The Master Trial's Epic Success! (2)

I accepted the belt without hesitation.

“Yesterday… the reason I could develop the cure was largely thanks to the buff from that expensive medicine. But once you take it, you can’t take it again for at least a month. Treating my siblings might take a little time.”

It wasn’t a lie.

The Intelligence Great Tonic really did recommend waiting at least thirty days after a single dose before taking it again.

Han Yejin nodded readily.

“Our family has suffered from the Rot Virus for over five years. How could we not wait a few more months? I trust that you’ll handle it quickly, Oppa.”

“Yes, don’t worry. And if we keep giving them the mitigator, their pain should ease and they’ll be able to talk to each other again, so it’ll be better than before. Oh, and please tell your father I said thank you. He gave me this precious adamantium…”

“It’s nothing. Dad can’t work as a hunter anymore, right? So it’s only right that you use it now, Oppa. And maybe… meeting this item was fate for you.”

“Why?”

“Dad only told my older brother and younger brother where it was before he lost his mind. If he had told me too, it would have been sold off long ago. I was in terrible financial trouble for the past five years. But… in the end, it feels like everything fell perfectly into place.”

Is that how it was?

Looking at the results, everything really had worked out perfectly.

Come to think of it, she and I really seemed to click.

It was like the win-win between us was working out almost magically.

Without her, I would never have saved Jang Hancheol’s wife or formed a connection with Jeguk Medipharm. I probably wouldn’t have raised my charm so easily and conquered the second basement level so quickly, either.

And without me, she might have ended up as Go Jutae’s plaything by now. Her family would have been left writhing in eternal pain.

“Oh, right. Dad asked me to give you this yesterday.”

Han Yejin pulled a black work boot out of her subspace and handed it over.

The moment I took the item, I realized the gift I had received was no light thank-you.

“They’re the work shoes Dad wore back when he was a tower scavenger. After hearing all about you, he said he was so grateful that a tower scavenger would definitely need these.”

Not bad at all.

I had thrown my old Low-grade Nimble Work Shoes to some nameless tower scavenger just a few days ago.

So I didn’t have any shoes to wear.

After receiving such a nice gift, I suddenly found myself genuinely liking Han Yejin as a person, quite apart from any romantic feelings.

“Thank you, Yejin. I’ll put them to good use. Sorry for asking this out of nowhere, but how much do you make a month at that climbing academy these days?”

“…Around 2.4 million. My career is still short…. But I haven’t been able to show up for work the past few days because of my parents, so I’m worried I might get fired. Sigh.”

“What if you add in all your other part-time jobs?”

“Let’s see, three weekday night shifts… two on the weekends… altogether that’s… um… about 3.6 to 3.7 million a month?”

When I roughly calculated the hours and minimum wage in my head, the numbers matched.

3.6 to 3.7 million, huh.

It was a pretty pathetic amount considering she worked herself to the bone even on weekends.

Or maybe I had just lost all sense of money after handling such huge sums lately.

“Then would you like to do an interview today?”

“Sorry? What’s this all of a sudden?”

“I’ll introduce you to a good job. Annual salary of 60 million! Five days a week, forty hours. Leave on time. Overtime paid with proper premiums. Bonus, severance, four major insurances—all included……”

“Wow! I’d love that… but what kind of job is it? I’m surprisingly slow at picking things up, so it might take me a while to learn.”

“That won’t be a problem at all. It’s work you’ve been doing your whole life, Yejin.”

“What is it?”

“It’s raising centipedes while climbing.”

“Y-you don’t mean… working at the centipede cave in the basement?”

“Exactly. I’ve been handling it whenever I had time, but from now on I need to focus on other things. I’d like you to take over management there. To mass-produce the mitigator, we need someone continuously extracting venom from the centipedes.”

“Whoa!”

Han Yejin clenched both fists and shouted.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m just so happy! I’ve always wanted to try real hunter work. But I thought my climbing skills wouldn’t match tower work, so I gave up……”

“Okay. Interview passed! Congratulations, Researcher Han Yejin. You are now the first employee of our lab!”

“Wait… lab?”

“Yes. Haha. The Rot Virus research lab we talked about opening together. You just got hired there. Sorry I went ahead and set it up without asking you first.”

“No, not at all. Wow! I’m the one who should be thanking you. But… can our lab even afford to pay me 60 million a year?”

“Well, if Gini-1 sells smoothly, that kind of money won’t be a problem. If things go well later, you might be the one demanding we renegotiate your salary upward.”

With her family’s problems solved and a stable job suddenly appearing, Han Yejin looked like she was about to float away with happiness.

“Wow wow! Thank you so much! Really!”

“By the way, Researcher Han, what should we name our lab? ‘Rot Virus Research Lab’ is the safest choice… but it feels a bit boring, doesn’t it?”

“Then… how about ‘Hwang Geumpa Research Lab’?”

“I provided the money, but you’re the one who had the dream, so your name should come first. What do you think of ‘Han & Hwang Lab’?”

“Aigo, Oppa, that’s way too obvious. We’re not a married couple or anything……”

After saying that, Han Yejin’s face turned slightly red.

“But Oppa, did you know that setting up a guild has simpler procedures and bigger tax benefits than opening a lab?”

“Really? But I heard you need at least two hunters and a prominent founder for that?”

“…We already have two hunters. And if we ask President Jang Hancheol, wouldn’t he be willing to act as founder?”

The next morning.

I sat down in front of my PC to register the guild online.

Establishing a legal corporation was urgent if I wanted to finalize every procedure related to selling Gini-1.

What should the guild name be?

Golden Guild.

Underground Guild.

But those names were already taken and couldn’t be registered.

Shoveling Guild.

Tower Scavenger Guild.

Those didn’t work either.

Well, it was an age with over six hundred thousand registered hunters and more than ten thousand registered guilds.

After trying several more names and getting the same “Name already exists…” message every time, I decided to coin something original.

A guild that monopolizes the underground?

Shortened to “Jidok” Guild?

It didn’t sound weak, the meaning was good, and overall it didn’t seem bad.

A guild that digs downward using centipede venom.

A guild that develops mitigators using centipede venom.

It could be interpreted in multiple ways.

It really was simple.

The bylaws had already been prepared with Jang Hancheol’s help, and registration and licensing taxes were exempt, so the application process wrapped up easily.

Just as I was about to press Enter, a text message suddenly arrived from Han Yejin.

Huh?

Under 1st Floor is Trash…….

Hehe.

It actually sounds pretty cool?

Since I planned to keep digging downward, the name was strangely perfect.

I readily agreed.

“Sounds good. Let’s go with that!”

I changed the guild name from “Jidok Guild” to “Under 1st Floor is Trash Guild.”

Perfect!

Provisional registration complete!

Once Jang Hancheol’s side used their influence to finish the official registration and licensing, the guild would be officially established.

Thud—

“What is this?”

“Eight hundred grams of liquid adamantium. Please coat the mithril glass pickaxe with it, just like I said before.”

“Gasp! R-really… adamanti… um? It’s liquid?”

“The plating fee is 800 million, correct?”

“Ah, yes, yes, that’s right. Hehehe.”

The craftsman’s attitude had completely changed.

Taegang Workshop was known as the best in the country for its techniques. I decided to have the plating done there and watched the entire process from start to finish with a hawk’s eye.

Adamantium cost a staggering 12 million won per gram, so I couldn’t allow them to siphon off even the tiniest amount.

In the end, the craftsmen successfully cooled the adamantium and finished plating the mithril glass pickaxe.

A few days later, I headed down to the first basement level.

For the past several days I had been busy developing Gini-1, recovering the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠adamantium, treating Han Yejin’s parents, establishing the corporation, and getting the adamantium plated, so I had been a little negligent about digging deeper underground.

That didn’t mean the underground work had come to a complete stop, however.

After treating Han Yejin’s parents and raising my charm to 29, I could now command a full 140 Rotter soldiers. The tasks I had assigned them continued progressing little by little.

First, I released Beodori, the truffle search dog, on the first basement level to locate underground resources. Once Beodori found a spot, the Rotter soldiers—now swelled to 140—would dig it up in shifts.

Since Rotters never slept, the work continued twenty-four hours a day, 168 hours a week without stopping. As ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a result…

Well…

It wasn’t an enormous income yet, but I was steadily building up a pretty decent one.

Later, once Gini-1 was commercialized, that money would be used to cover the cost of giving the soldiers proper injections.

For the pregnant Ogresses on the second basement level, I first released 100 kilograms of frozen centipedes so they could feast, then gave them plenty of rest.

One hundred kilograms of frozen centipedes was worth 40 million won at market price, but considering the value of all the items I had looted after destroying the Gwichuk Guild, it was by no means excessive compensation.

Ogresses normally couldn’t use Earthquake.

The fact that they could use a male ogre’s skill seemed to be because they were pregnant with hero ogre offspring.

What should I do once the hero ogre cubs were born?

From what I had observed over the past few days, ogre cubs grew at a rate incomparable to humans. I wasn’t sure exactly, but it looked like they would reach adulthood in only a few months.

Fortunately, I held the master key to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠second basement level.

If the male ogres grew up and caused trouble, I could simply send them to any floor of the tower.

After several days of rest, I declared through the Rotter interpreter that I would hold a digging competition for all the Ogresses.

As soon as the competition began, the Ogresses excitedly started digging. It was only natural; their species’ greatest specialty was showing off strength.

However…

The result was disappointing.

After digging for half a day, the queen mother’s record for deepest dig was only one meter.

It was the result I had expected.

I hadn’t ordered them to dig because I thought they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could actually do it properly.

I had done it to properly establish the authority of the “Great Katanka.”

And finally…

I finished preparing to challenge the trial I had been waiting for.

Okay.

Let’s break through.

I took out the newly plated pickaxe and gripped it in my hand.

The new pickaxe created by plating eight hundred grams of adamantium.

At first glance it just looked like an ordinary black metal pickaxe.

There was nothing particularly special about its appearance.

But.

When I raised the pickaxe high and slammed it down hard into the floor—

Clang—

A crisp sound rang out as it sank deep into the stone floor.

The single skill point I had invested in Rock Penetration after wiping out the Gwichuk Guild was paying off hugely.

The watching Ogresses clapped and cheered.

“Katanka!”

“Pahafukaha~”

“Katanka! Katanka!”

Of course they would.

They had all seen over the past few days just how solid this bedrock was.

I swung the pickaxe a second time.

Clang—

Holes immediately began appearing all over the stone floor.

An adamantium pickaxe!

It was an unbelievably effective tool.

This felt like stabbing thumbtacks into a pebble.

I quickly drilled holes all over the areas I needed to dig. Then I activated the Shatter skill.