"Haah… haah…"

Hyung-seok was clutching his chest, struggling to calm himself down.

“Hy-hyung… it’s... it’s at 35 billion won now. The price… it’s skyrocketing… haah haah…”

He looked completely overwhelmed, like he was enjoying this situation a little too much, almost to a bizarre degree.

“Hey, relax. I can see it too. You look really weird right now. People might get the wrong idea if they see you like this.”

“Haah… haah… how can I relax? It’s been just two hours since we put this up for auction, and it’s already at 35 billion! If we close the deal right now, that money goes straight into our pockets! This is a huge deal in the hunter world. We’ve got one of the rarest items, something that’s been missing from the market for ages!”

His face was bright red, and he looked like he was about to explode from excitement.

“Hy-hyung… but…”

Suddenly, he dropped to his knees in front of me, catching me off guard.

‘What the… why are you kneeling?’

His expression was desperate, and his voice trembled.

“D-do I… have a share in this? Please…?”

His eyes were filled with hope, begging.

“I… I don’t need women… just the money. If I have money, I can get the women myself…”

His eyes were shaking, filled with sincerity. Honestly, given how much Hyung-seok had contributed by knowing all the strategies, I figured he deserved a cut. After all, he’d made this whole thing possible, and we’d probably be relying on him for more in the future.

“Well, of course, I was planning on giving you—”

Knock, knock, knock.

The door swung open.

“Uh, Ji-hoon, are you—”

Cha Manager burst into the room, but then froze when he saw the scene.

“Oh… I didn’t realize you were busy… carry on. Wow, I guess I’ll never understand the MZ generation.”

“No, Manager Cha!!!”

I rushed over to stop him. He clearly misunderstood the situation.

“What the… are you two… you know, like that?”

“N.O.P.E.”

I replied firmly.

“Then why is Park Hyung-seok’s face all red… and why is he kneeling in front of you like that? Are you two… doing something strange at the office? That’s against company policy, you know. You could get in trouble.”

“NO!!!”

Both Hyung-seok and I shouted at the same time.

“Then what is it? Why’s he all flushed, kneeling on the floor?”

Manager Cha stared at us suspiciously, clearly not buying it.

“Ugh… It’s kind of hard to explain, but…”

“I’m sorry, but we really can’t say…”

Hyung-seok shook his head furiously. He was adamant about keeping quiet.

Click.

Manager Cha closed the door, his expression suddenly serious.

“Don’t do that. Tell me. You two are obviously hiding something good. You might as well spill it.”

“Hah… no, we really can’t. This is between us and the Guild Leader.”

The moment I mentioned the Guild Leader, Manager Cha’s expression brightened.

“Oh, the Guild Leader? I know him really well, you know. I’m one of the Blue Guild’s founding members. If the Guild Leader knows, I should know too. Come on, just give me a little hint.”

“Hah… we really can’t…”

“Fine, fine… guess I’ll just have to spread the word that there’s a little couple working in the guild…”

“Ugh…”

Hyung-seok let out a small groan. He glanced at me helplessly, and I nodded in agreement. It was better to tell him the truth than let him spread strange rumors.

“Hah… Manager, you must promise not to tell anyone.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! I’m like a vault. I won’t say a word. You can trust me.”

“...I don’t trust you.”

Hyung-seok and I both looked at him with dead-serious expressions. He definitely didn’t have a reputation for being discreet.

“Hah… just look at this…”

While we were talking, the bid had jumped to 36 billion won.

“Huh? What’s this… Fragment of a Tormented Soul? An auction? Were you just browsing auctions? Are you trying to bid on this? Do you even have the money for that? Do we need to pull from the guild’s funds?”

Manager Cha looked confused. He clearly hadn’t grasped the situation.

Of course, it wouldn’t have crossed his mind that we were the ones auctioning it.

“It’s not that.”

I opened my hand, showing him the Fragment.

“Here. We’re the ones selling this.”

“HOLY—!”

He practically fell over in shock, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. He looked like he’d just seen a ghost.

“H-how did you… get that?”

“We went to an S-rank dungeon today and got lucky.”

“Whaaaat?!”

This was the most dramatic reaction I’d ever seen from him. He was practically gasping for air.

“Y-you mean Ji-hoon… you found this?!”

He stared at the fragment like it was the most precious thing in the world, treating it with reverence and awe. He was just as much of a hunter nerd as Hyung-seok, if not more.

Manager Cha was also a hardcore fan of all things hunter-related. A bit eccentric, but he knew more about hunters and dungeons than almost anyone else.

“B-but… this hasn’t been on the market for ages… how…?”

Tears welled up in his eyes, like a fan seeing their favorite idol up close.

“Exactly. I’ve been looking everywhere for it, but nothing’s been available.”

Hyung-seok chimed in from the side.

“And you found it today…?”

“We got lucky. I followed Hyung-seok’s strategy, and we managed to take down the boss pretty easily. I guess luck was on our side.”

It was a bit hard to explain, honestly. Even I wasn’t sure how we managed to pull it off so quickly.

“Wow… I always knew Hyung-seok was reliable.”

Manager Cha nodded at Hyung-seok, now understanding why he’d been kneeling earlier.

“So, what was he talking to you about?”

“Oh… I was just asking if I could get a share… hehe…”

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“When high-value items like this drop, 90% goes to the guild, and the remaining 10% is for us, right?”

“Yep.”

“So, I was just, you know, hoping for my cut…”

Hyung-seok glanced at me sheepishly, and I nodded.

“We were negotiating, so to speak…”

“Well, 10% of my cut should be fine, right?”

“H-huh…”

Hyung-seok’s eyes filled with gratitude.

“Of course!!! I’ll be loyal to you forever, hyung!!!”

He bowed deeply, a perfect 120-degree angle.

“Whew… I kinda want in on this too…”

Manager Cha glanced at us, hopeful.

“No way! Manager, you’ve got your own job. Leave this to me, your humble assistant. You can go back to managing the Hunter Team 6.”

“Hmph…”

He sulked as he was gently nudged out of the room by Hyung-seok.

“Alright, alright. But Ji-hoon, are these items really that easy to get? Was it not that hard?”

As he was pushed out, he asked another question, sounding casual, but his tone hinted at deep interest.

“Well… it was easier than expected. I think we got really lucky. I didn’t expect it to drop on our first try.”

“Huh… interesting…”

He left, deep in thought.

“Phew. Now even Manager Cha knows.”

“Don’t worry about it. Even if he spreads the word, we can just deny it. No one would believe him anyway. This is such a rare event that people might not believe it even if they see it with their own eyes.”

“Really? That rare?”

“Hyung, the B-rank items are basically pocket change. C- and D-rank items go for mere pennies. But S-rank items? They’re worth their weight in gold. Some people even invest in them like they would in real estate.”

“Hmm…”

I stroked my chin, deep in thought. I realized I had severely underestimated the value of these items.

I had been living life as usual, unaware of how extraordinary the situation had become.

Right now, I felt like I had become the sole miner of a priceless resource, the only one capable of harvesting S-rank items on Earth.

‘This is like having the only cryptocurrency mining rig in the world…’

It was hard not to feel excited.

“Alright, Hyung-seok. Let’s keep at it. We’ll see how much we can sell and just keep going.”

“Of course! And if we handle the crafting and refining, we’ll be filthy rich in no time. Who knows? We might end up becoming tycoons! Hahaha!”

Hyung-seok laughed heartily.

‘A tycoon, huh…’

Images of Che Su-hyeon and Lee Jin-hyuk floated through my mind.