The Ten Billion Offer
A cafe near the Challenging Realm.
The only customers were me and a high-ranking figure from Chilseong Guild—just the two of us.
“I thought you might prefer a quiet place.”
Not really.
I actually like the kind of lively atmosphere where you can barely hear what anyone’s saying.
“A shame. If this were my office, I would have prepared it for you myself.”
“You make the coffee yourself?”
“Yes. A small hobby of mine. Please come by for a cup next time.”
Was this a direct pitch or something more roundabout? Hard to tell.
“Even if I don’t join Chilseong Guild?”
“I had intended to ease into the main topic, but yes. Regardless of whether you join or not.”
His voice tone and smile put the listener completely at ease.
【Oh my. He’s quite a decent person.】
【A human who observes proper etiquette.】
Look at these summons of mine.
The real conversation hasn’t even started yet—don’t let your guard down.
“What will you have?”
“I’ll take an iced Americano.”
“Just an Americano for me, please.”
In this heat?
Hot coffee?
“Adding ice ruins the coffee’s original flavor.”
I see.
I’ll just drink mine with ice, thanks.
Slurp.
The bitter taste slid over my tongue and down my throat.
This is why I drink coffee.
Across from me, the high-ranking figure from Chilseong leisurely sipped his own.
Right after we had wet our throats—
“As you know, we at Chilseong wish to recruit Hunter Park Minho.”
Straight to the main point.
My heart was pounding.
A recruitment offer from one of the domestic top five.
Just a week ago, this would have been nothing more than a dream.
“These are Chilseong’s basic conditions.”
◈ Signing Bonus: ₩500,000,000
◈ Starting Annual Salary: ₩200,000,000
◈ Dedicated support team for activities involving three or more members
◈ Commission: 10%
◈ Incentive upon rank-up: 20%
As expected of one of the domestic top five.
Incredible terms.
If this was the baseline, they were planning to sweeten the pot even more for me, right?
“What I have prepared is this set of conditions.”
The high-ranking figure from Chilseong showed me a second document.
◈ Signing Bonus: ₩10,000,000,000
◈ Starting Annual Salary: ₩1,000,000,000
◈ Dedicated support team
◈ Commission: 5%
◈ Incentive upon rank-up: 50%
◈ One item required for rank advancement provided per stage (maximum Unique grade or below)
“?”
A giant question mark floated above my head.
There were a few too many zeros.
I counted them five times, certain I must have misread.
【It’s ten billion.】
I know.
I know.
It’s not that I can’t count—it’s that it doesn’t feel real.
“It’s ten billion.”
“Yes.”
An amount that simply refused to feel real.
I had to clench my jaw hard to keep my mouth from falling open.
I had been working overtime not to look greedy this whole time.
After all that effort, if my jaw dropped here it would look pathetic.
It would also be a minus in the negotiation.
“You might think it’s too little.”
No.
I absolutely did not think that.
Perhaps interpreting my silence differently, the high-ranking figure from Chilseong continued his explanation.
“By domestic standards, the maximum signing bonus for D-class and below is three billion.”
“……I see.”
It was a bit smaller than ten billion, sure.
But even that amount didn’t feel real either—that was the real trap.
“I guarantee no other guild will put forward better conditions than these.”
“Even the other domestic top five?”
“Yes. Feel free to verify that yourself.”
I had no intention of going around shopping offers.
Slurp. I took another sip of coffee while thinking.
“The other guilds will come looking for Hunter Minho within tomorrow.”
“Meaning it’s fine if I mention the conditions Chilseong offered?”
“That’s correct.”
He had introduced himself as a director of Chilseong Guild, hadn’t he?
Telling me outright to compare conditions. The man was overflowing with confidence.
【What do you think, my lord?】
Well.
The moment I saw the words “ten billion,” my mind went blank, so I honestly don’t know.
【I like that they evaluate Master’s value so highly.】
That much was true.
Not only had a high-ranking figure from Chilseong come in person,
he had put up a fortune that most hunters would never touch in their entire lives.
“Thank you for evaluating me so highly.”
“Of course.”
“I’d like to ask about the basis for that judgment.”
“You wish to hear why you yourself are being so highly evaluated?”
I don’t have a hobby of gilding my own face.
I’m just curious why they’d throw ten billion at someone whose entire résumé is clearing a few D-class gates with SSS ranks.
……Saying that out loud would be awkward, so I hedged appropriately.
“You can take it that way.”
“Hunter Park, you spent five years stuck at E-class.”
Tsk.
Hitting me with the facts right from the start.
“The big picture for an S-rank evaluation. I find it remarkable.”
I almost blurted out “Huh?”
Big picture?
Please don’t make the sound of tearing the canvas.
“Rising after five years means you finished preparing to soar, doesn’t it?”
“Ah, ahahaha.”
“Clearing a place that draws so much attention like the Challenging Realm with an SSS rank also makes perfect sense.”
Sluuuurp—
“The conviction that it was finally safe to reveal yourself.”
“Ah, hahahaha.”
“That is why I prepared this. No guild in our country can present conditions of this caliber.”
I knew my abilities had growth potential.
I just hadn’t been sure how far it went, so I had kept it hidden.
The high-ranking figure from Chilseong had apparently read it as a deliberate strategy to raise my market value.
【Oh. Such a scheme!】
【Just like Master’s deep foresight.】
No.
I almost scratched the back of my head but stopped myself.
“May I ask one thing?”
“Of course.”
“Doesn’t Chilseong Guild operate a separate agency?”
Guilds and agencies.
Both managed hunters, but there was a difference.
Group versus individual.
An agency was more like a one-person management company that handled each hunter separately.
A looser sense of belonging than a guild was a bonus.
The conditions might not be as good as joining a guild, but the weaker binding force meant less burden as well.
“Yes, we do, but—”
“Could the Director manage me personally?”
A condition I threw out casually.
Nice if he accepted.
Not a huge loss if he didn’t.
No matter how many times I thought it over, guild life simply didn’t suit me.
Dual traits of summoning and crafting.
Sir Isra and Ingrid would steadily grow stronger, tailored to my craftsmanship.
Minions like Armed Zombie Warriors would keep increasing too.
I also needed time to work in my personal workshop.
A loose contract was ideal.
“I didn’t expect you to propose a job change to me.”
Huh?
I hadn’t made it sound that grandiose.
“Chilseong Agency is a subsidiary. If I, a director, moved over there, it would amount to a demotion.”
“Is that sooo?”
“If you meant it in another sense, that would mean leaving Chilseong entirely to support Hunter Park.”
【My lord is truly extraordinary. That boldness and daring!】
【As expected of Master! I believed in you.】
Shit.
No. It’s not that!
“I’ve said what I needed to.”
Director Baek Seonghyeon slowly rose from his seat.
Wow. Tsk.
A little embarrassing.
“Today or tomorrow, the other top five will contact you. Take your time to think it over and get in touch.”
He placed a business card on the table.
Then left without looking back once.
Wow.
That uncle is insanely cool.
【It would be perfect if he assisted my lord.】
【That kind of resolve. It suits this maiden’s heart perfectly as well.】
What good does it do if it suits you two!
Baek Seonghyeon boarded the waiting car.
Leaning his head back against the seat, he reviewed the conversation that had just taken place.
“Heh.”
A quiet laugh slipped out.
The HR director behind the wheel glanced into the rearview mirror.
“There was no need for the Director to step in personally.”
“He was someone I had to meet myself.”
It had been surprising.
In the four years since he had risen to the executive ranks,
this was the first person who had ever proposed a transfer to him.
He wasn’t displeased.
Was it calculated this far?
This young man.
The more he looked, the more he wanted him.
Revealing his presence at exactly the right moment.
Then counter-proposing to a director of one of the domestic top five, Chilseong Guild.
Either he knew very little about the hunter industry,
or he understood its structure so thoroughly that he could throw out a proposal like that.
“Are you all right?”
“I expected he wouldn’t give an immediate answer.”
“Mir is already preparing contact, they say.”
“Slow. After drawing that much attention at the Challenging Realm, only now preparing.”
Tsk tsk. The words “In my day…” automatically rose to Baek Seonghyeon’s lips.
The HR director let it go in one ear and out the other.
It wasn’t wrong, but he had heard it so often his ears were about to grow calluses.
“No guild will offer higher than the conditions we presented.”
Baek Seonghyeon stated it as fact.
Rather,
the side that worried him wasn’t domestic.
Overseas.
Specifically, China across the sea.
The Superhuman General Bureau’s movements have been suspicious lately.
Suspicious fund flows moving beneath the surface.
The target was almost certainly not Minho.
Even Chilseong had only uncovered it by tailing Director Jeong Seungil.
The movements had been far too fast to identify Minho’s identity and then act.
The possibility is low, but I should keep an eye on it.
Having organized his thoughts, Baek Seonghyeon spoke.
“The Superhuman General Bureau might approach Hunter Park.”
“Hup— Ah, understood.”
The HR director, face startled, immediately made a call somewhere.
He had done everything he could.
As long as no unexpected variables appeared,
Minho would come into Chilseong Guild’s embrace.
Baek Seonghyeon was certain of it.
Ten billion.
Ten billion, huh.
“Huuuuuum.”
It felt like eleven digits were floating right in front of my eyes.
An enormous sum I had never even heard of in my life.
I had almost signed on the spot.
【If your heart was moved, why not decide right away?】
“Mom told me never to follow uncles who offer candy.”
【Candy?】
“It’s too good. The conditions.”
【It means they highly evaluate my lord’s value.】
How should I put this?
I struggled to organize the fragmentary thoughts floating through my head,
then slowly parted my lips.
“Just… I was curious how far I could go on my own.”
【Master alone?】
“Meeting you two keeps opening up new possibilities one after another.”
Sir Isra — Heavenly Martial Body.
Ingrid Wygdrasil — Origin of Magic.
Thanks to Heavenly Martial Body, I had escaped being a complete klutz.
Every undead I crafted had grown agile under its influence as well.
And Origin of Magic?
Even talented mage hunters had to struggle for over a month just to raise the proficiency of a single spell to 50.
A few clicks and the proficiency shot up.
That was entirely thanks to Ingrid’s talent.
“I can get stronger even without guild support.”
Confidence born from my two summons.
That was why
I had asked about a looser form of agency instead.
Even if it had ended up being a massive rudeness to the other party.
【For Master to rely on this maiden so much. It is an honor.】
【Do not get the wrong idea, magic user. My lord trusts his First Sword.】
“I trust both of you, so don’t fight.”
【Hahaha. Understood.】
【I’ll work even harder to be of help to Master.】
Yes, yes.
Let’s keep doing well going forward.
After the high-ranking figure from Chilseong left,
I followed right after him.
There had been a commotion near the Challenging Realm earlier,
so just as Director Baek Seonghyeon said, the remaining domestic top five would come looking soon.
It looked like I wouldn’t be able to work for a while,
so I should at least finish making one more as quickly as possible.
【Is there an additional minion you wish to craft?】
“Skeleton Mage.”
I had obtained an intact orc mage’s corpse.
I was going to turn it into combat power right away.
While I was at it,
I would also try the experiment with the split soul stone once,
and take care of the things I had been putting off.
【Could that postponed matter be—?!】
Sir Isra’s voice was thick with expectation.