BXBX NOVEL Chapter 59
“Now, let’s get to the main point.”
Everyone sat down, and Kang Hyeon spoke first.
“Why did you come here? Mr. Han Si-hwan, you go first.”
“Yes. I want to join the Badass Guild…”
“That’s enough. Next, the Jo brothers, Seong-chan and Dong-won?”
“We also came to join the guild…”
It was the expected answer.
Kang Hyeon just nodded, as he had only asked to confirm.
“Haa… First, Mr. Han Si-hwan.”
“Yes!”
“How many people in total want to join the guild?”
“Including myself, 10 people. They all have good character and excellent skills!”
“That’s enough, wasn’t the Guardian Guild’s motto originally to protect humanity?”
“Yes.”
“From what I saw before, it seemed a bit like a cult.”
“That, that’s…”
Honestly, it wasn’t wrong.
In the days when Park Se-hyeon was there.
They really believed they were the guardians of humanity.
“The guild members coming with you, Mr. Han Si-hwan, They are the real deal in the guild, right?”
“Yes… It seems so…”
Hearing the answer, Kang Hyeon shook his head.
“Does that guy sitting there playing games or Shin Seong-a here look interested in that?”
“…”
“We’re not people gathered with such noble intentions. Just because we want to become stronger. And because it’s boring to go alone? That’s about the extent of our reasons for gathering.”
Han Si-hwan nodded at Kang Hyeon’s words.
“Yes. I know well because I’ve been watching for the past few days. But I realized that without power, justice and protecting humanity are just empty talk.”
“…”
“But if I’m with you, Kang Hyeon, I’m sure I can become stronger than now. In the end, we’ll be able to achieve our goals too.”
“I like your honesty.”
Kang Hyeon smirked at the sight of him talking about his purpose without hiding anything.
“What about the guild members from Haeseon?”
“First, I don’t think I properly expressed my gratitude for your help last time, so I’ll say it again.”
“You don’t have to go that far…”
“Thank you for saving our lives.”
Jo Seong-chan, who had a calm impression, bowed his head so low it almost touched the floor.
His younger brother, Jo Dong-won, looked quite burly and passionate, which was quite contrasting.
“The greeting is done, what’s your purpose for joining the guild? As I said before, the Jeong Jin Guild is already over.”
“Yes. I know. My reason for joining the Badass Guild is not for revenge.”
“Then?”
“It’s because I want to be with you, Kang Hyeon.”
Quite a cringeworthy line.
Kang Hyeon casually took a swig of beer.
“If you’re going to gild my face, forget it. There are no bonus points for that. I’d rather you suck up to me like Han Si-hwan over there. I prefer such honest answers.”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, Han Si-hwan made a sour face.
‘Did he have to express it like that…?’
But since it wasn’t wrong, he couldn’t really refute it.
“Then I’ll speak honestly. I thought if I was with you, Kang Hyeon, I could rise to a higher place. A high place that we wouldn’t have been able to reach originally.”
“A high place, huh…”
“My brother and I are orphans. All our relatives abandoned us, so we grew up in an orphanage. Maybe that’s why we always promised to overcome this world and rise above it since we were young.”
Kang Hyeon smiled with satisfaction at Jo Seong-chan’s words.
“From the outside, it seemed like the younger brother would step up, but as expected, the older brother is the older brother. Good.”
“So then?”
“I’ll accept everyone into the guild. I was thinking about expanding the guild size soon anyway.”
At the mention of expanding the guild size, Han Jae-moon jumped up from his seat.
“Are you not hiring for office work?”
“Why? Aren’t you enough by yourself?”
“Well…”
“If you need more money, just say so and I’ll give you more.”
Han Jae-moon shook his head.
He had enough money even now.
Although he might need quite a bit for stress-induced hair loss treatment soon.
“The money is fine… Please, can’t you hire some employees? I get hundreds of emails a day, countless phone calls, and also…”
“Okay, I get it. Don’t worry about the money, you recruit and hire as you see fit. From now on, Han Jae-moon, you’re promoted to office manager!”
“Congratulations.”
“Congrats, Han Jae-moon.”
At Kang Hyeon’s declaration, Shin Seong-a and An Yu-seong offered soulless congratulations.
Kang Hyeon clapped with a pleased smile.
-Clap, clap, clap, clap…
‘You guys are really bad…’
Feeling somewhat mocked, Han Jae-moon was angry, but as usual, he sat down with an awkward smile.
“Thank you…”
“Now then, let’s continue our conversation… Where were we?”
“…”
“I forgot again because of you. Man!”
“I’m sorry…”
After scolding Han Jae-moon, Kang Hyeon finally remembered what he was going to say.
“Right. First, welcome to the guild, and when you join the guild, there are a few things you need to follow.”
“Yes.”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, everyone gulped and nodded.
“First. Become stronger than anyone else.”
“Second. Don’t pick unnecessary fights.”
“And lastly, third. Return favors or grudges as much as you’ve received.”
Kang Hyeon recalled what he had said to An Yu-seong and Shin Seong-a when he first founded the guild and explained it to them again.
“Is there anything you don’t understand up to this point?”
“No.”
“Use whatever form of address you want, and I speak informally to all guild members equally, so I’ll do the same with you all. If you have any complaints, speak up now.”
After waiting for a moment, Kang Hyeon nodded with satisfaction when there was no response.
“Good. Now I should get to the main point.”
“The main point…?”
At Kang Hyeon’s sudden words, everyone made expressions full of questions.
“Who here has a lot of money?”
***
Ippotranslation
***
“We need to increase the number of dungeon runs.”
“How about getting corporate sponsorship?”
“If we introduce a system to clear dungeons according to people’s requests…”
The safe house instantly transformed into a conference room.
The topic of the meeting was ‘How do we make a ton of money?’ Specifically, over 100 billion won.
“How long will it take to make money that way? Is there anyone here who’s run more dungeons than me?”
“No.”
“And I’ve only saved about 3 billion so far, so how long do you think it’ll take to save 100 billion?”
It hasn’t even been a year since the dungeon incident started.
3 billion was an enormous amount, and Kang Hyeon no longer had any greed for money.
But to buy useful skills, especially resistance-related skills, and good items, astronomical amounts of money were needed.
“Hmm… Kang Hyeon.”
At that moment, Shin Seong-a raised her hand.
“Speak.”
“How about creating and selling guild merchandise?”
“Merchandise?”
Kang Hyeon showed interest in this completely new idea.
“You mean like idols or anime characters selling related products?”
“Yes.”
“Does that make money?”
“I think it will definitely make money.”
“Just in case, you’re not thinking everyone’s a sucker who’ll thoughtlessly blow millions of won like you, right?”
Recalling the guild jackets that cost millions to make just three of them, Kang Hyeon gave a dubious look.
“Ahem, no.”
“Merchandise, that’s not a bad idea.”
“Sounds good!”
Contrary to Kang Hyeon’s expectations, An Yu-seong and Han Jae-moon’s reactions were very positive.
“You think selling a few toys for kids to play with will make money?”
“If we start with merchandise and gradually expand the business scale, I think it will definitely bring in more income than running dungeons.”
“And if we go bankrupt?”
“Then we can just go back to running dungeons, can’t we?”
Shin Seong-a’s face said ‘why are you asking such an obvious question?’
“Can’t you just give us some money, An Yu-seong?”
“I don’t want to. And I’m not exactly in a position to be coddled at home.”
“Tch.”
“Anyway, to make money, we need to do business. How long do you think it’ll take to save 100 billion just by running dungeons?”
“…”
“Like older sister said, trying to sell merchandise sounds good. It’s a high value-added industry and we’re already getting plenty of publicity.”
At An Yu-seong’s calm words, Kang Hyeon’s eyes widened.
“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you speak such a long sentence so calmly and seriously?”
“…”
“Maybe it’s because you’re from a rich family, but you suddenly become bright-eyed when money talk comes up. Look at this.”
“That’s not it.”
“What do you mean it’s not?”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, An Yu-seong smiled.
“My sixth sense told me that interesting things are going to happen. Hehe.”
Anticipating what’s to come, An Yu-seong chuckled.
“Then Shin Seong-a, An Yu-seong, and Han Jae-moon will plan the merchandise sales.”
-Bang!
The sound of Han Jae-moon slamming his keyboard was heard from the corner where he was working.
Kang Hyeon ignored it.
“And you know, I’ve been thinking about this, let’s sell items directly from the guild.”
“Items, you say?”
“Yeah. I’ve collected quite a lot so far.”
Kang Hyeon stood up and moved to one corner. Then he started taking out items he had been storing in his inventory one by one.
“Oh my…”
“What is that!?”
As items endlessly poured out from Kang Hyeon’s arms, people’s eyes filled with astonishment.
“Where did you get all of this…?”
“Well… They just accumulated as I hunted here and there.”
“Kang Hyeon. There’s even a B-grade weapon here? Where did this come from?”
Until now, the only way to get B-grade items was through the tutorial. But the B-grade equipment An Yu-seong was holding now clearly wasn’t Kang Hyeon’s.
“Don’t ask when you already know, man.”
Han Si-hwan, who was blankly staring at hundreds of items, suddenly became lost in thought.
‘Am I perhaps going down a very wrong path…?’
It was a moment when he worried if he was becoming a destroyer of humanity rather than a guardian.
“Anyway, selling on the Radar site comes with high fees. We have a lot of items and high-grade equipment, so I was thinking maybe we should sell them separately ourselves.”
“As expected of you, Kang Hyeon. You had even prepared this in advance.”
“That’s right…”
Kang Hyeon nodded glumly at Shin Seong-a’s sincere flattery.
“First, if you need anything, take some.”
“What? Really?!”
Han Si-hwan and Jo Seong-chan’s eyes sparkled at this sudden generous offer.
“At your current level, even going to D-grade dungeons together would be tough. So take what you need and run some dungeons.”
“Yes…”
“What level are each of you now?”
“46.”
“I’m…”
Although he had expected it, hearing their levels made Kang Hyeon sigh.
Han Si-hwan Level 46
Jo Seong-chan Level 39
Jo Dong-won Level 42
They were clearly above average high levels, but the difference with Kang Hyeon was too severe.
Kang Hyeon Level 58
An Yu-seong Level 53
Shin Seong-a Level 46
An Yu-seong was a once-in-a-lifetime talent Kang Hyeon had seen, so he gets a pass.
Shin Seong-a had her own solid character and had achieved tremendous growth while being with Kang Hyeon.
“It’ll be hard to hunt with you guys. You won’t be able to help, let alone endure.”
“…”
“What on earth have you been doing until now? How can you be lower level than Shin Seong-a?”
Everyone made an aggrieved expression at Kang Hyeon’s words.
‘That’s just because you guys are abnormal, you monsters!’
They too had been continuously conquering dungeons until now.
Especially in Han Si-hwan’s case, he was once the second highest level person after the guild master in the Guardian Guild, which was one of Korea’s top 5 guilds.
Moreover, even Park Se-hyeon, the guild master there, was only level 51 before he died.
‘What on earth are they doing to have such a level difference?’
Whether he knew or not how much they wanted to grab him by the collar and ask, Kang Hyeon sighed deeply.
“There’s no helping it. We’ll start special training from tomorrow.”
“Pardon?”