Chapter 47: The Unveiling of Truths

The hearing was attended by the Mayor, City Council members, and the Guild Masters or Vice Guild Masters of the major guilds. There were no spectators or reporters present, but security personnel densely lined the perimeter. Honestly, Sagyeol found it rather pointless.

After all, the combined might of those gathered here was arguably the strongest in the Western Continent.

Sagyeol cast a discerning gaze over those seated before him.

‘They’ve all grown quite a bit.’

As likely the youngest person in the room, he genuinely believed it.

The Mayor, acting as chairperson, declared the hearing open. The proceedings themselves were tedious, a conventional exchange of questions and answers. Sagyeol offered textbook responses, and the questioning Guild Masters accepted his answers, moving on without further issue.

Choi Chi-taek, seated at the very end as the sole witness, was utterly bewildered.

‘What is this? Why are they all asking such useless questions?’

‘They just accept that he doesn’t remember? Are they out of their minds?’

‘After all the hellish hardship I went through to arrange this meeting…!’

His bewilderment swiftly turned to anger. Choi Chi-taek ground his teeth as he watched the hearing nearing its halfway point. It hadn’t been like this when he’d received the call after their initial meeting.

At the dinner, there had been prominent figures from Grisha, including the Guild Master he had first swayed. They had all clinked their glasses, shouting for the downfall of Credit.

After the gathering dispersed, that very Guild Master had clapped Choi Chi-taek heartily on the back, assuring him to trust only in them.

“Regarding the photo uploaded to the guild’s social media account this time…”

And yet, that person was asking such a trivial question?

‘Looks like they got cold feet at the last minute.’

Useless bastards. Though enraged that his painstakingly arranged plan had scattered like dandelion seeds, Choi Chi-taek made a rational judgment. This was a bust. He decided to quietly follow the flow and leave.

It was then.

“Samlaseong Guild Master, seated as a witness.”

At that instant, every eye in the hall turned toward Choi Chi-taek at the far end. Hands rustling through documents paused. Even the Hestia Guild Master, who had been chortling while nudging the Guild Master beside him, fell silent.

The artificial quiet and sudden focus caused Choi Chi-taek to freeze solid.

‘What…?’

He belatedly sensed something was amiss. This was a position he had painstakingly secured through backroom deals and a full meeting. In a situation where piercing, critical questions should have been raining down, only useless ones had been asked throughout the hearing.

‘Wait. This…’

Choi Chi-taek belatedly realized something. Sagyeol let out a small chuckle.

Then, sensitive questions began to pour in from all directions.

“The Samlaseong Guild was indeed a Grisha guild. There was a time when it was. But why did someone who abandoned Grisha, defected to another city, and lived as a member of a different guild for so long, return?”

“The charge of underreporting three years’ worth of taxes—”

“The circumstances surrounding the illegal external transfer of magic stones—”

These were questions that threatened to send his mind reeling. Worse, most of them were true. Choi Chi-taek couldn’t tell if this was a hearing or a courtroom.

Then came the decisive blow.

“So, what is your relationship with the Whispery Guild of Cheongwang?”

It was the Hestia Guild Master. He was still grinning faintly, resting his chin on his hand. For the first time, the Mayor admonished him to observe proper decorum.

The Hestia Guild Master replied with a perfunctory ‘Understood’ and then repeated his question. “So, what is your relationship?”

Choi Chi-taek felt a sense of crisis, as if standing on a blade’s edge.

“J-just a moment. This hearing is about the Credit Guild’s unjust monopoly on magic stones and the tyranny in Grisha, regarding—”

“Ah, right. That was it. Shall we return to the original topic then?”

It was Sagyeol, of all people, who spoke. He leaned back in his chair, his legs crossed casually.

The city council members and veteran guild leaders attending the committee acquiesced in silence.

They looked like a king wielding absolute power and his loyal subjects. A thunderbolt struck in Choi Chi-taek’s mind. The vague premonition of disaster finally solidified into a stark reality.

Sagyeol nodded his chin. It was a signal to ask his question. It was a rather insulting gesture, but Choi Chi-taek, in his current state, had no leeway to challenge it.

“Of the magic stones harvested from the flood, I understand that the three factions centered around Credit possess more than half of the total.”

“That’s true.”

Choi Chi-taek even overlooked the informal tone. He had no choice but to. Having received the answer he desired, he exclaimed, agitated.

“Don’t you think that’s unreasonable?!”

“Not at all.”

Sagyeol was unyielding. Choi Chi-taek, though flustered, couldn’t abandon the small opening he’d found and pressed forward.

“How could that—”

“Everyone here likely shares my sentiment.”

It was a guillotine’s opening. Sagyeol surveyed the room.

“Is there anyone here who believes a new distribution ratio is necessary?”

“A new distribution ratio, you say? Hmm. Well, enough time has certainly passed. It might be time to bring it up.”

Choi Chi-taek instinctively looked at the Guild Master who had just spoken. He merely stared at Choi Chi-taek with calm eyes, saying nothing.

Sagyeol smirked.

“None.”

“This… what in the world.”

Completely dumbfounded, Choi Chi-taek mumbled. *Creak.* His chair scraped backward. Rising from his seat, Sagyeol approached Choi Chi-taek.

“The damage during the Great Catastrophe was devastating. Recovery was a distant dream, and many hunters left the city due to the possibility of another wave occurring at any moment. Choi Chi-taek. Including you, that is.”

A large hand firmly grasped Choi Chi-taek’s shoulder. He thrashed like a fish caught on a line, yet found himself unable to shake off that imposing hand.

“By numbers, it was roughly ten percent, wasn’t it? But to put it another way, the vast majority of hunters—over ninety percent—still remained in Grisha. Why do you think that was? It’s too difficult for an idiot like you, so let me give you a hint: Hunters aren’t the only ones living in Grisha.”

“You’re not suggesting it was for family, are you? High-ranking hunters can even bring their relatives with them when they defect!”

“…Let me correct myself. You’re not just an idiot; you’re a complete imbecile.”

Sagyeol shrugged, and laughter erupted from all sides. Choi Chi-taek trembled with indignation, yet he could do nothing. He realized he was clearly prey. He had to prostrate himself and escape this situation.

“When the Great Catastrophe occurred, a little over six thousand people died, most of them hunters. But in the year that followed, the death toll reached nearly thirty thousand, and all of them were civilians.”

More people died after the Great Catastrophe ended and the barricades were reinforced. That could only mean one thing.

“It was due to mana poisoning.”

The mana spewing from hundreds of gates was carried by the wind, swiftly spreading throughout Grisha. Though it diluted as it mixed with the air of the mortal realm, it covered an equally vast area. Among the civilians exposed to mana at that time, the incidence of mana poisoning was roughly half.

Grisha, once the largest city in the Western Continent, became home to the largest number of mana poisoning victims.

“Gates are finite. That means the amount of magic beasts and magic stones produced from them is also fixed. That cannot sustain tens of thousands of suddenly increased mana poisoning victims. Buying magic stones from other cities is merely a stopgap measure with clear limitations. The price of magic stones would skyrocket, and eventually, even those would be completely depleted.”

This was the second time Sagyeol had spoken such words. The first was when he became the youngest Guild Master of the Three Crescent Moons Guild. He sought out every hunter crying out in despair and persuaded them with the same reasoning.

“Even if you defect, work as a hunter, earn money, and buy magic stones, the result will be the same. If everyone in Grisha scatters like locusts in search of magic stones, it will only hasten the inevitable destruction.”

“……”

“Ten out of ten hunters in Grisha who heard my words returned the same question: ‘Then what the hell are we supposed to do?'”

Recalling that moment, several Guild Masters flinched. Some even cleared their throats. The past, when they had been provoked by a mere child, was a dark chapter they all wished to forget.

‘No, a bean-sized kid came claiming to be the successor of the Three Crescent Moons, prattling on about a solution. Of course,’

‘I thought he was just a clueless kid acting out…’

‘It wasn’t just me, was it? Didn’t everyone think that? Honestly, he was just too young.’

Among them, some surprisingly adopted a resolute gaze. These were the ones who recalled Sagyeol’s answer.

“Gentlemen. What useless worries are you even having?”

Small, slender fingers pointed outside. Beyond the barricades, to the lost lands swarming with magic beasts.

“If it’s magic stones you’re after, they’re overflowing out there.”

The young man, still possessing those shining eyes, smiled languidly.

“It’s a simple truth, a self-evident one, when you think about it. Everyone was just too shocked to realize it sooner.”

Though Grisha had fallen into ruin, it lay adjacent to lands teeming with an almost infinite supply of magic stones. The very source of the abhorrent destruction that had spawned countless victims of mana poisoning had, paradoxically, become their sole hope for survival.

However, not all Guild Masters agreed from the start. The wounds inflicted by the tide of magic beasts were deep and agonizing. And the fear was immense.

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