I looked down at the tablet the Chairman had given me. The screen was filled with data on Kang Han-eol. It was insane. I stared at the pixels, trying to process the fact that a "Secret Rare" from a deleted gacha game was breathing the same air as me.
But then again, the Tower exists. Monsters break and crawl out every day. Compared to that, a game character appearing in real life was almost normal.
I scrolled through his stats.
He had trouble as a ranker, which was typical for his character build. But I didn't expect him to be a streamer.
Even if he's a game character now, I suppose he's still just like any other hunter trying to make a buck.
"Wait, he's in a guild?"
I tapped a sub-folder. He was currently signed with the 'Iron Wall' Guild. It was a mid-tier guild. They were known, but not impressive. It was the kind of place where you could make a name for yourself if you were the ace, but Han-eol was clearly not the ace.
I opened 1conic and searched his name. Multiple videos popped up. I clicked the most recent one. In every clip, Han-eol was surrounded by a full team of five or six people. I assumed those were his fellow guild members.
In the videos, Han-eol seemed to be doing okay. He swung his sword. He blocked hits. He managed the frontline. But he wasn't contributing enough. He looked like a background extra in his own stream. Because of that, his viewership was tanking.
I couldn't help but wonder what his class was.
I saw it on the tablet profile, but I wanted to hear it directly from him.
Plus...I wanted to hear his voice. It's not every day a character that used to be behind a screen is standing in front of you.
I looked up from the tablet. Han-eol was sitting on the couch opposite me in one of the HA's private lobbies. He looked indifferent, but not exactly rude.
"What's your class?"
He hesitated. He looked at the floor for a moment before answering.
"Dark Knight."
His voice was low and slightly raspy. I immediately knew why he was failing.
In the Tower, you don't start with a class. You unlock them when you reach Level 10. It's not easy. You're told you are able to take on a class, but the system doesn't give you directions on how to get them.
Basically, you have to meet certain conditions, and usually, you don't even know what they are.
Because of this, most people just start killing as many monsters as possible, hoping something triggers. While it works, the class you get is triggered by your specific actions.
For example, if you spend the tutorial offering healing herbs to every injured person you see, you trigger 'Healer'. If you take every hit for your teammates, you trigger 'Guardian'. If you sneak around and strike from behind, you trigger 'Assassin'. If you use environment traps to kill, you trigger 'Trapper'. If you finish every fight with a heavy blow, you might trigger 'Warrior'.
For Han-eol, 'Dark Knight' is actually a really hard class to acquire. It requires a specific balance of aggression and sacrifice.
But I could already see the problem. His growth was stagnant because he was in a guild. The Dark Knight is a class that works best when alone. It thrives on solitude buffs. With a team, the class is basically nerfed to the ground.
The presence of allies dampens the Dark Knight's core passives.
That's why he looked so mediocre in those videos.
This was already turning out better than I thought. It must be because I know Han-eol inside and out. I know his overall kit better than anyone else.
But moving someone like him is hard. He doesn't listen. He tends to do what he wants. I needed to use a side of his personality to convince him to try working alone.
Just by looking at his slouching posture and the way he avoided looking toward the Guild Management office, I could tell he didn't get along well with his guild. I could use this.
"If you want to get acknowledged and actually grow, we have to work together."
I leaned forward.
"You want your sponsors back, right? It's not as easy for me as it looks, either."
Han-eol didn't even look at me. He just stared at a spot on the carpet.
'Bastard,' I said inwardly.
He was already showing attitude. He was like a child. Because of his silence, I felt a vein throb in my head.
I was grabbing the tablet so hard that my palms started to hurt. I squeezed the plastic, trying to keep my anger in check. If I snapped now, I'd lose the triple salary. That thought helped me calm down.
I scrolled through 1conic for a moment. I found the perfect bait. I turned the tablet around and handed it to him.
"For starters, why don't you try doing this?"
The screen showed a viral video titled [The Great Goblin Massacre: 30 Minutes of Hell].
It was a challenge video. A hunter was in a 3rd-floor spawning pit, hunting as many goblins as possible within a 30-minute window. The current record holder had 142 kills. Hundreds of other hunters had tried to surpass it, but no one had been able to. Most failed because they ran out of stamina or got surrounded.
This was perfect. It would force him to hunt alone and not alongside a guild. Not to mention, he couldn't refuse. Even he knew he had to take whatever task was given to him to stay relevant. His career was dying.
Han-eol looked at the screen for a while. He didn't say anything for nearly a minute. Then, he stood up.
"Alright."
"Wait."
"You have to record it. You don't have to worry. We'll provide you with a high-speed drone to follow you."
"I know how recording works."
"Right."
'This fucker,' I said inwardly.
---
A few minutes later, I was standing by the vending machine in the hallway. I put in a coin and grabbed a can of coffee. I needed the caffeine to keep my brain from exploding.
This could mean something big for me. Managing Han-eol might be hectic, but I was sure no one knew him better than I did.
Even with that massive ego of his, it was quite easy to get him to do as I said. I just had to twist my words.
Did I hit the jackpot? Were the gods suddenly acknowledging my presence?
I was finally on my way to becoming a chaebol. It was only a matter of time. Once I rebranded Han-eol and showed the world his true "Solo" potential, the money would flow in.
My trades on ManaX were already doing well, but this was the big leagues.
I only hoped that in that period of time, I wouldn't be assigned more hunters to manage. One Han-eol was enough work for three people.
Right now, Han-eol was probably entering the Tower. I wondered how he was holding up.
I didn't want to send a broadcasting crew with him, even though I had the authority now. It was best to have no one else around him so that his class took effect at its maximum.
Besides, if I knew him well, there was no way he would leave the Tower without making sure he surpassed that record. It's to the point it physically hurts his ego.
I took a sip of the cold coffee and smiled.