Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

"Ah, I can't take it anymore, even if you kill me. Guild Leader Kang, this is a breach of contract. Grounds for leaving the guild. I'm not a mine detector!"

Go Eul-ji suddenly burst into Kang Mu-hyuk's office and flopped down on the floor. A shadow loomed over her head. When her eyes met the owner of that shadow, she got started, causing her to jump up.

"Gasp! G-Guildmaster Ju. H-how come you're here...?"

"I should be asking you that. Why did you come here and not to me? Were you going to complain to Guild Leader Kang?"

Just then, Ju Se-ah, who was with Kang Mu-hyuk, quietly clenched her fist.

Go Eul-ji quickly waved her hands in denial.

"No, I just came to hang out, just to hang out... Could you please put down your fist first?"

"Didn't you say you were quitting?"

"Ugh, just think of it as the whims of a teenage girl and let it slide. You know how bizarre that age can be? I'm not saying I won't clear mines anymore, just that there's nothing left to clear. I've removed them all. Like all of them."

"Really? What if one explodes later? You're getting one punch for one mine that explodes, yeah?"

"What is this? A center for bullies, why are you so-... definitely not sophisticated, I would never say that. Yeah, of course, I got all of them. You could never be unsophisticated, Guildmaster. You're the epitome of intellect itself. Ha ha... No, please, I already told you, put away the fist."

Go Eul-ji shook her head in dismay and backed away, casting a shield around herself, ten layers thick.

Others might think it an overreaction, but she had a bitter experience of being hit hard by Ju Se-ah for insubordination in the past. The shield she had put up back then had shattered with just one hit, all too easily.

It was a horrifying sight. If it had been a real fight, she would have been dead.

Because of that memory, Go Eul-ji felt even ten layers were not enough.

'Something's fishy. My shield isn't that weak. Even for an A+ ranker, it shouldn't break from just one hit.'

Watching the wary Go Eul-ji, Ju Se-ah smiled blandly.

"Relax. People would think I'm abusing you. I don't hit people without a reason."

"That means, if there is a reason, you do hit people."

"You?"

"...Ma'am."

"Seeing how your first thought is getting hit, that must mean you've done something wrong?"

"..."

Go Eul-ji was at a loss for words. She felt she had done something wrong, but didn't exactly know what it was.

Though she might seem tough having spent her adolescence hunting monsters instead of attending school, she was actually the granddaughter of the Chairman of the Korean Hunters Association, a key figure in Korea's hunting community.

Since she was naturally a figure supported and elevated by others, she was quite naive about the ways of the world. Ju Se-ah was the first person, besides her grandfather, to treat her so casually. Unaccustomed to such treatment, lately, she had become more sensitive.

'What did I do wrong? Was it because I brought up the contract breach? Or because I came to complain to the Guild Leader? Or maybe it was because I offended her? Could it be because I secretly broke the leg of the chair in the Guild Master's room?'

Over 10 reasons crossed her mind in just a second.

Go Eul-ji tried to deflect, hiding her guilt.

"Honestly, getting one person to remove all the mines in North Pocheon is like labor exploitation. I'm still a minor, you know. Even if you're going to use me, there should be limits."

"A Hunter, even a minor, is responsible for their actions. That was the excuse you gave your grandfather when you joined our guild."

"That's not the same as this. How else was I supposed to convince my grandfather?"

"Don't act only as it suits you. The moment you became a Hunter, you became a professional. When you join a guild, you can't claim to be a child anymore. And this isn't work; it's training."

"This is training? You might as well tell me to catch a truckload of monsters."

"Want to catch them?"

"Yes, just assign me a hunting ground. I'll go right away and--"

"Hunting ground search, supply planning, securing equipment, byproduct disposal, hiring porters, writing post-hunt reports, etc. Can you do any of that alone?"

"Well, that's..."

"Others have always done that for you, right? You just hunt. You still have a lot to learn. And as far as this training is concerned, I'm pretty sure Guild Leader Kang already promised you compensation for that."

Go Eul-ji couldn't argue back. Her grandfather always emphasized skill. Practical experience was a secondary element that could be acquired later.

In the end, all she could do was grumble.

"They work me even on Christmas Eve during my vacation. That's too much."

"That's why I sent you home early, to be with your family, Miss Runaway."

"Was that really sending me home? I crawled back on my own."

Feeling it was unfair, Go Eul-ji grumbled. She had confidently run away, never expecting to fall into a trap set by Guild Leader Kang whom she trusted.

Suddenly being told to accept Ju Se-ah as her guardian, she was sent to find mines as a form of training. She was tasked with locating and removing all the mines in the areas swept by the water monster when the dam at Sanjeong Lake burst.

'If I knew this would happen, I wouldn't have blown up the dam back then.'

Exhausted from endless labor, and despite her grandfather not coming to pick her up, she eventually went home on her own.

"Go Eul-ji, good work. Take this and cool off."

Watching them quietly, Kang Mu-hyuk soothed Go Eul-ji as he took an envelope out of the drawer and handed it to her.

"What... what is this? Is it a bonus? Ah, but it's too thin. You didn't just put a measly fifty thousand won or so in here, did you? Could it be, one big bill? Should I get my hopes up? Teehee... Eek? Ahh, this is-!"

Upon taking out the contents of the envelope, Go Eul-ji trembled as if she had been electrocuted.

"It's tickets to the concert of the group that you like. You failed to book it and begged team leader Pyo for them, didn't you? They included one for your friend too, so have fun."

"Th-the front row... Oh my God! I knew it. I trusted you, Kang Mu-hyuk!"

"You think he's your friend?"

"I trusted you, Guild Leader Kang Mu-hyuk!"

"Since it's tonight, enjoy the concert. We'll see tomorrow."

"Yes. I'll enjoy tonight and tomorrow... Tomorrow? Tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Tomorrow's Christmas..."

Go Eul-ji confirmed again. Kang Mu-hyuk asked with a puzzled look.

"Do you have a family gathering? I checked, and Chairman Han Byung-gu had other plans."

"My grandfather doesn't even have Sundays off."

"Oh, maybe a date then? Do you have a boyfriend?"

"If I had a boyfriend, would I be digging on Christmas Eve? Are you picking a fight right now?"

"Well, true, I kinda anticipated that."

"Wait. You anticipated that? So, you think I can't get a boyfriend? It's not that I can't, I just haven't."

"I don't know much about your dating potential. But I meant no boys would approach you seeing the chairman."

"Well, my grandpa doesn't leave the best impression but... Hmm~ It seems like you meant something else?"

As Go Eul-hi glared suspiciously, Kang Mu-hyuk sheepishly avoided her gaze.

"Anyway, it's good you don't have one. See you tomorrow."

"Good I don't have a boyfriend? Wait, before that, you can't just skip over it so easily. It's Christmas. Jesus's birthday. A public holiday. Doesn't anything come to mind?"

"Are you a Christian?"

"No, I'm not religious."

"Well, you won't be going to church then. Get to work then."

Go Eul-ji sighed deeply, after the conversation returned to square one.

The Guild Leader was not someone you could reason with verbally, especially considering that he could even render her outspoken grandfather speechless.

It was so bad that her grandfather didn't even shit in the direction of North pocheon.

'Honestly, if he can exhaust even grandpa, can he even be considered human?'

She was afraid of the repercussions from Ju Se-ah and so hesitated to skip work.

"Everyone is working through the end of the year. As a member of the Iron Will guild, you should be contributing too? Right?"

"Yes, just... put down your fist when you're talking. I get it."

Persuaded (?) by Ju Se-ah's words, Go Eul-ji declared her surrender. Then, a realization suddenly struck her.

'Wait. Wasn't it Guild Leader Kang who assigned me next to the Guild Master? Damn, was I set up?'

Go Eul-ji then understood that she had fallen into Kang Mu-hyuk's scheme.

After Go Eul-ji left, Ju Se-ah resumed the interrupted conversation.

"Let's continue with what we were discussing. So, are we keeping the Russian matter confidential?"

"Especially regarding your rank. I intend to limit the sharing of this information to the personnel dispatched to Russia and Hunters Jang Deuk-goo and Lee Jin-joo."

"And not inform the government?"

"If they find out, they'll publicize it everywhere. It's been a while since we had an S-ranker."

Ju Se-ah nodded in agreement.

"True, it would be a significant national matter, so they won't just overlook it. But it's a pity, right? With the influence of an S-ranker, we could negotiate countless concessions and benefits."

"I share your feelings. But, the world doesn't run on strength alone. The guild isn't yet capable of handling you. There's a risk of it falling apart under external pressure."

Kang Mu-hyuk spent several days weighing the pros and cons of disclosing Ju Se-ah's rank.

The conclusion was to keep it hidden.

Without sufficient support from the guild, an S-ranker would only serve as a reason for scrutiny.

Aside from increased pressure from Japan and China, the perspective of domestic Tier-ed guilds towards Iron Will would also change.

From a dark horse to a dangerous competitor. They could terminate contracts related to Rider Wolf and even block their market channels.

'Wolf shipments are not urgent yet, but once they start using underhanded methods, there's no countermeasure. Once they've planned to do it, solving this will be difficult until they see blood spilling, and the aftermath even more so. Trying to handle each and every one will exhaust us before anything else.'

They could pressure the Hunter equipment suppliers, sweep up all the potions, or exclude freelance entrants from North Pocheon from guild quests, effectively bullying them with no solution available.

"It used to feel like reaching S-rank would solve everything. Becoming a Guild Master showed me the reality is entirely different."

"People misunderstand that S-rank is a cure-all. After the Great War, once the national systems adjusted to the Gate territories, the limit of an S-ranker's personal power was evident. Tyrant is one example."

Before his brother Darden raised the Tyrant guild to a Tier-ed guild, Tyrant had been a wanderer. Had Darden not negotiated a pardon with the government, there would have been no place in Russia for him.

"S-rankers are human too. They need to eat and sleep. They need ordinary people's help for basic needs. Unless they are robbers or terrorists, an S-rank's influence is minimal beyond violence."

"That violence is acknowledged because it protects people from monsters. The problem is the abundance of fools who don't understand this."

During the conversation, Ju Se-ah suddenly thought of something.

"Speaking of Tyrant, about my rank. We might be cautious about telling others, but what about the Russian side?"

"I talked with the Tsar Guild. They also think it's better to cooperate with us, and they'll stay silent upon our government's request as well."

"And the Tyrant Guild? Their Vice Guild Master. Tyrant's brother is known for his foul temper. I bet he's pretty angry at us"

"Darden will also probably keep quiet."

"Why? He's clever enough to know revealing my rank could trouble us."

"Tyrant being at a stalemate with a Hunter from the minor Hunter nation of Korea? That itself would show weakness. With the onset of attacks from hostile guilds aimed at the Tyrant Guild, they can't afford to lose momentum."

"Don't tell me... you advised the Tsar Guild to let the other Russian guilds know about what Darden did in Vladivostok so that-... ?"

Ju Se-ah continued, now certain of Kang Mu-hyuk's intentions.

"That advice wasn't just for the Tsar Guild. You intended to keep Darden too preoccupied to bother us, didn't you?"

"I also planned to direct Darden's grudge primarily towards the Tsar Guild. Even if the source of the leak is discovered, the Tsar Guild will be implicated first. If any issues related to the Tyrant Guild arise in Russia, the Tsar Guild will warn us first."

"From the Tsar Guild's perspective, the Tyrant Guild is a common enemy for both of us. They will inevitably have to rely on us, as we have an S-ranker, right?"

"Maintaining our guild's influence in Vladivostok, which is close to the Korean Peninsula, will be useful in many ways going forward."

Ju Se-ah shook her head, appalled by Kang Mu-hyuk's boldness in treating the top guild in Vladivostok merely as a useful tool.

'Suddenly, I feel sorry for Darden. And for the Tsar Guild too. In the end, they are the ones who will blow up. Maybe getting entangled with Guild Leader Kang was their greatest misfortune...'

Kang Mu-hyuk tidily resolved an issue that even Tier-ed guilds would approach cautiously and brought up a new problem.

"Let's settle the Russia issue like that. Now, there's a tougher problem left."

"Is there another problem? A hard one?"

"Internal conflict."

"...You're talking about the Taesung Group, right?"

"It's almost six months since you promised Chairman Tae Jinsung."

"But we already achieved results."

"But the criteria for those results are ambiguous. The conditions were set vaguely from the beginning to ensure that you could never win."

"That's my fault. I was too overwhelmed at the time to think that far."

Ju Se-ah awkwardly scratched her head.

"Rather than regretting what we can't change, we need to find a solution for the future. Before that, I need your help, basically your confirmation."

"How can I help?"

"Since I took over as a Guild Leader, actually even before I took over, there's been one thing I haven't understood about the guild."

"What is it?"

"Tae Jinsung, the chairman. Why is he trying to appoint a new successor?"