Chapter 17
“Okay, I’ll accept the terms......huh, what?”
As if he hadn’t expected my refusal, he wiped the smile off his face and looked at me with puzzled eyes.
I turned to him and explained once again.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid I have to decline.”
“......You’re really going to decline, does that mean you don’t need our agreement form?”
“No. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that......I’d like to make you another offer.”
“Another......offer?”
I pull out my cell phone and dial the number at the top of my recent call log. After two beeps, you hear a voice.
“Han Seo-joon, did you get that?”
-Yes, I’m waiting outside the door right now.
“Come in.”
-Okay.
As I ended the call and put the phone in my pocket, the stale door we had entered through opened and Han Seo-joon walked in.
“Young master, here you go.”
Placing two briefcases on the desk in front of me, Han Seo-joon bowed and headed straight out the door. The board games club president, who had been watching the scene in disbelief, let out a hollow laugh at Han Seo-joon’s departure.
“......What’s with that guy?”
“Does it matter?”
I unlocked the lock on the briefcase without turning around.
Inside the open bag lay numerous files. Pulling out a few of them and scattering them over the board game box, I looked at the president and started talking.
“Board game club. Bronze ranked, located on the basement floor of the club hall. The ten million credits that come out once a month are not enough to buy all the board games that come out every year, so the amount of money borrowed through the economic club at rates close to loan sharking has piled up and piled up, and has now swelled to fifty million.......Is that right?”
“Wait, how can you, a freshman, know that.......?”
“You do realize that’s not the point, right? Besides, last year there was talk of an adjustment to the base grant because there were no new members......You really are off the deep end.”
“Oh, no, that’s not......!”
“Well, that doesn’t matter anyway, what really matters is why I’m telling you this.”
I snapped my fingers and refocused his attention and he stared at me, wide-eyed, as if realizing something.
“......No way, you’re buying the agreement. Is this it?”
I grin at him.
“That’s right.”
“Buying a consent form with money, what kind of nonsense is that───.”
“───Fifty million credits.”
“What?”
Thump.
Churrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The other briefcase opens and bills spill out of it.
The club president could only stare open-mouthed at the sight that defied common sense.
“Uh, uh.......”
“I’d like to make a proposal to the board game club.”
Not just any proposal, an offer they couldn’t refuse.
“I have fifty million credits here right now. Warm, hard cash that I just withdrew from my account.”
“Now......what are you talking about.......?”
“Oh, by the way, the debt the board game club owes right now is also fifty million credits. Isn’t this a wonderful coincidence that you can pay off all of their debts by handing me an agreement form?”
Slowly, I lean down and whisper in the club president’s ear.
“Isn’t that wonderful?”
If the person doesn’t take you up on your offer, give them the money. If they still refuse, ask yourself if you didn’t give them enough money.
I don’t know who said this, but it’s a great quote.
The club president, who had been looking at me with a blank expression, reached a trembling hand toward the desk.
“Huh?”
“Well, you’ll see.”
Our next stop, the silver club, was located on the fourth floor of the clubhouse.
“Wow, it’s definitely a different level up here. This place is so clean, it’s gleaming.”
Jin-woo was the first to get off the elevator, looking around.
“Boss, what club are we going to this time? We took out the board game club, so we’re going to the archery club or the shooting club? What is it?”
“No, it’s not a big club like that. I’m going to...... a business club.”
“Business club?”
As we exited the elevator and turned the corner to the right, the first thing we saw was a luxurious black door with a sign next to it that read, “International Trade Club.”
“International Trade Club? What is this place?”
“I’ve heard of it!”
Kim Se-ah raises her hand as she’s heard something about this club.
“It’s the club that delivers overseas products that aren’t available in the Academy or the surrounding market through their own routes, quickly and accurately... There’s nothing they can’t get for money, right?”
“Huh? How do you know that, let alone the boss?”
“I heard that they pay a good salary here too, so I looked into it.”
Seeing Kim Se-ah’s unexpected appearance, Jin-woo let out an exclamation of admiration. I smiled and said,
“It’s not exactly everything, but it’s a place where you can get most things.”
As Kim Se-ah had said, this [International Trade Club] was a kind of trading post, a place where you could get anything for money.
In the game, it serves as an accessible shop inside the Academy, but there’s one thing you’ll learn about the International Trade Club while traveling the Academy route.
“Don’t waste any time, let’s go in.”
“What? Just like that?!”
Kim Se-ah is confused as I walk straight into the door without any prior preparation.
As we open the door and step inside, we are greeted by a huge space with an office-like atmosphere and cold air blowing through the air conditioner.
No, it was a cold atmosphere that greeted us.
“I told you to bring in the real thing, but you brought in the fake, what are you going to do about this damage!”
“I’m sorry, president!”
“Sorry? Sorry? If you’re sorry, you’re out of the club, I’ll pay for the loss from your salary, do you understand?!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
A shrill voice was heard as we walked in the door and as if sensing our popularity, the woman who had been berating the club member turned to us with a sharp glare.
“......What are you doing here? It’s not club opening time yet.”
This is her way of telling us to leave.
“I’m not here to buy anything.”
“What?”
“I’m here to see the president of the International Trade Club.”
“What? Wait, by the color of your nametag, you look like a freshman...... Hey, do you know what you’re doing here? Is our president some kind of dog that has to come when you call?”
“Not a dog.”
“What?”
I smirked at his confusion and made a gesture of shaking the bell.
“Can you look at me for a second?”
“What are you doing───?”
Then, pushing past the club member who was about to yell at us, the woman approached with the bell.
The woman, dressed in a black suit and a cadet uniform that had been modified to create a similar atmosphere, approached me with an expressionless face.
“It’s been a while. Right?”
“......?”
The beautiful woman’s hair was pulled back into a ponytail, revealing a stark white neckline.
She stepped in front of the bewildered club member, leaned down toward me, and spoke in a calm voice.
“President of the International Trade Club. Lee Haru sees the young master.”