Chapter 49 Raid Dispatch

It’s already been a month since I became the guild master.

Taking over as guild master, there was more to do than I expected.
I had to visit the Hunter Association, and study all kinds of guild systems.

Still, since I had experience at [Frozen Heart], it wasn’t that difficult.

Nevertheless, it’s true that there were many tasks.

It seems it’s not just a position with a fancy title and nothing else.

[Hunter S]

It’s the guild I became guild master of, with only three guild members.

In fact, it feels more like a party than a guild, but [Hunter S] is indeed a proper guild.

Just because there are only three members doesn’t mean it should be disregarded.

Rather, it could be considered a far more impressive guild than most average guilds.

That’s because every single member belonging to the guild is extraordinary.

Park Jin-soo. Though just a B-class hunter, he’s actually quite an impressive person.

To receive a B-rank right from the start, when he’s only been a hunter for a few months.

This is actually incredibly remarkable, you know?

He can truly be called the ultimate in potential.

To be B-rank when he hasn’t even debuted for a month—I wonder what will happen after a few years pass.

Of course, Park Jin-soo himself doesn’t realize how great he is and keeps clinging to me…

But the fact is, he’s not someone to be ignored.

And Park Jin-ha.

At just 17 years old, she who achieved the position of S-class hunter is not just a genius. It might be more accurate to evaluate her as a monster.

She’s still young so there’s a slight weakness compared to other S-class hunters, but all of these will be covered by time.

As time passes, the skill gap between Park Jin-ha and other S-class hunters will gradually decrease, and eventually, Park Jin-ha will definitely overtake them.

What’s the basis for thinking that?

The basis is not just my prediction. Even if I were to deny it,

Her achievements—debuting as a hunter at a young age and attaining S-class at an early age—acknowledge her potential.

They are truly remarkable people.

Almost too good to be in just a mid-sized guild like this.

So, as the guild master leading these two, I want to try my best.

But in reality, there wasn’t much to do as a guild master.

“Guild Master, I’m off to my dispatch…!!!”

“Okay, take care. Jin-ha.”

. . .

“Si-woo hyung…! I mean, Guild Master, I’m off to my dispatch too!!!”

“Yes. Take care, Jin-soo.”

I waved to Park Jin-ha and Park Jin-soo as I saw them off on their dispatches.

Seeing them leaving the guild spiritedly, I couldn’t help but sigh for some reason.

‘Well, we are a dispatch guild after all…’

In typical large guilds, a guild master often also serves as the raid leader who leads raid teams.

Since both guild master and raid leader positions require leadership and trust from people, the two could be considered necessary and sufficient conditions for each other.

But in the case of [Hunter S] where I am currently the guild master, we can’t form raid parties on our own because we don’t have many guild members yet.

That’s why our company operates by sending members on dispatches like this.

“It’s a bit disappointing…”

While this lifestyle isn’t necessarily bad, I still feel somewhat regretful.

When I was at [Frozen Heart], we often participated in raids directly.

In that case, there were many advantages in terms of profit, stability, mental fatigue, and so on.

Naturally, this has to be the case because when we go on dispatches like this, we can’t secure much profit.

There’s a good chance that poorly organized raid teams might be formed for each raid.

Also, because we work under someone else, mental fatigue is inevitably substantial.

“Let’s try to solve this problem first.”

I think this structure needs to be fixed one way or another.

And it probably won’t take that long.

After all, I just need to find more guild members.

So for now, I should do what I can.

“Oh, there’s a request that just came in.”

I could see a fresh email that had just arrived.

It was a request to support a raid,

with a difficulty level of S-class.

“Hmm. [Witch’s Temptation] guild…”

The requester was Min Seo-jin, the guild master of [Witch’s Temptation] guild.

I hesitated for a moment.

[Witch’s Temptation] guild is the most closed-off guild among the three major guilds.

Other large guilds also inevitably request dispatches from mid-sized guilds when they’re short on personnel, but.

I had never heard of [Witch’s Temptation] guild making a dispatch request even once.

So I hesitated for a moment when I saw this, but.

“The conditions are too good to refuse.”

I sent an email accepting it.

The money earned from supporting this raid was quite substantial.

Plus, since it’s a raid organized by [Witch’s Temptation] guild, there shouldn’t be any danger.

There was no reason to refuse.

In a mountain village in Gangwon Province, where raid preparations are in full swing.

After hearing that an S-class gate would open here, the members of [Witch’s Temptation] guild are busy preparing.

“Have you finished checking the gate personnel?”

“Yes. Everything is finished without any problems, Team Leader.”

And among the busy personnel, one man looks especially busy.

A typical middle-aged man in his mid-40s with a beer belly.

His name is Lee Cheol-geun, the leader of Raid Team 1 department who will lead this raid team.

He couldn’t help but be extremely busy today.

Ordinarily, as the overall leader in charge of this raid team, he would have dumped everything from start to finish on his competent subordinates.

But now he couldn’t do that.

Because both Guild Master Min Seo-jin and S-class Rank 9 An Se-ah would be accompanying this raid.

Not a single mistake could be tolerated, and he shouldn’t show any signs of resting with those two conspicuously present.

Lee Cheol-geun, in the team leader position of a large guild.

He had no choice but to do his best flawlessly and diligently.

But.

“Team Leader. We have a problem.”

“What? What’s the problem?”

“The person who was supposed to come on dispatch today says they’ll be a little late.”

“Ah… damn.”

He did his best, yet a problem still arose.

He did his best within his range of control, but this was completely beyond his control.

However, superiors don’t acknowledge subordinates’ force majeure.

No matter how unfair it was, failure is failure, and Lee Cheol-geun couldn’t help but feel a sense of crisis within the strict framework of a large guild.

Lee Cheol-geun was anxious.

“Haah. How late?”

“About 10 minutes.”

“I see. That’s not too late. Just continue preparing as usual.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Lee Cheol-geun sighed in relief after hearing his subordinate’s words.

He was worried about what would happen if the person was too late, but fortunately, he thought it was okay since they wouldn’t be that late.

About 10 minutes. That was something that could be overlooked.

But.

“Hey. And tell that person who’s going to be late to come to me as soon as they arrive.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Lee Cheol-geun had a vindictive personality.

.

.

.

“Excuse me. Are you perhaps Lee Si-woo, who came on dispatch this time?”

“Haha… I’m sorry for being late. The traffic was heavy coming from Seoul.”

Si-woo had arrived.

Lee Cheol-geun began examining Si-woo.

While his face was handsome and tall, he didn’t look like a particularly impressive young man.

In other words, there would be no problem getting angry at him.

“You’re late because of traffic? Haah…”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Are you kidding me right now? Huh? When a large guild gives work to a small guild, you should do it properly!! Kids these days, really.”

Lee Cheol-geun shouted angrily.

People from [Witch’s Temptation] guild around them began to look at them.

‘This is what it means to show dominance.’

Lee Cheol-geun was very satisfied with this situation.

The reason he was behaving this way was very simple.

It was an action to promote himself.

To give his subordinates a sense of vigilance.

And to show a charismatic appearance of working well to his superior, Min Seo-jin.

There was certainly a sense of using this rookie named Si-woo for that purpose.

After all, he’s just someone dispatched from a small guild, there wouldn’t be any problem even if he berated him.

“…”

When Lee Cheol-geun started scolding him, the man named Si-woo somehow began glaring at him, but Lee Cheol-geun didn’t care at all.

“You young punk?

What are you going to do if I scold you?”

Just as Lee Cheol-geun was about to shout again to berate him once more, his subordinate came running from far away.

“Umm… Team Leader.”

“Yeah, what? Can’t you see I’m busy right now?”

“Well… the Guild Master is calling for you.”

“The Guild Master… why?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Hmm… I’ll tell her I’m coming right away.”

Why on earth would she call?

Lee Cheol-geun tilted his head in confusion and rushed to Guild Master Min Seo-jin, leaving Si-woo behind.

‘Could it be… she wants to praise me for working hard…?’

And on the way, he started running his happy circuits.

The image of himself coming out at the crack of dawn and preparing for the gate conquest.

And the charismatic image he just showed.

Come to think of it, today he was such an employee who did an excellent job.

Perhaps she wants to praise him?

Maybe he’ll even get promoted to vice guild master at this rate…!?

Thinking this, Lee Cheol-geun smiled and ran to Min Seo-jin.

But.

“Haah… Manager Lee Cheol-geun.”

“Yes…! Guild Master.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Huh…what…!?”

“Haah…”

The Guild Master Min Seo-jin’s eyes looking at him were not ordinary.

She was giving a look of pure irritation.

It was like the eyes of someone looking down on a traitor who had committed a massive mistake.

“How can you be so clueless… Quickly go and apologize.”

“What… what do you mean… apologize to whom?”

“Well, of course to Si-woo.”

“What? But that…”

“Stop talking and do it right now. Now!”

“Yes…yes!”

Lee Cheol-geun received an inexplicable scolding from Min Seo-jin.

He didn’t understand why Min Seo-jin was shouting angrily at him.

But even he could quickly realize that he had made a huge mistake.

‘What… what’s going on… seriously?’

Lee Cheol-geun was puzzled but had no choice but to rush back to Si-woo.

And he bowed his head.

“Um… I’m sorry. I think I spoke too harshly earlier.”

“…”

“I’m really sorry…”

“Ah… no. It’s okay. It’s my fault for being late…”

Thankfully, Lee Cheol-geun’s apology was accepted.

Lee Cheol-geun looked at Min Seo-jin watching from afar.

Seeing Min Seo-jin sighing in relief as she watched this, Lee Cheol-geun could also feel relief.

‘Who on earth is this person?’

Lee Cheol-geun returning to his position after finishing his apology.

His mind was in complete confusion.

For Min Seo-jin to show such interest—this person was clearly no ordinary figure.

And it wasn’t just Min Seo-jin.

“Hunter An Se-ah… what are you doing here?”

“Sc… scary…”

Hunter An Se-ah, who was watching Si-woo, was trembling.

The guild’s greatest berserker.

She who listens to no one and is like a beast was now trembling like a tame dog.

This scene was definitely not a common sight.

Lee Cheol-geun was not unaware of what kind of person An Se-ah was.

‘Really… who on earth is this person?’

Lee Cheol-geun turned around and looked at Si-woo again, but he still couldn’t understand.

Because to his eyes, Si-woo just looked like a kind-looking young man, nothing more.