I Alone Level-Up

Ahn Sangmin bowed his head once more, then quickly call over to Hyun Gicheol.

"Deputy Hyun, grab the contract and the seals[1]."

"Yessir!"

The man finished his preparations in an instant. As the two men quickly left the office, Baek Yoonho asked an employee standing nearby,

"What just happened? Just what kind of a recruit is it, that Chief Ahn moved like that?"

The man he asked turned to a female coworker for help, but she shook her head.

I don"t know either. Her eyes told him.

"Sigh…"

Fl.u.s.tered, the man scratched the back of his head and spoke with difficulty,

"Er… That"s… I"m not sure…"

He expected the wrath of the Guildmaster to come down upon him next, but the Guildmaster did not say anything.

"He"s even hiding it from his subordinates, is that it?"

Baek Yoonho put a hand on his chin. One of the crucial pieces that built Baekho to what it was today was Chief Ahn Sangmin. And if such a man was this focused on his task…

"Did our Chief Ahn come across something big?"

Baek Yoonho"s lips widened to a bright smile.

-

"What kind of coffee is this bitter?"

Jinwoo scrunched his face. Compared to a can of coffee from a vending machine, this "espresso" he had ordered tasted more like a medicine. On top of that, it was so expensive.

"You know how many canned coffees I could buy with six thousand won…?"

As he considered how much sugar he would have to add to get it to the level of a canned coffee, Ahn Sangmin and Hyun Gicheol entered the cafe.

"Over here."

Jinwoo waved his hand.

Ahn Sangmin and Hyun Gicheol discovered Jinwoo after looking around the shop and smiled. They looked like they were about to win big on some lottery.

"We didn"t think we"d see you again so soon."

Ahn Sangmin greeted Jinwoo and sat across from him. His subordinate sat down next to the division chief. Jinwoo greeted them with a light nod of the head. They say to strike while the iron"s hot; Ahn Sangmin immediately began to take out the contract as he sat down.

"So first, we"ll go over the contractual conditions-"

The man"s eagerness was blinding, but Jinwoo firmly cut him off,

"I"m not here for a contract today."

The hand that was taking out the contract froze. Hyun Gicheol"s expression equally hardened.

As if someone had pressed a pause b.u.t.ton on his life, Ahn Sangmin spoke while his hands were still frozen on the half-revealed doc.u.ments,

"Then what business do you have with the Baekho Guild…?"

As his expectations were large, so was his disappointment. The new recruit that had approached them of his own will rejected the contract as soon as he saw it. It couldn"t have been that he changed his mind in that instant.

"I"m here to help you both."

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Both of the Baekho employees reacted in the same way. The pair looked at each other, then back at Jinwoo. Jinwoo continued at the confused pair,

"You told me that because our side was taking up all the C-rank Gates, you were having some issues with new recruit training, right?"

"That"s right. Even if we don"t have a C-rank Gate, we can"t exactly take new recruits into a higher level Dungeon."

"And that"s why I"m here."

Ahn Sangmin was confused,

"I"m afraid I don"t follow…"

Jinwoo decided he had teased them enough and got to the point,

"We currently have three C-rank Gates reserved. I"d like to sell the raiding rights to the Baekho Guild."

Ah~

Hyun Gicheol opened his mouth in understanding. The two men from Baekho finally understood why Jinwoo was here. Ahn Sangmin put away the contract and asked,

"If you wanted to help us, wouldn"t it have been better to just not reserve them in the first place?"

Jinwoo shook his head,

"We have a need to reserve a lot of C-rank Gates for a while."

"Then why today…?"

Jinwoo smiled widely,

"Well, I wanted to help you two out."

Should they believe him? Ahn Sangmin started to run all sorts of possibilities in his head, but Jinwoo continued,

"Of course, this offer is only for today. We can"t put it off forever after all. If you miss this offer, I"m afraid it"ll be difficult for you to reserve a C-rank Gate for a while."

It was the way home shopping channel salesmen would speak when a sale was about to expire.

"Hmm…"

Ahn Sangmin fell into contemplation. It wasn"t as if Gates only appeared in the capitol area. If they became desperate, they could go to other regions to train their new recruits. However, such a method might invite complaint from that region"s Guilds or private parties. Not only that, doing so would give off a hint of weakness to the other top Guilds. They would basically be announcing that they did not have the power to train their new recruits in their own territory.

"Hmm… That would be disgraceful."

It was the truth. What kind of a recruit would want to enter a Guild that was belittled by the other top Guilds? This is why a Guild"s image was important.

"Alright."

After giving it some thought, Ahn Sangmin made a decision.

"We"ll buy the raiding rights. Three C-rank Gates should just be enough for us. How much for all of them?"

Baekho Guild certainly had the funds to fight for the Gates going forward. But it would neither be worth it to get into a battle of finances against Yoojin Construction nor sour their relations.h.i.+p with Jinwoo. So if Jinwoo was offering to turn over the Gates, shouldn"t they be thankful?

They were not thankful for his asking price.

"How about three hundred million per Gate, so nine hundred million total?"

"Huk!"

Both of the employees made a same noise.

"That"s a little-"

Hyun Gicheol started to protest, but Ahn Sangmin quickly stopped him. This was just like their first meeting. Back then, Jinwoo ended the discussion after Baekho was unable to meet his asking price. They could not miss an opportunity like this. If they did, it would become very difficult to reserve a C-rank Gate in the area. Worst case scenario, they would have to go to the other regions to train their new recruits.

"I"ll atleast have to try a counteroffer."

It was too early to end the negotiations. Still, 300 million for a single Gate was too much. According to their recent investigation, Yoo Jinho"s team bought the Gates for 100 million each. Jinwoo was asking for 3 times that amount. Ahn Sangmin was sure Jinwoo knew as much.

"He probably gave a high number, expecting us to negotiate it down."

The division chief remembered his Guildmaster"s words as he left the office.

"I don"t care if it"s one hundred or two hundred million, reserve a d.a.m.n Gate! Do you understand?!"

This was as good as receiving permission from the company president. Since the rest of the Second Management Division heard the same thing, the Guildmaster would probably not retract his words. Ahn Sangmin gulped and gave a counteroffer,

"Three hundred is a bit hard for us, how about two hund-"

"Works for me."

Before Ahn Sangmin even finished, Jinwoo held out a hand. Ahn Sangmin took the hand, fl.u.s.tered.

"So… so we"re in agreement?"

"Yes, two hundred million per C-rank Gate. Please put it into this account."

It felt like the negotiation was over too quickly, but Ahn Sangmin was still glad. The man shook Jinwoo"s hand and bowed his head.

"Thank you very much."

"It was nothing."

Jinwoo was smiling widely. Ahn Sangmin thought that he had scored some small victory here. He had solved the issue of new recruit training and furthered the Guild"s relations.h.i.+p with Jinwoo.

"A transaction like this is the first step to building faith."

Yes. Step by step, he would build a good relations.h.i.+p with Jinwoo. Eventually, he"ll come over to their side. People did not spit in the face of someone smiling at them, nor did they ignore a present that was given. In his heart, Ahn Sangmin pumped his fists in accomplishment.

Jinwoo was the first to rise.

"Then, I"ll see you again someday. Ah, I forgot, here-"

Jinwoo held out a shopping bag with a tumbler in it and returned it to its owner

"Thank you for that. It was delicious."

"I"m glad it was to your tastes."

Hyun Gicheol took the shopping bag, and Jinwoo left the cafe.

After walking some distance away from the Baekho"s employees, Jinwoo called Yoo Jinho. The young man answered the call with a surprised voice,

- "Hyungnim, the funds really came in. Six hundred million?"

"..."

Jinwoo silently laughed. The transaction was a success. He managed to sell the raiding rights that would"ve been thrown away for twice what they paid. It was an incredible deal. Yoo Jinho asked with awe in his voice,

- "Hyungnim, just how did you pull this off? Where did you sell the C-rank Gates?"

"It"s a trade secret."

- "Eh?"

"Rest well, I"ll see you in two days."

While Yoo Jinho was fl.u.s.tered, Jinwoo hung up.

-

That night.

The Second Management Division office.

Hyun Gicheol frantically looked for Ahn Sangmin.

"Chief! Chief!"

"What is it?"

Ahn Sangmin turned away from his computer. Hyun Gicheol held out his phone with a panicked expression.

"Look at this!"

"Just what is it?"

Looking at the phone screen, Ahn Sangmin"s eyes narrowed.

"This is…?"

It was the Hunter a.s.sociation"s website available only for Hunters. The website revealed the information on Gates that had appeared. The phone was specifically in the real-time raiding rights reservation section.

"What the?! There are plenty of C-rank Gates in our area!"

"I know! And most of them were reserved for less than ten million!"

"Wait… Are you telling me…"

Ahn Sangmin dreaded Hyun Gicheol"s next words,

"Yoo Jinho"s team didn"t reserve any Gates today."

He then recalled Jinwoo"s words from the first phone call they had.

"I"ll have some free time on Thursday."

Tomorrow was that Thursday.

From the start, Yoo Jinho"s team had no plans to Raid tomorrow. Ahn Sangmin had forgotten about this and purchased the raiding rights for an expensive price.

"Hah…"

Ahn Sangmin groaned. The facts were all there, but he failed to put them together. It was a grave mistake. Well, that mistake managed to calm the wrath of the Guildmaster.

"I think he got us, chief."

As if on cue, Ahn Sangmin received a message.

beep beep

It was Sung Jinwoo.

Looks like we"re even now. I"ll forget about the spying business with this.

"Ha ha ha, the man"s not to be underestimated."

Ahn Sangmin swallowed a laughter. If Jinwoo really meant to overlook the spying, Ahn Sangmin did not feel bad at all about being tricked. Their final objective was to recruit Jinwoo, after all. The amount that they spent today was nothing for Baekho.

"Let"s just consider it an investment into Sung Jinwoo."

If only they could gain something worthy from their investment. Ahn Sangmin looked at the message with a smile then put away his phone.

-

After sending the message, Jinwoo looked around the surrounding.

There was no one around.

He was in the middle of a forest.

To plan for all possibilities, he had chosen a secluded place.

The time was 5:44 PM. There would be no one hiking at this hour. Just in case, he had still picked a place far away from any hiking trails.

"Shall I get started?"

Jinwoo opened the System"s message box.

The Cla.s.s Advancement Quest has arrived.

Would you like to accept? (Y/N)

As if waiting for him, the message appeared in front of his eyes.

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: In Korea, businesses/individual use official/personal seals to officialize various doc.u.ments.