Clear water poured into a large rubber basin.
Plastic bottles of purified water bought in bulk from the supermarket lay scattered across the bathroom floor. After emptying every last bottle, Hwang Taehu lightly patted his lower back.
"This should be enough to submerge it completely."
Taehu brought over the old metal box he had left in the living room.
It was the Alchemist's Storage Box he had purchased from the appraisal center for a mere 1.5 million won just a few hours earlier.
It was a lump of scrap metal that had refused to budge even when other Appraisers exhausted themselves forcing mana into it and the latest appraisal machines fired wave after wave at it with deafening roars.
Yet the unlock condition Taehu had seen was absurdly simple.
Submerge in pure water for 3 hours.
Taehu carefully lowered the box into the basin.
The rusty box disappeared completely beneath the rippling water.
'Now all I have to do is wait.'
They had tried to forcibly open a lock designed to repel mana, so naturally it would have reacted as though the machine were malfunctioning. Considering the eccentric tendencies of alchemists from ancient times, it was actually a fairly plausible security measure.
Taehu set the timer on his smartphone to exactly three hours and closed the bathroom door.
After taking a quick shower, he threw together a simple dinner with side dishes from the refrigerator. He lay on the sofa browsing the price board on a Hunter community forum, and before he knew it, the time had flown by.
RIIING.
The instant the alarm sounded, Taehu got up without hesitation.
He turned on the bathroom light and peered into the basin, letting out a quiet exclamation.
"It really opened."
A strange transformation was taking place across the surface of the submerged box.
The patterns he had assumed were merely obscured by rust began to glow faintly before slowly dissolving away like ink bleeding into water.
It was the residual mana that had been tightly intertwined around the box being washed away.
CLICK.
A moment later, with a crisp metallic sound, the firmly sealed lock sprang open on its own.
Taehu rolled up his sleeves and lifted the box out of the water. After roughly wiping away the moisture with a towel, he carefully placed it on the living room table.
Taehu swallowed and slowly raised the lid.
Unlike its decrepit exterior, the inside of the box was completely lined with luxurious velvet.
Despite the long years that had passed, it had been preserved perfectly, without so much as a speck of dust.
"Wow. This is quite the jackpot."
Several medicine bottles of varying sizes and specially treated leather pouches were neatly secured inside.
Taehu removed his gloves and touched the items one by one with his fingertips. Golden text appeared in the air in rapid succession.
[Dried Spirit Tree Leaf]
-Rank: B
-Status: Perfectly dried.
[Hardened Gargoyle Tear]
-Rank: B
-Status: Free of impurities.
Every item he picked up was a B-rank alchemical material that commanded a fairly high price on the market.
Selling these alone would easily surpass the 1.5 million won he had paid for the box. But Taehu's gaze soon fixed on something tucked away in its deepest recess.
A transparent glass vial about the size of his palm was firmly secured inside a frame engraved with a shock-absorbing magic circle.
Inside the vial, a clear, luminous blue liquid gently sloshed, suffused with faint mana.
The instant Taehu wrapped his hand around the vial, the clearest text yet appeared across his vision.
[Clearbright Herb Concentrate]
-Rank: A
-Status: Highest quality. No deterioration.
-Description: A key ingredient in top-grade recovery potions. A pure concentrate containing absolutely no impurities.
Taehu's eyes widened.
Clearbright Herb itself was difficult to obtain, but an extract concentrated to this degree of purity was suffering from an extreme shortage in the Hunter Market.
With high-level dungeons becoming increasingly active of late, major guilds had been buying up every recovery potion of A-rank or higher they could find, causing the price of raw ingredients to soar to the point where sellers could practically name their own price.
"This came out of a 1.5-million-won trash can?"
Taehu let out an incredulous laugh as he carefully set the vial down.
His heart was racing, but he did not allow his excitement to cloud his judgment.
He could not hand such expensive materials over to some neighborhood pawnshop or ordinary broker. He needed to find a true professional with substantial capital and a reputation for discretion.
He immediately took out his smartphone and shortlisted three reputable large-scale alchemy workshops.
Then he anonymously sent each workshop's purchasing representative a brief message along with several partial photographs of the contents.
It was not long before his smartphone began ringing incessantly.
A few days later, inside a luxury officetel building in central Seoul.
Taehu passed the reception desk, took the elevator, and rode up to one of the higher floors.
When he opened the door to a premium private reception room at the end of the corridor, a neatly dressed man in a suit hurriedly rose from his seat.
"Welcome, Hunter Hwang Taehu. We received your message and have been expecting you."
"Good to meet you. Let us inspect the goods first."
Rather than exchange lengthy greetings, Taehu placed the bag he had brought on the table.
This was a private reception room belonging to Hyeonmu Alchemy Workshop, which had offered the most generous terms of the three workshops Taehu had contacted.
As the glass vial and leather pouches emerged from the bag one after another, the representative's gaze sharpened.
He put on the special gloves he had prepared beforehand and examined each item through a loupe. When he reached the bluish glass vial in particular, he practically stopped breathing.
"My goodness. It really is Clearbright Herb Concentrate. And it is the highest grade, with absolutely no impurities."
The representative's fingertips trembled faintly.
"Major guilds have been putting enormous pressure on us lately to supply A-rank recovery potions, so we have been desperate to secure raw materials ourselves. How did you manage to obtain something this valuable?"
"I got lucky. I believe we agreed that you would not ask about its source."
Taehu replied leisurely as he raised his coffee cup.
Realizing his mistake, the representative cleared his throat and quickly composed himself.
"Ah, my apologies. The goods are so exceptional that I became carried away. As promised beforehand, we guarantee complete confidentiality regarding this transaction."
The representative operated his tablet and brought up the quotation on the screen.
"We prepared a preliminary estimate based on the photographs you sent, but the actual condition is far better than we expected. We will offer 30 million won for the B-rank materials as a lot, and 130 million won for the Clearbright Herb Concentrate. That makes a total purchase price of 160 million won."
Taehu's eyes curved into a pleased smile.
The offer was close to the upper end of the market price he had researched in advance.
It clearly showed just how urgently they needed the raw materials. He could have dragged things out longer by playing the workshops against one another, but there was no real need.
"Sounds good. We have a deal at that price."
"Thank you. I will have the payment transferred immediately."
The representative's face brightened.
As though afraid Taehu might change his mind, he hurriedly presented the electronic contract. After a few taps and signatures were exchanged, Taehu's smartphone gave a brief vibration.
[Deposit: 160,000,000 won]
[Balance: 172,350,000 won]
After confirming the staggering figure displayed in his bank account, Taehu quietly turned off the screen.
"I appreciate how straightforward this transaction was. I will contact you again if I come across anything good."
"We would be delighted to hear from you anytime. Have a safe trip home."
The representative bowed deeply as he saw Taehu off.
After leaving the workshop building, Taehu inhaled the crisp night air.
The lights of cars traveling along the road swept across his face.
He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets and walked at an unhurried pace.
An irrepressible smile spread across his lips.
It had taken only a few days to turn 1.5 million won into 160 million.
He had not needed to enter a gloomy dungeon and smell blood, nor had he needed to risk his life swinging a sword at horrifying monsters.
All he had done was uncover the true value of something everyone else had failed to recognize and had been ready to throw into the trash.
'There are Hunters who make money by fighting, but...'
Taehu looked down at his hands.
They had some calluses, but they were still the ordinary hands of an Appraiser, unmarred by vicious scars.
'This is my way.'
Not every fortune in the world had to be tied directly to strength.
Picking up the value others had discarded, polishing it clean, and returning it to where it truly belonged. That alone could place wealth in his hands that ordinary Hunters might never touch in their entire lives.
Taehu stopped walking and raised his head toward the night sky.
Thinking of the enormous sum now sitting in his bank account, even the air seemed sweeter tonight.
"When I go to work tomorrow, I should buy the break room coffee machine some top-grade beans."
Humming lightly to himself, Taehu quickened his pace, his figure naturally blending into the lights of the bustling city streets.