BCGWR Chapter 25 Part 1

Broken Jar 13 (+Anonymous Community Issues and Reactions)

Han Ji-su’s questions were mostly disjointed, simple, and not overly personal. Perhaps due to the pressure of having worked in a profession where one mistake could lead to ruin, he tended to pause before asking something and spoke somewhat slowly. Jung Ha-jin responded in a calm, low voice, matching Ji-su’s pace.

After holding on for a few minutes, Han Ji-su seemed to have reached his limit and was slumped, unable even to open his eyes. Seeing him rub his eyes again, trying to stay awake, Jung Ha-jin asked first.

“What kind of fruit does Guide Han Ji-su like?”

“…Fruit…? Suddenly…?”

“Yes. I will prepare it for dessert tomorrow.”

“…I… fruit…”

Ji-su’s lips, which had been subtly moving, trying to stay awake, slowly stilled. Jung Ha-jin did not rush his answer. Toto, too, lay flat on Jung Ha-jin’s thigh, quietly watching his caretaker, so Ji-su could fall asleep.

“…lon… li… ke…”

With heavy eyelids, Ji-su, whose eyes had completely closed, wanted to answer that he liked tangerines and melons. So he tried his best to move his lips, but his slurred words, swallowed by drowsiness, dissipated with his breathing.

Mumbling words no one could understand, Han Ji-su finally drifted off to sleep. Jung Ha-jin continued to gently hold Toto, who was melting into his thigh, and watched the sleeping Ji-su for a moment without moving. Han Ji-su’s Radiating Guiding, which had been subtly felt even after he took the medicine, was no longer perceptible.

Several minutes passed like that.

Confirming that the other person’s breathing had completely slowed, Jung Ha-jin placed Toto on his palm and stood up. He discreetly approached the side table without making a sound, gently placed Toto in the small bed, and covered him with a blanket.

Toto didn’t make a peep, nudging his finger with a front paw and looking up at him. Jung Ha-jin, seeing the hamster’s earnest gaze, as if saying “Thank you for putting our caretaker to sleep,” nodded at Toto and left the bedroom.

“Whew…”

Jung Ha-jin, who had entered his own bedroom while suppressing his presence, released the skill that had been active the entire time as soon as he closed the door. His short, sports-cut hair grew a bit longer, and his sturdy, angular face became slightly more slender. Following his face shape, his overall features, including his eyes, nose, and mouth, changed sequentially, and finally, his obsidian-black pupils turned blue.

Reflected in the bedroom’s front window was not A-rank Esper Jung Ha-jin, but the figure of a man no one living in civilization could possibly not know.

Latest Best Post on an Anonymous Community

[Title: Peace Guild’s Kang Jae-yoon Incident, Am I the Only One Who Feels Something’s Off?] [Likes: 97682 / Dislikes: 277]

[Content]

Isn’t it really strange? Days have passed since the gate disappeared, but why is it still so quiet, and why are there no announcements?

Normally, when an incident happens in a dungeon, they start with a briefing on the cause, hold press conferences, and so on. But this time, they just announced Kang Jae-yoon’s disappearance and said nothing about the circumstances. How are we supposed to take that?

Kim Hyun-ah is also just carrying on with her activities, right? I heard she’s going to clear the Daegu dungeon this time. What’s going on?

The Peace Guild Leader and Vice Leader both left Korea to Kim Hyun-ah and went to some emergency meeting in the US, and they haven’t returned yet…

How do I know this? I used to be a Peace Guild employee (I’ve since resigned), and my former colleagues still work there. I expected news about the Busan Taejongdae Dungeon to come out soon, but they’re being quiet about it internally, and a gag order has been issued. No one inside can talk about it. What is this? It looks suspicious no matter how you look at it…

It seems like there’s something more to Kang Jae-yoon’s disappearance…

What doesn’t make sense is that in the Taejongdae Dungeon, only Kang Jae-yoon was S-rank, and everyone else was A-rank or below. What could possibly be the reason Kang Jae-yoon alone couldn’t get out, no matter what happened inside?

Honestly, rank is one thing, but Peace Guild is famous for its excellent welfare, isn’t it?

It’s beyond imagination. To what extent? Even as a regular office worker there, I barely spent any living expenses when I worked for them. They support gas or transportation fees, guarantee on-time departures, and if you work past 6 PM, overtime pay is automatically logged. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are free, and the pantry is stocked daily with a mountain of bakery bread. The guild cafe is, of course, free; you can have two free drinks a day. If you work there, you don’t spend anything on transportation or food. And even non-Awakened regular office workers like me are given one C-B rank self-defense shield item (regardless of gender). They’re affiliated with Hankook University Hospital, so consultations are free, and if a guild member takes sick leave or is injured, the guild covers 90% of hospital bills. Anyway, the welfare is no joke. This is for non-Awakened, by the way. Awakened individuals’ welfare is even more amazing.

Why did I suddenly bring up welfare out of nowhere? Because I said Awakened individuals’ welfare is even more amazing. When Awakened enter Unmeasurable dungeons, whether they are Espers, Healers, or Guides, they are given one Return Stone right before entry, without exception, right? Kang Jae-yoon also received one that day. (I know he originally had a few more too). And if an A-rank or higher monster is confirmed inside when the dungeon rank goes Berserk, they are trained to use a Return Stone immediately to escape, no questions asked. I don’t know much about this as I’m non-Awakened, but I heard that if the rank goes Berserk right after entering and an A-rank monster appears, then the boss is S-rank. That’s usually the case, apparently. Anyway, I’ll skip over what I don’t know. The point is, that content is included in the mandatory Awakened training at the beginning of each month.

The thing is, Return Stones are incredibly expensive, so when you exit a dungeon, unused Return Stones are either returned, or the Awakened person who received it can purchase it at 50% of the cost, deducted from their annual salary. (I know other guilds always require them to be returned.) So, 100% of Peace Guild’s Awakened choose the latter option. It’s much cheaper. One Return Stone costs 500 million won. (The market price is 900 million won, and that’s the Peace Guild’s special purchase price; it might be different now.) You can buy it for 250 million won, so of course you’d buy it. I would too.