The Price of Discontent (2)
— Daughter. You really are doing well, right?
"Yeah, Dad! Don't worry so much. If things go well, I think I might even earn a lot more money!"
— Money? More than the 1 billion won you mentioned before? How much?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you that right now."
Hwang Jiwoo kept in touch with her parents regularly.
Because of the NDA, she could not tell them the details, but she at least let them know that she was doing well and that she would probably be able to make a lot of money.
— It's not too hard, is it?
"No. Even if it's hard, it's not hard."
In truth, of course it was hard. To say otherwise would be a lie.
Even after collapsing from physical training, Baek Jinwoo kept raising the intensity, and above all, with Explosive Dragon Sorcerer always by her side, she had absolutely no personal time.
A life where all dopamine was cut off and nothing existed but training.
An ordinary person would not last even a week.
'But.'
She had to endure it.
It was only 100 days.
And during those 100 days, the hourly wage was 41.66 million won, on top of being a period in which she could receive the finest consulting every player in the country wished for.
If you grabbed any random person off the street and asked whether they wanted this, they would probably drop to their knees and beg to be given the chance.
If you had any conscience at all, this was something you had to endure.
'If I get 100 billion won.'
There was so much she could do.
She could buy a house for her parents, who had always been so good to her, and get herself a nice house and a nice car too…..
Then she could tie up the rest in high-yield dividend stocks or real estate and enjoy financial freedom.
And being a player?
She could treat it as a hobby, or do it properly!
'Of course.'
It would be even better if she learned properly and became a national representative.
And.
Yesterday, she had read a fairly surprised emotion on Baek Jinwoo's face.
'That means… I really am doing well, right?'
Fwoosh!
Hwang Jiwoo's eyes shone with hope as she looked toward Explosive Dragon training nearby.
"Mr. Jinwoo?"
Click!
Yoo Jia came into the meeting room, opening the door.
Ever since testing Hwang Jiwoo yesterday, Baek Jinwoo had spent the entire day thinking.
'Should I raise Hwang Jiwoo or not?'
In truth, if a player had talent, there was no downside to raising them. It did not take that long, and it was not especially difficult.
Besides, HunGyo handled all the real training anyway.
HunGyo was, in fact, the kind of bizarre character whose satisfaction with life increased the more packed his training schedule became.
The problem was—
"You want to create a guild?"
"Yes. I want to leave Yoobaek as Yoobaek, and set up one guild under Yoobaek."
"Why the sudden thought….. Don't tell me it's because of that Hwang Jiwoo you're training with this time?"
As expected of Yoo Jia. Her instincts were razor-sharp.
"That's part of it. There are other reasons too."
"If you mean other reasons…"
"You know what happened last month, right? It was fortunate that my disciples happened to be in Yoobaek City at the time. Imagine if they had not been. Isn't that terrifying? If something like that happens again—"
Baek Jinwoo wanted to increase the number of trustworthy rankers stationed in Yoobaek City.
".....So you want to build up power."
That was right.
To put it nicely, it was a guild, but strictly speaking, was it not a kind of armed organization?
A legal armed group recognized by the government.
Baek Jinwoo had a lot of people he needed to protect.
At first, it had only been his family, but more and more people were becoming precious to him.
Yoo Jia, for one, and his four disciples.
And now the employees of Yoobaek as well were Baek Jinwoo's people.
If he wanted to protect people like them?
He definitely needed power.
"But I'm not thinking of making anything grand. Just something like a small elite group filled only with the people I want? That would be perfect."
After all, having a bunch of riffraff was the same as having nothing.
One truly capable player was worth more than a hundred mediocre ones.
"Mm, that actually sounds pretty good?"
Yoo Jia seemed interested too.
"To be honest, it's a lot easier to make money through a guild than through one-man management."
"That's good to hear."
"The licensing process is a pain in the neck, but with Mr. Jinwoo's reputation, I think we can probably push it through. And Uncle Jangseok is there too, and the facilities are already better than most guilds anyway—"
"That's true."
Even if you brought in one of South Korea's Big 3 guilds, none of them had grandeur on the level of Yoobaek City.
All of them were just renting expensive buildings in Seoul.
Later on.
A day would probably come when Yoobaek also opened a Seoul branch.
"Then I'll sort everything out the way you want and report back! You know how I am. If it's your opinion, Mr. Jinwoo, I'm always ready to accept it enthusiastically."
"I appreciate hearing that. Oh, and could you get me a few summons?"
"What kind of summons?"
Baek Jinwoo wrote down a list.
Ice-element summons he had used in the past.
One A-rank, three B-ranks, and one C-rank.
Of course, he was not going to transfer ownership of them to Hwang Jiwoo right away.
His test of her was not over yet.
Skill, willpower, loyalty—when every test was finished, they would be a gift given on the condition that she joined the guild.
And if she failed the test?
'Then I'll use them myself.'
Their limitations were clear, but once upon a time, it had been a composition famous for being an overpowered combo.
Someday, it would come in handy.
* * *
Gangnam.
Baekho headquarters.
Knock knock.
An Gijeong and Hwang Juwon, the Guild Master and Vice Guild Master of Ilwol, knocked on Baekho's door.
"Oh my, you're here! Big brother!"
Baekho's Guild Master, Park Hoe, welcomed the two of them with a smile.
"We see each other every week anyway, so what did you invite us here for?"
At fifty-three years old, Hwang Juwon, who acted as one of the elder figures among the national representatives, gave a hearty laugh.
The average age of Ilwol's rankers was high.
No one really knew why, but that was just how the atmosphere had turned out.
Up to their late thirties, people preferred the Baekho Guild. Starting around their mid-forties, they preferred Ilwol.
Early forties?
It was about half and half.
As a side note, people in their twenties leaned toward Arirang, and teenagers toward Carpe Diem.
"Please, have a seat."
Park Hoe greeted them respectfully.
Naturally, there was a separate reason he had invited them.
After briefly easing the atmosphere with some light conversation, Park Hoe got to the point.
"Big brothers."
"Yeah?"
"Don't Hong Ari and the Carpe Diem kids seem a little strange?"
It was something that had already been discussed within Baekho.
Hong Ari, Gi Jaehyuk, Kang Jihoe.
Those three had suddenly become far too strong, and as it turned out, together with Arirang's Oh Sunyoung, they had been receiving private tutoring in Yoobaek City.
This, he claimed, was a clear breach of contract and preferential corruption.
"Mm, something like that happened?"
Hwang Juwon smiled.
"No wonder the kids were impossible to keep up with…. I just thought it was because they were young and developed faster."
"This is not something to laugh off, big brother. Baek Jinwoo received an additional 1 trillion won in state subsidies. If he's taking government money to teach people, can that teaching really be allowed to have such disparities?"
"Mm."
Hwang Juwon closed his eyes.
After thinking for a moment, he opened them again.
"So?"
"Pardon?"
"So what are you planning to do? Confront Baek Jinwoo?"
"That's right."
"Hm."
Hwang Juwon instantly caught Park Hoe's intent.
To begin with—
Baekho had four rankers on this national team.
Kang Geonho, Park Hoe, Bok Jeonghee, Seo Sangwon.
And with Ilwol's two, that made six in total to file a claim together.
After all, the more heads there were, the more weight the argument carried.
"Think carefully. Baek Jinwoo? Highly skilled and a good teacher? I acknowledge that. Given that he is someone people even believe may be the incarnation of the famous God Ji-nu, that much is only natural. But if he keeps favoring only Arirang and Carpe Diem the way he is now, then we will inevitably be left behind."
"So you're asking for Ilwol's support for that claim?"
"That's right."
"What about persuading him instead of filing a claim?"
"....You're saying we should give something more to a man who already took 1 trillion won?"
"That all sounds fine, but isn't it too risky? What if Baek Jinwoo snaps and excludes us entirely?"
That was only natural from Hwang Juwon's point of view.
From this side, it might feel like a perfectly reasonable objection, but from Baek Jinwoo's perspective, it could look different.
After all, it was not illegal for him to give separate training to players he felt more attached to.
To begin with, who Baek Jinwoo taught more—it was Baek Jinwoo's decision.
"Hoe."
"Yes, big brother."
"Still, I think this is all too hasty. I understand very well that Baekho wants to remain number one in Korea. But we have to acknowledge what deserves acknowledging. Baek Jinwoo is strong, and he has the right to use the knowledge and know-how he possesses however he wants."
".....Even so, it feels so unfair that we have to lose the number one spot because of one man, Baek Jinwoo."
"What can you do if it feels unfair? If you have complaints, then get stronger. To put it bluntly, isn't the reason our Ilwol isn't number one simply because we're weaker?"
"We're not exactly weak. We have the backing of MK Group and Mirae Group, the second- and third-largest conglomerates in the business world, and we also have plenty of connections in political circles, including at headquarters. No matter how strong Baek Jinwoo is, he won't be able to ignore that."
"....."
Whew.
Hwang Juwon let out a sigh.
This was Baekho's problem.
Their Guild Master and Vice Guild Master were too young.
Hoe, the Guild Master, was thirty-five, and Geonho, the rank-one player, was thirty-three.
They were not exactly children, but they were still not seasoned enough to lead a large organization, and old enough to still be plenty emotional.
An age full of hot blood!
Of course, he did understand their position.
Their solid standing was on the verge of collapsing because of the biased favor of a single player—how could they not be furious?
But that was Baekho's position, not Ilwol's.
"I don't mind fighting."
Hwang Juwon said.
"But leave us out of it."
"Big brother!"
"You know, right? It's rude to ask someone to walk with you down a road when the answer is already obvious."
It was the road to the underworld, with the outcome plain as day.
The world had already changed.
Connections, bloodlines, conglomerates, politicians?
None of that mattered anymore.
If the power of a single player was overwhelmingly strong, then that was the end of it.
You only had to look at Rachel of Britain to know that.
Even if you combined all the heads of the world's corporations and all the figures in political circles, they still would not have as much influence as her words did.
"And frankly, you haven't even asked Baek Jinwoo yet, have you? To invite us to Yoobaek City too."
"We should ask, of course. I'm talking about what to do if we get rejected."
"Tsk, tsk, then, you fool!"
Hwang Juwon rose from his seat.
"You should think after asking first. Of course, leave us out of that too."
Baek Jinwoo surely had his own reasons for teaching those people.
In a situation like that, to march up to him and throw a tantrum saying, Teach me too!?
'Ugh.'
That was obviously the kind of thing that would make him dislike you.
Hwang Juwon did not want to earn Baek Jinwoo's dislike.
If they were doing well enough, would he not teach them in due course?
'To be honest.'
The reality was that even the current curriculum was already hard enough to keep up with.
Sigh.
He let out a sigh inwardly.
'At this rate, Baekho doesn't have long either.'
For any organization, the Guild Master had to be smart.
To survive, one had to read the rapidly changing current of the times and step into it as naturally as water flowing downstream.
Right now, the trend was not Baekho.
It was Baek Jinwoo.
Even if you could not become number one by attaching yourself to that side, at least you would survive.
"Big brother, do you really think you won't regret this?"
".....You're the one who'd better not regret it. Take my advice to heart."
The only reason Baekho had been able to stay number one up to now was probably luck.
Because South Korea's overall level was terrible.
Baekho was formed by frogs in a well, rankers gathering together and getting along among themselves.
The executives might have skill, but they could not help having little social experience.
'Well now.'
I am curious.
How this will all turn out.
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