NOVEL NEXT Chapter 148
Chapter 148: The Iron-Fisted Leader
Clang!
With a piercing sound that echoed through the air, the cup shattered.
As expected, Secretary Kim maintained his composure.
“What? Lost it? Just outright lost an A-Class Healer? To those Yangji Guild brats?”
Seong-jin, the leader of the Sun Guild, shouted with a voice boiling over with rage.
“Yes, it has happened…,”
Secretary Kim said heavily, trailing off.
Bam!
Seong-jin slammed his hand on the desk.
“Damn it! Why is everything a mess these days?”
“…”
Seong-jin’s face was flushed, clearly struggling to control his anger as he huffed.
“Who’s the guy in charge at the Association? Tell him to come here right now!”
“…Understood.”
The person in charge was not very fortunate.
Regardless of how furious Seong-jin was, he wouldn’t usually direct anyone to come here about something like this, but the fact that it was the Yangji Guild made things much worse.
Getting hit twice in a row by the Yangji Guild was really getting under Seong-jin’s skin.
“These bastards really….”
Seong-jin grimaced.
Since the guild’s founding, they’d been sailing smoothly without hindrance.
Of course, there had been times when things didn’t go according to plan.
Up until now, it was understandable.
However, they had never been rammed by some insignificant brats like this twice.
“What’s the status of the investigation?”
“It just started recently. But since it’s not just one or two people, it seems it will take some time….”
Secretary Kim cautiously replied.
“Tell them to hurry as much as possible.”
“Yes, I will inform them.”
“…We can’t let the Yangji Guild off like this. We have to smash that arrogant head of theirs before they get too full of themselves.”
Seong-jin clenched his fist.
◈ ◈ ◈
Lee Si-hyun was relaxed on the sofa in the Guild Leader’s room, leisurely flipping through a magazine.
He seemed pleased as he browsed through the magazine.
The magazine was called ‘Hunter World.’
In this line of work, it was quite a well-read monthly publication.
It was the first specialized magazine for hunters, and its reporters were seasoned veterans in the field.
‘Hunter World’ ranked guilds every December based on various criteria they set up, compiling the rankings.
While it didn’t hold immense authority, it was too significant to be merely considered a trivial entertainment.
Many hunters thought this ranking closely resembled the hierarchy of guilds as perceived by current hunters.
This year, the Yangji Guild ranked 6th.
They’d jumped a whopping four spots from last year’s 10th place.
It was right up close to the major guilds.
Even veteran reporters acknowledged the Yangji Guild’s rise in the field.
Of course, the reporters took the opinions of hunters and the state of the industry into account when ranking, so they naturally understood how the Yangji Guild was viewed in the market.
For Si-hyun, it was a delightful article.
Creak.
At that moment, the door opened, and in walked the Guild Leader, Cheol-hyung.
“You’re here, Section Chief.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
As the guild grew, the leader inevitably became busier than before.
Since Si-hyun spent most of his time at the detention center, he couldn’t be much help with the guild’s operations.
Still young and brimming with energy, Cheol-hyung didn’t appear to be struggling at all.
“Are you seeing this?”
Cheol-hyung glanced at the magazine laid out in front of Si-hyun and smiled knowingly.
“It feels just like when you get a stellar performance review at work.”
Si-hyun smiled back.
“It feels like watching a kid I raised achieve success.”
“You’ve never raised a kid, so how would you know that feeling?”
“Haha. One has to experience it to understand, right, Section Chief?”
Cheol-hyung sat down across from Si-hyun.
Si-hyun closed the magazine he was looking at.
“Is there anything unusual happening in the guild lately?”
“No, nothing unusual.”
“Are there any troubles at all?”
As the guild’s numbers swelled suddenly, issues could arise between existing members and newcomers.
Such things like cliques or bullying could happen.
It was a phenomenon that could occur in any organization.
However, in the Yangji Guild, existing members shared a strong bond due to their common backgrounds as ex-convicts.
So, when they suddenly mixed with ordinary civilians of a completely different color, the likelihood of problems arising wasn’t insignificant.
That’s why Si-hyun had emphasized this to the hunters from the detention center multiple times.
He’d especially asked Cheol-hyung to be cautious.
“Is it really possible for there to be no troubles at all…?”
Cheol-hyung opened his mouth with a peculiar expression.
“Thought so.”
“…But it turns out there wasn’t really any trouble.”
“Really?”
Si-hyun’s eyes widened at the sudden change in Cheol-hyung’s tone.
“There hasn’t been anything particularly problematic. It seems everyone has been managing their tempers well thanks to your repeated requests, Section Chief.”
In the Yangji Guild, there were impulsive offenders who had lost their rationality and committed crimes on the spur of the moment.
Their common feature was that they often had difficulty controlling their emotions compared to average people.
So, they’d ended up committing crimes out of anger.
The rage control disorders mentioned on the internet could be classified in this category.
So, Si-hyun had been somewhat concerned, but luckily it appeared there were no major issues.
“Isn’t it possible that something happened, but you’re just keeping it under wraps?”
“Of course not, Section Chief.”
Cheol-hyung answered promptly, as if absolutely refusing that notion.
‘What a strong effect.’
Si-hyun thought.
The Iron-Blooded Guard really seemed to be the absolute cure for emotional control.
Even though he was no longer an inmate, the effects of the treatment he received back then were still holding strong.
“How is Euna doing?”
Si-hyun shifted the topic.
She had entered as an A-Class Healer, but that didn’t mean she could instantly dive headfirst into an A-Class Gate raid.
Freshly awakened hunters, no matter how high their ranks, would inevitably freeze when faced with monsters and blood inside a gate.
They needed to gradually adapt from that to their roles in raids.
That’s why he had heard from Cheol-hyung that Euna was starting her adjustments from a C-rank Gate.
“She’s adapting really quickly. Right now, she’s performing her role smoothly even in A-Class Gate raids.”
“I knew she’d be something special.”
Upon hearing Cheol-hyung’s response, Si-hyun murmured.
Ordinary people, no matter how A-Class, wouldn’t be able to carry themselves so directly in front of someone in charge of a major guild.
She had a surprisingly bold personality.
Maybe that’s why, even though it had been less than two months since she joined the Yangji Guild, she was already holding her own in A-Class Gates.
“What about Yong-jin?”
Kim Yong-jin.
An E-rank Hunter and Euna’s husband.
“He’s also diligently fulfilling his role.”
“Good, good pick.”
Si-hyun liked earnest people.
In organizational life, if someone slacks off, someone else has to pick up the slack.
During his time working as a correctional officer, especially when he was at a lower rank, he deeply felt this.
The workload was completely different between meeting a diligent subordinate and a lazy one.
As long as someone was diligent enough to handle what people deem trivial, they were certainly trustworthy.
“However.”
Cheol-hyung started.
“What is it?”
“Euna Hunter has been consistently requesting to participate in raids alongside her husband.”
“Oh, really.”
Si-hyun’s eyes turned thoughtful for a moment.
After all, she had joined this guild wanting to work alongside her husband without looking back.
It made perfect sense she would have such a request.
She probably felt that both she and her husband were reasonably adapted now and were starting to put such requests forward.
“Then let’s allow it. It’s not particularly difficult after all.”
Si-hyun nodded as he said this.
“I will arrange that.”
“But that’s quite something.”
“What do you mean?”
“When social statuses are so extreme, it usually causes issues in family life, doesn’t it?”
If she were someone like Su-jin, she would’ve immediately declared that she wanted a divorce in no uncertain terms.
“Such cases are indeed common.”
Cheol-hyung agreed, then smiled as he continued.
“But there are certainly exceptions.”
“If you’re getting married, you should find a woman like that.”
Si-hyun muttered absentmindedly.
However, Cheol-hyung suddenly widened his eyes.
“Hmm? No, but you have someone, don’t you? Faithfully.”
“Who?”
“That Great Sorceress, remember? When you were in the detention center, she saved you, and all of us inmates were truly moved by her.”
“…”
Si-hyun averted his gaze slightly.
“Section Chief.”
Cheol-hyung called out to Si-hyun with a playful expression.
“…What is it?”
“Isn’t she not Korean?”
“And so?”
“I knew it. That would be great then.”
“No… what do you mean?”
Si-hyun looked at Cheol-hyung in disbelief.
“Did you know? If you take someone else’s, the other side is at -1, and you are at +1, so you’re effectively gaining 2.”
“…And?”
“If you marry her and naturalize in Korea, that’s how it would work. She might be S-Class but she seems like a Special S-Class. If that happens, you’d instantly become the Korean of the Year. No wait, it wouldn’t just be this year; it would be a page in history!”
“Oh man, seriously. We’re not like that at all.”
Si-hyun waved his hands dismissively.
“That’s kinda strange. I consider myself a sharp person, you know.”
“Looks like I should tell you to avoid places where you’re around Cheol-hyung.”
“Haha, understood. If it’s to that extent, I’ll try to hold back a little.”
Cheol-hyung let out a cool laugh.
Si-hyun couldn’t help but chuckle as well.
“Anyway, keep up the good work from here on out.”
◈ ◈ ◈
-Title: B-rank Hunter, Please Recommend a Guild
-Content: I’m naturally indecisive and struggle to make choices. Please, bros and sis, give me some recommendations.
Si-hyun was browsing the Hunter community forum.
After dinner, he had a habit of briefly surfing through community boards while munching on some fruit for dessert.
“Well, once you sign a contract, you’re stuck for three years, so it’s no surprise you’d be worried.”
Si-hyun muttered as he crunched on a piece of fruit.
He scrolled down, reading the comments.
– You’ve got to go with a large guild. You don’t want regrets.
– If you go to a large guild, you’ll just be buried among the stars. There are so many B-rank hunters there; they won’t even pay attention to you. You’ll be surrounded by veterans with way more experience.
– Go for the Sun Guild, go for the Sun Guild. They treat everyone well.
– Is there anywhere a Sun Guild temp doesn’t get into?
– Let me break it down for you. If you have a dragon tail, go large; if you’ve got a snake head, go medium. Got it?
– Recommend going large. It reduces the chance of injury during raids. Above all, keeping your body safe is the best.
– Nowadays, in the large guilds, the White Dragon is a good option, and in the medium guilds, the Yangji Guild is in vogue. This is what current hunters think.
– Hey, now’s the perfect time to get into the Yangji Guild. It was common knowledge that they only picked internal candidates, but they’ve started properly selecting members in the last few months. Go before they close the door again.
– I also recommend the Yangji Guild. They really gained confidence after putting the Sun Guild in its place. You pick guilds based on trends; you want to avoid those on a downward slope and get into those on the rise.
– I’m a woman working in Yangji, and the Guild Leader is super cool and talented. He graduated from Princeton and is incredibly handsome. The growth of Yangji is all thanks to the Guild Leader. You can join just by looking at him.
As he read the comments, Si-hyun couldn’t help but smile. It was clear that the Yangji Guild’s status had risen.
The efforts of the guild members over the past few months were not in vain.
Then, a final comment at the very bottom of the monitor caught his eye.
– The information is really slow, you guys. The Yangji Guild is an ex-con guild. It stinks of rot.