Settling the Spoils
After clearing the D-class gate and stepping out,
“Thank you for your hard work, Hunter.”
President Baek was waiting as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“You’ve been here the whole time?”
“This is an agency, isn’t it? Of course I should be.”
Not every agency was like that, though.
In five years of hunter work, I had seen hunters under agency care. Almost none of them waited until a clear finished. Most agency staff showed up around the expected end time after handling other schedules. I had waited around more than once or twice myself for people dealing with monster byproducts after a clear, so President Baek’s proactive attitude genuinely surprised me.
“Would you like some coffee?”
“Iced Americano, please.”
“How pitiful, a hunter who doesn’t know the true glory of hot coffee.”
“······.”
“Someday I’ll show you the proper taste.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
“Right?”
Yeah, yeah. Sure, whatever you say.
I took a sip of the coffee in the plastic cup.
“Oh?”
Something was subtly different. Richer flavor than the commercial stuff, maybe.
“How is it?”
“It is a bit different.”
“If you drink it without the ice, you can taste the coffee’s true character more clearly.”
“During gate clears, give it to me cold.”
I got his coffee philosophy, but when you’re thirsty you can’t just gulp down something scalding, right?
“I’ll treat you properly when we have time to spare.”
Whew. He sure fixated on the strangest points.
“Shall we settle up, then?”
The support-team hunters dumped the mana stones onto the ground. Spoils from the magic soldiers and the undead.
C-class — 43.
D-class — 65.
Pure hunting yield, excluding clear rewards. Add the SS-class and SSS-class clear rewards on top of that and the numbers climbed even higher.
“One hundred twenty-three C-class. One hundred sixty-five D-class.”
My jaw dropped. How much would all this sell for?
President Baek whipped out a calculator and tapped the buttons in a rapid-fire staccato.
“Today’s market rate for C-class is about 2.4 million won.”
“2.4 million?”
“Yes. That’s below average, so it would be better to hold onto them for a bit.”
Why had the price suddenly spiked so hard?
Mana stone capacity doubled with each rank. D-class held twice what E-class did. Likewise, C-class stored twice the mana of D-class. That was why D-class stones traded at roughly double E-class prices… so why was C-class nearly five times higher?
“For energy generation, E-class and D-class are plenty.”
From C-class onward the buyers changed—item crafting, research, that sort of thing. The output they could release in a single burst was different; lower-grade stones simply couldn’t substitute.
I had never had a chance to get C-class stones before, so I hadn’t known.
“So I made three hundred million in a single day’s pay?”
“At today’s rates the profit comes to 382,878,300 won.”
Hundreds of millions. Just the other day I had been thrilled about the three hundred million I squeezed out of the Hwarang rookies by catching their weaknesses, and now I had earned even more.
Ah. Technically it really had been just the other day.
“That’s before tax deductions, so your actual take-home will be a little under 350 million.”
Same difference. Whether it was 390 million or 350 million, it was an astronomical sum the me of one week ago could never have dreamed of.
And this was only D-class. How much did A-class and higher hunters make in a month? I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“They don’t necessarily earn that much.”
“Why not?”
“They usually move in teams.”
Income split n ways. Hunters who challenged gates above their own rank were also extremely rare, he said.
“Once you hit A-class, you’re busy hunting for lower-ranked ones.”
“Isn’t a hunter a bit stronger than a monster of the same rank?”
“From A-class on, it’s different.”
Ogres. Liches. Basilisks. From the A-class bracket onward, enemies you couldn’t beat one-on-one—ones that required group tactics—became everyday fare.
“Sorry. I digressed a little.”
“No, no. Stories from that world are interesting too.”
So even the top hunters had their own headaches.
“Truly pathetic. Those with power have a duty to protect the weak.”
“I disagree with the iron-headed one on the details, but I agree it’s pathetic.”
Don’t say that. I might fall into a rut myself once I hit A-class.
“Those guys’ share is half?”
“What support team takes half? It’s ten percent.”
Ruthless as ever.
Next up: the items.
Grade: Rare
Type: Sword
Restriction: Warrior-class jobs
Durability: 560/600
A magic sword issued to magic soldiers. Focused purely on the blade’s inherent performance, with no special options—specialized solely in cutting and slashing.
◈ Sharpness magic permanently active
◈ Slash Lv 39
◈ Thrust Lv 39
The sword I obtained after taking down the magic soldier squad leader.
“How do we decide ownership?”
“You only need to pay the support team ten percent of the appraised value.”
No problem there. Who would use it was already decided.
“I prefer the sword you forged, my lord.”
“Just use this one.”
Romance or whatever—performance comes first, you know that, right? The bone blade made from orc thigh bone could snap at any moment and it wouldn’t be surprising. It wasn’t metal, so the durability was weak, and the edge dulled so fast I always had to sharpen it after every fight. I needed to cut down on my own workload a little, didn’t I?
“If you insist so strongly, my lord, I have no choice.”
I almost felt like I should get down and beg her to use a good item. Ugh. Sometimes I couldn’t tell whether I was leading subordinates or serving a master.
Grade: Magic
Type: Catalyst
Restriction: None
Durability: 37/50
A crystal capable of containing impure energy. Can be used as a medium for curses.
An item I picked up in the polluted tomb.
“It will be hard to find a buyer.”
“Figured as much.”
Dark mages who handled dark mana weren’t exactly common. I might be able to use it for undead crafting. Better keep it than sell it.
“Shall I book another gate for tomorrow?”
“No. I already arranged to talk with Mir Guild.”
I felt a little awkward saying it, but President Baek himself had told me to hear out offers from multiple guilds. Not my fault. Definitely not.
“Go take a look at your leisure.”
“You’re okay with that?”
“Well… I’d appreciate it if you gave it the same careful thought you did with Chilseong.”
“I’ll leave my seal with you.”
I tossed out the joke to put him at ease.
“You can leave your official seal with me if you like.”
He one-upped me. That was a joke, right? Right?
The day of my appointment with Yeondo, the landlord’s daughter, arrived.
“You don’t have to go out of your way for me.”
The very person who had brought it up in the first place was now fidgeting and reading the room.
“Just act normal. Like always.”
“What did I even do?”
“You said I smelled like an old man. Ugh.”
“Come on. The smell’s been better lately.”
“Really?”
The source of the smell Yeondo mentioned was the stench of undead corpses. Even with careful purification, you could never completely erase the corpse reek. Had I been handling fewer bodies lately? Between the armed zombie warriors and Sir Isra’s modifications, I hadn’t exactly been selective about the work, so it was strange.
Sniff, sniff.
“Did you put on cologne?”
“A man goes bare.”
“Ugh. That’s just bad manners to the people around you.”
“We’re not going on a date. Why would I spray perfume?”
While we bantered, a car rolled up the alley. A large sedan that reminded me of the Chilseong days. It stopped in front of my studio apartment; the door clicked open and a neatly dressed woman stepped out.
“Hunter Park Minho, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Hong Yuri, head of personnel at Mir Guild. Thank you for making time for us.”
Hmmmm. Chilseong had sent high-ranking people running barefoot. Well, I’d just chalk it up to Director—no, President—Baek being unique.
Yeondo and I climbed into the car and headed for Mir Guild headquarters in Yongsan-gu. A place I had often seen whenever I went to the Hunter Market. Being invited there felt strangely different.
“Hunter Park, if you don’t mind, would you like to observe Yeondo’s training?”
“Ah! It’s embarrassing to show Ahjussi…”
Yeondo startled. Apparently this hadn’t been discussed in advance.
“Student Kim Yeondo is one of Mir Guild’s promising prospects.”
“Why would you say something so embarrassing?”
Wow. That tomboy actually knew how to get shy. It was a first, and I couldn’t quite adjust.
Anyway. So Yeondo was treated pretty well at Mir. I knew she belonged to one of the domestic top five, but listening to the personnel director, she was clearly highly regarded.
“If Mir is fine with it, I’d like to watch.”
“Ah, why are you like this too, Ahjussi?”
“Getting a firsthand look at Mir Guild’s training process isn’t exactly a common opportunity.”
“How intriguing. An excellent chance to gauge the skill of talented prospects.”
“There will be children with talent for magic as well, yes?”
My summons were getting excited too.
“That’s Park Minho?”
“Pretty ordinary for someone who soloed a C-class boss monster.”
“I want to spar with him once.”
The whispers of the Mir Guild hunters slid straight into my ears. Competitive spirit. Jealousy. Envy. Unfiltered emotions of every kind pricked my skin.
Whoa. Exhilarating. In five years, had I ever received looks like these? I had bounced around as an E-class while people called me the weakest weapon. Things were different now. Standing in a place that gathered the country’s so-called talents and receiving gazes of envy and jealousy… I had to clamp down hard to keep my cheek from twitching.
“Alright, let’s begin!”
Yeondo entered the training ground, loosened up lightly, then tapped the floor.
Swiftness.
Fast. A speed that my senses, sharpened by Heavenly Martial Body, could only just barely track. It rivaled or even surpassed Sir Isra charging with Mana Release fully deployed.
Bang! Bababang!
Yeondo struck the targets at high speed and flashed past. Blue afterimages lingered along her path.
“What do you think, Sir?”
“A shining raw gem. Depending on how it is cut, it could radiate beautiful light.”
Oh. Unexpectedly high praise. So the “Mir Guild prospect” talk hadn’t been exaggeration. Well, with guild support she would probably do fine.
“There is room for improvement, but it seems it is not yet my turn to step in.”
She belonged to Mir Guild, after all. I could offer a word or two of advice later.
“How was it?”
“Impressive.”
I was talking about Yeondo’s skill more than the training process itself, though.
“Would Hunter Park like to experience our training course as well?”
Pride in their training regimen came through clearly. Well… I didn’t really feel any particular merit. Swordsmanship was far more effective under Sir Isra’s guidance, and for magic I only needed to train Fireball, so the training equipment wouldn’t help much. If I said that honestly she would be disappointed, right?
“My specialty is summoning.”
“Ah! You command undead familiars!”
“Training undead is a bit awkward, you know.”
“Yes, of course.”
The personnel director seemed to ponder for a moment, then added with an “Ah—”
“Then how about a light sparring match with guild members currently in training?”
Sparring, huh.
“Hahaha! An opportunity to personally verify their skills!”
Ugh. She was way too excited. I knew this would happen. From the moment we started watching the training she had been practically vibrating with eagerness through our link.
“Then may I make one request?”
“Anything at all.”
“Even a C-class boss monster felt manageable during the break.”
“D-does that mean you would like your sparring partners assigned as C-class hunters?”
“Wow, you read my mind perfectly.”
I beamed. Boring opponents just weren’t any fun.