Chapter 361 – What a Mess.
The first interview didn’t go so well.
But that’s okay.
It’s clear that grinding through that place would just lead to suffering anyway.
And more importantly, I still have plenty of interviews lined up.
They’re all packed closely together, making for a pretty tight schedule.
As long as I hurry a bit, there’s no chance of missing out, so I decided to keep going with the interviews.
With my spec, there has to be at least one place that accepts me.
[Let’s hurry up and tackle these interviews. With this many guilds, there’s no way I’ll fail.]
‘Exactly. Just look at all the places I can go to.’
First up was a guild that specializes in pressure interviews to crush the spirits of applicants.
The interviewer skimmed through my resume before suddenly tossing it aside with a look of disdain.
“You’ve written quite the sob story, but let’s be direct, shall we? Back in my day, when we had no money, we had to beg for food everywhere. What you went through is nothing.”
“What kind of tricks did you do to get food? Show me. If it’s good, I’ll even give you a spoonful of my meal.”
“You little shit, seriously.”
His expression became even more colorful at my words.
Meanwhile, another guild promptly demanded that I show my support for the guild.
Their loyalty to the guild was evidently strong.
But as soon as I cautiously offered some words of encouragement—
“Imitate what it’s like to join the guild and show us some support!”
“I’ve had a drink. I don’t mind if the guild doesn’t do well. However—”
“That’s enough!”
He abruptly cut me off.
[I’ve had a drink. I don’t care if the story goes south.]
‘Fuck, how can you say that?’
[Are you really going to say that after all you’ve done, you little piece of trash!!!]
There were also guilds that pointed out the things Hyeji had prepared for me.
“Why did you bring a bomb to the interview? What’s that got to do with our guild?”
“If I fail this interview, it’ll have quite a lot to do with it from now on.”
“D-Donghwang-cha!!!”
Unfortunately, just then, the timer expired, and the bomb vanished.
Of course, by that time, everyone had already evacuated, so the interview was abruptly interrupted.
On the other hand, a smaller guild started their interview with ordinary questions, unlike the previous ones.
“Do you have any hobbies?”
“I have a modest hobby of reading novels.”
“Oh! Nice to meet you! I also enjoy reading novels!”
Since we shared similar hobbies, I thought this interview would go just fine.
Fortunately, the interviewer shared some of their thoughts and asked a question.
“These days, rereading old novels doesn’t make my heart race like it used to. Can you say something encouraging?”
Not making your heart race, huh?
When it came to that, I was confident I could deliver.
“The Dragon Lord is far superior in comics and mobile games than in novels. And Book of Mists, the fourth part, is the best work there is.”
“……Where do you live, you fucking bastard.”
“But hey, it’s making my heart race, thanks to you guys, right?”
See, isn’t that a perfect solution?
Besides that, there were also interviewers who randomly set conditions and demanded genuine emotions.
“If I won the lottery, how do you think I would feel? Be honest.”
“I wouldn’t think much of it.”
“Why not?”
“All I need to know is where the interviewer lives.”
“Get lost, you little punk.”
‘You say be honest, but what do you expect, you stupid jerk.’
[……Isn’t that a bit too honest?]
Ultimately, contrary to my expectations, all the interviews ended up as failures.
Most didn’t even contact me to say I was rejected, while some sent texts full of emotional curses.
Honestly, I still couldn’t wrap my head around being rejected.
[What kind of nonsense is this? After all that!]
‘I went in with conviction.’
As the protagonist, I shouldn’t get discouraged over something like this.
But considering I was already contemplating giving up, that clearly meant I wasn’t cut out to be the protagonist after all.
Indeed, people should stick to what they’re good at.
Seeing me downcast, the heroines slowly approached me, giving my shoulder a pat and trying to comfort me in their own way.
“It seems like misfortune is sticking to you. How about visiting a shaman for a good luck ceremony?”
“Just having you around is enough support for us, so join the Army guild!”
“Shinwoo, if necessary, what about the Army guild? I could talk to my dad who could set you up with a sweet position.”
“If you’ve got nothing else to do, just join the Commune guild. They’re all about free distribution for everyone, so you wouldn’t have to work at all.”
[Just kill me now, you fucking idiots!!!]
‘Do you think anyone has the guts to survive here?’
[……Thinking about it, that might be the case.]
Right now, I was figuring out where to get a job.
Then Caressy suddenly spoke to me.
“Shinwoo, if our goal is a guild job, why don’t we just start one ourselves?”
She had a point, but I wasn’t keen on considering that as an option.
And why would that be?
“The conditions are a bit strict.”
“Oh really?”
The requirements for starting a guild were extremely rigorous.
First off, even when registering a guild name, you had to pay a hefty fee to the government.
Within a short time after registration, you were also required to establish a guild-exclusive building from the government.
If not, only the registration fee would be forfeited, and the guild establishment would become null and void.
“I think it would be okay to register just once.”
“No, that’s risky.”
And that wasn’t all.
The truly malicious part was that once registered, whether the guild establishment turns out to be valid or not, they keep siphoning money from you.
“You can think of it as just subscribing.”
“That’s true.”
You’d ask what the big deal was, but—
“The amount increases on a compound basis every week.”
“Nimi.”
It’s already a pretty large amount, and it increases more and more as the cycles accumulate.
“What kind of country is this that pulls such bullshit.”
“South Korea.”
“Oh.”
So that left me with three choices.
Either to endure the insane costs that keep skyrocketing.
Or to end up bankrupt and unable to afford them.
Or actually find a guild-exclusive building and establish one.
Once you start, there’s no way to back out.
[Ah, the proud South Korea at its finest.]
‘Isn’t it spicy?’
Also, the required building had to be specifically a guild-exclusive one.
Back in the day, you could use any building to start a guild, but now the government mandates that you acquire a low-quality building on the outskirts.
Only for guild purposes.
Not to mention, buying the property isn’t even allowed.
They only permit high-cost leases.
It’s truly spicy and fitting for South Korea.
[……Don’t the old big guilds have convenience stores, restaurants, and even entertainment facilities in their buildings?]
‘They say once those guys registered their sweet properties, a hunter close to a legislator pushed for these laws.’
[Was there any point in registering such nice buildings?]
‘They offered tax reductions.’
[Ah.]
Just then, Elcia suddenly flashed a bright smile.
“I registered it!”
“What the hell, are you serious?”
I instantly rushed over to Elcia.
“It’s for your mobile game guild, master.”
“You little shit.”
– Bam!!!
“It hurts!!!”
I lightly smacked Elcia’s head.
‘When did I even give you my mobile phone?’
[Wouldn’t it be great if starting a guild was this easy?]
‘I mean, that’s what I think too.’
Regardless, this was why I wanted to avoid asking Caressy for help.
Rebuilding the Beastman Kingdom would require quite a lot of funds, and I didn’t want to waste money on this kind of trash.
When Caressy learned this, she let out a big sigh.
“So, there’s really no way at all?”
“It’s not that there’s absolutely none.”
“There is?”
Caressy perked up her ears as she listened to what I had to say.
After hearing everything, she smiled even wider with her ears perked even more.
“In that case, I’ll register it.”
“Oh, really?”
The method I shared was impossible, but it was a rather unrealistic one.
To put it plainly, it was like taking out a loan to make a reckless gamble.
“Well, at least it is possible. I believe in you.”
“……Thanks.”
But Caressy just said it was fine.
Even if it’s tedious, has a high chance of failing, and wouldn’t be looked upon favorably in society.
Just for my sake.
“Even if it comes to that, we can just lease a shabby building.”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t come to that.”
Then she quickly started working on her mobile phone.
Not long after, she completed the guild registration.
“All done.”
[Now I can’t back out anymore.]
‘Looks like it. It’s really a race against time now.’
I had crossed the point of no return.
But I had no intention of giving up.
Since Caressy believed in me.
I had to rise to that expectation.
“Let’s do this! You little cats!”
“Shinwoo, what’s your target?”
“I think this place is great! The nearby restaurants have unlimited refills!”
“How about a spot close to the business area?”
“Let’s each take a look around.”
Now that it was late April, we had to get it done by early May at the latest.
To be honest, what I had ahead of me was still going to be pretty filthy and petty, but it couldn’t be helped.
After all, a hunter is a damned bastard anyway.
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