I Level Up With In-app Purchases

EP.91 A Suspiciously Well-Stocked General Store (6)

Gulp, gulp!

Rebecca downs her beer in one shot.

“Ahh~! *Tsk* These bastards need to learn their lesson. Triple the price? Are they insane? Those price-gouging bastards… Don’t you think so too?”

“…..”

I mechanically nodded my head at Rebecca’s question as her eyes flashed.

What more could I say seeing her like that?

As a teacher of students, she probably thought Ash General Store’s actions were excessive.

Actually, this wasn’t the first time Rebecca had come to my store to vent her anger.

I couldn’t express my honest thoughts in front of someone so angry.

So I just nodded as if I agreed.

‘They’re already rich, so what’s the big deal?’ I thought with a shallow merchant’s mindset.

Personally, I agreed with what the owner of Ash General Store had said.

If supply can’t keep up with demand, raising prices is in line with market economics.

However, it seemed that Ash General Store was using its near-monopoly position to make money.

‘That could be a problem.’

There was only one thing I could say to Rebecca, who was demanding an answer from me like she already knew what I’d say.

“Triple the price does seem a bit much.”

“Right!!! Ah, I knew I could count on you to understand.”

Rebecca beams a bright smile.

‘Yeah, as long as she’s smiling, it’s fine.’

Honestly, if she wasn’t pretty, I probably would have answered with my true thoughts.

But when I see Rebecca’s big heart, those thoughts disappear and I just want to humor her.

This was an instinctive reaction that all men have.

“Hey, by the way. Would you hate it if students came flooding into your store as customers?”

“I’ve never turned away customers before, have I?”

“I want to tell the students about your store’s location.”

That’s a bit…

I immediately felt reluctant.

“I don’t like it when it’s crowded. I’m not planning to be particularly friendly either.”

“I know you don’t like having a lot of customers. But Ash General Store keeps causing problems because they have no competition. Even if we solve this issue, it won’t matter if we don’t address the monopoly problem.”

“Monopolies are certainly scary.”

Monopolizing a field is that dangerous.

Because they can control prices at will.

“Actually, it’s not that there weren’t other general stores. But for some reason, maybe because the owner of Ash General Store has good connections, there were always supply issues for the others.”

More precisely, after the owner of Ash General Store greedily took a large amount of goods, the other general stores would receive whatever was left, she explained.

It was a one-sided stranglehold through connections.

After years of this disadvantage, the other general stores eventually went bankrupt, and finally, the current monopoly was established.

“At least you source your goods separately, so you won’t have issues with not being able to sell due to lack of stock, right?”

“That’s right.”

After all, the items I sell are obtained directly through my ability.

“I know you don’t like promoting your store, but I think we need to spread the word about your place to counter Ash General Store’s tyranny.”

Actually, there was a reason I readily accepted Rebecca’s request a few days ago to provide a large quantity of consumables for the students taking exams.

I had an overflow of goods.

When a way to deal with that came up, there was no reason to refuse Rebecca’s proposal.

“I’ll have to think about it.”

I liked the way I was running the general store now.

Honestly, even if more customers came, it wouldn’t benefit me.

“If you do this for me, I’ll make sure to handle any problems the students might cause.”

She’s offering to make a deal where the academy would resolve any issues if students complain or cause problems due to my unfriendly store management.

“Would that be possible?”

“If you agree, I’ll go talk to the dean. I think he’ll agree since it’s for the students’ benefit.”

“Isn’t the owner of Ash General Store close with the dean?”

“That’s why it’s an even bigger problem! I’m planning to report that bastard while I’m at it.”

“No matter what, blood is thicker than water. Will the dean really agree?”

“I’m enlisting in a year anyway, so who cares? It doesn’t matter if I get on the dean’s bad side!”

Is this why they say not to mess with someone who’s about to leave their job?

I applaud Rebecca’s bold bet.

But…

“But I don’t think promoting is going to work. No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

“Ah… I guess it’s not possible after all. Alright, I understand. Sorry for asking you to do something unnecessary.”

I didn’t want to ruin the space I had created to spend my retirement comfortably.

That’s why I thought it was right to refuse Rebecca’s proposal.

“If the problem is Ash General Store raising prices due to their monopoly, I can keep supplying goods like we did this time. We’ve already solved the problem this way, haven’t we?”

It’s good for me since I can make money with almost no labor, and isn’t it good for the academy since the students won’t suffer because of Ash General Store?

Of course, since this was caused by the monster wave, similar incidents probably won’t keep happening.

“I guess we could do that, then? There’s no reason to refuse if you’re being so considerate.”

Rebecca seemed disappointed but didn’t push back against my refusal.

She seemed to know that even making such a request in the first place was burdensome.

“You’ll win the bet with the owner of Ash General Store. If it’s scrolls with the same performance, my products will be overwhelmingly better.”

I could be confident about the quality of my consumables.

“I know because I’ve used them. There might be people who’ve never used them, but there’s probably no one who’s only used them once. Once you try these, you won’t want to use any other products.”

Rebecca gave a thumbs up to my products.

As someone running a general store, Rebecca’s thumbs up gave me a strange sense of satisfaction.

“But can you really get all those items in time? Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard because of me?”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

As if I would say I could do something I couldn’t.

“I don’t go back on my word once I’ve said I can do something, so don’t worry and go knock that owner down a peg or two.”

Actually, the goods to be supplied to the academy were already prepared.

There was no reason to refuse this opportunity to dispose of the enormous quantities produced by the flex I had splurged on with the money from the magic wand Vine had given me.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

The reason I came to possess an enormous amount of consumables.

It’s because I sold the belly skin of a basilisk.

And as expected, it was traded for an incredible price.

“100 million? That’s insane.”

The exact price was 105,000,000 won, which amounts to 105 million won.

If the belly skin of a basilisk is worth this much, how much would other parts be worth?

It was a price that made my mouth water.

On top of that, the surprising thing was that an unexpected event occurred.

[You have achieved 200 million won in recharges.]

[Achievement unlocked!]

[Receiving reward for achievement completion.]

[Achievement reward: Version 0.2 update]

Apparently, spending a total of 200 million won is considered an achievement.

‘It would be nice if there was an achievement list or something.’

Without knowing what counts as an achievement, there was no way to figure out what to do to earn rewards.

[23:59:48 Regular maintenance in progress.]

‘Regular maintenance? What’s going on?’

What regular maintenance when they’ve never done regular checks before.

The maintenance time was a whole day.

Since I had no idea how things would change, I could only wait anxiously.

I wanted to wait leisurely, but I couldn’t help but repeatedly open and close the store window, unable to distance myself from my curiosity.

‘I’m dying to know.’

After an unusually slow day passed…

The store window finally opened, with the maintenance notice gone.

“Oh, a major patch.”

I was wondering what Version 0.2 update meant, but it seemed like it could be thought of as a major game patch.

The SSR character being promoted in the store window had been replaced with a new character, and new events and special package deals had been added.

“Are they asking me to spend a lot since I’ve got money now?”

As expected, these guys know how to make money.

Could it be that there hadn’t been any major updates until now because I wasn’t making enough money?

I guess they started to see me as worth paying attention to when I hit 200 million won in total spending.

‘If you wanted to make money that badly, shouldn’t you have awakened me earlier?’

Making 200 million in purchases an achievement for an update without even awakening me feels downright malicious.

“Alright, let’s see what good products you’ve got for me to spend my money on.”

I was feeling generous because of the 100 million won I had acquired.

How expensive could it be?

100 million isn’t chump change, so bring it on! I decided to boldly examine the changes.

“It seems the convenience has improved a bit.”

[⭐New Update List⭐]

– zNew SSR hero has been added.

– SSR new hero (increased probability) draw has been added.

– SSR hero exclusive equipment (increased probability) draw has been added.

– New items have been added to the hero-exclusive item draw.

– New special package deals have been added.

– VIP mileage store has been updated.

– New synthesis system has been added.

– New enhancement system has been added.

– Achievement list has been added.

The list of additions from this update came pouring out.

The first thing that caught my eye was undoubtedly the new systems clearly intended to suck money.

“Synthesis and enhancement too?”

What is enhancement, after all?

From a user’s perspective, it would be a money-eating hippo, while from the game company’s standpoint, it would be a reliable cash cow.

As for the synthesis system….

“Did they create a use for the beads?”

There doesn’t seem to be any other system that could be described as ‘synthesis’.

It’s not a bad situation since we can now use the beads that were useless before.

However, given the contract entangled with the duke’s family, I needed to carefully consider which direction would be better for using the beads.

With such a major update, somehow 100 million won doesn’t seem like much anymore.

It felt like 100 million would be gone in no time if I tried to do all of this.

‘Did they provide the update when the total spending reached about 200 million because 100 million alone wasn’t enough to handle this level?’

Even so, it’s not 1,000 or 2,000 won, but 100 million won. Should I really be this anxious?

I feel wronged and want to challenge them, thinking, ‘Who do you think you are to act so high and mighty?’

But I stuffed those emotions back into my heart, piling them up neatly.

I know that fighting with the in-app purchase store would only result in my loss.

They were unilaterally selling me items, and I was in a position where I had to buy the necessary items without being able to say a word.

“When have they ever listened to the users?”

The addition of new heroes and increased probability for exclusive equipment draws was nothing special, as it was always done when new characters were released.

‘So they do this kind of thing here too. Not bad.’

Of course, this is about when I enjoyed this world as a mobile game.

The addition of new items to the hero-exclusive item draw means that exclusive equipment for the new hero has been added, so there’s no way I can pass on that…

‘New special package deals!’

This is either going to be a huge hit or a complete flop.

The price range is a bit high, but if there’s even one item I want in the package, it’s good to buy.

‘Special package deals are bound to be profitable. They’re cheap to begin with.’

Special package deals boasting prices much lower than the actual value of the items.

The problem is that I’m reluctant to buy because they’re selling things I don’t need.