“Did you forget? I clearly told you back then that I would definitely repay the favor of saving my life someday!”  

 Come to think of it.  

The first time we met this group was when they were being attacked by a monster.  

Anyway, we were already hunting the monsters around to increase the number of awakened ones.  

I remember helping them without much thought.  

“You don’t have to worry about that. We had our own reasons back then, we had to eliminate the monster.”  

“Ah, but it’s not just one or two people, you saved our entire group. I can’t just let that go. Let me see.”  

The man seemed to ponder for a moment.  

Then he nodded and said,  

“How about this?”  

“What do you mean?”  

“As I mentioned, our group is scheduled to officially join them over there today. If it’s okay, I can tell them about you at that time.”  

Tell them about us?  

“Judging from the fact that you’ve come this far, I take it you’re also trying to join that group, aren’t you?”  

“Ah. Something like that.”  

It’s not exactly joining, but an invitation to form an alliance.  

“I thought so! But as I said, a lot of survivors are gathering here, and it takes quite a while just to meet that large group of people. You can probably tell, but it takes even more time to actually join. However, not all groups take the same amount of time.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“Well, if they have weapons, or if there are many awakened ones in the group… Anyway, it seems they let those who can be of help to them meet them a little faster. That’s the way this world is. They’re hungry for talent too, you see.”  

“I see.”  

“Unfortunately, our group doesn’t have much ability, so the wait has been a bit longer.”  

‘Doesn’t have much ability’, huh.  

I activated my ability to evaluate the man in front of me.  

[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]  

[Primate – Human Race]  

[Freshness – Excellent]  

[Awakened: Park Cheol-gon]  

[Occupation: Junior Grade Swordsman Lv. 12]  

‘Oh?’  

Level 12, huh.  

His abilities and stats also seemed to be well-rounded.    

Judging by his level alone, he would be in the middle to upper ranks in our unit.  

Among the survivors, he would certainly be considered high-level.  

Such a capable person is considered “not very capable”?  

“Just how high are the standards of that group over there?”  

“Hm? What do you mean?”  

“Ah, nothing.”  

No, now that I think about it, asking about each other’s specific occupations and levels is considered taboo among the survivors.  

I casually used [Ingredient Identification] to peek at his information, but this is probably quite rude to others as well.  

Since they can’t know each other’s levels, they must have just treated our group as one with only 1 awakened person.  

“Hmph. Anyway, you’re a soldier, aren’t you? Judging from the military uniform, it looks like you’re from a special forces unit.”  

The lizard-skin military uniform had a slightly different design from regular military uniforms.  

Black and gray patterns with a unique texture.  

Someone unfamiliar might mistake it for a special forces uniform.  

“If you’re from a special forces unit, you’d be remarkable talents even without being awakened. And from what I saw, there are quite a few awakened ones among you as well. Like you, for example, the way you struck that monster seemed to be a swordsman type…”  

“Something like that.”  

“I thought so. If I relay this news, you might be able to meet them as soon as today or tomorrow. They won’t let go of such capable people. And on top of that, the fact that you saved our group’s lives – that should be enough to get you accepted, even if there are any personality issues. You will be directly admitted into their group.”  

Of course, our actual goal is to form an alliance with them, not to join their guild.  

But it seems it takes quite a bit of time just to make contact with them.  

If this man helps us, we can save a lot of time.  

Thinking it’s not a bad idea, I nodded.  

“Then, may I ask a favor?”  

“Haha, leave it to me. Of course, I don’t think this can fully repay the grace, but I hope it can be of some help.”  

The man then drew a map for us and said,  

“Wait here. This is the building we used to stay in. Thanks to the fact that the large group has maintained order in this area, there are no more monsters. And we’ve cleaned it up a bit, so you won’t have any complaints about staying here for a few days.”  

“You even arranged a place for us to stay. Thank you.”  

“It’s we who should be thanking you.”  

The man laughed with a rather friendly smile.  

“Well, I’ll be going then.”  

“I wish you best of luck.”  

“Haha, see you later then.”  

The man and his group members left to join the large group.  

“Looks like this is working out better than expected.”  

“Good deeds often bear fruit, you know.”  

Honestly, I’m not completely convinced about trusting that large group yet.  

‘If they’re a bunch of looters, they wouldn’t have any reason to supply food to the people waiting here.’  

But I decided to trust them just this once.  

After all, they’re providing food to others for free.  

… They must have some sense of humanity in them, if they’re not just prioritizing food.  

***  

“Mr. Park Cheol-gon?”  

“That’s me.”  

At the rendezvous point with the northern large group.  

No, the guild name was [Gangwon-do Survivor Union].  

Someone called out to Cheol-gon, who had just arrived there.  

It was a tall man with a pale face.  

“The verification process is complete. Cheol-gon, you haven’t had any problematic behavior in the past, and the other members seem to be ordinary people as well.”  

“What does that mean…?”  

“You’re accepted. Welcome to our guild.”  

“Wow…!”  

Cheol-gon had been secretly anxious.  

Even though he trusted his group members, there were cases where they couldn’t join the guild if there was a problem with someone.  

He was relieved to find that his worries were unnecessary.  

“Please follow me.”  

“Where are we going?”