Chapter 349
People flocked like birds; the crowd had gotten so large that Choi Yeonseung wondered just how many hunters were around this area.
It was understandable. After all, there wasn’t a hunter who wasn’t tempted by the story of martial arts. It had been proven that martial arts could be quite powerful when used in combat, which impressed people even if they weren’t necessarily interested in learning them.
“So what exactly are the rules here?” Han Seha asked the vendor, or rather, the official...
“Ah, yes. First of all, if you move from your designated place, you have to report it.”
‘I shouldn’t listen to this clown.’
The moment Han Seha heard this rule, she thought about disobeying it. After all, didn’t Chinese hunters always come to South Korea, move without reporting their locations, cause trouble, and then come up with excuses like “Oh, I didn’t know... What should I do?”
She would just balance things out.
The official continued, “Currently, there are many abnormalities occurring around us, and the number of unusual monsters is increasing. We need the power of a lot of hunters. I’m just grateful to all the hunters who have come this far.”
“And you’re expressing your gratitude by scamming them...?”
“S-scamming? I came here to find items to sell to hunters!” the official exclaimed with utmost sincerity. Of course, it could be interpreted as a scam, so the official was keeping it secret from the party. There were many high-ranking party officials who wouldn’t understand the patriotism behind his actions.
He was earning foreign money by selling items on the black market at high prices. If this wasn’t patriotism, then what was?
In addition, the hunters were satisfied, which further proved that this wasn’t a scam. It was just a mutually beneficial deal.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung! I wonder what type of martial arts is right for me?”
“That’s right! How do I find it?”
The hunters gathered like clouds and asked Choi Yeonseung questions like a bunch of kids looking up to their professor.
‘It’d be great if everybody showed half of their interest on a regular basis.’
Choi Yeonseung was a bit irritated by this.
The image of martial arts had improved a lot, and the number of hunters who reached the higher ranks in martial arts had increased significantly, but there were still many hunters who weren’t interested in martial arts.
-Martial arts?I tried to learn it once, but it took too long compared to magic.
-If you learn martial arts, you’ll always have to fight at close-range.I want to fight from a distance.Don’t you know how high the death rate for close-range tankers is?
However, the power of martial arts increased significantly in this area. Even those who hadn’t been interested in it before were now expressing their interest. It wasn’t a bad thing, but it was a bit...
‘Still, I can’t miss this opportunity.’
“Can you evaluate the martial art I’ve bought?”
“I bought it because its name seems legit, but I wonder if this is really a proper martial art!”
‘Hehe. Hunter Choi Yeonseung, no matter what you do, you won’t be able to get these people to turn away,’ the official thought to himself.
Of course, it was embarrassing to see Choi Yeonseung show up like this, but hunters were generally ill-tempered and didn’t listen to anybody. Thus, Choi Yeonseung could say all he wanted that the martial arts at this black market were nonsense!
At most, some hunters might become skeptical, but after some time, they would flock back to the market.
-I don’t think this is trash though?
-Hunter Choi Yeonseung might’ve tricked us.
-Maybe he gave us false information to keep us in check...
-... It worked well when I used it!He lied to me!
People believed what they wanted to believe. They had experienced the effects for themselves, so it was hard for them to think that the martial arts they had bought were bad...
“The martial arts here are definitely decent, but you know what? Dragon Industry has been collecting martial arts and developing new ones. That’s why the number of B-grade martial artists has been increasing.”
“!!!”
“Such a secret...!”
“Ch-Choi Yeonseung! How can I get that martial art? Can I only get it by joining Dragon Industry?”
“Uh, I’ll be honest with you. The rarest, most excellent martial arts aren’t disclosed to anyone, and we won’t change that any time soon.”
The hunters weren’t surprised by Choi Yeonseung’s words, so they nodded as if they had expected him to say that.
“Yeah, I didn’t think they’d release new skills that they invested so much money into.”
“Maybe they’re preparing it to recruit A-grade hunters?”
“Didn’t a Chinese clan try to recruit B+ hunters using spell books last time?”
Clans would do this all the time. Trading with magic or skills was a natural thing among hunters!
“But I’m willing to release a martial art that is a bit less powerful than those secret ones.”
“!”
The hunters were left speechless by Choi Yeonseung’s shocking remark. Was he really going to make it public?!
“...T-this is ridiculous! No strings attached?!”
“Well, of course, I’ll get something out of this.”
“Money? It has to be money. What else? Do we have to join the clan...?”
“No, nothing like that. Dragon Industry will release that martial art with pure intentions.”
“...!”
The hunters were deeply moved. They had heard that Choi Yeonseung was different from other hunters, but people were bitter and kept saying cynical things like “A hunter is a hunter. What’s the difference?”
However, these hunters were shocked after seeing how Choi Yeonseung really was. They hadn’t thought that there was such a great person in this world!
As the atmosphere took a strange turn, the official got flustered and cut in, “Hey! Won’t the price be pretty high for that? If it’s been developed by Dragon Industry...”
“Is the price a problem right now? If I can get that skill, I will borrow money to buy it.”
“But the martial arts I’ve put on the market here are cheaper...”
“Nah, you can never trust anything that is too cheap. If Dragon Industry made that martial art, I can trust that it’s high-quality.”
“...”
The hunters were already lining up in front of Choi Yeonseung, scrambling to get the martial art first. Some of them already made wire payments in advance, while others urgently tried to pay for the martial art with items they had on them.
As he looked at them, Choi Yeonseug thought to himself, ‘Making money isn’t as hard as I thought.’
It was hard to believe he was making this much money with a martial art he had made up on the spot. It seemed that doing business wasn’t as difficult as he had previously thought.
***
The nearby hunters kept praising Choi Yeonseung for his generosity of sharing a martial art with them, produced by Dragon Industry.
“Other companies should learn from him! As expected, only hunters should be in charge of a company!”
“Do cold-blooded entrepreneurs even know about raids?”
Even though these hunters had come from all over the world, they all understood each other and transmitted the same message.
Moreover, the martial art books obtained from Choi Yeonseung were bound to have a positive impact on their training. Martial arts were also being empowered in this area.
-Martial arts are that effective?Did all of them take some kind of performance-enhancing drug?
-Is it a mass hallucination...?
Of course, the hunters who weren’t there were astonished by all the fuss. They found it very strange that those hunters had all gone crazy after arriving in China, bragging that they had become stronger by learning martial arts.
-Weren’t they threatened by the Chinese government?
-But how can the Chinese government threaten them when they have the powerful martial arts from Choi Yeonseung?
-...That’s true.
As everyone felt confused, the raid went ahead. Since they didn’t just come to learn martial arts, the hunter clans shared information with each other and moved to where all the hunters were supposed to gather.
Of course, that wasn’t the case for Choi Yeonseung.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung, are you not going...? Wha... Suddenly...? I don’t think you have...”
“You got a problem?”
“How can that be...?” the official murmured his words with a despondent expression. He sounded like his whole world had collapsed.
His black market had lost all revenue because of Choi Yeonseung, so it was only natural for him to despair.
Choi Yeonseung snapped his fingers, and the official trudged forward lifelessly, wishing that a meteor struck him right that moment.
“I’ll buy the items on your market,” said Choi Yeonseung.
“...Really?”
The official’s face suddenly brightened. He straightened his back and his eyes gleamed with a newfound enthusiasm.
“Sure. I’ve made so much money anyway, so I can buy some of your stuff.”
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung...! I genuinely believe that you’re currently the greatest hero in this world. You’re a thousand times better than any hunters working for the government or the party! There’s a reason why everyone praises you!”
‘...The power of money is terrifying.’
It seemed that money was so powerful that it made a Chinese public official get on his knees in front of a foreign hunter.
This was the magical power of capitalism!
Of course, Choi Yeonseung had always played an active role in China, but he hadn’t expected such a strong reaction this suddenly...
“What do you want?” the official asked very politely.
It turned out that the vendor was a high-ranking official in charge of the area. In South Korea, this man would be a fifth-level public official or higher, but in China, where the population was much higher, he had a heavier burden on his shoulders
‘Wait, is this how you do business?’
The chief, Gong Tao, was very confident. “Shouldn’t I earn my share and retire? If I don’t take care of myself at times like this, no one will.”
“You have very capitalist and enterprising ideas... So what’s the current situation?” Choi Yeonseung asked.
Choi Yeonseung remembered what Aine had said before. It was surprisingly easy to gather information in China. It seemed that there were many people who would share it for the right price...
-Doesn’t that apply to every country?
-No.You’ll know when you go there.Those types of people are way more active.
‘Yeah, alright. It’s definitely different here.’
Choi Yeonseung hadn’t expected government officials, out of all people, to actively do business like this.
“In fact, the party currently doesn’t seem to have any plans to subdue the opponent.”
“What nonsense... Why?”
“It’s because of the rumors that this whole situation has been caused by the Master of Slowness and Silence.”
“!”
The Chinese government would be quite distressed if this situation had indeed been caused by a constellation. They had already lost the northern part of the country to that constellation in a shameful manner, so they would do their best to avoid having that nightmare happen again.
“So the government is gathering all the hunters in the north?”
“I think that should be the case? I’ve heard that A-grade hunters are also on emergency alert.”
“What’s the situation here?”
“It seems that they’re trying to stop it by bringing in hunters from overseas. As you know...”
Gong Tao made a circle with his fingers.
Choi Yeonseung also knew that the Chinese government was spending a huge amount of money to stop this incident.
‘Maybe this really is their intention.’
“But will this actually work? They’ll need a few more A-grade hunters to do something, and I don’t think there will be any other hunters coming in from abroad.”
“...”
Gong Tao looked at Choi Yeonseung with a bewildered expression. Weren’t Choi Yeonseung and Han Seha also A-grade hunters?
There was an uproar on the Chinese side when they belatedly found that A-grade hunters had come here...
-Two A-grade hunters from the Bulgae clan have come to China!It seems they will provide support!
-What are they up to?Send them back!
-We can’t!The situation is dire, so we need all the help we can get. If we send away the A-grade hunters...
-But we don’t know what they’re up to!
-For now, we have to keep them on our side and watch their movements!
After a bitter meeting where several executives fought each other, Choi Yeonseung and Han Seha received permission to participate in the raid.
“I’m here because I want to help people, but the other A-grade hunters won’t come here even if you pay them. They’ll only come at gunpoint.”
“Is Hunter Choi Yeonseung there?”
Just then, someone knocked at the door after asking about Choi Yeonseung.
This person gave off a cold and heartless impression, and Choi Yeonseung had never seen him before.
It was Joseph Grant, an A-grade hunter who served the Iron-Blooded General Who Shakes the Battlefield.
“I’ve been brought up to date on the way here. You’re taking control of the hunters present. As expected, only a hunter like you can do it.”
“What non...”
“Wait... Wait. Let me guess. There’s no way you would do this for no reason... Are you going to unite the hunters here to blackmail the Chinese government? That’s the only possibility.”
“...”
Choi Yeonseung wanted to explain, but he didn't have the energy to do it. Therefore, he just nodded and lamely said, “Think what you want...”
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦