"…This bastard."
Jo Mani gritted his teeth as the young, almost unknown guy boldly called out his full name, without using the title "Vice Guild Master," while pointing out the facts one by one. However, he didn't lash out, perhaps conscious of the many eyes watching. He wasn't someone who had lived his years foolishly.
Jo Mani, aware of the surroundings, leaned in closer and growled quietly.
"Don't act like you're something special just because your little Guild of Leaves merged with Seokyoung and now think you're a real gem. This merger only happened to recruit Seo Chaeyoon, and you guys were just the smokescreen."
Yoon Seo knew this better than anyone. He momentarily stayed silent, astonished at the absurdity, which seemed to make Jo Mani think he had struck a blow. A sly smile appeared on his face.
"And no matter how close you are to Kwon Jihan, you're far from being his type. His ideal type is someone who hides their identity and only reveals their strength to save everyone when they're in danger."
"How do you know that?"
"Heh, the information network of our Rainbow Guild is just that good. The important thing is that you're the exact opposite."
"In other words, someone like Seo Chaeyoon?"
"Exactly."
Yoon Seo smiled. Jo Mani had made a statement that pleased him.
"…"
For a moment, Jo Mani hesitated as he saw Yoon Seo's soft, smiling face. The beauty of his smile was so striking that it completely erased any thoughts of mockery from Jo Mani's mind.
"One minute until entry. Please gather in front of the portal!"
Thanks to the manager's timely shout, Jo Mani regained his composure.
"Anyway, don't get too full of yourself. You're nothing, and Kwon Jihan's ideal type is Seo Chaeyoon."
Jo Mani spat out his final words before disappearing into the portal.
As Jo Mani's thin figure vanished, Kwon Jihan, who had finished his interview, approached with his black wings spread.
"Ah, that old man. Why is he going around telling everyone that my ideal type is hyung? Soon, the whole world will know."
"Do you even know what embarrassment is? And why are you calling him 'that old man'?"
Yoon Seo's tone turned serious, causing Kwon Jihan to raise one eyebrow.
"What, should I formally address him as 'Vice Guild Master'?"
"That's not it. But calling someone who's only 45 an 'old man'? 45 is still young. It's the prime of a man's life."
"What are you even saying? Are you saying Jo Mani looks like a man to you?"
"Isn't he a decent man? What are you talking about?"
"Hyung, I think your standards for what makes a 'decent man' are way too generous. The world's too harsh to live by such generous standards. Listen up—when it comes to being a decent man…"
Yoon Seo flew through the portal without listening any further. Kwon Jihan followed him, rambling on about how a decent man should at least have something like
"If that's your standard, then I'm not a decent man either."
"..."
It was a moment that left Kwon Jihan momentarily speechless.
***
[You have entered the Dungeon. Number of Hunters: 66 | Time Until Explosion: 250 Hours]
[It has been determined that no additional participants will enter the dungeon.]
[The dungeon portal is closing.]
[The God of Life has arrived.]
[The God of Death is leisurely walking in.]
[Guild stone can be installed – Rainbow]
[Current temperature –269℃]
[Skill
[Skill
[Skill
This dungeon was an icy glacier so cold that even blizzards seemed to freeze. The shields created by the protection guild members were being destroyed one after another, with the remaining one dropping to half durability.
Yoon Seo initially intended to use
['Jo Mani' has activated the
[Due to the effects of
Current temperature 5℃
Time remaining 15:59:59]
The association didn't invite Jo Mani to this dungeon for no reason.
"Oh, as expected of the King of Glaciers. Amazing! The duration is as long as 16 hours; with this, there's no need to consume items."
"Thank you, Vice Guild Master. Thanks to you, we're safe."
"Quickly install the guild stone."
"Yes!"
Since the most guild members entered through the Rainbow, only the Rainbow guild stone could be installed.
While the hunters set up the guild stone in a good location and layered several shields to create a survivable environment, Kwon Jihan and Yoon Seo were somewhat distanced from each other.
"Hyung, what do you think this place is?"
Yoon Seo looked around. All that was visible in the vast landscape was a gigantic glacier. The sky was dark, with only one moon shining, and not a hint of life could be seen.
"It looks like a glacier area before the 'Ice Mountain' or the 'Black Snowfield' located on the border of the 'Demon's Plains'. But we'll need to progress further to know for sure. It might even be an ice island in the middle of the 'Dune Desert'."
Yoon Seo drew the dagger at his waist. The dagger, adorned with a blue gemstone, transformed into a black lizard with blue eyes above his hand.
Piyu.
Riceball shivered and quickly climbed up Yoon Seo's arm, disappearing into the front pocket of his vest.
"Do items also get cold?"
"They don't."
"Then why is Riceball acting like that?"
"Because it wants attention."
Kwon Jihan chuckled softly. He gently stroked Riceball's head, which was peeking out from the pocket.
Since the pocket Riceball had entered was the front chest pocket, Yoon Seo flinched.
"You can't act weak during battle. You know that, right? We have to protect our Yoon Seo hyung."
Piyu!
Riceball replied loudly.
Kraaah!
The monstrous roars of the monsters followed. Giant yetis with white fur charged in, stomping their feet. They were A-grade monsters.
"Healers, fall back! During battle, please refrain from using fire skills as much as possible!"
"Yes!"
In this dungeon, the focus was on collecting the byproduct called 'Glacial Stone,' so they had to fight while preserving the surrounding terrain as much as possible. Most of the team was made up of melee fighters.
Kraaah!
"Gah!"
The battle between monsters and humans began.
Yoon Seo transformed Riceball into a sword.
[The
Crackling electricity swirled around the dagger.
Yoon Seo also planned to engage directly with the giant yetis.
Kraaah!
One particularly reckless giant yeti charged at him, and Yoon Seo jumped across the ice, landing precisely at his destination. He plunged the dagger, infused with
Kraaah!
The monster screamed and thrashed.
With a crash, its massive body collapsed onto the glacier. Yoon Seo used
[The God of Death is looking forward to a bloody battle.]
The God of Death seemed disappointed at the lack of blood, but seeing that Yoon Seo was controlling the A-grade monsters effectively, his expression lightened.
As he took down one after another, he spotted a particularly large one. Judging it to be A+, Yoon Seo made a beeline for it. The giant yeti noticed him and swung its arm down with all its might.
Bang!
The tremendous sound of impact created a shockwave. Everyone's attention turned toward the commotion.
The giant yeti's fist was embedded in the glacier, and before long, Yoon Seo climbed up its arm to its shoulder and drove his dagger into the back of its neck. The dagger pierced through the thick hide, leaving only the handle adorned with a blue gem visible. This time, instead of using
Boom.
The giant yeti collapsed, and Yoon Seo lightly stepped on its body before descending onto the glacier.
Kwon Jihan clicked his tongue as he looked at Yoon Seo standing among the monster corpses.
"Hyung, aren't you being a bit too flashy?"
"Is this considered flashy? There isn't a drop of blood."
[The God of Death mocks, saying it's not flashy but rather dull.]
"With this kind of performance, you might end up being the top contributor. If you surpass me and become the top contributor of the S-rank Yellow Dungeon, your name will be spread across the universe."
"I'll leave the boss monster to you."
"I'll gratefully accept that. Anyway, everyone's watching you, so be careful."
Kwon Jihan gestured behind them.
Just as he said, people kept glancing their way even while fighting monsters. Especially Jo Mani, whose face showed pure shock, making Yoon Seo feel conflicted.
Kwon Jihan wiped the blood off his sword on the yeti's white fur.
"You're lucky, hyung. You don't need to worry about wiping off blood."
"It is convenient, but why bother wiping it off now when it'll just get dirty again?"
"Oh, are we going to help those people?"
The battle was almost over, and since Yoon Seo had already defeated the largest and strongest giant yeti among the monsters that appeared, they didn't need to join the fight.
"We still need to go to the black market next weekend, and we have to go to Europe as well. With all these things to do, I plan to finish clearing the dungeon within a week."
"Good, that was impressive. Only you could say something like that."
If they really wanted to, they could finish much sooner. But if they surpassed Seokyoung's raid record in the allied guild raid, Yoo Juncheol wouldn't be happy, and it would only boost Rainbow's reputation, so they decided to take exactly one week.