An old backpack dropped onto the counter of the purchasing office.
"I would like to sell some items."
The employee sitting behind the glass partition lifted his head with a lukewarm expression.
He pulled the backpack toward himself with practiced hands and spoke.
"Your ID and hunter license, please. What are the items?"
"F-rank byproducts. Goblin leather and a few low-grade mana stones mixed in."
Cheol-woo took his E-rank hunter license from his pocket and placed it on the terminal.
While the employee scanned the barcode and checked the monitor, Cheol-woo drew in a short breath.
Outwardly, he stood there as if nothing were wrong, but inside, every nerve was on edge.
It would be troublesome if they asked about the source or suspected that the items were strange.
Goblin’s Abandoned Mine was a dungeon that had officially been processed as vanished only two days ago.
If he recklessly brought in items taken from there, he could be subjected to an investigation for stolen goods or an Association audit.
That was why he had deliberately left the intact, expensive iron ore hidden beneath his bed and brought only a small amount of damaged mana stones and old leather scraps.
"Let us take a look."
The employee opened the backpack’s zipper and poured the items onto a plastic tray.
With a rattling sound, low-grade mana stones giving off a faint purple glow and musty leather scraps spilled out.
The employee swept his indifferent eyes over the contents.
He placed the mana stones on the appraisal machine and weighed the leather on a scale.
"Seven low-grade mana stones. Four small pieces of goblin leather. Fragments of iron daggers. Common scraps."
There was not a trace of suspicion in the employee’s voice.
Only then did Cheol-woo let his tense shoulders relax slightly.
Since they were items commonly found rolling around in various low-grade dungeons, there was nothing there that would draw the employee’s attention.
It was just the right amount for an E-rank hunter to have gathered while working as a porter in someone else’s party, handling remaining monsters, or doing recovery work.
"There have been no recent market price changes. I will settle it according to the standard purchase price by grade. You want it deposited into your account, correct?"
"Yes. Please do that."
Tap, tap.
After the employee struck the keyboard a few times, a long strip of paper came out of the receipt printer with a whirring sound.
The employee tore off the paper, handed it to Cheol-woo, and turned his gaze away as if calling the next person.
"The deposit is complete. Next, please."
Cheol-woo accepted the receipt and left the purchasing office.
The moment he stepped outside the building, his pocket vibrated.
Cheol-woo’s steps stopped abruptly when he checked the account notification on his smartphone screen.
[Deposit: 184,000 won]
One hundred eighty-four thousand won.
It was not an enormous sum that could change his entire life overnight.
But the meaning of this money was different.
It was the amount Cheol-woo usually managed to earn only after spending several days as a porter in an unstable party, covered in monster blood and risking injury.
Yet yesterday, inside the abandoned mine, he had spent only one hour.
He had earned this money simply by scraping the surface of newly sprouted ore and catching three goblins with a trap, without any dangerous battle.
On top of that, the iron ore lumps and high-quality mana stones that were truly worth money were still beneath the bed in his room.
"Insane."
Cheol-woo bit down hard on his lip and swallowed a hollow laugh.
His heart beat rapidly.
To someone else, it might only be small change picked up from an F-rank dungeon, but to Cheol-woo, it was undeniable proof that he could end his sickening life at the bottom.
He shoved the phone into his pocket and immediately quickened his steps toward his place.
The third floor of an old villa building.
As soon as Cheol-woo closed the front door, he locked it and lowered the window blinds first.
In the darkened room, he caught his breath and reached toward the air.
‘[Enter]’
Flash.
The familiar blue gate rippled, and Cheol-woo’s body was pulled into the air.
Damp, cool earth dust stirred beneath his feet.
Goblin’s Abandoned Mine.
Cheol-woo turned on the flashlight at his waist and walked deeper into the mineshaft.
The acrid smell that stung his nose was the same as yesterday, but the look in his eyes was no longer that of the porter who had once fled from monsters.
Cheol-woo took out his notebook and pen, then approached the rock wall from which he had harvested mana stones yesterday.
"Let us see."
His steps stopped at the low-grade mana stone vein whose surface he had scraped with his pickaxe yesterday.
The light from his flashlight swept over the cracks in the rock that should have been empty.
There were still many places where the traces of yesterday’s mining remained intact, but along the edges of the rock crevices, purple crystals the size of fingernails had sprouted like tiny grains.
The iron ore wall was the same.
Across the hollowed rock surface, a dark mineral layer was in the process of filling in, forming a thin film.
Since he had already confirmed the regeneration itself yesterday, Cheol-woo was not especially surprised.
Instead, he carefully compared the time he had harvested it with its current state.
"The stones grow at different speeds."
Cheol-woo reached out and lightly brushed the newly sprouted crystals.
He stared into the air and opened the status window.
A translucent management window appeared, listing detailed figures.
[Regeneration Information]
-Low-grade Mana Stone: Partial Regeneration in Progress
-Iron Ore: Partial Regeneration in Progress
-Common Goblin: Mixed Regeneration Standby by Individual
After looking back and forth between the contents of the management window and the rock wall before him, Cheol-woo nodded.
Even resources with the same one-day cycle filled in at slightly different rates depending on the time and location at which they had been harvested.
The goblins were the same.
Since the times at which they died were subtly different, the times at which they revived were also staggered.
If he scraped off those small crystals in front of him right now, his income for today would increase, even if only a little.
But Cheol-woo did not take out the pickaxe at his waist.
"If I mine it bit by bit, my route will only get tangled later."
If he kept touching areas that had not fully regenerated, his harvesting cycle would become a mess later.
Then he would have to roam every corner of the dungeon every day just to pick up a few resources.
That much unnecessary movement and the time wasted on monster battles would only increase.
Cheol-woo opened his notebook.
Instead of mining what was right in front of him, he began recording the recovery level and remaining time for each mineshaft section.
"Sector 1 mana stone vein. Waiting time until complete regeneration."
"Forked-path goblin spawn area. Expected reinforcement by time recorded."
He muttered alone in the darkness as he drew lines and tables in his notebook.
The greatest weapon he had gained from living as a perpetual E-rank was not brute strength, but thorough records and meticulousness.
The habit of calculating when to enter and collect luggage without interfering with party members’ routes was now becoming the foundation for operating his own dungeon.
After writing down information about the area near the mineshaft entrance for quite some time, Cheol-woo stopped his pen.
He glanced toward the firmly sealed depths of the dungeon.
Because the boss Core had been destroyed, the detailed authorities were still locked.
"Let us check only this much for today."
There were still many areas he had not recorded, but there was no need to force himself farther inside.
After all, this entire vast mine fully belonged to Cheol-woo.
He operated the management window floating in the air and pressed the exit button.
Flash.
His feet touched the linoleum floor of his rented room again.
Cheol-woo threw his backpack onto the floor and sat in front of the desk.
Spread out side by side on the desk were the settlement statement he had received at the purchasing office today, the notebook he had just used in the dungeon, and the estimated quantity of resources hidden beneath the bed.
"Let us calculate again."
Cheol-woo opened the calculator on his smartphone.
Based on the amount he had sold today, he multiplied the hidden iron ore and mana stones by their market purchase prices.
From that, he subtracted equipment consumption costs, such as sharpening the pickaxe blade or buying new rope, as well as the time required for movement.
Tap, tap.
"Going in every day to mine is inefficient."
Rather than entering every day to gather a little at a time, it was better to choose the days when each item’s regeneration cycle had fully ended and sweep everything up at once.
He also had to determine the amount he could sell at one time without attracting the attention of the Association or other hunters.
On Monday, he would mine all the mana stones in Sector 1.
On Tuesday, he would mine only the iron ore.
If he did it that way, he could drastically reduce unnecessary battles and travel time.
"This is not just a hunting ground."
Cheol-woo drew a circle in the middle of his notebook.
A hunting ground was a one-time stage that ended once monsters were killed and byproducts were collected.
But an owned dungeon was different.
It was his own mine and production facility, a place only he could enter and leave, and one that would spit out goods again if given time.
He opened the drawer and took out a new notebook.
He turned to the first page and allocated the first income he had earned today.
-Living Expenses: 50,000 won
-Equipment Repair Costs: 50,000 won
He had no intention of immediately making his father quit driving his old delivery truck or making his mother quit working at the side-dish shop.
If he suddenly pushed a large amount of money at them, he would have to explain where it had come from, and it would draw unnecessary attention from those around him.
Capital had to be built slowly and securely.
First, he had to lay a safe foundation so his parents could naturally set down their burdens.
Cheol-woo wrote the expected harvest amount and market price by date on the next page of the notebook.
The first page of his operations log was complete.
Tomorrow, he planned to walk through the edge area of the abandoned mine that he had not yet recorded.
He needed to compare the crude minimap displayed in the management window with the actual map of the mineshaft he had confirmed by walking through it himself.
"If that boss bastard pops up again, I will have to try reviving the Core first."
Cheol-woo rested his chin on one hand as he rolled the pen between his fingers.
Until the supervisor revived, he could not use functions such as manipulating passages or changing the environment.
When that hulking thing appeared again a few days later, if there was a way to subdue it while keeping the Core alive, he might be able to unlock the dungeon’s control authority.
"Well, I can think about that slowly. First, food."
Cheol-woo tossed the pen onto the desk.
Until yesterday, his life had been one where he worried about tomorrow’s meal and patched up old equipment.
But now, he was making plans while controlling the amount of money that would come in tomorrow.
As he rose from his seat and walked toward the kitchen, he muttered briefly.
His steps held a composure different from before.
He filled a pot with water and turned on the gas stove.
"I should cook two packs of ramyeon."
A light hum filled the small rented room.
The end of his sickening life at the bottom was drawing near.
Even the sound of the water coming to a boil seemed cheerful today.
Cheol-woo opened the pot lid, broke the ramyeon in half, and put it in. A faint smile spread across his lips.
He took the leftover green onion from the refrigerator and began slicing it on the cutting board.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Tomorrow, I should compare the ore carefully."
He picked up his chopsticks and stood guard in front of the pot.
There was no production method in the world more certain than a dungeon that belonged to him.
Cheol-woo’s mind was already filled with the map of the next harvesting area.
As he added the sliced green onion to the boiling broth, he nodded in satisfaction.
Once the noodles were fully cooked, he moved the pot to the table.
Cheol-woo picked up a large mouthful with his chopsticks, blew on the hot steam, and slurped up the noodles.
The sound of slurping echoed through the quiet room.
Since he would have to move more diligently tomorrow, eating properly came first.
After finishing the meal, Cheol-woo threw the pot into the sink and roughly wiped away the water.
He picked up the old pickaxe placed in the corner of the room.
Taking out a whetstone, he began sharpening the dulled blade.
Scrape. Scrape.
The cold sound of metal grinding against the whetstone filled the room.
Before, it had been equipment he used carelessly, never knowing when it might break. Now, it was a reliable tool for entering his own place of business.
"This should be enough to scrape things off tomorrow without a problem."
Cheol-woo ran a finger along the sharpened pickaxe blade and nodded.
After finishing the maintenance, he turned off the desk lamp and walked toward the bed.
The heavy sack hidden beneath the bed sat quietly in the darkness.
Cheol-woo pulled up the blanket and lay down comfortably.
He was already looking forward to the sound of tomorrow’s alarm.
The abandoned mine that now belonged to him would be quietly growing minerals and mana stones in the darkness.
Cheol-woo looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes.
Everything was going smoothly.
If things continued like this, then in the not-too-distant future, he would be able to enjoy a safe and comfortable life with his parents.
He would no longer have to be dragged around by reckless schedules because he was short on money.
"Tomorrow, I should move from early in the morning."
Cheol-woo shifted into a better position and closed his eyes.
The night air seeped in from outside the window.
The air inside the room felt especially warm today.
He once again pictured the harvesting schedule he had created in his mind.
It was his own schedule, one no one could interfere with.
"Sleep well, stones."
Soft breathing filled the room.
With a faint smile on his lips, Cheol-woo fell into a deep sleep.
The small room in the old villa building sank into peaceful silence.
Tomorrow would surely be an even busier day than today.
A day of Cheol-woo’s own making, controlled and planned by him, was waiting.