Chapter 54 : A Secret Deal
Chapter 54: A Secret Deal. (1)
Two days had passed since the Gangnam Station Multi Gate incident occurred.
As always, humanity rebuilt the destroyed city and mourned those who had been sacrificed to the monsters.
And.
At the Dio Guild, a meeting was in full swing.
Lee Yu-seol continued her report as she flipped through the presentation.
“After aggregating all guilds, the total number of deaths came to 216, including hunters and agents. There were 73 critically injured, the lightly injured are still being identified, and the missing persons…….”
Someone slammed the table.
“Just report on our company. Why are you bothering to care about the others?”
It was Go Pil-hoon, who had newly risen to the top position of the Dio Guild following his older brother’s death.
At Go Pil-hoon’s remark, the room fell silent.
Lee Yu-seol let out a breath.
“Yes. Understood. The number of deaths within the Dio Guild is eight, and…….”
Listening to the report, Go Pil-hoon yawned.
He didn’t care who died, or how many.
Go Pil-hoon’s only interest was money.
How much profit this incident had brought in.
“Damage is enough at that level. So, what about the income?”
From a disaster that drove countless people to their deaths, could there really be such a thing as profit?
Surprisingly, there was.
Just as arms manufacturers and weapon dealers raked in money when war broke out.
The world had been turned upside down, but capitalism had not collapsed, so someone somewhere had been stuffing their pockets behind the scenes.
Lee Yu-seol switched the presentation screen.
“We acquired 8 types of artifacts, 25 types of relics, 79 types of divine weapons, and 368 magic stones from monster corpses.”
A gate was a horrifying exit where monsters poured out, but at the same time, it was also an entrance into an unknown world.
Even amid the chaos of war, the Dio Guild quietly acquired resources.
These were materials not disclosed even to the government under the pretext of corporate confidentiality.
“The biggest gain is the <Orc’s Box>.”
“Oh.”
Go Pil-hoon rounded his mouth.
“Wasn’t that the one that came out at the London Sotheby’s Auction last time?”
He himself was a former B-rank hunter.
He was well-versed in knowledge about items inside gates.
“At the time, it was sold for 16 million dollars. This time, we expect to receive an even higher price.”
In Korean won, it was an amount exceeding a staggering 21.6 billion.
“Keuh!”
Go Pil-hoon stroked his chin as if satisfied.
“However.”
Lee Yu-seol lifted her head after taking her eyes off the data screen.
“The hunter who acquired the <Orc’s Box> said he would personally return part of the profits to society.”
Hunters who joined a guild split the profits from items obtained inside gates by a set ratio.
For newcomers, it was 7 for the hunter and 3 for the guild.
Exclusive contracts were 8 : 2.
S-rank hunters often took everything at 9 or even 10.
Since the guild provided gate information, supported various equipment, and even handled hunter care, it was a fairly reasonable contract.
“Return?”
Go Pil-hoon tilted his head.
‘Everyone’s desperate to take even a single won more. What kind of lunatic would pull a stunt like that…….’
He jutted out his chin and asked back.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Hunter Choi Yong-gi.”
A murmur rippled through the room.
“Who’s Choi Yong-gi?”
“No idea, first time hearing the name.”
It was an unfamiliar name to them.
But Lee Yu-seol and Go Pil-hoon alone wore subtle expressions.
“The one who closed the main gate during this Multi Gate incident was also Hunter Choi Yong-gi.”
Go Pil-hoon frowned.
“Not Na Sang-min?”
“That’s correct.”
An intern of the Dio Guild.
Moreover, an F-rank.
For a rookie to accomplish what even S-rank hunters couldn’t—it was truly a remarkable achievement.
“The official article will be reported by various media outlets tomorrow. The headline candidates are as follows.”
Bold letters appeared on the brightened screen.
<The Hero of Gangnam Closes the Gate!>
<Dio Guild’s Hero!>
<The Man Who Saved Thousands of Lives>…….
One corner of Go Pil-hoon’s mouth curled upward.
At a time when the Dio Guild needed an image overhaul.
A figure like Choi Yong-gi was undoubtedly a character that would appeal to the public.
Go Pil-hoon recalled his first meeting with Choi Yong-gi.
Covered in blood, glaring at him.
A man like an untamed, ferocious wolf.
Go Pil-hoon snapped his fingers.
“Good. Do it like this.”
He stood up from his chair as if he were a god descended.
Then he walked around the conference room, speaking rapidly.
“First, make sure Hunter Choi gets a generous reward. We’re getting government subsidies for the Multi Gate anyway.”
“Understood.”
“Take profile photos, put him on magazine covers, and run him through interview circuits with major media outlets.”
“……Yes.”
“And, uh, also.”
Lee Yu-seol checked the time.
“Sir. Sorry to interrupt, but you need to head to your next schedule.”
Go Pil-hoon paused.
“Ah, is today that day? Let’s wrap up the meeting here.”
When Go Pil-hoon clapped his hands a couple of times, everyone stood up, bowed, and left.
Only Go Pil-hoon and Lee Yu-seol remained in the conference room.
“The investor?”
“They should have entered the country by now.”
Go Pil-hoon rubbed his hands together.
“Heaven’s helping me. The timing is perfect.”
At the moment, Go Pil-hoon was secretly plotting something.
Namely, a plan to sell the Dio Guild wholesale to an overseas guild.
If the plan succeeded, Go Pil-hoon would make an astronomical amount of money, but the Dio Guild would no longer belong to the Republic of Korea.
However, Go Pil-hoon, who had acquired U.S. citizenship, had no such thing as patriotism.
“You’ve got to sell at the peak when the price goes up. Right? Team Leader Lee.”
“……That’s right, sir.”
“Let’s go!”
Unlike the excited Go Pil-hoon, a dark shadow fell over Lee Yu-seol’s face.
Inside the office, long after everyone had left work.
I was alone, checking a single sheet of paper.
<< Salary Statement >>
“One, ten, hundred, thousand…….”
Like a child who had just begun learning numbers.
I counted the digits over and over again.
: ₩784,380,112.
“Seven hundred eighty million.”
Even after saying it out loud, it didn’t feel real.
Even after deducting various taxes and fees, the take-home pay exceeded seven hundred million.
‘I still can’t believe it even seeing it.’
Everyone desperately wanted to become an awakener.
Because if you became a high-grade hunter, you could earn a high salary.
Even so.
‘This is a bit excessive.’
How could a rookie hunter receive this much money?
Since I had been an intern, my fixed salary hadn’t been very high.
For my first real mission, I entered a gate and annihilated the dungeon’s boss monster.
There were life-risk allowances and bonuses added, but they weren’t remarkable enough to explain it.
The truly important part lay elsewhere.
My gaze gathered in one place.
[ Main Gate Suppression Activity Fee ]
: ₩1,100,000,000.
It was a bonus awarded for the merit of stopping the Gangnam Station Multi Gate this time.
‘1.1 billion.’
It wasn’t completely incomprehensible.
If the main gate hadn’t been closed in time, the resulting damage would have far exceeded imagination.
The monster wave would have spread like wildfire across various regions.
If it had been even a little later.
Not only hunters, but a considerable number of ordinary civilians would have lost their lives.
Thus, closing the main gate was no different from beheading the enemy general amid a fierce battle.
“Anyway, it’s like hitting the lottery.”
In my previous life, the money I had saved over nearly thirty years of work was about 1 billion won.
I had earned that amount as a monthly paycheck.
It felt so new that I was left dazed.
Of course, the process hadn’t been easy.
While fighting monsters, I had crossed the line between life and death several times, and the scene where Bater surrounded me and tightened the noose was still vivid before my eyes.
‘It’s a miracle I didn’t lose my mind.’
The Dio Guild seized the opportunity and sold me hard.
They slapped the frame of ‘Hero of Gangnam Station’ onto me and aggressively put me forward.
They released all kinds of sensational articles.
In a special documentary, they recreated what happened at Yanghwa Bridge and turned me into a hero.
I rejected all interviews.
Standing in front of people wasn’t my taste, and I hadn’t done it for fame.
Come to think of it, the excessive pay hadn’t been completely free.
‘The countless reporters who came to my place were annoying.’
Still, I earned more than enough money to put up with it.
The comments under the articles went like this.
Are hunters these days even human? They’re just pure thugs. That kind of person is a real hunter.
Dio Guild? Even trash groups can bloom flowers, huh.
Choi Yong-gi? He’s pretty handsome? I’m starting to stan this guy from now on.
The sudden fame was burdensome, but I decided to just let it flow.
Why?
I picked up my phone and launched the banking app.
Among the deposit history, a red-highlighted line caught my eye.
<Dio Guild>
: ₩12,560,000,000.
“12.56 billion.”
Now, my sense of reality was gradually starting to fade.
The Dio Guild had disposed of the <Orc’s Box> I brought back.
The winning bid exceeded 20 million dollars.
In Korean won, it reached a staggering 27 billion.
I didn’t monopolize all of it myself.
After deducting taxes and the amount taken by the guild, I only took two-thirds of my share.
The rest.
Bang Su-hwan, Lee Ji-jun, Hase-na.
I distributed portions to the intern team members who had entered the gate with me.
All of them had faced the brink of death at the hands of Instructor Nike.
If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to exit the gate unscathed either.
And.
There was one more share.
The hunters who had been sacrificed in the process of blocking the Multi Gate.
With this incident, more than 200 hunters met their deaths.
Heroes in comic books display dazzling abilities and fight villains spectacularly.
They receive cheers and applause from people.
However, what awaited real-life heroes was nothing but惨状 too dreadful to watch with open eyes.
Someone’s father.
Or someone’s family member became a star in the sky.
For them, I willingly put out money.
The Dio Guild extensively used my actions as a means of promotion.
<Hunter Choi Yong-gi makes a bold donation of 10 billion won for bereaved families and facility restoration!>
<The warm heart of the nation’s hunter>
<Another good deed after another! A donation angel appears.>
To give away hundreds of millions without pocketing it myself.
It was something unimaginable in my previous life.
I had scraped together even ten won more.
I had been a severe miser who didn’t spend money not only on others, but even on myself.
I also attended the funerals of the hunters who met their deaths at the hands of Instructor Nike.
They were interns who had shared hardships with me.
I also delivered donations to members of other guilds who had lost their lives at Yanghwa Bridge.
If it weren’t for them, my heroic feat wouldn’t have existed either.
That’s right.
Perhaps the act of sharing money without expecting anything in return was my way of soothing my own heart.
Someone opened the office door and walked in.
A silhouette emerged from the darkness.
A woman with short hair and a slender figure walked toward me.
It felt like seeing a black cat.
“Lee Yu-seol.”
When I called her name, the black cat stopped.
Beyond the window, the city’s flashy neon signs poured in.
“Mr. Choi Yong-gi. Or should I call you Purple Devil.”
It was a provocative remark.
But she wasn’t picking a fight.
As proof.
Lee Yu-seol maintained a certain distance and swallowed nervously with a tense expression.
‘She’s afraid of me.’
In front of her eyes, I had mercilessly slaughtered Seo Gwang-pal and the agents.
I had dragged her as a hostage, stormed the base, and killed Go Ju-hoon.
To Lee Yu-seol, I was an enemy, and an enemy of the Dio Guild.
“Did you come for revenge?”
Why had I wanted so desperately to become a hero?
The helplessness of not being able to protect my family while floundering in the swamp of poverty my entire life.
The self-loathing and self-reproach of failing to protect my younger sibling.
I wanted to stand against all of that.
I had wished to live bravely while upholding my own convictions.
Some said revenge bred emptiness and harmed oneself.
But my thoughts were different.
“Revenge is a good motive too. It gives you a reason to live.”
If Lee Yu-seol were to rush at me here to kill me.
Then I, too.
“I’ll face you sincerely.”
I placed the salary statement I’d been holding onto the desk.
After watching me for a while, Lee Yu-seol opened her mouth.
She raised both hands, as if expressing surrender.
“That’s enough. I didn’t come to fight. And I don’t want to die either.”
She continued.
“I admit it. There was a time when I resented you, but not anymore. I want to be in the same boat as you.”
They said yesterday’s enemy became today’s ally.
Out of the blue, Lee Yu-seol wanted to be on my side.
“I can’t trust that.”
“Yong-gi. Make a deal with me.”
“What kind of deal?”
Before hearing the conditions.
I was curious about what scheme she was plotting.
Gritting her teeth, Lee Yu-seol spoke as if filled with rage.
“Let’s push Go Pil-hoon out.”