Chapter 11

Chapter 11

BAAAANG--!

A single heavy gunshot tore through the air.

“Whoa!”

Perhaps an anti-materiel rifle really was on another level.

The recoil was beyond anything he had imagined.

Unable to withstand it, Haejin toppled backward and rolled once across the ground.

But.

-Ding!

[You have defeated a Juvenile Basilisk!]

[Level Up!]

[You have reached Level 8.]

Great recoil meant great destructive power!

As Haejin climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off, a system window appeared before him.

“F-finally!!”

It was time to receive the reward for days—no, weeks—of suffering.

The Basilisk, struck directly inside the mouth, collapsed face-first onto the ground.

“It’s... dead, right? The status window appeared, so yeah.”

Still, safety always came first.

He poked the creature several times with his long spear, but it didn’t move.

Only then did Haejin relax and walk outside the gate.

“Wow. I guess expensive guns really are different.”

He examined the Basilisk’s corpse.

The bullet seemed to have entered through its mouth and gone straight through its head.

It had left a hole nearly the size of a fist.

No matter how thoroughly a defensive monster covered itself in hardened scales, it still had weaknesses.

But the good news didn’t end there.

-Ding!

[Your Guard Dog has grown!]

[Level Up!]

[Your Guard Dog has reached Level 5!]

“Huh?!”

Haejin wasn’t the only one who had gained a massive amount of experience.

Perhaps Pasu had received credit for continuously drawing the Basilisk’s attention.

He had gained an enormous amount of experience as well, instantly reaching Level 5.

“Woof woof!”

“Kyaa, our Pasu got stronger too!”

Pasu looked up at him, wagging his tail as if asking for praise.

Haejin vigorously rubbed his head.

[Your Guard Dog has reached Level 5.]

[One Trait and one Skill may be acquired.]

“All right, now we’re getting to the main event...”

Just like Hunters, summoned creatures could gain a new Trait and Skill whenever their level reached a multiple of five.

Pasu, as his Guard Dog, was no exception.

Now that Haejin had personally experienced how powerful even a single Trait or Skill could be.

He couldn’t help wondering what Pasu would obtain.

‘Please be something good. Something really useful! God, please!’

The system window flashed.

And Pasu’s new abilities were revealed.

Haejin read the descriptions on the screen with a serious expression.

[Trait: You have acquired ‘Claws of the Protector’!]

[Skill: You have acquired ‘Unbreakable Bond’!]

Once again, the names alone gave no clear indication of what they did.

That made the descriptions important.

[Claws of the Protector]

-All stats slightly increase while near the owner, ‘Lee Haejin.’

-The stat increase rises or falls according to the value of property owned by the owner.

“Ooh!”

Stat increases were always welcome.

It raised every stat, and the amount would even grow as the value of Haejin’s properties increased.

‘This is seriously efficient. It fits me perfectly, doesn’t it?’

For Haejin himself to grow stronger, the most important thing going forward was acquiring more expensive real estate.

And in the process, Pasu’s stats would rise along with his.

It was an unexpectedly generous two-for-one deal.

Still excited, Haejin continued reading the Skill description.

[Unbreakable Bond]

-Allows a deeper bond to form with the owner, ‘Lee Haejin.’

-When the bond with the owner reaches a certain stage, the Skill will evolve.

“Hmm... This?”

Haejin’s brow furrowed slightly.

For now, the Skill did nothing except increase his bond with Pasu.

It didn’t raise his stats or provide any other effect.

‘It says it evolves once our bond gets stronger, so I guess this is the kind of Skill that only starts doing something after evolving.’

But Pasu was Haejin’s Guard Dog to begin with.

Forget their bond—Haejin had saved his life, and Pasu was already a reliable family member who understood him almost like a person.

And he was supposed to deepen their bond even more?

He thought about it for a moment, but no obvious answer came to mind.

“Ah, whatever. Why does that matter? The important thing is neither of us got hurt, and we finally killed that damn thing. Right, Pasu?”

“Woof woof!”

He grinned while stroking Pasu’s head.

Well, it was still a Skill. Surely it would be useful somehow.

Thinking that, he decided to focus on the job at hand.

Vroooooom-!

A loud engine roared.

Haejin brought over the small truck he had prepared in advance.

It was secondhand, but he had made a few special modifications.

A small excavator crane was mounted behind the cab.

‘I’m probably going to be moving a lot of big corpses from now on. My shoulders will fall off if I try doing everything myself.’

He had gained some strength from exercising recently, but even a juvenile Basilisk was absolutely enormous.

He wasn’t certain, but it looked like it weighed at least two tons.

There was no way he could just drag something like that across the ground.

That was why he had spent money preparing a dedicated corpse-transport truck.

Creeeak- Rumble--!

He lifted the Basilisk corpse with the excavator bucket, swung it around, and lowered it onto the truck bed.

The truck shook slightly with a heavy thud.

The weight was truly incredible.

“Pasu, let’s go! Time to make money!”

He patted the passenger seat, and Pasu jumped up onto it.

Vroom-!

Haejin stepped on the accelerator and headed toward the Hunting City, humming happily all the way.

Bringing monster corpses to the exchange was part of his daily routine.

But today, his expectations were as heavy as the massive weight sitting in the truck bed.

* * *

“E-eek!!”

“What the hell is that?!”

The monster-corpse exchange stood in the center of the Hunting City.

People’s jaws dropped when they spotted Haejin’s truck rolling in.

Haejin confidently opened the door, stepped inside, and came back out with an employee.

It was a male employee he had seen often enough that the face had become familiar.

The man was usually indifferent, but his eyes began trembling the instant he saw the Basilisk.

“I brought this one in to sell. Could you help me unload it?”

“You... killed this? You did, Hunter?!”

“Yeah, by myself. It was a little tricky, but one good shot from a sniper rifle made it manageable.”

“How did you possibly kill a Basilisk? N-no, even Hunters above Level 10 struggle against one in a party...”

“I don’t know. I just kept at it and somehow managed.”

He deliberately avoided giving any details.

Saying he had shot it while hiding behind an invincible Skill wouldn’t accomplish anything.

More importantly, ‘God-Tier Landlord’ was already an extremely unusual class.

‘It benefits me if I’m the only one who knows how it works. If they’re curious, they can imagine whatever they want. Heh.’

Unless there was a strong reason otherwise, he intended to keep his abilities hidden for now.

“Hunter Lee Haejin? Sorry to keep you waiting. We’ve finished appraising the juvenile Basilisk you handed over.”

“Oh, already? I like how fast you do business.”

Perhaps because he had brought in something so valuable.

Even the employees’ manner of speaking had clearly changed.

Before, he had always needed to go up to the counter himself.

Now an employee personally came to the sofa where Haejin was sitting and handed him the appraisal report.

“The appraisal rates it as a perfect A-grade specimen. There’s almost no damage. Most importantly, not a single scale—the most valuable material—was damaged.”

“Ooh, that’s a relief. I was a little worried.”

“Even experienced Hunters have trouble bringing one back in this condition. And you did it alone... That’s truly impressive, Hunter Lee Haejin.”

“Ah, it was nothing. So, what about the most important thing—the price?”

Hadn’t Basilisk scales recently fallen into severe shortage?

Just in case, he had researched the current market price beforehand.

Of course, since this was a juvenile rather than an adult, he had tried not to get his hopes too high.

“Our immediate purchase offer after taxes is 320 million won.”

“...?!”

It was far beyond anything he had imagined.

Not millions. Not tens of millions.

Hundreds of millions.

Three hundred and twenty million won, no less.

Haejin’s hands began trembling.

“That’s... higher than I expected.”

“There are so many buyers looking for scales right now. Our exchange alone has received several exclusive offers. And since the specimen is in such good condition, the price came out very well.”

“R-right.”

“How would you like to receive payment?”

“Cash.”

“We’ll prepare it immediately, Hunter Lee Haejin.”

Not even ten minutes later.

Haejin walked out of the exchange while employees followed him all the way to the entrance, bowing politely.

He carried large money bags in both hands.

Inside were stacks of one-million-won cashier’s checks.

“Three hundred and twenty million won... I never thought I’d actually hold hundreds of millions in my own hands...”

It was an overwhelming profit.

Haejin climbed into the truck and rolled up the windows tightly.

Then he finally released the cheer he had been holding back.

“KRAAAAAAAAAH! My investment hit the damn jackpottttttt!!”

It made everything he had spent so far look like pocket change.

Drowning in joy, Haejin sat there grinning stupidly for a long while.

But what else could he do?

Every time he looked at the bundles of checks in his hands, laughter burst out uncontrollably.

“Kyaaaa! Innkeeepperrr!!”

“Awooooooo--!”

Pasu, equally excited, joined him in howling.

He had hated that disgusting Basilisk more than anything.

But now that he had converted it into money, it suddenly seemed like the most lovable creature in the world.

* * *

“Hmm... Now’s about the time I need to start using my head.”

Normally, on days when he made a nice profit, he celebrated with a big meal out.

Beef, expensive sashimi.

He would eat whatever he wanted and finish the day on a happy note.

But today, he went straight home without stopping at a restaurant.

With this much money at stake, he wasn’t even hungry.

Besides, he needed to seriously think about what came next.

‘I made 320 million won in one day. If I keep doing this, my income is going to increase a lot from now on.’

There were plenty of monsters around the shack he had established farther out.

Since it was deeper inside the danger zone, there were probably more creatures stronger than Garbage Dogs, even if they weren’t Basilisks.

‘The question is what to do with this 320 million won.’

The seed money was now in his hands.

As he considered how best to put it to work, Haejin’s mind began spinning at full speed.