Chapter 8

Chapter 8: My Item Is Worth 1.06 Trillion Won

My house.

"Whoa. He's really an S-rank Hunter."

When I searched the name "Lee Jinho" on the Hunter Association website, he actually appeared.

The face in the attached ID matched the photo registered with the Association too.

Wait. Why am I surprised? I'm...

An EX-rank Hunter.

[Title: Where Should We Meet!!]

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Should I give you my bank account number!!

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I sent a rough reply and decided to sleep for a while.

Someone might offer better terms tomorrow.

Maybe?

I could even sell it for two trillion won.

Just imagining it made me so excited I had trouble falling asleep.

Then I closed my eyes.

When I came to my senses, fifteen hours had passed.

Normally, I only slept twelve hours a day.

Yet this S-rank Hunter had somehow caused me to sleep for a full fifteen hours.

So this is the power of an S-rank Hunter...!

Goosebumps rose on my skin.

As expected, an S-rank Hunter wasn't someone to underestimate.

"...Wait. My hourly rate is four billion won."

Which meant...

I lost sixty billion won...!

How was I supposed to recover that loss?

I'll collect every last won!

One way or another!

While thinking about how to collect it, I connected to HunVen.

There must be tons of messages.

But!

There's barely anything.

Apparently people thought the post was bait.

Well, I guess hundreds of people must've pulled this kind of prank before.

The world was wide, and attention-seekers were everywhere.

Sure enough...

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Another bait post. Or a scammer. Don't you people get tired of this?

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┗ It could be real though?

┗ You seriously think it's real?

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But his nickname is DivineMan?

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┗ So what? Who is he?

┗ No, I'm just jealous of the rare nickname lol.

┗ Honestly, same lol.

"Scammer? Think whatever you want."

As a professional gold farmer, I was used to people suspecting me of scams.

When you traded online-game items for real money, you quickly learned that Korea had an incredible number of scammers.

Anyway, I checked the message from the S-rank Hunter called CleanSweep.

[Title: Reply and I'll send you a party invite... ^^]

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Where did you go... Please reply quickly...

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I sent a response and placed a pot of water on the stove.

Judging by the man's typing style, it would probably take him five minutes to answer.

But then...

Ding!

That was immediate.

He must've been waiting desperately.

I read the message.

If I accept the party invitation, we'll make the direct trade in the Tower of Fate Floor 0 Waiting Room.

Apparently, this was the standard method Hunters used for trades.

[You have received a party invitation from "CleanSweep."]

[Accept?]

"Accept."

[Entering Tower of Fate Floor 0, Waiting Room.]

Flash!

I vanished from my seat.

It felt as though my body was being sucked into an unknown world.

Tower of Fate Floor 0.

Waiting Room.

Flash!

Two men appeared in a room containing a single table.

Hehehe. What an idiot. He actually followed me straight in here.

A one-on-one direct trade in the Floor 0 Waiting Room.

CleanSweep, also known as Lee Jinho, had told him this was the normal way Hunters made transactions.

And technically, that was true.

When both Hunters are around the same level, anyway.

Lee Jinho examined Choi Hyunwoo's appearance and frowned.

Not a single proper piece of protective equipment... Is this guy a complete beginner?

Had he made a mistake?

The guy looked too clueless to be a scammer.

...He's not some lunatic who mistook garbage for an S-rank weapon, is he?

Either way, Lee Jinho still intended to teach him a lesson.

He offered his hand.

"You're the person called DivineMan, right?"

"Ah, yes. You're CleanSweep?"

"Correct. Let's see the item first."

"What about the money?"

"One moment."

Lee Jinho pulled out a document.

"A contract?"

"You asked for a bank transfer, right? I can't exactly bring one trillion won in cash. But I brought the deposit. Sign this and I'll give it to you."

Lee Jinho lifted a large silver case.

"Ah, okay."

"If you're suspicious, take your time reading it. You can even consult a lawyer first."

He knew there was no way Choi Hyunwoo would actually go find a lawyer.

You can tell just by looking at him.

Of course, the contract didn't contain any toxic clauses.

It was extremely simple.

1.

Choi Hyunwoo, hereafter "Party B," will transfer one S-rank weapon to Lee Jinho, hereafter "Party A."

2.

3.

In exchange, Party A will pay Party B one trillion won by bank transfer.

4.

5.

Once the transaction is concluded, Party A will pay Party B 10% of the purchase price as a deposit.

6.

That was literally it.

Why?

If the item is fake, I simply don't make the deal.

And if it wasn't fake?

Lee Jinho's expression darkened.

Kill him and take it.

But then...

"It's not one trillion. It's 1.06 trillion won."

"...What?"

"I'm a pretty expensive person. You wasted my time, so you'll need to pay an extra sixty billion won."

"You really are fucking insa... No. Never mind. Fine, fine. Whatever."

It wasn't like the guy would be leaving with a single won anyway.

Whether it was one trillion or 1.06 trillion made no difference.

Then Choi Hyunwoo pulled a huge Gatling Laser from his inventory.

Lee Jinho's eyebrow twitched.

What is that? I feel like I've seen it somewhere...

Where?

The news?

Why had he seen that weapon on the news?

While Lee Jinho was wondering, he saw Choi Hyunwoo place the Gatling Laser on the table while looking uncertain.

This really must be his first trade.

Placing an item on the table allowed the other party to inspect its information.

"You just need to reveal the item information."

"Ah, okay."

[Krog's Gatling Laser]

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Rank: S

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"...!"

Lee Jinho's eyes opened wide.

He didn't even need to read the rest of the description.

The weapon would soon be his anyway.

He could inspect everything afterward.

What the hell? It really is an S-rank weapon! Wait... Don't tell me this is...

Suddenly, he remembered where he'd seen a similar weapon.

It's one of those Orc war weapons!

Greed filled Lee Jinho's eyes.

He suppressed his trembling excitement with superhuman patience.

"I've confirmed it's genuine. Here's the deposit."

Lee Jinho placed the silver case on the table.

Then he opened it.

"Why is there a dagger inside?"

"Ah, well, that's..."

There was no money inside.

Instead, there was a gleaming dagger.

Lee Jinho grabbed it in an instant.

Whoosh!

He swung.

In the blink of an eye, Lee Jinho's body passed ten meters beyond Choi Hyunwoo.

Lee Jinho's true class was none other than Assassin.

"Hahahaha! My 'Shadow Ambush' can kill even another S-rank Hunter if it lands cleanly! I'll make good use of your S-rank weapon! Kahahahaha!"

Too easy.

Who knew getting an S-rank weapon could be this easy?

It was so easy that it almost bored him to death.

So incredibly easy...

That he couldn't even feel the sensation of his dagger cutting through flesh.

Right... I can't even feel the sensation of cutting flesh... Huh?

No matter how easy it was, could he really have cut someone without feeling anything?

Then...

[Evasion!]

...Evasion?

Lee Jinho knew exactly what an Evasion judgment meant.

Of course he did.

It was a trait possessed by all Assassin-type Hunters.

At a certain probability, even if an enemy's attack connected, the damage would be completely ignored.

It sounds broken at first glance.

But it wasn't particularly overpowered.

The activation rate was extremely low.

And even if it activated against a multi-hit attack, it would only evade one hit.

Most importantly...

Evasion doesn't activate at all against opponents of the same rank or higher.

When he combined all that information...

This bastard! He's an Assassin!

And not just any Assassin.

Someone capable of triggering Evasion against an attack from Lee Jinho, an S-rank Hunter.

...Wait. Does a Hunter like that even exist?

Yes.

One did.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered.

A legendary title spoken of only among the world's S-rank Assassins.

No one knew how to obtain it.

No one knew the conditions.

No one even knew the method.

That title was...

Silent Assassin...!

Lee Jinho's pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck them.

His face turned pale with shock.

He slowly turned around.

"Kahahahaha!"

There stood the man with a demonic grin.

No.

There stood Choi Hyunwoo, the "Silent Assassin."

And he was pointing [Krog's Gatling Laser] directly at Lee Jinho.

I heard that thing weighs more than a ton...

Yet he handled the massive weapon like a toy.

Vrrrrrrr!

There was one absolute rule in the Hunter world.

And Lee Jinho realized at that moment that he'd violated it.

...I was fooled.

Never judge an opponent by appearance!

Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew-pew!

Six red beams filled Lee Jinho's entire vision.

Fwoosh.

All that remained where Lee Jinho had been standing was a small pile of ash.

Flash!

Choi Hyunwoo quickly left the Waiting Room.

Then...

Shhhh.

The empty Waiting Room began resetting itself as usual.

The ash disappeared.

The walls melted by the lasers rebuilt themselves.

As if nothing had ever happened.

"Waaaaaah!"

I burst into tears like a little child.

Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew!

Had I ever cried this hard since childhood?

Tears and snot were pouring everywhere.

I didn't even know how I'd managed to survive.

When I finally came to my senses, something was lying on the floor.

On the floor...!

[Shadow Dagger (S)]

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Allows use of the active skill [Shadow Ambush (S)].

· 

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If the target struck by Shadow Ambush is killed, its cooldown resets.

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Equipping this weapon grants the Assassin class.

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"O-Oooooooooh!"

An S-rank weapon had dropped!

What kind of unexpected jackpot is this?