NOVEL WEB Chapter 24 - Conquering the Weekly Dungeon (5)
Chapter 24: Conquering the Weekly Dungeon (5)
The Friday Dungeon that gives special runes.
The Saturday Dungeon that drops monster materials and synthesis blueprints.
And even the Sunday Dungeon, which gives Skill Books.
Baek Jin-woo was blazing through each of the day-of-the-week dungeons like a storm.
For the Saturday Dungeon, he needed to defeat all the “Plants,” monstrous creatures, so he went in with a full fire setup.
The method involved setting the entire map ablaze.
He entered with the Wind Falcon as a speed buffer, the fire-attribute damage dealer Explosive Dragon, and three C-rank Lava Drakes.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Woosh!
The Drakes, dashing around with their speed boost, breathed fire and burned down the forest in an instant.
–
[All monsters have been eliminated!]
[Dungeon clear!]
[Clear time – 00:03:50]
–
In this way, he broke the South Korean record for the Saturday Dungeon as well.
As for the Sunday Dungeon,
he had to defeat an old master known as the “Absolute Expert” within 30 minutes.
It was nearly as difficult as a final boss, and even back in his JinuGod days, he rarely bothered with it.
After all, he could farm Skill Books in the Thursday Dungeon.
He had simply set a record in this one.
Using the Dragon of Destruction’s breath, he set an all-time record of one second for every difficulty level.
After that, he hadn’t even looked at it.
‘I guess I should clear it again this time.’
Baek Jin-woo dove in with only his top summons—Lamba, Hun-gyo, and the Explosive Dragon.
After a hard-fought battle—
[You have defeated the Absolute Expert.]
[Dungeon clear!]
[Clear time – 00:14:50]
–
It took a long time to clear, quite a bit more time than the other dungeons.
‘This is only because it’s low-rank.’
If it had been mid-rank or higher, he probably wouldn’t have managed.
Of course—
–
[Congratulations!]
[New record for South Korea!]
–
Even that was enough to easily surpass the national record.
The average record in South Korea was over 20 minutes.
“Whew.”
Now he had cleared all the low-rank dungeons.
Running them on repeat every week would likely shorten his times even further.
He’d also need to keep leveling up through standard dungeons and training.
‘I’ll just keep growing until I’m ready to tackle mid-rank.’
The goal was to conquer all the top-rank dungeons.
Once he secured enough runes, items, and skills, he’d be able to challenge the Tower of Trials.
Maybe two years would do it?
‘And on that note.’
After a week of dungeon runs, he had accumulated quite a stash of rewards.
Starting with 18 premium summoning scrolls as first achievement rewards.
Various runes, whetstones, Skill Books, materials, and blueprints.
‘How should I handle all of this?’
***
Yoo Ji-ah, the head of 「YooBaek」, had secured a small office in Samsung-dong.
While she could have afforded a larger building from the start, she hadn’t done so.
She wanted to cover everything from the initial startup funds except for the gift she gave Baek Jin-woo.
If the business had begun, then only business capital should be used.
Otherwise, calculating profitability becomes tricky, and tax issues become more complicated.
Swish, swish!
Seated at her desk, Yoo Ji-ah scrolled through the news on her phone with a sigh of admiration.
The entire world was all about Baek Jin-woo.
Every platform and community was flooded with articles about him.
Incredible.
To think he’d set all-time records for every dungeon in South Korea in just one week.
“Mr. Kim Byung-jin.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How’s the video editing coming along?”
Kim Byung-jin was handling the editing personally.
Because of the sensitive nature of the content, they couldn’t trust an outside company with it.
“It’s almost finished, but…”
Yoo Ji-ah tilted her head.
Almost finished?
Was there some issue?
“Is there a problem?”
This video would be YooBaek’s first business product.
And it was like a golden egg, promising to bring in tens or even hundreds of times the initial investment!
A problem would be serious.
“It’s not exactly a problem… It’s just… hard to believe even while I’m making it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Just a moment. It’s almost done.”
Tap, tap, tap!
Kim Byung-jin, who had been typing away as if entranced, stood up from his desk.
‘All done.’
He’d compiled the cleanest moves from the two playthroughs, creating a complete walkthrough.
Anyone could understand it just by watching a single video.
“It’s finished. Per Mr. Baek’s request, I excluded the Thursday and Sunday Dungeons.”
“Ooh, let’s take a look.”
How impressive could it be if he’d been speechless while making it?
The three of them gathered in the small office.
Kim Byung-jin, Yoo Ji-ah, and Hwang Tae-seop.
Click!
The video started playing from the projector they’d set up.
And—
Yoo Ji-ah and Hwang Tae-seop’s jaws slowly dropped.
It was on a different level from what they’d briefly seen before.
With the proper 3D editing, Baek Jin-woo’s gameplay was strikingly vivid in first-person perspective.
Especially in the Friday Dungeon with the Player Race—
“What… on earth…”
“This is absurd… Who could follow along watching this?”
Yoo Ji-ah couldn’t believe her eyes.
His movements were almost like a circus performance!
Even the trick where he switched from the dolphin to the wyvern mid-air was just mind-blowing.
“If a movie were shot like this, it would get criticized.”
“…Will anyone actually buy this? Or even if they do, won’t they just be annoyed?”
Even Hwang Tae-seop, normally the most serious, shook his head in disbelief.
Anyway.
‘Incredible.’
Yoo Ji-ah’s clenched fists trembled with excitement.
He’d known this before, but watching the video confirmed it beyond any doubt.
‘Baek Jin-woo is incredible.’
One thing was certain.
He was on a level beyond what could be found in South Korea.
He was a talent capable of competing on the global stage.
Now she understood why Congressman Park Chang-seok had been so eager to recruit Baek Jin-woo.
‘Congressman…’
Park Chang-seok had been right.
His insight into people was even sharper than she’d realized.
“First.”
Taking a deep breath to calm her excitement, Yoo Ji-ah’s eyes sparkled.
“Before we sell the videos, buy up all the summons we need.”
Understanding immediately, Kim Byung-jin nodded.
“You’re planning to stock up.”
“Exactly. We need to secure as much of an advantage as we can with this information.”
Once this information starts spreading?
The core units’ value will skyrocket.
Securing as many units as possible in advance would maximize 「YooBaek」’s revenue.
How should they sell this information?
And even if they did, could they keep it from leaking out?
The answer was surprisingly simple.
‘We can use the Player Trading System.’
The system-supported trades enforce any terms set in the deal.
If you include a “confidentiality agreement” in the deal?
Breaking it triggers a curse.
The system determines the curse’s severity, and for information trades, it usually results in instant death.
‘I heard this is how the rankings are managed overseas, too.’
Anyway.
Yoo Ji-ah began buying up a large number of summons.
If she couldn’t find them domestically, she even traveled abroad to purchase them.
[Summon Purchase List]
Combat Sheriff (C-rank)
Priest of Radiance (C-rank)
Striped Komodo (B-rank)
Wind Falcon (B-rank)
Titanium Golem (B-rank)
Horned Fairy (C-rank)
Frost Cat (C-rank)
Sky Dolphin (C-rank)
Sky Wyvern (B-rank)
Lava Drake (C-rank)
She followed the exact list that Baek Jin-woo had given her in the past.
Some summons were expensive, possibly because the information had already leaked overseas.
Others were still relatively cheap, perhaps because the information wasn’t out yet.
‘This will be a jackpot.’
She even took out a full loan under YooBaek’s name.
The banks that looked into Yoo Ji-ah’s background were more than eager to provide the funds.
The granddaughter of Daeseong?
The famously elite Yoo Ji-ah?
It was a solid business with no chance of defaulting!
Additionally, they looked into the company YooBaek.
“A player management company? Why would Daeseong’s granddaughter start a business like that?”
“What? The player affiliated with them is Baek Jin-woo? The one who’s all over the news for setting records?”
“Alright, approve the loan at the legal maximum amount. Yes, do it now!”
Using the funds she received, Yoo Ji-ah purchased summons from around the world, then posted a message on the Player Web.
Selling information for all day-of-the-week dungeons.
Contains knowledge from Baek Jin-woo, the record-holder for South Korea.
Confidentiality agreement required.
Video data (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) – 100 million won; text data (Thursday, Sunday) – 10 million won.
Available only to players registered with the South Korean Headquarters.
She priced the information relatively affordably.
The goal was mass sales.
‘After all, it’s also to help South Korea develop.’
If it spreads among players and raises their level, that would be beneficial for her too.
And.
The more widely the information spread, the more people would need to buy those summons.
Additionally, Yoo Ji-ah created multiple accounts in the Marketplace to list the summons for sale.
She priced them as follows:
Combat Sheriff (C-rank): 200 million won
Priest of Radiance (C-rank): 200 million won
Striped Komodo (B-rank): 1 billion won
Wind Falcon (B-rank): 1 billion won
Titanium Golem (B-rank): 1 billion won
Horned Fairy (C-rank): 200 million won
Frost Cat (C-rank): 200 million won
Sky Dolphin (C-rank): 200 million won
Sky Wyvern (B-rank): 1 billion won
Lava Drake (C-rank): 200 million won
She set a consistent price: 200 million won for C-rank and 1 billion won for B-rank.
“…Isn’t that an absurdly high price?”
Kim Byung-jin clicked his tongue.
These prices were five to ten times what they had paid initially.
Yoo Ji-ah grinned.
“Prices are always determined by supply and demand. Since we control most of the supply, they’ll have no choice but to buy from us.”
Those who are willing to pay for day-of-the-week dungeon information are likely to be members of major guilds or rankers.
Such players have the purchasing power.
They’ll be willing to invest boldly for a time attack.
“And anyway, those units are bound to increase in value over time.”
They’re core units.
The value of a summon that everyone needs will naturally rise.
‘This is the reward for trusting Baek Jin-woo and investing in him.’
The time had come to reap that sweet reward.
***
Baek Jin-woo pondered over what to do with his rewards.
First, the 18 premium summoning scrolls.
He decided not to use them for now.
‘The odds of drawing an EX-rank summon are practically zero.’
He’d only obtained Explosive Dragon and Hun-gyo after opening hundreds of thousands of scrolls, so aiming for another EX-rank with just 18 scrolls?
The return on investment was far too low.
‘Besides, I already have plenty of summons to level. Even focusing on them alone isn’t enough time-wise.’
So, he decided to sell them all in the Marketplace.
At the market price of 3 million won each.
“Ah, a cool 54 million won in just a week.”
‘I should sell all the miscellaneous items I got from the auto-loop runs.’
In his JinuGod days, he’d only used the graduation-grade runes and items, which dropped at a low rate from top-rank day-of-the-week dungeons.
There was no way any low-rank items would be good enough for him now.
The few useful runes he’d already equipped as he passed through.
‘Maybe I should ask Yoo Ji-ah to sell them for me?’
Baek Jin-woo smiled at his suddenly plump bank account.
And then—
That’s part of management’s role, after all.
But.
Instead of that…
Someone else came to mind.
His younger sister, Baek Ah-jin, who was barely scraping by with her small rune-selling business.
‘As I keep running these loops, there’ll be tons of materials to sell.’
If Baek Ah-jin sold them?
And if he gave her a percentage of the commission as a fee?
‘That could work.’
His sister had borne part of his hospital costs over the past three years.
He could finally start repaying her for that.
‘Family should be taken care of, too.’
Settling his thoughts, Baek Jin-woo picked up his phone.
He planned to arrange a meeting with Baek Ah-jin.