“Damn, it got bigger.”

Seong-Il was in awe looking at the rows of tents lined up on the street and the lively village beyond the border. Kyung-Ah’s eyes also shone as the central area of the Sky Guild’s mainland was as full of energy as the rumors had claimed.

Until she had met Odin, she had thought there would be no more powerful force than hers. She had almost swept the surrounding areas as soon as Act One, Stage Two finished and she swiftly brought the other districts to their knees under her authority. She was able to distinguish between competent and useless people and reorganize her group such that they became stronger.

However, there were obviously way more people in the Sky Guild compared to her group. Many people there seemed to be satisfied with their life. Those were the ones who had given up being stronger and depended on others to survive.

Then, one woman caught Kyung-Ah’s eyes. She was showing off her clean washed legs with her chest half exposed. There were prostitutes and gigolos in her land as well, but the unique thing about the Sky Guild was that those who were supposed to feel timid were actually energetic instead.

“What do you think? Isn’t our village nice?” Seong-Il asked.

She responded absentmindedly, “Yea, it’s okay.”

Seong-Il said while following her gaze, “Don’t look at them too badly. They are just trying to earn money and buy items.”

Kyung-Ah remarked, “Or they are trying to buy clothes that expose their skin. Well, that could be an item, too.”

The prostitutes reminded Kyung-Ah of the early days when she tried luring the guy… In fact, that was why she was sick and tired of seeing prostitutes.

Kyung-Ah wondered if the production could keep up with the number of goods in circulation.

To the point where even those guys can buy the items?

She could soon find the answer. There were quite a few squads known as Monster Hunting Guilds under the Sky Guild. They not only brought in mana stones but also distributed new items and insignias with points acquired from catching monsters. Above all, they were doing all of this voluntarily for personal gain as there were no orders from the top to do this. Other than the complacent ones, everyone else seemed to belong to the hunting teams.

Conversations about hunting monsters could be heard from all directions.

***

“Shin Kyung-Ah. Seoul. Age doesn’t matter.”

It was just a formal greeting for not only Kyung-Ah but also the guild member in charge of her interview. Since the interviewee had been with Odin from Act One, Stage One, he was very careful with his attitude toward her.

“It’s over, right? Bye.”

Kyung-Ah came out of the guild hall. Just like the street where she left her people, the streets here had fallen into disorder. Seon-Hu was called ‘he’ instead of the code name Odin by the people. Everyone’s attention was also fixed on Kyung-Ah because she was strikingly beautiful, but word spread quickly that she was the woman who came in with Odin.

Kyung-Ah felt an unexpected sense of liberation. She was no longer the leader who had to unify ten districts and lead people here. She was just a woman Odin brought in. No one knew what she had done in the past. Her smile became bigger as she was enjoying the moment. Her face was egg-shaped, and her eyes curved into a half-moon when she smiled. Even if they didn’t know that Odin had brought her in, people of all ages would look at her as she walked lightly, like a flower flickering in the wind.

Kyung-Ah looked back after arriving at Seon-Hu’s and Seong-Il’s residence. The attention that she would never have had in her territory was still on her. She was excited that she even smiled at them unconsciously. Her happiness was at its peak since entering the stage.

Then, her eyes widened as she walked into the room.

“Soo-Ah unnie[1]?”

“Kyung-Ah! It was… really you? Oh my gosh! Oh god!!!”

The two women were acquaintances, and they cried for a long time while hugging each other. They weren’t family or friends in the real world, but they had known each other for a while as Soo-Ah’s younger sister was Kyung-Ah’s best friend. They had graduated from the same high school and went to the same university, then they were accepted to the same law school.

It had been so long since they had cried in a public place. Kyung-Ah kept thinking about her memories as she was squishing her face towards Soo-Ah’s. From her memory of that one night in Hongdae, Soo-Ah had been the main character. The three of them had walked together on the streets, and she could clearly recall Soo-Ah’s flushed face at the club.

They then moved to Soo-Ah’s residence. After talking while losing track of time, their conversation subject shifted to Odin.

“You might not know Telestar Investment, but you would know Jessica, right? There.”

There was no way Kyung-Ah wouldn’t know. Although conquering Stage Two’s spire took a long time, there were memories she could never forget. Similar to her memories of her family, the image of Soo-Ah's home was indelible in her mind. The other woman’s apartment had overlooked the Han River, and it was a tangible symbol of a successful woman. It had actually motivated Kyung-Ah to study harder and prepare for law school. She overcame hardships during the exam season by focusing on the goal that she would graduate from a prestigious law school, enter Kim and Park[2], and live in such an apartment.

Soo-Ah’s place was always neatly organized, and the shelf full of financial books was fancier than the wine bar that bragged about one’s success. Two books were always placed on top of the bookshelf. One was Jessica’s autobiography, who was Soo-Ah’s role model, and another was Jonathan’s late ‘90s autobiography, the world’s richest man and one of the heroes on the Day of Advent.

“I miss those times and your studio. We three always celebrated Soo-Hee’s birthday at your place.”

“Right…”

“But I’m not surprised that Odin was a successful financier. I thought he had done much more. Odin is actually quite boring.”

Kyung-Ah felt like the unbelievable power would stretch out from her hand again if she unfolded her fingers. The fear and fullness felt at the time weren’t describable.

“You saw it, right?” Soo-Ah asked Kyung-Ah, who was daydreaming.

Kyung-Ah sighed. “I’m not crazy. Do you think I gave up everything and followed him blindly? My first man also belonged to the World Awakened Association, but in the opposite organization to Odin. But he was far inferior to Odin…”

“Wait, the opposite organization?” Soo-Ah asked.

“Did Odin not tell you? What the heck have you been doing every night? Hohoho.”

Kyung-Ah lowered her voice and continued, “The World Awakened Association consists of two groups. Tomorrow and Revolucion. The head of the Revolucion… You would know better. Joshua von Karjan. Odin is in a faction on Joshua’s side.”

***

There were a few families who dominated the global financial market while controlling the political world. People with those family names existed in the world’s elite groups, so it wasn’t a conspiracy theory. Soo-Ah had experienced despair during her trading when she confronted the huge capital believed to have come from those elite groups’ pockets. The market trend shifted under their control whenever they moved.

In 2008, during the subprime mortgage crisis period, the global financial crisis became more evident and Soo-Ah barely managed to stop being an amateur. It was also a time of great upheaval in world economic history.

The Rothschild family, which was considered a legendary family to the public, caused their own crisis after a big deal with the Jonathan Investment Group. The Goldstein family, a Jewish family based in France, also collapsed around that time. Then, the Jeon-il Group sucked up most of their subsidiaries. Only the financial magazines and financiers were busy talking about it, but the Korean citizens weren’t aware of how serious the circumstances were. Jonathan Investment Group, Gillian Investment Group and Jessica’s Telestar Investment had reached their heavens during the crisis. It was a matter of falling or soaring like crazy.

The Karjan family was another group that succeeded in flying by betting on their company’s future without hesitation. Though they were both prominent Jewish families, the Goldstein family ended up ruined, but the Karjans flew up in an extraordinary manner. Their people advanced beyond the German border to England, Denmark, Belgium, and Italy. Financial firms and banks with the same name quickly took control of the neighboring countries' economies, as if they had expanded their territory in World War II. That was what happened from the global financial crisis in 2008 to the Day of Advent in 2018. Even if people weren’t in the financial industry, they would have known about this if they were interested in global finance.

That was how aggressive the Karjans were, and they caused new incidents day after day. Every time the European stock prices fluctuated over the past decade, the Karjan Group was always there.

Joshua von Karjan was the head of such a group! Therefore, Soo-Ah was certain that the Karjans would become the main player in economies from the Day of Advent even though the Jeon-il Group had dominated Korea and France while Jonathan and Gillian Investment were controlling the global economy.

Joshua was also the one who led the World Awakened Association. Soo-Ah had participated as a soldier when the global financial market was divided into ‘Sell’ and ‘Buy’ when the alien civilization attacked the earth. When she first saw Joshua’s press conference, she was so shocked that her heart still pounded quickly when she thought about that moment.

Tu-tump. Tu-tump. Tu-tump.

Her heart started beating again. Kyung-Ah read something from Soo-Ah’s busy eyes, then she smiled.

“Do you want me to repeat that? Revolucion. Odin is on Joshua von Karjan’s side even within the World Awakened Association, unnie.”

Soo-Ah thought the association was Joshua’s single group. Things were different if it had been divided into two organizations. There was bound to be a power gap in any group, and Revolucion would have more authority as Joshua belonged to it. If Odin was in Tomorrow, then people would treat her the same way and she would have to ingratiate herself with Revolucion’s people even after returning to the real world.

However, that was not true.

Odin is already Joshua’s person, or he will be.

Soo-Ah was strongly convinced of that fact. There were barriers in society that could never be crossed between the manager of Telestar Investment and the head of the Karjan Group, but the overwhelming power would be able to break those barriers in the future. She thought Odin would be a golden rope, but he was actually a challenger-class rope.

Soo-Ah shouted inwardly.

Amazing! He is awesome. My Odin is great!

1. How females call an older sister or female friends who are older than them. ☜

2. The most famous law firm in Korea. ☜