“……Test Guild.”
After hearing Dojin’s explanation, Haewon repeated only the Guild’s name with a blank expression.
“That’s right. Since you’re a minor, Ms. Haewon, you can receive Player training while continuing with school. There are laws specifically concerning underage Players.”
Dojin paused for a couple of breaths, giving her time to process what she had just heard……
“I have two streaming videos of me participating in Arenas as a Player. You can watch those, and you can see from these documents that Test Guild is an officially registered Player Guild established with the support of Hangang Group. You know Hangang Group, right?”
Dojin once again held the Player contract documents out in front of Haewon.
Her red and blue eyes stared blankly down at them.
“…….”
Dojin watched her for a moment.
Under ordinary circumstances, he would have built up a little more fame as a Player and waited until Test Guild became better known before coming to get Haewon.
But Haewon’s situation did not allow that kind of leisure.
‘A week from now, because of her father’s loan-shark debt, she’ll be sold to a Player Guild run by gangsters.’
Before his regression, Haewon had only managed to regain her freedom because the Guild collapsed once the Main Scenario began.
‘But now that I’m here, why should she have to go through that hell?’
It would be a hundred times better to bring her into Test Guild, where the conditions were far better, and let her live a proper life as a Player.
Even now, Haewon had already been worn down and withdrawn to a severe degree after suffering at the hands of adults for so long.
‘Though I have to admit, it’s absurd that I managed to get her signature on the paperwork this easily.’
That was right.
Despite all the explanations, proof videos, and documents Dojin had prepared, Haewon had agreed to the contract without resistance.
“I just figured your Guild would still be better, mister.”
The utter lack of faith or expectation toward adults in her voice somehow stabbed at his chest.
In any case, they had only just finished signing the contract.
“Hey! Seo Youngsik! Get your ass out here!”
……when the unpleasant voice of a third party shook the small, run-down house.
***
“……?!”
Dojin turned his head toward the front gate.
At the same time, Haewon’s shoulders shrank.
Her face had gone deathly pale.
“……Do you know them?”
“…….”
Haewon looked completely frozen, unable to speak.
She merely nodded.
‘Damn. Was this already in motion?’
Thinking about it, it was hardly surprising.
Gangsters approaching an alcoholic who happened to have an underage Player as a source of income was entirely plausible.
‘That’s why I rushed.’
Immediately after regressing and Awakening, Dojin had debuted in an Arena, met his former comrades, and leveled up.
So much had happened that it was hard to believe only three days had passed since his regression.
‘I wanted to quietly take her straight to the Guild dormitory if possible, but I guess that’s not happening.’
Having reached his conclusion, Dojin spoke to Haewon.
“Go to your room right now, lock the door, and pack your things. As soon as I’m finished talking to them, we’re going straight to Test Guild.”
“B-But…….”
Haewon tried to say something through trembling lips.
But perhaps the words would not come out properly, because she eventually lowered her head.
“It’s fine. Remember what I explained earlier? You’ve already signed a contract with Test Guild, and under the law, the Guild Master and I are now your legal guardians. Which means I’m the one those adults need to talk to. Understand?”
After gently coaxing Haewon into hiding inside her room—
BANG!
“Why the hell isn’t anyone answering when someone calls for them…… Huh?”
The sound of the front gate breaking rang out.
Several men’s loud, vulgar voices followed.
“……Three of them?”
When they finally barged into the house without even taking off their shoes, Dojin found himself slightly surprised.
Not because of their lack of manners.
It was because he could sense faint mana from one of the men.
‘No way. Hong Jingu?’
Dojin looked at the man’s face again.
There was no mistake.
It was Hong Jingu.
‘He looks ordinary right now because he doesn’t have that scar on his face yet…….’
Hong Jingu.
A Player who, like Dojin, would distinguish himself during the Main Scenario.
But that was not what made him most infamous.
A Player with a criminal background.
That was the trait Hong Jingu was best known for.
‘So he had already Awakened by this point.’
Dojin calmly began recalling his Class, Stats, Skills, and other abilities.
Before Awakening, Hong Jingu had been a third-rate thug who repeatedly went in and out of prison.
But after becoming a Player, he actively used his connections to recruit other Players with criminal backgrounds one after another.
‘By the time the Main Scenario began, he had already become the Guild Master of a major Guild. A dangerous man.’
True to his criminal background, he never cared about methods as long as they achieved his goal.
He especially enjoyed forcing newly Awakened young Players into his Guild through threats, kidnapping, and similar tactics.
And most importantly—
‘He was one of the Traitors.’
Of course, Hong Jingu and the other thugs before him had no interest whatsoever in what Dojin was thinking.
“What the hell? Did that bastard Seo Youngsik borrow money from someone besides us?”
“Hey, mister! Where’d the people who lived here go?”
Two thugs swaggered at the front and addressed Dojin.
‘Lackeys.’
Hong Jingu, meanwhile, remained behind them, observing the situation like some background extra.
As though he were assessing how to handle the unexpected person who had appeared.
From appearances alone, it looked as though the youngest member did not know what to do while standing behind his rough older companions.
But to Dojin, who had been through countless hardships, their actual hierarchy was obvious.
‘He was already building his influence. At least these two are firmly under his control.’
Dojin reached his conclusion.
“Hey! Suit! You deaf?!”
“We’re asking where the people who lived here ran off to!”
……Apparently, this trio of thugs still had no idea who Dojin was.
‘Ah. I suppose that makes sense.’
Thinking about it, Dojin had certainly become famous through his Arena performances.
But his appearance then and now was far too different.
In his first Arena, he had logged in immediately after Awakening, wearing shabby clothes over a scrawny body.
His clothes had remained the same in the second Arena, and because they had been loose and long, even the changes caused by his increased Stats had not been particularly noticeable.
But now, after receiving rewards from two Overflows and generous support from Test Guild?
“Oh, mister? You’re dressed pretty nicely. Who sent you?”
“Well, well. Did this bastard sign some paperwork with another office or something? They even sent a white-collar guy.”
Dojin’s Stats had risen enormously through leveling up, and those changes had manifested in his real body as well.
His appearance had changed considerably.
“Well, I even got taller, so I guess it can’t be helped.”
“What the hell is this suit-wearing bastard muttering about?”
“……!”
Suddenly, the body of one of the large men picking a fight with him lifted completely off the ground.
A moment later—
CRASH! THUD!
“You bastard!”
The remaining thug’s expression twisted as he charged.
Clutched in one hand was……a kitchen knife.
Even after seeing his companion thrown aside in a single blow, Dojin’s unassuming appearance must still have looked easy to handle.
The thug charged violently, swinging the kitchen knife.
But—
GRAB!
“……Huh?”
The thug let out a startled sound.
Dojin ignored him.
Still gripping the arm holding the knife……he turned his body slightly to the side and pulled the man in the same direction he had already been charging.
Naturally, the thug lost his balance and toppled forward.
Dojin did not miss the opening.
CRACK!
“AGH!!!”
He raised one foot and stomped viciously down on the falling thug’s arm.
The bone broke completely.
So badly that he would never be able to hold a knife with that arm again.
CLATTER!
At the same time, Dojin kicked the dropped kitchen knife far away.
Far enough that no one could reach it.
“…….”
“U-Ugh……”
One thug had been knocked completely unconscious.
The other, who had been waving a blade around moments before, only began reading the situation after his arm was broken.
And now only the remaining two Players stood there, radiating a cold pressure.
“…….”
Meanwhile, the homeowner—a minor—remained locked inside her room.