Episode 6. Bone Crown
Sin Dae let out an inward sigh at the expression of Bak Hyeonsik, who looked at him with a wide grin.
Having helped out at a butcher shop since he was young, Sin Dae was quicker to catch on than others.
His many years of experience were telling him.
That Bak Hyeonsik was deliberately acting like this right now to embarrass him!
“You can’t do it?”
Bak Hyeonsik looked at Sin Dae with a smirk.
It was doubtful whether Sin Dae, known to be F-rank, could even lift the monster weighing 100kg before his eyes, let alone harvest the [Ice Kaiser].
‘He can’t do it. It defies common sense.’
No matter how strong an F-rank got, they were only level 20.
It was a weight that required investing all stats into Strength to lift.
Sin Dae had been stroking his chin in thought at Bak Hyeonsik’s words.
He smirked and pulled out his apprentice knife.
“Can I start right away?”
“With that knife?”
“It looks like a regular kitchen knife....”
Collection Team 1 clicked their tongues at Sin Dae’s knife.
As befitting the main collection team of the Osiris Guild, most of their equipment was either made by dwarves or crafted by famous blacksmith Awakeners.
‘Starting from this side...’
The surrounding people clicking their tongues at Sin Dae’s apprentice knife lasted only a moment.
When he made cuts following the white line appearing on the [Ice Kaiser], those around him widened their eyes in surprise.
“How is he cutting through a monster’s hide with a regular kitchen knife?!”
“He pierced the hide of a 5-star monster, not even a 1-star?”
Their surprise at the skinning process was also brief.
When Sin Dae flipped the monster over to skin the back, Bak Hyeonsik couldn’t close his mouth in shock.
‘Did they say he wasn’t... F-rank?’
Bak Hyeonsik was shocked at the sight of Sin Dae, known to be F-rank, effortlessly flipping the monster.
Sin Dae also felt the corners of his mouth rise after flipping the monster.
‘A Strength stat of 100 sure is nice.’
Eventually, the time it took Sin Dae to finish all the butchering was a mere 8 minutes.
Considering that Collection Team 1’s average time was 15 minutes, it was an astonishing time.
“But what is this?”
“Th-that came out?!”
“You have to catch 200 of them for one of those to appear?!”
When Sin Dae held up a crown-like hat and asked, the surrounding Collection Team 1 looked at him with surprised eyes.
“Did a Bone Crown come out?”
The [Bone Crown], an equipment-type item that occasionally dropped from the [Ice Kaiser] and an alchemy material favored by alchemist Awakeners.
Bak Hyeonsik looked at Sin Dae, who held such a precious material that might not appear even after harvesting 200 of them, with disbelieving eyes.
‘C-coincidence, right?’
Bak Hyeonsik, who thought he hadn’t even seen one recently, hurriedly managed his expression.
“W-well... y-you have the basics down.”
“Heheh, thank you.”
Laughing at Bak Hyeonsik here would be amateurish.
A true expert showed an awkward smile to Bak Hyeonsik and displayed naivety.
‘Sin Dae, listen well. The most basic principle of business is matching the other person’s mood.’
Recalling the business skills his father had taught him, Sin Dae smiled awkwardly.
When Sin Dae, who seemed like he would laugh at Bak Hyeonsik for trying to humiliate him, instead smiled awkwardly, Bak Hyeonsik had no choice but to let out a dry cough.
“Everyone... let’s get back to work, work...”
Watching Bak Hyeonsik scratch his head and return to the worksite, Sin Dae grinned.
‘This is how you really assert your pride.’
***
“Mr. Sin Dae... what are you?”
Bak Hyeonsik and Collection Team 1 couldn’t close their mouths as they looked at five Bone Crowns after harvesting one hundred Ice Kaisers.
Sin Dae had butchered twenty of them and discovered five among them.
“Could it be a coincidence?”
Even Sin Dae himself was slightly surprised that five Bone Crowns had appeared.
The only explanation for why he had discovered so many Bone Crowns that others hadn’t when harvesting was because of his job as a Butcher.
‘Am I actually really OP?’
Since each item was worth 2 million won, five of them meant 10 million won.
Bak Hyeonsik looked at Sin Dae with incredulous eyes.
‘This person... I absolutely must recruit them into the guild.’
His initial thought of humiliating Sin Dae had long since vanished into the distance; he could only think of how to recruit the talent before him into the Osiris Guild by any means necessary.
“Oh... damn, I’m jealous... with the 20% bonus, he’ll get 1 million won.”
“Right?”
The other members of Collection Team 1 smacked their lips enviously as they thought about the bonus Sin Dae would receive.
He merely showed an awkward smile.
‘Bone Crown...’
If Sin Dae had hunted this entire dungeon alone, the full 10 million won would have gone entirely into his hands.
He thought once again that he needed to raise his stats quickly.
‘And how many stats will this give...’
The [Ice Kaiser] meat he had secretly set aside while butchering.
Sin Dae smiled contentedly in anticipation of how many stats it would raise.
“We’ll finish this today with this.”
“Right? I thought this would take two days.”
“It’s good to finish quickly and rest.”
Sin Dae was in a good mood at the message before his eyes that his Strength had increased by 5.
Since the work was progressing this quickly thanks entirely to Sin Dae joining them, everyone was stealing glances at him.
‘Finally, the boss room.’
As Sin Dae approached the wide-open boss room door and his salivary glands began to act up, a wide grin formed on his face.
‘What kind of creature is it...’
Sin Dae approached the boss monster.
He widened his eyes at the message appearing before his eyes.
[A monster desired by the Gluttony Skill has appeared nearby.]
[Rewards obtained upon consumption will be doubled.]
‘Did this activate again?’
A reaction from a whopping 5-star boss monster.
If he consumed it, it was a chance to raise a stat by more than 30 at once.
“I-I have to get in there quickly!”
Already thinking of eating, Sin Dae took the lead and entered; Collection Team 1 tilted their heads at him.
“What’s with that guy?”
“He’s a workaholic... addicted...”
“Our son should learn something like that...”
“Well, he’s truly born to be a laborer.”
***
‘Where the hell is it?!’
Sin Dae searched for the boss monster’s corpse in a massive igloo-like space.
He discovered a 2-meter sea lion collapsed before an ice throne-like structure and hurriedly ran over.
“Puhahaha, Oppa’s here, you rascal.”
The closer Sin Dae got, the more his salivary glands began to act up.
Sin Dae hurriedly butchered the sea lion’s corpse and collected the meat, unable to calm his pounding heart.
‘What stat is it...’
Excluding Strength and Stamina, either Agility or Mana would definitely exceed 100.
Sin Dae shoved the sea lion meat into his mouth and frowned at the fishy taste, but he widened his eyes at the astonishing message that appeared before his eyes.
[Strength increases by 30.]
“Damn.....”
Sin Dae had been hoping for Agility.
However, even if it wasn’t 100 in all stats, it meant his Strength had now exceeded 130.
“Hey Bak, you already finished up?”
“Isn’t that too fast, Bak?”
Sin Dae looked at Collection Team 1, who were entering and looking with satisfaction at the situation where the skinning was already done.
He discovered a black object descending from the ceiling directly above Collection Team 1 and shouted urgently.
“Be careful!”
“Y-yeah?”
Before anyone could react to Sin Dae’s voice, a spear was embedded in the crown of the head of one team member at the front of Collection Team 1.
The surrounding collection team members were surprised only briefly before a suddenly appearing monster began to shriek.
“Th-they left behind such s-scraps?!”
Bak Hyeonsik, who came to his senses first after the fatality, cursed as he looked at the baby sea lion before him.
‘What the hell did the attack team do!’
They should have cleared the dungeon safely and called them, but Bak Hyeonsik resented the attack team for leaving monsters behind.
“C-Captain, what should we do?”
“Where’s Gim?”
True to their reputation as Collection Team 1, they quickly formed a formation and surrounded the monster.
When Bak Hyeonsik asked a team member beside him, she shook her head.
‘This damn monster brat....’
Bak Hyeonsik gritted his teeth.
Sin Dae inwardly sighed at his glare toward the baby sea lion.
‘That is definitely that one’s baby...’
If she had desperately hidden her baby, it was understandable that the attack team hadn’t discovered it.
Sin Dae, who had been looking at the monster, suddenly turned around and saw the baby sea lion glaring at him, making a startled expression.
“Uh... I didn’t kill this one...”
The baby sea lion looked at him with killing intent.
However, contrary to his words, Sin Dae had already skinned and deboned its parent, and the baby sea lion was enraged by this.
‘There’s no way it saw me eating the meat, right?’
Watching the baby sea lion shriek, ignore Collection Team 1’s attacks, and charge at him, Sin Dae suddenly became frightened.
“Mr. Sin Dae, dodge!”
He shouted the warning, but Bak Hyeonsik had already sighed inwardly with pity.
The baby sea lion charging at Sin Dae while taking attacks was estimated to be a 3-star monster.
It was nearly impossible for F-rank Sin Dae to dodge the baby sea lion’s attacks.
‘Damn... a future talent for Collection Team 1...’
Bak Hyeonsik felt pity as he hurriedly rushed over.
He discovered Sin Dae dodging the baby sea lion’s attacks as if mocking his worries, and his eyes widened.
“Huh?”
Surprised to see Sin Dae dodging attacks, Bak Hyeonsik forgot that he had rushed over in a hurry.
It wasn’t just the first attack—the next and the next one after that as well. At the sight of Sin Dae dodging them all, Bak Hyeonsik was lost for words.
‘He... he wasn’t F-rank?’