Chapter 8
“Where are the teeth?”
“Youngjin, Minho, look at this! It’s completely empty inside!”
Shim Youngjin’s group rummaged through Cerberus’s corpse. However, there wasn’t anything left that was worth any money. The only thing remotely valuable was the hide, but it had already been shredded to pieces in the battle.
“Did he say his name was Lee Dojae?”
Deokhoon asked Dojae, who was staring blankly into space. Deokhoon assumed Dojae was dazed from exhaustion, but he was wrong. Dojae was actually looking at the ‘loot’ stored in his subspace.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Dojae answered as he undid the Golem armor. The stones covering his body fell limply to the ground.
“By the looks of it, I seem to be your senior, so I’ll speak casually.”
Deokhoon, with rising interest, decided to speak more familiarly to build rapport.
“Go ahead.”
“By the way, this is quite fascinating.”
Deokhoon picked up one of the fallen stone pieces with a brightened expression. He applied a little force, and it crumbled like dust, scattering into the air.
“Just an ordinary rock.”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t seem to have any special treatment. It looks like the kind of stone you’d find in a dungeon.”
“That’s right.”
“Don’t be so guarded. I’m not here to interrogate you.”
Deokhoon smiled. Relieved, Dojae relaxed slightly. After all, Deokhoon was an A-rank hunter. If he really intended to overpower Dojae, the situation would have been over by now.
“I’ll tell you this in advance. As I mentioned before, I won’t touch any of the loot.”
“I don’t really care about such small change. Youngjin might get a bit upset, though.”
“Then what is it you want?”
“Why, feeling guilty?”
Although he had nothing to feel guilty about, Dojae felt slightly intimidated. His demeanor naturally reflected the experiences he’d accumulated over the years, having lived a life of always reading the room to survive. This was Lee Dojae, after all.
Sigh
“Are you curious about my abilities? Or do you want to ask why I’m still F-rank?”
“Haha. Don’t you think you’re overestimating yourself? Even if I asked, would you honestly tell me?”
Deokhoon was right. While he’d been forced to reveal himself, there was no need to divulge too many details, especially not in the hunter world. In a place like a dungeon—perfect for crime—going around bragging about oneself was the height of foolishness.
“Then what do you want?”
“It’s nothing major.”
Deokhoon took out a small piece of paper from his wallet and handed it over. It was a business card.
“Have you thought about working for our guild?”
Stunned by the sudden scout offer, Dojae stared blankly at the card. The stylish logo of the Mansung Guild and the title “Deputy Guildmaster” were printed next to Deokhoon’s name.
This was no ordinary offer. Mansung Guild, where even the lowest members were at least C-rank hunters, had its deputy guildmaster personally extending an invitation.
“Why me…?”
“Why do you think I’m here? Even though I didn’t say it out loud, didn’t you get the feeling that your teammates wanted me to bring them into the guild? I had planned to recruit one person, but after seeing you, I found you more intriguing than them.”
Deokhoon nodded, as if urging him to agree. There were plenty of hunters like Shim Youngjin and Kim Junsu. Even healer Sung Minho wouldn’t be particularly hard to replace at a major guild like Mansung. But Deokhoon thought Lee Dojae was different. His instincts were telling him not to let Dojae slip away.
Nodding repeatedly, Deokhoon pressed further. Finally, Dojae accepted the business card.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Haha! You’re going to think about joining Mansung? You’ve got guts.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No, it’s even better this way. And do you know something? I have a good intuition. I feel like there’s something more to you.”
With those words, Deokhoon left. Though he hadn’t shown any flashy techniques or overwhelming power, Dojae felt a sense of validation and smiled slightly.
*******************
“Uncle!”
“I’ll be the one to call your mother, so don’t say anything unnecessary.”
“Ugh, come on! This is too much!”
“Quiet.”
After leaving the dungeon, chaos ensued.
“I worked so hard! Do you know how much money I spent just to show you? And now you’re doing this?”
“Are you going to keep whining when nothing’s even wrong? Stop calling me for things like this. I’m leaving.”
Shim Youngjin had asked Deokhoon to help get them into the guild, but Deokhoon flatly refused, which led to Youngjin throwing a fit. A dismantling team from Mansung had arrived to deal with the dungeon, and Deokhoon was clearly embarrassed by the situation, frowning as he walked off somewhere. Shim Youngjin and his friends trailed after him like scolded children.
‘They’re no better than kids.’
I watched them retreat and chuckled to myself.
‘Thanks to them, I got something good. Now they seem kind of cute.’
When I first saw them, I hadn’t thought much of Youngjin’s group. But now, I found them rather endearing. After all, I had benefited from their attempts to impress Deokhoon.
Level up, title, a scout from Mansung.
And on top of all that—
‘This is called Persephone’s Ruby, right?’
I held a crimson gemstone in my hand. It was a beautiful jewel that seemed to flicker with fiery red flames. The official name was Cerberus’s Gallstone. That’s what it said in the subspace. However, due to the gem’s hellfire-like brilliance, people had named it after Persephone, the wife of Hades and queen of the underworld.
‘Not a bad name.’
Though I had only ever heard about it from other hunters, this was my first time seeing one in person. Now that I was holding it, I could see why it was such a fitting name.
“Subspace.”
I placed Persephone’s Ruby back into subspace and pulled out my smartphone.
He opened the HuntRanet exclusive application.
Most common items could be sold to “Mr. Choi,” and he would give a decent price, but luxury items were not his thing.
This meant he had to look elsewhere.
As it was for hunters only, HuntRanet had a marketplace that handled anything that came out of dungeons.
- Search: Persepho….
Just typing in ‘Perse’ brought up Persephone’s Ruby in the related search terms.
Tapping on it, several related posts appeared.
He checked a few of the recently uploaded posts.
– [Buying] Looking for raw Persephone’s Ruby.
– Selling a 3-carat Persephone’s Ruby ring.
– Persephone’s Ruby necklace (Cartienko brand), direct deal only.
He clicked on a post where the size of the item looked similar to what he had.
“Whoa.”
His breath caught as he saw the price.
It was a figure with more zeroes than he could count.
‘One, two, three, four….’
900,000,000.
A staggering 900 million won.
He checked other posts.
‘5.5 billion, 2.3 billion, 5.7 billion?’
Dojae’s eyes widened when he saw the last post.
57 billion for a single ring.
It was much larger and had the refined elegance that could only come from a master artisan. It was incomparable to the raw gemstone.
‘This is a jackpot, isn’t it?’
He turned off his smartphone.
A flood of thoughts washed over him.
Each and every one was exciting and filled with joy.
‘The first thing I need to do….’
There was no need to ponder.
His priority was clear.
His brother’s surgery and medical expenses.
That remained his utmost priority.
‘And with the remaining money, I’ll buy a house.’
A house to live in with his fully recovered brother.
He would fry the pork cutlet he loved, and he would make a savory bowl of soybean paste stew.
‘Let’s go.’
With that, he headed toward the marketplace, his steps lighter than ever.
****************
“Young man, how about this place?”
“Hmm… not bad.”
Dojae meticulously examined the apartment.
A 24-pyeong apartment with two rooms, a living room and kitchen combo, and one bathroom.
It was a new apartment, only about three years old.
“There’s a large supermarket nearby, and plenty of convenience stores. It’s a great area to live in. Plus, the school is close by, so it’s a very quiet neighborhood.”
Dojae headed toward the balcony.
Beyond the veranda window, he could see an elementary school.
It would only take about 10 minutes, even for a child, to walk there.
Moreover, the school had moved when the apartment was built, so it was pristine and clean.
“They replaced the boiler this year, and the plumbing is excellent. I’m not just saying that.”
Dojae’s gaze moved to the corner of the room.
There was a pristine white boiler, with the protective plastic still on it.
“Will it be cleaned?”
“The first tenant was very tidy. The landlord will re-wallpaper, clean, and do everything, so you can move in right away.”
As the middle-aged woman—who was a real estate agent—said, the apartment was impeccably clean.
It was the first building in the complex and faced south, ensuring plenty of sunlight.
When he opened the windows, he felt a refreshing breeze; the ventilation was excellent.
“This is the best option I’ve seen so far.”
“Right? I’ve been holding this one back. When you said you’d be living with your brother, I thought it was sweet and decided to show it to you. I wouldn’t have shown it to anyone else.”
“Thank you. I’ll take this place.”
“Good decision. No matter how much someone offers, you won’t find a better deal than this. You know that, right?”
The woman exited first to gather the necessary paperwork for the contract.
Dojae stayed behind for a moment, looking around the house.
‘I’ll make this my room.’
He opened the door closest to the entrance.
Directly across from him, at chest height, was a double-pane window.
When he opened the window, he could see a large university hospital complex.
Various specialized clinics were clustered together.
In one of the buildings near the small park was where his brother was staying.
‘It’s about a 5-minute drive from here.’
Dojae looked at the university hospital for a while, emotions swirling inside him.
After a long moment, he stepped out of the room and moved to the adjacent one.
‘This room would be better for my brother.’
He glanced at the inner room.
The two rooms were about the same size.
However, this one had larger windows and access to the balcony.
Dojae wanted to give his brother the master bedroom, where more sunlight streamed in.
Most importantly, the view from this room didn’t include the hospital.
‘I’ll need to buy all new furniture.’
He had been living alone in an old, rundown one-room apartment.
He didn’t have much in terms of furniture, and much of it was rusted or had mold spots from being in a semi-basement.
He didn’t want his brother to see any of that.
Kids today, even young ones, are well aware of everything.
He decided he would buy everything new during the move.
‘Maybe I should have considered a bigger place to fit the Metallic Hero exhibition? No, I can just keep it in the living room.’
There was no need to put it in his brother’s room.
Dojae himself had recently become a fan of Metallic Hero, and after all, brothers should share good things.
Crack.
Dojae stretched, lacing his fingers together and pushing his hands outward.
Then he looked around the house, which would soon become his new home, with a pleased expression.
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