Raise the Price (1)
What the Blue Guild had offered us was an investment in so-called unopened lottery tickets.
They had put forward terms that felt almost absurdly generous for rookies.
It was no surprise, even to them, that a strike team of only four people had cleared the Tutorial Dungeon in the shortest time possible. And yet the fact that they were willing to offer us this much meant one thing: the upper ranks of the Blue Guild weren’t idiots.
They’re not idiots.
If anything, they were probably quite capable.
I glanced sideways and saw Park Deokgu reading something with great concentration, so I spoke slowly.
“You’re reading the catalog?”
“Well, yeah. Figured I ought to take a look, since this might be the place we end up staying… and this guild cafeteria is supposed to be something else.”
“Oh?”
“Back on Earth, they say some guy named Star Chef Raymond Park runs the place… just thinking about it’s making my mouth water.”
“Ah…”
“And the rooms seem amazing too… Hah. Who’d have thought Park Deokgu would end up getting so far in a place like this? My grandpa should’ve lived to see it…”
I didn’t know if he was joking, but I doubted Park Deokgu’s grandfather would have wanted to see him living in a world like this.
“The guild really is grand as hell… Just how big are the other guilds, then?”
“Probably not that different. They admitted themselves things aren’t the way they used to be, but even a ruined fortune lasts three years. If they’ve built up enough over the years, they’ll have the breathing room to hold out. Maybe they want to recruit us because they’re hoping to reclaim some of their old glory.”
“Oh. Being treated like this makes me feel special, like I’m some important person. I can’t say I hate it, hyung.”
“You’ll be treated even better from now on.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
It wouldn’t take long.
An unopened lottery ticket—that was exactly what we were.
And not just any lottery ticket, either. Ours had a pretty damn high chance of winning.
The amount they’d offer us at our current valuation was already this much. Naturally, once our worth was confirmed, our price would rise in a way that would be impossible to imagine now.
“More than that, your sister looked a bit off earlier… I guess she really doesn’t like being away from hyung. Make sure you take good care of her.”
“Even if you didn’t say that, I’m already doing everything I can. This is necessary. We can’t help it.”
“Still.”
You really don’t need to say that….
Park Deokgu didn’t need to spell it out like that for me to understand just how important Jung Hayan was.
That was one of the reasons I could say the Kim Hyunsung party was a winning lottery ticket.
There was the future Archmage Jung Hayan, blessed with legendary mana talent, and then there was the regressor Kim Hyunsung, who needed no further introduction.
Potential isn’t just a question of how high a person’s ceiling is.
Players with high potential gain stats faster, too.
My own intelligence and luck were perfect examples of that.
In Jung Hayan’s case, her mana stat was growing at a terrifying rate, and she had already completed her second advancement.
Elementalist.
It was the second class she’d chosen at Kim Hyunsung’s and my recommendation.
Unlike me, who had only unlocked Fire Mage to begin with, Jung Hayan seemed to have an affinity for every element.
There wasn’t even a trace of Alchemist anywhere in her advancement list.
Her attribute, How to Become a Mage, was one that encouraged growth as a mage in the first place.
If I considered the reward for completing that forgotten quest in the Tutorial Dungeon—two stat points—and combined it with Jung Hayan’s talent, then her rise had been inevitable from the start.
All she needed was a trigger. Just a tiny one.
I didn’t know whether what happened in the dungeon had become a trauma for her, but for now, the important thing was that she herself had the most enthusiasm.
On top of that, I had established an invisible rule between Jung Hayan and me.
Like rewarding a well-behaved student little by little, I would toss her a bit of food every time she produced results.
…….
Of course, the effect had been even greater than I’d imagined.
I started with simple praise, then gradually increased the intensity of physical contact.
At first, all I’d done was pat her head or let her hold my hand, fingers interlaced, but as I slowly, very slowly, turned up the dial, she began obsessing over results like a maniac.
It wasn’t really about becoming stronger anymore. It looked more like the real goal was to get praise and receive rewards.
And when she failed to show results, she’d become noticeably colder, which made Jung Hayan all the more desperate.
What Park Deokgu had said was probably about what had happened this time. Especially since, with the demonstration coming up, we’d barely seen each other at all.
She was the kind of person whose mana stat would rise just by eating a meal.
It would be stranger if she weren’t trying like hell to get results. In terms of personal training, the one pouring the most time into it out of all of us wasn’t Park Deokgu, me, or Kim Hyunsung—it was Jung Hayan.
I nodded absently and continued from where I’d left off.
“The thing is, if I’m around her, Hayan can’t focus. That’s why we just stayed apart for a little while.”
“Grr… I mean, I get that, but still…”
“This is a demonstration in front of the Blue Guild’s executives and the scouts from other major guilds. I can’t let myself ruin things for no reason. Besides, if this goes well, we agreed we’d stay together afterward.”
“I keep hearing sniffles at night, though…”
“She needs to learn how to be apart for a while. I can’t stay glued to her forever. This was a good opportunity. It was only a week.”
“Grr… still, why do they even hold these demonstrations….”
“It’s an everyday occurrence for athletes. They need to know how much value we have so they can set a proper price. It’s a little unfortunate, but… if I’m the reason this fails, that’s bad for Hayan too.”
“The more I think about it, the more it seems like your sister really likes you, hyung.”
It would have been nice if it had stopped at “really likes you.”
It had long since gone beyond simple liking or loving.
And thanks to Park Deokgu’s meddling, too….
I found myself wondering whether he was pretending not to know, or if he truly didn’t know.
I pushed myself to my feet and spoke to him.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
“Then I’ll come with you, hyung.”
“Hurry up.”
“Grr…”
As we started walking, all sorts of scenery flowed past us.
It felt completely different from the Tutorial Dungeon.
Luxurious. Safe. Respected.
Looking out the window, I caught sight of the people who had been staying in the Shelter gathered together and busy with something.
They were probably receiving basic instruction or whatever training they needed here.
Lee Jihye crossed my mind for a moment, but I shoved the thought aside and kept moving. What came into view next was the indoor training hall.
There were already quite a lot of people inside.
Needless to say, I swept the surroundings once with Mind’s Eye.
Setting aside whether their stats were high or low, the clothes they wore were quite expensive. And they weren’t just Blue Guild executives.
People standing around the training hall under different banners, looking like corporate board members from some major conglomerate, really did seem like they held important positions in large guilds.
Scouts?
Yes, probably scouts.
Following their line of sight, I saw Jung Hayan standing there with a tense expression.
It felt like I hadn’t seen her in ages.
It had already been a week since the demonstration was decided and the Blue Guild’s first round of negotiations were wrapped up.
Aside from once checking on her in the middle to see how she was doing, this was the first time I’d seen Jung Hayan in exactly three days.
If someone said, “What’s the big deal about not seeing her for just three days?” I wouldn’t have much to say in response. But at the very least, it seemed like those three days had been agonizing for Jung Hayan.
“Doesn’t she look a bit thinner?”
“A little.”
It wasn’t so much that she looked thin as that she looked tired.
Park Deokgu’s comment about her sniffing at night seemed to have been true, too; the corners of her eyes were faintly red.
She’d probably made herself up carefully, since I’d told her in advance that I was coming to watch the demonstration, but overall she still didn’t look well.
She kept glancing around as if she were searching for me.
Her uneasy appearance was enough to set off a round of murmurs.
“Hmm…. I was expecting more…”
“Doesn’t she look a bit odd?”
“Maybe she’s just nervous. And she only just came out of the dungeon… Compared to that, she’s still in decent shape.”
“I was expecting a little more since she came out in the shortest time, but… mentally, maybe…”
I didn’t know whose voices they were, but someone had read the room perfectly.
Not good….
No matter how I looked at it, she seemed anxious.
I wondered if she could spot us on the second floor, but she still looked restless. In the end, I lifted a hand, and Jung Hayan’s face broke into a radiant smile the instant she found me.
She can’t mess this up.
That was how important this event was.
“Aaaah. Miss Jung Hayan, if you’re ready, then please take your position….”
At the voice that rang out, Jung Hayan nodded.
She began chanting her spell slowly, and she looked a little uncertain while doing it.
It was almost as if she were praying to some god, begging for things to go well.
Seeing the people around her click their tongues again, I briefly wondered if my plan might fail after all.
Did I push her too hard…?
The moment I regretted that possibility, I felt a flow of mana so immense I could scarcely believe it was real.
“Huh?”
“Wha—?”
Dust swirled around Jung Hayan’s body in a scene so absurd I could barely process it.
The mere movement of mana inside her body was producing effects like that. It was astonishing.
I didn’t know exactly what spell she was chanting, but the incantation was quite long.
The executives from the major guilds who had been clicking their tongues were all standing there with their mouths open, staring at Jung Hayan.
Every now and then, shocked voices rang out.
“Report it immediately! Now!”
“Hey! Bring me that woman’s profile, fast!”
Well, of course they’d be shocked.
No—if anything, my own mouth had dropped open even wider than theirs.
I had expected her to accomplish something to a degree, but I’d never imagined it would be on this level.
The longer the chant went on, the louder the commotion became.
Far away, Lee Sanghee of the Blue Guild was staring at Jung Hayan with an expression that seemed to say she had no idea what the hell was happening.
Until just a week ago, she hadn’t been anywhere near this level.
What the hell is that…?
The moment Jung Hayan finally opened her mouth, she said, “E-Element Bomb.”
KWA-AAAAAAANG!
A deafening explosion burst from Jung Hayan’s hand with a sound so overwhelming I almost had to cover my ears.
The sensation was so close to my eardrums bursting that I quickly wrapped them in mana.
The unidentified magic shot toward the massive target in the center of the training hall and slammed into it with a thunderous roar, turning the path between Jung Hayan and the target into a wasteland.
“What is this….”
KWA-AAAAAAANG!
The second blast that followed erased the target without leaving a trace.
There was no cheer.
Only…
The silence that crashed down over the hall was even louder than applause would have been.
“W-what is she….”
Park Deokgu also quietly spoke to me.
“Hyung.”
…….
“Is this for real?”
That was exactly the line I wanted to say.
I had no idea what kind of reward was even appropriate for something like that.