Chapter 650: Guild Founding Plan (2)

During the process of moving from Area B to Area C, Boss-nim asked me several questions about the elements required to found a Hunter Guild.

“In your opinion, what do you think you lack right now to found a Hunter Guild?”

“First, you’ll need a building to use as the guild headquarters. Then, dungeons that hunters can use, hunters to work in the guild, and more capital than you have now.”

“Still, it’s fortunate you don’t seem completely clueless. But if founding a guild is your goal for now, focus only on securing the headquarters building and dungeons in your case. You can probably think about the latter two things a little later.”

“What?”

“First off, the initial capital won’t be as much as you think. That’s assuming you’ve secured the dungeons, of course. Just enough to cover the hunters’ and employees’ salaries without falling behind is sufficient, or you could seek investment from external capital like our company.”

“Is that so…?”

“Of course, don’t forget that to avoid being kicked out of the guild you create later, your capital ratio must always be maintained at 51%.”

…Being kicked out of the guild I created would be pretty terrible.

It seemed I really needed to think carefully about accepting investment from external capital.

“And securing hunters seems to be already resolved, so you won’t need to worry about that part.”

“What?”

“If you say you’re going to create a new guild right now, you know it won’t be just one or two people leaving the company to follow you, right? One, two, three, four… no, maybe around twenty people?”

“……What?”

…Are there really that many people who would join me if I made a guild?

I tilted my head, wondering if President Seo Ok-hee’s calculation method was somehow wrong, but she spoke as if summarizing the obvious, listing the approximate people involved.

“First, your Sky Blue Shield members will leave entirely with you, and Han Min-ah’s younger sisters seem like they’ll leave too. If you and Kang Hye-eun leave, Eunyoung… Kang Eunyoung also seems like she’ll follow, and besides them, there are probably about ten or so other women who are infatuated with you because of your wolf-like behavior in the recovery room, so that roughly adds up, right? Plus, you seemed to have connections with the foundation people, so you could pull even more from that side if possible.”

“……No way. Still, if it’s someone like Hye-eun or Yuri-ssi, they might follow me. I don’t know about the others.”

I might not know about others, but those two have already hit the highest level of favorability towards me.

If I got lucky, I might even be able to bring Sihee from the foundation, and if I became the guild leader, it would also be possible to have Eunbyul, who is currently living in seclusion at my house, participate unofficially.

And as an exceptional case, there’s Cheon Jihee, Hye-eun’s devoted admirer, coming along as a bonus. Honestly, even this lineup alone would be quite splendid for a starting guild. Of course, that’s assuming things go as well as I imagine.

Even though it’s a bit regrettable that there’s no one to act as a scout and I’m the only healer hunter, this kind of manpower pool for a starting guild is more than enough.

“Just those two? Isn’t your self-assessment a bit too harsh?”

“Aren’t you the one overestimating me, Boss-nim? I’m not that great of a person, and hunters have short career spans, so why would they easily switch guilds just because they have some favorability towards me?”

“Rather, isn’t it precisely because the hunter profession has a short lifespan that they might think of following you even more? Their hunter careers only last 2-3 years at best anyway; they probably think working with a male Awakened hunter would be much more beneficial for them.”

“…Is that so?”

No matter how I think about it, I don’t believe it’s to that extent.

In the first place, the person who would absolutely never switch guilds was already clearly decided in my head.

Han Min-ah, who had lived suffering from poverty and the debts left by her parents since childhood, would never try to move her main base from the company.

Although I personally had a lot of affection and trust for her, I couldn’t force her to quit her stable job and join a startup.

Of course, separately from that, Han Min-ah, a rare A+ rank scout, was someone I personally didn’t want to lose, so from a guild leader’s perspective, she was naturally someone I wanted to bring along.

The intention to establish a new branch of Eun & Ok Co., Ltd. rather than founding a completely new guild was also partly due to such calculations.

With this method, hunters like Han Min-ah or Eunyoung Noona could be active in the guild I founded without needing to change their affiliation, and above all, the weakness of a new guild, ‘dungeon acquisition,’ could be overcome by sharing Gangdong District’s dungeons.

The reason President Seo Ok-hee immediately called it a ‘bold plan’ upon reading my mind about establishing a new branch of Eun & Ok Co., Ltd. was likely because she grasped my entire plan in an instant.

Therefore, President Seo Ok-hee’s help was more desperately needed for this plan than anyone else’s.

No matter how much I wanted to open a branch of Eun & Ok Co., Ltd. and had the funds, without the President’s permission, all my plans would inevitably be as precarious as a sandcastle on the shore.

As I looked at President Seo Ok-hee, lost in such thoughts, she read my mind and emphasized her point by poking my solar plexus with her finger.

“Permission to establish a new branch will only be granted when your plan is properly completed.”

“Yes.”

“If you’re just daydreaming in your head like now, I absolutely cannot permit it. Establishing a guild branch is an issue closely related to the existing guild’s credit. I won’t care how much you’ve invested in your business.”

“…I know.”

I wondered if my plan could truly move the heart of that seemingly meticulous President.

The dream I had cherished for a long time. It was time for its realism to be tested.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

After wandering around the abandoned village’s Area C with President Seo Ok-hee for about 30 minutes.

After roughly grasping the geography of Area C and the locations of the old buildings, the President and I, having wandered here and there, finally reached our own conclusion in front of one building.

“I thought this place seemed geographically best from the moment we entered, but after looking around, there’s certainly nothing better than this spot.”

“……”

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it here?”

“No, it’s not that I don’t like it, but….”

A building with high potential for total floor area utilization. Despite being built 10 years ago, it had a remarkably neat and stylish appearance. There was a spacious garden that gave the entire building a certain vibe, and an auxiliary building that seemed perfectly convertible for other purposes.

Furthermore, with wide roads stretching out around the building and its proximity to the old Chuncheon Station, it was undeniably prime real estate in terms of transportation. The building itself wasn’t severely damaged and seemed usable with just a little repair, but…

…No matter how I thought about it, using this building as is inevitably caused some concern.

“This is the old Chuncheon City Hall building….”

While recycling a decent large commercial building or department store into a Hunter Guild might be one thing, occupying a former government building like the City Hall felt strangely unsettling.

Of course, this place was also part of the abandoned Area C, so strictly speaking, it would become my property.

“So what? Are you worried the government might file a lawsuit to reclaim it later?”

“Isn’t it unavoidable to have thoughts like that?”

“The South Korean government would naturally find it painful to just hand over this intact building, but from the moment you subdued the Three-headed Basilisk, the land and buildings in this area were already designated as yours. What can be done?”

“……”

“And considering your purpose of establishing a Hunter Guild here, wouldn’t the government side have no choice but to respond favorably?”

“What?”

What was she suddenly talking about?

As I was momentarily flustered by President Seo Ok-hee’s remark, whose intentions were unclear, she instead explained the reasons why this building could only be used as a Hunter Guild.

“Suppose you keep this building as your property and remodel the interior to make it something like a department store or a complex mall.”

“What? Suddenly?”

“I said it was a supposition. Anyway, if you remodel this building, which is clearly in a prime location, into a blatantly profit-driven facility, how do you think public opinion towards you will change?”

“Uh… it probably wouldn’t be good, right? I’m not the type to care what others do on my own land, but considering Korean sentiment, there’s a possibility I’d be criticized for arbitrarily remodeling a government building.”

“Exactly. Considering the possibility of things getting twisted and your public opinion turning sour, remodeling this building into a blatant profit facility is practically impossible.”

Well, I had considered that much from the start.

I had instinctively felt the danger of turning former government facilities into something like a department store.

“Even so, what if you made it a convenience facility instead of a profit-driven one? Public opinion towards you might improve, but could you afford the maintenance costs? This is your land now, not government property, so you won’t get much government support.”

“…That would be difficult. That too.”

“That’s right. There’s no need for you to suffer a loss just because you don’t want to receive unnecessary criticism. Actually, even though you suddenly came into a lot of money and resources, strictly speaking, you’re still just a hunter.”

“…Indeed, you’re right, President-nim.”

“Even so, leaving this vast land unused is also a waste. Demolishing it and building a new structure would be the worst decision. You’d spend money and receive criticism for it. And it’s too much of a waste to use over 10,000 pyeong of floor space for your personal quarters.”

President Seo Ok-hee explained every single reason why ‘this building shouldn’t be used for other purposes’.

Lastly, from her lips naturally followed the reason why this space should be used as a ‘Hunter Guild Headquarters Building’.

“It’s good for utilizing this building’s large area, and a Hunter Guild doesn’t seem like a profit facility at first glance. Rather, it’s a facility that’s welcomed by the community. Having many stationed hunters means a faster response time to sudden monster waves.”

“That’s right. That’s also why housing prices in Gangdong District skyrocketed.”

“What’s more, this place was once devastated by a monster wave. If you establish a Hunter Guild in the Chuncheon City Hall building and make a statement like, ‘I will ensure monster waves never surge into Chuncheon City again,’ who could possibly criticize you for repurposing the City Hall building then?”

“……Ah!”

“Rather, the government will eagerly take the lead in supporting you. After all, the government’s delayed response wasn’t unrelated to the chaos Chuncheon City faced from the monster wave. In a situation where staying still would invite public criticism, they’ll naturally act.”

As expected, one can’t ignore 40 years of life experience in one world.

Despite her appearance, which looked younger than mine, I was momentarily smitten once again by the President’s words, guiding me with her experience and knowledge.

…If you included my age from my past life, it was similar, but let’s move past that.

“Th-th-then, I’ll stop here and return to the company. I’ve roughly set the guidelines, so you can handle the rest.”

“Ah, yes! Thank you very much, President-nim!”

“R-right…. I’ll leave the Gate accessible, so you can use it to come back anytime….”

President Seo Ok-hee, blushing as if she had read my ardent feelings for her in my head, hurriedly returned to the company, avoiding my gaze.

I conveyed my final thanks, engraving the advice President-nim had given me today deeply in my mind.

Holding the feeling of having taken ten steps closer to the future plan I wanted to create.