The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success

It was an explosion.

It was a loud noise that he had never heard before.

Kang Moo-hyuk screamed at the explosion that was completely different from thunder.

It was a very loud sound, but it was immediately buried by the screams of the refugees.

Only then did he realise that his hands were empty after he rubbed his deafened ears.

His mother, who was holding his hand tightly, was nowhere to be found.

He looked around and saw a familiar back.

“Dad! Mom, I can’t see mom!”

Unfortunately, Kang Moo-hyuk’s cries did not reach his father’s ears.

Instead of fleeing, his father headed towards the monster’s shrieks, as if he had been possessed by something.

Surprised, Kang Moo-hyuk quickly grabbed his father’s sleeve.

“What are you doing dad? That’s where the monsters are!”

His father looked back. Kang Moo-hyuk was surprised and let go of his hand.

It wasn’t a look he knew. His father had cold eyes. No, his eyes were empty.

Even though he was a father who abandoned his family, I never complained, understanding that it was because of his job.

As soon as Kang Moo-hyuk made eye contact with his father, he realised that he had been mistaken so far.

‘This man, he doesn’t care about his family.’

There was a voice that confirmed his thoughts.

“I need to bring the research data with me, so go ahead.”

“I said mom is gone! Didn’t dad hear me?”

“She must be somewhere. I know you’re able to find her, so go ahead. Go find her.”

“What are you talking about now…”

Kang Moo-hyuk was dumbfounded and tried to catch him, but his father had already disappeared into the thick smoke of the explosion.

“What I do…”

While remaining alone and muttering, Kang Moo-hyuk stared blankly at the direction where his father had disappeared.

After that day—

Kang Moo-hyuk became a voluntary orphan. His mother disappeared and he lost contact with his father.

Fifteen years later, he is now in his thirties. Kang Moo-hyuk was active on the front lines fighting the monsters that made his family like this.

It was a job he had chosen because he didn’t awaken as a hunter.

The meeting of the strategic tactical team of the leading A-class guild was extremely intense 365 days a year.

Every plan, every strategy, deals with the life of a hunter, so it’s only natural to pour your heart and soul into it every time.

In this regard, the strategic tactical team, which strengthens the guild’s strength and establishes hunting plans, can be said to be the second most important department after the guild’s expedition team.

Monday morning.

When those who attended the meeting were still struggling to get over the aftermath of the weekend.

The sluggish but clear voice of team leader Kang Moo-hyuk echoed in the meeting room.

Team leader Kang Moo-hyuk’s tired and low voice sounded in the meeting room.

“Estimated 4-star Named. As for the additional report about the code name ‘Garuda’, when the search team’s video was uploaded, Chief Kim notified the analysis team to organize it and handed it over to me. Even if the ranking is low, don’t just make superficial references like last time, and arrange an interview with the members of the search team.”

“Yes, team leader.”

“And the equipment part. Deputy Oh, upgrade the ampoule grade to this standard set of equipment. How’s it going?”

“If we tried to raise the existing grade 2 to grade 1, the unit price will not match. These days, the price is skyrocketing because of ‘potions’ everywhere. We’ll probably keep it until the upper limit price is reached.”

Deputy Oh Chang-soo shook his head.

Kang Moo-hyuk knew that what he said was not an exaggeration. He is not weak-minded, and he has good capability. If he’s having a hard time, then it’s really hard.

This is due to the season factor rather than his ability. In autumn, it was natural for the price of potions and ampoules to rise, as it was time to prepare for subjugating the monsters that had gone south in search of food from the Gaema Plateau and beyond the Yalu River.

‘But I can’t wait until the winter when the price drops.’

Ampoule upgrade is the key to strengthening the guild. If we delay it, we will fall behind in the competition with other guilds. Also, there is no guarantee that the price will decrease as in winter, hunting becomes rarer when new gates appear.

So what can he do? He has no choice but to encourage his team members. Of course, as the team leader, he’s going to put all his personal connections to ask around, but he needs to tighten up his slacking team members first because they too are tired of slow progress. That’s why he became the first non-hunter in the industry to occupy the position of strategic tactical team leader in the guild. Which isn’t just earning a high salary as a non-hunter.

“You see, we put our life and death on this project. We sweat, but the hunters have to bleed. Don’t work in vain.”

Deputy Oh pursed his lips. He couldn’t hide his dissatisfaction. Kang Moo-hyuk gestured with his head to give Deputy Oh what he needed to say.

“The price is not worth the effort. Everyone expresses disapproval, saying that 55-ron per tick was not suitable.”

“How much does it cost?”

“At least 800,000.”

“It’s definitely risen a lot, because the first grade is 50 ticks… so it’s 40 million won.”

Kang Moo-hyuk frowned, saying, “That was difficult.”

His goal is clear. His plan is to upgrade all ‘ampoule kits’ (first-aid items for hunters), which can be called hunters’ life preservers.

What matters here is the first team kit. If the equipment of the higher-ranked team is strengthened, the lower-ranked team will naturally take over the equipment of the existing higher-ranked team, which will increase the overall strength of the guild.

The best way is to provide artifacts such as weapons, armor and accessories, but it is too expensive to distribute among all personnel. On the other hand, ampoule kits were the most effective way to maintain the guild’s strength if they didn’t die immediately.

They are also cheaper than artifacts. Of course, spending hundreds to hundreds of millions of dollars on one-time use may seem excessive to the general public.

It is this potion that fits the expression of spending money like water.

Because of that, the guild shareholders did not like the project. The guild leader, who was suffering from the shareholders, also seemed reluctant. The current guild leader, who had raised the Titan Guild from rock bottom to A-tier, was distant from the management.

His ambitions were big enough to aim for a first-rate guild, but he couldn’t bid his way out of the negotiation process.

As a result, he is always fed up with fussy board members and shareholders.

Perhaps Kang Moo-hyuk could rise to this position because the guild leader hated such calculations and political skills. One thing that everyone acknowledges about his ability is to coax people.

‘To put it nicely, it’s a negotiation, to put it badly, it’s a shit. Damn, I’m gonna have to say something to upper executives again.’

Kang Moo-hyuk sighed, recalling the guild situation being swayed by the shareholders.

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Hunters are people too. No matter how good the money is, you can’t just look at hunters as numbers. He couldn’t see the current guild leader in a good light who is more wary of shareholders than guild members from the perspective of eating up the guild chain.

“I will check with the finance team to see if they can allocate more budget, so keep an eye on the market price. Now, that’s all for today’s meeting. If there is anything out of the ordinary, please report it separately.”

Somehow, all the team members were exhausted from the meetings that were being held all morning.

It’s just the start of the week and it already feels like Thursday.

Kang Moo-hyuk frowned as he left the meeting room. The team members following him also stopped.

“I’m late. I’m sorry.”

When a sly voice greeted him, he usually had little change in his emotions, so Kang Moo-hyuk, who was even nicknamed “Mr. Buddha,” became angry.

A newcomer leaned back in a chair and stretched his legs on the table.

‘Is this guild going to collapse? Why is there someone like him in the strategy team…’

Titan was an A-tier guild. Although the hunter industry itself has a short history of only 30 years, there was a tradition of a prestigious guild. Reputation was necessary for latecomers to pursue prestigious “tier guild”. In that sense, the young Hunter in front of him could be seen as an example of why the Titan Guild couldn’t be above A-tier.

“Sorry? Look, Ma Tae-sik-ssi. Is that what someone who has been late since Monday had to say? The guild is also a company. Isn’t attendance a basic requirement in a company?”

Kang Moo-hyuk, who was approaching Ma Tae-sik through gritted teeth, covered his nose. The smell of alcohol and tobacco wafted from Ma Tae-sik.

“What is this? The smell of alcohol? Did you miss the weekly meeting because of alcohol?”

“No way. Have you seen a hunter get drunk?”

“Then what?”

“Team Leader Kang already knows. How important friendship is between hunters. Just having drinks with the same industry colleagues and exchanging all kinds of information. That’s why I’m a little late. So, Team Leader Kang, please understand.”

He wants me to understand? The guy who made an accident and was demoted from the expedition team?

‘I shouldn’t have taken charge of a guy like this.’

Ma Tae-sik was the younger brother of Ma Tae-soo, the vicemaster.

There is a slight age difference from Ma Tae-soo, the eldest son of the five brothers, but they were a successful family by today’s standards due to the brothers becoming pair hunters.

In contrast to the serious Ma Tae-soo, Ma Tae-sik’s behavior is trash because he is a late child1and spoiled.

How ridiculous social life was, for such a man became a hunter and his eldest brother was a vicemaster.

The problem was that Ma Tae-sik committed an immature act in the expedition team. He was so confident in his backer that he touched a female hunter who was part of the expedition team. At this point, it couldn’t be properly covered up no matter how hard it was.

What’s the expedition department? That is the essence of the guild. Because the best elites are gathered, the right to speak is strong. But a young man who had just joined the expedition, who had come with personal connections rather than his skills, dared to act indecently as the hunter leading the expedition.

‘Hunter Lee Jin-joo should have split his head.’

Instead, she had broken all of Ma Tae-sik’s limbs. Thanks to that, he didn’t show up for a while and only returned last month. And demotion. To be honest, he wasn’t a competent hunter and he who caused the accident wouldn’t say anything even if he was immediately dismissed.

However, since he was the younger brother of the vicemaster, he was eventually demoted. After all, Korea is also a nation of school ties, regional ties, and blood ties. So he was sent to Kang Moo-hyuk’s strategic tactical team with his neck attached.

To be honest, I couldn’t see that him being in the strategic tactical team could be considered as a demotion. It was a department as important as the expedition team. However, it was a department one step below the expedition team, so the word ‘demotion’ was used. Kang Moo-hyuk regretted receiving Ma Tae-sik because he couldn’t refuse the vicemaster’s earnest request.

‘Every guild has trash, but putting it into the core department has crossed the line.’

Until now, Kang Moo-hyuk has not tried to get involved with Ma Tae-sik. His team members also treated him as a ‘nobody’ as much as possible. He didn’t want to waste his emotions for no reason, even though he had a lot of work to do. But he couldn’t watch over him any longer. Perhaps it was difficult to control his emotions at the moment due to stress. He issued an ultimatum.

“Ma Tae-sik-ssi, please be on night duty for a week from today. No refusal.”

“A week? That’s a bit difficult.”

“I’ll see the vicemaster so please be on duty until then. If you do not comply with my ‘order’, I’ll take immediate action to the HR team.”

“No, why does it have to be the HR team? Is it because you’re not a hunter? Our team leader, you don’t know much about this world. Let’s not be childish and move on nicely.”

At that moment, something seemed to have snapped in Kang Moo-hyuk’s head.

“Who’s the one childish?”