Solo Leveling Chapter 24:
I Alone Level-up: Chapter 24
Yoo Jinho placed emphasis on the words, ‘fair price’ .
‘He’s not wrong…’
Jinho’s suggestion would be the best course of option for Jinwoo to safely obtain all the magic cores . Currently, the ownership of the magic cores was clear . No matter how greedy the man was, Hwang Dongseok could not take them with him to the afterlife . As such, Yoo Jinho had the legal rights to all the magic cores they carried . And now, the young man was offering it all to Jinwoo . This was different than taking them by force .
‘No reason to turn away good fortune like this…’
After all, if it wasn’t for him, Yoo Jinho would already be dead or taken as hostage . In that line of thinking, it indeed was the fair price for Jinwoo to obtain all the magic cores .
Watching Jinwoo’s expression soften, Yoo Jinho was sure that he had hit the right mark .
‘As I thought, the magic cores are the price of the blood he spilled taking down Hwang Dongseok’s party . That’s why he won’t refuse them . ’
The two men’s idea of the ‘fair price’ was completely different, but neither of them would realize this .
“Alright . ”
At Jinwoo’s agreement, Yoo Jinho’s face brightened . The young man felt a little awe at what he perceived to be the Jinwoo’s ironclad conviction . But then, Jinwoo’s face became cold again .
“But how would I be able to trust you?”
Jinwoo thought back on the initial goal of this conversation . He did not frighten the young man for a material gain; he just wanted to make sure the events of this Raid would not cause him troubles in the future .
“How could I betray the hyungnim that saved my life multiple times?”
“You could always ignore the promise and go around blabbing your mouth off . ”
Well, it wouldn’t really hurt him in the long run . Killing Hwang Dongseok’s party was 100% in self-defense . It was eight armed men versus just him, and they were the ones who attacked first . With the world’s laws having changed in the advent of Hunters, he would definitely be found not guilty in all of this . Still, he wanted to avoid all that if he could . For that, he needed Yoo Jinho’s cooperation .
“Well?”
Jinwoo pressed his question and stared . Yoo Jinho responded with a fierce look in his eyes .
“I wouldn’t dare do such a cowardly thing! Especially to the savior of my life!”
‘Hmm…’
He realized where he had seen that determined look in Yoo Jinho’s eyes before . It was the same eyes he defiantly stood up to Hwang Dongseok with .
‘Kid… you’re the real thing, aren’t you?’
Give and Take .
With his life on the line, Yoo Jinho chose to stand with Jinwoo . Putting his faith in him, the young man was ready to fight eight Hunters . And so, Jinwoo decided to return some of that faith .
Well… after putting in some final touches .
Jinwoo went over and picked up Hwang Dongseok’s shield .
“You know, I’m still **** about Hwang Dongseok’s betrayal . ”
Casually turning the shield over in his hands, Jinwoo suddenly threw the shield at the wall .
Crack!
The shield became half embedded into the wall . Yoo Jinho gulped, and his body began to sweat .
“My dongsaeng[1] won’t betray me like that, would he?”
“Of-of course not, hyungnim . ”
The Dungeon shook again, more violently than before .
Shaaaaaake-!!
Alright . Jinwoo was done teasing the young man . From the start, he had no plans to hurt Yoo Jinho . He felt that he had done enough and made his final decision .
“Okay . Go grab their magic cores . We’re leaving the Dungeon . ”
“Thank you very much, hyungnim!”
Yoo Jinho stood up and bowed his entire upper body, making a 90-degree angle at the waist . The smile returned to his face .
While Yoo Jinho went around gathering Hwang Dongseok party’s bags with the magic cores, Jinwoo went and picked the pocket of Hwang Dongseok .
‘Gotta take what’s mine . ’
The contractual wage for today was 2 million . He was not going to let the man go to the afterlife without paying him . In Hwang Dongseok’s wallet, he found just a little over 2 million won . He recalled Hwang Dongseok saying he would be paid in cash, right after the Raid; it seemed the man was not lying . After all, you couldn’t cut off the tail every time . If nothing unusual like the appearance of mana crystals had occurred, they would’ve probably finished the Raid with no trouble .
“Thank you for today’s wages . ”
Jinwoo thanked no one in particular, then got up and left . Yoo Jinho, who had gone to place the Hunters’ magic cores in his bag, panicked when he saw Jinwoo missing after coming back .
“Hyungnim?”
Only the corpses of Jinwoo’s victims were scattered about .
“Aaaaahhhhhh!”
Turning blue, Yoo Jinho frantically chased after Jinwoo .
At the scene of the incident, the Association’s investigators and staff had arrived . The protocol in the case of a death during a Raid was simple . They would have to report the incident to the Association and undergo a brief investigation . The investigator this time was a strict-looking middle-aged woman .
“Your names?”
“Sung Jinwoo . ”
“I’m Yoo Jinho . ”
A Hunter’s death in a Dungeon was unfortunately a common occurrence, so the aftermath investigations were more or less routine . It was just a matter of keeping proper record of everything that had happened . It would all go smooth… as long as nothing suspicious was noted .
“…Hmm, you’re telling me all the C-rank Hunters died, but you two, a D-rank and an E-rank, got out safely?”
The investigator pushed her glasses up and asked, her eyes narrow .
‘In a normal Raid, the first to die are the weak ones…’
As she carefully looked over the survivors, something caught her eye, and she spoke with a raised voice,
“Oh my!”
She approached Yoo Jinho with sparkles in her eyes .
“Isn’t this one of Maya Company’s new products? The long sword, Kallion? And oh my, this is one of master artisan Gredos’ works, the Royal Series Shields!” [2]
Yoo Jinho put on a proud expression .
“You know your stuff!”
“Hohoho, oh no . I just love looking through new product catalogues . ”
The longsword’s price was 700 million, and the shield was 500 million . Produced from magic cores worth hundreds of million won and other expensive materials, these were powerful equipment that could raise the level of a D-rank Hunter to C-rank . A theory of what happened in the Dungeon was created in her head .
‘If it was with these gear…’
A D-ranker just might’ve been able to defeat the boss in a situation where all the C-rankers had died .
‘The E-ranker probably survived by hiding away in some corner . ’
Of course, the truth was completely opposite . Still, she had made her conclusion . Someone who could afford such gear would not have betrayed his comrades for few paltry pieces of magic cores . There was also no way that the E-ranker could do anything against the C-rankers . As such, Hwang Dongseok and co . ’s deaths would be ruled as an unfortunate accident .
“Well, I think that should do it . ”
With a satisfied expression, she finished the recording of the incident .
“The investigation is now over . You are both free to leave . I know today must’ve been hard . The Association thanks you for your cooperation in this matter . ”
“Thank you . ”
Jinwoo answered for the pair .
The investigator left as quickly as she had arrived .
“Thank you as well, hyungnim . ”
Yoo Jinho bowed again in a 90-degree angle . Even after coming out of the Gate, his at-attention-attitude did not change . The young man probably went through a lot of scary things back there, Jinwoo thought .
“You did well, too . ”
“Eh, I didn’t really do anything . It was all hyungnim . Here, your magic cores . ”
Yoo Jinho respectfully held out a bag with two hands . Jinwoo took the bag; it was filled to the brim with magic cores . The highest price for a magic core from a C-rank Gate was 10 million, even the lowest would be worth at least several million . Jinwoo tried to obtain a rough count of the magic cores he was holding and screamed inside in delight .
‘How much is all of this…?’
He had to hold back the laughter of joy . Suddenly, drops of water appeared on the bag .
drop .
drop .
Jinwoo raised his head . The sky that began to darken after noon was now beginning to rain .
‘Good thing I sent her with an umbrella . ’
He smiled at the sudden thought of his little sister .
Deep into the night .
The moment he arrived home, he opened his stat screen .
“Stat!”
|
Stats
Strength: 53 Constitution: 30 Agility: 38 Intelligence: 30 Sense: 32
(Available stat points: 10) |
He still had the 10 stat points from the emergency quest . He was itching to use them up . It was an amount that normally required three days of daily quests (albeit missing a point) or two level-ups (but not freely distributable) .
‘First and foremost, agility . Then, sense . ’
He put 7 points into agility and the remaining 3 into sense .
|
Stats
Strength: 53 Constitution: 30 Agility: 45 Intelligence: 30 Sense: 35
(Available stat points: 0) |
“Okay . ”
His attributes had risen quite a bit . Agility had almost caught up to his strength, and in no time, his sense had reached 35 points . Once agility and strength reached the same level, he planned on focusing on constitution . Leaving aside intelligence, which he still did not know the effect of, he wanted to raise his stats evenly .
“Let’s check today’s progress . ”
|
Name: Sung Jinwoo Level: 21 Class: None Title: Wolf Slayer HP: 2600 MP: 390 Fatigue: 0 |
Stats
Strength: 53 Constitution: 30 Agility: 45 Intelligence: 30 Sense: 35
(Available stat points: 0) |
Skills
Passive Skills -(Unknown) (Lv . Max) -Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1)
Active Skills -Sprint (Lv . 1) -Bloodlust (Lv . 1) |
What made him the happiest registered first: his level, which had jumped by 3 levels, and the newly earned “Bloodlust” skill . Thanks to the 10 stat points, his attributes looked great as well . Just all this would’ve made a very productive day, but this was not all that he had earned today .
‘On top of the wage of 2 million,’
He opened the bag full of magic cores and started counting .
’11 magic cores from the spider . 38 from Hwang Dongseok’s team . ’
All in all, he had 49 magic cores!
At an average price of 5 million each, he would be walking away with over 200 million . [3]
“200 million in one day…”
Having collected ten, no, nine people’s shares all to himself, Jinwoo had earned an incredible amount . It was an unthinkable stroke of luck .
‘All that’s left is to sell these . ’
It was not difficult to sell magic cores . The demand was so high that they would be snatched up the moment they were put up on the market . The question was where to sell them . He could sell them personally to another individual, to a Guild or through a business . Looking at the amount he was holding, Jinwoo concluded that instead of a personal sale or using an online market, he would go to an intermediary for brokerage .
‘Wonder if I can just sell these in the shop?’
It would be rather convenient if the shop took the magic cores at face value like the junk items . Thinking about the shop, Jinwoo put away the bag . He realized the one other progress he had made today .
‘It said I could use the buy function of the shop now, right?’
He quickly opened the shop . The gold that he had collected in the Instant Dungeon was sitting in his inventory, figuratively collecting dust .
“Buy . ”
ring~
With that familiar electronic tone, a seemingly endless list of purchasable items appeared before his eyes . They ranged from cheap potions and miscellaneous accessories to expensive armors and powerful weapons . Every one of them was being sold for gold . Obviously, the better the item was, more expensive the gold cost . Some of the most powerful items cost as much as 10 billion pieces of gold .
“Whoa… 10 billion…”
His current gold was at 112 thousand . It was far too low to purchase anything that appeared to be useful, but there was no need to rush . He had plenty of time .
‘So as long as I gather the gold, I can buy all of this, right?’
He hummed as he continued to browse through the list of items . He had obtained one more reason to enter an Instant Dungeon .
Jinwoo was already anticipating the reward from tomorrow’s Random Box .
Translator’s Notes:
[1]: “dongsaeng” (동생): Another super common Korean noun used to refer to someone makes an appearance . This one is used by older siblings to refer to their younger sibling (unlike oppa/hyung, it’s gender neutral) . Just like oppa/hyung, it’s used in general population between unrelated people as well (older person to a younger person of a relative close age) .
[2]: “Maya Company”, “Kallion”, “Gredos” (마야 사, 칼리온, 그레도스): What appears to be bunch of proper nouns .
[3]: No, not a mis translation . Technically 245 is above 200 . . .