The Price of a Steel Mill
It was such a waste to lose an entire day just because he’d passed out.
He still needed to look into a steel mill, and there were more items he wanted to sell.
Even though it was late, he called Jung Da-yeon.
“Yes, this is Jung Da-yeon.”
Kim Hwang-je cleared his throat with a small cough before speaking.
“Would it be all right if I came over now? Some things came up that I need to dispose of before the auction.”
Jung Da-yeon glanced at her watch while working overtime.
He’s coming to see me at this ungodly hour?
Could he have some other motive?
But Jung Da-yeon was not the type of woman to be easily shaken.
“You’re always welcome, Your Majesty.”
The playful tone in her voice made Kim Hwang-je flinch. He still wasn’t used to this kind of thing.
“However, to soothe this young lady’s curiosity, I would be grateful if you could tell me what kind of items they are in advance. The bigger, the better, of course.”
“Hmm, they’re pretty big. About sixteen meters long.”
“Oh my… And what exactly are they?”
“Ogre corpses. And a Triple Head Ogre corpse.”
Hearing Jung Da-yeon’s gasp of shock through the phone, Kim Hwang-je climbed into the limousine the hotel had prepared and headed for her workshop.
Jung Da-yeon had dressed up to the nines to meet Kim Hwang-je.
Her hair was slightly longer—whether she had grown it out or added extensions—and fell in soft waves.
On top of that, her antique lace-trimmed formal dress perfectly accentuated her elegant, old-world beauty.
Yet no matter how overwhelming her beauty was, it was impossible not to focus on the sixteen-meter-long giant corpse standing in front of her.
“This… this… this is also a contaminant.”
She swallowed hard as she stared at the Triple Head Ogre’s corpse.
“…This is also an incredibly expensive item. Where on earth did you…”
Kim Hwang-je shook his head.
“I have a separate hunting ground. But I won’t disclose it. It was quite… exhausting… to clear.”
Kim Hwang-je’s voice grew slightly hoarse.
Jung Da-yeon tilted her head.
It must have been quite difficult.
“Thank you for trusting us.”
Since he had brought such valuable goods, she assumed her own passionate(?) efforts had borne fruit.
In just one day, she had purchased and delivered an enormous quantity of spears, armor, and arrows.
And since there had been no word of trucks heading to the warehouse, it was clear he had been testing them.
That was what she believed.
Kim Hwang-je tilted his head in confusion.
They had been trading smoothly from the beginning—what was she talking about?
Anyway, as long as she was in a good mood, that was enough.
Kim Hwang-je continued.
“I also obtained quite a few ogre corpses. A lot of them, actually.”
He spoke while using World Observation to watch the soldiers below the castle walls frantically scraping up corpses.
“Would you like to see them?”
“Please do.”
Kim Hwang-je summoned a massive pile of ogre corpses that looked like a giant mound of chopped baby octopus jeotgal someone had stirred with a spatula inside the workshop.
They had been scraped off the ground all the way down to the bedrock by bulldozers.
Crushed by stones, torn apart by arrows and spears, the mangled mess filled the workshop with a horrific stench.
But every employee working here wore full protective gear on the level of semiconductor factory workers.
Or, like Jung Da-yeon, they were powerful mages who didn’t even flinch.
“Hmm… Good… They’re already shredded, so I can’t pay full price, but they’ll be easy to process as materials. Is there more?”
“Yeah, there’s a lot more. I’ll take them all out.”
Kim Hwang-je gauged the ceiling height and brought out even more.
A literal mountain of corpses piled up.
The endlessly rising mound was truly a mountain of corpses. It looked exactly like a garbage landfill.
Yet Jung Da-yeon, wearing white latex gloves that clashed horribly with her dress, casually plunged her hand into the innards to check their freshness and toughness.
“Impressive. All of them are top-grade. The yield won’t be great, but since they’re already minced like this, we should be able to extract plenty of magic liquid.”
After examining the corpses from every angle, she set them down and discreetly removed the gloves with a localized warp.
Once again, she looked at Kim Hwang-je with eyes that clearly sought praise, but at that exact moment he was turning red from the smell of the guts.
Jung Da-yeon struck a victory pose in her mind.
Got him this time! But what exactly worked? The outfit? The coy smile from earlier?
Riding the momentum, Jung Da-yeon attempted her greatest seduction yet.
She started talking about money.
“Also, I realized something today, Mr. Kim Hwang-je. Would it be all right if I gave you 0.15% of the total transaction amount in stock each time? Of course, only up to the point where it doesn’t threaten management control. That way, as Lost grows, the value of your assets will rise as well. Naturally, that would mean you’d trade with us even more, right?”
“Sounds good.”
Kim Hwang-je nodded at her suggestion.
The Triple Head Ogre was to be saved for a secret final reveal at the upcoming auction.
The ogre corpses were also purchased at a fair price.
After selling everything, the number on the black card easily broke through the 50 billion won mark.
Fifty billion won in just one week since awakening.
Was this how people who got rich when Bitcoin exploded felt?
“Thank you again for choosing Lost today.”
Jung Da-yeon stepped closer and offered a handshake.
Her sparkling space-themed earrings and the elegant line of her neck below them were captivating.
Even in front of a mountain of corpses, her noble aura remained unshaken.
The signature perfume she had created with magic was incredibly effective—there was no trace of the corpse stench around her.
“Are you really going to refuse dinner with me again tonight? The clothes you’re wearing look like they’d fit the dress code perfectly.”
Jung Da-yeon went straight for the kill.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed.
Was it because of the +30 dignity effect from the outfit?
Kim Hwang-je hesitated.
There was certainly a lot he needed to hear, and since it was already late, having dinner together didn’t sound bad.
“I have time tonight.”
When Kim Hwang-je nodded, Jung Da-yeon broke into a bright smile.
“Then I’ll take you to my restaurant.”
Would any restaurant even be open at this hour?
Kim Hwang-je was slightly surprised.
“How did you make a reservation?”
“I just called the owner on the way here and told him to open the doors. As for the chef, I’ll just bring our own people.”
Jung Da-yeon mouthed words toward Ghost, who was standing far away.
Are you watching, Ghost?
Jung Da-yeon was beautiful.
Enough to make ordinary men lose their minds.
The fact that someone like her was selling things could only be called foul play—or even a form of aggressive salesmanship.
Yet even in this elegant rooftop restaurant overlooking the Han River with its cool breeze, the only topic she discussed during dinner was this:
“As you know, stocks aren’t always right. But historically, there has never been anything that rises as consistently as stocks.”
“Ah… yes…”
Kim Hwang-je was already on his third glass of cognac.
Was it because of The Castle Becomes Me? He didn’t feel drunk at all.
“Neither the monster crisis, the oil shock, nor the food crisis could stop stocks from rebounding after a crash. The world is difficult today, but stocks keep rising. It’s very hopeful.”
Tablet. Chart.
Chart. Tablet.
And cognac that might as well have been going up his nose.
Kim Hwang-je had to check several times whether the steak and cognac he was putting in his mouth were actually going down his throat.
Meanwhile, Jung Da-yeon wore an expression full of pride, shooting him looks that practically screamed, Don’t worry, Kim Hwang-je. I’ll grow your fortune for you!
Unfortunately, this was her own way of trying to score points.
And for her, it was the ultimate seduction technique.
Of course, Jung Da-yeon didn’t actually need seduction techniques.
Buried in work, when would she have had time for romance?
She simply wanted to give him enough profit to maintain a long-term relationship with Lost.
Kim Hwang-je spoke up.
“Can I ask you for one favor?”
“Anything. As long as it’s possible, just say the word.”
Jung Da-yeon shrugged.
Thanks to their transactions so far, Lost’s position in Korea was already practically secured.
“I need a manager. I have to buy companies, buy goods, and handle taxes.”
Hunters hunted, and they needed people to sell their loot in the middle.
Those people were usually called managers.
Kim Hwang-je had smashed through the front gate with anti-magic gold and gone straight to Jung Da-yeon, but normally a manager had to open the sales channels first.
“Ah, I see. In that case, I’ll assign you the most outstanding person from our secretary team at the team leader level. They are unmatched when it comes to tax and financial management for VIP hunter clients, as well as handling complex legal and business matters.”
Jung Da-yeon was confident.
The money he was earning wasn’t pocket change, so the taxes wouldn’t be small either.
And trading with the kingdom inside his body would require all sorts of experts.
They say death and taxes are the only certainties.
“Thank you. Yes, the sooner the better. Tomorrow morning would be fine.”
“Understood. An employee will visit you soon. You’re staying at the Gaya Hotel, correct?”
“Yes.”
Kim Hwang-je suddenly realized Jung Da-yeon was trying to say something.
She seemed restless.
Come to think of it, they hadn’t talked about the blast furnace yet.
“By the way, what happened with the blast furnace?”
The moment had come.
Jung Da-yeon fidgeted with her hands on her skirt.
Ah, how should she even say this?
He had sold her gold, jewels, and corpses, but unfortunately things hadn’t gone well.
“…….”
When she hesitated and couldn’t speak, Kim Hwang-je caught on.
Even for a large corporation, asking for a blast furnace overnight was difficult.
After all, even before the monster crisis, steel mills took years and over 1.5 billion dollars to build.
It wasn’t something a corporation could just force through in a single day.
But Jung Da-yeon wasn’t one to give up easily. She set down her cognac and spoke.
“I’m truly sorry, Mr. Kim Hwang-je. The government is refusing to grant permission for the steel business. It seems they aren’t happy about a foreign company like us stepping in. In this current world, they probably don’t want to increase competition in steel production.”
In other words, stick to distribution in Korea and don’t touch basic industries.
Kim Hwang-je nodded.
Since he hadn’t given them a single penny yet, there was no loss.
She showed him a photo on her tablet.
“I’m quite stubborn. I may not look it, but I don’t give up easily.”
“You don’t look it?”
“Yes. I look pure, innocent, and beautiful, don’t I?”
With flushed cheeks, Jung Da-yeon swept her hair back. The spade-shaped earring he had seen last time caught his eye again.
She must be a little drunk.
Kim Hwang-je nodded. It wasn’t entirely wrong.
“So? Is there a way?”
“My father used to say: If you can’t win, change the rules.”
“He sounds like a tough man.”
“But life doesn’t always go your way. Sometimes you can’t change the rules.”
“That’s true.”
“Then my father would say this.”
She took a sip of cognac and smiled.
“If you can’t change the rules, ignore them.”
She brought up another photo on the tablet.
It was one of the blocked zones known as off-limits areas within South Korea.
“You know this place, right?”
“…I know where it is.”
It was a map of the eastern region of the Taebaek Mountains that President Kim Han-cheol had destroyed using American tactical nuclear weapons.
When she zoomed in on the map, a small steel mill came into view.
“After the monster crisis, there was a steel facility here that reprocessed scrap metal from the area to make weapons. As you can see, it’s abandoned now. And what does it mean when something is abandoned?”
“No man’s land. First one to plant their flag owns it.”
“Exactly. As expected of you, Mr. Kim Hwang-je… A dangerous place like this is nothing to you… Hehe… How bold.”
The cognac was strong. Slightly tipsy, Jung Da-yeon giggled.
Kim Hwang-je tilted his head.
Was it that dangerous?
Still, it wasn’t a bad idea.
Overcoming an abandoned steel mill in the middle of monster territory and connecting it to the ‘royal castle’ via Tribute Trade.
This was a way to solve the problem without spending a single penny.
But there was something Kim Hwang-je didn’t know: the reason the government had abandoned it was because there was a real reason it needed to be abandoned.
“There is one monster in that area rated as [Troublesome to Deal With]. It’s [Evil Spirit] rank.”
“…….”
He knew about [Disaster], but he had never heard of [Evil Spirit].
It was a rank he was hearing for the first time.
He had never seen it on the internet either.
In the end, Kim Hwang-je stayed silent.
In the quiet, Jung Da-yeon leaned back in her chair and looked up at the stars.
It was nice that the rooftop restaurant allowed them to see the sky. Even so, her eyes sank deep with thought.
“You understand, don’t you? The reason so many people don’t talk about the [Contamination Lords]. The more widely their names are known, the stronger they become.”
“The more people know their name, the stronger they get?”
“Yes. That is the nature of [Evil Spirit] rank. They are absolute enemies of civilization. The more people gather, the proportionally stronger they become. But the only advantage we humans have is cooperation.”
Jung Da-yeon fiddled with her necklace and chuckled.
“Isn’t it funny? Just by flipping that simple rule, they became so difficult to deal with. Since they’re spirit-based, even nuclear weapons are tricky. It’s much better when they don’t move. In the end, the government chose to leave it alone. There was no need to provoke it.”
Jung Da-yeon poured herself another glass of cognac and drank.
She seemed to be drinking quite a lot…
“It’s such a headache. It would be nice if they got weaker when their secrets were revealed like me, but it’s the complete opposite…”
Still, Jung Da-yeon had a feeling that if it was Kim Hwang-je, he might be able to accomplish something.
She rested her chin on both hands and stared straight at him.
“Can I trust you this time too? Like how you drove out the Howling… Can I believe that you can solve these kinds of things…?”
Jung Da-yeon, who had been speaking seriously, suddenly lowered her head.
Kim Hwang-je leaned in to hear what she would say next when a butler appeared beside them.
“Pardon me. Mr. Kim Hwang-je. It seems the young lady has had a bit too much to drink on this happy occasion.”
“Ah, butler.”
Jung Da-yeon’s eyes widened. Then she fanned her flushed cheeks.
“I see. I’m sorry, Mr. Kim Hwang-je. I wanted to enjoy more of this wonderful time, but… I foolishly drank too much. Today was a truly lovely dinner. Thank you. I’ll invite you again next time.”
She rose hurriedly like Cinderella under the moonlight.
Her movements suggested she had urgent business.
When she staggered and reached out, the butler caught her hand.
Jung Da-yeon said,
“Your Majesty. I’ll leave the tablet with you. Please feel free to choose. If you decide to recapture that place, we will gather our elite members as well.”
“…Yes, I’ll contact you.”
Jung Da-yeon left with the butler.
Kim Hwang-je looked at the tablet and thought.
It only gets stronger when facing multiple people? Then couldn’t I just go in alone and steal the entire steel mill?