Chapter 177. Return (5)
“By the way, Jason.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
When I spoke to him, Jason grinned and spread his arms.
“What would you like to say?”
“Are you about to thank me for working myself to the bone, even looking after your Contractors while you practically abandoned Korea?”
Watching Jason speak so proudly, I frowned.
“You named it the Golden Ram Order, didn’t you?”
“Hahaha. Doesn’t it sound like a name that promises a future shining like gold?”
The ‘Golden Ram’ referred to the golden-fleeced ram.
The very Golden Fleece Jason had gathered heroes and organized the Argo expedition to obtain.
“As far as I remember, your future after getting that golden fleece was pretty far from shining.”
“Haha. My hearing suddenly got worse. I can’t hear you.”
Jason covered his ears and shook his head.
For reference, according to myth, after obtaining the Golden Fleece, Jason’s life fell apart until he lost everything and died alone...
“Well, the name isn’t that important.”
Muttering that, I looked through the Observer at the former National Assembly building.
My Contractors, who had spent so long moving from place to place, were now using that building as their headquarters.
It was the result of Seok Taejun, Lee Jukheon, and Joo Minha working themselves to the bone while Kang Yujin was in China.
“Honestly, even I didn’t expect those guys to build such a large organization this quickly.”
Jason spoke beside me.
“But they pulled it off.”
“At this point, there probably isn’t a Contractor in Korea who doesn’t know their names.”
“The Capital Region is one thing, but if you go down into the provinces, they might actually be more famous than Kang Yujin.”
“Probably.”
After Kang Yujin left, Seok Taejun, Lee Jukheon, and Joo Minha immediately headed toward Gangwon Province.
There, they wiped out the orc tribe that had dominated the region for a long time.
After earning the trust of Gangwon’s Contractors, they began pacifying the entire province.
They killed countless monsters and completed numerous Quests.
Then, together with people who shared their ideals, they continued south.
By the time they reached Busan, they were already leading more than a hundred Contractors.
Anyone watching Seok Taejun sniff out Hidden Pieces like a ghost would naturally want to follow him.
Seok Taejun acted as their leader and captivated people with one brilliant idea after another.
Lee Jukheon defeated powerful enemies one after another with terrifying swordsmanship.
Joo Minha supported everyone with exceptional magic and sharp judgment.
Having been tempered on the front lines alongside Kang Yujin...
they already possessed more than enough qualities to be called heroes.
It was only natural they gained followers.
And the one who supported the Contractors following Seok Taejun’s group...
was Jason.
Jason approached those Contractors and offered to have them re-contract with him.
For Contractors bound to D-rank or C-rank Constellations, that alone was a tremendous benefit.
And there were all the rewards from Hidden Pieces too.
The Contractor group led by Seok Taejun steadily grew stronger.
And larger.
As a result, they became capable of responding to increasingly serious incidents.
There had even been a case where they intervened in a conflict between two major organizations and subdued both sides.
After traveling throughout the south and then heading north again toward the Capital Region...
they had already become a heroic organization known for resolving countless crises and bringing peace to Korea.
“No, seriously. It was exhausting.”
“Someone kept disappearing after only drawing up the overall plan.”
“Yeah... I admit you and Number 49 worked hard.”
I had often needed to descend directly into China.
There was no way I could personally keep track of everything happening in Korea.
That was why I left most of the smaller matters to Jason and Number 49, the two people who understood my methods best.
“Still, your Origin Power rose quite a bit too, didn’t it?”
“Hahaha. Naturally.”
Jason had gained many more Contractors over that period.
He had also worked hard to promote himself on Constellation Tube.
His Origin Power had probably increased considerably.
“It’s thanks to you, Nameless King.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you hadn’t trusted me enough to leave all this work to me, I never would have grown this much.”
Jason suddenly looked embarrassed.
“To be honest, I was never a particularly respected Constellation.”
“Well... that’s true.”
Jason possessed a Constellation Skill that allowed him to descend to the Material Realm and scout Contractors.
That meant he frequently moved between worlds and often appeared directly before people.
But Jason’s combat ability was weak.
And even as a hero, he wasn’t especially respected.
Because of that, he had often ended up in humiliating situations.
There had even been that time he tried to recruit Kang Yujin, only to get punched and publicly embarrassed.
To many Constellations...
Jason had been a joke.
“But you trusted me and gave me a lot of important work.”
“Because I acknowledge your ability.”
Unlike other Constellations...
I genuinely thought Jason was impressive.
He managed a large number of Contractors at the same time and provided standardized support to all of them.
He was practically a franchise operator.
Jason was the only Constellation who could do something like that.
And the fact that he could laugh off humiliation without caring at all...
wasn’t a weakness in my eyes either.
That was why I had eventually joined hands with Jason.
We had cooperated on Constellation Tube and many other things.
Now...
he was an indispensable companion in my activities as a Constellation.
“The fact that I’ve grown this much is all thanks to you.”
“You shouldn’t say that.”
“That’s your own ability.”
“Haha. I appreciate you saying that.”
“The reason I trusted you with those jobs in the first place was because I believed you could handle them.”
If Kang Yujin’s group began operating on a global scale in the future and could no longer pay much attention to Korea...
then just as I entrusted China to Yang Jian...
I could leave Korea in Jason’s hands.
Jason had become that capable.
“You understand my methods well too.”
“If you recognize me that highly, I couldn’t ask for more.”
Jason scratched his head awkwardly.
“Haha. Let’s stop talking about this.”
“We’re getting strangely sentimental.”
“Yeah.”
“Anyway, let’s talk about the current situation.”
Jason pointed at the Observer and started talking again.
“Because of his achievements stabilizing the provinces, Seok Taejun was selected as one of the new Eight Guardians.”
“The Capital Region has been peaceful lately too.”
“And Won Pilso is holding the Kaesong region we took back from Pandemonium quite well.”
“Yeah. The current system is fairly stable.”
With that...
Korea’s internal situation had more or less been settled.
Then it was probably time to move on to the next stage.
The young guard who had challenged Kang Yujin for speaking casually to Seok Taejun turned deathly pale once the situation was explained to him.
“I’m terribly sorry! I didn’t realize you were that Lord Kang Yujin, and I committed a grave offense!”
“I said it’s fine.”
Apparently, even if he hadn’t recognized Kang Yujin’s face, he knew very well what kind of Contractor Kang Yujin was.
The man kept apologizing.
To Kang Yujin, it was simply annoying.
“I’ll atone for this crime with my life...”
“I said it’s fine!”
“Yu Mokhyeop, that’s enough. Go back to your post.”
“Y-Yes, Commander!”
At Seok Taejun’s order, the man hurriedly returned to his original position.
“Hey, how does it feel seeing Seok Taejun grow this much?”
Lee Jukheon asked teasingly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean... ah, forget it. You probably don’t think much about it.”
Lee Jukheon sighed.
“Anyway, right now we’re building up our forces under an organization called the Golden Ram Order.”
“As you can see, Seok Taejun is the Commander and acts as the leader.”
“We support him.”
“Commander is a bit much. I’m basically just the figurehead.”
“Don’t say that.”
Lee Jukheon frowned.
“You were the one who made decisive choices at critical moments and got us through them.”
“You did more than enough as a leader.”
“That’s mostly thanks to my Awakening Skill.”
“You made plenty of good decisions even in situations where your Awakening Skill had nothing to do with it.”
“Anyway...”
Lee Jukheon smacked Kang Yujin on the shoulder.
“Kang Yujin, what I’m saying is that we built an organization strong enough to support you properly.”
“That was the promise.”
Seok Taejun looked a little embarrassed.
“I don’t really understand this kind of thing, but it seems impressive.”
Of course, it couldn’t compare to the scale of the Black Dragon Society Kang Yujin had seen in China.
But in Kang Yujin’s eyes...
it felt more dependable than any organization in the world.
“You worked hard.”
