Chapter 17

Hunter Seong Chan-yang (1)

After resolving the major incident that had occurred in the small world, Lee Shin had been spending his days in relative peace.

Whenever he looked at the bustling, steadily developing Red City of Gepetto, he could understand why his father played mobile games whenever he had a spare moment.

It was fun, and there was a certain sense of accomplishment to it.

—Lee Shin, remember when you told me to try selling some of your armor to my classmates? I have something to ask you about that.

Lee Shin was vacuuming the living room when he received a call from Choi Bom. To sum up what she said, her classmates were very interested in Lee Shin's armor and wanted to arrange a meeting with him.

"So you're asking if I have more armor?"

—Yeah. There are about eight people who want to buy some right now. From what I've heard, bringing back items while exploring other worlds isn't easy. I'm fine, so if you don't have anything available, you can just say no. Really, you don't have to—

"Hmm. I do have some."

After the war, Lee Shin had even built them a forge they hadn't had before, and they had started hammering out all sorts of things in droves.

They offered him tribute whenever they got the chance, so the problem wasn't a lack of items. The problem was that he was running out of places to put them.

Lee Shin scratched his head.

"....."

"But does it have to be armor?"

He had several different kinds of equipment.

They arranged the meeting for the near future. Choi Bom made a huge fuss about how highly they seemed to think of his items, but Lee Shin certainly had nothing to lose from it.

—For now, I kept the fact that you have an otherworld exploration ability a secret, okay? Though I'm not even sure if what you have really counts as an otherworld exploration ability... Anyway, I told them you received the equipment as gifts. I said I didn't know where they came from.

"Got it."

—Most of my classmates have already used up nearly all their leave, and it's hard for them to go out on weekdays, so their parents or managers are going instead. When you meet them, don't talk too much. Act like some incredible reclusive master. The moment you open your mouth, they'll realize you're a pushover.

You look like you've got something going on when you just sit there quietly, you know? And when you answer them, make it sound profound and mysterious... Jeez, you've seen this kind of thing in comics plenty of times. Just do that. And don't take anything less than two million won, okay? The more I use this armor, the more I realize just how amazing it is!

Lee Shin almost told Choi Bom that she had clearly watched far too many comics and anime, but stopped himself.

If he said that, she would undoubtedly sulk and give him nothing but one-word replies on KakaoTalk until tomorrow.

Look like I've got something going on?

As his mother had always taught him, Lee Shin arrived ten minutes before the appointed time.

He was about to order an Americano... but remembering Choi Bom's advice, he ordered an espresso instead and sat there trying to look impressive.

Before long, the door chimed, and several middle-aged women entered.

They looked around the same age as the women he had seen as customers at his father's shop, but the atmosphere they gave off was completely different.

They walked leisurely toward him, exuding the unmistakable air of wealthy society ladies—the sort of elegant upper-class women he had only ever seen in TV dramas.

"Oh my, you've already been wait—"

Seeing that Lee Shin was younger than they had expected, the women instinctively started speaking casually to him.

But the instant their eyes met his, they flinched without even realizing it.

"...You've already been waiting for us? I'm sorry. We should have come ear-earlier to receive you. H-have you been waiting long?"

"No."

There was something Lee Shin himself had failed to realize because Choi Bom had grown far too accustomed to him and treated him far too casually.

Lee Shin was not someone who needed to pretend to look impressive.

After all, from childhood until now, not a single person had ever looked down on Lee Shin or treated him like a pushover.

"Order some coffee. I've already ordered mine."

At his short, dry words, the society ladies, who had been notoriously haughty ever since their days in Daechi-dong, unconsciously began watching Lee Shin's every reaction.

"H-he looks younger than my daughter. How can someone that young have an aura like that?"

"You heard, didn't you? Choi Bom didn't even graduate from the military academy, but after receiving a single suit of armor as a gift, she ranked first in her practical evaluation. Didn't you feel it when you made eye contact with him just now? He must be an incredible master."

"We should've brought him a gift...!"

"The tutor who used to teach my daughter was a pretty successful Hunter in his day, but even he didn't have an aura like that. This man must be extraordinary. I heard my daughter is best friends with Bom. She must have specially arranged this connection just for us."

As the ladies whispered among themselves while ordering coffee, they saw Lee Shin suddenly furrow his brow.

Thinking he was displeased because they were taking too long to order, they hurriedly tapped away at the kiosk.

I should've ordered iced tea.

Not a single one of them imagined that he was frowning simply because the espresso he had ordered was far more bitter than he had expected.

Once the ladies finished ordering, they moved to a private business room farther inside.

It was separated by glass partitions that prevented their conversation from leaking outside. Lee Shin was secretly impressed.

So there are cafés with rooms like this.

"I have ten items I can give you immediately."

As he spoke, Lee Shin remembered Choi Bom's advice not to talk too much and took out the equipment he had prepared beforehand.

There were two more suits of armor identical to Choi Bom's, while the rest consisted of supplementary equipment such as gauntlets and short daggers.

They told me to keep these as souvenirs.

As more dwarves began permanently working at the forge, several residents had awakened as [Blacksmiths]. They had told him that although their craftsmanship was still embarrassingly poor, they wanted him to have something they had made as a gift.

Lee Shin had felt bad about giving away the blacksmiths' very first creations to other people, so he had kept those as souvenirs and swept up all the remaining pieces instead.

The society ladies stared blankly at the equipment for a moment before cautiously speaking to Lee Shin.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but we don't really have an eye for this sort of thing. If you don't mind, would it be all right if we examined them together with someone who knows how to evaluate equipment?"

"Yes."

One of the society ladies made a phone call, and before long, a large man in a suit entered the business room.

He had an exceptionally solid build, and apparently he was an Awakened, because a status window popped up before Lee Shin's eyes with a ding.

「Name: Kim Dong-seok」
「Class: Supporter」
「Overall Assessment: An appearance utterly unsuited to a Supporter.」

The man, Kim Dong-seok, bowed his head and greeted them politely. A few of the ladies seemed to recognize him.

"Oh my, Jeong-ah's mother. The person you called to help us was Manager Kim? What a capable choice. He's such a busy man—how did you manage to get him to come...?"

"My husband works at Dawn."

Apparently, Kim Dong-seok was quite famous.

Of course, Lee Shin, who had practically cut himself off from the news and current affairs and watched nothing but videos of cats, dogs, and other animals, had no way of knowing that.

"Manager Kim? Would you like something to drink...?"

"I'm fine. I squeezed this into my schedule."

"Oh my, of course. You're a busy man."

The moment Kim Dong-seok entered, he began examining the items laid out across the table.

At first, his hands moved quickly.

But gradually, his movements slowed.

".....?"

About five minutes later, Kim Dong-seok was examining the equipment with his face so close that his nose was practically touching it.

Slowly raising his head, he muttered with an utterly baffled expression.

"...What is this?"

"Armor."

"I know it's armor. But... who in the world made this? I've never seen craftsmanship of this quality even in the United States. No, anywhere in the world..."

The eyes of the previously confident Kim Dong-seok began to tremble.

"What's wrong, Manager Kim?"

"I can't see any of the detailed information in its status window. It says I don't have permission to access it, and its grade is simply listed as 'Unmeasurable.' It's not like I've never encountered items like that before, so I examined it myself, but this..."

"This?"

"I don't think these are really items that your children... Academy trainees, should be using. Even if they did, they wouldn't be able to bring out their true potential. It would be like buying someone a Rolls-Royce the moment they get their driver's license..."

Despite saying that he had squeezed this visit into his schedule, Kim Dong-seok now sat down, took photographs of the equipment from various angles, and called someone.

After speaking on the phone for a moment, he said,

"I'll purchase all of these items myself. How does eighty thousand sound? Of course, I'm only talking about the price of this armor. If a detailed appraisal values it higher, I'll pay you the difference."

"...Dong-seok, you can't do this."

The ladies' gazes changed when they saw Kim Dong-seok suddenly trying to snatch the items out from under them.

But Kim Dong-seok looked them straight in the eye.

"I'll personally select equipment from our management company that's best suited for trainees and provide it to your children separately. And if they encounter any difficulties at the Academy in the future, I'll consult our Hunters and make sure they receive help. Wouldn't that be enough?"

Only after he offered such extraordinary terms did everyone fall silent.

Kim Dong-seok turned his attention back to Lee Shin, but Lee Shin shook his head.

Eighty thousand won seems a little low, doesn't it?

"Would one hundred thousand be enough?"

"One hundred thousand won?"

"No, of course I mean one hundred thousand dollars."

Oh. Dollars.

One hundred thousand dollars, converted at the current exchange rate, came to 144.22 million won.

That was already far beyond the two million won Choi Bom had told him to get.

Apparently interpreting Lee Shin's silence differently, Kim Dong-seok continued.

"As expected, you think that's insufficient. Then how about one hundred thirty thousand dollars? I don't know about the other items, but the value of this armor should be around—"

As he spoke, Kim Dong-seok lightly brushed his hand across the armor.

At that instant, a brilliant blue light flashed, and the armor trembled.

The ladies recoiled in surprise while Kim Dong-seok's mouth fell slightly open.

"..."

A moment later, he muttered,

"An engraving...? No, you can't inscribe this kind of engraving onto armor. It's not as if this was made by dwarves straight out of a fantasy novel, so what in the world...?"

Wide-eyed, Kim Dong-seok examined the patterns revealed by the blue glow before swallowing hard.

Then he abruptly shot to his feet, bent ninety degrees at the waist, and declared,

"I sincerely apologize for failing to recognize its true value and offering you such an insulting price!"

"...."

"How does two million dollars sound?"

Lee Shin hadn't done anything, yet the price had suddenly jumped more than tenfold.

As the society ladies stared in shock, Lee Shin calmly muttered,

"If that's your assessment, then I suppose that's right."

He meant it sincerely.

At the same time, unlike before, Kim Dong-seok's eyes began burning with enthusiasm.

Grabbing Lee Shin's hand, Kim Dong-seok said,

"Rather than doing this here, allow me to escort you to our company. I may make another foolish mistake, so I'd like to have everything properly verified first and conduct the transaction at an accurate price."

Somehow, Lee Shin ended up being led by Kim Dong-seok all the way into the heart of Gangnam.

More precisely, to the headquarters of Dawn Management, one of South Korea's Big Three management companies.

"Our company's appraisers absolutely will not make a mistake. I can assure you that nothing like what happened earlier will happen again. And if, for any reason, you're dissatisfied with our terms, you're free to leave at any time...."

Kim Dong-seok, who had initially seemed taciturn and stern, had now become incredibly talkative.

While Kim Dong-seok continued chattering away, however, Lee Shin's attention had wandered elsewhere.

"That person over there..."

"Ah, you mean Hunter Seong Chan-yang, the star Hunter of our Dawn Management. You probably know her from her recent performance defending against the monster wave in China. Contrary to the rumors about her, she's actually a very decent lady. If you'd like, I can get you her autograph—"

"No. Is she okay?"

Is she okay?

Sensing something strange in Lee Shin's question, Kim Dong-seok finally noticed that something was seriously wrong with Hunter Seong Chan-yang.

Her staggering steps.

Her flushed face.

The cold sweat covering her.

Even her eyes were unfocused and hazy.

"Chan-yang, are you all right...?"

"Ah. Manager. My head... it hurts so..."

Seong Chan-yang muttered in a badly hoarsened voice, but couldn't finish her sentence.

She abruptly collapsed where she stood.

Kim Dong-seok rushed toward her, calling her name, his eyes darting around in panic.

"What's wrong? Have you been pushing yourself too hard lately? Wake up, Chan-yang. Hey! Someone call a Healer! Bring whatever potions we have right now...!"

Watching Seong Chan-yang gasp for breath, Kim Dong-seok looked genuinely bewildered.

His expression said he had absolutely no idea what was happening.

But Lee Shin thought he knew why.

Because...

He could see it.

「An ascetic born with a great vessel, yet still wandering without having accepted any god.」

「Name: Seong Chan-yang」

「Class: Cleric」

「Overall Assessment: A paladin blessed with brilliant talent who has awakened to her own power, yet has failed to find the god she is meant to serve. The most devout and radiant of souls suffers, having lost its path.」

「Currently suffering from [Divine Sickness].」

Lee Shin could see it with his own eyes.

「TIP: Even her name marks her as an excellent believer!」

「TIP: If the almighty and merciful you were to take this wandering lamb under your care, there could be no greater honor!」

「TIP: (m>u << )g」