Chapter 7: Transaction, Cooperation or Other(1)

“…Guild Master! Did you see this?”

“Ah, you startled me.”

The office door burst open, and a man with a shaggy, black haircut rushed in.

Startled by his sudden appearance, Lee Siyeon, the guild master of the Aria Guild, hastily closed the laptop she was writing something on.

“I told you to knock before you come in!”

Lee Siyeon frowned, expressing her dissatisfaction with him, who had barged in without any warning.

The man, dressed in a white uniform, smiled and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry.”

…After a very short formal apology, The man quickly took out his phone from his pocket as if there was no time.

Then, after a few touches, he turned the screen towards her and said,

“Look at this quickly.”

With a puzzled expression at the man’s hurried behavior, Lee Siyeon received the small smartphone from him.

“What is it?”

The phone screen she held with a doubtful face was filled with countless letters, and the content was none other than an item trading post from Arising.

Lee Siyeon frowned again and asked the man again.

“It’s just an item trading post.”

After the activation of the ‘Information Association’, an application released by the World Guild Alliance, trading of items dropped from monsters was frequent.

There was no reason to pay close attention, and it was just one of the common sales posts, so Lee Siyeon didn’t understand why the man was so excited.

To her question, the man tapped his chest as if frustrated and pointed at the phone screen as if to see it in detail.

“It’s not just an item trading post. It’s an A-class magic stone sale post.”

“…What?”

At his answer, Lee Siyeon began to carefully examine the phone screen again.

As he said, the item in the trading post was really an ‘A-class magic stone’. Only then did Lee Siyeon understand why her subordinate was so excited.

Originally, the grade of a magic stone was determined by the difficulty of the monster you defeated.

When you killed a C-class monster like a slime, a C-class magic stone dropped, and when you defeated an S-class season boss, an S-class magic stone came out, and that was the system.

Therefore, the fact that an A-class magic stone was being traded on the Information Association meant that someone had defeated a monster with a difficulty of A or higher. And in Korea.

“Hmm…”

Lee Siyeon scratched her chin and fell into a pool of thought, closing her eyes.

The man, the owner of the phone, just silently watched her.

“A-class…”

The monsters with A-class difficulty were Wyverns, which were the lower version of Dragons, the one-eyed giant Gigantopia, the insect-type monster Hydra Queen, and some other monsters.

There were various types of A-class monsters, but one thing was certain: they were all not weak.

In this way, the moment the difficulty of the monster exceeds A, the probability of defeat exceeds 70% even if ordinary users and small and medium-sized guilds risk their lives to attack, and even large guilds like Aria Guild send out their most elite agents to take charge of the subjugation without being careless.

Therefore, most of the A-class monsters that appeared in Korea were removed by the executives of the Aria Guild, and the magic stones dropped from them were all assigned to the guild’s warehouse in Busan.

But the fact that an A-class magic stone was being traded like this meant that someone who didn’t belong to a guild had handled an A-class monster by themselves.

“Impossible.”

Lee Siyeon stared blankly with a dumbfounded expression.

For example, there was only one person in Korea who could handle an A-class monster without any problems.

“Rank 11 Kim Youngjoon…”

At the image of the selfish and cruel man that came to mind, Lee Siyeon shook her head, disgusted.

“No, that’s not possible.”

Was he, who was employed by the government and handling hundreds of millions of won, leisurely haggling over an A-class magic stone in a second-hand shop? It was impossible.

No, she hadn’t even heard the news that an A-class monster had appeared in Incheon, which he protected.

As far as she remembered, the reports of A-class monsters appearing were Busan, Jeonju, Daegu, and Seoul.

Lee Siyeon herself had appeared in Busan, and the monsters that appeared in Jeonju and Daegu were handled by the executives of the Aria Guild.

She heard that only ‘Gigantopia’, which was said to have appeared in Seoul, was removed by someone other than the Aria Guild, and the name was surely…

“Oxian…”

Lee Siyeon’s eyes widened.

Only then did a video she had seen on the internet a while ago flash through her mind.

A young girl with pink hair handling Gigantopia.

The similarities in appearance, such as the horns on her head, and the skills she used were presumed to be Oxian, and the memory of having clicked her tongue while watching the battle began to surface.

“That’s right…”

The Aria Guild had made various efforts to request cooperation after watching the video, but they couldn’t find the location of her residence, and they missed the timing because they were busy with the restoration of Busan.

“…”

But today, an A-class magic stone trading post was posted in Seoul.

To obtain an A-class magic stone, you had to defeat an A-class monster, and the girl who was presumed to be Oxian, defeated the A-class monster that appeared in Seoul.

What this meant was,

“We can meet…”

If a transaction was made with them, they could meet the girl directly, and then they had a chance to ask for help.

If Oxian, no, it didn’t matter even if it wasn’t Oxian. If ‘she’, who was estimated to have the power of at least a ranker, would cooperate with them, Korea could get out of this crisis sooner than any other country.

Of course, for that to happen, the magic stone trade had to be successful first.

“…”

Todotoc.

Tapping her fingernails on the desk, Lee Siyeon fell into thought for a moment.

Since it was a rare A-class magic stone, even the wealthy would try to take it, even if they weren’t users, to use it for display.

If she was going to buy it, she had to offer a price that could surely drive them away.

“Hmm…”

With a sigh, Lee Siyeon made a firm decision.

With a sharp gaze, she gave a firm order to her subordinate, who was standing blankly in front of her.

“5 billion won. Send her a message right away.”

“Yes?”

The man, who was shocked by the amount, was startled. Looking at him coldly, Lee Siyeon urged him to hurry up.

“What are you doing? Send her a message right away that we’ll buy that magic stone for 5 billion won.”

“No, but even so, the first offer was 500 million, and 5 billion is too expensive…”

“Shut up!”

She shouted in a rage at her subordinate’s continued back talk.

She had to offer a price that was about 10 times higher so that competitors would fall away, and even if it wasn’t Oxian, an A-class magic stone was a product that was worth spending that much money on, so she didn’t think it was a loss.

“Didn’t we get 15 billion won in government support a while ago? We can use that.”

“…”

Presenting a clear solution to the hesitant man, Lee Siyeon crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair.

And after thinking for a moment, she added a few more words.

“Seoul is in charge of Hanna and Jinwoo, right? Tell them to receive it directly, and tell them to wait because I have a separate order.”

“Yes? Yes, I understand…”

…The man had a lot of things he was curious about, but seeing his superior, he didn’t seem to answer anything, so he just opened the office door and walked out.

“…”

As he, who was completely enveloped in a glumness, disappeared from her sight, Lee Siyeon sighed deeply and lowered her head.

“Oxian…”

Closing her eyes quietly,

She looked back at the memory of the boss subjugation battle with her that had taken place two years ago.

[Kugh…]

In a volcano where only blood was soaking the floor, herself holding her severed right arm, and guild members who had evaporated without a trace.

And a beautiful girl staring at them from a distant throne.

Her blunt and cold expression was enough to freeze everyone’s hearts, despite the burning volcano.

[…]

Kkidak, and as her finger moved, a meteorite fell.

[…]

Soon after, as she nodded, four familiars began their massacre.

[…]

Finally, as she got up from her seat, Space split apart.

Screams poured down, and then her vision flickered.

“Ugh…”

…At the same time as the pain in her chest, a drop of cold sweat flowing from her forehead soaked the desk. Lee Siyeon, holding her pounding heart, tried to calm her startled heart.

“Oxian…”

Oxian, who was gaining great popularity among ordinary people and low-ranking users due to her cute appearance and the setting of being the strongest in the world.

But it wasn’t for Lee Siyeon, nor for the Aria Guild, nor for everyone who had fought her.

For them, it was not just a character but ‘fear’.

A cruelty and brutality that couldn’t be believed to be AI.

A demon who enjoyed watching people begging for their lives.

A season boss of unprecedented events who tortured the real players.

Therefore, most of the large guilds would be more frightened than happy when they met her, and the desire to subjugate her as soon as possible, unable to bear the anxiety, would take up 90%.

But, if everything had changed now, if Oxian had reason, if she accepted their request for cooperation,

“…The best ally that can’t be exchanged for anything.”

If she could stand in the same line as them, she could shake off the fear and trauma of the past in an instant.

If she would fight with them, the Aria Guild, or rather, Korea, would have a competitiveness that would be among the top three.

“…”

Hoping, hoping that everything would go according to her plan, Lee Siyeon, the guild master of the Aria Guild, clasped her hands together.