18. Explosive growth, and opportunity – 3
—————————==
“Ha-ah!”
Lee Hyun-wook let out a rough breath.
Every time he exhaled, gray smoke spewed out like Jincheol Kwak.
The room was already filled with thick smoke.
However, the fire alarm did not go off because he had taped up the area around the sensor.
‘Almost done.’
He rolled off the bed and started crawling somewhere.
The goal is the refrigerator.
I barely reached it and reached out with a trembling hand and pulled out a bottle of mineral water.
Gulp-gulp-gulp-gulp-
Every time the cold water went down my throat and hit my stomach, white steam rose up.
The furnace does its job, melting and boiling everything that enters the body. And absorb it completely.
‘I feel like I’m going to die.’
I had that thought countless times, but I knew it wouldn’t happen.
Because it was a pain I had already experienced several times.
He slowly scanned the message that appeared before his eyes.
– Current weight of controllable metal: 17499g
Now it is a whopping 17.5kg.
If you were to move a 300g dagger, you would be able to move about 60 daggers at the same time, and in this case, the force exerted on each dagger would be about the amount that Lee Hyun-wook swings with one hand.
And the metal detection ability also improved, allowing it to detect 500g of metal from 135m away.
’36 hours…’
He was trapped in this room and only absorbed metal, and as a result, the 11kg of metal that had piled up on the floor disappeared.
But the aftereffects were formidable.
Green lines stood out on his skin. For some reason, the color of the blood vessels had changed.
– caution! ‘Poisoned’ by poisons of various natures.
“Keuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…
Numbness, nausea, dizziness, etc. were all over my body.
Poisoning symptoms were caused by swallowing metal enchanted with poison.
However, this symptom was a kind of adaptation process.
– Level 2 resistance to poison is being created. (81%)
‘It is being done properly.’
Resistance ranges from level 1 to level 3, and as the level increases, abnormal status reactions and damage caused by poison decrease. If you go beyond that, you will become ‘immune’ and your body will not die from tolerable poisons.
Of course, that would have required swallowing an unimaginably large amount of poison.
‘······For now, two steps are enough.’
That wasn’t all.
– congratulations! You succeeded in breaking through the 1st potential and acquired the ‘characteristic skill’.
Whenever your metal control exceeds a certain level, such as 10kg, 100kg, or 1000kg, a ‘characteristic skill’ is given, and you have just overcome the first hurdle.
The skills gained through that are…
[Skill Information]
– Name: Metal Crushing
– Grade: D
– Effect: Consumes mana to ‘crush’ a certain amount of metal.
* The amount of mana consumed varies depending on the number of targets to which the skill is applied.
‘As expected, I got something timely.’
He caught his breath and stood up.
Then he reached for the nail clippers that were sitting on the table in one corner of the room.
Ugh –
the nail clippers floated into the air.
‘······Shredding.’
The moment you think that way
, you go crazy!
The nail clipper exploded with a series of ruptures.
Like a piece of wood being ground into sawdust, the fragments bounced in all directions, scratching the wallpaper table and bed here and there.
Pa-ga-ga-gak!
A few pieces even flew towards Lee Hyun-wook’s face.
Shh-ik!
At the moment when my face would have been torn apart, the
fragments
stopped standing tall in the air.
They flew in a circle, followed Lee Hyun-wook’s gaze, and began to pile up neatly on the table.
It’s a shame that this was a small nail clipper. If it exploded with a sword that was several times larger… or even worse, if it were applied to tens of kilograms of metal, the destructive power would be beyond imagination.
“I like it…”
He smiled as he overcame the pain that threatened to crush his body.
***
Lee Hyun-wook was standing at Yeongdeungpo Station.
– 11:31 AM There were
19 hours left until returning from vacation
and 14 hours left until ‘that thing’ happened.
‘There is one thing left to do before then.’
Lee Hyun-wook had two main goals for this vacation.
The first goal was literally to significantly increase ‘metal control’ and further prepare a stable metal supply plan, which was neatly resolved by making a deal with craftsman Kang Jeong-du as planned.
And the second…
‘······money.’
Money A simple, clear, and most important word was needed.
‘There are many reasons why we lost to the villain, but the most important one is money.’
Gordon Price’s “black money” moved behind the scenes, bribing power, hiring players, and buying items.
In this way, very slowly but completely, he took control of everything.
‘It may be impossible to have more wealth than Gordon Price, but at least you should be able to avoid being swayed by his money play.’
Hyunwook Lee calculated his assets.
‘There is about 7 million won left in the bank account…’
Also, roughly calculating the three grade 5 orbs exchanged for reward points and one additional grade 3 orb obtained from the orcs, the total was about 11 million won.
‘A total of 18 million won…’
It was shabby.
Even if he saved up all his assets, it would be nothing compared to Gordon Price, the owner of [Blue Tree], who is already worth tens of trillions of dollars at this point.
But knowing the future meant knowing where and when the money would accumulate.
‘I know what industries will be revived after the upcoming 4th wave.’
In other words, if you invest in such ‘stocks’ early on, even small amounts of money will soon snowball.
‘But I won’t be able to take care of the whole process.’
You may be able to manage the first few pennies via the Internet, but as the amount grows, the time required to do it will inevitably increase.
Moreover, there will be many incidents in the future, and since most of them involve fighting at the risk of one’s life, there was a need to focus on improving one’s abilities and training.
In other words, we needed someone to professionally manage our assets.
A person who is alert to the flow of money, yet sincere in his work and above all else, a person who can be trusted.
‘······There is only one person who comes to mind.’
His name was Park Cheol-soo and Lee Hyun-wook’s high school senior.
‘I may just be running a small guild now, but I will become the best player agent in the future.’
Moreover, as an ‘analyst’ player who would lead the game in the future, he was also a benefactor who found Lee Hyun-wook’s ‘way to increase his abilities’, which he had not known about for 10 years.
‘After Kang Xi-seol, this is the second human resource that needs to be secured.’
Perhaps people could be a more important resource than money.
***
When I stood in front of the [Hope Guild] office on the second floor of Lee Hyun-wook’s old shopping center near Singil Station, there was
a clang!
The sound of something breaking came from within.
“No shit! brother! Seriously, don’t let me hit you!”
It sounded like a threat to someone.
‘This voice is… Lee Won-chul.’
That was the name of Hyunwook Lee and his high school classmate Yangachi.
And the person he was threatening was none other than Guild Master Park Cheol-soo.
‘That guy was one of Park Cheol-soo’s cold teeth.’
Park Cheol-soo was a high school senior of Lee Hyun-wook and Lee Won-cheol.
Although they are said to be their seniors, they are eight years apart. By the time Lee Hyun-wook and Lee Won-cheol graduated from high school, Park Cheol-soo had already joined a famous guild and was working as an assistant manager.
Then one day, the relationship began when Park Cheol-soo was introduced by the vice-principal, who was once Park Cheol-soo’s homeroom teacher, and he decided to help out younger players.
‘Among the people I know, there are few people as altruistic as Cheolsu…’
He helped the juniors he had a relationship with until the end. I even said that one of the reasons I decided to start my own guild was to take care of my juniors who had nowhere else to go.
‘But that favor… Lee Won-cheol repaid the favor.’
Lee Hyun-wook took a step closer to the office door.
Then, Park Cheol-soo’s voice—unlike a guild master—creeped.
“Well… Woncheol, you know that we didn’t receive many requests this month… Your salary was all raised through my savings. “I’m really sorry. Please be patient.”
“No, I don’t know about that. If the Master finds quality work, won’t the guild members jump in and make money? Who are you blaming for your brother not doing the right thing?”
Lee Hyun-wook looked inside through the slightly open door.
The cigarette smoke exhaled by Lee Won-cheol, a big man in a leather jacket, passed over the desk and landed in the face of Park Cheol-soo, a man in a wrinkled shirt. It seemed that there was not the slightest bit of manners.
“Cough! Coke! “I kept looking for work, but you all turned me down…”
“Oh fuck really!”
Park Chul-soo was startled by Lee Won-cheol’s shout and shrank.
“brother! Is it a request for event expenses? huh? “Oh, it’s so bad…”
“······.”
“I have to bring something like a request. The kids and I won’t work with a sense of mission! The fucking security guard is a fart? Isn’t that right, guys?”
When Lee Won-cheol said that and turned around, the three men sitting on the sofa nodded and agreed.
“Yes that’s right! I want to do something like ‘Operation Gate’ like other guilds.”
“Work is really not fun at all these days.”
“Oh, honestly, I’m thinking about just going to another guild.”
Those three were guild members recruited by Lee Won-cheol and were, in fact, Lee Won-cheol’s limbs.
‘From this point on, the guild master was already Park Cheol-soo, but the real power was Lee Won-cheol.’
At that time, Lee Won-cheol was a player with quite a potential. It was because he had reached Class C in three years after his awakening.
And Lee Won-cheol, who had become so arrogant, was blinded by greed and decided to repay the favor with betrayal.
‘Even that method was really naive and dirty.’
He took control of the guild by secretly forcing guild members he didn’t like to resign and then filling their positions with younger members he knew.
All of this happened while Park Cheol-soo was on the run due to various personal reasons, and eventually ended up swallowing up the guild whole and selling it to another guild.
Lee Hyun-wook opened the door and entered without waiting any longer. When the bell hanging on the office door rang, Park
Cheol
-soo instinctively got up from his seat.
“Oh, welcome… huh?”
“uh? Hyunwook!”
“Hey, what is this again…”
The three recognized Lee Hyun-wook.
They were Park Cheol-soo, Lee Won-cheol, and Kim Ji-yeon, a female classmate who was working as an administrator at the guild office.
“Hey Tin Pilot, what’s your business here?”
Lee Won-cheol said that and dusted the cigarette ash on the floor.
The relationship between Lee Hyun-wook and Lee Won-cheol has not been very good for a long time.
No, it was very bad.
“Hyunwook, it’s been a really long time… How have you been?”
Kim Ji-yeon asked in a momentary awkward atmosphere.
Then Woncheol Lee scoffed and snorted.
“If the soldiers are doing well, how will they be doing?”
“······.”
“Ah, I don’t know because I didn’t try it because I joined the guild right away, but I guess I’ll end up at the bottom.”
Lee Hyun-wook didn’t say anything and just casually walked in and sat down on one side of the sofa. He then took a quick look around the office and made eye contact with Park Cheol-soo.
“I came here because I had something to say to Cheolsu, are you busy?”
“Oh, that’s Hyunwook, that’s it now…”
“-hey!”
Lee Won-cheol shouted out of nowhere, and all eyes except Lee Hyun-wook were focused on him.
“······I have nothing to say, but if you haven’t seen your friend in a long time, shouldn’t you first say hello? You bastard… I just said a few words, but you’re going to chew them all up. It’s out of luck… .”
At those words, Lee Hyun-wook’s gaze, which was looking at Park Cheol-soo, very slowly shifted to Lee Won-cheol.
“······Lee Won-cheol.”
“What, you bastard! Why are you raising your voice like that?”
“I’m not your classmate, but I’m asking the guild master as a guest, so you can keep your mouth shut.”
At that moment, a vein appeared on Lee Won-cheol’s forehead.
At the same time, the three men sitting on the sofa, Lee Won-cheol’s loyal younger brothers, began glaring at Lee Hyun-wook with hostility, and a heavy tension settled throughout the office.
“Hahaha… This F-grade bastard got so sick of being beaten in the military that he lost his old memories… I was already in a bad mood, but hoo- you’re all gone if you smoke all of this.”
“······.”
“Our Hyunwook came because he wanted to be beaten like he was in middle school after a long time, right? right?”
Lee Won-cheol poured out all kinds of evil remarks and put out his cigarette in the ashtray on the desk.
“Already unfolded. “It’s too late to fry, you bastard.”
He then lifted the ashtray and brought it close to his mouth, causing phlegm to boil up in his throat.
“Ka-ak! “Tsk!”
however······.
“······huh? uh? what!”
He obviously spat it into the ashtray, but the spit settled on Lee Won-cheol’s thigh. And the aluminum ashtray he was holding…
unh
-… escaped from his hand and was floating in the air.
The left side of Lee Won-cheol’s face trembled.
It was clear to anyone that this was what Lee Hyun-wook would do.
“Ha… Lee Hyun-wook, this bastard…”
Won-cheol Lee got up from his chair and walked towards Hyun-wook Lee.
“······You really fell behind!”
As he was a ‘fighter’ type player, he was able to do his job even without any special weapons. Even in a bare-handed fight with an orc, he was confident that he would win.
“Woah, Woncheol, no!”
“hey! do not do that!”
Park Cheol-soo stood up in surprise and Kim Ji-yeon screamed, but there was no way he would stop.
But at that moment, something really strange happened.
Char-leuk!
Lee Won-cheol’s pants’ skull-patterned belt loosened on its own in the blink of an eye and asked,
“Huh?”
It fell to the floor as if someone was grabbing it and pulled out the whole pants.
Just like that, Lee Won-cheol’s yellow Winnie the Pooh panties were revealed to the world, even…
“······100 million!”
There was even a comical scene where Lee Won-cheol tripped over his pants and fell down.
“······Tongue brother!”
That wasn’t the end.
The belt moved like a snake and went over my hips and thighs, tying my ankles together and joining them together.
Char-leuk!
His legs were immediately captured without even lifting a hand.
“Ugh this dog! hey! What are you doing! Catch that bastard!”
Lee Won-cheol’s evil cry
, but the three loyal younger brothers sitting on the sofa could do nothing.
“Uh uhh…”
He just stood up awkwardly and looked at Lee Hyeon-wook and Lee Won-cheol alternately with round eyes.
“uh······.”
While all this was happening, Lee Hyun-wook sat leaning on the sofa and did not move at all.
He said this in a very calm voice without even looking at Lee Won-cheol.
“Cheolsu, I don’t have much time, so can we talk for a moment right now?”
And in the meantime, a bizarre scene continued.
S-s-s-s- Some
gray lines spontaneously crawled out of the black bag that Lee Hyun-wook had put down and began to move towards Lee Won-cheol, who was struggling on the floor, writhing like a live snake.
It was an iron rope, commonly called wire rope.
S-S-S-S-
“Ugh! “What is this? Save me!”
The scene where the thick steels ran as if they were alive was truly bizarre.
Lee Won-cheol struggled and tried to run away, but he didn’t even have time to put on his pants properly.
Four strings of hooks wrapped around Lee Won-cheol’s body like an anaconda.
“… Ugh!”
The people of the Hope Guild could not help but gape as they watched Lee Hyun-wook subdue Lee Won-cheol, a level 21 C-grade player, without lifting a finger.
Park Cheol-soo nodded slowly.
“That’s right, Hyunwook… you’ve changed a lot… what do you want to talk about?”
