Chapter 118
Chapter 118
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Check, Mining
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Crunch!
An unpleasant sound rang out. It was a hard, grating noise, even though the cigar in the man’s mouth was one famous for its soft texture.
“Fuuu………”
Dark smoke seeped through the window.
The vast clouds of mana had turned the high, clear sky into night in an instant.
Watching it filled him with a rising disgust from deep inside.
It was a sticky sensation that even the harshest tobacco couldn’t quell.
“……”
This was strange.
Night had always been the man’s favorite time.
The darkness allowed his shady deeds to hide cleanly, for one thing.
And it was the moment when his Yeonhwa Palace shone the brightest.
Snap!
But the man—Hwayeon Guild Leader Choi Sung-han—no longer welcomed the darkness.
Crack! Sung-han tossed the snapped cigar to the floor and crushed it underfoot.
Squish…… A thorough squiiiish…. He ground it down with some inexplicable emotion, ensuring it could never rise again.
Only after confirming the cigar was utterly ruined did Sung-han’s gaze shift elsewhere.
His eyes, swirling with red rage, flicked over the tablet.
[Hwayeon’s Crisis? Stock Price Drops for 7 Straight Weeks.]
[ S-Rank Gate Discovered Underground at Yeonhwa Palace… Billions in Fines on the Horizon? Hunter Association’s Verdict?]
[Mass Exodus Underway: Employees Fleeing Hwayeon]
Hwayeon was in crisis.
On every front.
The Molrangtori research project had failed spectacularly.
Ever since then, it had been one decline after another.
The bridge had collapsed.
The lab had been destroyed.
The gate had been exposed to the Hunter Association.
And the exodus of employees—including the researchers—had accelerated.
Of course, by sheer scale, Hwayeon was still number two in Korea, right behind Sinwol.
It wasn’t a guild that would crumble from something like this.
Gate revenues and manufacturing operations were still running strong.
There were no immediate liquidity issues.
But.
That was precisely why it was a crisis.
Click!
Sung-han put a fresh cigar in his mouth and lit it.
He then blew out a deliberate puff of smoke toward something in his view.
What had caught his eye was the impossibly tall tower.
The tallest in Korea… possibly even the world.
Molrang Park.
A worthless D-rank gate that had held nothing of value.
Its only resource? Hot springs, at best.
No matter how nice hot springs were, they were still just hot springs.
It was impossible to expect massive profits from something like that.
That was why he’d been satisfied at the auction.
Thanks to Hwayeon’s relentless pressure, Molrangmol had shelled out a hefty sum for the gate.
Of course, Hwayeon had taken some damage in the process too……
“Fuuu……”
But it had been within acceptable limits.
If only that bridge collapse hadn’t happened.
Meanwhile, Molrangmol had transformed the worthless gate into the world’s premier theme park.
In hindsight, it was an incredibly valuable gate.
A theme park in the sky—what could be more majestic?
“……Was that their plan from the start?”
Molrang Park’s auction price had been 40 billion.
According to Hwayeon’s investigations, its daily revenue was now at least 15 billion at the low end.
Snap!
Forty billion must have been pocket change to them.
They probably would have bid even 100 billion.
They’d had the confidence to wring that kind of value out of a useless gate.
Thud. The second cigar met the same fate before it could even finish burning.
Sung-han turned his eyes back to the tablet.
Ding!
[Strategy Team Leader: Molrang Park has switched to fully digital ticketing.]
[Strategy Team Leader: Conventional approaches won’t work anymore.]
Molrang Park had become a landmark.
Which also meant it was the perfect weapon to threaten Molrangmol.
He’d planned to exploit that……
‘……What kind of trick is this?’
After the switch to digital ticketing, Hwayeon personnel found their access fundamentally blocked.
Even without checking awakener licenses or anything.
Of course, that alone wasn’t a huge problem.
He hadn’t planned to deploy Hwayeon members openly anyway. It would complicate any tail-cutting.
However.
[Strategy Team Leader: Security checks have been ramped up… Actual infiltration looks impossible.]
The inspections had gotten stricter.
Well, “stricter” wasn’t quite right.
They weren’t doing body searches like before.
But something caught you anyway. It felt like some invisible force was secretly scanning everyone.
Mercenaries attempting to smuggle in gate core extractors had actually been nabbed.
Even after hiding them inside Molrangtori.
In the end, Hwayeon had no choice but to back off.
[Molrangmol Selected as Partner by 7 Major US Firms]
[FHA Signs Official Contract. Molrangmol on the Verge of US Exports]
[Baekya, JH, and Quantum Accelerating Growth Alongside Molrangmol… Steady Stock Gains]
Molrangmol’s scale had grown far too massive.
Touching them rashly was now off the table.
So all Hwayeon could do for now was secure its own turf.
Strengthen the home front and wait for the enemy to slip up.
And that beginning was……
Ding!
“……What?”
**
Mana stones.
Crystals formed from condensed mana of monsters or gates.
In the era of great awakeners, mana stones were the second oil.
Perhaps even a greater source of future energy value.
Naturally, they were already in use everywhere.
Molrangmol was no exception. Raising monsters required enormous quantities.
“At this rate, we won’t have enough mana stones……”
They’d managed so far.
Bulk purchases from the trade galleries had covered it. Even Ha Young alone could process up to B-rank stones.
But things were different now.
As announced to everyone, they needed to produce over 10,000 Molrangtori per day.
Factoring in an average of 2.6 Molrangtori per B-rank stone……
That meant at least 3,900 B-rank mana stones per day.
No—even more, considering Molrang Park operations and equipment production.
‘I can probably source them somehow……’
Purchasing was feasible, but efficiency was the problem.
There simply weren’t many bulk sellers.
And those that existed were mostly locked into contracts.
Resorting to private trades meant massive losses on price.
Ding!
[Baekya: Are you really okay?]
[Baekya: Wouldn’t it be better to redirect our mines to Molrangmol for a while?]
That was why Joo Ha-neul had made the offer.
She’d proposed lending their mining gates—gates featuring mana stone mines instead of monsters—for the time being.
[DragonWantToRaise: I appreciate the sentiment.]
But that wouldn’t do.
They were about to mass-produce insane quantities of Molrangtori. They needed to secure their own supply lines.
“Is the info solid?”
Nyaaang!
Kami No.2 nodded.
I’d come to this building based on the intel it provided.
A high-rise south of the Han River, owned by the guild “Mining.”
Korea’s largest mana stone mining guild, with a whopping 30 mining gates to its name.
Considering there were only about 100 mining gates in the entire country, that was an insane number.
It almost made it seem like Dangun himself had picked a prime spot.
No oil, sure, but mana stones galore.
They said Korea ranked third worldwide in production.
There was a big gap to first and second, but third was still third.
Whirr!
“Aigoo, welcome! Must’ve been a long trip. I should’ve come to you myself.”
The moment I stepped into the building’s first floor, a man in a suit greeted me.
He smiled warmly and bowed at the waist before offering a handshake.
He was too old to dismiss as just a secretary. Besides, I already knew his face.
He was Mining’s guild leader.
I took his hand.
“No, not at all. It’s an unannounced visit, so it’s an honor to meet you like this.”
“This way, please!”
We exchanged perfectly stock phrases as we headed to the guild leader’s office.
It was a lavish office. So decked out in jewels it was practically blinding.
He’d clearly raked in a fortune. A mana stone baron on par with any oil tycoon.
Ugh, even the sofa was gold-plated.
He really loved showing off.
I wasn’t usually a fan of that type……
‘Today, though? Kinda like it.’
“Ahem! So, what brings our esteemed president here……?”
The guild leader asked me.
He had that expectant look. And I knew exactly what he was hoping for.
He wanted a contract with us.
Partnering with Molrangmol to cement his place as Korea’s top mining guild.
He was already the top dog, but his position was just a tad precarious.
Everyone dreams of uncontested first place.
Contracting with them was my goal too. Or had been……
Our aims were slightly misaligned.
“A0 to A10, right? Mining’s crown jewels among mining gates.”
The A0 through A10 gates.
They accounted for 70% of Mining’s total output.
And they were all already contracted.
To Hwayeon.
Hwayeon was sucking up every last bit of their production.
“Er…… Yes, that’s true. But those are tied up with Hwayeon.”
“I heard the deal wraps up at the end of this quarter.”
The Hwayeon-Mining contract was for five years.
Kami No.2 had confirmed it was renewal season.
So that was my in.
Grow my own power while weakening Hwayeon’s.
One stone, two birds. Kill two with one strike.
No need to contract with any other mining guild when this was the optimal play.
“Hahaha! You’ve got great intel. But we tend to avoid risky contracts ourselves. We can offer everything from the B0 gates onward, no problem.”
The guild leader gave me a meaningful look.
His heart was probably already leaning our way.
A show-off like him would pick flashy Molrangmol over Hwayeon any day.
But he wanted more.
He couldn’t just ditch Hwayeon for nothing.
“We’re only interested in the A-Line Gates. And I think…… you’ll like our proposal, Guild Leader.”
“What kind of proposal?”
The guild leader asked back. He was barely holding back a grin. His lips were practically ascending to the heavens.
Such an honest guy.
I let out a chuckle and spoke.
“We’ll dramatically boost your mana stone production.”