Chapter 1

Chapter 1

1. I Made 1 Billion Won

“Ah, you fucking gold-farming bastard!”

I slammed my keyboard and shouted.

Gold farmer.

It refers to a player who makes a living by selling items from online games.

It’s also an insult.

I typed the exact same thing I’d shouted into the chat.

Because thanks to a gold farmer, we’d failed the raid and timed out.

-Gold farmer? Lmaooo, says the guy with only 1,050 combat power

Combat power 1,050.

It wasn’t especially high, but it wasn’t exactly low either.

At the very least, it was higher than that bastard’s.

I hammered out an angry reply.

-You’re not even at 1,000, you dipshit. At least I’ve got a Unique weapon. What’s your damage?

-35 billion. You?

“35 billion? Bullshit.”

I was using a Unique weapon and only dealt 25 billion damage, yet this 980-power scrub was claiming 35 billion?

No way.

-Bullsh—

-Lmaoooo. Looking at you, I bet you can’t even break 30 billion damage. Want me to post proof?

-Yeah, go ahead. If your damage is really 35 billion, I’ll give you 100,000 gold.

-Screenshot taken. Have that 100,000 gold ready. If you run, get ready to become a star on the I&A Board lol

I&A was short for the Incidents & Accidents Board, a place where all kinds of villains gained fame—or rather, infamy.

A moment later, the other guy took a screenshot of his damage and sent it to me by DM.

“...It really is 35 billion.”

-Hand over the 100,000 gold, you fake-vet bastard lmaoooooooooo

A fake vet meant someone pretending to be an experienced player.

“Yeah, yeah. Good for you, asshole.”

[SwagHyunwoo has exited the game.]

“A hundred thousand gold is 20,000 won in real money. Why would I waste that?”

Of course, promising to give him 100,000 gold had been a lie.

My precious, blood-and-sweat gold, painstakingly saved little by little by selling every item I didn’t need and upgrading my gear for the bare minimum!

‘Guess I’ll be an I&A Board star again.’

Whatever.

I could just change my nickname.

Whistling, I listed the one million gold I’d saved in my inventory on an item-trading site.

[Web Message]

[KakaoBank]

3333-01-987654

Deposit Amount: W200,000

Depositor Name: ItemMan

“Whew. At least I can pay today’s rent with this.”

I let out a breath of relief, but the thought of my hard-earned money disappearing into rent made my stomach hurt all over again.

Choi Hyunwoo, a jobless high-school graduate in his twenties scraping by as an online-game gold farmer.

That was me.

I flopped onto my bed and muttered.

“...I want life on easy mode.”

Couldn’t the heavens grant me that wish?

Anyone who heard me might call me pathetic, but so what?

There really are people in this world who coast through life without anyone realizing it.

Children of powerful figures in politics and business.

People lucky enough to be born with extraordinary talent.

And...

“Hunters!”

[Korea’s proud S-Rank Hunter, Yoo Seorin! Returns in triumph after clearing the 75th floor, ‘Hall of Hell’!]

[A-Rank Hunter Kim Hansik. ‘I only drive compact cars. We should avoid overspending and think about the environment.’]

Every day, online news sites were plastered with articles about all kinds of hunters.

Hunters.

Ever since the ‘Tower’ appeared on Earth, they had been hailed as heroes, earning anywhere from hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions of won every year.

To become a hunter, you first had to ‘awaken.’

Had these people done anything to earn the right to become hunters?

No.

Had they taken some brutally difficult exam?

No.

Then what was the requirement to become a hunter?

“Luck.”

That’s right.

Luck!

No conditions for awakening as a hunter had ever been discovered.

One day, you simply awakened.

People jokingly described awakening as ‘being chosen by the heavens.’

Because of that damned luck, I was stuck at the bottom of society, scraping by as an online-game gold farmer.

While someone else could become rich overnight.

‘Of course!’

Some people would say my miserable life was my own fault.

But compared to them, wasn’t it still true that I was hopelessly unlucky?

“Life is fucking unfair.”

Some people would probably say this.

Study hard, run deliveries for Kapang, do something and work your ass off.

Maybe I wouldn’t become rich, but at least I could live like a decent human being.

But!

“I don’t want to do anything hard...”

Rather than grind myself to the bone for money, I’d rather be looked down on and tighten my belt if it meant living an easy, peaceful life with little.

No, what I really wanted was!

“I want to get rich easily and comfortably...”

Was that kind of wish pathetic?

I didn’t think so.

Like I said, there really were people who lived that kind of life, weren’t there?

Did that make their lives pathetic too?

Not at all.

If anything, they were probably luxurious and extravagant.

They were probably cruising through Gangnam in supercars every day, cutting into steaks in Cheongdam-dong.

All while basking in everyone’s envy and jealousy.

But then...

[Congratulations.]

[You have awakened as ‘Gate Keeper (EX).’]

Looks like that kind of luck had found me too.

“Oh... Oooooooooh!”

* * *

Anyone who awakens as a hunter gains the ability to see a status window.

I’d heard the form of that status window differed from person to person.

Because it only showed each hunter what they absolutely needed.

In my case, for example.

[Choi Hyunwoo’s Status]

[Ability: Gate Keeper (EX)]

[Description: You can open or close any gate you desire. Gather followers to develop your ability.]

[Current Followers: 0]

That was what mine looked like.

But.

“EX-Rank?”

I pinched my cheek.

It hurt.

I had never heard of an EX-Rank ability existing in this world.

And more than that?

‘This isn’t about going into a gate?’

Actual hunters climbed the ‘Tower,’ hunted monsters, and made money.

Gates opening somewhere on Earth, with another world and monsters beyond them... that was the kind of thing you only saw in web novels.

‘I’ll know once I try using the ability.’

But how was I supposed to use it?

Every hunter’s ability came with different conditions.

Some used mana, while others had to pay some special price.

Others even had to spend money.

There were all sorts of possibilities.

Apparently, if mana were required, a mana stat would appear on the status window.

As I thought that, another status message appeared.

[You can develop your ability by gathering followers.]

[The highest grade of gate you can currently open or close is ‘F.’]

[To commemorate your awakening, you will receive Gate Open Tickets from E-Rank through EX-Rank.]

[To commemorate your awakening, you will receive Gate Close Tickets from E-Rank through EX-Rank.]

And there was one more thing.

Forget ‘EX-Rank’—there had never even been a single case of a gate opening in this world.

“So how do I use the ability?”

[Specify a time and place by any means, then decide what kind of gate you wish to open or close.]

A system message appeared as though answering my question.

I had no idea whether systems were normally this helpful.

Hunters were reluctant to reveal their abilities, and the government tightly controlled the information.

“Can it be any gate at all?”

[It is possible as long as it matches the conditions specified by the user.]

At that moment, an absolutely brilliant idea struck me.

“An F-Rank gate leading to a warehouse full of gold and treasure... no, bundles of cash.”

Higher-ranked gates sounded scary for some reason.

[Searching for conditions matching the user’s request...]

[Search complete.]

[Opening ‘Chairman of S Company’s Slush Fund Gate (F).’]

Vwoooom!

A brilliant cluster of light burst forth before my eyes.

Calling it a slush fund gate made it sound like the name of some scandal.

I had the feeling I’d opened something I really shouldn’t have.

Flaaaash!

Before long, a tall, egg-shaped portal appeared in midair.

Just in case there was something dangerous inside, I picked up a pen and threw it through.

‘Looks like there’s nothing there.’

With my confidence restored, I threw myself straight into the portal.

Tiptoe, tiptoe!

Inside the gate, it was dark and gloomy.

It felt a little damp, too.

The ceiling was so low I had to hunch over.

“Let’s see.”

I switched on my smartphone’s flashlight and shone it around the interior.

And then.

“Gasp.”

Bundles of golden paper were piled throughout a space barely three square meters wide!

Who was the greatest figure in Korean history?

King Sejong the Great.

And above him, Shin Saimdang.

My expression instantly hardened.

Because.

“Those heinous bastards... How dare they bury Lady Shin Saimdang, the greatest figure in five thousand years of Korean history, in a gloomy, pitch-black place like this!”

It was absolutely unforgivable.

Someone so precious needed to be moved somewhere warm and sunny at once.

With the spirit of the Korean people burning in my chest, I swiftly—yet solemnly—gathered bundles of Shin Saimdang in both arms and tossed them through the gate I’d entered from.

“Please endure just a little longer. I’ll rescue you.”

Sweat poured off me like rain from some inexplicable tension.

But it wasn’t hard at all.

How could a proud descendant of the Korean people complain that serving one of Korea’s great figures was difficult!

Once I had moved every bundle of Shin Saimdang into my room, I spotted the pen I’d thrown earlier.

My fingerprints would be on it, so I picked it up and erased all my footprints too.

I watched plenty of detective comics as a kid about a little runt acting like an adult, so I knew what kinds of things I had to watch out for.

Then I returned to my room, pointed at the gate in front of me, and said.

“Get rid of this again.”

[Closing ‘Chairman of S Company’s Slush Fund Gate (F).’]

[‘F-Rank Gate Close Ticket’ consumed.]

And with that, the perfect crime was complete.

“No. It wasn’t a crime.”

I had rescued Lady Shin Saimdang from a stale prison where not a single ray of light could reach.

The only people who would condemn me for freeing a great Korean figure from prison were Japanese invaders.

So anyone who condemned me was a Japanese invader.

“Damn right!”

Anyway, after calming my pounding heart and giving the piles a rough count, there were 200 bundles.

Judging by the thickness, each bundle seemed to contain 100 bills.

Then the total was...

“O-One billion!”

Only after I’d done the deed did it hit me just how enormous that sum was—money the old me would never even have dared dream of.

It was the kind of amount that made you cry out in shock!

“How am I supposed to spend all of this?”

Just thinking about it made my heart drop.

My hands trembled.

‘This is so, so terrifying...!’

My entire body shook like a leaf.

B-b-b-b-brrr.