novelraw Chapter 139: Episode 27_The Secret Merchant of the Fog Region (4)
Chapter 139: Episode 27_The Secret Merchant of the Fog Region (4)
5.
“W-What the hell!”
“What do you mean, what? It’s me.”
“...The Fog Merchant was Simin?”
“That’s how it turned out. Haha.”
As he discarded the robe, rabbits swarmed him from all directions. Squeakers sat on his shoulder, spreading its wings to celebrate the liberation of finally breathing fresh air.
The shock of the unexpected result lingered among the group.
“It was weird that he was suddenly a Secret Merchant.”
“Why didn’t I think of it? Scamming people is just Simin Oppa’s style.”
“Just how much did you earn?”
Simin scratched his head awkwardly.
Truth be told, he hadn’t intended to reveal his identity, even to the Specialists. A secret carries less risk the fewer people know about it, and he couldn’t find a compelling reason to tell them.
Above all, hadn’t he been able to profit until the very end precisely because he hadn’t told them?
“No, come to think of it, this is ridiculous. Ripping us off too? Isn’t that too much, Oppa?”
“What do you mean us? I definitely gave Seolah a cheap price.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Not between us.”
“Wow, really. Hyeonsu Oppa! Say something. He asked you for 100 gold too.”
“...”
Jeong Hyeonsu, who had received the leftovers for free, had nothing to say, even though he felt a bit dirty about it.
In the end, Kang Yeseul was the only one who got fleeced!
“Ugh.”
She trembled with a sense of injustice, but the winner was heartless.
“By the way, can you see the rabbits inside the fog?”
“Normally, you can’t.”
“Then...”
Ignoring Yeseul’s complaints, Jeong Seolah and Han Simin shared a friendly conversation, catching up on their reunion. Most of it consisted of Q&A about things they were curious about.
It was truly a conversation between people who had gone all-in on 『Fantastic World』.
Han Simin smiled with satisfaction and removed a lens from his left eye.
“?”
It was an item that hadn’t existed until now.
A treasure obtained thanks to the luck brought by the bundle of fortune that had newly joined the Specialists!
Jeong Seolah took the lens he offered and checked its options.
She gasped sharply.
[+13 Truth-Piercing Eye]
Grade: Epic Unique
Option 1: Applies [Fog Awakening Potion] effect when equipped.
Special Option 1: Aura Effect Evolution (Special Aura).
Special Option 2: Applies [Special Deep Golden Aura] effect.
Applies item options to allies within a 5m radius.
“I’m not satisfied with the range yet, but well, it’s usable.”
“Where did you get this?”
Sparkling eyes turned toward Han Simin.
It was the kind of beauty that would make most men’s hearts pound, leave them breathless, and make them fall in love. And what happened when such a woman unconsciously drew closer?
Han Simin took a step back at the unexpected proximity.
It wasn’t because he was impotent.
’That was close.’
It was because he, too, was a healthy man!
He almost told her to keep it since he could just get another one. Jeong Seolah was so charming when she was fixated on something that he wanted to score points with her that badly.
“Tsk tsk. She’s fallen for it. Hook, line, and sinker.”
“Shut up.”
After regaining his composure, he gave her information instead of the lens.
“I was lucky enough to meet a Human Hunter Named Monster. It was a bit of a tough fight, but anyway, maybe due to the drop item effect, I got this.”
“Wow.”
“I ended up with ninety rabbits, but I felt this was compensation enough, so I sold off all the Awakening Potions I had gathered.”
“You’re amazing.”
Jeong Seolah admired him purely.
She had thought so since their first meeting, but she couldn’t shake the feeling: he was truly incredible.
Starting with possessing two Legendary classes—something others couldn’t even dream of—he overcame a 550% required experience penalty, which would make anyone else quit the game, and forged his own unique playstyle.
What was more surprising was that despite all this, he never fell behind other players.
No, the reality was that players were getting a taste of being overpowered, even if just a little, thanks to Han Simin’s help. And she was the one benefiting the most.
In the midst of all this, he didn’t regress.
Would that really be easy?
Just when people were about to forget him, he would acquire innovative items like this—something that couldn’t be achieved by luck alone.
Above all, as someone who knew Han Simin’s enhancement mechanics well, she found it hard to even comprehend.
’Finding a Human Hunter Named Monster, hunting it, getting a Unique grade item drop, and then even getting a Special Aura through enhancement.’
No, she corrected herself.
Perfect luck had followed him.
Such luck was also a skill.
Han Simin put the lens back in and, seeing Jeong Seolah filled with envy, showed some generosity.
“If I find another one, I’ll sell it to you cheaply.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Shall I help you out until then?”
His shoulders overflowed with confidence as he offered his benevolence.
Naturally.
He was no longer an existence like an optional add-on that one paid to enjoy. If previously they invested money in experience buffs to level up quickly, now he had been promoted to the level of a substitute good.
“With a massive drop rate, I can earn a day’s worth of Awakening Potions in just two hours of hunting! And inside the fog, although the range is still narrow, I’m a buff bot capable of letting about three people hunt without potions! I offer all these benefits for just an additional $200!”
“...”
She had a nagging feeling that he was gradually becoming a comprehensive package buff bot, but she lightly ignored it.
* * *
Although he spoke nonchalantly, from Han Simin’s perspective, it was an item obtained through significant bleeding.
It was also true that heavenly luck had been on his side.
“Phew. At this rate, all the rabbits are going to die.”
Ninety wasn’t a small number, but compared to when he first started, ten percent had disappeared.
How sad was that!
They were the first rabbits on the continent to exceed level 50, raised with such tender care.
He shed tears as if his bones were freezing, but he tried hard to compose himself.
At least level 70—no, until Act 2 of the Main Quest ended and the clues for Act 3 were clearly established—thanks to the things he had set in motion, the Unknown Mountain Range was bound to become a hot place for high-level players.
Since he had prepared the foundation to suck the honey until then, the loss of the rabbits would be sufficiently compensated.
With a venomous glint in his eyes, Han Simin headed for the gold mine.
It had been postponed for a while, but now the time had come to finish it.
His mindset had changed in the meantime, too.
“When you go in, eat everything without leaving a crumb. Got it?”
“Squeak!”
“Eat even if you’re full, and eat even if you vomit. No, absolutely do not vomit. If you vomit, you have to eat all the gold mixed in with it too.”
“Squeak!”
He had intended to siphon off a certain amount of gold to use for territory development, but now that it had become a hot place, he decided to invest a little more in preempting a location that any player who knew how to play 『Fantastic World』—at least from level 70 to 100—would have to pass through.
Until a few days ago, Squeakers eating the gold mine had nothing to do with that, but now it was different.
The Gold Buff, which he had thought was useless and better off investing the money elsewhere!
That was shining now.
[Gold Buff Effects]
1. Attack Power Buff Lv30: Attack Power +30%
2. Defense Buff Lv20: Defense +20%
3. All Stats Buff Lv10: All Stats +10%
4. Drop Rate Buff Lv15: Item Drop Rate +15%
Levels raised by emptying out every last bit of gold earned from ripping people off with the Awakening Potions he had spent ages hunting for!
He didn’t touch the Experience Buff because it felt like a waste of money, but he didn’t hesitate with the Drop Rate.
“Phew. It’s damn expensive. Shit.”
Furthermore, the Experience and Drop Rate buffs cost 100 gold to raise a single level starting from level 1, and 300 gold from level 10, which heavily influenced his decision to yield the gold mine to Squeakers.
“You’re all dead. The players coming in later better be prepared to have their spines sucked dry.”
Determination and resolve!
He would extract as much as he invested.
Of course, there was a sense of excessive spending, but the importance of drop rate would continue to be emphasized in the future. Just looking at how players who weren’t even level 60 could determine whether they made a huge profit or not based on the presence of drop rate proved it.
Therefore, there was only one spec-up goal through this gold mine.
Level up the Drop Rate Buff!
“Squeak!”
Unable to read its master’s thoughts, Squeakers cried out excitedly, swollen with the dream of eating gold and growing.
6.
“Wow. We’re finally here.”
The feeling was new.
A really long time had passed.
He just had to secretly devour the gold mine he stumbled upon by chance. From petty greed, he experienced death, dragged in players, argued about being a Secret Merchant or whatever, and finally arrived here.
In a way, this situation might have come about thanks to his Scrooge-like mindset of not wanting to yield the gold to Squeakers back then.
“As expected, a person must always set their goals high and be endlessly greedy.”
Spouting nonsense, he entered the gold mine.
It was really nothing special of a space. Why had it felt so far away at first?
The only things that changed were that he reached level 49 and adapted to the mountain range overflowing with chaos.
“Wow.”
Putting aside his sentiments, admiration burst out naturally as he entered the gold mine with Squeakers.
There was even the illusion that the fragrant scent of gold was permeating the tip of his nose! On top of that, the cave pooled with flashing golden light created a sense of ecstasy.
“Are gold mines usually like this?”
Then, suddenly, he tilted his head.
He knew this was a world where common sense didn’t apply. Although there was some probability, applying the standards of reality was difficult in a place where monsters lived and breathed, where magic that couldn’t exist in reality existed, and where all sorts of herbs and ores imbued with that magic existed.
There was nothing strange about it, but it was still strange!
“Wait, why are gold nuggets just stuck in the walls like that?”
He thought the gold Squeakers bit into was just gathered and processed from the mine as a privilege of a Gold Dragon before being eaten. Even if he hadn’t studied much, he knew at least how ores were extracted from a mine.
“...This is heaven.”
It was absurd, but the reality didn’t offend him.
Compared to digging a mine deep underground, separating rocks mixed with gold, and then processing it to make gold, it was much more convenient and helpful for Squeakers to eat quickly if the gold just showed itself saying, "Eat me!"
“I don’t know. Eat it yourself.”
Besides, amidst all this gold, not a single share belonged to Han Simin.
That was important.
“Squeak!”
Watching the back of Squeakers entering excitedly, Han Simin bitterly exited the gold mine.
“Phew.”
Although he had given permission and steeled his heart, he couldn’t bear to watch it eating the gold alone.
He craved a cigarette, something he had never touched in his life.