When the talk of joining the Guild came up,
I tried my best to maintain a normal expression.
But inside, I couldn’t help but panic.
‘If I submit a Guild-join request and it gets rejected because I’m already registered in a Guild, and some message pops up saying that...’
As far as I know,
it is impossible to join more than one Guild.
If they recommend that I join their Guild, then I would have to refuse.
And during that process, they might find out I already belong to a different Guild.
‘And then the lie I told will come out.’
To explain things properly,
I would have to reveal that I came from Gangwon.
[Concerning prior activities or affiliation in former region — ROK.17.]
[Unauthorized disclosure of information unobtainable in the present operational region will result in a Penalty.]
[Penalty]
[Death]
If that happens,
I die.
Not “I’m dead” as a joke,
but literally — just splat and dead for real.
How am I supposed to handle this?
While I was frantically spinning my head to escape a death that might fall on me at any moment—
“It’s unfortunate, but it’ll be difficult right now.”
“...What?”
Should I say it’s fortunate?
It seemed my fears were unnecessary.
“I mentioned him before, right? About our Chair...”
“Ah.”
Now that she said it,
I remembered hearing it in passing.
‘When survival became impossible due to the extreme climate shift, he attempted to push into Monsterland, the only livable zone left ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) — and failed... And afterward he went out to investigate the cause of the climate anomaly.’
And,
as a result of searching for that cause—
“He’s currently missing.”
“If he were only missing, that would be a relief.”
Gang Jaeho sighed.
“The problem is that he took all the Guild executives and the elite forces of the Central Branch with him.”
“He took all of the Guild executives? Not even one remained?”
“Yes.”
At those words,
I was shocked inside.
‘What were you thinking, man?’
That was...
a truly insane decision.
For a simple reason.
“You might know this, but to join a Guild you need the approval of an executive.”
Right.
Because of that.
‘Other than the Guildmaster, executives are the only ones who can access the Guild system.’
Ordinary Guild members can only view Guild information.
They cannot operate the Guild system or make any Guild-level decisions.
Because of that, even in our unit,
ever since we formed a stable above-ground base, not once
did all squad leaders participate in a single operation.
‘At minimum, someone like Team Leader Lee Sang-ah from Production always stayed behind at base.’
If every executive participated in a single battle and something happened to them there,
the existence of the Guild itself could become endangered.
‘No, actually... I’ve never experienced what happens if every executive dies, so I don’t know either.’
I decided to ask the thing bothering me.
“You all aren’t executives?”
“Oh, no. We aren’t. Strictly speaking, we’re more like subordinate groups under the Association. The executives were all stationed in the Central region with the Chair.”
“But still... you said there are only three major bases outside the Central region, right? Shouldn’t at least one executive be here?”
“That would be ideal, but... this Guild was originally created by the Chair and his companions. By the time we later joined, all executive positions were already filled. And forcing an executive from the Central group into a region that already had its own leaders was... politically difficult. Each group already had people performing leadership roles, and you can’t just shove them aside...”
Well,
hearing all this, it seemed their unification process had happened extremely fast.
You can’t smoothly sort out every detail during such rapid integration.
Each regional group would have already had its own leading figures.
Pushing them all aside to put Guild executives above them would obviously create backlash.
In the end—
“Still, before the expedition, Guild executives were spread across each major base. It made it easier to deliver information to each region via ‘Guild Messages.’”
Those executives weren’t exactly base leaders,
but more like what I currently am:
advisors stationed at each important location.
“They only took them along for that one expedition.”
“......”
And as a result of that expedition failing miserably—
those who participated aren’t shown as dead in the Guild system,
but they are missing.
‘So the Guild system is effectively paralyzed.’
Gang Jaeho sighed again.
“It was that important of an expedition... They must not have imagined they’d fail with so much power gathered.”
“......”
Indeed.
From everything I’ve heard, Gyeonggi’s situation worsened dramatically because of this extreme cold.
Anyone would know the future would be bleak unless they solved that.
It was an expedition that could not afford to fail.
And if you assume they wanted to bring as strong a force as possible,
it makes sense.
But—
they failed a mission that could not fail.
That’s the problem.
“Most of the survivors are already Guild-registered, so that’s fortunate, but the recently awakened have no Guild.”
Gang Jaeho bowed his head toward me like someone truly ashamed.
“I’m really sorry to you too, Youngjun... but Guild registration is impossible at the moment.”
“Oh, no. I was always on my own anyway.”
“There’s a Guild Skill you gain as soon as you join. It would really help you, Youngjun... but we end up only receiving help from you and can’t give back anything...”
No.
I was honestly completely fine.
Inside, I was sighing with relief.
I wouldn’t have been able to join anyway.
‘And judging by what I’ve heard, their Guild Skill is probably inferior to the Legion’s.’
The “Guild Skill” still functions even after crossing the Wall.
Meaning, of everyone here,
the one receiving the greatest benefit from the Guild system...
is probably me.
And the reason they were explaining all this was because—
“This is the situation we’re in.”
It was because I asked if there was anything I could help them with.
“How can I help?”
“Well... excluding the Chair’s disappearance, the other issues... to be honest, there are many.”
“But?”
“If you ask what exactly we want you to help with... the truth is... we don’t even know.”
Gang Jaeho let out a long sigh.
“If we put it bluntly, it’s a total mess. Too many problems at once, and we don’t even know how to solve them.”
“Food shortages are basic, and materials and manpower are always lacking...”
As the mood darkened,
Han Iseo spoke with the brightest tone she could manage.
“B-but! If you ask whether we have any massive problems right this moment, that’s actually not true, right?”
“...Really?”
“You see, because the survivor population is small, the existing bases can house everyone. Previously, the problem was that we had too few Awakeners capable of producing food.”
All three turned their eyes to me.
“But thanks to you, that food problem is solved!”
Ah.
As expected, the most important thing anywhere in this era is food.
And now that food is secured because I joined,
there is no immediate risk of collapse.
“We have a lot of other problems, but... in the end, they all come from one cause.”
“And that cause is...?”
“That blizzard raging outside.”
The thing they already failed once to fix.
It is the cause of nearly everything.
“The Chair failed, and we can’t attempt it again... So the best we can do is maintain the status quo. Even that has improved a lot thanks to you.”
“Hmm. Certainly, expanding territory or conquering new regions is impossible, but if we don’t get greedy, simply holding this base isn’t that hard.”
In the end.
There’s nothing specific I can help with.
And all they can do is maintain their current state.
‘The old me would never accept such complacency.’
Maintaining the status quo.
It sounds neat,
but in reality—
as time goes on, monsters will only become stronger.
To survive those enemies,
simply staying here isn’t enough.
They would need to constantly push, fight, and reach better conditions...
But—
‘These people aren’t my forces.’
I only came to help with my own strength.
I didn’t come to lead them.
So then—
‘...Maintaining the status quo might actually not be a bad choice.’
For them, right now,
being able to maintain stability is actually a very favorable situation.
After all—
‘That Wall has a high chance of opening someday.’
If they can just endure,
someday,
‘we’
the Legion,
will be able to come help them.
Assuming the Wall eventually opens,
this really isn’t a bad plan.
It’s not bad at all, and yet...
‘Why do I feel so uneasy?’
Call it intuition.
A strange uneasiness dominated me.
What it kept whispering was—
‘This climate anomaly...’
If they’re counting on the Wall disappearing eventually,
then this absurd anomalous weather covering Gyeonggi—
it can’t exist for no reason.
If this climate exists because something is causing it,
then will “maintaining the status quo” really be enough...?
That thought kept coming.
“We’ve finished explaining our situation... now, regarding the matter you requested.”
While I was lost in those thoughts,
the Northern Branch leaders continued.
“Fortunately, we can repay you at least somewhat for the help you gave us.”
“...What?”
“The list of people you wanted us to find, the one you submitted last time.”
At those words,
I had no room left to think about my unease.
“Some of them were active around the Northern region.”
BANG!
“Where?”
It’s selfish, but—
the biggest reason I crossed into Gyeonggi wasn’t to save its survivors.
It was for myself and my unit members’ precious people.
And now, some of them...
are alive near here.
Maybe...
it could be the parents I’ve been searching for all this time.
****
This place is called the Northern Branch,
but it didn’t mean there was only one base in the northern part of Gyeonggi.
In fact, many groups were scattered around.
The main Branches simply managed and represented those groups.
Movement between groups was difficult due to the blizzard,
but the roads between the larger and smaller bases were somewhat maintained.
So I walked through the raging snowstorm,
following the guide from the Northern Branch toward another small group.
And—
among those scattered small groups,
“That’s them.”
the people I was searching for
were mixed in.
In the distance,
a dignified-looking couple.
As soon as I saw their faces, I nodded.
Of course I did.
I had seen those faces before.
