Ch.157157. How to Spend Money Well: Earn More

I wasn’t someone who was good with money.

Throughout my life, I’ve only spent my parents’ money, never once thinking about earning and spending my own. At most, I just managed the allowance I received, never having handled my own finances.

Still, thanks to my parents’ generosity, I did have money to spend from allowances given by relatives or my dad’s friends.

On those occasions, I would receive praise.

“Suhyeon, how can you be so generous when you don’t even earn money?”

Even when my dad would lecture me like this, I maintained my spending habits without caring much.

My reasoning was: it’s my money anyway, and I’m not going into debt, so what’s wrong with spending it well?

In reality, my spending was limited to buying necessary items or treating my cousins when we met—just small flexes.

Anyway, I thought my spending habits couldn’t be that extravagant.

I believed I could spend freely because it wasn’t much money to begin with.

But now that I actually had a lot of money in my hands, I realized this was just who I was.

With 2 trillion won, I had the mindset that I could easily spend 100 billion.

No, it wasn’t about carelessly throwing money away. It was more that 100 billion seemed like a reasonable amount to build my image and provide value in the current situation.

I wondered if it was because I had so much money, but then realized it was more about the confidence that I could easily earn another 100 billion if needed.

It was the same when I was younger.

Though I didn’t earn money, I thought spending a few hundred thousand won wasn’t easy but considering my dad’s wealth, I could spend that much to maintain good relationships.

So ultimately, I could spend well because I could earn well.

“You’re not going to donate anonymously, are you?”

“Are you crazy? I’m buying an image with this money. Why would I donate anonymously?”

“Right? Just checking. Wow, but you should donate to somewhere that will use it properly. With 100 billion, there will be tons of places trying to get a piece of it.”

“Anyone trying to freeload off my money deserves to die.”

“…You’re not actually going to kill people, right?”

“Those kinds of people deserve it.”

Well, I could inquire with places I know well.

For now, I decided to wrap up the Yongin Dungeon backflow situation on my end.

Recovery and rescue operations were still ongoing, but there wasn’t much more for me to do, and I had quite a few things to handle after coming out.

The same went for Kim Sujeong.

Although a major incident occurred right after we came out, it was actually a good situation for opening her omakase restaurant.

“I’ll go reserve the restaurant and prepare.”

On the evening of the auction for the Five Senses Fan, VIP reservations for Kim Sujeong’s omakase would also be taken. This way, even if VIPs couldn’t purchase the fan at the auction, they wouldn’t regret coming to Korea as they could enjoy an exceptional dining experience.

Of course, this would be through a dining experience (buying expensive omakase tickets).

I lounged around a bit before contacting Team Leader Kim Jinhyeop to take care of my own business.

“Yes, Hunter.”

“Hello. Is the situation being handled well?”

“Thanks to you, we’re making progress… though the casualties are still increasing…”

“Ah, you don’t need to talk about that anymore.”

I found it cringeworthy and didn’t want to hear about how I had reduced the damage.

While it was true that my quick action had minimized casualties, there were still people who died, and saying “it could have been worse” seemed cruel to the families of those who had passed.

Not that I was trying to sympathize with their grief.

If such talk continued, it might create resentment toward me.

“Yes, understood. What can I do for you…”

“I heard you’re the team leader for hunter management, is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“So you handle hunter registrations, dungeon backflow deployments, things like that, right?”

“What is this about…”

“There’s something I’d like to ask, and you’re the only person I know.”

“Feel free to ask. Actually, I’ve been assigned to you exclusively these days.”

“What? You’re still holding on to that?”

“That’s part of it, but since you consistently demonstrate influence befitting an SSS+ rank, the higher-ups have decided to provide you with maximum convenience to prevent you from considering other countries.”

“Come on, assigning an S-rank team leader as a personal assistant seems excessive.”

“…I didn’t say personal secretary…”

I wanted to tell him it was a reasonable decision if that was the purpose.

Even though I had no intention of going to another country, it was true that Team Leader Kim Jinhyeop made staying in Korea more comfortable.

Like with the Kang Seongjun incident before, he resolved many things efficiently.

“Anyway, let me get to the point. I want to donate 100 billion won to help those affected by this backflow.”

“…100 billion?”

“Yes. Let’s make it 200 billion, including the 100 billion the Dungeon Association was going to give me.”

“Are you planning to donate through the Dungeon Association?”

“Anywhere that can use it transparently. I don’t know such places myself. I’ve heard too many rumors online about donation organizations just lining their own pockets, so I don’t know who to trust. If I think about someone else feasting on money I earned with my blood and sweat, I might want to drag them into a dungeon and kill them.”

“Haha… I understand. Fortunately, the Dungeon Association should be able to help. Since we’re already leading the Yongin recovery efforts and can execute the budget, I’ll look into it.”

“Thank you. And…”

“Please, speak freely.”

“…This might seem like a small favor, but could you help me find someone?”

“…Is this about revenge?”

“No, nothing like that. There’s just someone I need to find because I need their help.”

The reason he asked first, probably due to our previous conversation.

“I’m joking, just joking. I’m not some murderer.”

“When someone with your power says things like that, it’s honestly concerning. Haha…”

“Come on, if I wanted to kill someone, I would have killed that Kang… guy first. Why would I just cut off his limbs?”

“…”

“I’m kidding, kidding.”

Anyway, I asked him to find someone for me.

“It shouldn’t be difficult if there are records of this person. Since not much time has passed, I’ll look into it and contact you.”

“Thank you. I’ll treat you to a meal soon.”

I’m not used to employing people.

Throughout my life, the only times I’ve asked people to do things were small errands like asking Kim Sujeong to turn off the lights or bring me water. Everything else was done with NPCs in the Farming World.

If I treated real people the same way, Team Leader Kim Jinhyeop would scold me for being sociopathic, so I tried to maintain a requesting tone in our conversation.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to show much resistance.

The Dungeon Association’s power is significant.

It’s connected globally, and even within the country, it has the authority to refuse presidential orders in certain situations and act independently.

Not that Team Leader Kim Jinhyeop had such power, but if I aligned with the Hunter Association’s intention to keep me here, I could probably receive various conveniences.

It wasn’t like I was taking advantage—I had made significant contributions by stopping the S-rank dungeon backflow, and as long as I stayed in Korea rather than at my farm, I could help with future backflows as well.

My personal request wasn’t difficult.

Community.

I asked him to find someone I had chatted with in the Farming World game community.

I could probably find this person myself if I tried.

It’s not like they were living in hiding or acting anonymously—we had even chatted and they told me to contact them again if needed.

But that was within the game.

My need for this person was for reasons outside the game.

About two hours later, I received a text from Team Leader Kim Jinhyeop.

[Kim Sol-i. 010.33XX.511X. Seoul, Songpa District…]

“Wow… impressive.”

He must have provided this personal information based on his trust that I wouldn’t cause problems, but I was still surprised.

What if I actually caused trouble with this information…

Then it occurred to me that he might have given it thinking it wouldn’t matter anyway.

Keeping me in Korea and providing all conveniences might include overlooking certain troublesome matters—even crimes.

“Hmm… it might be awkward to contact directly.”

Anyway, I didn’t ask for this information to do anything bad.

This person was essential to me, but I decided to hold off on using this contact information and opened the Farming World community inbox instead.

Username: gongDsol.

I sent a message:

– Hey, long time no see. Still playing the game?