Can I Do It? (1)

The day after Kim Dojun created a group called Yoho with Dan as its boss, the Demon Realm of Tiger's Dread was in utter chaos.

[Is it true that Yoho has taken over almost the entire outer zone now? (22)]

[I heard the boss of Yoho, the Fox King, is stronger than the Scorpion Monster Sage. Who could they be? (81)]

[Things are seriously messed up right now (11)]

[Summary of what the creator of Yoho, the Scorpion Monster Sage, and the boss of Yoho, the Fox King, said yesterday (71)]

[From Twisted Evil's perspective, this must really sting (63)]

Most of the trending posts were filled with talk about the Scorpion Monster Sage and the mysterious, reclusive genius, fox King, who appeared yesterday.

In the midst of that situation—

"..."

Dan was at the Pantheon.

The reason, of course, was to deal with the situation Kim Dojun had caused.

Naturally, you couldn't just declare you were making an organization and have it go "Ta-da!" like in a game.

There was no guild window popping up to manage members, and even for basic things like a group's hideout or organizational structure, you had to do the work yourself.

Basically, after a group was formed, things might get easier, but to set it up in the first place, you had to suffer through a lot.

Right now, the task Dan was doing was for proper management—a registry of the members and representatives of groups who began joining after Kim Dojun's declaration yesterday.

Yesterday had just been verbal sign-ups; today was the first 'real' round of recruitment.

Thanks to that, Dan was now in a temporarily rented underground meeting room (courtesy of Kim Dojun's "persuasion"), calling in applicants one by one to check their details.

'I just want to go home.'

He thought this sincerely.

Why was he thinking this?

It was simple: Dan never wanted to be a boss.

But with everything already out of hand and knowing that Kim Dojun's next round of persuasion would be scary if he refused, he ultimately accepted the role.

'But this is way too much...!'

Dan, masking his frustration behind a mask, gazed at the never-ending line of applicants and recalled Kim Dojun's earlier attitude.

'The boss should handle member management.'

'Aren't things like member management usually the job of underlings?'

'Guild masters do it in games.'

'That may be true, but still—'

'Okay, then! Do your best. I got you the venue, after all. I've got somewhere to be, so I'll leave you to it!'

And with that, Kim Dojun vanished.

Dan had wanted to yell, "That's just in games, you crazy bastard!" but all he managed to say was "... Fine."

In the end, he was stuck facing a flood of incoming members on his own.

'Okay, I can deal with this... I can!'

Truthfully, up to that point, Dan thought he could handle it.

Facing tons of applicants by himself was tolerable.

Meeting older guys who looked up to him was fine, and even the people trying to subtly probe him for information were manageable.

But then—

'This is seriously terrifying...!'

He looked at the two men and women standing before him.

A man with an unmistakably striking purple longsword at his waist, and

A woman with an oni mask hanging to the side of her head, both hands fitted with dangerous-looking, venom-dripping knuckles that glowed with engraved sorcery patterns.

Had Dan not known who they were, he might have let it slide, but unfortunately, he did know them.

The man with the purple sword was a sorcerer known as 'Execution Sword.'

The woman beside him, wearing the deadly knuckles, was a sorcerer known as 'Poison Fang.'

Even knowing that much would have been bad enough, but Dan knew even more.

Both of these sorcerers had been designated first-class criminals by the Association, and they each had completely insane personalities.

'Why the hell did these maniacs show up all of a sudden!? Weren't they lone wolves?'

Knowing all this, and lacking the power to stop them, Dan sat in terror, watching them.

And then, the next moment—

"?"

Dan realized.

At some point, execution Sword's blade was at his neck.

"??"

The threat to his life happened so fast, he didn't even have time to react, staring ahead with a blank expression.

'Shit, I'm screwed...!'

That thought flashed in his mind, and he tried to jump up.

"Interesting."

Just before Dan could move, execution Sword sheathed his blade with a small, entertained smile.

"So you are really the boss of the Scorpion Monster Sage. You kept your composure—it seems my skill couldn't even draw a proper reaction from you."

"?"

"Actually, if I really attacked now, maybe I'd end up being the one in trouble?"

Execution Sword spoke as if he knew everything.

'What the hell is this guy talking about?' Dan thought, holding himself perfectly still, unable to react.

"... Is that the right answer?"

Murmuring to himself, execution Sword finally said:"I'm Execution Sword, ilgwang. I look forward to working with you."

With that, he turned and left.

Poison Fang, who had come with him, added,

"I'm in too."

"?"

"If you can ignore the poison I just spread, then that's enough to acknowledge you."

'Wait, you spread poison?'

"I'm Poison Fang, doku Sasaki. Let's get along, okay?"

Without hearing Dan's internal scream—'Where did you spread it!?'—she left with Execution Sword.

Left alone, Dan jumped up frantically, searching for any sign of poison.

"...."

Looking between his legs, he realized the chair and wooden floor under him were turning a sinister black as they corroded. Only then did he realize he'd nearly died not once, but twice, just now.

"... Save me..."

He couldn't help but mutter pitifully under his breath.

####

Inside the Pantheon hideout, in a zone designated as 'inner territory.'

"That Scorpion Monster Sage bastard created an organization called Yoho in the outer zone?"

"Yes, sir."

"And they're taking over territory at high speed?"

"We haven't seen that movement yet. It seems, since it was all declared so suddenly, they're focusing on consolidation first."

"... So all this time they've built this organization right in our faces. What were our people doing?"

"Because of the Twisted Evil Killers, we've had unnecessary casualties continuing, so we pulled them all back to the middle zone for now."

"... Hah."

At I Seokdo's report, Aryong made an incredulous face.

"Scorpion Monster Sage, Twisted Evil Killers... both of these bastards are causing chaos at once."

He rubbed his head in frustration and began thinking.

After some time passed,

"From now on, let it be known that Twisted Evil considers Yoho an enemy."

He declared.

"Understood."

I Seokdo nodded immediately at Aryong's words.

"And gather all our execution squads. Everyone, including those currently deployed."

"... All of them, sir?"

"Yes. Everyone. Bring everyone sent to the middle zone back to the hideout as well."

"But if we do that, all our current projects—"

At his protest, I Seokdo fell silent as Aryong's furious glare bore into him.

"... Understood."

He changed his response at once.

"And when you've got the execution squads all assembled—"

With a deadly serious face, Aryong murmured,

"—We'll sweep Yoho away."

I Seokdo looked like he wanted to say something more, but after noting the barely restrained rage in Aryong's eyes, he quietly bowed his head.

"Understood. I'll bring in all the currently deployed execution squads at once."

He headed for the door at a brisk pace.

Left alone in the room after I Seokdo departed, Aryong muttered,

"... I don't know where these bastards crawled out from."

With eyes burning with killing intent,

"If they think I'll go down easily, they're dead wrong."

He stared at the dragon tattoo inked onto his skin.

"It's a mistake."

####

A few hours after Dan finished the registry of new members.

With Dan looking half-dead beside him, Kim Dojun left the Pantheon with him, then took out his smartphone and called Choi Yuron.

[Hello?]

The voice of Choi Yuron, the Hundred Spirit Summoner, came over the line.

"Nice to hear from you. This is Kim Dojun."

Kim Dojun spoke up.

[I was waiting for your call.]

Choi Yuron's voice was a little upbeat—Kim Dojun got right to the point.

"I'll make this brief. From what I heard from Instructor Iron God, you wanted to spar with White Ghost Wolf again. Is that right?"

[... I like people who get to the point. That's correct. Strictly speaking, it would be more of a practice match than a fight, but yes, that's essentially it.]

"Fighting White Ghost Wolf isn't a problem. But since I'm doing you a favor, I'd like something in return."

[I figured you'd say that. What is it? As long as it isn't excessive, and it's something I can provide, name it.]

Without any displeasure, Choi Yuron replied coolly.

As if to say that was all, Kim Dojun continued,

"Then, if you could arrange a meeting with one of your uncontracted spirit entities, 'Johwasu' (Harmonizing Water), I'd like that."

He brought up the opportunity he could gain from Choi Yuron.

[... Johwasu?]

"Yes."

[Are you a spirit summoner?]

"No, I'm not—"

[Then there's no point in meeting them, is there? There are reasons why my uncontracted spirits remain with me, even though I own them.]

Choi Yuron sounded skeptical.

Her doubt was more than reasonable.

If you weren't a spirit summoner, you practically never used spirit entities. Sometimes other sorcerers might use them as supplements in their own sorcery, but the kind Kim Dojun was asking about wasn't for that kind of use.

"If you just let me meet them, I'll handle the rest."

Despite knowing Yuron's doubts, Kim Dojun simply replied.

[... Fine then, but that's your only reward, okay? Don't try to change your request later.]

After a moment's silence, yuron agreed.

"I'll keep that in mind."

[Then, when do you want to meet?]

"They say you should strike while the iron is hot. I'll just finish one errand and come over today."

With that, the conversation ended.

"Alright, time to put this to use."

Kim Dojun smiled as he looked at the "Ring of Command" he had obtained through his negotiation with the Go-gun Group.

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