Chapter 79 (1/2)

TIFER-2

As soon as I started working as a Guild Master, I did eliminate all regular meetings that I had to preside over. Therefore, most of the guild operations reports were made digitally or were carried out through Secretary Kim.

“Guild Master, this is Secretary Kim.”

“Oh, the call will be over soon, so please come in.”

The office door opened. Secretary Kim was now in charge of the position of executive secretary and direct chief of staff under the Guild Master. I was on the phone with the Hunter Management, so Secretary Kim sat on the chair and waited for a while. When the call was finally over, I saw his mouth twitching strangely.

“Do you still like it that much?”

He replied with a bright smile, “Yes, every day is new and exciting!”

Whenever he saw me sitting in the chair of the Guild Master, he looked so happy. He seemed so pleased and proud.

“Why don’t you stay in the office a little longer, too, Guild Master? That would help boost guild morale.”

About once a week, I stopped by my office in the office building. I knew what Secretary Kim wanted, but I shook my head.

“Boost of morale is not done by the boss showing his face often but by treating them well. Anyway, what about this week’s report?”

Secretary Kim launched a hologram. Each department in the guild prepared regular reports. They reported how they had progressed with my long-term decisions rather than those that required urgent decision-making.

“First of all, the internal announcement of the final draft of the reorganization was sent out, as you see.” As instructed, the number of mining team members was reduced, and the number of Clear team members was increased instead.

“What’s the reaction of hunters below Class C?”

According to the formation of a mining team that hunted monsters and collected cores in dungeons that were already Cleared, hunters of C-Rank or lower accounted for the majority.

“There’s been a commotion. They’ve been working in mining for a long time, so they have some psychological inertia.”

It was a natural response because Clear is of higher risk.

“Please keep reminding them that we’ve increased the hazard pay for the Clear team significantly, as we mentioned before, and that we’ve increased the level of item supplies compared to the previous times,” I couldn’t help it if they left complaining, even if the conditions were set high, “Any other reactions? I know Secretary Kim reads the atmosphere well.”

He tilted his head and said, “In fact, we have a lot of questions about the decision to reduce core mining because it is the most stable source of guild income. Especially in the back office where the non-Awakened are concentrated.”

All the cores mined in such a way must be sold within a limited price range to the country. After the energy revolution caused by Core, Mana core indeed became a necessity to run the society. Still, Celestial Dragon did not have to be in charge of supplying the demand. Other guilds could take the place where Celestial Dragon had stepped down and would work hard for a low-profit margin. The method of generating income was enough and overflowing even if not for the Mana core.

‘From now on, Celestial Dragon’s personnel will focus on finding undiscovered gates and Clearing those dungeons.’

I asked Secretary Kim, “But the finance team doesn’t say much, do they?”

“Yes, that was indeed interesting. A reduction in supplying the Core means that cash flows will be affected immediately, but the finance team leader has no complaints.”

The non-Awakened finance team leader was now screaming with joy as he tried to figure out how to manage the tremendous amount of cash pouring into the guild through several investment companies. There would be no reason, or time, to complain about my management principles. If they found the origin of money, they would reach the auction including [Vital Flame].

“And, as you said, we’ve made a massive announcement at a domestic and international level to recruit support type hunters,” Secretary Kim floated the next slide in the air, “Through the head-hunter, we’ve mentioned that the treatment would be of a level that would completely shakedown industry standards.”

I nodded, “As soon as they gather, we need to reinforce the gate search team.”

“Okay.”

Undiscovered gate search was one of the state projects led by the country. Even in places with low population density, CCTVs were installed, and regular search flights were carried out with drones, but still, we missed gates now and then.

Meanwhile, the four major guilds also ran gate search teams, but that was more for bragging rights than anything else. At least, the Celestial Dragon search team, led by Hunters directly under Han-Seol, had achieved the most so far.

‘It must be action based on reading the future with [Prophecy].’

What I was trying to do, from that moment on, was to induce the Celestial Dragon to find the gate that would eventually lead to an accident they couldn’t find in the future that I already experienced.

‘Of course, I’ll do the selection of the search area myself.’

The search team of Celestial Dragon, which operated like that, would produce unprecedented results. Our secret was that we hired many detection type hunters with exceptional treatment.

‘Still, the rumor will spread. Speculation that there is something special in Celestial Dragon to find the gate. That’s enough.’

That was the short-term plan.

‘And the detection type hunters will be the asset to prepare for the future.’

One of Celestial Dragon’s major weaknesses was the lack of support types in the composition of personnel. Meaning, talents to overcome the dungeon’s increasingly complex structure, were largely ignored in the latter part of the tutorial. Just as Nicole Thompson played a great role in the Siheung 8 Dungeon, they would use their ability in many ways in the future.

Beep, beep!

There was a ringing on my terminal. Secretary Kim, who just finished the report, bowed his head and stepped out, with a slight skip in his step.

When he’d gone, I checked who was on the other side.

‘Edward Danton.’

When I tapped the device lightly, a hologram came up. The Senator, who buried himself deep in a leather sofa, was staring at me.

“What’s going on? That you would rather contact me directly without going through director Yoo Jin-Hwa?”

He replied with a grin, “I think I’ll have to tell you the news myself.”

“The prototype, it’s done.”

I was impressed. ‘Oh, already?’ Was it because I set up the table, and he just had to lay his spoon on it? It was much faster than it was in the previous life.

“Look,” the Senator gestured, and another video came up under the video call window as it seemed that his subordinates had prepared it beforehand. There, a Hunter was seen holding a sword and concentrating his mind. The light fluttered on the blade of the sword with a buzzing sound. The ‘blade energy’, created by the formed Mana’s combustion, was also seen on a manmade video recording device.

“Okay!” I clapped my hands, “You have succeeded!”

“Yes, it is the first sustainable weapon type artifact made by human technology.”

There was a bomb that utilized Mana core among the manufactured artifacts, but they were disposable. Most of the Hunters’ artifacts were picked up in dungeons or received as additional compensation after Clearing them. Among them, weapons had always lacked supply compared to demand, but the game had to change completely from now on.

The Senator added a few words, “No, I’m a little suspicious that this is exactly the technology of mankind.”