One Man Army

One Man Army Chapter 176

A Deal (1)

“Are you going to kill me? However, don’t you already know that a dimension traveler is immortal? Nothing will change if you try to do so.”

Sang Hyuk struck the final blow. Although he had spoken carelessly, Bacan trying to kill him would be the worst outcome possible. He would receive the death penalty, all his plans would go awry, and everything Sang Hyuk had worked for during the past month would be gone in an instant. It would be a crippling burden to have Black Cat as an enemy at this point. However, the reason Sang Hyuk HAD to take this tone was that trying to negotiate from a position of weakness would make him look like an easy target and ruin everything. He had to push forward by saying that he was not afraid of death because the possibility of success was higher with this approach. Bacan was surprised at Sang Hyuk’s approach because it was the first time they found an opponent that the threat of ‘death,’ their most potent weapon, did not work.

Of course, as time passed and more dimension travelers arrived at the Goren City, Black Cat NPCs would handle them more easily. Then, the Black Cat would know how to take care of players who bluffed with their immortality, but they were unable to do so now.

“They don’t know how to handle dimension travelers yet.”

Sang Hyuk had been aiming for this advantage, and he used their weakness to shake Black Cat.

“All right, we’ll agree that our threats will not work against you. However, why do we need to listen to you?”

Bacan controlled his surprise and tried to stay calm. He had a high artificial intelligence as an important NPC, and Bacan managed to respond realistically to this situation.

“Of course, you have no reason to listen to me. Therefore, I want to explain why you should. May I do so?”

This was a curveball after a fastball. Since Sang Hyuk managed to land a strike, now was the time to change the tempo by throwing a curve.

“All right, talk.”

The curveball disrupted the opponent’s timing, and Sang Hyuk managed to get what he wanted. Under normal circumstances, Sang Hyuk would never have been able to meet with Bacan as the latter would never meet Sang Hyuk, and even if Sang Hyuk had managed to arrange a meeting through a miracle, the subject of the Black Cat and the Dark Market would be taboo. However, Sang Hyuk pieced together the information he had gathered and made an aggressive bet based on them. While he had failed multiple times with each failure having major repercussions, Sang Hyuk managed to land a single Jackpot to create this unbelievable result.

“Let me introduce myself first. I am Immortal, the owner of the Gold Mountain Group. I’m quite well known in the lower lands, but that’s not important. The most important point is that I can provide a stable supply of sunstones.”

Sang Hyuk continued without giving Bacan a chance to think.

“I’m thinking of selling sunstones at the price the Dark Market is accustomed to, and you would not need to negotiate with Camille unnecessarily if you take my hand.”

Sang Hyuk first solved what Bacan thought to be the biggest problem, but Bacan was not moved by this offer.

“That’s not all, right? Did you think that we would just cut off Camille, whom we had dealt with for a long time?”

Since Sang Hyuk had expected Bacan to respond like this, he did not falter as he spoke again.

“You’re too hasty when my explanation is not over yet. What I had just spoken was the most basic option. That’s not everything.”

Sang Hyuk broke off to stare at Bacan before revealing his next move. He did not open his mouth and instead handed Bacan a memo from his pocket, and Bacan unfolded the note just enough to read it.

Bacan’s eyes shook as he read the sentence written in the note, but because Sang Hyuk had been expecting his agitation he was able to catch it, despite Bacan instantly resuming his normal expression.

“You…are…interesting.”

Bacan put many meanings behind the sentence.

“A merchant does everything to sell products.”

Sang Hyuk had made Bacan groggy with his fastball and shook him with a curve. Now, he threw a spitball right in the center.

“Interesting…interesting.”

Bacan could only laugh, as the sentence written on the note had pierced the heart of his problems. The sentence was a dead-on strike, and Bacan could not move as the umpire called three strikes.

“How many sunstones do you have now?”

Your actions and their results have created a new ‘legendary’ class quest line. A hidden legendary class linked quest ‘The Riot of the Black Cat’ has been made. The ‘player’ who triggered this quest line can clear this quest more easily as the “Pioneer”.

The quest had been finally made.

Creating a new quest line was actually quite a feat, and a legendary class quest line was impossibly difficult because it may change the fundamental framework of the Main Quest. While Sang Hyuk had seen a few who had made rare or unique class quest lines, he had never seen someone who had created a legendary class.

‘A legendary class!’

Sang Hyuk had believed that a new quest line would be made, but he never expected that it would be a legendary class. He had thought it to be a unique class, but the results were much more than he had expected.

‘I am the Pioneer of this quest line! If I have this reward, the possibility of success becomes greater.’

The “Pioneer” status was a reward that all players wanted at least once before quitting EL. Only the player who created the quest line could receive this status, and a ‘bonus effect’ would be applied to all activities regarding the quest.

A simple example would be that if there was a mission that the player would need to roll a dice and get number six in one try, a “Pioneer” correction would be applied to that act, and the required number had a higher chance of coming out in one try.

If the quest could not be cleared with this modification, that quest was likely to have been unsolvable from the first. It would be a huge help to Sang Hyuk. While the difficulty of a legend class hidden quest would be unquestionably high, Sang Hyuk had already expected that things would not be easy.

“While I only have ten mid-class sunstones, I have a hundred low-class sunstones and four hundred of the lowest.”

Since high-class sunstones could not be gotten in the lower lands, Sang Hyuk had to negotiate with only the low and lowest class sunstones. Since they were traded the most, it was not a problem.

“You have more than I had thought.”

Bacan looked surprised because he had thought Sang Hyuk would have a hundred at the most, and the numbers had been much more than what he had expected.

“This is only the first shipment. If you connect me with the Dark Market…I will be able to supply at least this much every ten days.”

Sang Hyuk was exaggerating a bit. While he was gathering them in the lower lands, he would take at least a fortnight to supply this much. However, the reason Sang Hyuk had bluffed in a transaction where trust was everything was because he was confident that he could meet the deadline.

‘The Dark Jungle! The sunstone drop rate of that place would enable me to grind sunstones so I could fill the deficit.’

Sang Hyuk trusted his hunting abilities.

“You match Camille. However, how did you manage to sneak in that many sunstones?”

Bacan nodded in satisfaction and asked Sang Hyuk what he wanted to know the most. The key point to Sang Hyuk’s sunstone smuggling operation was how to get them in secretly, and NPCs would never be able to overcome players on this issue. The spatial expansion bag was a special item only allowed for players (dimensional travelers), so players could smuggle as much as they wanted. However, if they were caught while selling smuggled goods, they would be killed by NPCs. So while players could not start smuggling operations easily, it did not matter if they already had a buyer.

“It is a trade secret, but one thing is certain. I will never be caught.”

“Not bad, all right. I’ll introduce you to the Dark Market. However, remember that they work independently. That is, they will not agree to deal with you just by my introduction.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

As sunstones had been a more pressing matter for the Dark Market than Black Cat, negotiations will be much easier there, and it proved to be true. He was able to meet Enroph, who was one of the three owners of the Goren City Dark Market. Surprisingly, he was the owner of a small tea café located in a Goren City corner.

Sang Hyuk was surprised to know that the owner of a café he barely knew the name of despite the time he had spent in Goren in his previous life was one of the Dark Market owners. Enroph said that he did not care who he dealt with if only he could get a stable supply of sunstones. However, he stated one thing.

‘Keeping Camille in Check,’ a sub-quest of the legend class hidden linked quest ‘The Riot of the Black Cat’ has been created.

Since it was a legend class quest, sub-quests were created often. In this case, the sub-quest had been created when Enroph had stressed that he would not help should Camille object.

“Of course, I’ll take care of everything that has to do with Camille.”

If the deal between the Dark Market and Sang Hyuk were to be completed, Camille would be left in the cold, as they had not been too stubborn to compromise with the Dark Market. Their ultimate goal was to raise the supply price of the smuggled sunstones and take an advantageous position against the rigid Dark Market and Black Cat.

If things had gone the way in Sang Hyuk’s previous life, the tension between the two would have been resolved after some give and take. However, Sang Hyuk’s intervention changed the storyline, and the legend class hidden quest line had been created as a result.

“Hmm, all right. Let’s officially deal with each other now. Also…”

Enroph nodded, and the quest “The Riot of the Black Cat’ was updated to the next linked quest.

Edited by Userunfriendly.  PS. The author sure likes baseball metaphors. 😀