Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 40
Chapter 40: Episode 10. The Guild of Heaven’s Will (3)
The atmosphere of the audition hall changed rapidly as Kim Yongwoo and I entered the hall.
Our sudden appearance was like splashing cold water in their faces.
About ten candidates and five examiners looked at me, and I grinned at them.
I was thinking about the examiners.
They were true celebrities of the Guild of Heaven’s Will; they had appeared on TV or on private broadcasts several times. I roughly scanned their faces, and they were too happy about my sudden appearance.
It seemed that someone pulled the strings and chose the examiners.
Was this the reason that Kim Yongwoo referred to the guild as a political battlefield?
At least it was certain that Kim Yongwoo was not so influential in the guild.
“Hmm! This is your guild master of Heaven’s Will, Kim Yongwoo. I guess you are surprised at my sudden visit?”
Kim Yongwoo coughed for a couple of times and smiled gracefully.
“Guild master!”
“Wow, that is really the guild master, Kim Yongwoo. I have never seen him face to face.”
Unlike the judges, the candidates were surprised to see Kim Yongwoo.
Even if he was not the most influential member in the guild, he was still the guild master of the Guild of Heaven’s Will. In fact, he was one of the most famous people in Korea.
Kim Yongwoo then introduced me.
“Thank you for your hospitality. However, I am not the main guest of the show today. Our guest is this man here, Mr. Randalph Bruciel, the unit leader of the Devil Hunter attack unit!”
Kim Yongwoo reached out and pointed at me. He then continued, “He was one of the twelve men who participated when we were conquering the first floor. Mr. Bruciel was also the top contributor to our campaign, and he is very talented. You all know our guild legend about him when he once fought two orcs by himself! Mr. Bruciel is qualified and will be our special examiner for the audition.”
“Wait a minute, guild master. I did not hear anything about special examiners in the announcement.”
The faces of the examiners hardened quickly.
The guild had grown and now had about a hundred members. When a person was chosen as a special examiner for auditions for a guild that was as big as this one, it was evident that that person was very influential. Furthermore, he or she would be influencing the guild in the future, because new members of the guild would remember who the examiner was and would follow him or her later.
Now the guild master was trying to give that position to a new person.
What was even more surprising was that the chosen individual was the unit leader of the Devil Hunter attack unit.
It was such nonsense of the guild master.
In addition, the guild master directly mentioned the name of the Devil Hunter attack unit, which was almost forgotten. His intention was to announce the revival of the unit publicly.
The guild master’s nonsense was understandable to a certain extent because the unit leader, whom everyone thought was dead, had returned…however, considering the current situation of the guild, the guild master’s move could not be worse.
No matter how strong the unit leader was, he was outnumbered.
Even if the guild master was on his side, the unit leader was not strong enough to confront the rest of the guild. If it were a month ago, the unit leader could have the slightest hope, but now, he was like a sinking ship.
Kim Yongwoo, however, smiled at the guild.
Perhaps he did not fully understand the politics of the guild.
In other words, Kim Yongwoo’s last gambling card to flip the situation was the Devil Hunter attack unit.
If he did not make any further moves, he would have lost his guild master position in the upcoming general meeting. He felt it was unfair to step down without any resistance when he thought about all the struggles that he had gone through.
“The plan for having an additional special examiner was decided today. Furthermore, wouldn’t having six examiners be more helpful to make more objective decisions than having five examiners?”
The faces of the examiners began to crack.
“Are you saying that we are not assessing the candidates correctly, guild master?”
“Of course not. However, isn’t the unit leader of the Devil Hunt attack unit one of the most talented members of our guild? I believe that he is certainly qualified for this position.”
“You are so outdated…”
The examiners scoffed at the guild master.
None of them were part of the attack unit when they were conquering the first floor.
However, as more and more guild members acquired rare-grade skills, they started to believe that the old school way of doing things was no longer acceptable.
Unit leaders themselves could choose attack members. When an individual was selected for the Devil Hunter attack unit, he or she would be free from the restrictions of the guild. However, the selected individual would still enjoy all the privileges as a guild member.
In fact, most guild members believed that such privileges of the unit leader of the Devil Hunter attack unit came from the rare graded skill that the unit leader had.
Kim Yongwoo took a sneak peek at me.
When I nodded, he smiled even more.
“The examiners here may not understand because they were not part of the attack unit when we were conquering the first floor. Okay, here is the deal. First of all, I will nominate the unit leader, Mr. Randalph, as the special examiner and have him participate in the auditions under my authority. I will then arrange a chance to question his qualifications later.”
“What do you mean by that chance?”
The examiners must have vetoed if it were some other time. However, they did not, because the current issue was related to Devil Hunter attack unit.
Most guild members did not like the unit, but they had heard about it. They thought it was worth finding more about the Devil Hunter attack unit.
“Shall we hold a contest? We will have two attack units; each consists of about eight members who fight each other. Depending on the results, let us decide whether we will keep the Devil Hunter attack unit or not. On the other hand, the unit leader of the winning team receives the privileges that the unit leader of Devil Hunter had enjoyed. Let us use this opportunity to introduce a ranking system and different leagues in the guild. What do you all think?”
If you were going to do something, do it big time.
That was the motto of Kim Yongwoo.
The guild was already divided into many factions, and Kim Yongwoo wanted to take a chance to see how far things could go.
I clicked my tongue when I realized Kim Yongwoo’s intention.
I thought about a ranking system in the guild.
Kim Yongwoo was smart in this direction.
If I won the contest, Kim Yongwoo would become more powerful in the guild.
The contest would revive the good vibes in the guild. It would also give Kim Yongwoo a chance to rise to power once more.
On top of that, a league system, if introduced, would break the balance of the power in the guild. It would directly and objectively divide the strong and the weak.
In short, everything boiled down to whether I would win or not.
‘It is not even a gamble.’
I shrugged my shoulders.
An individual competition would be enough for me.
I thought that the reason that Kim Yongwoo created two teams of eight members was to prevent any complaints.
Kim Yongwoo must have thought that I could confront about eight people by myself. He was still underestimating my abilities, but I could understand him.
‘I will have to recruit temporary members from this audition.’
Kim Yongwoo implied that I should recruit the rest of my team by participating in the audition as a special examiner.
No existing members in the guild would be on my side. The audition was the only chance for me to recruit my team members from candidates.
If I counted Lee Jihye, Yoo Eunhye, and Krathra, that would sum up to four members. If I had Krathra in my team, other guild members might complain. I would have to push hard to put Krathra in my team.
I nodded my head.
I would have appreciated it if Kim Yongwoo could spark fires, but he did an outstanding job organizing everything in a very short period of time.
‘It would have been better if Kim Yongwoo were a bit more social, but…’
In fact, Kim Yongwoo’s lack of social skills had led to this situation. Had he made his side in advance, he would not have been cornered like this.
He did not care too much because he was relying on me too much.
Kim Yongwoo could have made better decisions.
“Are you going to announce it publicly?”
When one of the examiners asked, Kim Yongwoo confirmed, “Of course. I will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow morning and follow whatever that is decided in the meeting. I am just informing you in advance. Of course, you can spread this information to anyone you would like.”
The five examiners had their connections. Had they just informed their connections of this information, the entire would find out about it.
“Okay, let us do that.”
“I agree, too.”
All five examiners accepted the proposal.
After they took care of this issue, Kim Yongwoo formally introduced me again.
“This is Randalph Bruciel, the unit leader of the Devil Hunter attack unit. He will be a special examiner. Let us give him a round of applause!”
Clap, clap, clap!
Kim Yongwoo started clapping and other examiners reluctantly followed.
The candidates had remained silent and had been watching the situation. When the examiners started clapping, they jumped on the bandwagon and started clapping, too.
“My name is Randalph Bruciel. I look forward to working with you.”
The first words I spoke were very heavy.
The candidate number 363 was standing still in front of me.
This candidate had the title of voracious swearer.
I received a stack of documents that contained information about candidates. While sitting on a chair next to it, I opened the Eyes of Mind.
Name: Kim Choonwon
Profession: Kim Choonwon is a warrior and a minstrel.
Title:
<ul>
Kim Choonwon has the title of voracious swearer. (R, Mana+4)
</ul>
Statistics:
Strength 24 Intelligence 33
Agility 35 Health point 36 Mana 38 (+4)
Potential (166/325)
Comments: None
Skill: Yelling out loud (N), Demoralization (Ex N)
“Was your swearing just now a demoralization skill?”
Candidate number 363, Kim Choonwon, was startled and nodded.
“Huh? Oh, yes. Yes. It was indeed a skill. I did not mean to bash anyone…”
“What is the yelling out loud skill?”
“It is singing a song, but…”
I could see why his profession was a minstrel.
“Sing a song for me.”
Out of all the examiners, only I was paying attention to him.
Other examiners had already given up their expectations for Kim Choonwon.
Kim Choonwon sensed the subtle atmosphere and spit out his falsetto.
“Hum, hum! Seoul sky! Under the sky! My dream is near, ah!”
Kim Choonwon’s voice cracked for a moment.
His voice was so loud that some people covered their ears.
The five examiners either sighed or covered their foreheads.
They were not interested in the candidate anymore.
Scoring began soon, and I gave an assessment of Kim Choonwon.
I gave him full marks on skill mastery, statistics reliability, and personality.
I also gave him full marks on other parts and smiled out of satisfaction.
The scores that I gave him were absolutely nonsense and subjective.
Candidate number 363, who otherwise would have failed the audition, could proceed to the next stage because of the scores that I gave him.
However, I could not care less.
In fact, I wanted the candidate to move on to the next stage.
I planned to give full marks to those who would have failed. Then I would try to pull them on my side.
If a candidate made it through the audition, he or she would receive the scores that the examiners gave. They would not help but be on my side after looking at the generous scores that I gave them.
The requirement of having only eight members in a team was merely an excuse anyways.
I just needed to make the ends meet and fit the numbers somehow.
To be honest, Krathra alone was more than enough for me.
I did not even have to get my hands dirty.
‘This is fun in a different way.’
I just needed to give out scores while watching these humans doing some sort of cheap shows.
I continued to give out very subjective marks afterward.
<hr />
A poster appeared on the bulletin board on the first floor of Guild of Heaven’s Will.
The poster was very wordy but captivated guildmembers’ attention because it was about the upcoming competition.
The name of the competition was the Guild of Heaven’s Will!
The poster announced the competition, which would decide the fate of the Guild of Heaven’s Will, would take place exactly a month later at Citizen Park.
The poster also contained additional information such as qualifications and guidelines for participants. It also announced other information such as the privileges that the winner would have, the upcoming ranking system, and the league system that would divide and operate the guild in different groups and leagues.
Kim Yongwoo proposed these issues in an impromptu fashion in the emergency meeting, but the meeting decided to easily pass all proposals. Such a prompt passing was possible because everyone in the meeting was informed about the proposals through Kim Yongwoo’s announcements during the audition. The five examiners passed on the information quickly to their connections.
In a way, it was natural that the proposal was passed.
As the guild was getting larger, the more guild members wanted to show off their skills. Going to dungeons could not fill their thirst.
It was an opportunity that they had been waiting for.
Those who think their skills are being underestimated, who recently joined the guild and had yet established themselves, and those who wanted to be more influential in the guild participated in the competition.
In addition, Devil Hunters, whom they hated so much, were also participating, which fueled their motivations and passion.
About a week passed by.
All guild members in the Guild of Heaven’s Will were excited about the upcoming competition.
However, those who saw the announcement poster showed the same response.
“Only eight members? Then we are the strongest. All of us are existing members of the guild.”
“The two new faces we met are scary. It will be a piece of cake.”
“Mr. Kim Taehwan, why don’t you participate as a unit leader? We had gone through Hell training, and I am sure that we can win this competition.”
None of them expected Devil Hunters to perform well in the competition.
Krathra of dark skin, who defeated three new guild members at the guild house entrance, and unit leader Randalph were two prominent figures in Devil Hunters. The other six members of the team were mediocre.
The participants believed that the two would be doable with the help of a good awakened hero and a member with a rare-graded skill.
They did not even care about the other six members of the team.
They could not imagine that Devil Hunters, which was composed of such terrible members, could perform well in the competition.
