Chapter 173

Though there had been a slight misunderstanding, Suho jumped into negotiations with Lim Taegyu in earnest.

Suho’s plan had been to purchase, at a cheap price, the clearing rights to dungeons that the Fiend Guild was not able to use, what with its current lack of manpower. As it turned out, however, the Fiend Guild’s situation was actually far worse than he had foreseen. Taegyu had already sold off all the dungeon rights that the guild had owned.

“So... you really don’t have any dungeons left?” Suho asked.

“No.”

“Not a single one?”

“No, just as I told you.” Taegyu continued to explain the situation with an embarrassed look on his face. “Our guild has decided to operate as a small-scale mercenary band for the time being. We’ve spent most of the proceeds from selling the rights to buy equipment.”

Suho flinched. He had recalled the A-rank weapon that Taegyu had lent him before he headed into the Glacier Dungeon. The replica of the Fiend’s Bow was now with Sirka, the ice elf, who had gone with his mother. Therefore, Suho had no way to return it.

Thankfully, Lim Taegyu didn’t seem like he intended to ask for the bow back at all. He had lent it to Suho in the first place because his son, Lim Dogyoon, was a member of the Woojin Guild. Taegyu had wanted to make things safer for his son, if possible, and he would not ask that it be returned unless Dogyoon left the guild.

“Actually, this is great timing,” Taegyu said. “You’re a guild master now. Let me give you a simple run-down of what it takes to operate a guild. Dogyoon, you’re a vice guild master, too, so listen up.”

Taegyu gave the young hunters some extremely practical advice, the focus of which was money in the end. “It takes far more capital than you’d think for a guild to maintain exclusive control over a dungeon. The biggest expense is the purchase of rights to clear the dungeon.” In other words, the more money the guild had—or “firepower,” as Taegyu put it—the more of an advantage they would have in the fierce bidding war against other guilds.

“But buying rights doesn’t mean that you’re done,” Taegyu added. “You have to go into that dungeon and make as much money as you’ve invested. That process takes even more capital.”

“You mean personnel fees?” Suho asked.

“Yes. I see you’re quick to understand, which means you’re no longer a rookie,” Taegyu said, nodding. Personnel expenses—the cost of hiring external workers for mining, harvesting, and so on—were costly as well. These workers were mostly E-rank or D-rank, which meant they weren’t extremely expensive to hire individually, but the numbers required were massive. And there was an even bigger problem.

“They need to be given the day’s pay at the end of the day, no matter what,” Taegyu said. “If a guild starts running low on funds after buying the rights to a dungeon, they wouldn’t dare hire the services of people like that.”

No matter how great the hunters in a guild were, the guild would not start making money the moment they entered a dungeon. The bodies of magic beasts, mana stones, and ores acquired inside needed to be sold off first. But even if ores had been mined and brought out of a dungeon, they couldn’t be sold off on the same day. The process took a minimum of two days or more.

“From this point on, you enter the realm of business. It’s completely different from hunting magic beasts.”

Taegyu’s explanations were all correct, but to be honest, Suho didn’t have to worry about these things. Such duties would be handled by his uncle, Jinho.

“However...” Taegyu continued. He had a reason for explaining all of this to Suho. “It seems to me that your guild probably won’t need to hire people like other guilds do.”

Taegyu’s eyes traveled to the shadow soldiers, who were mining at a furious pace. He had a dazed look on his face as the rumbling and cracking of stone filled the air.

“Team Two! Your hands aren’t moving fast enough, damn it! If you mine less than Team One, I’ll make sure you pay for it!” shouted Que.

“Kieeeek! Know your place, you second-rate shadow soldier!” Beru shrieked.

“Ugh! Stop calling me that!”

Que and Beru were competing with each other as they directed the shadow miners. It was an intense and impressive sight, and Taegyu was unable to hide the sense of defeat he felt. “I knew you were a summoner... but this...”

Taegyu’s own guild was growing more and more bankrupt over time, but it seemed this other guild was on the fast track to success. It took the fight out of him. He couldn’t really be jealous, however, since his own son was its vice guild master. If he had realized that Que—who was swinging his pickaxe more fervently than anyone else—was the very man responsible for his guild’s downfall in the first place, perhaps he would have started vomiting from frustration. Sometimes ignorance was bliss.

Hmm... I don’t remember Suho being capable of summoning so many creatures at once before,

Taegyu suddenly thought.

Was he hiding his power back then?

I don’t see why he would have to do that.

Taegyu hadn’t quite arrived at the truth—that Suho was a special sort of hunter who continued to grow through a unique leveling system. Such things were impossible for most people to imagine in the first place.

Suho nodded at Taegyu and asked, “In any case, you mean to say that you don’t have any rights left? Can you do something else for me, then?”

“What do you need?”

“The Woojin Guild currently has a hundred million won. Since I’m here in Busan, could we use that money to buy the rights to a dungeon from the Knights Guild?”

“You want me to be the middleman? That shouldn’t be hard.” Taegyu nodded instantly. “They probably want that, too, actually.”

Taegyu turned out to be right. There were currently quite a few dungeons in Busan that were a hassle to deal with. The Knights Guild had also been suffering from a personnel shortage serious enough to hire various mercenary groups, including the Fiend Guild. This meant Suho could probably purchase dungeon rights at a very cheap price.

“Will you be all right, by the way?” Taegyu asked.

“What do you mean?”

“After what just happened, I heard that every journalist in Busan is coming to Haeundae Beach to talk to you. And the City of Busan is—”

“Oh. That’s no problem.” Suho shrugged, as if this didn’t bother him at all.

***

“Thank you so much!”

Hmm...?

Dogyoon was baffled. Park Jongsoo, the head of the Knights Guild, was grinning and shaking both of his hands.

“This entire incident was handled perfectly thanks to the Woojin Guild!” Jongsoo exclaimed. People were cheering for Dogyoon.

Uh... Hmm?

“Speaking of which, the City of Busan would like to offer you a Plaque of Gratitude. Thank you, Vice Guild Master of the Woojin Guild, Lim Dogyoon!”

Dogyoon was standing in front of Jongsoo and the mayor of Busan, receiving the plaque in question. Camera flashes burst from all directions, nearly blinding him.

Who am I?

Dogyoon thought.

Why, I’m the Vice Guild Master of the Woojin Guild, of course.

And where is this place?

Busan City Hall.

They were in the middle of a plaza where a plaque presentation ceremony was taking place, and he was in the center of the spotlight.

Haeundae Beach was one of the key regions of Busan, and if it had been destroyed, the city would have suffered a major hit to its economy. The Woojin Guild, who had protected the beach from the crisis that threatened the city, had offered to “do Busan a favor” by staying on and clearing dungeons in the city as well. This prompted the mayor himself to show up and express his gratitude.

This plaque, of course, was hardly worth anything and wouldn’t even fetch a decent price on the secondhand market. It still held some meaning, however. The Woojin Guild now had the approval of the mayor himself and could operate inside the city freely.

“Your guild master, Mr. Sung, must be quite busy, by the way,” the mayor said and laughed heartily.

“Yes. He’s currently inside a dungeon...”

The mayor’s real question was why the guild master wasn’t present at such an honorable event. Dogyoon felt like he could cry. Suho was indeed inside a dungeon, though it was just the Shadow Dungeon. He should have been here, but he had left all this hassle for Dogyoon to deal with and waltzed off to do his daily quests.

The major laughed again. “Well, it’s all right. We all know how busy hunters can get. By the way, Mr. Lim, please come to my office. The event is over now, and I have a contract ready regarding the dungeons.”

“Yes, sir...”

“Oh, by the way, I heard that you are related to Mr. Lim Taegyu! You must get your looks from him.”

Dogyoon, suddenly surrounded by high-ranked personnel, looked deathly pale as he followed the guild master of the Knights Guild. He felt drained already.

Suho also faced an incredible crisis, however, though it was slightly different from Dogyoon’s.

***

“What...” Suho was shocked when he entered the Shadow Dungeon to do his daily quests. Ammut, the teacher who had helped him learn the Iron Body Technique, had changed.

“Hehehe! Do you feel the difference?”

The crocodile was twice as big as he usually was, and the pyramid had grown in size, as well. What was more, for some reason there was a beam of darkness shooting up from the tip of the pyramid. The biggest problem, however, was that it was more than Ammut’s size that had changed.

The earth rumbled as Ammut growled, “Let us begin your training.”

“W-wait. Something feels very different about you today.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Your father already granted his permission.”

Permission to do what?

Suho was extremely worried. The gravity field pushing down on his entire body felt very unusual.

Beru nodded from afar, a look of immense satisfaction on his face. “You know what they say, Young Monarch. Adversity in youth builds character. I’m sure the rewards will more than outweigh the—”

The rewards haven’t changed at all!

Suho balked and began to do push-ups.

Crack!

“Agh!”

Suho’s arms were broken. Bandages flew over and wrapped around his arms, and today’s Iron Body Technique training began in earnest.

“Gaaah!”

“Hahahaha!” Ammut laughed loudly.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The torture—that is, the training—seemed twice as intense as usual.

[The level of “Pain Tolerance” has increased!]

[Physical Defense +140% → +160%]

The Pain Tolerance skill, which hadn’t budged even during close combat with Jarvier, leveled up at once.

A while later, as Suho lay there on the floor in tatters, a reward arrived.

[The following rewards will be given.]

[Reward 1: Health Restoration

Reward 2: Ability Points +5

Reward 3: 2 Random Boxes]

“I have better rewards now...?”

The daily quest rewards had usually offered three additional ability points, not five, and there were now two random boxes instead of one. For some reason, however, Suho did not feel grateful in the least.