chapter_0590

590 – Beard?

590 – Beard?

I moved to the café, the meeting place, with Master.

There were three men and one woman sitting in the café, and I could see the tension on their faces.

‘Maybe it’s because of Master.’

I knew that adventurers found our Master intimidating.

But it would be rude to tell Master to leave after he brought me all the way here.

For now, I decided to ease the situation with a simple greeting.

“Hello, my nickname is Golden Puppy.”

“A puppy…? You were a puppy, not a cat…? ”

“No, I’m a cat…”

“Oh… I see…”

“Yes… but I’m not completely a cat…”

I had chosen the nickname Golden Puppy after seeing Gaeul, but now I wondered if it was a mistake.

Feeling awkward, I looked up at Master, who placed his hand on top of my head.

“Will you stay with me?”

“No, it’s okay for you to go first.”

I knew Master had his own schedule.

There was no need for him to waste time here because of me.

“Can you be alone?”

“Yes. I can be alone.”

Worried that Master might be concerned, I spoke confidently, raising my eyebrows like our kids.

However, Master was looking around at others, not at me.

He checked the faces of the small guild masters and the café staff.

“Since this is far from home, don’t wander off alone. Stick close to the masters.”

“Yes, I’ll stick close.”

I clung to Master as if to show off.

Master nodded in satisfaction.

“I’ll come back to pick you up in two hours, so take care.”

“Ah! Yes!”

“Yes…!”

As Master was about to leave, the masters sitting in their chairs all stood up at once.

Amid the orderly send-off from the masters, I waved goodbye.

“Hehe.”

With that, Master left, and I was left alone.

I felt nervous but held it in and introduced myself again.

“Hello, I’m Han Gyeoul. I run the Ggaemmi Guild, and I’ve come to learn because there are many challenges.”

“Ah, hello. I’m Lee Yujin.”

The Master I had clung to introduced herself.

Starting with her, the other masters also greeted me.

“I didn’t expect Gyeoul to come.”

“Right? I was wondering who it was, and it’s Gyeoul.”

Could it be because this is a gathering of local masters?

All the masters seemed to know me.

I wondered if they knew about the Ggaemmi Guild too.

That would make it easier to ask questions.

“Are we going to talk about our guild?”

“Yeah. Gyeoul doesn’t drink coffee… right?”

“No. I can’t drink coffee because of my allergies.”

“Then something sweet?”

“Yes.”

Master Yujin ordered a strawberry smoothie, and we began discussing guild management.

What I was most curious about was the ranks of the staff.

“So, just raising the ranks of the staff for their morale isn’t necessarily a good thing?”

“Yeah. It might feel good at first, but if they lack ability, it will only become a burden.”

“Oh… then when is it good to raise their ranks?”

“When the guild and the staff grow, there will come a time when you’ll realize you need higher-ranked people.”

“I see.”

Does that mean there will come a moment when I need higher ranks?

Since this was advice from someone experienced, I decided to listen carefully.

“Ha… I have been worried about something recently too.”

Questions about guild management weren’t just mine; other masters were asking them too.

It seemed important, so I listened closely.

“What are you worried about?”

“Recently, there’s been a dispute over dungeon ownership. They insist it’s their dungeon and are causing a ruckus, but I don’t know what to do.”

“Huh? Dungeon access is supposed to be determined by the state, right?”

“I explained it like that, but they didn’t listen at all. If the guild is a bit strong, the price…”

Sigh.

Everyone fell silent at the master’s sigh.

It seemed that small guilds sometimes received unreasonable treatment like this.

‘What should I do in this situation?’

I thought about it, but I couldn’t come up with a solution either.

So, I decided to ask Master, the encyclopedia of guild management.

“Then I’ll look into it.”

“Gyeoul?”

“Yes. I have many people to ask.”

I took out the smartphone I received from Levinas and called our Master.

Before the call tone rang twice, Master answered.

-What is it?

“I have a question. How do you resolve guild disputes?”

-Dispute?

“Yes, we’re discussing what to do if a stronger guild insists that the dungeon is theirs.”

-…Who said that?

I glanced back at the master who had sighed a moment ago.

He quickly waved his hand.

“Oh, no. I’m not saying someone did…”

-………

Even though our Master wasn’t looking, he waved his hand toward the smartphone.

Then, after a moment of silence, our Master hung up.

“Oh?”

Our Master was usually stoic, but he wouldn’t just hang up like that.

Feeling disappointed, my ears and tail drooped.

“You hung up?”

“Yes…”

Master just hung up the phone.

A small whimper escaped me.

Feeling dejected, I slumped over the desk when my smartphone began to vibrate.

“Oh?”

It’s from our Master.

Could it be that the call was accidentally disconnected?

With a happy heart, I answered Master’s call again.

“Hello?”

-I resolved it.

“What? What did you resolve?”

-The dispute I mentioned earlier. It won’t be a problem anymore.

“Huh?”

It hadn’t even been five minutes since the call ended, how could it be resolved already?

I looked around at the other masters with a puzzled expression.

For some reason, the masters who met my gaze quickly looked away.

-I’m busy now, so I’ll hang up. Learn well.

“Yes, I’ll learn well. Please come pick me up later.”

-Okay.

With a light farewell, the call ended.

I didn’t know what it was, but I was relieved it was resolved.

As I thought about that, I tilted my head.

“Oh?”

I was going to ask for a solution, but he just resolved it for me.

Isn’t that not how it should be?

I glanced at the masters, but they were just rolling their eyes around.

**

After about two hours of conversation, it was time to part ways.

I thanked the masters who had taught me so much.

“Thank you so much for today. I learned a lot thanks to you.”

“Yeah. I was grateful too.”

“What do you mean?”

“…Nothing.”

After saying goodbye to the masters, I got into our Master’s car.

On the way home, I proudly explained what I had learned from our Master.

“They say you shouldn’t raise the ranks of staff just to make them feel good.”

“That’s right.”

“And you shouldn’t disclose the salaries of the staff. It violates privacy laws.”

“You learned well.”

Master patted my head.

I felt that it was a good decision to attend the master meeting.

“You worked hard today, so go home and rest.”

“Yes. Thank you for driving me today.”

I bowed to Master and got out of the car to head home.

At home, the kids were running around playing.

“Wanga! Wanga!”

“Gyeoul!”

The kids rushed towards me all at once.

Just being home made me feel good.

“Wanga, did you study a lot?”

“Yes. Did Levinas study too?”

“Yeah! Haneul taught me science!”

I see.

Since both I and the kids had studied hard, it was time to rest.

While I was sitting on the sofa relaxing with the kids, the front door suddenly opened, and someone came in.

“Who is it?!”

Levinas perked up his ears and was the first to dash toward the front door.

I slowly followed behind Levinas to see who had come.

‘This is…’

The unique footsteps and smell were reminiscent of Choi Jin-hyuk.

In a moment of joy, my tail wagged, but then I heard Levinas’s terrified voice.

“Whoa!”

“Levinas, why… huh?!”

“Whoa?!”

We couldn’t help but be startled at the sight of Choi Jin-hyuk entering the house.

His once smooth jaw was now covered in a beard.

“Who is it?!”

“Run! Run!”

Levinas and Gaeul were on guard against the furry Choi Jin-hyuk.

If they had sniffed, they would have known who it was, but they seemed too shocked to think about that.

“………”

Choi Jin-hyuk, who had been standing there blankly for a moment, suddenly raised his hand.

Then he let out a monstrous roar and charged toward us.

“Run away!”

“Ah!”

We hurriedly ran toward the living room.

Haneul hid under the desk, and Levinas grabbed a fluffy sofa pillow to use as a shield.

“Swish swish.”

“Medicine!”

Levinas pushed Choi Jin-hyuk with the pillow, and Gaeul threw a punch.

Maybe they were scared, but neither the pillow nor the punch reached Choi Jin-hyuk.

They just stretched out from a distance.

“Oh…”

“………”

Bomi looked at Choi Jin-hyuk in awe, while Saebyeok just stood still.

It seemed they recognized him as Choi Jin-hyuk.

“Hmm.”

As Choi Jin-hyuk observed the kids’ reactions, he slowly walked into the bathroom.

Then Levinas stood in front of the bathroom door, holding the soap bubble necklace around my neck.

“If a monster comes out, we all attack at once!”

“Yes, yes…!”

“Medicine…!”

Swish swish—

Sounds of something being ground up came from the bathroom.

Then, after a while, the bathroom door opened.

“Yah!”

“Medicine!”

Puff puff puff—

Levinas held the soap bubble necklace, and Gaeul raised the Wooden Caliber high.

Haneul also stretched out her mechanical arm, but what came out of the bathroom was none other than a clean Choi Jin-hyuk.

“Whoa!”

“Huh?!”

“………”

Could it be that the furry monster suddenly turned into Choi Jin-hyuk?

The kids’ eyes widened in surprise.

“Wow.”

I was also amazed by Choi Jin-hyuk’s transformation.