Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 57

57. Pipe Dreams (2)

He understood the feelings that arose when he realized he couldn’t level up any further, blocked as he was by the Black Tortoise’s level limit.

In such situations, people will use any means necessary to become even a little stronger.

Especially high-ranking Hunters blocked by the level limit; if they haven’t retired, they cling to one thing.

Raising their grade.

Black Tortoise might not know it yet, but Hyun-woo could guess that the moss he was supplying held the secret to that.

Technological advancements are far more advanced than most people realize; they just haven’t been widely adopted.

If it were anyone else, they would have reduced the supply of the crystal moss once they knew it could affect their grade.

However, Black Tortoise’s grade had already reached an unknown limit, and he also possessed a new, rare resource called crystal stone.

In that case, Hyun-woo was confident that he could still maintain an advantage over them.

“Those guys already have everything they could want, and they’d be willing to pour their entire fortune into becoming stronger. You know that too, don’t you, Elder? What’s wrong with taking money from those desperate *nouveau riche* [newly rich] and giving it to people who are having a harder time?”

Hyun-woo leaned against Park Hwi-so’s Bentley car door and grinned.

“The good thing about a monopoly is that you can control the price as you please. I don’t care how much profit you make from the crystal moss you receive from me, Elder. But I’ll be making the first price adjustment. Got it?”

Park Hwi-so groaned softly.

Hyun-woo was in his late 20s, and his level was only in the early 20s, barely out of the rookie Hunter stage.

Even though his official dungeon entry count was only one 1-star dungeon, he was trying to manipulate Park Hwi-so, a veteran among veterans, as he pleased.

He could also see why Hyun-woo had been controlling the supply so tightly.

If the supply is small, stockpiling becomes impossible. In the end, the power of the person holding the monopoly grows even stronger.

Hyun-woo, who could control the market alone, would be able to control not only Park Hwi-so but also the Rankers who would need crystal moss someday.

‘It’s not just because of the crystal moss.’

Crystal moss was incredibly profitable, but the reason Park Hwi-so bothered to buy it all up was to control the supply.

To ensure that only Lee Ji-tae and his alliance could have crystal moss.

‘But now, you’re going to be the one to decide who goes up and who goes down.’

Park Hwi-so had only been delegated that choice in exchange for money.

A level 20 rookie Hunter who debuted just over a month ago controlling the Rankers around the world and Lee Ji-tae. What kind of ridiculous situation was this?

Park Hwi-so felt both fear and anticipation for Kang Hyun-woo, more than he did for the crystal moss.

A man who doesn’t reveal what he has and what he’s hiding.

But inside, he had a clear sense of purpose with an unknown motive. Park Hwi-so, who had taken countless risks, felt a strong attraction to such a man.

In the end, he chose to bet more on Hyun-woo.

“Since you doubled the price, let’s use about half of it. For now.”

With a simple calculation, the price was doubled, and the supply was also doubled, so he would have to pay four times the amount he had been paying so far. But it was a reasonable request.

Crystal moss was already in short supply compared to the amount needed.

The crystal moss that Hyun-woo brings is a resource with no alternatives, and the price is up to the person who has the monopoly.

Moreover, if Hyun-woo really uses that money for social welfare, there will be tax benefits as well.

If you become more legitimate, you can do more things. Park Hwi-so judged that it was a way to reduce his dependence on Lee Ji-tae and create a win-win situation.

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

Hyun-woo smiled and shook hands with Park Hwi-so.

“Elder, be honest with me. How much are you skimming off the top?”

“You said it yourself. Running an organization costs more money than you can imagine. I have no intention of running at a loss, so don’t worry about me. I’m more curious about why your mind changed. Why are you suddenly interested in social service?”

“Well, upper-class play? Want to know how to spend money? Curious about how it feels to do good deeds?”

“You might as well raise a stray dog. It’ll cost you less money.”

Hyun-woo laughed out loud until he realized that Park Hwi-so wasn’t joking. Hyun-woo knew that he was asking for a more serious answer, so he shrugged lightly and replied.

“I think I’m going to need some social prestige now.”

***

A few days after leaving Kirson to Park Hwi-so. The outskirts of Seoul.

“This house is a villa owned by the CEO of KCGP Trading Group. He was very careful about security, so he built a wall around it to control the surrounding traffic. The mountain behind it is off-limits, and the 3,000-pyeong [approximately 2.47 acres] garden is perfect for the expansion and exercise space you mentioned. They say everyone who has lived here has done well.”

The real estate agent excitedly explained to the tycoons he had met after a long time.

They had appeared in a foreign luxury car that was hard to find in Korea and asked him to introduce them to the best house that met their conditions without any budget restrictions.

For a while after the dungeon opened, the Seoul real estate market was in a slump for a considerable period, so the real estate agent was desperate.

The house he was introducing now was the most luxurious of his properties.

He expected that the mansion on the hill with thousands of *pyeong* of garden and three floors would surely persuade them. But the tycoons’ expressions remained unchanged.

“What do you think?”

“The garden is big, but there are too many houses around the entrance. Besides, this is near the National Intelligence Service. I feel uneasy because the National Intelligence Service is just over that mountain. There are also development restrictions.”

“Yeah. Besides, the garden might be visible from the hill.”

“Besides, the original owner here went bankrupt and was arrested for fraud.”

Kang Hyun-woo looked at the real estate agent. The real estate agent looked like he was about to cry.

He had already shown them the most luxurious houses. After hearing that the man was a Hunter, he also introduced them to houses that ability users would like, but he couldn’t figure out what kind of site they wanted.

“Mr. Realtor, should I explain the conditions again? Near Seoul, few people, spacious, strong security. If these four conditions are met, the budget doesn’t matter.”

If they really didn’t have one, Hyun-woo and Yoo-min were about to leave. The real estate agent racked his brains, but he couldn’t think of anything.

The conditions they were presenting felt more like a military base than a good house site.

“Are you looking for a nuclear bunker or something? Otherwise…”

Then Hyun-woo’s eyes sparkled.

“A nuclear bunker? Do you have something like that?”

The real estate agent was speechless. But at that moment, he remembered an old property that he had buried in the back of his mind a long time ago.

Torn between the benefits of being a real estate agent and his conscience, he eventually succumbed to the benefits after a long time.

“I do have one, but…”

***

The place the real estate agent led them to was a stone building built on a hillside.

It was smaller than the houses they had seen so far, and about half of it was buried in the sloping mountain. Except for the road leading up the mountain, all the surrounding areas were surrounded by barbed wire, making it impossible to enter.

“I like it.”

The stone house, hidden by the dense forest, seemed to have been abandoned for a long time, but it looked quite sturdy. The entrance was a heavy-looking iron gate.

“There is only one path leading up from the foot of the mountain, making surveillance easy, and the entire mountain is included in this mansion. It is located between Seoul and Seongnam. It is a rare place where you have to walk about 30 minutes to get to the nearest house.”

“If you watch mystery movies, murder cases always happen in places like this.”

Yoo-min said as if it was fun. The real estate agent looked startled. Hyun-woo, seeing his expression, began to question him.

“Tell me, sir. Why didn’t you introduce me to this place sooner?”

“…This is not a house; it’s really a bunker. A paranoiac rich man started building it during the military dictatorship, and his son, who believed that the North would launch a nuclear attack, continued it. And after the dungeon opening began, his grandson, who believed that monsters would crawl out of the dungeon and destroy humanity someday, completely completed it. Thanks to that, it is a bunker that is prepared for military attacks, bombings, and monster attacks.”

“Sounds like an advantage the more I hear about it.”

But the real estate agent shook his head.

“Do you know what kind of end they all met?”

“Oh, I love these stories. What happened? Did they go crazy and kill each other? Or did they commit suicide without a will? Or did they just disappear?”

Yoo-min looked at him with a pounding expression, and the real estate agent’s face changed to a blank one.

“…It’s not that bad. The first two I mentioned died in mental hospitals.”

“Hey, that’s obvious. They were delusional patients.”

“The problem is the grandson who completed this bunker. He was found murdered outside the bunker a few years ago. The man who was so afraid of the outside world that he was holed up inside the bunker died after running out of it. No one knew who the culprit was.”

“Didn’t you say the security was excellent?”

Hyun-woo asked. The real estate agent nodded with a sullen face.

“There is only one way to get here. CCTV is of course installed, and no matter how hard you try to find a way to get up, there is only one bunker entrance, but nothing was found there either. In the end, it remained a permanent unsolved case. No one wanted to buy a bunker with a bad view, and even the government sent a notice that it could be requisitioned as a quasi-military facility in case of emergency, leading to a legal battle.”

“What’s the inside like?”

“I don’t know exactly. The secret rooms and secret passages that were created in the first generation were released as blueprints in the second generation, but the third generation went crazy and illegally remodeled it again. Therefore, stability cannot be guaranteed. Now you know why I didn’t introduce it as a sale, right?”

Isn’t this a cursed illegal building?

Hyun-woo didn’t believe in ghosts, so he didn’t care, but the important thing was that Yoo-min would be living in this house with him.

He wondered if Yoo-min would like an old, cursed, and damp basement building.

“Yoo-min, what do you think…”

“Oppa [term of endearment for older brother], if you buy this house, make sure to install a spectrum camera or recording device inside! You might be able to film a ghost or something! Huh?”

She seems to like it. It’s not the direction I was thinking, but.

“Aren’t girls supposed to hate scary things?”

“You’d be surprised to know how fascinated women are by murderers and gore movies.”

Indeed. Hyun-woo leaned toward buying it for now.

Anyway, he wasn’t planning on buying just one house. He was planning to prepare shelters here and there.

He would have to decide after looking at the blueprints and the interior, but if there were no major problems, he would buy it.

“What’s the price?”

“Are you really going to buy it? Uh, well, actually the price is…”

The real estate agent quoted the market price. But Hyun-woo cut him off firmly.

“It’s old, so it needs to be repaired, the interior needs to be redone, and it’s a house with a story, so you have to take that into account.”

Yoo-min added.

“It’s an opportunity to get rid of a house with a story, so I hope you’ll consider that, and we’re taking care of a bad asset that was only draining taxes, and we’ll have to install the internet and other facilities from scratch, so please tell the owner to make a conscientious offer.”

“That’s…”

“Instead, we’ll pay in cash.”

The real estate agent closed his mouth. He started calling someone with a complicated expression, and after a long call, he came back with a new price.

It was half the price he had initially offered. Hyun-woo and Yoo-min slapped each other’s hands.

“Well, there’s one condition, though?”

“Condition?”

“Yes. I’ll put you on the phone first.”

The real estate agent handed the phone to Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo wondered why he was talking to him directly instead of through the agent, but he accepted it.

[Are you Kang Hyun-woo?]

Did the agent say my name? Hyun-woo was suspicious for a moment. But before he could answer, he heard a voice from the phone.

[This is Do Won-kyung, director of the Sejong Research Institute. I’m glad to hear that Kang Hyun-woo is interested in our Ability Management Department’s assets. I wanted to meet you anyway, and I happen to be in Seoul, so I’d like to take this opportunity to arrange a meeting.]