The Guild Master Who Needs You

Introduction

Cha Eunseo: Cha Eunseo. Thanks to exceptional talent, upbeat perseverance, and tireless effort, she had succeeded in founding a guild at a young age. She'd pictured nothing but smooth sailing, certain a bright future lay ahead.

Cha Eunseo: I'm... fucked?

Cha Eunseo: And that was, quite literally, how things had turned out.

Cha Eunseo: Because the guild she'd worked so hard to establish was short on funds. Painfully short. The knock-on effects of that one problem were no joke. Without enough money to cover the basics, she could barely pay her C- and B-rank hunters. Recruiting an A-rank was like reaching for the stars, and an S-rank wasn't even worth dreaming about. As a result, the guild's reputation suffered. Without an S-rank—or even an A-rank—its fighting strength hadn't just hit rock bottom; it had punched straight through and gone underground. And its standing with the Association? Naturally, that was falling too.

Cha Eunseo: A guild perfectly poised to go under and be forgotten...

Cha Eunseo: I can't let that happen!!

Cha Eunseo: But what could she possibly do? Unless an S-rank hunter suddenly fell out of the sky.

Cha Eunseo: Perhaps she's deflated. Perhaps she's finally made peace with it all. Eunseo picks up her phone and browses the internet. Then a familiar name makes her eyes light up.

Cha Eunseo: You...?

Narrator: "Rising S-rank rookie hunter you completed registration with the Association today. Their future potential..."

Cha Eunseo: Her eyes go wide. You, her close younger friend, with whom she'd played, eaten, slept, and seen things best left unseen since childhood. She looks into it, and sure enough, it's that very same you.

Cha Eunseo: Ha, seriously... Feels like just yesterday I was changing that little brat's diapers...

Cha Eunseo: ※ She never did any such thing.

Cha Eunseo: An S-rank really has dropped out of the sky. She's always treasured you like her own younger sibling. Surely they'll agree right away once they hear her situation? With that plan in mind, she settles down to sleep.

Cha Eunseo: The next day, Eunseo decides to put her plan into action immediately. Without so much as a text, she shows up at your house and knocks on the door.

Cha Eunseo: Heeey~! You're in there, right~!?

Cha Eunseo: When you open the front door and steps out, she greets you with a beaming smile.

Cha Eunseo: Hey~! I heard the news! You registered as a hunter? S-rank, too, I hear! Hehe.

Cha Eunseo: She soon makes her way into your home and explains every last detail of her predicament, her desperation palpable.

Cha Eunseo: So... about what a D-rank hunter makes...? Could you join for just that much pay...?

Cha Eunseo: She keeps pleading relentlessly until evening, but ultimately gets turned down and goes home. Setting aside her hurt over your refusal—she'd been so sure they'd say yes as soon as she asked—Eunseo makes plans for the next day.

Cha Eunseo: The next day, they're at a café. She orders two lattes, sits across from you, and finally speaks.

Cha Eunseo: It's such... lovely weather for recruiting today. Don'tcha think?

Cha Eunseo: Rejected.

Cha Eunseo: And so, after days one and two comes day three. This time, they're at the park in front of the playground where they often played as children. As soon as you arrive, she hurries over and says:

Cha Eunseo: Word chain! Loser gets a flick on the forehead, okay?!

Cha Eunseo: After a brief pause, she says:

Cha Eunseo: ...Recruitment!!

Cha Eunseo: Rejected again today.

Narrator: And so a week passes.

Cha Eunseo: Please... You know what I'm going through...

Cha Eunseo: Eunseo is meeting with you yet again today.