Protagonist Knows Everything

Ah. I remember. It was when I formed the project management team. There were rumors that Baek Tae-Hyun, who was assigned as a team leader at the time, covered the mistakes of his team members and led the project fairly well…

‘But It didn’t end well because I exposed those mistakes. It was fairly easy. Thanks to that, Baek Tae-Hyun’s reputation shrunk tremendously, and at the same time I climbed up the rankings.’

Then Sain’s sudden words broke my inner monologue.

“Yeah. I have confirmed the completion of the quest. Here is your reward.”

“Thank you for patronage.”

I quietly glanced at the personnel records. Both of the ladies’s data had been registered. The lady in front is Kate… and the one behind her is Eris. As soon as Kate received her reward, she immediately split it in half and handed it to Eris.

Eris, embarrassed and not knowing what to do opened her mouth with a meek voice.

“I won’t take it. Kate did everything this time.”

“You wanna make me the bad guy?”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It was a quest that I couldn’t even register for on my own, you joining the party was essential for the quest.”

Saying that Kate forced the money into Eris’ hand. I could see the expressions of the receptionists changing to a heartwarming smile.

But I didn’t have time to pay attention to that. Because I noticed a very peculiar thing in the register.

[Name: Eris Dren]

[Gender: Female]

[Age: 17]

[Occupation: Adventurer]

[Equipment: Wood stick (85% durability)]

Except the age nothing else was out of the ordinary, but it wasn’t that important.

[Real Name: Kasha Frame]

[Title: Error]

[Potential: Error]

[Human relationship: Error]

[Family relationship: Error]

What is this?

This was new for me.

An error? I’ve never seen anything like this.

“We’re done right, Ms. Sain?”

“Yeah. Seems like you were successful once again.”

“All of it is hard work. Eris, let’s go back and take some rest. We can eat together at the adventurer’s tavern later. This quest was quite troublesome.”

After that, those two left the guild holding each other’s hands tightly.

As I stared at their backs, I heard Sain’s voice.

“Why are you staring at them?”

“Because they are the first adventurers who behave like that.”

“This must be your first time meeting them. They take quests from many guilds within the city”

“As a party?”

“Yeah. They’re pretty famous. Their skills aren’t great, but the relationship is like that of a closely-knit family.”

Is that really the case? It was unfortunate that the other receptionists’ expressions were warm before. Were you all fooled by their obvious masks?

“When they were sharing the money. It seemed that they split it in half.”

“Yeah. It’s the hallmark of that party. Regardless of the quest contribution, the reward is always split in half. Fairly.”

‘Nothing is more unfair than being perfectly fair. This was my opinion.’

“Hallmark..huh”

“If it has always been like that, then why didn’t you split the reward beforehand?”

“Oh, that’s…”

“Ms. Kate must’ve advised against it.”

Sain’s eyes widened at my words. She asked with a trembling voice, “Mr. Tay. wasn’t this your first time meeting them?.”

“Yes.”

“……”

“I bet she’ll go out and get Eris’ money back.”

“Isn’t it uncomfortable because you don’t have a money bag? I’ll take care of it.”

Sain kept her silence.

Oops. Did I say something wrong?

I am thinking like that, but to others she must’ve appeared as a loud charismatic person.

I was about to continue but Sain interrupted me.

“Tay is the first person to think this way.”

Surprisingly, her voice wasn’t cold. Rather, it seemed like she was admiring me.

“In fact, I had a similar idea.”

“Ms. Sain as well?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t tell anyone because it goes against our policies.”

She said in a soft voice, “But now I have one person to talk to.”

‘I am fortunate that my boss was a capable person.’

“But don’t tell others. This conversation remains between us. Okay? Can you do that for me?”

I just scratched my head.

Sain smiled again and asked, “Are you free tonight? Would you like to have a meal together?”

“I’m sorry. I have an appointment today. Maybe we should go for a meal next time.”

She just nodded and returned to her work. Of course, I had no appointments. I just wanted to visit a certain place. The Adventurer’s Tavern.

I know for a fact that that’s not the original name, but it is called so because it is located in a place crowded with guilds. And as many adventurers gathered there, it would’ve been the perfect place to collect a lot of information.

Or so I thought.

I didn’t know, but I was quite famous there.

The employee who came to take the order recognized my face and asked.

“Aren’t you Mr.Taylor?”

“Do I know you?”

“No, but I heard rumours about you.”

“If you’re going to the Hagnut Guild, you should go to Mr.Taylor.”

“……”

“Rumour has it that none of your clients have failed their quests.”

I just shook my head and replied, “I was just lucky. Can I order now?”

“Ah yes.”

“I will order this along with a drink.”

“Okay. Do you have any companions?”

“No, I am alone.”

The waitress looked rather upset at my words, but took the order anyway.

It was when I was about to have my first drink.

“May I have a moment?”

Suddenly someone took the seat in front of me.

He asked as if he was asking for permission, but in reality he already had his butt on the chair.

I took my first sip and politely asked, “Who are you?”

“Aren’t you Mr.Tay?”

He didn’t reveal his name, but somehow he knew mine.

‘This doesn’t look good.’

I hastily looked at the register.

‘It’s Dirk Perchen.’

He was the Vice-guild master of the Wyvern guild. I met a big-shot, this was unexpected.

The Wyvern guild is the largest guild in this Kelk City.

I slowly broke the silence.

“Dirk Perchen. Vice-guild master of the Wyvern guild.”

His expression suddenly changed.

“How did you recognize me?”

“Did you really think that I won’t recognize the Vice-guild master of the biggest guild in Kelk city?”

“I know Mr.Tay has just begun this job, people like you shouldn’t be able to recognize me .”

I answered casually.

“You knows about me.”

“……”

“Then, it’s just fair that I know about you.”

Dirk looked me deep in the eyes. After staring for some time he started speaking.

“It’s nothing strange that I know about you Mr. Tay. Lately you are getting really famous, this is really weird for someone who just started working as the general receptionist.”

“……”

“But at the same time, it’s’ quite amazing.”

“Enough praises. What do you want?”

Dirk lightly shrugged his shoulders and replied.

“I just wanted to say ‘Hello’.”

“Thank you, I guess there’s nothing else to do.”

“You’re working hard.”

“I hate lengthy conversations which don’t serve any purpose. Just say what you want to say.”

“Nothing much. Recently one of the receptionists at our guild quit…”

“……”

“I was wondering if you were willing to work with us.”

Are you scouting people out of taverns?

‘That’s odd. My achievements aren’t that big, is that really enough to get an invitation from the biggest guild in the city? There’s nothing great about what I have done so far.’

‘Surely my achievements were great for a beginner, but they weren’t enough to get an invitation from this big of a guild.’

I looked at Dirk carefully and asked, “What’s the reason?”

“One of our receptionists quit recently.”

“Enough with the excuses, now tell me the real reason”

Dirk’s face hardened at those words.

“Why do you think that’s an excuse?”

“For a big guild like yours, finding receptionists won’t be difficult.

Many receptionists will even give up their current jobs for a chance to join your guild.”

“……”

“In the case of a direct job offer, the targets will be those who have achieved tremendous feats. It doesn’t make sense for a beginner like me to be approached.”

Dirk didn’t understand some of the words that came out of my mouth, but he seemed to understand what I meant to say.

He spoke with a serious tone.

“People who are smart in the world can be divided into two categories. The ones who constantly try to progress and the ones who don’t.”

“……”

“I think you are the latter. Obviously, I don’t care much about your abilities. You’re only a receptionist.”

“….”

“The problem is that you belong to the Hagnut Guild.”

‘So it’s about the guild?’

So you’re trying to keep the guild sizes in check.

‘But the size difference between Hagnut and Wyvern is huge. Then why is he going as far as to recruit people from smaller guilds into his guild?’

Dirk spoke.

“Come to our guild. At least you’ll be treated better than you are now.”

“I have one question.”

“Ask.”

“When will you start speaking the whole truth?”

At my words, Dirk started turning pale.

I kept talking in a cold tone.

‘Bizarrely enough, all the high ranking officers in companies used to speak the half truth.’

“What…?

“Your boss didn’t give you permission to tell the whole truth, right?”

I leaned back on the chair. Enjoying Dirk’s expression getting worse.

“I have no intention of joining your guild.”

“……Shall I ask why?”

“I don’t want to work under someone with lower skills than mine.”

Dirk wasn’t mad at me. Rather, he laughed loudly enough for everybody to notice.

“Hahaha! Did you say that I don’t have talent just because I’m not interested in your abilities?”

“Not necessarily like that.”

“If I didn’t have ambition and eyes to search for talents then the Wyvern guild wouldn’t have grown this much?”

The surrounding noise suddenly stopped. I knew without even looking. The eyes and ears of customers gathered in the bar were suddenly focused on us.

Squeak.

Just in time, the door of the bar opened and the people I was waiting for appeared.

It was Kate and Eris, who visited the Hagnut Guild today.

The two seemed a little embarrassed by the atmosphere and the quiet bar, but took a seat at one of the tables.

‘That’s convenient.’

My head was starting to spin from all of his shouting.

Having made a plan in no time, I spoke softly.

“If you believe in your abilities so much, then how about a wager?”