Chapter 35. Turmoil (4)
Let's raid the boss room, the queen spider's room.
There was nothing they could do about Jeoksong Company being kicked out of the Spider Den.
So, before they were kicked out, let's raid the boss room together and suck out all the good stuff.
This was Riman's proposal.
And Lee Jeok-seo's response to this was.
“Are you in your right mind right now?”
Riman said in a confident voice.
“I'm as sane as can be.”
“Haah……”
Lee Jeok-seo sighed and rubbed his temples, then said.
“Let's be frank. Honestly, I admit it's a tempting offer.”
“Of course it is.”
“But how can we trust you?”
Lee Jeok-seo continued, looking at Riman with a cold gaze.
“I've only t you for the first ti today. I don't know your na, your abilities, or what kind of person you are. So how can I trust you and do sothing like this?”
Lee Jeok-seo still couldn't trust Riman.
He was suspicious of Riman.
Therefore, Riman was even more certain that his persuasion was proceeding successfully.
Suspicion is not the opposite of trust.
Suspicion is on the path to distrust, but it is also on the path to trust.
If a person has no intention of trusting or is not even interested, they will take a stance of denial or indifference, not suspicion.
They will simply cut off all interest.
But the act of being suspicious itself ans that there is at least so interest.
If he had attracted the other party's interest, then half of the persuasion was as good as successful.
Riman said.
“That's right. You've only t
for the first ti today, CEO. I've only t you for the first ti today, too.”
“……?”
In fact, Riman had only t the person nad Lee Jeok-seo for the first ti today.
Because he was an NPC he hadn't even seen in the ga.
Of course, he thought he knew the reason why he hadn't seen him.
Because by the ti the ga had progressed to a certain extent, the company would have already gone bankrupt.
Jeoksong would have gone bankrupt after being forced to terminate their contract and being evicted by Parakel Company.
That's why he wouldn't have seen him in the ga.
“In other words, I don't know what kind of person you are, CEO, and you don't know what kind of person I am. So aren't we starting from a relatively fair position?”
“Is… that so?”
Lee Jeok-seo felt like he was gradually being persuaded by Riman's words.
Just then, Lee Jeok-seo's associate, probably his younger brother, threw a wrench in the persuasion.
“Get a hold of yourself, hyung! Do you really think that makes sense right now?”
“Then do you think you have a better plan than this?”
“Do I need an alternative to be able to object?”
“Of course, you can object even without an alternative. But right now, if you don't have an alternative, you guys will go bankrupt. If you want to go bankrupt, just keep objecting without an alternative.”
“……!”
He shut his mouth.
Riman continued.
“Actually, the best thing would be to persuade Parakel Company and prevent the contract termination. But since that's not going to happen, you were probably tearing your hair out here.”
As he said that, Riman turned his gaze to Lee Jeok-seo.
He saw Lee Jeok-seo flinch.
“In the end, the only path left for you is to conquer the boss room. To take out as much as you can from here to cover your losses and then pull out. Even if I'm not involved in this, you have no choice but to go down that path.”
Of course, this wasn't really the only way.
If he thought about it, there would probably be other ways.
Nevertheless, Riman intentionally limited the flow of the conversation in this direction.
So that they wouldn't easily think of anything other than this plan.
Just then, Lee Jeok-seo opened his mouth.
“So… who are you, exactly?”
He asked Riman for his personal information.
‘Okay.’
He was almost there.
If he had thought Riman's thod was absurd, he wouldn't have even asked for his personal information like this.
Riman answered.
“My na is Leman White. And my abilities are……”
Riman trailed off and drew up his mana.
Because it was better to show sothing like this visually than with words.
[Discharge]
Crackle!
Black electricity erupted from Riman's body in all directions.
Thousands of branches of forked lightning.
Of course, he had controlled the output so as not to damage the surrounding objects and people.
But the sight of electricity erupting from a person's body.
And the fact that the electricity had a black glow.
It was a visual that was enough to overwhelm the opponent in an instant.
“……”
“……”
Riman withdrew the electricity, and the other two were at a loss for words.
Riman asked.
“What will you do?”
The shift from formal to informal speech.
It was clear from his tone that the initiative in this situation had shifted to Riman.
A mont of silent contemplation.
And Lee Jeok-seo opened his mouth.
“…But there's still sothing that bothers .”
“What is it?”
“That no one knows the location of the boss room. The excavation of this Spider Den is not yet complete.”
The scale of the Spider Den was vast and its structure was complex.
And it was an environnt where you couldn't use machines inside.
The pace of excavation was inevitably slow.
That's why they still didn't know the location of the boss room.
But not for Riman.
“I know.”
“Yes?”
“To be precise, I know a way to go straight to the boss room of the Spider Den.”
Of course, Riman had simply morized the location of the boss room.
But he knew they wouldn't believe him if he said that, so he just made sothing up.
“How……?”
“That's a trade secret, so I can't tell you.”
“…Then I need to talk to my brother, so could you please step outside for a mont?”
So he was his younger brother, not just a simple associate.
Muttering to himself, Riman went outside the tent.
And a little while later.
“What should we do?”
It was basically a sign of acceptance.
Riman answered.
“Gather the trustworthy hunters from here and form a team.”
“Understood. Then what are Mr. Leman's conditions? You didn't co here just to help us, did you?”
“There are two. First, you will follow my command during the subjugation process.”
Because if the hunters he went with moved on their own and burned the egg sac, the reason he ca here would be gone.
“And second, you will pay
20% of the profits from the boss room.”
“That's too much. Let's go with 5%.”
Riman's eyes narrowed.
He's trying to lowball the percentage at a ti like this?
“Do you want to get lost in the Spider Den? 20%.”
“…Understood.”
“And I really hate the number 5%.”
Because of a certain Sword Saint.
“Anyway, I'll be waiting outside. Get ready and let
know.”
About 30 minutes later.
CEO Lee Jeok-seo, his younger brother, five hunters from Jeoksong, and Riman were all gathered in one place.
Riman looked at Lee Jeok-seo's younger brother.
He saw the sword fastened at his waist.
‘That person was also a hunter.’
In any case, with this, the total number was 8.
Riman said.
“Then shall we go.”
With Riman at the lead, the 8 n began to move towards the depths of the cave.
* * *
At that ti, outside the Spider Den.
A man in a suit ca out of the cave.
It was the person from Parakel Company who had just notified Lee Jeok-seo of the contract termination and eviction.
As soon as he ca out of the cave and his phone was back to normal, he made a call to soone.
“Hey, it's , your uncle.”
The person who received his call was his nephew.
“The Jeoksong Company matter is settled. They'll have the Spider Den cleared out by tomorrow. Then you can co and take it over. The excavation is sowhat complete, and I've ordered them to leave the mining equipnt as it is, so it won't be too difficult.”
A smile slowly appeared on his lips.
“You're welco, kid. Of course your uncle can do this much for you. Just co and do a good job. Think of it as learning the ropes, and don't feel too pressured.”
Ruuuumble-
Just then, an Aerobile descended from the sky in front of him.
An attendant opened the door, got out, and took his bag.
He got into the back seat and said.
“Alright, I'm hanging up. See you tomorrow.”
This was the whole story of how Jeoksong was forcibly evicted.
For so, it was a life-or-death disaster, but for others, it was just a matter of arranging a job for their nephew.
A guilty conscience?
There was no such thing.
He didn't even realize that he had caused harm to soone.
Just like no human would feel heartbroken for stepping on an ant.
Ruuuumble-
The Aerobile rose into the sky.
And at that ti.
Deep underground, where his eyes couldn't reach, the ants began to move.
* * *
Inside the anthill.
The eight people, including Riman, stopped.
A red barrier blocked their way.
The barrier had the words ‘No Entry’ written in red on a white background.
In other words, the area beyond this barrier was still unexplored.
A strange tension briefly filled the air among the party.
Except for Riman, of course.
“Alright, let's go. We shouldn't dawdle when we're trying to make money.”
Riman lifted the barrier and went inside.
Everyone began to follow Riman with tense expressions.
The path constantly split and rged repeatedly.
But Riman's steps were unhindered.
Because he had morized the geography of this place from the beginning.
But the ones following him were not.
Scrape!
Lee Jeok-seo's younger brother made a mark on the wall with his sword at every fork in the road.
It was a asure to not get lost on the way back, but……
‘Well, I'll be with you on the way back, so why bother.’
But Riman did not stop him.
It wasn't particularly a hindrance.
And if making marks like that made him feel at ease, it wasn't a bad thing.
How far did they go inside?
The atmosphere inside was very different from the outside.
First, the humidity had increased considerably.
There were also more places where water had pooled on the floor.
And a strange scent that wasn't felt on the outside gradually grew stronger.
It was the scent of the pheromones secreted by the spider Demonic Beasts.
The fact that this sll could be detected by the human sense of sll ant one simple thing.
The Demonic Beasts were nearby.
Riman commanded in a monotone voice.
“Prepare for battle.”
Weapons were gripped in their respective hands.
Cold sweat slowly seeped out between the handles and their palms, and tense breaths escaped through their lips.
A little fear, a little anxiety.
The hunters were tense.
But being tense did not an they were incompetent.
On the contrary, in this line of work, those who didn't know how to be effectively tense died faster.
Because not being tense ant living with the alarm system called intuition turned off.
These people were veterans in their respective fields.
While the hunters were drawing their weapons.
Riman moved in front of his weapon.
Splash-
The place where Riman stopped was in front of a puddle.
A small puddle with a diater of about 1 ter and a depth of only about ankle height.
Riman knelt in front of it and reached out his hand towards the surface of the water.
The distance between the surface of the water and his fingertips was only 1 cm.
In that state, Riman began to construct magic within his body.
‘All natural elent system magic must go through a process of converting mana into that elent.’
But……
‘If that elent is already abundant, there is no need to go through that conversion process.’
Because you can just use what's there.
In other words, it was possible to use the magic of that system with a minimum investnt of mana.
And this place had a floor covered in water and the air was full of moisture.
In other words, it was the perfect place to use water-flow
system magic.
So Riman did just that.
Plop-
Even though he hadn't touched it with a single fingertip, ripples spread across the surface of the water.
As the magic spread in the water, it redefined the shape of the water.
Shhhh-
Riman lifted his fingertips.
The water defied gravity and followed Riman's fingertips up.
As if he were twisting a thin twine out of the material of water.
It was a mysterious sight, but at the sa ti, it was an absurd sight.
At least, to the hunters.
Because it looked like he was just playing with water.
“…What are you doing right now?”
“Preparing for battle. And they're coming.”
“Yes?”
“The Demonic Beasts are coming.”
Rustle-rustle-rustle-
Finally, sothing began to swarm from the darkness.
Spider Demonic Beasts.
Spiders, each larger than a large dog.
They began to swarm in the dozens.
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