“Huh? Right now? I haven’t even been assessed yet.”
“As you can see, the signing bonus is 100 million won.”
Lee Jia’s eyes widened as if they might tear.
Her mouth fell open, not even noticing her glasses slipping down.
“O-one hundred million?”
At her shrill voice, the applicants waiting nearby, who had been secretly eavesdropping, began to murmur.
“What? One hundred million?”
“They’re giving a signing bonus of a hundred million to someone who’s still an ordinary person?”
“Are they insane?”
One hundred million won. To an ordinary person who had not even received an Awakening assessment yet, it was a fortune no different from winning the lottery.
In the industry, one hundred million was the level of signing bonus offered to a proven C-rank hunter.
“I’ve never heard of anyone knowing their rank before being assessed. How do you know what rank I’ll get...?”
“I’m serious.”
“No, I mean, why? What if I turn out to be F-rank? Isn’t this a scam?”
Lee Jia looked as if she simply could not understand.
If anything, she stared at Siwoo with suspicious eyes.
Of course she did.
Because Han Siwoo was doing something that made absolutely no sense by common standards.
“Because I trust my eyes and my experience.”
Siwoo shamelessly mixed in a lie.
He did not so much as blink.
“Besides, there’s nothing bad in it for you, is there, Jia? If you’re assessed as F-rank, you simply earn 100 million won. And if, as I say, you’re assessed as C-rank or higher, then this contract will be paying its proper value. Either way, you don’t lose anything.”
Siwoo’s logic was perfect.
At least on the surface.
For an Awakened who could not take an ordinary job.
Jia could not answer and merely moved her lips.
No matter how she thought about it, the man before her seemed either completely out of his mind or the spoiled second-generation heir of some chaebol with money to burn.
“Instead, as you’ll see if you read the contract carefully, the revenue split is nine to one.”
Lee Jia’s gaze sharpened.
“See? It is a scam. You’re saying you’ll take nine?”
“No, you take nine.”
“...Pardon?”
Lee Jia’s thought process came to a halt.
The industry standard for rookies was seven to three. In the case of vicious companies, management agencies would even push it down to five to five.
That meant the company took thirty to fifty percent.
And yet Siwoo, not content with paying a huge sum of 100 million won in advance, was saying the company would take only ten percent.
In Jia’s mind, the conviction began to form that Han Siwoo was either a philanthropist or a genuine idiot.
“Instead, the contract period is five years, the maximum for hunter contracts. The penalty is five times the standard for hunter contracts. During that period, we will handle all schedule management, guild negotiations, legal support, and tax processing. Ms. Jia, all you have to do is participate in subjugations with the guild.”
Siwoo forced the pen into Jia’s hand.
His palm was damp with sweat.
“This contract is valid only until you enter the assessment room. Once you go through that door, this offer is off the table.”
Siwoo launched his final psychological gambit. It had to be now.
Before she realized her own value, before the world recognized her.
He had to secure her while she was still at her lowest and most shabby.
Jia was wavering.
They said there was no such thing as a free lunch, but the terms of 100 million won and a nine-to-one split were far too sweet to refuse.
She was an unemployed person with nothing to her name and nothing to lose.
Even if it was a scam, what if 100 million won landed in her bank account right now?
‘Please...! Sign it. Just sign.’
Siwoo was burning up inside.
It felt as if his heart might leap out of his throat.
Just then, the waiting room door opened, and familiar faces walked in.
It was Assistant Manager Park and the other agents.
When they saw Siwoo practically kneeling before a shabby woman and thrusting a contract at her, they clicked their tongues.
“Wow... Han Siwoo’s finally lost his mind.”
“He’s pushing a contract on an ordinary person who hasn’t even been assessed? And on a woman who looks like dead weight?”
“Tsk, tsk. No wonder he got fired. With eyes that bad.”
Their laughter echoed through the waiting room.
The mockery was aimed at Siwoo, but at the same time, it was aimed at Lee Jia as well.
Lee Jia’s shoulders shrank even further.
Her face flushed with humiliation.
But Siwoo instead seized upon their ridicule as an opportunity.
He looked straight at Lee Jia with unwavering eyes.
“Do you hear that? Everyone is laughing at you. They’re saying you have no value.”
Strength entered Siwoo’s voice.
“But I’m different. I see your value. I’ll prove that they’re wrong, and that you are an incredible person. Together with me.”
His words lodged deep in Lee Jia’s heart.
The one person who believed in her. With trembling hands, she adjusted her grip on the pen.
“...All right.”
As if she had made up her mind, Jia moved the pen over the contract.
Scratch, scratch scratch.
The sound of the pen tip brushing across the paper rang in Siwoo’s ears like a heavenly harmony.
At last, the three characters of “Lee Jia” were clearly engraved in the signature field.
Ding—
[The contract has been established.]
[Contract target: Lee Jia]
[Passive skill “Growth Synchronization” has activated.]
[You will share 3% of the target’s acquired experience.]
‘It’s done!’
Siwoo cried out in triumph inwardly.
A thrill ran through him, as if every hair on his body were standing on end.
Cold sweat was pouring down his back like rain, but an uncontrollable smile spread across his lips.
In the gamble of his life, he had finally hit the jackpot.
“An excellent choice, Jia. No, Hunter Lee Jia.”
Siwoo snatched up the contract and tucked it into his chest.
As if afraid someone might steal it, he carefully secured it in his inner pocket.
It was then.
“Number 206, Lee Jia. Number 206, Lee Jia. Please enter the assessment room.”
At last, the announcement rang out, calling Lee Jia’s turn.
Jia rose from her seat and looked at Siwoo with anxious eyes. She still seemed uncertain whether she had done the right thing.
Siwoo clenched his fist and gave her the most reassuring smile he could.
“Now, go in with peace of mind. No matter what the result is, we’re partners now.”
At his words, Jia seemed a little relieved and gave a small nod.
“I-I’ll be back.”
She shuffled toward the assessment room.
A worn-out tracksuit, a hunched back.
From behind, she looked so shabby that anyone would think even making her an F-rank porter would be a waste.
Assistant Manager Park approached Siwoo’s side and snickered.
“Hey, Chief Han. Have you really lost it? A hundred million? On a girl like that? You’ve blown your entire severance pay now.”
Listening to Assistant Manager Park’s mockery, Siwoo watched Lee Jia’s back as she grew farther away.
In his eyes, he could see a brilliant golden future that Assistant Manager Park could not.
‘Laugh all you want.’
Siwoo laughed inwardly.
Beep—
A sharp mechanical sound cut through the silence of the assessment room.
The noisy murmuring of the waiting room stopped in an instant as if it had been a lie, and hundreds of gazes turned toward the electronic display all at once.
The applicants swallowing dryly in tension, the scouts glaring with eyes blazing, and Han Siwoo, holding his breath with his fists clenched tight.
Everyone focused on that fleeting moment.
The pixels on the display rearranged rapidly, forming words.
[ Lee Jia - Non-Combat Support ] [ Rank: F ]
“...”
Everyone fell silent.
It was not shock or lamentation, but dumbfounded absurdity.
The result of pouring a huge sum of 100 million won into her was merely F-rank, and on top of that, non-combat support with absolutely nothing to do with fighting.
“Pfft.”
What broke the silence was the suppressed laughter of one man.
“Ahahaha! F-rank! She’s F-rank! Pfft, kukukuku!”
Assistant Manager Park doubled over, clutching his stomach.
He threw all dignity aside, laughing so hard that tears even leaked from his eyes as he nearly rolled on the floor.
“Did you see that? Did you see? That lunatic signed an F-rank for a hundred million! Pahahaha! Hey, Han Siwoo! Are you actually addicted to gambling? Or are you a philanthropist? Wahahaha!”
Assistant Manager Park’s laughter became the trigger.
The scouts and agents around them could no longer hold back and began bursting into ridicule as well.
“Wow... He’s seriously insane. A hundred million just evaporated into thin air.”
“Assistant Manager Park, is that guy really rich? Looks like he’s got money rotting away.”
“Money, my ass. He probably scraped together his severance pay and even took out a loan against his house. Hahaha!”
In an instant, the waiting room became a cauldron of mockery directed at Han Siwoo.
At that moment, the assessment room door opened and Lee Jia walked out.
Her face was pale as a sheet.
She seemed to have sensed that the uproarious laughter and sneers outside were aimed at her.
Jia lowered her head and bit her lip.
Staring only at the toes of her worn sneakers, she shrank her shoulders as much as she could.
Her expression said that if there were a mouse hole, she would have crawled into it right then and there.
The guilt of splashing filth over the person who had believed in her and invested such a huge sum, and the terror of countless people’s gazes, pressed down on her.
‘Those bastards.’
Siwoo gritted his teeth.
But outwardly, he did not show it.
In truth, for him, the situation could not have been better.
‘Now no one will touch Lee Jia.’
Those hyenas, those packs of jackals, would never spare a glance for some F-rank non-combat support.
To them, Lee Jia was now nothing but a worthless pebble—no, a laughingstock.
Siwoo approached Lee Jia, who stood frozen and trembling.
“Ms. Jia.”
“...”
She could not answer.
She merely lowered her head even deeper.
“Lift your head. You haven’t committed a crime.”
At Siwoo’s firm voice, she slowly, very slowly, raised her head.
Beyond her thick glasses, the corners of her eyes were red and bloodshot.
Her tearful eyes, looking as if she might burst into sobs at any moment, stabbed Siwoo in the chest.
“I... Boss. I’m sorry...”
Her voice was so small it seemed to crawl into the floor.
“What are you sorry for?”
“I... They said I’m F-rank. And... support...”
In the end, Jia burst into tears.
Tears streamed down her cheeks and wet the floor.
Siwoo took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.
Then he shot a cold glare at Assistant Manager Park and the others around them, who were watching and snickering.
“Don’t mind them. Those people will definitely regret this later. I’ll make them regret it so badly they’ll beat the ground.”
“There’s no way that’ll happen... You gave me a hundred million... and I’m...”
“Let’s go! Let’s have something good to eat. We need a company dinner to celebrate the contract. I’ll buy you some very expensive beef.”
Siwoo deliberately took the lead with confidence.
Jia hesitantly followed behind him.
Just then, Assistant Manager Park stepped in front of them with a crooked posture, blocking their path.
“Wow, our Chief Han. Your stomach must be burning, huh? I really feel bad for you. Well, it happens. If you’ve got no eye for talent, you just have to pay an expensive tuition fee, right?”
He tapped Siwoo’s shoulder as he sneered.
Then he looked Jia up and down and clicked his tongue.
“I feel sorry for you too, miss. You met the wrong scammer, and now your life’s about to get twisted. If you’re F-rank, why don’t you just look for a part-time job at a convenience store?”
“Move. Don’t block my hunter’s path.”
Siwoo roughly shoved Assistant Manager Park’s shoulder and passed by.
His gaze was so murderous that Assistant Manager Park flinched for a moment and stepped back.
As Siwoo led Jia out of the building, Assistant Manager Park’s spiteful shout rang out from behind them.
“Haha! There goes Chief Han’s F-rank hunter! Good luck with that!”