Home/How to Survive in a Good Small Guild/ch 4

Chapter 4

"Senior Staff Susanna! What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

"Oh, it's nothing! I thought I saw a bug! And come to think of it, I was confusing it with another task! This commission was entirely handled by Senior Staff Odrette!"

"Really? Then why did you change your story?"

"Heheh, I got mixed up. I'm so sorry..."

As Susanna bowed her head in apology, the Guild Master grumbled but turned to me.

"See? You can do it when you actually try. Why haven't you been doing your job properly all this time?"

"Haha, I'll work harder from now on..."

"Ugh, this is why young people these days are like this. Always slacking off."

After the Guild Master made another boomer-like remark and disappeared, I exchanged a discreet glance with Susanna—a signal to follow me outside.

Unlike her usual confident demeanor, Susanna looked as if she'd been caught red-handed, terrified. Well, she had been caught.

You can tell just by looking at her face. She's the type who'd wear AirPods at work and film vlogs.

Of course, there were no such things as vlogs in this world. Still, relying solely on my intuition, I had investigated something and finally found what I was looking for.

This is it!

Susanna had written an essay. She'd even leaked confidential information from our information guild and published the following essay:

<Though I'm Just a Low-Level Information Guild Senior Staff Member, I'm Still the Protagonist of My Life!>

Inside, she had even leaked parts of our clients' private lives.

No matter how much the Guild Master favored Susanna, this wouldn't be easy to overlook. If a client ever filed a complaint, he'd be the one in trouble.

"Senior Staff Susanna, don't you have something to say to me?"

"U-um..."

She looked unusually flustered.

"That essay of yours sold pretty well, didn't it? You must have made a tidy sum."

Susanna's essay, published under a pseudonym, had surprisingly made it onto the bestseller list. It was fortunate that the Guild Master, who had no interest in books, remained unaware.

Why do people keep writing essays anyway? Even Mr. Park Geo-seong, the CEO of the trash company I used to work for, wrote an essay about his life. Most of it was lies, but even within those lies, his boomer tendencies couldn't be hidden.

The title was something like Park Geo-seong: The Grand Opening of My Glorious Second Act? What a ridiculous title.

While I was recalling Mr. Park Geo-seong's absurd essay, Susanna visibly shrank back.

"W-well, you see..."

"Don't bother trying to deny it, Senior Staff Susanna. I am, after all, a senior staff member at an information guild. I have more than enough evidence to prove that the author is you."

"O-odrette! I was wrong!"

Finally grasping the situation, Susanna clasped her hands together and began pleading earnestly.

"Please don't tell the Guild Master! You know what would happen if he found out..."

"If things go badly, it could even lead to a lawsuit."

"S-so..."

"But if I keep this hidden, it might come back to bite me later."

"W-we're the same cohort!"

"Ah, right. Same cohort."

I considered cutting Susanna off completely, but it seemed wasteful to get rid of someone whose weakness I held.

It would be better to keep her working here long-term and make use of her.

I smiled brightly at her and said.

"Fine. Since we're the same cohort, I'll grant you a 'favor,' Susanna."

"Really?"

"Instead, you'll grant me favors too. That's only fair, isn't it?"

"What kind of favor..."

Susanna's eyes darted about as if still weighing the situation. I shrugged and continued.

"It's simple. From now on, you take out the trash in the morning."

"Huh? Why should I do that?"

"Then should I do it?"

"No, that's not... I mean, aren't we office workers?"

"So you think the trash will magically empty itself if no one does it? Please take out the trash from now on."

"Oh, okay..."

Susanna looked dumbfounded, as if she'd never once considered trash duty. Ugh, what a coworker with zero work ethic!

"Oh, and stock the snacks and tea bags too."

"Can't we just bill the Guild Master for that...?"

"No, since when does our guild have that kind of budget? You'll have to pay out of pocket."

"Th-then can't we just not stock them?"

"The Assistant Manager said to keep them stocked."

"But still..."

"How much money have you made from selling that book so far..."

"Aaah! I'll do it!"

"Good. Thanks for granting my favor."

After dumping a bunch of my annoying tasks onto her, I wore a triumphant smile.

Great. I've escaped the bottom of the pecking order in this trash guild.

"Oh, by the way, Susanna, why do you keep working at this guild? Didn't you make a lot of money from the book?"

"W-well, I've signed a contract for the next installment... If I break it, the penalty fee is huge."

"Ah. So you'll have to keep working here for a long time."

"Yes! So please, keep it a secret from the Guild Master!"

"Oh, then there's one more favor I'd like to ask. Taking out the trash is the Guild Master's directive, and stocking snacks and tea bags is the Assistant Manager's. So shouldn't you also grant one of my requests?"

"What now..."

Human trash company survivor of two years—watch me show you how it's done.

"Ugh, Susanna. I noticed you using a calculator when you were working on the accounting books last time."

"Yes...?"

"From now on, don't use a calculator—do the math by hand. What if the calculator breaks? How can you trust a machine?"

"No, that's just..."

"Please don't use a calculator from now on. It's rather distracting."

"No, ugh, fine..."

Ultimately, Susanna nodded while glancing nervously at me.

It might seem strange, but at least for now, this was a necessary measure to keep Susanna in line. Thank you, Mr. Park Geo-seong, for teaching me all the ways to nitpick.

"Then let's get along from now on."

"Yes, yes!"

I caught Susanna's sidelong glance—it seemed to look at me like I was some kind of oddball—but I didn't care. After all, to survive in a trash company, you have to become part of the trash yourself.

---

"This is strange..."

Inside a tidy office, a man's gray eyes were revealed beneath black hair. His gaze was fixed on the documents he'd received not long ago.

The man was none other than the Crown Prince of the Empire, Cedrian Elbaron. He was currently fixated on one thought.

How could a guild that small have found that information?

He'd had no expectations whatsoever from the "Global-Whatever" guild. It had truly been a last-ditch effort—the desperation of a drowning man grasping at a rope. He hadn't been able to ask the major guilds for help.

The employee who'd received him there was a young woman who seemed to be nothing more than a low-ranking staff member at best.

Her dark black hair and purple eyes gave off a somewhat gloomy vibe, and objectively speaking, her face was beautiful—but the dark circles and melancholy expression made that beauty hardly noticeable.

The condition she'd asked for in exchange for finding the information was also quite strange. Build a restroom? Who in their life would have expected to receive such an odd request?

Yet that woman had actually succeeded in finding the information he wanted.

If the person who'd helped him that day was indeed the Lady of Kaliad, everything fell into place. Recalling their conversation in the forest, his conviction that it was the Lady of Kaliad only deepened.

Now that he'd discovered his benefactor was the Lady of Kaliad, the rest was up to him.

However, something about that information guild bothered him.

Cedrian's gaze fixed on the documents he'd received. At the very top, written in small letters, was a title:

0411_RealRealFinalReport(3)

This is exactly the same title format used by the Temple.

This wouldn't have been information an ordinary person could recognize, but Cedrian, who'd been keeping tabs on the Temple and gathering intelligence on them, knew it well.

It seemed suspicious. Cedrian decided to investigate the guild's background.

"Eric, look into that Global... whatever it was called, I don't even remember. Anyway, investigate that guild."

After issuing the order to his aide, a few days later the Crown Prince received shocking information.

"Your Highness, that guild appears to be connected to the Temple in some way. To put it metaphorically... it seems to be something like a subcontractor for the Temple."

"A subcontractor of the Temple?"

Cedrian's eyes gleamed.

He'd recently been looking for a way to get closer to the Temple. And wasn't that guild so clumsy and easy to approach?

If he used it well, it seemed like he could extract information from the Temple in reverse.

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