Chapter 32
Chapter 32.
"Yu, Yuri...?"
"I'm here in my capacity as an agent right now, Director."
At Shin Yuri's cold reaction, Shin Gyeongcheol was momentarily flustered.
"......Ahem. I see."
After clearing his throat briefly, he returned to his 'official' demeanor.
"What conditions do you find unsatisfactory?"
"First of all, merely selecting him for Special Management Target status doesn't make sense."
"Merely Special Management Target status...? Don't you know how many benefits are given to Special Management Targets?"
"It's good conditions for catching an S-rank, but even for SS-rank, it's significantly lacking compared to foreign countries."
Shin Yuri then cited examples from several countries including the United States, China, and Middle Eastern nations.
'Is the difference really that significant?'
Unlike Korea, which starts with a basic allowance of 3 million won for S-rank, the countries Shin Yuri mentioned all had basics of 50 million won or more. Of course, this was based on SS-rank standards, so Korea would probably offer more than 3 million in detailed contracts, but there was still a tremendous difference.
"......However, Player Lee Ganghan is an E-rank player. No matter how powerful abilities he's shown, it's difficult to provide treatment equivalent to SS-rank."
"Is that so? We would like conditions befitting SSS-rank."
"SSS-rank...?!"
"He's a player who cleared achievements and destroyed a tower for the first time in humanity. Something no SSS-rank has ever done."
"......The agent side must also know what it means for such a player's rank to be E?"
Having such power yet being E-rank meant his abilities could disappear at any time. But she wants not just an S-rank contract, but an SSS-rank contract?
Shin Gyeongcheol thought his daughter was making unreasonable demands, but...
"I'm sorry, but our client's rank is not E."
"Wha... what?"
"It went up from E to D."
"What in the...? The rank went up!"
"Since it came up, why don't you bring a measuring device and test it?"
At Shin Yuri's confident attitude, Shin Gyeongcheol, half-believing and half-doubting, instructed his office secretary to bring a measuring device. In the trait measurement conducted on the spot:
[Trait Rank: D]
When the trait rank came out as D:
"It's, it's really true..."
Shin Gyeongcheol's voice trembled. For a trait rank to go up...
'Does this mean it might not be terminal...?'
When it was E, he naturally thought it was terminal, but seeing the rank go up like this, various other assumptions arose in Shin Gyeongcheol's mind.
"Did it... go up because you cleared an achievement?"
"No. A few days ago, I woke up and it had gone up."
"I, I see? But why didn't you reveal it earlier..."
"I was busy with other things, but I was planning to reveal it today."
"Today?"
At Lee Ganghan's words, Shin Gyeongcheol was startled and quickly cleared his throat.
"Ahem. That... could you wait a few days before announcing it? I'll persuade them once more to get the budget..."
"Director, that's not possible."
"Why, why not? Can't you give me that much time?"
At Shin Yuri's words, Shin Gyeongcheol unconsciously dropped his 'official' attitude and spoke informally again. That's how anxious he was. However...
"I already contacted a reporter I know on the way here. The article probably went out as breaking news."
Shin Yuri had called a reporter she knew just before getting out of the car, saying she would widely publicize that Lee Ganghan was D-rank.
Looking at how she asked for the article to be posted 20 minutes later, it seemed she didn't want Tower Management Director Shin Gyeongcheol to come to the negotiation table knowing this fact.
'She's so thorough.'
As Lee Ganghan looked at his agent with renewed appreciation:
"Yuri...! How could you do this! Even for the country's sake, you shouldn't! At least you should give me a chance to negotiate!"
"I've already given you plenty of opportunities to negotiate."
Shin Yuri looked at her desperate father and smiled bitterly.
"Instead of appealing to a player's patriotism, you should treat them according to their abilities. And our client also primarily wants to stay in Korea. Even if the conditions are somewhat lacking compared to other countries, if you give him a reasonably satisfactory proposal, he'll continue to stay in Korea."
"A satisfactory proposal..."
"Of course, this Special Management Target status doesn't match a satisfactory proposal at all."
Shin Yuri then:
Clap.
She clapped her hands.
"Then Director, let's end this discussion here for now. Since our client's rank has been upgraded, you'll need time to reconsider the proposal from scratch."
"......"
"Instead, how about we proceed with discussions about the citation and FIPA award? That was originally the main topic, wasn't it?"
"Sigh... That's right."
Looking at his daughter standing firm like a steel wall, Shin Gyeongcheol felt helpless, but at the same time, he felt some inexplicable pride in one corner of his heart.
He thought that because she was so sharp, our daughter succeeded so well as an agent.
However, when the citation and prize money came up, the atmosphere that had briefly relaxed became bleak again.
"One hundred million won for a world-first achievement. Wow... the Management Office is really generous with spending."
"......This was already increased."
"How much was it originally? Fifty million?"
"......"
"Or twenty million? Hmm. No way... it wasn't ten million, was it?"
When ten million came up, Shin Gyeongcheol slightly averted his gaze, and Shin Yuri sighed deeply.
"Actually, I didn't have high expectations. FIPA is the main one. What did they say?"
"They said they'd give a 'special item.'"
"An item...?"
"Right. But they'd like you to come to LA where FIPA headquarters is located to receive the award."
If it's a special item, it must be something that can be used inside the tower.
'That's quite tempting.'
He didn't know what they'd give, but if it's something given at the FIPA level, it wouldn't be an ordinary item. It seemed much more valuable than the 100 million won Korea was offering.
'Now that the 12-hour sleeping sickness is cured, and I'm not completely leaving Korea...'
I should go. Lee Ganghan slowly opened his mouth.
"I should go to LA, since they're giving a special item."
"Understood. Then I'll coordinate the schedule with FIPA."
"Yes. Thank you."
When Lee Ganghan answered refreshingly, Shin Gyeongcheol looked at him with regretful eyes.
If he had faced him one-on-one without an agent like Shin Yuri, he probably could have persuaded him more easily than now.
"Director?"
However, when his daughter quietly looked at him from the side, Director Shin Gyeongcheol cleared his throat again.
"Then let's stop the work talk here... Would lunch be alright?"
"Yes. That sounds good."
"Let's go eat something delicious~ Father."
As soon as they said to end the work talk, Shin Yuri suddenly linked arms with Shin Gyeongcheol. Seeing her 180-degree change in attitude, Shin Gyeongcheol chuckled, and she smiled with her eyes.
"The work talk is over, isn't it? We should return to being a close father and daughter."
"Ha. You really..."
Director Shin Gyeongcheol, looking at his daughter as if he couldn't handle her, said to Lee Ganghan:
"Then let's go, Player Lee Ganghan."
***
The lunch proceeded in a harmonious atmosphere. Since his younger brother Shin Dongseok also spoke informally to Lee Ganghan, Shin Gyeongcheol, who had naturally become comfortable with his speech, said:
-Your mother went missing? Could you tell me her name?
-Yoo Eesu... I'll look into it too.
He said he would also look into his mother's whereabouts. As the meal time was coming to an end:
-When a country shakes, its people shake too. How could one's homeland be entirely to one's liking... but still, I hope you'll make a wise choice for the Republic of Korea.
He didn't forget to appeal to patriotism.
"Father is really persistent."
Shin Yuri barely pried away Shin Gyeongcheol, who was holding onto Lee Ganghan until the very end, and shook her head in the car.
"If he was like that, he showed a lot of restraint."
"That's true... Then Heavenly Demon, shall I take you straight home?"
"Ah. I'd like to exchange TP, would that be possible?"
"Of course it's possible! How much are you thinking of exchanging this time?"
"Just a moment..."
Lee Ganghan checked his possessed TP. Combining the clear rewards with what the goblins earned bit by bit from the market:
"This time it's 198,000 TP."
"......198,000?"
"Yes."
"No, didn't you exchange just a few days ago? When did you collect that much?"
Shin Dongseok was amazed hearing how much TP Lee Ganghan had collected. And rightly so, because it hadn't even been a week since they made the contract and exchanged TP. What Iron-rank player earns almost 200,000 TP in just a few days?
"When I cleared the achievement, they gave me an extra 100,000 TP as a bonus."
"......Even minus the 100,000, that's incredible? I couldn't earn that much when I was Iron-rank."
"Really? When I get SSS+, they give me over 30,000 each time."
"Huh... SSS+ does give a lot of TP. Does leveling up go fast too?"
"I'm already level 25."
"Wow...!"
Already reached the Iron-rank level limit? Shin Dongseok let out a pure exclamation. This growth rate was unprecedented, wasn't it?
After chatting like this and going to the agent office, Lee Ganghan could see:
[Transaction completed.]
A notification that 308,880,000 won had been deposited.
'Well, making money is easy.'
Of course, the expenses from Ten Thousand Demon Hall are also becoming substantial, so I need to prepare in advance.
Meanwhile, in the car taking Lee Ganghan home after exchanging TP, Shin Yuri checked her trait:
Failed *** (Rank: SSS)
*** **** **** ****.
**** *** ***** *** *** ******.
Instead, the strongest humanity ****** *****.
The more *** assists, the more ***.
*** *** *** *, *** *** **you.
"Huh...?"
Perhaps because the amount was much larger this time, more characters were revealed in the trait window than 'the more.' This time, 'Failed' appeared in the trait name and 'Instead' before 'strongest humanity.' However...
'......Failed?'
Even though many more characters were revealed than usual, Shin Yuri couldn't purely rejoice about this. The trait name represents the nature of the trait. But to have 'Failed' attached to the front of an SSS-rank trait name... she couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"......Yuri?"
"Ah, Uncle."
"Why do you look like that? Didn't any characters appear this time?"
"No. They did appear, but it says 'Failed.'"
"Failed?"
"Yes. The first characters of the trait are 'Failed.'"
Could an SSS-rank trait name have 'Failed' attached to it? Lee Ganghan, who heard this from the back seat, tilted his head. And looking carefully at the characters Shin Yuri said were revealed more:
'Does it mean to help the strongest humanity instead?'
Somehow, the SSS-rank trait had no talk about its own abilities and was full of talk about helping others. Of course, hidden abilities might be revealed in the covered parts, but...
'Yuri's trait also has many peculiar aspects like Heavenly Demon Constitution.'
Lee Ganghan thought this as he returned home.
"Then Heavenly Demon, I'll report immediately when good proposals come. And before climbing the tower, please don't forget to reveal your trait!"
"Understood. The article you published, was there some reaction?"
"I watched briefly in the car earlier, and it's chaos right now. If you turn on TowerTube, the chat will be no joke."
How long had it been since she contacted the reporter and published the article? Already that much chaos?
"Several Middle Eastern oil-rich countries are already putting in immigration contract inquiries. When the trait rank was E, it was just testing the waters, but now that it's announced as D, the proposals seem to have become serious. If you clearly reveal your trait at this time..."
"More countries will jump in."
"Yes. Only when this many proposals come will our country also present a proper contract, instead of just trying to drag out time like now."
Lee Ganghan nodded at those words.
"Then I should turn it on as soon as I get home."
So as soon as he entered the house and went into the tower, Lee Ganghan was greeted with:
-He's here
-He's here, he's here
-Is the article real?
-Really D???
-Reveal it, reveal it, reveal it
-Wait, wasn't it terminal??? This can be upgraded?
Countless chats along with:
['CH111' sponsored 10,000 TP.]
[Hello, Heavenly Demon. Would it be possible to reveal your status window like last time?]
The polite sponsorship message from CH111, who had previously given only 10,000 TP and disappeared, also appeared simultaneously.