Dungeon Profits and a Worrying Call
Even after reaching level 50 and killing five Mind People, I was still only level 62. Not exactly the kind of number that made my heart race.
Part of that was because the experience required kept climbing, but more than that, it seemed to be because they were only half-breed demons.
Still, I’d made a decent haul.
Twenty Ice Ogre corpses, each worth 1.5 million won.
That alone came to 30 million.
On top of that, the Ice Ogre chieftain’s corpse was worth 5 million won.
From time to time, a monster would also yield an energy source called a mana stone from inside its body, though the drop rate was low.
They looked like pebbles faintly glowing with light.
Out of the twenty ogre corpses, three low-grade mana stones had come out. Each of those was worth 5 million won.
In the end, setting aside the value of the items Kang Chan-yong had taken, I’d made 50 million won just from the corpses and byproducts.
I figured I could split that among the three of them.
After a clear, once a certain amount of time passed, the gate would close on its own, which was why large normal raid parties always brought porters.
They’d toss aside the bulky corpses that weren’t worth much, pick out only the expensive ones, stack them in front of the boss room, and then haul everything out quickly after the clear.
The reason they could squeeze so much profit out of a low-grade gate like an ogre dungeon was thanks to subspace.
“So that’s why people freak out every time I open subspace, huh? Right?”
“Eung!”
Baek Seol was lying across my lap, belly up. When I rubbed her stomach, she went limp all over, as if all the strength had drained out of her.
Truly, a rabbit’s life is the life for the ages.
“Han Ga-eul, stop chatting.”
“Sorry.”
“That’s one penalty point.”
“Ah, come on, professor!”
Thump, thump.
Professor Hwang gathered up the stack of papers scattered across the lectern.
“That’s all for today’s lecture. Have a good lunch, everyone.”
As soon as Professor Hwang finished and left the classroom, the room erupted into noise.
“Everyone, take one.”
The three of them, sitting beside me, each accepted an envelope.
“I sold the corpses and mana stones.”
“Oh? But why cash bundles? You didn’t evade taxes, did you?”
“I’m about ready to flick a tax-dodging bastard on the forehead.”
“Cash just feels better, though.”
“Hmm.”
I had been tempted to do some tax evasion, sure, but selling monster byproducts wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.
“If the price of risking your life is ten million won, then I guess I need to work a little harder.”
At Noah’s words, the other two nodded.
Back on Earth, that would’ve been a scandalous thing to say, but not here.
One wrong move and your head could come right off, and if you slipped up even a little, you had to burn through potions worth hundreds of thousands, sometimes tens of millions of won.
“Oh, right. Did you hear about that?”
“About what?”
At Kang Chan-yong’s words, all eyes turned to him.
“Apparently there was a big commotion after we got back from the dungeon yesterday. Word is, they’re calling it a dungeon break?”
“And where did you get this information?”
“The internet.”
“Pathetic. The government would suppress information like that however it can. There’s no way that’s reliable.”
“How much is the fine for assaulting the leader?”
Whatever the case, their chemistry looked great.
“They say a saint showed up too. A saint with white hair healed injured civilians with holy power. And on the saint’s head sat something white. So they say.”
Once Kang Chan-yong finished his rumor relay, the three of them all turned to look at me.
“What are you looking at? You want me to pluck something out for you or something?”
“Hmm. Absolutely not.”
“Haha.”
“Yeah, no.”
After the three of them whispered among themselves, they seemed to reach some conclusion and nodded.
“Let’s go eat.”
“I want salmon steak.”
“Noah, aren’t you sick of salmon by now? You eat it all the time.”
“It’s always delicious.”
“I’m getting curry cutlet.”
Before long, they’d decided on their own meals and were staring at me intently.
Something seemed to be written in their eyes.
“Why? You want me to cook?”
“Hooray!”
“Yay!”
“That’s above my expectations.”
As the three of them kicked up a racket, the cadets in the lecture hall started whispering among themselves.
“Oh, right. What was the afternoon lecture again?”
“Independent training.”
“Nice.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Boradori.”
“You’re here? Here’s the unicorn horn and lizardman scales you asked for.”
On Yoo Bit-na’s desk sat monster byproducts far larger than I’d expected.
The two-headed ogre horn, especially, was absurdly huge.
“What is this? You’re calling this a horn?”
It was so wide it nearly spanned the desk horizontally, half hanging out into the air.
If the byproduct was this big, then the monster itself must’ve been built like a tank.
“That’s my line. You didn’t even know what a two-headed ogre was when you asked for this, did you?”
“Yep.”
Yoo Bit-na’s face crumpled mercilessly.
“Haah... A two-headed ogre is a super high-risk monster classified as A-rank danger. Think of it as a corrupted goblin, more or less.”
“Wasn’t it incredibly expensive? Is it really okay for you to give me this?”
“How many people did you save, anyway? Compared to that, this is nowhere near enough to repay your life, so don’t worry about it and take it.”
When she finished speaking, Yoo Bit-na started tapping at the device on her wrist.
I’d thought those devices were only for school, but apparently a lot of other people used them too.
“The payment for the demon corpses has been deposited. The government and the Hunter Association bought them together, so I took off a reasonable fee.”
Just as Yoo Bit-na said, the deposit history was already visible on the device.
A total of 4.5 billion won.
They’d valued one Mind Person at 500 million won each, and a demon at 2 billion won apiece.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
As I opened subspace and tossed the two-headed ogre horn inside, Yoo Bit-na watched me with a sour expression.
“What?”
“Nothing, I just keep thinking you really do have subspace.”
“You saw it yesterday too, you know.”
She’d been right there when I took the monster corpses out, and now she was at it again.
“Can you recommend me a blacksmith?”
“Why do you need a blacksmith?”
“Because my weapon got wrecked while I was cracking demon skulls.”
“You’re a saint, aren’t you!? Why are you cracking demon skulls with a weapon?”
Yoo Bit-na sprang to her feet and protested.
“Korean Secret Weapon works just fine.”
After hearing me out, Yoo Bit-na pressed her fingers hard against her forehead and let out a long sigh.
“What do you even use? A wand? A staff?”
“An axe.”
“You’re a saint, aren’t you?!”
“My fists are definitely the deadliest, though.”
“You’re a saint...”
I didn’t know why she was so devastated.
Saint or no saint, if I smashed their heads in, everyone was equal.
“It’s because I’m not just any saint, but that kind of saint.”
“Ugh, my head...”
“Just hook me up with a blacksmith.”
“I’ll contact the workshop that has an exclusive contract with Silver Wing. If you go to the first-floor desk, they’ll guide you.”
Yoo Bit-na waved a hand as if she were getting a headache.
“You people have that kind of thing too?”
“What exactly do you think we are?”
“Alright, thanks. I’m off.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
When the elevator doors opened, a wave of scorching heat hit me in the face.
“This is the workshop.”
“Thank you.”
The Silver Wing employee who had guided me bowed politely, then vanished as if fleeing for their life. Since they were just a regular person, they probably couldn’t stand the heat and bolted as fast as they could.
Since it was a contracted workshop, I’d expected it to be far away, but it turned out to be in the basement of the same building.
Clang! Clang!
The sound of hammering rang out ahead, sharp enough to sting the ears.
If this was a weapon workshop, I’d expected a blacksmith to be doing the hammering, but the source of the noise was actually a hammer-equipped machine striking metal at a steady rhythm.
While I was taking in the basement workshop, a woman in a white coat approached me.
It was so spotless I couldn’t even imagine it as the clothes of someone who worked with metal.
“I got your message in advance. You said you needed a weapon?”
“Can you repair it too?”
“It varies a lot depending on the weapon, so I can’t say for sure. What kind of weapon is it?”
“It’s pretty heavy. Is it okay if I take it out here?”
“Of cou—”
Bang!!
To my surprise, the head of Ppongppong-i smashed through the floor material and came to a stop embedded in it.
“Goodness...”
The woman took a few cautious steps back, then slowly approached Ppongppong-i’s head.
After that, she crouched down and pulled out a sharply pointed tool from her chest, beginning to poke at it.
It was the same kind of thing I’d seen when I went to get an enchantment last time.
“This is hallownium. Its strength is excellent, but its ductility is poor, so it’s not really suitable as a weapon material.”
“So it’s hard to work with?”
“It can be done. But it’ll break again soon enough. The problem is the hallownium itself. Its elastic modulus is terrible, so its resistance to stress is way too low.”
As the woman kept poking at it with the pointed tool, her expression suddenly turned to horror.
“No, seriously... who did this utterly barbaric enchantment? A sixfold weight increase, too? Why is the enchanter’s skill level ridiculously high for no reason?”
I couldn’t tell whether she was talking to me or just muttering to herself, but she kept voicing one question after another.
Gnrrrk.
When I pulled up Ppongppong-i’s head, which had been stuck in the floor, the woman’s mouth fell open wide.
“I’ll just come back another time.”
“H-how did you do that with one hand? No, more importantly, that’s the kind of line you say when you’re disappointed in a shop and won’t come back!”
“Take care.”
“W-wait!”
This wasn’t the workshop I’d been looking for. It felt more like a research lab than a forge.
“I’ve basically gotten everything I could from here, so let’s head back.”
“Eung!”
Baek Seol, who had been cuddled up against me, bounced with excitement.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
─Chk, chk.
“Huu—”
Baek Seol ran all over the dark rooftop.
The moonlight kept it from being too dark, but this was still the same night as when we’d left.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
The iron door opened, and a crowd of rough-looking men filed in.
“Greetings, big sis!”
“Aigoo, seriously. I keep telling you not to do that.”
Man-wook scratched his head and approached.
“Haha, big sis. Did the business go well?”
Man-wook looked so worn out he seemed half dead.
It wasn’t just Man-wook, either; his underlings all looked like they’d been flattened in the face.
“Here, drink this.”
―――
A beginner-level antidote capable of countering 100 kinds of poison.
Effect:It even neutralizes memories saturated with pain.
Duration:Immediate
Just from the way he practically recoiled when I asked how dangerous the two-headed ogre was, it was clearly no ordinary material.
The good news was that the powder shaved off from the horn alone was enough, so there was still a great deal of horn left.
“Big sis, what is this...?”
“An antidote to free our junkies.”
Man-wook took the bottle of clear green liquid with a blank expression.
“Once you drink it, everything’ll be fine.”
After staring at the bottle for a long moment, Man-wook brought the antidote to his mouth.
Gulp, gulp.
It slid down his throat coolly.
“Hah—”
As Man-wook exhaled deeply, his face turned smooth and glossy.
The rough-looking skin that had been there just moments before now shone with a healthy luster.
After basking in the feeling for a while, Man-wook turned around and nodded, and his subordinates followed suit, bringing the medicine bottles to their lips.
“Hah—”
After drinking all the antidote, Man-wook’s family let out loud, relieved breaths.
“Thank you, big sis!!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
No matter how many times I told them not to, it was clearly a chronic disease, because that one habit just wouldn’t go away.
“Have you all eaten? If you’re hungry, I’ll make you something.”
“Thank you. We were just starting to get hungry.”
Looks like I was about to end up feeding a bunch of voracious bastards out of nowhere in the middle of the night.
Still, I was glad their appetites seemed to be coming back.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
As always, they came swarming in and started spouting nonsense.
─Chk, chk.
“Huu—man, the air’s nice.”
Ring-ring!
“I’m going to take a call and come right back. Play with Baek Seol for a bit.”
Rumble, rumble.
Baek Seol seemed to want to play with the viewers too, because she came over rolling her favorite toy ball.
After moving a little away from the table and checking my phone, I saw it was someone I knew well.
Click.
“Neng.”
Miss, I’ve sent the information you asked for about the gang that’s supposedly a higher organization.
“You worked hard, Albert. Thank you.”
Think nothing of it.
That was very Albert-like, I guess. He got straight to the point without a single unnecessary word.
And...
“And?”
Hmm. I hesitated to mention this, but I believe Sir Melville may not be feeling well.
“What? Grandpa? What’s wrong with him? How sick is he?”
It doesn’t seem like a major illness. Probably just old age.
“Ah...”
He was the kind of man that “little giant” fit perfectly. The fact that such a fierce old man was now weak with age made it hit even harder.
“Please take Grandpa’s cigarettes away from him. He’d still be smoking even lying down.”
M-me?
“Yeah, you, Albert. Or tell Jeremy. But even then...”
Jeremy!!
What, friend? Why are you yelling?
Go to the U.S. right now!
Did you get high first thing in the morning?
Go and steal Sir Melville’s cigar.
If you’re going to go crazy, do it neatly. How much have you inhaled, exactly?
It is the lady’s command.
The other end of the phone was in an uproar.
The healing ability called Heal only pushed the body’s regenerative power to its limit.
If it was truly just old age, like he said, then I couldn’t expect miracles.
“Hmm...”
