Chapter 6
A whopping 6 kg and 8 million won. Just in pure ingot form, it's worth that much—this seems insanely, absurdly, ridiculously expensive.
“A rare metal..?”
A rare metal—an uncommon metal said to appear only inside gates. Each rare metal has different stats, but they're all lumped together and called rare metal.
“Wow.. I see….”
According to Han Dohee, it's apparently a very high-quality item. Well, it should be—something this expensive ought to be worth the price.
-Han Dohee : Try it out
-Han Dohee : Make a golem and video call ㄱ
-Eve : Okay, okay
Han Dohee seems curious about my abilities too. Honestly... I'm super excited too.
“W-what kind of golem will come out..?”
No way—it's not going to summon some ridiculously cool armored knight... and suddenly turn me into an S-rank hunter, right..?”
Judging by its size, probably not. But if you think about its value, it's about twenty times Dangdang's, so who knows.
“Please, I beg you... citizens of the kingdom, lend me your power..! Golem Creation!”
ㅡSwoooosh....
The ingot that touched my fingertips instantly floated into the air and began to be enveloped in blue light. This might be the first time I've witnessed something I sacrificed turn into a golem with my own eyes.
Unlike before, the rare-metal ingot flowed like a liquid, forming a round mass, and before long it slowly descended onto my palm in a definite shape.
“Th-this is….”
[The Golem Creation EX skill leveled up. Lv.1 -> Lv.2]
[ You have crafted a Fragment of the Fallen Kingdom. {Mergeable objects: 2 / Completion: 26%} ]
“Huh..?”
It's not a golem.
What... it looks like a diamond-shaped crystal, but for now it's made of metal. It doesn't seem to move at all. It feels lighter now, too..?”
Besides, something popped up in the status window. For one thing, it says my Golem Creation skill leveled up.
“Fragment of the Fallen Kingdom..? What does that even mean? It says there are 2 mergeable things?”
Looking around, it was clear. There really are two mergeable golems. Minyum and Dangdang....
“Combine Dangdang..? That feels a little weird….”
It was only for one night, but Dangdang had brought in an enormous amount of money. It's my pet, after all. Suddenly merging it and getting rid of it feels a little wrong.
It's absolutely not because it makes money really well. Seriously.
-Eve : I'm doomed
-Han Dohee : What's up?
-Han Dohee : Did you fail or something?
-Eve : I don't think so; it's not a golem, it just changed shape
-Han Dohee : That's a failure.
-Han Dohee : So even EX-rank can fail.
-Eve : No, but something like a Fragment of the Fallen Kingdom? It says something on the status window;;
-Han Dohee : A notification popped up in the status window?
-Han Dohee : Hey, you have to grab that.
-Han Dohee : Answer the phone, quickly
ㅡRing-ring! Ring-ring!
Then Han Dohee's phone rang. I didn't know why she was so frantic, but I answered anyway.
“Eve! Is it true!? What popped up in your status window!?”
“Y-you startled me..”
I roughly explained the situation to the frantic Han Dohee, then read the notification from the status window exactly as it appeared.
And Han Dohee's reply was.
“That... no matter how I look at it, it seems like a hidden piece..?”
“A hidden piece?”
I only know the term itself. Something hidden... that sort of thing, right? I'm not an idiot.
“Dummy, hidden pieces are more important to hunters than anything else. The fact that the status window went out of its way to show a notification means the action you just took is one that brings you closer to a hidden piece, okay?”
“Then... what do I do..? It says the completion is at 26 percent...”
“Then... if you reach 100 percent, something truly incredible might come out. Judging by the situation... it's a hidden piece of an EX-rank skill, right? You could even become a national-power-level hunter.”
A national-power-level hunter—just hearing that makes my whole body tingle and my hair stand on end.
If I really sacrificed Dangdang and Minyum to this diamond shard... I could get something called a hidden piece..?”
“But... Dangdang...”
ㅡBeep?
[Bank balance: 542,324 won]
“The money increased again already..!”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
My muttering leaked through to Han Dohee during the call, and her curiosity got the better of her, so she asked me a question.
“It's like this... I made a golem called Dangdang with my phone..?”
“Ah—right, I heard about that. What about it?”
“It has functions similar to my phone... and it used my bank balance to trade stocks?”
“A golem traded stocks? With your money? Did you tell it to?”
“N-no! I didn't tell it to! It just... just...? On its own?”
“Hmm... so you're saying your money just increased again?”
“Y-yes, that's right...”
Han Dohee fell silent for a moment, then continued in a cautious tone.
“I don't know the details, but there's a law that hunters aren't allowed to use their abilities to trade stocks..?”
“R-really?! Why?!”
“Where was it again? India, I think... anyway. There was a hunter who could see something like the future. Since that person made a ton of money through stocks... it was a law made in the U.S.”
“A-ah...”
I'm screwed. That meant I'd just broken a worldwide law enacted by the U.S., the world's top dog. The CIA, FBI, SWAT teams, and whatever else would launch an investigation... I'd be sent straight to an underground prison and instantly reduced to a criminal.
Villain designation, asset seizure, electric torture....
“S-save me! What do I do?!”
“F-first calm down. You... don't have a future-sight kind of ability, do you?”
“Right..? If I could see something like that, I'd jump straight into stocks... ah, you said I shouldn't.”
“Your Dangdang...? If that phone golem just happened to be really good at stocks and grew your money, it'll be fine. Still, just in case, I don't think you should suddenly make hundreds of millions of won in one shot.”
If that happened, those old guys from the country that basically runs the world might come after me. With my ridiculous stock-picking instinct that once turned 1 million won into 210,000 won, if I suddenly made hundreds of millions of won...
That would be completely suspicious.
“O-okay. I’ll have to be careful….”
“Still, a few tens of millions of won probably won't be a big problem. First, the fact that it isn't future sight... and second, the small amount itself works in your favor. Your golem might just be a stock genius.”
Still, for the future, I decided not to make any large amounts of money. It'd be a little awkward if I really became a high-ranked hunter with these skills and then it came out that I made my money through a stock-trading golem.
“Anyway, back to the point! You absolutely have to catch that hidden piece.”
“Then what do I do..? I don't have any way to raise the percentage right now.”
“Well... there isn't some kind of time limit or anything, right?”
“Yeah, I don't think so.”
“Then taking it slow should be fine. Sometimes hidden pieces arise through things like sudden realizations in your head, but this isn't that, right?”
“I see...”
For now, hearing that I didn't need to rush eased my mind somewhat. Still, I can't help feeling a little disappointed.
“Sigh... then when do I get strong....”
“Can't be helped. At least get allowance from your parents. If you've awakened, they'd support you, right? It's the shortcut to saving the family.”
“P-parents..?”
How was I supposed to explain this? I don't have parents. But right now Han Dohee sees me as a ten-year-old child, so she probably never assumed I live alone.
I'd been sitting around on the internet every day, even writing tons of posts at dawn. She probably didn't think I was in an orphanage, either.
“What, why is your reaction like that?”
“No, it's just that….”
“..You don't have them..?”
“..If I don't have any, what then.”
A long, awkward silence passed. About three minutes went by.
“S-sorry.. no, but how..? You're ten, right? Wait, now that I think about it, that was strange. Can a minor even trade stocks?”
Even if I somehow managed the stock side, there were still all sorts of impossible parts. After putting together all the information, the absurd conclusion Han Dohee had reached about me, 'Eve,' was that I was a ten-year-old orphan living alone.
“What on earth is going on? Explain quickly.”
“S-sorry.. I can't explain a lot of it either...”
It's true. How was I supposed to explain that a 27-year-old, high-school-graduate, unemployed guy suddenly got thrown into a bathtub by a short-circuiting hair dryer and became a 10-year-old, silver-haired, blue-eyed princess of a ruined kingdom?
It'd be believable even if you said it was the title of the manga I'm holding right now.
“J-just! Don't ask! There's way too much I could say about this and that..!”
The easiest and most certain way would be to tell the truth. Hair dryer splash, I splash too. And then, ta-da.
No lies, and easy to explain. Whether Han Dohee believes it is up to her, but what can I do if that's the truth?
But if she actually believed that? Then the next part would be Han Dohee's reaction again.
‘She thought I was a girl and even sent me her own photo...’
I can already feel the contempt and slander that would follow without even having to say it. My chest already hurts and my tears are about to spill.
“For now... got it. Then where is the money coming from? It's not from an orphanage or anything, right?”
“S-something like a part-time job.. I haven't been able to go lately, though...”
“Then what's your way of making money now?”
“None, right..? Other than Dangdang trading stocks...”
“That's legendary, seriously.”
“Waaah.”
I still didn't have enough combat power to operate as a hunter yet. Because the rare-metal ingot I had been counting on ended up turning into a fragment of the kingdom, I still didn't have a powerful golem.
8 million won worth of rare metal only produced 26 percent completion. If I add Dangdang and Minyum, could I squeeze out another 1 percent?
While I was looking around for something else that could add to the completion rate, what caught my eye was...
“Ah, this...”
The sword Han Dohee gave me. The exact composition is different, but it's said to be a sword made from rare metal. It's probably worth quite a bit, and there's also an expensive mana stone set into it.
In the first place, I couldn't swing a weapon myself right now, and I didn't have a golem to swing it for me either.
Looking at the skills I had, becoming a combat-type myself seemed almost impossible.
“Um... about this sword.”
“Huh? What's wrong with the sword?”
“Maybe... would it be okay if I made it into a golem..?”
“Ha, seriously.”
Han Dohee let out a long sigh and said.
“Do you really need permission for something like that? Do whatever you want. I gave it to you anyway.”
“R-really?! I can't even swing a sword anyway! Thanks so much!”
“Well... sure. I'll count it as helping someone in need.”
One moment I was a princess, the next I was rummaging through trash cans. Now I've become someone in need. Surprisingly, I don't actually remember ever being treated like a princess—it's just a hollow title in name only.
“Got it! I'll give it a try!”
“Ah, by the way, can we do a video call this time? I want to see how that works too.”
“A video call? I don't see why not..?”
I brought Dangdang, who was lying there on its back with its belly exposed, and sat it down in front of me. The call only needed my voice to go through anyway.
The tiny monitor was showing our embarrassingly messy house, so I figured I should adjust the angle a bit.
“There, like this. Done! Switch it to a video call!”
ㅡBeep!!
“How is it? Can you see well?”
“Yeah. I can see it. That's 8 million won worth of rare metal?”
“Yeah. It ended up like that.”
“It is kind of amazing. It's incredibly hard, so it's the sort of thing that usually doesn't even get chipped. Just the fact that it was processed into that shape is impressive.”
“Is that so.. Hehe, then shall I start?”
“Okay. I'm ready.”
With Han Dohee's okay sign, I pressed my fingertip against the sword lying on the floor and said,
“G-golem creation!”
ㅡFlash!
The sword was swallowed by a very bright, intense pale-blue light as its form shifted. The blade split apart left and right, the hilt crumpled inward, and it began to gather in a circle toward the center where the mana stone was set.
“Ooh.. that's flashy.”
Han Dohee's admiration came through Dangdang's speaker. I was honestly a little surprised too. Was it always this bright? It's so bright that the camera can't even capture it all....
“W-why is it so bright?!”
It's seriously bright. No, it's at least three times brighter than the rare-metal ingot! I thought something might be wrong, but thankfully nothing was.
ㅡFlash!
“Eek!”
It flashed with an unbelievably bright light, then clattered down to the floor with a rattling sound—the sword golem.
“A-again..?”
Again. The sword had failed to become a golem and had turned into nothing more than a lump of metal.