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Chapter 24




SMH 24
Swordmaster Healer – Episode 24
TL: Boko
Editor: Ren
Chapter 8 – The Final Memory (3)
‘Why?’
‘Why’ was the first thought that surfaced when Sung Joon had first realized their betrayal. He had pieced together the fragments of his memories like a puzzle and inferred that his past life, the Sword Saint, Roukel, had been deeply respected in the Empire.
‘That’s not what’s important.’
Sung Joon’s eyes chilled.
‘What’s important is that I died because I was betrayed,’ he thought.
He didn’t really care for the reason but he did want to learn about the people involved. Unfortunately, his memories of them were so vague that he wasn’t even able to grab a clue.
‘For now, I should concentrate on dungeon runs,’ Sung Joon resolved.
As long as he trained his swordsmanship or absorbed the mana from dead monsters, his body would strengthen and his memories would return.
Sung Joon had no choice but to train his swordsmanship and go through the dungeons if he wanted to know more about the betrayers.
‘This is my goal for now,’ Sung Joon smirked. ‘I’m going to regain the memories of my past life.’
If he wanted to regain his past memories, he needed to get stronger. Also, the dungeons were his source of additional income. It was a win-win.
In any case, so long as he was a Hunter, he couldn’t forget about the dungeon runs.
‘Should I go to the mountains in the back?’ he wondered.
While he packed his bag, Sung Joon saw Tae Min’s business card on top of his desk and changed his mind.
‘It’d be best if I clearly refused his offer,’ he thought.
Sung Joon called the phone number on the card.
“Yes, Jung Tae Min speaking.”
“This is Kang Sung Joon.”
“Ah, Hunter Kang Sung Joon!” Tae Min’s voice brightened.
“You came to invite me to your guild, correct?” Sung Joon asked.
“Hahaha, you figured me out?”
“If that’s the case, let me say that I have no intention of joining a guild,” Sung Joon said firmly.
Although there were several benefits to joining a guild, guild members had to hand over part of their dungeon earnings to the guild.
“W-wait a minute! Could you please tell me why?” Tae Min pressed.
Whenever they looked through their data on Sung Joon, they were certain that he would be a great asset to the guild so long as they recruited him. Therefore, Tae Min wanted to recruit Sung Joon, even if he had to add special conditions to their deal.
Every guild dreamed of becoming a high-ranked guild.
The Hound guild also held that dream and as a part of management, Tae Min always did his best to achieve that goal.
“I don’t like how the guilds take a part of my cut,” Sung Joon said.
Everyone knew that the guilds took 30% of the final cut.
“I-if that’s the case, we’ll make a special exception! We’ll make it so you only have to give the guild 20% instead of 30%!” Tae Min pressed.
Sung Joon could hear Tae Min’s anxiety even through his phone.
Sung Joon had a relaxed smile and said, “I clearly said I don’t like how the guild takes a part of my cut.”
“But, but that’s…”
Tae Min couldn’t respond easily. There wasn’t a single guild in Korea that didn’t take a part of their members’ earnings.
“It looks like we won’t come to an agreement, so I’ll end the conversation here.”
Sung Joon hung up.
* * *
“Hello?”
He couldn’t hear Sung Joon anymore. Tae Min sighed and put his phone down. Yong Deok had been watching from a small distance away and cautiously walked towards Tae Min.
“Did he refuse?” Yong Deok asked.
“Yeah, but I have no intention of giving up here,” Tae Min responded.
“Then…”
“I’ll have to talk to the Guild Leader,” replied Tae Min. Fortunately, the A-Rank Supporter, Kim Kyung Ho, and his regular assault team were resting that day. Tae Min unhesitatingly walked to the Guild Leader’s office.
Kyung Ho, who didn’t have anything in particular planned for that day, opened his doors readily when Tae Min said he urgently needed to speak with him.
“Manager Jung Tae Min. You needed to talk to me so it must be a big deal,” Kyung Ho said.
Most of the time, Kyung Ho would give Tae Min the authority to recruit new Hunters, so besides the meetings, they wouldn’t really meet.
“Guild Leader, I’ve found an amazing rookie!” Tae Min exclaimed.
Kyung Ho asked, “An amazing rookie? Who is he?”
“His name is Kang Sung Joon. He’s a B-rank Hunter,” Tae Min said.
“Kang Sung Joon you say…” Kyung Ho tried to remember where he’d heard that name. “He’s been pretty active lately. The one that has ‘Unlimited Power’, he’s that Kang Sung Joon, right?”
“Yes, but ‘active’ is putting it lightly. He broke the records twice in D-rank dungeon solo play and he cleared a C-rank dungeon in five hours,” replied Tae Min.
“Really? I heard he hasn’t even been a B-rank Hunter for very long. He’s amazing. What are you standing around for, go recruit him!” Kyung Ho said.
Tae Min replied, “To be honest, I already contacted him and I failed to recruit him. I needed to consult you regarding Kang Sung Joon’s side of the deal.”
“Do as you please. I gave you the authority to adjust the rate to 20%. No… did he offer up a different condition?” asked Kyung Ho.
“Yes, he’d like us to do away with the whole idea of taking part of his earnings,” replied Tae Min.
“I’m lost for words. If we agree to that once, there won’t be an end to people asking for it. If we enact that change, it would be much better to simply do business with other guilds’ A-Rank Hunters,” Kyung Ho said negatively.
If rumors got out that they didn’t take a part of their members’ earnings, they would fall into a bottomless pit.
Other famous guilds hadn’t tried it for a reason.
“However, Kang Sung Joon is more than qualified to reach A-rank!” said Tae Min.
Kyung Ho demanded, “But he’s not an A-Rank hunter, right? Right?”
“T-that’s…”
Tae Min couldn’t respond to Kyung Ho’s simple point.
“I don’t like investing in uncertainty. It’s always best to invest in something certain to succeed, right?” Kyung Ho replied.
Kyung Ho hadn’t known anything about investing and had lost a lot of his money on an investment, so now he was extremely careful.
His careful nature transferred over directly to the guild management style. Tae Min thought that Kyung Ho’s passive stance was blocking the Hound’s ascension into the high ranks.
“However, Guild Leader! Sometimes you have to invest to grow!”
“But risk will follow. If people learn that we recruited Kang Sung Joon with those conditions, whenever we go to recruit skilled Hunters, we’ll have to offer them the same conditions,” Kyung Ho countered.
Since Kyung Ho wasn’t wrong, Tae Min couldn’t reply immediately.
“Let’s talk about this matter next time,” Kyung Ho said.
‘There probably won’t be a next time…’ he wanted to say, but he held back, responded curtly, and left the office.
“Ha…”
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Tae Min sighed as he returned to his office. He really didn’t like his Guild Leader’s timid personality today.
‘We’re losing another opportunity again like this.’
Tae Min thought that the Hound guild had just lost their chance at ascending to the higher ranks.