Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Daily Life and Ideas
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“Something’s off.”
“Yeah, good work. You can go now.”
At Haneul’s words, the secretary nodded, bowed slightly at the waist in greeting, and left the office.
Tap. Tap, tap. Tap.
Now alone in the space, Haneul tapped the table with her fingers, just like she used to.
Tap, tap. Tap.
It was an irregular rhythm as always, but today, she was enjoying the off-beats more than ever.
Beside her fingers lay a report.
It was the comprehensive summary of today’s Molrangmol popup store results.
“…Nice.”
Every time she looked at the upward-trending graph on the report, Haneul found it hard to hold back a smile.
There was no need to hold it back anyway, so she naturally let her lips curve upward.
If she stood in front of a mirror right now, she’d probably look pretty ridiculous.
It was a smile she hadn’t worn since becoming an S-rank hunter.
That’s just how it was, being a high-rank hunter and the head of a guild.
She’d thought that once she achieved it, life would be smooth sailing and full of happiness, but in reality, the immense pressure had crushed her shoulders.
“…….”
Only today did it feel like she’d lifted even a little of that burden.
Rustle.
Haneul slowly pored over the report with the same smile, not skipping a single word.
In short, total sales at White Night Castle this week had risen by about 7%.
Probably thanks to attaching purchase quotas to the Molrangmol popup store.
100,000 won wasn’t a huge amount by any means, but the fact that the targets were hunters made it significant.
‘Regular hunters hardly ever come to department stores.’
Hunters bought most of what they needed from the trading galleries in hunter communities.
Because of that convenience, it was hard to boost sales no matter how much they tried to stay competitive.
However, hunters tended to spend big.
They earned big, and spent just as wildly.
That trend held true this time too.
Hunters who came to White Night Castle to buy Molrangtori had scattered money around like confetti.
‘Not just hunters—regular customers’ purchases spiked too.’
The slime ball merch and pudding slime circus had worked wonders.
Honestly, she’d been skeptical when they proposed the circus…
“…They’re insane.”
She’d never seen skills like that.
Spitting fire, doing somersaults, rolling like wheels.
And then that random fusion show on top of it.
Who knew slimes—ranked among the dumbest monsters—could pull off such feats.
Well, that’s probably why they used slimes to make Molrangtori.
Lucky they’d signed a contract with that creator.
On top of that, even the other five major guilds had sent love calls.
Asking her to bridge them to the creator.
‘As if I would.’
A golden opportunity she’d snagged—why share it?
They’d think it was absurd themselves.
They’d teamed up to sabotage her not long ago, and now they wanted to play nice.
Tap, tap, tap.
Anyway, Haneul shoved the stray thoughts aside and picked up her smartphone.
First things first: thank the creator.
And let them know the popup store had been a huge success.
[WhiteNight: Popup store results.]
[WhiteNight: (Results report file)]
[WhiteNight: Thank you for the great opportunity.]
Ding!
[WantToRaiseADragon: No problem. I had fun too.]
“…….”
Fun?
It was a completely unexpected response. Had the creator actually visited White Night Castle?
They’d said they were too busy…
[WantToRaiseADragon: Especially how kindly the guild master treated everyone. It was really impressive lol]
[WhiteNight: You were there today?]
[WantToRaiseADragon: Of course lol. I even chatted with the guild master.]
……Who?
Haneul flinched at the reply and racked her brain as hard as she could.
She tried to picture every face she’d met today.
‘…Too many.’
But there were just too many.
Even conservatively, she’d talked to hundreds of customers.
She hadn’t made any blunders, had she?
Unnecessary worries made her heart pound, filling the quiet office.
[WantToRaiseADragon: Hope we can do it again sometime.]
[WantToRaiseADragon: Get some good rest~]
“…….”
Maybe it wasn’t so bad.
An enigmatic person whose thoughts were hard to read, but one thing was certain: they didn’t make empty promises.
So Haneul decided to look forward to next time.
Next meeting, she’d be even kinder.
Tap, tap, tap.
[WhiteNight: Sure. Looking forward to working with you again.]
**
Ding ding ding da ding!
“…Yaaawn!”
Morning had come.
Through the slightly open window crack, the pervasive scent of autumn wafted in.
“Ugh….”
To be honest, her body was shivering a bit.
It was already getting cold.
Just last week, days had been pretty warm, but it seemed the season had changed outfits overnight.
Talk about fickle weather.
Creak.
I closed the window and bolted straight to the bathroom.
The key to waking up is jumping out of bed right away.
Dawdling just makes the whole day drag.
“Yaaah!”
Standing in front of the full-length bathroom mirror, I stretched with all my might.
“Feels good?”
Daily routine of self-esteem boost: complete.
After a quick wash, I stepped out of the bathroom.
Whirr!
Sulbaek, who’d woken up at some point, hopped right onto my head. A cool breeze started tickling my nape.
Dutifully drying my long hair for me.
The hairdryer used to take a solid 30 minutes, but thanks to Sulbaek, it was down to under 5.
Pat, pat! Whirr…!
Feeling Sulbaek’s kindness, I cracked an egg into the frying pan.
“…Oh!”
Whoa, jackpot. Twin yolks right here.
With my second lucky break in life, I whipped up an egg fry for breakfast.
I used to skip breakfast out of laziness, but lately, I’d been trying to change that.
‘Gotta live by a business magnate’s routine.’
Honestly, wasn’t I already a pretty successful entrepreneur?
To aim even higher, I resolved to follow in the footsteps of greats before me.
Mastering management styles right away was tough, so start with their daily routines!
Sizzle, pop!
Soon, a perfectly artistic sunny-side-up egg was ready.
I plated it prettily and headed to the table when—
Knock knock knock!
A sudden knock echoed.
Who could it be? Ha-young?
She usually heads straight to the workshop…
“Mini, get the door.”
Ugh……
Still half-asleep, Mini crawled toward the front door.
She barely made it, head bobbing sleepily. No sign of opening it.
Knock knock knock!
“Mini. Time to wake up.”
Ugh…
At my words, Mini leaped up and opened the door. Then flopped right there in the entryway to nap.
Door unlocked anyway.
“Hi.”
And through it came Jina, of all people.
“…What brings you here?”
An unusual visit.
Jina rarely left her hideout.
“Just bored, so I stopped by. Ha-young said she was heading to work, so we came together.”
Jina yawned hugely. Dark circles had deepened under her eyes again.
“Didn’t you sleep?”
“…Yeah. Oh, not sick or anything. Just stayed up playing. There’s so much fun stuff lately.”
Good to hear.
I’d been thinking of giving her more Dart horns.
Speaking of Dart, I’d upped the Kendarts to five lately.
Needed that many to feed the growing slime horde horns.
Still had extras left, so spoiling Jina a bit was no issue.
“Making fries for breakfast?”
“Yeah. Want some?”
“Hmm… Nah, I don’t do breakfast.”
Saying that, Jina sat at the table. Probably to chat while I ate.
“Yaaawn… So tired.”
“Why come all the way here then? Rest at home.”
“Well, had something to talk about, so killed two birds.”
Jina pulled out her tablet and showed me a photo.
“How’s this? Looks good?”
It was the Molrangmol design I’d requested. Time to shift from lottery sales to regular store sales.
“Looks great.”
“I’ve got a few more, so check ’em out. Oh, and I added real-time stock updates too.”
“Oh.”
She’s so good at this. Great sense.
Swipe.
I skimmed the designs while scarfing down breakfast.
Overall, satisfying… but one issue.
“Still, with so few items, it looks kinda empty.”
“Yeah. Maybe scale up the images to fill the screen?”
“Won’t that feel cramped?”
Deep down, I knew there was only one real solution.
It was the dilemma I’d started pondering lately, now that Molrangtori production had ramped up.
‘Develop new products.’
Molrangtori was amazing, sure, but relying on one item felt lacking.
Upgrades were possible, of course, but on hold for now.
Next upgrade would likely be for selling to civilians, which would take time.
So during this stable phase, new products sounded perfect…
“No ideas.”
“What kind of ideas?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Alright. Anyway, pick a design and let me know.”
“Got it.”
“Cool. I’m gonna crash now.”
Jina shot up and beelined for the sofa.
Creak.
Sinking into the plushness, she even hugged a nearby Molcang.
Definitely prime nap material.
“Ugh… Wanna stay like this forever. Nothing beats lounging and sucking honey… Oh, right. Talked to Seojin? She’s sucking honey too right now.”
“…Huh?”
First I’d heard. That solo queen, sucking honey?
I’d heard she was grinding gates hard for A-rank promotion.
“Didn’t Saebyeok tell you? She broke her spine in a gate.”
“…….”
W-what? Broke her spine…?
The sudden bombshell left me speechless.
“Oh… Don’t worry too much. Got top-notch treatment from an A-rank healer. Cost like 200 million, I think. But needs a week’s rest, so she’s off.”
“Why’d she get hurt?”
“’Cause she always solos. Doesn’t wear proper armor either. Says it’s uncomfortable.”
Yeah, that tracked.
Good armor being uncomfortable was common wisdom.
Custom-made to fit the user existed, but those cost nine figures…
Wait a sec!
A brilliant idea flashed through my mind.
Sturdy custom armor…
Ugh?
Molrang!
Maybe I could develop an awesome new product.