattered—I was going to drag him along either way.

"The whole apocalypse talk was just to make you accept my goals. Forget about that for now—there’s something more important at hand."

"Ha... I’d rather you just erase my memory."

"And don’t you dare blab about this outside. Especially you, Seowon. If you start cutting deals with other people behind my back, I will kill you."

"I won’t! Seriously, I won’t! What the hell do you take me for?"

For a con artist, obviously. He kept spouting bullshit worries after that. Sure, what I’d told him was heavy, but time would sort it out. People always stabilize once routine sets back in.

Do Yehyun, though—he stayed silent from beginning to end.

By the time Seowon’s rambling wore me down, I’d had enough. I tossed him out. Trash talk is only funny at first; keep it up too long and it makes you want to beat someone bloody. I grabbed him and dumped him by the door.

"Put me down! We can talk, damn it, just talk! Don’t carry me like luggage!"

"Time to go."

"Wait, wait! Just a second, let’s talk!"

"Talk? What were you doing all this time, interpretive dance?"

"You know what I mean."

He sneaked a look past me toward Do Yehyun. What, did he want me to step aside so they could share some secret? Like this weakling could do anything with whatever he heard.

But because he wouldn’t drop it, I finally turned to Yehyun.

"Yehyun-ah. Can you go to your room for a bit?"

He obediently slipped into the bedroom and shut the door. This felt a bit too much like playing dad.

Seowon only lowered his voice after confirming the door was closed.

"You know he’s saddled with debt, right? Keeping him around means we’re bound to clash with that guild sooner or later. Holding onto him is like clutching a ticking time bomb."

"I can handle that. Don’t worry. Just dig up info on SH. They’re not going to accept us for free anyway, so I’ll need leverage."

"I don’t like this. I know you’re not telling me everything, but... fine. We’re in the same boat now."

"Right. And I’m not going to let this boat sink, so do your part."

He nodded reluctantly. Worrywart. I crossed my arms and leaned on the doorframe, staring at him.

"One more time—keep today’s conversation sealed. Unless you feel like adding another Trust Covenant."

Couldn’t have him blabbing that the world was ending. Not because it wasn’t true, but because if word reached Kwon Taehan later, it’d be disastrous.

"Obviously. If I went around shouting that, you’d beat the shit out of me. I’m not crazy."

Huh. Sharp observation.

"You know me well. Anything else?"

"I don’t want to join some save-the-world project. That’s not my thing. I just want to find Minha."

"And I said I’d help with that."

"You’re also dragging me into dungeons!"

"That too. You done now?"

He glared, breathing hard, then cast another look toward the bedroom.

"Do Yehyun... I can guess some of his circumstances. Just don’t push his trauma buttons, okay? You’re a psychopath, after all...."

This bastard.

I shoved him out the door without another word. He stumbled into the hall, and I tossed him the car keys.

"Agh!"

"Get a new place. Keep in touch. Bye."

"You goddamn psycho!"

Bang—!

Muted curses filtered faintly through the door, but the soundproofing kept them indistinct. I turned away without a shred of regret.

When I opened the door Yehyun had shut, I found him standing at attention behind it.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah..."

Good thing I’d booked a place with two bedrooms. Otherwise sharing a room on top of all this? My mood would’ve hit rock bottom.

"Right, let me get you some clothes."

I dug into the shopping bags I’d shoved into the closet earlier and pulled out whatever came to hand. Might be a size off.

I tossed him a tracksuit I’d bought for casual wear.

"If it’s big, wear it anyway. We’ll buy more tomorrow—we need to go out anyway."

"Thank you...."

"Take off the tags yourself."

"Yes."

He looked like he wanted to say something, but as usual, he kept quiet when it was just us. I could guess what was on his mind. Probably thought I was hiding his debt to Infinite Guild.

But I was too tired for more crap tonight, so I left him there and went to the other bedroom.

After a shower and a change, I set my phone alarm and finally felt sleep creeping up.

All this had happened in just two days. Ever since I landed in this world, it had been nonstop chaos.

My body was exhausted, but instead of sleeping right away, I skimmed the news. The world being what it was, there were as many hunter stories as celebrity gossip.

And somewhere in there should be mentions of Haeseong’s guild master.

I typed "Haeseong Guild" into the search bar, and sure enough, articles and chatter flooded the screen.