05. New forces.

+++

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s definitely some kind of shady massage parlor.”

 

Yuna, who was counting cash, suddenly spoke up.

It was a sudden topic, but Sora wasn’t clueless about what she meant.

 

 

“Well….”

“There are statistics that over half of Korean adult men have experienced prostitution, you know. In this situation, they’d obviously go to a place like that.”

“…That was debunked as unreliable after the Women’s Affairs Department got caught manipulating it.”

“…A-anyway! This area is already rife with those kinds of businesses. It’s obvious.”

“Well…I guess I think so too.”

 

 

Sora wore a strange smile.

 

 

Even she thought that if he was going to separate them, the women, and go somewhere he specifically called a ‘good place,’ a shady massage parlor was the only thing that came to mind.

Besides, Yu-eun kinda likes women. He’s the type of guy who’d forcibly drag them over and bang them if he wanted to. His humanity is bottom-tier.

 

 

But strangely, she was drawn to Yu-eun.

Maybe Yu-eun was filling the void left by her ex-fiancé, Un-hyun, which is why she felt that way. And the reality that she was practically enslaved to him also played a part.

 

 

Anyway, for various reasons, her favorability rating was 73. She had moved beyond the ‘some’ stage of testing the waters and entered a full-blown ‘romantic feeling.’

 

 

Naturally, she wouldn’t like it if Yu-eun slept with another woman or went to such a place. No, to be clear, she definitely hated it. She even hated him getting close to Yuna next to her.

 

 

But what could she do? He wasn’t someone she could control.

 

 

“Seriously, he just goes all goo-goo eyes whenever he sees a woman. It’s disgusting.”

“But you like that kind of younger brother, don’t you? Our master.”

“That’s…n-no, what are you talking about?!”

 

She put down the stack of dollars she was counting and reacted strongly.

 

As expected.

No matter how I look at it, Yuna likes Yu-eun. I honestly don’t know why she likes him. For Yuna, who ‘hates men,’ to like someone like Yu-eun and even have sex with him…it’s just a mystery.

 

 

But even if I can’t understand the process, I can know the result.

Yuna likes Yu-eun. Quite a lot, too.

 

 

‘Maybe it’s a skill effect…considering there’s even something that turns them into maids, I can’t rule out the possibility of something that forces them to like him.’

 

 

 

 

“I have finished categorizing the items.”

 

 

While I was lost in various thoughts, Eun-ju approached and reported.

 

 

“There are a total of 79 tops. 78 bottoms, as one was damaged. 46 full-body outfits. 125 weapons. Accessories…(omitted)…etc. If we convert the approximate value, it is expected to be about 90 million dollars.”

“N-n-n-ninety million???”

“…Did you calculate that correctly?”

 

Sora, who was thinking that 10 billion won would be a lot, was shocked and gaped her mouth open.

Ninety million dollars is an enormous amount of money, over 100 billion won at the current exchange rate. Even if they split it three ways including Yu-eun, they’d each get 33 billion won, but he had cleanly split it in two and told Sora and Yuna to divide it.

 

 

In other words, if Eun-ju’s words were true, that meant over 50 billion won would be coming in.

 

 

 

 

To the two who were so surprised, Eun-ju calmly explained. Of course, she was quite surprised inside as well, but she pretended to be calm.

 

 

“Actually, there’s not much to be surprised about. They were the ‘elite’ of a guild that dominated the worst dungeon in Korea. Considering their earnings, and considering the danger of the dungeon, it’s easy to assume they would be equipped with at least hundreds of millions of won worth of gear. If each person has hundreds of millions, it’s natural for it to exceed tens of billions when there are over a hundred people.”

“W-well, that’s true but….”

 

It’s not that I don’t know how to calculate. It’s just not easy to accept.

 

 

“That’s amazing…more than I thought….”

“I know, right….”

 

 

Yuna also seemed quite surprised.

 

 

“Come to think of it…that woman earlier said they had completely occupied this area, right? And that it had become Yu-eun’s territory…then won’t we become super rich?”

“…It won’t be that easy. First of all, we killed all the elites and masters, right? News will definitely spread throughout the country soon…even to foreign countries. When that happens, all sorts of people will flock here to take over the ‘unoccupied land.’ Can we really stop them with our current manpower? Even if we could, it would be too inefficient.”

“T-that’s true.”

 

That’s definitely true.

Dungeon cities are areas with enormous stakes. Among them, the elites of a high-level dungeon city called a D-class dungeon have been wiped out, so how many people wouldn’t try to take it over? At the very least, the guilds won’t stand still.

Especially the guilds in the nearby Seoul area would come running with their eyes burning.

 

 

“We’ll have to keep the guilds in Korea in check, and we’ll have to keep the overseas guilds in check too.”

“But I don’t think we need to worry too much.”

 

 

Eun-ju raised an objection to Yuna’s opinion.

 

 

“The top-tier guilds are already struggling just to maintain their vested interests in their own dungeons. If they take their eyes off even for a moment, other forces will immediately try to keep them in check. If there are any guilds or adventurers who can afford to pay attention to this place, they’re likely to be just leftovers.”

“That could be true. But their numbers will definitely overwhelm us.”

“Do numbers mean anything to us?”

“N-not really, but….”

“And if it’s Master, he can train adventurers who are much stronger than the elites of the old guilds. Frankly, even if he just turns them into maids and makes them wear the clothes I make, they’ll be stronger than elite adventurers.”

“….”

 

 

That’s a fact.

So I have nothing to say.

 

“That’s true. We don’t need to worry. Let’s just play the role of mistresses, ahaha!”

“Haa…this is really beyond the realm of common sense.”

“I agree.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

+++

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“That’s all.”

 

Seo-hyun ended her report in a clear voice.

 

 

Listening to her, the protection money was really just pocket change. Of course, it’s much better than nothing and it’s definitely not a small amount, but the other income is too great.

 

 

First of all, the living expenses of the guild members.

The guild has various facilities related to items, and there are installable items. To use these, you have to pay a certain amount and use the services, and the profits from that are also considerable.

In addition, they also establish ‘companies’ that process various by-products from the dungeon to create and sell secondary and tertiary products, drawing in enormous profits.

 

 

All in all, the Gangnam Dungeon Guild’s current monthly net profit is at least 50 million dollars.

 

 

Listen up. That’s net profit, not revenue. Even if you divide it by 15 guilds, that’s about 3.4 million dollars per guild, which is roughly 4 billion won.

 

 

“…These guys were incredibly rich.”

“To be precise, the guild leader and executives are rich.”

“But considering that, they were destroyed too easily.”

“…Master and those two are abnormally strong. The elites of the Gangnam Dungeon were strong enough to be successful overseas.”

 

Well…we are a bit too strong.

 

 

“And…to be honest, they were also complacent. The masters and executives were already raking in money, so there was no need to get stronger, and even if they went to Manhattan, a higher-level dungeon, they could earn less than they do now or even die. So they just settled here.”

“So, they were just hoarding money and assets, is that it?”

“That’s right. Especially…in the case of the master, he could easily earn about 1 billion won a year just by sitting in his seat. There was no reason to go through the trouble of entering the dungeon.”

 

I guess so.

 

 

By the way, 1 billion won a year…isn’t that several times more than the average small business owner?

And that was per guild, right? What about when they’re integrated?

 

“Then what happens to me?”

“First, we plan to subdue all the guilds and transfer them to Master’s name. You just need to stamp your seal, and in that case, the companies affiliated with the guilds will also effectively become Master’s.”

“Wow. Then I’ll easily make an annual income of 10 billion won?”

“If the executives are annihilated and Master doesn’t need to have such people separately, wouldn’t 50 billion or 60 billion won be a piece of cake? Hehe.”

“Huh?”

 

That’s right! Unlike those other guys, I can exploit labor for dirt cheap!

 

 

“Honestly…the price of by-products isn’t that expensive compared to their performance, right? The biggest expense is labor costs. But Master…if he just churns out maids and puts them in, he can solve their food, lodging, and simple welfare expenses for around $1000 per person, so the net profit will increase enormously.”

“Ooh!”

 

Making money is super easy!!

 

 

Yeah…a simple apology to the nation won’t cut it anymore. I’ll have to go on TV and do a dogeza or something.