2. And It Has to Be Within a Month

My private office at Baekmyeong Life Headquarters, the building where I serve as Executive Director.

Seated across the guest table from my secretary, Yoon Seo-hyun, I was fielding a steady barrage of questions.

"What procedures need to be followed, and what paperwork filed, to establish a hunter guild?"

"We assign people to it. I have you, after all, and if necessary we hire a lawyer who specializes in the hunter industry and let them handle it."

"And the funding?"

"We pull from my private accounts. For the initial investment, let's see... ten billion won should do it."

"...Executive Director, do you have any idea how the hunter industry actually works?"

"Did you not know? I'm secretly a hunter fanatic. Towers, Gates... anything involving hunters, and I simply can't help myself."

"...Haah."

The longer our exchange went on, the more Seo-hyun's expression crumpled, until at last she let out a deep sigh and removed her glasses.

Her hair pinned up in a neat bun, slender eyes behind rectangular frames. An intellectual beauty with a composed, refined face — set against a strikingly voluptuous figure.

Even the trivial gesture of massaging her weary eyes with her fingertips was packaged in enough charm to captivate any man.

"Executive Director. May I speak frankly with you?"

"By all means."

"I don't know where on earth you caught this ridiculous whim, but I would strongly prefer that you stop this nonsense immediately."

Whim. Nonsense. For a mere secretary to use such language with a member of the owning family was crossing a line.

But Seo-hyun accepted it as a matter of course, and I didn't mind in the slightest.

Because our relationship was a little different from a typical executive-secretary dynamic.

Yoon Seo-hyun had been my personal secretary, appointed by my father directly, even before I joined the Baekmyeong Group affiliate where I work now.

Which meant her true role wasn't so much a secretary as a caretaker — cleaning up after my messes, reporting any strange behavior to my father, keeping me on a leash.

That said, after so many years together, an ugly sort of affection had taken root between us, and the relationship had softened somewhat.

Now, at twenty-four, I'd say we were closer to a sharp, no-nonsense older sister reluctantly dragging along a hopeless little brother.

And, incidentally, she often shielded me from my father's wrath, too.

...Looking back, she was one of the very few people who stayed by my side to the end. Of course, back then I never once realized how much she meant to me.

"Nonsense? Now that's going too far."

Of course, I knew perfectly well that her biting words came from a place of genuine concern.

"Establishing a hunter guild is not some light decision you can make overnight on a whim. It is not a business where you simply hire hunters and split whatever profits they bring in."

"Obviously I understand that much."

Seo-hyun sighed yet again, replaced her glasses, and looked me dead in the eye.

"Denied. The notion that you would build a hunter guild for the sake of your own hobby, without any legitimate justification, is absurd, and I cannot accept it."

"And if I do have a legitimate justification?"

"...?"

"If I can present you with a legitimate reason why I must build a hunter guild — will you keep it from my father and tacitly permit my new business venture?"

"..."

When I met her gaze with the most serious expression I could manufacture, Seo-hyun's face flickered with surprise.

Understandable. The twenty-four-year-old me was a playboy in whom serious intent was nowhere to be found.

"...I will hear you out."

My sincerity must have landed, because her expression softened a fraction.

Now came the part where I convinced her.

To win her over, I began unfolding the script I had prepared in advance.

Time to put this tongue of mine back to work.

"The reason I took an interest in the hunter industry is that incident you know all about. A few days ago, when that B-Rank hunter nearly gave me a public 'education.'"

"...I suspected as much. But how exactly does that lead to a decision to found a guild?"

"At first, it was pure spite. I was going to dig up her weaknesses and put her in her place."

"..."

"...I know it was pathetic, so don't look at me like that. Anyway, as I kept digging, the purpose of the investigation started to... shift, somehow."

"Shift how?"

"First the individual hunter, then the guilds they belonged to, then the entire hunter scene... And somewhere in all that searching, a single thought struck me — one that eclipsed both my grudge against that B-Rank hunter and my own wounded pride."

"...And what was that?"

"..."

"..."

She stared at me with an expression that plainly asked, what kind of nonsense is this?

Don't worry. The real argument starts now.

"One question for you. Why is the Baekmyeong Group ranked third among Korea's chaebols?"

"The reason it's... ranked third?"

Seo-hyun considered for a moment, then spoke carefully.

"...Do you mean that in the positive sense — that we've managed third place? Or the negative sense — that we've fallen to a mere third?"

That's my personal secretary for you. Sharp as a tack.

"The latter. Why is our Baekmyeong Group stuck at a mere third?"

Baekmyeong Group. Ranked third among Korea's corporate giants.

A chaebol spanning semiconductors to department stores, exports to domestic consumption, with promising subsidiaries across every sector of Korean industry.

Compared against its rivals, no single metric — financial health, public image — came up short.

So why wasn't this rock-solid group number one?

"...!"

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Seo-hyun's face. Judging by her reaction, the hook was working.

"The Towers and Gates, once nothing more than a battlefield for survival, gradually revealed the value hidden within them as their conquest progressed."

Materials dropped by monsters, new ores mineable in the otherworldly spaces beyond the Gates, equipment imbued with magic and mana that ignored the laws of physics...

A treasure trove of new materials and new technologies that simply did not exist ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on Earth.

Within three years of the Towers and Gates appearing, the entire world had turned its attention to their economic value.

Korea was no exception.

Government and corporations alike raced to secure the resources of the Towers and Gates — and the hunters, the only means of securing those resources in the first place.

"The Baekmyeong Group was preparing to enter the hunter industry as well. We simply... failed to execute. Just as the group was about to set foot in the field, disaster struck us one blow after another."

Slumping earnings at Baekmyeong Electronics, our flagship. A liquidity crisis at Baekmyeong Bank...

Left with no choice, the group had to swallow bitter tears and focus on internal restructuring.

And by the time Baekmyeong finally steadied itself, the other corporations had already seized the hunter industry.

Planting connections inside the Hunter Association, signing hunters to exclusive contracts, even running guilds of their own...

A latecomer robbed of the entire pie, Baekmyeong Group had lost all influence in the hunter industry — the new engine of the national economy.

"My father and the executives scrambled to force their way into the hunter market before it was too late, but it was a losing battle."

"And as the hunter-related industries grew and their importance to the economy swelled, the Baekmyeong Group — shut out of its share of the pie — was gradually pushed out of the mainstream."

"..."

"...The end result: three years ago, the group's chaebol ranking, held unbroken for years, slipped from second to third. The experts' assessment went as follows — 'Sound business structure, but lacking competitiveness in the hunter industry, the growth market of the future.'"

I paused and studied her face.

She was now openly bewildered.

Her expression screamed, who the hell are you?

Once again, I realized just how low my standing in her estimation had been.

Any economics expert could produce this level of analysis with a little research into Baekmyeong. What stunned her wasn't the sophistication of the analysis — it was that Baekmyeong's resident scoundrel possessed this kind of insight at all.

"Is there anything in my explanation, by any chance, that's incorrect?"

Seo-hyun pressed her lips together, hesitated for a long moment...

"...No. It's an accurate analysis, Executive Director."

and nodded, as if she had no choice but to concede.

"Phew. What a relief."

A little comic relief, right on cue.

"So then... your sudden declaration that you would establish a hunter guild..."

"Yes. Naturally, it's to reclaim the Baekmyeong Group's dominance in the hunter industry."

A sprinkle of lies on top.

Though it wasn't one hundred percent false.

Either way, if my backing — the Baekmyeong Group — thrived, that was good for me too. It's just that saving Baekmyeong wasn't my primary objective.

"..."

"So I gave it serious thought. How could the Baekmyeong Group claw its way back to a share of the hunter pie?"

"...The most certain means would be securing hunters, wouldn't it."

"Exactly that. As expected of you, Seo-hyun. As expected of my personal secretary."

"Flattery will get you nowhere. Please continue."

Her attitude had now flipped one hundred eighty degrees from where we'd started.

The let's see where this goes air was gone; she was now fully focused on me.

"And so, to secure hunters and establish a supply route for the new resources of the Towers and Gates... you decided to found a hunter guild?"

"Yes. There's no more stable route than receiving supply from hunters under your own guild."

Hunters fall broadly into three ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠categories: Association-affiliated, independent freelancers, and guild members.

Corporations prefer sourcing from hunters in their subsidiary guilds.

There are many reasons, but above all, it's the most stable supply channel.

You never have to bid against competitors at auction over the resources your hunters bring back, and you cut off the possibility of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fickle hunter supplying someone else instead.

"So — that concludes my explanation. For the Baekmyeong Group to grow, it must enter the hunter industry by any means necessary. And I chose guild establishment as the vehicle to make that happen."

Judging by her face, the answer was already settled — but I drove in the wedge with one final question.

"Is that sufficient as a legitimate justification?"

Seo-hyun fell silent for a time before finally speaking.

"...Yes. For now."

I exhaled a silent breath of relief. One gate cleared, at least.

"Then you'll help me, won't you? And of course... keep it from my father for the time being."

"I cannot hide it forever. Once the business is somewhat established, you will report to the Chairman yourself."

"Naturally."

"However."

She adjusted her glasses.

"What you've described so far is nothing more than a rough plan. Actually founding and operating a guild is a problem of an entirely different magnitude."

"Hmm...?"

"In a hunter management market already locked down by the guilds of other conglomerates — what strategy will the guild you build adopt? What is your formula for success?"

"Ah, that's simple."

"Simple, you say?"

"What's the first principle of investing?"

"...?"

"Buy low, sell high. Hunter guilds run on the same logic. Recruit hunters cheap at their low point, then extract maximum returns once their abilities reach full bloom. A simple, but bulletproof, formula for success — no?"

"Well, yes, but. Who exactly are these low-point hunters, and how do you propose to find them?"

"Don't worry about that. I already have a recruitment list organized in my head."

A rock-solid list built on information brought back from the future, no less.

"...Send me that list when you have a moment. I'd like to review it myself."

With those parting words, Seo-hyun rose from her seat.

"I'll head back for now — founding a guild means a mountain of preparation. I'll organize the materials and see you again tomorrow."

"Right. I'm counting on you."

Clack, clack. Walking toward the door with the click of her high heels, Seo-hyun laid a hand on the handle — and stopped abruptly.

"What is it?"

"..."

When she turned her head back, there was something in her eyes I had never seen before.

Eyes wavering, as if caught in hesitation.

"...Can I truly believe... that this time, you will be different?"

"!"

"That this time, you've genuinely turned over a new leaf — am I allowed to believe that?"

My chest tightened in an instant.

In her trembling voice... I could hear it all, laid bare. The trust she had placed in me all these years — and the disappointment and anxiety of having that trust betrayed, again and again.

"...Yes. Watch me."

"..."

She seemed to wrestle with what expression to wear...

"Then. I will watch from your side."

and let a very faint smile cross her face.

"Get home safe, and don't push yourself too hard tonight. Get proper rest. If we're building a guild within a month, things are going to be hectic for a while."

"Yes. Then..."

Seo-hyun bowed her head slightly and stepped out of the office. The door closed behind her.

...

BANG!

And a few seconds later, the office door violently swung open again.

"Hold on a second?! What did you just say? A month?"

"Yes."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"You're telling me you'll build a hunter guild within a month?!"

"What's with the sudden panic..."

It's not exactly rocket science.

Three weeks after that.

Seo-hyun and I stood gazing up at a certain building.

Thirteen floors above ground, four below — the building that would become the headquarters of my guild.

The exterior work was finished; the final interior remodeling was in full swing.

In four days, the remodeling would be complete — and at the same time, the establishment application I'd filed with the Hunter Association would be officially approved.

"Impossible..."

Seo-hyun murmured blankly, eyes fixed on the building.

"You really... built a guild in under a month."

"See? Didn't take that long at all."

"How on earth did you manage it? Fine, the paperwork was handled by lawyers you hired — but the guild headquarters building? How?"

"What's hard about it? You just sketch out the facilities a hunter guild building needs and hand the blueprints to the construction crews."

"That's exactly what I'm asking — how is that even possible! This isn't some ordinary office. A training center, inspection facilities... a hunter-grade facility requiring every manner of specialized equipment and custom engineering, completed at this speed — I've never once heard of such a thing."

"Ah..."

Right. Fair point. A clueless amateur suddenly channeling a veteran architect and rattling off flawless design instructions to a construction firm would look rather strange.

"Well. There are ways and means."

Because before my regression, I received a proper, spartan-grade education in exactly this.

I recalled my conversation with the Association President and let out a wry smile.

Back then I'd cursed it as outrageous, senseless exploitation. Who knew it would come in handy at a time like this?

"So — in a few days, the headquarters building opens and we're officially registered with the Association. The basic skeleton of the guild is in place."

"It is... So, what's the next step in the plan?"

"Recruiting the founding members. The staff needed to run operations, and of course, hunters."

"Hunters. Right — you still haven't sent me that recruitment list, have you? Who exactly are you targeting?"

"Ah, right. Things have been so frantic I forgot to make the list. I'll just tell you now. The very first recruitment candidate is B-Rank hunter Yoon Sol."

"Yoon Sol."

"..."

"Hold on. Don't tell me — that...?"

"Yes. The hunter I had that real-life brawl with."

Seo-hyun was aghast. A perfectly natural reaction. I was proposing to recruit the very hunter I'd been tangled up with in the worst way possible.

But there was a reason I had to recruit her, come what may.

"Her ability holds boundless potential... but at the same time, it's a double-edged sword, fragile and dangerous."

"Which is why we will bring her over to our side as quickly as possible. Before she breaks in a way that can never be undone."