66
The morning after the shell game.
"I slept soundly for the first time in three days."
Getting out of bed, Baek Woo-jin took a quick shower with warm water and changed into the comfortable clothes he had worn when leaving the country. Then, for the first time since staying at this hotel, he left his room to eat breakfast on time.
"Hello."
"...."
Shin Hye-ji, who had been waiting right outside, greeted him the moment he opened the door. Knowing it was rude, Baek Woo-jin still failed to control his expression.
He thought he had gotten rid of one for a moment, but realizing it was just a change in hair color, a sigh naturally escaped his lips.
"Do you usually have meals around this time?"
"I don't have a set time."
"No set time, I see."
Shin Hye-ji pulled out an anachronistic notebook, diligently jotted something down, and tucked it away.
"Will you be having breakfast?"
"Yes."
"Then let's go."
"Yes."
"...."
Her expression was as impassive as when they had first met, but the look in her eyes as she watched him was sparkling, unlike before. Taking Shin Hye-ji along, he headed down to the dining lounge on the lower floor.
"You compose your diet with only meat and no vegetables."
"...."
Baek Woo-jin observed Shin Hye-ji's behavior as she loaded her plate with the exact same items as his, sat across from him at the table, ignored her food, and pulled out her notebook to scribble something again. Watching her, he finally succeeded last night in recalling the memory that had been teasing the edge of his mind on the day of the shell game.
'The sword-crazed bitch....'
Surprisingly, it was an epithet Shin Hye-ji would acquire a little further into the future.
A battle maniac who left behind such legendary quotes as claiming she had married her sword, showing absolutely no interest in anything other than growing stronger through the sword.
That was exactly Shin Hye-ji.
'Bear with it. It's not a long time; just tolerate her until the auction is over.'
To explain how he ended up with Shin Hye-ji, it was necessary to rewind time to last night's networking event.
**
"Is there really a need to attend today?"
"Exactly."
At Hong Yeon-ha's response, Baek Woo-jin gave her a look that asked, *Then why are we going?* Hong Yeon-ha, perhaps taking after someone, let out a small snort and replied.
"I'm just curious to see how that bastard will react."
"That's quite a preference."
"What does preference have to do with this? It's a legitimate right."
"Right."
Baek Woo-jin had a lot to consider regarding sensory expansion and preferred not to leave his room, but since she wasn't forcing him and had personally offered her help, he didn't want to change his course of action simply based on his mood. Thus, he followed Hong Yeon-ha and eventually found himself back on the second basement floor.
"I've been waiting."
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Jo Soo-hwan, who had been waiting, welcomed the two of them.
"Is it because of the reason you visited this morning?"
"Yes. Miss Yeon-ha? If you don't mind, would it be alright if I had a brief word with Woo-jin?"
He was genuinely curious as to why he was asking Hong Yeon-ha for permission, but unlike yesterday, there were far more eyes on them today, so he decided to quietly play the part of a wallflower.
"You saved a seat, right?"
"Of course."
"Then talk at the table next to it or the closest table."
"Thank you."
Still, he wondered why Jo Soo-hwan was thanking Hong Yeon-ha for granting permission to speak with him.
"You're out here again today~?"
"Yeah."
Hong Yeon-ha joined the table occupied by the Shin sisters, while Baek Woo-jin and Jo Soo-hwan took a seat at a table two spaces behind them.
"Please make it brief."
"Haha...."
Having experienced it once this morning, Baek Woo-jin had a general grasp of his disposition, but faced with an even more direct attitude than before, Jo Soo-hwan offered an awkward smile, nodded, and opened his mouth to speak.
"Is there anything in particular you're targeting at the auction?"
"Yes."
"Then...."
Jo Soo-hwan cautiously scanned his surroundings before pulling a smartphone from his inner pocket and holding it out toward Baek Woo-jin.
"Let's exchange numbers first."
"...Let's do that."
There was absolutely no harm in building a friendly relationship, so while it felt a bit anticlimactic, the two properly exchanged numbers.
Bzzt.
A single message flew in the moment they exchanged numbers.
[ Jo Soo-hwan: I'll get straight to the point. I recommend attending tomorrow's auction as my sister-in-law's partner. ]
[ Me: Why? ]
[ Jo Soo-hwan: Arthur Taylor is undoubtedly waiting for a chance to get revenge on you, Woo-jin. And the moment Miss Yeon-ha bids on an item completely unrelated to magic, he'll realize that she's bidding on your behalf. ]
[ Me: You're saying he'll interfere. ]
[ Jo Soo-hwan: Exactly. I'm not sure how well Miss Yeon-ha has gauged the funds Arthur Taylor has at his disposal, but if my assessment is correct, the gap is large enough that she won't be able to win a single bid if Arthur Taylor goes all out. ]
Baek Woo-jin raised his head to look at Jo Soo-hwan. Sensing his gaze, Jo Soo-hwan also raised his head, meeting Baek Woo-jin's eyes directly.
[ Me: Is the gap really that large? ]
[ Jo Soo-hwan: Do you know why America still maintains an overwhelming voice in the international community, even after the emergence of dungeons and the new human race known as Awakeners? ]
[ Jo Soo-hwan: It's simply because the scale of their market is overwhelming. A large market scale means a proportionately massive amount of byproducts harvested from dungeons. ]
[ Me: The bottom line is that they just have a larger number of Hunters, isn't it? ]
[ Jo Soo-hwan: That's not wrong. However, a large number of Hunters doesn't always equate to a massive market. The prime examples would be Brazil and India. ]
Both nations possessed an enormous number of Hunters thanks to their high populations. However, the quality of life in both countries had plummeted compared to before the emergence of dungeons, and quite regrettably, that decline was still ongoing.
The reason was simple.
It was due to a lack of the technical expertise required to process dungeon byproducts, and even if they could process them, their own citizens lacked the purchasing power to buy the finished goods.
One might question why they couldn't simply export their goods, but unfortunately, by the time those two nations turned their eyes toward exports, other countries had already finished building infrastructure tailored to their own domestic yields.
Naturally, if they sold their goods at a low enough price, it wasn't impossible to carve out a market.
In fact, they had actually made such an attempt.
So, for a very brief period, a batch of products hit the market that had no significant qualitative difference from those made with domestically sourced byproducts, yet were priced at nearly half the cost.
That period lasted exactly two weeks.
That was how long it took for the executives of the factories and companies that had purchased cheap byproducts and sold the resulting goods to either go missing or die under mysterious circumstances.
When cheap products flooded the market, domestic forces were forced to lower the prices of their own byproducts to stay competitive, which directly led to a drop in income for their Hunters.
That was the cause.
Unlike the past, where the rule of law was maintained by public authority in the form of the police, it was impossible to control walking human weapons known as Hunters using the existing, frail laws and public enforcement.
Since then, imports from other nations naturally vanished without any explicit regulations, and today's grim reality was that corporations in every country only manufactured and sold goods using domestically sourced byproducts.
[ Jo Soo-hwan: Even if their power is comparable, the difference in market scale is simply too vast. To be blunt, the financial muscle of major domestic guilds, including Hongryeon, is only on par with America's Tier 2 guilds. ]
Baek Woo-jin was mildly shocked by the bare truth Jo Soo-hwan had laid bare.
He had assumed that if their combat strength was similar, the rank of monsters they hunted would be similar, and thus their financial power would be comparable as well. However, the disparity in the international community—something he had overlooked while struggling to make ends meet—was far greater than he had imagined.
[ Me: What difference would that make? ]
[ Jo Soo-hwan: A lot of things could change. ]
[ Me: Such as? ]
[ Jo Soo-hwan: Depending on Miss Yeon-ha's cooperation, you could potentially obtain what you desire using Arthur Taylor's own money. ]
He raised his head.
Once again, sensing his gaze, Jo Soo-hwan raised his head.
Those unwavering, upright eyes were not the kind that belonged to a man who relied on baseless probabilities.
[ Me: What is the plan? ]
**
Bzzt.
Near the end of the meal, the smartphone in his pocket vibrated softly.
[ Hong Yeon-ha: Just you dare fail. Then you're all dead. ]
He didn't bother to reply.
He knew that replying in this situation would only be like pouring oil on a fire.
Besides, Hong Yeon-ha's threat had already missed its mark.
That was because a message had already arrived, one that made Hong Yeon-ha's threat seem cute by comparison.
[ Hong Ik-hyun: Once the schedule is over, come see me for a moment with that friend, Jo Soo-hwan. ]
He could guarantee that if Hong Yeon-ha didn't clear up the misunderstanding in time, regardless of whether the plan succeeded or not, being buried side-by-side with someone else's fiancée in a faraway land was already a guaranteed future.