Chapter 77: A Simple Business (2)

Taejun wore a bright smile on his face, a stark contrast to Ko Youngmin, whose previously hostile expression had abruptly crumbled into dejection.

“Ah, hah. Oh, oh… It’s you, Hunter Taejun.”

“It seems you handle business quite efficiently.”

“O-of course. But what brings you here?”

“What’s wrong with the Vice Guild Leader visiting the main office?”

“N-no… not exactly a problem.”

Not a problem? This isn’t the main office; this is clearly a private executive suite.

As Ko Youngmin stammered, Taejun leaned back on the reception sofa and spoke.

“By the way, there’s a training room downstairs in the main office, right? The one where I sparred with Jo Yongtae last time.”

“Ah, yes.”

“You’re not using it now, are you?”

“No. It’s a training ground built on dungeon terrain, so the mana is unstable, and the facilities are quite outdated. We usually close it unless there’s a special event.”

“Then, I’ll be using it.”

“If it’s for personal training, we’ve rented a dedicated training ground in Gangnam. You could use that instead…”

“Ah, it’s not for training.”

“Then…?” Ko Youngmin asked, looking puzzled.

Taejun smiled brightly at him. “I want to set up a workshop there.”

In the deepest recesses of Hwiryung Headquarters, the elevator doors revealed a familiar scene: the training ground where Jo Yongtae and the Vice Guild Leader had clashed for their positions just a week prior. Little had changed. Below the vast hollow, the arena-like training ground and surrounding spectator seats resembled a Colosseum.

“It’s been tidied up quite neatly,” I remarked.

While traces of Jo Yongtae’s rampage remained scattered like craters, the rest of the training ground had been meticulously restored.

“Even if we don’t use it often, there’s no need to leave it in disarray,” Ko Youngmin replied with a dry cough, glancing cautiously at my reaction.

“But Hunter Taejun, why are you setting up a workshop here?”

“Ah.”

Before answering, I scanned the training ground one more time.

The training ground was built on the cleared remains of an erosion dungeon, devoid of any artificial structures. The only lighting came from the faint blue-green glow of phosphorescent stones embedded in the rock walls. From the pitch-black floor, mana steadily seeped upward.

Staring at the mana pooling around my ankles like mist, I muttered:

“This should be paradise for them.”

“Paradise?” Ko Youngmin repeated, a puzzled look on his face.

With him standing there, I activated a temporary sale post on Parsley Market.

Woom…

“Huh?!”

A Cogwheel Dimensional Gate, just large enough to fit a fist, materialized.

Ko Youngmin’s eyes widened instantly.

“Are you saying you possess the Subspace Storage Skill, Hunter Taejun?”

“It’s just a basic skill.”

“No, if you call that basic, then 80% of hunters don’t even have the basics… Huh?!”

Ko Youngmin, who had been heckling me like Manager Mi, abruptly swallowed his words.

Zzzt!

He stared at the pure white spider I had pulled out of the Cogwheel Dimensional Gate.

“W-what is that? I’ve never seen a monster like that before…”

A Swarm Queen.

These Void Spiders traverse dimensions in search of prey, and she was the monarch leading their swarm.

But to me now, she was simply…

“A spider.”

“Pardon?”

“A Golden Egg-Laying Spider.”

Let’s rewind two days.

“Is there a way to earn Parsley Coins besides essence stones?”

When I asked in surprise, Manager Mi replied with a triumphant emoji.

“What is it?”

I couldn’t help but press for an answer.

Parsley Market was the easiest way for me to increase my Synchronization Rate and become stronger. However, there were numerous restrictions that prevented me from using it freely. The main issue was the limited ways to obtain Parsley Coins, the currency used for transactions. The easiest way to acquire coins was by selling items, monster byproducts, and various other goods. But my seller rank advancement had been blocked by the Parsley administration team.

It’s impossible to recharge Coins using essence stones purchased with Earth’s currency, money.

Ultimately, there’s only one way to recharge Coins at this point: obtaining essence stones by personally hunting monsters.

That’s why, if I were an essence stone, I’d become a ravenous, indiscriminate beast.

“For the record, if you’re spouting nonsense, I’ll really go on strike. Just so you know.”

I added in a low voice.

“More times than I care to count.”

Parsley Market?

After activating the function and entering my personal information, I noticed a new exclamation point I’d never seen before.

I checked the notification.

I double-checked, then triple-checked the message window that had popped up.

Then…

“Did you do this?” I asked the chat window floating above my head, my eyes brimming with gratitude.

Manager Mi replied with an emoji again. I could clearly imagine how her shoulders must be bristling behind that status window.

“How did you do it?”

Well, he was once the Q&A Representative, after all.

“So what did you find out?”

“Exactly.”

Even so, completely blocking my seller rank advancement seems excessive.

If the goal is to prevent monopolies, they could simply ban the sale of all Earth-exclusive items.

Besides, similar items are already being traded in other dimensions.

They had banned the sale of items and byproducts acquired from dungeons.

Well, that was the reason, more or less.

Different.

They hadn’t even established themselves in the Erosion Dungeons that were eroding Earth in the first place.

Nor had they physically crossed the Gate to step foot on this world.

In other words, the Void Spiders were third-party entities with no direct connection to the dimension of ‘Earth’.

“So, you appealed to Taegoon-nim for permission to sell it, emphasizing that point!”

”(>ω<)”

Manager Mi grinned mischievously. “More like I threw a fit and demanded he handle it properly.”

It was clear she held a position of some authority within the company.

”…That was surprising.”

“Hehe, wasn’t it? Though we only managed to get permission to sell a single Void Thread.”

“At least we have another way to earn Coins besides essence stones.”

I smiled at Manager Mi, who was brimming with confidence.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect anything to come of it.”

“Ahem.”

Until now, she had merely been a chatty presence in the chat window—a burden to carry around, if I’m being blunt.

Finally, she was living up to her title as “Status Manager.”

“Anyway, that means Void Thread can now be sold for Parsley Coins.”

I immediately searched for “Void Thread” in the Parsley Market search bar.

There were indeed very few listings, and hardly any recent posts.

I sent a chat message to the seller of the most recent listing.

The reply arrived promptly.

Spider Enthusiast: Void Thread can only be collected from the webs of Void Spiders, but finding one of those is as difficult as plucking a star from the sky. And even then, you can’t harvest from an occupied web; you have to wait until the spiders have abandoned their nest.

Well, of course.

No one would just stand by and let Void Spiders destroy their own webs.

They’re stronger than most B-rank monsters, in my experience.

The Swarm Lord is a whole other level.

A moment later, the seller sent another message, sounding like a grumble:

I quickly checked the seller’s Status Window Temperature and transaction reviews.

The Status Window Temperature was 85 degrees.

This seller specialized exclusively in Void Thread.

Seeing that the transaction reviews were filled with positive comments and not a single negative remark, it seemed this seller operated with considerable integrity and transparency.

”…Hmm.”

I stroked my chin thoughtfully for a moment, lost in thought. Then I quietly typed in the chat window:

That settles it, then.

“I will steadily supply you with Void Thread, Spider Enthusiast. Take this batch first.”

I uploaded all the tangled threads ripped from the swarm queens and Void Spiders at once into the trade window.

Well, that makes sense.

There was no information on MonMonWiki about swarm queens being captured and their threads being used for negotiations. This means I’m the first in the entire multiverse to discover this behavior.

Perhaps it was because he risked his life for his livelihood, but even through the chat, I could sense his generous and straightforward personality. He probably looked like a burly lumberjack or sailor.

Then, unexpectedly, he typed something surprising: