The Parattak That Grew Rich
These days the monitoring seems extra strict… what do you think?
Lee Sieun was sprawled across the sofa, phone in hand, scrolling YouTube videos with half-closed eyes.
“I went to sell the mid-grade mana stones you gave me the other day, and the inspections were shockingly thorough. The Association must be up to something.”
“…Really? What happened?”
“I was being cautious and only handed over three mid-grade mana stones. Since I’m still a floor-twenty adventurer, I breezed right through without a hitch. But if I’d sold the usual ten or more… it might have raised a few eyebrows.”
“Ten or more… yeah, that would have been risky.”
I’d sensed the same uneasy shift in the air lately.
It started right after the North Sea Ice Palace’s thirty-day extension of time was officially confirmed and spread worldwide.
By keeping my connection to the Tower of Ruin and Seol Yeonhee as clean as possible, the whispers had already begun: everyone figured the palace master had found the key to the tower’s next level.
While the faction leaders poured every resource into the Tower, a few hunters started dropping hints about the mysterious figure who had been standing beside Seol Yeonhee.
“That guy has to be the key. What else would explain Seol Yeonhee, the North Sea Ice Palace master, keeping a man close?”
The speculation had quietly spread to Korea and several other countries and factions, which was why the Association’s mana-stone trade inspections had suddenly tightened.
I couldn’t stay still. Serious thoughts swirled in my head.
Then Lee Sieun set her phone down, sat up from the sofa, and opened her mouth again.
“That should be fine.”
“What should?”
“I was planning to move soon, but I’m worried you’ll stop me. After all, the high-rank hunters who are all about being friendly these days buy land and choice houses in Korea, then jet off to the U.S., Russia, or Europe and never look back.”
She fiddled with the cushion in her arms and kept going.
“So unless it’s some insane move where you liquidate a few hundred billion won in Gangnam real estate in one cash grab, even a normal apartment purchase won’t leave a trace. Moving is safe.”
“……”
She was clearly trying to convince me.
I narrowed my eyes and stared at her.
Lee Sieun, the ultimate lazy Parattak, was the one who had just volunteered to push for a move. That was weird.
“You… want to live in such a big place?”
My blunt question made her jump.
She quickly looked away, cleared her throat, and buried half her face in the cushion.
“Well… even if the situation’s a bit tense, to be honest, there’s still way more we don’t know about each other than we do know. I don’t even know what kind of stuff you’re up to outside.”
“That’s true.”
“And two adults who aren’t even in a relationship sharing a cramped two-room apartment… it’s a bit… awkward. We can just sleep in separate beds, but we keep bumping into each other every time we go to the bathroom or eat.”
Her voice trailed off as she ruffled her own hair and muttered.
“Ugh, I don’t even pay rent every month… I just crash here… maybe I’m being too entitled…”
Her honest, slightly flustered reaction made me laugh without realizing it.
She was right.
I’d been too busy hiding my real identity as Parattak 3 to care, but for a woman in her early twenties like her, sharing a narrow two-room with a man whose background was completely unknown would be uncomfortable.
Even though I’d helped her when her identity was almost exposed, and even though she’d signed a voluntary slave contract with me, life never ran perfectly by system rules.
“Entitled? That’s fine.”
I stretched lazily and stood up.
“It’s actually more normal for women to feel uncomfortable about this than men. If you hadn’t spoken up first, I might still have been oblivious.”
She peeked out from behind the cushion.
“Really? You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be? The clutter you bought for the house was already taking up all the space anyway. This is actually a good thing.”
I grabbed the coat hanging on the rack and pointed toward the front door.
“How about we take a look at that three-room apartment you’ve been eyeing on YouTube? Check if there are any listings and swing by a real-estate office too.”
“…!!”
The moment I finished speaking, Sieun shot upright from the sofa like she’d been electrified.
“Call!”
She threw on her coat in a hurry, face bright with excitement.
“Wait five minutes! I’ll just wash my hair and come!”
“Why just wash your hair? Wash your whole body and eat dinner too.”
“For real? You’ll buy something delicious?”
“Hah? Wanting to argue about the menu now? Just get ready and get out.”
***
We finished our three-room apartment contract and had a mouth-watering beef hot-pot meal much cheaper and better than I’d expected. On the way back we immediately started packing.
“The world’s really changed, huh? It’s like you can just decide to buy something and move the next day.”
“Tell me about it. Most of the stuff we need—needful things, essential things—can just be grabbed on the way.”
“Sure thing~”
We worked in comfortable silence, managing the community in the background while we packed. In about an hour the entire move was done.
“Clean.”
“The room really was spacious.”
We stood in the middle of the now-empty living room.
A narrow one-room where we’d stayed for a long time and would never return to.
I swept the dusty floor with my foot, looked up at the ceiling, and muttered.
“Mom… Dad… are you watching? Your son has finally made it.”
“……”
Sieun, who had been standing by the front door, flinched and cautiously approached.
She tilted her head, studying my expression, and asked in a careful voice.
“Hey, Minhyuk… your parents… aren’t they…”
“Huh? Ah… well…”
I gave a light nod and continued.
“They’ve always been pretty distant with me. They only send money and random supplies via delivery and don’t really call. So I have to be the one to give them the report first.”
“……”
Thud!
“Ouch!!”
“Crap! I thought you were joking again!”
Sieun’s face turned bright red as she slapped my arm hard with both hands.
I rubbed my numb elbow and looked at her in bewilderment.
“Why would you suddenly make your parents who are farming well in the countryside seem dead? Why would you make them orphans?”
“You were the one who phrased it so vaguely that I thought you were joking!!”
“I wasn’t joking. I was just stating facts.”
“That’s not a fact!!”
We tossed around empty jokes in the middle of the empty room for a while.
Then a truck driver’s message came in saying the moving truck had left. We hurriedly locked the door and left.
In the taxi’s back seat we sat side by side, staring blankly out the window at the passing scenery.
Then I remembered an item I’d stored deep in my inventory.
The prize for clearing the Parattak Trial on floor ten—Administrator’s Exclusive Dialogue Space.
I opened the space on the taxi seat, pulled up my inventory, and held the screen right in front of Sieun.
[S-Rank Equipment Guaranteed Gacha Ticket]
“Whoa, what is this? Where’d you get it?”
I shrugged as she stared with wide eyes.
“Didn’t you get the Parattak Trial on floor ten?”
“Yeah, I didn’t get one.”
“Really? It was only available to me? Anyway, if anything worth over a hundred billion drops here, I’ll give you a bonus.”
Sieun pouted and let out a tiny fart.
“Hah, even S-rank items vary wildly in price… and lately even two-hundred-billion won items with crap options are available. The world’s strongest U.S. hunter’s weapon is under two billion anyway… just give me something and say no thanks.”
“Why so stingy? It’s possible to get an absurdly good item.”
I clicked my tongue and answered curtly.
But inside I was calculating furiously, fully agreeing with her.
“Even if we’re Parattak teammates, we’re not that close to split everything. Hmm… if it’s a few hundred billion, I’ll take the whole thing myself.”
The system auction fee is steep, but three hundred billion would still let me pocket one hundred fifty billion. That should be enough to live comfortably for a long time.
I kept my greedy smile in check and stared at the usage button in the holographic window.
[S-Rank Equipment Guaranteed Gacha Ticket]
With a cheerful chime, a dazzling rainbow light burst across the taxi seat like it would fill the whole back.
Then the light slowly faded, and a familiar-looking item floated in the center of the system window.
A massive two-handed battleaxe the size of an adult man, its blade glowing with crimson blood.
“Eh… an axe?”
Sieun muttered softly.
I silently scrolled down to the detailed information window next to the axe.
[Bloodthirsty Barbaric Massacre Axe (S)]
Category: Two-handed Battleaxe
Base Effect: Strength and Stamina +50%.
Special Effect 1: Bloodthirst (While in combat and blood splatters nearby, attack speed and destructive power increase by up to 300%.)
Special Effect 2: Indomitable Will (When critically injured, HP never drops below 1 for 3 minutes and all physical pain is blocked.)
Embedded Skill 1: Ground Shatter (Smash the ground with the axe to deal damage to enemies within 50 meters.)
Embedded Skill 2: Frenzy (While in Frenzy, you lose some rationality but your Strength and Stamina double for 10 minutes.)
Current Auction Start Price: 20,000,000 coins
“……”
“……”
The taxi was filled only with the low hum of the engine, not a single word.
I blinked twice with a blank expression, then raised a finger and counted the glowing numbers in the air.
One… ten… one hundred… one thousand… ten thousand… one hundred thousand… one million… ten million… twenty million coins.
In cash that was two hundred billion won.
Even the starting price, not the capped price.
Even the world’s top global war-ranker would foam at the mouth and sell their entire guild just to buy it.
A real monster weapon with four insane properties had popped out.
“Hey… Minhyuk.”
Sieun grabbed my coat sleeve with trembling hands and shook it.
Her eyes were also shaking wildly, like an earthquake.
“You just said… if it’s over a hundred billion, you’ll give me a bonus… how much are you giving me?”
“……”
And I simply stared at the twenty-million-coin number floating in the air, blinking slowly.