F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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14

[Hello?]

“Are you available to talk right now?”

[Yes, if it’s a call from Hunter Jung Juhyeok, I’m always available.]

Yena welcomed Jung Juhyeok with a delighted voice.

Her tone seemed somewhat excited.

[So what did you suddenly want to ask about? Is it something related to the contract?]

“No. It’s not about that.”

[Ah, I got my hopes up for nothing.]

She thought that since he had something curious to ask, this might finally be a positive signal about the contract, but as expected.

Jung Juhyeok asked her, whose tension had slightly dampened with disappointment.

“Do you happen to know about GGH Guild?”

[GGH?]

GGH Guild.

At that name, Yena let out a slight groan before answering.

[It’s a guild that’s been around for quite a while, and it’s famous in our industry.]

A guild famous in the industry.

While not quite small or medium-sized, it belonged to the mid-tier category and was quite well-known in the Hunter Industry.

[Don’t you know about it too, Hunter Jung Juhyeok? There should be rumors about it even among Academy students.]

“I do know about it. There are so many stories going around.”

At the Academy, friends would sometimes jokingly say this to students whose grades had dropped:

GGH would be perfect for you.

Even just hearing it, it didn’t seem to carry a positive meaning.

That’s how much GGH Guild was a notorious corrupt guild.

Just looking at the contract details posted on communities was enough to understand their maliciousness.

Wage theft, ignoring legally mandated rest periods, mocking the bereaved families of deceased hunters.

A company with every kind of bad rumor circulating about it.

Moreover, since the Guild Master had connections in political circles, they somehow managed to slip through the legal net and hadn’t received even a single light fine so far.

[But why are you asking about GGH Guild?]

“I’m scheduled to have a meeting with them.”

[…What?]

When he checked his emails, sure enough, among the numerous scout offer emails, GGH was included as well.

An email filled with all sorts of sweet words saying they wanted to discuss a contract together.

Jung Juhyeok had sent a reply agreeing to proceed with a meeting tomorrow.

[You’re not thinking of signing a contract with them, are you…?]

“Who knows.”

Of course, he had no intention of signing a contract.

He had no plans to join a guild in the first place, and even if he did, there were plenty of places offering better conditions, so there was no need to go to a corrupt guild like GGH.

‘Still, if I tell the truth and it spreads, it might mess up my plans, so let’s stay quiet for now.’

The narrow world of South Korea’s Hunter Industry.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but Jung Juhyeok was someone who believed that secrets known by only two people in the world didn’t exist, so he didn’t want to reveal his purpose unnecessarily.

[Hunter Jung Juhyeok, this isn’t advice as a scout, but from a senior hunter’s perspective.]

Her tone became somewhat calmer seeing him seemingly contemplating whether to sign a contract with GGH Guild.

She advised not as a scout for Mir Guild, but purely for the sake of a junior hunter.

[Someone of Hunter Jung Juhyeok’s caliber doesn’t need to go to such a dangerous guild.]

“Is that so?”

[Of course. Even if it might not be reawakening, considering your abilities, you can definitely become a higher-grade hunter.]

Yena seemed to think Jung Juhyeok was considering joining GGH Guild because of his previous mana measuring device results.

Naturally, Jung Juhyeok knew he hadn’t reawakened himself, so he didn’t pay it much mind, but from her perspective, it was a reasonable misunderstanding.

[Whatever choice you make is your freedom, but as someone who believes in Hunter Jung Juhyeok’s potential, I think you can go to a better guild than GGH. Even if it’s not Mir Guild.]

“….”

Advice filled with sincerity.

Jung Juhyeok felt somewhat guilty about not revealing the truth to himself when she was being this serious.

‘But seeing how strongly she’s trying to dissuade me, the rumors really aren’t exaggerated.’

Yena was desperately trying to dissuade him from the contract despite being in a position where it was difficult to directly criticize other guilds as someone in the same industry.

Just seeing this was enough to add credibility to the rumors.

“Thank you for the advice. I’ll think it over carefully and make my decision.”

[Of course. I’ll also send you materials about what level of contracts other guilds offer, so please be sure to consider those when making your decision.]

She was helping him in every way possible despite him not being a guild member.

If the artifact hadn’t settled in his arm, he might have thought positively about joining Mir Guild.

‘Though honestly, if I didn’t have the artifact, she wouldn’t have shown any interest in me anyway.’

Pushing aside useless fantasies, he ended the call.

Not long after, Yena sent him the materials.

‘I’ll have to compare them at tomorrow’s meeting.’

A guild he’d only heard rumors about so far.

Jung Juhyeok tried to set aside his prejudices and view them objectively, considering there was a slim possibility that a decent guild had been falsely accused.

*

“This is the contract we’re proposing.”

“….”

The day after his call with Yena.

Meeting at a cafe near Gangnam Station, Jung Juhyeok received the actual contract and went through each clause one by one.

‘It’s slightly below average.’

While hunters typically take 70% of the profits from gates, the contract GGH presented only offered 60%.

If they were taking half or more, he would have definitely judged this guild as completely insane, but it was still difficult to see them as a guild that wouldn’t feel guilty about taking this much from magic stones.

Seeing Jung Juhyeok deliberating, the middle-aged scout spoke cautiously.

“Since Hunter Jung Juhyeok is still an F-rank Hunter, the conditions don’t quite meet the average, but as you gain more experience, the renewal contract terms will definitely be better.”

“Is that so.”

At those words, he checked that clause again.

The contract period stated in the clause was 5 years.

Considering that the average rookie hunter contract period was around 2 to 3 years, this was an absurd length of time.

‘They really want to milk me dry.’

A slave contract they’d excitedly presented, thinking he was a rookie hunter who didn’t know how the world worked.

Of course, this was only this lenient because of the achievements he’d made so far – if he were an ordinary F-rank Hunter, they likely would have presented even more vicious conditions.

‘What an amazing guild.’

They weren’t unaware of what rumors circulated about them, yet they exploited the fact that their opponent was an F-rank Hunter to present unfavorable conditions.

A situation where it was clearly difficult to view them favorably.

The scales inside Jung Juhyeok began tipping continuously to one side.

“I definitely understand the conditions. But there’s one thing I’d like to mention.”

“What would that be?”

“Well, there’s a possibility that I’ve undergone reawakening.”

Mir Guild probably hadn’t breathed a word about the reawakening possibility.

As expected, the middle-aged scout showed a slightly surprised expression.

“…Haven’t you gone through the reawakening confirmation process yet?”

“No, I’ve been so busy with just home and training every day that I temporarily forgot about it.”

GGH Guild must have found it strange that such a promising rookie had contacted them.

There were many guilds with better conditions, so why would he specifically choose them when they had a bad reputation?

From there, GGH could have reached a simple conclusion.

Jung Juhyeok hadn’t undergone reawakening.

Otherwise, there was no way such a big shot would come looking for them with their bad reputation.

“The procedures at the Hunter Association are so complicated that it was bothersome.”

But now Jung Juhyeok showed no signs of having taken any action regarding reawakening.

Those words might be lies, but if reawakening status was revealed, rumors would spread immediately and legally, the Hunter Association would also select a new rank after reawakening and post that information on their website.

He probably wouldn’t spout lies that would be completely exposed later at a meeting.

“How about GGH confirms the reawakening status and reviews the contract terms again?”

“….”

Moreover, from his confident suggestion to rewrite the contract after reawakening, they realized this wasn’t a bluff.

“Yes, understood. Would today work for you right away?”

“I kept today free, so it’s possible.”

Thinking they couldn’t let this opportunity slip away, the scout immediately took Jung Juhyeok to the guild building.

From his perspective, it might seem strange that Jung Juhyeok, who had defeated the third-year salutatorian and hadn’t even taken a reawakening test for several months, but every situation was convincing him.

The building we arrived at after traveling in the scout’s vehicle.

It was slightly below Mir Guild’s level, but it didn’t feel particularly backward either.

Just as I was about to enter the building entrance with the scout.

In front of us stood a woman who appeared to be around my mother’s age, wearing a placard on her body with a haggard appearance.

[How can GGH Guild be innocent when they ignored regulated rest periods and drove our son to death from overwork?]

Her complexion looked like she could collapse at any moment.

My eyes were drawn to her appearance, wondering how long she had been standing here.

“Let’s go inside.”

“What is that person doing?”

“…Ah.”

The staff member’s face crumpled as I gestured toward the one-person protest.

Disgust filled their expression as if they had seen a bug crawling out of their house.

“There was an unfortunate incident within the guild recently. The guardian seems to have been greatly shocked by it.”

“We provided all the compensation as written in the contract… but they keep making such a big issue out of it.”

Making a big issue out of it.

At those words, I looked again at the haggard middle-aged woman.

Empty eyes.

The soul of a parent who lost their son.

Within them, I could feel immeasurably deep sorrow.

“Don’t worry about it too much. There are people like that everywhere.”

“….”

A smile suggesting it was no big deal.

My poker face nearly crumpled into a frown, but I barely held back and entered the building.

“I’ll go check the measurement room for a moment, so could you wait here briefly?”

“Yes, I’ll be waiting.”

Jung Juhyeok sat quietly waiting in the lobby.

Fiddling with his cell phone, he searched for GGH Guild overwork death.

Looking mainly at recent articles, the face that appeared was a male hunter around my age.

He was an F-rank Hunter who graduated with similar grades to Jung Juhyeok and immediately signed with GGH.

After the contract, he wasn’t guaranteed the legally mandated rest time and entered gates every other day until he eventually collapsed from overwork and soon passed away.

Below that article was a photo of the woman I had just encountered.

[Only 2 million won came as compensation. My son died due to the guild’s negligence, yet without any apology, they tried to cover everything with a mere 2 million won.]

“….”

The more I read the article, the more my brow furrowed.

Jung Juhyeok looked again through the lobby window at the bereaved family member protesting alone outside.

A face more gaunt than in the photo from the article.

An indescribable emotion struck his chest.

“Sorry for the wait. Let’s go up right away and start the measurement.”

“…Understood.”

The hesitation that had now disappeared from him.

Jung Juhyeok could now smile shamelessly at the scout.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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