Cheol-Yeong had only been looking for a chance to run away while making the others handle the dangerous situation. He had deceived everyone with a charming smile and deft lies. He could have been worse or better, but Seon-Hu couldn’t leave the source of trouble around. Based on the other man’s attitude so far, it was highly likely that he would betray people again.

This type of guy was skilled at calculating what would maximize his own personal gain and never hesitated to put those plans into action. He must have easily made a decision after calculating whether it would be beneficial for him to kill Seon-Hu and rob his items or focus on the quest rewards. He likely would have come to the conclusion that stealing Seon-Hu’s items would be more advantageous as he would have realized that items named after gods could make criminals into brave generals once he saw the item information window.

Seon-Hu opened his eyes while thinking about the last scene he had seen before he had passed out.

“I’m Soo-Ah. Lee Soo-Ah.”

Seon-Hu checked how much preparation time they had left instead of paying attention to the woman in front of him. There was not much time left until the next wave. In the past, waves never ended as quickly as they did now. Instead, they had lasted for days and weeks. Everyone had to lock themselves up in a building and fight desperately and aggressively. The other new Awakened in the other stages must have been blocking waves like that.

Seong-Il’s sleepy eyes opened wide.

“This girl healed you.”

Seon-Hu could hear the underlying edge in the other man’s voice. Soo-Ah interjected first, “But I was paid for it.”

“How much?” Seon-Hu asked.

She responded instantly, “Ten mana stones.”

He nodded. “That’s a good price for spending the whole day for me.”

Seong-Il looked at them as if he couldn’t understand their conversation at all. He knew Seon-Hu wouldn’t be outraged, but he had at least expected that the younger man would feel a bit unpleasant by Soo-Ah’s selfish actions. Contrary to all the scenarios that had run through his head, Seon-Hu was instead looking at her with some interest.

“Are you the new leader?” Seon-Hu suddenly asked.

She shook her head. “No.”

Soo-Ah had no intention of being the leader in the first place. Whoever was elected as the new leader, the position had no meaning as long as Seon-Hu was in the same region.

She told Seon-Hu about the situation in the village, and how the system that Cheol-Yeong had implemented during his short reign had remained untouched. For instance, twenty percent of all the mana stones that were collected still went to the village fund, and she said that a council had been newly organized to manage them and the village’s events.

“We moved the mana stones from the monsters you killed here.” Soo-Ah finished by looking at the room that was being used as a warehouse inside the building.

She then added, “By the way, we needed a lot of hands since there were so many monsters, so we distributed one mana stone to each person from the village fund.”

Seon-Hu nodded. “Okay, I’ll pay for them.”

Soo-Ah’s eyes brightened, and her heart began to beat fast. Seon-Hu’s calm response had given her a hint of obvious success. It wasn’t because the mana stones were useful by themselves, but instead, it was because Seon-Hu has deliberately used them as a substitute for money.

Ah…

Seon-Hu was clearly capable of surviving on his own. In addition, the villagers had wanted to sacrifice his life during the first wave. Nevertheless, he was secretly taking care of people by establishing a new currency. It would have happened naturally, but Seon-Hu had shortened the time by putting it into action first. By using mana stones as money and linking it to food and water, it should have been called the ‘living standard’ instead of the ‘gold standard[1].’

The important thing was that Seon-Hu’s method had worked, and it energized people. It truly showed his good faith.

Other than the fact that he takes others’ lives easily, he seems to have a good heart. That’s a relief.

Her assumptions were now confirmed to be facts, so they made Soo-Ah firmly determined to stay close to this powerful guy. After exchanging a few words, she couldn’t feel the age gap anymore. Instead, she had an uncanny feeling that she was talking to an older person or her boss.

Unexpectedly, Seon-Hu was still glancing at Soo-Ah. The reason was simple: he couldn’t believe she had the guts to treat him while asking for payment. No one else in this village would dare to do that.

She understands that mana stones are now money, and she asked for a price to satisfy her greed…

That by itself was stupid, but from his perspective, Soo-Ah didn’t look like an idiot.

Then, Seon-Hu spotted something, so he grabbed onto Soo-Ah’s hand. Since all the wounds she received from the previous wave had been healed, the calluses she obtained before awakening were quite noticeable. They were embedded in the side of her thumb and tip of the index finger.

I knew it.

Only those who had been fighting in the financial war had calluses on that location. Soo-Ah’s face brightened when she saw Seon-Hu looking at her calluses. She then said, “I was in Yeoui-do. Daehoo Securities. You were in the same industry, right?”

“Yes.”

“In Yeouido?” she asked.

He shook his head slightly. “The City.”

“If you don’t mind, may I ask your age?”

He responded evasively, “I look young.”

“I am thirty-three years old.”

She was not supposed to let down her guard, but she was excited because she hadn’t seen someone from her field for a long time. The last few days had felt like years to her.

***

Seon-Hu didn’t kick Soo-Ah out, and Seong-Il thought that was weird. The younger man normally hated talking to people, but he was consistently responding to the woman’s attempts at conversation.

Oh, right. Odin was a fund manager. I guess I can sleep now.

Seong-Il had become drowsy, wanting to sleep, ever since he had confirmed that Seon-Hu was now healthy. Their conversation faded away more and more.

“I was at Telestar Investment.”

Soo-Ah’s eyes widened as she had longed to work at Telestar in the past. Jessica, the CEO of Telestar, had boosted the position of female financiers on Wall Street, where women had often been described as consumables. In addition, she was Soo-Ah’s role model. Therefore, Soo-Ah’s precious vacation schedule was set based on whenever Jessica had a public lecture or speech, so she was always traveling to either London or New York.

Soo-Ah had totally forgotten that she was currently in a different world even though she was inside a concrete building as the person in front of her was someone who had worked for an investment company led by her role model. Their conversation continued for a long time.

At some point, Soo-Ah felt like she was being interviewed. After she came to her senses, she realized she had already told Seon-hu all about her family history and her childhood. She thought she could have been Seon-Hu’s colleague if Telestar’s interview process had been this casual.

Soo-Ah wanted to stop talking about herself and listen to this mysterious man’s life. However, Seon-Hu asked another question, “Were you at the office that day?”

“That day?” she asked.

He clarified, “The Day of Advent.”

Soo-Ah remembered that the media had named the first day of the alien invasion as ‘the Day of Advent.’

She nodded. “I was working overtime.”

The day was unforgettable to her as well. It wasn’t because of the alien’s attack, but instead, it was because the guidelines she had received from her superiors on that day were as mysterious as Seon-Hu. She now could understand those orders, but unless a person’s brain was filled with dog poop, they had seemed incomprehensible at the time. They had told her to purchase every stock they could at a moment when panicking civilians were trying to sell their underwear.

Before that…

“Isn’t that so weird?”

Soo-Ah spoke while recalling the day.

“The financial system was able to stay intact because we didn’t activate the Contingency Plan. But based on the original plan, it should have been activated.”

After all, that was the standard procedure. People had to operate the Contingency Plan and force all financial systems to stop during an emergency. It was widely agreed that was the only way to counter the worst news of the alien assault. However, none of the financial markets in the world had activated the plan, and there must have been an agreement between countries in advance.

Because they all would be completely ruined…?

From that day on, Soo-Ah had witnessed the biggest financial war ever. Capital forces around the world were split into two sides: ‘Let’s buy’ and ‘Let’s sell.’ For the next few days, those two forces tried to slit each other’s throats. The amount of money that was dealt there was the largest in history, and the graphs had surpassed their usual units.

Soo-Ah hugged herself as she was trembling when she recalled the joy she felt after the war. That day could be defined as the ‘victory of mankind.’ The ‘Let’s buy’ side had won the civil war against the ‘Let’s sell’ side. Thus, it evaporated the fear that the aliens had brought to the global financial markets. Human civilization remained intact the same as before.

Yes, Soo-Ah felt a kind of bliss that she had never felt before, and she couldn’t speak properly even while remembering that day.

***

There was no need to lead the conversation forward anymore as Seon-Hu had seen the response he wanted to see. Soo-Ah had clearly trembled and become overcome with emotion when she reminisced about the big financial war.

He had managed to destroy the altar only after using all of the A-class insignias he had brought with him and activating the Man Who Overcomes Adversity. If the conditions of victory had been specified as the complete annihilation of the enemy, he would have died there just like the now destroyed Youxia’s Scimitar.

He would eventually need combatants who could help him with the challenger quest, or at least another party member.

Being moderately astute helps. It looks like she figured some things out while bailing out the world’s financial system instead of running away. But I’ll wait and observe her more closely.

It was difficult to identify the vipers in suits as they were good at presenting themselves attractively and showing what others wanted to see. They only revealed their true faces when their lives were on the line. Many of them were either financiers, politicians or entrepreneurs.

Seon-Hu dismissed her, “You can leave now. Bring the mana stones that I mentioned before.”

Soo-Ah came to her senses when Seon-Hu flatly pointed at the door. She got up. It was somewhat of a bummer to be sent out like that, but she thought she had succeeded in leaving a good impression. Her gamble had paid off, and the best thing was that Seon-Hu was in the same industry as her.

If the System had not changed, the waves would continue until the tenth round. When that time came, Seon-Hu wouldn’t have to worry about relying on his items as his fighting strength would rise dramatically.

Seon-Hu first erased the challenger quest from his head. He wanted to change many aspects of the System, but it was hard to proceed for the time being. He was certain that the difficulty would increase depending on how much revision the System required in order to normalize it.

Like normalizing the Spirits? The level of difficulty might be to the point where I would need several allied combatants collaborating with me.

Anyway, he had succeeded in reforming the part of the System that he had wanted to fix the most. Since he no longer needed items or new skills, all he had to do was use all his rewards to upgrade his stats. In addition, the other Awakened would grow faster, and their chances of survival would increase.

Seon-Hu filled his stomach and stepped out of the building. As he had expected, a stall had been built on one side of the road, so he smiled lightly. While everyone was paying attention to him, he continued walking at the same pace while reading the pickets in front of the stall. Then, he stopped when he saw one particular sign.

「We are buying and selling insignias. (Speed-up, Healing, Jackdaw, Restraint. Available for sale.)」

“How much is the Healing insignia?”

1. a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. Soo-Ah is making a pun here ☜