Chapter 52 : Chapter 52
Chapter 52. How Would You Guess?
Hyunwoo and Lucas greeted Van, who had kicked the door open and barged in.
“Take it easy on the door, you jerk.”
“How vulgar.”
Van paid no heed to their warm greetings(?) and opened his mouth.
“What in the world have you been up to?”
“What about?”
“How on earth did you already get to Gold?”
“Lord Hyunwoo became a Gold gladiator?”
Pierre, who was bringing tea, wore a look of shock.
Hyunwoo’s expression wasn't much different.
Gold was the highest rank here in the Bellatus Arena.
He knew well that while one might be able to get promoted to Silver quickly, advancing to Gold required many procedures and evaluations.
He had only fought in two Silver matches, and now suddenly he was Gold….
It was an unexpected development for Hyunwoo as well.
Van took out an order from his tunic and read it aloud.
The content of the order was that Hyunwoo was being promoted to Gold.
Van pointed to the seal stamped at the bottom of the order.
“Look at this.”
“What is it? …An official seal?”
“It’s the crest of the Bellatus family. It means this order was sent directly from Lord Lionel.”
The master of the Arena, Lionel Bellatus.
It meant that he had personally promoted Hyunwoo to Gold.
“Lionel did?”
“…Watch your mouth.”
Van whispered, glancing around as if someone might be watching.
There were only the four of them in the dormitory; he was quite the coward.
Anyway.
‘In the end, it turned out this way.’
He had tried to avoid attracting Lionel's attention as much as possible, but he had failed.
Well, he had tried to delay the moment of being noticed, but he knew it would eventually come to this.
“Furthermore….”
Van spoke, taking out a medium-sized box.
“I received this as well.”
“There’s more?”
“Don’t be surprised, open it slowly.”
What could it be to make him fuss like this?
Opening the box and checking its contents, Hyunwoo’s eyes went wide.
“8… no, 90,000 mana stones?!”
Inside the box were 9 Black Mana Stones, each worth 10,000 mana stones, along with smaller chunks of mana stones.
“They said this is the reward for the Sylvester request. This is the first time I’ve seen them give a gladiator this many mana stones at once.”
“……”
He was at a loss for words at the enormous reward.
“They said there was strong pressure from Sylvester.”
He recalled Lord Bation’s final words.
[I will send a suitable gift to the Arena so as not to tarnish my name.]
It seemed this was the gift he had been talking about.
What a generous man.
But… something was strange.
It was customary for the Arena to take a certain portion of the request fee.
‘This is far too much to be the scraps left over after the Arena took its cut.’
With this amount, it seemed they had given him almost all the mana stones Bation had sent.
Hyunwoo was more surprised by the fact that this had been delivered to him safely than by the staggering amount of mana stones.
For this to be possible, it was likely that.
‘Lionel must have been involved.’
Hyunwoo’s gaze fell on the Bellatus family crest stamped at the bottom of the order.
Only Lionel could make something like this possible.
‘Well, I can’t help that he’s taken notice of me. What I need to consider from now on is…….’
Clap―!
The sound of clapping in front of his eyes snapped Hyunwoo out of his deep thoughts.
“…You startled me.”
“What are you thinking about? We need to get moving.”
“Moving where all of a sudden?”
“You’ve become Gold, so you have to move dormitories.”
He had completely forgotten.
His dormitory changed with every promotion.
Before, it was quick because he only had to move himself, but not now.
He had been wondering what to do about Lucas, who would be left in the Silver dormitory, but fortunately, he was also being promoted to Gold this time.
“When do we have to move by?”
“The eviction order has been issued, so you have to move within the day.”
“All of… this?”
Hyunwoo looked around; there was all sorts of furniture, starting with the sofa.
But before that, something else came to mind.
Lucas's room, which had just been newly decorated.
The interior design had just been finished a short while ago.
Hyunwoo stared intently at Pierre and opened his mouth.
“Looks like we’ll need a full-service move.”
“Pardon…? A full… what is that?”
“I’m saying we need to move every single thing as it is.”
He didn't bother to add the word ‘you’ that should have followed.
“……Pardon?”
Pierre, who had toiled for the past month.
It seemed his suffering was not yet fated to end.
Pierre, realizing the meaning of a full-service move, stood with his mouth agape, looking dazed.
Hyunwoo turned his attention from Pierre and looked at Van.
“So my next matches will be Gold matches, then?”
“Of course.”
There were hardly any gladiators in Silver who could handle mana.
However, from the Gold rank onwards, using mana was a basic skill for everyone.
Hyunwoo thought about what kinds of matches there were in Gold and asked Van.
“So. When’s the next match?”
“The match schedule hasn’t been released yet.”
“It’s late.”
Starting with Gold matches, the matches themselves could sometimes be dangerous.
The schedule wasn't out yet, but he couldn't just sit around and do nothing.
As Hyunwoo shot up from his seat and prepared to leave, Van spoke.
“Where are you going all of a sudden? You have to move dormitories.”
“You guys do it. I have something to take care of.”
“You guys?”
Hyunwoo pointed to each of them in turn with his finger.
Van, Pierre, Lucas.
“Three should be enough, right? I'm leaving.”
Leaving only those words behind, Hyunwoo closed the door and left.
He thought he heard some grumbling from behind, but he lightly ignored it.
He needed information about what kind of matches he would be facing from now on.
His destination was the Information Guild, Lotus, in the market.
Hyunwoo, having escaped the dormitory as if running away, headed straight for the market.
‘I have a lot of mana stones this time, too.’
The heavy pouch of mana stones in his tunic boosted his confidence.
* * *
A short while after Hyunwoo left, in the dormitory.
A heavy silence fell among the three seated around the table.
“……”
As they eyed each other, someone stood up from their seat.
“It's a fine day for a walk.”
It was Lucas who spoke shamelessly, got up, and stealthily started to leave.
“I’m busy with work, so I’m off.”
As Lucas left, Van followed right behind him.
What remained was.
“Why is it always me……”
Only Pierre.
In the end, as planned, the full-service move became Pierre’s sole responsibility.
* * *
Hyunwoo soon arrived at Lotus.
As he was about to pull a number ticket inside, a clerk at the counter was startled and approached him.
“Lord Hyunwoo. Welcome to Lotus.”
“…Pardon?”
“We had an order from Branch Manager Verian. May I escort you inside?”
Hyunwoo was flustered but followed the polite employee's guidance inside.
‘More importantly, Verian is the branch manager?’
The branch manager was one of the highest positions in Lotus.
He had thought her rank seemed high, but he hadn't thought she was the branch manager.
With questions in his mind, Hyunwoo followed the employees’ guidance into the depths of Lotus.
“Here it is. I will take my leave now.”
The employee left in front of the office door.
As Hyunwoo stepped inside, Verian greeted him with a bright smile.
“Welcome, Lord Hyunwoo.”
“Hello… there?”
The office revealed when the door opened was completely different from before.
Her office was filled with so many luxury items it was dazzling.
Priceless items were casually displayed everywhere, their value impossible to guess.
Hyunwoo looked around, then glanced at the mana stone pouch in his tunic.
“……”
It was a sight that made the small fortune of 90,000 mana stones in his pocket, earned after a life-or-death battle with Anesta, feel shabby in an instant.
As Hyunwoo wore a look of despondence, Verian pointed to the chair in front of the table.
“Please have a seat.”
Hyunwoo sat down with an awkward expression.
Verian smiled slightly and sat in the chair opposite him.
“The office has changed a bit, hasn't it?”
“…I think it's more than a bit?”
“It’s thanks to you, Lord Hyunwoo.”
“Thanks to me?”
“Thanks to you, I was promoted to Branch Manager.”
In Lotus, the position of Branch Manager was a high-ranking executive role, with the number maintained at around 10 people.
It seemed Verian had risen to Branch Manager this time thanks to the item information.
The information Hyunwoo had given her held that much value.
Hyunwoo faced her and smiled.
“Ah, congratulations.”
“I heard you were very active in Sylvester.”
“Yes, well, it was so-so.”
“I’m disappointed you didn't visit once after coming back.”
“I’ve been a bit busy….”
As always, the goodwill in her smile was excessive.
Hyunwoo swallowed the words, ‘I don’t think we’re that close.’
“Is there a reason you were looking for me?”
“I had something to give you.”
“What is it…?”
Instead of answering, Verian opened a drawer in the table and took out a red card.
“Please take it.”
Hyunwoo examined the red card placed before him.
He had never seen it before, but he thought he knew what it was.
“Your performance was reflected, and you have been promoted from Class 2 to Class 1.”
The red card was a membership card signifying a 1st Class member of Lotus.
Hyunwoo's most recent transaction with Lotus was just buying an artifact.
With that level of performance, a 1st Class membership card was out of the question.
“I don’t have much of a record with Lotus, though.”
“Performance includes not only transactions but also the value that you possess, Lord Hyunwoo.”
‘The value that I possess….’
Hyunwoo thought about Lotus’s performance system and nodded.
One had to prove special value to become a 1st Class member of Lotus.
The factors that Lotus might consider to promote Hyunwoo to 1st Class were,
‘Could it be because of my relationship with the Lord of Sylvester Castle?’
That was the only thing he could surmise.
A relationship with the lord of a region.
Only if something of that level was reflected could one become a 1st Class member of Lotus based on performance points alone.
As Hyunwoo fiddled with the newly received red card, Verian’s kind explanation continued.
“Just as you were able to purchase all information of Class 2 and below as a Class 2 member, as a 1st Class member, you can now purchase all information of Class 1 and below, Lord Hyunwoo.”
“Is that so?”
“You don’t seem very happy about it?”
“No, I am.”
Verian read Hyunwoo's reluctant thoughts like a ghost.
The right to purchase information of Class 1 and below was, of course, a good thing.
However.
‘I wonder if there’s any useful information.’
As Hyunwoo forced his expression to remain neutral, Verian tilted her head and spoke.
“So, what brings you here today?”
“Can I learn about the movements of the Arena executives?”
“By movements, what do you mean?”
Information about the Arena matches was strictly managed.
‘But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to find out.’
Hiding such thoughts, Hyunwoo smiled lightly and spoke.
“Literally, the movements of the executives. Who went where and what they did. I want all of their movements.”
“…Would you mind waiting a moment?”
“By all means.”
Verian briefly touched her temple and began to ponder.
It was only natural.
No gladiator would have ever requested information about the Arena executives.
But, no matter how much she thought about it, it would be difficult for her to guess his intentions.
‘How would you guess?’
Starting from the Gold matches, since they were the showcase events of the Arena, a lot of preparation was needed.
For example, by tracking the movements of the executives preparing for the matches, he could predict what kind of match would be held.
Of course, he was the only one who could predict what kind of match would be held just by the movements of the Arena executives.
Therefore, Hyunwoo simply faced her with a relaxed smile.
A moment later, she removed her hand from her temple and opened her mouth.