← A Perpetually Unknown Hunter Takes Over a Failing GuildThe stairs leading down to the basement were steeper than expected. Junho gripped the worn railing with one hand as he descended. One fluorescent light was out, and the other flickered irregularly, casting unstable shadows.
The smell reached him first. A mixture of mold, sweat, and something burnt. It was an unfamiliar stench even to Junho, who had seen this place ten years ago.
The basement door opened.
Three beds, one dining table, and rusted pipes stretching across the ceiling. And three hunters staring at Junho.
"Guild Master?"
The youngest-looking woman spoke first. Her face appeared to be around twenty-five, and a C-rank Hunter bracelet adorned her wrist. It was Park Ji-eun from the resume he'd seen.
Next to her sat a man in his mid-thirties. Kim Su-ho. D-rank Hunter. His bracelet was faded, worn with age. His gaze toward Junho was filled with caution.
The third was lying on a bed. Lim Jun-hyuk. Twenty-two years old. Official rank E-grade. No bracelet. A rookie who hadn't completed his first request yet.
"Where is Guild Master Jung Hye-jin?"
Park Ji-eun asked again. Her voice was thin but steady. Instead, anxiety was clear in her eyes.
"She is no longer the guild master of this guild."
Junho set the seal on the desk. The stamp inside its plastic case made a small sound as it hit the surface.
Kim Su-ho stood up from the bed. His movement was quick. The reflex of someone with combat experience.
"What are you doing? Did Jung Hye-jin sell the guild? To who?"
"Me."
Junho picked up the seal. The weight of the stamp was heavier than expected. Or perhaps the weight it symbolized was greater. Control of an organization. Three human beings.
"If you want to see the evidence, come up to the second floor office."
Junho turned around.
"Wait, who are you?"
Lim Jun-hyuk jumped up from the bed. His voice carried fiery energy. The weakest one shouted the loudest.
Junho didn't stop walking. He didn't look back as he climbed the stairs. But Lim Jun-hyuk's voice continued to follow him.
"I don't know who you are, but this guild is ours! Sister Hye-jin can't sell it! This guild is—"
The door closed.
Junho went up to the second floor office and sat at the desk. The contract and financial statements were still laid out. He placed the seal in its proper position.
Footsteps were heard. All three had come up together. The sound of their steps on the stairs was irregular. The last one would be Lim Jun-hyuk.
The office door opened.
"What is this? Why is there a contract—"
Park Ji-eun stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes followed the documents. The seal. Jung Hye-jin's signature. And the text printed in small letters below.
'Shinwol Guild Acquisition and Transfer Contract'
'Acquirer: Lee Junho'
Kim Su-ho laughed first. It was less a laugh and more like a sound an animal would make.
"This is crazy. Did Jung Hye-jin really sell it?"
"She said she was already preparing a bankruptcy application a month ago."
Junho spoke calmly. His voice carried no emotion. Sentences arranged with only facts.
"I asked who you are."
Lim Jun-hyuk slammed his hand on the desk. The sound was loud. But his fingers were trembling.
Junho looked at Lim Jun-hyuk. A twenty-two-year-old face. His lower jaw moved irregularly. It was fear rather than anger.
"I'm Lee Junho. I'm your new guild master."
"F-rank?"
Park Ji-eun whispered. It was more of a confirmation than a question. Her eyes were scanning Junho. The experienced eyes of a C-rank Hunter. What those eyes saw was likely a weak rookie.
"That's correct. F-rank."
Junho handed over the documents. Park Ji-eun took them.
"You have three options. First, you leave this guild now. You can contact former Guild Master Jung Hye-jin and request separate compensation. That is your right. Second, you stay and follow my orders. Third doesn't exist."
Lim Jun-hyuk spoke again.
"You think an F-rank can command a C-rank? This is insane. Either Jung Hye-jin is crazy, or you paid for this. Either way, this won't work."
His words weren't wrong. It would be impossible in a typical hunter organization. Someone of lower rank cannot command someone of higher rank. It was a rule of the Association and a convention of hunter society.
But Junho knew why that rule existed.
"Then I'll become C-rank."
Junho spoke again.
"What?"
Park Ji-eun blinked.
"Within a month, I will become C-rank. This guild will also rise to at least B-rank or higher. Until then, you just follow my orders. In return, you will receive much higher compensation than you do now."
Lim Jun-hyuk burst out laughing. It was genuine laughter. Laughter tinged with madness.
"An F-rank becoming C-rank in a month? This isn't a joke, it's insanity."
"Then leave."
Junho placed his fingers on the desk. It looked like he was doing nothing. But those fingers were waiting for the moment when the weakest one would run away first.
Kim Su-ho grabbed Lim Jun-hyuk's arm.
"Jun-hyuk, wait."
"What?"
"Let's hear him out first, then we can leave."
Looking at Kim Su-ho's face, he was calculating something. A D-rank Hunter in his mid-thirties. An old bracelet. And the eyes of someone who had lived in a basement. He was calculating the possibility that Junho's words were true.
"Who are you, really?"
Park Ji-eun asked. Her voice had become lower than before.
Junho pulled out another document. It was training material for new guild masters from the Association. An official Association seal was stamped on it.
Park Ji-eun took the document. Her eyes began to read.
"New Guild Master Allowance... 5% Association Point Adjustment... Priority Request Assignment..."
"The Association provides benefits to new guild masters. I'll use those benefits to save this guild."
Junho looked at Park Ji-eun. A C-rank Hunter. The one who seemed most composed.
"Will you follow my orders?"
Park Ji-eun set down the document. And she laughed. It was a short laugh, a tragic laugh.
"I have nowhere else to go."
That was her answer.
Lim Jun-hyuk continued to resist, but Kim Su-ho had already made his decision. In the end, all three decided to stay. Junho looked at them.
Weak people. But they had now come to follow a man who knew ten years ahead.
"We start tomorrow."
Junho picked up the seal. And for the first time, he smiled. A smile that didn't show on his face. A smile that existed only within.
"To raise fifty million won."
Access to the Association's central database was automatically granted upon Junho's appointment as the new guild master. He sat at the worn desk in the Shinwol Guild office and lifted his laptop screen.
What appeared on the screen was the Association's official request pool.
From E-rank to S-rank. Unassigned requests were listed by difficulty level. Compensation amount, estimated time required, client, difficulty index. All information was transparently disclosed.
Junho moved his fingers. He scrolled down with the mouse wheel. Scroll. Scroll. Scroll.
As he turned through the pages, he began to look for patterns.
One E-rank request: "Abandoned House Purification Work — Compensation 3 million won, Estimated time 8 hours, Difficulty index 1.2"
One D-rank request: "Small Dungeon Entrance Sealing — Compensation 8 million won, Estimated time 12 hours, Difficulty index 2.1"
One C-rank request: "Medium Dungeon Clear — Compensation 25 million won, Estimated time 24 hours, Difficulty index 3.8"
Junho opened his notebook. He began to record information. By hand. In handwriting, not on the computer.
The Association's system stored and monitored all request records. Search history, viewing history, download history. Everything was recorded. So it was better to record by hand, at least at first.
"What are you doing?"
A voice came from behind him.
Junho didn't stop his pen. He didn't turn his head. It was Park Ji-eun's voice.
"Organizing materials."
"Would you like us to help?"
"Don't. This is about guild strategy. External leaks are dangerous."
Park Ji-eun withdrew without a word. Junho returned to the request pool.
An hour passed.
The notebook contained information on over 200 requests. Difficulty level, compensation amount, estimated time required. And the ratios between them.
Compensation amount ÷ Estimated time required = Hourly compensation
E-rank: Average 375,000 won/hour
D-rank: Average 666,000 won/hour
C-rank: Average 1,041,000 won/hour
Simple numbers. The higher the difficulty, the more compensation per hour. It was obvious logic.
But the problem was Association Points.
Association Points = Request Difficulty × Completion Rate × Time Efficiency
The Association had disclosed this formula, but it hadn't clearly disclosed how each variable was calculated. That was the key.
Junho entered the request records section again. To view Shinwol Guild's past records.
Records from the past three months were available. Records from the Shinwol Guild during Jeong Hye-jin's era.
Request 1: "Abandoned House Purification Work" — Difficulty 1.2, Completion rate 100%, Estimated 8 hours, Actual time 7 hours 50 minutes
Points earned: 8.4
Request 2: "Small Dungeon Entrance Sealing" — Difficulty 2.1, Completion rate 100%, Estimated 12 hours, Actual time 11 hours 30 minutes
Points earned: 24.3
Request 3: "Medium Dungeon Clear" — Difficulty 3.8, Completion rate 100%, Estimated 24 hours, Actual time 23 hours 15 minutes
Points earned: 95.2
Junho picked up his pen. He began to calculate.
Request 1: Difficulty (1.2) × Completion rate (1.0) × ? = 8.4
→ 1.2 × 1.0 × ? = 8.4
→ ? = 7
Request 2: Difficulty (2.1) × Completion rate (1.0) × ? = 24.3
→ 2.1 × 1.0 × ? = 24.3
→ ? = 11.57
Request 3: Difficulty (3.8) × Completion rate (1.0) × ? = 95.2
→ 3.8 × 1.0 × ? = 95.2
→ ? = 25.05
His fingers stopped.
'Time efficiency is not constant.'
Request 1: Estimated 8 hours, Actual 7 hours 50 minutes → 98.95% of estimated
Request 2: Estimated 12 hours, Actual 11 hours 30 minutes → 95.83% of estimated
Request 3: Estimated 24 hours, Actual 23 hours 15 minutes → 96.88% of estimated
Time efficiency was the ratio of actual time spent to estimated time. All were between 90-100%, and if that were directly reflected in point calculations, the results should be:
Request 1: 1.2 × 1.0 × 0.9895 = 1.19
Request 2: 2.1 × 1.0 × 0.9583 = 2.01
Request 3: 3.8 × 1.0 × 0.9688 = 3.68
But the actual points were 8.4, 24.3, and 95.2. Much larger.
'The time efficiency calculation is different.'
Junho began calculating again. This time in reverse.
Request 1: 1.2 × 1.0 × (Points/Difficulty/Completion rate) = 8.4
→ Points/Difficulty/Completion rate = 7.0
→ Time efficiency index = 7.0
Estimated 8 hours, Actual 7 hours 50 minutes...
Ah.
Junho's eyes sparkled.
'Time efficiency might be (Estimated time / Actual time spent).'
Request 1: 8 / 7.833... = 1.021
Request 2: 12 / 11.5 = 1.043
Request 3: 24 / 23.25 = 1.032
And if that were multiplied by another coefficient:
Request 1: 1.2 × 1.0 × 1.021 × (?) = 8.4
→ ? = 6.87
Request 2: 2.1 × 1.0 × 1.043 × (?) = 24.3
→ ? = 11.14
Request 3: 3.8 × 1.0 × 1.032 × (?) = 95.2
→ ? = 24.28
Still not constant.
Junho turned the page in his notebook. To find more records. He scrolled through records from three months earlier. He needed more data. More samples.
The night grew deep. The office lights remained on.
At that moment, the door opened.
"You're still awake, I see."
The voice was low and calm. Junho looked up. A man of medium height. Around 45 years old. Black glasses. The accountant of Shinwol Guild.
Kim Tae-hyun.
"I needed the request records."
"I thought so."
Kim Tae-hyun stood beside the desk. Junho looked at him. It wasn't their first meeting. They had met when processing the documents for the Shinwol Guild acquisition. A man who had handled the accounting here since Jeong Hye-jin's era.
"It looks like you're reverse-engineering the point calculations."
Junho's fingers stopped.
"Why do you think that?"
"I thought about what you could do with the information provided by the Association. When you look at request records and points together, it's like solving an equation."
Kim Tae-hyun smiled. It wasn't mockery but camaraderie.
"I tried it too. Starting three years ago."
Junho said nothing.
"I still haven't found it. The Association's system is more complex than I thought. But I thought that if someone like you took over this guild, you'd eventually figure it out."
"Why are you trying to help me?"
"Because there's now a possibility that Shinwol could survive."
Kim Tae-hyun lightly tapped the notebook on the desk.
"I have materials I brought. Records from the top 10 guilds over the past year. My personal materials. They're not collected through Association access rights, but from publicly available records, so there shouldn't be any problems."
He held out a USB drive in his hand.
"Looking at this should make the pattern of point calculations clearer."
Junho took the USB. He felt its weight between his fingers.
"Why are you helping me?"
"The previous guild master... gave up on Shinwol."
Kim Tae-hyun's voice was light, but there was something solid within it.
"I had a hunch that you'd be different. That's all."
Junho plugged the USB into his laptop. Files opened. Records from the top 10 guilds. Cheonjeong Guild, Changcheon Guild, Atlantis Guild. Their request records and earned points.
It was a very large amount of data.
"What's your name?"
"Kim Tae-hyun."
"And how long have you waited for Shinwol?"
"Three years."
Junho looked at the screen. Hundreds of request records floating above the data.
"From now on, we're together."
At Junho's words, Kim Tae-hyun's expression softened slightly.
The night continued. The laptop screen remained bright. Junho and Kim Tae-hyun's fingers didn't stop. They entered data, calculated, and found patterns.
4 AM.
Junho's eyes caught something.
"Look here."
On the screen were the past three months of records from Cheonjeong Guild. Request difficulties ranged from C-rank to B-rank. High difficulties. But the point increase rate was lower than expected.
In contrast, looking at Changcheon Guild's records.
They focused on E-rank and D-rank requests. Low difficulties. But their point increase rate was similar to Cheonjeong Guild's.
"Repeating low-difficulty requests quickly?"
Kim Tae-hyun murmured.
"Does that mean the higher the time efficiency, the greater the point increase?"
Junho picked up a calculator. He began reverse-engineering again.
"No. That's not it either."
His fingers moved.
"The weight of 'time efficiency' in the point calculation is... larger than I thought."
Junho's voice lowered. It was the voice of certainty.
"Much larger than difficulty."
Dawn light brightened the office windows. The night had ended. But Junho's calculations had not.
It was now becoming not a hypothesis but a conjecture.
And conjecture would soon turn into proof.