Ch.7070. Accessory Upgrade

Kim Seoyun of Hunter Department Store couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

“Hmm hmm~”

She even found herself humming.

“I’m so jealous…”

Even when her friend and colleague spoke with envy and jealousy beside her, she just smiled.

She couldn’t help but smile.

“How much was it this time?”

“20.1 billion won. They originally bought 19 billion worth, but when I mentioned they could become a VVIP if they added another billion, they bought one more item.”

“Who do you think they really are? They seem about our age, right?”

“I think so. I’d never seen them before, but they bought a 300 million won item last time, and now they’re flexing this week—must be either a hunter or from a wealthy family…”

Department store employees naturally work on a performance-based system.

If customers they handle generate high sales, they receive a portion as performance bonuses, which also affects their personnel evaluations.

That’s why it’s not easy for new hires or lower-ranking employees to achieve good results.

When an obviously wealthy hunter or customer comes in, higher-ranking seniors who’ve been waiting quickly snatch them up.

Of course, Hunter Department Store has a system in place where employees take turns serving customers, but in reality, it’s not strictly followed. While the number of customers served might be similar across employees, the performance results differ significantly.

Well, you can’t judge all customers by their outward appearance.

The standard of “obviously wealthy” is based on appearances, so there are many customers who dress well and look rich but end up not buying much.

Still, those who’ve worked here long enough develop a good eye, and employees who’ve already established regular customers inevitably achieve better results.

Even so, what can you do?

For a stable job with good salary and benefits like working at a department store, new employees can only work hard without expecting too much in performance bonuses at first.

Kim Seoyun had that mindset too, just being kind and doing her job diligently.

That day wasn’t even her turn, but she ended up serving a customer because a senior colleague wanted to switch turns, calling the customer a “time thief” who looked shabby and was probably just window shopping without knowing their place.

She didn’t mind.

After all, serving customers during work hours was her job.

She greeted the customer with a friendly smile and asked what they were looking for.

The customer was handsome, and she thought it would be nice if he stayed a while even if he was just browsing.

Clear requirements. Precise budget stated.

‘Oh? This feels like someone who’s going to buy something…’

Usually, these types of customers do purchase items.

Especially when men clearly state exactly what they want, it usually means they’ll buy regardless of price if the item meets their conditions—a simple fact that even Kim Seoyun, who’d been employed for just under two years, knew.

Indeed, the man who looked about her age or slightly younger spent nearly 300 million won, which was already great, but about two weeks later, a few days ago…

The customer she had given her business card to contacted her.

“I want to buy accessories with S+ grade mana, damage, and ability stat restrictions. Please prepare some. Price doesn’t matter. Up to 40 billion won.”

She thought she’d misheard.

Hunter Department Store is quite a large corporation that has expanded not only throughout South Korea but also into several other countries.

Naturally, their sales are high, and items worth tens of billions sell well.

So shopping at this level isn’t unusual, but typically, customers with that kind of budget use the auction house held by Hunter Department Store rather than buying displayed merchandise.

Even wealthy hunters know that displayed items are priced higher than market value.

Items with department store premiums in the billions or tens of billions aren’t easily traded because saving that premium could mean significant money.

The department store knows this too, which is why they display good items for sale for a while before moving them to auction.

She welcomed the customer with an excited, pounding heart.

Customer Kim Suhyun.

That unforgettable name.

Once again, the handsome customer, accompanied by a woman who appeared to be his younger sister, came to the VIP room she had prepared and unhesitatingly selected several items from the display.

“The limit is five accessories until level 20, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll just buy three for now.”

Honestly, with Kim Seoyun’s current authority, she couldn’t bring items that were only shown to VVIP customers and had to show just the item information and options on a tablet.

It wasn’t that only VVIP customers could buy them, but due to concerns about loss or theft, only VVIP customers could see and check the actual items. Since customer Kim Suhyun wasn’t yet a VVIP customer who needed to spend 10 billion won annually, she couldn’t bring the items.

However, all the items he selected were VVIP exclusive items.

It made sense because to choose three items within his budget, that was the only line available.

“This only comes to 19 billion.”

“The really expensive ones all go to auction.”

“Didn’t you say the department store displays them before they go to auction?”

“Don’t you remember when Hyoju came and asked them to sell to her? Items where money isn’t an issue obviously sell right away when displayed.”

“Ah, I see.”

The casual conversation between the siblings was enough to challenge the composure of even the well-trained Kim Seoyun.

Though her job involved meeting many wealthy people, not many would attach the word “only” to 8 billion won.

Because money is precious even to them.

“I’ll process your payment and prepare the items right away.”

“Thank you, miss. You’re really good at your job. I’ll contact you again next time. Please reserve good items for me when they come in.”

“Y-yes. Thank you. Of course. Oh, by the way, sir…”

Encouraged by his kind words, Kim Seoyun gathered her courage.

It wasn’t really something that required courage, but somehow it felt intimidating to say it to a customer who had just purchased 8.8 billion won worth of items.

“Your total purchases currently amount to about 19.1 billion won, and if you add another billion, you’ll receive a VVIP card with benefits on your next visit, so I thought I should mention it.”

“Oh, really?”

This wasn’t like suggesting a 1,000 won item at a neighborhood discount store to get a coupon.

She was nervous, wondering if he hadn’t added the extra billion because he didn’t know he could become a VVIP, but fortunately, it seemed he really didn’t know.

“Then I’ll buy one more.”

“Brother, can you buy something for me then?”

They were deliberating as if they were shopping at a discount store.

But his frown at his sister’s words showed the typical behavior of a wealthy person who was still careful with money.

“Buy that with your own money. Please add some doping potions to match the price. Not ones with ability restrictions, but something that can raise stats to S level or above, even if briefly.”

“Y-yes!”

She didn’t understand at the time, but while preparing the VVIP card, Kim Seoyun thought she might know what he meant.

“Ability stats at S level or above…”

Did that mean he was an S-rank hunter?

Whatever the case, Kim Seoyun happily prepared the VVIP card, special privileges, and gifts.

Since he said he would contact her again, she was determined not to lose this regular customer.

Her seniors tried to interfere out of jealousy, but Kim Seoyun wasn’t a pushover.

“The customer specifically asked for me, so it wouldn’t be proper for me to connect them with another employee, senior.”

She looked at the details of the three accessories the customer had purchased.

[Amplification Necklace]

– Grade: B+

– A necklace made with amplification stone containing powerful energy. Much of the concentrated magical power and strength has weathered away, and it’s small in size.

– Final damage increased by 8%

– Additional 4% final damage increase on critical hits

[Mana Stone Ring]

– Grade: A

– A ring crafted by a skilled blacksmith using mana stones filled with abundant mana.

– Seems to have been created with great care by a master craftsman.

– Maximum mana +30%

– Mana recovery per minute +10%

[Ring of Brute Strength]

– Grade: B+

– A ring made from ogre tendons. Only those with great strength can see its full effect.

– When Strength is A grade or higher: Attack power +30%

– When Strength is S grade or higher: Attack power +50%

As an employee of Hunter Department Store, Kim Seoyun knew some information about hunters.

She knew that hunters who filled their accessories with attack options were likely damage dealers.

She’d heard that those who increased mana were probably mages.

But what about the Ring of Brute Strength?

“I wonder what they do.”

Somehow, she felt curious.

———————–

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pat!

“Keeee….”

“This is pretty good.”

Items are better the more you wear them.

Not wearing items when you can is extremely arrogant.

Of course, some veteran players who play farming worlds for YouTube content have gained popularity with videos of defeating upper biome boss monsters with what they call “no items,” and hunters are also producing this kind of content.

But my thought is: why hunt without taking advantage of the free stat boosts you can get?

Well, I don’t mind if it’s for YouTube content and growing a channel.

But I really enjoy this kind of growth experience, so I was pleased with the specs I’d raised with money.

Eight attacks land on a Black Monkey, followed by eight additional hits all over its body.

The three new accessories significantly increased my damage, but seeing that they don’t die in one hit makes me realize how high the basic difficulty of the Rift Dimension is, even at the second-level biome.

“Let’s play.”

So, the Black Monkey Forest.

It was exciting to encounter hundreds of Black Monkeys looking down at me from the tops of numerous trees.

At least here, the term “over-spec” could be called appropriate balancing.