Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was an era where being a Hunter had become an ordinary profession.

Since most Hunters worked along the border adjacent to North Korea, which had become a Demonic Realm, all the related infrastructure naturally clustered there as well.

These areas were known as ‘Hunting Cities.’

Simply put, they were like commercial districts surrounding massive military bases.

A fairly large Hunting City had also formed behind Cheorwon, where Haejin’s pension was located, so he took a bus there first.

‘The atmosphere really is different...’

The outskirts of Cheorwon had once been completely evacuated because ordinary civilians could barely live there.

Although the population had apparently increased somewhat since then, there still weren’t many people on the streets.

Even the occasional people he did see appeared to be Hunters or workers in Hunter-related professions rather than ordinary civilians.

Some carried massive rifles or swords on their backs.

Others moved around in groups wearing military uniforms.

As an ordinary nobody, it was honestly pretty intimidating.

‘No, no. I’m a Hunter now too. Straighten your shoulders and act confident.’

Haejin, who had been slightly cowed, cleared his throat with an ahem- and began looking around.

Just as he was starting to adjust to the atmosphere of the Hunting City, he soon found his destination.

[Jeil Jewelry – Pawnshop]

Among stores selling weapons and equipment stood a small jewelry shop that looked rather out of place.

“This is it.”

He had found several items while farming Odeok-ri.

He could simply keep the cash, but stolen goods like the gold bracelet had to be disposed of somehow.

Of course, he could have taken them to an ordinary jewelry store in the capital region.

‘I came here to make things easy. It’d be a pain if I ended up causing trouble instead.’

Stolen goods were still stolen goods, after all.

If he was unlucky, the owner might become suspicious of their origin and call the police.

That was exactly why he had gone out of his way to come here.

Hunters weren’t the only residents of Hunting Cities.

Scavengers lived here too.

Beepbeepbeep-!

A small alarm sounded as he opened the rather heavy door and stepped inside.

A security system right at the entrance. It seemed he had come to the right place.

“Anyone here?”

The interior was surprisingly dim for a jewelry store.

After waiting a moment, a middle-aged man slowly emerged from the back room.

“Oh, welcome. Here to sell something? Or pawn something?”

“Forget the pawnshop. I’ve got something to unload this time.”

“Unload... Hmm, hmm. Let me see it first. We buy just about anything.”

“This first.”

The most valuable stolen item from his latest haul.

Haejin carefully took the gold bracelet from his bag and held it out.

The instant the owner saw its glittering form, his voice softened.

“Gold, huh? Wow, you brought something nice.”

“You’ll buy it, right? How much do you think it’ll fetch?”

“First, I need to appraise it. Give me a moment.”

The owner took the gold bracelet, fitted a jeweler’s loupe over one eye, and began running various tests.

Haejin watched him carefully and thought.

‘If he tries anything funny, I’m just leaving.’

Of course, Haejin knew almost nothing about jewelry.

Living in a semi-basement room had kept him far removed from shiny things like this.

But he knew exactly what this particular bracelet was.

For one simple reason.

It had come with a certificate of authenticity.

Five don of 99.9% pure gold.

He had carefully researched purchase prices, selling prices, and everything else beforehand.

This was a world where looking away for a second could get your nose cut off.

When it came to money, Haejin was meticulous beyond belief.

“You brought the real thing. Pure gold. Exactly five don.”

“Ooh.”

He had been half expecting something, but fortunately the jewelry shop owner wasn’t trying to scam him.

His trust in the man rose sharply.

Feeling more confident, Haejin asked again.

“That’s right. Exactly what the certificate says.”

“Oh, you had the certificate? Our customer has good instincts too. Don’t worry. I don’t know about other places, but I don’t pull tricks here.”

“Glad to hear it. So how much are you offering?”

“Rounding things off, I can give you three million. Nice and clean, cash on the spot.”

“...What?”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

He had just claimed he didn’t pull tricks, and now suddenly the owner was offering only three million.

Haejin stared at him in disbelief.

“Wait, is that price right? Gold sells for about 850,000 won per don right now. Even after deducting workmanship, shouldn’t I get more than four million?”

It was far too different from the gold prices he had researched.

But the owner merely laughed heartily and said.

“That’s the Seoul price. This is a Hunting City.”

“What?”

“If you don’t like it, you can always go sell it in Jongno’s jewelry district?”

“...”

That hit him right where it hurt.

“We take any stolen goods here, but in exchange, the going rate is usually around seventy percent. It takes quite a bit of work for us to move stuff like this too.”

“That... does make sense.”

It was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

They were stolen goods to begin with. Nothing more needed to be said.

Haejin decided to just sell the bracelet for three million.

The jewelry shop owner immediately pulled out a stack of bills, counted them, then placed them in a paper envelope and handed it over.

Sixty crisp fifty-thousand-won bills.

‘Three million from stolen goods after one scavenging run... Kyaa! This is insane!!’

The moment he took the envelope, the corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably.

It was an amount of money he could never have dreamed of back when he barely scraped by working part-time jobs.

He had just earned the equivalent of an ordinary office worker’s monthly salary this easily.

“Thank you, dear customer. Come again! Haha!”

“Since I’m here, could I ask you one more thing?”

“Of course. Just looking at you, I can tell you’re not from around here.”

“Are there any real-estate offices nearby? Maybe a room for monthly rent?”

What should you do after making money?

Reinvest it.

Between using his skills and continuing to work as a scavenger in Odeok-ri, he needed a place here even more.

Of course, while this area was dangerous, it was still a town where people lived.

“Of course there are. Looking for a place, are you? Want me to recommend one?”

* * *

“Apparently there have been a lot of monsters around Cheorwon lately? Plenty of Hunters have come in, so quite a few decent rooms are available.”

“That’s good news.”

Without delay, Haejin visited the real-estate office the jewelry shop owner had recommended.

Together with a kindly, plump middle-aged realtor, he climbed the stairs of an old commercial building.

One rather surprising fact was that even Hunting Cities had monthly rentals and studio apartments.

Perhaps because the area guaranteed at least a minimum level of safety, ordinary infrastructure still functioned.

Well, that was probably why there were still some residents here.

“Now then, this is the property I recommend most. Would you like to take a look?”

They had come to see a small one-room residence first.

When the door opened, a modest little room appeared.

A roughly twenty-square-meter studio, decently sized for one person.

There was a little dust, but it was cleaner than expected.

A little sadly, it was still in better condition than Haejin’s semi-basement room back home.

“It has a bathroom, a shower booth inside, a refrigerator, and a built-in closet. It’s a furnished studio, so all you need to bring is yourself.”

“It’s better than I expected.”

“Right? It’s perfect for a man living alone. I’m telling you, places like this are hard to find.”

The realtor smiled lightly at Haejin.

Since he liked it, he asked the price.

“How much is it?”

“No deposit. Rent is 800,000 won a month, and that includes the maintenance fee.”

“Eight hundred thousand...?”

He felt a strange sense of déjà vu from what had happened at the jewelry store earlier.

Eight hundred thousand for a tiny studio.

That kind of price was hard to find even in central Seoul.

‘Is-isn’t that way too expensive?!’

Of course, he had to account for the peculiar nature of a Hunting City.

There was a reason they didn’t demand a deposit in the first place.

Whether you were a Hunter or a scavenger, dying or getting seriously injured after one mistake was an everyday occurrence here.

Considering both the danger of monsters appearing at any moment and how isolated the city was, the price made sense.

“Well, all right. Let’s sign the contract.”

“Oh, you made the right choice. Let’s head straight back to the office and write up the agreement!”

Haejin’s abilities only activated when he had real estate.

He knew this was a worthwhile investment for that purpose... but still.

“First month’s rent, guh!”

Perhaps there was no overcoming his miserly nature.

Haejin’s hand trembled as he pulled 800,000 won out of the envelope.

* * *

-You have acquired new real estate!

-The list of available properties has been updated!

[Owned Properties – 1]

[Leased Properties – 2]

The moment he signed the contract, the skill window appeared.

He had now established a base in a Hunting City filled with essential Hunter infrastructure.

‘Going back and forth will be convenient now. I can use this place like a second apartment.’

First, he bought a small safe and stored his cash inside.

But he still wasn’t finished.

‘I need to sell the Garbage Dog corpse too. It’ll start smelling if it rots.’

For now, he returned to the pension.

The studio was also recognized as Haejin’s home, so he could use the ‘Go Home’ skill there.

Simply opening and closing the door brought him straight back to the pension in Odeok-ri.

He stuffed the Garbage Dog’s corpse into the large suitcase he had brought, then returned to the studio.

“Damn, this is heavy.”

It was about the size of a large dog, so it weighed quite a bit.

Dragging the suitcase behind him, he headed to an exchange near the studio.

It was directly operated by the government and specialized in purchasing monster corpses and materials.

“One Garbage Dog. Condition’s good too. Yes, we’ve received it. How would you like to receive the payment?”

“Just give me cash.”

“You can collect it at the counter up front. Take care.”

After waiting at the counter for a little while, he received the money.

Once again, crisp fifty-thousand-won bills—ten of them this time.

A single Garbage Dog corpse was worth a whopping 500,000 won.

Perhaps because it was fairly strong for a beginner Hunter to defeat, its market price was relatively high.

“Kyaa...”

He had killed it in the safest, easiest way imaginable, yet the reward was this generous.

It was so sweet that his brain practically tingled.

‘Wait, then how much money did I make just today?!’

The cash he found, the money from selling the gold bracelet, and the profit from the corpse.

He had casually made nearly five million won.

‘This is insane. Completely insane.’

His entire body trembled with excitement.

‘No way. On a day like this, I have to eat beef. Isn’t this exactly what Korean beef exists for?!’

He had always wanted to do something like this.

Walk into an expensive beef restaurant alone and proudly stuff himself with meat.

And now, at this very moment, Haejin’s fantasy became reality.

Ah, of course.

“Holy crap. I guess all you can afford to do around here is breathe.”

Even Haejin couldn’t stomach the Hunting City’s ridiculous prices.

Thirty thousand won for one serving of beef.

Not a chance.

He immediately used his skill and returned to his rented room in Seoul.

The moment he stepped outside, there was a beef restaurant right nearby.

Premium Korean beef cost somewhere in the upper ten-thousand-won range per serving.

Mm, this was it. This was right.

“Two servings of fresh short rib meat... No, make it three. Ah! And a bottle of soju and cold noodles too!”

Beef in all its glorious splendor appeared almost immediately.

Sssssizzle--!

As it cooked over the charcoal fire, beads of fat gathered on the surface.

He took a bite once the beef was perfectly cooked.

“Kyaa...”

It practically melted in his mouth.

Was this the taste of success?

His eyes somehow started to sting with tears as he knocked back a glass of soju.

“Khaa!!”

The exclamation burst out naturally.

“I’m so damn happy... Hah, hehehe!”

For the first time in his life, he ate beef until he was completely stuffed.

Even after finishing all three servings, it wasn’t enough, so he ordered two more, and instead of more soju, he went all out and ordered an expensive bottle of bokbunja wine.

Throughout the entire meal, the smile never left Haejin’s face.

At least at this moment, he was the happiest person in the entire restaurant.

From now on, he was going to use this ability to make even more money.

He already had a rough plan for making enough that today’s five million won would eventually look like pocket change.

With that thought in mind, even alcohol he normally couldn’t handle went down like water.

This was paradise on earth, surrounded by meat and wine.

Damn right!