Chapter 736: Persuading Investment

The battle against Frostheim, an S-class monster, ended surprisingly smoothly.

Of course, I did expend quite a bit of mana to finish it off decisively. Flame Blast was a magic that consumed as much mana as its power suggested.

If we’re talking purely efficiency, lower-tier magic like Fireball or Fireball Explosion would be much more efficient.

However, in environments like this snowy mountain, it was an exception where I just had to use large-scale magic.

In a place where the environment itself weakens the power of fire magic, each individual blow had to be powerful to minimize heat and mana loss.

Of course, given the environment, even so, consecutive battles seemed quite difficult.

Just confirming that I could finish a one-on-one battle smoothly was enough.

“It’s over, Yehee. Seolhwa-ssi.”

“…….”

“Yes, it seems so.”

The two people cautiously approached only after the creature fell, seemingly having watched my battle with Frostheim from a distance.

Just as I was about to mention heading back since I’d roughly confirmed the dungeon’s difficulty, Do Yehee’s mouth opened first, urgently spitting words towards me.

“About this much, huh. Now let’s head back….”

“I, I’m never going to have duels with you again. Even if you try to request one, I’ll reject them all.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I, I just wanted you to know. In case you might forget….”

…Why would I possibly need to request a duel with Do Yehee now, of all times.

After giving Do Yehee, who had suddenly declared a duel ban, a slightly bewildered look, I simply walked out of the dungeon, my business there concluded.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

B-class dungeon, The Ice Lord’s Snowy Mountain.

It was the temporary name I’d given the dungeon after clearing its conquest.

Of course, registering a dungeon requires a guild administrator’s authorization, so for now, only I call it that, and it will take a bit more time to actually give it such a name.

Anyway, establishing a guild required many other tasks besides just dungeons.

And one of those was undoubtedly related to construction, so whether Do Yehee liked it or not, I had no choice but to discuss that further with her.

“…Remodeling the old Chuncheon City Hall?”

“While I call it remodeling, it’ll essentially feel similar to repair work. It’s a building that’s been neglected for a long time, so we’ll have to get a safety inspection again. We don’t know how much damage monsters might have inflicted inside the building over the past decade or more.”

“Hmm….”

As soon as we stepped out of the dungeon and I brought up business, Do Yehee pondered with a rather serious expression.

She was probably running various calculations in her head. After all, it wasn’t going to be a cheap construction project.

“…Why don’t you just tear it all down and rebuild?”

“That won’t do. I intend to keep the building’s symbolic value intact.”

“Symbolic value?”

“Yeah, I plan to utilize the Chuncheon City Hall building for my personal use again.”

“You plan to remodel a city hall building for personal use? You’ll likely face considerable backlash from civic groups.”

“I’m going to establish a Hunter Guild. Based out of the Chuncheon City Hall building.”

“…A Hunter Guild?”

Do Yehee showed a hint of surprise at the slightly grandiose plan that came out of my mouth.

Then, she immediately shifted her gaze to the B-class dungeon we had just entered and exited, nodding cautiously as if she finally understood.

“If it’s a Hunter Guild… I suppose the backlash would indeed be less.”

“Right. Since it was an area that became a dungeon due to monsters once, there’s no justification to obstruct the establishment of a Hunter Guild.”

“So that’s why you asked to be notified about dungeon occurrences. I thought you were having it explored for your personal training.”

“Hunters and dungeons are essential components of a guild. Roughly judging by the types of monsters inhabiting it and the difficulty, it seems like it won’t be unprofitable.”

“Normally, given its location, destruction would be the principle, but if you have a means to move this gate entirely elsewhere, it could certainly be repurposed into a profitable dungeon.”

From the perspective of the Dokyung Group young lady, at least, The Ice Lord’s Snowy Mountain seemed to be a profitable dungeon.

Looking at it that way, it seems like the second button, following the first, has also been fastened reasonably well.

“Anyway, that’s why I wanted to ask you, Yehee, to handle the remodeling of the Chuncheon City Hall building. Including the safety inspection and repair work.”

“…….”

“The construction costs will naturally be paid as they come in. It’s not exactly a loss for you either, Yehee, right? Since you’ve already invested in me.”

“…Well. Even so, participating in the repair work for such a symbolic building might lead to troublesome labels later…. Wait, investment?”

Do Yehee, reacting to the mention of her investment in me, sent a questioning gaze my way.

Towards her, I immediately thrust the contract I had prepared right before her eyes.

The contract regarding the investment costs, which Min-ah, Hye-eun, Cha Yuri, and Cheon Jihee had already reviewed.

“The reward from the previous Three-Headed Basilisk subjugation. I decided to use that amount as the initial capital for establishing the Hunter Guild.”

“What about it? That’s something you can just do as you please, isn’t it?”

“You had your share of the reward too. Since I’m going to use that amount, naturally, you’re an investor too.”

“…Ah, perhaps the reward assignment agreement from us hasn’t arrived yet? It was something discussed with Sihee and Lulusia as well.”

“No, it arrived. It was a document stating that all three would forfeit their subjugation rewards, and I should handle the matter as I see fit.”

“Yes, you know it well. Meaning, that reward isn’t exactly an investment fund; it’s been your money from the start. You don’t need to seek permission from me or the others for every use.”

“…I appreciate the sentiment, but even so, I’m not so shameless as to think I can just take around 6 billion won for free.”

If it had been something like ten or twenty million won, I probably wouldn’t have even brought up the matter of the subjugation reward to Do Yehee or the other Foundation Hunters.

While 20 million won is a large sum, for chaebol young ladies, money of that scale is an amount they can easily manage on a personal level.

But 6 billion won is by no means a small amount, even for chaebol young ladies.

The line for what could be given purely out of goodwill was long crossed, so I had to make this clear.

It would be only right to either return the subjugation reward they yielded to me as a portion of equity in the soon-to-be-established Chuncheon City Hunter Guild, or at the very least, leave a record stating they were investors who invested in my guild.

“It wouldn’t hurt to have equity, you know. After all, my guild will eventually become famous enough to be called one of the top 4 guilds in Korea.”

“…What confidence is that?”

“And around that time, many people will praise your foresight for making an early investment in a guild like this. They’ll say, ‘As expected, the Dokyung Group young lady has a keen eye for people.'”

“Whether I invest in your guild or not doesn’t determine my judgment, you know. Do you know how accurate my judgment of people is?”

“But I didn’t recognize it. If your judgment of people had been sound, you wouldn’t have particularly tried to stop me from staying by Sihee’s side.”

“…Even slimes can get indigestion sometimes.”

“So, you don’t want to do it? I’m offering you equity, and you still refuse? Or is it that you don’t want to invest in my guild?”

“Ughh….”

With the money already handed over to me, Do Yehee showed a subtle reaction to my proposal of merely proving the investment.

A vague answer came back, suggesting she wasn’t fundamentally against the act of investing itself.

“…It’s not that I dislike investing in your guild itself.”

“Hm? Really?”

“At least, from what I’ve seen of you so far, I think you’re quite trustworthy. I don’t particularly deny your abilities as a Hunter, so a guild run by someone like you would probably be reasonably trustworthy.”

“Then why are you hesitating?”

“It’s just… things like this require caution, so I just want to think about it a little more. In modern society, Hunter Guilds are a type of power struggle, and if handled improperly, they can easily get entangled with political issues. It becomes troublesome in many ways for a businesswoman to get involved with specific political factions.”

“…You’re quite particular about things, aren’t you.”

“You should be careful too. If you don’t clearly state your intentions from the start when establishing a guild, it’s only a moment before you start getting dragged around.”

Thanks to Do Yehee already complaining about tiresome things before the guild even opened, I felt weary myself.

Seriously, even guild management isn’t left alone in this cramped little land.

…Well, guild management isn’t an immediate issue anyway, so I can deal with it later. More importantly, I needed to persuade Do Yehee regarding the investment.

“If revealing your investment details is uncomfortable, how about investing anonymously? That way, you can reveal it later whenever you want, right? And if something goes wrong, you can discreetly withdraw then.”

“…It’s not a bad suggestion, but that wouldn’t achieve your goal, would it?”

“Hm? What goal?”

“For you, it’s important to have the fact that I invested in your guild remain. If I invest anonymously, it would disrupt your promotional plan of having a guild promising enough for the Dokyung Group to invest.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Do you have an inflated sense of self-importance?”

“…What?”

…Then again, it’s unlikely this businesswoman wouldn’t have considered anonymous investment.

She probably figured from the moment she first heard my investment proposal that I intended to use her for publicity.

Of course, as someone who hadn’t thought of that at all, I was simply dumbfounded by this reaction.

“Why would I go around promoting my guild using your and the Dokyung Group’s names? There’s a limit to misunderstandings.”

“I, I was just considering it because there was a possibility it could happen?! Who’s misunderstanding anything….”

“So, are you going to invest or not? Do you still have excuses left?”

“…If you don’t intend to use my name for other purposes, then I have no reason to hesitate investing.”

With those words, Do Yehee carefully read the contract she had taken back from me, made only minor corrections, and signed it.

It was the moment I successfully finished persuading the woman who seemed the most troublesome.