Yoo Seon-ah
Seo Hwarang carefully accepted the skill book.
The moment it touched his hand, an information window sprang to life.
[This is a skill book containing the skill, Leatherworking.]
[Would you like to learn the Leatherworking skill?]
[Y / N]
Huh?
It was different.
Normally it didn't appear like this at all — reading a skill book thoroughly was supposed to be what added the skill to his repertoire.
So this is what skill books from Earth look like?
Swish.
He flipped open the cover.
Just as he'd expected. The pages were covered in indecipherable runic script — no matter how much he wanted to read them, he couldn't. Must be because the job skill is sealed inside.
He pressed N without hesitation. Refusal. In a situation like this, he couldn't afford to learn it carelessly.
Leatherworking was, at a glance, a non-combat support skill — and life skills were always harder to grind proficiency in than combat skills. For Seo Hwarang, whose proficiency had to exceed 80 on average, this was a choice he couldn't afford to make.
Besides.
He wasn't sure it would work, but — Seo Hwarang gained skills simply by reading skill books. There was no reason to learn the thing outright and tank its market value in the process.
If it works, that's a jackpot. Maybe later he could acquire skill books cheaply, just by borrowing them for a quick read.
"Where did you even get something like this?"
As far as Seo Hwarang knew, a Leatherworking skill book went for around 20 million won. The reason it was relatively cheap compared to combat skill books in the hundreds of millions was simple: anyone with a production class already had it by default. In other words, the only people who'd learn it were combat classes — and combat classes had no reason to pick up a life skill like this. So even listed at that price, it rarely sold. One sale every six months, if that?
Either way — Yoo Seon-ah wanted it that badly. Badly enough to hand over a 20-million-won skill book, from a woman who'd agonized over a 3-million-won staff.
"The thing is, actually..."
Yoo Seon-ah scratched her head.
Three months earlier.
"Unni."
Thud.
Ha Seorin tossed a book into Yoo Seon-ah's lap.
"Hm? What's this?"
"A skill book."
"Whoa — a skill book? Why give something this valuable to me...?"
"Seoryeong unni got it from a dungeon recently, but she couldn't do anything with it. She said sell it, or give it to someone around us who actually needs it."
"...Something like this?"
Sometimes Yoo Seon-ah felt it.
A different world. The world these people lived in. Who on earth treated a tens-of-millions item so casually?
It was only possible because that woman's flesh and blood was Ha Seoryeong. An S-rank Awakener. That single fact alone put her in a stratum of life entirely apart from ordinary people — a life far above the average celebrity, tycoon, or upper crust. Even Ha Seorin running this little hobby club with her friends was just another form of play, really.
"Yeah, it's your birthday today, right? I actually had it listed on the market for a month and it never sold. So keep it and use it, or sell it later. Consider it a gift."
"...Thanks."
"You know how it is — life-class skill books are rare enough on the market that they always move eventually. When it sells, buy yourself a gorgeous new staff."
"Got it, got it!"
And so that long-shelved skill book had eventually made its way to Seo Hwarang's hands.
"A friend of yours gifted it to you...? That party you mentioned before?"
"Yeah. I'll introduce you sometime, I promise. They're genuinely good people."
"Hmm."
Seo Hwarang deliberated. Take it or not? Twenty million won was serious money to him too.
Of course — he had no intention of selling it before reading it. To Seo Hwarang, reading something new was worth more than a fortune.
However — thinking about it now, it might only be a measly 20 million. Judging by what he earned every week, that was a skill book he could afford within three months. Was it really worth dragging Yoo Seon-ah into Etherion — unknowns and all — just to spare himself that?
"Hmmm."
His decision came quickly.
Granted, he was humanly grateful that she'd been willing to throw her body between him and the Horned Bats — but that was a separate matter entirely.
"I don't think that's going to work out."
Seo Hwarang said flatly.
"Wh-yeah? Okay."
"Etherion is dangerous. I still haven't gotten a proper grasp of the place, and I don't want to drag anyone else into it on my account."
"...Right."
Seo Hwarang wouldn't even take the skill book? Then there was nothing left to persuade him with. Yoo Seon-ah bowed her head low.
I must not be attractive enough, that's all it is.
This was a truth of life. Unless a deep relationship was maintained, a deal only got signed when both parties stood to profit. Yoo Seon-ah had plenty to gain from Seo Hwarang; Seo Hwarang had nothing to gain from her. She felt that gulf bone-deep.
Whatever he said out loud, she had clearly felt it — the flicker in his eyes when the skill book landed in his hands.
"Then I'll get going."
"Wait, hold on!"
Yoo Seon-ah hastily grabbed Seo Hwarang by the arm as he turned to leave. It was the feeling of grasping at straws.
"What if I became a wholesale distributor for skill books down the line? If that happened, could our deal actually go through?"
Desperation saturated her voice.
"..."
Seo Hwarang turned back around — because he'd just heard something interesting.
A woman proud of her class as a magician, passionate enough to hunt for opportunities at every turn — and she wanted to run a skill book distribution business?
To win my favor?
Skill book distribution. As far as Seo Hwarang knew, no such business existed in this world yet. Skill books were pricier than most items, so they moved almost exclusively through auctions. If someone opened a shop like that? One hundred times out of a hundred, it failed. The majors might barely break even if they threw their weight at it, and they treated money as the supreme value — they'd never touch it.
But — it was precisely the business Seo Hwarang needed. If he could simply read every skill book as it passed through the distribution channel — that would be an absolute gold mine.
"And you think you can pull that off?"
"There's nothing I can't do. As long as you back me up."
"Me?"
Excuse me?
"...I know. I know exactly how incredible your ability is."
"Huh? I got an F on this last examination, though."
"You can fool the Management Bureau's eyes, but you can't fool mine, pal. You have no idea how serious I am about magic."
Serious.
The word struck a chord in Seo Hwarang. Just as he was serious about books, Yoo Seon-ah was serious about magic. That's why she acted like a woman possessed.
Because the key to Etherion — the ancient continent where skill books lay around in piles — was in Seo Hwarang's hands.
She was desperate. In her mind, Seo Hwarang was the last great opportunity that would ever cross her life. If she let this chance slip, she might miss the road to becoming an S-rank mage forever.
"I know. I know I'm weak right now."
Yoo Seon-ah clenched both fists.
"But I promise — if you help me just this once, if you just let me come with you to that continent... I'll be your rock-solid staff. We'll distribute skill books, build a guild... And honestly, you don't want the world finding out about you, right? That's why you dumped it on me last time — 'Yoo Seon-ah killed the Horned Bats.'"
"..."
"You know how hard those Management Bureau kids are watching me now because of that?"
Yoo Seon-ah was, unexpectedly, sharp as a tack. She had a keen eye for reading her own position fast.
"The Bureau will figure it out soon enough. They're no fools. It'll take them less than a month to work out I was bullshitting."
And if that happened? The Management Bureau would start suspecting Seo Hwarang again. Yoo Seon-ah had zeroed in on exactly that pressure point.
"I'll help you. I'll make sure you can read your skill books in peace, without the spotlight ever landing on you. I'll take that spotlight for myself."
"Hm."
Seo Hwarang's face registered surprise.
Was Yoo Seon-ah always this clever? He'd assumed she was just a dim-bulb he could vent his frustrations on. This time, her argument actually held water.
And honestly — crossing into an unknown continent called Etherion alone was a burden, truth be told. He did need a dependable ally he could watch his back. He was, frankly, a little scared.
Yoo Seon-ah is trustworthy. For one, she'd kept her mouth shut through all this time under Bureau suspicion — clearly discreet. Above all, she had the backbone and courage to stand up for the weak. The fact that such good connections had stuck by her side — connections willing to hand over a skill book like that — suggested she was a good person, too.
Well, yeah — she was a good person. Seo Hwarang knew that well enough. They'd worked at the same job site for two months, after all.
"..."
Seo Hwarang closed his eyes and deliberated.
How much time had passed like that?
"Phew. Fine."
A faint sigh escaped his lips.
"In exchange, from this moment on, you follow every decision I make. Understood?"
"Of course!"
Yoo Seon-ah shot up from her seat and shouted — shouting inwardly, too.
Woof!
She was ready to become Seo Hwarang's dog from this day forward. A loyal hound, barking on command.
"Unni."
"Hm?"
"How much do you have in total assets?"
A bench in the neighborhood park. The two of them held a strategy meeting.
"I've got exactly 10 million won. You?"
"...I've got 100 million. But if I want to spend it, I have to break my savings account."
"Whoa, you have that much?"
"...I'm an E-rank, you know. And that's not even a lot for an Awakener. I'm just obsessed with opportunities, that's all. People who run dungeons regularly or stay active in guilds have way more. Most of them own an apartment in the metro area at this point."
"Hmm."
Seo Hwarang stroked his chin, thinking. The original plan had been to jump straight into Etherion — they had plenty of coin, after all. The idea was to build experience and raise proficiency in the very place they were headed anyway.
But.
Getting there required a certain amount of living funds. Gold, silver... or at least miscellaneous junk they could sell off over there. He'd learned that at the magic guild — nothing was more miserable than being broke on a remote continent.
"That 3-million-won staff of mine only went for 4 coppers, remember? Junk items barely convert."
"Then what?"
"We buy gold."
Gold. Roughly 100 million won per kilogram. Since it would be spent in Etherion anyway, no certified gold bars were necessary — plain cast bullion would do.
"But it can't be just any gold. It has to be dungeon gold — the kind that goes into an inventory."
"That stuff costs more."
It functioned as a kind of certificate of authenticity. The explanation was convoluted, but it was the same principle as Korea Mint bars commanding a premium — the inventory guaranteed the metal was pure gold, no questions asked.
"Can't be helped. I tested it, and only things that go into an inventory can be carried over to Etherion."
Aside from the clothes on their backs, none of their everyday belongings could make the crossing.
"I looked it up — dungeon gold runs about 130 million per kilogram?"
"Ugh."
Expensive, as expected. Very expensive.
"Unni."
"Hm?"
"How big a loan can we get?"
"Depends on the bank, but you're an F, so maybe 50 million. I can pull up to 200 million."
Hm, so 360 million total? Buy about 2 kilograms of gold, put the rest into silver. That'd work.
"Let's max out both our loans."
"That far?"
"Did you forget? Every decision is mine to make."
"That's right."
Yoo Seon-ah scratched her head. Then she broke into a grin.
"Alright! Let's do it — go big!"
She'd just landed the opportunity of a lifetime — who cared about assets?! Debt was nothing! If she got stronger over there, it'd be that much easier to pay off anyway!
Might as well swing for the fences.