Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

Las Vegas.

A city of pleasure, gambling, and above all, crime. Located in the middle of the Nevada desert, it's also known as 'Sin City.' Not long ago, Las Vegas was labelled a City of Crime. Before that, the "sin" in Sin City referred to making a living through gambling. But now, the city is more of a Criminal City than a Sin City. However, due to the long-standing nickname, the term "Sin City" is still commonly used.

"Although it's called a city of crime, the day and night here are completely different. Unless you actively seek it out, civilians won't be connected to the criminal world," Jeong Do-il explained.

Kang Mu-hyuk nodded in agreement. Jeong Do-il, introduced by Ju Se-ah, was the guide. He was the vice guild master of the Guild before Kang Mu-hyuk joined the old Taesung Guild. In other words, he was Kang Mu-hyuk's predecessor.

Originally a student in the American study-abroad program, he left the Taesung Guild and joined the LA Guild 'Rockstar,' which had a large number of American Koreans. He was skilled enough to become the party leader of their regular raiding party. Even after retiring from Taesung, he still respected Ju Se-ah for her skills and charisma. So, when Ju Se-ah contacted him, he eagerly accepted the request to guide Kang Mu-hyuk.

'Of course, even if it wasn't Ju Se-ah's request, I wanted to see Kang Mu-hyuk at least once. The more I hear, the more amazing he seems. How did they manage to save that trash guild?'

Jeong Do-il had heard various rumours about Kang Mu-hyuk from fellow compatriots. Despite being away from home, the Korean community in the area always kept an eye on news from the Korean Peninsula and nearby countries. Some even created separate organizations to gather information.

The situation in Korea was important to them, mainly due to trade. Most 'made in USA' Hunter items that go to Northeast Asia, including Korea, are manufactured in industrial areas near LA. Many Korean expatriates work in this sector, and their jobs and money became crucial to LA's politics. Therefore, they had to stay informed.

Recently, due to the Demonic Realm incident, orders for potions and equipment had exploded. As a result, they had been enjoying a second boom and actively gathering information about Kang Mu-hyuk, who was at the centre of it all.

"Here in LA, which guild is...? What's wrong? Do you have something to say?"

Kang Mu-hyuk, feeling burdened by Jeong Do-il's sharp gaze, stopped asking questions and instead asked.

"No, that's not it. I just thought it was impressive."

"Impressive? What part are you talking about? Is there some new intel you have here in LA?"

"I mean you, Guild Leader Kang, not Las Vegas."

"Me?"

"As you may know, I was your predecessor. I worked as the Vice Guild Master at Taesung Guild for four months."

"Oh, yes. I heard from the guild master. He said you're a man of talent."

"When you say that, Guild Leader Kang, I feel embarrassed. Overall, I gave up on the Taesung Guild. Honestly, at first, I was confident, but the situation with that guild was a bit..."

Jeong Do-il couldn't bring himself to say the words "a mess." Kang Mu-hyuk seemed to understand and spoke in his place.

"Was it a situation where you couldn't concentrate on work?"

"Yes, that would be the most appropriate way to put it. Internal factions within the guild and interference from the parent company. Above all, Chairman Taesung had no intention of developing the guild."

"I understand."

Kang Mu-hyuk shook his head as he thought of Tae Jinsung. Even though he had recently settled the terms with Tae Jinsung, using the scandal surrounding the eldest son of the Taesung family as an excuse, dealing with him was always exhausting. It would have been easier if Tae Jinsung had remained indifferent, but since he was blatantly interfering, the burden of the work multiplied.

Jeong Do-il's complaints weren't foreign to Kang Mu-hyuk.

"And even Hunter No Songrin, who's right next to you, has put me in trouble more than once because he keeps interfering with everything."

"Hey, everyone had their circumstances... Guild Leader Kang, why are you looking at me like that? It's not like that now. You know that, right?"

When Kang Mu-hyuk glanced at him, No Songrin, feeling hurt for no reason, jumped up and protested.

"Anyway, it's amazing that you conquered the North Pocheon Special Zone and became independent from the Taesung Group in such a difficult environment. On top of that, you even declared your entry into the Demonic Realm, didn't you?"

"That's something we're doing in collaboration with other tier guilds."

"That's even more amazing. The arrogance of the Tier Guilds can't be compared whether it's Korea or the US. I mean, a C-rank guild... Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. As of now, it's true."

"Anyway, isn't it a miracle that you got the Tier Guild to cooperate? Not only that, but the Rider Wolf Gun is also a great achievement. The American guilds are in an uproar right now. They're saying a mountable monster that rivals America's proud unicorn has appeared. In terms of appearance, the wolf looks tougher and cooler. Haha, American hunters here also care a lot about looks, just like Korea."

"Oh, that's great information. We could sell it for a very high price in the US. Twice the regular price. No, maybe three times."

"Haha, you're joking right... oh, you're not?"

Jeong Do-il was momentarily taken aback by Kang Mu-hyuk's business plan to capitalize on the hunter guilds in the United States. Kang Mu-hyuk didn't stop there, though, muttering as he seriously considered a business plan.

"If we sell it with a fancy brand, we could make five times the amount. We could also use the supply contract as a pretext for hunter training or joint training, or even gain some know-how..."

"Guild Leader Kang."

"Yes? Jang Deuk-goo Hunter? What's wrong? Oh, sorry. I was distracted for a moment."

"No. Now I understand why Taesung, or rather Ironwill, grew so quickly. It's because you think about the guild all the time, whether you're awake or asleep. It's something I could never imagine doing."

Jeong Do-il, trying to smile and cover up the situation, returned to the main topic.

"I think we've strayed from the topic for a moment. Could you explain the situation here again, what I was asking about earlier?"

"Yes, please."

"First of all, there are no guilds that have Las Vegas as their main base. If there are, they're branches of guilds with their headquartered in LA."

"It's a fairly large city, but you're saying there's no mainstream guild?"

"There are several reasons for this. First of all, Las Vegas is a tourist city. Most of the tourists are ordinary people. In countries with a level 1 security rating, there's a strong tendency to see hunters as heroes. But in places where monster security is unstable or where hunters influence the political system, people tend to view hunters negatively. In particular, tourists from Eastern Europe or China are afraid."

The equation 'Hunter = Hero' is very natural to Koreans, but even in neighbouring Japan, hunters are viewed more like nobles, such as shoguns or daimyo. This was called the Bakufu system. After the appearance of hunters, it became established as a new order in Japan, akin to a modern Bakufu system with a class society.

Given the Japanese people's tendency to submit to authority, this system was easily accepted. In other words, it would be fair to view it as a feudal state with a democratic system. Kang Mu-hyuk expressed doubt about Jeong Do-il's explanation and asked:

"I doubt the only reason for that is tourism."

"That's right. No matter how lucrative tourism is, nothing makes as much money as gates."

"Is it because of the criminal organization you mentioned earlier?"

"That's another reason. The criminals who rule the night are hunters. Many of them are better at hunting other hunters than hunting monsters."

"But there's the HCF, isn't there?"

"The Hunter Criminal Force suffers from a chronic lack of manpower."

"Even if they're short on people, I know the US government is sensitive to hunter crimes. They can't just leave a criminal organization alone, right?"@@novelbin@@

"When it comes to monsters, the vastness of the land is a disadvantage. The criminals are simply left alone unless they commit a crime beyond their limit."

"Ironically, these organizations also act as monster vigilantes in their respective regions."

For example: Under UN law, hunters cannot be soldiers. The only exception is that they can belong to government organizations. However, hunters who belong to civilian groups cannot be forcibly mobilized by the government unless it's an emergency."

Criminal organizations used this opportunity to handle local monster policing while being guaranteed a certain level of activity as long as they stayed within the limits. However, since they couldn't expand into the big cities where large guilds were dominant, they settled in smaller cities like Las Vegas, where various vested interests such as gambling, entertainment, and alcohol were intertwined.

"The strong security of hunters in the United States comes from the government's strict enforcement. Because there's a lack of manpower, the punishments are severe, meant to deter through intimidation. In fact, public opinion is pushing for the death penalty to be reinstated for hunters alone."

"Wouldn't it be difficult to sanction hunters with punishment alone?"

"That's why the big guilds are so important. The US government works closely with Super S."

'Super S' was an organization created by the 'Double S Article 11,' the US S-Rank operation enforcement law. It was a union of 9 guilds in the US that had S-rankers. There were 11 S-ranks in total in the United States, except two, all were members of guilds, making it the most powerful organization in the country.

"So, even though there's Super S, you're saying they don't interfere with the Las Vegas organizations?"

"Because they wouldn't care about the leftovers."

Only then did Kang Mu-hyuk realize he had misunderstood. Before coming to the US, he had learned about the scale of the criminal organizations in Las Vegas from guild cooperation agency data. In terms of size alone, these organizations were comparable to the large guilds in Korea. A criminal organization of this scale would be unacceptable in Korea, which was why Kang Mu-hyuk had dismantled the White Tiger Guild. This was where the gap became clear. What would be considered threatening organizations in Korea were no more than small fry to the large guilds in the US.

'I need to change my perspective on America. I need to think on a larger scale.'

Correcting his earlier mistake, Kang Mu-hyuk, asked:

"So you're saying the guilds are not advancing into Las Vegas due to conflicts with criminal organizations, but instead setting up branches to handle defence?"

"That's right. And there's one more reason."

"One more reason?"

"That's the reason you came here."

Kang Mu-hyuk immediately understood what Jeong Do-il meant.

"Freelance hunters."

"Yes. Another nickname for Las Vegas is 'the paradise of the wanderers.' Freelance hunters make up the majority of this city, at least by numbers."

***

"Why am I here?"

Thomas recalled the favour he owed Dr. Marie from their time on vacation.

'How many times have I saved your life? This time, you'll repay me. I treat my children like enemies, but I cherish my granddaughter. She's come to LA for a concert. Since crowded places are full of all sorts of people, please guard her just for the duration of the concert. I refuse to hear a no. Oh, these are lyrics from some singer's song. My granddaughter sings them so often, it's become a habit of mine.'

Thomas couldn't refuse, as he owed Dr. Marie a lot. That's how he ended up at the 'BTA Free Day Meeting' event venue. Though it was a fan gathering, not an official event organized by the singer's agency, there was no better pre-concert party to attend.

"Miss Catherine, please stay no closer than three steps from me."

"Three steps? How can I enjoy the event if I'm stuck so close to you? Even if it's a favour for Grandma, isn't this a bit too controlling?"

"In a crowd like this, three steps is the basic principle of security."

"You're a hunter, right? Can't you handle things from farther away?"

"Well, I'm not a melee fighter, you see."

"If you're a long-distance fighter, wouldn't it be better to stay farther?"

"It's not a matter of distance, it's about physical ability. In case of an emergency, you'll react slower from a distance than if you were closer."

"But if you're a hunter, you'd be much faster than a normal person."

"If the opponent is a hunter, that difference will get cancelled out."

"No, why would a hunter want to hurt me?"

"Keeping all possibilities in mind is the basics of security..."

"Oh, whatever. Please. You're a bigger nag than my grandmother. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have told her I was coming to LA. Why would a hunter come here?"

Thomas didn't take Catherine's grumbling to heart. Although it was annoying, Dr. Marie was important to him. Given the help she had given him, protecting her granddaughter was no big deal. Besides, he never took on a mission lightly. He didn't have time to worry about Catherine's complaints now.

'Why would a hunter come here, you ask? Then, what is the Hunter doing over there dancing?'

Thomas focused on a woman holding a small lighted stick and enjoying a random dance event to BTA music. The woman, who appeared to be of Asian descent, was a hunter far stronger than him. Normally, lower-ranked hunters would have difficulty gauging the strength of higher-ranked ones, but Thomas, who had mana-related traits, was an expert at assessing opposing hunters.

What worried him most was--

:

'That woman is aware of my presence, even though I've hidden my mana amid all these people.'

If you hide your mana, even high-ranking hunters won't be able to detect your aura. Although your power may be weaker, this ability to freely manipulate mana gave him an advantage. However, the woman had noticed him and was now within striking range. It seemed like she was aware of him hiding his mana.

'If she has any hidden agenda, I'll be dead in an instant. This is a first for me.'

Despite the pressure, curiosity arose in Thomas' mind.