Chapter 49

Seo Woon rubbed his palms together as if they were dirty. Since the second year of high school, around spring, he hadn't seen that guy's penis since they went to the swimming pool together. Of course, he had tried not to look even then, so he could only hide his embarrassment and fidget now.

"Cha Seo Woon, you pervert, just touch it."

"Are you crazy? Did you expect to find that there?"

Cha Haya chuckled as he chewed on the fish cake skewer.

"Pervert rat, go ahead and touch it."

He handed two of the fish cake skewers to Seo Woon, who was complaining about touching something dirty. The two pieces of ore he took out of his pocket weighed about 50 ounces in total.

Cha Haya forced the fish cake skewer into Seo Woon's mouth, who had been about to argue but ended up chewing and eating the fish cake with ham, unexpectedly enjoying the honey flavor. It wasn't his favorite food, but it was the only side dish available.

On the 2nd and 3rd floors, women's clothing was sold, and the amount of clothes displayed on the racks was more than expected.

Although the gender ratio in the Manseong species was higher for males, they had been in the Narakga for quite some time. Seo Woon wondered how the women's clothing inventory could be maintained to this extent. Moreover, there were more thin clothes than thick coats or sweaters.

By the time Seo Woon and Cha Haya reached the 4th floor, they had finished the two fish cake skewers, and Cha Haya was left with only the skewer sticks. Two DK guild members guarding the men's clothing section greeted them politely, unlike those in the basement.

"Welcome. Let's check the ore you have first."

Seo Woon handed over the two pieces of ore, wanting to see how the transaction would go.

"Would you like to weigh them yourself?"

The guild member pointed to a scale on the left table. While there was a clear difference between ordinary stones and ore, some Manseong species would try to pass off opals or amethysts as ore.

To prevent such incidents, the Variant Disaster Control Center developed a scale in the form of a microscope that could observe the bacteria in the ore. Later, they also classified the ore into 3 to 6 grades based on mass and rarity.

However, this scale was similar to the one used by the Oseong guild at the gate, resembling a miniaturized version of the black gate.

Although Seo Woon had only traveled between Narakga and Seoul once, he had learned a lot of information from the Oseong guild's information sheet.

The ore used in Narakga was typically grade 3.

Grades 4 and above, which were rare, were rarely used and seldom paid as gate fees. The higher the grade, the heavier the ore became in relation to its size. For example, a grade 3 ore of the same size would weigh as much as a pebble, while a grade 4 would weigh as much as gold.

"One is 30 ounces, and the other is 35 ounces, so you can shop for a total of 650,000 won worth of items."

Seo Woon thought this was absurd.

"What the hell is this?"

Of course, it was Cha Haya who said it out loud.

The sight of the guy, who had taken off his shirt, causing a fuss, was quite strange. Seo Woon walked into the men's clothing section to get him some clothes. Meanwhile, Cha Haya, who had taken the ore from the scale, casually dropped it into his sheath. It seemed he didn't show any mercy to men.

Unlike the empty store, the central area had a row of stalls, a common setup for clearance or sale items.

The clothes were systematically separated into tops, bottoms, and underwear, so Seo Woon picked up what he needed. He gathered clothes for the others who were probably still eating in the basement and handed them to Cha Haya. Although he could have carried them himself, he didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble.

When he finally checked the price tags, he found that a pair of pants cost 200,000 won. The material looked cheap, and there was no brand name, indicating it was probably scavenged from somewhere.

Wow, these guys are really doing business here.

Seo Woon let out a hollow laugh. He had heard that the deputy guild leader lived in Korea and only visited Narakga occasionally, but it seemed he had changed his profession to a peddler.

"Hey!"

Cha Haya had stripped off his underwear and was changing into new ones. Seo Woon was shocked to see the large lump with his own eyes, and even the DK members watching to prevent theft were visibly shaken.

"Change your clothes too."

Without a care, Cha Haya threw some clothes to Seo Woon, who clicked his tongue and entered the makeshift changing room.

"Cha Seo Woon, you're so picky."

Ignoring the taunts, Seo Woon carefully closed the curtain. After changing into new underwear, which felt like it might fly away, he noticed a tag on the white round-neck T-shirt that read "Komi-ne." Despite being an unknown brand, a single short-sleeved shirt cost 120,000 won.

Seo Woon compared his old jeans with the new slacks and decided to go with the new ones.

When he came out, Cha Haya was wearing a deep navy linen shirt. It had buttons like a regular dress shirt but was loose enough to flatter his large frame.

His poverty, which was evident when he wore civilian clothes, was a thing of the past.

"Since you bought a lot, we'll give you a discount."

Cha Haya confidently handed over the removed tags.

"Sir Cha Haya, we have a fixed price policy."

The guys, who had been eyeing the ore, looked annoyed.

"Sir, you have a lot of money, so you shouldn't do this."

Another member joined in, complaining about the situation.

"Huh? Can I pay with money?"

Seo Woon interjected, and they waved their hands, saying it was absolutely not allowed.

"I'm not rich. I donated all my wealth and almost have no ore left."

"…Yes, that's a good deed. However, you still need to pay the full price. Sir Cha Haya can earn more quickly."

They seemed to know about Cha Haya's eccentricities.

"How much is it in total?"

Seo Woon, determined to pay the full price, asked. The DK guild member who had gathered the tags and calculated the total pointed to the amount.

"1,250,000 won, so you need to pay 125 ounces."

The price was absurd, and the method was arbitrary.

"What if I can't exactly match 125 ounces? What if I have too much or too little ore?"

"If there's a difference of more than 10 ounces, we'll return the equivalent amount of ore."

"Are you saying you'll keep up to 9 ounces?"

"That's the rule."

Seo Woon felt the drawbacks of a monopoly market.

Even if the northwest was controlled by us, there was no guarantee that these guys wouldn't do the same in the southeast. While he didn't expect them to give things away for free, there should be some business ethics. This was profiteering.

"Bro! Han Sol-ssi is here!"

At the loud call, Seo Woon looked down the escalator and saw Gang San. He threw clothes that fit Gang San's size.

"Hey, bring some ore."

"Eh? Why?"

"For the clothes."

"I'm not changing."

Gang San, who looked like a rag, refused.

"Bring it?"

"Yes."

Gang San, grabbing the escalator handrail, ran down and quickly came back up. He also handed over a grade 3 ore, but the 5 ounces left over were not returned.

"Fire."

Cha Haya, who had spoken without hesitation, pointed to the central stall. Sure enough, a piece of clothing at the corner was on fire. The two DK members rushed over and threw the burning clothes to the floor, stomping on the flames, which only grew fiercer. It was clear that Cha Haya had caused the fire, as he was grinning.

Seo Woon grabbed his arm under the sleeve, silently pleading for him to stop. The flames were quickly extinguished as the guys stomped on them. Seo Woon scolded them for not managing the mall properly, even though he had started the fire.

"Anyway, Cha Seo Woon, you're really insane."

Cha Haya laughed and rubbed Seo Woon's head. The soft cheek felt good, but Seo Woon pushed his face away.

"Gang San, change your clothes first, and then pass the rest to the others."

Gang San nodded and took off his shirt. The changing room seemed invisible. As they walked down the escalator, Cha Haya yawned. He probably hadn't slept well.

"Did I keep you up?"

"I slept. For about ten minutes."

"Let's finish this and go to sleep."

"Together?"

"What? Separately."

Kim Han Sol was waiting with her team, who acted as her bodyguards. The table where Han Don Hee and Yu Chan were sitting was cluttered with cup noodles and bread bags, indicating that most of the food was still edible since the reset was recent.

When Kim Han Sol saw Seo Woon, she moved to a cafe.

Seo Woon headed to the cafe first, and Cha Haya, passing by a cookie shop, picked up some snacks. The 1st team surrounded the cafe as if guarding it.

While they settled in, Kim Han Sol made three cups of coffee. Without ice, steam rose from the paper cups.

"To be honest, I was quite surprised. The tunnel… it became a tunnel?"

Kim Han Sol lowered her eyes, looking troubled as she placed the coffee on the table.

"Yes, that's right."

Seo Woon ate a cookie that Cha Haya had prepared. After only having two fish cake skewers, the sweet treat was much better than the coffee. Cha Haya, unsatisfied with the fish cakes, bit into a Madeleine and chewed.

"I don't know how to explain this to our guild. Honestly, there's no proof that the variants in the tunnel were all eliminated."

Of course, she would bring this up. Seo Woon thought to himself.

"You saw the ore we brought. We left a mountain of it behind because it was too heavy to carry."

"That can't be used as proof."

"Why not?"

"You could have brought ore you already had and claimed it was from the tunnel."

Seo Woon openly laughed, and Kim Han Sol quickly added,

"I don't think you did, but other guild members might."

"Twenty DK guild members died in the tunnel. Isn't it more unbelievable that such a dangerous tunnel suddenly became normal?"

"What was inside the tunnel?"