Chapter 182

Chapter 182

Spendthrift Necromancer (182)

Heavenly CityThe two-hour roundtable ended.

The Necromancers from each country emerged looking satisfied and gave interviews.

“Haha, I learned a great deal. If Guild Master Kim Minwoo has the time, I'd honestly like to hold another gathering like this.”

Liang Xiaojun answered with a broad smile.

Even Mikhail, who had entered huffing in anger, left a brief comment saying it had been a good experience.‘That's the first step done…….’Seeds had been planted among the world's high-ranking Necromancers. They were insignificant now, but with time, the fruit would be very sweet.‘Time for my next move.’He examined an item he'd acquired several months ago.[Heavenly City Travel Pass][Rank: Special][An item given to those who have passed the Beginner Trial. Allows travel to the Heavenly City to take a Trial. Can be activated once every six months.][Effect 1. Using it transports you to the Heavenly City.][Effect 2. Each visit grants one month of activity time.]

An item he'd obtained at the Trial Grounds he'd visited with Seo Yerim.

The reason he'd left it unused until now was simple.‘I wasn't Level 300.’After the Beginner Trial came the Trainee Trial. The Level required to challenge the Trainee Trial was 300.

That was why he'd kept it stored away.‘Though this isn't the only thing I've been sitting on.’The Ascension Ritual was another.[* Ritual 1,321 is already in progress!][* You may apply when participants are recruited for Ritual 1,322!]

Apparently there were long gaps between rituals.

“It's June now…….”

If he went to the Heavenly City, spent his activity period there, and came back, it would be July.‘Perfect timing.’If it were already July, he wouldn't have been able to go to the Heavenly City.

Because he had another reservation in August.[Masquerade Invitation][Rank: Special][An invitation allowing participation in a banquet of Demon Lords. A special event may occur upon entry.][Banquet Date: August 1]

The invitation from Mr. Ahn.

The banquet date was August 1, so it would activate then. Looking only at the major schedule, he'd visit the Heavenly City, take the Trainee Trial afterward, and then attend the Masquerade.

There would probably be other events added in between.‘A Witch might come too.’Hadn't Great Witch Ananke promised to send a Witch who could take him to the place where an Abyss Lord lived? Apparently that was taking some time.‘Whatever.’He needed to go to the Heavenly City, but there was one last thing he had to handle first.

“I should sell the Runes before I go.”

Wouldn't it feel reassuring to leave the money printer running while he was gone for a month?

Besides, he genuinely needed to earn money right now.

Runes and tattoos.

He'd spent a considerable portion of his accumulated funds engraving the two.

“All right, time to do some business.”* * *Chairman Kim's office at Ilseong Group.

A knock echoed through the room.

“Father, it's me.”

Kim Minwoo entered and looked at Chairman Kim.

“Did the roundtable go well? Must've been a gathering of people who all think they're hot shit.”

“Fortunately, they were all decent people. I plan to interact with them often from now on.”

“That's good. So what brings you here?”

“Is the equipment selling well? I heard you've expanded overseas too.”

“Of course. We can't make enough to meet demand. It's all thanks to the equipment you supply. Things are going well in Southeast Asia too.”

Chairman Kim smiled proudly.

They had completely overturned the market through Plus equipment.

Plus items already had demand far exceeding supply.

And Ilseong kept releasing them at half the auction-house price, even using them continuously as loss leaders.

There was no way competing companies could survive.

Ilseong's share of Korea's equipment market had approached eighty percent.

At that point, it was practically a monopoly.

Their subsequent moves had been nearly ferocious.

They hired every craftsman who had lost work at competing companies, then aggressively expanded overseas.

Objectively, Korean craftsmen weren't among the world's elite.

But that wasn't much of a problem in Southeast Asia. Ilseong led with Plus items there too, ran aggressive marketing campaigns, and obtained excellent results.

“Glad to hear it. You don't need to worry about supply. My Mana pool has grown a lot too.”

“Judging by how much you've been supplying, I figured as much.”

“Which brings me to this. Take a look.”

“Hm? What's this little rock…….”

A small stone-like object landed on the desk.

Chairman Kim examined it more closely, then widened his eyes.

“A Rune?”

“I got it from a Hidden Gate.”

The more Minwoo explained about Runes, the brighter Chairman Kim's eyes became.

He was the chairman of Korea's number one corporation.

There was no way he couldn't smell money.

After asking several questions, Chairman Kim said.

“How much can you supply?”

“As much as we want, if we put our minds to it. Fill the stores with them. Same arrangement as before—I'll just take the margin after material costs.”

“I'm always grateful.”

“I'm making money too. All right, I'll go get to work.”* * *Clang!

Clang!

Sparks flew.

The sight of thousands of Skeletons lined up in orderly ranks crafting items was always spectacular.

And all of this was happening underground!

Choi Yuna stared blankly at the scene.‘So that's why the Plus items never ran out.’She'd learned Kim Minwoo's secret after moving into the underground facility.

There had been a reason such enormous forging and alchemy facilities had been installed down here.―What are you doing, Yuna?

“Hm? Nothing. Sorry.”

Choi Yuna shook her head at Iris's question and poured ingredients into a massive cauldron.

Iris stirred the contents with a rod made of Mana.‘She said she was a Witch…….’Witch Iris.

An assistant Kim Minwoo had assigned to her after returning from the Hidden Gate.

Whenever Yuna had to mass-produce items before, she'd felt like her eyes were about to fall out.

Since Iris arrived, the burden had decreased considerably.

She was that capable.

She wasn't an Alchemist by Class, but her Alchemy ability was excellent.

That was when Kim Minwoo, who had been directing the Skeletons, approached and asked.

“How's the work? I heard you've been busy lately.”

“Don't even get me started. There are so many reservations that if Iris weren't here, I'd probably have collapsed by now. From overwork.”

“What can you do? Everyone's bound to want Highest-Grade Elixirs.”

“I didn't know there were this many rich people in Korea.”

“So you hate it?”

“No. I actually like it. I can't even remember the last time I gained Levels this quickly.”

Choi Yuna smiled.

The production cost of a Highest-Grade Elixir was eight billion won.

Expensive.

Definitely expensive, but demand was overflowing.

At minimum, no top-tier Korean Awakened could resist wanting one.

After negotiations with America guaranteed Korea the right to sell the Elixirs domestically, inquiries flooded in.

Were they planning to sell them?

When would supply begin?

And so on.

The government rolled up its sleeves too.

It began subsidizing Highest-Grade Elixirs.

In exchange, it requested that the official domestic price of ten billion won be lowered somewhat, and Minwoo readily agreed.

They were currently selling each one for 8.5 billion won.

The extra five hundred million was the minimum margin added to cover the risk of production failure.

Meanwhile, Awakened themselves paid around six billion won per pill.

The government covered the remaining 2.5 billion through subsidies, and orders poured in as a result.

For Choi Yuna, business was booming.

Production Classes gained experience whenever they crafted items.

And when the item was something on the level of a Highest-Grade Elixir?

No explanation was necessary.

She was probably power-leveling even at this very moment.

Kim Minwoo had nothing to complain about either.

He earned almost no direct profit from Elixir sales, but the low prices brought plenty of indirect benefits.

Close cooperation with the government, improving his public image, and so on.

“It's good to see you working hard. Keep it up. There'll be plenty of good things ahead.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Like I told you before, do you think my Recipe support ends with this one? I'm planning to visit another place soon, and I expect to get good results.”

“Don't tell me, another Hidden Gate?”

“Something similar.”

The Heavenly City was close enough to a Hidden Gate.

It was another place ordinary Awakened could search until death and still never find.

Since he was going anyway, he planned to look for Recipes too.

If he learned the production method, teaching it to Choi Yuna wouldn't be difficult.

“Hehe…… good luck!”

Choi Yuna's eyes sparkled as though she were looking at the breadwinner heading out to earn money.

Kim Minwoo turned toward Iris.

Flinch!

Iris straightened her back like a recruit under inspection.

“Work going okay?”―Yes. It's fun.

“Good.”

He returned to his room.

Over the past week, he'd produced and delivered massive quantities of equipment, Runes, potions, and more.

They shouldn't run out of merchandise while he was gone.‘Time to go.’He took out the Heavenly City Travel Pass.

The moment he decided to use it.[Using Heavenly City Travel Pass!][Moving to Heavenly City, Sector 9!][Your residence is being assigned!]

Flash!

A mass of pure-white light wrapped around his body.

Along with a sensation as though something were pulling him upward by the soul, the scenery before his eyes changed.‘Hm?’Before he knew it, Minwoo was inside a room smaller than a studio apartment.

Grimy wooden walls.

The floor was covered in piles of straw, pressed flat as though someone had slept on them.‘Maybe thirteen square meters?’The straw was the only thing inside.

In other words, the place looked spectacularly poor.‘This is my residence?’Well.

He was a chaebol on Earth, but here in the Heavenly City, they could call him a pauper and he wouldn't have much to say.

He opened the wooden door.

Creeeak.

The old hinges groaned as it opened.

“Hm? A human?”

A one-eyed man was staring at him with his head tilted.

A single eye blinked in the exact center above his nose.

Literally one eye.

The man was speaking a language Minwoo had never heard in his life, yet the meaning entered his mind as naturally as if implanted there.‘But that equipment…….’He wore pitch-black armor that looked woven from spiderwebs.

A curved sword hung at his right hip, and a small shield was strapped to his left wrist.

Put simply, he looked like an armed monster.

Kim Minwoo looked at the one-eyed man and nodded.

“Yes, I'm human. What are you? Human? Monster?”

“Haha, no need to glare like that. Even if this is the slums, we're inside the city. Fight and you'll get arrested. And yes, I'm human.”

“You only have one eye.”

“If someone has only one leg, does that make him not human?”

“……

Fair enough. This is my first time here, so there's a lot I don't know.”

“If you're curious, go find this city's guide.”

“Where?”

“What do you think I am, your nanny? Figure that much out yourself.”

Despite grumbling, he rather kindly pointed ahead.

“Thanks.”

Kim Minwoo began walking in that direction.

First things first, he needed to find the guide.