Chapter 444

By all logic, this corporation shouldn’t have been making any profit, and yet somehow, excessive earnings had been pouring in since the very first week of operation.

According to the newly hired human administrator, in just these few days, they had already earned enough to cover the electricity bill for the commercial building.

Expanding a guild on Earth would only make things more troublesome. So the plan had been to hire just a few low-rank members and run it quietly, like a small countryside supermarket. That had originally been a certain alien’s main goal. However, as time passed, reality began drifting further and further away from that plan.

Seventy-two clears in just one week... Even looking at it again, I still can’t believe it. What the hell did those nine lousy hunters do in such a short amount of time?

Even saying it out loud did nothing to make the situation easier to understand. His tiny guild was still growing at an unbelievable rate even at this very moment. And so, the alien began retracing the events of the past week.

...

How on earth had the guild business ended up doing so well? In truth, this kind of failed prediction was something the alien had experienced constantly ever since reincarnating on Earth. Still, in order to understand—even a little—the problem that had surfaced yet again, he began tracing his way back through the past.

First, Choi Jin had brought in several hunters who had been taking a break in a certain region. After brief introductions were exchanged, the alien guild master—the guild’s representative—took out an item.

“What is it? Is it an artifact?”

“Be careful. The tip is very sharp.”

Kim Giryeo handed each person gathered at his guild a long, staff-like metal rod. It was a handmade tool of his own design—a custom creation made by a mage—and once its color changed all the way up to the handle, it could simply be pulled out and retrieved.

Come to think of it, even if one of them were lost, it wouldn’t cause any serious problems. After all, it wasn’t made from any particularly special materials. Even if one somehow ended up in human hands, they would have a hard time figuring out what it was meant for anyway.

“If you stick it into the ground and the color still hasn’t changed at all after about two hours, just pull it out and bring it back with you.”

After considerable deliberation, Kim Giryeo had finally decided to properly employ human personnel.

“For reference, this is just an additional note, but in the case of an EX-rank gate like White Maze...”

“The one with the lion statue?”

“You know how gates like that have walls and floors that are extremely difficult to destroy? So please choose gates where you can actually use this tool. I’ll send an example list to your phones.”

“Well, a dungeon with muddy terrain would probably work.”

“That’s all I have to say for today.”

As this smooth exchange demonstrated, at least while the steel rods were being handed out, there hadn’t been any problems between them.

“They actually told us to make sure we stick this into the ground before hunting...”

“This somehow feels like a rule I’ve seen somewhere before.”

In fact, the hunters gathered at Choi Jin’s request even found the rod somewhat familiar.

“Maybe it’s because he often interacts with the Guild Master of the Korea Magic Tower Guild. Somehow, the way things are handled here feels pretty similar to theirs.”

It was fairly common for other guilds to distribute measuring devices to their members as well.

“Ah~ right. I think I saw something like this in a documentary about major guilds.”

Information warfare had always been an essential part of large-scale combat. The Korea Magic Tower Guild had placed great importance on gathering information ever since its founding, treating it as a crucial element in hunting monsters. In recent years, those efforts had given them a decisive advantage throughout the industry. Even with major corporations pouring money into the market, the fact that a guild led by a single S-rank hunter continued to dominate at the top was proof enough of their superiority.

“Come to think of it, Hunter Seo Esther’s mother was from somewhere in Southeast Asia, right? Anyway, I heard she was some kind of businesswoman.”

“Doesn’t her uncle run something big in real estate too?”

“Their family is like that, so I guess it makes sense that they’d know something about business. Still, it’s kind of surprising that Hunter Kim Giryeo, who’s basically starting from scratch, suddenly opened a guild.”

“They’ll probably do just fine anyway. I mean, it’s him, after all.”

Step, step, step.

For reference, this was around the time when the Awakened, having received a brief orientation from their Guild Master, were leaving the building. Kim Giryeo quietly listened to the chatter of the people walking away and made his own silent assessment.

‘The more I hear about Esther’s family, the more astonishing it gets.’

At first, it was merely a passing thought about an acquaintance, but soon his thoughts grew deeper. At that moment, Kim Giryeo quietly pondered.

The way she viewed the mysteries born from Dungeon Shock so positively... And her personality in general...

Somehow, that woman, Seo Esther, had an unusually magocratic disposition—rare even among the so-called primitives.

[Message Inbox]

[Sender: Seo Esther]

[Content:]

[Hello! Kim Giryeo-ssi!

First of all, congratulations!

I somehow heard the news from someone else.

Most importantly, thanks to you going through the confirmation process once, I was able to hear about the situation from Jeong Haseong.

You were planning to step back from the industry due to some personal circumstances, but fortunately, those were resolved sooner than expected—so you’ll be returning soon, right?]

Tak.

A certain man stared at his phone for several seconds. However, he did not reply to the message that followed.

===========

[I’ll say it here. I’m practically a secret fan of yours, Kim Giryeo-ssi.

If you’ve determined that there really isn’t a problem, then honestly, I have no intention of stopping your return as a hunter.

On the contrary, I’d welcome it!

What fan in this world would refuse the comeback of someone they admire?

But there’s just one thing...

Before your license is fully restored, I’d like to hear one explanation...

Why did you post a hunter recruitment notice under the name of a one-person guild that supposedly had no intention of operating properly...?

And why did you go so far as to secure an office in the capital, as though you were determined to overturn the Korea Magic Tower’s dominance...?

Overall, it’s really intriguing!

When you have a moment later, could you send me a brief reply?]

14:23

[Please reply even if you don’t have time.]

===========

In any case, that was merely a personal matter for the guild master. The distribution of the long metal rods had already been completed without issue. Moreover, the humans showed little resistance to the soil-measurement work.

‘Five F-rank, two E-rank, one D-rank.’

Up until this point, the alien had expected his plan to proceed smoothly.

.

.

.

But all the problems began here.

‘I just came here after overhearing something about a person named Seonwoo Yeon...’

Jet-black hair cut short. A fireproof coat obtained from killing reptilian-type monsters, and so on. That distinctive-looking person had been recruited into Kim Giryeo’s guild.

‘Surprisingly, the guild is even smaller than I imagined. Well, no wonder that official went out of their way to pass the situation on to someone like me.’

The easygoing A-rank hunter came to a stop.

‘Judging by how he’s only recruiting low-rank hunters, it looks like his goal is data collection. Well, if that’s the case, it’s not really something outsiders like us need to concern ourselves with.’

Choi Jin.

She looked around the guild she had newly joined in Seoul and thought to herself.

‘Running a guild as a latecomer won’t be easy. I’ll do what I can to help a little.’

The truth quickly becomes clear from the thoughts above.

In fact, Choi Jin had never intended to work “diligently” from the beginning. She had just gone through severe stress, and neither her physical nor mental condition was particularly good.

‘It’s killing me to be out and moving around again after so long.’

But Kim Giryeo was someone who had gone out of his way to help a pair of sisters through a disaster. Choi Jin acted purely out of basic human decency. She came to work with the sole intention of repaying that favor, and after finishing her assigned tasks, she would always glance at the hunter-exclusive wristwatch she habitually wore.

‘As long as I don’t overdo it... I just need to work at a reasonable pace.’

But strangely enough, there was just... too much time.

[Current Time: 6:00 PM]

Hunters, by nature, often worked overtime and pushed themselves too hard. But the company run by Kim Giryeo had gone so far as to explicitly state in its contracts—something the guild master himself had obsessively emphasized—that employees should avoid working beyond reasonable hours.

6:00 PM.

For an ordinary office worker, this wouldn’t have been an unusual time to leave work. But when Choi Jin saw the hour, only one thought came to mind.

‘Oh... right. No one’s forcing me to work. I can actually go home and eat dinner now...?’

This was the truth about Choi Jin.

Even among A-rank hunters, she was near the very top. In other words, Choi Jin held the impressive domestic ranking of third, directly behind monsters like Jeong Haseong and Seo Esther. Ever since she first gained recognition as one of the early beneficiaries of the Awakening phenomenon, she had worked tirelessly.

Having become excessively accustomed to overwork in all sorts of ways, ordinary tasks no longer even made her flinch.

‘This work is way too easy. At this rate, maybe I should pack tomorrow’s schedule a little tighter.’

On top of that, the undisputed number-one-ranked hunter was openly taking a break at the moment.

Jeong Haseong had gone on leave, partly to check on the safety of his home after his mother woke up, and partly to enjoy being reunited with his parents. As a result, South Korea’s dungeon industry had been left with an abundance of unclaimed hunting grounds.

And Choi Jin began tackling them one after another, devouring every opportunity that came her way.

‘What a shame. If this metal rod had changed color just a little faster, I could’ve cleared one more dungeon...’

This was possible because most Gates could be secured without much difficulty unless the location was so popular that it went to auction, like the Dimensional Treasure Vault.

Could it be that the Dragon’s Heart also had some kind of stamina-enhancing effect?

Choi Jin performed feats difficult to believe for a solo hunter, all while unleashing fierce flames. Her workaholic nature, honed by years of endurance since her school days, certainly played a part. And because they shared the same fire attribute, some of her actions even resembled a budget version of Jeong Haseong.

It was proof that her own abilities were just as formidable.

‘Back in school, I stayed in the study hall until late every night just to get good grades, and after awakening, I’ve been grinding every day hard enough to rank third in the entire industry—there’s no way something this minor should be enough to make me tired...’

Then let us suppose that a certain A-rank Hunter, astonished by the ‘work-life balance’ she was experiencing for the first time, began moving around with excessive vigor.

[Guild Report] Choi Jin’s dungeon clears within 7 days (C-8 rank hunting grounds): 21 times.

Then why were the other guild members so active that they ended up making headlines as well?

One day, the eight low-rank hunters brought in by Choi Jin gathered at Kim Giryeo’s guild.

In fact, even if they were divided into teams, there were barely enough people to form two groups—an absurdly small number. And looking at their abilities, there were F-ranks here, F-ranks there—the kind of talent that any proper guild wouldn’t even spare a glance for.

But still, what kind of conversation would come out when people like that put their heads together?

“Hey, hey. Anyway, we really have to be grateful to Choi Jin for the rest of our lives.”

“Even after everything that happened... she came back to the industry and is still looking out for us.”

“You guys are at least young! I almost ended up going to a construction site, getting yelled at by non-awakened workers, and fighting them for jobs!”

“When the top-ranked [Faith] guild completely collapsed, the neighboring guys must’ve been thrilled. Honestly, it looks like all the gates around Chuncheon have gone completely to rival companies now.”

Things had never been easy for those at the bottom of the food chain, either then or now.

In relatively quiet areas with few gates, a single guild would monopolize the work. Unfortunately, the people gathered here had been forced to leave their hometowns behind just to make a living.

“By the way, the base salary is one thing, but isn’t it amazing to work under a hunter like Kim Giryeo?”

“Right now, he’s not officially a hunter, and... didn’t some foreign articles say there were problems with his abilities?”

“Ah, right. Kim Giryeo’s health is...”

“Anyway, I’m fine with it. He’s paying a lot—what reason would I have to refuse?”

Meanwhile, they had received what was essentially a scouting offer.

For context, Choi Jin herself had simply asked them, “If you have some time, could you come by and help out here for a while?”

In other words, ironically enough, none of them even knew that Kim Giryeo was struggling with a manpower shortage.

But since all of them were having trouble finding work anyway, did the small details really matter?

Those gathered were simply genuinely happy to take part in the alien’s soil exploration. And to be clear, they were also people who possessed at least a basic sense of human decency.

“Let’s give it our all! Choi Jin called us here even after we became freelancers, and honestly, we need to show some results here if we want to maintain our connection with her.”

And thus began a chain of goodwill.

Choi Jin wanted to repay Kim Giryeo’s kindness.

Meanwhile, the low-rank hunters wanted to show their gratitude to Choi Jin.

As a result, the unusually small guild in South Korea began producing results at a surprisingly rapid pace.

It was a development entirely independent of the company CEO’s intentions.