Chapter 9
“How? How did you do that?”
Even in his flustered state, Chairman Woo asked the question with perfect courtesy.
The others looked as though they were holding back questions of their own.
It was only natural. All I had done was touch it with my finger, and the Udamhwa had come loose.
As I toyed with the Udamhwa in my hand, I thought back to what had happened the day before.
It had been when I parted ways with Deputy Lee.
“Where are you going all of a sudden?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Oh. Surveillance?”
“If you tell Taecheon's guy about me, I’ll really kill you.”
“Then I’ll just tell the vice guild master.”
“Cut the crap and go home. I’ll contact you later.”
“Tch, fine. Don’t start trouble, okay? I’ll rat you out right away!”
“I’m not starting trouble, idiot!”
Anyone hearing that would think I spent every waking moment causing disasters.
Anyway, Deputy Lee and I parted on good terms.
I immediately climbed the neighboring Namsan through a route that had no path at all.
I wanted to see exactly how the natural-object gathering rate correction worked.
I also wanted to find out just how much correction it actually provided.
“This should be far enough, right?”
After going deep into Namsan, I looked around. There were no people, and not even a single small mountain animal in sight.
Only the sound of my fingers tapping my smartphone echoed through the forest.
Once I’d confirmed I was alone, I crouched down on the spot.
[Title - Companion of the World Tree]
I equipped the title.
I couldn’t receive the equip effect because I didn’t meet the condition, but I was still able to wear it.
I reached for a small patch of grass growing right in front of me.
I grabbed it and slowly pulled.
The grass came out cleanly.
It was so effortless that I could feel how little resistance there was.
“……”
Watching dirt tumble from the thin roots, I wondered: was this actually corrected, or not?
Was it worthless because it was just a weed?
With that question in mind, I stared blankly at a pine tree with a trunk as thick as my waist.
A pine tree was a natural object too, so if I tried to gather it, it had to receive the correction effect.
Since I’d thought of it, I decided to try right away.
I set the smartphone down for a moment, grabbed the trunk, and pushed upward.
My hands, gripping the pine tree’s trunk, slid up in one clean motion.
“Ow, that stings!”
My hands had gone up.
Unfortunately, the pine tree hadn’t.
It stood there exactly as it had before, while my own hands slid up its bark and came away scraped raw.
Of course, the wounds healed over in less than a second, new flesh sealing shut as if I had never been hurt at all.
The pain vanished quickly, but a dull throbbing lingered for a while.
I picked up the smartphone I’d put down and kept tapping.
“Looks like there’s some kind of action you have to take when gathering something...”
Pulling at it blindly didn’t seem to be the method.
If I wanted the probability correction, I had to do something first.
There hadn’t been any explanation like that in the title window.
Wondering if I had missed something, I opened the character window and the title window again to check.
[Companion of the World Tree - Acquired in recognition of the achievement of making the World Tree grow for the first time in human history.]
[Held effect - You will not tire as long as you remain upon the earth. You receive a correction to the probability of gathering natural objects.]
There was no explanation there either.
I even tapped the phrase with my finger, but no new window appeared.
I stared at the title window, now showing no change at all.
Only the regular sound of my smartphone taps kept reaching my ears.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap... tap?
“T-This?”
At once puzzled and enlightened, I looked down at my index finger.
My right index finger was frozen against the screen.
It was the motion I used when giving mana to the World Tree.
And now it was the motion used to hunt monsters too.
Warm Touch....
Slowly, I extended my right hand holding the smartphone.
At once, the tip of my straightened index finger touched the pine trunk with a soft tap.
Then a bluish system window floated up.
Warm Touch has touched the pine tree.
If the current state is maintained, gathering of the E-rank Pine Tree will begin.
“......!”
Just as I thought!
Natural-object gathering was done with Warm Touch.
I quietly waited for the gathering to begin.
Maintaining the state didn’t take long.
The probability of gathering the E-rank Pine Tree is being corrected by maintaining the current state.
Due to the Companion of the World Tree title’s held effect, the gathering probability is being adjusted.
The E-rank Pine Tree belongs to the lower lifeforms of the World Tree.
Probability correction, probability correction. Probability correction complete.
E-rank Pine Tree gathering probability: 100%.
Maintain Warm Touch for 3 seconds to proceed with gathering.
3, 2, 1.
Once the correction ended, the bluish window disappeared.
At the same time, the pine tree I’d touched with my index finger popped right out.
It yanked itself free with a hop, like a frog leaping.
The pine tree sprang out of the soil, fell over, and toppled onto the forest floor.
“Ha... hahahaha...”
Watching the pine tree sprawled on the ground, I burst out laughing.
A strange, empty feeling had just welled up in me.
Still staring blankly, I went on to test gathering as many natural objects as I could.
E-rank tiger lily.
E-rank kudzu.
D-rank Namsan violet.
C-rank yellow net mushroom.
Each of them popped out with a 100% success rate, accompanied by the phrase, “It belongs to the lower lifeforms of the World Tree.”
Watching that happen, I realized that I could gather any natural object.
Even Udamhwa, if it was the one growing inside Hongyureung Gate.
Why?
Because even if it was an S-rank elixir, it was still, in the end, just a natural object.
That meant I could gather it without issue.
Once I was certain of that, I contacted Deputy Lee and asked him to help bridge the gap with Ildae Group.
“How exactly did you do it...”
I let the events of yesterday sink back into memory.
Everyone in the chairman’s office was waiting for me to explain.
I couldn’t exactly tell them the truth, so I decided to gloss over it.
I shrugged and spoke in a firm tone.
“Does how I did it really matter?”
“Hmm?”
“What matters is that I gathered the Snow-Ground Grass, and that I can gather Udamhwa too.”
“...Fair enough. You’re right.”
Chairman Woo nodded in agreement.
He looked as though he had no intention of saying more.
That firmness, that clear sense of when to stop and when to go on, did feel very much like a company chairman.
The others looked disappointed, clearly still burning with curiosity.
“You passed the test then, since you managed to gather an A-rank elixir.”
“So what happens now?”
Deputy Lee carefully cut in.
Chairman Woo grinned.
For a man his age, the smile was almost mischievous.
“You should go out with Min-ju.”
“Pardon?”
“Huh?”
Deputy Lee and Kim Min-ju answered at the same time, both startled.
They turned to each other and blushed.
Woo Chan-sung and his secretary, Eom Joo-a, watched them with satisfied smiles.
Ah. So everyone else had already figured it out, huh?
“Why are you so surprised? I’m just sending you to collect the introduction fee, aren’t I?”
“Ah! Yes, yes. Of course.”
“Now, off you go. We have things to discuss among ourselves.”
Chairman Woo waved them away with a laugh.
The man and woman got to their feet awkwardly and headed out.
Watching them go, I grinned too.
How could I tease that guy well enough to earn praise for it?
Once the two of them had closed the door and left, Woo Yeon-hoo asked in a serious voice, “Mister Warm Finger. How much do you want?”
“...One billion won. That’s about enough.”
Warm Finger.
It nearly made me laugh, the way he said it with such a dutiful face and such a solemn voice.
I forced it down, cleared my throat a couple of times, and answered.
I was the one who had given that name, after all.
I couldn’t be rude about it.
He frowned slightly, as though my answer made no sense to him.
“What do you mean? You’re saying one billion won is enough?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Didn’t you hear what Deputy Lee told you? We’re going into Hongyureung Gate to gather Udamhwa!”
“Yes, I know.”
“Then why are you asking for only one billion... Father?”
Yeon-hoo turned his gaze away from me and looked at Chairman Woo.
It was because Chairman Woo had raised a hand and drawn his attention.
Yeon-hoo closed his mouth and leaned back against the sofa.
He was handing the right to speak over to his father.
I shifted my gaze from him to Chairman Woo as well.
Chairman Woo slowly stroked his white goatee and murmured, “Money’s enough. Money, that’s enough.”
“......”
“Then what else do you want?”
As expected, it was easier to talk with Chairman Woo than with his hunter son.
Just as he had guessed, I wanted something other than money.
“I’m not a hunter.”
“...Mm. Is that so?”
The three of them all wore the same expression, as if they wanted to say, What kind of absurd lie is that?
Well, it wasn’t exactly unreasonable.
Could someone who casually dug up an A-rank elixir really not be a hunter?
It would make more sense to think I was an A-class hunter hiding my identity because I didn’t want the hassle.
The mask and the alias might have made that assumption feel all the more certain.
“...I mean it.”
“Yes, yes. I understand.”
Chairman Woo closed his eyes, nodded slowly back and forth, and seemed to say, I’ve heard you, so you can stop now.
Don’t just take it as a casual misunderstanding and act cool about it when you clearly don’t believe me...
Looking at the three of them, all of whom seemed utterly unwilling to believe me, I let out a sigh.
“I want a hunter license.”
“Why ask for that here? You should go to the Hunter Association or the district office.”
“......”
They knew exactly what I was talking about and were still pretending not to.
As expected of a company chairman, he had a slippery, sly side to him.
I said nothing and simply looked at Chairman Woo.
He stroked his white goatee and muttered, “Huh, so what you want is a forged license...”
“That wording sounds a little bad. Let’s call it my second license.”
“Fine, fine. A forged license.”
“......”
Tch. What a man, leaving me with nothing to say.
I waited in silence for Chairman Woo to decide.
I’d stated what I wanted; the decision was his.
It took him less than a minute to make up his mind.
“Very well. I’ll make it happen.”
Woo Yeon-hoo and Eom Joo-a looked at Chairman Woo in surprise.
He probably wasn’t the sort of man who handed things like that out so easily.
Still, this was about treating his daughter’s incurable illness, so he was accepting it against his will.
The ten billion won to be split with Deputy Lee, and a forged license.
“That’s enough for me.”
“No, it isn’t enough for me.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean the money. Take more. Fifty billion won seems about right.”
Fifty billion won. Was that some neighborhood dog’s name?
All I had to do was go in, touch Udamhwa, and that would be that.
It wasn’t the sort of job that deserved that kind of absurd sum.
“I don’t need that much. It’s not even that difficult a job-”
“Quiet. A person must be paid according to the value of the work they do. Just because it’s easy for you doesn’t make it cheap.”
“I agree with that, but...”
“Even if you don’t truly need it, take it anyway. After that, you can throw it in the trash or donate it, whichever you like.”
“......”
I turned and looked at Woo Yeon-hoo and Eom Joo-a.
At my glance, they both nodded at once.
It was as if they were saying, Just accept it. It’ll be easier that way.
Well, no matter what I said, Chairman Woo didn’t seem like the sort of man who would change his mind.
“Then that settles the compensation. Shall we move on to the next matter?”
“...By all means.”
I pressed a hand to my forehead, no, to the top of my mask, and waved a hand.
“Since you seem to have the broad outline already, I’ll explain the smaller details.”
Eom Joo-a smiled faintly and spoke up.
The broad outline was that they were going to gather Udamhwa from Hongyureung Gate.
The smaller details were probably when they would go in, how they would go in, and with how many people, among other things.
Then,
“Ah!”
Chairman Woo exclaimed and cut in.
“Hold on, sorry. I have one question. Could we finish that first before continuing?”
“Yes, of course, Chairman.”
Eom Joo-a immediately yielded the floor to him.
Chairman Woo looked at me with a serious face.
It was the most serious expression I had seen from him since meeting him today, and it made the whole atmosphere feel suddenly weighty.
Not just me, but Yeon-hoo and Eom Joo-a seemed to feel it too.
What on earth was he going to ask?
“Warm Finger.”
“What is it?”
“Will you use that name on the forged license too?”
......Oh, damn.