Not For Sale
The guild enjoyed a few days of peace after that single gate run. The bank account that had been scraping the bottom finally got a chance to breathe.
Out of sheer boredom, I swung the wooden sword a few times. After my first real battle, I wondered if anything had changed.
[Physical Output: 19%]
Oh! Up two whole percent?
Then maybe…!
I gave my clothes a quick tug upward, but the view was still the same flat, smooth Naju Plain.
“Hmm.”
Disappointed, I let the fabric fall back into place. This “output” thing didn’t seem to mean my body was actually growing.
Or did it? Maybe once it hit 100 percent there’d be some dramatic change?
Suddenly tall and… well, developed.
Hmm. Couldn’t really picture it. Still, it might be fun to watch!
“Heh…”
Anyway.
The guild’s peace started cracking that afternoon.
Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ng!
The office phone rang out of nowhere.
“Eek?! W-what’s that?!”
Nayeon, who had been lounging in her chair searching for work, shot upright in surprise.
Normally this guild phone rang once a day at most—usually spam or wrong numbers. But starting that afternoon…
Ring!
Ri-i-i-i-ng!
Three calls in the afternoon alone, after a quiet morning. Every time Nayeon picked up, the conversations followed a similar pattern.
“Yes, this is Saetbyeol Guild. Pardon? That little one… Ah, you mean our new recruit. Where exactly did you hear about—?”
With each call, Nayeon’s expression grew stiffer. She waved her hand in explanation, then finally set the receiver down with a weary click.
After the third call, she turned to Jihyun.
“Jihyun… People keep calling to ask about Byeori.”
Jihyun glanced at me over her glasses. The same worry she’d worn right after we left the gate had returned in full.
“…It spread.”
Her low murmur.
I knew exactly what she meant.
Laughing it off on Hunter Gallery as “that elementary-school kid” was one thing. Having industry people specifically track me down was another. Completely different.
Ordinary people could walk past without knowing who I was. But the ones in this world who could smell money from a mile away? They were different. One rumor about a B-rank monster taken down in a D-rank gate, and they’d dig through Association records until they found out exactly who did it.
And those records listed the three characters “Kang Byeori” along with Saetbyeol Guild… Even if we wanted to deny it, the evidence was already sitting proudly on the community boards…
“…Ugh.”
Same as when I was a sword. The moment my specs popped up in an auction catalog, the people who put prices on things would come crawling out of the woodwork.
My body had changed into a person, but the way those eyes looked me up and down hadn’t changed one bit.
It left a sour taste in my mouth.
*
Sure enough, the very next day one of them showed up at the office in person.
The man who opened the door looked completely out of place in this shabby little office. A perfectly pressed suit. A flashy watch on his wrist. The way he held out his business card at once told you he was a veteran of this world.
“Hello. I’m the sort of person who handles these kinds of matters.”
The title on the card was long and impressive, but it boiled down to one thing: a broker who sniffed out promising hunters, placed them in good guilds, and took a cut in the middle.
A familiar breed. Back when I was treated like scrap, these were exactly the people who shuffled me from guild to guild.
Smelled just like old times.
The moment he sat on the sofa, his eyes swept over me from head to toe.
Appraising eyes. The exact same look that had been fixed on me for three whole years.
So familiar I almost felt nostalgic.
“I’ve heard the rumors. A trainee hunter who casually took down a B-rank. My, seeing you in person makes it even more impressive. At your age, no less.”
The flattery rolled off his tongue. Nayeon’s shoulders lifted a little at the praise, only for Jihyun to elbow her in the side and make her stiffen again.
The man got to the point.
“Talent like this… ahem. Forgive me, but isn’t it a waste to keep it in such a tiny guild? I know some excellent places. Move her somewhere that can properly nurture her and her future will change completely.”
Such a tiny guild.
Nayeon’s eyebrows twitched.
Then the man held up a few fingers.
“A signing bonus of this much, right away.”
…Fifty million won? Just for a signing bonus?
“Once verification is complete, the transfer fee could easily reach hundreds of millions.”
My eyes, and Jihyun’s and Nayeon’s, all went wide.
“This would be the smart choice for both the guild and the child. How about it? Shall we go over the details?”
Of course, I’d been worth quite a bit in the beginning. After I became trash, though, I was treated like scrap metal. The new price tag made my fingertips tremble.
Honestly, I was tempted for a second.
Fifty million won would cover years of overdue rent. Jihyun’s account that she checked every day would jump straight to eight digits.
But only for a second.
That offer was a bluff.
He wasn’t actually planning to pay that much. You start high so the clueless mark bites, then the real haggling begins. Same trick sellers used at auctions. I’d watched it from the merchandise side often enough to know exactly how empty that fifty million was.
And more importantly, I had zero intention of being sold.
…I’d follow my master’s decision, of course, but still.
“…I’m not that strong.”
So I did something I’d never done in my life.
Lowered my own price. With my own mouth.
“Pardon?”
“That day was just dumb luck. Mhehehe… I can’t even hold a book properly.”
Honestly, I hadn’t expected it to work. Sure enough, the man wasn’t fooled.
“Come now, there’s such a thing as too much modesty. I’ve had these eyes for years. I’ve seen the gate assessment records and the photos.”
“…The photos, fine, but aren’t the assessment records Association data?”
“Oh, Secretary. With the right person, those things always find their way out. Paper has a habit of passing through human hands, after all.”
When I glanced at Jihyun, her face had gone pale.
The more this man dug into me, the more one thought must have been racing through her head: what if my true identity—the fact that I was an ego sword—got exposed?
Fortunately, the man hadn’t even guessed that far. He was just drooling over what he thought was an unidentified, ridiculously talented kid.
Ego sword, national-level weapon—those things were far beyond his imagination.
Of course. No normal person would look at the child in front of them and think “actually, that’s an ego sword.”
“……”
While the man kept sweet-talking the two of them, I sat quietly and listened.
Then he delivered what he clearly thought was the finishing blow.
“To be honest, leaving a gem like this buried in a crumbling guild like this is a sin against the child herself. Don’t you agree?”
The moment those words left his mouth—
“Not for sale.”
It was Nayeon.
The woman who always smiled so carelessly wore an expression I’d never seen before. She shot up from the sofa and pulled me behind her back.
“Our Byeori isn’t merchandise. She’s not something you buy or sell.”
“Guild Leader, this isn’t selling her—it’s for her future—”
“I said we’re not selling!”
The sharp shout made even the slick-looking man flinch.
Jihyun adjusted her glasses beside her and drove the point home.
“It seems you’ve misunderstood something. She isn’t in any position to sign formal contracts. The paperwork is complicated as well. I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing, but you should probably just leave.”
Every word was true. I was running on a fake identity the broker had slapped together; I wasn’t in any state to put my name on a proper contract. Even if I wanted to be sold, I couldn’t be.
But the funny part was…
“…Heh.”
Somehow, that fact made me oddly happy.
Listening to the two of them corner the man from behind me, I found myself thinking something else.
When I was a sword, I was always measured by price. And the strange thing was, every time the price went up, I didn’t feel good—I felt my heart drop.
A higher price meant a new owner who could afford to take me away. Rising value had always been the signal that I was about to be parted from someone.
Then came the lowest price of my life. Two hundred thousand won. Broken, discarded, valued by no one.
And the person who picked me up at that rock-bottom price gave me the best sofa in the house. The thickest blanket. Scraped together money for clothes and good food.
I’d worried she might change once she knew my real worth…
Yeah. I was glad.
I poked my head out toward the man and spoke.
“I don’t want to go.”
“…Kid, that’s not how this works—”
“I like it here.”
I’d tried to sound serious, but my cheeks puffed out on their own.
Well, whatever. As long as the meaning got across.
The man looked back and forth between me and the two women with an incredulous expression, then finally stood up. Still a broker to the end, he didn’t forget to leave a business card on the table.
“…If you change your mind, please call. Talent this precious shouldn’t be left to rot in a failing guild. It’s hard to manage, too.”
Merchandise.
With that, the man left the office.
Honestly, calling people merchandise right to the end?
Of course, in his eyes I probably looked like nothing but merchandise. A product worth fifty million won.
He wasn’t entirely wrong. I really had been merchandise once. Two-hundred-thousand-won scrap, at that.
After he left, silence returned to the office.
Nayeon was still fuming.
“What’s with that guy?! Treating people like objects! Our Byeori is so cute!”
…Her anger was aimed at a slightly off target again.
Jihyun flopped onto the sofa and let out a long sigh.
“…This is going to be a headache. If one of them latched on, more will follow.”
She glanced sideways at the still-fuming Nayeon.
“Haah…”
Half that sigh probably wasn’t about me.
Jihyun was probably right. After showing that kind of performance in the gate, people like him would keep showing up. Even without my ego-sword identity being revealed—just as a promising rookie with a bright future.
Nayeon stopped huffing, scooped me onto her lap, and held me close.
“…I’m not sending you anywhere. Not ever.”
Not ever…
Had that option ever existed in my life? Every owner acted like they’d keep me forever at first, but by the end…
“Twelve of them left. All of them went to better places.”
Nayeon’s voice was quieter than when she’d shouted at the man.
“That’s just how it is. I would’ve left a guild like this too.”
She scratched her cheek with a little laugh. The smile felt strangely hollow, and for a moment I couldn’t find words.
Nayeon. My new master.
Maybe the reason she’d treated me like family all this time wasn’t just because I was a precious ego sword…
Yeah. I thought I understood a little.
“…I’m not going.”
“Huh?”
“I said I like it here. You even gave me the best sofa.”
“……”
“So don’t make that face. It makes you look sad, Master.”
Nayeon stared at me blankly, then—
“Wha—?! Looking sad to you?! To your big sister?!”
Ah, noisy again.
Still, this was better.
I sat quietly on her bouncing lap and glanced at the business card left on the table.
Three flashy characters. Someday more cards like that would pile up. As I grew and my name spread, far more eyes would watch me and want me.
But no matter how much they offered, it wouldn’t matter.
Because there was no price in this world that could buy me anymore.
After being sold for two hundred thousand won, I sure had some nerve. But what could I do? I wanted to settle here now.
Ring.
“…Yes, Saetbyeol Guild. Pardon? The little one again…”
…And the phone rang twice more that evening alone.