Rune Business (2)
A week passed, then two.
Clang, clang!
As mentioned before, Baek Jinwoo handled other things too, but he gave top priority to Rund.
—Rund, is the work going well?
—Ooh, HunGyo! Khahahat! It's going well!
—There, your hammer grip is twisted. I told you before, but you need to pay attention to that. Hmm, the heat is fine, but you know, right? You have to replenish the firepower regularly.
—Khahahat! I know! I forgot the grip again, did I? Thanks for the advice!
Because of that, he regularly sent HunGyo over and never neglected training either.
It was for the awakening of his latent abilities.
How fascinating.
HunGyo, who used a sword, was teaching an innate blacksmith, a dwarf.
Clang, clang!
The materials in front of Rund were piling up day by day. Now he was swinging without rest, 24 hours a day!
And yet the materials kept piling up.
It was because rumors had spread through the Big 3.
That anyone farming runes was an idiot.
That instead of buying runes in the marketplace, it was far better to gather materials and make new ones.
After watching for a while, Baek Jinwoo finally said a word.
"Rund, take it a little easier and get some rest."
—Hm? My friend, what kind of hurtful thing is that to say!
"Huh?"
Rund made a genuinely wounded expression.
—How can you say something so dreadful as to rest while leaving all those materials sitting there! Who knows when I might be isolated again! I'll swing one more time whenever I can swing!
"...Do as you like."
It seemed to be a kind of trauma.
Swinging a hammer was what he lived for, but they had locked him up for all that long time... He was afraid it might happen again.
"Well, do whatever you want."
'Works in my favor anyway.'
In any case.
After this incident, rune prices actually dropped a little, while material prices began to skyrocket.
All the players in the Big 3 had stopped buying runes and started buying up materials instead.
Once domestic material prices went up, overseas material prices rose along with them.
Domestic players had started sweeping through overseas marketplaces too!
And of course, all those materials...
—Khat, khahahahahat! Is this really real? This isn't a dream, is it? Uhahahahat!
...were piling up in front of Rund.
Continuously.
And when a month had passed.
Crafting (LV.4): Through various materials, crafts the desired rune at a certain probability.
At last, Crafting had risen to Level 4.
The success rate had also been raised to 2%.
For reference, the success rate by level was as follows.
[Lv. 1 → 0.1%]
[Lv. 2 → 0.5%]
[Lv. 3 → 1%]
[Lv. 4 → 2%]
[Lv. 5 → 4%]
[Lv. 6 → 8%]
[Lv. 7 → 10%]
[Lv. 8 → 15%]
[Lv. 9 → 20%]
[Lv. 10 → 25%]
The max level cap was 25%.
It would probably take years to get that far.
In truth, even around Level 7, it became workable.
Because then you could consistently pull out high-quality runes with only a small amount of material.
'Of course, enhancement is a different story.'
Unless it was a rare rune, the stats almost never rolled ideally... so demand was bound to continue.
Because every player harbored the desire to complete their endgame rune set.
Anyway.
During that month, 「Yoobaek」 sold high-quality luxury runes both domestically and overseas without discrimination, earning enormous profits.
Naturally, headquarters became busy as well.
"We have an insane number of orders! They just keep pouring in!"
"Do we have any more runes? We can't keep up with supply!"
"The order volume for strength runes is huge!"
"I think we need to bring in more manpower!"
Clang, clang!
They were even taking advance reservations because supply was insufficient, but there was nothing they could do.
Rund's hammering speed was constant.
At one point, they tried wondering whether using Lamba to speed him up might work.
—U-uaaagh! What is this?! Release me at once! At once! My body isn't under my control—how could I possibly craft properly like this?!
Rund was so horrified that they had to immediately dismiss and resummon him.
Yoo Jia hired more staff for the sales team to capitalize on the boom, and even established a branch in the overseas marketplace.
The business had begun in earnest.
* * *
At that same time, in England.
A blonde woman stood in front of the skyscraper called The Shard in London.
Her name was Rachel.
Ding!
[Sugoi: Rachel, you're really challenging it today?]
[Xenos: Breaking through the 30th-floor boss and then going straight to the 50th-floor boss? You sure you'll be okay?]
The group chat was on fire.
Because Rachel had broken her long silence and declared that she would climb the Tower of Trials.
During her break, she had prepared thoroughly.
Originally, in 「Battle of Summoners」, there was no particular penalty for failing a tower climb.
But in reality?
If you failed, you died.
That was why Rachel tried to recall the ecology of the tower from her memories of the past, and she concretized every strategy.
And then.
At last, the preparations were complete.
[Rachel: Don't worry. The success rate is 100%.]
The moment she gained the confidence that it would absolutely work was now.
[Baekcheon: Wooooow! As expected, noona. Amazing!]
[Rachel: Didn't I tell you last time? I don't want to be called noona by an old man over sixty.]
[Baekcheon: I told you too. If someone's stronger than me, they're big bro or noona.]
[Rachel: Shut up.]
[Baekcheon: Anyway, did you hear the news?]
The news?
Rachel smirked and was about to close her phone.
Because once Baekcheon started rambling, there was no end to it.
'Looks like he brought another interesting story.'
Just as she was about to ignore it and focus on the tower.
[Baekcheon: The Korean player, Baek Jinwoo.]
"Hm?"
Rachel stopped closing her phone.
'If it's Baek Jinwoo...'
He was someone she alone half-suspected might be God Ji-nu.
A person of interest!
[Baekcheon: A company called Yoobaek that manages him has apparently been selling runes lately?]
Runes?
What kind of runes?
[Sugoi: Ah, that?]
[Baekcheon: Oh, bro, you know too?]
[Sugoi: Of course. I bought a few recently myself.]
Oh?
Even Sugoi knows about them?
He even bought some?
[Baekcheon: Don't those runes make you think of a certain summon?]
[Sugoi: So you noticed?]
[Baekcheon: I noticed.]
The two rankers shared an understanding of each other's feelings.
These bastards!
Say it outright!
Rachel, frustrated, typed into the chat.
[Rachel: What did you notice?]
Sugoi answered.
[Sugoi: Rune Dwarf.]
[Rachel: What?]
[Sugoi: Yoobaek is selling runes that only a Rune Dwarf can make.]
[Rachel: Seriously?]
[Sugoi: I'll put it simply. A strength rune had both crit chance and crit damage on it.]
[Rachel: Wow, that's real.]
As expected of veteran experts. With that one sentence, they understood everything.
'That's huge.'
Honestly, she felt regret too.
She had set herself up with rare runes wherever possible, but even so.
The difference between having runes made by a Rune Dwarf and not having them was enormous.
"Wasn't it said that the Korean player Baek Jinwoo had summons like Wind Fairy and HunGyo under the government's management before? They were all summons that got isolated by patch updates. And the Rune Dwarf was also isolated by a patch."
Wow.
'I had my suspicions, but…'
He got even that?
'Damn, I'm jealous. I opened an insane number of Advanced and Top-grade summoning scrolls trying to get a Rune Dwarf, and it still never came out. But that guy at Yoobaek has one.'
And not only does he have it.
He's immediately using it to do business too?
He uses what he has astonishingly well.
'Is he really God Ji-nu after all?'
Honestly, she wanted to approach him.
She wanted to ask.
But.
'There isn't much time left anyway.'
There were only about four months left until the World League.
When that time came, whether she wanted to or not, they would have to meet.
'No need to go out of my way to provoke him when he doesn't want that.'
Still.
That was the part bothering Rachel.
'Sugoi said he bought a few recently, right?'
That meant even the silent Emperor in the chat window probably knew a fair bit too.
If Rune Dwarf really was a summon that only Baek Jinwoo could use?
Then the value of those runes could only keep rising.
Because if Baek Jinwoo was smart, he would control the supply appropriately.
'In that case?'
Buying them in advance was guaranteed profit!
Before challenging the tower, Rachel made a phone call.
To the vice guild master of Red Rose, the guild she led.
-Yes, Guild Master.
"Check whether a company called Yoobaek is selling runes in our marketplace."
-Yes, just a moment!
A short time later,
There is a listing, but they're out of stock right now and only taking reservations!
As expected.
All the fast-information bastards already took them!
Rachel let out a sigh.
The Red Rose information team...
Those idiots.
'I ought to replace every last one of them.'
They saw such important information and didn't report it?
"For now, reserve everything that can be purchased, and the moment stock comes in, buy all of it."
Rachel shook her head once, then soon walked toward The Shard building.
The tallest building in Europe.
It was Britain's Tower of Trials.
* * *
"This is insane!"
Baek Ajin cried out.
She knew the new rune sales business they had started was doing well.
But then—
[Red Rose — "We would like to place a reservation."]
Among the many guilds and rankers who had contacted them through the mailbox, she saw something incredible.
"Isn't Red Rose Rachel's guild?"
"That's right."
An employee beside her answered.
"Britain's symbol is the red rose. When people think of a rose badge, Rachel is the first one who comes to mind."
"Wow, a massive guild like that is buying runes from our company?"
She was overwhelmed.
This was the moment her brother's class spread beyond Korea and out into the world, so of course she would be!
And on top of that—
"Japan's Yoshida Hikaru also wants to purchase more runes."
"We've made contact with America's Xenos too!"
"And Taiwan's Baekcheon as well!"
Orders were pouring in all at once from famous rankers and from countries known as the world's Big 5.
There were even frequent documents expressing a desire for regular transactions.
'Isn't this incredible?'
Baek Ajin clicked her tongue in amazement.
It felt like only yesterday that she had been working while being dismissed with the crude label of dead weight, and she had never dreamed a moment like this would come.
There was only one thing their interest meant.
That the runes handled by Yoobaek were the finest luxury runes currently in existence.
And on top of that, she took 20% of the rune sales commission herself.
'Jackpot.'
She was practically sitting under a shower of money.
'Still.'
With demand at this level, it seemed about time to slowly raise prices.
That was simply economic logic.
If demand was high and supply was low, you had to raise prices to bring the balance back in line.
She didn't know exactly how Yoobaek's rune business would unfold from here on out.
'But even so.'
For a first step, it was an astonishing success.
Now the rumors would gradually spread.
That this was the place handling luxury runes so valuable that even having money wasn't enough to get them.
* * *
And at that same moment—
At last!
Clang!
Rund, who had been hammering away for a long while, suddenly threw his hammer down forcefully and burst into laughter.
—I've finally mastered ittttttt!
The very thing the player who summoned him had wanted so badly!
Latent ability awakening!
Crafting (LV.4): Through various materials, crafts the desired rune at a certain probability.
Luxury Crafting (LV.1): Through various materials, crafts the designated rune with a 100% success rate.
Luxury Crafting!
Rund had learned it.
A month.
And then two more weeks after that.
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