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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: A Capitalist Monster
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In truth, the reason he’d made up an excuse to enter the dungeon with Yoon Seora was to properly gauge her skills where no one else was watching.
He wanted to see her combat skills, not her pickaxe skills…
“Dazzling.”
*Clang! Clang! Clang!* Having thrown off her suit jacket and rolled up her shirt sleeves, Seora swung the pickaxe with a radiant expression. The sound was so thunderous that approaching monsters would get spooked and run away.
Not feeling any particular desire to chase them down, Sejun simply waited for Seora to finish mining all the mana stones. A large pile of what she’d already mined was stacked beside her.
“Hehe, hehehe! These bundles of cash!”
“…That’s terrifying.”
An eerie laugh occasionally cutting through the clang of the pickaxe. Even for him, a man already living his sixth life, it was a truly bizarre sight.
*‘Her physical abilities seem good.’*
He still couldn't get a read on her skills. To be precise, while she displayed such physical prowess, the power she manifested was, at best, F-rank, creating a severe imbalance.
The fact that it appeared this way even to his eyes had to be the work of her contracted Constellation. If it was a top-tier Constellation, her potential to grow to L-rank was high.
Even now, she was skilled enough to kill the harpoon snake in a single blow, so she would be a great help in clearing the Labyrinth Dungeon.
He had to win her over and bring her to his side, no matter what. Even if she was a little strange, nothing was more important than skill.
Kang Sejun had a goal: he had to clear the Labyrinth Dungeon.
This time, this time for sure, he would kill that monster bastard that existed in the final labyrinth.
*Grit!* Kang Sejun clenched his jaw. A crimson fury rose in his pitch-black eyes.
That monster bastard that had made him fail his life time and time again.
This time, he would kill it for sure.
* * *
“Ha. To think physical labor could be this rewarding when money is on the line.”
Seora wiped her forehead, her face bright and refreshed.
The mined mana stones filled one side of the cave. Her heart felt full, the world suddenly seemed beautiful, and she felt as though she could bestow her generosity upon everyone.
“Oh, what’s this. Mr. Regressor, what were you doing, not even hunting monsters? Huh? While I was working so hard, you were just slacking off?”
After putting her pickaxe in her inventory, Seora finally noticed Sejun sitting idly by and frowned. Sejun looked at her with an expression of disbelief.
“Is working for your own money considered labor?”
“It’s physical labor. Anyway, why weren’t you hunting monsters? You said you could control your power. Siljangnim will get suspicious if we take too long, won’t he?”
He might even come into the dungeon himself. Seora hastily stuffed the mana stones into her inventory.
“The monsters were scared off by the sound of your pickaxe. Now that there are no more mana stones and it’s all clean, it’s about time we start hunting.”
“Come to think of it, what kind of monsters were in here? I was so distracted by the mana stones I didn’t see.”
Kang Sejun’s expression turned peculiar. He muttered something about how that explained it, which was a little strange.
“Why?”
“I was wondering why you were so calm when you should have seen them. You do know that mana stone caves are generally inhabited by monsters that feed on mana stones, right?”
“Ah, right. That’s…”
Seora’s movements came to a halt mid-sentence. Wait, just a moment.
“Monsters that eat mana stones grow minerals on their bodies… right?”
“They do.”
“And since those are formed on the monster’s body, they’re more expensive than these regular mana stones… right?”
“They are.”
A radiant flower bloomed on Seora’s face. She looked even brighter than when she had first entered the cave.
Shoving the rest of the mana stones into her inventory in one go, she immediately took out and put on her Jacket of Regeneration and even picked up her weapon, Hit. In an instant, she was in full combat stance.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming? If not, I’m hunting all the monsters myself.”
Sejun scanned her, dumbfounded, as she radiated an aura that screamed she would strip this cave clean down to its very soul.
“Do you know what they call people like you? A monster born of capitalism.”
“It’s a basic trait for a modern person surviving in this harsh world. If you don’t want to go, don’t. I’ll just kill them all myself.”
Seora walked ahead with a gleeful expression. Shaking his head, Sejun followed her. Perhaps drawing Yoon Seora to his side wouldn’t be so difficult after all.
*‘The byproducts from the Labyrinth Dungeon are as valuable as a giant meteor.’*
Of course, the place was just as life-threatening, so he would have to dangle it as bait first.
“There’s a swarm of them over there. Ms. Mage, don’t use fire magic. We can’t have the mana stones embedded in the monsters’ bodies getting damaged.”
“I told you I can control my firepower. The years I’ve lived as a regressor haven’t been short. It was more than enough time to hone my abilities.”
“Sounds like you’ve done this more than once or twice.”
Even though she had clearly seen that he had regressed five times already, Seora asked as if she didn’t know.
“If it had only been once or twice, it wouldn’t have been strange for you to have not existed in my past.”
Hmm, now that he put it that way, he had a point.
“What exactly is your Constellation? To be able to conceal your abilities so perfectly, it can’t be just an ordinary power. Come to think of it, you said no message appeared for you in the S-rank community either.”
“I have one. A certain… god who cares for me a lot.”
He wasn’t a Constellation, but he had god-like powers anyway, so let’s just call him a god.
【Administrator: (*´∀`*)ゞ】
Thankfully, he didn’t seem too displeased.
“But why do you keep asking about my Constellation? What’s yours?”
“An hourglass.”
“…Huh?”
“The Hourglass that governs fate and time. My regressions are all thanks to my Constellation’s power.”
The information she had secretly peeked at on Kang Sejun had indeed said ‘Hourglass of Fate.’ But she hadn’t thought it was a literal hourglass rather than a title.
“But did you regress because of your Constellation, or was there another reason?”
Seora threw a sharp question. Sejun looked as if he’d been caught off guard. After a moment of hesitation, he let out a sigh and nodded.
“I was the one who wanted to regress the first time. In the end, I failed to achieve my goal and had to die a miserable death.”
“Oh, um… Sorry.”
Seora didn’t expect him to suddenly bring up death, so she apologized awkwardly.
So that’s how it was. Regression happened after death. In other words, Sejun had died a staggering five times.
*‘Let’s try to be understanding, even if that punk acts like a jerk… His personality is bound to be worn down after dying five times.’*
Suddenly, she felt incredibly sorry for him.
“Monsters, over there.”
But that feeling was fleeting. As Sejun gestured toward the inner part of the cave with his chin, Seora quickly shook off her emotions and focused.
“Ore Rhinoceroses!”
The horns of the swarming monsters were studded with hard, ore-like protrusions. These were formed by the accumulated nutrients from the mana stones the Ore Rhinoceroses ate as their main diet, and they were extremely expensive as they were used to craft high-grade recovery potions.
“This place is a real gold mine. I feel like I’ve walked into a diamond mine.”
Drunk on happiness, Seora muttered deliriously.
“Hornstone. The Suhoryeong Guild will be desperate to buy it.”
The Suhoryeong Guild boasted the largest number of healers and mages in the country. Thus, rather than clearing dungeons alone, they often collaborated with other guilds or focused on potion crafting, which meant they swept up every crafting item in sight.
That Hornstone was no exception.
“Yoon Seora, I have a proposal.”
“Huh?”
“You’re planning to sell that at the shop anyway, right? Since you’re hiding your S-rank status, you can’t deal directly with the Suhoryeong Guild.”
“That’s right.”
“Give it to me. I’ll negotiate with the Suhoryeong Guild and sell it for you.”
Seora’s eyes widened at the unexpected offer.
“You will?”
“The item shop charges a commission fee for transactions, right? If I sell it directly without going through the shop, there’s no commission, so it won’t be a bad deal for you either.”
“That means…”
“Yes, I won’t take a commission. I mean I’ll do it for free.”
Seora blinked. It was true that with Kang Sejun handling it, the Suhoryeong Guild wouldn’t be able to lowball the price or scam her. It was a proposal with no downsides.
“Why? Why would you go that far for me?”
“In exchange, could I ask for one favor?”
“I’m a poor civil servant, I don’t have anything.”
“It’s not a material favor. Just, if I ask for your help later, please consider it at least once. It’s fine if you refuse, but I hope you’ll at least give it serious thought.”
“Is there something an L-ranker would need my help with?”
“Even I can’t solve everything.”
Somehow, Sejun’s smile felt bitter. Yet, at the same time, he also looked incredibly angry.
It seemed he was recalling a moment from his past, an old time that now only he remembered.
