Chapter 17

“Wow.”

Baek Jinwoo’s eyes grew wide.

Holy crap!

Unbelievable!

“Why is everything priced so high?”

As he scrolled through the summon costs on the Market, a harsh wave of reality hit him.

He had expected it to be expensive, but this exceeded his worst fears.

D-ranks were dirt cheap, at least.

What on earth was going on here?

Starting from C-rank, every single creature cost as much as a compact automobile?

Flick, flick!

Baek Jinwoo slid his thumb down the smartphone screen, quickly taking in the data.

The pricing structure roughly broke down like this:

C-rank average: close to 20 million won.

The premium choices were listed for over 100 million.

B-rank average?

Far more absurd.

Approximately 200 million won on average, while the top-tier ones went beyond 500 million.

A-rank and above?

There were no entries available whatsoever.

It was likely a name-your-price market.

S-rank? Naturally, those were completely missing.

When he thought about it, the valuations actually made sense.

A B-rank summon could only be acquired by using a high-grade summoning scroll, which had a mere 1% success rate.

Statistically, that required an expected value of 100 scrolls.

Since a high-grade summoning scroll cost 3 million won, 100 scrolls equaled exactly 300 million.

So spending 300 million would yield a single B-rank and five C-ranks……

It was no shock that the market rates were so outrageous.

“Ha.”

This was completely insane.

The situation hadn’t been nearly this severe back in Battle of Summoners.

The real world and video games were clearly two different entities.

Now he grasped why a person of Park Changseok’s status possessed only three modest C-rank summons, and why Baek Ajin had referred to her Shadow Elf as an aristocrat.

How much would my sibling’s creature be worth?

He pressed the magnifying glass icon in the upper-right corner of the Market tab and searched for ‘Shadow Elf.’

[Shadow Elf (C-rank)]

[42,000,000 won]

[Quantity: 8]

“Crazy.”

42 million?

That girl, Baek Ajin.

“She has been far wealthier than me this whole time.”

Baek Jinwoo’s own pathetic bank balance currently stood at just 6 million won.

Well, it didn’t matter.

He had no intention of using his own funds regardless.

Baek Jinwoo had an alternate revenue stream ready to exploit.

“Ahem.”

Exiting Player Web, he scrolled through his contact list.

Park Changseok had instructed him, hadn’t he?

Dial this number directly and they would provide immediate assistance.

[HQ – Assistant Manager Hwang Taeseop]

“This is the person I need to send it to.”

Baek Jinwoo nodded to himself and started jotting down notes.

It was a detailed list of the Day Dungeon core units he required for his collection.

“Councilman!”

Thud thud thud!

The instant Hwang Taeseop received the text from Baek Jinwoo, he ran straight into Park Changseok’s office.

“What is it.”

“Player Baek Jinwoo has sent over a proposal.”

“What?”

Park Changseok instantly sat up straight, pushing his files aside.

A proposal meant that if they fulfilled his demands, he would deliver the data!

“What are his terms?”

His voice shook slightly.

He had been anticipating this moment for a long time—naturally, he was tense.

“Just a second, here it is.”

Hwang Taeseop tapped frantically on his phone screen, then displayed the text message.

It was an inventory of summons.

Next to each creature, the required amounts and market costs were explicitly detailed.

[Summon Purchase List]

1. Battle Warden (C-rank), 1x, 18,000,000 won.

2. Priest of Radiance (C-rank), 1x, 35,000,000 won.

3. Spotted Komodo (B-rank), 1x, 150,000,000 won.

4. Wind Falcon (B-rank), 1x, 300,000,000 won.

5. Titanium Golem (B-rank), 1x, 300,000,000 won.

6. Horn Fairy (C-rank), 1x, 50,000,000 won.

7. Frost Cat (C-rank), 1x, 100,000,000 won.

8. Sky Dolphin (C-rank), 1x, 10,000,000 won.

9. Skypierce Wyvern (B-rank), 1x, 200,000,000 won.

10. Lava Drake (C-rank), 3x, 50,000,000 won each.

“What on earth is the meaning of this?”

“……It looks like Player Baek Jinwoo expects us to purchase all of these. Every single item on the list, without exception. He notes that these figures represent the lowest options currently available on the Market.”

Park Changseok stood frozen in disbelief.

He expected headquarters to fund all of this?

What did the grand total even come out to?

He glanced over the screen and did the mental arithmetic. The calculation finished quickly.

“……1.313 billion won?”

Give me a break.

A breathless laugh escaped his lips.

If he had access to that kind of capital, would Park Changseok be walking around with nothing but C-rank summons?

The financial oversight at headquarters was incredibly rigid, with each councilman monitoring the others’ expenditures.

The tiniest mistake or vulnerability?

A media report would surface instantly, turning you into a public villain.

Your political career as a councilman would be finished, and if the situation worsened, you could end up in prison for fraud.

“This completely surpasses my authority…… What kind of data does he claim he will provide if we buy all of this?”

“It is matching his previous offer. He claims he will reveal the hidden methods for time attack records across the Day Dungeons.”

“The Day Dungeons?”

Park Changseok’s eyes lit up.

“Did he specifically write ‘Day Dungeons’? Not just the ‘Monday dungeon’ or ‘Wednesday dungeon’?”

“Correct, he explicitly typed out Day Dungeons.”

“Oh ho.”

If that statement was accurate, it would be groundbreaking.

Look at how frenzied the public became when the domestic record for the Tuesday dungeon was shattered.

And now he was claiming they could dominate the records for every single dungeon from Monday through Sunday?

The entire country would celebrate.

The real obstacle, however, was the funding.

Headquarters would never authorize that kind of expenditure upfront.

They would likely insist on receiving the data first before releasing the funds.

But that path was unavailable.

The priority right now was maintaining trust between headquarters and Baek Jinwoo. Mutual confidence!

He refused to disappoint Baek Jinwoo.

“I understand for now. Let me present this issue to the Director.”

Park Changseok shoved his paperwork away.

This required a face-to-face conversation.

The outcome?

A complete rejection.

“That miserable, stubborn old man! Absolute fool!”

CRASH, CRASH!

Still boiling with rage, Park Changseok paced across the room, slamming his fist down on every surface he passed.

“This is an opportunity for Korea to make a real leap forward, so why is he blocking the approval?! Unbelievable.”

“To be fair, it was a massive request.”

Yu Jia, who had been observing the entire outburst from the corner, spoke softly.

It was an unavoidable reality.

This was a bureaucratic state department, after all.

Headquarters could only allocate finances once the intelligence was verified.

What if Baek Jinwoo took those acquired summons and fled to another country? Or aligned with a criminal syndicate?

They had to consider those possibilities.

“……But do you think the information is truly authentic?”

“Without a doubt. I expressed this to you before—I have an instinct for evaluating people. Trust me on this. DAMN IT! This exact mindset is why our nation remains at the bottom of the rankings!”

“……”

His words held truth.

Didn’t the corrupt councilmen bear responsibility for Korea being a lagging nation in the field of summoning?

They were no different from standard politicians.

If every official shared Park Changseok’s dedication, the country would be a global superpower in no time.

Yu Jia offered a faint, melancholy smile at the thought.

Stomp, stomp!

Still unable to calm down, Park Changseok kept pacing heavily.

“That Director idiot. I suspected something was wrong when he kept having private meetings with Im Huisu. That man—he accepted bribes. I am absolutely certain of it.”

“Councilman. Walls have ears.”

“In this room? There is no one here but you, me, and Byeongjin.”

“Six ears are more than enough.”

“……Why must you say such chilling things?”

“Regardless, the Director demanded proof, correct? Or he expects us to deliver results first, just like last time, before requesting the budget?”

“That was his stance. Unbelievable.”

The dilemma was that Baek Jinwoo had made it clear that a time attack was completely impossible without those specific summons.

Which was entirely logical.

It operated on the exact same premise that you couldn’t execute a Tuesday dungeon time attack without utilizing a Spotted Komodo.

“So we absolutely must purchase those summons using state funds, but……”

“Regarding that.”

At that moment, Yu Jia bit her lip thoughtfully.

It was pure intuition.

The exact kind of instinct possessed only by someone sharing the lineage of the country’s most powerful conglomerate.

“If that intelligence proves to be authentic, wouldn’t the impact be absolutely massive?”

“Of course it would! Beyond massive! The people at headquarters are too blind to recognize a goldmine right in front of them!”

“Even someone of my generation can recognize this is a massive opportunity. Frankly, surrendering it to headquarters for a paltry 1.3 billion…… doesn’t that feel like a waste?”

“Hmm. It actually does.”

Yu Jia closed her eyes for a moment.

Her intellect began calculating at maximum capacity.

Over the past three years, she had developed a deep fascination with summons—and particularly with players.

“What is it? What are you implying?”

Ignoring Park Changseok’s eager questioning, Yu Jia remained locked in concentration, processing her thoughts.

A brief silence filled the room.

“That capital.”

“Yeah.”

“What if I provide the funding myself?”

“……What?”

Park Changseok’s eyes widened in shock.

What was she suggesting?

Daesung Group. Yu Jia.

The descendant most cherished by her grandfather, Yu Byeongcheon.

She actually possessed significant equity in the corporation and held the leverage to engage in the family conflict over corporate control.

If she chose to use her assets to back her father, the empire would eventually fall into her hands.

Yet.

She possessed zero desire for it.

Nor did she have the stomach to watch relatives destroy each other for power.

She merely kept her equity to secure her father’s position and directed all her enthusiasm toward the player industry.

And recently.

One specific player had captured her attention far more than anyone else.

Baek Jinwoo.

A baffling rookie competitor.

A person who avoided the public eye, yet seemed to hold a treasure trove of data that didn’t exist anywhere else in Korea.

And he was certainly no pushover.

He understood exactly how to negotiate terms with state entities.

There is incredible profit to be generated here.

She had inherited her grandfather Yu Byeongcheon’s legendary nose for financial gain.

And the corporate concept forming in her mind was management.

Independent management.

An agency exclusively established to guide and support one individual: Baek Jinwoo.

Wasn’t that identical to headquarters’ Talent Management Team?

No. It was entirely different.

To be honest, from Yu Jia’s perspective, the bureaucrats at headquarters were oblivious.

Oblivious to the true worth of intelligence, oblivious to the concept of high-return investment.

The data Baek Jinwoo possessed was worth tens of billions at a minimum.

Securing time attack records meant clearing dungeons at extreme speed, farming materials with peak efficiency, and the value of that capability in the current market would be astronomical.

Any standard corporation would invest heavily where the projected returns were that high.

1.3 billion?

That was an amount worth risking even if the venture completely failed.

Of course, there were moments to act cautiously like headquarters, but only when the danger was truly catastrophic.

And there was another major distinction from the Talent Management Team.

An independent agency would split the revenue with the player on a percentage basis.

A mutually beneficial partnership.

Once Baek Jinwoo experienced the financial rewards, he would be far more eager to cooperate and share his data.

They would move past this hesitant bargaining—they would become true partners.

If I launch this enterprise.

She intended to grant Park Changseok a percentage of the business as well.

Under the stipulation, naturally, that he maintained his position at headquarters.

A direct pipeline to HQ could serve as an incredibly powerful tool for the agency.

He would be absolutely ecstatic about it, though.

Yu Jia smiled to herself.

She could easily visualize the massive man roaring with laughter—”Earning wealth WHILE honoring my nation! Hahaha!”—as clear as day.

Back inside the office.

“You would actually supply that capital? 1.313 billion won? That amount of personal money?”

Park Changseok stared at Yu Jia, unable to process her words.

This wasn’t the gaze of a manager looking at an employee.

It was the expression of an ordinary citizen looking up at an elite chaebol billionaire.

“Yes, however.”

Concluding her analysis, Yu Jia tapped her fingernail together anxiously.

“Before I commit the funds, I need to have one more discussion with him.”

“With whom, Baek Jinwoo?”

“Yes.”

Just because she had formulated a strategy didn’t mean the pieces would automatically fall into place.

The ultimate factor was Baek Jinwoo’s own consent.

Yu Jia intended to arrange one more meeting with him.

Whether dealing with commerce, romance, mentorship, or recruitment.

Every interpersonal connection succeeded only when both parties aligned perfectly.

Baek Jinwoo would evaluate Yu Jia, and Yu Jia would evaluate Baek Jinwoo.

“Let’s finalize the arrangements after that happens. I will step out for a moment.”

She stood up suddenly, adjusted her attire, and exited the room.