chapter_0550

550 – Master Meeting?

550 – Master Meeting?

Evening had arrived, so we safely returned home.

From the tall house, we looked down at the park illuminated by streetlights and began to plan our future savings.

“We need to save a large portion first, and then we can save the smaller amounts.”

The large portion referred to the costs of running the guild.

Labor costs, the operating expenses of the blacksmith, and supplies.

I pondered what could be reduced from these expenses.

“As for labor costs…”

There were two new employees and the blacksmith staff.

And when we went hunting with the kids, we also distributed shares to them.

I couldn’t cut down on these labor costs separately.

Everyone was receiving money as a fair compensation.

As I mentally marked an X on labor costs, I suddenly froze.

Thinking about it, don’t we have a lot of auxiliary guild members?

The masters of each guild, the president of the Magician Association, and Jeffrey were also auxiliary members of our guild, right?

Could it be that I also had to pay salaries to those auxiliary members?

With this late realization, my heart sank.

“Um…”

I turned to Hanyeoreum, who was sitting on the sofa.

Hanyeoreum had Haneul sitting on her lap while watching an animation.

“Um…”

I hesitated as I approached Hanyeoreum.

I had to make a shocking proposal to her for the future of the guild.

“Why, does Gyeoul want to sit on your lap too?”

“Yes… I want to, but there’s another issue right now…”

“Another issue?”

“Yes… Is there any chance you might consider leaving our Ggaemmi Guild…? If you withdraw, I can give you a generous severance pay…”

If I gave a hefty severance pay, it would be tough in the short term, but in the long run, it would be better than paying a monthly salary.

I hoped Hanyeoreum would choose to leave the guild.

I clasped my hands together as if in prayer, but Hanyeoreum didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.

“Why, why all of a sudden…? Do you not like me anymore…?”

“No, I like you very much.”

Fearing that Hanyeoreum might misunderstand, I hurriedly hugged her tightly.

Thanks to that, Haneul, who was sitting on Hanyeoreum’s lap, got squished between us like a sandwich.

“Why did you say I should leave?”

“Well, I realized that I didn’t have money to pay salaries.”

“Salaries? You don’t have to pay salaries since you’re an adventurer, right?”

“Huh? Is that so?”

“Yeah. Gyeoul doesn’t get a salary from the Dawn either. Adventurers earn money by hunting monsters, not by receiving salaries from the guild.”

“Oh.”

Now that I thought about it, that made sense.

Since others were also classified as adventurers, did that mean I didn’t have to pay salaries?

Phew.

As I sighed in relief and brushed my chest, Gaeul approached me.

“Juin, Gaeul wants to give.”

“Gaeul wants to give me a salary?”

“No. I want to give you money.”

Gaeul proudly pulled out a hundred won from her pocket and showed it to us.

Perhaps she was proud of giving away a large sum, she puffed out her chest and cleared her throat.

“Thank you, I’ll use this for something nice.”

“Heh.”

After receiving the hundred won, I giggled and returned it to Gaeul.

Not expecting me to return the money, Gaeul looked puzzled.

“Juin, Gaeul wants to give?”

“Yes. Gaeul is also our employee, right? I’ll give this to Gaeul as a bonus.”

“Bonus!”

Watching Gaeul jump for joy, I fell back into my thoughts.

Noticing my troubled expression, Hanyeoreum raised a question.

“Gyeoul, are you worried about money?”

“Yes. I’m trying to minimize expenses for the time being.”

“I see? Thinking about such things will definitely be a big help.”

Hanyeoreum said while patting my head.

At that moment, Sophia, who had been enjoying a massage in the massage chair, glanced at Hanyeoreum with sidelong eyes.

“How interesting.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“It’s surprising that you’re supporting Gyeoul in her struggles. You weren’t the type to show such things before, were you?”

“Hey, things are different now compared to then.”

“Different?”

“Yes.”

Hanyeoreum glanced at me.

Seeing her expression that seemed curious about why, she opened her mouth with a light breath.

“Isn’t it a difference between not seeing hope and striving for a better future?”

“Yeah, I understand what you mean.”

“So do I.”

The past, where I struggled while everything seemed dark, was a different dimension from now, where I was working hard to run the guild.

Should I say it’s future-oriented and hopeful?

I fully understood why Hanyeoreum was encouraging me to try hard.

“Running a guild is also a great learning experience and growth.”

Even if it looked tough, she probably wouldn’t want to interfere.

Doing it myself would be more valuable.

“Gyeoul, if it gets too tough, you should tell me, okay? There’s no need to suffer to the point of distress.”

“Yes.”

I hugged Hanyeoreum tightly again.

This time, Haneul, who was sitting on her lap, got squished between us again.

Even though she was pressed between us, she didn’t seem to mind.

“So, how will Gyeoul save money?”

“First, I’ll start with the small things.”

“Small things?”

“Yes. From now on, when we go to the dungeon, I won’t buy food outside, but I’ll pack a lunch.”

It should be a cheap and delicious lunch.

Even though it was about saving money, I began to feel a sense of joy.

**

Conflicts sometimes arose among adventurers.

Some disputes were over the ownership of monsters.

“No, we got here first!”

“What are you talking about? We’ve been waiting here for a long time!”

Dungeons could be freely entered and exited by any adventurer, but there was only one boss monster, the owner of the dungeon.

Because of this, there was an unspoken rule among adventurers.

The first person to discover a monster or boss monster becomes its owner.

Although it wasn’t legally defined, breaking this rule would make adventurer life uncomfortable.

Thus, situations often arose where each side insisted they had arrived first.

“Ugh, what kind of idiots are these?”

“Hey, watch your words. This is a dungeon.”

There was no place easier to disguise death than in a dungeon.

Mentioning a fact known to every adventurer was a form of intimidation.

Thanks to that, the tension between the hostile adventurers escalated.

“Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“Nothing’s impossible.”

The two groups of adventurers drew their weapons and aimed them at each other.

At that moment, when the atmosphere was tense and the monsters were avoiding the area, someone peeked out from the bushes.

“Heh…”

Pure eyes scanned the adventurers.

Those eyes made you smile just by looking at them.

“Is that a child…?”

Dog ears sprouted from above its head.

It was Gaeul, the Beastmen child cherished in the Dawn.

In an instant, the adventurers hid their weapons behind their backs.

“Ikku! Ikku!”

Gaeul, who had been looking around the adventurers in the bushes, pointed to the boss monster on the distant hill.

Ancient Ent.

A massive tree-shaped boss that wouldn’t move unless approached closely.

“Ikku!!!!!!!!!”

At Gaeul’s shout, someone else rushed out from behind the bushes.

It was Levinas, a child with long rabbit ears and horns.

“Wow! Gaeul found the boss! Great job!”

“Ekhem.”

“We’re going to defeat the boss!”

Yay!

Yay!

With a shout, Gaeul and Levinas dashed toward the boss.

The two groups of adventurers, who had been fighting over the boss, could only watch their retreating figures in disbelief.

“No, kids…!”

We discovered the boss first.

An adventurer wielding a sword tried to stop the children, but his fellow adventurer held him back.

‘Intimidation needs to be on the same level.’

Would anyone dare to intimidate the children of the Dawn to claim ownership of the boss monster?

It would be safer to slap Kang Jinho than to try that.

“Sigh…”

“Hmm…”

The hostile adventurers licked their lips as they watched the boss melt away like lemon.

Leaving the Dawn behind, they didn’t want to scold the clueless children.

‘It’s my fault for being greedy.’

Sigh.

The two groups of adventurers sheathed their weapons and looked at each other.

With the boss gone, there was no reason to fight.

“Shall we go out for a drink?”

“…Shall we?”

**

“Wow! Gaeul! We defeated the boss together!”

“Hi, Gubugi.”

“Wow! Matta! Gubugi helped too! I wasn’t scared because Gubugi protected me!”

Levinas and Gaeul approached me, shrugging their shoulders.

In Gaeul’s hand was the magic stone of the boss monster.

“Juin, Ikku.”

“Wow, is this the magic stone of the boss monster? How did you get it?”

“Heh…”

Gaeul patted her chest proudly.

Then she patted Levinas’s shoulder and Gubugi’s shell as well.

It seemed to mean that the three of them had caught it together.

“That’s amazing.”

Now, the three-stage dungeon could be easily handled by Levinas and Gaeul alone.

Of course, I knew that all of this was thanks to Gubugi’s shield.

‘With Gubugi around, I can send the kids to the dungeon.’

The monsters in the three or four-stage dungeons could never break Gubugi’s shield.

Satisfied with the fact that I had learned something, I wrote down the newly acquired knowledge in the [Guild Management Book].

It was a notebook that contained how to run the guild.

‘And…’

While sitting at the guild desk writing the management book, the Master approached, opening the guild door.

With a welcoming face, her tail wagged excitedly.

“Hello.”

“Yeah.”

“What brings you here?”

“I thought we could go to a meeting together.”

“A meeting?”

“Yeah. A Master meeting.”

A Master meeting, huh.

Is it because I’ve become a Master of a guild too?

Our Master invited me to the Master meeting.

“Can I go too?”

“Is there any reason you can’t?”

“······!”

Instead of answering, I packed a lunch.

It was a lunch made with cheap ingredients like bean sprouts and anchovies.

I would surely learn more about guild management at the Master meeting, right?

I was already starting to feel excited.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

Thank you so much for reading today, PIA1747014585384!

Thanks for the comments and recommendations! They always give me strength!

The little Master at the Master meeting…!

───

Thank you for the 10 coins, 4444Woo!

Thank you for the 10 coins, IDakdoritangI!

Thank you for the 10 coins, Cheong-eun!