Leaving the conference room and heading back toward the party hall, Kim Ki-Rok recalled Lee Yeon-Hwa's praise, his expression shifting subtly.
"A good deed, huh..."
He had used various methods in an effort to try and clear the S-Class Gate and the Gate connected to Hell. He had improved himself and had also enhanced the power of his colleagues, putting them to use to further his efforts.
In some Attempts, he would gather strength through good influence, and in others, he threatened humanity as a villain. There were even occasions when he acted as a dictator, taking unilateral control.
"Is it hypocritical...?" Kim Ki-Rok tilted his head and stopped in front of the party hall. "It's hard to say."
He had to admit that moving like a villain or dictator was, in some respects, highly efficient. Yet those timelines always ended in the worst possible outcome. The results were never short of horrendous, no matter how much he had achieved or how efficient it had been.
So Kim Ki-Rok ultimately dismissed the path of the villain. Sure, there were times he still pretended to be evil, but only when he had given up on that Attempt, using it to gather intel on Awakened criminals.
The more good he bestowed, the higher his success rate was for clearing Gates. The more good deeds he performed, the more he received through the goodness of others. During one particular Attempt where he had done as much as he could possibly do for the sake of others, he had been able to meet the Hell King, the one who presided over the Hell Gates.
Although that timeline, too, ended with Earth's destruction, what he gleaned from it was enormous: until they awakened to their abilities, every potential Hunter was effectively an ordinary person who must be protected.
Sure, it could be labeled hypocrisy, having an ulterior motive of winning the war.
"But... even if it's hypocritical, good is still good."
After all, he had walked the villain's path more than once to pursue his goals. There was no need to worry about such trivialities.
Having paused at the hall's entrance, Kim Ki-Rok rubbed both cheeks with his palms, loosening the muscles of his face, then stepped into the party. Scanning the area, he first spotted Kim Ji-Hee at Chairman Yoo Jin-Man's side, happily munching on meat.
Seeing her reminded him of someone else. "What on earth is that guy up to these days... It's been a while since he contacted me."
[The Time Rabbit raised one hand high and said, "Hey! Long time no see!"]
"Huh! Speak of the devil." Kim Ki-Rok said, quietly withdrawing to a corner of the party hall.
The Time Rabbit often disappeared without notice, and the timing was always unpredictable. Even if Kim Ki-Rok did everything exactly the same as he had in a previous Attempt, his appearances wouldn't be consistent.
"You said it was something to do with your species, right?"
[The Time Rabbit tilted his head and asked, "Huh? What? You mean my coming and going?"]
[The Time Rabbit nodded and replied, "Yes, unlike you who can only send memories from the future to the past, we have a wider range of abilities."]
He had pressed the Time Rabbit about this countless times in the past, but it never gave more than vague answers. Even so, he couldn't suppress his curiosity now and studied the holographic figure before him.
[The Time Rabbit said with a smile, "You know it's a secret, right?"]
"I know. I understand."
[The Time Rabbit asked, "So, what are you doing now?"]
[The Time Rabbit asked, "Ah, is it Christmas?"]
"Yup. I need to recruit some help because of that thing happening in two days."
[The Time Rabbit muttered, "Huh? Isn't this similar to the last Attempt?"]
"It's similar. The only differences are the recruitment order and the fact we perfectly cleared a contaminated Gate."
["Oh, then calling in support is exactly what you should be doing." The Time Rabbit nods in agreement.]
In one of his previous Attempts, Kim Ki-Rok discovered and thwarted the Awakened criminals before they could raid the department store, prompting their retaliation. In every Attempt where he interfered with their plans, they responded consistently with vengeance, inflicting significant damage each time.
The fewer deaths, the better. Of course, that included Awakened criminals. It was better to save as many as possible, except the absolute worst among them, the ones deemed beyond redemption.
[The Time Rabbit murmured with a satisfied smile, "Oh, our Ji-Hee has grown up well."]
Kim Ki-Rok burst out into hollow laughter and headed to a table where the DG Guild's Elementalists were gathered.
"It hasn't even been three months. Barely three months."
The six members of Fairy Flower were on the table having a serious discussion while the Elementalists watched them.
"Oh, welcome, CEO Kim! I have a great idea!" Aeple said in excitement.
A great idea from Aeple? Did such a thing even exist?
"Yes! We're going to debut!" she announced.
"Debut?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.
"Yes. Although we don't have all our members here yet, six of us are here already. We're going to make a surprise debut right here!"
"Oh, but I haven't prepared a song for you guys."
Three of their members had yet to descend to Earth, still looking for an Elementalist to contract with. Knowing this, Kim Ki-Rok thought he would have more time and had not prepared anything.
Although it had first started as a joke, upon closer inspection, Fairy Flower seemed like it could be beneficial for DG Channel and help attract more Elementalists. In fact, Fairy Flower had already helped the guild tremendously. In return, Kim Ki-Rok wanted to show genuine appreciation by helping them make a real debut.
"You know, that thing. That thing." Aeple said, the words seemingly on the tip of her tongue.
"That thing? What are you talking about?" Kim Ki-Rok asked, perplexed.
"A trainee showcase!"
Kim Ki-Rok paused for a moment, taking it all in—then burst out laughing. How did she keep coming up with ideas that were both ridiculous and brilliant? He turned to Aeple and the five Elementals.
"Alright," he said, grinning. "What song should I play?"
"No, prepare an instrumental track! I don't want any lip-syncing controversy right from our debut!"
At first, it had been an ordinary party: people greeted old friends, ate the catered food, and got introduced to new acquaintances. But the mood changed dramatically the moment one man, who had slipped out from his seat earlier without a word, returned.
Standing on the empty little stage in the party hall, Kim Ki-Rok announced the arrival of some new guests. "Alright then... Right here! At this moment! We have a rookie girl group loved by many despite not having debuted yet!"
All eyes in the party turned toward the stage.
"Oh, oh, oh! As expected of Godly Guildmaster Kim Ki-Rok!"
The men who had struck out with the women and consoled themselves with booze and grilled meat suddenly jumped to their feet and chanted his name.
"Godly Guildmaster! Godly Guildmaster!"
"Now! Right here! Announcing a new girl group who've just finished their trainee phase!" Kim Ki-Rok continued with the introduction.
"Oh, oh, oh!" the men chanted.
While the Four Cardinal Guardians stood confused, six Elementals flew onto the stage in flashy fashion.
"Ah this crazy bastard."
The Four Cardinal Guardians were genuinely disappointed.
Regardless, Kim Ki-Rok announced the start of the performance. "Then let's welcome them to the stage!"
A song from a famous girl group filled the hall. Kim Ki-Rok walked down from the stage and approached the promotion team leader who was filming the performance.
"How is the stream?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.
Debut was debut, after all, so he figured they might as well go big and prepare a livestream.
The PR team leader replied, "At first, a lot of the messages consisted of curses, but now many are cheering them on."
"As expected. It's a girl group made up entirely of Elementals, after all."
They had been teasing Fairy Flower's arrival for quite a while, building up hype and keeping viewers patient through the long wait.
"Huh? But you said there were curses?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.
The camera director nodded. "Yes. The chat was initially full of curses."
"Ah, I think I know why."
"Right. The livestream you conducted a few days ago seems to be the cause. Well, the curses were gone as soon as Fairy Flower took the stage."
"Then it looks like it would be better for me not to appear on the livestream today."
"Would that be okay?" the PR director asked, glancing nervously at the real-time comments on his tablet. Without Kim Ki-Rok's natural charisma to carry things, he worried the livestream might fall flat.
"Not a problem. Aeple is pretty good at this," Kim Ki-Rok reassured.
"You have a point," the team leader of the shoot said.
Aeple, the spirit contracted with Kim Ki-Rok, dreamed of making her debut in a girl group. Naturally, she had never slacked off on her "studies," and she frequently appeared in both livestreams and pre-recorded videos. She was quite witty and had a good sense of humor. If they just gave her the microphone and let her run with it, she would handle the show flawlessly.
Despite the small stage, Aeple and the other spirits poured all their energy into singing and dancing.
"Seems like the audience's reaction isn't bad," Kim Ki-Rok remarked, nodding as he checked DG Channel's live stream on his phone.
"The performance itself is great. There's the novelty of them being Elementals, and whether it's because of Aeple's hard work or their natural talent, everyone's singing is on point. The stage effects are somewhat lacking because of the venue, but that can be covered with elemental magic. And we can fix it up more in the edited version later."
It was rare for the filming director to speak so confidently about something.
Feeling intrigued, Kim Ki-Rok asked, "Just how far do you think they can go?"
"They'll become the face of the DG Guild alongside Ji-Hee."
Were they truly that promising?
Originally, Fairy Flower was just a little project to drum up interest and fulfill the wishes of the Elementals. However, it exceeded expectations in a good way, and even the live chat was filled with praise.
⤷ I know they are missing members, but if this is their debut stage, they must be close.
⤷ Hey, do you guys think that Fairy Flower would appear on music streams, too?
⤷ Dunno about that. Considering the track record of our Crazy Bastard, they might be more active on MeTube.
Sure, the occasional curse would pop up, but it was only about one in every ten comments. Watching the chat scroll by, Kim Ki-Rok stared thoughtfully at Fairy Flower's performance, his expression curious.
"How interesting. Should I reassign them?" he wondered aloud.
Fairy Flower had been an impromptu project, and contracting Elementals to their Elementalist was a higher priority. He figured a debut was doable, but whether the group could actually last was another question.
"Sorry?" The PR director asked.
Kim Ki-Rok clarified, "No, I just mean it might be worth investing a bit more in them, now that things have gone this far."
"How do you want to proceed with that?"
"We'll form a team made up of Elementalists."
"Is that... even viable?"
He was proposing a team of pure Elementalists, fighting from the rear.
Noticing the filming director's uncertain expressions, Kim Ki-Rok added with a smile, "Of course, we'll make sure to assign close-combat types where necessary. The idea is simply to group Fairy Flower as a single team, nothing more."