Chapter 23   – Hammer Guild

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Jung-minchan was the team leader of the 4th Support team of the Hammer guild.

The 4th Support team managed any work related to Dungeon equal to or below 3 stars. The team was also in charge of educating the new Roused inducted into the Guild, and they helped out with the training.

After he got to work, he always hand-brewed his coffee. He was a coffee maniac. He started off the day leisurely as he drank a cup of coffee in his large office. This was an important ritual for him and it gave him joy.

The 30 minutes after he got to work was his small time of happiness. His team members didn’t bother him unless there was an important business.

Ddi-ri-ri.

𝔫oѵ𝑒𝙡.com

He was about to grind the coffee beans with his hand mill when the phone rang.

He picked up the phone.

“This is 4th Support team leader, Jung-minchan.”

[Team ldader. This is Haemin.]

Kim-haemin was part of the management staff he had deployed to the Maebong Station’s 3rd exit. The Maebong Station’s 3rd exit was taken by the Hammer guild about a month ago. They were now in charge of managing the Dungeon, where the Rakwis spawned.

“Yeah. What’s going on?”

[These guys arrived at the Dungeon this morning, and they reserved 4 hours before going in. There is something wrong with these guys.]

“Did they die?”

It was common for the Roused to meet an untimely death when they attempt a Dungeon.

[No. They were able to safely clear it, but their clear time is abnormal. The first attempt took 30 minutes, but it is taking them 11 minutes to clear the Dungeon now. Huk . They just came out right now, and it took them 9 minutes 47 seconds. Hey. Hey. I won. Collect all the money.]

Minchan heard low voices in the background, and he already knew what Haemin was doing.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

[Ah. We made a bet on whether they would be able to clear the Dungeon in less than 10 minutes. Never mind about that. Why don’t you look up these bastards? They said they were Rank F, but I’m sure they are ranked higher.]

Something was most definitely off. This didn’t make any sense. Two ranked F Roused was able to clear a Dungeon spawning Rakwis in less than 10 minutes.

“Keep your phone by your side, and wait for me. I’ll call back after I look them up. First, when their reserved Dungeon time comes to an end, try to detain them.”

[Yes sir. Team Leader. Keep up the hard work.]

After Minchan ended his phone call, he logged on to the Association site to look up their information.

“What? This guy registered yesterday? The other guy seems to have registered only 2 months ago.”

They were fledglings yet they were clearing 3 star Dungeons. Moreover, they were clearing it within 10 minutes.

“One is a necromancer and the other is a flame magician.”

By looking at their specialty, one could roughly guess the style of their hunting method. It basically meant either there was a mistake when measuring their Roused rank or they were intentionally hiding it.

Anyways, it was obvious the two Roused were well above Rank F. At the very least, they should be Rank C. f a Roused exhibited a Rank C ability from the beginning, every single one of them matured into a high ranked Roused.

It has been a long time since a promising Roused had appeared.

“I must catch them.”

Jung-minchan abandoned the coffee he loved, and he immediately left his office. As the 4th Support team, their main job was to manage the Dungeons equal to or below 3 stars, but it was also important to scout the Roused using their Dungeons.

Minchan’s car raced towards the Maebong station.

After he roughly parked near the road, he headed towards the 3rd exit. Kim-haemin was waiting for him, and he gave Minchan a greeting.

“Uh. Hyung-nim came by yourself?”

“It’s business hour right now.”

“Ah-chacha. Team leader. Heh heh. It’s bee about 8 minutes since they entered. They’ll be out soon. By looking at their clear time, they still have time to go through the Dungeon once more.”

They had reserved 4 hours, and they had 15 minutes left. They’ll be out soon, so they might attempt the Dungeon once more.

“These guys aren’t playing around. They’ve already made over $300,000. Uh-whew. If I was skilled, then I would do the Dungeon runs like them.”

If a high ranked Roused team attacked a 3 star Dungeon, of course it would be possible for them to clear the it within 10 minutes. However, those high ranked Roused had no reason to attempt a lowly 3 star Dungeon.

If they were able to clear a higher ranked Dungeon, the $300,000 was chump change. The 3 star Dungeon would basically be a repetitive labor. It was as simple as that.

“Either these bastards have incredible potential or they are criminals who are using fake identities.”

If they possessed some amazing Roused ability that grew enough within few days to allow a Rank F to sweep through a 3 star Dungeon, he had to get a hold of them.

It was a different story if they were criminals with laundered identities. The supervision over the Roused was very strict. It would be very hard to cover up one’s identity to go through the Roused registration again.

Criminals wouldn’t do such eye-catching deeds like this in the first place.

“Why aren’t they coming out? It’s about time they should be coming out.”

Woojin’s party had already passed the 10 minute mark. Haemin was becoming restless when they didn’t come out like usual. Dungeons were a place where one didn’t know what was coming. Everything further than one’s nose was an unknown. It wouldn’t be strange for a high ranked Roused to die even in a low ranked Dungeon.

“Mmmm. It means this will be their last run….”

Haemin was restless for no reason, and he glanced at his watch. They had only 4 minutes left. There wasn’t enough time left for them to attempt the Dungeon one more time. Either this was there last run or they wouldn’t be coming out forever.

Fortunately, it wasn’t the latter situation. Woojin came out with a complicated expression on his face, and Sunggoo seemed exhausted.

‘W…we burned through it like white hot fire.’

Sunggoo’s two arms felt like it was about to be ripped off. However, he couldn’t help but laugh when he thought about the bags filled with bloodstones on his back. The bloodstones were worth about $50,000, and it was all his.

‘I made the right choice.’

He made a good choice by sticking to Woojin, and becoming his manager. This was a once in a life time opportunity.

“What are you doing? Go quickly settle our account.”

“Yes, sir. Hyung-nim.”

The adjusted profit would all be going to Sunggoo this time, so Woojin didn’t have to go with him. Sunggoo tried to quickly head towards the Bloodstone exchange store, but someone blocked his way.

“May I speak to the both of you for a moment?”

Sunggoo didn’t give a reply, and he casted a furtive glance towards Woojin.

A flame magician with 2 month experience, and a Necromancer on his 2nd day. They were an odd combination. Moreover, the relationship between the two seemed more strange.

‘I guess that person is the leader.’

Minchan approached Woojin to ask his request again.

“May I speak with you?”

“No. I don’t want to.”

The correspondence of his words with his action was right on point. Woojin pushed passed Minchan, who was in his face. Minchan was taken aback, and he quickly got in Woojin’s way again.

“P…please. Please wait a moment. I just need a moment of your time.”

“If you are planning to steal my time anyways, why are you asking politely?”

At the other’s unexpected response, Minchan had two thoughts in his mind.

‘What kind of crazy son of a bitch is this?’

‘He is straight forward. I have quickly give him the main points.’

The former was his emotional side speaking, and the latter was his logical side speaking. Michan, who had climbed up the ranks to become the team leader of the 4th Support team, preferred logic over emotion.

“I’ll tell you my business first. I want to recruit you to our Hammer guild.”

Minchan hurriedly put his hand into his suit’s pocket to take out a business card, then he tried to hand one to Woojin. Woojin didn’t even entertain the idea of taking the business card.

He had heard a lot of information from Jaemin and Sunggoo, so he was well versed on this subject.

“I refuse.”

Woojin didn’t even think for 1 second before he gave his answer. Minchan had to suppress himself from grumbling, and he was barely able to reply back.

“Well, it seems you don’t know about the Hammer guild yet….”

“Isn’t it one of the 3 great guilds of Korea?”

“It seems you know much…”

“I’m not in a good mood, so why don’t you stop bothering me?”

Woojin’s thought was on a razor edge as his mind was filled with thoughts about Trahnet. He became irritated when this person started pestering him. He didn’t want to speak to him, and it was about a subject he didn’t want to talk about. Of course, he wasn’t happy.

Fortunately, Minchan was quick to pick up on other’s mood.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be now. At least give us a call once. Hammer guild takes good care of the Roused with skill.”

Woojin walked passed Minchan after he glanced at the business card . Sunggooo, who was following after Woojin, stealthily read the face of Woojin.

‘What a waste.’

What kind of an organization is the Hammer Guild?

They were one of the 3 great guilds of Korea. They were a guild ranked within the top 20 even if one put them against the guilds of the world. They were a powerful guild, who possessed 2 Rank A Roused.

One fourth of the Dungeons in Seoul were Hammer Guild properties. The guild was probably making an enormous amount of money just from the entrance fees.

If one was noticed by such a guild, it guaranteed a fast advancement in one’s status. Moreover, a member of the support team and the team leader was here to recruit him. This mean t they were very interested in him.

‘How could he kick away such an opportunity?’

Sunggoo knew Woojin was in a foul mood.

Money wasn’t the only thing the guild possessed. They had numerous magic and artifact. Moreover, they had experience. Sunggoo’s goal was to increase his ability, and he wanted to advance in rank. As a Roused, this was opportunity was like a dream.

Minchan didn’t miss Sunggoo’s anxious reaction.

“Please talk it over carefully with your party member. Then please give us a call.”

“Ah, yes.”

Sunggoo sneakily took the Team leader Jung-minchan’s business card. As he watched the two leave, Jung-minchan put on a confident smile. When the two entered the Bloodstone exchange store, he swore as he frowned.

“What the fuck! There is a limit on how arrogant a person should be.”

“You are right, team leader. The bastard isn’t normal.”

“Ah ah! He should be thankful just to be noticed. Even that should be too much for him.”

“That’s right. He has no idea how high the door steps to Hammer guild is.”

“Whew…”

Minchan took a couple deep breath then he let go of his anger. There were public employees from the Management Bureau present. There were also other Roused and managers watching from the surrounding. If he had a temper tantrum, then it would be a bad look for him.

Minchan approached the public employee.

“Are you going to send in your report?”

“What? Of course, I have to give my report….”

“Don’t send in your report.”

“Yes. Well, I’ll do what you say.”

Two F ranked Roused cleared a 3 star Dungeon in 10 minutes. This meant something must have went wrong when they were assigning their Ranks, so the employee had to send in a separate report.

However, the public employee was a close friend of the Hammer Guild.

The site employee Kim-haemin turned the public employee a long time ago.

“Please don’t give the information to the other guilds.”

“Yes. I’ll do as you say.”

At the public employee’s answer, Kim-haemin grabbed a hold of Jung-minchan’s arm.

“Jeez, team leader. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. I’ll go have some soju with that friend over there. Anyways, are you going to try to catch those two?”

“Yes. You should return to the office for now. Go dig up some information on them. It seems those bastards aren’t interested in guilds.”

“Do they have enough worth for us to catch them?”

“I don’t care if they don’t have any value. You have to catch them first. Have you never fished before?”

“Fishing?”

“If the lure is being pulled then you reel it in. If it is a small fry then you just throw it away.”

“Ah-ha.”

“Anyways, go learn about them. The less people who know about them would be better for us.”

The information will be spread in an instant for eye-catching guys like them. However, he had to do his best to delay it as much as he can. During that time, it would be best if they entered into the Hammer guild.

If they poked around too much then they would lose an excellent Roused to other guilds and it would be their loss.

“They…they are coming out.”

At Kim-haemin’s words, he turned to look. Woojin and Sunggoo was exiting the Bloostone exchange store. Minchan and Haemin stood next to each other then they looked at the two with a confident smile on their face.

*

“We earned a lot.”

Woojin looked at the final adjusted figure, and he felt a little bit relieved. With this much money, he wouldn’t have any problem purchasing a house.

This was the achievement of a Roused, who had been registered for only two days.

$380,000.

This was the balance in Woojin’s account. He already had $50,000 in there, and he had gained $330,000.

“Hyung-nim. I respect you.”

Sunggoo had received his 10% cut, and Woojin allowed him to keep all the bloodstones he had excavated at the end. He had made $93,000. This large sum of money blew all the thoughts about all the money he lost out of his mind.

He was once again surprised he had made so much money in one day.

“Let’s go back to our neighborhood.”

“Yes, sir.”

They headed toward the parking lot to find their car. When they were passing the parking fee window, Woojin grinned.

“I guess the parking fee really isn’t that expensive.”

“Didn’t I tell you? Also, the 4 star Dungeons will be very different. The drop rate for an artifact is quite high there.”

If he purchase a house, then his immediate need would be fulfilled. His immediate goal was not to gather money. He knew his goal had to be leveling up as fast as he could. Woojin’s expression turned complicated again, and Sunggoo threw out a question towards Woojin.

“Hyung-nim. Why did you refuse the guild’s offer? Do you have any reasons….…….”

“It’s simple.”

“Yes?”

“I’m not accustomed to having someone above me.”

“…….”

Woojin was a ruler. He wasn’t accustomed to having someone above him. He actually felt repulsed by it. Why should he receive orders from someone else?

How laughable.

Sunggo saw Woojin’s grin, and he quietly took out the business card from his pocket. Then he threw it out of the window. He was afraid what would happen to him if Woojin found out he took the business card.

‘Bye bye. Hammer Guild.’

Sunggoo grabbed onto the handle as his eyes misted up a little bit.