“Hy-hyung…”

Hyung-seok’s voice was shaking with excitement, as though his heart was about to explode. If someone overheard, they might misunderstand the situation entirely.

“Calm down.”

“How can I calm down? It just passed 28 billion won! The competition is going wild. This price is way higher than I expected. I think the 20 billion I mentioned earlier was before the U.S. started aggressively buying everything.”

He was barely holding himself together, clearly overwhelmed by the bidding war.

“The power of money is scary. It wasn’t like this before. The supply wasn’t completely dried up, but ever since the U.S. started using their financial muscle to buy everything, the prices have gone berserk.”

In the past, if the prices got too high due to supply and demand, people would just give up. But now, it was like the floodgates had opened, and the prices were skyrocketing uncontrollably.

‘Why is the price still going up?’

I couldn’t help but stare at the rapidly increasing number on the screen. It was already ridiculously high.

“People are willing to pay this much?”

“You don’t get it yet, hyung. Back in the day, hunters were obsessed with competing over their stats. But that was because there weren’t many items available. Now, with more items on the market, it’s more advantageous to buy items with money than to grind for stats.”

“So, they’re basically paying to boost their stats?”

“Exactly. The Baekho Guild operates the same way.”

Hearing the mention of Baekho Guild triggered something inside me.

“Why Baekho Guild?”

“You know Lee Jin-hyuk, right? He’s A-rank as a hunter, but with all the items he has, he’s practically evaluated at S-rank. There’s a rumor that his hunter gear alone is worth several hundred billion won.”

Hyung-seok nodded as he spoke.

“Several hundred billion?”

My jaw dropped.

“Well, he’s the heir to Taeyang Group. For him, that’s pocket change. Once he inherits the group, his wealth will be in the tens of trillions.”

“Wow…”

I was beginning to understand why Che Su-hyeon acted the way she did. I’d never paid much attention to the Baekho Guild or corporate families. I’d just been focused on surviving day to day. For someone like me, who lived a quiet life in Sillim-dong, those stories were like something from another world.

“Anyway, that’s what Baekho Guild is trying to do. Taeyang Group is using their capital to monopolize the item market. I think they recruited Che Su-hyeon for a similar reason. They wanted to combine the financial power of Baekho Guild with the top stats of Hunter Che Su-hyeon.”

He glanced at me cautiously, trying to gauge my reaction.

“If they had succeeded, they would’ve created an unstoppable character. Che Su-hyeon is already the number one hunter in Korea, and with items worth billions, she’d be a near-invincible powerhouse.”

“Hmm… I see.”

I was beginning to piece it all together. I now understood why Che Su-hyeon ended up with the conglomerates and why Lee Jin-hyuk joined forces with her. It was a mutual arrangement, driven by profit.

Of course, I had stopped their plans.

‘Che Su-hyeon’s just an E-rank now, right? I already took everything from her. She’s at rock bottom.’

Without the points she got from me, she was nothing.

‘I’m the one rising to the top now, aren’t I?’

“Wow, hyung… It just passed 30 billion. This is insane.”

“Should we cancel the auction? This is getting out of hand. And if this much attention is on it, won’t it be impossible to keep it hidden?”

“No, no, don’t worry. We can keep it completely private. No one will know.”

Hyung-seok was grinning ear to ear, completely unbothered.

“Let’s see how high it goes. Hehehe.”

“Alright.”

“Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate your help. It was urgent.”

“No problem. We don’t fully understand what’s going on, but if it’s necessary, we’re here to help.”

The S-rank hunters were pushing through the tasks Baek Ji-hoon had assigned. Initially, Baek Ji-hoon had thought that only Lee Soo-ah and Yoo Hana would handle the difficult missions, thinking they would be barely manageable.

But now, with eight S-rank hunters working together, the dungeon raid was progressing much more smoothly than expected.

“Uh… Soo-ah?” “Yes?” “I think we might actually succeed this time…” “Y-yeah, seems that way…”

Lee Soo-ah wiped the sweat from her brow. Yoo Hana, who had been worried at first, now seemed more at ease.

“It looks like it was too hard for just the two of us. But Ji-hoon wouldn’t have expected us to bring in six more S-rank hunters, right?”

“Exactly. We’ll strike when he least expects it. Let’s show him what we can do. We’re not just hunters anymore. We’re standing up to the Baekho Guild.”

Yoo Hana nodded in agreement.

“I’ve never liked the Baekho Guild. They think money is all that matters. They completely dismiss our skills and stats.”

“Right. We’ve worked hard to become S-rank hunters, and they just try to buy everything with money. The S-rank hunters hesitated for a while because of debuffs, and during that time, they tried to buy their way through everything.”

Lee Soo-ah and Yoo Hana shared a look of mutual disdain for the Baekho Guild. They were convinced that Baek Ji-hoon was closely tied to the guild. That’s why they believed they had to complete this mission flawlessly.

“Let’s push harder and deliver a decisive blow. Let’s show them the true power of S-rank hunters!” “Yes!”

The team seemed united in purpose.

“Hm? What did you say?”

Che Su-hyeon frowned as she listened to the unusual report.

“So… it’s not just Lee Soo-ah and Yoo Hana, but also Lee Ye-ji, Lee Haru, Park Ye-eun… all of them are together?”

“Yes, ma’am. Something strange seems to be happening. I thought you should know.”

The Baekho Guild’s intelligence officer had just delivered the report to Che Su-hyeon.

‘What the… Why are they all gathered?’

“And what are they doing?”

“They’ve been raiding dungeons nonstop since this morning.”

“Raiding dungeons?”

The situation was becoming even more confusing. It was already odd that they were gathered, but the fact that they were raiding dungeons together was even stranger.

‘Could Ji-hoon oppa be up to something…?’

She recalled something she had heard in passing.

That Baek Ji-hoon was trying to gather all the S-rank hunters into the Blue Guild. She had thought it was a joke, but now it seemed like it might not be.

‘Is he really trying to gather them all?’

To her, it looked like Baek Ji-hoon might be in the process of executing a plan to recruit all the S-rank hunters for the Blue Guild.

‘No way… That can’t be. No one could pull that off.’

She couldn’t believe it.

‘Is he slowly collecting them one by one…?’

Already, four S-rank hunters were affiliated with the Blue Guild.

“Have you reported this to Jin-hyuk yet?” “Yes, it’s being reported now.” “Sigh... Got it.”

“Ugh... What the hell is going on?”

Lee Jin-hyuk was pacing angrily, clearly frustrated as he spoke to Che Su-hyeon.

“You heard about this, right?” “Y-yeah, oppa...” “How the hell did eight S-rank hunters gather in one place? This has never happened before, unless the Hunter Association was involved.” “Right...”

Che Su-hyeon bit her lip. She could feel the walls closing in around her.

“Do you know anyone among those eight hunters? Are you close with any of them?” “Well... I’ve kept a low profile as an S-rank, so I haven’t really met anyone... I don’t know them.”

“Shit…”

Lee Jin-hyuk was growing increasingly frustrated as things continued to go wrong.

He had been so close to achieving what he wanted. It had been right in front of him.

He had recruited Che Su-hyeon and invested a fortune in her, hoping to expand into the U.S. market with her stats and equipment. But everything was starting to go sideways. The S-rank hunters seemed to be flocking to the Blue Guild in droves.

‘What the hell is happening right now?’

“Damn it... It’s fine. It’s fine. We still have more money than they do. I’ll just buy everything up. Even though the prices have skyrocketed recently due to the U.S. interest in items, it’s fine. Su-hyeon, when are you going to hit the dungeons?”

Lee Jin-hyuk pressed Che Su-hyeon again.

“Uhm... I’ll… I’ll figure it out…”

Che Su-hyeon could barely get the words out. She had no idea what to do. All she could do was stall for time.

“Just give me the items…”