Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: The First Membership
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“…They really went all out on that one.”
White Night Castle’s rooftop. Haneul looked up at something in the distance and let out a sigh of admiration.
What hung at the edge of her vision was Yeonhwa Palace. Workers were bustling atop the fully exposed steel frame.
It was because that bizarre monster that had appeared recently had chomped off only the top of Yeonhwa Palace and vanished.
What the hell was that thing?
A monster that devoured only Hwayeon’s guild master’s office without taking a single life.
“Pfft…!”
Haneul watched the construction site and burst into laughter without realizing it.
How could she not laugh?
She’d never liked Hwayeon anyway. They’d even terrorized White Night’s gate.
Of course, there was no hard proof, so she’d had to swallow her anger…
But now, witnessing this karmic payback, how could she hold back her laughter?
Talk about an eyesore.
Yeonhwa Palace, considered the most beautiful of the five great skyscrapers, had become Seoul’s ugliest blight in an instant.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
That’s why they were making that racket day and night.
She’d heard a ton of complaints had been filed, but Hwayeon was ignoring them all and pushing the construction forward.
Come to think of it, Yeonhwa Palace had been called Korea’s greatest fortress.
Hwayeon had advertised it that way. Flip on the TV, and their commercials were on nonstop.
So it felt all the sweeter.
A building they’d bragged about so much had crumbled. How much of a hit to their pride?
Especially for someone with Choi Sung-han’s personality, he was probably grinding his teeth right now.
Word was, they were even spending a fortune now to minimize media coverage?
Fat chance of salvaging that trashed image.
Anyway.
The brief amusement was over.
“Time to head down…”
Haneul turned away without regret and left the rooftop.
Today was the new hire test day.
Whether it was thanks to Molrangmol’s perks against White Night, or the gate incident turning into a blessing…
A competition ratio she’d never seen before was waiting for her.
**
“…So that’s the card?”
“Yes. Pretty nice, right?”
The gold card gleamed under the light!
Being newly issued, it had a fresh shine. The smooth surface felt great too.
“Well… it does look pretty good. The logo’s stamped on perfectly.”
The Molrangmol logo was etched across the card. It was like a character collab card.
There were three design types total.
Molrang, Molcang, and Mini.
Considering how Molrangmol merch was flying off the shelves, the first two probably had the most demand…
Ui?
“You might sell a bit less, Mini.”
Sure, Mini was cute—of course it was—but from a general perspective, it ranked a tad below the pudding slimes.
Collab cards like this usually drew crowds to the popular ones anyway.
Or not?
Maybe the golems would be more popular since they saved the world?
Ui!
Mini nodded vigorously as if reading my mind, then snatched up its own card from the table.
It flashed a thumbs-up.
Pointed at the slimes’ cards with the other hand.
Uuu…!
While twisting the thumb 180 degrees into a reverse thumbs-up.
You can make sounds like that too?
Uuuu!
The other golems playing behind Mini joined in the jeering.
Of course, the pudding slimes had more spunk than you’d think.
It was playful, but they weren’t about to take the insults lying down.
Thud! Thud! Boing!
And so, the umpteenth war between the golem faction and slime faction broke out.
Hard punches crashed into squishy bodies, and squishy bounces launched rigid frames high into the air.
“…You sure it’s okay to just let them go at it?”
Hayoung watched with concern, but I pulled my attention away from them.
“Let ’em be. They do this every day.”
“Really? Looks pretty intense.”
“Kids playing rough, that’s all.”
Kiiing!
“You think so too, Seolbaek?”
Kiiing!
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll fix you up some tasty meat tonight.”
Kiiing!
If only they all listened as well as Seolbaek.
Should’ve put Seolbaek on the card. But since it hadn’t been revealed to the world yet, I had to swallow my regrets.
Thud!
“…They won’t get hurt, right?”
“They do. The building’s complaining a bit.”
I pointed at the ceiling’s edge. There were dents everywhere like it’d been hammered.
Bang!
Right on cue, a mini golem smashed its head into one. A giant slime had bounced it like a trampoline.
Ui!
But the mini golem didn’t care. With defense tougher than Molrangtex, the ceiling couldn’t hurt it.
Ui!
If anything, it got even more hyped and started trampolining on the slimes.
“It’ll punch a hole?”
“That’s what I’m waiting for. Soon as it does, I’ll give ’em a real scolding. Confiscate all their beds.”
Downgrade from luxury cribs to army bunk beds.
A few nights on those hard things would straighten them out.
“Anyway, they turned out better than I expected. I like ’em.”
“But how’d you even get cards made? I figured membership would just be online points or something.”
“Was gonna do that at first, but a good offer came in.”
“Offer? From where?”
“JH Bank.”
Right after I posted about planning a membership, JH Bank reached out.
“Oh… You’re a VIP there, right, Dawn?”
“Yep.”
My pure monthly profit right now was roughly 3.5 billion won.
Molrangtoris only—no merch included.
So what’d I do with all that cash?
‘Stuffed it straight into the bank.’
Sure, I could’ve invested in crypto or bought buildings.
But for now, I wanted to focus purely on the business.
Mess with coins, and you’d end up staring at charts all day.
“Fair. If it were me, I’d make you a VIP too. Nah, VVVIP.”
“Haha… Their service really is top-notch.”
JH Bank was basically the premier hunter-dedicated bank.
They managed the insane fortunes of A-rankers and above.
They assigned asset managers to VIPs like me, and those guys handled everything.
[(Alert) JH Bank: Your current returns have exceeded 6%.]
And they did damn good work.
Like the national pension fund full of elites always turning a profit, JH’s managers were mostly Awakeners.
Pros at money management.
“So they offered to make the membership cards?”
“Exactly.”
Like a shopping mall affiliate card, they proposed a hunter-and-civilian membership card.
“And this is the result?”
I nodded at Hayoung’s question.
“Man… Isn’t this JH’s first guild tie-up?”
Yup. JH had no history of partnering with specific guilds.
No reason to pick sides and piss off the rest.
Staying neutral worked fine when every hunter was a customer.
“This card’s that big a deal?”
Hayoung picked it up again. I gave her a tip.
“Try infusing a bit of mana. It’s got a fun gimmick.”
“Mana?”
Following my advice, Hayoung channeled faint mana through her finger into the card.
Molrang!
The Molrang etched on the card started hopping around like it was alive.
“…Never seen anything like this. This tech exists?”
“JH patented it for new cards. And they decided to debut it on my membership cards.”
Pure luck, timing-wise.
Maybe they saw Molrang’s cuteness and thought it’d pair perfectly with the new tech.
“This… You’re giving me one too, right?”
Hayoung asked casually. We’d planned 1,000 cards total.
334, 333, 333 each—a test run, so not a huge number.
With civilians getting them too, 1,000 would sell out fast.
So I got her worry.
But arms bend inward—family first, my motto.
“Of course. I’ll issue you the top tier.”
“…There are tiers?”
“Naturally. Purchase history, usage stats, etc… JH analyzes performance, then we discuss and set them.”
“But… thinking about it, do I even have places to use it? I always get Molrangtoris from you.”
“There’s plenty.”
Membership cards doubled as credit cards. JH’s, no less.
JH didn’t tie up with guilds much, but they were linked deep with civilian corps.
“I’ll send you the site later. Check it out—tons of stuff. Transit discounts, restaurant points… You name it.”
So many it’s overwhelming. No way to memorize them all.
“Anyway, mind gathering the cards? Need to send samples back to JH, keep a few.”
Cards approved, time for other work.
“Sure.”
While Hayoung packed the cards into the box, I finished sealing another.
Molrangtex packaging.
Full sales kick off tomorrow.