A Merchant... Wants to Shake Hands?

Doojeong Group was one of South Korea’s most prominent conglomerates.

From ramen to missiles.

It had a hand in every industry in the country. Some of its ventures had failed, others had succeeded, but its influence was considerable both in Korea and around the world.

Since the appearance of the Gates, the food industry has been among the sectors most urgently affected.

Countless breadbasket regions, including China’s North China Plain and the Nile Delta in Egypt, had been abandoned after Dungeon Breaks contaminated them with mana.

Thirty years ago, there were no Mage Tower reagents to cleanse mana pollution, so the contamination caused permanent damage and, naturally, a worldwide food shortage.

Governments had to find new sources of food to replace the ruined breadbasket regions, and they heavily supported domestic companies in this field.

Thanks to the government’s full support, Doojeong Future Foods became a major corporation that accounted for 30 percent of the domestic food industry.

As an executive director at such a powerful company, Park Jongchan was a power player who could throw his weight around anywhere.

He was a man who had never once been treated with contempt.

“A merchant... offering a handshake?”

For a moment, he thought he’d heard wrong.

A merchant? In the modern world, businesspeople were among the most respected members of society.

The vast sums of capital they controlled moved those in power and even changed the law.

As an executive director at a major Doojeong Group subsidiary, he was someone even high-ranking Hunters and lawmakers couldn’t treat casually.

So what was this look and tone, treating him—and businesspeople as a whole—with such contempt?

Even the female Association employee was staring in shock at the outrageous remark.

But Park Jongchan kept his expression steady and put on a business smile.

“Haha, it seems you aren’t used to modern Earth civilization, Mr. Leon. Businesspeople today are very different from the merchants of old...”

“How dare a lowly merchant presume to speak to royalty? I never gave you leave to speak, you wretch.”

Was he insane? Park Jongchan had met several survivors for business, but never before had anyone looked at him with such contempt.

“Y-Your Majesty... In our world, businesspeople are a perfectly respectable profession...”

At that, Leon let out a hollow laugh, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

“Merchants are the sort who sell even their dignity and self-respect for profit. They exploit loopholes in the law and take pride in it.”

It wasn’t something Park could deny. Doojeong Future Foods was criticized for tax evasion, illegal collusion, and excessive profiteering.

The other businesspeople weren’t much different.

“Even if the world is different, the nature and essence of merchants remain the same. How could people with such vulgar tongues and natures presume to stand before royalty?”

“Hmm...”

“I’ve heard enough.”

That was the end of it.

After heaping contempt and scorn on Park, Leon walked right past him as if nothing had happened.

Hari trotted along after him. Park Jongchan watched them go, too dumbfounded to speak.

“W-what was that...?”

* * * *

“This is the residence Your Majesty will be staying in.”

“Well, it’ll do.”

A 50-pyeong officetel—about 1,780 square feet—was more than enough for a single person by modern standards, but it was no match for Leon’s palace.

Still, he was originally from Earth and had often slept rough in the field, so he didn’t feel much like complaining.

“The Association will provide this place for Your Majesty for a year. We’ll take care of the rent and maintenance fees, so you needn’t worry about them.”

Hari explained the various amenities to Leon as he nodded. She told him there would be room service when he needed it, and cleaning services covered by the maintenance fees, then went over the other arrangements.

‘Whew... At least that’s a relief.’

For Han Hari, it was a good thing Leon had walked right past Director Park Jongchan of Doojeong Future Foods.

Information about survivors was usually kept confidential. Like North Korean defectors, people from isolated societies were quarantined and given an orientation for three months.

But if they came from an entirely different world, the cultural gap would naturally be enormous. Normally, they would be quarantined and educated gradually, but trying to quarantine Leon right now would cause an uproar.

“But what on earth did he come to see Your Majesty for?”

“What else? A merchant’s nature doesn’t change. He must’ve followed us here.”

Profit? What could an executive director at Doojeong Group possibly want from Leon...? Hari suddenly slapped her knee.

“It’s the rice, isn’t it? The blessed rice from the Honam Plain...”

Things had been so hectic that they’d failed to properly control the information. Apparently, an online streamer had filmed it.

“Was his name Farmer Park...?”

She searched for him on YouTube and found the video Park had uploaded. The Association had definitely taken it down and warned him, but—

“Huh? He uploaded another one?!”

* * * *

Farmer Park had been feeling down because his latest video had been taken down.

The shocking scene he’d filmed live in front of the Honam Plain Gate.

The mana-contaminated land had been restored in an instant.

“D-did you guys just see that? The rice... it shot right up!”

-What? What?

-Is this magic?

-Was that a wizard from the Mage Tower? Did he use a rapid-growth spell?

-But can you really grow plants in mana-contaminated soil, even with magic?

-Maybe it’s some new technology we don’t know about.

Crops had grown in rotting soil. As a farmer, Park knew all too well how incredible that was.

Even after the Mage Tower developed mana-purification technology, hadn’t they spent one or two years pouring expensive reagents into contaminated land to cleanse it?

Thinking of Mr. Jeong from the neighboring village, who’d gone bankrupt because he couldn’t afford the reagents, Park swallowed hard at the miracle before him.

-But crops grown with magic can’t be eaten anyway.

-Yeah, they have mana in them, so they’re poisonous to ordinary people.

-Even Hunters would need their stomachs pumped after eating them a few times.

But then they witnessed an even more astonishing sight. Association employees threshed the rice and cooked it themselves!

“Hey, you! What are you doing?”

He’d been edging closer to see if they were really going to eat it, but the Association employees spotted him and chased him off. That evening, Park hurried to see Mr. Kim, the owner of the field.

“Kim! Kim! Did you set aside what I asked you to get?

“I did. But the Association folks said we absolutely can’t take it out...

“What kind of law is that? Aren’t you the owner of the field?

“That’s true...

“They said the contaminated land’s been completely restored, too. And the Association folks ate a whole bowl of rice each.”

“That’s right...

Park was a curious sort, the kind of YouTuber who filmed himself eating all kinds of wild animals in the countryside.

The mana-contaminated land had been cleansed, and the crops had grown in an instant. How could he pass up a chance like that?

‘This is perfect YouTube content. But first, let’s run a preliminary test.’

“Let’s cook some rice first and feed it to the neighborhood cat.”

“Hmm... That’s a good idea.”

The two of them started by cooking exactly one bowl’s worth of rice as a test.

The steaming, glossy rice looked so good they wanted to tear off some kimchi and eat it, but they had to test it on an animal first, just in case.

-Woof!

Just then, before the rice in the cooker was even done, an old dog came up to the door.

“Isn’t that Mr. Cheon’s Dolsuni?”

“It is. Weren’t they saying she only had a day or two left? What is she doing here?”

Dolsuni was an old dog, twelve years old that year. Like many elderly animals, she suffered from arthritis, compounded by a lack of exercise and obesity.

Why had Dolsuni, who usually never moved from home, shown up here?

-Woof! Woof, woof!

“Hey, you! Why don’t you go home already?”

Just then, Dolsuni, who’d been staring in from outside, suddenly thrust her head toward the table.

“Good grief!”

“Has this dog gone mad?!”

The two of them were furious, but Dolsuni’s next move left them dumbfounded.

“You idiot! You can’t eat that!”

“Why the hell is this dog suddenly eating rice?!”

This was bad. Dolsuni might be old and near the end, but Mr. Cheon cherished her and had raised her with love.

If she died after eating the rice, he’d be heartbroken, old dog or not.

“Spit it out! Huh? Spit it out!”

Park tried to open Dolsuni’s mouth and make her spit out the rice, but she swallowed it as if her life depended on it. And then...

-Woof! Woof, woof!

Dolsuni let out a hearty bark and leaped into the air. She bounced around like a grasshopper, then sprinted toward Mr. Cheon’s house.

“Huh?”

“W-what is going on...?”

This was the old dog who could barely walk because of her arthritis. Just last week, they’d seen Mr. Cheon sobbing as he held Dolsuni, who was on her last legs.

But what on earth was that? It was as if she’d gotten healthy again.

“......”

“......”

Park and Kim exchanged a look, thinking the same thing. Then they immediately started cooking another batch of rice.

“Whoa! My chronic scoliosis?!

“My chest feels so clear, like a weight’s been lifted!

The miracles that took place in a village in Honam quickly spread throughout the entire community.

Meanwhile, something similar was happening at the Doojeong Future Foods research lab, which had set out through the Firebird Guild to uncover the truth about the rice.

“What? What am I looking at?”

“How can a single grain of rice contain energy this dense?”

The ‘Blessed Rice’ they’d procured through the Firebird Guild had been independently appraised, and each one was confirmed to be Rare grade.

[Blessed Rice]

◆ Grade: Rare

◆ Details

Rice blessed with the divine power of Demera, Goddess of Life and Abundance.

Grade 3 illnesses are alleviated. With continued consumption, there is a high probability of a complete cure.

“Blessed Rice? What on earth was it blessed with?”

“Isn’t it magic? What religion is this Goddess Demera from?”

“What kinds of illnesses does Grade 3 cover?”

“Early-stage colon cancer.”

“Damn it! Can we prove this? Test it on the lab mice!”

The test results came in.

The healing ability of the Blessed Rice was real.

The lab mice, which had been on the verge of death, had genuinely recovered after repeatedly eating the test crop.

“W-we need to report this to the executives right away! Tell them to secure as many seeds as possible!”

The research report was sent to the upper management at Doojeong Future Foods, and Executive Director Park Jongchan was dispatched at once.

Thanks to the eyes and ears Doojeong Group had planted in the Hunter Association, finding Leon hadn’t been difficult.

「A merchant... offering a handshake?」

But Leon had coldly ignored them, and Director Park had come back fuming.

“You insolent savage bastard!”

Director Park’s anger erupted like a volcano.

The researchers who’d come to report squeezed their eyes shut when he hurled his nameplate, but he paid them no mind.

“Hey. That rice. Are its effects really that certain?”

“Y-yes...! They are.”

“You haven’t even run clinical trials. Just because it worked on rats, does that guarantee it’ll work on people?”

“Well...”

The secretary stepped in on their behalf.

“We went to find the owner of the paddy in order to secure as many seeds as possible. But while we were there—”

The secretary told him what Park and Kim had experienced.

The old dog on the verge of death had recovered. Eating the rice had cured chronic inflammation and rhinitis. Everyone in the village had eaten it, and their ailments, from minor complaints to serious chronic illnesses, had all been cured.

“We couldn’t get clinical trial data... but the effects are practically proven.”

“So it really is the real deal.”

Greed crept into Director Park’s eyes. If he hadn’t believed the appraisers’ results, he wouldn’t have gone there in person in the first place.

That rice was a blockbuster product—an extraordinary one, capable of bringing about a revolution in the times.

“If only that crazy lunatic weren’t in the way.”

The problem was the survivor who held the secret to the rice.

That anachronistic savage of a survivor had treated the director of the mighty Doojeong Group as a lowly merchant.

“Director... We have to secure it, no matter what. That rice has limitless potential.”

“I know.”

Rice that could cure even cancer just by eating it. It could transform not only the food industry, but the medical field as well.

“Looks like I’ll have to meet with him again...”

The lunatic was so difficult that he’d probably have to request a meeting through the Association. They’d made a surprise visit before the Association could intervene, and it had all fallen apart.

“Do they take businesspeople for fools in this Republic of Korea?”

He steeled himself to put the savage in his place.

Many survivors were like that.

They were survivors from primitive, barbaric civilizations, too foolish and arrogant to believe any world but their own could be the best.

When they saw the overwhelming science and productivity of modern civilization, they eventually admitted that they were the ones who’d fallen behind.

“He thinks he can make a show of himself over a few stalks of rice... I’ll represent Earth and show him the power of science.”

Director Park smiled with satisfaction.

I’ll overwhelm him with a ‘culture shock.’