“Hmmhmmhmm…”

Chae Soo-hyun sat in her house, typing away at her computer with a sly grin on her face. She looked like she was scheming, her mind swirling with plans.

‘Things may have been a bit shaky, but my life is really about to start now. Ugh, I wasted a whole month on that idiot, Lee Jin-hyuk, for nothing.’

The event that had the biggest impact on her thinking was the recent auction. She had realized that S-rank items were selling for much more than what people had originally thought. After that, she no longer needed Lee Jin-hyuk.

It was clear to her now: instead of relying on him, she could use Baek Ji-hoon to collect items, earning points and wealth. Her priority had always been money.

‘I’ll slowly take over the Blue Guild. After all, I can charm the male hunters and turn them to my side. And, of course, I’ll make sure Ji-hoon oppa comes back to me…’

She was confident. The process of transferring to the Blue Guild had gone more smoothly than she had anticipated.

Normally, such a transfer would cause significant friction, but the current atmosphere was favorable. With the mass transfer of S-rank hunters and the addition of Seo Ji-soo to Baekho Guild, Chae Soo-hyun had good reasons for leaving.

‘It wasn’t easy getting close to Ji-hoon oppa again, but it’s fine. I’ll apologize and make things right…’

She was already revising her plans. Her original plan was to seduce Lee Jin-hyuk and marry into his wealthy family. But now, she intended to win over the Blue Guild and regain Baek Ji-hoon’s trust, ensuring he would provide her with points and opportunities to collect S-rank items.

‘He approved me joining A-Team, didn’t he…’

She had just received word that Baek Ji-hoon had approved her placement in A-Team. Naturally, she was thrilled.

‘See? Ji-hoon oppa still can’t forget me. He’s being soft and letting me back in. If he really hated me, he wouldn’t have even allowed me into the Blue Guild, let alone A-Team. I heard he has enough influence to stop something like that.’

Chae Soo-hyun continued to indulge in her delusions, interpreting everything in a way that benefited her. Every bit of news seemed to support her confidence that things would go her way.

‘Alright, let’s take over the Blue Guild one step at a time.’

She finished her paperwork and headed to the office.

“Woooow…”

Hyung-seok was standing frozen, his jaw dropped in awe. He was trembling after just having discovered the target item in the S-rank dungeon.

Golden Armor.

It was an item that was known of but never actually seen before.

After several attempts, they had finally succeeded in obtaining it.

“Hyung… seriously…”

His voice was weak, his mind still reeling from the discovery.

“Did you happen to put any points into luck?”

“Yeah, I did. Why?”

“Whaaat? You put points into luck?”

Hyung-seok was shocked.

“You had enough points left over for that?”

“Yeah, I had plenty after maxing out everything else.”

“Agh! That explains it! I was wondering why high-level items kept dropping so easily.”

He explained that normally, hunters prioritized stat points that helped clear dungeons, meaning no one ever bothered with luck.

But I had so many points that I was able to max out my necessary stats and still had plenty to spare, so I had invested in luck.

“Wow, this means we’ll be insanely rich in no time. It’s like we’ll find valuable items every time we enter a dungeon!”

“Well, that’s good.”

I thought about Chae Soo-hyun. She was probably the person who’d be most upset about my current situation.

Her recent move to the Blue Guild amused me.

‘You dumped me to be with that rich kid Lee Jin-hyuk, and now you’ve dumped him too? You’re never going to become part of the elite now.’

I was certain Chae Soo-hyun was making terrible decisions. Whatever was going through her mind, coming to the Blue Guild was a huge mistake.

‘I’ll make sure to rile her up slowly, and reveal the truth about her rank.’

The most important thing was to expose the fact that she was no longer S-rank but E-rank. I couldn’t do it all at once—it needed to be drawn out carefully.

“Hyung… This… seeing this item in person, I’m in awe. I feel like we should put it in a museum rather than sell it.”

Hyung-seok was still trembling, overwhelmed by the sight of the gleaming item in front of him.

“But how much do you think it’ll sell for?”

“Hmm, hard to say. It’s basically priceless. Normally, weapons fetch the highest prices, and after that, body armor tends to come next in value, especially chest armor like this.”

“Well, let’s put it up for auction and see.”

“Whew… You’re really going to sell it? It’s too precious to let go.”

“Well, I plan to sell everything I get. I can always find more later, right? It makes sense to sell it now, while it’s rare and valuable.”

“I guess you’re right…”

“Whoa…”

Hyung-seok stared at the monitor in disbelief.

“Hyung, look at this. In just one hour, this post already has 50,000 comments. I told you, this item is museum-worthy!”

[Is this real? How did they get this? Wasn’t this item only ever referenced in system menus?]
[Definitely seems like a scam. Why are all these S-rank items suddenly popping up?]
[If it’s legit, that’s crazy. Doesn’t it basically raise your rank by a whole level?]
[It’s going to be insanely expensive. Only the rich will even consider buying it.]
[Normal hunters won’t care, but I bet Baekho Guild or some American hedge fund will buy it for speculation.]
[Wonder how high the price will go this time. It started at 10 billion—will it hit 30 billion?]
[No way, who would spend 30 billion on that? Even if you’re desperate, it’s not worth that.]
[If I were spending that much, I’d just buy enhancement items and upgrade lower-tier armor.]
[This is probably just for show. Rich people buy expensive things just for the flex sometimes.]

The responses were overwhelming. People were mainly focused on how much the item would sell for. That’s where my focus was as well.

“Man, though… With the guild fees and government taxes combined at 90%, we’ll only get 10% of the sale. Even if it sells for 30 billion, we’d only get 3 billion.”

“Well, yeah. High-income earners were taxed heavily even before the hunter era.”

It was frustrating. Even if the Golden Armor sold for 30 billion, we’d only pocket 3 billion. A huge amount of money, of course, but still.

It didn’t matter if you were a solo hunter—the taxes and fees would still eat up most of your earnings. That’s why so many hunters preferred working with guilds for support.

That’s also why the black market thrived, where hunters sold items under the radar to avoid taxes.

Of course, I couldn’t do that. S-rank items like mine were too rare and conspicuous to sell on the black market.

“Oh well, I’ll just keep raking it in fast enough to become rich anyway.”

“That’s true. Hehe. Maybe I’ll move to Cheongdam-dong.”

Hyung-seok grinned at me.

“Huh? What’s this…”

Chae Soo-hyun was scrolling through her smartphone, reading about the latest auction frenzy.

‘What? They’ve got the Golden Armor now?’

It hadn’t been long since the uproar over the Piece of Resentment, and now there was an even more rare piece of armor up for sale—something that had never been seen before.

She started to feel anxious.

‘Who the hell is doing this?’

Her mind quickly began to suspect one person.

‘Who else in the country could pull this off but Ji-hoon oppa?’

She was almost certain of it.

‘Ji-hoon oppa… Is he really making this much money? Can he just casually collect S-rank items like that? Why was I so stupid? I should’ve just stuck with him, had him get S-rank items, and lived the good life. Ugh, what a fool I’ve been!’

She slapped her forehead.

‘Hmm… I’ll subtly ask him if it’s him. That way, I can start getting closer again.’

Chae Soo-hyun was now fully immersed in the fantasy that she would soon be rich again. She was convinced that she’d also regain her S-rank abilities soon.

There was no real basis for her confidence, but, as always, she lived in her own world, certain that things would go her way just because she willed it.