God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 62: Episode 12 _ This Makes Him a Model Citizen (5)

Chapter 62: Episode 12 _ This Makes Him a Model Citizen (5)

7.

Time passed, and one of the residents returned to the territory. ‘How much has been destroyed? Are the monsters hiding, waiting for us to come back?’ The destruction of their belongings was a problem, but the latter would be a much more serious issue. They had fled to live, so they had to protect their lives at all costs.

Thus, the resident, with the fate of the territory in his hands, moved meticulously, checking every nook and cranny.

As he entered his home, he got confused. ‘What? This can’t be right. It’s too clean.’ For a moment, he even thought he might have entered a different territory. With no people around, the place felt so empty it was like a brand-new settlement. Moreover, there wasn’t even a shadow of a monster to be seen. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, but there was nothing.

Since he felt there should be something, he found the situation strange and spent more time surveying the territory. It was good if there was nothing, but it didn’t make any sense. Believing the lives of his fellow residents rested on his eyes, he scouted thoroughly. Even after confirming that nothing was amiss in their old living space, he wasn’t satisfied and went out into the newly expanded territory. That was the real danger zone. He had no desire to go there, as there might actually be monsters, but the suspicion budding in his heart compelled the timid man to move. ‘Why, when thirty monsters attacked...?’

Even if the humans had fled, they were still monsters. It was strange that there wasn’t even a trace of them when they should have at least wrecked the place before leaving. He wanted to find out what had happened. After scouting for a while longer, he finally discovered it—the reason why there were no traces in the territory, why it was as quiet as if nothing had ever entered.

“...What is this?”

At the western edge of the expanded territory, the sight of thirty thoroughly cooked werewolves explained everything.

At the same time, his expression brightened. The residents had chosen agriculture to survive, but they had once been one of the most prosperous territories in the Empire. Living in a key transportation hub where numerous specialties were traded, even just being around the trade for three years taught them which goods were expensive and where and how to make a large profit.

And now, before his eyes, lay thirty werewolves, renowned for being valuable. Their leather, meat, organs, and even their claws were a resource with nothing to throw away.

“...All hail the lord!”

He didn’t question for a moment why the werewolves were dead. The residents knew that their lord had taken some sort of action.

“Waaaaah!” he cheered.

There was a fear that the dead werewolves might rise, but his joy was greater. He had seen it with his own eyes. They didn’t have to run anymore! And they didn’t have to fear monster attacks. The meaning of these two things was beyond imagination. With light steps, he headed for the evacuation shelter. It was the celebratory cannon fire signaling the beginning of the Land of the Rich.

* * *

“So? Worth paying for, isn’t it?” Simin asked.

“...Wow. A +15 is insane. Seriously. Oppa, can’t you make me a +15 too?” Yeseul pleaded.

“Sure. If you have the money.”

“How much would it cost to get everything to +15 like you?”

“Hmm? Bring me about two million dollars to start.”

“What? You carry around +15 items like they’re coffee you bought off the street, so why is it so expensive?”

Simin clicked his tongue at Kang Yeseul’s naive question. If she weren’t such an easy customer to leech off of, he would have given her a flick on the forehead. But his possible paycheck stopped him. Sighing, he kindly explained to the chaebol heiress who knew nothing of the world.

“Yeseul, your dad’s the chairman of a massive corporation. You really think you pay for the appliances in your house?” He continued, “You seem to use a lot of the company’s expensive products for free. How about you hook my place up too?”

Of course, he had no way of knowing whether Kang Yeseul paid for her home appliances or got them for free. But his point was convincing enough that she nodded.

“Sorry. Is that a no?”

“Yep.”

As long as the conclusion was delivered, that was all that mattered. Seeing that Kang Yeseul understood perfectly, he nodded in satisfaction. Even after he’d made his point so clearly, if she came to him with a pile of cash asking for a +15 enhancement, he was willing to do it. It wasn’t that hard to find a prime spot with a 20-30% success rate. And it wouldn’t actually cost two million dollars, though it would depend on his luck that day.

“Anyway. What do you think, Ms. Seolah? Isn’t it worth the investment?”

“Let me think about it for a moment,” Jeong Seolah replied.

“Of course, take all the time you need!”

Originally, Jeong Seolah had no intention of taking on additional expenses. She had seen the potential in closing the ranking gap with just the Ring of Blessing, and she was confident that even if she didn’t push for first place, as long as she narrowed the level gap as much as possible before the second act of the main quest, she could get ahead by claiming the rewards first.

But after hunting with him for ten hours, her mind had changed slightly. ‘Maybe we can get first place and turn the tables at the same time. If we keep hunting at this speed, we can create a gap of at least three levels by the time we hit fifty.’ Hitting the level cap a little later and progressing through quests quickly to get rewards was one thing, but starting ahead of everyone else and monopolizing everything felt completely different. In the end, it was a fight over who got what, but since the rewards weren’t fixed, it was a viable strategy.

So she deliberated. Should she invest more?

“Alright. On the condition that you stay with us until we hit level fifty. How about it?”

“It’s a deal!” Simin exclaimed.

In the end, she fell for Han Simin’s temptation. It was an offer that was hard to refuse. Having experienced hunting at more than double the speed, it would be awkward to suddenly go back to the old way.

“Oh yeah!”

He was currently making $900 per hour, so with the increase, it would be $1,200. My god, $1,200 an hour! Thinking back to his time in the military, when he was paid next to nothing, his eyes welled up with tears.

‘Simin, you’ve made it.’

At this rate, it would be a short-term gig that wouldn’t even last a month, but that alone was over $700,000, and more importantly, he was sure it wouldn’t end there. This was still the low-level section. Having seen numerous NPCs and even entered the Imperial Palace, he knew there was a wall he could never give up on. Players who started to see that wall would get greedy. They would want to win the competition. And that was where Han Simin’s role was most important. A blue ocean with no competitors! Even if the Specialists didn’t use him again, customers were everywhere. How could he not smile?

“Geez. Oppa, you’ve earned so much money, and you’re still trying to earn more?” Yeseul asked.

“What’s the point of earning it if I can’t use it and it all just leaks away? I feel like I need to earn ten times more than this to live comfortably in the real world.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Just the stuff I had you enhance last time...”

“Was over a hundred thousand dollars, I know. But all of it went into that damn bum of a territory. Sigh.”

But Kang Yeseul’s words sent his good mood plummeting. Dammit. He didn’t want to dwell on such unpleasant memories, but what good would glaring at her do? The thought had already surfaced. He sighed and corrected her misunderstanding.

“My territory is apparently quite poor because of some wretched monsters. So, as the lord, I invested some gold, and now I’m broke.”

“Don’t tell me you blew your entire fortune on it.”

“Not my entire fortune, but probably about $160,000 worth.”

Just saying it felt like carving out a piece of his own bone. Thinking about it again, it was a waste. $160,000 was a lot of money, and it was for a magic circle that he couldn’t even recover. Even the magic tower had urged him to reconsider right up to the moment of payment. Of course, they guaranteed its effectiveness, but there probably weren’t many people in the world who would spend $160,000 to defend a piece of land in a game, especially a territory that needed so many other things.

“Haah. It’ll work out.”

He had to believe and wait. He hoped the magic circles he had painstakingly enhanced and laid out everywhere would block the approach of the arrogant monsters nearby and help the land regain its former glory.

“...Unni, why do I feel like I’m the guilty one here?” Yeseul asked Seolah.

“Because you are,” Seolah replied.

“Hmph. I’ll have to go visit sometime. I need to see with my own eyes just how amazing a $160,000 magic circle is.”

Watching the grumbling Kang Yeseul, he erased the memory again. And he tried not to think about the future either.

‘How much more of the money I earn will I have to invest to get the territory I envision...?’

He couldn’t even imagine. Maybe all the money he earned like this would go into the territory. He steeled his weakening resolve. ‘The game is what you make of it! I’m not going to quit after a day or two, so let’s not overdo it at the beginning. I’ve laid the foundation for its revival, so I can just develop it slowly.’ He had already learned a very important lesson after becoming independent: if you invest too hastily in a game you play to make a living, the scope of that living becomes quite narrow.

“Let’s just hunt,” Simin said.

First, he had to earn. Thinking of his empty bank account, Han Simin’s passion ignited.

8.

Kenji’s expression grew harder by the day. It was because of the Specialists, who had now climbed to second place.

The planner, whose login restriction had just been lifted, was on pins and needles. He couldn’t be happy about still being in first place; any player of Fantastic World would know that he could be dethroned tomorrow. And he wouldn’t just fall to second place, but to fourth. Considering the amount of money Kenji was spending, it was an absurd situation.

“Guild Master, did you not send the mercenaries? We have to stop them first,” the planner urged.

“I sent them. They should have arrived by now. What about the countermeasure? What on earth is allowing them to level up so quickly?”

“It seems they have an item that gives them an additional experience bonus.”

“What? Is there such a thing in Fantastic World?”

“Of course, I find it hard to believe myself, but there’s no other way to explain it. When I saw them, the four of them were hunting level 45 mankeys at a rapid pace. Even considering their good items and control, their hunting speed can’t be faster than yours, Guild Master. The only way to explain this difference is that they have such an item.”

“Hmm. I suppose it’s a game where anything is possible.”

“That’s why it’s all the more important to kill them. We have to kill them, and kill them again, and keep killing them. If such an item exists and they have it, we must take it. I apologize for bringing you a countermeasure that’s hardly worthy of the name.”

It was a plausible story he had concocted after racking his brain for forty-eight hours. And it was surprisingly accurate.

“No, it’s fine. Hearing you say it, it certainly does seem unbelievable otherwise. It seems we may have to consider putting leveling on hold for a bit and mobilizing the guild,” Kenji said, getting up from his seat. The Unique-grade items covering his body made their owner stand out. There could be no item in the world that he could not possess.

“First, approach them secretly and confirm. Check if they’re willing to sell it as well. If they really have such an item and have no intention of selling...” The kind-hearted Kenji’s eyes turned cold. “Then we’ll have no choice but to take it.”

“Yes, understood.”

The planner bowed his head and retreated. From now on, things would get busy. It was usually better to avoid other content besides hunting in the early stages, but with an enemy threatening his position, how could he afford to be picky? The planner also gritted his teeth, feeling a phantom ache where the hammer had struck him. He hadn’t mentioned it, but the item he had dropped upon death was quite expensive. He would get his revenge and get it back, one way or another, with interest.

Unbeknownst to the Specialists, they had made another enemy.

* * *

Episode 63