“Interns?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

“Yes, interns,” I answered.

Park Joong-Ki, who had been helping me with the task all this time, looked doubtful and I understood why he made that expression. I made a suggestion that we recruit interns while the guild was falling apart. I knew that he believed that no one would apply. But with our current state, it wasn’t a bad decision. As long as the public and the press worked together, people would apply, and as long as we built a nice image for our guild...

‘A young enterprise, a young guild!’

We could use venture companies as a reference and promote that the guild was a place where people were free and could be creative. Of course, the reality may be different, but it was important to at least seem that way on the outside. We needed new non-combatant staff members that were competent and wanted to work for the guild for a relatively small wage.

‘That’s why we need interns.’

“I think we should change the interior first,” I suggested.

“Excuse me?”

“I think the office looks a bit plain and I’m sure the young people of Lindel aren’t looking for a guild like this one. Let’s get rid of all the desks and by using dyeing magic, we should color the interior blue,” I said.

“That’s… I don’t really understand what you mean by changing the interior all of a sudden.” Park Joong-Ki hesitated.

“What the Blue Guild needs is innovation and there’s no way people would be able to think of new ideas while working in an environment like this. The first thing we need to do is to provide a location that’s great to work in and not just for us, but a place that others will want to work in,” I explained.

“I… see. Got it,” he said.

There wasn’t a better word than innovation and I was sure that he knew what kind of tricks I was trying to play.

“We should also tear down the walls that are between offices, so let’s start by tearing down the walls of the offices that Lee Seol-Ho and the other gramps used. I’m sure it’ll be better if the offices were more open. We should also place a large sofa that the staff can lie down on. Actually, wait, let’s add sleeping capsules so that people can take afternoon naps, but instead of buying new ones, let’s use the ones that we have. This way, we can minimize the impact on the budget. What’s important is the atmosphere, got it? It’s important that we become a guild that’s free and active so that the younger members can have dreams. No, we need to at least look like that kind of guild.” I explained.

“Regardless of if it’s a pool table or a card game, we need to put something in the break room that the staff will use during their break time. Oh, a chess board might not be so bad since it’s not that expensive anyway. Additionally, let’s change the guild’s cafeteria into a buffet.” I suggested.

“The budget for the cafeteria is…”

A servant that ate well would work better. I was ignorant about anything else, but a place like the cafeteria where the guild members and staff often go needed an improvement.

‘It’s really different compared to the executive cafeteria.’

“If we get rid of the useless luxuries that the gramps previously used, I’m sure it’ll be enough,” I said.

“It still won’t be enough. How much of an improvement are you thinking?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

I had no choice but to think about it for a bit, but the answer was quite simple.

“From now on, the Blue Guild will no longer spend money to keep up a certain standard of appearance and we’ll also stop spending money every month on party and executive benefits. Afterward, we can just use part of the money we have remaining,’ I told him.

It was better to use that money on the servants.

‘Forget about keeping up with appearances.’

The pay that the executives and the party members were receiving should be enough to maintain the guild’s appearance, so it was ridiculous for them to receive even more pay that was separate from their wage. I knew for sure that if it weren’t for the old forces, then the Blue Guild would have been a much larger guild by now.

“The expenses spent on the guild master, the sub guild master, and the diplomatic executives will remain the same, but we’ll reduce their pay by 30 percent,” I said.

I had the heart of a corrupt official because I honestly still wanted to get paid and since I went out often, I was sure that I would be spending a lot of money. It wasn’t rationalization but the truth.

I felt burdened by the way Park Joong-Ki was looking at me, so I quickly continued. “We won’t have a set lunchtime so that people can eat whenever they want without worrying about the time. They can eat whatever they want and this applies to the current guild staff members as well. Please make a separate announcement tomorrow morning,” I requested.

“Okay.”

“We’ll open up all the amenities that were only available to the executives as well,” I added.

“Excuse me? But aren’t those a bit too small for everyone in the guild to use?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

“Have them make reservations, but party members and executives will be given priority when making the reservation since the facilities were made for them to use. It won’t do us any good if no one uses them and when we go out to expeditions, no one will be using them anyway,” I explained.

‘Effectively, at the least…’

“I understand,” he said.

“We’ll manage a class where normal guild members and guild staff members can study magic, swordsmanship, or even the imperial law. Miss Jung-Yeon can teach magic… and if Miss Lee Sang-Hee agrees… actually, I’ll tell Miss Lee Sang-Hee myself,” I said.

“Okay.”

“How much do you think the budget will be?” I asked.

I slowly started to calculate as I asked the question, but I knew for sure that it wasn’t going to cost that much. For any task that required labor, Park Deok-Gu could take care of it and when considering the money that the gramps had used to maintain the guild’s appearance, we may have some money left after all these.

‘This is the right thing to do since we’re going to work the interns...’

It was less expensive to spend money on employee benefits than to spend money on interns that would work for a year for free. It was the best situation since we could use the slaves while boasting about trivial things, so it was unreasonable to think about loss and profit.

“Actually, you don’t need to calculate it. After thinking about it, I think it’ll be fine. We’ll work overtime separately in our rooms, so all of you can go back and if there are any documents that I need to review, please bring them to my room, Mr. Joong-Ki,” I told him.

“What? Right now?” he asked.

“Yes, we’ll begin the construction right now,” I answered.

“The guild master’s authorization…”

…wasn’t needed.

“I don’t need the master’s authorization and I’ll tell him about this later on,” I explained.

“Oh… okay,” he said.

Kim Hyun-Sung was the one who said that trivial matters wouldn’t require his authorization because he thought that it was a lot more effective to execute those trivial matters than wasting time creating a report that needed his authorization. Since there were tasks he needed to do as a guild master, it was a good choice for him to put more focus on those for now.

“Let’s get started,” I said.

“Okay.”

When patted Park Deok-Gu’s back whose eyes were widened, he nodded as well. 

The construction proceeded very quickly, just as I wanted. We used a lot of people for simple labor. We hired cheap technicians from Lindel’s union and called the artists from the plaza that were wasting their talents since this would be an opportunity for them to fulfill their dreams instead of drawing other people’s faces for a few pieces of gold. The empty space was starting to fill with the artists’ work who wanted to promote themselves for free and not only that but there were even people that offered to donate the works they weren’t selling. I didn’t know much about art, but the artists that drew pictures or sold sculptures for 40 to 50 gold all had bright smiles on their faces.

‘It’s hard for artists to make money in this world.’

Park Deok-Gu was having fun breaking down the walls of the gramps’ office while doing other work and since I thought that it wouldn’t be bad to use him, I accepted a lot of his opinions. He wasn’t the type that enjoyed using his brain, but since he was interested in changing the environment, my plan was moving along quite smoothly.

“Mr. Lee Ki-Young, what should we do with the remaining space?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

“What are our child care benefits like?” I asked.

“We do have welfare, but…” he answered.

“In that case, I think it would be good if we build a daycare within the guild. If there’s anyone that worked as a nursery teacher back on earth, please let me know. How many households have families in the guild?” I asked.

“There’s three,” he answered.

“That’s not much,” I commented.

“People tend to be reluctant about marriage…” he said.

If the parents pledged their loyalty to a guild, then it was most likely that their child would have to do the same. What I needed were slaves that would pledge their entire lives to the guild, not temporary ones. It would be best to check the childcare and maternity leave system and get rid of the old ways of kicking out a woman just because they were pregnant.

I felt like the guild was changing dramatically all of a sudden, but no one seemed confused by it because all of this was good news to the existing members, and of course, we couldn’t forget about promoting to the public that our guild had changed. Not only did we have to contact the Lindel Daily Report, but we also had to come up with a billboard design to give to the transportation union.

The title would be…

[Blue Guild, the Dream Job, and Guild!]

Or…

[We Have Totally Changed. A Guild Staff Member Lists 23 Reasons Why Working In the Blue Guild is the Dream Job!]

There was a limit to this, but the staff benefits and the atmosphere that was constantly improving; a workplace where everyone can laugh and the opportunity to develop one’s individual ability were the qualities that could convince a few people to join.

After some time had passed, I was very satisfied with how the guild looked. Of course, there were some parts that were lacking, but I believe that showing that side was beneficial because people would see that weren’t perfect. Being too perfect wasn’t a good thing.

“Word of mouth is the most important, so please continue training the guild members. Public opinion is more important than the press. After you get off work, send the guild members to the bar and pay for their dinners, but considering our situation, I’ll have to set a limit on how much can be spent on dinner,” I said.

“Really?” Park Joong-Ki asked.

“Yes, go have fun with them, but don’t let it interfere with your work the next day,” I warned him.

“Oh, okay. I understand,” he replied.

“Innovation is important, so I think it’s best to continue planting this image in their heads and that image is of a young guild and innovation. That’s the image we’re going to display to the public. Besides dinner, we’ll also support various activities so the members can continue to develop themselves, but this applies to you as well, Mr. Joong-Ki. Your agility stat looks good, so it’ll be unfortunate to let that go to waste,” I explained.

“Oh, thank you.”

“By the way, why is it that you haven’t been wearing the guild insignia?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh… I was told that only executives and party members were allowed to wear it…” he answered.

“Ha… those crazy gramps…” I mumbled.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s nothing. From now on, ordinary guild and staff members will wear the insignia and when we go out, everyone will have to wear it because you guys are the face of the guild. I’m saying this just in case, but if the members cause trouble outside of the guild, then it’ll be on their heads and this is not just a simple threat. I’ll really have their heads, so please keep that in mind. I also won’t allow anyone to look dirty. I don’t expect everyone to wear a uniform, but please make sure that everyone looks as neat as possible,” I explained.

“Got it. Th-Thank you,” he stuttered.

“I’m not sure what you’re thankful about since it’s common sense,” I said.

My plan was going smoothly and even the surveys weren’t that bad. By taking care of the members that were still in the guild and changing the atmosphere, they started to promote the guild, so the public opinion about us was very good. Despite the fact that we weren’t recruiting people just yet, we were getting a lot of inquiries and soon, I was sure that we would have to reveal the inside of the guild and information about joining us by using the press.

The fact that work efficiency had increased during all of this was surprising. Whenever I went outside, I heard people talking about the Blue Guild, so I was certain that people were waiting to apply, and as more time passed, the public would naturally focus on our guild. Of course, they would look at us positively, not negatively.

The issues that happened before this all became part of the past and the people’s minds changed from ‘would the Blue Guild be able to recover’ to ‘I want to join the Blue Guild.’ Moreover, since the Red Mercenary Guild and the Black Swan Guild were our partners from the beginning, they started to offer their support, so we became a young guild that possessed a lot of funds. The gramps that caused problems were forgotten altogether.

The part that I liked the most was the work of the staff members and if it wasn’t for their organized movements, then the rumors wouldn’t have spread within Lindel so fast.

The guild members had no idea that the free dinners were an extension of work. Not only that, but the guides that were part of large guilds started to take interest in the Blue Guild, so I was sure that they could feel just how thorough the training in the Blue Guild was. The worst part of all of this was that I started to like the guild members that I didn’t like before.

‘They have been submitting their reports on time…’

They rarely made the stupid mistakes that they had made before and even though they couldn’t be called competent slaves yet, I was still satisfied by the fact that they were working hard.

I had to take care of different tasks while focusing on public opinion. Even though I endured it as much as I could, we had reached the point where it was difficult to manage the guild’s empty positions with just a few members, so I had no choice but to post a recruitment announcement while feeling a bit anxious.

[Blue Guild Internship Recruitment Announcement]

[We’re looking for people that’ll become a new family member of the Blue Guild. May become an official guild member!]

After watching the people’s reactions nervously, they reacted a lot better than I thought.

“The Blue Guild is recruiting.”

“I told you that they were going to do so.”

“Are they recruiting for their combat force as well?”

“Oh…”

It was to the point that Lindel became noisy.