One Step Forward
After wrapping up my negotiations with Nayoon at the Mart, I managed to gather the full two kilograms of Mana Stones over the next two days. Just as I’d expected, collecting that amount wasn’t particularly difficult. In just two mornings of hunting, I brought in one kilogram each day. Normally, a monster drops a Mana Stone roughly ten grams in size per level. So a level 1 goblin gives about ten grams, while a level 11 mace shell yields around 110 grams. That means I’d have to kill a hundred goblins to reach a kilogram—when you think about it that way, it does sound like a lot.
As a side note, I also successfully harvested the Mana Stone from the mace shell I’d stashed away in the corner. There were slight variations between individuals, but nothing too significant. If I had to point out one downside, it would be having to split open the monster’s chest after every kill… Most of the time I did it myself, and before I knew it, I’d grown used to the grisly task. Still, if this was the price for securing enough food to feed my family for five days, it wasn’t a bad trade-off.
Anyway, from now on I’d have to make sure to collect Mana Stones diligently. We’d need them ourselves before long. Mana Stones—the more, the better!
Exactly two days later, I met Nayoon again.
“You’ve already gathered the Mana Stones?”
“It wasn’t that hard. Here… weigh them. They should be exact.”
“No need for that… I trust you!”
What kind of trust is this? It feels burdensome… Wait, but isn’t it a good thing that a beauty like her trusts me? Should I just confess right now?
“Put them inside.”
Nayoon had one of her people carry the Mana Stones indoors. I had something I was curious about, so I asked.
“There’s something I’ve been wondering.”
“Ask me anything.”
“What are you using those Mana Stones for?”
“Right now, we’re only running the refrigerators. Two kilograms should keep one fridge going for about two weeks.”
Yeah, refrigerators are important. No matter how much food you have, it’s useless if it spoils. That’s probably why they were spending so many Coins and stockpiling a huge amount of Mana Stones. Refrigerators have to run twenty-four seven, after all. Even though the Mart had a lot of people, there weren’t many who could hunt, and they also needed personnel for security. That explained why they preferred trading with Mana Stones instead of Coins.
Besides, since they already considered this place part of the human domain, weaker monsters rarely approached. It was an environment where Mana Stone supply was inevitably unstable. That’s when I made a suggestion.
“Are there any people here who might want to work?”
“Work…? There isn’t much to do, but there are probably some who would. Why do you ask?”
“I’d like to hire them.”
“Hire them…?”
I first explained my situation—specifically, the details of my Class. Since she trusted me, I decided to trust her in return. This was something I’d been thinking about ever since things went smoothly on my first visit here. No matter how much the world had changed, there would always be people who couldn’t adapt. Though whether this counted as “not adapting” was debatable.
Still, if they just sat around without doing anything and had to be supported, it would become a huge burden for the organization. Looking at all the people here, I figured there had to be plenty of surplus labor. Nayoon listened to my proposal with interest. In the end, we settled on a daily wage of 100 grams per person. The workers would start coming tomorrow. They needed to ask for volunteers first, after all. I wasn’t in that much of a hurry. If more people joined starting tomorrow, the work would definitely speed up.
Now that food was taken care of, it was time to finish building the house.
I waited for the people to arrive. I was a little worried they might not find the place… but thankfully, they arrived without any trouble. Five workers and three escorts. It was a bit more than I expected, but that was probably Nayoon being considerate. We had plenty of food to spare, after all.
I looked over the group. Among the unfamiliar faces, I spotted one that I recognized. That guy is…?
While I was staring at him, Daon grabbed my arm and gestured for me to lean in. I did as she asked. Whoa, she’s so close!
“Oppa.”
“Y-yeah…?”
She whispered quietly into my ear. Daon’s breath felt far too intimate, making my whole body heat up. Get a grip!
“I heard that man used to be the underboss of a gang.”
“Underboss, huh…”
Daon relayed what she’d heard from one of the elders. Even though he was from a gang, the people at the Mart saw him as Nayoon’s right-hand man. That made sense—he’d always been by her side whenever I saw them. His name was Lee Jaehoon… If he was always next to Nayoon, did that mean he was trustworthy? But why would they send someone this important here?
As I was wondering, Lee Jaehoon approached with a displeased expression until he was right in front of my nose. Literally right in front of me.
“……”
I signaled Daon to step back, and she immediately moved away. A gangster, huh… If this had been a few days ago, I might have been scared when a thug got this close. No, I definitely would have been. But now I’d killed quite a few monsters. I wasn’t about to act weak in front of someone weaker than me.
Still, the fact that they sent him probably meant they wanted to build a good relationship. I tried to keep any hostility out of my voice.
“Welcome. Thank you for coming all this way.”
“……Thank you for what.”
He didn’t answer right away. After a long pause, he narrowed his eyes and lightly tapped my cheek. It didn’t hurt, but it was extremely unpleasant. The moment the man did that, everyone around us froze. Thank goodness Mom and Dad weren’t here. I could feel Daon and Sohyeon panicking from here, and Seorin stepped forward.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
“……”
Lee Jaehoon glanced at Seorin before lowering his hand. Then he stared straight into my eyes. Anyone would see it as him picking a fight. Well, if this was some gangster way of saying hello, I guess I couldn’t do much about it… But there was no way that was it!
What should I do about this…?
If I thought about Nayoon, I should probably endure it. But I wasn’t mature enough to just stand there while some thug acted like this. I decided to ask once.
“Does Nayoon… know you’re doing this?”
“No.”
I already knew that. If Nayoon had ordered it, she wouldn’t have sent regular people along. From the looks of it, there were four gang members and four civilians.
“You seem to have a lot of complaints about me?”
“What do you think?”
Was he just an irredeemable thug? I’d thought he might have turned over a new leaf since Nayoon was helping him.
“If you’ve got a problem, let’s settle it right here!”
“That doesn’t sound bad!”
As soon as Lee Jaehoon finished speaking, one of the older men who came with them tried to mediate.
“We came here on good terms. Why are you trying to fight? Let’s talk this out slowly…”
“It’s fine. Leave this to me.”
“But…”
His effort was in vain. Still, he was being polite to that guy? What’s going on…?
This time Daon tried to stop me.
“Oppa, please stop…”
“This is necessary!”
“Oppa…”
Seorin spoke to the worried Daon.
“Daon, let’s just watch for now. He must have something in mind.”
“Okay, sis…”
I gestured for Lee Jaehoon to follow me.
“Come with me.”
Fighting right in front of the house was a bad idea. What if Mom or Dad saw? Thinking about it again, I was really glad they hadn’t come out.
We stopped about two houses away.
“You going to use a weapon?”
In response to my question, Lee Jaehoon drew the sashimi knife tucked at his waist. It screamed “gangster.” Even from here, I could tell it was sharp. It didn’t look like an ordinary blade—probably something he bought from the Coin Shop. I’d have to be careful not to get cut.
I raised my spear and pointed it at him.
“No need to kill each other. Whoever wants to surrender first, it ends there! Sound good?”
“Fine by me!”
The moment the words left his mouth, Lee Jaehoon charged. For such a big guy, he was surprisingly fast. I used my spear to keep him at bay. Despite his bold rush, I was only defending casually, yet he was barely managing to keep up. Just as I expected. I hadn’t sensed anything like Nayoon’s strength from him, so it was only natural. If he’d been stronger than her from the start, the Mart wouldn’t have been taken from them.
I didn’t drag it out. I went on the offensive. The man barely blocked, but eventually dropped his sashimi knife. The match ended in my victory.
Still, he lived up to his title as underboss. If he grew properly, he could probably reach Sohyeon’s level. I pressed the tip of my spear against the fallen man’s throat.
“Surrender?”
“……Yeah. I surrender.”
With the matter between me and the man settled, the real reason they’d come—clearing the rubble—finally began. With five sturdy men and even Dad directing the work, it looked like a proper construction site. While I was watching, Lee Jaehoon approached me again. Was he going to pick another fight…?
“I’m sorry about earlier…!”
At the completely unexpected words, I stared at him with a blank expression. Seorin and Daon, who had been listening nearby, wore the same stunned faces. That’s how surprising it was. What was he scheming…?
But looking at the man’s expression, it didn’t seem like he had any ulterior motives. Since he was coming at me like this, I couldn’t exactly treat him rudely.
“W-why are you suddenly acting like this…?”
“Earlier you asked if the boss knew about this, right? The truth is, she did know. I asked her, and she gave permission.”
“……?”
“There are still some members in the organization who don’t fully acknowledge you. They say that when you beat up a few of our guys before and fought the boss, it wasn’t because you were strong—you just got lucky.”
There are always idiots who can’t read the situation, no matter where you go. According to Lee Jaehoon, that wasn’t what the boss—Nayoon—wanted. She wanted to continue cooperating with me, and to do that, even small complaints needed to be silenced. So this man had volunteered. He would pick a fight and overwhelmingly lose—though of course he hadn’t thrown the fight on purpose just now—to clearly demonstrate my strength to the organization members and make them acknowledge me.
The gang members he brought were the ones who had been doubting me. Once they returned and spread the word, the number of people questioning my strength would gradually decrease.
“So… what just happened was all an act?”
“If it made you uncomfortable, I apologize.”
“You’d make a great gangster, seriously.”
I said it as a joke, but his deadpan face made it awkward.
“……Ahem. Well, if that’s the case, I understand.”
“Thank you for understanding. And please speak comfortably. You’re on equal footing with the boss, so formal speech doesn’t suit me.”
It felt like I was talking to someone from a historical drama. Come to think of it, Nayoon wasn’t exactly normal either… Like boss, like subordinate, I suppose. I didn’t refuse.
“Then… I’ll just call you Uncle Jaehoon and speak casually.”
“Uncle…?”
Since Nayoon was quite a bit older than me, if he was older than her, he was definitely an uncle to me. He had a warm face, but he also looked older than his years…
After that, I watched the people work a little longer. Once it seemed like I didn’t need to supervise anymore, I headed out to hunt. If I was going to pay them wages and feed them, I needed to work hard too!