—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The moment he leaped out the window, Limon’s body began to fall. Twisting in mid-air, he descended the window-covered facade of the Leviathan, muttering to himself,
‘Our princess has an unexpectedly cute side.’
Even though it wasn’t their first kiss, her face had turned as red as a ripe persimmon at his sudden gesture. It was unexpected, as he had anticipated her usual enigmatic smile.
‘Well, it’s not that surprising, is it?’
Li Chingwei was the Black Dragon Princess, a girl of noble lineage, raised in luxury and entitled to all the wealth and power the clan could offer.
It wouldn’t be strange if she had never experienced romance or even interacted with men her own age. It was easy to forget this due to her current predicament and her exceptional intelligence and competence.
‘That is, if that wasn’t an act.’
Limon chuckled.
He knew the Seven Dragons Association too well to be fooled by such a simple display.
He had encountered countless women who would gladly sacrifice their lives, and their families, just to get close to him.
That was the nature of their relationship. Too dangerous to trust fully, too complicated to be just an engagement. In a way, they were further apart than enemies.
‘Well, that’s what marriage is, isn’t it?’
Thump! Crash!
Despite all that, he understood her, and he had chosen to trust her, for now.
Limon leaped from the side of the hotel, soaring through the air without a backward glance at the still-trembling Leviathan.
There was more than enough firepower to defend the hotel. And since Li Chingwei had sent him out, there was no need to worry about those left behind.
‘The question is, how long can the affiliates hold out?’
Leaping across rooftops, leaving only afterimages in his wake, Limon pressed the communicator on his wrist and checked the status of the affiliates, frowning.
Dozens of locations were under attack. Even for him, it would take more than ten or twenty minutes to visit them all.
Fortunately, he didn’t need to personally assist the affiliates under the Guardian System’s protection.
“If any of you kimchi jars let a single person die after taking all that money, I’ll put another buttonhole in your remaining eye.”
Grumbling about the local thugs he had hired at a hefty price, Limon sped through the city like the wind.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Bang!
“…!”
Xue-reung, the security captain of Cheonhwa Department Store, who had been about to meet an inglorious end while trying to save his career, widened his eyes.
Just as Ryu Kang-chul’s grinning face was about to plunge a knife into his throat, the figure vanished, leaving a human-shaped hole in the ceiling.
In his place appeared a man in a strange mix of attire.
Eastern scale armor, Western silver gauntlets, and a Middle Eastern red turban.
He bowed to Xue-reung.
“Greetings, customer. Nam Gi-mun, Team Leader of the Perfect, Swift, and Accurate Personnel Dispatch Service, at your service.”
“…What?”
“Thank you for using our guild’s services. I assure you, you won’t regret your choice.”
Confusion reigned in his mind.
Ryu Kang-chul’s sudden disappearance, the stranger’s unexpected appearance and words, his bizarre outfit… Overwhelmed, Xue-reung asked the most pressing question,
“Who are you?”
“Oh, you must have missed it. Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Nam Gi-mun of the Perfect, Swift, and Accurate…”
“I heard you, Personnel Dispatch Service or whatever! I’m asking what that means!”
Xue-reung snapped.
Nam Gi-mun looked puzzled, as if wondering how he could not know.
“Aren’t you a Guardian employee?”
“Do I look like I work for that company?!”
Nam Gi-mun looked even more confused by Xue-reung, who seemed about to explode with rage.
“Then what are you doing here?”
“What’s so strange about me, the security captain of the Cheonhwa Department Store, being here?!”
“Aha. I see why you don’t recognize us. You’re not our client, but our client’s client.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Nam Gi-mun nodded to himself, then explained simply to the still-confused Xue-reung,
“Simply put, I’m from a partner guild contracted by Guardian for security services.”
“…Security contract? Partner guild?”
“Yes. You can think of me as an employee of a subcontractor hired for security.”
“What?!”
Xue-reung was stunned.
‘Hiring outsiders, not even clan members, for affiliate security! Guardian, those lunatics…!’
Traditionally, the Seven Dragons Association handled their own security, a practice rooted in their origins as a criminal organization.
Hiring an unrelated guild for security was outrageous to Xue-reung, a traditionalist.
Of course, with Limon, a sworn enemy of the clan, as the head of Guardian, traditions had long gone out the window.
Crash!
“Which cowardly bastard ambushed me?!”
Suddenly, Ryu Kang-chul, who had been blasted through the ceiling, crashed back down, smashing through the floor.
Nam Gi-mun looked puzzled.
“Huh? He’s still alive? I kicked him in the groin hard enough to kill him.”
“I did die! I had to regenerate!”
“Aha, a clone skill. Wasting such a valuable skill, you thief.”
“Who’s a thief…!”
Perhaps due to the traumatic experience of having his groin destroyed, Ryu Kang-chul lost his composure and started ranting.
Then he suddenly stopped, staring at Nam Gi-mun with a strange expression.
“…What’s your name?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“You look familiar.”
“You’re not imagining things.”
Nam Gi-mun grinned, clenching his gauntlet-clad fist.
“My name is Nam Gi-mun.”
“…!”
Ryu Kang-chul’s jaw dropped. He spun around and tried to flee.
“Gotcha!”
Nam Gi-mun lunged, punching him in the back of the head.
“Damn it!”
Ryu Kang-chul narrowly dodged the punch, but lost his chance to escape. Cursing, he swung his knife.
Clang!
“What are you doing here?!”
“Working, like any other employee.”
“Employee? Don’t lie to me!”
“What’s wrong with that? A place that gives you work and pays you is a workplace, and if you work there, you’re an employee.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“You need ridiculous logic for ridiculous people, don’t you?”
Ryu Kang-chul continued his frantic attack, but his knife strikes were useless. It wasn’t that Nam Gi-mun was blocking them, his armor was simply too tough. The knives bounced harmlessly off.
Ryu Kang-chul tried aiming for exposed areas, but the knives seemed to be drawn to the armor, no matter the angle of attack.
“It’s dog-slaying day!”
Bang! Crash! Crackle!
Nam Gi-mun’s counterattacks were fierce. With every punch, the gems embedded in his gauntlets flashed, unleashing a barrage of special effects.
Ruby for explosions, Topaz for paralysis, Sapphire for slow, Emerald for phasing, Amethyst for growth, Black Pearl for enhancement… the effects, sometimes alternating, sometimes overlapping, created a chaotic storm of light and sound, exploiting every opening and creating new ones.
“Damn it… let’s fight without items!”
“HAHAHA! I’ll consider it after I take your head!”
“You’re mocking me?!”
“Who are you to tell me to remove my items! Are you my ex-wife? Coveting my possessions!”
KABOOM!
Nam Gi-mun unleashed a flurry of effects, his face contorted with rage.
“Damn it, I’ll get you later!”
Unable to find an opening against the relentless assault, Ryu Kang-chul, battered and bruised, crashed through a window and fled. But just like before, Nam Gi-mun didn’t let him escape.
“Going somewhere? Get him, Cobra!”
The turban on Nam Gi-mun’s head wriggled like a snake, then shot out, wrapping itself around Ryu Kang-chul.
“What the…?! Gah?!”
Crack! Crunch! Splatter!
Like a monkey caught by a snake while trying to steal its eggs, Ryu Kang-chul was constricted, his screams turning into gurgles as the turban tightened, crushing him into a bloody pulp.
Splat.
“Good job, Cobra.”
The turban, now a deeper shade of crimson from absorbing Ryu Kang-chul’s blood, returned to Nam Gi-mun’s head. He patted it affectionately.
As Xue-reung stared at the scene in stunned silence, a young boy appeared.
“Ugh, you’re wearing that hideous turban again.”
“Hideous?! My Cobra is adorable!”
“That adorable thing got you divorced.”
The boy, dark circles under his glasses, sighed dramatically.
Nam Gi-mun retorted,
“That’s because that woman didn’t understand the world of players!”
“Please don’t assume all players are perverts like you, Vice Guild Leader.”
“Hey, don’t call me Vice Guild Leader during work hours! I’m Team Leader of the Personnel Dispatch Service!”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re the Vice Guild Leader.”
“Damn it! If I use my Vice Guild Leader title, they’ll think I’m expensive and won’t hire me! I need a cheaper-sounding title!”
“Do you really need to be so obsessed with money? We’re not some money-grubbing guild like Midas.”
“That’s why we need to benchmark Midas! Our income has dropped since Manager Park left, and it’s hard to buy new items!”
“So you just want to earn money to buy more items for yourself!”
“So what?! Is it a crime to want items?!”
Xue-reung, who had been watching in stunned silence as Nam Gi-mun, who had just brutally dispatched the man who nearly killed him twice, bickered with a young boy, suddenly widened his eyes.
“Vice Guild Leader? And your name is Nam Gi-mun… Don’t tell me, you’re the Item-Spamming Grand Duke?”
“It’s Relic Grand Duke! Or Artifact Master!”
“What are you doing here?!”
Xue-reung was shocked.
He hadn’t realized it due to his bizarre appearance, but if this was the Item-Spamming Grand Duke he knew, he shouldn’t be here. It wasn’t just because he was one of the less than one hundred Grand Dukes in the world. It was his guild affiliation.
“I told you. Your security company hired our guild.”
“H-hired? Your guild???”
Xue-reung was speechless.
Nam Gi-mun grinned.
“Your security company made a good deal, hiring our Infinity Guild as guards.”
Nam Gi-mun said awkwardly that the offer was too good to refuse.
Xue-reung could only gape at the Vice Guild Leader of Infinity Guild, one of the Ten Great Guilds, the rulers of this era.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
