CH 189

As his gaze flickered by me, I inadvertently lost my breath and automatically straightened my back.

However, not many guild members responded to Seo Dawon’s words. Some of the members with poor attitudes didn’t even seem to be listening–for example, the one who still had his legs balanced on the desk or the one who was still slumped over onto the desk. That one didn’t even bother raising his head. The atmosphere was chaotic throughout.

Bam–!

I have no idea when Bang Eunji took her [Gun Blade] out, but I didn’t notice it until she slammed it onto the conference room’s desk. It was then that Jo Changyoung–whose face I hadn’t seen before–temperamentally raised his head.

Perhaps it was because he was disturbed from sleep, Jo Chanyoung was the most ferocious person I had ever seen. Slitted eyes without double eyelids, well-tanned copper skin–the sight of him was enough to intimidate me.

“Haa… I returned back home at 5 in the morning.” His fatigued voice, protesting against Bang Eunji, was so hair-raisingly low; if it were me, I’d immediately apologize to him and avoid his gaze…

Bang Eunji, though, accepted Jo Chanyoung bloodthirst without changing her monotone expression. “Such whining won’t work in a professional society.”

Anyone could see that Bang Eunji looked far younger; the contrast between the two was so vast. But, instead of arguing, Jo Chanyoung muttered something vulgar and straightened his slumped back. Unexpectedly, he seemed to be the type to resign fast.

“The boss monster this time is a [Dragon]. It should be noted that, unlike the dragons we’ve dealt with before, there’s over 90% probability that this one has wings. If it’s as described in the scenario, its magic resistance must be quite high.” Seo Dawon ignored them both and continued the meeting placidly.

Kim Olim, as if she were assisting him, looked at the material in front of her and said, “Every scenario involving [Second Company]’s boss monster refers to it as ‘XXXXX’ instead of its specific name. Perhaps the [Dragon Slayer] title could originate from here.”

Listening to Seo Dawon and Kim Olim, Woo Ragi yawned as if he were bored, blinked a few times, and scratched his cheek. “We can just beat it–what’s the point of this meeting…”

For the main DPS, he spoke so unbelievably ignorantly. Seo Dawon glanced at Woo Ragi for a brief moment before neatly ignoring him. “However, we don’t know how many instant-death attack patterns this monster has. In the last scenario, the boss showed a total of three patterns, so it was quite easy to avoid… This time, I’ll explain while showing you a simulation.”

After speaking, Seo Dawon pressed the button on the remote control he was holding. Soon, the conference room’s lights went out; a large silkscreen lowered down behind him.

From then on, the [Second Company] strategy meeting continued for 3 hours without a break.

* * *

To be honest, I didn’t really listen to the meeting. Though this body belonged to Jung Garam, with my knowledge it was hard to understand–how should I know what a skill layup is?

However, unlike how I would just randomly beat up whatever monster would appear in the dungeon, it was impressive that they meticulously decided who would use what skill first when a monster appeared.

Furthermore, there was a simulation that informed us of the estimated time taken for the boss attack when we inputted various skill values in the program. Unlike us, Seo Dawon had his back to the screen, but it seemed like he had memorized all the skill sequences and attack values and didn’t need to look behind him.

Even more shocking was the use of the penalty that would take place after one used every skill–the time where one couldn’t use another skill after using all skills once. In other words: ‘cooldown time.’ Seo Dawon led the meeting by not only memorizing his own skills but the skills of the other guild members and the cooldown times as well.

“Then, I’ll go in first with [Subaquatic Bomb]…”

“That’s not a bad idea, but [Subaquatic Bomb] has a 15-minute cooldown and also needs to be used for the 2nd wave. So, fall behind; it’s better to let Olim-ie go here.”

“I think the timing is a bit tight. Even if I push through with [Dash], the maximum speed I can achieve is…”

The other guild members calmly took this in, as if it was commonplace for Seo Dawon to have studied this much. To take it further, the guild members seemed to be actively promoting their skills, providing Seo Dawon with more cards in his deck of skills to use.

For example, if a boss monster began to fly, Seo Dawon would use the skill [Gravity] to crush its flight; it took 30 seconds for the skill to be cast. In other words, the guild members needed to fill that 30 second time gap where Seo Dawon would cast his own skill with skills of their own.

The most stable pattern was the one in which Woo Ragi would come to the front and Kim Olim followed with an attack of her own. This method wasn’t so bad if Kim Olim was dealing with a few monsters. However, if surrounded by 3 or 4 monsters, Woo Ragi might be attacked as well. The assist timing might not be accurate.

In such a case,  Jo Chanyoung would come forward, saying he’d assist in retrieval efforts for the other guildmates or Bae Jaemin would say he’d position himself so that he could assist by casting strength buffs. Like this, the skill path was devised, accounting for failures and other member inputs. Around 20 failsafes for each situation were created.

What was also impressive was that all the other guild members clearly knew their own limits; if they expressed that they couldn’t do something, Seo Dawon embraced.

I sat there, silently observing their conversation while drenched in a strange sense of defeat until the lights in the conference room were turned back on.

I couldn’t open my mouth, not for fear of courting the others’ suspicions, but because I was hit with the reality that the way that I, Choi Lee-kyung,  had fought so far was really too abysmal. Should I say I felt a gap that couldn’t be crossed with just hard work?

‘And… What on earth is Jung Garam’s level…’

Also, I was forced to speak a few times during the meeting because Seo Dawon looked at me during the middle. When two or more questions were flung my way, I felt like I was being tested; I kept Jung Garam’s status window in the corner of my view while answering.

So naturally, I was led to observe Jung Garam’s status window in more detail than before… I had almost released a deep sigh in the middle of the meeting, but I managed to keep my mouth shut. I knew that there would be a bit of a gap between me and the others, but… I didn’t know that the gap would be so large that I couldn’t even dare overcome it.

“Then, let’s proceed this way first. I’ll instruct you all in case of unexpected situations.” Seo Dawon said.

“Fine.”

“Understood, Guildmaster-nim.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Thanks for your hard work.” 1

Even while I was shocked in many ways, the meeting ended smoothly; the gathered guild members stood up from their seats.

“Thanks for all your hard work…” So, I stumbled to my feet and, like the other guild members, gave my parting greetings. I moved to follow Choi Kyung-sik, but…

“Ah. Garam-ie should stay behind for a moment.” Seo Dawon chillingly said as he lowered the blinds.

‘…W-What is it? Did I do something wrong? Does he suspect something?’

His words definitely made me uneasy. Seo Dawon’s expression was genial, but that alone could not soothe my tension.

I wanted to ask why he asked me to stay behind, but my mouth wouldn’t open. Instead, I held my hands together–as if in prayer–under the desk.

Strangely, though I was the only one told to stay behind, Bae Jaemin, who had been strangely absent throughout the meeting, did not leave the conference room and sullenly remained in his seat.

“What’s wrong?” Seo Dawon asked Bae Jaemin. Bae Jaemin hesitated a little and glanced at me; it was as if whatever he wanted to say was difficult to express in front of me. Seo Dawon also noticed that gaze, and seemed contemplative as he looked alternatively between me and the Priest.

“I won’t take up much of your time.” Bae Jaemin said, gaining the initiative and locking eyes with the Mage.

Seo Dawon stared at him before turning towards me. “Wait outside the door for a minute.”

“Yes, yes…” Tasting liberation, I quickly got up from my seat. As I passed Bae Jaemin and was about to exit the conference room, I heard  Seo Dawon’s cold voice–piercing, like a spear to the back of my head.

“You must have something important to say, Jaemin-ah.”

“……”

If I were Bae Jaemin, I would have paled at that threatening tone.

FootnotesHonestly, I had a hard time thinking of how to translate this. In the end, I took Papago’s suggestion. However, this is less grateful than the translation makes it out to be. Honestly, ‘수고하셨습니다’ does mean ‘good job’ or ‘thanks for all your hard work’ but it’s something people say reflexively.