“What?”

“…You are set as the vice guild master.”

Thud. I dropped the coffee cup I was holding.

“What? That can’t be. Please check again. Didn’t Cheon Shin Woo set his own name as the vice guild master before he left?”

“…”

“It says Cheon Shin Woo, right?”

I hurriedly cleaned up the dropped cup. Fortunately, I had finished the coffee, so nothing spilled out. That’s a relief.

“…I checked again, but it’s still you?”

“…”

Luckily, I didn’t make the mistake of dropping the cup twice.

What could be wrong with Cheon Shin Woo’s head? After tidying up the cup, I took a deep breath and asked.

“…Is that even possible?”

“I don’t know…”

“I’m not even awakened, so I shouldn’t be able to register, right?”

“That’s true…”

He had a completely dazed expression. No way. I quickly picked up my phone to check the internet news.

“…”

“…”

“…Shin Ah.”

“…Yes.”

“I think we’re in trouble…”

“I think so too…”

I could hear the sound of a path of fire, not flowers, being laid out before me.

[This is the timeline separator]

Fortunately or unfortunately, only executives had the authority to check the name of the vice guild master. I don’t know exactly when I became the vice guild master of Cheonrang, but that’s how it was.

But there was a problem with that.

[(Breaking News) Ranking No. 1’s younger sister, listed as Cheonrang’s vice guild master…]

That’s right. Someone had mistakenly revealed it to people without access rights.

And they did it through the company messenger, no, the guild messenger, to everyone.

The name ‘Cheon Shin Ah’ appeared while articles about Cheon Shin Woo’s younger sister were still being sorted out. Anyone could see it was the name of Cheon Shin Woo’s sister.

It seems that what was meant to be a private conversation was accidentally sent to the entire messenger… Thanks to that, all hell broke loose.

[(Anonymous): I was a staff member for that previous interview

(Anonymous): All those bastards who said they were lovers, come out now lol It turns out she’s his sister damn I didn’t even know that

(Anonymous): But even if she’s his sister, isn’t it a bit much to make her vice guild master? It’s not like the guild belongs to him…]

It really was chaos. I clicked on one of the posts at random.

[(Anonymous) I’m from CR

I think this is too much no matter what. The guild doesn’t belong to the guild master alone, and there are people clearly working hard for the guild, aren’t they all being ignored now lol?? Our team leader cried? He said he’s never been properly promoted in 4 years of backbreaking work at CR, but someone else gets to be an unawakened new hire and vice guild master just because of blood ties lol This is… a guild?

(Comment): It must be really tough… Hang in there until a proper explanation comes out! Friend, cheer up! You can do it!

└Thanks, bro

(Comment): ??? Have they lost their minds lol Working their bones off for the guild?? Seeing as they mentioned team leader, I guess that person is a party leader… There should be contract details from the start, right??? If they were contracted as a hunter, everything from the distribution would be different, so it’s not like they’re working their bones off for the guild lol They just joined a good guild for their own loot;; If you’re that upset, why don’t you just leave the guild?

└??? They could be upset. After all, they worked hard for 5 years, and then some nobody shows up and snatches the vice guild master position, right??

└└Let’s get this straight. They didn’t work for the guild for 5 years, they worked for themselves, right? If you don’t like it, just leave the guild

└└└??? Is leaving the guild your only solution???

(Comment): Nothing’s been confirmed yet, right? They say Aircon isn’t even in the country. Shouldn’t we find that out first?

└The name itself is CSA, how can it not be confirmed?

└└It’s obviously Aircon’s sister’s name lol

(Comment): I understand how the writer feels and I understand how the team leader feels, but… A guild is different from a company. The guild does belong to the guild master. You don’t know how many achievement points are deducted when establishing a guild lol

└That’s a different story;;;

└└It’s the same story, have you never awakened?

└└└;;; Why do you keep bringing up different topics??

(See more)]

“…”

I cancel. Even though I’ve experienced it once, this kind of malice never gets familiar. It’s even scarier this time because they’re properly digging up personal information.

I could feel a clear hostility. It’s not that I don’t understand their hostility. I myself was fired because of that director’s nephew, wasn’t I?

An indescribable frustration welled up. I don’t know what my oh-so-great brother was thinking to do such a thing before he left. Thanks to him, my position has just become awkward.

I should stay off the internet for a while. There’s no point in looking, it’ll only stress me out. Until this issue is resolved, if I can just refrain until then…

“I mean, did I ever ask for the vice guild master position…”

It’s unfair. I already have nothing to do, and if I can’t even use the internet, what can I do?

Helplessness and depression overwhelmed me.

Another day passed without any contact from Cheon Shin Woo. I rather hoped he would quickly return to Korea and sort out this incident.

In the guild master’s absence, Min Yu Shin, who had to handle affairs as the acting guild master, found himself in a predicament, being pestered by Cheonrang’s executives.

It seemed the Cheonrang executives were calling him every hour to discuss various matters. Whenever he saw me, he would say ‘It’s okay…’ with a haggard face. I offered brief condolences to Min Yu Shin, who was suffering because of his poorly chosen friend.

Despite my resolve not to use the internet, I found myself searching when bored. Well, there’s really nothing else to do. Still, maybe I’ve developed some tolerance, as I was less affected than yesterday.

Should I tell sister Min Young in advance? Baek I Hyun probably won’t go around spreading information. Fortunately, the name Park Ha Young hasn’t been revealed.

I thought that if people from my previous workplace were to make up stories and talk about me, there could be nothing more horrifying than that.

But thanks to my limited social circle, I didn’t have to worry much about such things.

Articles about Cheon Shin Woo, speculative posts about his younger sister, the current state of the four major guilds, suggestions to add another guild to make it five major guilds instead of four, etc. The bulletin boards full of all sorts of useless information about the hunter ecosystem really had all kinds of stuff posted.

Especially on anonymous sites, many strange posts were uploaded.

I could never forget the post about how Baek Ya Lee Ryu Hyun, the guild master of Amwol, entered an S-rank gate alone to defeat Cheon Shin Woo, got stranded for 10 days, was rescued in a mess by his guild members, and cried his eyes out… The blatant disregard for portrait rights, with photos openly posted, nearly made me choke. Does Lee Ryu Hyun not manage his guild members?

People’s skills at spinning tales were truly impressive.

After browsing the bulletin board for three straight hours, I soon put down my phone and lay down. Spending all day doing nothing but looking at my phone made me feel like my life was falling apart.

I once had such a fantasy. That my lost elder brother might be an incredibly great person, and that my path might be strewn with flowers and gold.

It had come true, but reality was different from my imagination.

This time, I imagined something else.

What if Cheon Shin Woo wasn’t really my elder brother…

The only thing that came to mind was Cheon Shin Woo separating my head from my body before I could even say, ‘You deceived me.’ Hmm. …Surely not. He wouldn’t really do that, would he?

Anyway, he was the one who left without any explanation. So he was also the one who should confirm the truth.

Many thoughts came to mind, but there was nothing I could do right away.

I don’t know. Let’s just sleep.

[This is the timeline separator]

Min Yu Shin spent a full three days sorting out news articles.

Regarding the official statement, he concluded that all interviews would be conducted when Cheon Shin Woo returns, and after saying, ‘If any more words come out, we’ll have no choice but to take legal action,’ he really did sue everyone. It was an impressive execution.

“Cheonrang’s legal team is cleaning up all the malicious rumors. If we don’t do this… sigh.”

His face, letting out such a sigh, was marked with dark circles. I decided that if there was a potion to remove dark circles, I would buy it for him first.

Assassins and information are close. I’m not sure why they’re close, but Min Yu Shin said they were inseparable anyway. In other words, he said that all the people he cleared through lawsuits deserved to be sued, so there was no need to worry about problems arising from indiscriminate lawsuits. I hadn’t been particularly worried.

And he added this:

“If we don’t clean this up now, knowing Shin Woo’s personality, he’ll go around dealing with it himself…”

That seemed likely. This is Cheon Shin Woo, who nearly killed an interviewer just because the questions were a bit annoying. If he found out about this, even if he didn’t kill them, he would undoubtedly make them suffer.

Anyway.

“The cleanup is done, so let’s go out. You’ve been feeling cooped up, right?”

“Gasp, can we really go out?”

“Yes. There’s a high chance that guilds dealing mainly with information will try to follow us… Hehe, I wonder if their detection skills are higher or my presence concealment skill is higher…”

Min Yu Shin looked out of his mind. I was more worried about him than myself.

“…Wouldn’t it be better to rest? The area under your eyes is completely dark.”

“Ah, this? It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve been catching sleep here and there when I had time, and I can go without sleep for up to a week without problems.”

What’s that about? I don’t know, it’s scary. Min Yu Shin, looking not fine at all, urged me to quickly put on my glasses. I carefully put on the incredibly expensive glasses that I had been keeping safe.

“Oh. But if I do this, won’t you be unable to recognize me too, sir?”

“If I know your face before using it, it doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s go.”

After nearly two weeks of seclusion, I finally got to breathe outside air. Of course, I had slipped out once in between…

And that outside air was.

“So when is our guild master coming back? If this isn’t sorted out quickly, I think there might be a protest… Our tank is really grinding his teeth.”

“Even if the guild master comes back, will he properly explain anything… Geez, I’d like to see the face of that precious vice guild master just once. She’s Cheon Shin Woo’s younger sister, so she must be quite good-looking, right?”

“I heard a rumor that Cheon Shin Woo’s face is due to awakening enhancement…”

It was truly peculiar.

The penthouse where I stay is, of course, in a building within the guild premises. It’s a dedicated building used as a dormitory. Except for the top floor I use, the rest was being used for various purposes, and naturally, the people using it were guild members.

I pressed myself against the end of the elevator, careful not to make a sound.

“Well, the guild is in quite a state. Quite a state indeed…”

The difference between the hostility seen anonymously on the internet and the hostility flying directly in reality was stark. Perhaps sensing my tension, a hand came down on my head.