NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3
Chapter 3. Contract
Building of Keroes Guild.
A man in a black suit dashed across the 1st floor hallway of the building.
“Huff, huff…”
With heavy breaths, he boarded the elevator heading to the top floor.
While catching his breath, he straightened out his jacket, which had come undone from running.
After a short while, he arrived at the top floor and knocked on the office door.
“Guild Master!”
“What is it?”
“Is it true that Yoo Ji-han left the guild?!”
“Yes. Ji-han departed from Keroes as of yesterday.”
“Ugh….”
The man showed a pained expression at Guild Master Park Joong-seob’s reply.
To think everything would be settled in just one day.
He rushed over as quickly as he could upon hearing the news, only to find it was already too late.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief pulled from his pocket, he said, “So… you really let him go?”
“Oh! You need to choose your words carefully. I made a suggestion, but the final decision was made by Ji-han himself.”
“This…. This doesn’t seem like a good choice at all.”
“What?”
Park Joong-seob’s eyebrows twitched.
He was not pleased to be criticized for something that had already been concluded.
“Ji-han dedicated seven years to our guild.”
“And?”
“He’s not someone who could just be dismissed so easily!”
“That’s not true. You’ve been receiving consistent feedback on his performance from others, including Hyun-tae, right?”
“I’m not just talking about his performance. You should also consider how much sacrifice Ji-han made for the guild as an unofficial party member. If you had talked to me, I would have arranged for him to take another position.”
“Do you really think Ji-han, who has been an active hero, would have accepted that?”
“We wouldn’t know until we asked him. But now, it’s too late to ask…”
A department responsible for managing the condition and mental state of heroes, often faced with dangerous battles.
The man, Lee Hyun-jae, who displayed his disappointment before Park Joong-seob, was the head of that management department.
Unlike heroes who had strong bodies and neglected self-care, Yoo Ji-han had frequently communicated with the management department to maintain his good condition, and he had encountered Lee Hyun-jae the most in the guild.
“Did Ji-han move to another guild?”
“I have no idea.”
“……”
Lee Hyun-jae unintentionally opened his mouth as he looked at Park Joong-seob.
Ji-han was a member of the top-ranked party, wasn’t he?
Even if he left yesterday, how could Park seem so indifferent?
They could have at least sent him to another collaborating guild.
“I believe this decision was a huge mistake in the history of the guild.”
“Hyun-jae, don’t you think that’s a bit over the line?”
“As someone who owns a stake in Keroes, I should be able to say this much. Otherwise, are you just going to run the guild like a dictator?”
“The way you choose your words is quite irritating; let’s be careful with our speech.”
The two exchanged glances, a tension forming between them.
Lee Hyun-jae did not easily back down from Guild Master Park Joong-seob.
Though he was a subordinate, he shared the responsibility of leading the guild in the right direction, having started it alongside the others.
“Moreover, I’m worried that this decision may lead to negative comments about how we handle our guild members. That’s why I want to personally offer Ji-han some help; that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Something like that should be fine. But it must be strictly personal. Don’t use the guild’s resources at your discretion.”
“…Understood. I’ll take my leave now.”
*
Yoo Ji-han, who was conversing with Kim Si-hu in the Sweet Fun office, couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
“That green mass I just saw is a spirit?”
“Yes!”
“You’re telling me I made a contract with that spirit?”
“Yes, exactly!”
Kim Si-hu thumped his chest with a fist, showing just how frustrating he found it.
“That staff was an artifact imbued with the wind spirit Sylph… Well, it used to be. But just now, the spirit made a contract with you and left the staff!”
“……”
Yoo Ji-han had only been admiring the artifact made of the rare material Florun.
Yet such a big deal had come from it.
That staff was an item that held immense value on its own.
If, as Kim Si-hu said, it harbored a rare spirit, it would be nearly impossible to quantify its worth in money.
‘I’m a Spirit Master now?’
Among heroes, there are those who, aside from their innate powers, use special abilities through contracts with spirits.
People refer to them as Spirit Contractors or Spirit Masters.
The powers exhibited by spirit masters vary greatly from hero to hero, but the mere fact of having a contract with a spirit could make headlines, reaching beyond Korea.
“How do you summon a spirit?”
“It might be tough at first… Try asking the spirit internally.”
Ask it internally…
Following Kim Si-hu’s brief advice, Yoo Ji-han envisioned Sylph in his mind.
And he quietly asked for it to appear before him.
Ping!
To his surprise, a green ball of light appeared right in front of him.
Beside the astonished Yoo Ji-han, Kim Si-hu’s eyes widened in shock.
‘He summoned the spirit at once?!’
Even after making a contract, summoning a spirit freely isn’t an easy task.
Such feats typically require building a strong bond with the spirit first.
For example, with fire spirits, training is necessary to become accustomed to fire sources like lighters or gas stoves without fear. For water spirits, one must spend long periods immersed in lakes or oceans.
The way to build intimacy varies based on the spirit’s characteristics and the contractor’s situation.
However, Yoo Ji-han summoned Sylph immediately after the contract was complete.
Considering that there are spirit masters overseas who have thrown themselves into violent storms to befriend wind spirits, this was an astonishing sight.
“This is a spirit…”
The sylph floated above Yoo Ji-han’s head.
It felt as light as a feather.
With his gaze aimed upwards, Yoo Ji-han muttered, “I’ve heard that contracts with spirits can also be dissolved.”
“Yes?”
“If you want, I can annul the contract with Sylph.”
“W-what?!”
Kim Si-hu reacted in disbelief.
As if it understood human speech, the sylph hovering above Yoo Ji-han flinched and trembled.
Ignoring that, Yoo Ji-han continued, “But still, it’s a spirit that belonged to my late parents. It’s not something I can just use recklessly as a third party.”
Not just any artifact, but a spirit residing within his deceased parents’ belongings.
Even if he grew greedy from unexpected fortune, Yoo Ji-han believed it was a power he couldn’t just wield freely.
“That…”
Kim Si-hu furrowed his brows in deep thought.
But soon he shook his head.
“That’s not okay.”
“Why?”
“Spirits are very picky beings. Even if you forcefully break the contract here, they won’t come back to the home they left.”
Spirits are said to be far more discerning than even gourmet food critics.
Their criteria are unrelated to the hero’s strength.
They may even contract with ordinary people who have yet to awaken their powers.
Being free-spirited, the moment the contract is broken, the spirit is likely to leave for the spirit realm, beyond human reach, instead of returning to the staff.
“And I mentioned earlier, Ji-han will surely pass the interview, right? Once he joins Sweet Fun, he’ll become a vital force for the guild. You wouldn’t consider the possibility of him moving to another guild, would you?”
“For me, just being able to join a guild would be great. But are you okay with that, Guild Master?”
“Regardless, Sylph is such a fussy one that even if it were to return to the staff, it probably wouldn’t contract with me again. Today is the first time in years I’ve seen Sylph directly.”
As Kim Si-hu reached out, Sylph climbed naturally onto his palm.
“It still remembers me…”
He closed his eyes in a brief reminiscence.
This was reminiscent of the time he had similar interactions when his parents were still alive.
Watching silently, Yoo Ji-han spoke up, “Shall we draft the contract right away?”
“Ah! Right. Just a moment.”
Moving to his desk, Kim Si-hu rummaged through a drawer.
What he soon produced was a small pen and a blank A4 sheet of paper.
“Okay, shall we start writing now?”
“……?”
“Shall we start writing now?” Seriously?
Yoo Ji-han felt a bit incredulous and narrowed his eyes at Kim Si-hu.
“Isn’t there a basic contract template?”
“…Does there have to be one?”
“It may not be necessary, but if you just go to the Hero Department’s homepage, you’ll find decent templates.”
“Ah!”
“And considering the guild is likely to grow in the future, using an electronic contract system provided by the Hero Department would be much more convenient than this paper.”
“Did that exist?”
“……”
“I never thought they’d be recruiting guild members so suddenly…”
Kim Si-hu, who had graduated at the top of his class from the Hero Academy, seemed to have quite a few gaps in his knowledge.
Yoo Ji-han advised him on commonly used programs in the field, helping him prepare the contract.
Fortunately, it was not difficult for the young Kim Si-hu to learn how to use the latest programs.
“Looks like I’m ready now.”
“Yes! Now it’s time to negotiate the salary, right?”
Salary negotiation.
For Yoo Ji-han, who was nearly confirmed to join the guild, deciding how much he should receive was a very sensitive and important matter.
Kim Si-hu cautiously asked him, “Do you have a desired amount…?”
“Hmm.”
Yoo Ji-han, a seven-year hero, pondered over what value he should set.
While there were no external records, based solely on his experiences, it would be reasonable to demand a relatively high salary.
Moreover, due to his contract with the spirit, the guild was now in a less advantageous position.
However… seeing the young Guild Master at just 22 years old and the shabby office, it didn’t seem feasible that Sweet Fun Guild had a considerable amount of money.
In this situation, demanding large sums was unrealistic.
Thus, the conclusion he arrived at was this:
“I’ll take just the minimum wage.”
“Only minimum wage? You could earn more than that even with part-time work…”
“However, please transfer some shares of the guild to me.”
What Yoo Ji-han sought was a share in the guild.
In essence, he intended to take some ownership of the guild.
‘I won’t experience being discarded again like before.’
After having dedicated long years to his previous guild, Keroes, only to be abandoned, he believed that to avoid being cast aside again, he needed to own a portion of the guild.
After all, he couldn’t just kick the landlord out of the house.
‘Phew, what a relief.’
On the other hand, Kim Si-hu thought it was fortunate that he asked for shares instead of money.
The guild did not actually have that much money.
When recruiting someone, he had already been considering transferring shares instead of starting with a cash payment.
“How much of a share do you want?”
“As much as possible.”
“Then how about 50%? I’ll give you exactly half!”
“…What?! Half? Are you crazy?!”
“Yes?”
“No way, you’re saying you’d give away half the shares?!”
Yoo Ji-han was astounded, ruffling his hair in disbelief.
‘Top of the academy, seriously? Are you really that smart?’
To suggest slicing the guild in half and handing it over to someone he just met today!
Kim Si-hu seemed utterly unaware of how dangerous that kind of action was.
Do they not teach basic knowledge at the Hero Academy these days?
“Just give me 25%. That’s already a substantial amount for one person to hold…”
“Yes! Let’s go with that.”
The negotiation concluded successfully at a mutually agreeable point.
As Yoo Ji-han signed the prepared contract, he thought to himself.
‘I will definitely expand this guild.’
Even if he had been expelled from his first workplace.
He would not fail a second time.
“I look forward to working together in the future.”
“Me too!”
Little did they know what changes this contract made in this small office would bring in the future…