Chapter 117
Ham Min-hyun and Kang Jae-hee's eyes narrowed.
"Someone who has gained the trust of the great Choi Cheon-young... I'm certainly curious about their identity."
"I'm also quite excited to see how amazing this person is... But I'm not sure if all my heightened expectations will be met."
Despite Ham Min-hyun's words raising the bar significantly, Choi Cheon-young casually picked up his chopsticks and said:
"Feel free to expect a lot."
He put a piece of beef in his mouth, chewed, and spoke in a confident tone.
"You definitely won't be disappointed."
"I'm getting really curious... who could our major shareholder be to make you so confident?"
Ham Min-hyun's eyes narrowed as his curiosity and expectations swelled like a balloon.
'A capitalist with enough money to swallow up three guilds at once, and someone who can even make Choi Cheon-young submit...'
There were very few such people even in South Korea.
No, it would be more accurate to say there was only one.
'Could it be?'
Just as Ham Min-hyun was furrowing his brow and a face was appearing in his mind...
Creak-
The closed door opened and a man entered.
He had never directly met him face to face before.
But since it was the person he had just been thinking of, he recognized him immediately.
"Hunter Lee Seong-jun!"
Ham Min-hyun called out his name in an excited voice.
Kang Jae-hee also looked at him with an expression of shock, though he didn't voice it.
The confidence Choi Cheon-young had shown earlier now made sense.
'Hunter Lee Seong-jun, yes, if it's Hunter Lee Seong-jun, it's understandable to be confident.'
Currently, Hunter Lee Seong-jun was South Korea's top star and hunter with various titles.
Of course, understanding didn't make the surprise go away.
'I knew he was an outstanding individual as a hunter... but this is beyond what I'd heard in rumors.'
Reaper, Attacker, and Mystic were all solid medium-sized enterprises, and to become their major shareholder required assets of at least 200 billion won. They were guilds of considerable size.
Although classified as medium-sized guilds, they were on a different level from companies where one could become a major shareholder with a common 10 billion won capital.
'To boldly invest such a large sum of hundreds of billions... He's a person with as much boldness as skill.'
There was really no room for doubt.
Hunter Lee Seong-jun was a perfect individual who possessed not only qualifications and skills, but also the capital and audacity as an investor.
"You've arrived, Major Shareholder. As you ordered, I've called the masters of Attacker and Mystic."
Choi Cheon-young immediately bowed his head, and Seong-jun responded with a gesture before shifting his gaze to Ham Min-hyun and Kang Jae-hee.
"I apologize for suddenly calling you all here when you must be busy. Let me formally introduce myself first, I'm Lee Seong-jun."
"It's an honor to meet you. I'm Ham Min-hyun, the master of Attacker guild."
"I'm Kang Jae-hee of Mystic guild. I've always admired you, Hunter!"
"There's no need to be so formal, please sit comfortably."
Seong-jun smiled slightly and slowly moved to sit in the chair placed in front of the table.
Following him, the masters of each guild, including Choi Cheon-young, took their seats.
Seong-jun opened his mouth as if he had been waiting for this moment.
"You must all be curious why I spent hundreds of billions to secure the position of major shareholder."
From the perspective of guild masters, this was naturally a point of curiosity.
Why make such an aggressive investment using hundreds of billions in cash while knowing the hunter ecosystem well?
Choi Cheon-young, who had been carefully observing, opened his mouth.
"...Can you tell us?"
"That's precisely why I came here."
Seong-jun, with a smile on his face, scanned the faces of the guild masters and spoke again.
"First, the top priority is for the three guilds - Reaper, Attacker, and Mystic - to become one under the name Infinity."
"You're saying we should merge the three guilds into a new one, correct?"
Seong-jun nodded.
"Yes, that's correct."
Originally, since it wasn't such an urgent matter, he would have proceeded step by step from buying a building to establishing a guild.
But many things changed due to the help of President Do Min-joon this time.
'There's no reason to refuse when the government is offering full support.'
Establishing a guild was one of the planned tasks anyway.
There's nothing to lose by pushing hard when the opportunity comes.
In fact, through the government's immediate support, he became the owner of a building with a future value easily exceeding 500 billion won.
'I need to work as much as I've received.'
Although it's nominal, he still needs to protect the city.
This means he needs hunter manpower equivalent to a large guild.
'It wouldn't be impossible to recruit...'
Given the reputation he's built up, even if he were to start from scratch by creating a new guild, he could quickly recruit personnel.
The process itself wouldn't be too difficult.
However, the mental effort and time consumed would inevitably be considerable.
'There's no reason to take the long way around when there's a shortcut.'
Moreover, even the minor legal issues that would inevitably arise during the merger process were all promised to be resolved by the government and the association. He could confidently say there was no easier way than merging the guilds.
'The best would have been to bring in White Tiger or Phoenix, but...'
The two guilds, established as part of the top 5 guilds, were Seoul's core forces and thus couldn't easily move due to various regulations and restrictions, as well as internal guild circumstances.
Therefore, he asked Vice Chairman Ko Tae-hyun to find out which medium-sized guilds were the most solid, clean, and skilled, and bought their stocks.
Of course, from the perspective of the guild masters who didn't know these detailed circumstances, it was bound to be a somewhat bewildering situation.
"Does this mean all three of our guilds will be under Hunter Lee Seong-jun's command...?"
Seong-jun nodded at Ham Min-hyun's question, which was mixed with half surprise and half shock.
"Yes, I, Lee Seong-jun, will be the master. Moreover, your area of activity will be Paju, not Seoul where you are now. As you'll be in charge of the frontline, you should make thorough preparations during the merger process."
Choi Cheon-young, Ham Min-hyun, and Kang Jae-hee were all individuals with different personalities.
But the emotions blooming in their eyes right now were exactly the same.
Joy, hope, and considerable exhilaration.
'I'll be able to do great things under a great person.'
'A guild with Hunter Lee Seong-jun as the master... Jackpot! This is a jackpot!'
'Finally, my life is blooming!'
Although they would be leaving Seoul, the capital, to settle in a new place, it wasn't a problem at all.
They would be under none other than Hunter Lee Seong-jun.
He was a figure that not only Korean guilds but even world-renowned guilds were desperate to align with.
They had grasped a precious rope that could be said to be made of gold.
'If we think about the precedent of the Light guild, which left for Busan and established itself as the ruler of the region...'
'We can reign as the ruler of the new city, Paju!'
'We'll have influence comparable to, no, even greater than the top 5 guilds!'
The eyes of the guild masters, including Choi Cheon-young, glowed with excitement.
"We will obey your command."
"I, Ham Min-hyun, swear on my name that I will carry out the major shareholder's instructions without fail!"
"Hunter Lee Seong-jun, no, Master, we will prepare thoroughly and be ready so as not to tarnish your name. Please leave it to us!"
Their voices were so loud that they echoed throughout the room.
* * *
The merger of Reaper, Attacker, and Mystic.
The news of the merger of these three guilds, which had been an issue, struck South Korea.
└So that's why they bought all three guilds at once, the purpose was a merger.
└This is insane, absolutely insane. This means a new large guild has been born, right?
└They're all solid and capable guilds, so they might be even stronger than most large guilds?
└The birth of a new large guild is completely good news.
└It's been a while since we've had good news instead of just incidents.
└Feels reassuring! Infinity!
└It's been a long time since I've been proud to be Korean.
For citizens who are always under threat from monsters, the birth of a new large guild was truly a joyous event.
However, this didn't mean that all the curiosity that had bloomed earlier had disappeared.
No, it had rather grown even more.
└So who's the major shareholder who established Infinity guild?
└I'm really curious about who could have bent Choi Cheon-young's high nose.
└It must be at least one of the top 5 guild masters.
└Looking at the current guild situation, it's likely Yoon Min-su from Cosmos trying to build power to check Lee Seong-jun.
└Or it could be Lee Seong-jun building power to check Cosmos in reverse.
└I told you last time. Black money is coming in from Japan.
└I really can't figure it out.
Amidst growing questions, Infinity, a guild that would shake not just South Korea but the world, was established.
* * *
Yeouido, Hunter Association, Gate Observation Headquarters.
As usual, employees were organizing newly emerging gates while checking the data displayed on the screens.
Then, the eyes of Jung Ki-woo, who had been continuing his work in silence like any other day, widened.
"Oh, my goodness!"
The employees' brows furrowed at the high-pitched voice that split the silence that had settled in the office.
"What is it?"
"Why is he making such a fuss?"
It was a natural reaction.
If they missed even one emerging location, it could cause significant damage to the city and directly threaten citizens' safety, so they couldn't afford to miss even a single gate.
Therefore, it was an unwritten rule of Gate Management Team 1 not to shout or cause disturbances so that everyone could concentrate on their work.
Of course, Jung Ki-woo, with 8 years of experience, couldn't possibly not know this.
However, Jung Ki-woo didn't seem to mind the glares from his fellow employees at all.
No, he was raising his voice even more.
"Team leader! I think you need to come see this quickly!"
Kim Chang-sik, the head of the observation headquarters who sensed something was off, approached with hurried steps.
"What is it? What's going on?"
"Please look at this."
Kim Chang-sik, who was looking at the monitor Jung Ki-woo had displayed with narrowed eyes, also let out a shout.
"Is, is this confirmed properly?!"
"Yes, I checked several times just in case."
To be precise, he checked while praying it wasn't true.
But sadly, it was a clear reality.
"From the current mana concentration speed to the process, and even the expected figures, there's not a single error. The grade of this raid gate in Seodaemun-gu is..."
Jung Ki-woo swallowed hard and opened his mouth again.
"It's Red."
"Damn it...!"
The office began to stir at the rough curse that flowed from Kim Chang-sik's mouth as he kept rolling his eyes and checking the data on the monitor.
"R-Red?"
"Is it really a Red gate?"
The faces of the employees speaking were pale.
It couldn't be helped because it was none other than a Red gate.
It's the second highest grade of raid gates, and the nightmare gate that took away land from Gangwon-do in South Korea 30 years ago.
It was a gate that one couldn't help but be afraid of just by the fact that it was emerging, due to the fear engraved in people's minds. Moreover, its location was in Seodaemun-gu, which could be considered the heart of Seoul.
'Literally... the worst.'
Kim Chang-sik, pressing his temples hard due to the oncoming headache, moved his lips.
"I'm going to report to the Vice Chairman right now, so print out these materials immediately."