The Rune Business (1)

YooBaek City. The training grounds.

Kaang! Kaang!

The clash of hammer against anvil sent the ring of steel echoing in every direction.

"Everything going well?"

At Baek Jinwoo's question, Lund let out a hearty laugh.

"Hah hah hah! So ye've come, have ye! Hmm... 'going well' might be a bit of a stretch, I'd say. We're a mite short on materials. But I'm content enough just to be swinging this old hammer of mine! Heh heh heh!"

Broken runes and raw materials were lined up in rows all around him.

His proficiency?

Still Lv.1. Hmm.

It wasn't what he'd expected. More than a week had passed since the agreement with the major guilds, and yet the skill still hadn't touched Lv.2.

'Seems they haven't caught on yet.'

Players not feeling the appeal — fair enough. Lund's crafting success rate of 0.1% probably played its part, too. More precisely, they likely just had no idea how to put the dwarf to use.

"For now, I'll give you some materials. Take these first."

Clatter-clatter-clatter!

Baek Jinwoo opened his inventory and poured out the monster-drop materials he'd been hoarding from the Saturday dungeons — everything he'd stockpiled instead of selling, ever since his days grinding the lowest-tier runs on repeat.

"Hwoargh? Wh-what is all this!"

Lund let out a shriek of pure delight.

"Use these to make me some top-grade Strength Runes. Stats: Strength, Agility, Critical Rate, and Bonus Critical Damage."

Strength Runes. A rune that maximized the power governing a summon's damage output ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— the most well-rounded form of graduation rune a summon could currently equip.

There was just one flaw. Strength Runes from the day-of-the-week dungeons never, under any circumstances, rolled a critical damage stat.

'But our Lund can attach it.'

And it wasn't just Strength Runes. Lund could hammer any option he wanted into any rune, without restriction.

"Ooh, with materials like these I could manage ten or so, I'd wager? And me proficiency will climb a fair bit besides!"

"Yeah, I'll keep the materials coming."

From here on, Lund had to be his top priority. If all of Baek Jinwoo's summons gathered into one and became a car, this dwarf was the engine. The higher Lund's crafting level climbed, the faster Jinwoo's own strength would grow — exponentially.

After trading a few more words with Lund, Baek Jinwoo went straight to find Yoo Jia. He wanted to know whether the major guilds were actually putting their runes in the dwarf's hands.

Yoo Jia shook her head.

"It's sluggish. The executives are the main ones commissioning him, but honestly? It's more like they're giving it a try because they saw your face, Jinwoo."

"Hmm. That won't do."

In the end, Baek Jinwoo made his decision. If the rankers didn't know what Lund was capable of — then he would advertise it himself.

"Tell them any player who commissions runes gets consulting from me, personally."

"Oh my — really? You're so busy already. Will you be all right?"

"It can't be helped. Most of them probably don't know which runes their summons should even equip for efficiency. Tell them the personal consulting will only run for about a week."

"Understood! I'll contact the executives directly!"

"Ah, and one more thing."

"Yes?"

"The runes Ajin's selling right now. I'm thinking of starting a new business."

"What kind of business?"

"We're going to sell luxury runes. Not the stuff they slap the label on these days — runes that could genuinely be called the real thing."

Baek Jinwoo laid out the business he'd conceived, briefly. The first product: Strength Runes with the option players called "crit damage" — Bonus Critical Damage — attached! The plan was to sell, at a premium, runes obtainable only through Yubaek.

"Can something like that really work?"

"Yes. That's exactly why Lund is such a cheat..."

Honestly, it was baffling. 'If I were one of the Big 3, I'd be tearing through dungeons for materials to feed him...' It meant South Korea's scene simply hadn't climbed to that level yet.

Well, no matter. If they didn't know, all they had to do was learn.

"For now, prepare it together with Ajin. It'll be a smash hit — I guarantee it. If anything, the frenzy will probably break out overseas before it does at home."

"Ah — understood."

One more revenue stream for Yubaek! Yoo Jia's eyes gleamed, and she sprang into motion.

Kim Cheolsu was a rookie player belonging to Arirang.

Recently, he had received a private message through the guild community.

'Use the dwarf? Baek Jinwoo will consult for me personally? And it's limited to one week?'

He knew of the Rune Dwarf's existence. There had been an announcement within the guild, after all — information that could never, ever be leaked outside. They'd even made him sign a contract over it.

'Bring materials, and they'll craft whatever rune you want.'

At first he'd nodded along, but the more of the fine print he read, the less appealing it became.

'A success rate of 0.1%? And if it succeeds, I have to hand over a high-grade summon ticket?'

Wasn't that just telling him to take the materials he'd sweated to farm out of the Saturday dungeons and throw them away? And from what his seniors said, the required materials weren't merely "a lot." They were astronomical. At that point, he'd be better off just buying a decent rune off the open market.

But.

'Baek Jinwoo's consulting is a different story entirely.'

The man was already famous among players. Even the rankers on this season's national team sang his praises with one voice.

'Just how great can one man possibly be?'

Those materials? Peanuts. He'd invest a little and hear the man out! With that in mind, Kim Cheolsu entered YooBaek City.

The place was abuzz.

'Huh?'

The line was quite long.

Kaang! Kaang!

In a corner of the park by the main gate, a dwarf was swinging his hammer, and beside him stood a long table where Baek Jinwoo and Baek Ajin sat.

'Ooh. It's really Baek Jinwoo.'

Kim Cheolsu's eyes lit up. The living hero of the age, the man he admired beyond all others, was sitting right there before his eyes!

Quite a few senior rankers stood ahead of him, waiting their turn for consulting.

He waited maybe thirty minutes — and then his turn came.

"Hello."

"Ah — hello, sir!"

Kim Cheolsu bowed with impeccable formality.

"Which summon would you like consulting for?"

"My summon?"

"You didn't come to get a rune fitted?"

"I did!"

Kim Cheolsu, who had momentarily blanked out in his nervousness, hastily brought out one of his main summons.

A B-grade Crimson Bear! It was no common summon — and because it looked so similar to the C-grade dark-red brown bear, many people mistook it for one.

But.

"A Crimson Bear, I see?"

The moment he saw its appearance, he named it in one shot.

And that wasn't all.

"Judging by the three scars marked on its body, it's still level 30. You haven't had it long, have you?"

"Gasp — that's right. How could you possibly know?"

He even knew the fine details of its design. 'Even our guild master didn't know that.' So this was what it took to be the national team captain? The unmistakable difference raised his trust in the man yet another notch.

"Of course I know it all. You think I'd do consulting without even knowing your summon?"

"As expected of you, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sir. Truly impressive."

"First, could you share your summon's information?"

"Yes, sir!"

Kim Cheolsu shared the summon's status window. From the skills it had learned to the runes it had socketed, Baek Jinwoo could now examine everything.

"Hmm. A Crimson Bear with a Berserker Rune... It tanks by default, so I'm guessing you wanted to shave off some defense and pull the damage up a little?"

"That's right! I heard that was exactly the right setup."

"It's not. All damage and nothing else — did it never occur to you that its mobility and attack speed are far too slow?"

"...Honestly, it did. So I was thinking of a supporter..."

"No. Rather than dedicating a supporter to a single Crimson Bear, just change the rune."

"Which rune, then..."

"The Double Attack Rune."

"...Double Attack?"

A rune that gave attacks a set chance to strike one additional time. Set up that way, the damage would certainly climb, and the lacking attack speed would be patched up to a degree.

However.

"But that rune can't roll Critical Rate, so the difficulty of building around it..."

"Nope."

Baek Jinwoo grinned.

"Our Lund doesn't have that problem. We can put Critical Rate on Double Attack too."

"...Truly, sir?"

"What did I tell you? Any rune, any option you want."

"Ah — understood! I'll give it a shot!"

As if he'd let the word of Baek Jinwoo himself go in one ear and out the other! He'd scrape together every last won — money he had or didn't — and get those runes socketed no matter what!

"You can sort out the materials over there."

Beside him sat Baek Ajin, diligently flipping through her documents — lists pairing each rune with the materials required to commission it.

When Kim Cheolsu went over and asked:

"The Double Attack Rune? One moment, please."

Flap!

She rifled through the pages and found the entry.

"For one rune, please bring 1,000 Fairy Wings, 1,000 Dice of Fate, 2,000 Firefly Stones, and 1,000 Golden Dragonfly Wings. Ah — and 1 high-grade summon ticket as the service fee."

"..."

It was a truly staggering amount. When he asked why they were charging so much, he was told the policy had changed: since the success rate was 0.1%, they would collect payment matching the expected value — and guarantee one rune, no matter what.

Every last one of those materials dropped at low rates from the Saturday dungeons.

"I-I'll gather as much as I possibly can."

He bowed.

Kim Cheolsu bowed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his head and left. And now he had a goal: to gather those materials and fit all six of his Double Attack Runes! Then to enhance them properly and complete his graduation build!

He had no idea whether the enhancement would go smoothly, but to get there, he'd be mining materials like a man possessed from now on.

And every last one of those materials would be converted into the Rune Dwarf's precious proficiency.

The night after the consulting ended.

"Wow..."

Baek Ajin was genuinely awestruck.

"Look at all the materials piled up in here."

Kaang! Kaang!

Lund was still hammering away without a moment's rest. And the dwarf's face wore an expression of happiness so pure he looked half out of his mind.

"BWAHAHAHAHA! Magnificent! Magnificent, I say! There's enough material piled up here that I could hammer night and day for a month and never burn through it all! Lad, I could not have met a better man! My thanks to ye — and I mean that from the bottom of me heart!"

"Big bro."

"Yeah?"

"Did you expect this many people to show up?"

"Of course."

Baek Jinwoo grinned.

Whose consulting did they think this was? He'd expected the materials to pile up like this, too.

Because—

In just one day, the crafting level had jumped to 2. The success rate was now 0.5%.

Where it had once taken 1,000 attempts to complete a single rune, 500 would now do.

And yet Baek Jinwoo hadn't announced the improved success rate. He collected a neat 1,000 of each material, every single time.

'For now, I'll take the expected value and craft more with whatever's left over.'

Sorry, players — but that was the consulting fee. The pressing priority was stacking proficiency and pushing the crafting level to its maximum of 10.

And the crafted runes? They'd be slapped with a "luxury rune" label and sold far and wide. They'd become one of Yubaek's main revenue streams.

'If that stings, don't commission anything.'

After all, every transaction in this world flowed by the logic of supply and demand. The only being alive who could make those runes was Baek Jinwoo — and for that, a fitting price had to be paid.

This wasn't anyone throwing their weight around. It was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠win-win for everybody!

Kaang! Kaang!

And so began, in earnest, the grand project of grinding Lund's proficiency.