Seok Simyeong

"With such massive changes in the world, I couldn’t just sit still and watch."

Seok Simyeong is the HR team head at Haeyeon Guild and one of Han Yoohyun's most trusted men. He is a calculating, somewhat manipulative man who nonetheless wants the best for Haeyeon Guild and is trusted with many of its affairs. He frequently assists Han Yoojin with the management of the kiseungsu rearing facility.

Appearance
Seok Simyeong is a middle-aged man, described as having a gentlemanly appearance that wouldn't be out of place on the cover of an economic magazine. He appears competent, has a kind smile, and a polite, sweet voice. In the webtoon, he is depicted as constantly dressed in neat suits, and wearing rounded rectangular glasses. He has black hair kept slicked back, a broad forehead, and dark brown eyes. As a result of his age, he has facial wrinkles around his eyes and the corners of his mouth.

Personality
Seok Simyeong's polite, refined appearance belies his nature as a calculating businessman, able and willing to do whatever is needed for the betterment of his personal interests. He is notably talented at cutting down people with his sharp tongue, and doing so while maintaining his pleasant exterior. On the flip side of this, he is extremely loyal and trustworthy, to the point where he's recognized as Haeyeon's "reliable axis" even years after its founding. Seok Simyeong generally conducts himself in a professional manner, though he can become externally worked up when presented with a promising deal or opportunity, a behavior that disappears the moment he realizes a situation is not in his favor. He is persistent and stubborn in chasing such promising deals, fully willing to humble himself or act in an underhanded manner in order to secure them.

In the webtoon, Seok Simyeong remains mostly professional, though he's quicker to act coldly or be hostile than his novel counterpart. This can be seen in his interactions with Han Yoojin, where he treats him with undisguised suspicion and wariness; in the novel, however, he restrained himself and did not reveal his suspicions.

History
Seok Simyeong comes from an upper-class family. When the dungeons first appeared across, he decided to become involved in the budding Hunter community, and met with all the S-rank Hunters at the time. Of everyone, he considered Han Yoohyun as the one who had the most potential without having the resources to establish himself, and chose to assist him,, possibly in part due to his fantasies of being a behind-the-scenes supporter as in novels. Together with Yoohyun, he founded Haeyeon Guild, and took his place as the head of the HR department.

At some point, Seok Simyeong Awakened as a B-rank Hunter; whether this was before or after the founding of Haeyeon is unknown. However, he did not participate in dungeon raids (and was in fact exempted from them), instead focusing on his HR work. It was rumored that this focus on office work arose from him having skills related to human resources.

Seok Simyeong assisted Han Yoohyun greatly during the initial stages of establishing himself, using his upper-class background to teach Yoohyun how to conduct himself in high society.

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Synopsis
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Stats
Seok Simyeong is a B-rank Awakened person, and as such likely has the average stats associated with the rank. It's possible, due to his focus on his guild work rather than dungeon raids, that his Strength, Agility, and/or Stamina stats are on the lower side, making him a less effective combatant.

Skills
Seok Simyeong's precise skillset is unknown, but it has been theorized that he has skills associated with communication or other topics that would be good for HR purposes.

Han Yoohyun
Seok Simyeong thinks highly of Han Yoohyun, believing him superior to a number of other S-ranks. Seok Simyeong thinks Yoohyun has great potential, and recognizes his humanity and vulnerability. He is deeply loyal to him, willing to serve immediately under him for 8 full years, and is deeply trusted in return.

Han Yoojin
Seok Simyeong initially thought poorly of Han Yoojin, largely due to the fact that he seemed the primary cause of Han Yoohyun's depression and loneliness. As a result, he contributed to Yoojin's terrible reputation through public condemnations of his behavior, using his silver tongue to completely ruin Yoojin.

Since meeting him after the regression, however, his opinion has completely changed. Though finding Yoojin's uncanny amount of dungeon-related knowledge and experience suspicious, he acknowledges Yoojin's keen insight and analytical skills, treating him as an equal rather than someone inferior, and constantly tries to convince him to sign a contract with Haeyeon. He also comes to respect Yoojin on a more personal level, appreciating how much Yoohyun cares for Yoojin; he notes that with Yoojin at his side, Yoohyun smiles more times in half a day than he has in the three years Seok Simyeong's been at his side.

Seok Hayan
The Seok family appears to generally keep their distance from each other, but Seok Simyeong claims that his niece, Hayan, is an exception to this. He seems generally appreciative of her intelligence and hard work, and is intent on having her abilities recognized, quickly assuring anyone who discovers their relationship that Seok Hayan's achievements were on her own merit. He also clearly trusts her, freely discussing his suspicions of Yoojin's extensive knowledge with her.

Sung Hyunjae
Seok Simyeong is disdainful towards Sung Hyunjae. He believes that his attitude is pretentious and that his looks are too Western, not being as good as Yoohyun's.