Chapter 33 – Striking a Rock with an Egg!

Se-min looked in the mirror and applied toner.

“I wouldn’t be out of place even if a cosmetics commercial offer came in.”

After slapping his face, he threw on his souvenir jacket.

Jin Bu-sik, who was slathering body lotion on his body, spoke to him.

“Brother, you have a lot of dragon jackets. Hehe!”

“It’s sponsorship.”

“Really?”

“A box arrived while I was in the hospital.”

As Se-min became famous and even the souvenir jacket became a hot topic, the brand gifted him a box of the exact same model. A letter asking him to continue using the product was written in crooked Korean.

Although he wore it roughly, it was an item embroidered stitch by stitch by local artisans.

“Hehe, can’t you give me just one?”

“No.”

“Tsk…”

Perhaps even more anxious due to the continuous rejection, Jin Bu-sik rolled his eyes.

“Are you really going to be like this, brother?”

“Everyone must be waiting. Let’s go.”

The refreshed afterparty members gathered in the lobby of the Iron Horse Company.

There, Se-min came to encounter an unexpected person.

“Ah!”

“You are!”

It was the jogging girl, Kim Seon-ha, whom he had a connection with since his bottom days.

Although several years had passed, she looked completely unchanged. Kim Seon-ha scanned Se-min up and down with a provocative expression.

“The impudent and fat Raider aspirant has grown up a lot, hasn’t he?”

Se-min also made a fierce expression, creasing his nasolabial folds.

“Wasn’t I originally taller than you anyway?”

The two glared at each other. Bang Yu-bi even joined their war of nerves and stood beside Kim Seon-ha. The hostility of the two women was directed at Se-min.

Se-min put his hands in his pockets and thrust his face forward, engaging in a staring contest.

“Lower your eyes.”

“You first.”

“Huh?”

“What are you going to do about it?”

It was truly a battle of pride between third-rate hoodlums.

Just then, Ryu Gwan-cheol walked down the stairs.

“Sorry I’m late. Are the two of you fighting?”

In an instant, Se-min and Kim Seon-ha corrected their postures and expressions.

“No, Hyung-nim!”

“What are you talking about?”

They smiled at each other like friends. It was extremely awkward. Ryu Gwan-cheol approached and smiled warmly.

“Get along well as fellow Raiders. Will Assistant Manager Kim come along too?”

“Me too?”

“I believe your schedule for today is over.”

Over Ryu Gwan-cheol’s shoulder, Se-min shook his head with a fierce expression. It was a signal telling her not to come. However, without even looking at Se-min, Kim Seon-ha smiled brightly and nodded.

“Of course.”

At that moment, Se-min saw something dwelling in Kim Seon-ha’s eyes.

However, noticing his gaze, Kim Seon-ha picked a fight by mouthing ‘what are you looking at’, and the something he saw quickly vanished.

“Then, shall we go?”

“Yes.”

***

Soon, they headed to a Hanwoo beef specialty restaurant located near the Iron Horse Company. The owner, who was acquainted with Ryu Gwan-cheol, welcomed them warmly.

There were Se-min and four from the Iron Horse Company, and five from the Limitless Association, ten people in total.

A room for group guests was prepared.

Se-min wanted to sit next to Ryu Gwan-cheol, but Jin Bu-sik had already taken the seat beside him. On the other side sat Bang Yu-bi. It was truly a seating arrangement with nowhere to run.

He wanted to make a sly escape, but Jin Bu-sik did not let him go.

“Brother, you even know the Limitless Association rules. Honestly, don’t you want to join the Limitless Association? Hehe!”

“No.”

“With brother’s skills, you’re upper-tier even among Platinums. If you come to the Limitless Association, we’ll treat you generously!”

“Just treat that fellow Yoon Mu-jin well.”

“Mu-jin? Mu-jin has also grown quickly. He will soon become the main pillar of the Limitless Association.”

“The future of the company is bright.”

Se-min resigned himself and took charge of the grill.

There were two tables. At the next table, Ryu Gwan-cheol was grilling the meat himself. The young Raiders of the Limitless Association and the Iron Horse Company volunteered to grill it themselves, but Ryu Gwan-cheol did not let go of the tongs.

It was the appearance of a president leading by example.

He was indeed a man worthy of respect.

Se-min glanced at Kim Seon-ha, who was seated next to Ryu Gwan-cheol. She struck up conversations to take the tongs from Ryu Gwan-cheol, but he did not give them up.

“President, please let me work too.”

“It’s fine.”

“Oh, come on. I can do it too.”

“Assistant Manager Kim should just eat. As the president, I should do at least this much.”

Se-min saw that something wavering in her eyes once more.

Sure enough, humans were incomprehensible entities.

They said Ryu Gwan-cheol’s wife was currently pregnant. While everyone congratulated him, only Kim Seon-ha’s face was somehow dark. However, that expression was momentary, quickly vanishing along with her bright voice joking that he should have at least three children.

Unrequited love.

Could it be that Iana Nuna also has a hidden lover?

Sub sobered up, Se-min, craving alcohol, clashed glasses with those sitting at the table.

As the intoxication rose, the atmosphere grew lighter. Se-min also relaxed, even starting to think that perhaps Jin Bu-sik was just an uncle with a light personality.

Furthermore, his laughter had a strange addictiveness.

“There won’t be another opportunity like this. Think about it carefully, brother! Hehe!”

“No thanks. Hehe!”

“Huh? Did you just copy me?”

“It was a m-mistake.”

“Hehe! I think you copied me? Hehehe!”

Bang Yu-bi also became talkative once alcohol entered her system.

“There is a rumor that you fell beyond the Gate and returned, is it true? How was it there?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m curious, you know. Is that why you got strong? Even though you got beaten by me in the past…”

Jin Bu-sik showed interest.

“What? I guess Bang sister won in the past?”

“Of course. When I deployed the Subduing Demon Sword, he was trembling all over…”

Se-min tapped Bang Yu-bi’s shoulder.

“What are you talking about? You resemble your senior to a T, spreading wild rumors.”

“You just cursed Seon-ha Eonni, didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t exactly cursing, but…”

“I’m disappointed. Curser.”

“Hey, let’s listen to what people are saying.”

Jin Bu-sik stood up, shaking his head as if disappointed.

“Geez, I’m disappointed in you, brother. I should leave.”

“Goodbye.”

Se-min replied promptly. Jin Bu-sik spoke as if hurt.

“It’s a joke. I’m going to the restroom. Hehe!”

When he left his seat, another Raider of the Limitless Association who was sitting there spoke to him.

“By the way, Se-min-ssi, how did you get so strong? It’s not like you learned martial arts from a company like us.”

“Right. A dragon rising from a stream is an old saying, but I’ve never seen anyone like Se-min-ssi. You didn’t learn it at your current company, did you?”

The reason why they preferred large corporations as their realm rose was indeed martial arts. Only by belonging to a large company could one obtain strong martial arts. The representative company that expanded its influence in such a manner was the Limitless Association.

“I was curious too.”

Bang Yu-bi also showed interest. Although Ryu Gwan-cheol was at the Iron Horse Company, there would exist limitations regarding martial arts. Considering the time they raided Odoros, the Iron Horse Company’s lightness skill seemed incomplete.

Se-min just smiled.

“I was just lucky.”

There was nothing more to explain.

He was sincere.

How could he have accessed the Transcendent Network? And how was it that Dokgo Cheonma, of all people, took an interest in him there, allowing him to be taught a divine art like the Tai Chi Wisdom?

Such nonsensical good fortune was granted to a dropout who rotted away every day.

Perhaps that was why he was even more enthusiastic about raids. If this was destiny, he must not waste this destiny.

“Luck, huh.”

Bang Yu-bi raised her finger.

“In the raid industry, there is a saying that luck is also a skill. Since being born with aura is ultimately all luck too.”

“Thinking about it that way, all of us are lucky. Right?”

They laughed.

Se-min also smiled and placed meat on their front plates.

After looking around once at the faces of the afterparty members whose faces had turned flushed, Se-min stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“To the restroom.”

Se-min walked out to the hallway.

Voices of people were heard from here and there in the rooms spread left and right. The prices were by no means cheap, but business seemed to be going well.

He saw Jin Bu-sik just coming out of the restroom.

Perhaps he was quite drunk, as his steps staggered. He had not seen Se-min yet.

Suddenly, Jin Bu-sik slightly bumped shoulders with a passing man.

Jin Bu-sik turned back and called the other party.

“Hey.”

The opponent was a middle-aged man in a suit. He looked flustered, stared at Jin Bu-sik, and raised his hand to apologize.

“Ah, sorry.”

“Watch where you’re going, you fucker.”

He blinked his eyes, flustered.

“A fellow who looks young speaking like that…”

“What are you going to do about it?”

Jin Bu-sik had no hesitation.

“Is getting old something to brag about? Huh?”

At that moment, Se-min and the middle-aged man met eyes. His face flushed red. Muttering something, he eventually apologized again.

“Cough, sorry.”

He went into the restroom quickly. Jin Bu-sik laughed at his back.

“A bastard who only grew old acting cocky.”

He giggled for a while.

Jin Bu-sik turned around again, then discovered Se-min.

Se-min thought he would be flustered. However, Jin Bu-sik instead smiled brightly, approached Se-min, and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Is brother going to the restroom too?”

Se-min sobered up instantly.

“I met an annoying old geezer. Hehe. You saw him shrinking before me, right?”

He had forgotten for a moment. Those called Raiders were full of bastards not worth associating with. The talent of aura did not discriminate by character.

Raiders possessed physical force that could easily crush a normal person to death, and were guaranteed financial abundance through raids. That often turned a person into a monster.

Se-min did not see the Jin Bu-sik before him as the same species as him.

“What’s wrong?”

Jin Bu-sik smirked at Se-min.

Perhaps Jin Bu-sik was not a bad person. At least to the people around him. His colleagues would think of him as a light but amiable person.

He was a member of the Limitless Association and a Platinum-mark Raider. If he just smiled here, Se-min would become Jin Bu-sik’s close younger brother without any problem and enjoy benefits within their fence.

As a Raider of the same kind.

Se-min raised his eyes.

A mirror hung on the wall separating the men’s and women’s restrooms. He was reflected, wearing the souvenir jacket.

There was no particular meaning to this clothing. Somehow it became his symbol. It was an item that the protagonists of old Japanese motorcycle gang manga used to wear.

It was a violent manga that only dealt with fistfights, and all the characters were hoodlums, but even those guys would shake their heads in this scene.

Let alone when the protagonist of this scene was none other than the man, Lee Se-min.

Se-min passed by Jin Bu-sik. Their shoulders bumped.

Jin Bu-sik widened his eyes.

“Huh?”

Se-min looked back.

Staring into Jin Bu-sik’s eyes, he grinned.

“Watch where you’re going, you fucker.”