Expelled Hero Is Too Strong

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Chapter 44. Thump Thump (2)

“Is this it?”

Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu, who had just gotten out of the taxi, looked up at the small building that resembled a storage shed.

On the front door of the building hung a plaque of Mongdang.

Kim Si-hu checked the map on his mobile phone and then the building, saying, “This is it.”

This place was the warehouse operated by Mongdang.

Since Jang Sa-im had recovered the Giant Dandelion Monster from the MA on behalf of Sweet Fun, the two had come to see it with their own eyes.

“Ji-han! Si-hu!”

Jang Sa-im came running from the back of the building, calling their names.

“Hello!”

“You’ve come all this way! Let’s head inside.”

“This is a welcoming gift.”

“No, you didn’t have to…!”

Yoo Ji-han handed him a gift box.

It was a type of glutinous rice cake often given as a congratulatory gift to those starting a new company or guild.

Rumor had it that eating this cake would bring in money in the future, but whether it was true or not was up for debate.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

“Where’s your wife?”

“She’s working from home today. I have some tasks that need to be done electronically.”

“Then I’ll have to greet her next time.”

With a bright smile after receiving the gift, Jang Sa-im led the two into the inner part of the warehouse.

“Is that a refrigerator?”

“Yes, it’s a freezer for monsters.”

“Wow, it’s huge….”

“Monsters that are difficult to store at room temperature go in there.”

Inside the warehouse were various facilities for monster disposal, including large freezers to store monsters.

‘For a new company, this is really nice.’

Considering they only had two employees, the facilities were quite well-prepared.

One regret was that the number of monsters being stored wasn’t that high compared to the facilities.

Yoo Ji-han casually asked him, “The maintenance cost for the warehouse must be quite a burden.”

“Haha, every business starts off in the red at first. However, recently more guilds have been coming to us with individual requests.”

“Really?”

“It’s all thanks to you guys. The auction commission from last time was a huge help.”

Since Mongdang had its first transaction with Sweet Fun, other guilds had been gradually entrusting them with jobs too.

However, there was still a long way to go for the company’s financial situation to improve.

“The Giant Dandelion Monsters are over there.”

The Giant Dandelions were divided into three large plastic boxes.

They were items that Jang Sa-im had personally loaded onto a truck from the MA.

Yoo Ji-han nodded as he scanned them with his eyes.

“I’m glad to see they’re not in too bad of shape.”

“I think they’re a bit disappointing. From what I’ve heard from the nearby vendors, it seems overall the quality of the Giant Dandelions is pretty poor.”

“Given the chaos, it’s lucky we got this much.”

For two people, the quantity of Giant Dandelions was considerable.

‘It’ll be hard to expect a big profit.’

Due to the massive occurrence of Giant Dandelions in the Golf Course MA, their prices had dropped significantly.

There was an oversupply that exceeded the demand, making it unrealistic to expect to make money from these.

On a positive note, Yoo Ji-han had gained experience fighting against the Giant Dandelions with Kim Si-hu.

Having encountered them so many times in just a day or two, he wouldn’t be surprised or overwhelmed even if he faced similar plant-type monsters in the future.

“It’s better to sell them before the prices drop further, right?”

“Unless you plan to utilize the ones currently in storage separately, that would be the case.”

“Then please sell all of them.”

“Where are the seeds you brought?”

“They’re over there.”

Jang Sa-im opened a plastic box covered with a lid.

Inside were seeds of the Giant Dandelion that looked quite sharp.

“I thought the seed prices would drop even more than the leaves or flowers, so I only brought a little.”

As Jang Sa-im said, the prices of the Giant Dandelion seeds, which had been scattered all over the golf course, had plummeted.

There were even reports that guilds that used to treasure their seeds were now shedding tears.

“And there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”

“Yes?”

“…Please wait here for a moment.”

After hesitating for a moment, Jang Sa-im suddenly dashed off somewhere.

Then, about three minutes later…

He returned to the warehouse holding another seed of the Giant Dandelion.

“Is that a Giant Dandelion seed as well?”

“It’s a seed collected from the same site. But this one is a bit special.”

“Special, you say?”

“Take a look for yourself.”

Jang Sa-im placed the ordinary Giant Dandelion seed next to the newly brought one on the floor.

‘The color seems a bit darker? The fluff is also denser.’

It was a subtly confusing difference.

Even Yoo Ji-han could not have distinguished between them from a distance.

“You mentioned you got the Lucky Whisker before, right?”

“Yes.”

“Actually, this seed is of a similar type. If you hold it and rub it…”

Jang Sa-im placed the seed between his palms and rubbed it back and forth.

Then, the white fluff began to spin like a top and rose into the air.

The densely grown fluff quickly rotated, looking like one surface rather than thin strands.

“Wow….”

“The fluff rises up and looks like an umbrella, right? That’s why it’s called the White Umbrella.”

“I’ve never heard of it before.”

“It makes sense. It hasn’t been discovered in Korea yet and is rare enough to be treated as a panacea.”

“A panacea!”

“I’ve heard it has a special effect on magic.”

As Kim Si-hu listened, his ears perked up.

For him, who had recently recognized the need for growth, this was undoubtedly good news.

“This was found in that golf course?”

“Yes. It was discovered at Hole 14. After reporting it to the MA, I carefully hid it away so no one would find it.”

Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu could only nod in response.

There was no way they could have known such a valuable item was there.

No matter how experienced an hero was in MA, having the discernment to recognize such rare items was not easy.

If they hadn’t been lucky, they might never have recognized the Lucky Whisker they had previously obtained.

“Here, take this.”

Jang Sa-im handed the White Umbrella to Yoo Ji-han.

While Kim Si-hu looked at the seed with a slightly flushed face, Yoo Ji-han said to Jang Sa-im.

“Sa-im, before I take this, can I ask you one thing?”

“Sure.”

“If you were to sell this seed, it would likely fetch a very high price, right?”

“It would. There are hardly any released in the market, so it could even go to auction.”

“Sa-im, you could have disposed of this seed without telling us.”

Jang Sa-im, with his lips pressed into a thin line, smiled faintly.

He understood what Yoo Ji-han was implying.

“Even if I had secretly hidden or sold this item through Mongdang, you guys wouldn’t have easily found out.”

“…The monster disposal business I’m involved in is built on the trust of heroes. No matter how much money I could make, I would never want to betray the trust of my precious clients.”

Sweet Fun was Mongdang’s first customer.

They were the treasured clients who made it possible for a fledgling company to engage in proper transactions!

Although the new Mongdang had yet to make any substantial profits,

He preferred to earn the guild’s trust over satisfying immediate greed.

“….”

Yoo Ji-han, who had been quiet, used sampling.

<—Probability of Mongdang becoming a leading monster disposal company.>

It was the odds he had been checking whenever he had the chance since he initiated the first deal with Mongdang.

Sampling still didn’t provide an answer.

However, he thought he didn’t need probabilities for this condition anymore.

“Alright.”

Yoo Ji-han accepted the seed.

Then he leaned over to Kim Si-hu and whispered in his ear.

“Hmm, I get what you mean.”

Nodding, Kim Si-hu looked at Jang Sa-im and said, “Sa-im!”

“Yes?”

“You said the commission rate applied to Sweet Fun would last until the end of the year, right?”

“That’s right.”

“About that, from now on, you can apply the standard rate instead of the promotional rate.”

“Whaaat?!”

Jang Sa-im’s eyes widened in shock.

“If it’s because of that seed, you don’t have to feel pressured…”

“We want to do it that way.”

Paying more commissions and trading more vigorously than before.

That was the minimum duty heroes could do for someone who had previously shown them trust.

*

Whenever a significant incident occurs in which heroes perish in the MA, the Hero Department holds emergency meetings every time.

The incident then gets brought up as an agenda in subsequent official Hero Department meetings several times.

They consider the causes of the incident, whether it could have been prevented ahead of time.

If it was due to someone’s mistake, to what extent should that mistake be held accountable? What countermeasures will they take in the future?

They prepare contingency plans considering all things directly or indirectly related to the incident.

“Oh, what the hell am I supposed to do…!”

And here was the Hero Department’s office.

After the higher-ups had all gone home, it was late at night.

Some employees had gathered in a small meeting room, chatting.

“I wanna go home!”

“When is my daughter coming home?”

“Today’s a lost cause….”

The group was not ordinary employees, but heroes belonging to the Hero Department.

However, their expressions were far from pleasant.

Today, they were stuck at work due to an order handed down from above.

“Using on-site experience to evaluate measures to lower incident rates in the future.”

“And it’s due by tomorrow morning.”

“Sigh… Will gathering like this even make a difference?”

There’s no way to foresee accidents happening in the MA.

Even if they were told to come up with countermeasures, they really had no ideas.

“Hey, Yoon-sik, I’m getting sleepy. Tell us a funny story or something.”

“What?”

Bang Yoon-sik, who was in charge of the sparring during the rank-up assessment for rank 4s, frowned at his colleague’s request.

“I heard you lost to a rank 5 party during sparring?”

“What? Seriously? Yoon-sik lost to a rank 5 team?”

“It’s true! And the opponent had two people.”

“Then they must have gone easy on you.”

His coworkers found it hard to believe that Bang Yoon-sik lost during sparring.

But Bang Yoon-sik shook his head and said, “No, I really lost. They didn’t go easy on me at all.”

“Wow….”

“In my opinion, they’ll probably emerge as a special-class divine entity in a few years. Get your hopes up.”

“What guild are they from?”

“Sweet Fun.”

“What’s that?”

Bang Yoon-sik had no doubt that the guild that had defeated him, Sweet Fun, would soon make waves.

He recognized Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu to that extent.

“By the way, what happened to the drone that was filming the golf course from above?”

“It hit the barrier and broke.”

“Really unhelpful….”

Today’s late-night shift was primarily due to the incident at the golf course with the appearance of the Giant Dandelions.

And the drone that had been filming the golf course from above had malfunctioned after hitting the barrier during flight.

If there were video materials, they could at least reference them, but the memory card containing the footage of the incident had burned up due to the magic from the barrier, so recovery seemed doubtful.

Clap!

At that moment, someone clapped their hands and said, “Oh right, I heard something strange from an ex-guild mate who entered that golf course.”

“What did you hear?”

“He’s a rank 3 Spirit Master who contracted with a water spirit. You might know his name. He was tasked to investigate the lake at the golf course and discovered traces of another spirit?”

“Really?”

“And… I checked records, but he was the only Spirit Master who entered that golf course.”