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“Piece of shit.”

“You’re a potential B-Rank? Stop lying.”

Five children in school uniforms surrounded a child, insulting him.

“Oppa, what if he really does awaken his powers?”

“Kekek. Awaken, my ass. You think it’s easy for garbage to awaken?”

“Garbage like this stay garbage for the rest of their lives. Isn’t that right?”

“You cowardly bastards. Once I awaken my... Cough!” One of the students surrounding the child kicked him in the stomach. The children began to snicker as they all kicked and stepped on the boy, ignoring his cries.

‘They’re getting on my nerves.’ Taehyun’s eyes narrowed from his seat on a bench in the corner. He had intentionally come here to keep out of sight, not knowing he’d witness such a scene.

Children’s scuffles; that was one way to explain the situation unfolding before him. His heart wavered since he had been in the same situation not too long ago.

“Fucking bastards. What’s so good about awakening your skills anyway?!” Managing to escape the cage of feet, the child shouted at the others while swinging his arms.

“That’s your problem, loser!”

“Hwack-tu!” 

He hadn’t awakened a skill nor trained his body. Fighting against a group of children with his ordinary body was impossible, so the beatings resumed. One even pulled down his pants and began to urinate on the boy.

‘That’s going too far.’ Clicking his tongue, Taehyun closed his book. They didn’t use any skills but still managed to cross the line. Taehyun picked up five rocks around his feet. He’d just happened to be using Stealth to increase his skill proficiency.

Whooosh. Whoosh. The rocks shot through the air and hit all five of its targets, right on their knees.

“Agh!”

“My knees!”

“Fuck! What was that?!”

“Kyak! Oppa!”

“I-It’s broken!”

The five thugs cried out in pain, the boy in the middle staring down at them blankly. Viewing the sight with satisfaction, Taehyun picked up the large backpack next to him. The sun was beginning to set, so it was about time he moved.

‘I didn’t think I’d come all the way here, though.’ Taehyun was currently standing in front of the abomination of the Ttukseom Recreation Area, The Nameless Station.

Three years ago, a politician pushing forward the construction of a light rail system was fired for violating election laws. The construction was called off afterward, and what was left was the run-down Nameless Station.

Because they had blocked off the entrance and abandoned the structure, no one knew that a dungeon was being formed inside. ‘It was only after a dungeon break that happened a year later that it became known to the public.’

Lightly hopping over the Do Not Enter sign, Taehyun entered the station. ‘The Spell Ogre... It feels like I’m hunting a lot of ogres these days.’ He smiled faintly, recalling the recent gate break.

In the past, a dungeon break occurred a year from now when the Spell Ogre finished its preparations and led its army out. Since the dungeon had not been discovered, there hadn’t been any Associate Players on watch, nor Guild Players who were attempting to clear it. So, it was natural for many casualties to have occurred.

A gate break was a phenomenon where a sudden rift in space appeared, with the rift being directly connected to the Abyss. It was public knowledge that dungeons were created when gates were not subdued in time and there was an excess of mana.

‘But there are special cases where dungeons appear on their own.’ Fifteen years in the future, finding undiscovered dungeons was a common occurrence, but that wasn’t the case right now.

Just then, multiple messages appeared in front of Taehyun.

[Skill usage detected. Afflicted with Illusion (B). Resisting with unidentified power. Resistance successful.]

[Skill usage detected. Afflicted with Oblis (B). Resisting with unidentified power. Resistance successful.]

“Looks like I’m at the right place.” These skills were likely hiding the dungeon since Taehyun was able to see the rift when he resisted them. Although not as large as a gate, it was still big enough to allow one person to pass through at a time.

Rumbleeeee. There was an ominous mana emanating from the rift, but Taehyun approached it without any hesitation.

***

Slam! Another Ogre’s life met its end by Tahyun’s fist.

“Hah~ This is tougher than I expected.” Without deactivating Stone Skin, Taehyun extended his hand to one of the many corpses scattered around him.

[Unique Skill Devour has been used. As the target’s life activity has ceased, mana will not be consumed.]

Crunch. Cruncch. The black-red mana surrounded the Ogre’s corpse, and with frightening sounds, the Ogre disappeared without a trace.

[Suceeded in the complete devouring of an organism. Replenishing remaining mana.]

It’d been two hours since he entered the dungeon. Thanks to Devour, Taehyun was able to fight continuously without stopping.

Splch. Taehyun approached the corpse of another monster he’d defeated and plunged his hand into its chest cavity where its heart should have been. Cruncch. His hand, hardened by Stone Skin, pulled out the monster’s magic stone just like that. 

Plop. Plop. Green blood dripped from the magic stone in his hand, but Taehyun just opened his backpack and placed it inside. Inside the large backpack were magic stones; the hearts of all the monsters he’d defeated so far.

“This ought to be enough.” With a satisfied smile, Taehyun used Devour to consume the rest of the corpses, but just then…

[Skill usage detected. Afflicted with Blinding (B). Resisting with unidentified power. Resistance successful.]

[Skill usage detected. Afflicted with Bleeding (B). Resisting with unidentified power. Resistance successful.]

The messages in front of him refused to disappear as the boss of the dungeon made its appearance.

“Grrrhh.” Its size was similar to that of a normal Ogre, but it wore a different outfit. Taehyun could instantly tell it was a magic-type monster by the various accessories hanging around its neck and hands.

Another message appeared when it waved its hand.

[Skill usage detected. Afflicted with Obedience (B). Resisting with unidentified power. Resistance successful.]

“Unfortunately, it looks like your powers don’t work on me.”

“Ghhrk?!”

Taehyun’s eyes glinted with desire as he scanned the Ogre.

[Unique Skill Devour has been used.]

An ominous sound rang through the dungeon once more.

***

Alchemist Guild, Seoul Branch.

“Hey, Associate Manager Ahn. How many magic stones have we received today?” The manager of the purchasing department, Changsik Choi, asked his subordinate.

“We obtained one A-Rank, five B-Ranks, fifteen C-Ranks, thirty-one D-Ranks, and fifty E-Ranks,” the man who’d been typing on an Excel sheet responded immediately.

“Damn it. That’s it? We can’t even be called one of the Four Great Guilds at this point.” Looking at their purchase rate decreasing day by day, Manager Changsik Choi let out a deep sigh.

Though the Alchemist was called one of the Four Great Guilds, they were the guild with the most non-combat-type Awakeneds. Because of that, their main source of income was through the unique products they sold, such as potions. However, those products required special materials such as magic stones. 

Since the Alechmist lacked a proper raid team of their own, and there was a limit to the magic stones that could be obtained from monsters, they had recently been losing out in the price competition with the other Four Great Guilds.

“Sigh... It’s because the marketing department isn’t doing their job properly that…” Just as Manager Changsik Choi was about to place the blame on the marketing department, the purchasing department’s intern rushed into the room.

“M-Manager, there’s a customer who’s here to sell B-Rank magic stones...”

“So what? Just buy them at market price.” Manager Changsik Choi shot a disapproving look at the intern, wondering why he was reporting such things.

“The thing is... they asked to be registered as a VIP... and wished to meet the person in charge of purchases.”

“What? Are they a party?” Changsik Choi’s eyes shot wide open at the word VIP, but was disappointed by the words the intern spoke next.

“No, they’re alone. And they requested an anonymous account.”

An anonymous account was a means of transaction that could be made without any particular identifications. It was one of the methods they were keeping quiet about for the guild’s sake, since it may lead to illegal transactions.

“Sigh... What sort of crazy Player is it this time…” Manager Changsik Choi grumbled as he picked up the jacket he’d hung on the chair. It took him six years to go from an intern to a Manager. His mindset was one of the biggest reasons he was promoted faster than his peers; he was prepared to face even murderers for the benefit of the guild.

A moment later, he was standing in front of a man.

“Greetings. I’m Changsik Choi, manager of the purchasing department. I’ve been told that you wished to be registered as a VIP?” Changsik Choi summoned a bright smile as he gazed at the man wearing a hood.

‘He seems young.’ While he wasn’t able to properly see the man’s face because of the hood, his instincts were telling him so.

“Yes. The minimum transaction value required to become a VIP is 300 million won, correct?” A youthful voice came from beneath the hood, but Changsik Choi treated him as though that did not matter.

“Precisely. But if you are a new client, one B-Rank magic stone…” Changsik Choi trailed off. The market price of one B-Rank magic stone was 200 million won, so it would be difficult to register the man as a VIP without other goods.

“This isn’t your ordinary magic stone. Why don’t you take a look?”

Following the man’s suggestion, Changsik Choi used his skill, Inspect.

[Spell Ogre’s Magic Stone]

– [Rank]: B++

– [Mana Level]: 120

“…!” 

It was, without a doubt, a B-Rank magic stone. Moreover, it was fresh and of the highest quality, as if it had just been harvested. This would easily reach 400 million won in market price.

“This is remarkable. We will purchase it immediately. Assistant Manager Ahn, bring the contract,” Changsik Choi hurriedly commanded. 

He didn’t know where the man had brought such an item from, but… ‘I cannot lose this client, no matter what.’ Especially in the current days, when competition was high. 

Having completed the transaction swiftly, Changsik Choi handed his client a VIP contract with a satisfied expression. “As a VIP customer, you will receive benefits such as tax reduction on future sales and purchases. Furthermore…” The man raised his hand just as Changsik Choi was about to continue his explanation.

“How much will I need to make in transactions to become a VVIP?”

“Ah... Well…” Changsik Choi was unable to answer the unexpected question.

Unlike VIPs, there was no set criterion for VVIPs. The VVIP rank was for those among Alchemist’s VIP customers who wished to receive a more special treatment. In other words, it was not a title that customers could receive just because they had a high transaction value amount.

An ordinary person must at least be the chairman of a well-known company to become a VVIP candidate for Alchemist, which spoke about Alchemist’s standards. ‘Or, they’d have to be a Player that could exclusively deliver the highest quality of magic stones.’

However, even the best Players were unable to claim the goods of dungeons all to themselves. This meant that unless they were a Named Player of the highest rank, it was close to impossible for an individual to join the VVIP ranks of Alchemist.

Changsik Choi delivered this information to his new client as carefully as possible so that he would not be angered.

“I see. Well, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.” The man, who had taken this information much more calmly than expected, placed the large backpack beside him on the table. “Then, I want to sell these as well.”

“This is…?” Questioning the man’s confident attitude, Changsik Choi opened the zipper of the bag. 

“...!”

“M-Manager, sir... This is…!” Looking at the magic stones that filled the bag, Changsik Choi and the other employees’ expressions turned to shock.

Taehyun gazed at their reactions with satisfaction.