Chapter 35

Chapter 35:

Baek Jincheol and Hwang Myeonghui always made a point of eating together. It was the only time in their busy lives they could actually sit down and talk. This morning was no different. The couple finished preparing breakfast in a flurry and sat across from each other.

And before long.

“So…… I’ve been worrying about something lately.”

Baek Jincheol broached the subject with visible difficulty.

“About what?”

“You know that gift we got the other day.”

“Gift? That Diamond Golem thing, or whatever it was?”

“Yeah, that.”

“What about it?”

“Apparently it’s worth a billion won.”

“Whaaaat? A— a billion? It was that expensive?!”

Hwang Myeonghui’s eyes went wide.

“……Should we sell it?”

He’d already told his friend Park Jeonghun that he’d sell it, sounding all confident about it. But no matter how he turned it over, something felt off. It was a summon they’d gotten thanks to their son, and it had been given as a gesture of goodwill. Was it really okay to just get rid of it like that?

Baek Jincheol relayed everything he and Park Jeonghun had discussed that night, leaving nothing out.

“So…… you’re saying you want to quit the delivery job and start a business?”

“‘Business’ is a bit grand. I just want to do something small, you know. On my own.”

“Hmmm.”

It was a genuine dilemma. Honestly, it was a happy dilemma to have. These days, even a first-place lottery win didn’t net you a billion, and here one had simply dropped into their laps as a gift.

“Still, selling it feels wrong.”

Hwang Myeonghui was opposed, for starters. Birds of a feather, as they say. She’d been putting her Rainbow Snail to good use too, but the thought of selling it had never once crossed her mind. Naturally, she’d never even searched what it was worth. No wonder the billion-won figure had shocked her like that.

“Right? Should I just tell him I’m not selling after all?”

Just as the couple sat there deliberating—

Beep, bee-bee-beep!

Ding-dong!

Someone punched in the door code and walked in. It was their son, Baek Jinwoo.

“Huh? What brings you here this early?”

Baek Jincheol looked surprised.

“You’re here, son! You’ve been so busy lately, haven’t you?”

Mom greeted him with a bright smile.

Baek Jinwoo felt a small pang of guilt as he faced his parents. I should’ve been visiting more often. But now was a time when he needed to keep his eyes forward and push ahead. That was also true.

“I came because I have something for you.”

Baek Jinwoo had come for one reason and one reason only. To give them the mid-rank skill book selection ticket.

Since they were nearly done eating anyway, Hwang Myeonghui quickly cleared the table.

And then.

“Sit down, let’s talk. What is this thing?”

“It lets you learn a skill called Desperate Call.”

The moment Hwang Myeonghui heard the explanation, she slotted the skill into her Rainbow Snail without a second thought.

Baek Jinwoo had already heard about that particular summon from Yu Jia. I was so grateful for that. When it came to summons, Baek Jinwoo was nothing short of a genius. He could calculate in an instant just how much value it would hold down the line.

The problem was his father, Baek Jincheol. Dad was agonizing over whether or not to slot the skill into his golem.

“What are you doing, honey? Hurry up and learn it already.”

“Heh, you think I should?”

Something was off. Baek Jinwoo picked up on that subtle undercurrent immediately.

“Hold on, Dad.”

Now that he thought about it, it made sense. There was exactly one reason Yu Jia had gone out of her way to gift a Diamond Golem (B-rank). Because his father loved his Pebble Golem (E-rank) so much. The Diamond Golem was the pinnacle of all golems. But looked at another way, wasn’t that basically telling him to keep working as a laborer forever?

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Dad, is there really any reason for you to keep using a golem at this point?”

“Huh?”

“Just. I’m saying this just in case. You don’t have to attach so much meaning to it. You can sell it. Ajin’s been doing great with sales lately, so you could just ask her to handle it.”

Dad blinked. He chewed on his lip for a long while, mulling it over.

“……You really think that’s okay?”

Just as he’d suspected. Now certain something was going on, Baek Jinwoo pressed both his parents further. And finally, they came clean.

“Alright, your father’s always saying he wants to spend his days frying chicken, you know that. So he thought about it for a second. Just a second. I was against it from the start.”

“……A chicken restaurant?”

Baek Jinwoo tilted his head. Wait. If you’re running a chicken restaurant, why would you need to sell the golem?

“Hang on.”

Baek Jinwoo pulled out his phone. He called Yu Jia directly.

— Yes, Jinwoo!

Sure enough, she picked up in barely a second.

“I’d like to receive a dividend. How much can I get?”

— Um, one moment!

“……”

— If we push it, up to 100 billion is possible, but that would put us in a tight spot. We’ve got the site construction costs and we’ve been hiring a lot of staff members lately, you see. 50 billion would be comfortable, but…… you know that’d trigger comprehensive taxation and the taxes would be insane, right?

Holy shit. Yubaek’s league. They could already pay out that much in dividends?

“I don’t need anywhere near that much. About one billion? Just enough to land in my account.”

— Really? What for?

“Just, well, personal reasons.”

If he told her, Yu Jia would probably try to handle it with company funds again. That made Baek Jinwoo a little uncomfortable. The more Yu Jia earned, the harder she’d work. And that was the kind of relationship that paid off for both of them in the long run.

— A billion is nothing! I’ll calculate the taxes and make the dividend come out to exactly that! Want me to do it right now?

“Yes, thank you.”

Click.

His parents stared at Baek Jinwoo with blank expressions after he hung up. A billion-won dividend? It finally sank in. Their son, who’d been lying in a hospital room just a few months ago, had truly become a recognized player.

“Dad.”

“Y-yeah?”

“You’ll have a billion in your account soon. Use it for the chicken restaurant.”

“No, how can I just take the money you earned like—”

“Come on!” Baek Jinwoo cut him off. “Just register the skill on the golem. Don’t sell it. You’ve always liked your golem, Dad. Besides, you’ll need that golem even for the chicken place. Do you know how heavy those raw chicken boxes and oil drums are?”

“I…… heh, you brat.”

Genuine emotion spread across Baek Jincheol’s face. Is that kid really our son? Lately, the couple had found themselves stunned more often than they could count.

Busy morning. He’d stopped by his parents’ place, set his Day Dungeon grind running, and come back to the clearing.

Yu Jia was there, stretching out. In casual clothes, no less. Thanks to that, Drill Sarge and the other summons were training in silence. He’d told them not to speak in front of other people, after all.

“Yu Jia?”

What was she doing here? Lately he’d noticed she seemed to pop up in his line of sight wherever he went.

“I figured I’d get some exercise here before heading to work. Sitting all day tanks my productivity. Gotta build some muscle, you know?”

“There are plenty of nice gyms nearby. Why come all the way out here?”

“Oh, come on. Exercising out in fresh air like this is way more romantic than some gym, don’t you think?”

“……Sure. I guess you’ve got a point.”

“Oh, and actually. I also came because I have something for you today.”

“Something for me?”

“Try not to freak out.”

She held out her hand with confidence.

Whooom! Light seeped from her palm.

[Player ‘Yu Jia’ proposes a trade.]

[Please review the other party’s offer carefully.]

Huh? A trade?

[Yu Jia: Supreme-grade Rune (Lightspeed) x3, Universal Abrasive x4]

[Baek Jinwoo: No cost.]

“What.”

Baek Jinwoo was genuinely stunned.

“How do you already have these?”

It hadn’t even been a full week since he’d asked her to find them.

“Hehe, impressive, right? Haaah, seriously…… if I tried to explain how hard I worked to get these, one night wouldn’t be enough.”

[Do you wish to accept Player ‘Yu Jia’s’ offer?]

This was an obvious Y.

“How did you track them down so fast?”

“I just turned the entire world upside down, that’s how. The price negotiations were brutal. The only reason I managed to find them at all was because of the condition that they had to be for staves.”

Well, that made sense. There were practically no staff-wielding attack speed builds out there besides Ramba. Yu Jia had purchased the runes for 10 billion, 20 billion, and 15 billion respectively. 45 billion total. An astronomical price for runes going on a single summon.

“Seriously.” Baek Jinwoo murmured with heartfelt sincerity. “Thank you so much for all that work.”

He genuinely hadn’t expected this. That he’d have all of Ramba’s graduation runes this soon.

“Yu Jia.”

“Yes?”

“Hang out here and exercise for a bit. Drill Sarge.”

— ……?

Drill Sarge, who’d been correcting a summon’s stance with his sword, turned his head. Smart enough not to answer out loud.

“Help this lady with her exercise form.”

— ……!

Drill Sarge thrust his right arm forward and snapped a crisp bow.

“W-where are you going?”

“Gotta go enhance these! Just wait here a sec. I’ll be right back.”

Baek Jinwoo simply couldn’t contain himself. The moment a single summon completed a full set of six graduation runes and unlocked the set effect—no Battle of Summoners user could possibly resist that moment. Even back in his JinuGod days, moments like this had been rare.

This really is something else, though. In pure value alone, he was slotting runes worth over 100 billion won into Ramba.

“Wyvern!”

— Kreeeee!

Baek Jinwoo mounted his Skypierce Wyvern (B-rank) and soared into the sky, same as always.

Yu Jia watched him go, standing there in a daze. Somehow, his flying had gotten so smooth it was almost absurd.

Once he arrived at the enhancement lab, Baek Jinwoo enhanced all three remaining runes in one go. The Universal Abrasives came to exactly twelve. He polished every single option to its perfect maximum. Clean. Thorough.

“Ah, that’s the stuff.”

Now, Ramba was going to be faster than anyone. Honestly speaking, if he slotted these runes onto any random F-rank summon that used a staff, wouldn’t it fly circles around everything? No exaggeration, it would beat a runeless B-rank.

FWSHHHHH!

The wyvern’s speed was no joke. Thanks to that, he made it back to the clearing in no time.

“Already?! You’re back already?”

Yu Jia felt mildly indignant. She had to park her car and hike almost twenty minutes uphill to get here…… Baek Jinwoo had made the round trip to Samseong-dong in under twenty minutes.

Well, no need to worry about that, then. She also felt quietly reassured. Even if they set up base near Geomdan Mountain in Hanam, he’d be able to reach the Player Zone in Samseong-dong in a flash.

“First, give me just a moment. Ramba, come here.”

The instant he touched down, Baek Jinwoo called Ramba over. He slotted the three Lightspeed runes into the remaining slots.

[‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-rank) receives the set effect ‘Lightspeed.’]

[‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-rank) uses a staff.]

[Attack speed increases by 500%.]

Streaks of crimson light spiraled around Ramba. That was the Lightspeed set effect.

Ramba’s eyes went round. She wanted to gasp at the raw speed coursing through her entire body, but with Yu Jia right there, she couldn’t say a word. All she could do was let her eyes go wide. Th-this is insane.

Ramba swung her arm experimentally.

FWHOOOOOOSH!

Her arm was invisible. With properly fitted runes, swinging feels so much smoother than before! No matter how many times she swung, her arm didn’t hurt. The runes had fully absorbed the attack speed boost.

“Not bad at all.”

Baek Jinwoo watched with a satisfied nod.

The funny thing is, this was still pre-Growth. Once he raised her level further and pulled up her base stats too. Once Drill Sarge unlocked her latent potential (whatever that turned out to be)—

“Did it turn out well?”

“Damn right it did.”

Baek Jinwoo flashed a wide grin. Ramba, you little monster. She’d gone and become a broken character for the ages.