The tip of the ballpoint pen trembled faintly over the paperwork.
Taehu held his breath as he wrote a number into a blank space in the company's discarded-item purchase ledger.
[Amount: 180,000 won]
"Hunter Hwang. You're purchasing this with your own money, correct?"
"Yes. That's right."
"Understood. I'll process the payment for the E-rank discarded item."
The warehouse employee gave the paperwork a cursory glance, then operated the terminal with a dry, businesslike expression. Taehu silently pulled a card from his wallet and handed it over.
WHIRR.
A receipt slid out of the terminal.
Taehu took the broken silver necklace, now sealed inside a plastic zipper bag, and returned to his seat. The palm he kept hidden beneath the desk was slick with sweat.
'This might be insane.'
What if the golden text he had seen floating in midair had merely been a hallucination brought on by exhaustion?
A significant portion of his monthly living expenses would have vanished in an instant. At this rate, he would not even have enough money to send his parents their allowance tomorrow.
Even so, Taehu did not release the hard metal he could feel through the plastic bag.
A-rank.
An item worth tens of millions of won.
His bank account was nowhere near comfortable enough for him to resist a temptation like that.
It was all or nothing.
The moment his shift ended, Taehu headed straight for the Hunter Shopping District.
He passed every flashy equipment store lining the streets.
Instead, he entered a shabby magic materials shop tucked away in the corner of an alley.
"Welcome. Looking for something?"
The owner, who had been staring at his smartphone, raised his head with little interest.
"Three low-grade Wind-Attribute Magic Stones. And ten grams of refined silver powder, please."
"Wind Attribute? Those are a little pricey for low-grade stones. Give me a second."
The owner rummaged behind the display cabinet before setting a small glass bottle and three bluish stones on the counter.
"One hundred and fifty thousand won for everything."
Taehu swallowed hard and handed over his card once again.
[Insufficient balance.]
"Uh... one moment, please."
Cold sweat ran down his back.
Taehu hurriedly opened his mobile banking app and transferred every last bit of money from his emergency savings account.
"Please try it again."
"Young man, judging by the state of your wallet, wouldn't you be better off buying potions instead?"
"I'm fine."
A notification chimed, confirming that the payment had been approved.
Now his bank balance truly had only two digits left.
It was not even enough to buy a convenience-store lunch box.
Taehu accepted the paper bag containing the materials and practically fled the shop.
By all rights, his footsteps should have felt heavy, yet strangely enough, they only grew faster.
More than the anxiety of having driven himself to the edge of a cliff, the anticipation that something extraordinary was about to happen pushed him forward.
Taehu's worn-down studio apartment.
He neatly arranged everything he had brought back on the small folding table.
The damaged Necklace of the Wind Spirit, three low-grade Wind-Attribute Magic Stones, and the silver powder.
Taehu took a deep breath, then placed his hand on the necklace once more.
FLASH!
Just like yesterday, golden text filled his vision.
It had not been a hallucination.
[Restoration Method: Grind the Wind-Attribute Magic Stones into powder and mix them with the silver powder, then apply the mixture clockwise to the severed mana circuit of the pendant.]
"Clockwise... Got it."
He gripped one of the magic stones and sent an extremely faint stream of mana through it.
The magic stone, which had felt as hard as an ordinary rock, reacted to his mana with a soft CRUMBLE and broke down into a fine powder.
He poured the teal-glowing powder into a paper cup, then added the refined silver powder.
After thoroughly mixing the contents with a wooden chopstick, he was left with a powder of a strange, captivating hue.
Taehu gathered a sticky layer of mana at the tip of his index finger, then dabbed it into the powder.
Carefully, he brought his finger toward the deep crack running across the necklace's pendant.
'Apply it clockwise to the severed mana circuit.'
Without even daring to breathe, he carefully spread the powder over it.
The instant his fingertip reached the end of the crack—
HUMMMM!
A faint vibration ran through the pendant, and even the powder remaining inside the paper cup was suddenly sucked toward it.
Teal light erupted around the pendant, swirling like a vortex.
The brilliance forced Taehu to turn his head away reflexively.
When he looked back, his mouth fell open on its own.
"No way."
The silver surface that had once been hideously split apart had joined together as smoothly as if by magic.
The jagged broken edge was gone.
So was the dead, blackened discoloration of the chain.
It looked like a brand-new piece of jewelry that had just left the hands of a master craftsman.
Taehu picked up the necklace with trembling hands.
A gentle, refreshing aura of wind wrapped around his fingertips.
It was pure, clear mana on an entirely different level from the prickling static he had felt before.
He immediately infused mana into it.
With a cheerful chime, a blue holographic window appeared.
[Necklace of the Wind Spirit]
-Rank: A
-Status: Good
-Effect: Increases the wearer's movement speed and Wind-Attribute Resistance.
"Ha..."
A ragged breath escaped him.
There was no longer any mention of damage.
Nor was there an E-rank label attached to it.
It was a completely restored A-rank accessory without a single flaw.
Taehu lowered his head until he was nearly collapsed over the folding table.
Stifled laughter escaped him in broken bursts.
It had taken barely ten minutes for a discarded item worth 180,000 won to transform into a treasure worth tens of millions.
"It's real. My eyes weren't playing tricks on me."
His eyes reddened.
The monthly struggle to cover his living expenses flashed through his mind, along with all the years when he had never even been able to treat his parents to a proper meal out.
But this was no time to become sentimental.
He needed one final cross-check to make sure it was genuinely an item the market would recognize as legitimate.
The following afternoon.
Taehu took half a day off work and visited a major third-party Hunter Exchange.
He wore a cap pulled low over his face along with a black mask.
If word spread that an ordinary C-rank appraiser was carrying around equipment this expensive, troublesome people would inevitably start circling him.
"You're here to request a purchase appraisal? We'll escort you to one of our premium private rooms."
Despite Taehu's appearance, the employee at the information desk treated him with impeccable courtesy.
Among Hunters, there were countless people who dressed bizarrely to conceal their identities.
Inside a quiet, comfortable room, Taehu waited on a sofa.
Before long, an elderly appraiser entered. His silver hair was neatly swept back, and an A-rank Appraiser badge gleamed on his chest.
"Thank you for waiting. Shall we take a look at the item?"
Without a word, Taehu took the necklace from his pocket, wrapped in a velvet cloth, and placed it on the table.
The moment the cloth was pulled away and the pendant's clear silver sheen was revealed, the elderly man's previously relaxed gaze sharpened.
With gloved hands, he carefully picked up the necklace and raised a magnifying-glass-like tool to his eye.
"This is..."
A low exclamation escaped the old man.
"Remarkable. It has been quite some time since I've seen an accessory with such a smooth mana-circuit flow. Where did you excavate this?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Just tell me whether it's genuine and how much you're willing to pay for it."
Taehu deliberately lowered his voice and answered curtly.
The old man nodded and set the necklace down.
"Of course. It would be discourteous to pry into a client's secrets. According to my appraisal, this is unquestionably a genuine A-rank accessory."
A genuine A-rank item.
At those words alone, Taehu's heart began pounding wildly.
Sweat soaked the palm of his tightly clenched fist.
"Its condition is exceptional, so we can offer you a top-tier purchase price. Our Exchange is prepared to offer forty-two million won."
"..."
Taehu bit down hard on his lip.
Forty-two million won.
That was nearly an entire year's salary for him, earned by spending every day at the appraisal center breathing in the stench of garbage.
And now that same amount was the price of a palm-sized lump of metal sitting on the table in front of him.
"Are you dissatisfied with the amount? If you'd prefer, we could place it in a consignment auction, though the commission fee would—"
"No. I want the payment settled immediately in cash."
Taehu answered at once.
Rather than waiting several more days for a consignment auction, he desperately needed money in his bank account right now.
The old man smiled and slid a contract toward him.
"An excellent decision. Once you sign here, we'll immediately transfer the payment to your designated account."
Taehu struggled to steady his trembling hand as he signed the contract.
The remaining procedure went without a hitch.
Taehu had just stepped out of the Exchange building and stopped in front of a crowded crosswalk when a brief vibration came from his pants pocket.
Slowly, he pulled out his smartphone and checked the screen.
[Deposit: 42,000,000 won]
Taehu counted the digits on the screen one by one, and his breathing grew ragged.
A piece of garbage worth 180,000 won had turned into forty-two million won in real money in a single day.
It had not been a hallucination caused by exhaustion.
Nor had it been some temporary error.
He possessed the ability to recognize the true value of things others had discarded—and restore them to their original state.
A fierce certainty settled in Taehu's eyes.
Unable to suppress the grin spreading beneath his mask, Taehu tightened his fist around his phone.