Landlord
A smile spread across Kang Juhyuk’s face.
One billion won had just landed in his account.
The spending limit had already been blown wide open.
The auction bids were proceeding smoothly.
+12 Sword of the Spirit King has been awarded to BlueSmileJuhyuk!
Three hundred million won went out first.
BlueSmileJuhyuk has successfully bid on +10 Helmet of Thanatos!
Two hundred million followed right behind.
BlueSmileJuhyuk has successfully bid on +10 Armor of Thanatos!
Then came another payment of one hundred fifty million won.
BlueSmileJuhyuk has successfully bid on +10 Boots of Thanatos!
Finally, another one hundred million won was added, completing the Thanatos set.
The Chronos Gate players who witnessed it in real time were stunned speechless.
Some nobody who hadn’t even cracked the rankings had suddenly appeared and swept away every item currently called the strongest in the game.
But.
That left Kang Juhyuk with only two hundred fifty million won in his account.
He should have stopped there.
They were going to have to move soon.
He should have kept the relocation money aside.
“What? The Necklace of the War God went up for auction?”
An irresistible temptation.
A rare SR-grade necklace that had been released through an event long ago, the only one of its kind on the server.
If I buy this too, server strongest is basically guaranteed.
Without the slightest hesitation, Juhyuk threw in all the money he had left.
BlueSmileJuhyuk has successfully bid on +10 Necklace of the War God!
And just like that, the number 10 billion became zero.
When Minho heard the news, he clutched his head and nearly collapsed.
Even for an ordinary person, ten billion won was the kind of money that was hard to accumulate over a lifetime. And his uncle had poured it into a game in a single night?
“You’re kidding, right? Uncle, it doesn’t make sense to spend ten billion won in one day.”
Juhyuk answered with a meaningful smile.
“Lee Minho, I’m rank five on the world leaderboard now.”
“Uncle.”
“I’ve earned the right to compete in the World PVP tournament.”
“Uncle.”
“At this rate, I might even hit number one in the world before the year’s out!”
There was madness in his uncle’s eyes.
Minho couldn’t say another word.
It was his own money that had been spent, and this was the first time in his life he’d ever seen Juhyuk look that happy.
“So you’re saying you spent all ten billion?”
“That’s right.”
“Ha... then what about our move?”
“What about it? We just do it well.”
“No! We need money.”
“I said I’d handle it. Stop nagging. We’ve still got plenty of time before the move, so why’re you making a fuss?”
He’d almost said that if they didn’t prepare in advance, they’d be in trouble.
But Minho couldn’t bring himself to be harsh with his uncle.
He was the one who had never once contributed a single won to the household, so it didn’t feel right for him to say anything.
“You’re sure there won’t be any problem with our move?”
“Of course not. It’s not an apartment, it’s a villa. It’ll be transferred into my name before the end of the month.”
Now what was that supposed to mean?
“A villa?”
“Yeah, you remember that Chairman Jung we rescued the other day?”
“Yes.”
“He said he wanted to give us some money as thanks, so I told him if that was the case, just give me a house instead.”
“?!”
Uncle, seriously?
Minho couldn’t close his mouth from the shock.
Not long ago, they had almost been forced into a drifting, month-to-month existence because of rent.
My uncle’s going to become a landlord?
He swallowed hard.
“Anyway, have you ever been to Apgujeong?”
“How would I have been to some rich district like that? I’ve watched food-travel videos on YouTube, but that’s a whole different world from ours.”
“Really? Didn’t seem like much to me.”
“That’s because you’re making good money now, Uncle.”
Apparently pleased with Minho’s answer, Juhyuk let out a snort of laughter.
“You think your uncle could’ve gone places like that back when he was on a department-store salary?”
“Of course not. After they deducted everything from minimum wage and I calculated what I could actually spend, I was left with about one hundred thousand won a month.”
“Yeah, and until not long ago you were whining every day because you couldn’t even eat meat.”
“I was.”
After all, when he couldn’t afford meat, he had made yukgaejang with pork rind that cost fifteen hundred won.
Compared to back then, this was complete heaven and earth stuff. Eat whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.
“Exactly. All thanks to me. Have you ever seen an uncle who makes this much money?”
“Yeah. Chairman Jung Myungchul, yesterday. He’s probably somebody’s uncle too.”
“You little— Compare me to someone appropriate.”
Then, as if the department store had suddenly jogged some memory loose, Juhyuk sighed.
Well, he had worked there for more than ten years. It made sense that the word alone would bring back memories.
“You don’t want to go back, do you?”
“Are you insane? Damn, but thinking about it now, those bastards were masters of gaslighting.”
“Gaslighting?”
“Yeah. They kept saying if I left there, I could never come back, and that there wasn’t a better job than that. They paid minimum wage and worked the hell out of us! And that damn team leader sucked up to the people above him while chewing up everyone below him like garbage.”
He’d already heard this story more than a hundred times.
Whenever this rant came up, Juhyuk always complained that he should have quit halfway through and moved to another job.
Of course.
That wasn’t the case now.
Was it because he had money to spare?
All that was left was anger.
“And whenever a problem came up, they’d dodge around it and run away however they could. Those bastards called managers dumped all the responsibility on the people below them.”
Juhyuk couldn’t contain his rage and slammed the table.
“Thinking about it now, they were nothing but trash. Lee Minho, this won’t do. It’s your turn to step up.”
“Mine?”
“Yeah. Use the hand-to-hand combat I taught you while you were preparing to become a hunter, and go beat those bastards up. I’ll take care of the settlement money, so cripple them all half to death.”
Uncle, that’s not a hunter. That’s a thug.
I didn’t train for that.
“Calm down. You’re going to break the table.”
“Calm down, my ass! Those motherfuckers... if I think about all the crap they made me do for ten years. It still wouldn’t be enough even if I beat them to death...”
“Calm down. We’re not in Raslan.”
Minho had blurted out the name of the other world city without thinking. It was one of the places Juhyuk brought up constantly.
“Hoo. Fair enough. Murder is a crime here.”
It probably was there too.
“Anyway, wasn’t the section chief good to you?”
“It was basically the same as the army. It wasn’t that he treated us well. He just didn’t do anything. It was a top-down harassment system.”
“Top-down harassment?”
“If someone made a mistake, the section chief would chew out the team leader. Then the team leader would chew out the assistant manager. Then the assistant manager would chew out the people under him.”
Minho waved both hands in protest.
“Come on, don’t lie. That’s some old story, isn’t it? Who does that these days? Everyone would quit.”
“They did quit. That’s why I’m here now, isn’t it?”
“Ah...”
“And the department store’s hours were insane too. There are only twenty-four hours in a day, but we had to be at work for twelve of them.”
Wasn’t that just how workplaces functioned?
“Minimum wage, and it’s not like there was anything to learn from it either! And on top of that, they called three of those hours break time and didn’t even pay us for them.”
“Three hours of break time is pretty long. Couldn’t you just play games then, Uncle? It’d be the same as doing it at home.”
“Lee Minho, you’re still too inexperienced in the real world to be saying that. Do you really think those three hours were meant to be actual rest?”
No, of course not.
You could tell just by the way his uncle was worked up.
“They’d tell you to do just one more thing, then just one more. ‘Sorry, but we’re short-staffed,’ and ‘let’s just get through today.’ No proper break, and we had to put up with that crap for over ten years.”
“I know, so calm down, Uncle.”
Minho handed him a glass of cold water.
“So where are we getting this villa?”
“I told you. Apgujeong.”
“...Apgujeong?!”
Minho nearly jumped out of his skin.
One of the three richest districts in Korea.
Was his uncle seriously saying he’d been given a building there?
“Really?”
If so, then their lives were practically about to bloom open.
“What, you think I’m lying? They have a lot of buildings over there, so they said they’d give us one of them.”
“That’s insane.”
“At first they offered an apartment, but I turned it down.”
“Why?”
“We live differently from those people. You can bet they’d be holding resident meetings and all that, with the ajummas gathered around playing neighborhood watchdog. I can’t live with that crap.”
Fair enough. Given his uncle’s personality, anything troublesome was the enemy.
“And the villa’s management is handled separately by Far East Group, so you and I won’t have to worry about a thing.”
“That’s sweet.”
“It’s a damn jackpot. And unlike apartments, which you have to sell to make money, villas bring in steady monthly rent, so the living expenses should be pretty nice too.”
Minho looked at his uncle with eyes full of admiration and awe.
Uncle really is an adult.
He really was sharp when it came to this sort of thing.
And to think he had handled both the negotiation and the math in that short amount of time.
“So when can we move?”
“No idea. They said they’d set a date once the paperwork’s done.”
“Oh!”
“We’re supposed to see Chairman Jung Myungchul again this week, so I’ll ask him then.”
“I still can’t believe it. We’re moving to Apgujeong.”
Juhyuk, clearly proud of himself too, scratched the bridge of his nose.
“Lee Minho.”
“Yes!”
“For your rich uncle, go boil me three packs of ramyeon. And throw in ten eggs. Plenty of them.”
* * *
As dusk settled over Samcheong-dong, a government-affiliated organization collided with the White Tiger Guild.
As a result, the South Korean press went into an uproar.
The scale of the incident was large enough to dominate all three major broadcasters.
It was a huge incident, one that had captured the attention of the entire world.
And yet the footage aired by the broadcasters didn’t reveal the exact location or the reason for the clash.
Not a single eyewitness account or on-site photo had surfaced in online communities, either.
There had been a few rumors floating around the internet, but without any evidence, they were quickly buried.
Was that even possible? A massive incident like this, in the middle of the city in the twenty-first century?
Everyone had questions, but no one was truly trying to dig for answers.
It was obvious someone had their hands on the media coverage of this event.
“I told you to wait quietly until the deal, didn’t I? Why did you go and make a mess one day before the big move?”
As the sturdy bald old man fastened the buttons on his shirt and spoke, Lee Miyeon of the White Tiger Guild, sitting by the window, shrugged.
“On behalf of the master, I’d like to apologize for this matter, President Hong Hwarang.”
Hong Hwarang, the head of the Korean Hunter Association and the hunter currently known as the strongest in the country.
With a face like an angry tiger’s, he frowned and bit down on a thick cigar.
“This isn’t something an apology can settle.”
“I understand. That’s why I came in person to the Hunter Association. With a sincere apology. And to bring the item down to the price you mentioned, President.”
“...You’ll lower the price?”
“Yes. We checked, and it seems you’ve delayed the deal because you couldn’t secure the promised money. If the amount is right, we’re prepared to hand over the item.”
Hong Hwarang lifted his lighter to ignite the cigar, then set it back down without lighting it.
“I’d rather hear that directly from Hwang Geumgang.”
“The master is in no condition to move. I ask for your understanding.”
“...Are you sure the item is real?”
“Yes. If you’d like, I can arrange for you to meet Hunter Gu Jinwoo.”
The chairman waved a hand dismissively.
“No need. That boy seems hell-bent on killing me as it is. Let’s not make this any bigger than it already is.”
“Understood.”
“So why did the White Tiger do something like that? I heard they exchanged blows with the National Intelligence Service in Samcheong-dong.”
“We’d had a few unpleasant incidents with those Black Garden people over the past few days. In the end, a matter arose that simply had to be settled.”
The chairman gave a short nod.
“I see. I don’t know the exact reason, but I hope you’ll keep things as quiet as possible. Getting tangled up with the government makes everything a headache.”
“Naturally. We’re doing our best, so I ask that you also make your decision within the week.”
“Very well.”
“Then I’ll be taking my leave.”
“Wait.”
Hong Hwarang stopped Lee Miyeon as she turned to go.
He held out a red wanted notice that still smelled faintly of ink and asked, “Do you know this face?”
?!
Carefully taking the notice and looking it over, Lee Miyeon’s eyes widened.
“...Kang Juhyuk? Why is this man on a wanted notice?”