“No! Please don’t turn us over to the authorities! We’ll do anything! We beg you!”
“Then hand over all the money you have.”
Man En’s tone was somewhat harsh, clearly running out of patience.
But the four of them just looked at each other. After a long pause, the burly man finally steeled himself to reply to Man En.
“Well… we can’t accept that either… but we’ll do anything else you ask! Even lick your shoes…”
‘Still not enough. I need to apply more pressure.’
“Forget it. Scum like you should just be handed over to the authorities.”
This declaration was like a thunderclap out of the blue. The four of them instantly wilted upon hearing it.
Perhaps sensing that Man En had made up his mind, they knew no amount of pleading would work.
“Um… young sir… before you send us to jail, could we ask you for one favor?”
Man En ignored him, but the burly man kept talking on his own.
“The truth is, us four brothers were forced into this. Our mother is gravely ill… she needs money… a lot of money…”
Hearing this, Man En paused.
“We really shouldn’t have done this. We knew one day we might get caught by the authorities.”
“But if it means letting our mother live one more day, we’d do anything…”
Man En sneered at that excuse.
“Blame it all on your mother and still act so righteous? Couldn’t you earn money the honest way?”
“It’s not enough!”
The burly man suddenly roared, tears streaming down like a burst dam.
“It’s simply not enough!”
“Even if we work nonstop, we still can’t make ends meet. We’ve borrowed from everyone we know. What else could we do?”
“I…”
Man En suddenly froze. He realized that whatever he said would be hollow. He had no standing to condemn them.
In his past life, the society he lived in had a well-established system. In this life, he was a noble’s son. But he had forgotten that these four were just commoners.
“…”
“This time… I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything.”
Man En reached out and untied the four of them. At the same time, he slipped a tiny magic stone into the burly man’s pocket.
“You… you’re really letting us go?”
“Don’t let me catch you doing this again!”
With that, Man En turned and walked away, leaving the four of them staring at each other.
“Brother… what do we do now?”
The burly man let out a long sigh. “He was right, actually. We were just making excuses for what we did.”
“God sent him to stop us because He didn’t want to see us fall into the abyss, right?”
“But… what about Mother? The medicine will only last a few more days…”
“We’ll do what we can…”
“So we won’t regret it later!”
—
Man En walked alone toward the guild headquarters, a mix of emotions churning inside him.
Though he had wanted to get more information from those men, he was still concerned about what they would choose.
But now was not the time to dwell on that.
‘Anyway, I need to join the guild as soon as possible. Then I can look into their situation later.’
Entering the guild again, he approached the receptionist.
She looked no more than twenty, with delicate features and a faint smile on her face.
“Hello, how may I help you? Would you like to register as an adventurer in our guild?”
“Yes.”
Man En nodded.
“Alright, please wait a moment.”
She took out a small booklet and handed it to Man En. It listed the adventurer ranks and various rules.
Man En glanced through it and got a general understanding of the guild’s rules.
Simply put, after registration, there would be a strength test.
Passing the evaluation for a certain rank granted that rank. Man En’s goal was the Red Iron rank.
Because the missions assigned to Red Iron adventurers covered the entire Dalkez City. It was also not too flashy or attention-grabbing.
“May I ask if you’d like to register under your real name?”
“No, just a code name.”
“I’ll go with Thunderlight.”
She nodded in confirmation, quickly entered the information, and officially registered Man En as a guild member.
“Then, please follow me.”
Soon, under her guidance, Man En arrived at a space covered in magic.
“This is where we test abilities—the Magic Training Ground. Which rank would you like to challenge?”
Without hesitation, Man En answered.
“Red Iron.”
“Good luck…”
With those words, the receptionist’s figure slowly faded, and the surroundings transformed into a plain.
Over a dozen wolf-like magic beasts stared intently at Man En, their green eyes gleaming fiercely as they approached him.
‘Oh? An ordinary simulation shouldn’t be this realistic. It must be using magic to connect to my consciousness.’
Man En marveled at the magic’s ingenuity, not paying the wolves any attention.
With a howl, they all pounced at him at once.
The next moment, Man En walked out nonchalantly, leaving behind the wolf-shaped beasts lying scattered on the ground and the large “Passed” sign at the entrance.
Though he was curious about the other rank tests in the guild, he decided to try them after handling his affairs.
He found the girl who had guided him and received his guild certification.
“Alright, you are now an official adventurer. But there are a few things I need to explain.”
“To accept missions from the guild, you need to pay a deposit of 10% of the reward. This amount will be included in your reward upon completion, so don’t worry.”
“What if I don’t complete the mission on time?”
“In that case, the deposit will not be refunded. So please choose your missions carefully.”
‘That’s pretty steep… but it’s probably because of such strict rules that the guild has grown so big. After all, this guild is famous for its extremely high mission completion rate.’
And because of its solid reputation, it could charge higher service fees, which in turn allowed adventurers to earn more money.
“That’s all for the explanation on accepting missions. If you don’t want to pay the deposit, you can also join someone else’s team. However, any final split of rewards is outside the guild’s intervention.”
“I see. By the way, does the guild help with finding teams?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Then put my information up. Any mission will do.”
With that, Man En left the guild.
He looked at the sky. It was dusk.
Feeling the fluctuation of the magic stone he had placed in the burly man’s pocket, he noticed the position had stabilized. They had probably returned home.
Though he didn’t think they had lied, he decided to go check. After all, winning people over required a combination of grace and severity.
Having made up his mind, he headed toward the source of the magic stone’s fluctuation.
At the edge of Dalkez City, in the slums.
After working all afternoon, the four brothers returned carrying two bags of medicine.
Seeing their mother still bedridden, a trace of disappointment crept onto their already weary faces.
The burly man took out the medicine and accepted the water his brother handed him.
He carefully fed the medicine to his mother, waited a moment, then helped her lie down slowly.
“My illness… it can’t be cured, can it?”
“No, Mother, as long as you take your medicine on time…”
But the mother cut him off.
“Don’t lie to me…”
“I’m your mother. How could I not know what you’re thinking…”
At this, the four of them lowered their heads and stood in silence.
“It’s enough… you’ve done enough…”
“Don’t waste your lives on me anymore.”
“Mother… we…”
“I can vouch that they’re not lying.”
Their gazes all turned to the source of the voice. It was Man En, leaning against one half of the door.
“Young sir?! How did you know where we lived?”
“Good. So you weren’t lying.”
Man En didn’t intend to answer him and changed the subject.
“I can help with your mother’s situation. But in return, you’ll have to agree to a condition of mine…”