The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 47



Only Noblemtl

Episode 47

47. It’s not as good as you might think.

Joo Se Ah was catching some air on the rooftop of the empty old Tae Sung Guild building. The helicopter that was usually on standby at the helipad had been moved to Nampocheon.

In a ghost building where no one or luggage had been removed and a sense of silence had settled in, Joo Se-ah was silently admiring the view of Seoul.

As the sunset glowed red and slowly began to fade, the iron door on the roof opened.

“Are you still here? I went to the guild master’s office and it was empty.”

“It was my last day in this building, so I stayed there for a long time without realizing it. On my first day at the guild, I got to work so early that I saw the sun rise here. I thought everything would be okay back then. I thought things would be okay and I would leave someday, but I didn’t know it would be like this.”

“How did you want to leave?”

“Samsung-dong, where there are many successful tier guilds? Yeouido, where A-ranks gather? I was hoping it would be somewhere around that level.”

“It was an impossible dream for the Taesung Guild.”

Joo Seah raised her eyebrows and frowned.

“Ah, really. Anyway, you’re really good at making jokes. I tried to set the mood and say it.”

“The leader must face reality at all times. The guild leader is no different.”

“Haa, how did you grow up so much… … .”

“yes?”

“No. Talking to myself. More importantly, Father…, did meeting Chairman Tae Jin-seong go well?”

“Yes. Even though Chairman Tae is famous for being a ruthless manager, he still seems to have a soft side when it comes to his daughter.”

“You’re probably just being greedy. You’re not the type of person who’s moved by emotions. You probably still think you can manipulate me however you want.”

Although she called him father, Joo Se Ah’s tone when referring to Tae Jin Sung was dry, as if she had lost all of her emotions.

Kang Moo-hyuk was surprised by her attitude, which did not show even the slightest anger, let alone love or hate. Although he himself did not have a good relationship with his father, he did express emotions such as anger.

Joo Se-ah seemed to have no feelings of kinship with Tae Jin-seong.

‘No matter what, if the guild leader has no lingering attachment to you, then it’s good for me. From now on, I can move without hesitation when dealing with the chairman.’

Kang Moo-hyuk thought that these two women definitely had something in common. That may be why Tae Jin-seong was interested in Joo Se-ah. The successor who resembled him more than anyone else. He didn’t know that his arrogance that no one else could protect the Tae-seong empire had changed into an obsession with the successor who looked exactly like him.

Here the question arises.

‘But is there a reason to bring in a guild leader who only worked as a hunter, instead of the eldest son who had been receiving management training for over a decade? And an illegitimate daughter at that. Even if it means shaking up the stable succession structure?’

If the chairman had been a little younger, it might not have been strange, but he was at an age where it wouldn’t have been strange if he died tomorrow. There was no time to put forward a new successor to replace the existing one.

‘Or is there something else I don’t know about?’

It was the chairman’s actions that I still couldn’t understand.

Joo Se Ah asked a question as distracting thoughts began to swirl around in her head.

“So what’s your next plan? If we leave it like this, the guild will be controlled by Chairman Tae Jin-seong. If things go wrong, I’ll have no choice but to leave the guild.”

“From here on out, it’s a show of force. Just like a company defends its management rights, you need to acquire friendly shares and seize the right to run the guild.”

“The problem is that it is not easy to collect those friendly shares.”

“That’s why you need an assistant.”

“Helper? Who… … .”

“Don’t you have a friend you made recently? The Hanju Group.”

Joo Se Ah had a strange expression on her face that was hard to tell whether it was positive or negative.

“One week. Can you believe it?”

“There’s no need to believe or disagree. You have something you want from us. For the time being, we can give and receive what we can give each other.”

“Tell me more.”

Joo Seah folded her arms and listened.

Kang Moo-hyuk rolled his eyes upward to organize the thoughts that were floating around in his head, then continued speaking.

“Currently, Taesung Machinery is a good company to get rid of in the Taesung Group. Hanju Group is secretly collecting stocks there. After Iron Will acquires Taesung Machinery, the chairman will not make any immediate moves, but if they attack, he will step forward as a white knight at a critical moment.”

“Well, if that’s what Director Kang says, then that’s fine. But can Hanju really protect the guild? Hanju and Taesung have a lot of overlapping business areas. They’re rivals, so if we join hands, it could cause misunderstandings among other shareholders. If the shareholders who are friendly to Taesung rebel, it’ll only make more enemies.”

“We plan to resolve that with another helper who will join us.”

“Another assistant?”

No matter how much Joo Se Ah thought about it, no one came to mind. Another helper she didn’t know about. When did she make such a connection? She couldn’t hold back her curiosity and asked.

“Who is that assistant?”

“These are the guild leader’s brothers.”

“Did I mishear that? Brother? Who are you?”

“Tae Soo-cheol, Tae Soo-man. They are the ones who want the guild leader to succeed more than anyone else.”

* * *

Taesoo Cheol thought of Kang Mu Hyuk, with whom he had met secretly.

‘The vice chairman is in his fifties. The chairman is approaching eighty. At this point, he should be taking over the group or at least stepping into the forefront of management… . Somehow, the chairman still controls the group. He even acts in a way that is unusual for someone in his seventies. Even in his sixties, he might not be able to sit in the chairman’s seat.’

He brought up something that even his own close associates could not dare to mention.

I don’t know if you’re dull or oblivious.

But Kang Mu-hyeok’s words were bitter. Tae Soo-chul was also always bothered by that part.

It was common for children of conglomerates who were much younger than them, or even their peers, to take the front lines of management. Some of them were quicker and took the position of group leader in their late 30s.

However, he held on because he was convinced that he was Taesung’s only successor.

‘But where did you suddenly bring in a half-child from… … .’

At first, since he was told that he would entrust the group guild to Ju Se-ah, he thought it was okay and let it go. Putting aside the fact that he didn’t like it, Ju Se-ah was considered one of the best hunters in Korea. Tae Soo-chul lightly agreed to Ju Se-ah’s appointment as guild leader, thinking that it would be nice to have a decent guild in the empire he would inherit.

‘That was my mistake.’

From the beginning, the chairman, no, his father, did not believe in him.

Joo Se Ah was strangling Tae Soo Cheol. Whether she wanted it or not, she had become the most dangerous being. Her existence had created a rift, and because of that, even the brothers who had declared surrender long ago began to lean again.

‘If you look at history, it’s easy to understand that whenever there was a fight for the throne, the winner killed all his brothers. Since ancient times, it’s been the law that a king should not leave behind any troubles.’

So I became more interested in Kang Mu-hyeok’s proposal.

Guild’s indirect listing. Later, the series was separated.

It was a way to keep Joo Se Ah away from Tae Sung without leaving any aftereffects.

But there was one catch.

‘You’re being too aggressive. You seem to know too much. You’re making suggestions to me too boldly at this point. You’re not afraid at all, even though it’s a risky move to hit the chairman. That’s for a mere affiliate manager.’

Of course, Kang Mu-hyeok’s boldness and drive were worthy of recognition. How could he have gotten permission for a roundabout listing from his father?

There will be challenges here and there in the roundabout listing, but there is nothing Taesung cannot solve. The most difficult mission was getting Taejinseong’s permission, but it was rather easy to overcome.

The problem was the very situation in which he reached out to himself for the independence of the guild.

Even though he was promised Gilma’s position if he got rid of Joo Sea, he still schemed to separate the faction.

‘Is it stuck to Sea?’

I didn’t believe it from the beginning, but Kang Mu-hyeok’s attitude had a side that made people feel strange.

First of all, it was difficult to distinguish between enemy and enemy. It seemed like an enemy, but they kept giving the impression that they were allies.

I know it’s a clever trick to make it hard to throw away, but when I actually think about throwing it away, I can’t touch it because it feels like a waste.

Taesoo Cheol had no choice but to come to an ambiguous conclusion at the end of the story.

“There’s nothing wrong with being cunning. As long as the captain’s intentions are aimed at your father.”

* * *

“Okay, let’s get down to business.”

The remaining staff in the guild were terrified by Kang Mu-hyeok’s words. They all thought the same thing.

‘So you’re saying it hasn’t been ‘real’ up until now?’

After the Goblin Suppression Battle in Bukpocheon, most of the existing employees left, so there were fewer people, but the guild was basically overflowing with work.

Anyway, once I entered Bukpocheon, the concept of home became meaningless and getting off work became a story about someone else’s guild.

When things got so busy that I thought I might collapse from overwork, the older employees among the employees took the lead and directly confronted the manager.

“Isn’t this too much? Are we slaves? The dorms aren’t even ready yet, so it’s so uncomfortable, and you’re telling us to work without weekends!”

“Right!”

“Guarantee the work-life balance!”

Tiring! Ding! Tiring!

“Huh? What is it?”

“huh?”

A smartphone notification sound that rings at just the right time.

The communication line near Sanjeong Lake had just been opened. Since they had been using their smartphones as a watch for a while, the employees awkwardly took them out and checked them.

““!!””

The employees looked back and forth between the numbers on the LCD screen and Kang Mu-hyeok in front of them. They all looked as if they were wondering what this was. Some rubbed their eyes in disbelief and checked again.

“It’s payday.”

“It’s a few days early… No, more than that… Didn’t I come across the wrong thing? Th, this seems a bit much… This.”

One of the employees held out his smartphone and asked for confirmation. Kang Moo-hyuk quickly checked the amount of his deposit and shook his head.

“You’re in the right place. You worked hard this time, right? This bonus was decided with those things in mind.”

“… … .”

“We plan to continue to compensate our employees for their hard work. We’ve digressed for a moment. Are you having a hard time these days because you’re busy?”

The employees looked at each other and then, without saying a word, everyone stepped forward with a smile.

“Oh my! There’s a lot of work to do. It’s only natural that the guild is busy developing.”

“The juniors kept whining so much that I took it out on the captain. It was just for show. As you know, I have to make gestures like this to make the kids quiet down. Haha.”

“We will take care of everything in the future, so don’t worry and just focus on guild work.”

Joo Se-ah was astonished to see the employees’ faces, which had been filled with discontent, suddenly change.

“I know it’s weird for me, a Hunter who’s famous for changing faces, to say this, but people are really cunning. I wondered why Manager Kang deposited my salary a few days early, and it turns out he had this ulterior motive. How did he know that a group protest would come?”

“There are some employees who can be considered to be on my side. I monitor their complaints in real time.”

“As expected, you are a trustworthy leader. I didn’t know you would handle complaints so quickly.”

“There is no solution as sure as financial therapy, regardless of time or place.”

Kang Moo-hyuk, who had put to sleep the seeds of a strike that were just beginning to sprout, began to push forward with projects that had only existed as plans on paper.

It started lightly with a guild emblem contest.

The contest was focused on introducing the special activity area of ​​Bukpocheon and promoting the Ironwill Guild, which is still not well known.

Maintenance of the guild headquarters was also active.

First of all, the main building where the guild’s business was conducted and the dormitory where the employees would stay were problematic.

Fortunately, there was an existing facility, so there was no need to build something new. Instead, a remodeling project was carried out to clean it up and make the interior more luxurious.

The construction was carried out by a mid-sized construction company through an introduction by Hanju Group.

Kang Moo-hyeok asked the construction company to give priority to small and medium-sized businesses in Pocheon as subcontractors to work with. This was because Iron Will, as a local guild, had put forward the slogan of going together with the local residents.

The next important thing was to receive the C warehouse items from the Titan Guild.

This seemingly insignificant transport job actually turned out to be the biggest job.

The northern part of Bukpocheon had a high concentration of mana, so regular engines wouldn’t work. I had to rent a car with a mana-blocking coating, but the cost of mana stones alone, in addition to the rental fee, was quite high.

‘I also need to secure some funds for the acquisition of Taesung Machinery. There’s a lot of money to come. I was given a generous price for the Watusi Snake byproduct last week, but I’ve almost used it all up. I can’t waste any more… Hmm, I guess I should go there to secure enough funds.’

In the end, Kang Mu-hyeok had to leave Pocheon and go to Samseong-dong himself.

* * *

[Slayer Guild]

Kang Moo-hyuk looked up at the logo on the top floor of a building several dozen stories high and entered the lobby.

The lobby of the Slayer Guild was splendid. It wasn’t because of all the expensive furniture and interior design.

The exhibits that filled the guild’s spacious lobby were overwhelming Kang Mu-hyeok.

‘This is… Is this by any chance ‘Tracellop’? Oh my. This is not a model, this is the real thing. What a pity to keep these bones for display… ‘

It felt like I had found a museum. In the lobby of the Slayer Guild, there were specimens of various monsters they had hunted on display. Among them, there were monsters that would fetch quite high prices if sold as weapons or parts materials.

Kang Moo-hyuk naturally compared himself to Titan and Slayer, both of which he had previously worked for.

I was once again impressed by the Tier Guild. Although Titan is called the best among the A-class, I was able to confirm that there was still a gap between them and the Tier Guild. Iron Will was not even able to put his name next to it.

Kang Moo-hyuk muttered to himself as he admired the full-body skeleton of a giant dinosaur monster.

“I’ve heard of it, but… … . This is really a waste of money. If you’re going to discourage visitors, it’s definitely worth the money.”

“It’s not as good as you might think. There aren’t many customers who come to the guild.”

Kang Moo-hyuk looked at the man standing next to him. The man who had been looking up at the dinosaur monster with him faced Kang Moo-hyuk and asked to shake his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I am Seongseonje of the Slayer Guild. Leader Kang Muhyuk.”