Chapter 174. Saving a Hunter's Farmhouse(?)
Chapter 174. Saving a Hunter's Farmhouse(?)
"Hoon~"
"..."
When I barely lifted my heavy eyelids, Laila was sitting sideways on the bed, waking me up.
"Lunch is all ready~"
"..."
I must have dozed off again. She'd probably been setting the table while I was asleep.
─ Smooch♥
"Your loVing wife worked hard to prepare it~"
She must have already showered by herself by now—she was fresh, clean, and smelled wonderful.
Her face had a healthy glow, too.
In contrast, my face was...
'Why did our house feel so dry...?'
My face felt rough and parched.
Not literally, of course, but that's how it felt.
"Wh-What is all this..."
I rubbed my eyes and headed for the dining table.
There was a side dish of oysters simmered in soy sauce with chives.
Pork, liver, and garlic stir-fried together.
And eel grilled in a frying pan.
"...?"
"Oh my, all of this represents my heart thinking of you, Hoon~♥"
My brow furrowed for a moment as I stared at Laila.
Was she really a Saintess chosen by the Goddess...
Or had she taken orders from a Demon God to drain me dry and kill me? That very irreverent suspicion flashed through my mind.
"Mmm..."
Still, the food was delicious.
Sitting across from me and eating together, Laila spooned side dishes into my rice bowl.
She smiled brightly and spoke.
"By the wAy, shouldn't we resolve the auction issue quickly?"
"Ah, right."
"How can you forget about that!"
I felt a little petty toward Laila, who was brimming with energy all on her own.
So I found myself grumbling without thinking.
"Tch, if only a certain Saintess hadn't kept me up and..."
"Ah, Hoon...!"
Laila turned red, embarrassed.
I chuckled, looking at her.
I felt this every time, but except when we're lost in love, she's the most innocent and pure woman in the world.
"If you're done eating..."
"Yeah."
I gathered the dishes from the table one by one and moved them to the sink.
While I washed the dishes, Laila was brewing coffee.
With the weather gradually getting warmer, I immediately filled it with plenty of ice.
"Is it finals soon...?"
I muttered while doing the dishes.
At that, Laila turned her head and smiled softly.
"Once they're over, it'll be vacation... so we have to prepare diligently."
"Right."
I shook the water off my hands and nodded.
Then for a moment, I stared intently at Laila.
No matter how I thought about it, this was kind of unfair.
'There's nothing she isn't good at... did that make any sense?'
Laila was living the exact same life as me.
In fact, she was even busier than me taking care of the housework.
Yet her midterm scores had been absurdly good.
'Well... she's only been on Earth for a short time but already speaks several languages, so...'
Thinking that to myself, I grumbled pointlessly.
"Hoon~ here you go."
Laila gave the ice a light shake and held out the cup.
I shook off the water, dried my hands on a towel, and accepted the coffee.
Just as the two of us sat down peacefully in front of the computer for the announcement stream, Laila suddenly spoke up.
"Hoon, so where are we going to play this summer?"
She had a coy look on her face.
But a quiet excitement hid beneath it.
"...Is there somewhere you want to go?"
"Since it's summer... shall we go to the beach?"
In that instant, an image of Laila naturally painted itself in my mind.
The sparkling sea under the sun, and... Laila in a swimsuit.
Her damp skin, her blue hair tied up, her dazzling figure, and...
'If we were behind a secluded rock where no one was around...'
I unconsciously swallowed and nodded.
I'd never done it outdoors, but... isn't that also a man's romance?
"L-Let's start the stream first."
With that, I quickly pulled myself together and grabbed the mouse.
"People are probably waiting a lot for the auction talk."
For today, I'd even asked the streamers who had gone to the gate with us to be understanding.
I told them I'd be making an important announcement when I turned on the stream, so please make sure to watch.
[ World's Strongest Hero : auction talk gogo it's important ]
As soon as the stream started, the chat was even more rowdy than before.
Because yesterday I hadn't been able to stream due to unavoidable circumstances...
[You bastard why didn't you stream yesterday???]
[This guy thinks he's a big company now and does whatever he wants!!!]
[Chae-hyun, f***, if the boss doesn't stream, at least you should]
[ Saintess's Doormat : ? ]
Familiar, noisy greetings poured in one after another.
And amid all that, a comment that hit the nail on the head caught my eye.
[Why does his face look so tired?]
[Hey hey, sweetie... that's grown-up business...]
[Business indeed lol]
"..."
It had been sweet time spent with Laila, but there was no way I could tell them that.
If I opened my mouth for no reason, the chat would go wild for sure.
I ignored it appropriately and spoke in a solemn voice.
"Well... it looks like the others have all joined now too."
Right on cue, welcome IDs appeared in the chat as if they'd been waiting.
[ Lucia : hi hi I'm here too ]
[ Nudungji : just how important an announcement are you making lol? ]
The streamers who had come on the gate field trip.
I nodded while looking at the monitor and got down to business.
"As I told you earlier, the date is... tomorrow, Friday afternoon. It will be held at the hotel banquet hall where we all met."
I paused for a moment and took a sip of coffee.
"Naturally, only industry people will come, and I plan to invite the minimum number of reporters. I don't want things to get messy."
If I were a celebrity or a major agency influencer, they'd be making noise about the "right to know" or "media control," but so far, nobody had tried to push me on that.
"Ah, and this time I've added one special rule."
[Special rule?]
[Squid Game lololol]
[???]
The chat started buzzing again, and I smirked.
This was something even the streamers didn't know.
"Do you know how companies are divided into small and medium-sized enterprises, mid-sized companies, and large corporations according to law and government policy?"
[?]
[Suddenly spreading knowledge...]
[Are you making a guild or something?]
"Based on that distinction, in this auction, small businesses will compete with small businesses, and mid-sized with mid-sized. Honestly, if all three compete together, the large corps just eat everything up."
There was a moment of silence.
[Oh isn't that not bad?]
[Honestly, in auctions you can't keep up with the capital power of large companies]
[Seems fine?]
Looking at such chats beyond the screen, I quietly raised the corner of my mouth.
Truthfully, I hadn't had this plan in mind from the start.
A few days ago, a single letter written by hand with a firm hand had arrived.
Not an email, but a handwritten letter.
The person, who was the CEO of a small company, said he had somehow endured by surviving as a subcontractor for large corporations.
Even among the monster remained, he was barely making useful things by refining the small amounts of blood, discarded tissues, and leather.
'Honestly... if he'd told me to just save the small businesses outright, I would've torn the letter up...'
He wasn't asking for anything extraordinary.
It simply said he wanted to escape the chicken game and purchase at fair prices.
So I discussed it with the people around me, and the reality was even more serious.
'From the hunters' standpoint, how much it sells for matters—not where it's sold.'
Small and medium companies, lacking both capital and technology, could not even compete to buy monster corpses.
Hunters sell to the company that pays the most.
That was the cold logic of the market.
"Anyway, that's how it turned out. Please take note~"
I finished in a calm voice and ended the stream.
---
[ Author : Anonymous ]
[ Title : Just upvote if you think this guy is a god ]
[ Content : (stream clip) My dad runs a small business, and I work under him. Lately, some worthless nobody of a manager from the company that gives us subcontracts has been power-tripping like crazy and it's really pissed me off. Fuck, now I can finally breathe a little. ]
└ What? Your dad was the president?
└ Author : Anonymous
└ You silver-spoon brat lol go brag somewhere else
└ Don't large corps get wrecked these days if they abuse their power?
└ Author : Not even a large corp lol Just some half-baked mid-sized manager bastard who bullies like hell;;
└ lololololol
└ Author : Still, large corps at least give a lot of work and a lot of money while they abuse their power. But mid-sized companies just f***ing think they're the big leagues.
└ You bastard, you're still in the top 1% of South Korea
└ Author : No, f***, do you know there are bastards who poach employees you've painstakingly sent abroad to study and trained, leaving you empty-handed?
Of course, not every company got to seize this lucky break.
Song Hoon had people thoroughly check the companies that had applied.
Financial statements, income statements, debt ratios, cash flow statements, and so on...
He also checked for social issues like overextending the business, wage theft, and workplace harassment.
On that front, he actually got help from the government.
From the government's perspective, there was no reason to refuse when Song Hoon was voluntarily offering to help small and medium businesses.
After all, if they did well, the country's tax revenue would grow too.
---
The day of the auction.
Countless cars were coming and going in front of the hotel.
It wasn't just streamers, Song Hoon and Laila—representatives from various companies were there as well.
"Mom and Dad are coming too, right?"
"Yeah, they said they're coming as representatives of Hanul Guild."
And surprisingly, Max also came in person.
As the master of the guild participating in the auction.
Most were Korean companies, but I had slotted Max in purely via personal connections.
"There's still time, but... let's go inside early and..."
Just as I took Laila's hand and headed for the hotel lobby.
"Ah, why can't we come in! Shouldn't we be given the same opportunity too? Call the person in charge here!!! I'll talk to them face-to-face and—"
A shouting voice tore through the space and reverberated.
The bustling hotel lobby stopped for a moment as if frozen.
"S-Sir... entry is not possible for those not on the list..."
"That's why I said to bring the person in charge! I'll talk to them directly!!!"
People's gazes turned that way, but as if they had seen something repulsive, they shook their heads and moved away from the spot.
'Who was that...?'
The CEO's photo was included in the application documents, but I couldn't possibly remember every single one.
"What kind of criteria did you use to select them anyway? Why was a company with lower sales and fewer employees than us chosen?!!!"
The auction.
A place offering the flower of opportunity to small and mid-sized businesses.
And that beautiful flower called opportunity.
Naturally, flowers attract pests.