TFGSR 10

Chapter: 10

Producer Kim Taeseok sucked noisily on his coffee through a straw and asked,

“There’s no need to look any further into Do Suho. He has the looks, a fanbase, he naturally awakened as an A-rank, and he’s with Gihwon. His story is already complete. We’ll definitely make him one of the main characters.”

Kim Taeseok gestured toward the application lying beside him with his chin.

“But who’s Lee Sihyeon?”

“She’s an applicant who came in just yesterday. You know, that guild with the Seong name.”

“…Seongyeon?”

“Yes. The one that’s completely fallen apart.”

“That place is still alive? In a way, I guess legends really are legends.”

Kim Taeseok let out an involuntary hollow laugh.

There had once been a time when, whenever you turned on the TV, there was an endless stream of content tearing into Seongyeon and Seong Jeyeon.

Kim Taeseok had been a junior staff member back then. He would edit footage all night, overlaying captions like ‘Betrayal’ and ‘Deceiving the Nation’ on top of it.

Those had been the instructions handed down from above.

‘We really went all out to destroy them.’

Amid the public outrage, some people took advantage of the sweet profits.

The government reclaimed Seongyeon’s enormous assets, while Gihwon rose to become the undisputed number-one guild in the country. Ryu Seongho emerged as an icon of conscience and eventually entered politics.

‘I’m pretty ridiculous myself.’

Back then, he had cursed under his breath at the seniors who simply did whatever orders came down from above.

And yet now, he was producing a program heavily influenced by the Association.

There was more than one vested interest at stake.

Kim Taeseok swallowed his bitter thoughts along with his coffee.

It was far too late to start worrying about justice after spending so many years in this industry.

“So, this Lee Sihyeon girl came from there? Is there anything worth seeing?”

Anyone who joined a guild that was barely clinging to its name had to be an unremarkable applicant.

Either her rank was low or her class was nothing special.

Or perhaps she had the looks?

“She’s an S-rank Awakened.”

The coffee inside the straw made a loud bubbling sound.

“What?”

“The first S-rank to appear since the final Tower raid ten years ago.”

“Is she crazy? An S-rank joining Seongyeon instead of Gihwon?”

“You’ll understand when you see her class.”

Oh Jihun pointed to one side of the application.

Class: Summoner

A series of sighs escaped from around the meeting room.

“Ah…”

“No wonder. She had to be a Summoner.”

It had been a powerful class when Seong Jeyeon was around.

These days, however, Summoners had become so weak that the class was often mocked as a “trash class.”

“What about her contracted summons?”

“She doesn’t have any yet.”

“A Summoner applied without any summons?”

“She only awakened yesterday.”

“She’s S-rank, but she sure has terrible luck.”

“Still, doesn’t this feel like we’re recreating an old story?”

“An old story?”

Oh Jihun placed the two profiles side by side.

“Twenty years ago, a boy and a girl of the same age met on the first floor and climbed the Tower together. The Mage Gitaewon and the Summoner Seong Jeyeon.”

His fingertip pointed to their names one after another.

“Likewise, we have Gihwon’s Level 1 Mage Do Suho and Seongyeon’s Summoner Lee Sihyeon.”

“Wow.”

“They’re the same age and attend the same school. Doesn’t it really resemble those two from back then?”

A trailer was already beginning to take shape in Kim Taeseok’s mind.

“Come to think of it, everyone was curious about them. Whether those two really stayed nothing more than friends for ten years.”

“Not only that. People even used to bet on which of them would have climbed the Tower higher if they hadn’t climbed it together.”

Oh Jihun’s eyes lit up.

“A legendary strongest duo of a new era would be great. Or perhaps rivals of the century. If it’s Gihwon and Seongyeon, we could even make them the modern-day Romeo and Juliet.”

“Hey, either way, we can get some great footage out of this.”

Kim Taeseok clapped excitedly, then suddenly clicked his tongue.

“But the Summoner is just too weak.”

“That is… true. Seongyeon won’t be able to compete with the others when it comes to guild support.”

“Gihwon certainly won’t let a girl they’re just starting to promote get paired up with Seongyeon. And her fanbase won’t just sit quietly either.”

The two looked at each other and sighed at the same time.

“I think all three options will be difficult.”

“Still, call her in for now. She’s the only S-rank to appear in ten years. We should be able to get at least one usable story out of her.”

“What kind of story?”

“The successors of the two strongest legends.”

Kim Taeseok tapped Do Suho’s application.

“On one side, an A-rank Mage inheriting Gitaewon’s legend.”

Then he placed Lee Sihyeon’s application beside it.

“On the other, an S-rank Summoner who’ll turn Seong Jeyeon’s legend into nothing but empty hype.”

After leaving school, Sihyeon headed straight to the Seongyeon office.

As soon as she opened the door, the three people inside all turned their gazes toward her at once.

“You’re back again?”

Jena checked the wall clock.

“Isn’t this the time when students are supposed to be at school?”

“Oh, I quit school.”

The office fell silent.

“…What?”

“You quit school?”

Kang Jisu and Jung Hoyeon both stood up at the same time.

“Hey, Lee Sihyeon! You quit when there are still months left until graduation?”

“What are we supposed to do with this kid?”

“Let’s meet your homeroom teacher first. If the paperwork hasn’t been processed yet, maybe you can cancel it.”

The three of them were already pulling out their phones.

“I didn’t quit. I just don’t have to go to school anymore.”

Their movements stopped simultaneously.

Sihyeon took her Awakened registration card out of her wallet.

“I showed them this, and they said they’d give me some kind of special attendance arrangement. They said I only have to show up for the graduation ceremony.”

“……”

Jena slowly lowered her phone.

“Sihyeon.”

“Yes?”

“Could you please start with that part?”

“You didn’t ask.”

“Who says things like that without explaining?!”

Hoyeon rubbed his chest in relief.

“I thought my heart was going to fall out.”

Only then did the three of them put their phones away and return to their seats.

“Anyway.”

Sihyeon put her bag down on the far-left side of the sofa and sat down.

“From now on, I just need to focus on the survival program.”

“Yeah, yeah. Then…”

Jisu stopped mid-sentence and opened her eyes wide.

“Our Sihyeon needs to do her first summoning.”

Those words instantly changed the atmosphere in the office.

“Wow, her first summoning. How many years has it been since we had one?”

Hoyeon leaned forward.

“First summoning!”

Jena’s eyes sparkled.

“Why are you the most excited?”

Jisu asked with a laugh, and Jena answered proudly.

“Because it’s finally my turn to take care of the youngest.”

“I remember your first summoning.”

Hoyeon laughed.

“You kept bragging that you weren’t nervous at all, then your hands were trembling like crazy on the magic circle.”

“You even grabbed onto Jeyeon unnie’s clothes.”

Jisu raised her voice, mimicking her.

“Unnie, it won’t eat me, right? It’s really okay?”

“When did I ever do that?!”

“You even cried.”

“I didn’t cry!”

Sihyeon looked at the three of them and laughed inwardly.

‘You did.’

She had started crying even before the summoned being appeared.

Until the contract actually began, she had clung to Jeyeon’s waist and refused to let go.

The one who eventually appeared was a tiny spirit that was even more timid than Jena.

The sight of the two of them keeping a great distance from each other because they were both afraid of one another was still vivid in her mind.

“I heard Jisu unnie’s first summoning was even more chaotic.”

Jena counterattacked.

“I heard the summon suddenly demanded a different price right before the contract.”

“That’s true.”

Jisu readily admitted it.

“It completely ignored what I had prepared and demanded that I bring it a Moonlight Flower that had bloomed that very night.”

“And then?”

“Jeyeon unnie immediately went to get it with Mujin oppa. There weren’t any places nearby where it grew, so they cleared two dungeons. And apparently, they weren’t even guaranteed rewards—they had to keep running the dungeons until one dropped.”

Jisu gave a small laugh as she recalled those days.

“They came back at dawn, both of their clothes completely torn, with leaves stuck in their hair. I still remember Jeyeon unnie, looking like that, putting the Moonlight Flower in my hand and smiling as she told me they weren’t too late.”

The end of her smile faltered for just a brief moment.

At the same time, her hand unconsciously brushed over the ring finger of her left hand.

Sihyeon lowered her gaze at the familiar name she hadn’t heard in so long.

“That sounds just like Jeyeon unnie.”

Jena naturally picked up the conversation, as if she hadn’t noticed that brief moment at all.

“Ahem! But why isn’t anyone asking about mine?”

Hoyeon loudly cleared his throat as he interrupted.

“What?”

“My first summoning. I’m the most senior one here, you know.”

“That’s right. What about you, Hoyeon oppa?”

Hoyeon slightly raised his chin.

“Nothing special happened to me. I called its true name correctly on the first try, it accepted the medium immediately, and my contract was completed the fastest.”

“Unexpected. You had talent, oppa?”

Hoyeon crossed his arms and nodded as if it were obvious.

“This is what you call the dignity of a senior.”

Sihyeon stared at him for a moment before snorting inwardly.

‘Give me a break. You were the biggest problem of all.’