Chapter 9

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Wjin

Chapter: 009

Chapter Title: Misunderstanding

-----------------------------------------------------------------

He'd finished making the requested scrolls.

The client had demanded the highest possible performance, so he'd drawn the circuit on mid-grade parchment.

'They threw in an extra 200,000 gold, so there was no pressure.'

And after analyzing the earth attribute for just an hour or two, he'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hit 100% circuit completion there too.

'Earth attributes only differ slightly in their topological invariants; the essence is the same, so it was straightforward to grasp.'

Anyway, this level of performance should be more than enough, right?

A quick search showed that suppressing an elemental golem's rampage only required early 3-circle output, and he'd blown past that ages ago.

Before sending the email, he searched the Auction House for Magic Scroll ─ Fire Magic Bullet.

It had bizarre specs in every way, yet it was listed at a price that wasn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cheap at all.

'How the hell did this person make it to get a destructive power of 0.21?'

Lowest-grade parchment could only handle 0-circle circuits, so setting that aside, the minimum efficiency on low-grade parchment was 0.4.

To hit 0.21, the circuit completion efficiency would actually have to decrease.

'Does efficiency drop if the circuit completion is too low?'

He set aside his budding curiosity for the moment.

What mattered now was pricing his own scrolls.

'...If they're like this, how much should I even sell mine for?'

After a moment's thought, Park Ha-jun wrote up his sponsorship reply.

'If it's too expensive, they'll reply.'

As he tidied up his surroundings, a reply arrived.

"...This person's quick, for sure."

He checked the contents.

'Straightforward personality too.'

Park Ha-jun listed the Fire Magic Bullet scroll on the Auction House first.

It sold in 3 seconds.

He followed up by listing the Earth Magic Bullet scroll.

Again, in 3 seconds.

Here's hoping all future commission clients were this cool and quick.

Nodding in satisfaction, he took a sip of his coffee.

"Cough, hack... 1 million gold?"

Coffee nearly went down the wrong pipe. They weren't taking back the 800,000 gold advance and were even tossing in another million as thanks. That was 18 million won in cash terms.

'Must be a pretty successful hunter to have pockets that deep and such solid character.'

Warmed by the gesture, Park Ha-jun blew his nose and sent a rare reply.

A thoroughly professorial response.

With the deal wrapped up satisfactorily, Park Ha-jun opened his [Exclusive Shop].

Before moving on to Cleanses, he figured he'd make the wind and water attribute scrolls too. Aiming for destructive power of 1, of course.

'Mid-grade parchment is pretty pricey, but the sponsorship eased the burden.'

Along with low-grade parchment for practice, he bought two more sheets of mid-grade.

'I'll dump all the practice ones later in one go.'

If that 50 Billion Farmer guy needed them, he'd pass them along at a fair price.

Selling them for a few thousand gold more didn't feel as rewarding as getting them into the right hands.

'Well... I did get a hefty sponsorship from the guy.'

And so, Park Ha-jun peered curiously at the circuits for the remaining attributes.

Five minutes earlier.

Kim Ji-seok's breathing grew ragged as he read the email.

'What...'

2-circle destructive power of 1? For 800,000 gold? Was this for real?

It was far cheaper than expected. Of course, not knowing the scrolls Park Ha-jun would list were only 1-circle made his excitement even greater.

Confirming the sender as asd123, he quickly hit [Reply].

'Gotta buy before they change their mind.'

He kept his emotions in check as much as possible. He was too worked up right now.

He waited anxiously for the bookmark notification.

'A attribute magic scroll with destructive power 1 for 800,000 gold could get snatched up.'

He'd have to buy the instant it went up.

More tense than ever, Kim Ji-seok gripped his hand tightly as the notification appeared.

Holding his breath, he hit [Go].

Skipping the details, he checked the price and bought it.

Losing it would've been a disaster. Asking the weirdo to relist for 800,000 gold wouldn't be easy.

With that, he snagged the Earth Magic Bullet that followed too.

"Phew..."

Kim Ji-seok, who kept ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his cool even during B-rank gate subjugations, broke into a cold sweat just now—a chill ran through him.

'...Glad the deal went smoothly.'

His reason slowly returned. Two scrolls. Bought way too cheap. The subjugation budget was left with too much surplus now.

'Good, but... the excess budget feels off.'

Still, preparations weren't lacking.

These two scrolls were plenty for suppressing the elemental golem's rampage.

No—destructive power 1 was actually overkill. There was no chance of the scrolls missing anyway.

'It's just that asd123 sold them at an absurdly low price. If it feels off...'

Probably a matter of conscience.

Was it really okay to just take it and say nothing?

'Subjugation's coming up. Better not have any nagging doubts.'

Besides, he'd learned how user-friendly scrolls were. They'd be used often going forward.

Maintaining ties with a creator like this was essential for a team leader.

'Not sure if this works on a weirdo, though.'

He sent 1 million gold as sponsorship.

'...Hope that doesn't make things awkward.'

As he fretted, a reply came.

"Hm..."

Utterly inscrutable guy. At least he didn't refuse, so it wasn't bad.

'Whatever. Don't try to understand the weirdo deeply. It'll just make me uncomfortable.'

Shaking off his interest, Kim Ji-seok checked the scrolls.

"...?"

He was briefly taken aback.

'Destructive power 1 checks out. But... magic bullet... isn't this just 1-circle?'

Not a scam.

Thinking about it, it was still an attribute spell as requested. Destructive power was 1, and the price fit.

Exact calculations would need retesting, but it'd satisfy rampage suppression output. Just...

'Factoring in the unreturned advance and sponsorship, did I actually buy expensive?'

But he couldn't blame asd123.

Not specifying 2-circle in the request, not checking the Auction House listing, refusing the advance return and sending sponsorship instead—all his own doing.

'...Got ahead of myself.'

Who could he fault?

'Fine. Better than failing subjugation. And it's still cheaper than the original budget.'

Better to see it as investing more in maintaining ties with asd123.

'Right now, priority is verifying if these scrolls can stop the elemental golem's rampage and getting subjugation approval from upstairs.'

As Kim Ji-seok headed down the hall to hand off the scrolls for analysis, shedding his regrets—

"Team Leader Ji-seok, haven't seen your face around."

A man caught up from behind. Hwang In-su. Leader of another B-rank team—like him, a rival.

If subjugation approval got rejected, priority would shift to Hwang's team.

"...Yeah. Long time no see."

Hwang In-su smirked at his curt reply.

"Still haven't submitted the subjugation plan, huh?"

Hwang's gaze fell to Kim Ji-seok's hand. The scrolls.

"No mage to help out?"

"Not your concern."

"Aw, no need to be so prickly. I'm just trying to help."

"...?"

Kim Ji-seok stopped and turned to Hwang. To hear what nonsense this was.

"I feel bad for you, is all. A B-rank team leader like you, staking his life on scrolls of all things."

"Get to the point."

"Dunno your plan, but it looks likely to get rejected... Why not hire me as a merc instead?"

Hwang was a mature 3-circle mage. His main attribute alone could handle golem rampage suppression, let alone his sub-attribute.

"...If our team's subjugation falls through, rights naturally go to your team."

Hwang glanced around before answering.

"...Sure, not a bad outcome. But rumors say Corrupted Awakeners are behind that gate. Better to tag along with a stable team than risk my kids."

Corrupted Awakeners meddling in gates happened often. Boosting monster levels slightly or setting traps.

That's why Kim Ji-seok had set rampage suppression output higher than average.

And a veteran mage volunteering for a risky gate like this wasn't bad.

"So, how much are you thinking?"

"Well... gotta be at least 30 million gold, right?"

Industry standard, more or less.

But Kim Ji-seok judged it'd be better to use asd123's scrolls and prep for contingencies with the savings.

"I'll think about it."

He answered dryly and kept walking.

"Huh? This isn't the time to play coy. If no answer by end of day..."

Kim Ji-seok barely heard him.

Confident in his choice.

...He could tell just from Item Analyst Lee Dong-gyu's reaction.

"No way... where on earth did you get a scroll like this?"

"You'll find out soon enough without me telling you."

It'd rock the world in no time at this rate.

"More importantly, what's the success rate for suppressing the elemental golem's rampage?"

"No question. 100%."

"...Even factoring in Corrupted Awakeners?"

"Yes. They have limits meddling in gates. Even if rampage output spikes, it can't break B-rank bounds. But this..."

[Circuit Completion] was visible only to scroll creators, but as an item analyst, Lee Dong-gyu knew scrolls inside out.

"It's a 5-circle completion scroll. On par with the Korea Awakener Association Chairman's—S-rank—magic!"

Lee Dong-gyu was hyped beyond belief. Almost over-the-top.

"It's just 1-circle."

"True, as a 1-circle spell, raw destructive punch is low-tier. But remember what I said before?"

For suppressing elemental golem rampage—elemental fusion reactions—pure elemental output mattered more than sheer destructive power.

And asd123's high-completion scrolls captured fire and earth attributes in stereoscopic, exquisite detail.

"Even as a 1-circle scroll, the attribute purity is beyond words."

Meaning no better choice for rampage suppression.

"Hm..."

If the item analyst ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said that much...

But hearing the explanation, Kim Ji-seok had a peculiar thought.

'No way they sent 1-circle on purpose...'

An asd123 who perfected a 1-circle scroll this well could surely make 2-circle.

Yet they sent this 1-circle one specifically.

'asd123... not just some weirdo.'

What rampage suppression needed was pure attribute output.

And 1-circle was simple, ideal for focusing on attributes.

In other words, asd123 had grasped the essence of his vague request and sent the optimal solution.

'How does a production-type Awakener know elemental golems so deeply?'

Lee Dong-gyu handled golem cores often, sure, but...

asd123 was just a scroll maker.

'What the hell is their deal?'

As Kim Ji-seok wore a grave expression, a new [Mail] arrived.

Concise and clear. But right then, it didn't feel like mere salesmanship to Kim Ji-seok.

'...Should grab them as backups.'

Lee Dong-gyu could only look at the chin-stroking Kim Ji-seok in confusion.