Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

Ju Se-ah was basking in the wind on the rooftop of the entirely deserted old Taesung guild building. Even the helicopter that was usually on standby on the helipad had been moved to South Pocheon.

In the ghost building, devoid of both people and belongings, shrouded in an eerie silence, Ju Se-ah silently admired the Seoul skyline.

As the sunset cast its fiery glow before gradually fading, the rooftop iron door opened.

"Are you still here? I checked the Guild Master's office and found it empty."

"Seeing as it's my last day in this building, I've been here longer than I thought. On my first day at the guild, I arrived too early and saw the sun rise from here. I thought everything would work out then. I thought we would be successful and that we would leave one day, but I didn't know it would end like this."

"How did you expect to leave?"

"I hoped we would be at the level of the thriving Tier-ed guilds in Samseog-dong, or the A-rank ones clustered in Yeouido."

"That was an impossible dream for the Taesung Guild."

Ju Se-ah raised her eyebrows and shot a glare.

"Ah, really. You have such a knack for killing the mood. I had just set a nice atmosphere, and you ruined it."

"Regardless of the time, a leader should face reality. This applies even to Guild Masters."

"Hah, I really wonder how you've grown so much..."

"Pardon?"

"No, nothing. It's just me talking to myself. More importantly, did you meet my father... I mean, Chairman Tae Jin-sung? How did that go?"

"Yes. Even though Chairman Tae is known as a ruthless businessman devoid of any emotion, it seems that he has a soft spot when it comes to his daughter."

"He's just being greedy. He's not one to be moved by emotions. He still thinks he can manipulate me at will."

Though she referred to him as her father, the way Ju Se-ah talked about Tae Jin-sung was dry and devoid of emotion, as if all feelings had been completely worn away.

Kang Mu-hyuk was surprised at her attitude, which didn't even portray a hint of resentment. Although he didn't have a good relationship with his father, at least he expressed his anger.

Ju Se-ah seemed to feel nothing toward Tae Jin-sung that could be described as familial affection.

'Whatever the case, it's good for me if the Guild Master doesn't care about him. I can act without hesitation in dealing with the Chairman.'

Kang Mu-hyuk thought the two had certain similarities. Perhaps that was why Tae Jin-sung was interested in Ju Se-ah. A successor who was more like him than anyone else. Maybe his arrogance in believing that no one but himself could protect the empire of Taesung had turned into an obsession for the successor who resembled him the most.

Yet a question would arise here.

'But why would he involve the Guild Master, who only ever worked as a Hunter, especially his daughter, over his eldest son, who had diligently taken business classes for over a decade? That too, to the point of shaking up the stable succession structure.'

The Chairman wasn't young enough for such a gamble. He could drop dead tomorrow and nobody would find it strange. There wasn't time to prop up a new successor in place of the existing one.

'Or is there something else I'm unaware of.'

The Chairman's actions remained a mystery.

While lost in thought, Ju Se-ah asked a question, "So, what's the next plan? If we leave things as they are, Chairman Tae Jin-sung will have full control of the guild. If things go wrong, we may have to leave the guild."

"From here, it's all about demonstrating our abilities. Like defending managerial rights in a corporation, we need to garner friendly stakes to keep control over the guild."

"The problem is that gathering those friendly stakes is not easy."

"That's why we need an ally."

"An ally? Whom..."

"Didn't you make a friend not long ago? Hanju Group."

Ju Se-ah's expression became strangely ambiguous, as if she didn't know whether to agree or disagree.

"Hanju? Can we trust them?"

"It's not a matter of trust. They want something from us. For now, it's enough to exchange what we can give each other."

"Explain in detail."

Ju Se-ah crossed her arms and listened intently.

Kang Mu-hyuk rolled his eyes upward, gathering his thoughts before he continued.

"The most suitable company to take from Taesung Group right now would be Taesung Machinery. The Hanju Group is secretly buying their stocks. Iron Will won't immediately act upon acquiring Taesung Machinery, but if they do attack, they will appear as a knight in shining armor at a crucial moment."

"Well, if you say so, Guild Leader Kang. But will Hanju alone be enough to protect the guild? Hanju and Taesung share a lot of business areas. They're rivals in their own right, and allying with one could cause misunderstanding among other shareholders. If shareholders friendly to Taesung raise any flags, we might just end up with more enemies."

"We plan to resolve that by finding other allies who are on our side."

"Other allies?"

Ju Se-ah racked her brain but couldn't think of anyone suitable. Other allies she didn't know about. When had they managed to establish such connections? Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked.

"Who? Who are these allies?"

"They are your brothers."

"I must have misheard. Brothers? Who?"

"Tae Soo-cheol, Tae Soo-man. Those who wish for your success more than anyone."

Tae Soo-cheol thought back to the secret meeting with Kang Mu-hyuk.

'The Vice President is in his fifties. The Chairman is almost eighty. By now, he should have taken over the group or at least stepped into frontline management... Yet, the Chairman still manipulates the group. He's healthy enough to do so, unlike a typical man in his seventies. At this rate, he might not even take the Chairman's seat in his sixties.'

Daring to voice a thought that even his confidants dared not speak. Either he was insensitive or clueless. But Kang Mu-hyuk's words struck a nerve. It was a concern that Tae Soo-cheol himself had all these years.

His peers, even some much younger scions of chaebols, frequently held frontline management positions. Some even took control of the group in their late thirties. But until now, he had endured, confident that he was the only successor to Taesung.

'Still, out of nowhere, he brings in an illegitimate child...'

At first, when he handed the group's guild over to Ju Se-ah, Tae Soo-cheol accepted it, albeit reluctantly. Ju Se-ah was one of the top Hunters in Korea, after all. Tae Soo-cheol had agreed to her appointment as Guild Master with the casual thought that a solid guild would be a good addition to the empire he would inherit.

'That was my mistake.'

From the beginning, the Chairman, his father, had never trusted him.

Ju Se-ah was a threat to Tae Soo-cheol. Whether she intended it or not, she had become his most dangerous adversary. Her presence had caused rifts, even rekindling the ambitions of brothers who had surrendered long ago.

'When looking at history, it's understandable why the victor in a royal succession often kills his brothers. After all, a king must not leave any threats behind.'

And so, Kang Mu-hyuk's proposal piqued his interest.

The circumventing public listing of the guild, followed by the separation of its subsidiaries.

It was a method that could drop Ju Se-ah far away from Taesung, without leaving any lingering effects. However, there was one sticking point.

"He's too proactive. It seems like he knows too much. He proposed to me without any hesitation at this point. He's not afraid at all, even though it's a dangerous move to strike at the Chairman. We're talking about a mere manager of a subsidiary."

Of course, Kang Mu-hyuk's audacity and drive were noteworthy. Who would have thought he would get permission for a backdoor listing from his father?

There would inevitably be obstacles to the backdoor listing, but there was nothing that Taesung couldn't overcome. The most challenging mission was getting permission from Tae Jin-sung, which surprisingly went smoothly.

The problem was the very situation of him reaching out to them for the independence of the guild.

Despite being promised the position of Guild Master when Ju Se-ah was removed, he still insisted on planning the separation of the subsidiaries.

"Did he get attached to Se-ah?"

He had never trusted him from the beginning, but there was something perplexing about Kang Mu-hyuk's attitude.

It was difficult to infer if he was a friend or foe. He seemed like an enemy, yet he continually left room for doubt, making him appear as an ally. It was a crafty trick, making him hard to discard. Even when they thought about getting rid of him, they couldn't bring themselves to do it.

Tae Soo-cheol had no choice but to come to an awkward conclusion in the end.

"There's nothing wrong with being cunning, as long as his tricks are aimed at my father."

"Alright, let's start the work in earnest."

At Kang Mu-hyuk's words, the remaining staff in the guild were taken aback. They all had the same thought.

'So, what we've been doing until now wasn't 'in earnest'?'

After the Goblin extermination mission in North Pocheon, most of the original staff had quit, leaving few members. Thus, the guild's tasks were overflowing. The concept of home became meaningless once they entered North Pocheon, and going home had become someone else's guild's problem.

As the work grew hectic they thought they might collapse from overwork, the senior staff stepped up as representatives to confront the Guild Leader directly.

"Isn't this too much? Are we slaves or what? The dormitories aren't even fixed yet, it's so uncomfortable, and now you're telling us to work without weekends!"

"That's right!"

"We demand work-life balance!"

Ding! Dong! Drring!

"Huh? What's this?"

"Eh?"

Smartphone notifications rang out at just the right moment.

They had just restored communication near Lake Sanjeong. For a while, they had only used their smartphones as clocks, so the staff awkwardly checked their notifications.

"!!"

The staff alternated between looking at the number displayed on their screen and Kang Mu-hyuk standing in front of them. Their expressions asking what this was all about. Some even rubbed their eyes, refusing to believe it, and checked again.

"It's payday."

"It's a few days early... No, more than that... Isn't this a mistake? This... This seems like a lot..."

One staff member held out his smartphone, asking for confirmation. Kang Mu-hyuk glanced at the deposited amount and nodded.

"It's correct. You all worked hard this time, right? That's the bonus, calculated with all those considerations."

"..."

"From now on, we plan to compensate all staff according to their effort. I think the conversation went off track. Are you finding the work difficult because there's a lot to do these days?"

The staff exchanged glances, then one by one, they all stepped forward with a smile.

"Oh my! Yes, there is a lot of work. But it's natural to be busy for the guild's advancement."

"The juniors were complaining so much that I tried to cajole the Guild Leader a bit. Just for show, of course. You know how it is, a gesture like this calms them down. Haha."

"We'll soothe their concerns ourselves in the future. Guild Leader, you can concentrate on the guild business without worry."

Ju Se-ah, astonished, looked at the employees whose faces had instantly changed from discontent to satisfaction.

"I, known for changing faces in the Hunter world, may be hypocritical saying this, but people can be so deceptive. I wondered why Guild Leader Kang deposited the salaries a few days earlier, and it turns out this was his ploy. How did he know that there would be a group protest?"

"There are some employees who can be said to be on my side. I have been keeping a real-time check on the employees' complaints."

"As expected, you are a reliable leader. To be able to handle complaints this quickly."

"Regardless of East or West, there's no solution as sure as financial treatment."

Kang Mu-hyuk, who had just nipped the budding seeds of a strike, began to push forward with projects that had only existed on paper until now.

It began lightly with a guild emblem competition. The competition was held with a focus on introducing the Special Activities Zone of North Pocheon while promoting the Iron Will Guild, which still lacked recognition.

There were also active renovations to the guild headquarters. The main issue was the main building where guild work took place and the dormitory where the employees stayed.

Fortunately, there were existing facilities so there was no need to build anew. Instead, cleaning and upscale remodeling work were carried out.

The construction was done by a medium-sized construction company introduced by the Hanju Group.

Kang Mu-hyuk requested the construction company to prioritize subcontractors from small and medium-sized businesses in Pocheon. This was because Iron Will promoted itself with the slogan of going together with the local community as a local guild.

The next important task was receiving goods from the C warehouse from the Titan Guild. This seemingly trivial transportation task turned out to be a big deal.

The northern part of North Pocheon had a high concentration of mana, so regular engines did not work. They had to rent a vehicle coated with mana-blocking, but the cost of the mana stones used as fuel alone was not small.

'I need to set aside some of the funds for the acquisition of Taesung Machinery. There's a lot of money to be put in the future. Hanju gave me a good price for the byproduct of the Watuhsi Snake, but I've almost used it all up. I can't waste any more... Hmm, do I have to go there to secure ample funds?'

Eventually, Kang Mu-hyuk had to leave Pocheon and go directly to Samseong-dong.

[Slayer Guild]

Looking up at the logo embedded in the highest floor of a skyscraper, Kang Mu-hyuk entered the lobby.

The Slayer Guild's lobby was dazzling. It wasn't because of the expensive furniture and interior design. The exhibits filling the spacious guild lobby overwhelmed Kang Mu-hyuk.

'Is this... possibly a 'Trachelop'? My goodness. It's not a model but the real thing. To use such a valuable bone for exhibition...'

It felt like visiting a museum. Various specimens of monsters they had hunted were on display in the lobby of the Slayer Guild. Among them were monsters that could be sold at a decent price if sold as weapon parts or material.

Kang Mu-hyuk naturally compared the Titan, where he used to belong, and the Slayer. He admired the Tier-ed guild anew. Titan may be called the best among A-rank, but there was still a gap with the Tier-ed guild, he reaffirmed. Not to mention, Iron Will couldn't even get its name near theirs.

While admiring the full-body skeleton of a giant dinosaur monster, Kang Mu-hyuk muttered without realizing it, "I heard about it, but... There's nothing like squandering money. If they want to intimidate the visitors, they're definitely getting their money's worth."

"It's not as worth it as you'd think. We don't have many visitors to the guild."

Kang Mu-hyuk looked at the man standing next to him. The man, who had been looking up at the dinosaur monster with him, offered Kang Mu-hyuk a handshake as he looked him in the eye.

"Nice to meet you, Guild Leader Kang Mu-hyuk. I'm Sung Seon-je from the Slayer Guild."

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