"Ughhh..."

Hyung-seok stood there like a zombie, mouth agape, looking as if he were dead on his feet. Drool dripped from his lips, but he didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were glued to the monitor, watching the numbers climb higher and higher in the live auction.

"Hey… dude. Snap out of it… Are you dead?"

I poked him.

But there was no reaction. It was as if nothing could break his trance other than the numbers on the screen.

The way he looked, almost like he had fainted, started to worry me. I moved closer and tapped him a few more times, but he seemed far from regaining his senses.

“Hey, come on. Snap out of it.”

It wasn’t until I punched his arm, hard, that he seemed to return to reality.

Whack!

The sound was loud enough to echo.

“Ouch!! Hyung, why’d you hit me?!”

“Because you need to pull yourself together. Wipe that drool off your mouth, man.”

“Oh…”

He seemed to regain some composure.

“Hyung… It’s… it’s 4 billion now… 4 billion… It’s insane. Absolutely insane, don’t you think? Isn't this getting too heated?”

His hands were shaking so much that he couldn’t even hold the mouse properly. His voice trembled along with his body, his muscles tense and rigid.

“F-forty million… just like that… Forty million, gone in an instant…"

Seeing him lost in this mix of shock and euphoria wasn’t helping me stay calm, either. Naturally, I was just as shaken.

‘Damn… I’ll be making over 300 million even after giving Hyung-seok his cut. What the hell is this?’

This was by far the best news I had ever received in my life. It felt too surreal to accept.

Just earlier, when we came back from the dungeon, nothing felt particularly difficult. Sure, difficulty is subjective, but…

It felt like I’d just gone for a walk around the neighborhood. I didn’t even put in any effort. All I did was follow Hyung-seok’s instructions like a mindless drone.

‘We’re practically an unbeatable duo. A team of a hunter geek with immense knowledge, paired with an S-rank hunter who exceeds expectations?’

It was an exhilarating situation. Seeing Hyung-seok bouncing around in excitement only made my heart race faster.

‘I’m really about to make 300 million in one shot.’

The deal hadn’t closed yet, so the money wasn’t technically in my hands, but judging by the auction, it was clear. People were dying to get their hands on this item.

"Hey, Hyung-seok…"

"Y-yeah?"

"So, how valuable is this item, exactly?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, judging by how people are going crazy for it, is this like… a final boss item or something?"

"Huh? Oh, no, not at all. Actually, among S-rank items, it’s one of the lowest-tier ones."

He seemed to regain some of his hunter geek personality as he explained.

"The Fragment of a Tormented Soul is more of a crafting material. It’s good for upgrading or creating new gear, but on its own, it’s one of the least valuable items out there."

"L-least… valuable?"

"Yeah. There are way more valuable items out there than this…"

I was taken aback. I had been thinking that just collecting these fragments would make me a millionaire for sure.

It seemed obvious. No matter how low the drop rate was, that didn’t bother me.

As long as I followed Hyung-seok’s detailed strategy, it was an item I could collect without too much trouble.

But the problem? This was a low-tier item. And I could still make 300 million off of it?

Sure, the market was overheated because there were hardly any available for sale, but still…

“Hey, hey. So, what’s the demand like for this item, anyway?”

Another thought popped into my mind.

If we kept supplying this item in large quantities, would the price crash? I knew the price was high because the supply was low, but if the demand wasn’t that great...

If we oversupplied it, the price could plummet.

“Well, I think we need at least several hundred of them annually just in Korea alone.”

"Several hundred… annually?"

“Yeah. On a global scale, thousands, maybe.”

“Wow…”

I couldn’t help but be amazed. Just collecting these fragments could make me insanely rich.

“So… how low could the price go? If I keep farming these?”

“Well, even back when demand was low in the early days, it never dropped below 500 million.”

"R-really?"

It hit me—I didn’t know a thing about the hunter world.

‘Wait, this thing never dropped below 500 million?’

Everything I’d experienced in the hunter world so far was dealing with pocket change. Even Blue Guild mostly farmed items worth a few hundred thousand won at most.

But now? The scale and the numbers were on a completely different level.

Billions.

“Hey… considering the drop rate, if I only farm these, how many could I get in a day? Do the math for me.”

“Oh…”

Hyung-seok’s eyes lit up as he realized what I was implying. He quickly rushed to his desk, pulling up numbers and crunching the calculations.

My heart raced, a mix of excitement and anxiety, as I waited for the results.

“Considering the respawn rate and travel time, you could get around three per day.”

“Wow… really?”

“Yeah. Even if the market gets a little flooded and prices drop, I don’t think it’ll go below 1 billion per piece.”

We both stood there, staring at each other in disbelief.

“Dude… we’re going to be filthy rich.”

“T-that’s what it looks like…”

Then something else crossed my mind.

"Hey. Isn’t the guild’s commission fee way too high?"

“Oh, yeah… it’s definitely steep.”

He scratched the back of his head.

“From what I know, the fee structure is mainly there for A-rank items and below. The guild has to maintain its size somehow, but even if you work as a freelance hunter, the Hunter Association takes a similar cut.”

He wasn’t wrong. Back when I worked with Che Su-hyeon, we had to fork over 90% of our earnings. But the stakes were different now, so it didn’t bother me as much.

‘We’re seriously going to be rich.’

This was on a whole new scale, nothing like earning a few million won a day. Now, we were talking billions.

And this fragment? It’s considered a low-tier item.

“Then, what about higher-tier items?”

“Well, the most expensive ones are usually offensive items. Armor and support items tend to be cheaper. The most expensive ones go for hundreds of billions.”

“Hundreds of billions? Per item?”

“Yep. But those are basically just rumors. No one’s actually found one of those items yet. It’s just speculation based on what people assume the price would be.”

“Oh…”

According to him, the most expensive items in existence were usually highly upgraded A-rank items, almost at the S-rank level.

But here we were, capable of obtaining true S-rank items.

“So most of the high-end items are just enhanced A-rank items?”

“Yeah. Baekho Guild probably holds most of them. They’ve got the biggest financial backing in the country. Other than that, the US and Western countries hold the rest.”

“Oh…”

It was exhilarating. Up until now, I’d been so focused on avenging Che Su-hyeon and adapting to the Blue Guild.

But everything had suddenly changed.

It felt like I was finally able to unlock the full potential of being a hunter.

‘This is going to get interesting.’

“Wha…?”

While I was lost in thought, planning my next moves, Hyung-seok let out a gasp. His legs gave out, and he collapsed, trembling, pointing at the monitor.

“What? What’s going on?”

“H-hyung… l-look at this… while we were talking… the price… the price…”

He looked like he was about to cry with joy.

“What?”

I walked over to the auction screen.

“What? 6 billion?”

I had never seen a number like that before in my life.

‘What the hell? 6 billion?’

The price had skyrocketed, almost 1.5 times higher in an instant.

“Is this a glitch or something?”

I tapped the monitor and refreshed the page multiple times.

But it was real. 6 billion.

“Look at this.”

Hyung-seok pointed to a corner of the screen, still in a daze.

“What is it?”

“It’s the list of participants in the auction.”

“Uh-huh?”

“Baekho Guild just joined the bidding. That’s why the price jumped so high.”

His voice was trembling, and his face was full of awe.

“Hah… Hah… Hyung… I’ll do anything you ask… I’ll work hard, follow your orders… anything…”

The price was soaring out of control, and he was completely overwhelmed by it all.