Ch.204204. VVIP Auction

On the day of the VVIP auction.

The auction was scheduled to start at 5 PM, so I had plenty of time until then.

I leisurely woke up around lunchtime, ate, and watched the Q&A video that had been uploaded to YouTube.

“How does a video get 10 million views in less than an hour, yet people aren’t subscribing?”

Essentially, this meant that almost everyone subscribed to my channel had received notifications and watched immediately, and even non-subscribers had been recommended the video by the algorithm.

The view count would continue to grow over time. The views-to-subscriber ratio was exceptionally good.

The video turned out really well too. I was concerned about Yoon Hyun-ji’s editing since she excels at and enjoys editing combat scenes, but she did a great job with the daily life content—editing appropriately, adding effects through captions where needed, making the video neither excessive nor boring.

The three buttons—Silver, Gold, and Diamond—hanging above the fireplace in the first-floor living room of the cabin weren’t particularly impressive art pieces in the Rift Dimension where worthless resources were abundant. Still, since they weren’t something just anyone could obtain on Earth, I displayed them anyway, and they looked pretty cool.

As expected, Seo Hyo-joo’s bold confession-like responses at the beginning were cited as one of the most-watched segments by many viewers.

The highest-viewed scene was where I revealed my abilities.

It wasn’t even a long segment near the end.

It was just a simple 30-second clip where I took out my Hunter ID card, and the Q&A concluded right after that.

But unlike the brief and simple 30 seconds, the aftermath was substantial.

– ???

– What did I just see?

– SSS+ rank?

– And two of them, wow!

– So he has a “close combat weapons” ability… does that mean he can use swords, axes, greatswords, all of those?

– Is Holy Magic considered magic? Is he a healer?

– Surprisingly, Holy Magic includes combat skills too.

– Insane… he really is SSS+ rank…

The result was predictable, in a way.

There’s no such thing as an SSS+ rank in the world.

At least, there hasn’t been until now.

The highest rank was SS+, and even those SS+ rankers were worshipped like gods for their world-shattering performances. And now an SSS+ rank?

A rank that’s three levels higher than SS+?

And not just one, but two such abilities?

– Could it be a lie?

– Maybe it’s just displayed that way.

– Is it really three ranks higher than SS+?

– It might just be adding one S, going from SS+ to SSS+.

Many people denied the reality.

If I had created a YouTube channel from the beginning just to brag about my abilities, most people probably wouldn’t have believed me.

But I had built a reputation on YouTube by accomplishing several significant feats, even if they weren’t numerous.

– It’s hard to call it a lie… he did basically handle an S-rank dungeon overflow alone as the Farmer Hunter.

– That S-rank Petrification Gargoyle incident would have been a disaster if he hadn’t dealt with it. The ranker guilds were all cowering, waiting for support from the US and China, praying the monsters wouldn’t move elsewhere, when the Farmer Hunter went in alone and killed all the Petrification Gargoyles, allowing our country’s hunters to finish the job. Otherwise, the monsters would have broken free, and we might have had another cycle by now.

Of course, there were still some who denied it.

– But he seemed to struggle with the Petrification Gargoyles? Shouldn’t an SSS+ rank just demolish S-rank gargoyles effortlessly?

– Why are these hunter-illiterate idiots talking nonsense? Look at when the Farmer Hunter started his YouTube. He had just awakened recently, and Petrification Gargoyles are at least level 60 S-rank monsters, you idiot. Even a 10-level difference warrants retreat, yet he defeated monsters with at least a 40-level difference—that’s proof of SSS+ ability.

That argument was quickly settled.

Anyway, various reactions continued through YouTube comments, and my subscriber count kept growing.

Originally, high-ranked hunters attract subscribers from around the world the moment they verify their hunter rank.

The reason people subscribe to YouTubers from other countries?

To watch videos of high-ranked hunters.

Until now, I was just someone drawing attention with my name.

My videos merely created a sense of “could this be real?” which helped grow my subscriber base.

But with this Q&A video providing definitive proof, people who had been watching without subscribing finally hit the subscribe button.

“This is fun.”

The things I had been hiding.

My abilities. I still have more hidden, but I’ve verified that I’m SSS+ rank, and I’ve revealed the farm where Farming Company’s resources come from, so I’m pretty satisfied.

I felt relieved and thought I could live more confidently doing whatever I wanted.

“Oppa. Let’s go. It’s time.”

And so we departed when it was time for the VVIP auction.

———————

This VVIP auction was unprecedented.

Sixty people attended.

It wasn’t like the VIP member auctions that always filled all 100 seats, but considering each person spent 100 billion won just to enter, these attendees had much greater purchasing power than those who merely occupied seats at VIP auctions.

The entry fees alone totaled 6 trillion won.

All of it would go into my pocket, and these people, having thrown away 600 billion won, would use their mileage to purchase my items.

Today’s auction was simple, featuring just one item.

A potion that, when consumed, increases all abilities by one rank if they’re S-rank or below, with no conditions or penalties.

Additionally, if the magic ability is S+ or below, it increases by another rank.

Truly a golden opportunity potion—only one for sale.

VVIP members are people for whom time is money.

Of course, they’re not people who would lose money if they spent time playing around.

They’ve already designed their lives so that money accumulates in their accounts even if they play around their entire lives, but they don’t waste time carelessly.

These VVIPs can easily “invest” 100 billion won as an entrance fee.

This item was worth them taking nearly a week to leisurely wait in Korea for the auction.

This was proven by the fact that nearly 50 people this week alone had filled the 100 billion requirement to upgrade to VVIP membership.

As a result, the auction was fiercely competitive.

The starting bid was 10 billion won.

Essentially a meaningless amount.

“100 billion.”

“150 billion.”

As expected.

With someone’s declaration that they wouldn’t let anyone get away with using just mileage, the price quickly rose.

The bids increased by 50 billion at a time, quickly breaking through 500 billion.

Even for a VVIP auction attended by wealthy individuals, this auction seemed like it would end faster than expected.

Who was truly desperate?

Someone who could achieve tremendous spec improvement from their current state by consuming this pill.

A hunter whose body is more valuable than money would likely be desperate enough to invest their entire fortune.

“800 billion.”

As expected, Kelin participated too.

From what I could see, her magic ability was already SS-rank with items, but her pure magic ability was S-.

I thought, “Just S- for an SS-rank magician?” but considering that I received SS as my base magic ability with my SSS+ rank, the simple calculation checks out—SS rank would indeed have S- as base.

She might have even raised it from something lower using points.

I’ve heard it’s more efficient to cover abilities with items and use points for skill or ability enhancement rather than spending them on stats.

So this potion was very precious to Kelin as well.

Thinking about it made me feel a bit regretful.

“If she had saved the Holy Ring, she could have gotten this for free.”

She had exchanged it for her father’s life, and I wouldn’t have moved without something like the Holy Ring at that time. This is all in hindsight, and Kelin would never know this fact, but anyway.

Kelin had the ability to resolve regrets with money.

But this time, it wasn’t easy even for her.

“1.2 trillion.”

“Wow… that old man really has a lot of money.”

Li Weixing, the Martial Arts Alliance Leader who was attending our Farming Company auction for the first time, showed his determination to purchase the pill by raising the bid by 100 billion each time after it exceeded 1 trillion.

Perhaps because of this:

“2.3 trillion.”

The auction somehow reached a price range disconnected from reality, eventually exceeding 3 trillion won.