Contract
It wasn’t, in truth, a bad offer.
One hundred and fifty million won in Korean currency.
In the money used here, that meant a contract bonus of 1,500 gold, with an annual salary of up to 700 gold. In won, the salary alone came to a staggering seventy million.
I still didn’t know exactly how newcomers to this place were evaluated, but to be honest, it did feel as if they were making an effort to accommodate me.
At least on the surface, the numbers sounded pretty generous.
But they weren’t welcoming me.
There were probably many reasons for that, but for one thing, they didn’t know that my potential was below average.
None of the people in front of me had a trait like Mind's Eye in their status windows.
My guess was that my class as an alchemist, along with my comparatively meager mana, had dragged my value down.
If I had to put it simply, I was something like boiled silkworm pupa—too burdensome to swallow, but too hard to throw away without feeling a little regret.
Right.
So what they’re really asking is whether I’m worth investing this much in, just to recruit the whole party around me?
While I was sorting out the situation in my head, Lee Sanghee spoke again.
“That isn’t all. I can’t explain everything right now, but we’ve also prepared various welfare benefits. You can think of them as similar to what you’d find on Earth. Most notably, there are basic insurances such as injury and life insurance, and you’ll also be able to use the free facilities inside the guild. We’ll also assign you a personal coach. Ah! If you get married or have children, you’ll also receive a basic support allowance. There aren’t actually many people who get married, but….”
“Ah, I see. Is there a separate reason for that?”
“It’s probably because they’re exposed to unknown dangers. The situation may be better than in the Tutorial Dungeon itself, but monsters and dungeons still exist here. Blue Guild mostly sustains itself through dungeon exploration and monster hunting, so…. Of course, because we do send hunting parties out, we also operate a performance-based compensation system. After a hunt, the byproducts from the monsters are split between the guild and the hunting party in a ratio of roughly forty to sixty percent. The exact figures are….”
“So in other words, I’m exposed to danger. Does that mean the contract bonus and salary include hazard pay as well?”
“Yes. It’s probably a larger amount than you feel it is.”
She was a little more candid than I expected.
Honestly, it felt surprisingly professional.
I didn’t know how long Earthlings had been establishing themselves here, but it already seemed as though some kind of system had been set in place.
Especially the existence of insurance—I'd never even imagined that.
Smart.
“We’ll also do our best to support the catalysts an alchemist needs from our side. Of course, we may have trouble providing the more expensive items, but….”
“Lee Sanghee-nim….”
“I think it’s better to be honest.”
“Hm….”
“This is what we at Blue Guild can offer you.”
For the most part, Lee Sanghee’s attitude wasn’t bad.
She seemed to be treating me with a degree of respect, and she also looked genuinely desperate in her own way.
But the old men sitting on either side of her were a problem.
They kept sighing over and over, or at least that was the impression they gave—like they were grading my worth right there and then.
These guys were definitely veterans. Rotten, overcooked veterans.
It was obvious they had no idea what kind of relationship I had with Park Deokgu or Jung Hayan.
They must have thought “companions who cleared the dungeon together” sounded weighty and impressive, but apparently that wasn’t how things looked from the outside.
It must’ve happened all the time.
Maybe they’d seen plenty of groups emerge from dungeons together only to split apart later because of money, conditions, or personal circumstances.
In the end, “companions who shared life and death” was just a nice way of putting it.
When you thought about how not even three months ago they’d been complete strangers, it wasn’t strange at all for people to be torn apart by the environment around them.
Even on Earth, you saw brothers, families, and best friends collapse over conflicting interests. Human affairs were probably the same here as they were there.
Of course…
That doesn’t apply to our party.
Absolutely not.
It was hard to imagine Deokgu, with his greed practically spilling out of him, abandoning me, and there was no way Hayan would ever throw me away.
The same went for Kim Hyunsung, who had already invested so much in me.
We were more tightly bound together than these people realized, tied up in interests they didn’t even know existed.
It was almost laughable that they were addressing me with this kind of attitude in the first place.
The fact that they had presented such good terms in an effort to secure all four of us was worth praising, but if they had truly been desperate, they should have come in with a little more humility than this.
It was irritating, but not entirely unpleasant.
In fact, this kind of situation was rather enjoyable to me.
Idiots.
I hoped they’d keep looking down on me and treating me like I was beneath them.
That would only make things easier for me.
“I don’t know the details yet, but it does seem like a good offer. I can tell you’ve given us quite a bit of consideration.”
“Yes. You won’t be disappointed.”
“Does Blue Guild have any non-combat positions?”
“Yes.”
As soon as I casually opened the door, one of the old men beside her answered.
“That’s right, Kiyoung-ssi. Strictly speaking, alchemists are classified as non-combat personnel. And I don’t think there’s a guild anywhere that would offer this kind of contract to an alchemist.”
“Ah. I see. That is rather strange. There’s clearly the option of alchemy magic….”
“It isn’t very efficient. Even if you can trigger magic by using catalysts… monster byproducts are expensive by default. The synthesis circles alchemists often use aren’t especially efficient, either.”
“I see.”
“If the alchemist himself has a comfortable amount of mana, the story changes a little, but… may I ask how much mana your stat is at?”
“Eight.”
“Hmm… for someone who’s advanced twice, that doesn’t seem especially high. Is it possible your mana growth is a little slow…?”
“Yes. It doesn’t seem to rise as quickly as my intelligence, at least compared with my fellow mage.”
“Ah… I see. Understood.”
He wore the face of someone who’d expected exactly that.
Apparently, that little conversation had lowered my internal evaluation a bit more.
Their tone suggested they were only willing to accept me because of Kim Hyunsung and Jung Hayan.
“If you speak well of us to the others, I can make sure you don’t feel too slighted. How does that sound?”
Even so, the way they casually slid the contract in my direction was almost comical.
I glanced at the document once, then slowly continued.
“Well. I think I’ll need a little more time to think about it.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“Ah, I am looking at it positively for now, but I’d like some time to consider it.”
“Ah, I see. We’d appreciate it if you could give us an answer relatively quickly. We don’t have endless time ourselves….”
“Yes. I’ll think it over as quickly as I can.”
“And please, do speak to the others as well.”
“Of course.”
As I got to my feet, Lee Sanghee hurriedly added another word.
“There’s a catalog for Blue Guild and the contents included in the contract. If you read it while you’re thinking things over… I’m sure it’ll help.”
“I’ll look at it later.”
There was no need or value in reading it now.
Everything in it will probably be rewritten within a few days anyway.
Once I stepped outside, I saw Park Deokgu, Jung Hayan, and Kim Hyunsung waiting for me.
I answered their looks asking whether I’d done well with nothing more than a smile.
“Did they not put you through any sort of test, hyung?”
“Well. Not really.”
“Looks like they’re treating you pretty well, actually.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is, Kiyoung-ssi. I did a little digging on my own, and it doesn’t seem like other major guilds are offering conditions like this. I think what they said is probably true. Even though your growth potential isn’t obvious yet, for them to offer this much….”
“Yes. The people there seemed really nice too, Oppa.”
“I imagine they’re gambling in their own way as well. There must be pressure on them to make this recruitment a success. They are, after all, the sort of people who think human beings are resources.”
They didn’t look like people who thought that way to me at all.
“It may be a little early to judge, but what do you think? Rather than joining a major guild, it may be better to secure firm support here.”
“If hyung likes it, I’m for it.”
“Me too….”
As expected, our loyal Deokgu and lovable Hayan would never betray me.
The problem was that Kim Hyunsung seemed fairly favorable toward Blue Guild.
He even looked a little impatient.
It felt like, rather than building up his own personal force, he was thinking about establishing a foundation here instead.
If I were in his place, I’d make the same choice.
If you build up a force of your own, the advantages are clear. Everything moves exactly as you want, and your options widen considerably.
But joining Blue Guild wasn’t without its own merits.
The biggest advantage was that you could swallow up the infrastructure the guild had already built all at once.
For someone like Kim Hyunsung or Jung Hayan, becoming the backbone of the guild wouldn’t be difficult, and they might be able to catch up to the existing power structure in no time.
The guy’s choice was definitely rational.
“Of course, there’s no need to rush. It’d be better to talk it over a bit more and think it through… but I do rather like this guild.”
Kim Hyunsung sent me a look that seemed to ask for a response.
I didn’t rush. I answered slowly.
“I think it would be better to think about it a little more.”
“Ah… is there something you dislike about it?”
“No. Not particularly. It’s just that….”
“Yes?”
“We should be able to raise our price a little more.”
“Pardon?”
“Our price. If we’re going to do it, we might as well do it right. There should be a way to push our value up a little more decisively.”
“Ah….”
If Kim Hyunsung truly cared deeply for Blue Guild, that would be a different matter, but he didn’t seem that way to me.
In the end, it meant he simply needed a force to belong to.
Seeing how startled he looked, even he seemed to be coming back to his senses after appearing so chased and cornered a moment ago.
He was finally starting to grasp where he stood.
I didn’t know exactly what his plan was, but our party still had time.
Since we’d gotten out of the Tutorial Dungeon early, there would be no conflict with the future he had in mind.
“I think I understand what you’re saying….”
“Yes. There’s no need to rush the contract, Hyunsung-ssi. The longer we drag this out, the more anxious they’ll become.”
Kim Hyunsung definitely understood what I was getting at.
“So… you’re saying we can get more out of them? Honestly, money doesn’t matter all that much to me….”
“Well. Right.”
“Wait a minute… are you planning to go somewhere else, hyung?”
“N-no, that won’t do, Oppa!”
“That’s not what I mean. I want to stay with all of you too. And of course, with Hyunsung-ssi as well. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes. Though it may have been a strange place that brought us together, I’d still like to go forward with Kiyoung-ssi, Deokgu-ssi, and Hayan-ssi.”
It was, all things considered, rather heartwarming.
As I looked at Kim Hyunsung, I found myself grinning without meaning to.
I’ll make sure you make a lot of money, Hyunsung.