Yoo Jin-Ho looked dumbfounded.
"Hyung-nim, already?" "You don't need to hear the rest — I can guess."
Jin-Woo spoke firmly. It wasn't that he disliked Yoo Jin-Ho. The guy was a bit odd, sure, but he had a polite attitude and seemed to value loyalty. He was nothing like the chaebol heirs Jin-Woo had seen on TV. Still, he had no interest in indulging some rich kid's hunter hobby.
"If you've got nothing else to say, I'm leaving." "H-Hyung-nim!"
Yoo Jin-Ho hastily grabbed Jin-Woo as he was about to stand.
"Hyung-nim, just twenty times! No — just come with me nineteen times!" "Go where? A dungeon?" "Yes! I'll make sure the compensation is generous."
Yoo Jin-Ho's voice was desperate. Jin-Woo tilted his head. There were broadly two reasons people took up the hunter profession. Money and duty. Yoo Jin-Ho didn't fit into either category. He probably just saw hunting as a more dangerous form of extreme sports. That had been Jin-Woo's working assumption up until now. It had been pretty surprising, though, when Yoo Jin-Ho decided to form a party after nearly dying in a dungeon.
'Well, the world has all kinds.'
It wasn't strange for there to be at least one thrill-seeking rich kid with no sense of danger. But Yoo Jin-Ho's gaze was oddly resolute for that to be the full explanation.
'Does he have some kind of motive?'
The "19 times" he wanted Jin-Woo to come along mattered more than the "generous compensation" he'd mentioned. Jin-Woo's mind started racing.
'Hold on… If his first raid doesn't count, that means nineteen more raids from now on…'
No way this kid… It didn't take long to reach the conclusion. Jin-Woo wore an incredulous expression.
"You trying to get a Guild Master license or something?" "Yes, Hyung-nim!"
It was a good thing he hadn't ordered coffee. If he had, he would have spat it all out right here.
"You're telling me you want to become a Guild Master?" "It's a bit of a complicated story, Hyung-nim."
Yoo Jin-Ho said, his face turning even redder than before.
"Please just hear me out, Hyung-nim." "…"
After some deliberation, Jin-Woo couldn't resist his curiosity and sat back down.
"Fine, let's hear it."
They hadn't used up the agreed-upon hour yet. He could afford to listen. Yoo Jin-Ho quickly pulled his chair back.
"You're right, Hyung-nim — I do want to get a Guild Master license."
It wasn't difficult for a hunter to obtain a Guild Master license. The hunter needed at least twenty raid experiences. Once that minimum requirement was met, one could earn the license by passing a simple written exam. Of course, a guild built by an unskilled hunter would attract nobody, and any guild that failed to maintain its minimum member count would cease to exist. Yoo Jin-Ho continued.
"It hasn't been made public yet, but actually, my father is planning to start a guild." "Yujin Construction is starting a guild?" "Yes."
Yujin Construction was one of South Korea's top construction companies. Beyond construction, they had expanded into numerous business sectors and thrived, and Jin-Woo had heard they'd made a fortune recently through hunter-related ventures.
'A company like that starting its own guild?'
Seeing Jin-Woo show interest, Yoo Jin-Ho excitedly added more details.
"He wants to recruit powerful hunters, grow it into a major guild, and put the hunter-related businesses underneath it."
For a corporation to run hunter-related operations, cooperation with a guild was essential. To collect mana crystals, carcasses, and other treasures from the magic beasts that emerged from A- and B-rank Gates, the power of a major guild was indispensable.
"So he wants to make it self-sufficient from now on." "That's exactly it, Hyung-nim!"
With Yujin Construction's financial muscle, creating a guild was no issue at all. The problem was who would run it.
"My father plans to hire an S-rank Hunter as Master and install my older brother as Vice Master, operating the guild as a corporate entity…"
Jin-Woo caught on to what Yoo Jin-Ho was really getting at. The problem was the instability that setup would create. The authority a Master held within a guild was simply too vast. Even if the Vice Master side had hired the Master, if friction later arose between them, the Master could seize control of the entire guild. That left only one option: entrust the guild to a Master who would absolutely never betray the employer. In other words, a sibling. Or a son. Chairman Yoo Myung-Han had a son — Yoo Jin-Ho.
"But my chances of getting the Master position are slim compared to my brother's track record. All the ideas behind the hunter-related business ventures and their massive profits were his."
The older brother had already become a capable entrepreneur at thirty-one. Compared to him, the younger brother was just a twenty-two-year-old college student. Even with the unusual distinction of being a D-rank Awakening. The chairman intended to hand the guild to his eldest son. The eldest couldn't serve as Master since he wasn't a hunter, but he knew the hunter business inside out and had achieved great results. The chairman was willing to accept that risk.
"You want to convince your father and sit in the Master's seat?" "Yes. That's right, Hyung-nim."
Jin-Woo understood why Yoo Jin-Ho was so desperately trying to rope him in. Hiring a high-rank hunter to obtain a Guild Master license would only prove he'd bought it with money. But if he could lead low-rank hunters like Jin-Woo through twenty successful raids and earn the license on merit? That would move his father. All he had to do was prove he could lead hunters. That was Yoo Jin-Ho's calculus. Once he became Guild Master, he could place an S-rank Hunter as Vice Master and recruit capable hunters to fill the ranks. As long as at least one of the two positions — Master or Vice Master — was held by a proven hunter, other hunters would feel safe joining. For that, twenty raids were absolutely necessary.
"Hyung-nim, please help me! There's no one but you!"
Yoo Jin-Ho bowed his head. If not for Jin-Woo, he would have lost his life during that first raid. Once to the spider, once to the Brass Golem. Twice in total. He needed a reliable, trustworthy ally.
'Hyung-nim can be trusted.'
A cold-blooded man who could kill without batting an eye, yet one who never treated the lives of the weak carelessly and never glanced at unfair gains — an honest fighter. Jin-Woo was the perfect fit. But Jin-Woo didn't need Yoo Jin-Ho. Which was exactly why Jin-Woo asked:
"What's in it for me?"
Yoo Jin-Ho raised his head and, with a bright face, pulled out a document envelope he'd had prepared. Inside was an architectural blueprint of a building. Jin-Woo took it.
"It's a building we're constructing to use as the guild office. The estimated market value is around thirty billion won, but it'll keep going up."
The Hunter's Association managed things as best it could, but the possibility of monsters emerging from Dungeons was always there. That was precisely why land prices around Association branches and major guilds always soared. Nothing was more valuable than one's life. Even having a small guild nearby guaranteed safety. What about a building occupied by a major guild? That went without saying.
"If I become Master, I'll use it for exactly one year — just until the guild is established — and then transfer it to your name. Of course, I'll have it notarized properly so there are no disputes later."
Nineteen C-rank raids for a thirty-billion-won building… Jin-Woo let out a short laugh.
"So if you become Master, you still come out ahead even after giving this up?" "Yes, that's right, Hyung-nim."
Yoo Jin-Ho had learned that day that anything could happen inside a dungeon. Use the wrong hunter and you'd lose your life. But use a famous hunter and you'd lose the argument you needed to convince your father. Jin-Woo, however, was different. A mere E-rank hunter who had single-handedly dispatched a C-rank boss and multiple C-rank hunters without a scratch.
'Hyung-nim is at least B-rank… maybe even higher.'
Joining hands with Jin-Woo, nineteen C-rank raids would pose no problem whatsoever. If it meant becoming Master, thirty billion wasn't too much. All that remained was Jin-Woo's answer.
'He wouldn't turn down an offer like this, would he?'
Yoo Jin-Ho anxiously watched Jin-Woo's face. What to do? Jin-Woo fell into thought. Thirty billion won. An enormous sum. If you took the first-place lottery jackpot at a billion and a half, this was the amount you'd need to win twenty times in a row to match. And its value was only going to rise. For an ordinary hunter, this was a proposal exciting enough to break out the stamp immediately. But Jin-Woo was far from ordinary. He was the only one of his kind — the sole hunter capable of growth. If he kept repeating quests and Leveling Up, he could one day reach S-rank, or beyond.
'If I can reach S-rank or higher, thirty billion won is nothing.'
S-rank hunters commanded sign-on fees in the hundreds of billions. No celebrity or sports star could compare their market value to that of an S-rank Hunter. In an era where the number of high-rank hunters equated to national strength, S-rank treatment was beyond imagination. So for Jin-Woo right now, the top priority wasn't money — it was growth. And for growth, he was better off alone.
'Fewer variables the better.'
Hunting together might reduce his experience points, and having someone watch would make it awkward to move freely. During this last dungeon, he'd even had to threaten Yoo Jin-Ho uninvited just to avoid trouble. Coordinating schedules with a team was yet another hassle. Efficiency would inevitably suffer.
'Money can always be earned later.'
Resigned to declining, just as he'd made up his mind—
'Wait.'
A clever idea flashed through his mind — a way to catch both money and growth in one stroke.
'If I do it this way…'
He looked up and saw Yoo Jin-Ho watching him with nervous eyes. Jin-Woo slowly opened his mouth.
"I have one condition."
Yoo Jin-Ho's face lit up immediately.
"Name anything, Hyung-nim!"
But would he still be smiling after hearing the condition? Jin-Woo swallowed a laugh and spoke.
"Just the two of us — you and me." "…Excuse me?"
Yoo Jin-Ho was visibly startled.
"H-Hyung-nim, unless I'm misunderstanding… are you saying just the two of us should clear a C-rank Dungeon alone?" "You understood perfectly."
Yoo Jin-Ho's face went pale.