There was a story about King Sejong and Minister Hwang Hee. Hwang Hee requested to resign several times, but King Sejong didn’t grant it, so he had to work until his dying breath. If people resigned due to health issues, then they were told to work from home and if they resigned because they were too old to work, then a palanquin would be sent so that they could be carried to the palace. To make things worse, King Sejong sent civil servants to Hwang Hee’s house so that he could take care of the paperwork while in bed, so he basically worked until he died.

‘Shit…’

I was in a similar situation. I realized that Kim Hyun-Sung was really trying to make me work. If Kim Hyun-Sung’s kingdom grew bigger and his name went down in history, then I was sure that my name would be mentioned as well, but I would be described as an idiot that died from overworking.

Despite the many corruptions Hwang Hee was involved in, he received King Sejong’s affection until the very end and just like Hwang Hee, I was able to obtain absolute power.

‘Power.’

It was obvious, but my position within the guild had totally changed compared to before. It wasn’t that I was in a low position before, but I was now in a position where I could wield the Blue Guild’s power.

‘The problem is that I don’t have time to use that power…’

Currently, almost all the issues related to the guild required my attention. Out of all the positions that I was assigned to, the majority of them were temporary and even though there was no guarantee that they would remain temporary, I realized that knowing the Blue Guild’s administrative system inside and out was very important. It meant that I could see all the matters happening within the guild and I realized once again that Kim Hyun-Sung had faith in me. He couldn’t trust anybody else and since the guild master trusted me wholeheartedly, it was natural for the other guild members to start groveling. Basically, my important titles gave me wings.

The second was gold coins. As if the Blue Guild was marketing that they weren’t a black company[1] and was a kind guild that paid the members based on the amount of work they did, I had the highest salary in the guild. It was even higher than Kim Hyun-Sung, the guild master. When I first arrived here, my pay was one million gold and before even a year could pass, my pay had already increased almost 12 times. Since I was getting paid about 1.2 million when converted into won, I was definitely successful in my career, but the reality was that this salary wasn’t enough.

The problem was that I wasn’t getting paid consistently because the guild was falling apart and despite getting a raise, I couldn’t accept the pay considering the guild’s current situation. To make things worse, it wasn’t the guildmembers but me that had to earn the money. The guild was in the worst situation possible; we were experiencing financial and manpower difficulties.

‘I should take care of this first.’

No matter which one it was, I had to take care of it.

While I was reading the report in front of me, I heard a voice beside me.

“Mr. Lee Ki-Young, this is the report from the damage task force,” Park Joong-Ki said.

“Please leave it on my desk. I’ll check it after I’m done with the current report. Oh, could you please call Miss Jung-Yeon for me?” I asked.

“Well… Miss Hwang Jung-Yeon said that she’s taking care of other tasks…”

“What? She told me that she was going to rest…” I said.

“She said that something came up,” he replied.

‘She ran off.’

I shouldn’t have trusted her when she said that she was going to take a break. Actually, it was understandable since she basically stayed here all day, and thanks to her help in organizing the documents, it made my job a lot easier. In a world without computers, I thought that using a talented woman like her only when I needed help was the right thing to do, but I never even imagined that she would run away like this without saying a word. Of course, I could understand it since she probably had work she had to catch up on, but I felt like I was more miserable without her.

“The guild’s marketing…”

“As I mentioned before, we’ll first release an article saying that the Blue Guild’s administration has changed and then reveal the records regarding the capture of the Cursed Shrine. I would need the record in three days. Actually, I’ll do it again. After releasing the free section of the record, I think it would be best to sell the remaining section,” I explained.

“Are you suggesting that we sell part of the capture record?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

“Yes, we’ll sell it,” I answered.

“Then this should go to the business department…”

“No, you should just leave it. The business department has other tasks to take care of,” I said, interrupting him.

“Excuse me?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

The business department was part of my jurisdiction anyway and I guess they must have realized that because the guild employee looked at me pitifully.

“We may need to change things up a bit, but I’m sure it’ll be more than enough to sell because the story about the Cursed Shrine is pretty exciting,” I said.

“I think I know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“I think it’ll be best to include the story about Lee Seol-Ho before the group left even though it’ll have to be edited a bit. If there’s anyone within the guild that’s good at writing, I’ll gather all of them and ask them to start editing it. Actually, I’ll start right now,” I said.

“That’s a good idea, but… if you think about the publication and the mass production, it may take longer than you think, sub guild master,” he said.

“I’ll reschedule everything. In the article, we should also mention the items we obtained from the Cursed Shrine along with the capture record. We should also include information about Juliena,” I suggested.

“Are you referring to the legendary item you have?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

“Yes, and of course, we won’t mention the functions of the weapon. Focus on the words, Possessor of Legendary Item, et cetera, and promote that. I’m sure it’s the fastest and most effective way,” I said.

“So they’ll become more interested in how the dungeon was captured...”

“Yes.”

After getting everyone’s attention on how the legendary item was obtained, it would be better to reveal the capture records after. I thought that it was going to sell really well because the public was curious about a lot of things. They would want to know where the items were obtained and they would most certainly gossip about how I was acknowledged as the owner of a legendary item.

Despite coming up with the idea just now, I thought that it wasn’t so bad because there weren’t that many opportunities for people to hear about how someone else obtained a legendary item.

Not only that…

“We’ll reschedule the delivery time for the Fantasy Potion and deliver it sooner. I’ll make sure it’s shipped out earlier because I think it’ll be better if it’s released at the same time when the capture records are being sold,” I suggested.

“Okay, I’ll change the schedule,” he said.

There were other ways that we could use to promote the guild.

Since the potion was the main contributor while we were in the dungeon, I was certain that it would quickly be sold out. The plan wasn’t bad and even though it felt like everything was working out, I felt like something was missing.

“Hm…”

“What’s wrong?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

“It’s nothing,” I answered.

It felt like this wasn’t the right direction. Not only was I supposed to promote the guild’s merchandise, but I was supposed to promote the guild itself. If this continued, no matter how well things went, it would be nothing more than earning money. Of course, this alone could increase the guild’s worth…

However…

‘It doesn’t mean that they’ll want to work with the Blue Guild…’

The plan lacked a decisive blow.

“By the way, how much does it cost to utilize a carriage billboard?” I asked.

“I heard 200 gold is the cheapest for one day, but for carriages that move in areas with a lot of people, the price is…”

“Not bad. It’s cost-effective and I like the fact that we can use it right away,” I said.

“How are you planning on…”

“I’ll have to think about it a bit more. By the way, are they done creating a list of all the epic-ranked items?” I asked.

“I heard that they’re almost done,” Park Joong-Ki answered.

“We don’t have a lot of time until the auction, so please ask them to hurry. We’ll sell all the useless items,” I told him.

“Okay.”

I didn’t want to acknowledge it, but the work wasn’t that bad. Since I was involved in every single matter, being able to adjust my schedule flexibly felt pretty nice. If this was an ordinary company, then we would have had several meetings just to reschedule something and people would have nitpicked everything and I would have already reached my limits. Since I controlled everything by myself, I didn’t have to worry about bureaucracy, but this didn’t mean that my current work wasn’t tiring at all.

The problem was that there were limits to my abilities. Since I was taking care of the tasks that many people usually handled, my head was starting to ache. If I had the same administrative power that characters had in novels, then I could have handled things without any issues and it would have made my job a lot easier, but the reality was that I didn’t even know every imperial law. I didn’t have a problem taking care of ordinary tasks, but when it came to sensitive tasks that involved taxes or imperial law, it took me more time to take care of it because I had to study while working.

‘It’s also taking me longer since I don’t have anyone competent enough to help me…’

Honestly, this was the biggest problem. The Blue Guild wasn’t a small guild. The guild was like an entertainment agency that revolved around seven parties and there was a good amount of guild members and staff that assisted them. Obviously, none of them were really competent which meant that those gramps must have killed the members that stood out even a little bit. I mean, I was sure that they didn’t actually kill them, but they probably pressured those members to either leave the guild or had them kicked out before they climbed the ranks.

‘They’re useless even after death.’

It became painfully obvious how obsessed they were with their positions.

Since we didn’t have people that could do the work, I had no choice but to do things on my own.

‘Cheap labor.’

I was cheap and competent. What we needed was a cheap and competent labor force. The guild’s image was what would bring those people in and it was the job of the marketing team to create an image for the guild. When looking at the guild’s current situation, I was sure that only cheap people would apply to the guild for now because those that were truly competent wouldn’t do so.

While I was thinking about whether it would be best to cheat people by creating a nice image for the Blue Guild, I heard someone knocking on the door. When I heard their voice, I knew that it was Park Deok-Gu.

“Hyung-nim, it’s me.”

“Come in, Deok-Gu,” I said.

“Ugh… don’t you think you’re too busy?” he asked.

“Yeah, I really am busy,” I answered.

“I came because the guild master asked me to give you something,” he said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“He told me that it was a fatigue remedy…” he answered.

“Oh…”

‘Kim Hyun-Sung, that bastard.’

At this point, Kim Hyun-Sung and I were probably enemies in our past lives and when I thought that I could possibly be Hwang Hee from the story, I felt a chill running down my spine.

“He was really worried about your health… I’m not sure where he got it from, but it’s really effective. Taking one of these will keep you up for three days…” Park Deok-Gu explained.

The more he spoke, the more scared I felt…

‘Don’t be like this, you pig!’

If this continued, then I would end up getting sick one way or another. As if I was grasping at straws, I had no choice but to ask him for help.

‘Being straightforward might be the best solution…’

“Deok-Gu, let’s talk,” I said.

When I spoke, I saw his eyes sparkling…

“About what?” he asked.

“What do you think about our guild’s image?” I asked.

“I mean… isn’t it a failed guild? We’re still rebuilding it… and I’m sure it’ll get better in the future. It doesn’t really seem so bad right now, ahem,” he answered.

It was the perfect answer.

“Then what’s our guild’s strength?” I asked.

“Why are you asking…”

“I’m not asking seriously, so you can answer however you want. What should we say in order to bring competent people into our guild?” I asked.

“I don’t know anything about that, but… if you’re asking about our guild’s strength, then we’re all young, passionate, and ambitious. And you’re here too, Hyung-nim! Yeah…” he said.

“Oh…”

I felt like I got an answer that I never even imagined. I was really puzzled by the fact that I hadn’t been able to think of those simple things. When I smiled while looking at Park Deok-Gu, he must have realized that he had been helpful because he revealed a bright smile.

I immediately spoke to Park Joong-Ki who was sitting next to me. “Mr. Joong-Ki.”

“Yes, sub guild master.”

“Contact the transportation union in Lindel right now and make sure we can spread leaflets everywhere,” I told him.

“Understood. Are you planning on expanding the numbers…”

“No, right now…”

“...”

“We need to recruit interns,” I said.

I couldn’t be the only one recruiting people.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_company_(Japanese_term) ☜