Chapter 59
[Summoning Skill : Sandworm]
[Grade : Rainbow]
[I am the god of the earth.]
[Pay your respects.]
“…No way, a dud?”
Sandworm?
A giant sandworm?
I tilted my head.
If it was a summon, I already had Chohogi.
Did I really need another summon?
What startled me most was the skill description.
[I am the god of the earth. Pay your respects.]
It was more arrogant than any skill description I’d ever seen.
A worm barely bigger than a normal one calling itself the god of the earth?
I questioned that absurd wording.
The feeling that I’d pulled a dud just wouldn’t go away.
What kind of thing was going to come out, anyway?
I felt a strong urge to test it right away.
But I soon shook my head.
“No matter how I look at it, if I use it here, won’t this cause a huge commotion?”
I didn’t know how big the Sandworm was, but even if it were only car-sized, the city would be thrown into chaos.
I couldn’t pull off a disaster like that.
“Anyway, I have to clear it again if I want the rank 1 reward.”
I muttered to myself and decided to wait for another chance.
When I challenged Floor 26 again, I’d be able to test it to my heart’s content.
Then I’ll try it. Looking forward to the next climb, I headed home.
***
I was about to casually dump my staff, the Heart of the Mountain, and Chohogi in the basement, then stopped short.
Even after what happened yesterday, I wasn’t stupid enough to put the Heart of the Mountain together with the other things.
I reinforced the box holding the stone, shoved it into a corner of the basement, then carried the staff and Chohogi up to the first floor.
“Ah, I guess I should deal with that too.”
The orichalcum pile still sitting haphazardly in one corner of the basement.
By now I already had enough for myself, so I had to sell the rest and turn it into money.
“But when am I supposed to sell all this….”
The problem was the sheer amount.
An amount that might be similar to what had been mined in Korea over an entire year.
If I dumped this all at once on the market, the prices might crash.
More than anything, I didn’t think any normal channel would even buy it all at once.
I’d have to get rid of it little by little through several routes.
Suddenly, the thought I’d briefly had during the move resurfaced.
The idea of asking the broker to be my manager.
Now was exactly the right time.
I no longer hesitated and picked up my phone to call the broker.
***
Before long, the doorbell rang.
On the intercom screen, the broker was there as always, holding something in his hand.
This time it was a box of apples.
“Ugh, I keep telling him I don’t need that….”
I let out a small sigh and opened the door.
“Still a barren house, I see.”
The broker clicked his tongue while looking around the empty living room, then tilted his head as if something were strange.
“But it’s autumn—why do you have the AC blasting like this? You’ll catch a cold.”
“Ah… there’s a reason for that.”
I brushed it off while glancing toward the basement door.
Though it was sealed, the Heart of the Mountain was still affecting the house with its heat. To cool it down, I had to run the air conditioner at the lowest setting.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Well, sort of….”
The broker looked like he didn’t understand, but he didn’t ask any further.
I led him down to the basement.
“I’ve got a lot to sell this time. You’d be better off seeing it for yourself.”
“…What is all this?”
When he opened the basement door, the broker’s eyes went wide at the sight before him.
A bizarre air where heat and cold mingled together. And an unreal scene where one-third of the sand had melted into glass and obsidian.
It was a sight that defied common sense.
“I made a mistake while training….”
The broker gave me an expression of utter disbelief at my calm reply.
I pointed to one corner of the basement.
There, a pile of orichalcum formed a small mountain.
“That’s what I wanted to show you.”
The broker’s gaze went toward it.
At first, he seemed unable to tell what it was.
But soon his eyes grew wide in disbelief.
As if possessed, he walked over to the mineral pile and picked up one pinkish metal fragment from the top.
“I-Is all of this orichalcum?”
Its cool touch and the faint mana flowing from it.
It was real. Pure orichalcum, beyond a doubt.
“How did you get something like this? No, how did you get this much?”
The broker asked, turning back to me. His eyes were full of confusion.
“This amount is something you’d be lucky to see once in your life….”
“It is a lot, though, isn’t it?”
A perfectly natural reaction. I casually nudged the metal pile with my foot and said.
“When am I ever going to sell all this? I have taxes to handle too… and I don’t even know how to do it on my own. There are so many things to worry about it’s driving me crazy.”
My grumbling left the broker looking at me in bafflement for a moment.
I tossed it out casually, as if it were nothing.
“Why don’t you just be my manager?”
At my words, the broker fell silent for a moment.
After a moment, he let out a snort of laughter.
“Haha… what a joke.”
The broker seemed to take my offer as a complete joke.
That made sense. He still saw me as a pitiful young girl who’d gone through rough times.
I thought it was time to clear up the misunderstanding.
“I’m not joking.”
I held my hand out to him.
A hand with all ten fingers intact.
No, exactly nine.
“See? I haven’t been hurt. It was just some magical side effect.”
“…!”
The broker’s eyes widened in surprise.
He looked back and forth between my hand and my face.
But he soon picked up on one sharp detail.
“Your pinky finger is still missing….”
“Ah, that’s because I made Chohogi…. It doesn’t affect daily life.”
I took out Chohogi, which had been quietly curled up inside my coat, and showed it to the broker.
A little sand doll looked up at the broker with blank eyes.
When I gestured, it gave a polite little bow.
“Good grief….”
The broker let out a low groan at the appearance of the strange life-form he’d never seen before.
This still wasn’t enough.
I pulled out the final proof from inside my coat.
The unofficial A-rank Hunter registration card Kim Soo-ho had made for me.
“And this.”
The broker took the registration card and checked its contents.
The A-rank mark was clearly stamped next to the name Kim Han-byeol.
His hand started to tremble slightly.
“I’m now one of only five mages in Korea, and an A-rank Hunter. I haven’t been on the news yet, though.”
A storm of truths crashed over him.
He was no longer looking at the pitiful, wounded girl he’d known before. A top-tier national combat asset, an A-rank mage?
The broker couldn’t say anything for a long while.
He only kept looking back and forth between the registration card, me, and Chohogi.
“….”
I thought he’d naturally accept my offer.
A dedicated manager for an A-rank Hunter.
Being the manager of one of only five mages in Korea would bring him wealth and fame on a completely different level from the gray-zone work he’d been doing in the shadows and the light.
There was no reason for him to refuse.
But the answer that came from his mouth a moment later completely missed my expectations.
He handed the Hunter registration card back to me and said quietly
“…I can’t do it.”
The broker refused my offer.
“Someone like me can’t be your manager.”
“…?”
I was left speechless for a moment by the unexpected refusal.
The broker shook his head and went on.
“I’m a broker who’s worked in the gray zone. For someone like me to officially take on the manager role for an A-rank Hunter would only leave a stain on your path.”
The broker’s voice was firmer than ever.
“You’re an A-rank Hunter, and one of only five mages. Then you should join a major guild or sign with the country’s best management company. You should be active with the best support the nation can provide.”
The broker looked me straight in the eye. There wasn’t a shred of selfishness in his gaze.
Only sincere advice, for my sake.
“That’s what’s best for your future.”
“…….”
Yes, I understood that he meant well.
But that didn’t mean I planned to look for another manager.
A major guild? A management company? A government contract….
Those places weren’t for me. There was no way I could adapt to them.
For me to act freely, on my own terms, a small number of trustworthy helpers was enough.
I decided to persuade the broker one more time.
“Mister.”
I spoke in a calm voice.
“You remember when we first met?”
The broker nodded.
“You thought I was just some kid with nothing, right?”
“…I did.”
“You never once thought about what you could squeeze out of me. In fact, you helped me even at your own expense. Just out of goodwill.”
My words made his shoulders twitch slightly.
I looked him straight in the eye and said.
“I hate owing people. Especially debts like that. I just want to pay what I owe. This is a business proposal, but think of it as my way of showing my gratitude too.”
“….”
“A major guild? A management company? Could I even endure in a place like that? I want my manager to be you, not anyone else.”
At my sincere persuasion, the broker made a complicated face.
After thinking for a long time, he finally raised both hands as if surrendering.
“…I lost, I lost.”
“Will you do it?”
“Yeah. After saying it like this, how could I refuse?”
And just like that, the contract was made.
I finally felt like everything had fallen into place.
I wouldn’t have to hide my hand every time we met anymore.
I held out my hand with satisfaction and said.
“Please take good care of me from now on, Manager.”
The broker looked down at my small hand for a moment, then chuckled and took it.
“Sure. I’ll be in your care too, President.”
“President? Me?”
“Of course. We’ll need to think of a company name, too.”
“Ugh, don’t use honorifics. It’s cringe.”
“Heh heh… you sound exactly like my daughter.”
At my words, the broker laughed heartily.
Seeing that laugh, I smiled in satisfaction too.
Last, I added the most important condition of all.
“Ah, and there’s one thing that’s really important, okay?”
“What is it?”
“Never, ever post about me in the gallery again.”
“Ah, that thing at the beginning… I haven’t posted anything since then, though?”
At my words, the broker scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed.
I warned him with full sincerity.
“I thought I was going to die of embarrassment back then. If you do that one more time, it’s really over. Got it?”
“Got it. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“And fix that weird messenger-speak too.”
“That… I’ll try.”
With that promise, the first task began.
Now that he’d become a rookie manager, the broker immediately started planning how to deal with the orichalcum pile in the basement.
He carefully loaded the minerals into the car. They were so heavy that he’d probably have to move them in several trips.
Watching him bustle about, I finally felt relieved.
From now on, all the miscellaneous work would be handled by that guy.
***
Today I was planning to challenge Floor 26’s ranking.
Either way, I already knew the strategy. This time I’d break through without getting lost, in the shortest time possible.
Now I had a definite trump card.
[Summoning Skill : Sandworm]
[Grade : Rainbow]
[I am the god of the earth. Pay your respects.]
A Rainbow-grade skill on par with Weathering.
And on top of that, that absurdly arrogant description.
The god of the earth? A skill that suited me perfectly.
[Entering Tower Floor 26 (EXTREME).]
The familiar ruins greeted me.
Without hesitation, I planted my staff in the ground.
Desertification.
Like last time, waves of sand swept over the entire ground.
The scrap-metal soldiers turned to grains of sand and vanished before they could even be assembled.
In an instant, only the huge mithril wall remained standing there alone.
Up to this point, it was the same as last time.
But this time, there was a difference.
I walked toward the wall and activated the new skill.
“Come out, Sandworm.”
A Rainbow-grade summon.
It would surely be able to smash a wall of mithril that huge in one bite.
Brimming with anticipation, I looked down at the ground.
“…Why isn’t anything happening?”
But there was no change at all.
Only the silent desert of sand spread out before me. My mana vanished into thin air.
I looked around in confusion.
Was I short on mana?
No, that couldn’t be it. I definitely felt the skill activate.
That was when it happened.
Something bulged up at my feet.
Wriggle.
What emerged, parting the sand, was a worm.
A worm as thick as my pinky looked up at me blankly.
“Geez… it’s only this big?”