Making Money

The contrast between her sleeping face — utterly unaware of anything — and the pubic hair below sent a massive surge of excitement through him.

But as novel as the transformation of her pubic hair was, his curiosity about the Rare grade had swollen just as large. At the same time, a question nagged at him: did he actually have to equip the gear after crafting it?

As if to put the doubt to rest, a new alert bloomed in front of his eyes.

"Ah, I see."

So that was the system's angle — unlock more expensive, better ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gear and keep developing the ability. He probably would have done it anyway just because it was fun, but he was almost grateful it was throwing in extra motivation to keep using the power.

Still, he felt a little sorry for her. As he wondered whether he ought to leave the equipment on, another alert appeared.

If it's going this far with the alerts, it probably wants me to leave the equipped gear on her and not take it off.

He'd grown genuinely interested in this ability, so Minwoo had no intention of going against what the system wanted. If anything, he'd play along. He decided then and there that he would always keep at least one newly crafted piece of equipment equipped on her, and resolved to handle this particular dilemma the same way from now on.

Next, since he'd bought extra materials in case of failure, he took another set in his hands and silently recited the equipment name once more. If it worked, great. If not, he'd try again later.

The materials crumbled into powder and vanished again — same appearance, same grade, same name. It was Common, identical to the last one. Just in case, he tried equipping the extra piece as well. Duplicate equipping wasn't allowed; it simply replaced whatever was already on. Her pubic hair didn't look any different. Making multiple copies of the same equipment didn't seem to strengthen it, either.

He was a little disappointed, but he'd already paid for the materials, so he crafted the remaining eight as the same piece.

Then, on the sixth craft, he saw the materials in his hands crumble into powder with a slightly different light. Wondering if he'd imagined it, he waited out the crafting time.

Time passed.

"Whoa!"

He checked his inventory, half-disbelieving, and found a piece of equipment with a slightly different name. He'd thought it was his imagination when the light had looked off, but it had been real. And the rush of pleasure that hit him the instant it finished crafting was no ordinary sensation — a difference so distinct he could tell by instinct that this was nothing like the Common pieces. He wanted to craft another one just to feel that high again.

Without even properly reading the name, he saw that Common had become Rare and equipped it on the spot. Then, examining the name of the equipment now on her more closely, he confirmed that the end of it had changed.

"Holy shit."

How the hell did a single piece of equipment — made from nothing more than goblin claws — triple her HP?

Amazingly, her pubic hair had already updated in real time. The coarse, dark hairs still sprouted from her crotch like mechanical pencil leads, much as before — but now it looked as though a thicker bush had been forcibly waxed away and then forgotten. The skin around it was slightly stained, a shade darker than the rest, the way skin discolors from frequent hair removal. Set against her pretty, clean, luminous complexion, the contrast was even more striking.

It looked like it would sting if you ran a hand across it. You could feel the scratchiness just by looking. And the heart-shaped patch nestled among those short hairs had turned crimson, as if someone had taken a dye to it.

He was speechless. So that's what the crimson heart tagged beside the name had meant. Worse, from the roots out to about half a centimeter, the heart-shaped hairs were still black — undyed for exactly the same length as the surrounding pencil-lead stubble. The finish was so perfect that anyone who saw it would have no choice but to conclude she'd dyed her pubic hair. It practically reeked of malice.

He tried equipping the Common versions as well, wondering if the slightly different names would allow it, but no luck. So that's what "only one of the same type" meant. Instead, a message floated up before his eyes.

So it even blocks equipping multiple pieces at once.

One a day was pretty disappointing, but he could barely contain the excitement as he went on to craft the rest of the materials. Common, of course. Common.

"Oh."

On the last one, another Rare came out. That electrifying rush was addictive enough that he almost wondered if the system wanted him to keep crafting just to chase the high. He was exaggerating a little, of course — it was a bearable kind of pleasure. But the name was slightly different again.

The fact that even the pubic hair color was a gacha roll was hilarious. He applied it immediately, and the crimson shifted to white. Set against the discolored skin and the thick black hairs, the white patch looked incredibly vulgar.

Still, hearts look better in red. I'll sell the white one.

Thinking the Rare drop rate was better than expected, he didn't stop there — he got up to head back to the materials shop. He simply could not stand not knowing the sale prices. Once again he walked past the shop putting on his best casual act, checking the numbers as he went.

"Hhk—!"

For a moment he almost doubted his own eyes. Even a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠creative economy would have a hard time pulling off a miracle like this. He'd already thought the performance was absurd, but the fact that Unique Equipment usable by only one person could sell for this much was astonishing. The sell window didn't display colors or any other distinguishing features, either, so he'd need to get in the habit of checking carefully before he sold.

He dumped everything in an instant. Excluding the one Rare equipped on her, eight Commons and one Rare went for 110 Silver.

Just a few hours ago he'd been shaking over a 130,000-won debt of 1 Silver and 300 Copper. Now, in a flash, he'd paid it all off and made eleven million won on top of that. Remaining balance: 108 Silver, 700 Copper.

Minwoo decided then and there that he should quit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his part-time job tomorrow.

I just have to keep making equipment and selling it. That's it.

He could even move to a well-developed district within a Tower's jurisdiction and live doing nothing but this, over and over. The only catch was converting these coins — usable only in the Tower and the status window — into real-world cash. Until he could do that, he couldn't live comfortably. That was the biggest problem.

In movies and dramas, people always found brokers who'd convert the money no problem. He, on the other hand, figured he'd get scammed the second he went looking, or get caught and end up in prison.

I'll have to keep the part-time job until this is solved.

He reined in the urge to quit on the spot and headed back home. Then a new alert appeared before his eyes.

"Hmm."

He'd skimmed it in the manual, but it hadn't specified how the information would actually appear. Apparently intel on Minwoo would be revealed to her like a game of twenty questions, but it didn't say whether she could ask her own, which left things uncomfortably vague. If something important came out, he'd be caught immediately. If not, she might never find him. Honestly, it was entirely up to the system.

If he got caught, he wouldn't get rich — he might go to prison. He didn't know how the information would come out, but it seemed designed to motivate the target to keep climbing the Tower, giving her a reason to search for the cause of her body's changes so she wouldn't give up.

But what happens if I get caught later and I just tell her I can't change her back?

The truth was, he wasn't that afraid of her coming after him. What scared him was other factors interfering along the way. He wouldn't actually kill her — but if he ended up in prison, or lost all the money he'd made, what would be the point?