“170,000 won?”

My tone went up at the unexpected price. The portal worker responded unfazed.

“Yes. It’s 170,000 won from Seoul to Gangwondo Wonju.”

Unlike from Cube to Seoul, traveling from Seoul to Gangwondo required payment. I brought my card, but 170,000 won wasn’t a small amount when I was trying to save money.

“Mmm…”

“Customer, others are waiting in line.”

The female portal worker coldly warned. Indeed, I could see a line behind me. They all carried a weapon, so it seemed we shared the same objective.

“Um… Can something be done with this?”

I showed her my Cube cadet card before I reluctantly paid. Kim Soohyuk said something about cadets having benefits, but I never made such a setting so I wasn’t sure about the specifics.

“Huuu…”

The portal worker sighed as though she was annoyed and accepted the card. Her eyes suddenly widened and her voice brightened up.

“Ah, you’re a Cube cadet. Cadets are allowed 6 free passes per month.”

“Oh really? That’s great.”

“Would you like to use one?”

“Yes.”

The portal worker stamped a seal on my wrist. Her complete change in attitude genuinely surprised me. Being a hero really was one of the best jobs in this world.

“Thank you.”

“Yes, have a safe trip, cadet Kim Hajin.”

She even memorized my name.

I walked into the portal with a bitter smile.

***

I could summarize Gangwondo Wonju with a single sentence.

“So many foreigners.”

Wonju was a global city according to my settings. Its buildings were limited in height due to monsters, but sturdy modern structures filled the city. Foreigners of every skin color walked around with weapons and their agents busily tapped on tablets. Agents calculated the prices of the day’s haul. It was an unusual scene compared to Seoul and Busan.

“We took down a good amount today. How much do I get?”

I couldn’t help but laugh hearing clumsy Korean. Korean had become one of this world’s preeminent languages alongside English. Naturally, this reflected Korea’s authority in the international community. Although Korea was now prosperous, it remained quite close to hell.

Korea endlessly produced towers and dungeons that churned out monsters. Textbooks contained several explanations, both scientific and religious, but neither were close to the real reason.

The country would’ve long been destroyed had it not been for heroes who turned monsters into marketable resources. In addition, 5 of the Nine Stars (nine of the strongest heroes) were Korean. One of them even served as Korea’s 20th President. As a result, Korea thrived and became a powerhouse.

“You killed 3 hobgoblins, so it should be about 600,000 won after fees and taxes.”

Foreigners paid more taxes under the law, but they still flocked to Korea because hunting here was safer. If in danger, one could simply send out a distress call and heroes or agents would arrive in less than 3 minutes. Korea was the only country with such a system.

“Take this. You’ll feel better afterward. It’s a troll blood potion.”

“Ah, thank you.”

I walked through the streets of the world I created. The city was full of interesting things: blacksmiths, potion shops, bars, etc. Shops that looked like they belonged in the Middle Ages operated in modern buildings. It felt like a game world. The sentence I wrote without much thought, Wonju is a famous tourist city, transformed into a vibrant scene.

Before I noticed, I found myself among a crowd at the field’s entrance. I would have to go to Hamgyong Province if I wanted to hunt in peace, but it was currently too dangerous for me.

“E-Excuse me?”

A tall, average man with slouched shoulders and circular glasses struck up a conversation when I was about to enter. I didn’t know him, but he was most likely an agent.

“Yes?”

“Are you perhaps here to hunt monsters?”

“Are you an agent?”

“Ah, yes. Here’s my business card.”

I took the card for now. I didn’t know who he was, but an agent was necessary to sell monster parts. I was shocked when I read his name and company.

[SH Agency Head Manager, Park Soohyuk]

“Mr. Park Soohyuk?”

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you.”

The man smiled as he tidied up his shabby clothes. Park Soohyuk. I knew who he was. Indeed, he looked similar to how I described him. Park Soohyuk was the most famous agent in the novel because SH Agency would later become Korea’s greatest agency.

“Haha, you might not have heard of me. I started this work not too long ago.”

For now, he didn’t seem to be doing too well. I smiled. Connections were one of the most important aspects in life. A person’s future was often the result of ill or good relationships. Many successful individuals in the future were still weak. The best way to associate with a famous person was to become friends before they became famous.

“SH Agency, I don’t think I’ve heard of it before.”

What bothered me was that this connection was supposed to be Kim Suho’s, but it should be fine since agents had multiple clients.

“It feels like a trustworthy name.”

“Ha, haha, thank you.”

“Ah, by the way…”

I naturally took out my laptop and checked for any changes. Thankfully, none showed up, which meant his extraordinary abilities hadn’t changed.

“My main weapon is a gun. Is that okay?”

“I don’t see why that would be a problem. Gun or sword, mercenary or hunter, it doesn’t matter to me! New customers are always welcome!”

Park Soohyuk put his hand out with a bright smile.

***

I loaded 8 bullets into my gun. Each pinnacle grade magic bullet cost about 150,000 won. Since each low rank monster went for 300-400,000 won, I couldn’t spend more than 1 bullet per monster considering the agent fee I would also have to pay.

With that in mind, I walked into the field.

Park Soohyuk followed. It seemed he was desperate considering agents without vehicles usually waited outside the field.

“Ah, there’s one there.”

We finally encountered a monster after about 30 minutes of wandering.

It was a low rank, grade 9 monster called iron hog with a large body and protruding teeth. The iron in its name wasn’t because it was made of iron, but because its skin was tougher than iron.

“I think we should ignore that one.”

Park Soohyuk held me back as I approached it. 

“Why?” 

I asked.

“Yes?”

Park Soohyuk’s eyes seemed to say, Do I need to explain?

“You can’t kill an iron hog with a gun. Even piercing its outer skin will be difficult.”

“But it’s expensive.”

“Yes?”

The price of a monster faithfully followed the law of a free market economy. Monsters like the undead gave zero benefits and had no value. Consequently, monsters like these were subsidized by the government.

“Even if it’s expensive, attacking it won’t do any good…”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.”

I took out my Desert Eagle and aimed forward. The barrel shone under the blazing sun.

“W-W-Wait just one min—”

Park Soohyuk made a fuss, but I didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. The bullet tore through the iron hog’s tough skin and pierced its brain. It helplessly collapsed before it could even notice anything.

“Perfect.”

Both the weapon’s power and my skill felt satisfactory. I struck the iron hog’s vital point with pinpoint accuracy.

“Wow.”

Park Soohyuk exclaimed in awe.

The setting I added to my Desert Eagle was quite simple and effective.

[The Desert Eagle’s attack power will be amplified when a monster is one-shot killed.] — Attack power will increase by 1% per kill starting from low-intermediate rank. — Repeated kills of the same ranked monsters will slightly decrease the boost in attack power.

I added a comparatively good effect for the SP spent by setting a restriction that required effort.

“So? Clean, isn’t it?”

Once again, I felt certain about my choice of weapon. Sniping from afar without getting close was the perfect low risk hunting method.

“Uh… That’s a great gun! Your sharpshooting is amazing too.”

“Haha, I’m flattered.”

I pointed to the iron hog’s corpse.

“So how much will this go for? It looks pretty expensive.”

“Well, iron hogs are already pricey and since this corpse is in such good condition, it should be at least 600… no, 800,000 won even after the fees.”

“Wow.”

“Hold on. Let me store the corpse first.”

Park Soohyuk took out a pouch from his bag. It should be a magical pouch with space expansion magic. I grabbed the hog’s front leg as he struggled to drag the hog into the pouch.

“I’ll help out.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“This is really heavy.”

My strength stat wasn’t that high either.

“Uuk, uk, god.”

“Wow, it is heavy.”

“Aren’t you an agent? Shouldn’t you have known beforehand?”

“You’re right.”

“I’ll hold its hind legs. You hold the front. Wait, don’t we have to carry the pouch around afterward?”

“Ah, don’t worry. Anything inside the pouch will have its weight reduced by half.”

“Only half?” 

I couldn’t help but sigh. Indeed, Kim Suho only met Park Soohyuk in his third year. Park Soohyuk was in a bad state even then, so now… Well, I could only be thankful he hadn’t starved to death.

“Ugh.”

“Uuu.”

“Come on, put more strength into it.”

“Sorry, I didn’t have lunch…”

We finally stuffed the hog in the pouch after an hour of groaning.

“Whew…”

I collapsed to the ground. My strength and stamina stat should have increased from that.

“It’s already 7.”

Before I noticed, the sun had set and darkness descended on the field. A fearsome cold enveloped my body. From the looks of it, today’s hunt would end with just 1 kill. Although I regretted the huge waste of time, I wasn’t too sad since I established a valuable connection.

“So how do we bring this back?”

“Oh, don’t worry. We can just call 119 if it looks like we really can’t handle it. We just need to reimburse them for the trip.” [1]

“That’s genius.”

We laughed together. Suddenly…

“Hold on.”

Rustle. A faint sound rang out from a tree.

“Shhh.”

I took out my gun with an index finger over my mouth. Then I fired in the direction of the sound.

Thud.

No scream. Only the sound of a beefy body crashing down.

“Huh? What happened?”

“It’s a black pelican.”

“Yes?”

Park Soohyuk might not be able to, but I could see it clearly. My eyes could see a thousand miles away.

“Black pelican?”

“Yep. Fantastic, we should take this one back too.”