* * *
“I can’t handle this alone. I’ll have to ask my brother for help.”
Yeo Giwon quickly attempted to send a message to Doyoung, but a sudden hand stopped him in his tracks.
“What are you doing?”
Yeo Giwon stared at Beom Sinje with an incredulous expression.
Beom Sinje, however, frowned, clearly displeased with something.
“You’re the one who’s overstepping here.”
“Honestly, my brother handles situations like this way better than we do.”
“Don’t. He’s unwell and resting. What kind of person drags someone out of bed just to deal with some pests? It’ll only cause trouble if they swarm him.”
“He can handle this from home.”
“Forget it. We can manage this on our own. Don’t say a word to him.”
Something was off.
Beom Sinje’s reaction felt unusually intense, but Yeo Giwon couldn’t put his finger on why.
Regardless of Yeo Giwon’s suspicions, Beom Sinje successfully posted the notice on the official website.
The effects were immediate.
“Hey, what are you going to do about this? The calls, texts, and complaints are pouring in, and the internet’s in an uproar.”
It was only after Yeo Giwon promised not to contact Doyoung that he got his phone back.
Checking the online reaction quickly, his face twisted with frustration.
“What did you expect?”
“Look at this. People are calling you insane!”
He raised his voice, exasperated, but Beom Sinje only responded with a calm, detached expression, as if to say, “So what?”
It was becoming increasingly clear to Yeo Giwon that Doyoung was the only one who could fix this mess.
Resolute, Yeo Giwon left the guildmaster’s office and headed straight for the underground parking lot.
Beom Sinje, lost in thought, didn’t even notice him leave.
Caught in his own worries, Beom Sinje was startled when Doyoung called him, his tone sharp and authoritative, as always.
- What the hell is going on? How do you even justify this mess?
“I’ve always wondered. Why have you been so kind to me all this time?”
- What are you talking about?
“You know what I mean. We’re not relatives, we have no real connection. Honestly, I’ve never understood why you’d go to such lengths for me.”
Beom Sinje closed his eyes slowly, focusing on the voice on the other end of the line.
His investigation into the Antithesis—or, more precisely, his digging into Doyoung—had started shortly after Doyoung disappeared.
While part of him wanted to find Doyoung, he also wanted answers about why Doyoung had acted as he did.
- Is that really what’s important right now?
“What do you think? Does it seem that way to you?”
- What are you trying to say?
Doyoung’s voice was more confused than irritated, his tone laced with unease.
It made sense—Beom Sinje’s sudden line of questioning would have seemed completely out of the blue to anyone.
“You remember, don’t you? What I asked you back then.”
What was he talking about?
Doyoung frowned.
He was already struggling to follow Beom Sinje’s erratic remarks.
Initially, he had called to reprimand him for causing trouble.
But now Beom Sinje was dragging Doyoung’s own actions into the conversation, questioning his motives in a way that made no sense.
‘Don’t tell me he’s acting like this because I used to be the leader of the Antithesis.’
If that were the case, Doyoung had to stop him immediately.
The last thing he needed was the renowned guildmaster of Chunho being accused of supporting a former criminal organization.
The government, which already viewed Chunho as a thorn in its side, would pounce on the opportunity to undermine them.
The problem was Beom Sinje’s stubbornness.
At that moment, Beom Sinje’s voice cut through his thoughts again.
- But now, I think I’m starting to understand.
“Understand what?”
Doyoung’s irritation seeped into his voice.
He couldn’t stand seeing Beom Sinje obsess over irrelevant matters when there were more urgent problems at hand.
‘He’s still so young.’
No matter how mature or dependable Beom Sinje tried to act, moments like this revealed his youth.
It was painfully obvious in more ways than one—even in bed.
The stray thought startled Doyoung, and he shook his head vigorously as if to rid himself of it.
Before he could fully recover, Beom Sinje’s next words hit him like a bombshell.
- Why you did what you did.
Doyoung froze, trying to decipher what Beom Sinje meant.
‘What does he think he knows?’
No matter how he looked at it, there was no way Beom Sinje could have figured out the truth.
“Alright, we’ll talk about this later. I’m busy now. Goodbye.”
Beom Sinje abruptly ended the call, leaving Doyoung staring at his phone in disbelief.
“What the hell? What does he actually know?”
Replaying their interactions, Doyoung couldn’t find any clues that Beom Sinje might have uncovered something.
But the nagging sense of unease lingered as he dialed another number.
- Hello? Na Secretary, I heard you’re unwell. Are you feeling better?
As the familiar voice answered, Doyoung muttered to himself with a wry smile.
“Seems like everyone knows I’ve been sick.”
“Of course. The Guild Master of Beom Sinje was so worried about you. And if anyone tried to reach out to you, they’d get scolded for disturbing your rest.”
Hearing that, Doyoung’s expression turned incredulous.
He could understand that for Yeo Giwon, but to hear that they said the same thing to Sarah?
What was Beom Sinje up to, anyway?
“I apologize for not managing work smoothly due to personal circumstances. But you’ve been receiving updates from the service center, haven’t you?”
When asked about his personal circumstances, Doyoung completely ignored the question and diverted the topic instead.
“Yes, they’ve been complaining, you know? They’ve been saying that more customers have been visiting recently, and just as things were stabilizing, they asked if closing the office was really necessary.”
“I didn’t say to close it. I just told them to keep it simple.”
After all, he couldn’t outright tell them to abandon work that was tied to their livelihood.
He only suggested that they take it easy.
“Well, that’s probably because it’s not much of a moneymaker. Anyway, that’s their business. So, what’s the reason for your call?”
Sara, seemingly done with showing concern for her old comrades, got to the point.
“Have you heard of the Dungeon Ecology Research Institute?”
“Hm? No. What is that? The name alone sounds awfully suspicious.”
Sarah always had a sharp instinct.
She could grasp the essence of something just from its name—though she was likely half-joking this time.
“It’s been causing a stir since this morning. Don’t tell me you haven’t caught wind of it? Seems like you’ve been paying no attention to this side of things since changing your focus.”
That’s not ideal.
Especially for the head of a global company aiming to collaborate widely with other guilds in the future.
“My negligence. I’ll reflect on it. I’ll gather information on that right away and report back.”
Sarah promptly admitted fault after Doyoung’s sharp words.
“Look into what their true nature is. They’re acting unpleasantly, like an Antithesis wannabe.”
“Them?”
Her tone now carried a hint of ridicule.
And rightly so—what kind of group dared to emulate Antithesis?
“Yeah. That’s the talk going around.”
“Wow, we must’ve done a lot of meaningful work if people are trying to imitate us.”
“Don’t be proud of that.”
“Why not? Everyone who knows anything knows you’re the one who laid the foundation for private guilds in Korea.”
“They don’t need to know that.”
“Oh, come now, Zero. That won’t do. If no one recognizes the hardships we endured, it’s all too meaningless, isn’t it?”
Meaningless?
Not in the slightest.
Doyoung’s lips curled into a bitter smile.
He had always wanted to wash his hands of it all and live a quiet life.
* * *
