Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: The Price of Ore
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Ten days of collecting ore.
It was all piled up at home.
Because he thought that if he put it in his inventory and entered or exited the Tower, it might disappear.
But it had piled up too much.
He was afraid the house might collapse.
It seemed like it was time to hand it over to the Bureau and sell it.
First, he should get the ore appraised.
Surely it wouldn't take as long as the hides.
Joo-hyuk received the ore that Gobang had gathered and placed it inside his inventory.
'Whew, there's a lot of it.'
This isn't easy.
Since he had to pretend to pick up the ore with his hands and put it in, his arms felt like they were about to fall off.
"I'll be back. Please rest."
"Young Master, I pray for your safe return."
"Summoner Bong, fighting! Sell it for a high price."
"I'll guard the house well."
"Hoeng!"
When the promised time arrived, Deputy Director Jeon Gwang-il appeared in front of the apartment right on time, without fail.
It felt burdensome, like he was using the Deputy Director as a chauffeur.
So he apologized, but...
"Hahaha, don't worry about it. How important is it to meet Player Bong Joo-hyuk-nim? And it's the safest method."
Well, then.
"And I have something to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Currently, we are accepting reservations for the Holy Sword, but..."
Reservations.
"Uh... Are there many countries that applied?"
"Only Norway so far. They need to conquer the 66th Floor too. Soon, more countries will probably make reservations."
Only one place for now.
Just because he reached the 61st Floor didn't mean he absolutely had to use the Holy Sword.
One could climb to around the 65th Floor with just light-attribute items.
Korea had done that too.
"Regarding the lending or reservation of the Holy Sword, if the Bureau could handle it as they have been..."
"Yes, don't worry about it."
Another ten million dollars.
It still didn't feel real.
He was going to become desensitized to money at this rate.
'When the money comes in, I should buy some land or a few properties.'
Land or buildings were the best.
Later, he could even retire and farm.
Of course, he didn't underestimate farming.
Wasn't his team perhaps optimized for farming?
Gobang, who was stronger than an ox; Razix, whose class itself was a laborer; Gyeon Dal-rae, the shrine maiden who prayed for a bountiful harvest; and Kosak... he could be sent to chase down wild boar or roe deer.
"Oh! The Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates has entered Korea."
"Hmm, I see."
But what does that have to do with him?
"The UAE's situation with the Black Tower isn't good. Recently, due to a terrorist attack by Islamic extremists, all their nationally trained players were killed."
"Oh no!"
That region had terrorism every day.
Even players got caught up in it.
"They only have 20 days left until the Tower's conquest deadline. They are planning to request temporary naturalization from the Korean Awakening Management Bureau soon."
If a player eligible for temporary naturalization...
"To Player Nam Ga-eun?"
"That's right."
They had some nerve.
Borrow their top player?
"Currently, the UAE side judges that Korea has two top players."
"...Could it be Yu Cheol-min? But he's Japanese."
"No, I mean Player Bong Joo-hyuk."
...That came out of nowhere.
"How do they know about me?"
"Of course they don't. But it seems they think our Management Bureau would know the identity of the S++ record holder."
Tsk, they must be desperate.
"If that's the case, wouldn't a neighboring country be better? There's Saudi Arabia."
"Saudi Arabia does have one top player, but would they really lend him out? Maybe a next-generation player, but the level difference between the top and next-gen is over 10 levels, so it wouldn't work."
Of course.
If they had a solid Plan B, a next-gen player, they might consider it.
But sending their top player?
What if something went wrong?
"Actually, the relationship between those two countries isn't very good."
"Why? They're both Arab nations."
"Because of the Trait Enhancement Runes."
Joo-hyuk's ears perked up.
The conversation had suddenly turned to Trait Enhancement Runes.
"When Trait Enhancement Runes first flooded the market, a fierce competition broke out between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, based on their formidable oil money."
Oho! A battle of titans.
"During that process, there were rumors that many runes, which were supposed to be contracted to Saudi Arabia, ended up going to the UAE. It hasn't been confirmed, though."
Meaning the UAE might have stabbed Saudi Arabia in the back.
"As a result, the UAE succeeded in cultivating numerous nationally trained players... so the rumor might be true."
The competition between nations for conquering the upper, unclaimed floors of the Black Tower.
Joo-hyuk had no particular interest in national rivalries, but something had caught his attention earlier.
"Hey, does the UAE still possess Trait Enhancement Runes?"
"The likelihood is very high. They probably stockpiled them instead of using them all at once."
"What if they offer those as payment for pushing temporary naturalization?"
"Hmm. They probably wouldn't be willing to give them up. They'd rather settle it with money."
"I see."
If they won't give them, he's not interested.
They could handle it themselves.
'I do have that multinational Tower usage ticket, after all.'
If Trait Enhancement Runes were on the table as payment, he'd be willing to throw himself into the fire.
Tsk, he should climb slowly.
While talking, they had already arrived at the Bureau's Tower Materials Warehouse.
Joo-hyuk and Jeon Gwang-il got out of the car, put on their long padded coats, and went inside.
They had set the temperature very low to store the hides.
"The hides are being stored safely. As soon as the processing facility is ready, we'll handle them immediately."
Ugh.
They were still just sitting there.
What should he do when the big money comes in later?
It needs to come in now.
First things first.
"I brought materials again today. Not hides."
"Ah! Yes, yes."
Jeon Gwang-il was filled with anticipation.
Not hides.
Then what?
It definitely wouldn't be ordinary stuff.
To be honest, he was expecting something...
The rectangular metal ingots players received as rewards.
'I wish it were ingots.'
Joo-hyuk began taking out the ores Razix had mined, one by one, from his inventory.
Jeon Gwang-il was somewhat disappointed.
Though he didn't show it.
They weren't ingots.
Ordinary-looking rocks.
"...They're rocks."
"Similar."
Definitely rocks. No matter how he looked, they were rocks.
'Wait.'
They were rocks that went into a Tower-exclusive inventory.
Looking closely, they seemed to have a bit of a sparkle.
So he picked one up.
Huh! Jeon Gwang-il was startled.
It was quite heavy.
Not the weight he had imagined.
Almost like iron ore...
'Hmm?'
Iron ore, iron ore, iron ore?
Could it be?
"Ar, are these ores?"
"Yes."
Crazy! He felt stupid.
Why hadn't he realized?
That the Tower materials Player Bong Joo-hyuk brought were different from what players received as rewards.
The hides were like that, the medicinal herbs were like that.
Wait, he brought ores too?
What exactly couldn't he bring?
"...This is Adamantite ore."
"There's also Orichalcum and Sectonium. Less than Adamantite, though."
Jeon Gwang-il was speechless for a while.
Play Bong being Player Bong was one thing, but...
'Haha...'
He always exceeded expectations.
To a degree his imagination couldn't keep up with.
"Since they're ores and not ingots, it might be a bit cumbersome to use."
"N, not at all! How could it be cumbersome!"
Ores, not ingots.
If you smelt ore, you get metal.
Was that possible with Tower ores?
Of course it was.
All metals melt with fire.
Tower reward ingots were like that too.
That's how weapons and equipment were made.
"Ah, then, I'll take them all out."
"...There's more?"
"There's quite a lot, so I'll need something to hold them."
"P, please wait a moment."
Joo-hyuk continued taking ores out of his inventory.
Jeon Gwang-il, who had brought several baskets, slowly opened his mouth.
Ores came out.
More came out.
Even when he thought that should be enough, more came out.
Before he knew it, Joo-hyuk was sweating profusely and took off his padded coat.
This was incredibly hard.
The quantity was huge too.
Roughly around 600 pieces of ore.
Even when taking them out of the inventory, he had to hold them in his hands and put them down somewhere.
'Inside the Tower, they were light to carry,'
But this was the outside.
He could just sit back and steadily collect the Holy Sword rental fees.
'I'm buying myself hardship.'
What was he trying to earn so much money for?
Or he could just wait for the leather products to sell.
But he couldn't ignore Razix's expectant gaze.
The desire to be helpful, even by mining ore.
Jeon Gwang-il wasn't idle either.
He received the ores Joo-hyuk took out and sorted them by type into baskets.
Adamantite, Orichalcum, Sectonium, each separately—you could tell by the color.
Finally,
"Whew, all done."
"D, done?"
"Yes, I thought my arms would fall off."
"Hahaha..."
Just how many baskets were there?
"...You'll buy these, right?"
"I will definitely buy them."
Thank goodness they were buying.
Now, the price.
"First, may I weigh them?"
"Yes."
Jeon Gwang-il dragged a large scale from the corner of the warehouse.
After zeroing the scale, he began placing the sorted baskets on it.
Meticulously recording the weight of each basket.
Weight measurement complete.
Jeon Gwang-il's trembling hands tapped on his smartphone calculator.
Partly from the effort of lifting the baskets, but also because the quantity was staggering.
"Player Bong."
"Yes."
"Usually, players occasionally receive metal in ingot form as conquest rewards."
"I know that."
"The Player Shop purchases Adamantite ingots at 5 million won per kilogram. Orichalcum is 10 million won per kg, Sectonium is 20 million won per kg. That's the international standard price."
Metal was an even more precious material for Tower climbing than hides.
Because while hides were only used to make armor, metal was used for weapons, armor, everything.
The probability of receiving equipment items as Tower conquest rewards was extremely low.
Most players had to wear weapons and armor directly manufactured by their respective countries to undertake conquests.
In short, strategic supplies for Tower climbing.
That's why they set a standard price to keep it from getting too expensive.
'The metal purchase price is better than I thought?'
Well, a small hand shield made of a metal plate was 40 million won.
And that was at cost, quite cheaply.
This might yield good results.
It would definitely exceed 1 billion.
Jeon Gwang-il picked up one piece of ore and continued.
"Usually, iron ore has an iron content of about 50% or more. Since this seems similar to iron ore..."
At half the price of ingots,
"Adamantite ore at 2.5 million won per kg, Orichalcum ore at 5 million won, Sectonium ore at 10 million won per kg for purchase. Is that acceptable? It's the standard pricing."
Joo-hyuk nodded.
If there was a standard price, there was no need to haggle.
So the total was?
"Adamantite: 3.7425 billion won, Orichalcum: 2.68 billion won, Sectonium: 3.005 billion won. All together, 9.4275 billion won."
As he said this, he glanced at Joo-hyuk and asked subtly.
"How is it? Are you satisfied?"
Joo-hyuk didn't move a muscle. He had heard the amount, but...
"How much did you say?"
"9.4275 billion won."
"Not 940 million?"
"9.4 billion, at the standard price."
He flinched.
9.4 billion.
Was this for real?
Was this even possible?
"...Uh, ho, could you have miscalculated?"
"That's impossible. The total weight of the ore, rounded to the nearest decimal, is 2,342 kg. Of that, Adamantite ore is 1,497 kg, Orichalcum 536 kg, Sectonium 309 kg."
So the ore weighed 2.3 tons.
"Later, if more ingots are extracted, we will add that amount accordingly."
"...What if less is extracted?"
"Well, that would be my mistake, so there's nothing to be done."
Jeon Gwang-il couldn't believe it either.
Such an enormous quantity.
If it's 50%, that's over 1 ton of metal ingots total.
Even if the smelting success rate is only 30%, that's 700 kg.
700 kg is a bit more than the amount the Player Shop had purchased in a year.
He was ashamed for having worried about things like leatherworking tools.
Now they could supply players with quality equipment to their heart's content.
Enough to outfit melee players in plate armor.
"Thank you for selling it."
*I'm the one who should be more thankful.*
He wanted to say that, but his heart was pounding so hard the words wouldn't come out.
Lately, every deal was in the billions.
The Holy Sword, the penthouse, the ore.
This was serious.
Hundreds of millions didn't even feel like money anymore.
Thanks to Razix, his guts were about to grow even bigger.
Joo-hyuk's penthouse.
Kosak was rolling on the floor, munching on snacks.
*Crunch, crunch.*
Crumbs fell every time he took a snack from the bag.
The living room floor was getting dirty, but there was no need to worry.
*Rumble rumble rumble*, from far away, a furry ball Razix rolled in.
"Hoeng!"
*Swish! Swipe!* With one wipe of a rag, it was done.
"Thank you, Razix-nim."
"Hoehehehe."
Razix disappeared again.
Gyeon Dal-rae shook her head side to side.
Kosak dirtied the living room without any guilt.
The servant Razix happily rushed over whenever cleaning was needed.
The one who made the mess and the one who cleaned it up. Their fantastic synergy.
'Haah, this is absurd.'
Kosak, rolling on the now-clean floor again, spoke.
"Gobang-ah, don't overthink it. Just say whatever comes to mind."
"Nothing comes to mind."
"Alright. I'll go first then. I say 500 million."
Then Gyeon Dal-rae chimed in.
"Is that all? To belittle Razix-nim's hard work like that... Very well. I shall say 1 billion."
"Princess, no take-backsies. I definitely heard 1 billion."
"Hmph! I am not like Kosak-nim. I will absolutely not go back on my word."
"I'm not asking you to."
Kosak, Gobang, and Gyeon Dal-rae were in the middle of a guessing game, betting on how much the ore would sell for.
The penalty: the winner gets to flick the loser's forehead.
"Gobang, if you're not going to say anything until the end..."
"I'll do it."
"How much?"
"10 billion."
Kosak jumped up and laughed scornfully.
"Kyakyakyak, the ore is 10 billion? You really have no sense of reality. This house costs 20 billion."
"I, is that so?"
"No take-backsies for you either. Get ready for a flick, you punk! Don't transform when you get hit."
"...Understood."
He said, then rolled around on the floor again.
Snack crumbs scattered across the floor without fail.
*Rumble rumble rumble.*
*Swish swipe!*
*Rumble rumble rumble.*
"Hoeng!"
Right then. *Twitch!*
Kosak's ears perked up.
*Whoosh!* Kosak disappeared in an instant.
*Spot!*
'Why is he like that?'
Just as Gyeon Dal-rae tilted her head in confusion.
*Click!*
The front door opened.
"I'm back."
It was Joo-hyuk.
"Welcome back, Young Master."
"Summoner, we've been waiting."
Suddenly, Kosak reappeared holding a cordless vacuum cleaner.
*Vrrrrrr!*
With a shameless expression, he cleaned the living room while saying,
"Huh? When did you get here? Chu! Summon Bong's right-hand man Kosak is in the middle of cleaning. I was helping Razix."
"Oh my, you're working hard. As expected, only Kosak-nim could do this. Hahahaha."
"Hehehehe."
"Hoe?"
Gyeon Dal-rae watched the scene with a dumbfounded expression.
'Tha, that cunning...'
He was a heavenly schemer.
A great traitor who would throw the nation into chaos.
She felt like throwing him to the wolves.
Joo-hyuk took off his shoes and sat on the living room sofa.
Everyone looked at him with curious eyes.
Just how much was the ore worth?
Slowly, Joo-hyuk opened his mouth.
"9.4275 billion won."
"...What?"
What's 9.4 billion?
"The money made from selling the ore today."
"...What?"
The summoned beings wore bewildered expressions.
"I don't quite understand..."
Joo-hyuk smiled and repeated.
"It's 9.4275 billion won. I sold the ore. It's money Razix-nim earned all by himself."
Kosak's eyes trembled uncontrollably.
"Hieek?"
Gobang smiled contentedly.
"Hmm."
Gyeon Dal-rae flew over like a butterfly and performed a deep bow.
"Lord Bong, I offer my congratulations."
Razix still seemed dazed.
"Ho, hoeng?"
Suddenly! A cheer burst out!
"Wooaaah!"
"Hurray! Razix hurray!"
"As expected of a great household's servant-nim."
Simultaneously, a white furball soared high into the sky.
It was Razix's chair-lifting time.
"Hoeng, hoehehehe."
Razix enjoyed this moment too.
He felt proud and was proud of himself.
Even lifted high up, he wasn't scared at all.
But Kosak, while chair-lifting, seemed to remember something. With a pale face, he quietly approached Joo-hyuk and whispered in his ear.
"Bo, Bong Summoner-nim."
"What is it? Hmm, you don't look well. Is something wrong?"
"I'm not feeling well. Could you release the summon right now?"
"Huh?"
What did he mean an assassin wasn't feeling well?
"We have to have a celebration dinner first."
"No, it's, it's not that... Summon Release, right now, please!"
"Huh?"
"Qui, quickly! Or else I'll, I'll die."
Right then!
*Grab!*
A giant hand seized Kosak by the collar and pulled him.
"Do it!"
"Ughik?"
"Assassin, a promise is a promise."
"W, wait, let me explain..."
*Thwack!*
*Kwaang!*
An explosive sound that made the living room window shake.
Kosak's head snapped back as if it would break.
Kosak, held by the collar by Gobang, slumped and swayed limply.
Gyeon Dal-rae's pleased smile.
"..."
What kind of flick was that?
Surely he wasn't dead, right?
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