The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 56



Only Noblemtl

Episode 57

57. Will you allow it or not?

“You want me to vote for Matthew? All of a sudden? Is this some kind of whim or a joke? When you tell me to withdraw my support for Matthew, you tell me to support him again.”

-Isn’t it okay either way? Just do the two things I asked you to do and we’ll be done with our business.

“Director Kang Mu-hyeok, is this really all there is to my promise with you?”

“Director Kim isn’t the kind of person who would be bound by promises forever. It’s better to end it cleanly with these two. He’s not the kind of person who would listen to me even if I threatened him.”

“I can’t deny it.”

Kim Myeong-jun felt uneasy.

Is it really the end?

It was an overly slick deal for a winner who had both the weak and the lifeline at his mercy.

‘What a truly unpredictable person.’

When I heard about it, it wasn’t a difficult task that could be done by making a few phone calls, and it even included a condition that I could refuse if I felt it was unfair.

A different person from himself who would catch someone’s weakness and hold on to it until they die.

It was natural for Kim Myung-jun, who fundamentally distrusted humans, to be suspicious of Kang Mu-hyeok.

He inferred how the situation was going.

‘There must have been some kind of deal with Matthew. What was it about?’

When I decided to dig deeper, Kang Mu-hyeok’s warning came like a ghost.

-There’s no need to try to find out. Everyone will know in a few days. I hope you don’t break the peace that was barely restored by sneaking around for no reason.

“I’ve been through something, so I wouldn’t act rashly. Don’t worry, Captain Kang. I have my own shame, too. Hahaha.”

-I don’t know about your shame, but I’m telling you because you seem to be quick-witted. If you continue to work with those related to the Union, it will be dangerous. At the right time, just shake off the pressure and get out.

Kim Myeong-jun flinched.

‘Do you already know? Or are you just poking around?’

Kang Moo-hyuk did not mention Union, but another force behind it. That’s why he tried to kill them, but failed because of Joo Se-ah. Now, catching Kang Moo-hyuk won’t keep the secret. All he could do was hope that Kang Moo-hyuk would keep his mouth shut.

Kim Myeong-jun pretended to be bluff and joked.

“They say that fighting makes you fall in love. Are you worried about me?”

-I don’t think you’ll be the only one to see any blood.

Suddenly, Kang Mu-hyeok’s voice became heavy.

Kim Myung-jun flinched at the change. It seemed like he was saying it politely, but it was a word that could not be taken lightly.

In any case, you can’t let your guard down when it comes to interest.

Kim Myeong-jun responded, raising the tension once again.

“Even if I see blood, I’ll see it first. Of course, I don’t know if it’s mine or yours. Or it could be someone else’s.”

-The deal is done. I hope we don’t get involved again.

As the call ended, Kim Myung-jun rubbed his chin and smiled bitterly.

“Let’s not get involved? … … That’s not for me to decide. Director Kang Mu-hyeok.”

* * *

These days, Choi Mi-ran has been feeling uneasy.

“Nothing is going well. I’m like a duck egg on the Nakdong River. I didn’t know that the leader of the province would hit me in the back of the head like this.”

“Still, we’re lucky. The members who left the group after following Do Kyung-hoon, believing that he would join Titan, are the ones who got screwed.”

Kim Seong-hyeon shivered. He even omitted his honorifics at the betrayal of Do Kyung-hoon, the expedition leader.

He had been contemplating retirement until recently.

Should I follow Do Kyung-hoon, the leader of the Expedition Line, one of the three major factions of the old Taesung Guild, or should I remain in Iron Will?

I was quite swayed by the rumor that I could enter Titan if I followed Do Kyung-hoon.

At that time, Choi Mi-ran stopped him.

Chief Kang Mu-hyeok is not a person to be taken lightly.

Do Kyung Hoon did not resign cleanly, but was kicked out after secretly stealing members away. The industry could even call it a case of gangster behavior, so the leader said there was no way he could leave it alone.

As a result, it was an excellent choice for Kim Sung-hyun to remain in the guild with Choi Mi-ran. No, it was a close call.

The members who signed a contract with Titan were admitted as per the contract, but Do Kyung-hoon was thrown out of the group without even being able to go near Titan’s entrance. The non-contracted members who followed him also left in an instant. He suddenly became unemployed.

I could work as a freelancer, but the comfortable life backed by a guaranteed salary and guild support was now a thing of the past.

“What does it look like to you, sister?”

“what?”

“From now on. Our guild.”

“Well, I got stuck in Bukpocheon… and there are wolves too. Well, won’t things be okay? It’ll take some time though.”

“Well, the mount breeding farm certainly has a vision. After all, there aren’t many of them in the world. Besides, the Rider Wolf is almost the only combat mount.”

“If we’re going by vision, I’d have to choose Gilma and the leader first.”

Kim Seong-hyeon nodded naturally in agreement.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Joo Se Ah’s military power was the best in Korea, and Kang Moo Hyuk’s guild management was showing results.

The synergy that perfectly complemented each other’s shortcomings was a rare case of collaboration in the industry.

However, Kim Seong-hyeon thought that this part was both the guild’s strength and weakness.

“But I still feel a bit uneasy with just the two of us. I’m not going to raid alone. There are dozens of hunters who have left the guild right now.”

“We are seriously short on numbers. That’s why we are having such a hard time now.”

Choi Mi-ran’s complaints were natural.

Because there weren’t enough patrol parties at the time, they were doing the same route patrols three times a day.

As a hunter, it wouldn’t be hard to simply patrol, but considering the size of Bukpocheon, it was a tight schedule with no free time.

If Kang Mu-hyeok had not shared his plan to reinforce his manpower with his members, a riot might have broken out long ago.

“But is that possible? If you listen to what the captain says, it seems like he’s going to do a qualitative upgrade in terms of personnel reinforcement. Honestly, there’s no way that hunters with high ranks and skills would come all the way to Bukpocheon.”

“What would I know? He’s a man full of evil thoughts, so he’ll probably find a way, whether it’s through threats or fraud.”

“I really don’t know if my older sister likes me or dislikes me.”

“Ability is acknowledged. Character is questionable. From the first impression, you were a jerk… Huh? Isn’t that an orc over there?”

Choi Mi-ran found a monster lurking around on a hill far from the road and pointed at it with her finger.

Kim Seong-hyeon craned his neck and glared.

“Their skin color is a bit weird… There are many types of orcs. The ugly ones are definitely orcs.”

He immediately took out a tablet containing local information and searched for ‘orc’.

“Orcs have never been found in any other party’s work logs. They’re also not found in the Bukpocheon Monster Guide.”

“Is that a newly summoned one? I heard that sometimes random mobs respawn in special areas.”

“Even so, it’s still an orc.”

“You’re saying that after having a hard time with goblins just recently? Orcs become even more annoying than goblins when they level up.”

“If it was just summoned, it probably hasn’t evolved yet. What should we do? Should we go and catch it?”

“I don’t want to bother climbing the mountain… . Um, and orcs don’t go alone. They must have friends nearby. They’re so persistent that they always end up in dogfights. I don’t want to get dirty and get myself involved. Let’s just go. If I report it, the others will take care of it.”

Choi Mi-ran didn’t want to go hunting in a gloomy mood. She didn’t want to sweat over hunting an orc that hadn’t even approached the Nampocheon route.

They ignored the orcs and moved on. Even after they were gone, the orcs continued to stare intently at the road. A few grim faces suddenly appeared behind the orcs.

It was the group of orcs that Choi Mi-ran had expected.

The seven orcs sniffed the air, smelling the human scent on the air.

The orc ahead of us pointed south, making a noise like a horse’s trot.

The orcs walked in the direction the finger pointed.

* * *

What the Iron Will Guild needed right away was, first of all, people, and secondly, people.

Not only hunters, but also general office workers were in short supply. The general workers who had been full until recently had finished their contracts and returned to Seoul.

“Even though the contract was until the end of the Bukpocheon pacification, I think I should have kept the regular members for a little longer.”

Joo Se Ah was staring at the monitor all day, suddenly given a mountain of work to do.

She was the leader of the Slayer Guild party and a former expedition ace. She was used to working on documents such as raid plans, but she was on the verge of surrendering to the pile of work that showed no signs of abating.

“Hunters can’t help it because their calling is to hunt monsters, but for the average person, Bukpocheon is a tough environment to endure. It’s impossible to maintain a work-life balance in a place where there’s no place to have a beer after work. It’s even harder for people with families.”

“It’s hard for the hunters too. It’s especially hard for the young ones who like to spend money they make by hunting monsters.”

In response to Joo Se-ah, Kang Mu-hyeok turned his gaze from what he was doing and stared at her intently.

Although she had been rolling around in this world for over ten years, Joo Se Ah was only twenty-five years old.

Although she was usually at an age when hunters began to engage in full-scale hunting, perhaps because of her experience as a mid-level hunter, she sometimes tended to speak like a hunter in her 30s or 40s who was about to retire.

“why?”

“No. I agree with that opinion. It’s true that Bukpocheon is a place that has difficulty satisfying the tastes of young hunters these days. It’s common for them to think of guild work as a job rather than a mission.”

“So what are we going to do? We can’t just keep doing desk work. The patrol party is dying. It’s gotten to the point where we have to ask for help from goblins.”

“But that doesn’t mean I can let just anyone in. Thanks to Do Kyung-hoon, I’ve been able to cut out a lot of the rotten parts. I can’t pour rotten water into a place that needs to be filled with new flesh.”

“Is it incumbent upon a C-rank guild like ours to be so selective and accept it?”

“Common sense tells you it’s hard. Bringing in good hunters.”

Kang Mu-hyeok’s typing speed increased. The sound of the keyboard keystrokes resonated loudly throughout the office.

Joo Se-ah, who thought that Kang Mu-hyeok was releasing his stress on the keyboard, spoke to him as if to stop him.

“Then the keyboard will break. Look at that. So why did you instigate even the quiet members to chase after Do Kyung-hoon? You should have calmed them down and put out the fire first. What will Hunter Lee Jin-joo say when she comes to work? ‘I lured you here by saying I’d make you the expedition leader, but there are no members? Wow, this is a total job scam.’ Even if the leader grabs me by the hair, I won’t stop him.”

“Hunter Lee Jin-ju is not that violent. He doesn’t know the situation here. He must have made the decision to transfer with some degree of determination. Of course, the best thing to do is not to create a situation where you get your hair grabbed.”

“What are you going to do with that best? If you look for it in the draft or free agent market, you can’t guarantee quality either.”

“That was included in the plan I showed you last time, but I don’t plan on focusing on that. That’s something we need to look at in the long term. But haven’t we already found a good way?”

“Good way? When?”

Instead of answering, Kang Moo-hyuk quickly tapped on the keyboard. Then, after a while, he suddenly stopped working. The office was filled with silence. He clicked the mouse a few times, picked up the tablet, walked over to Joo Se-ah’s desk, sat down, and operated the tablet before handing it over to her.

Joo Se Ah took the tablet and checked the LCD screen. Documents with photos and career history like resumes were floating on the screen. She flipped through each person and asked.

“What is this?”

“Here’s the recruiting list. I’ll try to make a transfer offer to a guild with decent resources, like Lee Jin-joo Hunter.”

At Kang Mu-hyeok’s answer, Joo Se-ah checked the tablet once again.

“Will this work? Everyone’s career is no joke. A mid-sized guild is fine, but an A-class guild? Neither the guild nor the hunter will accept you unless you get shot in the head. No, if it were me, I wouldn’t send you even if I got shot in the head.”

“Of course it’s not 100 percent, but it’s worth a try.”

Joo Se Ah couldn’t say anything. The Kang Mu Hyuk she knew wasn’t someone who would brag. He wasn’t someone who believed in uncertain odds. He must have handed over the recruiting list because he had a chance of winning. She looked at the tablet again for no reason.

‘Can you really bring them? There are so many B-ranks and above? Hey, there’s even an A-rank? And someone with Red Gate experience. Huh? I know this guy, too?’

Joo Se Ah buried her face in the tablet and looked up at Kang Mu Hyuk.

“So what should I do?”

“Nothing else. Just unlimited discretion over personnel matters?”

“You already promised that when you signed the contract. I’ve never tackled you before.”

“I haven’t used it yet, but the contract includes the right for the guild leader to refuse. That’s why I’m asking for your understanding in advance. It’s going to be quite unconventional from now on. You have to give me a firm answer that you will absolutely not touch the recruitment I’ve pushed for before I can proceed with this transfer.”

“Oh, really? What’s making me feel so anxious?”

“Will you allow it or not?”

Joo Se-ah sighed at Kang Mu-hyeok’s request without any further explanation.

“Ugh. I’m not the type of person to stop just because you tell me not to. Do it, do it. Do whatever you want, Captain Kang.”

“Then, we will contact the Taegeuk Guild as our first recruit.”