Another Guild (3)
The Another Guild. With roughly forty-eight affiliated hunters and seven guild staff members, it was a moderately sized mid-tier guild. However, its guild master, Shin Jiyeon, was only B-rank, and most of its hunters were C-rank or lower. Their area of activity wasn't particularly wide either. So while it had the scale of a mid-tier guild on paper, it was a quiet organization that barely ever got mentioned in the media.
But right now, that name was about to spread far beyond the country and across the entire world.
“...You sure this is okay? I'm fine with it, but still.”
“It's the fastest way to pay back the five hundred million I gave you, Sunbae. Actually, we'll probably make even more than that. And don't you need a ton of money if you're going to move into a big house with all your familiars?”
“Well, yeah, that's true, but...”
Park Jihun spoke with a worried tone, but Shin Jiyeon looked completely unbothered. What they were discussing was simple: advertising revenue.
They would officially announce that the 'Tamer' Park Jihun had joined the Another Guild. Then, riding the massive wave of attention that would generate, they'd accept all kinds of sponsorships and advertisements. Since guilds were gatherings of hunters who had become the center of the world, people naturally followed their every move. And the bigger the guild and the more popular the hunters, the more attention they received.
In other words, they were walking billboards. There was no way corporations would miss an opportunity like that. Guilds and hunters had become the ultimate advertising platforms, just like popular dramas or celebrities. As a result, popular hunters and guilds were always swarmed with corporate offers. Some earned hundreds of millions, even billions, just from advertising fees alone.
This was exactly what Shin Jiyeon was aiming for. She planned to use the currently hottest topic in the hunter world—the 'Tamer'—as their billboard and suck up every last drop of advertising money she could get.
“...Money's great and all, but won't the big guilds start targeting the Another Guild or you, Jiyeon?”
There wasn't a person in the world who hated money. Shin Jiyeon and Park Jihun might have slightly different dreams and goals from others, but they both liked money. If there was a chance to earn a fortune, of course they'd take it.
What Park Jihun was worried about wasn't the money itself. He was concerned that if an unknown mid-tier guild suddenly snatched up someone like him, the major guilds might try to harm the Another Guild or its guild master, Shin Jiyeon.
“Aww, Sunbae. You've been watching too many dramas. In this day and age, if someone tried that and got caught, they'd be finished instantly.”
Shin Jiyeon patted his shoulder reassuringly, as if telling him not to worry about such nonsense.
“Besides, even if other guilds try to recruit you... I'm the only one who can fully meet all your conditions, aren't I?”
She smiled with a sly, scheming look, like someone plotting a devious plan. To Park Jihun, though, it just looked adorable.
“Jeez, the way you say that makes it sound like you're threatening me. Like I can't go anywhere else?”
“Yep, it's a threat. Glad you noticed.”
The two of them traded jokes and laughed heartily for a while. Then their expressions turned serious again as they looked back at the computer screen.
“S-so... should I post it?”
“Yeah... Let's see what kind of chaos this causes.”
“O-okay, here we go!”
On the computer screen in front of them was the 'New Post' window of Korea's largest hunter community site. The content of the post read...
[The Another Guild Welcomes 'Tamer' Park Jihun as Our New Family Member]
Author: Shin Jiyeon
We are pleased to announce that Hunter Park Jihun—better known as the 'Tamer,' the hunter with the currently trending taming skill—has officially joined our Another Guild.
A short and simple post had gone up on the hunter community. It was written by Shin Jiyeon of the Another Guild. She was a hunter with a pretty face and a small but dedicated fanbase, but she wasn't particularly famous among hunters.
Yet the content of her post instantly captured the world's attention.
The hunters who saw the post lost their minds. The citizens who saw the leaked post lost their minds too.
The guilds that had been secretly preparing to recruit Park Jihun were also thrown into chaos.
“...Wow, I really didn't think he'd actually do it.”
And even Lee Jeonghyeon—the vice-guild master of the Yongwang Guild, who had been watching Park Jihun with strange expectations—was also in chaos...
“This is fucking hilarious.”
...No, he was actually laughing with amusement.
“It didn't go the way I predicted at all. What an interesting guy.”
He had been certain that someone who understood his own value wouldn't join some random no-name guild. Yet here he was, joining exactly that kind of guild. And not just any—it was the Another Guild. A completely ordinary guild with no particularly special traits.
“...Look into the Another Guild for me.”
Although he spoke seriously, Lee Jeonghyeon's face was still smiling.
The story of Hunter Park Jihun, known as the 'Tamer,' wasn't limited to Korea. It spread across Asia and then the entire world. The fact that he was the first person in history to tame a monster naturally became a hot topic overseas. It was especially big news in the United States, which had once run the massive 'AM Project' aimed at taming monsters to create military units.
“...Park Jihun from Korea. I need to meet him.”
A sturdy, blond, blue-eyed Caucasian man in his mid-thirties spoke in English as he read a translated internet post. He was the former head of the AM Project and an S-rank hunter affiliated with the United States. His name was Michael Gordon.
The project had already been declared impossible and scrapped. He had submitted countless petitions to the government insisting it wasn't impossible and that they should continue, but every one had been rejected.
But if he could get his hands on Park Jihun—a hunter from a small country like Korea—maybe the AM Project could be revived.
“The era where humans fight and humans are sacrificed must end. The time will come when monsters take our place on the battlefield. It must happen.”
With those words, he booked a flight to Korea.
While Michael Gordon was looking up flights from America to Korea, there was another person in China who had taken an interest in the situation.
“Hmm~ There's no way a hunter this incredible would come from a tiny country like Korea.”
A man with long black hair tied in a braid down his back. His hands were adorned with countless sharp, mysterious ornaments. His narrow, slit-like eyes and protruding mouth reminded one of a rat. His thin, agile frame could be called nimble in a positive light, but sly and treacherous in a negative one.
He was the guild master of China's number one guild, the Heixiaohui, and the country's top S-rank hunter—Lung Xiao.
“Yes! The world's first, the world's only, the world's best. Such titles are permitted only for our great People's Republic of China! We cannot tolerate a small nation like Korea claiming them.”
True to his extreme Sinocentric ideology, the guild master of the Heixiaohui came to an extreme conclusion.
“Deliver this message to the hunter who dares call himself the world's one and only. He may become a citizen of China. Or he may die. Tell him to choose.”
“Yes, Boss!”
After giving the order to his subordinate, Lung Xiao leaned back lazily on a luxurious silk bed embroidered with golden thread.
Right after the post went up, the Another Guild's phone lines were ringing nonstop.
“Hello, this is the Another Guild... Yes? Ah, you're calling about an advertisement?”
“No, we're not a subcontractor for any other guild...”
“Um, sir? Please calm down first... If you yell one more time, I'm hanging up.”
The seven staff members couldn't handle the flood. The moment one call ended, another came in. Missed calls piled up before they could even finish answering the current one.
Vrrrr— Vrrrr—
“Ah, another call.”
Of course, even Shin Jiyeon's personal phone—the guild master's—didn't stop ringing. Most of the calls were advertising offers, scouting attempts from other guilds, or regular citizens begging to meet the Tamer in person.
Park Jihun's phone was ringing nonstop too, but...
“What, are they mad I rejected their offers?”
Every single call was from the guilds that had sent him texts and messages before.
“It's so obvious what they'll say anyway. They'll offer better treatment, ask me to name my conditions, whine about why I joined such a small guild... Ugh. Just hearing it in my head is annoying.”
Since he could already guess what they'd say, he simply didn't answer.
“Whoa... Sunbae, do you know how many advertising offers we've gotten in the last hour?”
Shin Jiyeon approached him with an excited expression.
“How many?”
When the equally thrilled Park Jihun asked back, Shin Jiyeon held up three fingers.
“A whopping thirty! Thirty! We've got offers for drinks, instant food, clothing, electronics, even cars... literally everything you can think of.”
When a company hired a hunter for advertising, it was like PPL on TV—except instead of celebrities, hunters would use the product and say it was good, convenient, delicious, and so on. The fees ranged from a few hundred thousand won to tens of millions.
But with a massive billboard like the 'Tamer' Park Jihun on their side, if they added up all the offers they'd received so far...
“That comes out to almost six hundred million won...?”
It was one hundred million more than the five hundred million they'd given him when signing the contract. And this was only from the offers that had come in so far. If they filtered through the ones still coming, they could easily make at least a billion.
“Wow, is this the power of being the one and only in the world? Oh, another call. Hello?”
Shin Jiyeon gave him a thumbs-up in admiration before hurrying off to answer the phone.
Park Jihun watched her go, then picked up his own still-ringing phone. He ignored the call notifications and opened his banking app to check his balance.
“...Seriously, it's still shocking no matter how many times I look.”
He had checked right after signing the contract earlier, but seeing it again felt brand new. His account clearly showed [500,000,000 won].
Normally taxes would have been deducted, but Shin Jiyeon had arranged for the guild to handle all taxes as a courtesy. That was how a clean five hundred million had landed in his account.
“...Wow.”
It was an amount of money he never thought he'd touch in his entire life. Just looking at it made his head spin. And once the advertising revenue started coming in...
“...So this is why people become hunters.”
Park Jihun's mind was already filled with visions of a large, luxurious house where he would live with all his female monster familiars. Foreign sports cars they'd drive together. High-end gourmet food they'd eat together.
“Ehehe.”
And the fact that Shin Jiyeon was secretly mixed into all those fantasies was a secret only he knew.