An Invaluable Commodity
Deputy Director Alan’s previously smug composure shattered, his pupils trembling in sheer disbelief.
“H-How in the world…?”
He was utterly flabbergasted that Jeon Jaewoo already possessed two Ruin Extra Clear Tickets.
His reaction was only natural. Even the United States, an undisputed superpower among hunter nations, held merely three tickets in total. To make matters worse, one belonged to an individual hunter as private property, leaving the federal government with only two in its reserves. Yet here was an unaffiliated hunter who had only recently debuted, casually toting around two of them.
Possessing two extra clear tickets had nothing to do with personal combat prowess. They were extraordinarily rare items, virtually unobtainable no matter how many Ancient or Legendary ruins an awakened traversed.
Did the Korean Hunter Bureau give them to him?
No, a minor hunter state like South Korea could never have secured two tickets to hand out so lightly. The only plausible explanation was that Hunter Jeon Jaewoo had acquired them entirely on his own.
To think the newly conquered Ancient-grade ruin dropped extra clear tickets…
Not only was this man absurdly powerful, but his luck was monstrous.
Jaewoo rose from his seat, brushing off his trousers. “Well, I’ll be taking my leave. A single ticket or two hardly tempts me to pack up and trade away my citizenship.”
“Ah, wait, Mister Jeon…”
Alan reached out, but he failed to stop Jaewoo from striding out the door.
Having cleanly rejected the proposition, Jaewoo walked down the street when Myeolgeop spoke within his mind.
[Creator. Would it not have been more advantageous to accept their proposal?]
Jaewoo understood why the golem asked. With every future raid, losing one of his limited entry attempts was a heavy price to pay.
“Between the lot of you, won’t we be able to haul in plenty of tickets on our own anyway?” Jaewoo reasoned. “Thanks to Novum, we already know which ruins hold extra clear tickets.”
[Even so, securing every additional ticket possible serves your greatest interest. Could you not conquer ruins just as easily on American soil?]
“Is our current situation really so desperate that I should swallow all the risks of uprooting my life to move abroad?” Jaewoo countered. “Like they said, if you take something from a state institution, you have to work for that nation in return. If I emigrated right now, the domestic public backlash would be suffocating. I’m just an ordinary guy, you know? I don’t feel like enduring an endless deluge of public condemnation.”
Perhaps if he were thick-skinned enough to shrug off a country’s worth of outrage, it might have been a different story.
Shaking off the Americans, Jaewoo finally arrived outside his home. Just as he was about to head inside, he noticed someone sprinting toward him from down the block, pumping their legs for dear life.
Jaewoo narrowed his eyes. It was Commissioner Yoo Jeongtae.
Spotting Jaewoo, Yoo Jeongtae accelerated to near-light speed before tumbling to a halt.
“Hunter Jeon Jaewoo-nim!”
“Uh, yes?”
“It isn’t true, is it?!”
“Pardon?”
“You aren’t going to America, right? Tell me you aren’t!”
“……”
Yoo Jeongtae clung to him like a weeping child drenched in tears and snot, desperately pleading as if trying to physically bar him from leaving. He held on with such pathetic fervency that several passersby paused to point and whisper.
Wait a minute, Jaewoo thought, bemused. I only just walked out on those Americans. How on earth did he find out already?
After thoroughly clearing up the misunderstanding with Jaewoo, Yoo Jeongtae returned to the Korean Hunter Bureau. The sudden release of tension had drained every ounce of strength from his legs, leaving him shuffling like an empty husk.
Inside the commissioner’s office, Minister Lee Cheolsoo was pacing back and forth, impatiently awaiting his arrival. The moment Yoo Jeongtae dragged himself through the door, Lee Cheolsoo shot out of his chair.
“W-What did he say?! What about Hunter Jeon Jaewoo?!” Lee Cheolsoo stammered, his heart sinking into his stomach at the sight of the commissioner’s lifeless, staggering gait. “D-Don’t tell me…?”
Yoo Jeongtae sank heavily into the chair across from him. “He said no.”
“What? No to what?!”
“He did meet with the American delegates and heard their offer to change his nationality, but Hunter Jeon Jaewoo turned them down flat.”
“Haaaaah…”
Minister Lee released a sigh so profound it sounded like the earth itself had collapsed beneath him. Relief washed over his face. He quickly reached for his phone to call the president, who had been biting his nails waiting for word.
Allied nation or not, the South Korean government was going to lodge the fiercest diplomatic protest conceivable against Washington.
Even so, Jaewoo’s refusal was no excuse to rest easy. Foreign officials had brazenly entered Korean soil to poach their top national asset in broad daylight. While attempted talent poaching was nothing new in the awakened era, it had never been carried out with such brazen disregard for decorum. That alone proved how desperately the global powers yearned to bring Jeon Jaewoo into their fold.
They had anticipated that rival nations would pull out every stop to court him, but still…
“I never imagined they would make their move so quickly,” Lee Cheolsoo murmured.
Given the unbelievable feats Jaewoo had displayed, it made sense. To any awakened superpower, Jaewoo was the ultimate prize. With him in their ranks, a country among peers would instantly elevate into an untouchable, peerless hyperpower.
“Just what did those American bastards offer him anyway?”
“They offered him a Ruin Extra Clear Ticket solely on the condition of acquiring US citizenship,” Yoo Jeongtae replied. “Not to mention all the other peripheral benefits that would follow.”
Minister Lee flinched visibly. “…That’s certainly enough to turn any hunter’s head.”
For an elite hunter, it was an irresistible temptation. South Korea had never secured a single extra clear ticket in its entire history, meaning they couldn't provide one to Jaewoo even if they emptied the national treasury. Even top-tier nations like the United States, China, and India possessed merely a handful. And the Americans had offered one up not to conscript him into their military or government, but merely for changing his legal citizenship.
Frankly, it was baffling that Jaewoo had declined.
“If he turned down an offer like that, doesn't it mean Hunter Jeon Jaewoo harbors genuine affection for his homeland? We should consider ourselves fortunate,” Lee Cheolsoo remarked.
Yoo Jeongtae shook his head. “No. I don’t believe patriotism had much to do with it.”
“What?”
“The reward he obtained from this recent Ancient-grade ruin happened to include two Ruin Extra Clear Tickets. It seems he simply saw no reason to take on obligations from the Americans when he already has plenty.”
Minister Lee’s jaw dropped slack. “…Not only is that boy gifted, but his luck is downright absurd.”
“If the strongest hunter in our nation is blessed with good fortune, that’s our blessing too,” Yoo Jeongtae sighed. “Still, we have no idea when another foreign power will approach him next. We can’t just sit on our hands every time this happens…”
Lee Cheolsoo leaned back against the sofa, suddenly adopting an odd, calculating expression. “Commissioner Yoo. Hunter Jeon Jaewoo isn’t married yet, correct?”
“Yes, as far as I know. The young man is only in his mid-twenties.” Yoo Jeongtae blinked, confused. Why bring up marriage out of nowhere? “Why do you ask?”
Lee Cheolsoo stroked his chin thoughtfully before leaning forward. “Hunter Kim Yumin happens to live right next door to him, doesn’t she? What if we played matchmaker and tied the two of them together?”
“……?!”
Yoo Jeongtae’s brows knit into deep furrows. Was this bureaucratic dinosaur trying to orchestrate an old-fashioned chaebol political marriage among hunters? Granted, Kim Yumin was close to Jaewoo’s age, widely recognized as the premier face of South Korean hunters, formidable, and stunningly attractive. Her popularity rivaled top-tier idol stars. If the two formed a romantic bond, it would solidify a harmonious relationship with the Hunter Bureau, which was undeniably advantageous.
However, ordering an S-rank hunter of Kim Yumin's stature to seduce someone was completely out of line. Moreover…
What if they hit it off, form a couple, and then decide to emigrate abroad as a packaged pair…?!
A chill of pure horror ran down Yoo Jeongtae’s spine at the sheer catastrophic potential. If they ended up married, a crisis that might have cost them one national asset could result in losing two at once!
“…I believe it would be far wiser to leave them alone rather than force anything,” Yoo Jeongtae insisted quickly. “If there is mutual attraction, good news will come naturally without our clumsy meddling.”
Meanwhile, back at his residence, Jaewoo retrieved the ticket scrolls he had entrusted to Myeolgeop. Though they were perfectly safe in the golem’s care, he figured it was best to consume them immediately rather than risk attracting vultures.
“So how do I use these?” Jaewoo wondered aloud, inspecting the parchment. “Do I channel mana into it like an activation scroll?”
“You must tear the scroll, Maker,” Elder Lich offered helpfully, his skeletal jaw clattering softly.
Taking the lich’s advice, Jaewoo ripped the parchment across its center.
Wuuuuum…
A strange, ethereal current of mana enveloped his body.
You have consumed a Ruin Extra Clear Ticket.
Without hesitating, Jaewoo tore the second scroll as well.
You have consumed a Ruin Extra Clear Ticket.
Two additional raid entries registered onto his status interface.
Available Ruin Conquest Count:7
His remaining count, which had dropped to five after conquering another Ancient-grade ruin, had expanded to seven. A satisfied smile curved Jaewoo’s lips as he nodded to himself.
Then a curious thought crossed his mind.
Hold on. Couldn't I have thrown these extra clear tickets into the box?
The core ability of Heaven's Box was to multiply and amplify the intrinsic properties of whatever materials were placed inside. If fortune smiled, couldn't a single-use ticket have emerged upgraded into a ticket grant of two, three, or even more clears?
Elder Lich seemed to read his thoughts and quickly intervened. “Ponder this with great care, Maker. The manifestations of Heaven's Box are inherently chaotic. Though its baseline quality would assuredly surge, there is no guarantee it would remain a ruin clear ticket. Something entirely bizarre might emerge instead.”
“Even so, doesn't anything that comes out of the box carry far greater value than what went in?” Jaewoo asked.
“Perhaps. Yet if one deposits ordinary soil, who can say whether it yields fertile loam, refines into precious mana crystals, or manifests as a combat golem like Myeolgeop here?”
“Hmm. Fair point.”
[I concur with Elder Lich, Creator,] Myeolgeop chimed in, reinforcing the caution. [It is prudent to exercise utmost restraint before placing Ruin Extra Clear Tickets inside Heaven’s Box.]
Even if the fundamental value spiked, what Jaewoo needed right now was clear tickets; receiving an artifact with a completely unrelated function would be a net loss. Still, once he accumulated a comfortable cushion of entries, he resolved to test the theory at least once.
Who knew? If the amplification magnified the item a hundredfold, it might just spit out a scroll granting hundreds of ruin entries.
Soon after, the month came to a peaceful close, and the official global ruin conquest rankings were unveiled.
First place, indisputably, belonged to the Republic of Korea—the nation that had conquered not one, but two Ancient-grade ruins in a single cycle. Having achieved the greatest milestone in the entire history of the Ruin System, the country’s pride boiled over into unrestrained jubilation.
Amid the festive atmosphere across the nation, the calendar turned, and the new month's fresh batch of ruins was officially announced to the world.