Rahi was considered one of the most promising talents even within Hangang Group.
Now that she had Awakened as a Player as well, people had even begun mentioning the possibility that she might become Hangang Group’s successor in the age of the Great Upheaval.
But Rahi knew that her situation was not entirely favorable.
‘I can’t support every Player with my Skill. If I recklessly expand the Guild without restraint, internal conflict is bound to break out.’
Rahi had only recently Awakened, so her <Blessing of Prosperity (S)> was still at Level 1.
That meant she could currently use the Skill on only one Player.
‘Grandfather and Father want to cultivate a Ranker who’s friendly toward Hangang Group. I need a Player with as much outstanding potential as possible.’
Rahi’s grandfather, the head of Hangang Group, which had already grown into a global conglomerate, foresaw a bleak future.
- Before long, the entire world will revolve around Players.
- We need to secure a High-Grade Player we can trust.
- Better yet, if we can support one from the ground up and build a mutually beneficial relationship.
For example, a Player with a one-of-a-kind Class who achieved Overflow in his very first Arena.
That was why Rahi had searched through streams from all kinds of Arenas as a viewer.
To find the talent she wanted.
In that sense, having the person in question sitting before her right now was an extremely favorable situation for Rahi.
‘I’ll make this man Test Guild’s first Player no matter what.’
That person was none other than Dojin.
***
Once Dojin contacted the number written on the business card, he was able to meet Rahi immediately.
‘Good thing I remembered her username.’
Despite the almost comical username ‘CheerfulMask,’ Rahi herself was exceedingly blunt, and the contract negotiations proceeded cleanly.
[Contract Period - 3 years from the date of signing]
[Scope of Duties - Party A shall clear the Arenas requested by Party B and provide Mana Stones and Gold to Party B.
Party B shall provide Party A with login rights to the Arenas requested by Party A and the effects of the Guild Representative’s Skill.]
[Confidentiality - Party A and Party B shall keep confidential any information regarding each other’s Skills and Status Windows learned during the course of this contract. The duration and penalties for violation shall……]
[Distribution Ratio - 7 (Party A) : 3 (Party B) / However, depending on the amount of Mana Stones and Gold provided, adjustment to 9 (Party A) : 1 (Party B) is permitted (……)]
[The Player (Party A) and Guild (Party B) hereby enter into the following contract, and to certify this agreement……]
[Party A - Lee Dojin / Party B - Test Guild, Representative Choi Rahi]
After signing the documents and taking one copy each, Rahi slowly spoke.
“From now on, Test Guild will fully support you, Player Lee Dojin. We’ll consistently provide the buff Skill you requested, and if there’s an Arena you want, we’ll secure the admission rights.”
Rahi finished in her characteristically dry tone.
“Provided you log into an Arena tomorrow, clear its Quest, and prove yourself, Mr. Lee Dojin.”
Seated across a single table from her, Dojin raised the corner of his mouth.
“You could even make Overflow one of the conditions.”
“I don’t trust contracts that are excessively unrealistic.”
Rahi’s tone was firm, and her gaze was sharp.
In truth, what she said was perfectly reasonable.
A newly Awakened Player logging into Arenas one after another and clearing them without even taking time to rest was already an absurd condition.
However.
They both needed to accomplish at least that much to reach the goals they wanted.
That was the shared thought of the young Player and the young Guild Master, neither of whom had revealed all of their true intentions.
And so the contract between Dojin and Test Guild was established.
- Test Guild is a newly founded Guild. That means I can offer whatever conditions I choose as its Guild Master.
- How does receiving a support Skill directly from the Guild Master sound?
The negotiations between Dojin and Rahi had been cautious yet natural.
Perhaps that was only fitting for the meeting between the world’s only Player of his Class, who had made an extraordinary debut, and a newly founded Guild run by a potential successor to Hangang Group.
- I’ll prove myself on my end. Starting with the next Arena Quest, I’ll become the world’s No. 1 Ranker within two years.
- Try entering the top ten Players in Korea first.
“Even now, if we revise the clause regarding my Skill, I can remove that condition.”
Rahi spoke as though generously offering him a concession.
From her perspective, she was still at the stage of observing Dojin’s potential.
A businessperson, after all, had to be cautious.
“Ah, there’s no need to go that far for me, Ms. Choi Rahi.”
But to Dojin, that was ridiculous.
The entire reason he had decided to sign with Test Guild in the first place was <Blessing of Prosperity (S)>.
With Dojin’s knowledge, Rahi’s Skill, and proper use of ‘that Arena,’ Dojin was confident he could become the strongest.
He had absolutely no intention of clearing only ordinary Arenas!
‘I’ve already decided which Arena I’m entering next.’
From now on, the Arenas Dojin logged into would go far beyond anything Rahi or the viewers could imagine.
“……What did you say?”
And judging by her reaction, the Arena Dojin named was quite unexpected to Rahi.
Naturally so.
An ordinary Player’s mana would not even have fully recovered yet, but the next Arena he intended to enter in that condition was……
“You want to go to <Wolf Hunting Ground>? Are you serious?”
***
“So these are all the new recruits our Guild has?”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
Team Leader Shin, who was in charge of recruiting new members, stood before Kim Suho as politely as always, though he looked somewhat apologetic.
He had every reason to.
They had failed to recruit the newly emerged super rookie.
Had Dojin at least signed with another major Guild comparable to Cosmo Guild, it would not have felt nearly as ridiculous.
‘He signed with some bottom-tier Guild I didn’t even know existed!’
Laws concerning Players differed slightly from country to country.
In South Korea, however, establishing a Player Guild was remarkably simple.
As long as the Guild had at least one Player, all the Guild Master had to do was visit the responsible government office and register it.
It was about as easy as a Streamer creating their own Channel online.
As a result, countless Guilds had sprung up throughout Korea.
For example, Test Guild, which until recently had only one Player in the entire Guild, including the Guild Master herself.
‘Now they’ve got two.’
Yet even regarding this failure in recruitment, Guild Master Suho reacted generously.
It was the composure and calm one might expect from someone who had already become the Guild Master of Korea’s largest Guild at such a young age.
“Very well. Since we missed the rookie, our Guild will need to make up for it.”
“Do you already have an Arena in mind?”
“Yes.”
The young man sitting behind the enormous desk before Team Leader Shin smiled faintly.
He possessed features handsome enough to play the male lead in a drama women loved, a suit as immaculate and expensive-looking as his face, and even the distinctive bearing and atmosphere of someone from the upper class.
He seemed like a creature born to rule over ordinary people.
Moreover, every accessory he wore—the tie pin, watch, rings, earrings, and everything else—was an A-Grade Item or higher.
One glance was enough to tell how many rewards he had earned from Arenas and how many Mana Stones and Gold he had obtained to sweep Items off the auction market.
‘Working for Cosmo Guild is the best choice. If I follow that man, I won’t fail.’
Most likely, everyone employed by Cosmo Guild thought the same way.
With that thought in mind, Team Leader Shin looked at the System window selected by Guild Master Kim Suho.
For a man famous for keeping his expression under control, his face stiffened strangely for a moment.
“Are you really sending the trainees into this Arena, Guild Master?”
“Yes. It was only a matter of time before we sent them there anyway.”
“…….”
Team Leader Shin started to speak, then swallowed his words.
Wasn’t introducing that Arena ahead of schedule?
Yet there was no flaw in the Guild Master’s reasoning itself.
Unlike the newly recruited rookies, the trainees Kim Suho was referring to were Players who had already gone through almost every ordinary F-Grade Arena.
E-Grade Arenas, however, were an exception.
Naturally so.
A Player who cleared an E-Grade Arena was no longer considered a trainee, but a full Guild member.
Not only Cosmo Guild, but virtually every Guild and even the government-controlled Awakening Department regarded passing through an E-Grade Arena as the point when someone became a true Player.
‘Then again, the Guild Master’s judgment has never been wrong before.’
Kim Suho’s project.
Produce as many full-fledged Players as possible in the shortest period of time.
If they succeeded, it would certainly enhance Cosmo Guild’s reputation.
No matter how rare or impressive a rookie Necromancer might be.
‘One person can’t surpass the strength of an entire Guild.’
Team Leader Shin himself was only an ordinary person.
The man standing before him, on the other hand, was the Guild Master of Cosmo Guild and one of the foremost Players in the world.
No matter how reckless the plan might appear, no matter how premature it seemed—there must be calculations and intentions behind it that an ordinary man like himself simply could not comprehend.
Tomorrow, Cosmo Guild’s trainees would log into one of the most notoriously difficult E-Grade Arenas.
And they would do so earlier than originally planned.
Unlike F-Grade Arenas, which were little different from sports, actual combat took place in E-Grade Arenas.
In an F-Grade Arena, the targets merely tried to evade the Players.
In an E-Grade Arena, those targets moved and attacked as well.
Granted, the enemies were not living beings but dummies, and even if a Player was struck by them, they would not truly die or suffer injuries.
But when one saw the various humanoid and beast-shaped dummies attacking and defending with movements almost indistinguishable from the real thing, it was enough to make one wonder whether they were really dummies at all.
‘That’s why E-Grade Arenas are the touchstone separating genuine prospects from the deadweight.’
For that reason, every Player-related organization thoroughly trained its affiliated Players before allowing them to enter E-Grade Arenas.
All so that even one more of them could pass.
And yet Cosmo Guild had now decided to immediately send its trainees into an E-Grade Arena.
Would it really be all right?
“We have no choice.”
As though seeing straight through Team Leader Shin’s thoughts, Kim Suho continued without removing the smile from his lips.
Had someone who was not one of his close associates seen that smile, they would have felt nothing but unease.
“The appearance of the Necromancer drew too much public attention this time. Enough that Cosmo Guild was overshadowed. Considering our next project, the current situation is troublesome.”
“Ah……!”
Only then did Team Leader Shin realize what he had overlooked.
He hurriedly bowed.
“My apologies, Guild Master!”
“It’s fine, Team Leader Shin.”
The Cosmo Guild Master, his smile worn like a mask, continued.
“So this time, I’d like our trainees to work a little harder…… enough to put Cosmo Guild at the top of the list for producing the most full-fledged Players in a single season.”
With the appearance of Arenas and Players, a new form of competition had emerged across the world.
Which Guild possessed the finest Players?
Governments had also established Awakening Departments and placed numerous Players under their authority, but because governments were obligated to maintain neutrality, they did not openly enter the competition among Players.
Private Guilds had no such reins holding them back.
As a result, competition between them had become fierce not merely within regions, but across national borders.
Which Guild possessed more High-Grade Players?
Which Guild had set more Arena records?
Even which Guild had more streaming fans?
There were too many categories of competition to count.
Cosmo Guild might currently occupy a secure position as Korea’s foremost Guild.
But Kim Suho had no intention of remaining confined to Korea forever.
And so he said,“Every trainee from our Guild participating in the E-Grade Arena will be issued a D-Grade Item.”
D-Grade Items.
If they wanted trainees with no real combat experience to smoothly clear a difficult Arena, providing higher-grade Items would have been the more sensible course.
But Kim Suho would not do that.
If the Items they provided were so powerful that clearing the Arena became a foregone conclusion, the other Guilds would only laugh at them.
That was why he chose D-Grade Items.
Support at that level was the maximum they could provide without inviting public ridicule.
“Understood, Guild Master. I’ll contact the Guild’s streaming team as well.”
Team Leader Shin had absolute faith in Cosmo Guild’s strength.
The trainees would achieve excellent results, just as their Guild Master expected.
But even if a plan proceeded without a single hitch—there was no guarantee that the outcome would match their expectations.