[TS] Became a Peach Saint – Chapter 167

“I’m Tak Byeong-cheol, the deputy leader of Cheonrang Unit 3’s attack team.”

“I’m Gong Gyun, the branch manager of the Superior Guild.”

“The vice battle leader of the Warriors Guild…”

The crowd of people who had gathered began introducing themselves one by one in front of the podium.

There were so many of them.

Just the people from Class J alone numbered 25, so if you add them all up, it comes to around 250.

“But why are all these titles so all over the place?”

“Not all guilds are specialized in hunting monsters, you know. Everyone’s got their own path.”

Listening to Kim Chan-yong, I realized I’d been mistaken. I thought most guilds were about hunting, but I’ve also heard guild names that sound more like merchants.

*Thud!*

While the three of us were sitting in the back listening to the explanations, someone stomped forward to the front with a loud noise.

“I am Hwang Hyun of the Cheonhamusang Guild!”

He looked like he was made entirely of steel. His voice echoed loudly through the hall.

As Hwang Hyun appeared, murmurs broke out among the students who had been quietly listening.

I guess that guy’s a big deal.

Meanwhile, another person stepped forward next to Hwang Hyun.

“I’m Yu Bit-na, the deputy leader of Silver Wings.”

Again, murmurs of awe rose from the students.

Yu Bit-na, standing next to Hwang Hyun, turned her head and locked eyes with me.

She’s the one who parachuted me into this academy.

“Why’s that purple-haired brat here?”

“Gasp. Autumn, shh.”

Hwang Hyun was glaring at the purple-haired brat like they had bad blood.

“Candy!”

“Baekseol, can I have some candy?”

“Yes!”

Baekseol, who had been playing on the desk, seemed interested in the candy.

*Crunch.*

She bit into the lollipop she was holding, shattering it into pieces.

I fed the small pieces into Baekseol’s mouth, and she chewed happily. Seems like it suits her taste.

“I’m Jang Ik-hyun, the battle leader of the Middle Guild’s Third Combat Unit.”

“With that, we’ll conclude the introductions from each guild. Now, we’ll call out the parties that will be assigned to the guilds.”

It seems a lot of big shots came to see the fresh-faced first-year students. I’ve never seen Professor Hwang keep things so orderly before.

“Shin Yong Loan…”

Professor Hwang paused mid-sentence and glared at me.

“Sigh… The Shin Yong Loan Team will be joining the Silver Wings Guild.”

“Oh.”

Laughter broke out among the tense students.

“Wait!”

Just then, Hwang Hyun stepped forward toward Professor Hwang.

“What’s the matter, Hunter Hwang Hyun?”

“Professor. The team you just mentioned is coming with me.”

“Huh? There should’ve been a prior agreement. This team is…”

“Professor. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Hwang Hyun cut off Professor Hwang, his tone growing more intense.

Professor Hwang’s expression quickly soured.

*Thwack!*

A piece of candy was thrown and landed perfectly on Hwang Hyun’s face.

“…Candy?”

“Hey, jerk. Why are you messing with our teacher, you idiot?”

“Ah! Autumn!”

***

At Wisdom Academy, there’s a privilege only freshmen can enjoy.

It’s having top-tier guilds in the country watch over their first dungeon run.

They don’t do anything special. They just, well, watch. And if things get life-threateningly dangerous, they’ll help them escape.

At first, small guilds and freshmen teams were paired together to nurture future talents.

It was a system designed to create connections.

This was a measure taken by the state and Wisdom Academy to prevent any single guild from becoming too powerful.

However, as time passed, this measure turned into a hunting ground for large guilds to snatch up talented newcomers.

Today was the day when the big shots of the major guilds, who were usually hard to even catch a glimpse of, all gathered in one place.

How amazing could a freshly bloomed newcomer really be? Still, among them, there were bound to be a few shining gems like students.

The people who flocked here today came to make contact with such newcomers.

For both the students sitting wide-eyed in their seats and those who came to pick out the raw gems, today was a field of opportunity.

*Thud!*

Hwang Mi-ran, a scholar affiliated with the academy and a professor at Wisdom Academy, thought she must have been seeing things.

But no matter how many times she looked, it was definitely candy stuck to the face of the third-in-command of the Cheonhamusang Guild.

“Hey, you idiot. Why are you acting up in front of our teacher, you dumbass?”

And not just any candy—it was a piece that had been bitten several times, almost crumbling apart.

Hwang Mi-ran buried her face in her hands. Despite telling her yesterday not to cause any trouble, the culprit who threw the candy was a student with fluttering pink hair.

‘That crazy girl. Where the hell did her brakes go? I want to die. Should I just retire?’

While Hwang Mi-ran was contemplating her future, Hwang Hyun burst out laughing.

“Ha… Haha. Hahaha!”

Hwang Hyun of the Cheonhamusang Guild had experienced something utterly ridiculous for the first time in his life.

The guild master of his guild was a harsh man. Even to his own son.

Having grown up watching him, it was only natural that Hwang Hyun inherited his father’s temperament.

“How dare these people who usually can’t even look me in the eye…”

“What are you gonna do, you idiot? Your head looks like a camel’s balls. You loser.”

There’s a limit to how shameless one can be.

No one had ever dared to throw such insults at him before.

“Such a tiny mouth, yet so talkative…”

“Wipe your mouth before you speak. Is that the smell of crap debuffing me? You must be a curse mage or something.”

“You bastard!”

“Ugh. Clean yourself up.”

Hwang Hyun wanted to tear apart that mouth that wouldn’t stop yapping at him.

The Cheonhamusang Guild was still recovering from a failed raid a year ago.

That’s why his father had repeatedly told him to keep his temper in check and to charm the talent.

But this was crossing the line.

“…I’ll kill you.”

“Your face is already killing me. The whole planet’s gonna dry up at this rate.”

“Gaaah!!”

Unable to hold back any longer, a blue aura surged from Hwang Hyun’s body.

“Thanks to you, I spent a lot of money, but it turned out well.”

The pink-haired lunatic kept spouting nonsense till the end.

*Whoosh!*

As he tried to use his strength, Yu Bit-na instantly drew her sword and pressed it against his neck.

“Hwang Hyun. What do you think you’re doing at the academy?”

Under normal circumstances, he would have reacted immediately.

“W-what is this…?!”

But suddenly, dizziness and an unpleasant feeling surged through him.

At the same time, his status window went haywire.

*Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!…*

───

💀Status Effects

[Despair] [Frustration] [Loneliness] [Anxiety]

[Fatigue] [Discouragement] [Grief]

[Emptiness] [Self-loathing] [Illusion] [Auditory Hallucination]

[Lethargy] [Alienation] [Nihilism]

[Depression] [Misery] [Desperation] [Fear]

───

Hwang Hyun felt like his brain was twisting and about to burn out.

He could feel himself going insane in real-time.

“Ah… I wanna die…”

“Waaaah! No!!”

People around are staring at me like I’m some kind of weirdo.

“Hwang Hyun. If you keep this up, it’s the Cheonhamusang Guild that’s gonna suffer. Get a grip.”

“Ah, got it…”

Suddenly, he starts summoning his strength, drooling all over, and obediently agrees with what I said.

Yu Bit-na, seeing this, immediately caught on that something was off with Hwang Hyun.

“Hwang Hyun, sorry, but I’m gonna knock you out…”

Before Yu Bit-na could even finish her sentence, a pink-haired student flew in like a rocket from where they were sitting.

*Thud!*

The flying student’s knee met Hwang Hyun’s chin, and the weaker one crumpled and spun around.

*Crash!*

Hwang Hyun, with his jaw twisted, rolled his eyes back and collapsed into a corner.

“Bug Cut!”

It was a picture-perfect flying knee kick.

***

Light flickers before my eyes.

“What rank is this gate?”

“Estimated E-rank.”

“Estimated?”

They’re telling me the rank of a dungeon I’m risking my life to enter is just an estimate? Unbelievable.

“You can tell by placing your hand on the gate.”

Following Yu Bit-na’s advice, I placed my hand on it, and some info popped up.

*Ding!*

───

Noctara Route

Difficulty: ???

Reward: ???

───

“Everything’s a question mark?”

“The closer the gate’s color is to white, the lower the difficulty. The closer to black, the higher.”

“That’s it?”

For information about a life-threatening dungeon, it’s ridiculously lacking.

“That’s why scholars exist.”

“What’s that?”

“An orc habitat.”

Even so, that’s way too vague.

“Don’t worry too much. Newly opened gates always have extremely limited info, so they set the safety line high.”

“And that’s the result?”

Pointing at the guy who’s been scowling next to Yu Bit-na, I couldn’t help but step forward.

“I told you before, right? Watch your mouth.”

“I told you before, right? If you don’t manage your eyes, I’ll pluck them out.”

“Enough!”

Yu Bit-na raised her voice, and the scowling guy stepped back as if nothing happened.

“Bong Sang-hoon. Are you really so pathetic that you’re picking fights with academy students?”

“N… no.”

“Think about my position, trusting you and sending you out.”

“Sorry.”

Bong Sang-hoon deeply bowed his head to Yu Bit-na.

Seeing no change in his expression despite the scolding, it seems he really respects Yu Bit-na.

“Ugh. Bong Bong Sang-hoon, let’s do better, okay?”

*Gulp*

“Hey, does your guild even support implants? Wow, nice benefits.”

As the atmosphere heated up, the trio stepped in front of me.

“Autumn, what’s wrong?”

“That jerk’s been picking fights since the first time I met him.”

Yu Bit-na, who had been shaking her head, stepped in front of Bong Sang-hoon and the trio.

“Bong Sang-hoon is a B-rank elite hunter. Our Silver Wings is a small, elite group, so you can trust us. Normally, we’d go for F-rank dungeons, but we prepared for this gate because we heard you’re an elite party.”

As Yu Bit-na finished speaking, four fully armed Silver Wings guild members with large bags on their backs approached the gate.

“The inside of the gate always has variables. Come back safely.”

“You’re not going?”

“I’m a busy person, you know.”

“Alright. Thanks for preparing.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Yu Bit-na gave a simple farewell.

With that, the members of the Silver Wings guild entered the gate.

As I tried to follow, Bong Sang-hoon, who had stayed behind until the end, stopped us.

“Wait.”

“Why?”

“There might be monsters as soon as we enter. We’ll go in after 5 minutes.”

The bickering version of him was gone, and in an instant, only a seasoned hunter remained.

Bong Sang-hoon, who had been keeping track of time, gave us a signal.

“I’ll go in first.”

Following him into the gate, the world turned upside down in an instant.

Whoosh!

Inside the gate, a freezing wind blew so cold it made our noses sting.

“A snowy mountain?”

For a moment, a look of panic flashed across Bong Sang-hoon’s face. Something seemed off.

We had just returned from a scorching deserted island, and now they were trying to freeze us to death.

“Baekseol, look, it’s snow.”

“Excited!”

Baekseol, who had been clinging to me, wiggled her butt and jumped into the piled-up snow.

Thud!

The white creature buried herself in the snow and disappeared.

While everyone else looked grim, only Baekseol was thrilled.

“Shin Yong Loan Team, assemble!”

The three companions, who had been silently observing their surroundings, gathered.

Ding!

As we pulled out various winter gear, the trio’s eyes focused.

“If you don’t want to freeze to death, bundle up tight. And share your thoughts. Let’s gather info and move.”

The first to speak was Shin Yong, the chief, who was wearing ear muffs.

“As the professor said, adapting to the environment is our top priority.”

Everyone nodded at Shin Yong’s words.

“First, we need to figure out the nature of clearing this dungeon. It seems like this field-type dungeon is likely a battle of extermination.”

At Kim Chan-yong’s words, everyone nodded again.

Like elite students, everyone shared their opinions. Each one made sense.

As we were gathering information, a faint sound, like the roar of a beast, echoed from afar.

“Prepare for battle. Form a defensive formation centered around Han Ga-eul.”

As soon as Shin Yong finished speaking, the trio quickly formed a defensive formation.

“Baekseol, come here. We’ll play later.”

When I called Baekseol, the piled-up snow rustled, and she peeked out.

“Excited!”

In the short time she had been playing, she was covered in snow.

Baekseol shook herself off and then snuggled into my arms.

For a moment, the image of my bathroom, always a mess, flashed before my eyes.

“I’ll provide support.”

At my words, the trio nodded.