Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – Justified Misunderstanding (2)

(TLN: I’ll have a chapter of Dragon Maken or LOL out on Sunday. Please turn of the adblockers if you are able to.)

Hong-songgoo let out a sigh after he ended the phone call.

“The 4 bills was actually $400,000.”

It’s no wonder why since he thought $20,000 was a bit cheap for saving someone’s life. He really had been underestimating the price of his life too much.

“Even someone like me is worth $200,000.”

He had been saved twice, so it was 4 bills. It was $400,000.

“Ha, this isn’t how I should be spending my time.”

Sunggoo let out a sigh. It had been only 2 months since he had become a Roused. He had worked tirelessly during that time, but he had been only earned around $30,000. Even that wasn’t enough, so he had to to borrow money from all around. How was he suddenly going to come up with a large sum of $360,000?

“I guess this is the only way.”

He had prepared this just in case. Sunggoo gathered a bundle of documents then he went outside to catch a taxi.

When he arrived near the Sadahng station, he hurriedly entered a large cafe named Angel Angel. He looked around, and he was able to find Woojin sitting near a corner.

“Hyung-him. How are you doing?”

The two of them had left the dungeon, and they had went their own ways around lunch. This occurred only couple hours ago, so why was he was asking how he was doing?

“You came? So, why did you insist on coming here yourself?”

“It was the right thing for me to do to come here.”

“That’s all right. Just leave after you give me your account number.”

“Huh-ook.”

Sunggoo’s face turned pale from fright. Is he trying to return his money to him? Doesn’t that mean he didn’t need his money, and Woojin wanted to kill him?

Sunggoo thought about how Woojin looked as he killed Bae-dohsoo and his party members without any hesitation. It happened only couple hours ago, so he was still shocked by that event.

Sunggoo immediately got on his knees.

“Hyung-nim. Please spare my life.”

“Huh? Why are you being like this?”

“I promise I’ll pay back all the money I am short on. Just give me a little bit more time.”

Sunggoo’s reaction drew the attention from the people in the surrounding.

“What? What’s going on? Is he a gangster?”

“It looks like he took out a private loan.”

“Tsk tsk. He must have took out a private loan then he must have used it all.”

Woojin frowned when he heard the murmurs coming from the surround people. What was he trying to accomplish by gaining the attention of his surrounding? Woojin’s voice was filled with irritation.

“If you don’t want die, then why don’t you have a seat?”

“Yes, sir!”

Sunggoo immediately sat across Woojin.

“Hyung-nim. I have no way of gathering $400,000 right now. If you give me some time, I promise I’ll come through.”

“$400,000?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ha-ah….”

Woojin leaned back against his chair as he sighed. His fingers rhythmically beat against the armrests.

Ddok, ddok.

Sunggoo swallowed dryly to the beat. Woojin frowned at Sunggoo, who sat there like a dog wanting to poop.

He had wanted $4,000, so he asked Sunggoo to send 4 bills. However, he must have misunderstood it as $40,000. If that wasn’t enough, he had further misunderstood, and now he he was under the impression that he owed Woojin $400,000 now.

‘Kids these days think in large scales.’

How could someone misunderstand 1 bill as $10,000 or $100,000?

It seemed he had thoroughly misunderstood his situation.

If he was under a misunderstanding, then of course he would…

“How long do you want me to wait for you?”

…have to take advantage of the misunderstanding.

Sunggoo spoke rapidly. He spoke so fast that one would think he had a talent for talking.

“Please look here.”

Woojin’s forehead furrowed when he picked up the paper documents pushed forward by Sunggoo.

<Improvement of the Roused Ability and the Corresponding Income Report.>

When his ability manifested, Sunggoo had recorded how much he had earned on the first day he became a Roused. As he became familiar with his ability, his ability slowly evolved, and his income had increased steadily.

He even made a graph to accompany the numbers. At the bottom, he even wrote down the Dungeons he had attempted, and there was a detailed count on how many monsters he had face.

This was basically Sunggoo’s own portfolio.

“I earned $30,000 during the two months. From here on out, my income will continue to increase, and I will be able to obtain the rest of the money soon.”

“How long?”

“I guarantee I will have it within 25 months.”

“Isn’t that too long?”

At Woojin’s pessimistic words, Sunggoo replied quickly.

When did he become so deft at wheeling-and-dealing? It felt like he had awoken to another taken when facing with a situation where his life was on the line.

“This is why I thought of a second method.”

<Dungeon Attack Business Plan.>

Woojin frowned as he threw the documents on the table.

“Why don’t we just talk?”

Sunggoo immediately flapped his tongue.

“With hyung-nim’s abilities, you will be able to attack a higher dungeon than the 1 star and 2 star dungeons. Moreover, you will be able to earn much more revenue per Dungeon Attack. If you form a party with me, I’ll point out the highly profitable Dungeons, and I’ll be able to repay the $400,000 in no time.”

From what Sunggoo observed, Woojin was most definitely not a Rank F on his Roused Rankings. He was capable of soloing a 2 star Dungeon, so how could he be a Rank F?

Anyways, the profit from the higher ranked Dungeons were fundamentally on a different level. One could earn $400,000 in no time.

For Sunggoo, this would be the best method for him. He wouldn’t dare attempt a high rank Dungeon by himself, but it was possible with Woojin by his side.

He just had one problem he had to resolve.

“Does that mean you want to comfortably mooch off of me?

“No. This is why I thought up a third plan.”

Sunggoo started laying out his third plan as if nothing had happened.

“During that period, I will work as hyung-nim’s manager.”

“Manager?”

“Yes. All Roused with a slightly higher rank travels with one. There is even a separate supporting department for them at the Guilds. The manager takes care of duties like selecting the Dungeons, making reservations, selling the bloodstones and more. The manager even drives the Roused around.”

“So they are basically servants.”

Huh? He is speaking the truth, but why do I have such an unpleasant feeling?

“Your analysis is correct, hyung-nim..”

Woojin had an amused expression when he heard Sunggoo’s words.

Managers basically did the same work as a celebrity’s manger. It wasn’t a bad proposal for Woojin.

“Since you don’t have the money, you want to work it off with your body.”

Ah, he was correct.

“You are spot on, hyung-nim.”

Woojin thought for a moment before he opened his mouth.

“All right. For how long?”

“Hyung-nim should decide.”

“One year. I would feel a little bit bad if you worked for free, so I’ll give you a little bit of money on the side.”

Sunggoo abruptly stood up from his seat.

“Thank you. Thank you very much. Hyung-him.”

“Uh-ooh. No, I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

He could have just taken back the $36,000 yet he wanted to live the life of a servant.

*

Jaemin woke up with a burning thirst in his throat.

“Ooh-ook.”

He looked around his surrounding with a dizzy head. He was on his bed.

Bits of his memories started to piece itself together, and his memories slowly came back to him.

He had waited a long time for Woojin, who had gone out to buy more alcohol. He started taking sips from his soju cup, and he had fallen asleep on the table…

So, why was he in his bed?

“Huk!”

He still had his shirt on. Jaemin hurriedly peeked underneath his blanket. He still had his pants on. He unnecessarily started touching his butt, but he didn’t feel any pain.

“Whew.”

Thank you. Our Father, who art in heaven…. Ah…

When his nervousness melted away, he tried to get up since he had to pee. This was when he saw Woojin lying on top of a blanket placed on the floor.

He saw two bottles of soju on the desk, so it seemed he had fallen asleep after drinking by himself.

“I guess he really is a kind hyung.”

Jaemin felt relieved. As he was about to head towards the restroom, Woojin let out a moan.

“Ooh ooh ooh.”

Woojin had curled up, and his body was shaking.

“Is…is he sick?”

Jaemin stretched out his hand to touch the curled up Woojin. Before his hand could make contact, he felt a stinging shock on his hand.

“Aht. That stings.”

Jaemin was so surprised that he sat back down on his bed. Maybe it was the shock, but he started seeing a hallucination.

Gray objects were wrapped around Woojin, and they were slowly swimming around him. Some were black, but none of them had a defined form.

Jaemin’s eyes were out of focus, and he could only look on dumbly.

Ghost? A sprite? Or a hallucination?

He felt a thick hatred and resentment towards life. No, it was the source of evil.

Instinctual fear.

Jaemin’s dilated eyes flipped into his head, and he fainted on to his bed.

“Ooh ooh ooh.”

Woojin let out a moan, and his body was drenched in cold sweat. His face was screwed up as if he was in pain. It looked as if he was possessed by an evil spirit.

Necromancer.

He who oppose the laws of nature. He who denies death.

Eventually, he who become tormented by death’s curse.

Woojin continued to moan.