Chapter 3: The warehouse keeper leaves(3)
Black Mountain Guild
A man sighed heavily as he stared at the monitor.
[Post: Anyone want to rent Black Mountain Guild’s Line 1 Gate for a day?]
He couldn’t stop sighing at the ridiculous post his younger brother had put up.
Sure, the guild’s budget was tight, but he doubted anyone would fall for such an absurd scam.
“What kind of idiot would bite on this?”
“Hey, keep it down, hyung. We’re screwed if we don’t do this. We wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t blown our budget on box gambling! Why the hell did you get sucked into that all of a sudden?”
The man clamped his mouth shut as his brother snapped at him.
Was it true?
Box gambling. In the hunter world, it’s basically gambling.
So-called box junkies take rare items looted from dungeons, put them in treasure boxes, and shuffle them. Participants pay to guess which box holds the prize, hoping to win rare treasures and massive payouts.
That’s what box gambling is, but almost no one actually makes money from it.
Yonggil Hwang, the master of the struggling Black Mountain Guild, had fallen for a box junkie’s scheme and burned through months’ worth of the guild’s budget.
“Alright, I admit it. That’s the problem. But shouldn’t we at least make money legitimately? This is ridiculous. Are we stewing dungeons for soup now? Yongseok, this is too much.”
A guild has its pride. This was crossing a line.
But his younger brother, Yongseok Hwang, shook his head firmly.
“We have to hook a sucker like this. We can barely pay the guild taxes as it is. What, dungeons? We’re at the point of selling off the ones we own.”
Yongseok shook his head, as if there was no other way.
“Is it that bad?”
“The dungeons we were holding onto have already been snatched up by other guilds. We need to hook at least a couple of suckers like this.”
There was no helping it.
“Ugh.”
“Wait, hold on. A DM just came in!”
“What? Really?”
A DM? Who’d be crazy enough to fall for this scam?
“And they’re offering to pay cash on the spot!”
Cash upfront? That’s even better than credit.
“What kind of person are they? Can we check their profile?”
“They’re a recent awakener. Probably someone curious about dungeons.”
Oh, that might work out then.
Even though it’s a cleared-out dungeon, it’s perfect for awakeners to sightsee.
The price is a bit steep, but so what?
They just need to close their eyes and deal with it.
Yonggil Hwang and his brother Yongseok met the dungeon rental applicant in person.
The meeting was set in front of a portal in the outskirts of New Seoul, where the abandoned dungeon was located.
But when the Hwang brothers saw the applicant, they were stunned.
“Uh, so, miss, you’re saying you want to… rent the dungeon?”
“Yes.”
The brothers swallowed hard, their bodies tensing.
It couldn’t be helped. The applicant was a woman—and not just any woman, but one with such breathtaking beauty that even other women would fall for her, as if she’d spent hours perfecting her customization.
And the second thing…
‘GM Warehouse Keeper’
Her nickname was GM Warehouse Keeper.
If she was really a GM, her looks would make sense, but in Terra Chronicles, GMs were practically considered gods by now.
Was she really a GM? Or worse, had a GM come to catch them for scamming people?
Even if she was just a normal returnee, this could be trouble.
“You’re seriously not buying it, just renting?”
“Yes. One day is enough.”
The woman smiled so beautifully and nodded.
The brothers swallowed again.
Judging by their reactions, the Hwang brothers didn’t seem like they were just out to scam clueless people or get a thrill from tricking others.
So why were they acting like this?
Their guilty expressions told me there was some kind of backstory.
If I pressed them now, they might back out of the deal, so I figured I’d let myself play the sucker for now.
“GM Warehouse Keeper? That nickname…”
“Hyung, shut up. Do you really have the money?”
To prove I was here to be scammed, I pulled out 1.5 million won in cash.
“What, you’re actually—? Gulp.”
“Shut up, I said!”
“You’re sure there are no monsters?”
Monsters were my main concern.
They probably cleared them out since it’s for sale, but I needed to confirm.
“Yes, ma’am! It’s completely cleared. Not a single one!”
“So the price is—mmph!”
“Shut up, hyung!”
The younger brother was desperate to sell the dungeon, while the older one seemed to find it odd. But it was clear both of them had some kind of situation going on.
I’d heard Black Mountain Guild was in financial trouble recently. That must be it.
The deal was finalized smoothly.
The rental period was 24 hours. They at least had enough conscience to say they wouldn’t show up unless called.
And so, I entered the dungeon.
A cave-type dungeon is exactly what it sounds like—a cave.
Normally, it’s filled with various monsters. Some speculate the dungeons themselves are modeled after Terra Chronicles.
On the surface, it’s just a massive cave.
Thanks to the glowing stones the guild had set up, I didn’t even need to use my will-o’-wisp.
If there were monsters here, they’d be easy to spot.
“Hmm. Looks like there really aren’t any monsters.”
Perfect for me.
[Miner’s Virtue: Increases the range for detecting magic stone veins and improves the grade of mined stones.]
In the game, the mining skill would highlight vein detection ranges in color. I wondered how it worked in reality.
“It looks like nothing’s here at first glance. Alright then.”
I activated the skill.
As I scanned the cave walls, I saw blue veins stretching out like blood vessels.
Those must be the magic stone veins.
The way the skill visualized them was pretty interesting.
Following the veins, I could feel them growing larger.
Honestly, it didn’t seem like these veins would make much money, but I decided to start digging anyway.
Clang! Clang!
I had a good feeling about this. This was definitely a spot rich with ore.
My instincts were always sharp in Terra Chronicles.
Digging here would yield something great—I could feel it!
Clang! Spaark!
“Ohhh!”
As I broke through the vein, a massive chunk of magic stone appeared.
This was a bigger haul than I expected. At this rate, 1.5 million was pocket change.
The purity was high too. I could sell this chunk as is.
Clang! Clang!
The more I dug, the bigger the stones that fell out.
Good thing there’s no CCTV here. If the guild was watching, they’d see everything.
“Jackpot. This is a jackpot!”
Stones kept tumbling out.
What’s interesting is that in reality, magic stones are worth even more than in the game.
As magic stone engineering emerged with new tools being developed, their value skyrocketed.
Even these stones could rake in a fortune.
I decided to sweep them into my inventory.
With the rainbow pickaxe, every swing produced high-quality stones. It was a total haul.
The pickaxe was so good it barely took any effort, and I could keep digging almost endlessly.
Thanks to my fully expanded inventory, I stored the stones in the section reserved for them.
“Hmm. Maybe digging everything up is a bit much?”
Black Mountain Guild might think they got a good deal scamming a sucker, but I feel kind of bad since I’ve probably made at least 20 times their price.
Just a rough estimate told me I’d already earned over 15 million.
The shimmering blue stones were practically welcoming me.
Still, I came here to play the sucker.
Guess you can’t underestimate a storage character.
“It’s filling up more than I expected.”
Even with an infinite inventory, this amount was starting to feel overwhelming.
Having so many stones and so little of everything else makes me feel like a full-on miner.
Should I just leave the rest and head out?
Looking around, it seemed like this vein was the only thing here.
Should I go? It ended faster than I thought. Thanks to the pickaxe, it was over in a flash.
Probably about 30 minutes had passed.
I walked out with light steps.
*
“Maybe we should just refund the money now.”
“They came here willingly. Let’s not overdo it. They knew what they were getting into.”
“Still, I’m saying…”
“You got spooked by their nickname and looks earlier, didn’t you? Chill out. We didn’t commit a crime.”
Outside, I overheard an argument. They were bickering among themselves.
Was that the brothers from earlier?
If so, I needed to test them with my own skills.
“Oh, you’re out. Guess you realized it was a scam.”
“No, it’s not like I went in and changed my mind.”
They looked guilty, avoiding my eyes. It was almost pitiful.
“I’m not asking for a refund.”
“Oh, uh, really?”
Their expressions shifted again.
Yonggil Hwang, the Black Mountain Guild master, was still frowning.
[Conversation]
The Conversation skill. In the game, it was used to build rapport with NPCs. Mastering it made NPC affection skyrocket just by talking.
The catch? Even with high affection, NPCs only gave out lifestyle gear or items.
Blacksmiths or combat NPCs might give equipment, but buying from the auction house was cheaper than investing in Conversation for affection grinding.
Would it work on real people now?
I stared directly at the younger brother.
“Hmm. What’s the usual rental price for a dungeon like this?”
At my question, the man looked slightly uncomfortable but softened under my gaze.
“Honestly, an empty dungeon like this wouldn’t even cost 500,000 won. No, maybe half of that. It’s about the price of a night at a hotel, since it’s an abandoned dungeon.”
More than a hotel stay? That’s dirt cheap.