The Price of a Ferrari
“Anyway, you’re not disappearing right away today!”
He asked, having only ever seen me get dragged off to Rackcho’s Blue Room.
Come to think of it, it had been a while since I’d entered Hwang Gyubeom’s floor.
“I have a bit of spare time these days. Usually, I’m quite busy because I have somewhere else to go right after.”
I couldn’t exactly say, I’m not being dragged off to Rackcho’s room immediately.
As I’ve mentioned before, while a Tower Merchant might not lie, a Wandering Merchant certainly does.
“That’s great! It’s nice to be able to have a calm conversation like this!”
Hwang Gyubeom chuckled for a moment before plopping down into a seat. I followed suit and sat down comfortably.
In the past, I had always tried to stand perfectly straight to avoid looking suspicious. It was out of a concern that if an NPC acted too much like a human, it would create a sense of dissonance. But not anymore.
Rackcho sits, lies down, and even stands on two legs in an adorable way, doesn’t she?
“By the way, Wandering Merchant!”
“Yes?”
“Are you Korean-born?”
“Pardon?”
As I tilted my head, Hwang Gyubeom continued.
“It’s been quite a while since you started appearing, but all the reports say you’ve only been seen in Korea. And you speak Korean, too!”
“I suppose it’s because my system settings are set to Korea.”
“Then does that mean you never appear in other countries’ Towers?”
“That’s a system restriction, so I can’t say.”
I invoked the ‘system restriction’ that Rackcho used whenever she found a question difficult to answer.
Come to think of it, things had been quiet abroad lately. Until a few days ago, the news was constantly filled with reports about how Korea was monopolizing the Wandering Merchant rabbit, with the US, China, and India all complaining. I usually just let it slide since the content was always a copy-paste job.
It had been a few days since I’d heard the closing segment where the Korea Hunter Association President wiped his shiny forehead with a handkerchief and said, “We are currently investigating the matter...”
‘It’s probably because of the Special Floors, isn’t it? It’s not quiet in a good way; it’s more like the calm before the storm.’
The Special Floors weren’t just about individual competition within a country; in a way, they felt like an international tournament. And the reason being number one in that tournament was so important was because of the Tower Effect applied to that country’s Tower.
Look at Korea this month alone.
Tower rewards increased by 15% for the whole month.
Even though Seo Ian’s hidden dungeon, which had a 10x multiplier, was treated as ‘foreign’ and didn’t get the 15% boost, the benefits were still massive. Just this alone would make other countries itch to talk about the ‘Kim Uju’ who suddenly appeared on the Special Floors.
‘The announcement for Seo Ian’s hidden dungeon was broadcast globally, wasn’t it?’
Seo Ian had seemingly scraped up every single ‘first’ title related to hidden dungeons. Not only did she suddenly take the number one spot on the Special Floors, but a hidden dungeon had also appeared in Korea? And on top of that, the rabbit only appeared in Korea?
There was no way they’d have anything nice to say.
People are naturally envious when their in-laws buy land. Human jealousy toward strangers is beyond imagination. But what if the value of that land skyrockets due to some incredible development? And on top of that, what if the stocks or coins that person bought are trending upward like crazy?
How would the person watching that feel? They might feel like their stomach is not just aching, but tearing apart.
‘And they’ll feel it even more during next month’s Special Floor season.’
What Team Leader Oh Wontaek had asked for was to maintain my domestic Special Floor ranker title. He probably meant for me to land within the top three, but since I’m doing it anyway, isn’t being number one better?
Strictly speaking, it’s a matter of pride and self-esteem. Moving from third to second is an honor, but falling from first to second feels like a crash.
That’s why I planned to spend all day entering only domestic Towers until at least the next Special Floor season.
Overseas Towers? I probably wouldn’t enter them unless there was a specific reason, right? I’d be busy enough raising my own team members and the A-rank or higher hunters in Korea.
The wind was starting to feel cool, as if autumn were approaching before long. It even felt cold enough to give me goosebumps once the sun went down.
How did a homebody like me know this fact? Well, is there any other reason? It’s because I was out and about right now.
Ah, to be specific, I wasn’t ‘out’ in the open; I had stopped by outside and was now in a café. It wasn’t an open-style café swarming with people, but a quaint, antique one with separate rooms.
“Uju!”
A gender-neutral voice pierced the silence and struck my ears. I, who had been performing a ritual with two vanilla lattes on the table, looked up to see the owner of the voice.
She looked great. Her eyes were sparkling with vitality, the exact same face she made when she encountered the rabbit inside the Tower. Perhaps that’s why I felt a sudden surge of emotion.
“You were here first?”
“Do you not realize that you’re late for our appointment, Hunter Seo Ian?”
I’ve heard that the standard response in this situation is a gentle smile accompanied by, “I just arrived myself.” But me today? I arrived 10 minutes early. And Seo Ian? She was exactly 44 minutes late.
Isn’t the feeling a bit strange? I felt like she was trying to mess with me... I mean, we came here to sign a contract, so was this her roundabout way of refusing?
No, didn’t we finish talking about everything back then? I had already bragged to Team Leader Oh Wontaek that I’d recruited Seo Ian.
“Sorry. I’m late, right? I had a bit of an accident.”
When I shot her a look, Seo Ian scratched the back of her head and gave me an apologetic look. No, if you do that suddenly, it makes me feel like I’ve said something harsh, doesn’t it?
And as if to prove that what she just said wasn’t an excuse, she sat down naturally across from me and held out her phone to show me a picture. It showed a piece of scrap metal where yellow and black were mixed together like clay.
“What is this?”
“My favorite Ferrari. But it’s gone now. It disappeared just a moment ago.”
Her tone was as if she were talking about someone else’s business. But she called this ‘a bit’ of an accident...? Did the dictionary definition of ‘a bit’ change without me knowing?
“What on earth did you hit to make the car end up like that?”
“A dump truck.”
My blue car that I hadn’t even driven yet. Should I switch to a dump truck or an SUV that feels a bit sturdier? It was a moment of deep contemplation.
Ah, but there was something I was more curious about.
“Are you okay, Hunter Seo Ian?”
The car ended up like that, and you’re a person softer than steel?
“Well. As you can see? I woke up right away, didn’t I?”
She opened her mouth slightly with her finger to show me. Just like when she doped inside the Tower, a capsule recovery potion was wedged between her molars and gums.
“Unfortunately, you weren’t by my side this time, so I survived on my own.”
“No, are you blaming that on me?”
“No way.”
“By the way, do you dope even in reality? What on earth for?”
“It’s not just me; don’t all A-ranks and above carry them when they go outside? It wasn’t like this before, but the scouts these days are incredibly rough.”
“Wow. But you reacted to that? In reality, none of the stats applied inside the Tower work, right?”
“You try being targeted by those scout bastards. The moment you think, ‘Huh?’, you end up breaking one just to be safe, you know? I don’t know how lucky we are that guns aren’t legal in South Korea!”
Seo Ian, who said that, suddenly wrinkled her nose as if she were shivering, then picked up the iced vanilla latte on the table.
“Is this mine?”
“Yes. And this is yours, too, Ms. Seo Ian.”
I returned her phone, which I had unintentionally been holding onto for a moment.
“Oh, fully charged. Very nice!”
Whether she was happy to see her phone after a long time, she turned it this way and that.
“If I sign the contract, can I keep getting my battery charged inside the Tower from now on?”
“Of course. Anyway, the contract terms are exactly as I said before.”
I handed her the documents I had prepared. I would provide priority support whenever my team members looked for me inside the Tower. So, if I got a message, I just had to finish what I was doing quickly and run over there. And the team member... would unconditionally follow my instructions when acting as a team. And for Seo Ian specifically, a clause was added that she would provide me with experience potions.
As she read the contract carefully, she glanced up and looked at me.
“If there’s anything you don’t like about the content, tell me now.”
“No way.”
...Why is she so compliant? That question lasted only a moment. I had a hunch.
“But do you not need to go to the hospital?”
It was clearly the aftermath of a car accident. The car was totaled, but her?
Even if she looked fine on the outside, it seemed clear that something was wrong on the inside.
“I broke a high-grade recovery potion, so I’m fine. And if something were wrong, I would have gone already. But I have a question.”
“Feel free to ask.”
“Does ‘unconditionally follow instructions’ mean if you tell me to die, I have to die?”
Seo Ian giggled playfully, but I felt wronged.
“No, why are you saying such terrible things all of a sudden? There’s no way I’d tell a precious team member to jump into a pit of fire, right? I never make anyone do anything dangerous!”
I said with emphasis. That was because I was confident. Of course, it wasn’t because I was experienced, but because the Special Strategy Team was in charge of the Special Floors. The Special Floors were just annoying because damage didn’t register, but there was no risk of dying. The orders I would give would be target changes for damage distribution or decisions on priorities for efficient clearing. It wasn’t like, ‘Jump into danger and sacrifice yourself!’
“Oh? Is that so? But I’m good at that kind of thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jumping into a pit of fire.”
“Eh?”
“I’m a total veteran. Giggle!”
I wondered what kind of crazy talk that was, but as I listened further, she said Seo Ian’s job before becoming an Awakened was a firefighter. I saw her in a new light. Wasn’t her fiery personality a defense mechanism learned instinctively because she was always exposed to danger? I felt like all her actions were becoming somewhat understandable.
“Oh, come on. I told you, that kind of thing won’t happen.”
I told her it wouldn’t. Honestly.
“Yeah. If our benefactor tells me to do it, I have to do it!”
A surprisingly compliant response. It was actually more unsettling because she was acting like this. I thought Seo Ian would throw a fit and add all sorts of conditions. Was she thinking something else inside?
I didn’t want to know other people’s inner thoughts, so I didn’t like using it much in reality, but I activated my ‘Hawk’s Eye’ while pretending I wasn’t. This was important information.
I was stunned for a moment, then soon, ‘Oh. Is this the power of being a benefactor?’ I reached that conclusion. It seemed that throwing her the debuff removal potion in the hidden dungeon had earned me quite a lot of favor. Well, if it were me, and someone helped me in that situation, I could treat them like a brother for life. But a brother...?
“Ah. Hunter Seo Ian.”
“Yeah?”
“You know I’m older than you, right?”
“Uh...”
Seo Ian stared at me blankly as if lost in thought. Then, she finally asked my age.
“How old are you?”
“I’m 28.”
“Is that so? Then you really are older than me.”
“That’s right!”
“But so what?”
That’s what I thought. Shattering expectations like this is Seo Ian’s charm.
“No, you spoke informally from the first time we met, so I wasn’t sure if you knew.”
“Ah. You want to hear our benefactor use honorifics? Should I do it? If our benefactor wants it, why wouldn’t I be able to do that much?”
Seo Ian said that while speaking informally. She even giggled. Forget it. It’s not like I’m begging for a favor. I suddenly didn’t want to hear it.
“Just... ha, never mind. Instead, please get the title right.”
“Oppa?”
“Team Leader!”
“Got it!”
And as a bonus, we decided to speak informally to each other. She said it was uncomfortable that she found out I was older than her, but she was still speaking informally while I used honorifics.
“Ah, but Team Leader! If you need experience potions, who are you trying to raise? In my opinion, you’re not in a position to...”
Seo Ian suddenly put her hand on her chin and tilted her head. She stared at me and asked. She didn’t say it in detail to the end, but she gave off the nuance of, ‘Aren’t you in a position where you need to take care of yourself first?’ And since that was true, I felt a sudden surge of emotion. Because people naturally get angry when they hear the truth.
“I’m going to use them.”
“Yeah. That looks like it.”
And a moment of silence. Ian, who had been thinking deeply about something, suddenly hit her palm with her fist as if she had realized something, then said something strange.
“Is that why you’ve turned to the dark side?”
What on earth was that supposed to mean?