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The guildmaster’s advancement to S-rank.

Despite it being good news for the guild, No Name didn’t do anything special to celebrate it.

First of all, Jiho had given most of the guildmembers paid leave under the excuse of moving the guild. Once that break ends, their contracts naturally end as well.

In short, this means there’s no reason to see the old guildmembers anymore.

Since their contracts were nearing their ends anyways, there was no need to continue dragging it out and seeing each other’s faces when it’s uncomfortable for everyone, so Jiho ended it cleanly.

Though he does wonder if he was too harsh.

‘I feel good going to work.’

Jiho realized as he was heading towards the guildmaster’s office with light steps that he wasn’t feeling any of the pressure he used to feel every time he entered the guild in the past.

When he first started the guild, he really hated going to work.

Whenever he left his house, and whenever he entered the guild, he wanted to throw it all away and run.

Although it got a little easier to breathe when Heo Sori appeared, the guild was still a place he didn’t want to go to.

But today, he was filled with only excitement.

This is the point of a brand new start.

Unlike Jiho, the mood between the guildmembers left in No Name was very low.

Compared to the size of the new office, which was big enough to have room left even with all of the guildmembers from before, the number of people was noticeably small. The empty seats were more than enough to make those who were left feel tense.

‘We should work hard from now on.’

The No Name now is different from the one they came into. If they were to apply now, the probability of all of them passing is probably low.

The only ones left are those who disrupted the guild comparably less. Because they are aware that they weren’t left because they were good, there was no choice but to be on edge.

The status of the guildmaster, who once seemed useless, changed completely within the span of one month.

Since the guildmaster is an S-rank, once the guild recruits enough members, the guild will naturally advance to an A-rank guild, and depending how it does from there, it can advance to an S-rank as well. There’s probably no person who thinks that No Name, with its close ties to Chungram, will stay at A-rank.

As original members, since they were lucky enough to stay onboard, they need to stick here by all means.

As such, they were both envious and jealous of Heo Sori and Yang Hojin, who’ve become close to the guildmaster. But because they could’ve done what the two did, the other guildmembers had nothing to say.

All they can do is vow to work harder.

As opposed to the low atmosphere within the guild, there’s one more person having as great of a time at No Name as Shin Jiho is.

That person is Heo Sori, who stuck by No Name. In the past, she used to hear that she should just get her degree and enter a normal company if she was going to stay at a guild with no foreseeable future, and that she was a fool for entering No Name of all guilds.

It didn’t feel all that bad seeing all of the relatives or family friends who used to subtly look down on her during the holidays now call her parents for no reason and send gifts to their house. Though it does feel a little absurd.

From Heo Sori’s perspective, the guildmaster who suddenly appeared with a broken skill was like an angel. No, he is an angel. She felt like she won a lottery she never even entered.

Though she likes Jiho as a person, she’s come to like him even more as her guildmaster, and she prepared a small present for him.

It was a cute cake with the trendy vintage-style cream that says ‘Congratulations to No Name’s Guildmaster Shin Jiho’s S-rank Advancement ♡’ on top.

Heo Sori entered the guildmaster’s office confidently with a pre-prepared party hat on her head.

“Congratulations, Guildmaster-nim!”

“Congratulations.”

“Con-congratulations…”

Lim Seung Joo and Yang Hojin repeated awkwardly after Heo Sori. Jiho burst into laughter when he saw how embarrassed Lim Seung Joo and Yang Hojin looked while wearing the party hats, which was obviously forced on them by Heo Sori.

“D-don’t laugh.”

“Ah, no, I just never thought our vice-guildmaster would ever wear this.”

“Guildmaster-nim.”

“Cough… Alright. I’ll try to hold it in.”

Jiho managed to control his laughter before he blew out the candle placed in front of the fancy cake topper. As he did so, loud applause sounded from beside him.

“Now, please cut the cake, Guildmaster-nim.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Jiho accepted the cake knife and cut the cake. After cutting out a radius-sized piece, Jiho stopped, as he didn’t know how many slices he needed to cut from the small cake.

“But shouldn’t we share this cake with everyone?”

Jiho remembered the tense employees he saw on his way to work today. The atmosphere around them was so much more rigid than that around the three in front of him right now that Jiho felt bad. Although it’s good to get closer to these three as a team, it wouldn’t be good to constantly be with just the three of them.

Sori shook her head.

“I couldn’t order a bigger cake because it was ordered in such a rush. Instead, I passed madeleines around to the other guildmembers, so we should eat this amongst ourselves. It’s only enough for a bite each anyway.”

Jiho contemplated for a bit before cutting the cake into four slices. Sori placed each slice on the plates she brought over and passed them around.

The cake, which Jiho thought would be greasy, was surprisingly tasty. Even though he ate cake yesterday, sugar gives humans energy. Jiho even finished off the cake Lim Seung Joo left and licked the cream off of his own fork. It’s a shame for only the four of them to eat something as good as this.

“Since the cake is too small, let’s have a company-wide dinner tonight.”

“Wow.”

“Not dinner, let’s do lunch.”

“WOOW!”

The difference in tone between the first and second shouts was clear. Of course, lunch is preferred over dinner. Jiho felt satisfied when he saw the happiness spread on Heo Sori and Yang Hojin’s faces. Lim Seung Joo didn’t show it, but the corners of his lips were twitching slightly.

“Discuss with the other guildmembers, decide on a location, and make a reservation. There’s no price limit, so choose something everyone has wanted to eat.”

“Yes!”

Heo Sori, who answered energetically, didn’t tarry and left the room.

Jiho wasn’t specifically ordering Heo Sori to do it, but… it’s become natural for her to take care of things. Since he used to ask Heo Sori to take care of a lot of the smaller tasks while they were still a small guild because Jiho felt the most comfortable with her, Heo Sori naturally took this task on herself.

‘I can’t keep passing small tasks onto her.’

After yesterday, they’ve passed the point of a disordered guild that has a combat hunter running around for different tasks. Since his rank has been tested now, it’s time to recruit new members.

Now that the physical size of the guild has increased, Jiho plans to recruit hard-working non-awakened ones to the guild and distribute the work.

Jiho thought proudly before looking at Lim Seung Joo.

After Shin Jiho became an S-rank, he could finally see Lim Seung Joo’s status window, which he had been curious about since before.

Status

Name	Lim Seung Joo
Occupation	No Name’s Vice-Guildmaster
Rank	A
Title	The Solitary Swordsman No Name’s Slave
HP	845
MP	418
STR	1055
AGI	782
Skills	Body Strengthening ( S ) Endowment of an Attribute ( A ) Is it Concerning if My Attack is Basic ( A ) Instinctive Sense of Danger( B ) Ariadne’s Thread ( C )

As a physical attack hunter, not only are his important stats–HP, STR, and AGI–high, but his MP isn’t that low either. Lim Seung Joo’s stats are outstanding. And on top of that, each of his skills are valuable ones.

Of those skills, the one that sticks out the most is [Is it Concerning if My Attack is Basic]. This skill is probably Lim Seung Joo’s finishing wide-range move…

Jiho now understands why Lim Seung Joo always mumbles the signal quietly so that no one can hear it. With his personality, Lim Seung Joo’s probably too embarrassed to shout that out. Maybe if he was someone like Seon Tae Woong.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Lim Seung Joo suddenly asked as if he was feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Confused, Jiho asked.

“How was I looking at you?”

“You, you were looking at him like a… proud parent who thinks their child is the best.”

Hojin answered in place of Seung Joo, who was looking reluctant.

Was he?

When he raised his hand to his lips, Jiho found that the corners of his lips really had gone up, as if he was very satisfied by something.

The thing that had made Jiho laugh was Lim Seung Joo’s title, No Name’s Slave.

Of course, as a person who knows the worth of freedom and equality, Jiho has no thought of working Lim Seung Joo like a slave.

But seeing that title attached to someone who spent the past year grumbling at him was kind of exciting and satisfying.

Though Jiho does suspect that the title came to be because of the rumors spreading in online communities, and especially in Hunter Space, that Lim Seung Joo is being held against his will by Shin Jiho…

Either way, since he’s a slave, isn’t it okay for Jiho to look at him proudly like he’s looking at his possessions?

Lim Seung Joo took a step back as if he could instinctively feel the danger of Jiho’s possessiveness.

Yet when Jiho waved his hand, Lim Seung Joo was obedient, coming closer to him, even though he looked hesitant to do so.

Loyal.

It looks like he’s really ready to become a slave.

Even though Lim Seung Joo will be a valuable guildmember from here on out. Since he’s reflecting on his previous rebellious attitude, wouldn’t it be alright for Jiho to give a little, just a little, more work to him?

Jiho calmed down his raging thoughts.

“Hm, Hunter Lim Seung Joo.”

“Yes.”

“I will soon start officially recruiting new guildmembers. Much more people than before will need to be added. Enough to fill this office.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Although there will be another person responsible for this later, since there’s not enough people right now, I would like our vice-guildmaster to take care of it for now.”

“Another… person?”

Lim Seung Joo’s pupils shook nervously. It seems that he’s still frightened from Jiho chasing guildmembers out of the guild. Jiho tossed a bit of food for the loyal slave to feel comforted by.

“Isn’t that supposed to be the job of an HR team? Our guild didn’t really have an HR team before, but we should hire non-awakened ones to get this guild running properly now. Please take special care of this.”

“Ah… Yes, of course.”

Upon realizing that he had misunderstood, the tip of Seung Joo’s ears turned slightly red. Jiho pretended not to notice and just smiled.

“You do not have to do this by yourself. After all, Chungram’s Jang Hyo Joo-ssi agreed to come to No Name.”

“Jang Hyo Joo-ssi?”

Lim Seung Joo asked in shock. Because he used to belong to Chungram, he seemed to have heard that name before. Jiho chuckled at his face, which was clearly asking, ‘Why would that person…’

“She isn’t coming under a condition like Lim Seung Joo-ssi.”

“I-I wasn’t thinking of something like that.”

“I understand. Anyways, I scouted Jang Hyo Joo-ssi officially. Chungram is an established guild. It seems that Jang Hyo Joo-ssi wants a somewhat new challenge.”

Although Jang Hyo Joo is a low D-rank hunter, she is an executive who reached a fairly high position in Chungram.

As a support hunter, her skill isn’t well-known, but while she’s weak in combat, she’s perfect for office work. She is known for being capable of doing the work of multiple people by herself.

Since she has a challenger’s mindset, Jang Hyo Joo wanted to use her experience from Chungram to raise a new guild.

Just like Lee Dasol, who raised Divine Arrows from a small guild to an S-rank after S-rank hunter Seo Min Jeong dug her up.

For Jang Hyo Joo, No Name, which is currently a B-rank guild with a guildmaster who advanced to S-rank, is the perfect guild for her.

On top of that, the fact that she doesn’t have to feel awkward moving guilds since Chungram and No Name are closely tied to each other was probably an added plus.

Thanks to that, the contract was signed smoothly under good terms.

“I will reduce the number of times we go out and only take care of fissures assigned to us for now. Because we need time to reorganize the guild. Hunter Lim Seung Joo, is that okay with you?”

“Of course. I will work hard.”

Although Jiho only asked this to check, Lim Seung Joo answered extremely stiffly, like he had received an ominous warning, and left the room to start on his work.

Well, though it wasn’t exactly supposed to be a warning, he does want to keep him on his toes. Since Jiho doesn’t completely trust Lim Seung Joo yet.

He trusts the duration of time [Blessing of the Star] takes effect for, which changes with the recipient’s favorability towards him, and the nine hours it lasts on Lim Seung Joo. If it wasn’t for that skill, he probably wouldn’t have trusted him still.

Once the two people left, there was only Jiho and Hojin remaining in the room.

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LaZ Bird Corner

No Name Slave Rights!

Fun fact! The word for “slave” in Korean is 노예 or “no-ye.” This is why Korean readers begin calling LSJ 노노, or “No-No.”

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Welcome to the new site! Sorry for the late update, having a new site’s been making it a little slower than it was since I’m still getting used to it. Thank you guys for being patient (>᎑<๑)/♡.

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