The Seed Money Starts in the Dungeon (1)

"So, what's this about?"

Kim Jin-hyuk asked, glancing around.

"You suddenly wanted to meet in a place like this."

A small dungeon on the outskirts of Seoul. Being a weekday, the area around the entrance was quiet. Hunters in full gear came and went now and then, but most of them looked considerably older than us.

I checked the information floating above the dungeon entrance and answered.

"Figured we'd run a dungeon."

"A dungeon?"

Kim Jin-hyuk's eyes widened a little, caught off guard.

"Didn't think you'd be the one asking me to come along."

"I've got to make money too."

"You need money?"

"Something came up that I suddenly need to spend it on."

A few days earlier.

The day after we returned from the labyrinth, I headed for the alchemy-track practice building the moment class let out. Even after lectures were over, the place was still plenty busy.

Through half-open doors along the hallway, I caught glimpses of students dismantling magic tools or mixing liquids in glass bottles. The smell of burning herbs drifted from somewhere, and from the far end of the corridor came a small explosion.

Fwoom!

"Ah, it blew up again!"

"Open a window first!"

I passed the noisy practice rooms and headed deeper into the building.

Ah. There she is.

I spotted Seo Yoon-ah in the practice room at the end of the hall and started toward her. All kinds of ores and monster byproducts were packed across the desk. Seo Yoon-ah, sorting materials in the middle of it all, sensed someone approaching and lifted her head.

"Sunbae?"

Her eyes went round when she saw me.

"What brings you here all of a sudden?"

"I've got something I need to leave with you."

"With me?"

"Yeah."

I gave the practice room a quick once-over. Fortunately, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there was no one inside but Seo Yoon-ah. I pulled a small box from my pocket and set it on the desk.

"There's something I'd like you to make with this."

"With what?"

Seo Yoon-ah looked at the box, puzzled.

"Open it."

"When you say it like that, it's kind of scary..."

Even as she said it, she carefully drew the box toward herself.

Click.

The lid opened, and a faint radiance spilled out — blue and violet light tangled together. Inside was the reward from clearing the labyrinth. A Twisted Dimensional Fragment.

"..."

Seo Yoon-ah stared into the box and froze. She blinked several times, then slowly brought her face closer to the fragment.

"Th-this is..."

Her lips wouldn't quite form the words.

"How did you even get this!?"

"That's not the important part."

"No, it absolutely is!"

Seo Yoon-ah's head snapped up.

"This isn't an ordinary spatial stone. It's a substance that holds dimensional energy itself."

"And?"

"What do you mean, and!?"

She looked back into the box as if she still couldn't believe it.

"Dimensional-class materials this pure aren't something you can just go out and find. Even when they turn up, the big guilds or research institutes usually grab them first. They don't even make it to the market."

"It's sitting in front of you right now."

"That's not what I meant."

Seo Yoon-ah reached out carefully, then stopped just short of touching the fragment and looked up at my face.

"C-can I really touch it?"

"I brought it because you're the one who has to craft with it."

"Craft?"

"Yeah."

I nudged the box a little closer to her.

"Make me a Subspace Pouch."

"A Subspace Pouch?"

"It doesn't have to be that big. As long as it can hold potions, food, and some basic gear, that's enough."

Back in the labyrinth, I'd claimed the things I pulled from the System shop had come out of a Subspace Pouch. Lee Si-hyun had bought it without much suspicion for now, but there was no guarantee I could keep using the same excuse forever.

Food and potions I can talk my way around. But the moment I start pulling out actual equipment, even someone dense is going to think something's off.

I'd just come to the conclusion that I should have at least one made in advance, for when that day came.

"Let me take a look first."

Seo Yoon-ah pulled a thin pair of gloves and a small magnifier from a nearby drawer. After putting on the gloves, she carefully lifted the dimensional fragment and examined its surface against the light. Then she set it on a small magic tool sitting at one end of the desk.

Vmmm.

The moment the fragment made contact, the tool's gauge needles jumped. Seo Yoon-ah's eyes widened all over again.

"Wow..."

"Well?"

"It's ridiculously good."

She answered without taking her eyes off the fragment.

"The dimensional energy isn't unstable at all, and there's almost no impurity. I've never seen anything like this."

"Meaning you can craft with it?"

"Yes. For a core material, this is more than enough."

Seo Yoon-ah set the Twisted Dimensional Fragment back in the box.

"I think there'd be quite a bit left over even after making one Subspace Pouch."

"That much?"

"I won't know for sure until I process it, but it's definitely more than enough for just one."

She immediately pulled over a sheet of paper and a pen from nearby and started listing the materials she'd need, one by one. A stabilization magic tool to keep the space consistent. Membrane materials to keep the dimensional energy from leaking out. Monster hide tough enough to withstand the internal spatial pressure. And then names I'd never even heard of, filling the page to the edges.

"I thought this fragment was all you'd need."

"This is only the core material that creates the space."

Seo Yoon-ah tapped the paper with the tip of her pen.

"Once you've made the space, you have to lock it so it doesn't collapse, and you have to inscribe circuits so the dimensional energy doesn't fluctuate when you put things in and take them out."

"More complicated than I expected."

"There's a reason Subspace Pouches are expensive magic tools."

She started jotting estimated prices next to each material. What had begun as a few hundred thousand won ballooned rapidly with every item she added. I watched the numbers climb and asked,

"So how much are we talking?"

"One moment."

Seo Yoon-ah pulled out a calculator and added the prices one by one. After checking the result several times, she looked at me with a slightly awkward expression.

"Even if I keep it as low as possible, I think we'll need around five million won."

"Five million?"

"Yes."

She pointed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to the materials on the paper one at a time.

"You brought the dimensional fragment, sunbae, but everything else is high-grade too. The stabilization tool for locking the internal space especially — that has to be custom-ordered."

The money I currently had was five million won. The cash I'd received from Kim Jin-hyuk was still sitting there untouched, so commissioning the work itself was possible. The problem was that I'd have to pour every last bit of cash I owned into it.

I looked at the Twisted Dimensional Fragment sitting on the desk.

"Selling this as-is isn't an option, is it?"

"Pardon?"

"You said these don't even hit the market. I'd probably get a decent amount if I sold it."

"Um... where did you get this, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Why?"

"Dimensional-class materials are items the Administration manages separately. To trade them, you have to prove which dungeon they came from and that the clear was properly reported."

"And if you can't prove the source?"

"It's hard to trade them through official channels. In the worst case, they might confiscate the item and put you under investigation."

It was a System reward. There was no official drop record for something like that.

"So selling it is out."

"It didn't come from a dungeon, then?"

"...How'd you know?"

"If it came from a dungeon, you wouldn't have any reason to worry about the source."

Seo Yoon-ah didn't press further, as if she already had her answer, and turned her gaze back to the fragment.

"I won't ask where you got it."

"I didn't obtain it illegally."

"Then that's fine."

In the end, the problem was that the fragment itself couldn't be traded. I looked at the Twisted Dimensional Fragment in the box for a moment, then asked,

"What about a finished product?"

"Pardon?"

"If we make a Subspace Pouch with this, can we sell that?"

Seo Yoon-ah thought for a moment, then carefully nodded.

"If it passes official performance testing and safety certification, yes. Trading the raw material as-is and registering a completed magic tool are two different things."

"Then we're good."

"Good how?"

"You said there'd be material left over even after making my Subspace Pouch, right?"

"I won't know for certain until I process it, but probably."

"Make one for me."

I pointed at the fragment.

"Then use what's left to make more Subspace Pouches."

"More of them?"

"Yeah."

Seo Yoon-ah stared at me, briefly at a loss for words.

"We make them, and we sell them."

"...We do?"

"Technically, you'd be the one making them."

"Where is this coming from all of a sudden..."

"If I just sit on this, I can't sell it, and one Subspace Pouch is all I need."

Seo Yoon-ah, on the other hand, could put the leftover fragment to proper use. Just working with a material this rare would help her research, and selling the finished products would make her money too. That had to be better than leaving leftover material sitting around as a one-off leftover.

"We made a deal before."

"A deal?"

"If I needed something, you'd help me, and I'd support you with the materials your research required."

"..."

"Think of this as an extension of that arrangement."

Seo Yoon-ah stared at the fragment for a long time. At first she looked thoroughly flustered, but as the seconds passed, her eyes grew steadily more serious.

"I don't know yet how many I can ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠make with what's left."

"Then we find out."

"To sell them, we'd need performance certification, and I'd have to go through the process of registering as a crafter."

"Then we do that too."

"The extra material costs will keep adding up."

"That's why I'm saying we split the profits."

Seo Yoon-ah lifted her head.

"You handle the crafting. I'll put up the materials and whatever funding we need."

"You have the funds?"

"..."

She'd hit the sore spot dead-on. If I spent every last bit of the five million I had, that would cover making my one Subspace Pouch and nothing more. There wouldn't be enough left for the materials to make extra units for sale — not even enough for the certification fees.

"Not right now."

"Then what are you planning to do?"

"Earn it."

Seo Yoon-ah looked at me like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.

"Don't tell me you're going into a dungeon?"

"Why the 'don't tell me'?"

"Sunbae, you're still a student."

"I've got a hunter's license."

Not having graduated didn't mean you couldn't enter dungeons. There was risk involved, but with the school's permission, you could go into anything below a certain rank.

And I just happen to know a place where the money comes in absurdly well. The timing couldn't be better.

"Make my Subspace Pouch first."

"And after that?"

"I'll come back with the funds."

I pushed the Twisted Dimensional Fragment on the desk toward Seo Yoon-ah.

"That's when we start for real."

"..."

Seo Yoon-ah looked from the fragment to my face and back. Then she slowly reached out and drew the box toward herself.

"And the profit split?"

"We'll settle that after the first product is finished."

"I'm doing all the crafting, though?"

"I brought the materials."

"You don't have the funds yet, either."

"I told you I'll get them."

After a few more exchanges, Seo Yoon-ah smiled faintly.

"All right."

"You're in?"

"Yes."

She carefully closed the box holding the Twisted Dimensional Fragment.

"Looks like we've got another deal."

"This time it's a partnership."

"A partnership..."

She repeated the word quietly to herself, then nodded.

"Then go get those funds in order first, business partner."

"How are we splitting the take?"

Kim ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jin-hyuk's voice pulled me back from the memory of Seo Yoon-ah.

"The items that drop here are yours."

"All of them?"

"Yeah. In exchange, I take the magic stones and the byproducts."

Kim Jin-hyuk looked at me, puzzled.

"You're fine with that?"

"I need cash right now."

Beep.

Cold air spilled from the open entrance. I checked the gear hanging at my waist, then stepped into the dark passage.

The goal is ten million won, minimum.

Cover the cost of my own Subspace Pouch. Raise the seed money to make more for sale. Plus the gear and real combat experience that would go to Kim Jin-hyuk.

Everything this dungeon had to offer — I was taking all of it.