A car pulled up outside the window and dropped off a case.
“Wait a mont, I’ll go retrieve the item.”
A short while later, he returned and opened the case.
“A sleeve-type shoulder guard. The outer shell is…”
He picked up a drill and brought it to the shoulder guard, then pressed a button. A rattling noise echoed, but the shoulder guard showed no damage.
“Hunters move around a lot, don’t they? It helps prevent dislocations and other shoulder injuries.”
Its appearance closely resembled the kind of shoulder brace people wore to prevent sports injuries. It was a bit unfortunate that it only protected one shoulder though.
Inside the guard was a simple chanism. It stored ergency dication for critical monts and could inject it imdiately with the press of a button.
“Not bad, right? If you don’t like it, you can sell it, and we’ll deposit the amount minus the processing cost.”
At Choi Seung-gi’s words, I nodded.
“I’ll pay for the processing cost and the additional fee. I’ll use it.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary. You haven’t received your payout yet for the Gyodong job, have you?”
After all, not much ti had passed since the Gyodong incident ended.
“If we count that as part of your share, then we can say the processing and service fees are covered.”
After saying that, Choi Seung-gi let out a small sigh of relief and grinned.
“Anyway, I’m glad it worked out. I was worried I was being too pushy.”
He wasn’t being pushy at all. I needed more gear anyway. Still, there was sothing I had to ask.
“Even if you prepared this, there’s no guarantee I’ll sign a contract with your side.”
At that, Choi Seung-gi shrugged.
“I was planning to send it as a gift anyway. New Hunters always struggle with a lack of equipnt.”
As he said that, he watched carefully.
“I’m not too bothered by it.”
Selling monster parts wouldn’t have brought in a huge amount of money anyway. This was a grade 3 Erosion Zone.
Getting a piece of gear that looked this durable in exchange was a win.
“Now that I accepted the gift, let’s talk about the contract.”
Choi Seung-gi let out a small exclamation and turned to .
“Let’s start with the most important part: the split. We’d like to take 30 percent.”
“That’s higher than the typical fee a junk dealer takes.”
Choi Seung-gi nodded.
“Think of it this way: the larger the cut we get, the more credit we earn in the system.”
“What do you an by that?”
At my question, he gulped and stirred the ice in his glass with a straw.
“My philosophy is that well-fed people don’t get tempted easily.”
“I don’t think that’s wrong.”
Loyalty and trust increased with the amount of money a person received. You couldn’t expect absolute loyalty by handing soone scraps.
“Because our cut is higher, we absolutely never touch your loot. Honestly, even with the 30 percent rate, our company ends up with about the sa as others.”
“So the rest goes to the crew that retrieves the loot?”
Choi Seung-gi nodded at my question.
“Even if soone wanted to steal Hunter loot, most of the ti they’d have to fence it. If they’re getting a decent cut already, no one’s going to risk jail ti for a few extra coins.”
He had a point. I looked over the contract. It spelled out exactly how much went to the company and how much went to the deployed staff.
“The reason I’m asking for this 30 percent split is clear. It’s not because I want to squeeze a little more money out of you.”
“I’m guessing that’s also why you ca in person?”
At my words, he shook his head.
“No, that’s a separate reason. I ca personally because I really want to sign you, Hunter Yoo Chan-seok.”
“That’s flattering.”
At my comnt, he laughed briefly and then turned serious again.
“Please sign with us. We may be smaller than Blue Wrench, but we don’t want to fall behind in this field.”
“Doesn’t being that humble put you at a disadvantage in negotiations?”
To that, he answered,
“Well, to be honest, we are at a disadvantage. We’re not number one in this field. And among new Hunters, you are clearly the top pick.”
It was hard to argue with that kind of honesty. And he wasn’t wrong.
“Usually, once a Hunter signs with a junk dealer, they stick together for life unless sothing goes horribly wrong.”
It was a trust-based relationship. Once you found a reliable junk dealer, there wasn’t much reason to switch.
In other words, if they failed to sign now, they might never get another chance.
“Let’s start with a 40 percent cut, short-term three-month contract and see how things go.”
Choi Seung-gi looked up at .
“A short-term contract…”
“Think of it as a trial run.”
The rate wasn’t the important part. It was only three months. If things didn’t work out, being locked into a long contract would be more trouble.
It was like buying groceries. Just because the price per pound was cheap didn’t an you should buy five kilograms of onions when you live alone. They’d rot before you could finish them.
We could start at a higher rate for a short period. If things went well, we could switch to a long-term contract with the originally proposed 30 percent.
“Understood. Though we usually don’t do things like this.”
Choi Seung-gi pounded his chest and his eyes lit up.
“I’ll make sure you want a long-term contract with us.”
“I hope so. Finding a new junk dealer later would be a hassle.”
We drew up the contract right then and there. Afterward, he handed sothing. It was the sa gun-shaped chip injector that Kim Minjae had used earlier for tracking.
“It’s loaded with 150 microchips. I’ll give you another 150 as backup. Just let know if you run out, and I’ll send more.”
“Looking forward to working with you.”
That settled it. I now had a junk dealer to work with.
As a bonus, I had also secured access to the Hut. It was a satisfying arrangent.
Now, all that was left was to head to Tsushima.
Once the contract was signed, I packed my things and headed to et Han Sang-ah at the point we promised to et up.
* * *
It might go without saying, but there were no ferries to Tsushima.
There just weren’t any. With a level-2 Erosion Zone sitting right there, what sane civilian ship would head in that direction?
So I had to ask the Busan Coast Guard for help.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Not at all. We’re honored to assist you.”
Reputation. Whatever the reason, I was now a Hunter who had appeared in the dia. This was exactly why I wanted to beco known.
Under normal circumstances, they would have asked all kinds of questions and wouldn’t have handed anything over so easily. But with so degree of public recognition, many of the procedures were skipped.
Once I had their agreent to send a boat to Geoje, I t up with Han Sang-ah.
“You’re looking sharp.”
At my words, Han Sang-ah made a face like she didn’t know how to respond.
“I wasn’t expecting a reply.”
After eting up, we headed to Geoje High School. There was a port not far from the school, so once the eting was done, we could board the boat the Coast Guard had arranged.
When we arrived at the school, the eyes of the people waiting at the gate all turned to us.
They all looked older. The youngest among them seed to be in their late 40s.
“We truly appreciate your help.”
“Hey, Hyun’s dad, isn’t that the guy who was on TV?”
An elderly man holding a bottle of makgeolli looked at and spoke to another old man beside him.
“Huh, you might be right.”
While the gathered people murmured among themselves, one of them ca up and grabbed both of my hands.
“My husband went out there and never ca back…”
Unlike those gossiping about TV appearances, the person who ca to had a desperate face.
“First, there’s sothing I need to make absolutely clear.”
At my words, the gazes of the roughly fifty people gathered turned to .
“I need to know exactly what it is that you want.”
“What do you an by that?”
It was simple.
“Do you want to destroy the Erosion Core, or to rescue any captured individuals? If I can only do one, which should I prioritize?”
It was a question of priorities. Was rescuing people more important, or destroying the zone? Depending on the situation, only one might be possible.
In that case, what should I do?
No one answered. Everyone stayed silent and glanced around at each other.
Only then did I fully understand the situation.
It seed the people gathered here fell into two groups.
One group had family mbers actually captured and taken to Tsushima. The other group were fishern who, out of fear, hadn’t been able to set sail since then.
“Well...”
It was obvious just by their expressions. So glared at others while so shifted their eyes nervously, hesitant to speak.
I didn’t waste any more ti and moved on to my next question.
“How do you even know people were captured alive?”
Wasn’t it more likely they were dead?
“There was a guy who escaped. What was it… Baek Hospital? He was taken there, I heard.”
Apparently, soone who had co to their senses claid that those who were taken were still alive.
There was a good chance that the fishern captured on Tsushima were indeed still alive.
“Even if that’s not the case, if I could recover their remains, that would still bring you so peace, wouldn’t it?”
I saw people nodding at my words. About seventeen of them. That ant the rest were the ones afraid to go back out to sea.
“Still… to reduce further casualties, shouldn’t we destroy the hole those monsters are coming out of first?”
“How can you say that? So what, the people captured over there can just die!?”
Before the argunt escalated, I cleared my throat to interrupt.
“Understood. I get the situation.”
In the end, I was the one making the decision anyway. It wasn’t like any of them were going to pick up weapons, board a boat, and go hunt monsters themselves.
“Right, right. We should trust the great Hunter to figure it out. We believe in you.”
I gave a bitter smile at those words.
“Rescuing survivors takes priority. If there are no survivors, I’ll recover their remains.”
In any case, I had the Coast Guard’s support. If I could recover survivors or remains, they’d be sent to Geoje first, and I would proceed to clear the zone afterward.
“Listen, the dead are important, sure, but shouldn’t we focus on the living first? It’s shrimp season now, and if we can’t fish…”
“Are you seriously bringing up shrimp, you bastard!”
They were about to start fighting again. I stepped in quickly.
“I’ll do my best.”
“…But can the two of you really pull this off?”
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