On the Path to Team Leader

For now, I’d recruited three more members.

Two of them pledged their loyalty the moment they saw me. The last one turned to putty with a single kiss before also entering into a loyalty contract.

I’d worried a kiss alone might not be enough, but he folded more easily than I expected, which was almost baffling. Well, all’s well that ends well. His rank wasn’t very high, so he probably wouldn’t provide much Essense anyway.

What surprised me was that none of the three had committed any major crimes.

Aside from joining Blue Forest, a criminal organization that ran a black market, they had no criminal records.

It seemed that in their rush to gather manpower, they had ended up recruiting low-ranked Awakeners who hadn’t necessarily committed any crimes.

Of course, there was always the chance they’d hidden their criminal pasts.

In the early days of Narak, I had deliberately gathered only criminals to drain their Innate Vital Energy. But as our influence grew through various incidents, ordinary people were starting to join as well.

In any case, the three I recruited this time had one thing in common: they all had experience working for other organizations.

The man I’d kissed last, in particular, had experience working in a gate connected to China.

Gate-related crimes were difficult to crack down on in any country, but there were a few nations where it was especially tough.

China was one of them.

A vast territory, a massive population, and the resulting imbalance in development.

Consequently, many gates that opened in the remote countryside or backwoods went completely unnoticed.

In other cases, their existence was known, but officials were paid to look the other way. The corruption was just that rampant.

This made it a good option for expanding my influence or, though I hoped it would never come to this, as a final insurance policy if I could no longer operate in Korea.

Of course, in the latter case, I would just undo my transformation and live as Lee Han-gyeol.

But at this point, I was starting to feel a certain sense of responsibility… I now found myself thinking about the people who followed me.

They had evolved from Essense and Innate Vital Energy vending machines to something like subordinates. Not that they were trustworthy or loyal subordinates, of course.

At most, maybe just Se-hyuk?

Considering I had to go to Elemental tomorrow, I only recruited three for now. Se-hyuk had already replenished my Essense, so that was it for Seo A-gyeol today.

If I was going to be a team leader at Elemental… I’d have to focus on being Lee Han-gyeol for a while.

For the rest, I had no choice but to trust the members of Narak and Blue Forest to handle things.

*

「Guild ID Card

Lee Han-gyeol, Team Leader

Elements: Flame, Lightning」

The text was concise.

But within those few short words was the reality that I was now the leader of a major guild’s raid team.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“The rumor is you caught the serial killer who was hiding inside the gate.”

She must be talking about Wei Jin-tao. After sucking his Essense dry, I had lightly scorched the surface of his body and handed him over to the Expeditionary Force. It was later revealed that he was a somewhat well-known criminal in China.

“Haha…”

“You’re now officially the youngest team leader in Elemental. You’re… twenty this year, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s amazing. I’m not just saying this, but you’re probably the youngest among all guilds of our caliber.”

“Really?”

Major guilds? So lame I could just die—

“Yes! That’s why you’ll probably have an interview scheduled soon.”

“…An interview?”

“Yes! Do you know the magazine Awaken?”

Of course, I knew it. It was a magazine that delivered information related to Awakeners. It was filled with photoshoots of muscle-bound Enhancement-types, useless gossip from the Awakener world, and interviews where people bragged under the guise of humility.

“When we told them we had a new youngest team leader, they expressed a lot of interest. The guild will probably approve it for promotional purposes.”

Naturally, an interview like this would be reviewed by Elemental for content. I imagined other guilds did the same.

Awaken mostly featured young Awakeners, and many of them, having gained great power and immense wealth at such a young age, had a strange sense of entitlement.

You could see it all over social media, but when it showed up in a magazine interview, it was a surefire way to get on the public’s bad side. Not just for the Awakener, but for their guild as well.

“Um… do I have to do it?”

Honestly, I didn’t want to participate in things like this. It was partly because I hadn’t been an Awakener for very long, regardless of my officially registered rank or combat power.

But mostly, I just didn’t want to become fodder for public gossip. Later on, people would suddenly nitpick over something strange and I’d get dragged through the mud.

Some shameless Awakeners enjoyed that kind of attention, but not me.

“Well… as far as I know, the higher-ups were very pleased with the idea. It’s partly because you’re the youngest team leader, but being an Elemental Mage and a Spirit Summoner is, how should I put it, the very essence of Elemental’s identity? Plus, the fact that you saved your comrades during the Spider Cave incident will be a key focus. I believe they’re already drafting an interview script centered around that.”

“Ah… it’s already progressed to a script?”

What about the person involved? The person involved had no idea.

“I believe they started writing it yesterday. You’ll probably be contacted separately to ask if there’s anything you’d like to include. Oh, and by any chance, are you on Instagram?”

“Instagram?”

“Yes. It’s partly for guild promotion, but I’d also recommend it for your own self-PR, Mr. Han-gyeol. Of course, the content would have to be managed to some extent, but you could get advertising offers through Instagram, and in some cases, even receive sponsorships.”

She was talking about that app I deleted because I couldn’t stand seeing other Awakeners show off. And now I was the one who had to do the showing off.

Noticing my expression, the staff member continued.

“You can take your time thinking about Instagram and give us an answer later. However, the interview is more or less confirmed… There will be a reward, so please try to think positively about it, if possible.”

“What kind of reward?”

“You were a team leader before, so you already know this, but team leaders have a certain amount of Contribution Points they need to earn each quarter, right? The reward for the interview will likely be Contribution Points.”

Contribution Points.

It was a quota that had to be filled every quarter. You could earn them by clearing gates, or if not through raids, by training new recruits or handling guild administrative tasks.

For gate clears, it didn’t have to be a guild-owned gate (though those gave the most points); gates owned by the state or those under special circumstances (like those managed by the Expeditionary Force) were also recognized.

It was a system designed for Awakeners who operated freely.

If you met the Contribution Point quota, you received a guaranteed salary. If you fell short, you received a penalty depending on the deficit, and if you exceeded it, you got a bonus.

“…How many points are we talking about?”

“This is… a secret. You know you can’t tell anyone, right?” Ye-eun whispered, leaning closer to me. No reason not to play along.

“Of course, of course.”

“Taking into account that you’re the youngest team leader and various other factors, I think they’re considering around 1000 points.”

“A thousand…!”

The number of Contribution Points I had to earn each quarter was 3000. Considering it was a quarterly quota, that meant I had to earn 1000 points each month.

So, getting 1000 points meant I could take a whole month off.

For someone living a double life, this was a huge benefit.

“That’s a really generous amount, you know.”

“Ah… that really is a lot. In that case, I’ll do my best.”

“Great. Then I’ll assume you’re on board… And please think carefully about SNS. Considering your age, Instagram is probably the best, but other platforms are fine too.”

“Does that also give… Contribution Points?”

“A little. You get a small amount each time you post something related to guild promotion. The reason I recommend Instagram is because it’s valued the most.”

“Aha… I see.”

Should have led with that.

“Then I’ll think about that positively as well.”

“Great. Please let me know when you create an account.”

“I will.”

“There’s one more thing to discuss, regarding team member recruitment. You’ve proven your abilities through several raids, right? So now you can accept new recruits as team members.”

That was the whole reason I’d gone to clear a gate managed by the Expeditionary Force.

That bastard Jeong Ji-hoon had been so jealous of me that he’d blocked any existing, experienced members from joining my team.

And since I had little experience clearing gates myself, I couldn’t even take on new Elemental recruits as team members.

I was on the verge of becoming a team leader with no team, left high and dry (since there are many gates you can’t enter alone). Then I heard that clearing a gate managed by the Expeditionary Force would solve the problem, so I went on the raid.

For the record, the Contribution Point system was active back then, too.

The thought of getting hit with a hefty penalty for doing nothing just makes me even angrier.

I’ll have to find Ji-hoon one of these days and drain his Innate Vital Energy dry.

Anyway, I could now accept new recruits onto my team. Who would end up under my command?

“That’s not something I can arrange, so I’ll guide you there. Please follow me.”

Ye-eun led me to a conference room. She knocked on the door and then stepped aside.

“Congratulations again, and good luck.”

“Thank you.”

I opened the door and walked in. A man in a suit stood up from his chair. My eyes were drawn to the documents spread out on the desk in a neat array.

“Good afternoon. Are you Team Leader Lee Han-gyeol?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Please, have a seat.”

Looking closely, I saw that the documents were all personnel files. Based on the contents… they must all be new recruits.

“…Hm?”

“Do you know someone, by any chance?”

“I saw him when I was volunteering at the Awakened Center. His name was… Baek Seung-hoon, I think. His element is Water, too. Looks like he joined Elemental.”

It was Baek Seung-hoon, the one who had drawn attention as a government-certified B-rank Awakener back when I was volunteering at the Center.

Since we were the same age and both Elemental Mages, I had spoken to him briefly as part of Elemental’s recruitment efforts. It seemed he had joined.

Right, if he joined back then, his training would be finished by now.

“A B-rank Elemental Mage… it’s hard not to join Elemental. And the Water element should pair well with Lightning. Are you interested?”

“Well… it’s better than having no connection at all.”

The man set Baek Seung-hoon’s file aside.

I glanced at his name tag… he was the HR Team Leader.

“In that case… shall we try to pick a team, considering the combination of you and him?”

The HR Team Leader rested his chin on his hand and began to scan the files one by one with a discerning eye.

My heart pounded at the thought of people joining my team.

Seo A-gyeol is already a guild master, I might say, but I’d decided to think of her and me as different people.

In any case, this was about choosing my team members. I couldn’t just sit here blankly.

I picked up the nearest file and pulled it toward me.