46. Illumination

Ko Byeong-gap got into the car. The compact car was small enough to cover his height and appearance. His legs bent even though he pulled the seat back as far as he could.

He put off starting the car for a while and fell into his thoughts.

‘A new guild is trying to scout me. No matter how you think about it, it’s strange.’

Two things came to mind. Either it was a fraud, or they were aware of his potential.

‘I hid it as much as I could, but I did something that stood out a few times.’

Ko Byeong-gap basically hid his ability as the ‘Goblin Lord’ from others. His theory was that there was nothing good that would come from people knowing about it.

However, if asked if he was perfect, he wasn’t. He had exposed himself a few times when he did things that didn’t fit his role as a low-level hunter.

An example of such was the dungeon incident in Daejeon.

‘Is that where my name was sold?’

Four hunters dealt with life and death with him in the dungeon. They were witnesses who saw Ko Byeong-gap’s capabilities right in front of their noses.

‘They belonged to the Prose Guild. Why did the wrong place contact me?’

Even if there was a point of contact between Prose and Illumination, there was no way for one hunter, Ko Byeong-gap, to know. He stroked his short-grown beard.

‘Are they scammers?’

Sheep with red eyes that tried to eat other people’s backs were all over the place. He even had a history of having his nose cut once before.

‘Tricky ways to enslave decent people.’

Bad memories of the past crept up. Ko Byeong-gap shook his head and quickly shook it off. He then casually shoved his cell phone into his pocket.

‘Fraud or whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway.’

He had no intention of joining a guild. He didn’t like them and had no other interests, so he insisted on being a free hunter. Also… In a way, he was already a guild member, in a guild called Ashvilam. He was the guild leader, even.

“If you say you’ll give me 10 billion won as down payment, I’ll think about it, though. Hehe.”

He threw his cell phone in the back seat and started the engine. By the time the wheels of the car rolled, he had nothing but other thoughts in his head.

***

He wasn’t proud of it, but Ko Byeong-gap didn’t keep up with the news since most of the things they talked about in the news had nothing to do with him, especially when it came to entertainment-related topics.

Although, he had a small window where he skimmed it occasionally, and that was while he waited for his food. He used that time to fiddle with his phone due to boredom.

His hand stopped scrolling through his cell phone. His eyes quickly read through the provocative title of an article.

-New Guild Illumination! Did you make it into one of the prestigious guilds in the country?

-S-class Park Seon-ho, Gu Yeon-jin, Seo Moon-soo joined Illumination. What is Illumination’s secret to sucking in first-class hunters?

-The emergence of the new guild Illumination. The Hunter Market is bustling!

-Illumination to recruit a large number of hunters below C-class. What is the reaction of the industry to the unprecedented move?

‘Illumination?’

It was a familiar name. Ko Byeong-gap quickly looked through his text log. A text message he received five days ago caught his attention.

-Hello, Hunter Mr. Ko Byeong-gap. I’m Choi Jiwon, the head of the promotion team of the guild ‘Illumination.’

A long letter began with that line.

It didn’t take a long time for him to realize that that was the same Illumination in the article.

“They weren’t a fraud?”

He was so dumbfounded that he had to let out a deep breath. Thanks to that, the eyes in the restaurant were focused on Ko Byeong-gap for a while.

With that or not, Ko Byeong-gap focused only on the article writing.

Guild Illumination’s actions were truly unconventional.

It recruited a large number of well-known hunters that anyone could recognize by name. It wasn’t difficult to find news of Hunters moving to Illumination and turning their backs to their current guild.

Not just that. He didn’t know their plan, but even D to F-level hunters were drawn into the guild.

Illumination was said to have become the 6th largest business in Korea only a week after it was registered. It was a high-level sales force. Of course, most of them were low-level hunters.

“Isn’t Lim Yeon-ji from Daehamun? How much did they pay him to give up Daehamun and stick with a new guild? Did they pay him 30 billion won?”

“Your gukbap is here.”

“Oh, yes, yes. Thank you.”

As Ko Byeong-gap was sticking out his tongue, his food arrived. He couldn’t take his eyes off his cell phone, even with the rice soup in front of him.

“Why are they recruiting low-level hunters? They wouldn’t be of much use if they had a lot.”

A guild’s main source of income was, of course, the top hunters. Among them, hunters who excelled brought in a lot of money due to fandoms that bought related goods to the point of starving themselves were a solid form of income. That was why many places were just guilds and entertainment agencies.

On the other hand, lower hunters were usually useless in that regard. So, even if they had a lot of them in the guild, they shouldn’t exceed 100 people.

Were they needed for subjugations in the lower cracks?

“Well, I am trying to get bigger… Huh, that’s why I got a text message, right?”

It was only then that Ko Byeong-gap found out why the scout offer came to him. They weren’t trying to find out his potential and recruit him. They were just trying to acquire as many hunters as possible.

‘Of course, of course. How are they supposed to know someone who doesn’t even have a name like me?’

He felt somewhat discouraged. He smirked, put down his cell phone, and picked up a spoon. For a very short time, he thought, ‘Should I contact the Illumination?’ However, he dismissed it immediately.

The belief that he wouldn’t enter a guild was still strong. There was no such thing as a free lunch. No matter how good the conditions were, there was no way they wouldn’t lose business unless it were a charity.

Above all, to do his job as the Goblin Lord, he had to be as free as he was currently.

‘Let’s eat and go.’

He couldn’t afford to care if it was Illumination or a grand slam. He rushed his soup and thought of what he had to do in Ashvilam.

He went home as soon as he finished dinner. It was already dark since he finished work a little late that day. It was a natural result after visiting a B-rank crack and a C-rank crack in a single day.

Even though he was tired, he smiled when he saw his thick bank account. That day’s earnings alone exceeded 10 million won.

Ko Byeong-gap prepared roughly and headed over to Ashvilam. The field was quiet, so he went to the cave. Almost all the Goblins were inside the cave lit by high-powered flashlights.

“Hey, what are you doing? Why are you still working when the sun is down?”

“Ah! Lord. You’re here?”

“Oh, Gobung. Why are you still doing this? Clean up and eat.”

“Not yet! We’re getting ready to go, soon.” Gobung answered vigorously. Ko Byeong-gap nodded in agreement.

“Oh, were you sorting? Alright. Pack up and come back after. I’m going to the campsite.”

“Yes! We’ll be right there.”

Ko Byeong-gap walked leisurely to the campsite. Unlike the dark fields, it was full of lights. He wasn’t talking about torches. Streetlights stood all over the campsite.

Streetlights where there was no electricity? It was natural to ask such a question.

However, their street lamps were different from the ones in the real world. That was a piece purchased from the ancient shop.

‘A solar-powered lamp. That’s awesome.’

Purchased for 3,000 Crystals per unit.

The shape was a large glass bead at the end of a long column. That glass bead sucked sunlight during the day and emitted the light it collected at night. In principle, it was similar to a luminescent sticker.

It could be turned on and off freely, so it didn’t disturb their sleep. He bought it a while ago, but if he had known it would be that good, he would’ve bought it sooner.

“Ah! Lord, you’re here!”

“Oh, yeah, I just got here.”

When Doran found Ko Byeong-gap, she smiled and greeted him with a big smile. Ea, who was next to her, also turned around when she heard the sound.

“Huh? Oh, you’re here? I didn’t know–”

“‘I didn’t even know you were here.’ Of course, you didn’t know because I came without you knowing. Isn’t it about time you stopped saying that?”

“What? Why? I really didn’t know you were here. I wouldn’t say that if I knew.”

“… Yeah. You’re right.”

Ko Byeong-gap somehow felt his energy drained from the beginning. The two of them and some Goblins busily prepared dinner. Even after they ate, the savory smell stimulated his appetite.

“It smells good. What’s today’s menu?”

“Ha! The dinner for tonight is stir-fried meat with mashed potatoes. The smell is good because of the herbs you brought me. I’m running out. Can you bring me more?”

“Okay, I’ll bring it to you tomorrow. By the way, have you used all the potatoes?”

“No. We have so much left that I can’t use it all. I was worried that it’d rot before we could finish eating it.”

“That much? I’ll have to pack some when I go home, but potatoes can be eaten for a long time, so it will be fine.”

“Lord! Lord!”

Doran ran in front of Ko Byeong-gap with a large spatula. The tip of the spatula was covered with mashed potatoes.

“Oh, hey. Let go of the spatula.”

“I can do it now!”

“Huh? What? You can crush potatoes?”

“No, that’s what Lord does!”

Ko Byeong-gap was briefly dumbfounded and thought about what he could do. Doran drew his attention before he could conclude.

“Look carefully!”

She held the spatula like a sword and posed. She then quietly took a breath. Ko Byeong-gap almost freaked out three seconds later because hot energy rose from Doran’s body and her spatula.

It was… Aura.

“How do you… Uh, how did you, huh?”

Compared to Ko Byeong-gap, her aura’s intensity was terrible since she was still inexperienced in honing it, but that wasn’t the problem. It was ridiculous that she could emmit her aura without even learning from the Swordsmanship Textbook.

Doran calmed down her aura and smiled shyly. “Hehe… I practiced for a few days after watching Lord do it. It’s my first time today.”

“You practiced after watching me do it? Alone?”

“Yes! Did I do well?”

‘How did you do it…’

He was speechless. It was absolutely astonishing.

Didn’t he struggle for nearly three months to gain control of his aura? Even that wouldn’t have been possible without the textbook. However, Doran mastered it by herself without any help. How did it make sense?

“Oh, no. How the hell did you do that? You didn’t even learn the textbook, did you?”

“Huh? Just by watching what Lord is doing, it seems like I should figure it out by myself, right? It felt very familiar… Maybe I did something wrong?”

Just as Ko Byeong-gap was embarrassed, anxiety rose on Doran’s face. Ko Byeong-gap hastily comforted her and said, “No, you did well. I’m just a little surprised because you’re so good.”

“Really? Hehe!” Doran smiled. On the contrary, Ko Byeong-gap felt a little crept out. What the hell was that young girl? Was she really a Goblin?

He calmed down his startled heart. After they finished their work, the Goblins flocked to the campsite. He decided to put Doran’s work behind him in the meantime.

“Ah.”

“What?”

Ko Byeong-gap laid out the words he had prepared before Ea became busier.

“After breakfast tomorrow, prepare to move your luggage immediately. Let’s settle the tableware aside.”

“Um… I see. I’ll do that. But may I ask why?”

“I’m going to open a restaurant tomorrow. The tableware and cooking utensils will be completely replaced with new ones.”

“A restaurant? Suddenly?”

“Yes, I’ll do it before it’s too late.”

Ko Byeong-gap scanned the entire camp. Although it was organized, when you looked at it closely, there were many weak parts. No wonder since most of the things that made up that place were junk.

Of course, he picked them up from junk stores and garbage dumps. At present, they didn’t have any major problems in that state, but he wasn’t sure if it would be okay in the future.

‘As the days outside are getting shorter, daytime grows shorter here too. The temperature has also cooled down a bit. Winter may come here too.’

Ko Byeong-gap wandered around Ashvilam while the Goblins were eating. He scoured through the dark and came up with how to rework the place. Somehow, he had a feeling that the cool picture in his mind would be possible.