The Scent of a Sucker
Some time later, Lee Shin and Chae Dong-ha arrived at the Yeongdo District Office.
They had come at the office’s request to discuss future guild operations, but everyone knew the real reason. Discussion was on the table, sure, but this meeting had been called to settle the recent relocation controversy once and for all.
“Today’s the day. Your debut, hyung. Just like I said before, I’m not lifting a finger. You’re handling everything. How about it? Heart pounding yet?”
“...It feels like my heart’s about to burst. Hoo, hoo. Do you really think I can pull this off?”
Chae Dong-ha stood at the entrance taking deep breaths. Lee Shin reached over and gave his shoulders a vigorous rub.
“Why’s an SS-grade genius leader getting cold feet? Nothing to be nervous about. There’s barely anything for you to do anyway.”
“Sorry? I must have misheard.”
“You didn’t. Stop worrying and let’s go. Move it, move it!”
Lee Shin slipped on a mask and gave Chae Dong-ha a push from behind.
That was how they first met the district head.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Noh Hyeong-sim, head of the Yeongdo District Office.”
“Nice to meet you as well. I’m Chae Dong-ha, vice leader of Mir Guild. This is our guild representative, Representative Lee Shin.”
“Nice to… cough, cough.”
“I apologize. Our representative is still getting over a cold.”
“Oh dear, health comes first. Let’s step inside.”
Have you eaten? Yes, and you, District Head?
They spent a while exchanging ordinary pleasantries to break the ice.
Even now, however, Chae Dong-ha’s eyes were busy. Judging people by appearance was one thing, but they did say physiognomy was a science.
The man’s thick build and blunt jawline practically screamed greed, and that smile marinated in capitalism actually made his skin crawl.
If the greedy villain from the fairy tales he once read to his youngest sibling had stepped into reality, wouldn’t he look exactly like this? That was Chae Dong-ha’s first impression of Noh Hyeong-sim, and it was not favorable.
Come to think of it, the leader always said to be careful with politicians. Give them one, they ask for two. Give them two, they ask for four.
In the autobiography written by the leader he respected, it stated that once politicians believed they had seized power, they inevitably reached out for either money or force.
And the advice had continued:
The higher a guild’s level rises, the more it will clash with them. Therefore, when negotiating with politicians, stay calm and never grow impatient.
Chae Dong-ha wiped his sweaty palms with a handkerchief.
Lee Shin’s back and the seat he now occupied were only a single step apart, yet the moment he sat down and entered real combat, the tension felt like an entirely different dimension.
Even while trading everyday conversation, it felt as if electricity ran from his frontal lobe, down the back of his neck, and straight through his spine.
It was like having dozens of guild members perched on his shoulders. Slightly burdensome, to say the least.
Suddenly Chae Dong-ha glanced behind him. There, as always, was Lee Shin.
When he thought about how the man could still flash a mischievous grin and crack jokes under this kind of pressure, he looked truly impressive.
Their eyes met. Lee Shin drew crescent moons with his gaze as if he could read every thought, offering silent encouragement.
And just like that, Chae Dong-ha’s tension melted away.
Yeah. I can do this.
It was funny, but the source of his confidence was Lee Shin himself. The man who maintained a one-hundred-percent success rate when it came to anything involving the guild. To Chae Dong-ha, Lee Shin’s insight seemed as mysterious as the Vatican Saintess who could see the future from her seat.
What had Lee Shin called him again?
An SS-grade genius leader, wasn’t it?
Just as Lee Shin could flip the entire board with his devilish tongue, Chae Dong-ha wanted to leave his own footprint on this guild—even if he couldn’t match that level. No, he would leave his mark.
Chae Dong-ha mentally rearmed himself, then flashed the brightest, most professional smile he could produce.
“Shall we move on to the main topic, District Head?”
As expected, the other man dropped the awkward smile he had been forcing and revealed his true, greed-filled intentions.
“Very well.”
Here it came. The real duel!
“Regarding the road expansion you requested—”
“I understand. It must have been inconvenient.”
“We’ll begin construction tomorrow.”
“……?”
“……??”
...Huh??
When Chae Dong-ha stared back with a blank face, the district head tilted his head slightly and continued.
“Shall I repeat myself? Construction will begin tomorrow. I should have paid closer attention, so I apologize for the inconvenience you’ve suffered until now.”
The fighting spirit that had been boiling inside him dissipated in the most embarrassingly simple way imaginable.
At this point, Chae Dong-ha wondered if there had even been a lock on the door to begin with.
“We’ll expand the lanes so raid buses and equipment vehicles can pass, refurbish the road itself, and upgrade all related facilities including traffic lights and streetlights.”
“Th-thank you.”
“We also plan to actively support the franchise businesses operated by Mir Guild. For starters, we’ve arranged for you to use six additional abandoned warehouses around the café headquarters. Oh, and of course! We’ll refurbish the dock area to resolve the waiting-line issue.”
“Th-thank you so much.”
Free pass.
It was clearly a district office, yet Chae Dong-ha suddenly remembered the izakaya he had visited with Lee Shin two days ago. ‘Irrashaimase!’ They really had answered promptly.
The sight was so different from the greedy politician he had imagined that his pupils shook noticeably. But once you understood the situation, this response made perfect sense.
This was a district office. The man before him was a district head.
He was a different breed from the national assembly members who cleared their throats in Yeouido.
For a district head, the top priority was the development of the local government he oversaw.
Therefore, from an interest perspective, the Yeongdo District Office and Mir Guild were not in a position to negotiate. They were in a position to cooperate.
Moreover, when a guild produced results so outstanding that the hyenas around them were practically drooling, negotiation was pointless. At that point they should have been clinging to Mir Guild’s pant legs, begging, ‘You can’t abandon me. I’ll cry if you do.’
Only then did Chae Dong-ha see Noh Hyeong-sim clearly.
The smile steeped in capitalism had actually been the man stretching his lips as far as possible to look good in their eyes. The jaw that had seemed full of greed now looked as benevolent as Buddha’s.
Chae Dong-ha’s gaze sought out Lee Shin.
Representative?
Didn’t I say there was nothing to do?
It smelled.
The thick, unmistakable scent of a sucker.
When considering a home base, the disposition of the local politician is a very important factor. Form relationships while taking their disposition into account.
Noh Hyeong-sim, head of the Yeongdo District Office.
Since he was not a Hunter, he was not a main character. If one had to classify him, he was a sub NPC similar to Guild Leader Jeong Sun-dong.
In Lee Shin’s memory, Noh Hyeong-sim was called by many different names depending on the story route.
Yeongdo Aristocrat.
Symbol of Entrenched Corruption.
Political Ambitionist.
He went by countless other aliases across various branching points, but they all ultimately converged on a single root.
Desire for Advancement.
The incident that best illustrated this was, coincidentally, the dissolution of Mir Guild.
In the original story, when Mir Guild was demoted, Noh Hyeong-sim appeared as the villain who spearheaded its dismantlement.
The reason was simple: the label of defeat now attached to the useless guild was damaging to his own image.
This was also why users who created a guild in Busan would inevitably encounter this character. He would personally drag his bulky frame around, drumming up business to install a proper guild in the spot left empty by the closed Mir Guild.
In every route, the character Noh Hyeong-sim always aimed upward.
He desperately wished to leave his narrow nest called Yeongdo and soar into the open sky. Even if the end resembled Icarus—wings set ablaze after flying too close to the sun—he would not stop flapping until his very last moment.
Therefore, Noh Hyeong-sim’s behavioral pattern was extremely clean-cut.
Anyone who interfered with his wing flaps was an enemy. Anyone who seemed beneficial was an ally.
Now that they understood the character’s disposition, it was time to apply it to the current situation.
Mir Guild, which had transcended history and was now writing new myth. The overwhelming popularity that allowed it to grab Busan’s stagnant economy by the collar and carry the entire city on its back.
If that kind of force existed in Busan—and right under his own jurisdiction?
Noh Hyeong-sim would dive in head-first. That was exactly the situation they were in now.
“We’re thinking of preparing team accommodations over here, but for security reasons…”
“We’ll block the area off. We’ll clear that entire line for you.”
“We were also considering running water taxis or marine leisure activities along the coastal dock road here…”
“Permission granted. Feel free to do as much as you like.”
“And over here, a parking lot for visitors…”
“Shall we build one? Oh, while we’re at it, how about adding a bus route as well? We could call it Mir Guild Station.”
He was as warm and generous as a grandmother in the countryside trying to feed her grandchild one more spoonful.
“We’re planning a large-scale expansion to match the promotion. Which brings me to this plot of land. It’s full of abandoned factories. Our guild intends to purchase as much of it as possible.”
“Is that all? Take everything up to here as well.”
“All the way to… here?”
“Is it too much? If funds are an issue, we’re willing to provide support. Truth be told, we were already planning to clear out those non-operational factories. If you’re willing to take the lead, we’ll even cover the demolition costs. Now, what else can we do for you?”
Of course, Noh Hyeong-sim was by no means the pushover Chae Dong-ha had first imagined. The man had graduated from an American MBA program and had risen to become the youngest executive at a major corporation; his brain for spotting profit was exceptional.
Noh Hyeong-sim had his own thoughts on the matter.
This is an opportunity sent from heaven.
Yeongdo was a city with clear limitations.
Its geography was fundamentally an island. It had the sea, mountains, and even famous sunrise spots—every element a tourist destination should possess—yet reality was utterly shabby.
Rapid aging, a population cliff, and a complete cutoff of new residents had left the island dotted with empty houses; in some neighborhoods it felt like every other home stood vacant.
In short, it was Busan’s countryside.
And the value of the title “district head” was directly proportional to the value of the city itself.
In other words, if Noh Hyeong-sim wanted to climb higher, he had to develop this city whether he lived or died.
In fact, he had pursued many projects with great enthusiasm—designating Yeongdo as a tourist city, creating a beautiful coastal promenade, building a café street, promoting sunrise viewing spots, and so on.
Yet none had produced meaningful results.
If simply advertising could suddenly generate an influx of visitors, every tourist spot in the world would be sitting on a gold mine.
This was an era overflowing with things to see and do. Without one big hook capable of capturing the jaded eyes of modern people whose pleasure threshold had grown high, pouring money into facilities was nothing but wasted effort.
While Noh Hyeong-sim was racking his brain for a way to give this rural town real presence, Mir Guild appeared like the rope from heaven in a fairy tale.
These guys are definitely going to blow up!
If Chae Dong-ha had caught the thick scent of a sucker from Noh Hyeong-sim, then Noh Hyeong-sim had caught the thick scent of success from them.
I can afford to go all in.
I’ll bet everything on these kids.
The all-out clash between the success-hungry vice leader and the district head ready to throw everything away for success reached its climax.
Then came the final card Chae Dong-ha had prepared.
“Very well. If you’re willing to cooperate this actively, we’ll respond in kind. Here.”
The place Chae Dong-ha’s finger pointed to made Noh Hyeong-sim’s eyes fly wide open.
It was land that had once been the heart of the city’s prosperity but had gone bankrupt during the financial crisis due to the owner family’s corruption. No one had touched it for decades.
“We will take care of the troublesome HK industrial site for you.”
He casually proposed the deal while holding the land he had been promised by the chairman of the Shinsung Group.
Noh Hyeong-sim’s eyes widened. Without a word, he reached for the phone.
“...You know that restaurant I always go to? Send dinner over from there. Japanese, Chinese, Korean—everything. Coffee, alcohol, just bring whatever you can grab.”
After setting the receiver down, Noh Hyeong-sim spoke again.
“Let’s talk once more. Where did you say?”