‘Yoo Ah-Young…’

Obviously, she was the first person I[1] wanted to recruit. Even though she still didn’t have a job and her attribute was locked, the potential of her strength was epic-ranked, and her stamina was legendary-ranked. Even though I didn’t like her nature as a vanguard, if we recruited her to the Blue Guild and focused on her training, I was sure she would do just fine.

‘She’s a bit passive, though…’

Since there were a lot of trainees, there was a variety of natures, and I could divide them into three categories.

1. People who move on their own.

The majority of the people in the attack group were in this category. They knew very well what they had to do and what was going to happen. They were the types of people who would work hard without anyone having to tell them. Outside of classes and scheduled training, they were constantly active.

2. People who do what they were told.

They had the highest percentage in terms of ratio. They attend lessons, training, and they even worry about their future. However, after they were done with their lessons and training, they wouldn’t put any more effort into their growth.

3. People who just eat away.

There wasn’t even a need for me to mention this group of trash. They had no passion or results; all they did was eat away at the training camp.

I was certain that after the training ended, they would either end up in the slums or they would have to worry about getting food for their survival.

‘Ugh…’

To be exact, Yoo Ah-Young was somewhere between the second and third group of people. Even though it seemed like she wasn’t really passionate, she was able to keep up with the lessons, and as if to show off her legendary-ranked stamina, her training results weren't that bad. Honestly, if she didn’t have potential, I wouldn’t be interested in her at all. It was important to have potential one way or another.

It had been over a year since I joined Kim Hyun-Sung’s party, and there was a thought that crossed my mind from time to time whenever I checked other people’s potential and status window.

‘It’s surprisingly common.’

Surprisingly, there were a lot more people who had legendary-ranked potential, so of course, it was natural for me to think that it was common. On Kim Hyun-Sung’s party, Park Deok-Gu and I were the only ones without a hidden potential, but the people I had met so far often had something special in their stats. If a player didn’t have a special potential, they usually had special attribute and jobs, so it was understandable for people to have high standards. When I looked around after reaching the training camp, I noticed that not many people had legendary-ranked stats.

‘Now that I think about it, I don’t think Jo Hye-Jin had a legendary-ranked stat either.’

Having epic-ranked stats was more than enough to become strong, and even though there was a big difference between above epic and below epic stats, a player could still reach 90 points just by having an epic-ranked stat.

‘In that sense, I don’t think my stats are bad.’

Anyway, the important thing was that Yoo Ah-Young had potential. Even though she lacked passion, I wanted to applaud her for attending every class and being able to keep up. I was sure her surroundings were helping her as well because she seemed like an outcast in Class C.

‘It’s probably because of me...’

Jealousy made people look disgraceful, and even before I gave her my attention, I was sure that no one really cared about her, so it became painfully obvious when everyone was being hostile to her.

While I was deep in my thoughts, I heard Sun Hee-Young’s voice.

“I think we’re almost done confirming the new recruit.”

“Are you referring to Miss Yoo Ah-Young?” I asked.

“No, someone else,” she replied.

“Lee Chang-Ryeol?” I asked.

“Yes, and I think Mr Hyun-Sung has already made up his mind even though he seemed uncertain of him at first…” she answered.

“By the way, didn’t he duel with Ye-Ri?” I asked her.

“He did, and the result was pretty good. Mr. Hyun-Sung liked the fact that the new recruit wanted to become an assassin, and he also had a natural talent for fighting,” Sun Hee-Young said.

“Have you seen him?” I questioned.

“I have. They needed a witness in case of an emergency… I don’t know much about melee combat, but Lee Chang-Ryeol seemed pretty desperate. As soon as the match started, he threw the sand he had in his hand, and he didn’t hesitate to attack Ye-Ri’s vital points, which surprised her a bit. I think he was also hiding a poisoned needle in his mouth… I think that’s why he was wearing a mask, but anyway, it was pretty impressive,” she explained.

“Ahh…”

Aside from Yoo Ah-Young, we also wanted to recruit an archer named Lee Chang-Ryeol.

‘His potential didn’t seem that great…’

His agility was above epic rank, strength was below epic, and his intelligence was above epic, but his remaining stats were bad. Despite that, the reason why I used a priority negotiation right on him was that he trained to specialize in close combat after he had changed his job to an archer. It impressed me that he was thinking about changing to an assassin job, which was a higher-ranked job than an archer. Having a clear goal was helpful. I wasn’t sure whether he had good battle capabilities or not since I still hadn’t seen him myself, but…

‘He has guts. He had basically revealed everything about himself while the Guild Master was watching…’

It would be difficult for an ordinary person to perform nasty tricks like throwing sand in a situation where you were being tested. Moreover, it was possible that he had been testing us as well.

‘This is my style. So what?’

This was probably what he wanted to tell us.

Of course, Kim Hyun-Sung wasn’t the type of person to care about things like that. He described Lee Chang-Ryeol’s abilities as gifted, so he would fit right in with the guild. Even though we hadn’t officially created the contract yet, he was no different from a junior guild member because I heard that he even ate with Kim Hyun-Sung before.

“Things are going great,” I remarked.

“Do you have three more negotiation rights left?” Sun Hee-Young asked.

“I do. Other than those two, no one else has really caught my attention, so I’ve been saving it…” I replied.

“If you consider the fact that the demonstration is coming up soon…”

“Finding a recruit is difficult,” I said, finishing her sentence.

For this recruitment, we were trying to create the guild’s second party, but the problem was how we were going to create that party besides having Yoo Ah-Young and Lee Chang-Ryeol. If we added the battle priest Ahn Ki-Mo into party two, the vanguard would be all set, but the rearguard was currently too weak.

‘We can’t just recruit anyone.’

Quality over quantity, and since our lovely regressor was the one who had requested it, I had no choice but to keep thinking about it. There were people who seemed capable, but there were many where I questioned if it was even worth recruiting them. Joining the Blue Guild meant that they were going to receive a lot of benefits, so I had no choice but to be careful about who I recruited. That was the reason why Sun Hee-Young and I had been busy recently, as Jung Ha-Yan didn’t want to get involved in the guild’s internal affairs.

“Miss Hee-Young, I would like to read the attack group document one more time… Oh, you can read it first,” I told her.

“No, go ahead. I was going to head out anyway. I have other business to take care of today,” she said.

“Okay.”

After handing me the document she was reading, Sun Hee-Young bowed and walked out. After I bowed back, I started to read the document that contained the attack’s team profile and grade. Not only did I have to check them with Mind’s Eye, but I also had to see the progress they had made in the training camp. When I turned the page, I noticed a familiar name.

Han Sora.

After speaking to Jung Ha-Yan about her, I didn’t pay much attention to her anymore.

‘Her grades aren’t that bad, and she has been keeping up with her classes…’

I felt this while teaching, but she seemed decent. Even though I had spoken a bit harshly back then, I was sure there was a reason behind her being part of the attack group. I was sure that she would eventually reach her limits, but as the mage ratio was small, I was sure mid-sized to large guilds would want to recruit her. The Red Mercenary Guild seemed like they were interested in her, but I didn’t bother stopping them because there wasn’t a need for me to get into a conflict with her like I had done with Ito Sota and the old man, Lee Seol-Ho.

‘She’s going to fail sooner or later anyway…’

That was when I heard a knock.

“Come in,” I said.

As soon as I answered, I saw the person entering the temporary office.

“What do you want?” I blurted.

I couldn’t help but talk like that because Han Sora was looking at me with a small smile.

‘Speak of the devil…’

It was annoying how she was looking at me confidently. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but she looked as if she had some kind of trick up her sleeve.

“You must be curious as to why I’m here,” she started.

I wasn’t really curious because there was only one reason a trainee would be here.

“Do you have an interview with the Red Mercenary Guild?” I asked.

“That’s right,” she replied.

“Trainees aren’t allowed here, so I suggest you leave,” I warned her.

I waved my hand without looking at her, but after hearing what she said, I had no choice but to look at her.

“I came because there’s something I need to tell you. To be exact, I want to make an offer. Oh! Before we get to that, I want to apologize for my rude behavior earlier,” she started.

“...”

When I moved my finger, Juliena quietly floated in the air, which made Han Sora flinch.

“I wouldn’t threaten a trainee if I were you since it’s no use anyway. Instructors aren’t allowed to hurt the trainees, right?” she asked.

“It’s not set in stone, so I suggest you leave,” I repeated.

“I have information that may be helpful,” she insisted.

“Whew…”

“I want to join the Blue Guild,” she confessed.

‘So what?’

“This information will be useful to you. I thought about it a lot, and I don’t think it’s a bad idea to start out from the Blue Guild. If you give me a good offer, I’m willing to join,” she added.

I wasn’t sure why she was so confident, but she was pretty arrogant. She was definitely thinking that I was going to laugh it off and offer her a contract.

“I don’t think it’s a bad offer for the guild either. Mages are pretty rare, right?” Han Sora asked.

“You’re not qualified, and a negotiation can only happen if both parties make an offer of their own. I like the word negotiation, but there’s obviously nothing you can offer me,” I retorted.

“Are you sure? I’m not sure who’s the unqualified one here… You must think you’re all high and mighty just because you have Miss Jung Ha-Yan by your side,” she spoke.

‘Crazy bitch.’

“And you’re totally wrong. I came here to negotiate, and I’m sure you’re interested in this offer,” she continued.

“What can you give me?” I asked.

“Your reputation and everything else,” she replied.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I questioned.

As soon as I finished talking, I saw her tearing her clothes off all of a sudden. It was a nice sight, but I couldn’t understand why she was acting this way.

‘She’s actually crazy…’

I wasn’t sure if this was how Cha Hee-Ra felt when I first visited her, but the woman in front of me didn’t seem reasonable at all.

“I think we can have a proper conversation now… What do you think?” Han Sora asked.

It was amusing seeing her looking down at me by lifting her chin. I wasn’t sure how she had come to this conclusion, but I can’t believe a sex scandal was the best she could come up with…

‘Should I kill her?’

It might be a bit annoying, but I was confident enough to fix it. My opponent was a trainee who had nothing, and it would be easy to manipulate the public’s opinion. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy to cover up the fact that an instructor had murdered a trainee right before the demonstration, but I couldn’t hold back because her face was annoying.

Just then, I heard a voice outside as they knocked.

“Oppa, can I come in?” Jung Ha-Yan asked.

Jung Ha-Yan appeared at the right time. Actually, it was possible that she had also calculated Jung Ha-Yan's arrival.

Han Sora looked elated.

“I don’t want to show her my blushing face either, but it sounds like Miss Jung Ha-Yan is going to come in soon. Will you be okay?” she asked arrogantly.

If Jung Ha-Yan came in, she would be in danger, not me.

“You don’t want to lose all of your hard work, right? It won’t look good when an instructor who has a girlfriend calls a trainee to his office and then gets accused of sexual harassment… It’ll be bad if this creates a problem with Miss Jung Ha-Yan…” she added.

“Crazy bitch,” I commented.

“Appreciate the compliment, sir. I hear that a lot,” Han Sora said.

I didn’t think she understood what I meant by that.

I suddenly became exhausted. I realized what I was doing when I thought about arguing with a girl like her.

‘What the hell am I doing with a girl like her…’

“Whew…”

“You don’t have to worry. If you take care of the entrance test, I’ll pretend like this never happened,” she said.

“There’s a cape in the closet next to you. Wear that and leave quietly, then I’ll pretend like this never happened,” I suggested.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re a dumb bitch who thinks she's smart. I feel so pathetic for thinking about playing along, so just leave… You’ll at least get something out of it,” I answered.

“Is it really okay for me to just leave? You’re going to regret it. Don’t you hear Miss Jung Ha-Yan’s voice outside?” she warned.

“Just talking to you is annoying me, so just leave. I’m busy,” I repeated myself.

“You missed your chance,” she said.

“I gave you a chance, too. You’re the one who made the choice,” I clarified.

Han Sora bit her lips. She was definitely thinking that I was still bluffing because she still hadn’t realized what was going on. I guess she felt hesitant about getting the cape from the closet because she ended up not grabbing it. When reality hit me, I felt pathetic, and it was on a whim that I told her to wear the cape.

‘I don’t want to see Ha-Yan cry…’

Honestly, this was a good reason because I wasn’t a total piece of trash. I was sure Han Sora’s life would be ruined, and it was amusing how she opened the door after ignoring my advice.

“Oh… oppa!” Jung Ha-Yan called out.

What Jung Ha-Yan saw was Han Sora standing there half naked.

“Uh…”

It had been a while since I saw a frown on Jung Ha-Yan’s face.

1. Lee Ki-Young’s POV ☜