There is No Such Thing as a Bad Hunter

Yang Hojin was silent for a while.

Did he come off as superficial or hypocritical? That could be the case. Since Jiho hasn’t done anything to protect someone yet.

“I understand if you do not believe me. After all, I haven’t done anything for others yet.”

“N-No! I wasn’t thinking that… Just, just surprised.”

“By what?”

“Most people put their own needs first… The hunters I have seen so far, usually put money, first… Ah, not that that’s bad! Just, just… that they do. That’s usually their goal, and so is mine…”

Jiho glanced over at Hojin who admitted simply that he was the same.

Although Jiho doesn’t know a lot about Hojin yet… Hojin doesn’t seem like the type of person to put his interests on top like he says he does. And he said he joined the guild because of Jiho, too.

Though Jiho feels like he has another motive too… instead of calling that out, Jiho quietly listened to him.

“But Guildmaster-nim… this, this might sound out of line since I’ve only observed you from the side for a bit of time…”

“I won’t think that way. You can speak comfortably. As long as it’s not cursing.”

“Why would I curse… A-Anyways, when I look at Guildmaster-nim, I can tell that you are not running the guild for money. So I actually thought that, Guildmaster-nim, was being a hunter to… regain glory? or something like that…”

“Yes, well…”

Jiho tapped his finger on the steering wheel as he trailed off. He regretted saying such showy words for no reason. Even though, of course, all of the words he said to Yang Hojin were true.

Seeing how red the tips of Jiho’s ears were, Hojin spoke.

“E-Even if I look like this, I’ve met a lot of people. I’m… pretty good at reading people.”

“Ah, I see.”

“… You don’t believe me, right?”

Truthfully, Jiho couldn’t.

Instead of giving a straight answer, Jiho sent an ambiguous laugh.

“No, it’s just that Hunter Yang Hojin is still young… After all, I am young too, but you’re even younger than I am.”

Since he’s around Jiho’s age, how many people could he have possibly met? Hojin laughed bashfully at Jiho’s unconvinced attitude.

“But I really, met a lot more people than you think… I know a bad person when I see one. There’s, a lot of bad people in the world. Though there’s a lot of good people too… like Guildmaster-nim.”

“I’m not that good…”

“You don’t have to be so humble!”

Hojin, who shouted loudly, turned beet red.

“I-I’m c-complimenting you so… I hope Guildmaster-nim will continue to live while thinking that way.” 

“Ah, y-yes… Of course.”

Facing Hojin, whose eyes sparkled as he spoke, Jiho answered awkwardly.

Even though it’s only the middle of May, the inside of the car is very hot. Jiho turned the air conditioner on for no reason and changed the subject.

While talking about training and Heo Sori’s condition, they soon reached Hojin’s house, which isn’t far from the guild and training center.

Hojin got out of the car with a face much more flushed than the one he had when he first got in. He bowed.

“Then thank you for today, Guildmaster-nim.”

“Yes. See you tomorrow.”

“Ah. And, Guildmaster-nim…”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think Guildmaster-nim’s luck is very good today. So please don’t overwork yourself today and go home and rest early. Please.”

Hojin spoke seriously. Jiho looked at him blankly.

“… Do you have a fortune-telling skill?”

“No, I just look at fortunes for fun. But they’re usually right.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Don’t brush this off. Please listen carefully.”

Jiho nodded earnestly. He nodded his head to Hojin, who had closed the car’s door and was sending him off. Reckoning that Hojin believes in all sorts of things, Jiho turned his car around. 

Jiho doesn’t believe in fortune-telling.

When he was young, his mother held his hand and took him to a shaman, who said that Jiho has great luck.

That the reason Chungram did so well was because of Jiho, that it will do even better because of Jiho, and that Jiho himself attracts good fortune and will succeed in everything he does.

The result.

Chungram’s stocks that had been running just fine fell to the ground for a moment, both the parent company and guild are constantly being dragged down by Jiho, and Jiho’s life is far from the definition of success.

‘Maybe I’ll succeed from now?’

Jiho laughed at himself for his sudden thought. People who believe in fortune-telling force their narrative to fit what they want to believe.

‘I just have to work for it myself.’

It’s true that Jiho was born with good fortune. He was born in a good house, and he even acquired a new skill now.

All that’s left now is to work hard. 

“To do that, the first thing I need to do is… work.”

It looks like he’ll be working overtime today too. It’s impossible to go in early like Hojin told him to. 

Jiho soon returned to the guild office. After entering the guildmaster’s office, he was about to get started on the large pile of papers when the vice-guildmaster, Lim Seung Joo, came to find him with something in his hands.

“These are documents from Apollon Guild.”

“Ah, thank you.”

It seems like the data he requested from Seon Tae Woong a few days ago arrived. 

Because the data requires a bit of security, it arrived sealed by mana instead of being sent by email. Jiho entered the mana password he received earlier and broke the seal. 

There were more documents than Jiho expected. And the data was quite detailed, unlike what he would expect from Seon Tae Woong. 

Since Seon Tae Woong doesn’t really seem like the type of person to sit and look through data… it looks like Seon Tae Hui went through it too. 

Data that went through both the guildmaster and vice-guildmaster. 

This was basically a sign that Apollon Guild decided to work with No Name. 

Feeling pleased for multiple reasons, Jiho flipped the documents over, but instead of leaving, Lim Seung Joo asked a question. 

“May I ask what the documents are about?”

Jiho looked at Lim Seung Joo with round eyes. It was the first time that Seung Joo, who usually only does what he has to do, asked Jiho about something he didn’t tell him to do. 

Jiho, who was surprised, answered easily.

“I’m planning to recruit new guildmembers. Since, as you know already, a lot of guildmembers are going to be changed around this time.”

“Recruit new guildmembers?”

“Yes. It will probably be easy to recruit C-ranks and lower, but it’s hard to recruit B-ranks or A-ranks. I was thinking about sending an offer through the guild to people that seem likely to join. Wouldn’t it be easier to negotiate with them if I already know what they want?”

The data he asked from Seon Tae Woong last time was a list of new guildmembers he could recruit and basic information about them. 

Instead of acting independently as a guild, Apollon tends to split into teams and aid other guilds.

Seon Tae Woong’s ability is fire. Because he can be as powerful as an S-rank depending on the dungeon’s attribute, he’s highly sought after. 

Since he usually works with Korean guilds, Seon Tae Woong has a lot of connections. 

That’s why Jiho asked Tae Woong to give him a bit of information on hunters that might be interested in No Name. 

Although he could borrow Chungram’s information network… Jiho doesn’t want to get so much help from them. Not only did he promise his sister that he would succeed independently, but in order to catch up to Joo Yiwon, he can’t depend solely on Chungram.

If he relies on Chungram, neither No Name nor Jiho will ever stand on their own. 

Of course, once Jiho gets promoted to S-rank, he will probably contact them first to negotiate with better conditions. For now though, he plans to use the data Tae Woong gave him as a starting point to investigate the hunters himself and narrow the list down.

Thinking that he has a lot of work to do today as well, Jiho started flipping through the documents when he realized that he didn’t hear Seung Joo leave. Lifting his head while holding his pen, Jiho was met with Seung Joo’s shocked face. 

“Is there a problem?”

“Am I one of the hunters who will be replaced as well?”

At the serious question, Jiho stopped what he was doing and looked straight at Lim Seung Joo. Lim Seung Joo looked at Shin Jiho with a face more sincere than ever before.

What is he thinking while saying that? Jiho slowly leaned back on his chair.

“From what I know, Hunter Lim Seung Joo still has two years left on his contract. Do you perhaps want to leave? You will have to pay the fee, but I can…”

“No, no. I don’t have the thought of leaving.”

Because the blunt answer was surprising, Jiho frowned slightly. Lim Seung Joo used to make it very obvious that he wasn’t pleased with No Name.

But why did he suddenly change?

Although Jiho thinks he knows the reason…

Jiho observed Seung Joo for a second before asking straightforwardly. 

“Why do you suddenly feel differently? Hunter Lim Seung Joo used to hate me and our guild.”

Not expecting Jiho to ask so directly, Lim Seung Joo faltered. 

Even though they were guildmaster and vice-guildmaster in name, Lim Seung Joo was always higher than Jiho.

Jiho has never been so frank with Seung Joo. Not that he didn’t, but that he couldn’t. 

But Lim Seung Joo’s presence isn’t as needed as before. Naturally, it’s better if he can hold onto Seung Joo, but it’s not impossible.

“The reason I didn’t like the guild…”

Lim Seung Joo’s voice had a slight tremble to it. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat once.

“… is because I wanted to raid dungeons.”

“Hm… raiding dungeons definitely brings in a lot more money.”

“Not because of money… It’s because I can’t grow just by taking care of monsters coming out of fissures.”

“That’s true…”

There’s a lot of limitations when it comes to fighting outside of dungeons.

For unexpected fissures, you have to fight while minimizing the effect on the surroundings. For fissures that were expected, you still have to control your strength in order to not destroy the barriers.

On top of all that, it’s very rare that a strong monster comes out of a fissure. Even if one does escape, it’s the job of big guilds like Chungram or Heaven, not No Name.

But for dungeons that return to their original state after a raid, you can use as much strength as you want. There’s plenty of strong monsters, and it’s easy to grow while fighting those.

It’s been three years since the fissures appeared.

There’s a lot of hunters who have reportedly gotten much stronger since their first fight. Although there’s no hunter who’s gotten strong enough to advance a rank, everyone believes that it’s only a matter of time.

“Isn’t No Name going to start raiding dungeons now?”

“Yes, that is the plan.”

As the vice-guildmaster who has been closely watching Jiho reorganize the guild, there’s no way he wouldn’t know. Since Jiho admitted it plainly, Seung Joo nodded firmly.

“That is why I don’t have the intention of leaving anymore. I want to participate in dungeon raids as No Name from here on out.”

“I see… But that doesn’t answer my question.”

Jiho pointed out with a smiling face.

“If you want to raid dungeons, you can do that in other guilds, can’t you? There should be better guilds; why are you sticking to No Name?”