Chapter Text
“Unfortunately for the reporters, it’s now time for the hunters-only portion of the evening. To Seokyoung’s new family members, we’ll hand out portal stones. Once you’re ready, please head directly to the Royal Banquet Hall.”
“Wow, a portal stone.”
“They’re giving out a portal stone to each person?”
Exclamations rang out here and there. Portal stones, crafted from dungeon byproducts, were items that allowed movement to designated locations and were quite expensive. For the distance from Gangnam to Royal Banquet Hall, they would likely be C-rank. Even at C-rank, each was priced around five million won.
“Unbelievable. Are they boasting about being number one in the world? So annoying.”
“We’re part of the Seokyoung guild now, though.”
“Oh, right. Does this mean we’ve entered an era where we commute using portal stones?”
“Wake up, idiot. Even the Seokyoung guild leader wouldn’t waste two portal stones a day for commuting.”
The former guild leader, Gi Sanghyuk, crushed the guild members’ hopeful dreams. He went on praising the Seokyoung guild leader as a thorough and rational person, while beside Yoon Seo, Park Soobin chuckled softly. When Yoon Seo glanced at him, Park Soobin looked slightly embarrassed.
“The Seokyoung guild leader… doesn’t really seem like a thorough person.”
“You know him?”
“Not exactly. It’s just a feeling.”
Yoon Seo became certain that Park Soobin knew the Seokyoung guild leader. However, there was no time to dig deeper.
“Alright, everyone, change your clothes and don’t be late.”
The former guild leader issued the order as guild members retrieved their belongings at the hall’s exit.
“Yes!”
“See you at the banquet hall.”
However, as luck (or the gods) would have it, they did not arrive at the banquet hall. Exclamations and shocked screams filled the air as hunters, both initially at the ceremony and not, as well as civilians abruptly teleported to a large room.
The first on their feet were naturally the more experienced hunters. They quickly took inventory and scanned the surroundings.
The room seemed quite large and had a strange seating arrangement. It almost looked like a stadium: the seats lined the room which didn't seem to have a door or any other type of entrance. Im the middle are screens positioned so that everyone could see whatever would be shown later. It reminded some of the hunters of a sports stadium.
As the others began to panic even more, the crowd started to escalate the situation. Lower ranked hunters or those with bad tempers used their various skills and objects to try and regain some control, however this only worsened the situation. Civilians and even some other hunters began to get hit by stray attacks, leading to more hysteria.
The hunters that had initially stayed cool tried to take charge, but in some areas this was no longer possible by the time they realized their predicament.
Thankfully, the Guild of Leaves were close to Seokyoung’s area and deferred to them. As the hunters in Seokyoung were quick to regain their senses and remained somewhat calm during this time, they too stayed quiet. However Park Youngbum and Heewon Goh quickly scrambled to Yoon Seo with Heewon clinging to his arm. Yoon Seo's indifference was exactly what they needed to retain their sanity in such a shocking situation.
Unbeknownst to them though, Yoon Seo was also startled and a bit panicked. While he has never used a portal stone, its clear this was not the expected result. Letting Heewon Goh cling to him, he quickly takes out his medication and takes two pills, dry.
Park Soobin too wanders over, concerned and stress written on his face. "Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, thanks Soobin-oppa," Heewon replied shakily.
"Yes, thank you," came Yoon Seo's dry response.
Park Youngbum on the other hand quietly screamed at Park Soobin, stress from the unexpected predicament eating away at his manners: "No! Well, we're not hurt if thats what you mean but how vould we be alright in this situation?! I thought the stones were supposed to take us to the banquet hall, not some weird stadium! And how can we get out, there's no exits anywhere that I can see!"
Shouts all around the room echo this sentiment.
"Where are we?!"
"How did i get here?!"
Park Soobin didn't take offense because he too is stressed, despite the rigorous training he underwent in Seokyoung before being sent to the Guild of Leaves to spy on Yoon Seo. If even he's this alarmed, he can only imagine how agitated everyone else is. If anything, Yoon Seo's composure is out of place and quite admirable.
"Well, Seokyoung and most of their upper ranks are here as well as other high ranking officials and hunters. I'm sure we'll be fine," he still tried to reassure them.
And its true. Even now, the higher ups began to take charge and slowly but surely the crowd quieted down. Skills were no longer thrown about haphazardly and the ones injured were quickly treated by healers.
It helped that there was absolutely nothing dangerous in this room. No monsters attacked them, no traps were triggered, nothing.
It was almost eerie..
Then, just as everyone had settled, the screens lit up. This startled a few screams out of people, but everyone quickly fell silent once again. The reason was the message on the screens.
[Gaia welcomes you.]
Everyone freezes. Gaia?
[Please take a seat. The viewing will commence once everyone has sat down.]
"What does that mean?!"
While some scrambled to follow Gaia's orders, others stood confused. What viewing? Did the System kidnap them for a movie night?
[Gaia has taken pity on you.]
While some prideful people bristled, nobody dared speak up.
[You shall be shown the past, present and future. It is your duty to learn from this.]
"What?! The future? How could that be, that's impossible!"
"No way!"
And other such comments filled the room, even higher ups start muttering, dubious. Even if it's Gaia, was showing the future really possible? And to such a large audience? Sure, there's Prophets that can technically forsee the future, butthat's related to dungeons. This didn't seem to be what Gaia was hinting at, though.
Yoo Juncheol quickly glanced at Kwon Jihan and then the famous Prophet, Grace. Could this be related to the upcoming great catastrophe?
Eventually, everyone finally sat down. Nothing appeared on the screens afterwards, so it was safe to assume that nothing would happen until everyone sat down. Even the most skeptical had no other choice than to obey. There was no exit and even S-Class skills did nothing to the room, therefore they were powerless to fight against Gaia's whims.
Naturally, everyone sat in their usual groups. Guilds stuck together, coworkers sat next to eachother and families banded together. The rare few loners stuck to the edges of other groups, not having anywhere to join but unwilling to be completely alone.
Yoon Seo was dragged to a seat in between Park Youngbum and Heewon Goh, Park Soobin sat next to Youngbum. The Guild of Leaves stuck close to one another and the Seokyoung section. They may have a raid team, but this was way above their paygrade. No, they'll continue to deffer to Seokyoung.
Kwon Jihan sat next to his hyung, Yoo Juncheol, contemplating the situation. He never expected this.
'How amazing.'