Farming Company

I stepped out of the Hunter Association, and Kim Sujeong — waiting in the car — was on me at once.

"What the hell. Why'd you take so long?"

I kept it short. They'd doubted the Farming Window, so I'd given them a quick look at what I could actually do.

"What? You punched through an S-rank tanker's shield? Hold on. Kim Jinhyeop — isn't he a team leader at the Hunter Association?"

"So they say."

"Whoa. That's huge. Oppa, you were actually that strong? So SSS+ really ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is no joke."

Kim Sujeong carried on, insisting she couldn't believe it. Of course SSS+ was strong, but when she was the measuring stick, it was only natural the gap wouldn't feel real. She was C-rank. This wasn't a difference of a rank or two — it was ten ranks and more — and she'd never met it with her own body. To Kim Sujeong, though, an S-rank hunter was the sky itself. The clips on Nutube, the dungeon monsters in them, the hunters who fought those things: performances she couldn't even begin to picture. And a tanker like that had his shield broken?

"Kim Jinhyeop's shield never breaks. The thing's his whole mascot."

"Broke just fine."

"Ugh. If you'd filmed that, it would've been huge."

When I added that the Hunter Association had made a scouting offer, she asked, startled.

"The Hunter Association scouted you? Did you actually hear the terms?"

"Five-year contract. Assets and cash worth about twenty billion won. Five billion a year in hunter subsidies. And if I want it, one piece of S-rank equipment on top."

"Whoa... they're out of their minds. That'd put most major corporate guilds to shame."

"Benefits, too. A secured house signed over in my name, bodyguards posted around the clock, everything I need provided. Wasn't bad."

That was why I'd taken a little longer coming out. I'd been deep in it with the staffer handling the negotiation.

At first it was nothing but curiosity. I had no intention whatsoever of signing, but I still wanted to know what the Hunter Association — a state institution — thought a hunter was worth. I'd assumed Kim Jinhyeop's numbers came with some padding. Ten billion won isn't a figure you toss around for fun. I'd figured they'd stuff the package with assets you couldn't turn into cash on the spot and call the lot somewhere around ten billion.

The terms were harsh, though. Five years is a long time. The Hunter Association wasn't going to vanish in that span, but you never know how a person's heart turns as time passes, or how a situation turns. Being locked in for five years was a serious loss.

Flip it the other way, though, and five years might be the better deal — for a hunter. This was a state institution. You could treat it like an iron rice bowl, kill the years, and live easy off the contract money, keeping the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠terms just well enough and doing only the work required. So the length itself wasn't much of a problem. The staffer had said as much: they insisted on long contracts because that was the best way to keep hunters from leaking overseas.

The whole package adding up to around twenty billion wasn't a problem either. Even if you couldn't sell it all right away, an asset doesn't simply stop being worth what it's worth. Look closer, and you could liquidate everything if you wanted. The taxes were the catch. The benefits, too, being the state's, beat what most private companies could offer.

I'd only gone to hear the pitch for the fun of it, and honestly, it shook me a little. Without the Rift Dimension, I might have signed first and thought about what came next. The Association would know ordinary dungeon intel better than anyone. I could have drained every sweet hunting ground they had.

Even so, it wasn't a place that suited me. Not just the Hunter Association — I had no thought of joining any guild, and no reason to. One trip to the farm and I went dark for days at the shortest. Join a guild, or the Association, and could I actually do the job? Lining up dungeon times alone would be hard enough.

My position, as an SSS+ rank hunter, isn't to walk into a guild that knows my worth. It's to farm resources hard out of the Rift Dimension until guilds like that come to me with offers. How much they'll pay to buy. How badly they want what I have. I listen.

"Oppa. We have to pick a company name. What should it be?"

"You decide."

"I'm the president, sure, but it's still a paper company for you. You should be the one to name it."

"Hmm..."

"Or if you tell me to pick, I'll actually pick what I want. Dad already said Sujeong Company would be nice, taking after him..."

"Let's go with Farming Company."

"..."

"Not bad. Fits us perfectly."

Taking money under a name like Sujeong Company didn't appeal. Farming Company, something I'd thrown together on the spot, was exactly right — and it matched the concept, too. Farming in Farming World. Farming in the Rift Dimension.

"Tch... fine. Wait here. I'll go file it."

Kim Sujeong went in, and it wasn't long before she came back saying it was done.

"Farming Company's registered. It's only on paper for now, so we'll need an office, and there's a fair amount left to set up. You don't have to worry about any of that, Oppa. Oh!"

She worked down the list of things she'd checked off, and her expression darkened a little.

"Oppa. I need to go tell my old guild I'm quitting..."

"You left without ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠telling them?"

"After that I went to the farm, and I only saw the messages piled up yesterday... hehe..."

"Handle it yourself."

On the way she ducked into a place that passed for an office, stayed quite a while this time, and came out looking unburdened.

"Whew. Thank god that old fossil wasn't there."

"What'd they say?"

"I told them I was leaving to found a company called Farming Company, and they said all right. I hadn't been there long anyway. The guild master seems to have a rough idea what the atmosphere in his own guild is like. Said he was sorry he couldn't keep people in line. Probably just saying it so nobody starts talking once I'm out the door."

We picked up meat for dinner and a few other things, and by the time we got back, night had already fallen.

"Haaah. Reality feels busier than the farm."

I dropped onto the sofa beside Kim Sujeong as she sprawled across it. That, I could agree with. On the farm, whether I was farming or exploring, time slipped away without my noticing, carried by the pleasure of digging something up. Out here I did nothing special, and time still poured out of me like a leak — and this after a morning that felt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠full of things done. Like living in two worlds.

I was rolling around, thinking I might finally eat and rest, when Lee Jihyun came out of Kim Sujeong's room and held an ointment up in front of me like a puppy that desperately needed to go.

"...It can't wait until tomorrow, can it?"

"No. Would you take a look at this? It came out like this. The potion still needs more research, so that isn't ready, but the ointment is the same as what I saw before. No — it's better."

"Whoa. Amazing. Is that the skin-regeneration ointment? If I put some on, do I get baby skin too?"

"There isn't much. To cover your whole body, you'd probably need three or four."

"Three or four of them, at four hundred fifty million apiece..."

"This one might sell for even more than that!"

Whether she was thrilled to prove her own words true, or thrilled from all the experience she'd gained, Lee Jihyun lit up and talked at length about the ointment's price. I was glad I'd hired Kim Sujeong into Farming Company. Tired as she claimed to be, she met Lee Jihyun's energy head-on, which let me stay flat on the sofa, let the talk in one ear and out the other, and watch TV.

"Unni. Want to join Farming Company too? Until Oppa dies, you're going to keep getting materials like this anyway, so you might as well eat from the same pot. Who knows when Dad might go bad and try to work you to the bone. Join Farming Company and I'll manage everything for you."

"Are there conditions?"

"None. You'd just be hiring an agency on the hunter-management side. I won't take a cut — how about we only put your name down for now? I'm busy looking after Oppa anyway, so I couldn't take care of you."

In her own way, Kim Sujeong looked like she had a real knack for this. The basic virtue of the work is shamelessness — laying your pride flat and pushing in — and at that she was good enough to leave even Lee Jihyun flustered.

"Um... maybe I should think about it..."

"Unni. What's there to think about? You come all the way to our house to make potions — you're practically family. A family business is better to begin with. Sign with Farming Company and we'll eat well and live well together. I'm worried we'll lose an A-rank alchemist to somebody else. Who knows? Keep this up and you might become my sister-in-law."

"Oh my..."

"Quit the bullshit and go grill the meat."

"Kyaa!"

I shoved the line-crossing Kim Sujeong off with a kick and, before we ate, checked the ointment.

"Well, damn..."

Just as Lee Jihyun had said, one look at the finished ointment's options pulled a sound of admiration out of me. Four hundred fifty million won? For someone with no real interest in the beauty business, setting that kind of money on fire for a single tin of ointment was a sensibility I struggled to understand. And yet I could also believe it might be worth exactly that.

I'd heard the stories often enough — people who burned anywhere from a few million to tens of millions of won every month on temporary skin care. If this turned the age of your skin back for good...

"This auction is going to be seriously fun."

I was going to watch this one, and then head back to the farm.