Hwang Jiwoo (5)
Yoobaek City, Training Ground
"Mm, who is this?"
"A guest?"
"...Just anyone isn't allowed in here."
Hearing the rankers speak one by one, sweat pouring down their faces, Hwang Jiwoo could barely keep her wits about her.
To be facing those incredible people from such a close distance!
She naturally shrank back.
It was because of the force in their eyes.
Rankers were originally sensitive about training information.
And on top of that, they were in the middle of training under even a confidentiality contract.
If they were carelessly discovered by someone else, they might end up suffering the system's curse!
However.
"Oh, you're here!"
Baek Jinwoo greeted her very warmly.
"Come this way."
As expected of Baek Ajin!
'I told her to coax her over here somehow, and she brought her this quickly?'
"Everyone, keep training for a bit."
Leaving the rankers, who were tilting their heads in confusion, behind, Baek Jinwoo led Hwang Jiwoo deeper into the training ground.
"Sit here."
"...Yes."
After seating the tense Hwang Jiwoo on a soft sofa, Baek Jinwoo sat down across from her as well.
"You said your name was Jiwoo, right? Ajin's friend."
"That's right."
Hwang Jiwoo answered with an awkward smile.
"Hold on, let's see here."
Baek Jinwoo pulled out his phone.
He was checking whether there was a separate message from Baek Ajin.
Busy running dungeons and training, Baek Jinwoo had delegated everything to his younger sister.
That was why he had no idea under what conditions that girl was helping him.
'Whatever it is.'
I'll match it.
He absolutely needed Hwang Jiwoo.
Only by persuading her somehow could he unlock Ancient Explosive Dragon's true latent ability.
"Hm?"
But something was strange.
There was no separate text from Baek Ajin.
".....Actually."
Having roughly figured out what kind of situation this was, Hwang Jiwoo cut in.
"I met Ajin yesterday, and I came today to sign the contract, but... before stamping the contract right away, I came here first."
"Really?"
"Yes, I know very well that you offered me an incredibly good contract."
Swish.
Hwang Jiwoo carefully placed the contract she had been holding onto the table.
Baek Jinwoo took it and read it.
'Ajin made this contract.'
What is this?
Why is it so stingy?
Only 1 billion won?
'Well.'
That could happen.
Generally speaking, 1 billion won was a large sum of money.
But Baek Jinwoo knew better than anyone the value of this matter.
If he put a price on Explosive Dragon's latent ability, forget 1 billion won, even 1 trillion won would not be enough.
"But actually, more than 1 billion won, I want to receive your guidance, Mr.Jinwoo... Ever since three years ago, my dream has been to become a major player, and that is still the same now. If you would just tell me whether I'm doing well, even for only 10 minutes a day, then I'll take responsibility and help for 100 days. I won't even take the 1 billion won."
"...."
Ho.
Is this kid negotiating with me right now?
Baek Jinwoo understood immediately.
Why she had come straight here instead of meeting Baek Ajin first.
'Not bad, though?'
1 billion won?
Maybe in the past, but to the current Baek Jinwoo, that was nothing.
Somehow, things had ended up that way.
On the other hand.
'The value of my teaching is enormous.'
He did not know whether it would match Hwang Jiwoo's value, but Baek Jinwoo felt that more than 1 billion won, that would sit better with him.
Most of all.
There was no reason to coldly reject someone who knew her own worth and boldly came to propose terms.
And she was his younger sister's friend, was she not?
"So to summarize, if I just give you consulting for 10 minutes a day, you'll cooperate for 100 days? Unconditionally?"
"Yes."
"That's not difficult at all."
Baek Jinwoo smiled softly.
"Instead."
Riiip!
Then he tore up the paper contract Ajin had prepared.
"Instead of this kind of paper contract, let's do it properly with a system contract."
In that short time, Baek Jinwoo had accurately grasped what Hwang Jiwoo wanted.
"No giving up midway. If it gets reset, the condition is that you must fill the full 100 days all over again."
"As long as the teaching is certain, I'm fine with anything."
"I'll set you up in a room on the lower floor of our house. Starting at midnight tonight, you can't be away from Ancient Explosive Dragon's side for even a single moment. And when Ancient Explosive Dragon's summon cooldown ends, meaning every five hours, you'll have to go in and resummon it, so you have to understand that too. Of course, so you can live well for those 100 days, I'll provide the very best for meals, cleaning, and all the basics."
"Yes, that sounds good."
"Good. Since you're agreeing to the contract so boldly, I'll give you a big bonus on my side too."
".....A big bonus?"
"Take a look at the offer."
Wooooong!
When Baek Jinwoo opened his hand, light spilled out.
[Player 'Baek Jinwoo' is proposing a trade.]
[Please carefully review the other party's offer.]
He was used to writing things like this now.
Hwang Jiwoo listened to the detailed explanation of the request regarding Fiery Body and agreed to help until that quest was successfully completed.
Hwang Jiwoo's compensation was exactly as explained above, and a confidentiality clause was added as well.
And the important part was Baek Jinwoo's compensation!
[Baek Jinwoo: During the contract period, he will sincerely provide consulting for 30 minutes every day. If the relevant quest is successfully completed, he will pay 100 billion won as compensation.]
[Do you accept player 'Baek Jinwoo's offer?]
[Y/N]
As Hwang Jiwoo read through the contents with great tension, her mouth slowly fell open.
And then.
"O-one hundred billion won?!"
She cried out in shock.
And it was not just the 100 billion won.
The consulting period had increased from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, and the phrase "sincerely" had been added.
Since it was being done through a system contract, Baek Jinwoo too had no choice but to teach her properly.
"Is it really okay for you to do this?"
"You're our Ajin's friend, aren't you? Ajin is an incredibly precious little sister to me."
Yeah, right!
Just press Y already!
Press it!
The offer made it more than 90% likely she would accept anyway, but he was still anxious.
According to HunGyo, Fiery Body was a rare constitution that might appear only once in a thousand years.
If Hwang Jiwoo refused to cooperate here?
It would not be an exaggeration to say the sudden quest would go down the drain exactly as it was.
As Baek Jinwoo, growing slightly impatient, launched an attack with his eyes,
"I-I'll press it."
Hwang Jiwoo, her face flushed red, clicked Y.
Nice!
With this, Ancient Explosive Dragon's latent ability was as good as done.
Once exactly 100 days passed, the strongest burst dealer, one who could even devour an S-grade summon, would be born.
'Lately, really.'
Was it just his imagination?
It felt like everything was going smoothly.
* * *
The process moved quickly.
An apartment was provided temporarily, and even housekeepers to take charge of her day-to-day life were hired.
In one corner of the room, a training area for Explosive Dragon Sorcerer was installed, and the window was left open.
So that Baek Jinwoo and HunGyo could come and go through it.
Baek Ajin, who only found out later that Hwang Jiwoo had gone to see her brother separately, accepted it calmly without feeling hurt.
Especially when she heard that the amount had been set not at 1 billion won, but 100 billion won.
'I feel bad for nothing.'
She even took some time to reflect instead.
Come to think of it, that was true. Her brother, and Yoo Jia too.
Whenever they brought in someone valuable, they paid a generous price worthy of that value.
To gain her brother, Yoo Jia had boldly given a gift worth 1.5 billion won, and had even created the unprecedented one-man management company "Yoobaek", giving him as much as a 70% share in it.
Her brother had been the same as well.
When bringing her in, he had insisted on fixing 20% of the rune sales profits for her unconditionally.
And the result?
Baek Ajin had become Yoobaek's director.
A very loyal mid-level one at that.
'Oppa must see Hwang Jiwoo's value as greater than I thought.'
It seemed her judgment had been off.
'Maybe.'
Maybe her brother was not looking at his connection with Hwang Jiwoo as something limited to just 100 days.
He had said she had Fiery Body, and who knew what kind of absurd performance that might produce later on.
'I can just do well from now on.'
Nodding her head, Baek Ajin made up her mind. She would do her very best to take care of Hwang Jiwoo.
* * *
Gulp.
Hwang Jiwoo swallowed as she stepped into the room.
'To think the day would come when I'd get to stay in this room.'
During the tour, her whole mind had been occupied by the training ground, so she had not fully felt it then, but now it truly sank in.
'Super luxurious.'
The interior of the apartment was so luxurious it left her speechless.
Slowly.
She looked up at the ceiling.
'Up there is the place where Baek Jinwoo lives.'
Thump.
Her heart pounded.
Because of the confidentiality contract, she could not even tell her friends, but how jealous would they be once they found out later?
Hwang Jiwoo had always thought she was ordinary... no, if she even included the fact that her head often heated up, she thought she had lived a life below ordinary.
But that was not true.
She was special.
If she were not special, there was no way Baek Jinwoo would treat her like this.
"Here."
Baek Jinwoo opened the door.
"This is the training room where you'll be staying from now on."
"Yes."
As she stepped into the room, Explosive Dragon was sitting neatly while hugging her staff.
Whoosh!
Perhaps it was training even while seated, because the stream of fire coiling around her was so marvelous it went beyond merely fascinating.
[Current period - 0 days, 00:00:01]
Beep!
Time began to flow again.
"Explosive Dragon, and Jiwoo."
Baek Jinwoo smiled.
"Say hello to each other. You'll be seeing each other so often you'll get sick of it, so you should get along."
"Yes, hello."
Hwang Jiwoo awkwardly lowered her head.
—Yes, nice to meet you.
Explosive Dragon answered with a smile, and Hwang Jiwoo froze mid-bow.
"....."
W-what?
Just now.
Did the summon speak?
Watching Hwang Jiwoo's face gradually fill with shock, Baek Jinwoo let out a small laugh.
It seemed it would take quite a bit of time for her to adapt to life here.
* * *
—My lord.
"Yeah."
—About Explosive Dragon.
"Mm."
—I observed for about three hours, and the results are definitely extraordinary.
"Really?"
Baek Jinwoo brightened.
It's already having an effect?
—This is a result separate from that sudden quest. It seems that just training beside Fiery Body increases Explosive Dragon's concentration and firepower.
"Wow, really?"
This is huge.
"So that means Hwang Jiwoo acts like a kind of exclusive experience buff for Explosive Dragon?"
—That is correct.
"Why is that?"
—Since it seemed related to the heat attribute, I also tested whether Lava Drake, which uses flames, could receive the same effect, but there was nothing of the sort.
"Hmm."
Then that definitely raises Hwang Jiwoo's value even more.
Rather than using her for only 100 days, it might be better to just keep training them together from now on....
—And as you ordered, I also examined Hwang Jiwoo's condition.
"Really? How is she?"
As promised in the contract, Baek Jinwoo had assigned HunGyo to Hwang Jiwoo for exactly 30 minutes, making sure that the full time was devoted to her.
Since HunGyo was the finest instructor Baek Jinwoo knew, that alone would fulfill the contract.
—Well... hmm, her summon control really is extraordinary. And the power of her summons isn't ordinary either. I think it would be better if you saw it yourself.
What?
Extraordinary?
A word like that coming from HunGyo?
That was the highest praise possible.
And for him to say the power of her summons was not ordinary...
It was probably because of the traits of Fiery Body.
"Okay. I'll clear some time in tomorrow's schedule."
Just how good is she for him to praise her like that?
Now he was genuinely curious.
Wasn't that the kind of thing he did not even say to rankers?
It seemed like he would only know for sure once he saw it himself.
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