The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 36



Only Noblemtl

Episode 36

36. Friend or Foe?

“I never thought Joo Se Ah would be connected to him.”

Seong Seon-je, the strategy team leader of the Slayer Guild, was checking the report as if he found it quite interesting.

“What are you doing? At a cafe at this hour? Ddaengdaengi?”

Seongseonje looked at the guild member who suddenly popped his face out between him and the report and asked back.

“What are you doing, Hunter Gam Woo-young? The Red Gate expedition is coming up soon. Aren’t you doing a final check?”

“Leisurely, leisurely. The expedition team is always ready. I just came out for a coffee break. Huh? This guy… … .”

“Please come out.”

Gam Woo-young turned his gaze and pretended to know the photo attached to the report.

Seong Seon-je pushed his head away as if he was annoyed, but Gam Woo-young immediately pushed in and snatched the report away from him and started reading it.

“Isn’t that the guy the team leader was watching? He said he became a team leader under Se-ah this time… What was his name? Kang, Kang, Kang Mu-hyuk! Right?”

Seongseonje snatched the report back and furrowed his brow.

“Hunter Gam Woo-young, now that you’re the leader of an expedition party, you should show your charisma as the leader of the party. How long are you going to act like a promising prospect?”

“What can I do with someone like this? I’m not good at holding weight due to my personality. Haha.”

Gam Woo-young, who smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, tried to bring back the report. When Seong Seon-je slowly pulled his hand back and hid the report, he licked his lips and asked.

“But why is the team leader holding someone else’s guild leader’s resume? Are you trying to sneak it out without telling Sister Sea?”

“And then, if Joo Se-ah Gilma causes trouble in the guild lobby again, will Hunter Gam Woo-young stop it?”

“Are you crazy? You’re going to have to deal with a witch.”

“It’s one of my jobs to not create such a hassle.”

“You’re saying you’re not bringing him? But why this guy?”

“Chief Kang Mu-hyeok is someone I have been keeping an eye on for a long time.”

Gam Woo-young opened his eyes wide at Seong Seon-je’s answer.

Seong Seon-je was a strategy team leader who had strict standards for selecting hunters.

But the fact that he was watching a civilian who wasn’t a hunter, and a member of another guild at that.

It was one of two things.

Either an enemy or a recruit.

‘He’s not the kind of person who would memorize someone’s name simply out of interest.’

The Seongseonje that Gam Woo-young knew classified people into two categories.

Useful or not.

If it’s useful, remember it, but if it’s not, don’t treat them like human beings even if they’re guild members.

Those who remembered were also divided into two.

Enemy or friend.

Gam Woo-young became curious about that part.

“You’re not really planning on recruiting me, are you? If you’re going to, tell me in advance. I’ll give you a vacation when Sister Sea comes.”

“I used to try to do that. To have someone act as my proxy when I’m away or in an emergency.”

“Wow~ Team Leader Sung’s successor, the perfectionist? I don’t like that. He seems like a very picky person.”

When Gam Woo-young became angry, Seong Seon-je became angry and revised his remarks.

“He’s not a successor, he’s an acting one. I guess you could call him a vice-captain. In a Tier Guild, you need to have a ‘spare’ for anything to ensure stable operation.”

“If the team leader thinks of him as his successor, he must be a great person. Even though he’s not a hunter.”

“Not a successor, but a substitute. Ahem, he is a decent resource anyway. I left him to watch a little longer, but I missed the timing when Titan grew to the point where he was aiming for a Tier Guild.”

Seong Seon-je’s eyes, glancing sideways at the report as he spoke, were filled with regret.

Gam Woo-young, who had not expected this reaction at all, was quite surprised.

“No, how capable must you be for our strategy team leader to praise you so highly?”

“Table Mountain Conquest.”

“yes?”

“Chief Kang Moo-hyuk has some unusual backgrounds, but without looking at anything else, this alone should put an end to the controversy over his abilities.”

“Table Mountain? What is that?”

Gam Woo-young didn’t understand right away.

The strategy that Seongseonje spoke of was a hunting case from 5 years ago when he had just debuted as a rookie.

Seong Seon-je was a picky and cold-hearted strategy team leader, but he was kind to capable hunters. He explained Kang Mu-hyeok’s background to Gam Woo-yeong.

“The Table Mountain conquest was the operation that earned the Titan Guild A-class recognition. The person who planned that operation was none other than the leader, Kang Mu-hyeok.”

Table Mountain was one of the landforms that could be seen in South America.

It was given this name because the flat mountain range extends over a steep, right-angled cliff, resembling a table.

At that time, a similar terrain was discovered inside the gate, but unfortunately, a boss monster was located on top of it.

The summit of Table Mountain was not very large and consisted only of cliffs with no detours.

The boss attacked the hunters who had climbed up the cliff with difficulty before they could form a formation, causing them to fall.

Even if you are a hunter, unless you are a top-tier hunter, you cannot survive a fall from a height of 1,000 meters.

All the hunters who had attempted to attack the boss’s surprise attack were annihilated.

Because of this, the guild that had occupied this gate had to declare that they would give up on attacking the boss.

A situation where you have no choice but to go through the gate destruction process.

Meanwhile, Kang Mu-hyeok, who had been keeping an eye on the disclosed gate information, formed an alliance with the guild and embarked on a joint attack.

He took note of the fact that Table Mountain’s lower geology is made up of sandstone and mana ore, and turned the mountain into one giant mana ore bomb.

By collapsing Table Mountain with an explosion, we were able to successfully complete the subsequent raid by depriving the boss of its defensive advantage while also dealing a large amount of fall damage like the Hunters who were wiped out by it.

“Wow, that’s crazy. Destroying a mountain to catch the boss.”

“What’s even crazier is that the estimated value of the mana stones in Table Mountain was at least 3 trillion won.”

“Three, three groups?!”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t have used that method. It would have been a waste.”

Although it was an inefficient hunt that involved three teams in a single raid, paradoxically, Kang Mu-hyeok’s bold operation became a hot topic among some powerful hunters.

“In that respect, your style is similar to that of Se-ah?”

“Are you saying that you are ignorant?”

“If it’s a monster, I’ll just break it first.”

“… … .”

“I’ve never seen anyone as crazy about hunting monsters as Sister Sea. If necessary, Sister Sea could probably burn more than 3 trillion to hunt a monster.”

Seongseonje said he missed the opportunity to recruit Kang Moo-hyuk because of Titan’s rapid growth, but there was another real reason.

The reason I gave up recruiting him that I couldn’t tell Gam Woo-young. No, to be exact, the reason I didn’t recruit him.

‘Between monsters and money, I don’t hesitate to prioritize hunting monsters. I try to make a profit whenever possible, but if the success of the hunt and the guild’s profit are in conflict, money becomes the second priority. It doesn’t suit a large guild like ours.’

In fact, Seongseonje had once extracted data from the Slayer Guild’s perspective on a large-scale raid strategy led by Kang Muhyeok.

That data is none other than the sales forecast.

The final sales figures, calculated in the Slayer Guild’s way rather than Kang Mu-hyeok’s, were conservatively close to twice that amount.

If all of Titan’s raid opportunity costs were changed to profit first, wouldn’t it already be a tier guild?

“Anyway, the idea is really unique. Sister Sea and Captain Kang Mu-hyeok. I wonder what kind of raid they’ll do if the two of them fight.”

“Those two people are now gathered in one guild. They are something to keep an eye on for several reasons.”

Seong Seon-je nodded at Gam Woo-young’s words and his eyes were turned towards Bukpocheon.

‘I really don’t want to get involved with Joo Gilma, but I’m glad I went to Bukpocheon. I’m out of sight of our Gilma. I don’t like the fact that I always lose out when I run into her, no matter what the outcome.’

Just by keeping Joo Se-ah far away from Seoul, Kang Moo-hyuk remained a useful person in Seong Seon-je’s eyes.

* * *

Kang Mu-hyeok, who couldn’t stand to see his unit members floundering, gave some instructions.

“Close the shelter first so they can’t come in through the window!”

The windows of the main elementary school building were open to the exterior walls on both the north and south sides.

The south was naturally vulnerable to defense as it could not be breached unless the hunters came through the correction.

Kang Moo-hyuk pointed this out from the time he designated elementary schools as base camps.

The main building was where the non-hunter staff would reside, so a minimal safety net was needed.

Although it costs money and time to set up, I bought an installable shelter that would be useful at the Yalu River defense site to block the southward advance of monsters from Manchuria, and blocked all the windows on the north side.

Since they were going to take the Sanjeong Lake Resort back anyway and tear it down from the elementary school and reinstall it, they made a bold move despite the limited resources.

“Place a ranged dealer on the rooftop. Even if they miss, I want them to be pushed to the playground so they don’t have to come in easily.”

With just these instructions, the hunters’ work was organized.

As choices become fewer, decisions become faster.

No matter how ragtag they were, or how short their training period was, they were able to form a group right away because they had experience as hunters.

“You’re getting stabbed by a blood squirrel here? You should quit being a hunter, right? If you don’t quit, I’ll make you quit. I swear.”

The hunters were motivated because they had been influenced by Joo Se Ah’s trick.

“Gwinam hyung! I’ll support you, so break through actively. The first party’s mission is more aggro than defense. Use offensive skills to hold on as much as possible.”

Min Dae-hyun, a hunter in his first year of joining the Iron Will Guild, suddenly found himself at the head of a party.

The main focus of this hunt is low-ranked hunters, including Shinjin.

I felt reassured by the thought that there would be high-ranking hunters behind me, but I also became very nervous because I thought that each and every one of the party members would be evaluated by Gilma and the captain.

‘Ugh, why did you leave the party to me?’

After Joo Se Ah personally tested the new hunters and suddenly left them in charge of the party, she became estranged from the hunters she had been close with, calling them brothers and sisters.

Min Dae-hyun thought that he would have a hard time giving proper orders, but once he got into the actual battle, he had no time to worry about such things.

He was ordering orders from his seniors with surprisingly little care, even to his own surprise.

‘Keep calm. Just do as you were taught. What did the captain say?’

『There are three basic elements to hunting. First, information, second, accurate information, and third, more information. If you know the type of monster, its habits, and its strategy in advance, you’re halfway there.』

Min Dae-hyun thought about the blood squirrel.

‘About 2 meters long, with teeth and claws as weapons. The tentacles on its tail suck out blood and body fluids from creatures, and its fur acts as armor. Top speed… … .’

Their characteristics were not much different from those of the animal-type monsters, but the most difficult thing was their fast movements.

It was nimble when climbing walls or trees, and it was fast on flat ground while also changing directions freely.

‘You stand guard against those guys? The scrum will be breached right away. It’s better to go there first and meet them.’

Aggro is easier to manage on offense than on defense.

It was the basis of hunting.

However, most hunters rarely rushed to the monster first in a party.

This was because it allowed you to deal more damage by consuming less stamina when countering an incoming attack.

While the solid Hunter has been in the spotlight, the current American style has brought about a trend of multi-tanks that can respond faster and more actively.

Thanks to this, the trend of all-in defensive tanks is slowly changing in Korea as well.

‘Come to think of it, our Gilma is a special case. He’s the best ‘bangol’ tank in terms of strength, but his speed is just as good as that of a dealer. He’s a real fraud. How convenient would it be to party with a hunter like that?’

Min Dae-hyun was lost in thought as he tied up the blood squirrel that was clashing with Kim Gwi-nam for the first time with his skill.

He had been free from tension without even realizing it.

He was able to give such cool and agile orders.

“Good decision, Hunter Min Dae-hyun.”

Kang Moo-hyuk, who was carefully watching the orders of each party, noticed the movements of Min Dae-hyun’s party.

“Is that the new recruit I noticed last time?”

“yes.”

“Whew, I’m glad I didn’t do anything stupid. My movements are pretty good.”

Joo Sea also nodded and responded with appropriate hunting movements.

His tone was that of a proud man, as if he had taught at least one person well.

“But, contrary to my initial concerns, it seems that they are somehow holding it back.”

“If it goes on like this, there will be no need to run for a second or third term.”

Kang Moo-hyuk looked at the second and third lines that Joo Se-ah was pointing to.

In the second line, there was a party that was basically Iron Will’s main force, made up of experienced C+ or higher and B or lower ranks.

Although their number was not large, they were hunters who were skilled in individual tactics while hunting.

And the third line.

‘Hunters with B+ or higher… … .’

It was the most powerful, yet most problematic force in Iron Will.

The three major guild leaders were gathered together, so it was like a time bomb.

‘I’m especially concerned about those hunters who maintain neutrality between each line of the guild. Fortunately, they’re maintaining the balance now… … .’

Baek Dong-gyu and Na Dong-pa.

Nine hunters, led by two strangely strong hunters from the ‘Old Taeseong Guild’.

The reason that Taesung Guild was able to survive and continue to function as a guild was thanks to this neutral line.

‘Aside from his hunting history, not much is known about his tendencies. So it’s hard to figure out.’

Are they friends or enemies?

Kang Moo-hyuk was more concerned about the back than the hunting scene.