WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 19: Reason for Living (3)

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I did some rough math in my head.

One dollar was a little over a thousand won.

Eighty thousand dollars would be roughly a hundred million won.

He'd said eight million and change, so scaling that up, it came out to a little over ten billion won.

Once I finished the calculation, I gaped, dumbfounded.

Ten billion.

That sword?

"A, are you out of your mind?"

"You're the one who's out of your mind. Where do you get off asking me that?"

"N, no!! What do you mean that piece of junk sword is worth ten billion!"

Baffled, I raised my voice.

Choi Suhyun had shown me the list in his personal vault and promised to give me whichever weapon I wanted.

I'd just picked out a sword that looked decent enough. I definitely hadn't chosen it knowing the price.

He'd handed it over without a word, so I'd figured it must be some weapon he could part with easily.

Who just hands over a ten-billion-won weapon like it's nothing? And here he was, acting all smug about lesser things before!

If he'd at least made a big deal of it in front of me, I never would have handed the sword over to Yu Jihan without thinking twice.

'Man, I can't exactly ask for it back now either.'

It wasn't like I had nothing to say for myself.

The sword Choi Suhyun gave me hadn't been bad, but in my judgment, it wasn't worth anything close to ten billion won.

There were two mistakes buried in that judgment.

One, I had absolutely no idea what items were actually worth. Two, my standards for what counted as "not bad" were just abnormally high to begin with.

A deep sigh came through the phone from Choi Suhyun's end.

"So how'd you end up losing it, exactly?"

"There's a story I can't really get into. Anyway, I can't get that sword back."

I didn't even know how to return a gifted item, and asking for it back would've looked ridiculous besides.

"Just go drop dead somewhere. You damn brat."

I did my best to calm down Choi Suhyun, who genuinely seemed furious on the phone.

Fed up with me, Choi Suhyun cut me off flat.

"We'll talk about the sword later. If you don't shape up for real, I'm not letting this slide."

With that, Choi Suhyun didn't bring up the eight-point-five-million-dollar sword I'd claimed to have lost again.

It wasn't that Choi Suhyun was just cool about it and moving on.

'Prove your worth.'

That was a kind of test.

It also meant what he'd said that day was still very much in effect.

Otherwise there was no way he'd act like this after saying he'd join my side.

'Doesn't seem like the type to stab me in the back, though.'

If I thought of it as a relationship where we were still building trust, it didn't bother me all that much.

"So what happened with the Guild?"

"They'll take you in. They'll be in touch. Whatever you do, just don't cause any trouble."

"I'm not some kid you dropped off at the riverside. Come on, trouble? Unless they throw the first punch, I'm not causing anything."

"Ugh, forget it. Anyway, they said they'd contact you sometime next week. I told them to look out for you as best they can."

"Thanks."

"Alright, I'm hanging up. I'll call you later."

After the call ended, I gave my ramyeon a little stir with my chopsticks.

"Noodles are completely soggy now."

Should've finished eating before answering the phone.

* * *

Gangnam, Teheran-ro.

In my memory, Gangnam was a bustling district made up of countless civil-service cram schools, plastic surgery clinics, corporate headquarters and offices, and the bars tucked behind them all.

The Gangnam I arrived at now was similar to the one in my memory, yet somehow different.

Instead of cram schools and clinics, pawnshops and law offices of every size dominated the streets. Buildings that used to house corporate headquarters had become the headquarters of large Guilds.

I searched for Aria Guild's headquarters on my phone and looked up at the tall building rising in the middle of Gangnam.

'I remember this building used to belong to some company.'

A building that had once housed the headquarters of a company famous for its bookstores, now serving as a Hunter Guild's headquarters in this world.

Seeing things like that was when it really hit me that this was a completely different world.

I walked into the lobby and gave my name to the staff member inside.

"Could I see your ID, please?"

"Ah, sure."

After handing over my registered Hunter ID, I was directed up to the tenth floor.

The inside of the building was ordinary. It looked like it could pass for any normal company on the surface.

The only difference was that some of the people moving through the building were Hunters dressed in distinctive outfits or carrying weapons.

The bigger the Guild, the more regular office staff it tended to employ.

The competition for office jobs at a major Guild was no different from getting into a big corporation.

'Impressive in all sorts of ways, really.'

I pushed past the crowd packed into the elevator and barely managed to get off on the tenth floor.

"You're here for the Guild enrollment consultation, correct? If you head into the room in the back, someone will be with you shortly."

"Thank you."

Guided again from the front desk, I stepped into a small conference room further inside.

Snacks and drinks sat on the white table.

I'd barely unwrapped a piece of chocolate and popped it in my mouth when the door opened.

An ordinary looking man in a suit walked in carrying some documents.

"Kang Hangyeol-ssi?"

"Yes."

"I'm Kim Jihoon, in charge of contracts here at Aria Guild."

Kim Jihoon pulled up a chair and sat down across from me.

He slid a tablet with the contract file loaded on it toward me and explained the terms of Guild membership.

Aria Guild didn't serve any particular god.

Unlike other Guilds, it judged people purely on skill, and that condition had let the Guild grow at a rapid pace.

That didn't mean it had no downsides.

'It's a merger of three Guilds. And its cohesion is weaker for it.'

Taking in Hunters who served all kinds of different gods meant, in other words, a higher chance of conflicting opinions.

Maybe that was why, despite being Korea's No. 4 Guild, Aria's public influence stayed relatively low.

Skimming through the contract, nothing looked like it would be a major problem.

"Just sign where I've marked and you're set."

I obediently picked up the pen and diligently signed each of the boxed sections.

Right before the final signature, I froze mid-motion, pen still in hand.

"I have a question."

I pulled back from the tablet holding the contract and spun the pen between my fingers.

Kim Jihoon gave me an odd look.

A beat late, he answered.

"Is there some kind of problem?"

"Nothing major. I lost my weapon due to some personal circumstances, and I was wondering if you offer any support for weapons or gear."

"For D-Rank Hunters, we do provide basic support. Of course, as stated in the contract, any items or equipment supplied by the Guild are billed for later, with additional charges invoiced after you've cleared a Dungeon."

Smooth talking, exactly what you'd expect from someone in charge of contracts.

Thinking back on it, Choi Suhyun's vault really had been ridiculous.

I'd grabbed a sword at random and it turned out to be worth eight point five million dollars.

'Stingy. Could've at least lent me one more sword.'

I'd pathetically begged him afterward to lend me something else and gotten cursed out with every insult that existed.

Unfortunately, I couldn't push my luck any further than that.

Ever since I found out the sword I'd carelessly handed to Yu Jihan was worth ten billion won, I'd kicked my blanket more times than I could count.

I'd basically ended up investing ten billion won in Yu Jihan out of nowhere.

'If that kid went into the tower and just dropped dead, I swear.'

For now, though, I had my own problems to deal with.

"Besides basic support, is there anything else?"

"Well, I understand you're a D-Rank Hunter, Kang Hangyeol-ssi. Occasionally the Guild will provide support for higher-ranked Hunters, but aside from rank, the only option is purchasing items individually. If you'd like, I can assign you a Guild dealer."

Listening to Kim Jihoon's explanation, I went back over the fine print of the contract terms carefully.

Two spots caught my eye.

Signing bonus: 10,000,000 won.

Guild and Hunter split earnings 5:5.

That was about the gist of it.

I cracked open the can of coffee on the table and took a sip.

Kim Jihoon had clearly expected the contract to be signed quickly, and he seemed thrown off by how much I was dragging things out.

Who cared.

'Aria Guild's admission requirements aren't that high to begin with.'

Even without Choi Suhyun's introduction, I probably could have gotten in without much trouble if I'd set my mind to it.

The fact that they'd bothered going through the trouble of an introduction meant they intended to keep me somewhere within eyeshot.

I wasn't particularly interested in blaming Choi Suhyun for it. Like I'd said before, the two of us needed enough time to vet each other properly.

Even if that meant using somewhat underhanded methods.

Either way, I was someone who'd come in on the representative's personal introduction.

If I couldn't get a weapon out of Choi Suhyun, I'd just have to get one out of this side instead.

"How much does a decent weapon usually run?"

"When you say decent weapon, what range are we talking about? Hunter weapons tend to be priced however the seller feels like, and the range is honestly all over the place."

"Fair enough, I guess. What's the max on my signing bonus? And isn't 5:5 a bit much?"

"Our base terms are ten million won with a 5:5 split. That's also accounting for you being a D-Rank Hunter."

"You haven't heard, by any chance?"

"Heard what?"

"That me and the representative here are best friends."

"When you say representative... which one would you be referring to?"

Ah, right, there were three representatives here.

Watching Kim Jihoon grow cautious, I cleared my throat and said,

"Park Siyu."

"You're an acquaintance of Representative Park's? I wasn't informed of anything like that..."

Kim Jihoon pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.

Genuinely startled like that, it didn't look like he'd received any special word from Park Siyu at all.

Probably figured some ordinary Hunter had come in to sign, so he'd just been told to handle it however was standard.

Since things had gone this far, I figured I might as well make sure I left a solid impression.

I set the empty coffee can down on the desk and smiled.

"I wonder why that could be."

"Y, yeah. I wonder why."

This guy.

Don't ask me. Go find out why yourself.

As I kept my mouth shut and kept smiling, Kim Jihoon abruptly shot up from his seat.

"I'll go make a quick call."

Yes, yes.

That's the spirit.

Once Kim Jihoon left, I unwrapped the remaining snacks one by one and popped them into my mouth.

By the time I'd finished off the last of the snacks laid out, Kim Jihoon returned from his call.

"I'm sorry. I'll draw up the contract again. I had no idea you were an acquaintance of Representative Park's... He told me to accommodate you as much as possible."

"Reasonably."

"Reasonably?"

"Let's go with a one-billion-won signing bonus and a 7:3 split in the Hunter's favor. That's more than generous of me, honestly."

Footnotes:

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