Chapter 18.

“…170,000 won?”

My tone went up at the unexpected price .

The Portal worker retorted unfazed .

“Yes . From Seoul to Gangwondo Wonju, it’s 170,000 won . ”

Unlike from Cube to Seoul, going to Seoul to Gangwondo had a price . I bought my card with me, but 170,000 won wasn’t a small amount to pay, especially now, when I was trying to save money .

“Mm…”

“Customer, there are people waiting in line . ”

The female Portal worker gave a cold warning . Looking around, I could indeed see many people waiting in line . Seeing as how they each had a weapon with them, it seemed we had the same objective .

“Um… Can something be done with this?”

Before I reluctantly paid the price, I showed her my Cube Cadet Card . I remembered Kim Soohyuk saying something about Cube cadets having benefits, but because this wasn’t a setting I made, I wasn’t knowledgeable about the specifics .

“Huu…”

The Portal worker sighed as though she was annoyed but still accepted the card . But in the next moment, her eyes widened and a much brighter voice came back .

“Ah, you’re a Cube cadet . Cadets are allowed 6 free passes per month . ”

“Oh really? That’s great . ”

“Would you like to use one?”

“Yes . ”

The Portal worker then took my wrist and stamped a seal .

I was genuinely surprised at her complete change in attitude . It seemed being a Hero really was one of the best jobs in this world .

“Thank you . ”

“Yes, have a safe trip, Kim Hajin cadet-nim . ”

The female Portal worker had even memorized my name .

With a bitter smile, I walked into the Portal .

**

Gangwondo Wonju’s scenery could be summarized with just a sentence .

“So many foreigners . ”

Just like in my setting, Wonju was a global city . Although its buildings were limited in height due to the threat of monsters, the city was filled with sturdy modern structures . Foreigners of all skin color walked around with their weapons, while agency employees, who supported them, busily tapped on their tablets . They were likely calculating the price of the day’s haul .

While different from Seoul and Busan, it was indeed an unusual scene .

“We took down a good amount today . How much do I get?”

Hearing a clumsy Korean, I couldn’t help but laugh .

English and Korean were this world’s shared language . Naturally, this showed Korea’s importance and authority in the international community . While this sounded great for Korea, Korea was only a step away from hell .

The Korean Peninsula endlessly produced new Towers and Dungeons . The textbook contained several explanations for it . There was one scientific and geological explanation that I couldn’t understand, and there was also a more religious explanation that said Korea was blessed or cursed by the heaven . In truth, neither was close to the real reason .

In any case, the Korean Peninsula’s numerous Towers and Dungeons produced many monsters . Had it not been for Heroes who could turn them into marketable resources, Korea would have long been destroyed .

However, the Nine Stars, who were nine of the strongest Heroes, had five members who were Korean . One of them even served as Korea’s 20th President . Any further explanation wasn’t necessary .

“You killed three hobgoblins, so after taxes and processing fees, it should be about 600,000 won . ”

Under the tax law, foreigners had to pay more in taxes . Even so, foreign mercenaries and Heroes flocked to Korea, because the hunting process was safe enough to make up for the high taxes .

If things became dangerous during a hunt, one could simply send out a distress call, and Heroes or agents would arrive in less than three minutes . Korea was the only country in the world with such a system .

“Take this . You’ll feel better afterward . It’s a troll blood potion . ”

“Ah, thank you . ”

Seeing the world my setting created, I walked through the streets .

The city was full of interesting things – blacksmith’s workshop, potion store, alcohol bar, etc . With shops that looked like they belonged in the Middle Ages operating in modern buildings, it felt like I was in a game world .

The sentence, ‘Wonju is a famous tourist city,’ which I wrote without much thought, seemed to have caused this setting .

I continued walking and before I noticed, I was at the entrance of the ‘Field . ’ There were many people already waiting nearby . I would have to go to Hamgyong Province if I wanted to hunt in a quiet place, but Hamgyong province was too dangerous for the current me .

“E-Excuse me?”

Just when I was about to enter, someone struck up a conversation .

It was a tall, average-looking man with slouched shoulders and circular glasses .

I didn’t know him . He was likely an agent .

“Yes?”

“Are you perhaps here to hunt monsters?”

“…Are you an agent?”

“Ah, yes, here’s my business card . ”

I took the business card for now . I didn’t know who he was, but an agent was necessary to sell monsters’ bodies .

But when I looked at the name and the company logo written on the business card, I doubted my eyes .

[SH Agent Head Manager, Park Soohyuk]

“… Mr . Park Soohyuk?”

“Ah, yes, nice to meet you . ”

The man smiled as he tidied up his shabby clothes .

Park Soohyuk . I knew who he was . Indeed, he looked similar to how I described him in my novel .

Park Soohyuk should be the most-appearing agent in the novel, as SH Agent would become Korea’s greatest agency .

“Haha, you might not have heard of me . I started this work not too long ago . ”

But for now, he didn’t seem to be doing too well .

I smiled .

Connections were one of the most important aspects of life . A person’s future was often the result of ill-relationships and good-relationships one made .

As this world was still in its early stage, there were many who were currently weak but would become prosperous in the future . The best way to get close to a famous person was to become friends before that person became famous .

“SH Agent, I don’t think I’ve heard of it before…”

The only thing that bothered me was that this connection was supposed to be Kim Suho’s .

But since agents usually had multiple clients, it was probably fine .

“It feels like a trustworthy name . ”

“Ha, haha, thank you . ”

“Ah, by the way…”

I took out my laptop naturally and checked for any changes in Park Soohyuk’s setting . Thankfully, there were none, meaning his extraordinary ability was unchanged .

“My main weapon is a gun . Is that okay?”

“I don’t think why that would be a problem . Gun or sword, mercenary or hunter, it doesn’t matter to me! New customers are always welcome!”

Park Soohyuk put his hand out with a bright smile .

**

Eight bullets were loaded in my gun . Each pinnacle grade magic bullet cost about 150,000 won . Since each low-rank monster went for 300~400,000 won, I couldn’t use more than one bullet per monster due to agent fee I would have to pay .

With that in mind, I walked into the Field .

Park Soohyuk followed me from behind . It seemed he was in a desperate time considering the fact that agents without a vehicle usually waited outside the Field .

“Ah, there’s one there . ”

After about 30 minutes of wandering around, we finally encountered a monster .

A large body and protruding teeth, it was a low-rank grade 9 monster called an iron hog . The ‘iron’ part of its name wasn’t because it was covered in iron, but because its skin was stronger than iron .

“I think we should ignore that one . ”

When I began to approach it, Park Soohyuk held me back . I asked .

“Why?”

“…Yes?”

Park Soohyuk’s eyes seemed to say, ‘Do I need to explain this too?’

“You can’t kill an iron hog with a gun . Even piercing its outer skin will be difficult . ”

“But it’s expensive . ”

“Yes?”

The price of a monster faithfully followed the law of a free market economy . Monsters like the undead gave no benefits and thus had no value . Consequently, monsters like these were subsidized by the government

“Even if it’s expensive, attacking it isn’t a good…”

“You’ll just have to wait and see . ”

I took out my Desert Eagle and aimed it forward . The gun barrel shined under the blazing sun .

“W-W-Wait just one min—”

Park Soohyuk made a fuss in a fluster, but I didn’t hesitate . I pulled the trigger . The bullet shot straight to the middle of the iron hog’s head, and before the hog could even notice it, it tore through its iron-like skin . There was nothing it could do with its brain shot through . It helplessly fell down .

“Perfect . ”

Both the power of the weapon and my skill were satisfactory . I had struck the iron hog’s vital point with pinpoint accuracy .

“…Wow . ”

Next to me, Park Soohyuk exclaimed in awe .

Oh, and by the way, the setting I added to my Desert Eagle was simple and effective .

===

[When a monster is one-shot killed by the Desert Eagle, its attack power is amplified . ]

—Using low-intermediate rank as the standard, 1% attack power increase per kill .

—Repeated killing of same ranked monsters will slightly lower the amount of attack power increase .

===

By putting in a restriction that required me to put in an effort, I’d added a comparatively good effect for the SP I spent .

“So? Clean, isn’t it?”

Once again, I felt certain about my choice of weapon . Sniping from afar without getting close, it was the perfect hunting method with low risk and low tension .

“Uh… That’s a great gun! Your sharpshooting is amazing too . ”

“Haha, I’m flattered . ”

I spoke as I pointed at the iron hog’s corpse .

“So how much will this go for? It looks pretty expensive . ”

“Well, iron hogs are already pricey and since this corpse is in such a good condition, even after the fees, it should be at least 600… no, 800,000 won . ”

“Wow . ”

“Hold on . Let me store the corpse first . ”

Park Soohyuk took out a pouch from his bag . It should be a magical pouch with a space expansion magic .

Seeing him struggle to put the hog in the pouch, I grabbed the hog’s front leg .

“I’ll help out . ”

“Ah, thank you . ”

“… This is really heavy . ”

But thinking about it now, my strength stat wasn’t that high either .

“Uuk, uk, god . ”

“Wow, it really is heavy . ”

“Aren’t you an agent? Should you have known this beforehand?”

“…You’re right . ”

“I’ll hold its hind legs . You hold the front . Wait, don’t we have to carry the pouch around afterward?”

“Ah, don’t worry, anything inside the pouch will have its weight cut in half . ”

“…Only half?”

I couldn’t help but sigh . Indeed, Kim Suho only met Park Soohyuk in his third year . Park Soohyuk was in a bad state even then, so now… well, I could only be thankful that he hasn’t starved to death .

“Ugh . ”

“Uuu . ”

“Come on, put more strength into it . ”

“Sorry, I didn’t have lunch…”

After an hour of groaning and moaning, we finally managed to stuff the hog in the pouch .

“Whew…”

I collapsed on the ground, exhausted . My strength and stamina stat had to have increased with that .

“…It’s already 7 . ”

Before I noticed, the sun had set and darkness had descended on the Field . A fearsome cold enveloped my body .

From the looks of it, today’s hunt would end with this one kill .

Though I felt a little regret at the huge waste of time, I wasn’t too sad since I got to make a valuable connection .

“So how do we bring this back?”

“That’s ingenious…”

We laughed together . At that moment…

“…Hold on . ”

Rustle . A faint sound rang out from a tree .

“Shh . ”

I took out my gun once more with my index finger over my mouth . Then, I fired at the direction of the sound .

Thud .

There was no scream . Only the sound of a beefy body crashing down rang out .

“Huh? What happened?”

“It’s a black pelican . ”

“Yes?”

Park Soohyuk might not have been able to see anything, but I could see it clearly . My eyes could see a thousand miles away .

“…Black pelican?”

“Yep . Fantastic, we should take this one back too . ”

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