The Awakeners Association.
In times of peace, they were often seen as nothing more than powerless paper tigers, overshadowed by the guilds’ power struggles. However, there were times when their influence grew significantly.
That time was when they took on the role of mediating and adjudicating between the guilds.

"I am Do Byeok-su, the chairman of the Awakeners Association’s Arbitration Committee, entrusted with the Myeongho-dong Gate’s entrustment."

A long silence followed.
Do Byeok-su, expecting at least some hollow applause, awkwardly picked up the microphone again.

"As this matter concerns the livelihood and safety of the residents, I promise that the evaluation will be fair, mediation reasonable, and if necessary, just enforcement will be carried out."

The three organizations participating in the Myeongho-dong Gate entrustment were:

Taebaek Guild, one of the top ten guilds of the teens.
Asan Guild, another prominent teen guild.
Haenampa, the newly-formed guild.
Among these, Haenampa's position was the smallest and the most precarious.

"Why make things complicated? Let’s just take Myeongho-dong for ourselves and rename the administrative district Taebaek 4-dong."
"If you’re renaming things, shouldn’t it be Asan 3-dong, not yours?"
"Lady, if you’re upset, why not just fight me?"

At the meeting called by the association, the heads of each guild attended.

First, the attendees from Taebaek Guild:

Hong Yeong-sik, Head of the Business Planning Department.
Shin Do-cheol, leader of the pre-squad 2nd assault team.
These two were present from Taebaek Guild.

‘This is a done deal. We can't lose in terms of power. With our strength, we’ll enter the gate contest and rack up extra points from our performance—there’s no way we’ll fall behind.’

Hong Yeong-sik, the Head of the Business Planning Department, drew everyone's attention with his somewhat brash behavior and arrogant remarks. However, most just kept silent.
The principle of the strong.
In a society of Awakeners, the strong made the rules.
Although Hong Yeong-sik was a bit pompous, the title of Head of the Taebaek Guild gave him a solid background, and the people around him simply tolerated his arrogance.

‘Is that the Silent Swordsman? She feels completely different in person. She’s giving off a very dangerous vibe.’

Shin Do-cheol, however, made no move to stand out.
His swordsmanship was the fastest of anyone, but he never wielded his sword recklessly, never thinking of himself as a mere killer.
There would come a time to settle things with her, but it would happen on his terms.
That was what the Guild Leader of Taebaek, Gang Taebaek, wanted.

"Such punks, still not fully out of their gang-like mindset."
"Vice Guild Leader, please, don’t speak so harshly. If we keep this up, the folks from Haenampa will get uncomfortable."

Like Taebaek Guild, Asan Guild, also one of the teenage guilds, had two attendees:

Jeong Ji-su, Vice Guild Leader of Asan Guild.
Yu Eun-ho, Star Awakened 3rd Class of Asan Entertainment.
These two were also confident in their position in the entrustment competition.

‘Even if Taebaek Guild has the advantage in terms of organization and gate performance, they can’t win the popularity vote, which is decided by the residents.’

Yoon Asan, the Guild Leader of Asan Guild, was a very ambitious strategist.
On the other hand, Jeong Ji-su, the Vice Guild Leader, was a meticulous planner who valued security and control.
She had already calculated that winning the vote of just 60% of the Myeongho-dong residents would secure victory in the competition.

‘The Silent Swordsman. Is she the one the CEO wanted to recruit? She’s definitely a type I’ve never dealt with before.’

Yoon Asan, the Guild Leader of Asan Guild and CEO of Asan Entertainment, had sent Yu Eun-ho on a secret mission.
His task was to seduce the Silent Swordsman, take private photos of her, and post them with ambiguous comments on social media.
Yu Eun-ho was confident.
He was handsome, and popular with women, so starting a romance scandal was no problem.

"Guild Leader, are you sure I should be the one to go? Someone like Seo Gyeong-seok would usually handle this kind of thing."
[The negotiations are your specialty, right?]
"Is that so? Hmm. You do look like you’re good at your job."

Caught between the two powerful guilds, the newly formed Haenampa Guild's future looked precarious, likely to be crushed between the two giants.
The representatives from Haenampa were three:

Guild Leader Hae Eung-eung.
Negotiator Min Woo-seong.
Royal Club Representative Han Chae-rin.
Because Haenampa was the smallest guild, its key members directly attended the meeting.
Min Woo-seong, though, was uncomfortable.

‘If only I didn’t have mind-reading abilities, I wouldn’t have to endure this situation.’

He could feel the emotions around him, the sticky, sinister thoughts swirling, and his hands began to sweat.

‘If the Association finds out, I’m finished.’

His mind-reading abilities had already made him a target of suspicion from the higher-ups in the Association, but now he was attending the meeting as part of Haenampa, sitting among the Association's members. He could barely hold back the urge to run away at that moment.

"Before we begin, as per the materials distributed, the Myeongho-dong Gate will be entrusted to the guild with the highest total score, based on each criterion."

【Requirements for participation in Myeongho-dong Gate entrustment】
① Registered guild with the Association
② Owns a jurisdiction or business within Myeongho-dong
③ At least one B-rank or higher Awakened

【Myeongho-dong Gate Entrustment Scoring Criteria】
① Guild size
② Capital stability
③ Gate performance
④ Internal evaluation score by the Association
⑤ Voting from Myeongho-dong residents

"Are they already trying to rig the system?"

As soon as Han Chae-rin saw the scoring criteria, she muttered under her breath.

"Is something wrong?"
"Capital stability and internal evaluation weren’t originally part of the criteria. These items must have been added right before the meeting."
"So you’re saying the large guilds lobbied the Association to add new evaluation criteria."

Min Woo-seong quickly understood Han Chae-rin’s meaning.

"Oh my, you’re quite smart for a negotiator."

It was a thought Min Woo-seong had picked up through mind-reading.
Feeling guilty like a thief caught in the act, Min Woo-seong hurriedly changed the subject.

"How is the scoring divided among the criteria?"

Chairman Do Byeok-su answered directly.

"The first three criteria each contribute 10%, the fourth is 20%, and the fifth is 50% of the total score."

Without winning the residents' votes, they had to earn points in the other categories to stay competitive.

"We’ll announce the results for the gate performance competition immediately, as we can’t delay any longer. According to the materials we reviewed, the current scores for the three guilds are as follows:"

【Taebaek Guild’s Entrustment Score】
① Guild Size = 9/10
② Capital Stability = 7/10
③ Gate Performance = /10
④ Internal Evaluation Score = /20
⑤ Myeongho-dong Residents’ Voting = /50
Total: 16/100

【Asan Guild’s Entrustment Score】
① Guild Size = 7/10
② Capital Stability = 7/10
③ Gate Performance = /10
④ Internal Evaluation Score = /20
⑤ Myeongho-dong Residents’ Voting = /50
Total: 14/100

【Haenampa Guild’s Entrustment Score】
① Guild Size = 1/10
② Capital Stability = 1/10
③ Gate Performance = /10
④ Internal Evaluation Score = /20
⑤ Myeongho-dong Residents’ Voting = /50
Total: 2/100

16 points, 14 points, and 2 points.
The gap was so large that the competition almost seemed meaningless.

"This is ridiculous. How can you give such a low score with Royal Club backing us?"
"Royal Club hasn’t invested capital or increased our guild size, though. We’ve simply evaluated according to the standards."
"That’s correct. Let’s discuss it in more detail later."

Min Woo-seong stopped Han Chae-rin from getting upset.
With 20 points for the internal evaluation,
as long as that scoring criterion exists,
it was wise not to raise their voices or provoke anyone at this point.

"Currently, the Association is overseeing the gate entrustment, but we can’t delay any longer, so starting today, we will begin the gate performance competition for the next week."

The criteria for the gate performance evaluation were simple:

"Each guild will form an assault team of up to 20 members and be given one Void Stone per member."
"Clearing the sub-dungeons or defeating dungeon bosses will fill the Void Stones with magical power."
"The total amount of magical power in the Void Stones will determine the guild’s gate performance score."

In other words, the more monsters they killed and the stronger the ones they defeated, the higher their score.

‘This is lame.’

For Hae Eung-eung, the gate performance score seemed almost irrelevant.
Even if Haenampa scored full points in this category, and the other two guilds scored zero,
they would still be last due to the other categories.
Whether the internal evaluation score would be measured fairly was still a question.

"Don’t worry. If we win the residents’ vote, we’ll still have a good chance. Also, please include our Royal Club female group and staff in the assault teams."

Han Chae-rin, with a sharp look, glanced at the other guilds.

"Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, trick for a trick. We’ll be filming the broadcast scheduled during the gate assault."
[Should I go too?]
"No, you’re the Guild Leader of Haenampa before being a fixed panelist, right? Of course, you’ll go."
[I needed to prepare myself mentally.]
"Prepare mentally? What do you mean?"
[It’s my first time on terrestrial broadcast.]

Hae Eung-eung, with an extremely serious expression, made a comment that made Han Chae-rin burst out laughing.

"Is this a joke? You were trying to ease my tension, weren’t you? That was really funny. It’s unfair for you to say that with that face."

A person who looked like they’d never be nervous,
with an average viewership of 10,000 and over a million subscribers,
the reigning VTube's most notorious streamer, and yet... she’s talking about being nervous?

"……."
"……."
"Did you really get nervous?"

Hae Eung-eung nodded robotically like a broken machine.