Rip-Off Prices

The atmosphere in the room froze solid.

"Hunter Kim Seongho. Let's not do this to each other."

"I'd love not to. But every time I remember the vomit-inducing prices you charged us for food, I never want to set foot in one of your shops again."

"So you're telling us to leave? Right now?"

I nodded at the middle-aged woman's words.

"Yeah. Get out. Grab your stuff and move."

The way her face twisted was a sight to behold. The merchant finally snapped and started shouting.

"I was trying to keep this civil, and this is how you want to play it? Hunter Kim Seongho. A person shouldn't be this hard-assed."

"Do you even know how many people are in our Merchants' Association? A young punk already poisoned by greed—"

"I'm going to sue you. You know that? You think the Korean government is just going to sit on its hands? Huh? I can make this an international incident!"

It was laughable, but these were people who'd lived their whole lives in a country where raising your voice first usually solved most problems. So they rattled off threats that wouldn't land for shit.

They already knew perfectly well that Daejeon had become Stray Dog Guild property. The media had screamed about it nonstop—you'd have to be an idiot not to know.

They knew, and they were still putting on this performance because they figured if they just yelled loud enough, something might stick. It probably had worked for them until now. But I wasn't some trembling district office clerk who folded the second someone raised their voice.

"Sure. Go ahead."

"What?"

"You already know this, but Daejeon is American territory now. More precisely, it belongs to Stray Dog Guild. The Korean government and National Assembly, panicking over the Suwon Rift, handed it over to us at light speed. In here, we are the law. You fucking bastards. Mouth off to me and I can throw you in a cell—as illegal occupants of a military facility."

At my threat, two of the three merchant representatives—the men—backed off, looking rattled. The middle-aged woman, though, kept right on being shameless. From personal experience, the people who gouge others the hardest tend to be women, and they tend to be the more brazen ones.

"You think the Korean government will just sit there if you lock up perfectly innocent people? We'll protest. Huh? We'll lie down in the streets and protest. How many years have we been doing business here? And you want us to just leave? You think I'll let that happen? A young punk poisoned by greed. Is that how your parents raised you?"

"So. You're not leaving?"

"I can't leave. I won't leave!! Either let us keep doing business here, or compensate us for the losses from shutting down!! If you don't, I'll lie down in front of every vehicle coming and going and protest. You want me out, you'll have to kill me and drag me out! I can't live with this kind of loss!! I'll lie down in front of the US Embassy—anywhere!"

At that, Yeonghak hyung—looking one frayed nerve from losing it entirely—started to stand. I grabbed his hand and sat him back down. I gave him a look that said leave this to me, then pulled a can from my coat.

A mana potion.

I stared down the shrieking, tantrum-throwing woman, cracked the can, and dumped it into my mouth. Mana flooded through my body almost immediately.

For this situation, there was only one skill that fit.

A vibration like a mild earthquake rolled through the room. Yeonghak hyung, long accustomed to mana, didn't so much as flinch—but the three merchants, with no such experience, went deathly pale the instant Dragon Fear hit them.

This was a unique skill from a Level 1200-class monster.

It had taken a whole team of mages ages of hard work just to dispel the thing. There was no way three ordinary civilians were going to tank it.

"Hey, lady. This is fun. Keep running that mouth."

I stood and walked toward her. The closer I got, the denser the Dragon Fear became. One of the two male merchants pissed himself on the spot and blacked out; the other lost all strength in his legs and crumpled to the floor.

The woman was still holding on—thanks to sheer shamelessness, probably.

More accurately, she was just barely holding on.

Her face was corpse-pale, and cold sweat had soaked through her clothes.

I leaned in until my face was right in front of hers.

"Just now you said you'd lie down in the street and block our vehicles, right?"

"Th-that… that…"

"Nothing stopping you. If dying's what you want, I'll be happy to run you over. You think Korea would even care about you?"

"……"

"If your little tantrum screws up rift operations and the whole country takes the hit—you think public opinion will be on your side? Or will people look at your corpse under a truck and say you had it coming? When a rift crisis hits, it's basically wartime. I can flatten you and there's no legal problem. Public opinion will be with us, too. Want me to actually do it?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"K-Kim Seongho Hunter. W-wait a second……"

"So please. I'm begging you. Lie down in the street. I'm curious myself—whether a Humvee crushing your skull sounds more like a watermelon splitting or a pack of udon noodles bursting."

At that, the woman's legs gave out and she sank to the floor.

I could see the damp stain spreading down her pant legs.

I finished my cigarette at a leisurely pace, then flicked the butt into her face.

"You've got until tomorrow. Clear out every last thing and get lost. Don't even think about doing business here again."

There were no more objections.

The woman and the remaining man slapped the unconscious one awake and scrambled out of the room. Watching the three of them bolt, Yeonghak hyung snickered and came over.

"Holy shit, those bastards pissing their pants is fucking hilarious."

"Right? But hyung—tomorrow's going to be even funnier."

"What are you talking about?"

I looked toward the door the three merchants had fled through and smiled.

"Those bastards fleeced us. So now we fleece them right back."

"How?"

"Have Major Hagan's US troops and our people lock down every access road into Daejeon. No vehicle gets in without our permission."

Hyung caught on to the plan immediately and burst out laughing.

"On it."

He ran out of the room.

It had been a long time since I'd seen him smile like that.

The next morning.

After inspecting the area, I headed with Major Hagan to the garrison zone where the merchants had set up shop.

The place was pure chaos.

"What do you mean we have to clear out by today?"

"Cooking equipment, refrigerators, tables… there's a mountain of stuff to move. How are we supposed to do that in one day…"

Dozens of merchants were clustered together muttering among themselves—until my Humvee appeared, and every mouth shut. The moment I stepped out of the vehicle, they swarmed toward me.

"Hunter Kim Seongho. Let's not do this. How can you suddenly tell us to pack up like this?"

"A lot of the stuff we need to take is heavy and bulky. How are we supposed to move it on the spot?"

"Please consider our situation a little. You've eaten plenty of food from our shops over the years, haven't you?"

I shook my head at their groveling.

"Get it out by the end of today. Whatever it takes."

"That's what we're saying—we don't have the time. We need to call trucks, find people to haul everything. You have to give us at least a week……"

"Anything still here after midnight tonight gets disposed of. I'll classify it all as illegal structures built on a military facility. I'll bring hunters in, smash every last thing, and burn it. Figure it out yourselves."

The mood among the merchants turned ugly.

"Hey!! What kind of tyranny is this?!"

"We bought this stuff with our own money—and you can just dispose of it however ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you want? Huh? I'm suing!!"

How was this any different from the garbage I'd heard yesterday?

The three merchants I'd thoroughly dismantled the day before knew those lines wouldn't work for shit, so they just hung back, reading my face. I looked at the yapping crowd, wordlessly downed a mana potion—

—and used Dragon Fear.

"Huuuuh!!!"

People fainting. People backing away. People pissing themselves.

A full variety pack.

I spoke quietly to the merchants stumbling backward.

"You think I'm joking? Your shops get demolished as illegal structures, and you get locked up as civilians who illegally entered a military facility. You think I won't do it?"

A few of the trembling merchants finally caught on. Forcing smiles through the terror, they approached me.

"Hunter Kim Seongho. Ha—hahaha. If it was something like that, y-you should've said so earlier. Here. Take this."

He pulled an envelope from his pocket and held it out.

I took it.

Inside were several fifty-thousand-won bills.

"We'll pay you every month. So please, just cut us some slack. We've been doing business here for years—if you tell us to leave on the spot like this……"

"Money, huh."

I threw the cash in his face.

The freed bills fluttered down to the ground.

"Don't need it. So pack what you're taking and leave by the end of today."

"Please! Let's not do this!"

"Yeah. We're doing this."

I turned coldly, climbed back into the Humvee, and drove off.

The moment we were a decent distance away, I couldn't hold the laughter in.

"What's so funny, Guildmaster Kim?"

I snickered for a while at Major Hagan's question, then looked back toward the garrison zone where the merchants were.

"Just thinking about them vomiting up everything they fleeced us for, all at once. It's hilarious."

After Hunter Kim Seongho left, the merchants' reactions ran the full spectrum.

"That little bastard—where the hell did he learn manners like that!!"

Some cursed.

"What do we do? What do we do?!"

Some stamped their feet in panic.

"Call a moving company. Right now. We should at least salvage what we can."

And some made cold, practical calls.

After a little time passed, the merchants finally accepted reality and started calling movers one after another.

"This fucking bullshit!…… We should call a moving company too."

"Sang-gyu's mom? Yeah, it's me. Can you get your husband's truck over here? We've got some stuff we need to move in a hurry."

And so the merchants had no choice but to haul out the belongings from the shops where they'd been fleecing soldiers for years. Dozens of them called trucks and waited for them to arrive. Then, around afternoon—

The truck drivers called.

"What? They can't get in?"

At that, the merchants scrambled out to the outskirts of Daejeon.

And there, seeing dozens of trucks stopped and held by US troops and hunters, their faces twisted with rage.

"What the hell is this?! Why can't the trucks come in?!"

At the merchants' fury, Lee Yeonghak—who'd been sitting leisurely in a chair alongside the US soldiers and hunters—stood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up.

"This is a military facility. Civilian vehicles can't just roll in for no reason."

"This morning you told us to leave!! We need trucks to leave, don't we?!"

"That's your problem. Civilian vehicles aren't allowed into a military facility."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!"

Lee Yeonghak held out his hand.

"Pay up. Pay enough, and these vehicles get through."

The merchants' faces went blank with disbelief.

But what choice did they have?

Lee Yeonghak held all the cards. They held none.

"How much?"

"Road usage fee. One hundred million per trip."

That finally blew the lid off the merchants' barely contained rage.

"What kind of fucking price is that!! You son of a bitch!!!"

At that, Lee Yeonghak unleashed his killing intent.

The sight of materialized bloodlust kicking up dust and wind was something the merchants had never seen before.

Of course.

Lee Yeonghak had already downed a mana potion.

"Don't like it? Then your shops go ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up in smoke. I'll take my sweet time carving them up for you."

"……"

"Soju that costs two thousand won at a convenience store was going for over ten thousand at your places, right? And you—lady over there. I know all about how you jacked it up to twenty thousand whenever hunters' families came in. Rip-off prices are the tradition around here, so we should keep up the tradition, don't you think? Road usage fee is one hundred million per trip."

"Where the hell are we supposed to get that kind of money?!"

"Then your shops burn. Honestly, whether you pay or not doesn't really matter to me. Smashing the place up doesn't sound half bad either. What's it gonna be?"

These were people sharp enough—and calculating enough—to have built illegal structures they weren't supposed to build in the first place, all under Base Leader Cho Geunseong's protection, just to do business.

Their minds spun fast.

Cut our losses.

A hundred million was too much money. Losing the shop interiors and all their inventory would hurt like hell—but abandoning it and running with whatever cash they could salvage seemed like the smarter play.

"Just dispose of it, then."

A few merchants made the bold call, and a thin smile spread across Lee Yeonghak's face.

"Alright. Then our hunters will go demolish your shops for you. Demolition fee is one billion."

"……"

"Can't pay? Then you're the bastards who forced illegal structures onto a military facility to do business, so I'll lock you up. You know this place is under Stray Dog Guild management, right? Korean law doesn't apply here. Want to sit in the brig eating prison chow until you cough up a billion? Or just pay the hundred million and leave clean?"

"……"

"For reference, prison meals are a hundred thousand won a plate. Can't pay? No food."

What choice did they have?

That day, the merchants paid the hundred-million-won road usage fee and hauled their shop goods out. Some went bankrupt pulling the money together with loans; others paid from their reserves. But every single one of them shared one thing in common.

"These prices are fucking ridiculous!"

Every last one of them was spitting out the exact same complaint the soldiers had made while buying food at their shops.