That Face Is the Problem - vanish into fiction

“Wow, isn’t that really Da-sol oppa? I’ve never seen him look so frustrated.”

“That’s true. Normally he would have just said, ‘Fine, whatever,’ and moved on.”

Da-sol was now tired of all this questioning. He waved his hands toward Ri-na and Ye-jin and, folding his arms, turned fully toward the head seat. Ye-jin’s teasing voice reached him, saying, “Are you sulking, Da-sol?” but he lightly ignored her.

At that moment, the leader of Team 1 and Guild Master of the Training Guild, Hyeon Hee-ro, and the speech manipulator Jin Jeong-eon entered.

“Wow, you are all here already?”

“Guild master, you owe a tardiness fine.”

“Ahaha, Ri-na, you are really funny.”

“Not a joke.”

Hyeon Hee-ro and Jin Jeong-eon sat side by side at the head seats. Jin Jeong-eon gave Da-sol and Jae-gyeong a brief greeting. Da-sol only nodded, and Jae-gyeong bowed his head slightly in return.

“Thanks to everyone for arriving on time. Jin and I were a little late because we stopped by the Mounting Stone and Byproduct Team to receive reports. Sorry about that.”

The Mounting Stone and Byproduct Team, abbreviated as the “MaBu Team,” consisted of hunters who collected mounting stones and byproducts from dungeons after the Training Guild had completed their raids.

Since they had recently finished the S-rank snack dungeon raid, the MaBu Team would have been very busy. Snack dungeons were known as treasure troves, so they were a top priority for all guilds.

“What did the MaBu Team say? Items? Or poison?”

Even byproducts from the dungeon could be crafted into items that buffed hunters’ abilities, generating huge profits. Conversely, even if they functioned as debuffing poisons, they could be sent to the monster research team for weapon development.

Hyeon Hee-ro smiled and announced cheerfully,

“They are items!”

“Wow!”

“Yay!”

“Luck was on our side.”

Da-sol showed no reaction as usual, and Jae-gyeong was too preoccupied to care, so the rest of the team celebrated enthusiastically.

“We are really lucky.”

Ri-na even clapped her hands in delight. It was understandable. Everything inside the dungeon could be turned into items, and the highest-grade items were S-rank.

“What about the boss mounting stones?”

Ye-jin asked.

“The stones from the boss monsters will also be crafted into items as soon as research is complete. Because they are large S-rank stones, they are high quality and can produce more than ten items. We also plan to send a few for custom crafting to the Nam Geumson Hunter.”

The Nam Geumson Hunter was an S-rank crafting hunter, famous for producing only the highest quality items. Although not part of the Training Guild, he had been handling a large portion of the guild’s items for three years due to his friendship with Hyeon Hee-ro and Jin Jeong-eon.

“And Jin, your speech manipulation didn’t work in this snack dungeon, right?”

Hyeon Hee-ro looked at Jin Jeong-eon as he spoke. Jin, who had been silent, nodded and continued.

“With emergency gates opening more frequently and special dungeons increasing, I realized that relying solely on my speech manipulation could cause harm to other team members if it failed. So, I plan to try equipping weapons other than my speech ability. I will also have custom crafting done by the Nam Geumson Hunter to accommodate this.”

Jae-gyeong was inwardly surprised. Jin Jeong-eon was the strongest hunter in South Korea, able to control monsters and hunters with words alone. To see him striving to get even stronger by using weapons other than his own skill was impressive. This was exactly why Jae-gyeong respected him so much.

“What weapons will you use besides speech manipulation?”

Ye-jin asked, astonished.

“For now, I plan to try weapons that can still be controlled by speech. Nothing is finalized yet, so I need to discuss further with the Nam Geumson Hunter. Anyway, our team, having cleared the dungeon, has priority over these stones. Anyone planning to craft a new weapon or item should submit a proposal to Hyeon Hee-ro by next week.”

This was the purpose of the meeting. Everyone fell into deep thought. Getting a new weapon sounded great at first, but it also meant time to train and adapt. Wielding an unfamiliar weapon carelessly, even for a second, could cost one’s life in a dungeon. Decisions needed to be made.

“No need to answer right now. Take your time to think. If you don’t need it, you can pass.”

Hyeon Hee-ro added.

Jae-gyeong fell into deep thought and stole a glance at Da-sol. Since he and Da-sol had experienced some ups and downs during the raid, he considered discussing it with him. At that moment, Da-sol suddenly looked at Jae-gyeong sharply.