Chapter 442

Still, just because he felt dejected didn't mean misfortune would disappear on its own.

“This is hopeless.”

The blond-haired guild master pulled himself together. Rather than endlessly lamenting his situation, he decided to focus on finding a quick way out of this crisis. So Kim Giryeo picked up his phone again, intending to use its online search function to figure out what was wrong with his guild.

“Let's see... I'm sure I saved the address of the website Koreans use the most somewhere...”

It had been quite a while since he'd last gone web surfing. But through this little act, Kim Giryeo once again realized just how cornered he truly was.

[Free Board]

[Did you guys see the new hunter recruitment post today?]

South Korea's fourth S-rank Hunter had recently begun appearing in the media again. And the reason this Awakened had announced his return wasn't something ordinary like getting his license reinstated—it was a sudden declaration that he would start running a guild.

“There's no law saying a civilian can't be a guild master, right?”

Naturally, the hunting industry was in an uproar. That was the polite way of putting it. In other words, Kim Giryeo was receiving plenty of hate online.

[Free Board]

[IBEST Whatever the reason, he totally deserves the hate for being so indecisive while holding such a serious position, don't you think? KGR << That guy set a terrible example—I heard the number of hunters quitting their jobs has gone up because of him. --- ]

[IBEST Hunter-Lovers Union spy, get lost back to your own community~~~~ If you wanna live however you want, then at least take less money. Why are you always whining while enjoying all the perks??]

“Kim Giryeo, I'm sorry.”

The conflict between mages and non-mages—such confrontations had been rare on his home planet, so from the alien's perspective, this was admittedly rather novel.

“It seems people have started cursing your name quite often.”

Some users tried to defend Kim Giryeo, arguing that it was a good thing for an S-rank Hunter to return to society and that the country would benefit from having even one more powerful asset active again... and so on.

[Those people talking about an “S-rank Hunter returning to society”—are they out of their minds? Kim Giryeo didn't come back as a Hunter. He just reopened his company. There's nothing about restoring his hunting qualifications at all.]

[Besides, even foreign news outlets reported that his health is still abnormal. Even if some sites aren't very credible, when the entire industry is saying the same thing, it's reasonable to consider it reliable information.]

However, using “national defense” as an excuse was out of the question for the time being.

“I retired after showing them a diagnosis for a lung tumor. To get my license restored, I thought it would be quieter to speak directly with the director who already knows the whole story.”

As that comment online had pointed out, he hadn't actually returned as a hunter yet.

“My licensing issue could be resolved in one go by that director, but they're still overseas. So exactly when are they coming back to the country?”

The man with eyes as dark as a dead fish shifted slightly. Sitting in the chair, he rolled his eyes around to relieve the strain on his vision. Then he went through the motions of checking public opinion online again, though honestly, spending any more time on it wasn't likely to produce anything useful.

[Posted by: y9k1107]

[Title: Kim Giryeo Returning to the Industry? And This Time Actually Recruiting Guild Members?]

[Content: Wow! A guild directly run by an S-rank Hunter—this is amazing!

I need to start preparing to join right away...

Ugh... S-rank guild... the interview...

But why do I suddenly have a headache?]

[Comment (8)]

[Hunter1: (Info) Apparently, the person who wrote this post actually went to the Garion interview site a few years ago.]

[Hunter2: “~~~~~~”]

[Hunter3: “~~~~~~, wow... someone actually ‘survived’ a hero-style interview, wow.”]

Posts like these had once again begun circulating through the most-viewed sections of various websites.

“Jung Haseong...”

Apparently, because of the nightmare a certain company called Garion had etched into hunters' memories, even the application rate for an entirely innocent new guild had been destroyed.

“Yeah. At least I've found one excuse for now.”

Kim Giryeo spent three seconds escaping from reality. But even he knew deep down that if a small guild failed completely, at least half of the blame had to lie with him.

“Phew.”

Kim Giryeo had once managed, with the help of a government employee, to post a recruitment notice for hunters. On the hunter recruitment site, he had even listed his personal phone number as the contact for inquiries. Fortunately, no prank calls had come through.

“Hello? Is this the contact number for inquiries about Kim Giryeo's guild?”

In fact, he had even received two serious inquiries about joining the guild.

“Two, no less.”

However, despite the fact that the job posting clearly emphasized [# Low-rank Awakened Welcome #], strangely enough, the only people contacting him were high-ranking hunters.

“Honestly, sending an A-rank into an F-rank hunting ground feels a bit...”

Kim Giryeo had given roughly the same response to the people who called.

“Ah, excuse me, but an A-rank hunter would probably be much better off joining another guild...”

“B-rank? Well, that's a little outside the range I'm looking for, but...”

To the first caller, he had suggested, “Why not put your abilities to use somewhere bigger?” And to the second applicant, he had given an even more positive response, essentially saying, “With your skills, you could still just barely handle soil exploration.” In short, the guild master had never belittled anyone's abilities.

“I never said they were lacking.”

He had simply been expressing admiration, marveling at how abundant their abilities were. Yet for some reason, every time he said something like that, netizens seemed to interpret his meaning in exactly the opposite way.

“This is unsettling.”

Kim Giryeo briefly set down the phone he had been looking at.

[Real-time HOT] Review of an ordinary A-rank applying to the viral guild...:: Rejected at the door]

As the post plastered across the site's front page showed, people were once again spreading rumors that the S-rank Hunter only wanted the very strongest.

“Why does everyone always interpret my words in the opposite way?”

The job posting he had hurriedly uploaded was quickly edited to include [A-rank excluded]. He even called back the B-rank hunter who had contacted him earlier and sincerely invited them to actually come work for him.

“Hmm.”

The results still weren't good. For various reasons, the number of applicants to this guild had dwindled to zero.

“C-rank, D-rank, E-rank... Back when I first started out, there seemed to be plenty of mid-ranking Awakened like that.”

So why was it that now that he was actually searching for them himself, the people he needed were nowhere to be found?

“C-ranks are especially troublesome. Just because they meet the minimum qualifications for a modest company, they all prepare to join Neo or the Korea Magic Tower. They won't even show their faces at a guild like this.”

Hunters could be surprisingly ruthless. With so many guilds in the world, they were almost frighteningly merciless toward a newly established company.

“Is this what South Korean small business owners mean when they talk about labor shortages?”

Kim Giryeo had a lot on his mind. Yet no matter how he reacted, the netizens of that planet continued steadily building their own version of reality.

[224th HOT Posts Collection]

[Title: Finally, Testimony from an Insider Has Appeared!]

[Content: According to the building manager at that guild, that S-rank Hunter is currently recruiting “raw” or unpolished Awakened. So apparently they're openly welcoming lower-ranked people, yep.

Even before this, Jung Haseong said in an interview that he sparred with him a lot and learned quite a bit from him on the side.

Honestly, it doesn't make sense that Hunter Kim suddenly went insane over money and started expanding a business... The main goal is probably to nurture newcomers in the industry, RIGHT? And I asked a friend who works at the Hunter Association about it, and they said it's possible this is a project being carried out behind the scenes in coordination with the government.]

The person claiming to be the building manager... what was that even about? And why was this terrifying phrase “in coordination with the government” suddenly appearing here?

[Guys, sorry to pick a fight out of nowhere, but why is everyone being so harsh whenever they talk about that hunter in these posts? If you're going to badmouth a real person, shouldn't you at least use initials?]

[Useless concern -> Common sense says an S-rank Awakened wouldn't waste time hanging around some fringe site like this, tsk tsk.]

The S-rank internet addict who had been surfing the web finally rose smoothly from his seat. Kim Giryeo, fully dressed in a suit after leaving home that morning, was still standing alone in the rented space.

“Anyway, things aren't looking good.”

[Ting!]

Come to think of it, that notification sound had to be from the email app he'd installed on his phone.

“It's Jung Haseong again...!”

Kim Giryeo stared at the sender name displayed on his phone screen and sank into expressionless despair.

[Jung Haseong]

[Content: Awakened Kim! First of all, thank you for replying so quickly to my previous email.

But after hearing your response that you won't be accepting high-ranking guild members, I think I finally understand what's happening.

This morning, when I watched the 9 a.m. news, it seemed like the entire world was talking about your guild.

People were questioning whether a retired hunter can legally establish and run a guild... and there were all sorts of online reactions to the recruitment notice you posted on the site.

I'm truly sorry for realizing it so late.

As expected, you're someone who always sees the forest rather than just the trees.

I wondered why you had suddenly decided to revive that neglected corporation—but in the end, it was all to take control of public opinion, wasn't it?

I was deeply moved.

Thanks to the clever way you drew everyone's attention, my mother has finally been able to rest peacefully...]

The letter was overflowing with excessive praise, but the person receiving it couldn't feel happy about any of it.

“No, Haseong. I'm the one who should be thanking you. Thanks to a few articles about your family, our guild ended up getting less hate.”

He hadn't paid attention to any of it. Yet by the time he came to his senses, his inbox was overflowing with a long letter of gratitude from the nation's hero.

“What a mess.”

Mutter.

Kim Giryeo lightly pinched the bridge of his nose. Along with that familiar old habit, a thought crossed his mind.

“My head's a mess... Maybe I should just go out and get a bowl of gukbap first.”

The guild recruitment had already gone down the drain anyway. And during such a hectic period, he couldn't afford to focus on only one thing. After all, using Earthling labor for soil exploration had never been this alien's highest priority in the first place.

“Clearing the dungeons themselves isn't really a problem. The only issue is that the more times I have to do it, the more annoying it becomes.”

So Kim Giryeo decided to focus a little more on creating golems first. After that, he spent an entire day watching various wildlife documentaries from Earth and thinking by himself about what sort of golems to create, using the animals he observed as inspiration.

“Hmm.”

During this process, Kim Giryeo even contacted Seonwoo Yeon directly. Around six in the evening—figuring that, as a working professional, she'd probably be in a better mood after getting off work—he called and persistently asked whether she still had any thoughts of quitting her job.

“Have you still not found any guild members?”

“I'm not exactly trying to force you, but no matter how much I think about it, there's really no one else whose skills and character have both already been proven.”

However, Seonwoo Yeon remained firm in her decision. Whether it was because receiving a pension after a long career in public service was her life's goal or for some other reason, she continued to refuse his offer. As a result, Kim Giryeo had no choice but to keep researching alone, unable to find a solution.

“Could it be because I never know when an application email might arrive? Lately, I haven't been able to sleep deeply at all.”

Then, one day, at a moment he never could have anticipated, a new hunter appeared at his workplace.

[New Mail (1)]

First, they had meticulously filled out the job application and sent it in. On top of that, they arrived exactly on time for the meeting—not even a second late—so up to this point, everything was perfectly fine.

“-_-”

This happened roughly twenty-four hours after he realized the guild was failing.

Kim Giryeo repeatedly glanced back and forth between the résumé on his phone and the person standing in front of him. Then he tilted his head and said,

“Um... Your rank is too high for you to even be here.”

Moreover, the hunter he was now meeting was especially problematic in terms of experience. The extraterrestrial had intended to gather up the overlooked and underqualified people in the industry, feed them, and support them—but suddenly having someone with such a dazzling résumé show up was... awkward, to say the least.

“My rank is too high?”

For reference, the room the alien had prepared as an “interview space” contained nothing except two metal folding chairs. However, the Earthling who soon spoke seemed completely unconcerned with the surrounding décor and replied indifferently.

“I've never heard that from a guild operator before.”

A massive scar ran across her jaw and neck. Short black hair. And a voice that, like Kim Giryeo's, was clear without being particularly bright.

“Anyway, it's been a long time. Before we begin our discussion, I hope you've been well.”

“Yes, yes.”

Choi Jin.

Rather than being introduced as someone's sibling, the hunter—famous for bearing the title of Korea's top dragon slayer—soon revealed herself. Вставленный Markdown