Chapter 46: Contract (1)

Sim Woojin, leader of the Uijeongbu Gate Supervision Team, yawned as he stared blankly at the gates spread throughout Jikdonggeonlin Park.

‘So boring.’

All the other dispatch agents were on guard.

Upper-level management seemed to be rattled up about the emergency gates.

‘Eh, doesn’t look like anything special is gonna happen.’

He had seen similar situations countless times over the last three years.

The only difference was that the gates here were perpetual.

Perpetual gates remained in place semi-permanently, and they were often purchased at a high price by guilds or the association.

‘But that has nothing to do with me.’

The association wouldn’t gain anything by clearing this gate

They would get neither the rewards nor the credit.

All the credit was given to the gate execution team.

‘At least the gate execution team gets an exorbitant amount of cash..’

The gate supervision team got nothing.

All they did was stand guard aimlessly until the other teams arrived.

It would be a different story if someone showed up and cleared the gate.

Smirk.

“Only an A-class hunter would be able to do something like that.”

But there was no way that an A-class hunter would rush to an emergency gate to make some petty cash.

It was then.

‘Hm?’

Out of nowhere, two hunters walked out from one of the gates in the park.

Sim Woojin stared at them in confusion.

‘What happened? There’s no way they finished already. Why did they come out?’

His questions didn’t stay unanswered for long.

“Uhhh?”

The azure gate turned into an ashy color as soon as the two hunters stepped out.

As far as he knew, there was only one condition under which this happened.

“When the boss room is cleared..”

Also, the boss would respawn after a certain time period.

This meant that those two just cleared a perpetual gate by themselves.

“What the fuck?!”

He couldn’t help but burst into laughter when he realized this.

For the first time in his three years of being part of the supervision team, someone had cleared a dungeon.

***

I came out of the gate with a huge smile on my face.

「 Skill – Mind’s Eye (D-) 」

「 Proficiency – 0% 」

「 Effect – During battle, you can perceive attacks from outside your range of vision. 」

I had obtained one of the lizard king’s skills.

Because of the low probability, I hadn’t even considered that this would happen.

My luck seemed to have turned around after I entered the tower of trials.

‘I seriously can’t believe that I got a skill.’

I would probably get more skills once I absorbed all of the lizardmen.

My combination skill would soon come in handy again.

‘I knew going into the dungeon was the right choice.’

After looking at the unexpected rewards from the excavation, I couldn’t help but be satisfied.

As I walked out with a triumphant look on my face, a man in a black suit interrupted me.

“Please wait..!”

He sprinted toward me and paused to catch his breath.

“Did you clear this gate?”

Lee Cheolwon turned around to answer that question with another question.

“I’m sorry, but who are you to ask us that?”

Taken aback, the man placed his hands on his heart and exhaled.

“Ah, I’m sorry about that. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sim Woojin, and I’m the leader of the hunter association’s gate supervision team.”

“Gate supervision team..?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Haha, I didn’t get a chance to greet you earlier because another member of my team was stationed at the gate.”

“..”

It looked like he rushed here after noticing that we cleared the gate.

‘Fine by me. I was looking for a way to sell the ownership license.’

This would save me the trouble of looking for a potential buyer myself.

I would’ve sold it to a guild if I were associated with one, but the hunter association was probably the best option right now.

Lee Cheolwon was the first to respond.

“By any chance, did you want to purchase the rights to this gate?”

“Yes. I wanted to offer you two a deal..”

***

“I don’t have a say in that.”

“Excuse me?”

“The only person who has the rights to this gate is hunter Han Sungyeun right here.”

“..!”

Sim Woojin’s attention shifted to me.

“If you cleared it alone, are you perhaps an A-rank—”

I cut him off before the misunderstanding could grow out of hand.

“No, I’m a C-rank hunter.”

“Oh? I-I see.”

“That’s not the important part. Let’s get right to the point. What’s your offer price?”

Sim Woojin probably didn’t expect me to react this way, but I didn’t want to give any more information about myself.

The association was tracking down all the hunters who had been to the tower.

I had to change the subject.

Thankfully, Sim Woojin seemed to be on the same page as me.

“Ehem. To get to the point, my team would like to purchase the rights to this gate at 1.2 million dollars.”

‘Ooh..’

It was more than I expected.

They were willing to pay 1.2 million for just a D-rank gate.

‘Is this gate even worth that much?”

With that kind of money, you could easily buy a C-rank dungeon.

Of course I would be surprised.

“It seems like a fair price. I’ll take it.”

I tried to be as monotone as possible.

“Thank you for the quick response. The contract will—”

“I’m a little busy right now. Can we do it as soon as possible?”

“I can prepare the contract right now. Would you like to sign it nearby?”

“That works for me.”

I couldn’t stay here for long.

Sim Woojin told me that he would meet me at a cafe nearby.

“Wow, that was amazing. I’ve never seen someone get an offer on the spot like that.”

Lee Cheolwon stared at me in awe.

“Really? Doesn’t this happen after completing a dungeon?”

“That only happens to high-rank hunters, not people like us.”

“Well, let’s start splitting the loot. No matter what happened, you were still the one who got us into the dungeon.”

“Okay, do you mind if I sell the cores? I know a guy who would buy it for above market price.”

“Hmm, I don’t mind. Let’s do that.”

Why am I trusting a complete stranger with this?

Because it would save me the trouble of finding a place to sell them.

Plus, I made a lot more money by selling the rights to the gate.

“If you leave me your contact information, I’ll give you a call.”

After we exchanged our information, Lee Cheolwon left the premises.

“Now, let’s go finalize that contract.”

I didn’t have much time left.

‘I have to make the most of it.’

The chance that another emergency gate would pop up was close to zero.

If I wanted to go into a higher-tier dungeon, I would need some sort of connection.

I already had a plan for that.

***

The contract was finalized without a hitch.

“As per the contract, I will send you the money by tomorrow.”

Sim Woojin gave me a wide smile as soon as I signed.

I appreciated how quick and smooth the process was, and I got up from my seat.

“Han Sungyeun-nim, if you aren’t tied to any organization, would you be interested in joining the hunter association?”

“..Are you asking if I want to be a hunter for the association?”

“Yes. I checked your records, and you seem to be a recently registered hunter. We assure you that the association will provide you with the best possible conditions.”

“..”

I considered it for a moment.

I would need to join some sort of organization if I wanted to act at my discretion.

And I had no qualms about that organization being the hunter association.

Plus, this was the second time they had given me a scouting offer.

But I was a bit reluctant to get tied to an organization.

I would prefer something like a freelance position while still having access to everything I needed..

It all came down to how strict the association was with their hunters.

And in my head, they weren’t very strict.

It was a viable choice, but I wanted to give it more thought.

I could always come back to this later, and I already had something planned.

“I can’t give you a response right now.”

“I understand. A skilled hunter like you needs to explore their options.”

“But let’s stay in contact, and I’ll let you know if I change my mind.”

“That’s enough for me. Haha, I’ll get going then.”

Sim Woojin left with a grin on his face, and I took out my smartphone to get in touch with the only person whom I could call my ‘network.’

「 Hello, this is Han Sungyeun. We met on the 4th floor. Do you have time to meet with me if you’re on Earth? 」

My teammate from the 4th floor, Lee Hayeon.

——