Recruiting Guild Members

Hiding my flustered feelings, I looked deeper into her traits with Insight. They were the kind of traits that made my mouth water.

What in the world was this? Seriously, what even was it? Out of nowhere, sure enough, the Suychae Guild master, Lemon, wasn’t just bluffing like some coin-rich idiot the way I did—she was actually loaded.

I sank into thought for a moment. If she’d really meant to reveal herself, there was no reason she’d come on a side account. Why hide her identity at all? Still, if one of her traits was Righteous Heart, then it didn’t seem like she was here to do anything shady.

And then it hit me.

The current number-one guild in Unknown Universe, Destruction. They were infamous for making life miserable for everyone else. By contrast, the second-ranked Suychae Guild had a reputation for being kind, gentle, and absurdly good at taking care of its members.

Could she have come to help me? And maybe she used an alt account because she figured coming on her main would feel like too much pressure. If that was the case, then everything clicked perfectly. Just then, perhaps because I’d gone quiet, she spoke again.

"Hello? Huh? Can you not hear me on the mic?"

"No, I can hear you just fine. Nice to meet you, Monemone123."

"Ah, yes. Hello, Haruru. Your voice is quite lovely."

"Yours too, Mone."

These idiots were already calling her a woman. To be perfectly honest, how could I possibly turn her down? A chance like this didn’t come around often—no, scratch that, it was basically the only chance I was going to get. I swallowed my excitement and asked as calmly as I could,

"Did you come because you wanted to join our guild?"

"Yes."

I clapped my hands once and answered,

"Approved! Mone, you’re coming with us!"

"Hahaha. Aren’t you going to ask me anything else?"

Well, I already knew everything through Insight without her having to say a word. On top of that, even the viewers’ sentiment had shot through the roof.

"Even your job is the royal-born support class, the Astrologer. If I don’t take you in, that’s just a loss for me."

In Unknown Universe, a ten-year-old game, there were a truly huge variety of classes, but they broadly broke down into dealers, tanks, debuffers, and supporters.

The reason this game, which normally had no healers or buffers, lacked them was simple. If healing existed, then expensive potions wouldn’t sell. The accepted wisdom was that the only way to raise damage was through game content—especially cash shop content. Even the debuffers and supporters I’d just mentioned had no skills that directly affected healing or damage.

"Take a ten-minute break if you can’t resist female Astrologers."

As far as I knew, the real-life class of the second-ranked guild master, Lemon, was Mage—more specifically, a ranged dealer class called Cosmic Sorcerer. So if she’d come here as an Astrologer, the royal-born support class, was she really planning to help me a whole lot from behind the scenes while pretending not to know me? That was downright touching.

"Anyway, I can’t very well not ask."

I casually steered the conversation toward the reason she’d come on an alt account.

"What’s the goal? Leaving better guilds behind and coming to ours?"

"This place looks more fun than the other guilds. And you said you were going to reach the summit, didn’t you? That means you’re talking about destroying the number-one guild, Destruction, right?"

"Of course."

"Maybe you don’t know this, Haruru, but Destruction has a terrible reputation. Most of Unknown Universe’s scandals and incidents came out of that guild."

"Shut up."

At the sound of the donation alert, she gave a little laugh and then said in a suddenly serious voice,

"Destruction guild master Yuhun. A streamer in Unknown Universe known for his rude, provocative broadcasts and lack of manners..."

That was right. Destruction guild master Yuhun.

There was more than enough controversy surrounding his personality, yet he was, without question, the current number-one streamer in Unknown Universe.

"Haruru, let me turn the question around. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Saying you’re going to the summit means you’re making that man your enemy. Are you really sure about that?"

Before answering, I gave a snort of laughter.

"I’ve already been prepared for ages. I’ll crush Destruction, the guild that does nothing but drag Unknown Universe’s image through the mud."

Then I heard her laugh.

"As expected, I didn’t misjudge you. From the moment you fully transcended Mika, I thought you were no ordinary person. I’m also truly grateful that you handled the Minari Guild in my place today..."

In my place? She must have realized she’d misspoken, because she brushed past it immediately.

"In any case, I want to help too. That’s why I applied to this guild."

Once again, I decided to test the waters a little more and pin down her true intention. Was my guess right?

"But if you’re targeting the overwhelmingly number-one Destruction Guild, will the second-ranked guild just sit back and watch? They might try to seize the chance and take first place for themselves, or even ally with Destruction..."

"There’s absolutely no way that would happen. If anything, they might help us surpass a guild like Destruction."

Ha. So I was right after all. This might be a lot easier than I’d expected. Even though she was hiding her identity, I’d already gained a connection to the second-ranked guild master.

"And besides, I’m rich. I can keep going with you until the very end, Haruru."

I couldn’t possibly describe how reassuring that was.

"Settle down, everyone."

"But you said you’re rich... if it’s not too much to ask, could I get, um, one hundred thousand won as a donation..."

"Oh, I’m joking. If I said ten thousand, it’d sound like I really meant it, but if I say one hundred thousand, you’ll think I’m kidding..."

Then it happened.

A clear, lovely donation message arrived. I’d only been joking, but it was actually real!

"Aaagh! No, Mone! What is this one-hundred-thousand-won donation?"

I bowed so hard and so repeatedly that it was practically a folding board routine. On the screen, my avatar—who looked just like me—was swaying back and forth beside her.

"I really didn’t think you’d actually send it! My goodness, President of the After-Drinking Crew... thank you."

"I-I do have some shame, you know. I was joking about the one hundred thousand won in the first place..."

"Anyway, Mone, I’ll be in your care. I’m giving you the vice master position!"

Our very first guild member, and what an enormous gain this was.

"You should be proud. Welcome to our Shining Parade, the guild that will rise to the top of Unknown Universe!"

There’s no way I misread that, right?

There’s no way I misheard that, right?

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, one million...

I counted each zero carefully on my fingers.

"Aaaaaaagh! One million won!"

After gathering myself, I said this.

"Thank you all sincerely for your overwhelming support. It’s the second day of the stream, and including that one-million-won donation just now, we’ve received about 1.3 million won total..."

"Therefore, I, the black fox Haruru, hereby declare to all of you that I will give up 170 percent of this month’s limited sales."

If I wanted to push forward and claw my way into the summit, I’d have to pour every last won I got back into Unknown Universe. I’d already planned to do exactly that, but I added a little showmanship on top.

"Why is it 170 percent—over 100? Because I’m going to borrow the other 70 percent from ChaeMoney and spend even more!"

I cleared my throat a little and calmed the excitement down.

"Then let’s keep going with the guild recruitment. And in a few days, we should go take down a boss too. We’re heading to catch the Normal Element, the thing you could call Unknown Universe citizenship."

"You say the Element patterns are hard...?"

This cursed game, you see. If you’ve got money, you can flatten even your lack of mechanical skill.

"If I just brute-force the damage, that’s enough."