Chapter 52
Chapter 52
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Baekya Guild Transaction
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A week later, at Baekya Guild.
Having finally gotten my hands on the mount I'd been longing for, I took a full week to recuperate without a care in the world before heading straight to Baekya Guild to turn it into cash.
I'd decided to meet first with Ayoung's mom, the guild master herself, to sell off the phoenix materials I'd gotten from Leghorn after converting them into magic stones.
On one hand, I was the daughter's trainer. On the other, I was an agent carrying out Guild Master Shin Somi's secret missions.
“How's your body holding up?”
“All good. Anyway, could you handle these for me? I want to offload some D-grade and E-grade magic stones… That cool?”
“Sure. But supply's been high lately, so prices have tanked. You okay with that?”
“Doesn't matter to me. I'm not in stocks or anything, and I'm not the type to sweat the details.”
I had nothing but respect for folks in finance.
Sure, I'd dabbled around with about ten million won on investments and stocks out of peer pressure and curiosity, only to lose it all—and I'd never touched it since.
Either way, market prices be damned; I decided to just sell.
“So, how many D-grade and E-grade stones?”
“One thousand D-grade, two thousand two hundred E-grade.”
“…Pardon?”
“One thousand D-grade, two thousand two hundred E-grade.”
She must not have caught it, so I repeated myself.
I'd dumped every bit of the 28,600 points left over from the Slaughter King shop after the 20,000-point exception into E- and D-grade magic stones, so the sheer volume was inevitable.
Guild Master Shin Somi's face filled with shock as she stared at the mountain of stones piled up in the corner of the office.
“Wh-where… did you even… get all these?”
“Traded for 'em.”
“Even so, this amount isn't normal. You've cleared D-grade dungeons yourself—you know that.”
“But don't decent-sized guilds run multiple teams to handle that?”
“…Take a look at this.”
What she handed me was the guild's monthly financial report.
Talk was cheap, but one piece of hard evidence spoke volumes.
In the past month, Baekya Guild had sold just 230 D-grade stones to the association?
“There was the Jeong Min-su subjugation mess as a wildcard, but on average, we gather about 200 to 300 D-grade stones a month from dungeon clears. After the subjugation, we lost two-thirds of our manpower. We're hiring again now, but we still haven't gotten full teams up and running.”
“Huh? You guys hit dungeons way less than I thought.”
The report detailed each team's dungeon clears, consumables, medical bills, insurance—everything.
Seeing it laid out made me realize just how clueless I was about guild realities… and how boneheaded I'd been.
'Yeah, a D-grade hunter tackling a D-grade dungeon must feel like me facing an S-grade.'
Putting it in those terms, the bizarre low clear count suddenly made sense.
Even I had won against an S-grade but ended up sidelined for a week with injuries.
Regular hunters lived with that kind of fight and risk every day.
It all clicked—the supply and trade volumes.
“I'm really sorry. I had no idea about the real world out there.”
“Better late than never.”
It drove home once more how shallow my knowledge was, with such clear limits.
I bowed deeply to her in apology and started gathering up some of the magic stones I'd dumped on the floor without thinking.
So how the hell was I supposed to sell the rest?
“We'll buy up to what the guild can handle, but for the leftovers, use other channels. To stabilize our finances, we'll sell off some reserves under that pretext. Max we can trade is around 300 D-grade and 500 E-grade.”
“I'd appreciate that.”
Even so, after that, I'd still have 700 D-grade and 1,700 E-grade stones left.
Not to mention one SS-grade and two S-grade stones—how to unload those?
“What's 300 and 500 come to combined?”
“Lemme see. At current rates… about 3 billion won. Taxes are the issue, though…”
“Then just take a billion. Selling under Baekya's name bumps total sales, which hikes taxes even more on top of the sales tax.”
I only needed enough to live comfortably—no greed here.
Sure, more would be nice, but making Baekya Guild suffer taxes just so I could pocket extra? That'd be absurd, downright unethical.
This much merit was the price of keeping my secrets.
“Thank you for understanding.”
“I might be clueless on guilds, but taxes? I know 'em cold. Sigh~ Gotta find separate sales routes next time, though.”
“The proper way would be to register as a hunter officially and get rated…”
“Nope, hard pass.”
I shut that ridiculous suggestion down flat.
Emphatically, at the end.
Even if the world ended, this conviction of mine wouldn't budge.
“…Then the moderate Scavenger route it is.”
Catching my drift, she dropped the hunter talk and pivoted elsewhere.
Man, chatting with her was stress-free. If it'd been another guild master or some fake-normal type, I'd be getting lectures or scheming bullshit by now.
'Moderate Scavenger, huh? To outsiders, yeah, that fits. Makes sense when you think about it.'
Moderate Scavengers: Awakeners who couldn't or wouldn't become hunters—or did but hit issues and refused to side with Demons. They didn't bow to government, association, or guilds, but hated the idea of civilization falling to Demons or Constellations, so they hid their powers, lived as normals, or spied for humanity.
“Guess I've already stepped onto that path.”
“Problem is you haven't tapped into the Scavenger world yet. They use magic stones as currency, so keep that in mind. I'll bring cash tonight.”
“Ah, right! Yeah! Bank transfers could flag issues. I'll head out then.”
The talk ran long, but I scored extra intel.
From 'just hide and live moderately' to discovering the moderate Scavenger path—and realizing I still had tons to learn about hunter realities.
Plenty to mull over.
“Oh, one more thing! For now, no fake party members when hitting dungeons. Leave records. Association and guilds are desperate hunting that Golden Knight tagged as a Demon.”
“Ah! Got it. Thanks for the tip! Whew~”
Another headache piled on.
No fake parties for a while meant solo dungeon runs were off-limits.
Damn! Gotta grind to level 45, and now this?
A sigh escaped as I left the guild.
“Haa~ Guess I need a real party after all?”
Baekya had ways to find party members, but with identity cover as priority, it was riskier than randos you could ditch if needed. If Baekya folks sniffed me out, cleanup would suck.
'No way that'll happen. Suspicions about me aren't fully cleared anyway, and outsiders tracking could drag them into it…'
Best to steer clear of the guild. Public parties it was.
Where to next? The northern front was locked down—no dungeon raids till the association sorted recovery, defenses, and rescue teams.
'Only spot left? Sangeojeong's turf in Neo-Gangnam?'
Big orgs like corps, guilds, nations, even restaurants always had small fry alongside giants.
Same for Constellations.
Evil-aligned ones had world-shakers like Slaughter King and Eternal Wrath, but also puny ones stirring just a neighborhood.
'Hmm, other D-grades mean traveling regions—no choice.'
Seoul looked safe, but minus Slaughter King's direct threat, decades of effort had cleared most dangerous dungeons and monster nests.
Sangeojeong, being a Constellation, barely hung on under Neo-Gangnam.
Skip that, and you're out of region—no options.
'Neo-Gangnam, huh? Sigh~ Never been my whole life… Wonder if I can even get in.'
I gazed at the massive Special Fortress of Neo-Gangnam in the distance.
Home base for Seoul Guild and residence for Korea's top 0.5%—fat cats, politicians, rich wives. Built during the Grandmaster crisis shaking national safety, when Seoul elites and mayor-linked hunters formed Seoul Guild.
'Officially an excuse as Seoul Guild's fortress HQ, but really…'
Yeah, really—a safe haven to survive even if Korea fell.
Outsiders trashed Seoul Guild as 'Neo-Gangnam Guild,' the fortress as elite bunker. Protests screamed 'Is this a democracy?' But they bulldozed ahead.
Born from distrust that state and society wouldn't protect them, even government and association couldn't complain much.
'Anyway, Seoul Guild exploded in power unprecedentedly.'
Started when Seoul mayor and Neo-Gangnam elites rallied anti-gov hunters: 'Self-defense for Seoul only!'
Backed by mayor and citizens, rocketed to top 3 guilds.
No Constellation backing! Pure human grit.
'Amazing, but… problems galore.'
Biggest? Ignored everything but Seoul and Neo-Gangnam safety.
Poured cash and politics into their turf, no patron Constellation, so obsessed with top hunter recruitment.
Why a problem?
'They only care for Seoul but suck up high hunters from everywhere.'
Huge perks, sure.
Join Seoul Guild? Instant Neo-Gangnam residence quals. Just defend Seoul/Neo-Gangnam and level-grind dungeons—easy gig.
No main Constellation meant top pay and benefits among big 3.
'No wonder everyone's dying to join. Proof? Most A-grades there.'
S-grades tough without multi-Constellation blessings—only 2. But A- and B-grades? Seoul led.
Worst issue: Entitled pricks everywhere, drunk on privilege, half-insane.
“Hey, taxi. What's with that guy? Awakener vibe? Show your status card. Hmm~ E-grade hunter? What're you doing here?”
“Came for Sangeojeong dungeons. Heading to the hunter office~”
“Can't let trash like you through—blocks roads, panics the residents. Go around the outskirts.”
'Whoa, heard rumors online, but this…'
Reality topped imagination—insane.
Checking a passenger's ID willy-nilly was wild, but detouring for residents' comfort? Mind-blowing gall.
No choice, though—I paid extra fare and looped around.