Chapter 18

<>Head of Human Resources (3) >

“I’m sorry but I’m fine the way I am now . ”

I made my decision to live peacefully on top of a king lizard’s carapace .

…That said, there was a lot of unfinished work, but leaving the precious skills I’d already gotten to collect dust was bit of a waste . Anyways, I was definitely not going to put myself forward and would live quietly and comfortably .

“Please think it over again,” Suk Simyeong said, not giving up .

“Soon, it will become easy for anybody to try to Awaken . With the upcoming era where, according to the Hunter Association prediction, the number of domestic Awakened People will break through five million in 1 year, and more than 2 thirds of the population will become Awakened People in 3 years, is it not regretful to not display Han Yoojin-ssi’s abilities at this point in time?”

Regretful, yeah right . With the way he was speaking, you’d mistake me for some kind of rare scout .

“Thank you for regarding me highly, but Bak Yerim-yang’s situation was nothing but chance . There is hardly any probability of finding yet another lucky break like that . ”

Was what I said, but if I wanted to, I could find more people with the aptitude to become S-Ranks and optimally Awaken them .

But I wouldn’t . This much was enough, why would I do more? Even just Yerim was troublesome enough . I was just going to give Yoo Myeongwoo his SS-Rank skill and put him in the guild, and then be done with it .

“Of course, I am not expecting you to bring over another S-Rank Awakened Person . That goes beyond excessive into a theft-like disposition . In fact, you do not have to scout new Awakened People at all . ”

“…Then?”

Suk Simyeong replied, with a twinkle in his eyes that didn’t suit him, “With that keen insight and analytical skills, you can create[1] a new system for the Hunter community together with us- . ”

“I can’t!”

What was this ahjussi talking about! Insight or analysis or whatever, no matter how hard I work[2] I don’t have it! I’m actually cheating[3] . I saw the answer sheet, in the future .

“Han Yoojin-ssi!”

“I won’t, I can’t . I don’t have that ability! I didn’t even get into college . I even left high school by taking the GED . ”

Give up at least with this lowly educational background .

“Educational background is not important!”

…I was about to swear . Go look up a job search site, there are plenty that filter out lower than college grads, okay? If you haven’t suffered though a situation where you couldn’t even submit your documents, then please shut your mouth .

“Anyways I can’t do it, I won’t do it, I really don’t know how to do something like that . Even if you cut off my hand I won’t sign . ”

I was just going to sometimes use my skills and raise pets, living off my amazing dongsaeng .

As I blocked up my ears and insisted I definitely won’t, Suk Simyeong seemed to give up eventually .

“All right . Then instead of human resources, let us make a general contract . ”

“Can’t I stay halfway attached like now? I don’t have any reason to join an attack team or set foot in a dungeon claimed by Haeyeon . ”

“The Hunter license guarantee and training are short-term so it is fine but to move to the employee dorms, you have to sign a contract . Especially because you will be entering, not anywhere else, but the residence targeted toward high-ranking Hunters . Even if you are the guild leader’s family member, you have to be clear about your affiliation . ”

Suk Simyeong erased the agitated expression he had just a while ago and explained in a calm voice .

I guess since I had to be near Yerim, I couldn’t go into the normal[4] employee dorms . Though, Yoohyun’s house was company housing so if I, his brother, went and lived there, it wouldn’t be weird .

“Alright . But if it’s possible, I want to contract as a normal employee, not as a guild member . ”

“Do you mean you do not want to receive the support for Hunters?”

“Yes . I want to receive just the training and then after that I don’t have any intention of working as a Hunter . ”

At any rate, the only places I could go into were low rank dungeons . That much I could go into with my own money . I had enough equipment thanks to Yoohyun .

I was thinking of making a contract with Haeyeon Guild each time I raised a familiar, instead of working as an affiliated guild member . That way I could raise enough, and play enough .

As expected, being a freelancer was the best .

“It is possible, but instead, the conditions will be lowered . Currently, Han Yoojin-ssi has no intention of working other than your role as Bak Yerim-nim’s guardian, is that right?”

“Yes . If that’s possible . ”

“Frankly speaking, Han Yoojin-ssi’s educational background and work experience fall short of Haeyeon Guild’s standard hiring qualification requirements . ”

…A while ago you were saying things like educational background didn’t matter . As soon as the situation changed, so did his words .

“Of course, discovering an S-Rank Awakened Person and successfully contracting them is enough to qualify to enter . The problem is afterwards . The first one or two months or so should be fine, but if you receive pay without doing any work, there will be talk . Since, strictly speaking, being Bak Yerim-nim’s guardian is not guild business . ”

So it was that problem . I didn’t really care . Even if some gossip came out, I’d already been publicly shamed[5] before, so it wouldn’t even tickle me . There probably weren’t many who had been cyberbullied as much as me?

……Now that it had been brought up, I was feeling a little depressed .

“That’s fine . For the conditions, please just put in the minimum wage . ”

I didn’t have to receive much pay . Even if I failed to apply the keyword to Peace, I still had stocks left . I remembered the name of the pharmaceutical company that developed the hair loss remedy, and I knew the companies that would have rising stocks thanks to the stream of S-Ranks that would come out the Awakening Centers .

For the stocks, I could cover that with my severance pay and my past savings, so the pay could just be enough to live off of . What was the current minimum wage again? Was it around 8 thousand won[6]?

“Minimum wage . It is unbearable to put that in as you will not even be working,” Suk Simyeong said, smiling . He didn’t mean he wouldn’t give it at all, by any chance, right?

“How about 5 thousand yearly for a condition of doing human reasources work when requested? Within 10 hours per week . ”

“…Please make it so that I can only use the company cafetaria . ”

No thanks . I won’t take it . Just let me eat .

Working 10 hours per week for a yearly income of 5 thousand[7] would be child’s play, but I didn’t want to even step foot into the human reasources team that had that ahjussi . He’d take everything I have .

“If you speak like that then I suppose there is no helping it . ” Suk Simyeong nodded, putting on a bitter smile . “As you want, we will only provide room and board . ”

……Really just room and board? I mean, in these situations, shouldn’t you be a little more caring? Cutting things off and throwing them away with no basis, this ahjussi definitely had a bad personality, unlike his outer appearance .

“Please contact me anytime if you happen to find a passion for work . ”

“……Yes . ”

Rather than rumors of nepotism coming out, I’d probably get lots of sympathetic gazes . Beside me, even Yerim was sending me pitying looks .

“Don’t worry, ahjussi . I’m rich now . ”

“I have enough money too . ”

Though I’d have to save up and buy stocks .

Ah, but this was really too much . I even brought over and presented an S-Rank Awakened Person and all I got was room and board? Just in case, I snuck a glance at Suk Simyeong, who was straightening up documents .

“Is there no incentive for Bak Yerim-yang’s successful contract?”

“Since it was a matter that occurred before you joined, of course there is not . Ah, should I add an incentive condition?”

…That there wasn’t any because it was before I joined, it felt like I was scammed . Should I have tried to earn something when we were working on Yerim’s contract? I looked out only for the kid . But there was still one thing left .

“Please add a condition for an incentive if I successfully contract with an S-Rank Awakened Person or A-Rank that is equivalent to an S-Rank, like a saint . ”

Yoo Myeongwoo . If you had an SS-Rank production skill, you’d be treated almost like S-Rank, like saints were, even if you couldn’t go into an S-Rank dungeon .

I was orginally just going to bring him in, but because I felt wronged, I should get paid .

At my words, Suk Simyeong put on an easygoing smile and took out a pen .

“I will add it to a certain extent . Please tell me the sum of money, as well as reward, you want . ”

As I was about to tell him to just give me 100 billion, I stopped . At any rate, with time, I wouldn’t be so short on money . So instead of money .

“Do you happen to know the fact that I am raising a baby Horned Flame Lion?”

“Yes, I was informed by Guild Leader . ”

“How should I say this, that guy is pretty cute . He follows me pretty well . So I want to receive one baby monster around the same rank as a Horned Flame Lion, or three baby monsters that are one level in rank lower . With the condition that Haeyeon Guild will shoulder the taming and rearing costs . ”

“Baby monsters?”

Suk Simyeong had a rare surprised expression . Then again, it was something shocking . Since I choose pets over money or items .

But the monsters that I would receive from the incentive would be entirely mine, unlike Peace, who was owned by Yoohyun and raised with his money .

If it was similar in rank to a Horned Flame Lion, I could take it into and attack a B-Rank dungeon, so it couldn’t be compared to some small amount of money .

If I failed to apply the keyword, then well, I’d just gain one more pet . Since I wouldn’t be raising them with my money, it wouldn’t be a loss . Later, when the monster raising regulations ease up, should I go out on broadcasts? It’d be popular .

“…It is not an impossible condition but it is unusual . Do you have some other purpose?”

Suk Simyeong tilted his head, with a completely confused look on his face .

“Does it seem like I do?”

“It would make sense if you do, but… I do not know . I will add in the condition for now . However, high ranking baby monsters are difficult to catch, and do not often appear in auctions, so the payment may be late . ”

“S-Rank Awakened People don’t appear often either, haha . ”

Of course, I was planning on making Yoo Myeongwoo into an SS-Rank production skill holder . If I used My Brat about three times, he’d probably be able to gain it, right?

We finished my joining and finally stood up from our seats . It would be great if I didn’t see this ahjussi for a long time .

“Then I suppose we will see each other often from now on . ”

What was he saying . I wasn’t going to even glance at the human reasources team and was going to avoid them .

…He wouldn’t come find me or something, right?

When we went outside, I examined Yerim’s parents’ inheritance materials that we received from Suk Simyeong . A 50-pyeong[8] apartment was sold off, and a commercial building was sold off with the excuse that it would be too hard to manage .

After snatching up this much, you couldn’t even buy the kid sneakers? What a lack of conscience . [9]

“You’re really not going to take legal action?”

At my question, Yerim nodded her head with an uninterested expression .

“I don’t want to be involved with them for a long time . Anyways you said my base pay was over 10 billion yearly . ”

That was so, but . Then again, thinking of the future, it would be better to release the leeches after letting them take enough . It would be annoying if they kept on trying to contact us and kicked up a fuss by going on broadcasts with teary pleas .

“Then let’s drop by the legal team and get the necessary materials, and go directly to them . Since it’s still the morning, the restaurant wouldn’t be open, right?”

“On Sundays, they open at 1 pm, so we should go to the house . ”

Yerim told me the house address . So they lived in a good neighborhood . Then again, how much was it that they snatched up? That said, the shop looked deserted and shabby .

They wouldn’t have squandered the inheritance already, right? Then it would be even easier to grab their weakpoint .

[1] the verb comes last in krn (S DO V, or DO S V, etc . ) so there is no verb in this cut off sentence, but eng doesn’t work like that so I had to make do .

[2] lit . ‘make porridge and give to a dog’ which means ‘do fruitless work’/‘work hard for no results’ /‘work hard and someone else takes the credit’

[3] excellent example of konglish slang: the word itself is ‘cunning’ transliterated into krn, but it means ‘to cheat, cheating’ .

[4] not ‘normal’ as in ‘not unusual’ but like ‘normal person’/‘ordinary person’ so I’m assuming it means ‘non-Hunter’

[5] lit . ‘suffered 조리돌림 by the past public’ where 조리돌림 is the noun form of the verb 조리돌리다, which the krn-eng dictionary I checked defines as ‘drag/lead a malefactor through the streets to expose them to public shame’ . So .

[6] the word for wage/pay used so far meant monthly pay fyi

[7] i’m assuming it’s 5 thousand something (50 million perhaps? Krn counts in intervals of 4 digits instead of 3 like in eng, so it would most likely be 5 thousand ten-thousand) instead of just 5 thousand itself otherwise this makes no sense, but the raws just say this

[8] pyeong is a way of counting land space and 1 pyeong is apparently 3 . 3058 m2 or 35 . 583 ft2

[9] lit . ‘fur grows on conscience so much that it must be doubly, triply dense’ where ‘fur grows on conscience’ means that you betray/don’t listen to your conscience