Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Black Market Deal
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Lee Jun-chul let out a sigh as he checked the ledger in the office.
The number of transactions over the past two months had plummeted ridiculously compared to before.
It was a problem caused by the major guilds monopolizing monster hunts, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Damn bastards."
Hunters affiliated with major guilds only traded through the association or with merchants contracted to their guilds.
In such circumstances, organizations operating in the shadows naturally faced extinction.
To escape this quagmire, they had no choice but to join hands with a guild.
But no guild would ever deal with an organization that lived off illegal activities.
At this rate, he might have to drastically cut staff at the office.
"Brother, I'll go do some business."
Hearing his subordinate's words, a faint color returned to Lee Jun-chul's face.
In this slump, a subordinate who steadily brought in results was an incredibly valuable asset.
"Is it that guy you said you'd trade with together?"
"Yeah. He says he won't trust anyone but me, so he calls me out every day. I'm swamped."
"Don't complain and treat him well. He's a precious customer."
"Yes, sir."
After the subordinate replied energetically and left the office, another one shortly stood up from his seat.
"I'll go do some business too!"
Confirming that the one who spoke was Jo Hyeong-il, the subordinate in charge of odd jobs, Lee Jun-chul showed blatant disappointment.
"Yeah... go ahead."
"Brother, isn't the reaction way too different?"
"The guys who contact you on your line are all small-time losers. What can I do?"
The number Jo Hyeong-il handled was distributed only to low-tier hunters who seemed like they'd sell their organs just to make ends meet.
Occasionally, they might trade a monster corpse if they got lucky, but such cases were extremely rare.
Even if it happened, the scale was so small it was barely pocket change.
"This time's different, Brother."
"Different? How?"
As Jo Hyeong-il spoke with a beaming smile, Lee Jun-chul started to take a bit more interest.
"He wants to sell monster corpses. Fifteen goblins' worth."
"What?"
Lee Jun-chul unwittingly raised his voice and stood from his seat.
"He isn't trying to sell us rat-poison stuff even the guild guys gave up on, is he?"
If it was goblins so mangled you couldn't tell if they were originally goblins or giant green rice cakes, then selling fifteen at once made sense.
But Jo Hyeong-il shook his head side to side, denying Lee Jun-chul's guess.
"He says they're intact except for busted heads."
"Why sell that to us?"
"Brother, you can't say that... You planning to shut down shop?"
"No, it just doesn't make sense logically."
No matter how he thought about it, trading pristine corpses with an illegal outfit like theirs instead of the association was bizarre.
"Looks like I need to go with you."
"Huh? Brother, didn't you say you were pissed off and heading out early today?"
"Shut up and tell me the meetup spot."
As Lee Jun-chul grabbed his coat, he continued.
"Have the idle guys go ahead and stand by."
"You're gonna dunk him if he's bluffing?"
"You call that something to say? We gotta teach him what happens if he messes with us."
* * *
The trade time set by Jo Hyeong-il and the client was 4 p.m.
It was just past 2 p.m., right after lunch, so preparing now meant they wouldn't be late.
Following Lee Jun-chul's orders, his men rushed to the site ahead and hid in inconspicuous spots.
The abandoned underground parking lot made for a perfect trade spot with plenty of places to hide.
While the subordinates held their breath behind cars and pillars, Lee Jun-chul and Jo Hyeong-il arrived on scene.
And the trade partner who had contacted Jo Hyeong-il appeared right on time.
Seeing Kang Jin-hyuk's face, Lee Jun-chul snorted inwardly.
'Looks decent enough, but total newbie.'
He stood with his back straight and shoulders squared, exuding confidence, but that only made Kang Jin-hyuk seem more green.
To Lee Jun-chul's eyes, it looked like a herbivore puffing itself up to bluff.
'This guy's got fifteen goblin corpses?'
It didn't look like something he'd hunted and earned himself at first glance.
Lee Jun-chul figured a rookie like this couldn't have dodged the major guilds' eyes to hunt that many goblins.
So the moment he saw Kang Jin-hyuk, he jumped straight to demands.
"Can we check the goblin corpses first?"
Kang Jin-hyuk looked taken aback at the greeting-skipping demand.
'Is this how trades usually go?'
Rude, but not an unreasonable request.
Regaining his composure, Kang Jin-hyuk pulled goblin corpses one by one from his inventory as requested.
As the corpses piled up in the center of the parking lot, Lee Jun-chul and Jo Hyeong-il's expressions changed.
Lee Jun-chul had been half-doubting, so seeing genuinely pristine goblin corpses shocked him.
"There, fifteen, right?"
No need to count with fingers.
Exactly fifteen goblin corpses lay neatly in the parking lot.
"...How much did you have in mind?"
Since the other side was a real client, not joking, Lee Jun-chul had to get serious too.
As haggling began, Kang Jin-hyuk stated the price he'd planned.
"Including the magic stones, how about 5 million won per goblin."
"Hmm... The head damage is too severe, so 3 million should suffice."
"Come on, who uses goblin heads? Their ugly mugs are too smashed up for even decoration."
"Kekeke..."
Jo Hyeong-il burst out laughing unwittingly, then cleared his throat awkwardly under Lee Jun-chul's gaze.
"Then 3.5 million."
"4.5. I won't go lower."
Knocking off just 500,000 per made it a whopping 7.5 million off for fifteen.
Kang Jin-hyuk had no intention of taking further losses.
With all these organizations doing this business, selling at a big loss would just make him a sucker.
Lee Jun-chul caught on to Kang Jin-hyuk's mindset.
Inexperienced in trades, Kang Jin-hyuk's inner thoughts showed plainly in his actions and eyes.
Lee Jun-chul didn't miss those cues and read his intentions.
"Fine."
Truth be told, the goblin corpses Kang Jin-hyuk brought were top-grade, worth 6 million each without loss.
Snagging fifteen for 4.5 million was a huge win for the organization.
"I'll take them all at the 5 million you first asked."
Jo Hyeong-il jumped in shock at Lee Jun-chul's words.
He rushed over with a panicked face and whispered.
"What are you doing, Brother? Why raise the price when he was cutting it himself?"
"You stay out of it."
Lee Jun-chul pushed Jo Hyeong-il aside.
He knew volunteering a higher price was foolish.
But he had his reasons.
"I'll buy at 5 million, but could you tell me where you got these, customer?"
"...I came here because they said you don't need to share that stuff."
"Oh, no, we're absolutely not trying to cause you trouble. We'd guarantee your secrecy. Just asking for reference."
Lee Jun-chul wanted to know if it was dumb luck or if he'd scouted a spot himself.
If he'd snagged a monster hotspot like this without the major guilds noticing, Kang Jin-hyuk was no small fry.
Though his looks didn't scream veteran.
"Not really keen on sharing."
Lee Jun-chul nodded as Kang Jin-hyuk flatly refused.
"I see, can't be helped then."
He feigned disappointment outwardly.
But Kang Jin-hyuk's refusal was exactly the answer Lee Jun-chul wanted.
If it was pure luck, he couldn't not share the spot.
He'd know better than anyone there was no guarantee of repeating the luck.
Hiding the info meant there was still potential for more.
Unaware of Lee Jun-chul's scheming, Kang Jin-hyuk asked.
"So since I can't answer, 5 million's off the table?"
"Right. Even highballing it, 4 million's the limit."
Lee Jun-chul wore a faint smile.
Getting the info didn't mean he had to drop the haggle.
Info secured, price beaten down.
Why show goodwill when he could catch both rabbits?
If he wanted to play nice, he wouldn't have chosen this line of work.
"Hmm..."
"No need to overthink it. You won't get more than our offer anywhere else."
Lee Jun-chul spoke confidently, but Kang Jin-hyuk had no way to confirm without checking.
Annoying as it was, better than eating millions in losses to close the deal.
"I'll think it over some more."
Kang Jin-hyuk politely declined and packed up the goblin corpses.
As the corpses lining the parking lot vanished back into inventory one by one, Lee Jun-chul's conflict deepened.
'Just give him what he wants?'
The quality and quantity made it too good to lose here.
But backing down now would cede control in future deals.
Sacrifice for the long game, or grab the big win now?
Lee Jun-chul hesitated between the choices.
'Yeah. If another outfit snags him, we're in deeper shit.'
The moment Lee Jun-chul steeled himself to offer Kang Jin-hyuk's price.
One of his men came sprinting from the parking lot entrance, face pale as a ghost, shouting.
"M-M-Monster appeared, Brother!!"
"What?! That possible?"
Monsters that countless hunters hunted desperately showing up here of all places was hard to believe.
Lee Jun-chul realized he'd overlooked one fact amid the goblin corpses.
'These corpses lured the monster!'
Using large quantities of monster corpses to attract others was a tactic the major guilds had tried.
Success rate under 10%, so they scrapped it as unprofitable, but it worked.
"Talk about rotten luck."
He hadn't imagined they'd hit that 10%.
Too unexpected; by the time he realized, it was too late.
Seeing one monster enter from the entrance and another from the exit, Lee Jun-chul and his men panicked.
"Or-Ork!?"
"Contact the association quick! We're all dead!"
"Already did, fuck!"
How long could normals hold out against orcs until association hunters arrived?
Two orcs, needing at least two B-rank hunters to take down.
One slip, and limbs could fly faster than instant ramen cooks.
"You're the hunter, right? Do something!"
Startled by Lee Jun-chul's shout, Kang Jin-hyuk jumped.
"What am I supposed to do?"
He'd leveled up some in the labyrinth, but Kang Jin-hyuk was still level 15.
Far from B-rank, barely past D-rank; no way he could handle orcs.
But the orcs had no mercy for his circumstances.
The two charged at Kang Jin-hyuk, closest to the goblin corpses, roaring.
"Uwaaaah!?"
The tank-like orcs swung their clubs with explosive power from their massive builds.
One full-force hit from those clubs, and he'd be ground meat, not a corpse.
But against everyone's expectations, Kang Jin-hyuk emerged unscathed.
Clang!
A red baseball bat auto-ejected from his inventory, deflecting the orc's club and flying into Kang Jin-hyuk's hand.
As if saying, use me if you want to live.