The Novel’s Villain

5. Irrejectible Contract (1)

Jin-woo was a little flustered, too.

‘I thought it was only a little higher than S-rank.’

Indeed, up until now, he ate only the good things among the bad ones. All of them served to greatly increase his potential. It was SSS-rank. No, it was even SSS+ with + on it. In other words, it was impossible to measure.

[Senate Daily] Lee Jin-woo, the greatest talent ever! Genius beyond genius!

[World Times] Making a milestone in the history of the world’s competent people.

[The Korea Daily] Even S-rank cannot explain it. An extraordinary talent!

[Diver News] Unmeasurable Lee Jin-woo, surprisingly humble attitude stands out.

The reporters quickly opened their laptops and began writing articles. Party Leader Kim Min-su opened his eyes wide and raised his hands.

“Hahaha! The future of Korea is so bright! Mr. Lee Jin-woo is the new hope of Korea!”

“That’s right! Hahaha! It couldn’t have been more glorious. The world’s greatest genius is right here! He will be the true hero of the Republic of Korea or even the world!”

The Chancellor quickly responded to Party Leader Kim Min-soo’s words with a loud shout.

Clap-clap-clap!

As someone started clapping, the hall was filled with applause. Everyone gave a big round of applause to Jin-woo. Jin-woo felt this situation was too cringy and awkward. Party Leader Kim Min-soo looked at Jin-woo and clapped passionately before opening his mouth.

“Come on! Let’s give three cheers to him! There! Take some pictures. Mr. Lee Jin-woo, please come here.”

Jin-woo didn’t want to go even though he received the earnest gaze of the Party Leader. When Yoo-na said instead that she would refuse due to security issues, the Party Leader looked sad. The Chancellor began to shout again.

“Long live Korea! Hooray for Lee Jin-woo!”

“Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!”

It was an awesome sight of…how should he put this? Of greed and madness. Each person’s greed felt so clearly, and it seemed like madness that lay beyond their flattery. Everyone shouted the three cheers while the reporter filmed it. Jin-woo’s head hurt because even the Sword Master had a happy look on his face. Yet, it was only the Sword Master who had a pure and bright expression.

Anyway, it was a bizarre sight of everyone celebrating except for Jin-woo himself.

“What a mess.”

“I expected it. But after all, you showed more than that, Young Master. Let’s go to the waiting room first.”

“Yeah.”

There was something, something else, that was unusual. That was for sure. Jin-woo had always been the center of attention. There was no need to go to the Frontline Group, and since Lee Jin-woo’s Future Strategy Office controlled almost all major media, only good articles were published. This potential measurement was a very good material.

After proving to be a genius, his reckless personality was packaged as a characteristic of being a genius. In addition, the donation made by the Future Strategy Office in the name of Lee Jin-woo was subtly revealed, so his image was washed very cleanly. Besides the media, various manipulations such as incitement by large communities and manipulating comments were great, but it wasn’t a situation that Jin-woo needed to know. It was a trivial thing, so it was only reported briefly up to Yoo-na.

Anyway, Jin-woo was officially certified as a competent person, and his enlistment was automatically canceled. In the future, there would be some obligations, but it wasn’t a matter of concern. He didn’t care and focused on doing his own thing. There was a lot of work to be done.

It was a pain in the ass.

The first task to be solved was the Anyang JW Gate, which was also the starting point of the destruction of the earth. The spies planted in China, Japan, Europe, and the United States all went wild, and the deep seal underground was broken, releasing the Emperor of Greed, who was one of the Twelve Emperors. Although the protagonist won with the setting that the Emperor’s strength wasn’t restored because he had just been released, Anyang and the Gate were destroyed in the process. Lee Jin-woo’s position was considerably pressed.

His power wasn’t restored, but Anyang City flew away. It was an unbelievable power balance. The job hadn’t been changed yet, but he was already like a demon king. For now, he had ordered to suspend construction work and strengthen the security of the Gate.

‘I should prevent it before it happens.’

Fixing things after they happen was something a typical protagonist would do, but Jin-woo never intended to do such a thing. The setting that the seal would be released on its own had been added, so the remaining time left would be at most two years.

Jin-woo knew how to get stronger faster. There were also his Waste and Honor stacks. The Waste stack didn’t matter because he was constantly increasing it, so the real problem was Honor.

Honor: F ( Attention seeker with no bad image)

The higher the honor, the higher the efficiency of all his techniques.

* All stacks increase by 3%

* Technique efficiency increased by 3%

* Luck increased by 6%

Given that Lee Jin-woo had almost no honor, he was showing great efficiency. How could he earn honor?! He thought of the surest way. There was a noble word that all the people respected: Knight. Being a Knight was like jumping into the heart of the original story. Jin-woo decided to think about the problem a little more.

Now he had the qualifications to move and the minimum power required. So what to do now? It was nothing other than leveling up. Since he had the Magic Eye of Information, he could level up in the same way as the main character. The main character had a hard time leveling up. But he was confident that he wouldn’t have any such trouble.

Because he was Lee Jin-woo, he already had a plan.

“It’s time, Young Master.”

“Is that so?”

“You can rest a little longer. Shall I tell them to wait?”

“No, it’s okay.”

Jin-woo got up from the luxury sofa. He wasn’t at home now but at the Future Strategy Office building near Gangnam. The reason was because of the interviews. Of course, Jin-woo wasn’t the one to be interviewed.

“Here is the list of interviewees. Only guilds that met the criteria you said were selected. There will be no problem even if they disappear right now.”

“That’s a lot.”

“There’s that many even after the third round.”

These were the lists selected by Yoo-na, his major bodyguards, and the executives of the Future Strategy Office created by personally interviewing the candidates up to the third round. And yet, there were still quite a few.

‘Well, since it is a powerful country with competent people, it is normal to have many guilds.’

Guilds of competent people. Most of them were made up of people who weren’t Knights. Except for the military, most competent people joined guilds to participate in the world’s most popular sport, Guild Wars. They were the League Guilds.

Those who weren’t qualified to participate in the Guild Wars were mainly called Mercenaries. The source of their incomes mostly resided in commissions and selling artifacts or by-products of the Gates. The League Guild and the Mercenaries had a very bad relationship. The League Guild ignored the Mercenaries as they thought they were dirty, and Mercenaries ignored them as they thought they were cowards.

The people he would meet today were Mercenaries. Jin-woo strolled into the interview room. Since it was the final interview, only Jin-woo and Yoo-na were seated there. As the interview started, Yoo-na’s eyes grew sharp. She exuded a great deal of pressure and took control of the interview room.

‘It’s brutal.’

It was brutal to the point that it was hard for Jin-woo to see her from the front. Wouldn’t he have sleep paralysis if she came out in his dream like that? Jin-woo wanted to simply hire Mercenaries, but Yoo-na and the people around him were also problems. They never easily passed any one of them. It was indeed the source of his trouble to leave everything to Yoo-na.

Interviewee #1 came in. As soon as interviewee #1 entered the room, his complexion became pale blue, and he collapsed on the floor. He didn’t know that if Yoo-na had spit out a little more murderous spirit, he might have even pissed himself when he saw that; Jin-woo felt sorry for nothing.

“Failed, next.”

“I, I, I am fine…”

He tried to get up from his seat as if it were unfair, but he stiffened and fell to the floor. Seeing his body trembling, he must have fainted. He even had bubbles forming from his mouth. Jin-woo sighed. Yoo-na was very strict with her standards.

“It’s a little too much.”

“How can he work for you with a mental strength that cannot withstand this much? Virtuous willpower is the foundation of loyalty. Weak mental strength is the source of being swayed.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“It’s fine. Everyone agreed that they could lose their lives during the interview.”

Jin-woo shook his head. What a vicious place to put your life in danger during an interview. Interviewee #1 was picked up by the people waiting on standby. Fortunately, there were no life-threatening injuries. Jin-woo looked at the profile of interviewee #1, who had just been eliminated.

‘He’s the guild master of the Twilight Guild.’

He was the guild master of a mercenary guild placed 102nd in the domestic mercenary guild ranking and 182nd in the world mercenary guild ranking. He had 23 guild members and considerable credibility and skill in his way, but it was out of the question. All of the people until interviewee #4 were carried out, and interviewee #5 came in.

“Nice to meet you! My name is Lee Dong-gil, the guild master of Gryphon Guild! I look forward to your kind cooperation!”

This man was quite energetic. He was in his mid-30s, and he gave off a pretty decent impression. He was dressed in a suit, but he wore an unusual tie, giving him a casual feel. He only flinched when he received Jin-woo’s gaze. When Yoo-na glared at him, he laid his eyes on her. Yoo-na opened her mouth.

“Then tell us briefly why you want to be part of this journey.”

“Yes! Our guild ranks 81st in the world mercenary rankings! As a prestigious guild ranked 37th in the domestic mercenary rankings, our quest completion rate is 92%…”

“Enough with showing off. I guess you didn’t get the gist of the question…”

“I-it’s not like that! I am ready to do anything by becoming the faithful limbs of Lee Jin-woo, who is the hope of competent people in Korea. And….”

His flattery was decent. However, Jin-woo was already immune to such inanities. That was a mid-to-low-level flattering skill based on Jin-woo’s standards, and it was not comparable to the Chancellor.

Yoo-na also looked at him with satisfaction. Surely he not only had decent specs, but he was also a good talker.

Lv.45

Name: Lee Dong-gil

Age: 39 years old

Competent Person Rank: D+

Potential Rank: D [Limit Lv. 70]

Awards: Korean Talent Rookie of the Year Award, 20 Promising Star Award, Top Taxation Award, and New York Gate Time Magazine’s 86th Recommended Mercenary Guild.

Jin-woo decided to take a closer look. The Magic Eye of Information had risen as much as the main character in the second half of the original story. He was able to see more detailed information than before.

Personality Assessment: -B (A combatant with exhibitionism)

[Sincere and diligent. But he has a different side.]

*[D] Scent of Exposure: As the exposure range increases, attack power and defense increase. It is also known as the Steel Pillar.

‘Ah…’

As long as Yoo-na thoroughly selected the candidates, he had no criminal record and had good specifications, but…Jin-woo thought it would be better to pass. He respected that guy’s tastes, but it seemed rather dangerous. When Jin-woo shook his head, Yoo-na quickly sent him out.

Yoo-na looked at Jin-woo as if curious.

“You don’t like him? Although his skills are inferior, he was quite good at acting as a limb…”

“I don’t think it’s a good fit for me. You know, it’s something you feel, right?”

“Well, I see. Feeling… it’s important.”

Yoo-na thought deeply about it, then nodded. It seemed that she realized something, but Jin-woo had no way of knowing what that might be. The interview continued. About fifty guild masters were waiting for interviews; each one of them were guild masters of a guild with more than thirty people.

‘The conditions for Anyang JW Gate are higher than other Gates, but…’

Eighty percent of the harvest had to be paid as a usage fee. In addition, there was a separate tax, and the tickets were quite expensive compared to other places. And yet, the competition rate was enormous. The Gate was like Jin-woo’s property, so he just sat down and made money. This was why his money wouldn’t dry out even without the support of Chairman Lee Hee-jin.

JW Gate was so popular because it was so large that the exact area wasn’t yet known, and it was the least developed Gate. There was also the largest number of excavated artifacts coming from it to the point the world called it El Dorado. To enter such a Gate for an extended time, with the actual owner!

If it hadn’t been for the domestic guild-limited recruitment, not only the world’s prestigious guilds but also the royal knights might have come. It was enough to risk their lives for.

The interview was quite boring and slow. A yawn came out of nowhere. Jin-woo put down the documents. It was much more accurate and efficient to look at their information alone than to read these documents.

“Let’s see five people at a time.”

“I understand.”

Five chairs were placed, and the interviewees came in. It felt like they were very wary of each other. Jin-woo kept silent and looked at them.

‘Hmm?’

There was a name among them he had heard somewhere before. He wasn’t sure because the description of the original story was unclear. Jin-woo looked at her with the Magic Eye of Information.

Lv.41

Name: Rachel Kim

Age: 26 years old

Competent Person Rank: -D

Potential Rank: C [Limit Lv. 70]

Awards: 3rd in World Gate Literature Study, a degree in arithmetic interpretation

‘She’s certainly that Rachel.’

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