A field overgrown with weeds.
A massive reinforced concrete wall stood tall on the outskirts of the city. Above the entrance were the large words:
Ido Integrated Logistics Center
This was the workplace where a sturdy young man named Chae Dong-ha worked as an intern.
“Dong-ha! Chae Dong-ha!”
“Where are you, Mr. Dong-ha~?”
“Yes, Team Leader! I'm over here!”
As Dong-ha hurriedly extinguished his cigarette and tried to stand up, Team Leader Choi and Section Chief Park placed their hands on both his shoulders.
“Come on, handsome. Why are you standing up? Sit down. Relax.”
“That's right. You're practically a treasure.”
The warm smiles.
The gentle voices.
The two men looked like broken dolls stuck in permanent grins.
Dong-ha immediately knew what they were about to talk about.
“Looks like both of you won. Congratulations.”
A few days earlier, the Kirin vs. Baekgeom Guild War Korea Finals had concluded.
Everyone had expected Kirin Guild to crush their opponent.
Instead, the match became a historic upset, going all the way to Round 7—the final raid battle.
Chae Dong-ha had predicted every result as if possessed.
The two men hadn't ignored his predictions and had made quite a bit of money betting on them.
“How did you predict the entire finals?!”
“I've seriously been wondering. How did you know Baekgeom would drag it out to Round 7? I never would've imagined that.”
“Haha... Rather than predicting it, I just picked the option with the highest probability.”
“Wow, probability! Did you hear that, Team Leader? Is this what humility looks like?”
“It really wasn't anything special...”
“Nothing special? You got everything right!”
“Exactly! It was incredible!”
The absence of Mountain King would hurt more than people expected, causing the series to go to seven games.
But once it reached the final battlefield, Flame Queen would most likely dominate and end things rather easily.
Everything happened exactly as Dong-ha had predicted.
“And that's not all! You practically analyzed every Hunter individually and commented on them, and every single thing was right!”
“Seriously! Look, Team Leader! I've got goosebumps!”
“Hahaha... Thank you.”
Despite their excitement, Dong-ha merely smiled as innocently as ever.
He didn't find it particularly remarkable.
He had simply spoken based on the probabilities he could see.
What was special about that?
These days information was everywhere.
Field data.
Monster types.
Raid compositions.
He simply calculated the odds using those variables and stated the most likely outcome.
From Dong-ha's perspective, the two men risking their hard-earned money on uncertain gambling made far less sense.
“It's amazing. Every lunch break you're browsing guild communities, but I never expected you to be talented at something like this.”
“You know the type, right? Someone born for a specific field. Their brain just works differently there.”
“Looks like that's really true.”
“I've got a whole new opinion of you, Dong-ha. Honestly, shouldn't you be working in that industry?”
“...!”
“...”
The moment the section chief blurted those words out, the team leader realized his mistake.
He cautiously glanced at Dong-ha's expression.
A bitter shadow briefly crossed Dong-ha's face before he returned to his usual smile.
“No, it's not to that level.”
“Of course it is! People talk about it all the time. I know talent when I see it. Seriously! Seriously! You have talent for this!”
The oblivious section chief wouldn't stop.
He even suggested Dong-ha work at a guild where his cousin was employed.
The team leader finally intervened.
“Hey. You're getting carried away. Stop it.”
But the section chief continued.
“Come on, Team Leader, you've seen it too. Do you know how much successful analysts and scouts make?”
“This is such a waste!”
“Listen to me. You're still young. Maybe Division 1 or Division 2 is impossible right now, but if you start in the lower leagues and work your way up—”
“I said stop!”
“Whoa! Why are you yelling?”
“Just shut up.”
“Huh...?”
Only after receiving a meaningful look from the team leader did the section chief finally notice the shadow lingering on Dong-ha's face.
Talent?
Dong-ha knew better than anyone that he had talent in this area.
When he was younger, he had dreamed of working for a guild.
But the current Chae Dong-ha couldn't afford to dream.
His younger siblings' tuition.
His mother's hospital bills.
The housing loan.
As the head of the household supporting his family, the weight already on his shoulders was more than enough.
“Sorry. I wasn't thinking.”
“Haha, it's okay. Really.”
“Forget it. Let's go eat. What's today's lunch menu again?”
In the world of probabilities that Dong-ha saw, this question already had an answer.
The chance of achieving his dream:
At best, 10%.
The chance his family wouldn't survive if he chased that dream:
At least 90%.
Meanwhile, his current position offered a near 100% chance of becoming a full-time employee at a major corporation as long as he avoided serious mistakes.
The answer was obvious.
Dong-ha stared briefly at the Guild War logo on his phone wallpaper before turning the screen off.
"If I finish this internship, become a full-time employee, earn a steady salary, and let my family wear what they want and eat what they want..."
"That's my dream."
Comforting himself once again, he headed toward the cafeteria.
But probability was only probability.
As long as it wasn't 100%, variables always existed.
“Intern Chae Dong-ha, please report to the reception room immediately. I repeat, Intern Chae Dong-ha, please report to the reception room immediately...”
Dong-ha had assigned probabilities to his dream.
But he had overlooked one variable.
Luck.
“Hello. I'm Lee Shin.”
From the moment he woke up in this world, Lee Shin had been having the time of his life.
Living as an overwhelmingly attractive man and experiencing the life of someone impossibly handsome.
Enjoying the shallow superiority that came with being a chaebol heir.
All of that was fun.
But even so.
Even adding every enjoyable thing together, it still couldn't compare to this moment.
“Wow... Chae Dong-ha...”
“You look exactly like your illustration...!”
“Huh?”
“Wait. Give me a second to appreciate this.”
Seeing someone on television was different.
Looking them up online was different.
This was real.
A real, living character.
And not just any character.
One of Lee Shin's top five favorite characters in Guild Management stood right in front of him.
Chae Dong-ha belonged to the highest tier of Lee Shin's strict character ranking system.
SS Rank.
Just one step below SSS Rank, which was reserved for godlike figures.
A level so high that even many Awakened individuals couldn't reach it.
Despite being essentially a non-Awakened person, he had climbed to the absolute peak.
For reference, the stubborn old man Lee Sang-byeok was also ranked SS.
That alone showed how valuable Chae Dong-ha was.
The miracle worker who turned a fifth-division bottom-tier guild into a major powerhouse!
The devilish agent who earned astronomical profits through influencer-style Hunter marketing and reputation-based trades!
The legendary genius manager who later joined Kirin for a record-breaking contract and reignited his legendary career!
There were many growth paths available to him due to his overwhelming talent.
But Lee Shin's favorite route was:
The Cheat Code of Guild Management.
In other words—
Keeping Chae Dong-ha under his command.
I'm already full just looking at him.
Affection practically dripped from Lee Shin's eyes.
Meanwhile, Dong-ha grew increasingly uncomfortable.
“M-My face... Is there something on it?”
He had opened the reception room door after being summoned.
And found the chairman's grandson sitting there.
Not just any grandson.
The infamous delinquent Lee Shin who had been all over the news recently.
And now that same man was staring at him like he was some kind of precious treasure.
Dong-ha's brain had already frozen.
His awkward movements were proof.
“Come on, don't be nervous. I just wanted to talk.”
“Talk... with me? About what?”
“I heard some rumors about you. Apparently you're interested in the guild industry.”
“I am too.”
“Just... because of that?”
He came all the way here because of that?
He summoned him during work hours because of that?
Was this really how chaebols operated?
The real topic hadn't even started yet.
“Let's drop the formalities. It'll be easier to talk.”
“...What?”
“Oh, you said yes!”
“You’re twenty-five, right?”
“I'm twenty-three.”
“Perfect.”
“Two years apart. They say you don't even need to check compatibility when brothers are two years apart.”
“Nice~!”
“Don't you think so?”
“B-Brothers?”
“Then I'll call you big brother from now on. You can speak comfortably too.”
“Y-Yes... What?”
“I guess I should explain the situation first, huh?”
“I-I suppose?”
A brotherhood had somehow been established at lightning speed.
The unpredictable development completely shut down Dong-ha's thought process.
Lee Shin nodded.
Good.
Everything was proceeding nicely.
He had absolutely no intention of letting this talented SS-rank slave—
No.
Talent.
Escape.
Once you gained initiative, you had to push harder.
Naturally, there was only one topic to start with.
“If you were running a guild, how would you do it?”
“A guild? Suddenly?”
“Yep. A guild.”
Just as unpredictable as his first impression.
Dong-ha stared at him, wondering what kind of bizarre game this was.
Lee Shin simply waited.
His eyes stubbornly demanded an answer.
Eventually, Dong-ha sighed.
“I'm sorry, but that's the wrong question.”
“Hm?”
“You shouldn't ask how someone would run a guild.”
“You should ask what kind of guild it is first.”
“Oho~?”
“Not all guilds are the same.”
“They each have different goals and identities.”
Not every guild wanted league promotion or championships.
Some focused on raids and making a living.
Others developed promising talent and sold them to higher-league guilds.
“Selling Guilds.”
“Hunting Guilds.”
And many more.
“When you think about it, that's obvious.”
“Professional Hunters are generally considered to start from League 3.”
“That's when exposure increases dramatically.”
“And they account for less than twenty percent of all Awakened individuals.”
“League 2 is about five percent.”
“League 1 is roughly one percent.”
“So everyone outside that twenty percent has to make a choice?”
“Realistically, not everyone can aim for the top.”
“Hunters are still human beings.”
“They have to live in reality.”
“That's why no two guilds can ever be identical.”
For a brief moment, Dong-ha's expression darkened.
As though he had just described his own life.
But it quickly returned to normal.
“Good. Excellent.”
“Then let's add conditions.”
“A once-famous regional guild that's now fallen into ruin.”
“Massive debt.”
“Terrible talent pool.”
“And desperate for a buyer.”
“That's... oddly specific.”
“It sounds like something my grandfather would like.”
“So?”
“What would you do?”
“If it were me...”
“By the way, money isn't a problem.”
“We've got more than enough.”
“Then recruitment comes first.”
The face of a guild was its raid team.
And raid teams were built from Hunters.
“First, sign a major star and shock the market.”
“Then make a cold-blooded decision.”
“Do you go all-in on winning now?”
“Or do you slowly build toward promotion?”
“Interesting.”
“And you?”
“Normally, promotion odds are around two percent.”
“I wouldn't gamble everything on a two-percent chance.”
“I'd build a solid foundation and climb gradually.”
“It's better for building a fanbase too.”
“And also...”
Ideas poured out like water from a broken dam.
“Ooh!”
“Wow!”
Lee Shin's enthusiastic reactions encouraged him further.
Dong-ha gradually began revealing ideas he had kept buried deep inside.
His own vision slowly painted itself across the hypothetical guild.
Then—
“Ah...”
He suddenly stopped.
Without realizing it, he had become completely immersed.
But all of it was meaningless fantasy.
Dong-ha's face turned red.
How ridiculous must he look?
An intern whose position could disappear with a single breath, talking passionately about guild management.
He wanted to crawl into a hole.
But Lee Shin was thrilled.
I was worried for nothing.
In the original story, Chae Dong-ha didn't enter the guild industry until his mid-thirties.
After that, he skyrocketed to success.
Lee Shin had wondered whether his younger self might still be undeveloped.
Now he was certain.
This was the same born genius he remembered.
“Excellent.”
“So?”
“How about joining me?”
“Huh?”
“The plan you just described.”
“Let's do it together.”
“...What?”
“Don't get it?”
“I'm recruiting you.”
“To my guild.”
“...!!”
For a brief moment, Dong-ha's heart surged.
The word guild.
The dream he had always wanted.
Then something heavy crashed down onto it.
Responsibility.
The responsibility he carried.
“...I'm sorry.”
“It's an incredibly generous offer.”
“But I can't.”
“Why?”
“...”
The emotional wave passed.
And he became calm again.
Could reality really be this convenient?
The probability that a guild master would recognize his talent and sincerely recruit him.
The probability that a delinquent chaebol heir would hear rumors about an employee liking guilds and come here for fun.
Neither made sense.
Whenever faced with uncertainty, he always chose stability.
“I'm sorry.”
“But I can't play along with a joke like this.”
“Then why?”
“...”
Lee Shin was still smiling.
Dong-ha found himself speechless.
His conversion to full-time employment was right around the corner.
What could he possibly say to the chairman's grandson?
He took a deep breath.
Thinking of his younger siblings.
His late father's responsibilities.
His mother's medical bills.
The stable full-time position waiting for him at Ido.
He forced a smile.
The same smile he always wore.
Trying to be pleasant.
“Hmm.”
“What should I do?”
But there was one thing Dong-ha didn't know.
Lee Shin knew him better than he knew himself.
He knew he was the type of character who abandoned his dreams because reality blocked the way.
“How can I convince you?”
“Huh?”
“It's money, isn't it?”
“Your siblings.”
“Your mother.”
“Your family.”
“Right?”
“...!!”
“Well.”
“Then this should solve it.”
Lee Shin possessed the power to destroy the wall standing in Dong-ha's way.
The power called:
Money.
He pulled a document from his pocket.
“Write whatever amount you want.”
The paper placed before Dong-ha was an employment contract.
The salary section was completely blank.
A blank check.
“I'll transfer it immediately.”
