Chapter 50 - Chapter 50

Chapter 50

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Translated by Jinmu

Read more at hivetoons.org

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Ten days of gathering ore.

It had all been piled up at home.

The thought that if he took it into the tower in his inventory and then exited, it might disappear.

But too much had accumulated now.

The house might collapse at this rate.

It seemed like the time had come to hand it over to the Management Agency and sell it.

First, let's get it appraised.

Surely it wouldn't take as long as the leather.

Joo-hyuk accepted the ore that Gobang picked up and lifted for him, and stuffed it into his inventory.

'Good grief, there's so much of it.'

This wasn't easy at all.

Because he had to hold the ore in his hands and mime loading it in before it would go inside, he thought his arms would fall off.

"I'm heading out. Please rest while I'm gone."

"This girl shall pray for your safe journey, Young Master."

"Good luck, Summoner Bong! Come back with a good price, sir."

"The warrior shall guard the house."

"Ho-eng!"

When the appointed time came, Deputy Director Jeon Kwang-il appeared in front of the apartment right on cue, without fail.

It felt burdensome, like he was being chauffeured around by the Deputy Director.

So he apologized, and in response,

"Hahaha, please don't worry. Meeting with Player Bong Joo-hyuk is important business. And it's the safest method."

Well then.

"And there are things I'd like to discuss as well."

"What kind of things?"

"We are currently taking reservations for the Holy Sword."

Reservations.

"...Have many countries applied?"

"Only one so far, Norway. They're going to need to clear their 66th floor. The number of countries making reservations will continue to grow before long."

Still just the one.

Reaching the 61st floor doesn't mean you unconditionally have to use the Holy Sword.

With light-attribute items alone, you can get up to around the 65th floor.

Korea had been the same.

"As for lending and reservations for the Holy Sword, please continue handling that the same way you have been..."

"Yes, don't worry."

Another ten million dollars.

It still didn't feel real.

At this rate, his sense of money would become blunted.

'When the money comes in, I should buy some land here and there.'

Land and buildings are the best.

Later, once he retired, he could even farm.

Of course, he wasn't underestimating farming.

Maybe this was actually a team optimized for farming? Gobang, stronger than an ox. Rajix, whose very class is Worker. Gyeon Dal-rae, a shaman who prays for a bountiful harvest. Cossack... he could shoo away the deer and wild boars.

"Oh, by the way! The UAE Crown Prince has entered Korea."

"Hmm, I see."

But what does that have to do with anything?

"The UAE Black Tower's situation is dire. Quite recently, a terrorist attack by an Islamic extremist killed all of their nationally-cultivated players."

"My goodness!"

Over there, it's terrorism every day.

To think even players got caught up in it.

"With only 20 days left until the tower's clear deadline, they plan to soon make a temporary naturalization request to the Korean Awakening Management Agency."

If there's a player available for temporary naturalization,

"To Player Nam Ga-eun?"

"That's right."

Quite bold of them.

Asking to borrow the top player?

"The UAE side currently believes South Korea has two top-tier players."

"...Could it be Yoo Chul-min? He's Japanese now."

"No, I mean Player Bong Joo-hyuk."

...That came out of nowhere.

"How would they even know about me?"

"Of course they don't. But it seems they're assuming our Management Agency knows the identity of the S++ clear record holder."

Tsk, they really must be desperate.

"Wouldn't another neighboring country be better? Saudi Arabia is right next door."

"Saudi Arabia does have one top player, but would they ever lend them out? Unless it's a next-generation prospect, and even then, the level gap between their top and next-generation players is over 10 levels, so it wouldn't work."

Makes sense.

If your Plan B is solid, it might be worth considering.

But lending out your absolute top player?

What if something goes wrong?

"Truthfully, those two countries don't have the best relationship."

"Why? They're both Arab nations."

"It's because of the Rune of Trait Enhancement."

That caught his attention.

Joo-hyuk's interest was piqued.

Suddenly bringing up the Rune of Trait Enhancement like this.

"In the early days when Runes of Trait Enhancement first appeared on the market, a fierce competition broke out between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, backed by their overwhelming oil money."

Oh! The immovable object meets the unstoppable force.

"In that process, there are rumors that a number of runes that were meant to be contracted to Saudi Arabia ended up going to the UAE. Unconfirmed, of course."

Meaning the UAE may have stabbed Saudi Arabia in the back.

"As a result, the UAE succeeded in cultivating a large number of nationally-raised players... so that rumor might very well be true."

The international competition to climb unchallenged upper floors of the Black Tower.

Joo-hyuk didn't have much interest in national competition, but something had been sticking in his mind since a while ago.

"Excuse me, is there a chance the UAE still holds Runes of Trait Enhancement?"

"That's very likely. They probably stockpiled them rather than using them all at once."

"What if we pursued temporary naturalization in exchange for those?"

"Hmm. They wouldn't want to hand those over easily. They'd probably sooner pay it off in money."

"I see."

If they won't give it, he has no interest.

They can figure it out themselves.

'Just so happens I have a Multinational Tower Access Ticket too.'

If a Rune of Trait Enhancement were on the table, he'd consider throwing his body into it.

Tsk, he should take his time climbing floors.

Before he knew it, they had already reached the Management Agency's tower materials storage warehouse.

Joo-hyuk and Jeon Kwang-il got out of the car, put on their down jackets, and went inside.

The temperature was set very low to preserve the leather, apparently.

"The leather is being stored safely. Once the processing facility is fully operational, we plan to process it immediately."

Hah.

Still sitting there untouched.

All that money waiting to come in later.

It should be coming in now.

Business first.

"I've brought more materials today. Not leather, though."

"Oh! I see."

Jeon Kwang-il, eyes full of expectation.

Not leather.

Then what?

It's definitely not going to be some ordinary thing.

There was actually something he had been hoping for...

The rectangular metal ingots that players occasionally receive as clear rewards.

'I hope it's ingots.'

Joo-hyuk began pulling the ore Rajix had mined out of his inventory, one piece at a time.

Jeon Kwang-il was somewhat disappointed.

He didn't let it show.

But it wasn't ingots.

Plain-looking rocks.

"...Rocks."

"Similar."

Definitely rocks. No matter how you looked at them.

'No, wait.'

These are rocks that fit inside a tower-exclusive inventory.

Looking closely, something seemed to be glinting inside them.

So he picked one up with his hand.

Flinch! Jeon Kwang-il startled.

Quite heavy.

Not the weight he had imagined.

Almost like iron ore...

'Hmm?'

Iron ore, iron ore, iron ore?

Could these be...

"A-are these ore?"

"Yes."

Damn! How stupid of him.

How did he not realize?

That the tower materials Player Bong Joo-hyuk brings are different from what players receive as rewards.

It was the same with the leather. Same with the medicinal herbs.

And now he's bringing ore too?

What on earth can't this man bring?

"...This one is Adamant ore."

"There's also Orichalcum and Sectorium. Less of those compared to Adamant, but."

Jeon Kwang-il was speechless for a long moment.

Player Bong being Player Bong...

'Haha...'

He always exceeds expectations.

To a degree his imagination simply cannot keep up with.

"Since it's ore rather than ingots, processing it will take a bit more work."

"N-not at all! Why would it be any trouble!"

Ore rather than ingots.

If you smelt ore, you obtain metal.

Would that work with tower ore too?

Of course it would.

All metals melt with heat.

Tower reward ingots are the same.

That's exactly why weapons and equipment can be crafted.

"Well then, I'll take everything out."

"...There's more?"

"Quite a bit, so I'll need something to put it all in."

"P-please wait just a moment."

Joo-hyuk kept pulling ore from his inventory.

Jeon Kwang-il, who had brought several baskets, watched with his mouth slowly falling open.

Ore came out.

More came out.

Just when he was sure it must be over, more came out.

Joo-hyuk, somehow now drenched in sweat, had even removed his jacket.

This was ridiculously hard work.

And there was so much of it.

Roughly 600 pieces of ore by count.

Even when taking it out of the inventory, he had to hold it in hand and set it down somewhere.

'Inside the tower, picking it up felt light...'

But this was outside.

He could just sit back and pocket the Holy Sword rental fees like clockwork.

'Going out of his way to do this.'

Why was he exhausting himself like this for money?

He could also just wait for the leather goods to sell.

But he couldn't ignore the hopeful look in Rajix's eyes.

That desire to be of use, even by mining ore.

Jeon Kwang-il wasn't idle either.

He received the ore Joo-hyuk pulled out and sorted it by type into baskets.

Adamant, Orichalcum, Sectorium, each in its own pile. You could tell by the color.

At last,

"Phew, all done."

"F-finished?"

"Yes. I thought my arms were going to fall off."

"Hahaha..."

How many baskets was that, exactly?

"...I'll purchase all of this, shall I?"

"By all means."

Good that he's buying it.

Now just the price.

"May I weigh them first?"

"Go ahead."

Jeon Kwang-il dragged a large scale out from the corner of the storage room.

He zeroed the scale, then began loading the sorted baskets one by one.

He recorded the weight of each basket carefully.

Weighing complete.

Jeon Kwang-il's hand trembled as he tapped the calculator on his smartphone.

Part of it was the exertion of lifting baskets, but the sheer quantity was staggering.

"Player Bong."

"Yes."

"Normally, players occasionally receive metal in ingot form as clear rewards."

"I know that."

"The Player Shop purchases Adamant ingots at 5 million won per kilogram. Orichalcum is 10 million won per kilogram, and Sectorium is 20 million won per kilogram. Those are the international standard prices."

Metal is an even more precious material for tower climbing than leather.

While leather is only used for armor, metal is used everywhere: weapons, armor, everything.

The probability of receiving equipment items as tower clear rewards is very low.

Most players must enter floors equipped with weapons and armor manufactured directly by each nation.

In short, tower climbing is strategic war materiel.

That's exactly why the standard price was set to not be too high.

'The metal purchase price is better than I expected.'

Come to think of it, a small hand shield made from metal plate cost 40 million won. And that was the cost price, at a significant discount.

This might turn out quite good.

It'll definitely exceed 1 billion.

Jeon Kwang-il picked up one of the ores and continued speaking.

"Typically, the iron content in iron ore is about 50% or more. Since this also appears similar to iron ore..."

At half the price of ingots,

"I was thinking of purchasing Adamant ore at 2.5 million won per kilogram, Orichalcum ore at 5 million won, and Sectorium ore at 10 million won. Those would be the standard prices. Does that work for you?"

Joo-hyuk nodded.

If there's a standard price, no need to haggle.

So then, the total is?

"Adamant: 3,742,500,000 won. Orichalcum: 2,680,000,000 won. Sectorium: 3,005,000,000 won. Grand total: 9,427,500,000 won."

He said that and quietly glanced at Joo-hyuk's reaction.

"How does that sit with you? Are you satisfied?"

Joo-hyuk hadn't moved a muscle, and though he had heard the figure...

"How much was that again?"

"9,427,500,000 won."

"Not 9.4 billion, but...?"

"It's 94.2 billion won. At standard price."

A flinch.

9.427 billion.

Could this be real?

How does that make sense?

"...Um, are you sure you didn't miscalculate?"

"How could I? The total weight of the ore, rounded to the nearest decimal, is 2,342 kilograms. Of that, Adamant ore is 1,497 kg, Orichalcum is 536 kg, and Sectorium is 309 kg."

So the ore weighed 2.3 tons.

"If more ingots are extracted than estimated, I'll add the difference on top."

"...And if fewer come out?"

"Then that's my mistake, so there's nothing to be done."

Jeon Kwang-il himself couldn't believe it.

Such an enormous quantity.

At 50% yield, the total metal ingots would exceed 1 ton.

Even at just 30% success in smelting, that's 700 kg.

700 kg is slightly more than the total metal the Player Shop has purchased over an entire year.

He was ashamed of himself for ever having worried about leather-crafting tools.

Now they could supply players with quality equipment to their hearts' content.

Enough to outfit melee players in full plate armor.

"Thank you for selling these to us."

He wanted to say, 'I should be the one thanking you,' but his heart was pounding too hard for the words to come out.

These days, every transaction ran in the hundreds of billions.

The Holy Sword, the penthouse, the ore.

This was getting serious.

1 billion already felt like nothing.

Thanks to Rajix, his ambitions were only going to swell further.

* * *

Joo-hyuk's penthouse.

Cossack was rolling around on the floor munching on snacks.

Rustle, rustle.

Crumbs fell with every reach into the bag.

The living room floor was getting dirty, but no matter.

Trundle-trundle-trundle, a fuzzy ball rolling in from far away.

"Ho-eng!"

Swish! Scrub!

One wipe with a cloth and done.

"Thank you, Mr. Rajix."

"Ho-e-e-e."

Rajix disappeared again.

Gyeon Dal-rae shook her head slowly.

Cossack, dirtying the living room without a shred of guilt.

Rajix, the servant who came running happily the moment there was something to clean.

The one who makes the mess and the one who cleans it up. A fantastically matched pair.

'Good grief, this is shameless.'

Cossack rolled back across the now-clean floor and said.

"Gobang, stop deliberating and just say whatever comes to mind."

"Nothing comes to mind."

"Fine. I'll say mine first. My bet is 500 million."

Then Gyeon Dal-rae.

"Is that all? To undervalue Lord Rajix's hard work like that. Very well. My bet is 1 billion."

"Princess, no takebacks. I heard 1 billion clearly."

"I am not Mr. Cossack. I absolutely will not go back on it."

"Hmm! Princess gets no special treatment from me."

"I'm not asking for any."

Cossack, Gobang, and Gyeon Dal-rae were in the middle of a game, guessing how much the ore would sell for.

The penalty: whoever comes closest gets to flick the person farthest off on the forehead.

"Gobang, if you keep refusing to say anything..."

"I'll say it."

"How much?"

"100 billion."

Cossack shot up and burst out laughing.

"Kyahyahya, 100 billion for ore? He really has no grip on reality. This apartment costs 20 billion."

"...Is that so?"

"No takebacks for you either. Prepare to get flicked, punk! And no transforming when you get hit."

"...Understood."

And back to rolling around on the floor again.

Needless to say, crumbs scattered all over the newly cleaned surface.

Trundle-trundle-trundle.

Scrub!

Trundle-trundle-trundle.

"Ho-eng!"

Just then. Prick!

Cossack's ears twitched.

Whish! Cossack vanished in an instant.

Swoop!

'What is he doing?'

The moment Gyeon Dal-rae tilted her head in puzzlement.

Click-click!

The front door opened.

"I'm back."

It was Joo-hyuk.

"Welcome home, Young Master."

"Summoner, I waited."

Out of nowhere, Cossack reappeared holding a cordless vacuum cleaner.

Whirrrrrr!

With a shameless expression, vacuuming the living room floor.

"Oh? When did you get back, sir? Attention! The loyal right-hand man Cossack, was cleaning, sir! Helping Rajix out, sir."

"Ahaha, hard at work, I see. What would we do without Cossack? Hahahaha."

"Hehehehehe."

"Ho-e?"

Gyeon Dal-rae stared at the whole scene with an expression of utter bewilderment.

'That, that scheming little...'

A true flatterer through and through.

The arch-sycophant who would throw the nation into chaos.

She had half a mind to toss him to Gwangma right then and there.

Joo-hyuk took off his shoes and sank onto the living room sofa.

Every eye was on him, brimming with curiosity.

Just how much would the ore have fetched?

Joo-hyuk's mouth slowly opened.

"9,427,500,000 won."

"...Pardon?"

What was that? 9.427 billion?

"The money I earned today from selling the ore."

"...Pardon?"

The summoned entities stared back, blank-faced.

"We're not quite sure what you..."

Joo-hyuk smiled and repeated.

"9,427,500,000 won. Sold the ore. Money Rajix earned all on his own."

Cossack's eyes went into spasm.

"Hii-ik?"

Gobang broke into a warm, satisfied smile.

"Mm."

Gyeon Dal-rae flew over like a butterfly and bowed deeply.

"Young Master Bong. My heartfelt congratulations."

Rajix still seemed to be in a daze.

"Ho, ho-eng?"

Suddenly! A roar burst out!

"Uwaaaaaaa!"

"Hooray! Three cheers for Rajix!"

"As expected of a servant of a great household."

At the same moment, a white furball shot up into the air.

Rajix toss time.

"Ho-eng, ho-e-e-e,"

Rajix enjoyed every moment of it.

He was proud. He felt proud of himself.

No matter how high they tossed him, he wasn't afraid at all.

But then Cossack stopped mid-toss, seeming to remember something. He turned pale and quietly sidled up to whisper in Joo-hyuk's ear.

"B-Summoner Bong, sir."

"What is it? Hmm, you don't look well. Something wrong?"

"I'm not feeling well. Could you unsummon me right now?"

"What?"

An SR with no health problems suddenly calling himself sick?

"We're having a company dinner."

"N-no, that's not it... Right now, unsummon me right now. Please, sir!"

"Hey, hey."

"F-fast! Or I'll d-die, sir."

Right then!

Thump!

An enormous hand shot out and seized Cossack by the scruff.

"Hand it over!"

"Eek?!"

"An assassin's promise is a promise."

"W-wait a moment, hear me out..."

Thwack!

BANG!

The impact shook the living room glass.

Cossack's head snapped violently backward.

Dangling and swaying, limp in Gobang's grip.

Gyeon Dal-rae smiled with quiet satisfaction.

"..."

That's some flick.

He's not dead, surely?