All masters of Cyberpunk
Episode 2

 

2. Guild of Chilgok

Bloodshot eyes stare at me. My head begins to spin rapidly.

 

I don’t have time to think about where I am or how I got here.

 

“Kaaaah!”

 

It lunges at me with an eardrum-splitting roar. I desperately flung myself out of the way.

 

The hard asphalt floor ripped into the shape of its claws.

 

Human flesh would be as easy as tearing a sheet of paper.

 

I quickly picked up the pistol lying on the ground and squeezed the trigger.

 

Bang! Bang! Bang!

 

Ping! Ping!!!

 

But the bullets that didn’t pierce the armor crumpled and fell to the ground.

 

“Of course it won’t work, damn it!”

 

Gargoyle.

 

The signature flying mutants of Seoul 2056.

 

Humans are infected with a virus that spreads like a plague in Busan.

 

Nowadays, there is no trace of their humanity.

 

Although mutants are naturally resistant to physical force, Gargoyle’s steel-like skin made it impossible for conventional firearms to deal with it.

 

It would take an anti-tank rocket, let alone an assault rifle, to do any meaningful damage.

 

“Kaaaah!”

 

“Ugh!”

 

Eventually, the clumsy pistol shots seemed to enrage him even more.

 

With a breathless roar of murderous intensity, the gargoyle flapped its steel wings.

 

Predator. A monster is outside the walls that feeds on humans.

 

The flap of its wings was enough to throw me off balance for a moment and send me rolling across the floor.

 

Iron puck!

 

A crunching sensation travels through my fingers. I instinctively turn my head, and the remains of what was once Kim Sang-yup lie face down.

 

“……!”

 

A corpse.

 

It was a horrifying sight, but for some reason, it only made me feel more chilled.

 

‘It’s times like this that you need to stay calm.

 

If I panicked, I would lose my life in an instant. I caught my breath and stood up quickly.

 

“But what am I supposed to do?

 

Even the terrain was against us. An open area like this road was the perfect stage for a gargoyle with the ability to fly.

 

Even if they tried to flee desperately, they would be caught in the middle.

 

Of course, I know the weaknesses of gargoyles, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

 

“Wait.”

 

It was then that I noticed a change in my body.

 

A peculiar sensation passed through my fingertips.

 

The nerves in his body expanded as if new muscles were sprouting.

 

“This!”

 

There was nothing to say. It was a superpower, the same one that the decapitated Gibbsanyul had possessed earlier.

 

“This is the power of the pure organism I saw earlier!

 

Then, a lightning-like sensation pierced through my mind.

 

It was as if I had always possessed psychic powers, and within seconds, Kim Sang-yup’s abilities became mine.

 

For a moment, I stood dumbfounded at the unprecedented experience of absorbing psychic powers.

 

“It’s enough against the gargoyle.

 

Regaining my confidence, I looked at the gargoyle as he closed the distance for his next attack.

 

His superpower is shockwaves. Also known as a shockwave.

 

With it, I could pierce the gargoyle’s carapace and deal damage underneath.

 

“Krrrr…….”

 

A low growl from the gargoyle.

 

It seemed to notice the change in atmosphere and went on alert.

 

A brief exploratory battle lasted a few seconds.

 

At the end of it, it was the gargoyle that made the first move.

 

“Yeah!!!”

 

It leaped into the air, its wings spreading wide. It’s a pattern I already know.

 

A brute force mass attack, gliding diagonally downward.

 

Even though it looked like that, it weighed two tons, so it was a surefire kill.

 

Even if you’re lucky enough to dodge it, you won’t be able to survive the shock wave.

 

It was an attack that would turn a Hunter, one of the most powerful players in the guild, into minced meat.

 

But there’s no need to get worked up.

 

I’ve captured it countless times throughout seven endings, and I’ve faced many stronger mutants in the game.

 

I’m sure he’s more than capable of dealing with Kim Sang-yup now that he’s absorbed his powers.

 

“Here he comes.

 

I calmly timed it.

 

“Kaaaah!”

 

Without fear, I threw my fist at the gargoyle that came into effective range.

 

A clean, straight punch.

 

The heavy blow felt terrifying in his hand, and the impact amplified and exploded.

 

Shockwave.

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

 

A wall-cracking blow is followed by a wave that shakes the entire room.

 

Normally, this would have crushed his arm, but Shockwave’s shockwave repels his attack.

 

Thud!

 

The gargoyle’s face shattered as it lunged forward.

 

Thud!

 

The mutant sprawled helplessly on the ground, its skin seething as it began to shrivel up, spewing a disgusting fluid.

 

It’s done. Dead.

 

I couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh.

 

“Whoa, whoa, ha… Is this what it’s all about?”

 

Possession in the game.

 

And now I’m in Seoul in 2056?

 

Please tell me it’s not.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“I couldn’t believe it with my own two eyes. How did you catch the gargoyle by yourself?”

 

“I was lucky.”

 

“I don’t think you’re lucky enough to catch it, but if you don’t want to tell me, I can’t help it.”

 

The sunglasses-wearing driver shrugged.

 

He’d abandoned the Hunters as soon as the gargoyle appeared and fled, returning to the scene like a ghost as soon as the gargoyle was defeated.

 

He must have been lurking nearby, because, in the tutorial, he returned as soon as the gargoyle fled.

 

At least he was able to return to town with the soulstone he recovered from the gargoyle.

 

Even if I hadn’t left the Green Zone entirely, I would have had to walk for hours to reach the proper living quarters.

 

Soulstones, especially those that can be recovered from mutants, are extremely valuable commodities, so I needed to take them with me.

 

It would be their most powerful weapon in future negotiations.

 

“By the way, what was your name again?”

 

“My name is Lee Do-jin.”

 

“Lee Dojin, Lee Dojin… I’ve never heard of him before.”

 

“I’ve only been working in this industry for a short time.”

 

“You know, I had a feeling. He didn’t seem like he’d been working for Mr. Kim.”

 

The driver clicked his tongue and added in his old-fashioned dialect.

 

He must have had some history with Kim Sang-yup, but he didn’t seem to be moved by his death.

 

No, he didn’t.

 

Perhaps he was the first to die.

 

It wasn’t just the driver.

 

People are dying every day.

 

In a world where lives come and go over a pack of cigarettes, the neighbor you smiled and greeted yesterday is found stabbed to death in the corner of the room.

 

As if to prove it, the window overlooked a view of a completely abandoned apartment complex.

 

What was once a high-priced complex along the riverfront is now nothing more than a pile of concrete.

 

Only the crudely constructed shanty towns indicate that people still live there.

 

“But now that Kim Sang-yup has searched, the head of the Chilgok Guild is going to be upset.”

 

“…….”

 

“There’s a new member who beat up a gargoyle on his first raid, so maybe it’s something else?”

 

I stopped answering anymore.

 

What a needlessly chatty driver! I knew he was chatty in the tutorial, but I didn’t expect this.

 

He continued to talk to himself, whether I responded or not.

 

Soon enough, we stopped in front of a four-story office complex.

 

The headquarters of the Chilgok Guild.

 

A mid-to-lower-tier guild, it was ranked 19th out of the 28 guilds active in the Daejeon jurisdiction.

 

It was the guild that players were automatically assigned to after the tutorial stage.

 

“We’ve arrived, big brother. You can take the soul stones on your own. The guild has paid for it in advance, so just unload it.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“I just paid for it. Come, go, go. Dojin, if you ever need a ride again, let me know.”

 

The driver fished a business card out of his arm and handed it to me.

 

23 years of accident-free experience.

 

Perk Chul-sik, a luxury driver specializing in raids.

 

“Chul-sik, I’m always open for rides; just say the word.”

 

“Oh yeah…….”

 

After roughly jamming the business card into my arm, I picked up the soul stone I kept in my trunk.

 

It’s so heavy for something that’s only the size of my palm; it must weigh almost 30 kilograms.

 

“Still, it’s worth it.

 

I quickly grabbed the soul stone and entered the guild headquarters.

 

If I’m going to survive here, I’m going to have to become a proper hunter.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Kim Sang-yup is dead!”

 

“Perk Chul-sik, who was in charge of the drive to the raid, confirmed it. Even the signal from his life support chip was lost, so he’s dead.”

 

“Holy shit!”

 

BANG!!!

 

Choi Hyun-soo, the leader of the Chilgok Guild, slammed his hand down on the desk, unable to contain his anger.

 

The other employees cowered in anger, but the secretary standing in front of him, as if he was used to this kind of behavior, merely slapped my glasses.

 

“This is why you’re going to be pushed out of the top 20 again!”

 

The Guild.

 

A new non-profit organization emerged after the Great Chaos turned the world upside down.

 

Countless cities had been destroyed, and countless people had been thoroughly decimated.

 

Those who chose to fight rather than flee became known as hunters.

 

From Class A to Class F.

The Guild is the organization that binds these hunters together under one name and a common goal.

 

 

The loss of a guild hunter is the loss of the entire guild.

 

Furthermore, while Seoul and Daejeon may have a plethora of B-ranked Hunters of Kim’s caliber, Daejeon is virtually the only remaining territory and frontline in southern Korea.

 

Since 2040, the city has been facing a steep population decline, barely holding on to the title of metropolitan city.

 

Add to that the biological disaster in Busan, and Daejeon’s population is now less than half of what it was before the chaos.

 

Kim Sang-yup may have a reputation for being yellow in comparison to his skills, but there was a reason why the head of the Chilgok Guild was so quick to criticize him.

 

“I treated you like a B-grade player, but you’re an asshole, and you’re going on a raid, and you get left behind?”

 

“We were attacked by gargoyle on our way to the Red Zone. I don’t know how, but they managed to get past the city’s air defense system.”

 

“From the government to the hunter bastards, can’t any of them get it right?”

 

In the old days, I would have knocked over my desk.

 

No, I would have hunted down the right guy, beat him up, and thrown him a few grand in settlement.

 

But I can’t do that now.

 

Kim Sang-yup, Chilgok’s original and most powerful player, is gone.

 

Guild leader Choi Hyun-soo’s mind was on the guild’s dwindling balance in real-time.

 

If this happens, he’ll have to headhunt again.

 

He had to squeeze out a lot of money to pay for the new talent.

 

At the same time, I can’t spend money to express my personal feelings.

 

Choi Hyun-soo was more thorough than anyone else when it came to money.

 

It was then.

 

A middle-aged man in a tattered guard uniform burst into the office.

 

“Guild Leader Kim!”

 

“What the hell!”

 

“That fellow named Lee Do-jin is back!”

 

“Lee Do-jin?”

 

The guild leader’s eyebrows furrowed.

 

Ah, that freelance bastard from the liberation village.

 

Kim Sang-yup had said that he needed a decoy, so he had brought him himself.

 

He was a freelancer, a fisherman who wasn’t even registered.

 

Falsifying people’s lives and falsifying my career was like a child’s game in 2056.

 

“Wait a minute. So Kim Sang-yup is dead and that bastard survived?”

 

Choi Hyun-soo looked at his assistant in disbelief.

 

“Oh, I heard there’s one survivor; his entire team was wiped out, so he must be the one.”

 

“What shall we do, Guild Leader, call him?”

 

“Call him, of course.”

 

I needed to hear what happened. Could he be the one who stabbed Kim in the back?

 

In the world of hunters, there is no such thing as nobility.

 

There are plenty of people who will stab you for a few bucks, especially if you’re a codger, the lowest of the low.

 

“Make sure you know the circumstances, and if it doesn’t matter, just deal with it.

 

Now there’s a void of B-level hunters.

 

Choi was in no position to care about a few groomsmen.

 

But the moment the survivor walked into his office,.

 

Choi was forced to rethink his thoughts.

 

“This is the soul stone I recovered after single-handedly defeating the gargoyle, the mutant that killed Hunter Kim Sang-yup.”

 

“Defeated it alone?”

 

Choi Hyun-soo’s expression stiffened.

 

Even Kim Sang-yup wouldn’t be able to defeat a gargoyle, an advanced flying mutant, by himself.

 

And yet, the kid in front of him had done it?

 

However, Lee Do-jin didn’t even give Choi Hyun-soo time to express his doubts.

 

“I know that soul stones belong to the person who retrieves them and that they submit a certain fee to the guild after disposing of them, but I’m a temporary worker, so I don’t have to pay a fee, right?”

 

“Hey!! What are you talking about? This guy picked up some weird stuff out of nowhere.!!”

 

“Guild Leader, I’m not a stranger to anything; why do you think I went straight back to Chilgok without exchanging the soul stones, huh?”

 

“……Khhhh!”

 

Choi Hyun soo coughed softly at Lee Dojin’s cold glare.

 

It was not a sneer.

 

“So, what? You brought it here to show off, but you won’t be able to sell it easily on your own. I’d rather have us broker it for you.”

 

“I don’t plan on selling the soul stones myself.”

 

“What?”

 

“I’ll put it on the side of the Seven Songs Guild. Whether you sell it or keep it is up to you.”

 

Lee Dojin leisurely crossed his legs and said.

 

“You’ll have to sign a formal contract with me, D-rank Hunter of the Seven Hills Guild. The contrast ratio is 8:2, with me taking 8 and the guild taking 2.”

 

Choi Hyun soo was stunned at how casually he offered the contract.

 

“What the fuck?

 

Lee was right; up to D-ranked Hunters, the guild leader had the discretion to rank them.

 

The next level up, C-ranked hunters would need to be granted a state-organized qualification, which was the most that Choi Hyunsoo could offer right now.

 

This, coupled with his earlier comments about the soul stones, suggests that he knows the industry pretty well.

 

For a moment, Choi is wary of the unthinkable.

 

“Unless you don’t like it.”

 

Lee Do-jin shoved the soul stone back into his arms with a grim expression, as if he were okay with it.

 

“Now, Kim, wait! Wait!”

 

Choi Hyunsoo clapped his hands and scrambled to his feet, just as the money was about to vanish before his eyes.

 

He still couldn’t believe it, but he could see the amount of money in front of him that would cover his current losses.

 

Once again, there is no virtue in the hunter’s world.

 

It’s all about money and debt.

 

What guild leader wouldn’t want to lose their guild’s maximum power but be able to make up for it immediately?

 

The pouting, whale-whistling figure from a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Ehehe, what are you complaining about? You’re a D-ranked hunter from now on, and I’ll personally submit the relevant documents to the city government today.”

 

“Do you also agree with the ratio?”

 

“Oh yes, of course! You’re right about two! You heard me correctly. You’re a rookie hunter with the distinction of single-handedly defeating a gargoyle, so you get to keep a little more than the industry standard!”

 

“Then I’ll have to ask you to be good.”

 

 

 

The corner of his mouth twitched, and he looked at the guild leader, who couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

 

The secretary shook her head.

 

Really.

 

The man had no sense of propriety.