Chapter 22
Lustrous blond hair. And a burn scar that didn’t suit it.
It was an unforgettable feature, since it had appeared on the news several times.
‘That’s Jeong Tae-yeon, isn’t it? A fire mage... So people like that show up here too...’
The woman on the screen was Jeong Tae-yeon, the guild master of Hwayeon Guild.
One of only five mages in Korea, and the ruler of Busan.
I suddenly started seeing the people participating in this auction in a different light.
But the other people's reactions were different from mine.
“No, Ms. Jeong Tae-yeon. I'm sure you already have a better cloak, so why are you buying that?”
“Seriously. Isn't that a bit too much?”
Protests poured in. Then Jeong Tae-yeon turned her head toward them.
“It’s not for me. I have someone else to give it to.”
Her firm reply stirred the crowd again.
“Someone to give it to, huh? What a variety of excuses.”
“She probably just wants to hoard it for her own guild and kick away the ladder while she’s at it. Guild masters are all the same...”
“So what? If you’re unhappy, bring more money.”
“….”
People grumbled under their breath, but no one said anything more to her.
And so the robe went to her for the huge sum of 300 million won.
“Haa... I wish I had an item too...”
I clicked my tongue bitterly.
Then the emcee cleared their throat and shouted,
“Now, everyone. Here is today’s auction highlight! The item you’ve all been waiting for! We’ll reveal it now!”
All the noise in the hall fell silent.
Everyone’s attention focused on the stage.
When the appraiser carefully lifted the veil, a massive battle axe finally revealed itself.
The hall began to buzz.
“That... isn’t that the orc chieftain’s battle axe?!”
“That Unique item that only drops from the Hard Floor 10 boss?”
“I heard the drop rate is ridiculously low too. Who on earth got it?”
Exclamations of admiration and praise poured out.
People were curious about the unknown hunter who had obtained such an incredible item.
“Has any guild cleared Floor 10 recently?”
“No idea. Didn’t everyone stop climbing because of the strike?”
“That was about the new floors. They probably kept raiding the lower floors. It’s profitable.”
“Alright, everyone! The seller’s identity is strictly secret! Please focus again!”
The emcee deftly cut off the crowd’s dangerous curiosity.
“Now then, let’s begin the auction! The starting bid is 100 million won!”
People were disappointed, but they couldn’t hide their curiosity about the unknown hunter who had obtained the axe.
The auction was far fiercer than before.
The price shot up in an instant.
“180 million won!”
“200 million!”
Then Jeong Tae-yeon, who had just won the robe, stood up again and called out in a low voice,
“500 million.”
A silence fell over the auction hall.
All eyes turned to her.
People began whispering.
“Why is Guild Master Jeong Tae-yeon bidding on that again...?”
“What does a mage need with an axe?”
“That’s a bit too greedy...”
Then a man stood up from his seat and approached her.
He was Jeong Man-ho, the guild master of Cheolhyeoldan, a guild based in the Daejeon region, and an A-rank warrior.
“No, Tae-yeon. Isn’t this going a little too far? A mage can’t even use this... You should yield it to someone who actually needs it, like me?”
But Jeong Tae-yeon shook her head firmly.
“What are you buying items for when you don’t even plan to climb the Tower?”
She retorted even more sharply.
“I’m going to give this axe to one of our guild members, someone who’ll quietly keep climbing the Tower instead of going on strike.
That’s the kind of person who really needs an item, right?”
“...I guess you’ve got a lot of money? You’ve been buying gear for your subordinates left and right.”
“Yeah, I do. Unlike some people, we’ve been climbing the Tower all this time.”
“Ha... There’s no talking to you.”
“And what are you going to do about it if you glare at me like that? Want to try something?”
“....”
The two glared into each other's eyes.
A tense battle of wills.
Tension so thick it seemed ready to burst filled the auction hall.
Jeong Man-ho was the first to back down.
Still unable to shake his anger, he glared at Jeong Tae-yeon with eyes full of resentment and said,
“You’ll regret this, Guild Master Jeong Tae-yeon.”
“Oh, please do. I’m begging you to make it happen.”
“....”
Jeong Man-ho spat on the floor and turned on his heel before leaving.
***
A moment later, my phone vibrated.
It was a transfer-complete message from the broker.
[Nara Bank : 400,000,000 won deposited. Depositor : SSalDaPam]
The amount after deducting the 50 million won advance payment and 10% commission from 500 million.
I’d made more than 400 million won from a single axe.
“If I just save up a few more tens of millions, it’ll be 500 million...”
My bank balance had suddenly entered the hundreds-of-millions range.
I stared blankly at the numbers on the screen.
For some people, it was a monthly income; for others, it was money they’d spend in a single shopping trip.
But for an unemployed guy like me, it was an unimaginably huge sum.
What should I do with this massive amount of money?
After a moment’s thought, I soon remembered the first thing I needed to do.
“Boss, one Golden Olive chicken to go, please.”
In the end, life is chicken.
And, as usual, I logged into the Hunter Gallery and wrote a post.
[Title : Successful hunter bro... today’s dinner....jpg]
***
Chicken was delicious.
Crispy batter and juicy meat.
But something was missing. The final piece needed to complete the perfect meal was absent.
“Ha... my beer...”
I took out a cola from the fridge, drank it, and clicked my tongue in disappointment.
I remembered how I had just failed to buy beer at the convenience store.
An ID. That damn ID.
I absentmindedly took out my wallet and showed my ID, but the clerk kicked me out, saying minors couldn't buy it even if they had their parents' ID.
“Damn it, my chicken and beer...”
My frustration burst out.
What was the point of becoming a mage? What was the point of having a few hundred million in the bank?
I couldn't even buy chicken and beer whenever I wanted.
“Come to think of it, isn't this an extremely important problem?”
Beyond simple disappointment, a new worry had arisen.
Once I climbed to Floor 20, I was planning to go to the Hunter Association and get officially certified as A-rank.
After all, once I became A-rank, even the government supposedly wouldn’t dare mess with me, and the worry about having to serve in the military twice would disappear too.
After that, my goal was to live in the open, milk every benefit I could, and enjoy gallery life.
But with this body, identity verification was impossible.
I’d definitely be stopped at the entrance of the Hunter registration building.
It was a troublesome problem.
I agonized over it for a while, holding my head in my hands.
But as a law-abiding citizen, there was no way a clever solution would pop into my head.
In the end, I stopped thinking about it for a while.
If I mulled it over slowly, some good idea would come to me.
Anyway, I still had a long way to go before Floor 20.
***
The next day, I headed for the Tower again.
Floor 11. The start of a new zone.
According to the information I’d gotten from the gallery, Floors 11 through 20 were jungle and swamp fields.
This section was infamous as the point where countless hunters gave up in frustration.
The so-called A-rank wall.
Dense brush that blocked your vision, and swampy ground that made your feet sink in.
The floors in the 10s were the perfect stage for monsters.
Goblins that concealed themselves with camouflage and shot poison needles from behind.
Goblins that threw rocks from trees you couldn’t even see.
Goblins that dug tunnels and set traps.
Even goblins, which were nothing more than trash mobs, could become the worst monsters under these field effects.
On top of that, the sweltering weather and mosquitoes and leeches sticking all over your body were just a bonus.
A floor that wore down a person’s nerves in every possible way.
So the standard approach here was a party setup: a tank opening the path, an archer finding traps and camouflaged monsters, and a healer on standby for unexpected accidents.
But today, I was solo again.
[Entering Tower Floor 11 (EXTREME).]
When I opened my eyes, the muggy, humid air clung stickily to my skin.
A strange grassy stench and the smell of rain-soaked earth reached my nose.
The sound of unidentified insects’ wings came from all around.
One step ahead could be a swamp or a trap.
But that had nothing to do with me.
“Sand Swamp.”
I cast the skill right where I stood.
Without question or hesitation, the damp ground instantly turned into a dry bed of sand.
No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t a trash skill, was it?
I honestly couldn't understand why everyone rated it so poorly.
I didn't stop there. I used the Rainbow-grade skill I had recently obtained, Weathering.
[Skill : Weathering (風化) is used.]
[Skill : Combining with Sand Swamp to cast a new skill.]
[Desertification (沙漠化) activated.]
The sand swamp before me writhed and began expanding its territory.
Everything touching the edge of the sand swamp crumbled to powder and scattered.
Massive trees, muddy swamps, and the thick brush that had blocked my view.
All of it returned to sand just the same.
The range was about a 20-meter radius, roughly half the size of a soccer field.
In an instant, the area around me turned into a flat sand field with no obstacles.
“Is it because they're plants? The mana consumption is pretty heavy...”
Even though my mana pool had increased beyond comparison thanks to the Opening skill, nearly half of it vanished in an instant.
It seemed the efficiency dropped sharply because the target was living plant matter.
If it had been rocky terrain, I could have turned a much wider area into a desert with far less mana...
From what I heard, the next area was volcanic terrain. I figured this would be even more useful then.
“Just you wait, seriously...”
A letdown was a letdown.
I slowly walked forward.
The world turned to desert along the path I walked.
The swamp and giant plants all turned to sand and disappeared.
In the process, monsters that had been cleverly hidden in the grass revealed themselves.
“Got you, you little punk.”
While I was at it, I tried using Desertification on the monsters too.
After casting Sand Swamp, I grabbed the goblin and pinned it down.
Sand slowly extended from the sand swamp toward the goblin.
I tried turning the goblin into sand, starting from its toes.
Ah, no good. This is impossible.
The moment I tried, I felt my magical power rapidly draining away from my whole body, so I hurriedly stopped the skill.
I immediately gave up on my greed.
I snapped my fingers and fired sand bullets.
Dozens of sand bullets flew toward the monsters exposed helplessly on the open field.
The slaughter was over in an instant.
Unlike the gallery’s warnings, it was an absurdly easy clear.
[Congratulations on clearing Tower Floor 11 (EXTREME).]
It was time for the thrill of the rewards.
Would it be all-stat bonus and mana stones again?
Maybe a level-up? A skill book?
[The first-clear bonus is being applied!]
[The rank 1 bonus is being applied!]
“Huh? What is this?”
But the reward that appeared before my eyes was completely different from what I had expected.
It was something I had never seen before.