A month had passed since Jeon Jae-woo awakened.
That meant the month had changed, and it was time for new Ruins to appear.
The Ruin System published each country’s Ruin exploration results for the month.
European Union, 1st. United States, 2nd. South Korea, 3rd. China, 4th.
South Korea had managed to secure three Legendary-grade Ruins, placing it all the way in third.
As an aside, the Ruin clear rankings worked much like Olympic rankings.
No matter how many Common- or Rare-grade Ruins a country cleared, its ranking would still fall below a country that had secured even a single Legendary-grade Ruin.
[South Korean Ruin Exploration Sets New All-Time Record!]
[Commissioner Yoo Jeong-tae: I Thank Every Hunter Who Risked Their Life for the Republic of Korea.]
[What Will Next Month’s Exploration Results Bring? Maintaining a Top-Four Ranking Will Be Key.]
[Legendary-Grade Ruin Clearer Remains Out of Sight… Anxiety Grows Alongside Expectations.]
┗It has been a long time since I felt this proud of the country…
┗Is this really the same South Korea everyone used to look down on? This is incredible…
┗South Korea is not incredible. The person who cleared those Legendary-grade Ruins is. One individual performed exceptionally well, so if he does nothing next month, it means nothing. We are definitely not a major Hunter power.
┗Why have they still not announced who cleared those Legendary-grade Ruins? Does the Hunter Administration even know where he is?
┗Imagine if next month we suddenly hear that Japan or China cleared a Legendary-grade Ruin in one hour.
┗If that actually happens, I am going to find the person who wrote the comment above and kill him.
Naturally, public reaction was intense.
Meanwhile, Japan had failed to secure a single Legendary-grade Ruin that month.
That was because Jeon Jae-woo had cleared the very Legendary-grade Ruin Japan had been targeting.
As public criticism of the government’s incompetence grew among Japanese citizens, the Japanese government found itself in an extremely difficult position.
South Korea, on the other hand, had secured one additional Legendary-grade Ruin on top of the two cleared by Jeon Jae-woo, bringing its total to three and earning third place overall.
Kim Yu-min publicly expressed her gratitude to the Hunter who had provided the armor, saying that it had allowed her to clear a Legendary-grade Ruin much more easily.
And once the Elite Hunters who accompanied her were equipped with the swords obtained from Jeon Jae-woo, the increase in their combat power exceeded all expectations.
After receiving such excellent results, Commissioner Yoo Jeong-tae called Jeon Jae-woo.
[Thank you, Hunter. On behalf of the Hunter Administration—no, on behalf of the Republic of Korea—I sincerely thank you.]
“What did I even do? I only gave you a few items.”
[Those items allowed us to clear another Legendary-grade Ruin, so it was thanks to you.]
“Then when can I get the money from selling those items? I am almost out of living expenses.”
[Ah. I will have the payment transferred immediately. I apologize. We have been so busy preparing for the Ruin clear.]
About an hour later.
A message arrived informing him that money had been deposited into his account.
Jeon Jae-woo opened his banking app with trembling hands.
Just how much had they paid him?
The total included the Knight King’s armor, more than a hundred swords from Grave of Swords, and even the gold mined from Old Golden Palace.
The moment he checked his account balance, Jeon Jae-woo nearly fell backward.
The amount deposited was well over one trillion won.
‘What? Am I seeing this wrong?’
He had handed over resources from Legendary-grade Ruins, so it certainly could not be one hundred billion won.
Was it really one trillion?
No matter how many times he counted the digits, it seemed to be over one trillion won, yet it did not feel real.
[The amount does indeed exceed one trillion won, Creator.]
Only after the infallible Myeolgeop confirmed it did Jeon Jae-woo finally manage to accept the reality.
In fact, although he had received more than one trillion won, that was not even the full extent of his compensation.
The sale price of the Knight King’s armor alone was around one trillion won.
When the gold taken from Old Golden Palace and the swords were added together, the additional amount comfortably exceeded two hundred billion won.
On top of that, Yoo Jeong-tae had used his authority as Commissioner of the Hunter Administration to grant Jeon Jae-woo several other privileges as rewards for clearing the Legendary-grade Ruins.
First was a Tax Exemption Privilege that freed Jeon Jae-woo from all taxes and fees whenever he sold resources from his Ruins to the government.
He was also granted the privilege of using Hunter Administration personnel to extract resources from Ruins he had cleared without paying any additional costs, along with an enormous monthly Pension.
In truth, the Knight King’s armor alone could easily have been worth several trillion won, so compensation of this level was not unreasonable.
Paying the entire amount in cash at once could cause all sorts of complications, so they had instead compensated him through a variety of additional privileges.
Of course, merely seeing more than one trillion won sitting in his account was enough to make Jeon Jae-woo’s legs tremble.
‘This is insane.’
Was it really all right for one person to have this much money sitting in a bank account?
Jeon Jae-woo turned to the Elder Lich.
“Lich. You can use your Traits inside the house whenever you feel like it now.”
“Hmm? Are you truly certain?”
“Of course. Why would I care about the repair costs for a little studio apartment?”
He had more money than he knew what to do with.
There was no reason to endure unnecessary stress by forcing himself to suppress things he wanted to do.
‘What should I do with this money? Should I move first?’
After thinking about various possibilities, Jeon Jae-woo decided to call his parents before anything else.
His father answered the phone.
[Hello?]
“Father? It is me.”
[Why are you calling all of a sudden? Did you run out of living expenses?]
“What do you mean, living expenses? I am a grown man. I called because something good happened.”
[Good news? Did you get a job somewhere?]
“No. It is better than getting a job.”
[Better than getting a job? Did you win the lottery or something?]
The lottery.
In a sense, awakening a Transcendent-grade Trait was itself like winning the lottery.
He would explain the details later.
“Father. You still have a lot left on the mortgage, right?”
[About twenty million won. I will pay it off soon enough. Why do you ask?]
“I will pay it off for you. And I will send you living expenses every month, so you can relax from now on.”
His father fell silent on the other end of the line for a moment before suddenly getting angry.
[You idiot. Whether you got a job or won the lottery, at your age you should be thinking about saving money. How can you talk about spending it like that?]
Because I earned enough money for three generations of our family to spend their entire lives doing nothing and still have more left than we could use.
“No, forget that. How about I just buy a house and you move in? I can get a newly built place facing south with a good view…”
[……]
His father fell silent again.
“Father?”
Then his voice returned, filled with considerable concern.
[Did you hurt your head somewhere? Should you go to a hospital?]
“……”
A short while later, he called his mother as well.
[You little fool! How can your mind be wandering like that in broad daylight?!]
He could practically feel himself getting slapped on the back through the phone, so he gave up.
‘…I should just buy the house first and bring my parents there afterward.’
***
The day after the final rankings were announced.
The new Ruins for the following month appeared.
The moment the new Ruins were announced, the entire world drew a sharp breath.
That was because an Ancient-grade Ruin had appeared this time.
[New Ancient-Grade Ruin Announced. Name: The Sun That Never Sets.]
[Experts: South Korea Does Not Yet Possess the Strength to Clear an Ancient-Grade Ruin.]
[Commissioner Yoo Jeong-tae: Nothing Has Been Decided Yet. The Hunter Administration Will Consider Every Possibility and Act in the National Interest.]
[Hunter Who Cleared Legendary-Grade Ruin in Five Minutes—Will He Challenge an Ancient-Grade Ruin?]
South Korean media outlets began pouring out articles about the Ancient-grade Ruin as well.
┗Oh. It has been a while since an Ancient-grade Ruin appeared.
┗Is South Korea going to attempt the Ancient-grade Ruin this time?
┗Do not get ahead of yourself. Last month, one person practically dragged the whole country to the top four by himself. There is no way we can clear an Ancient-grade Ruin with our own strength.
┗Then if we clear it together with the person who carried us last month, does that mean an Ancient-grade Ruin is possible?
‘An Ancient-grade Ruin.’
He would be lying if he said he was not tempted.
Naturally, the other major powers were watching it just as closely as Jeon Jae-woo was.
In fact, even countries lacking the strength to challenge it would still covet it.
Which country would claim that Ruin this month?
Of course, this was not the only Ancient-grade Ruin currently in existence.
Every Legendary-grade Ruin was eventually cleared whenever it appeared each month, but several Ancient-grade Ruins had remained uncleared.
However, there were reasons those Ancient-grade Ruins had been left untouched.
Every remaining Ancient-grade Ruin was difficult to challenge for one reason or another, even for the major Hunter powers.
There was no need to even mention Mythic-grade Ruins, which ranked above them.
In any case, now that a new Ancient-grade Ruin had appeared, everyone would compete fiercely to claim it as long as there were no unusual problems with it.
For reference, an Ancient-grade Ruin was not a realistic objective for South Korea.
Even if given an unlimited amount of time, South Korea’s Hunter forces were far too weak to clear an Ancient-grade Ruin.
This time as well, the competition would probably come down to China and India, with their enormous populations and correspondingly large numbers of Hunters, along with the European Union.
Even major Hunter powers such as the United States and Japan only occasionally attempted Ancient-grade Ruins.
And in the Republic of Korea, on the Korean Peninsula, a twenty-six-year-old young man was also staring intently at the Ancient-grade Ruin.
[Ruins Currently Available for Entry]
Ancient Grade – The Sun That Never Sets…
The Ruin was called ‘The Sun That Never Sets.’
The name alone gave him no clue what sort of Ruin it might be.
‘Surely “The Sun That Never Sets” does not mean I actually have to fight the sun?’
Even Myeolgeop and the Elder Lich could not know what kind of Ruin it was without entering it first.
Growing curious, Jeon Jae-woo muttered.
“…Should we just go inside, take a look, and come back out?”
He had promised to inform the Hunter Administration before attempting to clear an Ancient-grade or higher Ruin in the future.
But surely there was no problem with merely checking what kind of Ruin it was?
Myeolgeop responded to his cautious suggestion.
[If that is what the Creator desires, I see no issue with doing so.]
“Are you sure? You were worried about entering an Ancient-grade Ruin before.”
[With the Elder Lich accompanying us, we should be able to ensure the Creator’s safety, so I do not foresee any major problem.]
The Elder Lich also chuckled and nodded.
“I agree. With a Golem of this caliber accompanying us, I do not believe an Ancient-grade Ruin will pose a serious problem.”
Myeolgeop apparently was impressive enough to earn acknowledgment even from the Elder Lich.
Perhaps it was simply part of being a Golem, but Myeolgeop showed little interest in anything unrelated to Jeon Jae-woo, whom it called Creator.
It had shown virtually no reaction when the Elder Lich first appeared either.
The Elder Lich, on the other hand, was openly fascinated by Myeolgeop.
Its attitude was neither hostile nor friendly.
Rather, it resembled a mad scientist who had discovered an intriguing experimental specimen.
Still, as long as Jeon Jae-woo, their master, remained present and well, neither of them would do anything harmful to the other.
“All right. Then let us all go.”
They were only going to check what kind of Ruin it was.
Nothing more than that.
Jeon Jae-woo accessed the Ruin System and entered the ‘Sun That Never Sets’ Ruin.