Chapter 24: The Five Siblings of Mapogu (2)

The Five Siblings of Mapogu moved to the sofa before the Guildmaster's desk.

"Then, let's start drafting the contract." Kim Ki-Rok said.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Once he saw that the Five Siblings of Mapogu were sitting across from him, nodding their heads, he immediately began to explain the request in detail.

"We will be going into a C-Class Gate. However, we will stay at the Gate until we achieve our goal. In other words, we will be hunting a lot of monsters. I propose that we trade you the mana stones dropped by the monsters we hunt."

As the name suggested, they were precious stones that stored mana, which dropped from slain monsters.

"Aside from the hiring fee, we will be splitting C-Class mana stones at a ratio of 8:2."

"Are we the two?" Yoo Seh-Eun frowned. No matter how much they thought about it, the ratio seemed unfavorable.

Kim Ki-Rok shook his head. "No. You all will be eight."

"Really?"

"Really. In return, we will take all the monster corpses."

The Five Siblings of Mapogu would have eight out of every ten C-Class mana stones.

"

Umm...

" Lee Ji-Ah cautiously raised her hand. "Isn't this ratio bad for the DG Guild?"

"No. We are visiting the Fortress of Living Armor for another purpose anyway."

"Are the monster corpses necessary to fulfill that purpose?"

Kim Ki-Rok did not hesitate to answer, "Yes. That's correct. We need the monster corpses, and a large quantity of them, too. We plan to monopolize the corpses instead of mana stones."

The Fortress of Living Armor was a famous Gate, therefore the monsters that dwelled there were somewhat well-known. As there were "living armor" possessed by evil spirits, the armor contained mana. To turn them into equipment, however, they must first be melted first to remove all traces of those spirits. The problem was that the mana and equipment would be destroyed during this process, making it a less popular material.

The Five Siblings of Mapogu, who had been discussing and sharing opinions in hushed voices, turned their attention back to Kim Ki-Rok.

"Now, let's talk about how long—"

Kim Ki-Rok interrupted his question with an answer. "As I mentioned earlier, we have no plans to leave until we achieve our goal, so it would be an undecided amount of time."

"Right."

"Next are our necessities: food, clothes, and sleep. Let me explain what we are offering first."

The Five Siblings of Mapogu looked back at Kim Ki-Rok.

"As stated in the profile on the Hunters Association's official website, I have awakened an ability called Discernment. If it's a Gate, my ability can reveal hidden rewards, and if it's an Awakened, it can confirm the person's name, ability, and hidden abilities."

The siblings immediately realized why he had suddenly introduced his ability.

"You're revealing this because you've seen Man-Kook's ability, right?" one of them asked.

"That's correct. Calorie Buff."

[

Calorie Buff (C)

]

Description: Consumes the energy of calories absorbed from food to increase physical abilities

Effect: For every 100 Kcal consumed, physical abilities will be buffed by 1

Duration: 60 minutes

"Then... should we prepare meals separately for Jeong Man-Kook?"

"No. Just prepare the ingredients according to Hunter Jeong Man-Kook's meal portion."

"Ah." Yoo Seh-Eun let out a relieved sigh and nodded her head.

The food costs were quite a burden on the team. Despite having earned a considerable amount of money, they were still considered poor after food costs were factored in.

"Now, let's have a brief overview. Your Hunter team will receive eight out of every ten mana stones in addition to the hiring fee. In return, the DG Guild will collect all monster corpses."

The Five Siblings of Mapogu nodded their heads.

"The DG Guild will provide the bare necessities. However, Hunter Man-Kook's ability requires him to eat a surplus of calories. Hunter Yoo Seh-Eun will bring the ingredients he requires to use Calorie Buff."

The five of them nodded their heads again.

"And let's see..."

Was there anything else to say? The commission fee was agreed upon, and the basic necessities required for a longer-term stay were handled as well.

"

Ah!

Artifacts." Kim Ki-Rok said, seemingly remembering something important.

"There are artifacts in the Gate?"

"First of all, as its name suggests, the location of this Gate is set in the middle of a castle. Many Hunters have visited already, so I'm unsure if anything is left, but..."

"But...?"

"All of those monster corpses must have created artifacts there, deeply imbued within each soul. They must be cursed, so we need to dispel that in order to use it."

"Oh!"

"This is what we'll do. First, we'll collect the artifacts, then dispel the curses. After accomplishing our goal, we will divide the items between us after we're out of the Gate."

"Sounds good."

"Then, I will write down what we've discussed in the contract, but it might take a little time, so..." Kim Ki-Rok said with a vague tone, turning his head to look at Lee Ji-Yeon, Kim Ji-Hee, and Kang Woo-Hyuk sitting beside him. "Please guide Yoo Seh-Eun's team through DG Guild."

***

"This is the first floor!"

Pat pat pat!

Kim Ji-Hee got off the elevator and ran energetically with her short legs, looking back at the Mapogu siblings.

"And this is the convenience store!"

Pat pat pat!

The remaining people followed behind, matching Kim Ji-Hee's pace.

"Come on in... Oh! Ji-Hee!" The middle-aged man sitting at the counter greeted Kim Ji-Hee.

Holding her stuffed rabbit tightly, she greeted the man with a bow. "Hello."

The middle-aged man stepped out of the counter and crouched before her. "Ji-Hee. Did you come because you were hungry?"

"We have guests. I'm introducing them to the guild."

"Hmm?"

Indeed, behind Lee Ji-Yeon and Kang Woo-Hyuk, there were five unfamiliar siblings.

"Welcome." The man said.

"Hello."

"Thank you for your hard work."

The Five Siblings of Mapogu followed Kim Ji-Hee into the convenience store.

"Let's see..." Jeong Man-Kook quickly began scanning the shelves.

Three chocolate milks, two cans of cola, and one can of lime soda. And...

Bang.

"Hm?" The middle-aged man looked perplexed.

In front of him was a basket. He looked back and forth between the basket and the man behind the counter.

"Would you like to check these items out?"

"Yes, please."

There were a dozen sausages, dozens of bread, a few boxes of chocolate bars, a few cartons of milk, and several drinks. A rough estimate would put the total a little over 100,000 won.

"Huh? Is that enough?" one of the siblings commented.

"I only picked the things I can eat while walking around."

"I see."

That makes sense. There was no way this was enough food to satisfy Jeong Man-Kook.

Yoo Seh-Eun knowingly nodded.

That day in the convenience store, the sound of scanned barcodes incessantly rang out.

***

Pat, pat, pat.

"This is the first-floor basement! Training room!" Kim Ji-Hee said excitedly.

"Cool."

The entire basement was utilized to make the training room very spacious.

Pat, pat, pat.

"Second floor! Rest area!"

"Wow."

"Hey, there's a PC room."

"Yeah. There's also a massage room. Judging by the sign that says "massage chairs" in parentheses, it seems to be a room full of massage chairs."

"There's also a movie room. This must be a movie theater."

Pat, pat, pat.

"Third floor. Office?" Kim Ji-Hee said.

"No one's here."

"Uncle said no one is coming for interviews because we're not famous yet," Kim Ji-Hee replied.

Pat, pat, pat.

"Fourth floor! Fifth floor! Meeting rooms and waiting rooms!"

There were five meeting rooms in total.

"Since there's no one here, let's go to the next!

Ha! Ha! Ha!

" Kim Ji-Hee burst into exaggerated laughter in the likeness of Kim Ki-Rok.

The group continued walking.

"Sixth floor! And the seventh floor is the dormitory!"

"

Wooooah!

"

"Su-room!"

"Su-room...?"

"That's what mister said!"

"What?"

What was she talking about? When Kim Ji-Hee opened the door of the nearest room, labeled "601," the interior was revealed. It was empty, but they were still able to tell what it was.

"Ah, a three-room apartment."

"Mister said we'll make a dormitory in the back once more people come. Since there are few people right now, we made it small," Kim Ji-Hee babbled on.

"Ji-Hee, do you live on the sixth or seventh floor?"

"Eighth floor! With mister!" Smiling broadly, Kim Ji-Hee hugged her rabbit tightly and gave a soft laugh. "I like our house."

The Five Siblings of Mapogu, Lee Ji-Yeon, and Kang Woo-Hyuk all grinned like fools looking at their tour guide.

***

"You need to be at the front of DG Guild's building by 9 O'Clock on Tuesday."

"Got it."

"All right, we'll see you then."

With a farewell from Kim Ki-Rok and Kim Ji-Hee, the siblings set off. Fortunately, the DG Guild was close to the subway station.

"Seh-Eun," Lee Ji-Ah called.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we'll be able to join a guild like this?"

Their goal was to be scouted by a famous guild.

Nam Dong-Wook shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what you mean by a guild like this, but we could always join a C-Class guild like theirs anytime."

"Oh, right. The DG Guild is C-Class."

They had mistaken it for an A-Class guild because they owned such a large building.

"Although, they do have the

potential

of an A-Class guild." Nam Dong-Wook corrected himself.

Their Guildmaster had awakened the ability, Discernment, which was a suitable skill for a leader. There were only two other members of the Guild, but one had the potential of an A-Class Hunter and the other no doubt had his talents confirmed through Discernment. There was no doubt that DG Guild would grow faster than any other guild and would soon become one of the representative guilds of South Korea. As for the opposition from other guilds? They had that taken care of with the backing of Shine Guild and Golden Lion Guild.

"Seh-Eun," Kang Seh-Hyuk said as they walked down the subway station stairs.

"What."

"Can we join DG Guild?" Kang Seh-Hyuk asked.

"What?"

All of them simultaneously stopped in their tracks.

Kang Seh-Hyuk simply shrugged. "Well, DG Guild doesn't look too bad."

It was hard to argue against that.

"Well, it's our first time visiting this guild, but we've gathered enough information about them for the past few days."

DG Guild was currently C-Class, but had a high chance of growing to an A-Class guild. Moreover, because they were a newly established guild, they were currently lacking people.

Yoo Seh-Eun thought on this deeply and decided to postponed Kang Seh-Hyuk's proposal. "Let's finish their request first."

"Huh?"

"We'll seriously consider joining after that."