Chapter 71: The Wolf and the Boy (2)
Bang-ul-i asked, pointing at the sack Sa-hyeok was holding.
[Why did you bring so much out?]
“I’m going to use it as a means of conversation.”
Sa-hyeok pulled down two of the iron cases piled up in a corner of the warehouse with his telekinesis.
“This should do.”
Two iron cases, about the size of a large carrier.
One was a case for storing magic stones, and the other was a case for storing other byproducts.
Sa-hyeok brought out more than just magic stones from this harvest.
He had extracted and brought everything, including expensive corpse byproducts such as the Snow King’s skull, the Snow King Snake’s spinal fluid, and the Giant Ice Armor Bear’s claws.
‘I’ll store the byproducts in the boarding house since I don’t know when I’ll use them, and I’ll sell the magic stones.’
Sa-hyeok carefully placed the magic stones and byproducts into the cases one by one.
“Let’s go.”
Sa-hyeok carried the sack on his back and left the warehouse with the cases floating in the air.
And he returned to his dormitory at the Guild Headquarters and fell asleep.
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The next morning.
Sa-hyeok and Jeong-su returned to the dormitory after their morning training.
The other two were out on a raid, so only the two of them went to training today.
“Ugh, I’m gonna d*e.”
Jeong-su collapsed onto the sofa.
Lee Jeong-su, the closest in age to Sa-hyeok among the three senior disciples.
And the one who boasts the thickest (?) physique among Jeong-kwon’s disciples.
The scary thing was that all that thick flesh was pure muscle.
Sa-hyeok came out carrying the sack he had brought from the dungeon yesterday.
“What’s that?”
Instead of answering, Sa-hyeok took out one of the things inside the sack and threw it to Jeong-su.
Jeong-su caught it without knowing what it was.
A long, reddish, glossy lump, shaped like a zucchini.
A fruit that only grows inside the Snow Dungeon.
“It’s Snow Red Fruit. Eat it.”
Jeong-su’s eyes widened when he saw it.
“Oh my g*d. Hey, where did you get this?! This is something you can’t buy even if you have money!”
Snow Red Fruit cannot be cultivated outside the dungeon.
In addition, due to its crazy characteristic of rotting within two days of being picked from the tree, even if frozen, the amount distributed was extremely limited.
Therefore, even the Hunters and gatherers who entered the snowfield usually ate it on the spot and rarely brought it out.
That’s why Jeong-su was surprised as soon as he saw it.
“Think of it as a benefit of having a good junior disciple. I’ll put a few in this bowl, so eat them together when the other senior disciples come back.”
“Oh, thanks!! I’ll enjoy it!”
Sa-hyeok went down to the Kwonmu-mun research building with the remaining Snow Red Fruits.
The researchers welcomed Sa-hyeok.
“Oh, Hunter Min Sa-hyeok.”
“Hello. Please eat this and work hard.”
“Isn’t this Snow Red Fruit?!”
The researchers’ eyes widened.
As people who dealt with all sorts of things that came out of dungeons, they knew the value of Snow Red Fruit very well.
“Wow, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? It’s hardly distributed these days.”
“Thank you, Hunter-nim!”
The researchers excitedly gathered around the table and shared the fruit.
Sa-hyeok took two Snow Red Fruits and asked a researcher.
“By the way, is Seon Ha-il here?”
“Ah, he’s in the breeding room. He’s been down there since early morning with that wolf c*b.”
Sa-hyeok went to the room where the breeding room was located.
It was a room with one side made of glass windows so that you could look inside from the outside.
It was special glass that allowed you to see inside from the outside, but not the outside from the inside.
Sa-hyeok sat in a chair in front of the glass and waited for Ha-il to come out.
About 20 minutes later, Ha-il came out of the breeding room.
Ha-il was surprised to see Sa-hyeok.
“Hunter-nim?!”
“Come here and eat this.”
“What is that……?”
“A means of conversation.”
As soon as Ha-il took a bite of the Snow Red Fruit Sa-hyeok offered, his eyes widened.
“What is this? It’s so delicious!”
“It’s called Snow Red Fruit, a dungeon-grown fruit.”
Sa-hyeok quietly observed Ha-il as he devoured the fruit.
His cloudy eyes had become clear, and his sunken, dying voice had become much brighter.
The hostility he had shown towards Sa-hyeok had also disappeared considerably.
All this change happened in just one day after leaving home.
‘To think they turned such a bright kid into a patient with d*pression……’
Feeling sorry for him, Sa-hyeok also slipped him his own Snow Red Fruit.
Two Snow Red Fruits disappeared into Ha-il’s stomach in an instant.
Sa-hyeok opened his mouth.
“Have you tried using your ability?”
“I tried it in the training room. I can use it, but I don’t know why it works, and I don’t know why it suddenly stops working……”
“That’s how it is at first. You have to learn how to control it with chanting and magic formulas. What’s your rank?”
“They said I’m going for the measurement this afternoon.”
“Once your rank is measured, you’ll get your Hunter license.”
“Hunter……”
“Then you have to make a choice. Whether to live as a Hunter or maintain your original life.”
“I want to be a Hunter.”
The answer came out without a second’s hesitation.
Sa-hyeok asked.
“Because you don’t want to go back home?”
“How did you……?”
“Your living room is plastered with pictures of your sister, so it’s hard to miss.”
Ha-il remained silent for a while before speaking again.
“My sister is a genius. Studying, sports, drawing, music…… and even her personality is good. Really. She’s a person without a single flaw.”
“And you grew up being compared to such a sister every day?”
“Yes. And my parents have been business people all their lives. People who live by the motto of give and take. They tell me every day that since they raised me so well, I should give them something in return.”
“Give and take……”
“They even kept a record of all the expenses they spent raising me. They said they’ll get it back when I become an a*ult.”
“……”
This is crazy.
“But the situation has changed. I’ve awakened and can use magic. So……”
“You want to be a Hunter to escape from home?”
“Can’t I?”
“If you want to be a Hunter simply to run away, you shouldn’t become one.”
“Why? I have the ability and the will……”
“You don’t have the resolve.”
“Resolve?”
“The resolve to k*ll monsters.”
“Monsters……”
“People only focus on the glamorous income and abilities of Hunters. But fundamentally, a Hunter is a profession that deals with killing. It’s a job that constantly faces death. Are you confident you can endure death?”
“But there are already many people working as Hunters, aren’t there?”
“And many of them have died.”
“Uh……”
“Killing monsters, that’s the basics of being a Hunter. Can you k*ll that?”
Sa-hyeok pointed his finger inside the breeding room.
There was a Snow Wolf c*b playing with a ball.
Ha-il said in a flustered voice.
“T-that’s different!”
“That’s a monster too.”
“I know! But…… Wolpi doesn’t harm humans at all!”
Wolpi?
When did he even give it a name?
“And think about it, people train animals like hawks and dogs for hunting, right? Then we can also raise monsters to use in raids, right?”
“Why are you so obsessed with that wolf c*b? Because it’s cute?”
“……It’s the first being that ever liked me.”
The answer reeked of severe affection deprivation.
Sa-hyeok could understand Ha-il’s feelings.
That’s why he felt even more bitter.
“……So you think it’s possible to tame a monster?”
“Yes.”
“Impossible. All attempts at monster taming have failed.”
“I can do it.”
“You’ll regret it. It’s absolutely, definitely impossible.”
“I will succeed. I will!”
Ha-il didn’t back down.
He knew that if he backed down here, Wolpi would be immediately disposed of.
Sa-hyeok let out a short sigh and said.
“Okay. Then try it your way.”
Sa-hyeok got up from his seat and continued.
“Ten days, that’s how long you can stay here. If you want to protect Wolpi, convince me of your resolve within that time.”
Thud.
Sa-hyeok closed the door and left.
Ha-il went back into the breeding room where the Snow Wolf c*b was.
“Wolpi!”
The wolf c*b wagged its tail and ran towards Ha-il.
Ha-il hugged the wolf c*b and muttered.
“Let’s go together. We’ll be the world’s first Hunter-monster duo.”
“Keng!”
To Ha-il’s ears, it sounded like it was saying, “Yes!”
And as Sa-hyeok walked down the hallway, Bang-ul-i asked.
[What are you going to do?]
“He has to realize it himself. Even if the method is a bit…… harsh.”
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Time passed.
Ha-il devoted himself to learning the basics of magic and training to control his power, while Sa-hyeok disposed of the things he had brought from the Snow Dungeon.
Dungeon Item Exchange, Magic Stone Department.
The appraiser’s eyes widened when he saw the seven magic stones Sa-hyeok had brought.
“Oh my goodness.”
“Is there a problem?”
“No, it’s just that I’ve never seen them extracted so cleanly. Especially this one.”
The appraiser pointed to a large sea urchin-shaped magic stone among the ones Sa-hyeok had brought.
It was the magic stone extracted from the depths of the boss, the Snow King.
“Do you see these hundreds of sharp thorns? Since magic stones are intertwined with blood vessels and fascia, it’s common for the thorns of this type of magic stone to break during the extraction process. But if you brought a magic stone of this type, which is so prone to damage, without any damage……”
900 million won.
The price of this one magic stone was 900 million won.
And if you add the magic stones of the other mid-bosses……
‘A total of 1.53 billion won.’
With this, Sa-hyeok’s bank balance exceeded 2.4 billion won.
He had earned more money at once than he had ever earned before.
In fact, the average selling price of these magic stones was much lower than this.
However, the reason why the selling price was set so high was that the damage to the magic stones was almost zero.
Even the most skilled harvester would have difficulty extracting them without any damage.
It was possible because the support of telekinesis allowed him to meticulously cut and detach the biological tissues of the corpse, minimizing damage to the magic stone.
“With this, I’ve secured the cost of crafting new weapons.”
The weapons damaged in this raid were two Mubuchamdo daggers.
Sa-hyeok started thinking about what new weapons he would replace them with.
Meanwhile, eight days had passed since Ha-il joined Kwonmu-mun.
At 10 a.m., a male Hunter came down to the Kwonmu-mun research building.
He was the Tracking Team Leader who had commanded the operation to k*ll the Snow Wolf c*b in the shopping mall eight days ago.
The Hunter who had openly rebuked Sa-hyeok.
“Hello, I came to pick up the equipment I left for repair…… Huh?”
He saw it.
The Snow Wolf c*b being protected in the breeding room.
“What? Why is a monster c*b here?”
“Ah, that’s……”
After hearing the whole story from the researcher, he burst into anger.
“Min Sa-hyeok brought it?! That guy who openly shamed me for not killing the monster?!”
“Don’t yell at the innocent researcher and tell me.”
Sa-hyeok’s voice was heard from behind.
“Hunter Min? You reprimanded me for not killing the monster, and you’re blatantly bringing it here and raising it?”
“I’m not planning on keeping it alive.”
“It doesn’t look like it, considering you’ve provided it with toys and snacks.”
“Let’s sit down and talk.”
The two sat down on chairs in front of the glass window next to the breeding room.
Beyond the window, a Snow Wolf was sitting.
A single wolf, now too big to be called a c*b.
“Hunter Min, do you know how embarrassed I was because of that incident that day? My face was plastered all over NewTube!”
“You should be embarrassed. You almost messed up the extermination operation.”
“Then why did you keep the monster c*b alive?!”
“I didn’t keep it alive, I postponed its extermination.”
“That’s the same thing!”
“Let’s see for yourself.”
Click.
At that moment, someone entered the breeding room through the glass window.
It was Seon Ha-il.
“Who is that?”
“He’s the one who said he would tame that wolf monster.”
“Taming……? Wait, what does that……”
“Taming a Snow Wolf c*b is impossible. It’s already a proven fact.”
“Then why did you let that kid in……”
“Because he needs to know.”
Click.
The breeding room door was locked, and Sa-hyeok said.
“That kid needs to know what he’s dealing with.”
Thus, unknowingly, Ha-il ran brightly towards Wolpi.
And Wolpi slowly bared its teeth.
