Chapter 8

Chapter 8

8. My Item Is Worth 1.06 Trillion Won

My house.

“Whoa, he really is an S-Rank hunter.”

I searched ‘Lee Jinho’ on the Hunter Association website, and he really appeared.

The face on the attached ID matched the photo registered with the Hunter Association too.

‘Wait, there’s no reason to be impressed. I’m!’

An EX-Rank hunter.

[Title: Where should we meet!!]

-Content: Should I send you my bank account number!!

I sent a rough reply, then decided to get some sleep first.

By tomorrow, someone might offer me an even better deal.

‘Maybe?’

I could sell it for two trillion won.

Just imagining it made me so excited that I had trouble falling asleep.

Then I closed my eyes, came to my senses, and fifteen hours had passed.

I normally sleep only twelve hours a day, yet he had managed to put me to sleep for a whole fifteen hours.

‘So this is an S-Rank hunter...!’

I got goosebumps.

S-Rank hunters truly were not to be underestimated.

“...Wait? My hourly wage is four billion won.”

Which means?

‘I lost sixty billion won...!’

How am I supposed to make up for that?

‘I’ll collect every last won!’

One way or another!

Thinking about how to recover my losses, I logged into Hunven.

‘I bet I’ve got tons of messages.’

But then!

‘There’s barely anything.’

They must have thought it was bait.

‘Well, I guess hundreds of people have pulled this kind of prank before.’

The world is vast, and attention seekers are everywhere.

Sure enough.

-Another bait post. Or a scammer. Don’t you ever get tired?

┗Could be real tho?

┗You seriously think it’s real?

-His nickname is Divine One though?

┗So what? Who even is this guy?

┗Nah. Just jealous of the rare nickname lol

┗It is pretty nice lmao

“Scammer? Think whatever you want.”

Being suspected of scamming was nothing new to a professional gold farmer.

After all, anyone who traded game currency for a living quickly learned just how many scammers there were in Korea.

Anyway, I checked the message from the S-Rank hunter named ‘CleanSweep.’

[Title: If you reply,,, I’ll send a party invite,,, ^^]

-Content: Where did you go,,, please respond quickly,,

I sent a reply, then put a pot of water on the stove.

Judging by the way he typed, I figured it would take him about five minutes to reply.

But then.

Ding!

‘That was immediate.’

He must’ve been waiting desperately.

I read his message.

‘So if I accept the party, we make the in-person trade in the Tower of Fate’s 0th-floor waiting room.’

Apparently, this was the standard way hunters conducted trades.

[You have received a party invitation from ‘CleanSweep.’]

[Do you accept?]

“Accept.”

[Entering the Tower of Fate 0th Floor, Waiting Room.]

Flash!

I vanished from the spot immediately.

It felt as though my body were being sucked into an unknown world.

* * *

Tower of Fate, 0th Floor.

Waiting Room.

Flash!

Two men appeared in a space containing a single table.

‘Heh. Stupid bastard. He actually followed me in here.’

A one-on-one direct trade in the 0th-floor waiting room.

‘CleanSweep,’ Lee Jinho, had claimed this was the standard trading method.

And technically, it was.

‘When both traders are hunters of equal rank, that is.’

Lee Jinho examined Choi Hyunwoo’s appearance as soon as he materialized and frowned.

‘Not even a decent piece of armor... He’s completely defenseless.’

Had he guessed wrong?

His sloppy appearance didn’t exactly look like that of a scammer.

‘...He isn’t some lunatic who mistook a piece of garbage for an S-Rank weapon, is he?’

Either way, that didn’t change the fact that Lee Jinho intended to teach him a lesson.

Lee Jinho offered his hand.

“You’re the person called ‘Divine One,’ right?”

“Ah, yes. You’re CleanSweep?”

“Yes. Let’s see the item first.”

“What about the money?”

“One moment.”

Lee Jinho pulled a document from inside his jacket.

“A contract?”

“You said you wanted cash through a bank transfer, right? I can’t exactly bring one trillion won in my hands. But I brought the deposit, so sign this and I’ll give it to you.”

Lee Jinho lifted a large silver briefcase.

“Ah, okay.”

“Well, if you’re suspicious, feel free to read it carefully. You can even consult a lawyer first.”

Even saying that, Lee Jinho knew there was no way the other man would go find a lawyer.

‘One look tells you everything.’

Of course, the contract contained no poisonous clauses.

It was extremely simple.

1. ‘Choi Hyunwoo (hereafter Party B)’ shall transfer an S-Rank weapon to ‘Lee Jinho (hereafter Party A).’

2. In return, Party A shall pay Party B one trillion won in cash via bank transfer.

3. Upon conclusion of the transaction, Party A shall pay Party B 10% of the purchase price as a deposit.

That truly was the entire contract.

Why?

‘If it’s fake, I simply don’t complete the transaction.’

And if it wasn’t fake?

Lee Jinho’s expression darkened.

‘I kill him and take it.’

But then.

“It’s not one trillion. It’s one trillion sixty billion won.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m a pretty expensive man. You wasted my time, so you owe me another sixty billion.”

“You really are a fucking lun— No, never mind. Sure, sure. Fine.”

It wasn’t as though he would walk away with a single won anyway.

Whether it was one trillion or one trillion sixty billion.

Before long, Choi Hyunwoo pulled an enormous Gatling Laser from his inventory, making Lee Jinho’s eyebrow twitch.

‘What the hell is that? Why does it look familiar...?’

Where had he seen it?

Was it on the news?

Why would he have seen that on the news?

As the question surfaced.

He saw Choi Hyunwoo place the Gatling Laser on the table and hesitate.

‘Guess this really is his first trade.’

Placing an item on the table allowed the other party to inspect its information.

“Just make the item information public.”

“Ah, okay.”

[Krog’s Gatling Laser]

-Rank: S

“...!”

Lee Jinho’s eyes flew wide open.

There was no need to read any of the descriptions below.

The weapon would soon belong to him anyway.

He could inspect the details later.

‘What the hell! It really is an S-Rank weapon! Wait, could this be?’

It suddenly clicked.

He remembered where he had seen something similar.

‘That’s an orc war weapon!’

Greed gleamed in Lee Jinho’s eyes.

Suppressing his pounding heart with superhuman patience, he spoke.

“I’ve confirmed it’s genuine. Here’s the deposit.”

Lee Jinho placed the silver briefcase on the table and opened it.

And then.

“Why is there a dagger?”

“Ah, well, this is...”

Instead of money, the case contained a single gleaming dagger.

Lee Jinho snatched it up with a whoosh.

Slash!

And swung.

In the blink of an eye, Lee Jinho’s body had moved ten meters past Choi Hyunwoo.

Lee Jinho’s true class was none other than ‘Assassin.’

“Hahahaha! My ‘Shadow Ambush’ is impossible to survive if it lands cleanly, even for another S-Rank hunter. I’ll put your S-Rank weapon to good use. Krahahahaha!”

It had been far too easy.

‘Who knew getting an S-Rank weapon could be this easy?’

It had been so effortless he was practically dying of boredom.

So boring.

So ridiculously boring that he hadn’t even felt the dagger slicing through flesh.

‘Right... I couldn’t even feel it cutting through flesh... Huh?’

Easy or not.

How could he clearly cut flesh without feeling the blade connect?

But then.

[Evasion!]

‘...Evasion?’

Of course he knew what an ‘Evasion’ result meant.

How could he not?

It was a trait possessed by every ‘Assassin’ class.

A skill that gave them a certain chance to completely ignore an enemy attack even when hit.

‘It sounds broken at first glance.’

But it really wasn’t.

Because the activation chance was extremely low.

And even when it triggered by sheer luck, it only evaded one hit from a multi-hit attack.

Most importantly.

‘Evasion shouldn’t activate at all against an opponent of equal or higher rank.’

Putting all that information together.

‘That bastard! He’s an Assassin!’

And one capable of triggering an ‘Evasion’ result.

Against an attack from Lee Jinho, an S-Rank hunter.

‘...Wait, does a hunter like that even exist?’

There was one.

At that moment, something suddenly came to mind.

Something spoken of only among S-Rank Assassins around the world.

Like a legend.

Its acquisition route, conditions, and method.

Not a single thing about it was properly known.

‘Silent Assassin...!’

Lee Jinho’s pupils shook as though caught in an earthquake.

When he turned around with a horrified expression.

“Krahahahaha!”

There stood that man with a demonic grin.

No.

There stood Choi Hyunwoo, the ‘Silent Assassin.’

Aiming [Krog’s Gatling Laser] directly at him.

‘I heard that thing weighs more than a ton?’

Such a massive weapon.

Vweeeee!

Yet he handled it like a toy.

There was one ironclad rule in the hunter industry.

And at that moment, Lee Jinho realized he had broken it.

‘...I was fooled.’

Never judge an opponent by appearances!

Pewpewpewpewpew!

Six red beams filled Lee Jinho’s entire vision.

Fwoosh.

All that remained where Lee Jinho had stood was a small pile of ash.

Flash!

Choi Hyunwoo quickly left the waiting room.

Swoosh.

Once empty, the waiting room soon began to ‘reset’ as usual.

The ashes disappeared.

The walls melted by the lasers restored themselves.

As though nothing had ever happened.

* * *

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

I burst into tears like a little kid.

Pewpewpewpewpew!

Had I ever cried this much, snot and all, since childhood?

I had no idea how I’d survived.

When I finally came to my senses, there was something on the floor.

On the floor...!

[Shadow Dagger (S)]

-Allows use of the active skill Shadow Ambush (S).

-If Shadow Ambush kills its target, the cooldown resets.

-Equipping it grants the Assassin class.

“O-Oooooooooh!”

An S-Rank weapon had actually dropped!

‘What a windfall.’