The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

Thanks to taking some time to look around, I managed to catch Unahar who was hiding in the corner of the arcade.

“R-Rudel? Suddenly…?”

Unahar blushed just from meeting my gaze. He even stuttered.

“I have a favor to ask.”

Bringing up yesterday’s events would only backfire. I had to act naturally, as if nothing had happened, to help Unahar calm down.

I smiled and nonchalantly made my request.

“You know the dance we’re learning? The one we do in pairs. I’ve forgotten some of the steps. Can you be my partner for a bit?”

Unahar covered his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at me blankly for some reason.

“S-Sure…”

It was good that he didn’t refuse, but I felt like I came off as a bit overbearing.

He looked like someone who had been teased.

Unahar, lowering his golden eyes shyly, followed behind me.

I glanced back several times to make sure he was following, and each time, Unahar quickly averted his gaze.

As a result, we failed to make eye contact.

However, when we stood face to face as dance partners in the underground training room, Unahar couldn’t avoid it anymore.

Still looking down, he extended his right hand to me.

I took his right hand and placed my left hand on his waist, not touching but hovering slightly above.

However, Unahar held my waist quite firmly. His large hand gripped my waist.

This was the first time I was dancing with Unahar, and we were more in sync than I expected.

Sometimes, I would bend backwards in a flashy move, or place my foot on top of his to lift myself into the air, successfully executing the steps.

As we danced, I noticed Unahar’s lips part slightly, out of breath. His cheeks and ears had turned bright red.

Had all the awkwardness melted away with just one dance? Good. No need to stir up past events.

On closer look, Unahar seemed unexpectedly easygoing.

We moved in perfect harmony, even managing the spinning moves. Unahar, who couldn’t take his eyes off me as I spun, finally spoke.

“You’re really elegant.”

“Am I?”

What a flattery! Even as I continued the steps, I shrugged in puzzlement.

Elegant? Not precise? I thought I was executing moves like a Shaolin monk.

“No, really. You’re charming.”

At that moment, Unahar pulled me tightly into his arms.

Even for a dance move, there was no need to get this close.

I was slightly startled and leaned my upper body back a bit.

Unahar’s golden eyes were warm and earnest. It felt like a dream.

“…”

At the same time, I was uncharacteristically flustered. It felt like the first time I had been this surprised since waking up in this game world.

For a while, I couldn’t stop my pupils from trembling.

I had no choice but to acknowledge the suspicion I had vaguely denied until now.

Hadn’t I really known?

Viewers all called me ‘clueless.’ Unahar, constantly flustered and seemingly dazed around me.

Although I hadn’t confirmed anything, I tried to brush it off, thinking it was mere speculation, but I couldn’t help but have doubts.

But now everything was clear.

Under the golden glow of Unahar’s gaze fixed on me, his emotion status window appeared.

[Emotion Status] Passionate Love

As we stood holding hands, Unahar’s most secretive emotion, which he had kept hidden, was now revealed before my eyes.

Despite the many times he had blushed or been agitated in front of me, this was the first time I had seen such an emotion status.

Perhaps Unahar was more adept at suppressing his feelings than I had thought.

My head felt unusually heated. In a daze, I vaguely recalled yesterday’s events.

Upon successfully taming him, Unahar, even after returning to human form, had lost his reason and expressed bonds toward me due to a new side effect.

Regardless of how I felt, how must Unahar have felt remembering yesterday and today?

He must have felt a great deal of shame, feeling less than human.

And then perhaps discomfort? I thought he might have felt something like that.

For instance, if someone kissed me without my knowledge, even if I wasn’t the one being kissed, I wouldn’t feel particularly good about it.

Especially if I didn’t like the person, I might even scrub my lips and brush my teeth thoroughly.

However, since yesterday until today, no words like ‘shame’ or ‘humiliation’ had appeared in Unahar’s emotion status when I looked into it.

‘Embarrassment’ or ‘apology,’ maybe, but nothing like that.

In other words, Unahar had been avoiding me all this time because he couldn’t bear the thought of making me uncomfortable or causing me trouble.

In short, his honest feelings were that he didn’t dislike the act itself.

I slowly extricated myself from Unahar’s arms, pretending to continue with the next dance move smoothly.

Unahar let me go willingly, but his gaze only grew more fervent, as if he would remember me forever.

Now that I understood Unahar’s feelings, I had to decide how to respond.

I…

“Thanks for dancing with me. You did great.”

“I enjoyed it more. Shall we match one more time?”

I chose to feign ignorance.

I once said something similar to Aleon. When I rejected Aleon’s absurd confession, I laid bare my inner thoughts.

“I’m not interested in things like romance.”

Unahar must have heard those words back then.

Not only that, but recently, due to Gio and Lilith, I had openly declared, “Romance is forbidden in our guild.”

So Unahar must be well aware of my stance.

I cannot engage in romance.

Even to focus on my goals in this game, I don’t have the luxury for such thoughts.

And even if everything were to end, the same applies.

Let’s assume that romance is possible here. If I were to fall in love, then marriage would follow, and then children. 

But how could I possibly love a character in a game? It wouldn’t be a joke, it would be serious?

I’m too busy wracking my brain not to forget reality.

…Suddenly, an image of a man with long red hair sleeping in a dark room came to mind, but it was fleeting.

After that, Unahar didn’t speak until the dance practice was over.

There was no confession, no expressing his feelings, no proposal to date.

I was relieved and felt cowardly for it.

I hope he doesn’t continue to confess in the future. I know I’m selfish, but that’s my best option.

I can’t pretend to reciprocate feelings I don’t have.

Responding to Unahar just because I shouldn’t dampen a guild member’s morale would be a disservice to him.

It’s a relief that the awkward atmosphere with Unahar was resolved, but I had a rather troubling day for other reasons.

The guild interview event somehow concluded, and I remained unsettled until the signal for the start of the fourth round’s conquest battle rang out.

* * *

In the real world.

The game’s homepage recorded thousands to tens of thousands of visitors daily, growing in scale even during the cooldown periods between rounds.

Three days before the opening of the fourth round, news that would excite users even more was posted in the ‘Media Coverage’ section of the homepage.

‘Guys, our Rudel made it to the broadcast’

The scene from the game, featuring excerpts and an introduction to the game, was reported on the evening 9 o’clock news of a major Korean public broadcasting station.

‘What?’

‘It was on the news?’

‘Did they get caught for gambling? But that’s not real money, it’s just betting points. You can’t even buy them with real money.’

‘Did the Broadcasting Commission get them? For being too explicit?’

‘Rudel isn’t explicit. She’s all covered up. Maybe it got flagged for violence.’

‘Hey, Rudel is a pacifist compared to others. How can they blame a violent game for corrupting kids? And besides, it’s rated for adults, so why are they complaining about violence?’

‘Kids are probably using their parents’ accounts, so the parents reported it, and that’s why it made the news!’

‘No, lolololol. It’s not because it got reported. It’s on the cultural news, not crime news.’

The news wasn’t about criticizing the game or condemning it as an unhealthy trend, but rather introducing it as part of the culture.

[As soon as the first period ends, children flock around one kid. The kid is holding up a high-resolution tablet for everyone to see.]

[This recently trending VR virtual reality game is called ‘Ranking of Soul’, shortened to ‘Rankso’. Translated literally to Korean, it means ‘Rank of Souls’.]

This game had firmly established itself as a cultural phenomenon in Korea.

Among the MZ generation, not knowing this game was akin to being a spy, and even those uninterested in games could name at least one famous character from it. 

Despite being rated for adults, it had become a trend in middle and high schools for students to watch the round broadcasts on their phones during breaks and participate in betting.

[Recently, the corporate tax amount of ‘Mijon’, the developer of ‘Ranking of Soul’, was revealed, causing a stir. It’s unprecedented for a three-year-old startup to record such figures for the first time in history…]

[This week, ‘Mijon’ decided to export translated broadcasts to an additional seven countries, including Thailand and Finland, on top of the five countries, including the US, China, and Japan, where they already provided translated broadcasts.]

It wasn’t about politics or entertainment but a leisure culture game that warranted several minutes of news coverage.

[IT companies worldwide are attempting to buy shares of this Korean game company and hold meetings to bring in their technology. As a game attracting global IT industry attention…]

The excerpt shown from the game was from the second round, Death Run. 

Since it was being broadcasted on the news, the most brutal parts were omitted, showing only a few seconds of the final stormy battle between the Agasa Guild and the Anawing Guild.

It was a moment where game characters, who are rarely featured on the news, proudly took their place.