"Sorry... I'm really sorry..."
Yoon Jeongsu, who had been thoroughly beaten by me, begged with both hands clasped together. His eyes were swollen with dark bruises, and a double nosebleed was running down from his nose. It was true that no one could stand against a beating.
That vicious bastard was kneeling before me.
Something suddenly came to mind.
"...Taking my taxi fare out of my daily pay was too much."
Taking food out of a beggar's mouth.
Since I remembered it, I hit him a few more times.
"Ugh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! From now on, I'll make sure to include transportation costs too..."
"Too late."
Bang.
Yoon Jeongsu, who had been thoroughly beaten, collapsed onto the floor.
'That's enough for now.'
Since he was just an ordinary person, I adjusted my strength. If I hit him as hard as I hit hunters, he would probably die.
'Still, this feels refreshing.'
It felt like ten years of congestion had finally disappeared.
I hadn't beaten him without reason. I knew quite a few secrets I could use to threaten Yoon Jeongsu. Naturally, considering the years I had spent working under him.
Things like exploiting the lowest-ranked hunters, pushing them toward hunter-exclusive loans, or ordering them to gain unfair profits under the excuse of sending replacement hunters to gates.
'There are so many that it's hard to even think of them all.'
There was still one unanswered question. I looked at Yoon Jeongsu, who had lowered his head, and narrowed my eyes.
'I beat him up, but is there really somewhere money can come from this guy?'
At that moment, the blue droplet of light moved to the bookshelf beside him. The bookshelf was packed with books related to hunters.
I approached the bookshelf. Yoon Jeongsu flinched and raised his head.
'Looks like there really is something here.'
The blue droplet pushed itself into the gap between the bookshelves. Looking closely, I saw that two bookshelves had been connected together.
I put my strength into it and pushed the bookshelves apart.
"H-hey... wh-why are you looking there?"
"Why am I looking there? Your speech is getting too casual."
Just by the number of years I had lived, I was older than him. I might look younger on the outside, though.
"Wh-why are you looking there?"
Yoon Jeongsu crawled toward me with an extremely servile expression. Seeing how flustered he was, I became certain.
There was something here.
Finding that something wasn't difficult.
Tap, tap.
The blue droplet tapped on the wall. Following its guidance, I knocked on the wall.
Then a square section of the wall opened with a creaking sound.
"Oh."
So he had hidden something like this. I had no idea.
Inside the opened wall was a steel safe.
It was an electronic safe that required a password. A type of safe that used magic stones.
'I think I heard advertisements saying even an A-rank hunter couldn't break one of these.'
Without the password, the safe couldn't be opened. I glanced at Yoon Jeongsu.
"Hey. What's the password?"
"I-I don't know? I really don't..."
A faint smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth as he pretended not to know. I would have to hit him a few more times.
"Agh! Agh! I don't remember! I don't!"
"If you're going to talk nonsense, at least put some effort into it."
"Ugh..."
He writhed as if he was about to die from the pain. In the end, he didn't reveal the password.
'Beating him more probably won't make him talk.'
Whatever was inside this safe was the culmination of all his accumulated crimes.
He must have calculated that enduring this was cheaper than handing it over to me.
'He's right.'
This wasn't some lawless wasteland. No matter what, killing or torturing Yoon Jeongsu was impossible.
'Words worth getting hit for.'
Bang. Bang.
"Wh-why are you hitting me...? Please, spare me..."
Even so, he refused to open his mouth until the end.
'What do I do? I don't know the password either.'
Yoon Jeongsu had hidden the safe itself secretly.
Since I didn't even know its location, there was no way I would know the password. Even searching through my memories revealed nothing related.
That was when it happened.
Fwoosh.
The blue droplet above the safe's number pad emitted a light ripple.
The blue wave spread across the entire safe. Then the droplet began moving.
'...'
I moved my fingers according to its movements.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep—
Knowledge about something beyond my understanding.
Information delivered by surpassing causality.
Yoon Jeongsu, who had been secretly watching me, stiffened.
"Wh-what...?"
The password was quite long. When I entered the ten-plus-digit number without a single mistake, his face turned pale.
"Wait, how the hell did you know that?!"
He shouted and rushed toward me. I lightly pushed him away with my foot. He tumbled across the floor and only blinked his eyes.
A face that couldn't believe what had happened.
Beep.
With a pleasant unlocking sound, the safe door opened.
***
Once the safe door opened, stacks of documents were revealed.
Yoon Jeongsu's pupils shook violently.
"Th-then you knew the password and beat me on purpose? You twisted..."
He muttered with a devastated expression. That made me look like the worse person for no reason.
I took out all the documents inside the safe and examined them carefully.
'These are records of all kinds of illegal profits.'
Some were from exploiting hunters. Others were records of threatening guilds or secretly taking and selling items. The names of various hunters, agencies, and guilds involved in these dealings were also written down.
As I examined the records, I couldn't help but admire him.
'This bastard was a more capable piece of trash than I thought.'
His skill at squeezing money out of people was extraordinary. Perhaps thanks to the fruits of that effort(?), just before the demons launched their full-scale invasion of humanity, Yoon Jeongsu had accumulated considerable wealth and escaped.
'...That makes sense.'
At that moment.
Clink.
Something fell to the floor from between the documents. A key.
'What's this?'
I picked it up and examined it.
A small purple magic stone was embedded in an iron key.
After confirming it, a System window appeared.
『 Item Description 』
'Oh.'
The "boxes" mentioned here referred to reward boxes that appeared in gates or dungeons. Most of the time, valuable items were inside those boxes.
'This alone would sell for ten million won.'
Finally, I could feel the effect of the Potion of Wealth Acquisition.
But after thinking about it carefully, something felt strange.
I had followed the droplet's instructions...
'Crazy. This is just robbery.'
I barged into an agency, beat everyone up, and stole things from a safe.
Leaving out the droplet, I was no different from a complete lunatic. No, even including the droplet, that didn't change.
Of course, I didn't feel guilty.
I nodded.
How many years had I suffered under this bastard Yoon Jeongsu? If anything, this wasn't enough.
I immediately placed the key into my inventory.
I searched through the documents thoroughly in case there was anything else, but nothing else appeared. However, I did find a few documents that stood out.
'He has something like this too?'
One of them was an old piece of paper covered with unknown characters. It looked like a contract using souls as a medium, but it had nothing to do with me.
'More importantly, this is the real jackpot.'
I picked up another sheet of paper.
This was the most important one.
[ Incheon Dungeon Investigation Report ]
A report about a dungeon protected by a mental barrier.
The difficulty was around D-rank, and it supposedly contained magic stones.
'If I clear this alone, I can make a huge profit.'
A smile spread across my lips.
After the System appeared, this world changed greatly. The most representative examples were things like gates, dungeons, and towers.
'Unlike gates, dungeons have separate clearing rewards prepared.'
Dungeons transformed the terrain of reality and created lairs for monsters there. Since South Korea had many mountains, there were still quite a few undiscovered dungeons.
'And this place is...'
My eyes narrowed as I looked over the address written in the report.
It was only a guess for now, but if this was the dungeon I knew, there might be an incredible item hidden inside.
"Yoon Jeongsu, thanks."
Dungeons usually had good rewards, so large guilds often took them. The fact that he had discovered one beforehand and hidden it away meant I had to acknowledge his ability in one area.
At my words of thanks, Yoon Jeongsu's eyes shook. He crawled over, looked at the document, and froze for a moment.
Then he continued while watching my reaction.
"Th-that place was somewhere I spent a lot of money preparing to clear... I was actually searching for hunters right now. And ordinary D-rank hunters can't even enter. Doesn't it say so right there?"
His voice trembled with anxiety. It made sense. It was a dungeon containing magic stones. Its value couldn't even be compared to a gate.
Sometimes dungeons contained magic stones embedded in mountains in the form of minerals. Instead, monsters inside didn't drop magic stones. Even if you only mined them without fighting, it was still profitable.
"I'll handle that myself."
I answered with a grin. Despair spread across his face.
That was when it happened.
Ding.
Someone opened the office door and appeared. A man with strikingly refined features stood there.
"?"
A pure white shirt and suspenders over gray suit pants. With glasses, he gave off a distinctly intellectual impression.
'Hm?'
The moment I saw him, one person immediately came to mind. I had never met him directly, but the image matched perfectly.
"What's going on here?"
He briefly looked around. Two D-rank hunters sprawled on the floor, the heavily beaten agency director, and one hunter examining documents.
The man nodded almost instantly. His expression showed that he understood everything.
"Ah. I guess I came at a strange time."
I had memories of this man. He was someone who occasionally came by and talked privately with Director Yoon Jeongsu. I hadn't known before.
I had simply thought he was one of the ordinary customers.
But seeing him again now, I knew for certain. This man was not an ordinary customer.
'What? Is it really him?'
His impression and style matched perfectly.
"Hmm. Ah, there it is. There it is."
While I was thinking, the man's gaze moved toward the documents in my hand. He avoided the hunters lying on the floor and approached me.
"Hello. My name is Baekmuk."
He tapped my shoulder lightly with his finger. A gentle smile rested on Baekmuk's lips.
"Do you happen to know me? I know roughly who you are."
A chill ran down my arm when I heard that name.
Of course I knew him. There was no way I wouldn't.
The two syllables of the name Baekmuk were carved clearly into my mind. Anyone who had lived in the ruined world would find it strange not to know that name.
Baekmuk, the information broker of the ruined world.
An exceptional S-rank hunter and the leader of a famous information organization.
'He was famous for his unmatched ability to gather information and take action.'
He was the monster who predicted the demon invasion before anyone else and prepared for it behind the scenes. The reason he was called a monster rather than a hero was simple.
Because he was far too obsessed with money and his own interests.
Aside from that, most evaluations considered him an outstanding person.
But he knows me?
"A talentless F-rank hunter. You're the one who couldn't learn a single Skill even after awakening and was called a trash hunter, right?"
...He certainly knows me well. Though he shouldn't have known me beyond briefly seeing me in passing.
"Ah, don't misunderstand. I'm saying this because I like you."
"Sorry, but I'm not interested in men."
Baekmuk burst into laughter at my response and nodded, saying he felt the same way. He looked around and smiled once more.
"That's a wonderful revenge. I never imagined you had been hiding your strength intentionally. Though I suppose someone truly that talentless couldn't possibly exist in this world."
Hiding my strength, my ass.
He continued with a genuinely impressed expression.
"Waiting and enduring until the right moment arrives. It's easy to say, but there aren't many people capable of doing that."
Apparently, the scene where I wrecked the agency looked like a carefully planned revenge to him.
"I never imagined you would fool even me. You're an interesting person."
"..."
He said it with a serious expression.
From Baekmuk's perspective, it might have looked that way. He had no way of knowing that I had returned through time.
Baekmuk took out a business card from inside his clothes and handed it to me.
"Keep this. You don't have a guild yet, right? Even if that's not the case, contact me if you need anything."
After finishing, Baekmuk's gaze shifted toward Yoon Jeongsu.
"Jeongsu, why did you lie and say you didn't have what I was looking for? Do you know how long I searched?"
"Eek! W-wait! No, no! This is a misunderstanding!"
Yoon Jeongsu reacted as if he had seen a ghost. Cold sweat continuously poured down his forehead. He looked more flustered than when I had beaten him.
Whirr.
The blue droplet that had disappeared for a moment appeared on a specific sheet of paper.
'This?'
It was the old paper I had seen earlier. Someone's soul contract. The droplet moved as if telling me to hand it to Baekmuk.
I couldn't even interpret the contract. Keeping it myself would be useless.
I handed it to Baekmuk.
He looked at me with surprised eyes for a moment before accepting it with both hands.
"Oh, thank you. How did you know I needed this?"
The moment Baekmuk picked up the paper.
"Th-this is a misunderstanding!"
Yoon Jeongsu suddenly rushed toward the paper Baekmuk had taken.
Bang.
Baekmuk lightly raised his foot. Yoon Jeongsu's eyes widened, then lost focus. His body went limp.
Baekmuk casually lifted Yoon Jeongsu over his shoulder.
Even then, his gaze remained on me. It was a favorable gaze.
"I received tremendous help from you. Probably much more than you think, Lee Jihan. I want to repay you, but right now it's difficult."
Baekmuk thought briefly before speaking.
"In about one week. Make sure to contact me at that number."
He waved one hand and disappeared beyond the door, carrying the limp Yoon Jeongsu with him.
Can I leave Yoon Jeongsu's cleanup to him now?
'...'
The blue droplet of light circled around Baekmuk's business card.
I gained much more than I expected. Especially Baekmuk's business card and goodwill. Those were things money couldn't buy.
'Is all of this really thanks to the Potion of Wealth Acquisition?'
It was beyond strange. It was almost miraculous.
'This isn't the time to stand around.'
I checked the time on my smartphone.
There were about five minutes left on the Potion of Wealth Acquisition's duration.
I put all the stacks of documents into my inventory and left the office. I had to use the potion as efficiently as possible.
'I should buy lottery tickets with the remaining time.'
Maybe the droplet would tell me which lottery tickets would win.