I was in a situation where I couldn’t hide my smile.
Surprisingly, the woman with red hair was the one that wanted to exchange handshakes.
I wasn’t sure if her philosophy was exposure equaled defense, but I couldn’t help but look at her bold outfit.
‘Ah…’
I instantly realized that I made a mistake when I noticed Jung Ha-Yan staring at me along with this woman named Cha Hee-Ra. I usually acted carefully when it came to things like this, but I couldn’t deal with it this time due to an irresistible force.
‘That’s because…’
Her outfit showed her chest and abdomen, she was confident in her appearance and body and I wasn’t sure whether she dyed her hair or it was because of magic, but her red hair and red lips gave off a strange erotic feel. This blunder was all because of her attractive look.
I closed my eyes for a moment and when I used Mind’s Eye, I instantly saw her stats.
[Checking Player Cha Hee-Ra’s status window and potential.]
[Name - Cha Hee-Ra]
[Title - Madwoman Crazy About Blood, Red Mercenary, Holy Empire’s Red Madwoman]
[Age - 28]
[Nature - Unpredictable Innovator]
[Job - Mercenary Queen - Legendary Rank]
[Job Effect - Acquired basic swordsmanship knowledge]
[Job Effect - Acquired intermediate weapon knowledge]
[Job Effect - Acquired advanced weapon knowledge]
[Job Effect - Acquired advanced dual weapon knowledge]
[Job Effect - Acquired advanced magic operation knowledge]
[Stats]
[Strength - 97/Above legendary growth limit]
[Agility - 82/Below epic growth limit]
[Stamina - 85/Below epic growth limit]
[Intelligence - 67/Above rare growth limit]
[Endurance - 90/Above epic growth limit]
[Luck - 56/Above rare growth limit]
[Magic - 82/Below epic growth limit]
[Gear - None]
[Attribute - Madwoman Crazy About Blood - Epic Rank]
[Overall Review - Cha Hee-Ra is somewhat of a dangerous woman for you to become close with. Be careful not to get ripped to shreds.]
Her job was a legendary-ranked mercenary queen and her title was a madwoman crazy about blood. I didn’t have a good feeling about her. Her unpredictable innovator nature also gave off the worst vibe.
‘Her stats are…’
Her 97 points strength and 90 points endurance were impressive, making her stronger than Lee Sang-Hee. However, her stats were pretty similar to Lee Sang-Hee’s, so I thought I could consider their stats as the high standard around here. Cha Hee-Ra had stats that were over 90 points and a job, as well as an epic-ranked item. I was sure that there were many more conditions to consider someone as high standard, but this was probably the minimum.
Truthfully, the way she quietly extended her hand out for a handshake with a smile on her face made her look charming, but I couldn’t express that because Jung Ha-Yan looked uncomfortable. Of course, she wasn’t being obvious about it.
I was certain that she realized that she wouldn’t be able to handle Cha Hee-Ra just yet. I thought that Jung Ha-Yan had matured a bit, but the way she grabbed tightly onto my arm made it seem like she didn't want me to shake Cha Hee-Ra’s hand.
‘Still…’
She was a special guest from a large guild.
‘Let go of me…Ha-Yan…’
I couldn’t let her embarrass me in a situation like this.
Although it was difficult for me to move my hand because Jung Ha-Yan’s hand was grabbing tightly onto my arm, I shook her hand off for a moment as if I was asking her to be thoughtful just this once before I shook Cha Hee-Ra’s hand.
“Nice to meet you, my name is Lee Ki-Young.”
“It’s really an honor for me to be able to meet the stars of this round,” Cha Hee-Ra said.
“Nice…to meet you. I’m…Jung Ha-Yan.”
“Your demonstration just now was very impressive,” she complimented.
“Thank…you,” Jung Ha-Yan said.
She sounded like she was out of breath and when I let go of Cha Hee-Ra’s hand, Jung Ha-Yan must have felt relieved because she instantly grabbed my arm.
“You guys must be really close. Did you know each other before coming here?” she asked.
“No, it’s not like that. We first saw each other in the tutorial dungeon and afterward, we became closer and have maintained a good relationship since then,” I answered.
“I’m really envious,” Cha Hee-Ra said.
I had a really difficult time deciding where I should look.
‘Isn’t she embarrassed?’
It was obvious, but I didn’t think that the source of her confidence came from her looks. Revealing more than half of her breast may simply be her preference, but from the way she acted, her confidence seemed to be from herself—from being player Cha Hee-Ra, the mercenary queen.
That was how strong she was. She was the strongest from the people that I’ve seen so far and I wasn’t simply talking about her stats. I could tell because even as we were talking right now, no one dared to come close to her.
“Oh…I think I should introduce myself again. My name is Cha Hee-Ra and I’m the leader of the Red Mercenary Guild and my job is mercenary queen.”
‘As expected.’
“Oh, you came.”
“Yes, I have a huge interest in talented people, and I heard that a lot of talented people came this time…I also had free time,” Cha Hee-Ra said.
“Oh, I see. Thank you for the compliment.”
“Of course,” she said.
“But, I don’t think you’re allowed to talk to them. From what I’ve heard, the Blue Guild still has the negotiation rights…”
“Oh my…this isn’t a negotiation. We are simply talking. Of course, I’ll eventually talk to them about recruitment, but the Red Mercenary Guild respects the Blue Guild’s negotiation rights. You can think of me as an adviser that helps people make reasonable choices,” she explained.
“Ahhhh.”
She was basically saying that she was going to whitewash.
Since we weren’t negotiating yet, Cha Hee-Ra was trying to talk about how much she was willing to match the contract we received from the Blue Guild and it wasn’t just us.
Park Deok-Gu was also talking to a man that appeared out of nowhere while Kim Hyun-Sung was surrounded by people.
The Blue Guild could only feel agitated and they were showing what a powerless guild looked like. If the Blue Guild had the power to control the special guests, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place and of course, I didn’t feel any sympathy towards them. It had nothing to do with me since I wasn’t affiliated with any guilds and creating connections here was a more reasonable decision.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of things you don’t know about. Usually, the guilds that have the first negotiation rights have a strong tendency to restrict information about other guilds…do you know anything about the Red Mercenary Guild that I’m managing…”
“I haven’t heard about it,” I answered.
“Oh my, then I guess I have no choice but to give you a bit of information. The Red Mercenary Guild is made up of people that have close-range jobs. Like the name states, we’re a mercenary guild, so not only do we accept a variety of requests, but we hunt dungeons and monsters and participate in small-scale battles and wars when we receive a request,” Cha Hee-Ra explained.
“Oh, close-ranged jobs…”
“Yes. To be exact, we used to be a mercenary guild that was made up of close-ranged jobs,” she said.
“So you’re saying that you’re seeking change,” I said.
“That’s correct. It’s difficult to explain the details, but we train mages and priests within the guild and there’s a movement about how we need to invest in support jobs as well. This may be a different topic, but we’re currently investing a lot of money into it. Compared to the other guilds, we’re a bit late, so the managers of the guild have been urging us to invest that much more…the reason why I came here was because of our investors…” she explained.
“Ohhh, I see,” I said.
I think I knew what she was trying to say.
“I’m curious as to how much you’re planning on investing.”
“It’ll make it easier if I tell you in Korean won, right?” Cha Hee-Ra asked.
“Yes, for now…” I replied.
She smiled brightly and continued the conversation. “Two billion won.”
‘Oh…’
“Sorry?”
“Two billion per person. We’re also preparing an additional budget in case of an emergency and of course, we’re planning on continuously investing in the future. Don’t you think we need to spend at least 500 million won a year to get good results?” she asked.
She was basically saying that the down payment was two billion won and the salary was 500 million won and if I were to convert it to the currency that was used here, the down payment would be 20,000 gold and a salary of 5,000 gold. Considering the fact that she mentioned an additional budget, I guess they were thinking about providing more than what was mentioned.
I became flustered to the point that I couldn’t speak properly.
‘Two billion won?’
Compared to the amount that the Blue Guild offered, the gap was so big that it was ridiculous. I expected our worth to increase, but the price roughly jumped 20 times and the salary increased five times. It was to the point that I wondered if the bastards of the Blue Guild had been thinking of us as pushovers.
I now understood why the parties that cleared the dungeon together ended up separating because after hearing an amount this large, it was understandable to be tempted by it.
It was two billion won. An amount that an ordinary person could never get even if they worked for it throughout their entire life.
I even started to calculate what it would be like if I joined Cha Hee-Ra’s guild.
“However…it may be a bit difficult to invest in all of you since you all have close-range jobs. We’re actually overdoing it as well…” she mentioned.
“Oh.”
“Our guild has a lot of talented people and it’s not like we don’t have an interest in people like Kim Hyun-Sung, but…we want to focus on one area,” she said.
This wasn’t good.
“I see,” I said.
“I think you and Miss Ha-Yan may be slightly interested in our guild’s current project…so I would like to ask for your opinion,” she requested.
Cha Hee-Ra was telling us to abandon both Kim Hyun-Sung and Park Deok-Gu and join her guild. Since the guild was created by people that had close-ranged jobs, swordsmen and tankers were saturated so I understood why she didn’t want to invest in Park Deok-Gu and Kim Hyun-Sung. She was already the perfect shield and sword and even if I were in her position, I would have taken a bigger interest in Jung Ha-Yan.
“The project itself sounds very exciting, but I’m a bit worried that we won’t be of any help. We’ve also gotten close to the members that we cleared the tutorial dungeon with…so focusing on one area is…” I explained.
“Hm…that’s unexpected,” Cha Hee-Ra commented.
She looked a bit excited and for some reason, I felt like a rat that couldn’t move in front of a scary cat.
“It would’ve been nice if I could afford to invest in other areas, but…our guild has been in a tough situation recently. We usually don’t hold back people that want to leave, but this is really unfortunate. The same goes for Miss Jung Ha-Yan, but…Lee Ki-Young, I’m a bit disappointed…” she said.
“What…”
“A present for you,” Cha Hee-Ra said.
When she got close to me, I felt her putting something into my hand. I didn’t check it properly, but it seemed like an item.
‘A bribe?’
I decided to look the other way and think that she simply gave me a gift. I started feeling better because the gift was from the woman that was the leader of a large guild, so I was sure that it was a pretty valuable item.
“Let me know anytime if you change your mind and even if it isn’t because of that, I would like to maintain a good relationship between us. Since we’re both affiliated under the same empire, don’t you think we’ll see each other often when we go into dungeons or stand in the front lines? Also…hm…Miss Ha-Yan?” she called out.
“...”
“You need to learn to suppress your bloodthirstiness, Miss Ha-Yan,” Cha Hee-Ra commented.
“Oh…”
It only took her a moment to get close to me and before I had the time to be surprised, I felt something moist on my lips.
‘This crazy…’
I momentarily didn’t know how to react because of her sudden action.
I quickly tried to push her away using my hands, but there was no way that my weak body would be able to push Cha Hee-Ra when her strength was 97.
To make things worse, I felt something entering my mouth. I was so flustered that I became speechless. I looked at Jung Ha-Yan while making a fuss, but I didn’t feel any flow of mana or bloodthirstiness from her. She looked as if the world had come to an end as she stood there in a daze because of the unexpected situation.
“That was a present too. I’ll see you later,” Cha Hee-Ra said.
‘Damn it.’
The people around looked at us because of the sudden noise and even Park Deok-Gu looked surprised. I wasn’t sure why he also looked as if the world had come to an end, but I needed to fix this as soon as possible.
‘I’m doomed.’
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