S-Class Except Me

“I plan to work independently instead of joining a specific guild.”

Haeun’s official announcement made it impossible to recruit her into the Ahyeon guild, but he needed to maintain friendly relations unconditionally with her. 

In that respect, Seo Dojoon had an advantage over others. It was because he and Haeun were already involved in this and that. 

However, she has been busy recently with her family moving, so he hasn’t been able to contact her.

Like a hyena, he was just looking for an opportunity, but thankfully, Haeun called Seo Dojoon first. 

“How much do you earn by clearing a dungeon once?”

He doesn’t know why Jung Haeun, a diamond spoon, wants to make money, but Seo Dojoon plans to cooperate unconditionally for whatever reason. Seo Dojoon was thinking of using his personal assets to capture Haeun. 

And finally, the long-awaited Haeun arrived.

“Hello.” 

“Welcome! Haeun-nim!”

Seo Dojoon went out and greeted Haeun. Haeun was a little taken aback, perhaps because of the excessive hospitality, but then she smiled.

“How have you been? This is the first time since the Dungeon Management Safety Department.”

“Yes, I heard that Haeun-nim has been preparing to move recently….” 

“I will go next week. More than that…” 

Haeun looked around. She whispered to Seo Dojoon after making sure that the other people, whose eyes were shining with interest, were far enough away. 

“That ‘Haeun-nim’ expression is a little….” 

“Oh, are you uncomfortable?”

“A little? And there’s not much age difference. Aren’t we one year apart?”

And she’s afraid they’ll call her arrogant if someone sees it. Although it is a hunter society whose awakening level is power, Hunter Seo Dojoon was the guild leader of Ahyeon Guild, Korea’s third-largest guild.

“I’ll call you something else if you want. Haeun-nim is older than me, so I can call you Noona—” 

“Haeun-ssi! I think it’ll be okay if it’s just Haeun-ssi.” 

“Then I will call you that.”

Seo Dojoon smiled brightly. Haeun wiped away the cold sweat.

Seo Dojoon calling her Noona has different feelings than her younger brother, Jung Sehyun, when he calls her Noona. 

“Oh. Is Noodle still the same?” 

“Yes. It’s still sleeping.” 

Now, she wonders if the cute Noodle she saw was a dream. Noodle, which had completely hardened into the shape of a bracelet, didn’t return to its original form even when Haeun called.

“Hmm. I’ll arrange for you to check it out later through Hyunseok Hyung.”

At Seo Dojoon’s consideration, Haeun nodded.

Seo Dojoon guided Haeun to her seat when the long-awaited greetings were over. 

The reason why he invited Haeun today was to select a dungeon for Haeun to participate in and to prepare necessary things in advance.

Seo Dojoon brought an Apple Pad to Haeun, who sat down. Seo Dojoon explained while showing the pre-arranged PDF file.

“First of all, among the list of dungeons that the Ahyeon Guild decided to target, we selected about 7 in consideration of the difficulty and reward quality.”

Haeun flipped over the Apple Pad. It was mainly A, and there were several B grades mixed. 

If there is one thing in common, they all have a lot of reward items. It was a list that met Haeun’s goal very faithfully.

“First of all, this dungeon is the dungeon that I originally decided to join the raiding team. As a result of the preliminary investigation, it turned out that this is a place where there is a possibility of an epic item appearing as a reward for clearing the dungeon.” 

“Aha.” 

“And this is an A-Class open-field dungeon. The environment inside the dungeon is a place where you can gather special minerals….”

Seo Dojoon, who was only looking for an opportunity to recover his image, explained to Haeun with all his heart and soul. 

Haeun also looked through the list with concentration. It was a dungeon attack that Hunter Seo Dojoon recommended participating in because he would give her a bus ride first. She had to pull it out properly to pull it out.

In addition, Haeun had a cheat key.

‘Where’s the best dungeon here?’

The Constellation answered Haeun’s question.

[The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ strongly recommends the 4th dungeon.]

‘Here? Why?’

[The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ says that there is a record of research on all the animals and plants in the dungeon.]

[Humans don’t know anything about dungeons properly, so even small information can be sold at a high price.] 

An exclamation mark floated above Haeun’s head. She immediately pointed to the dungeon pointed out by the constellation.

“I want to go here.”

Seo Dojoon, who saw Ha-eun’s chosen dungeon, raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“This place?”

“Yes, I want to go here.”

“But Haeun-ssi, this dungeon is a B-Class dungeon.”

The dungeon Haeun chose was <Nebiros’s Mansion>, which was classified as B-Class. 

“Of course, I added it to the list because the rewards are higher than those of normal B-Class dungeons, but….” 

Seo Dojoon didn’t seem to welcome Haeun’s choice. 

He wanted to enter the dungeon where she could get good items and special rewards. That way, wouldn’t Haeun, who once tasted the harvest, ask for another raid? 

Haeun needs the Ahyeon Guild, and Haeun’s relations with the Ahyeon Guild become special. It’s one shot, two kills. 

“There are also dungeons where epic items are expected. Of course, there is no guarantee that it will come out unconditionally, but… don’t decide too quickly. Choose slowly, Haeun-ssi.”

It was with that intention that he was the first to introduce the dungeon he decided to target.

Because in any dungeon where Epic potential exists, at least a Holy item will come out. 

Seo Dojoon was thinking of handing the rewarded item to Haeun and strengthening the relationship between Haeun and the Ahyeon Guild.

But Haeun was firm, even though Seo Dojoon kept trying to stop her.

“Still, I will do it here.” 

“…All right.”

Seo Dojoon, who didn’t want to go against Haeun’s feelings, eventually followed Haeun’s decision. 

Seo Dojoon changed the subject because he thought that the A-Class dungeon might have been hard, that Haeun might be less brave than he thought, and that if the Constellation knew about it, he would laugh at it.

“By the way, Haeun-ssi, do you have all the equipment for dungeon raiding?” 

Haeun shook her head. She hadn’t even thought about that. 

“Then it would be better to match the equipment first.”

On Seo Dojoon’s face, the smile of the person who shot the peak of capitalism came to mind.

* * *

The place where Seo Dojoon took Haeun was the premium offline store of Hunter Market.

Items used by hunters were often traded in a P2P way through the online hunter market because mass production wasn’t possible. There, competition for popular products often caused prices to skyrocket.

Of course, there were also offline stores where they could actually see and choose products, and that is the premium market operated on a membership basis.   

It was also the market where Daehan Guild, which had a stake in it, offered to cut Haeun’s fees by 30%.

‘Thinking about it, it’s even funnier.’

Haeun let out a bitter laugh.

It was Haeun who received an item as a gift from the president of Haniel Industries, the largest item workshop in the United States. Even though she politely refused because of Jung Jinho’s strong objections, Frederic Haniel would somehow produce the item she wanted if Haeun wanted it. 

‘But did you show off your pride when you said you’d only cut the commission by 30%?’

The Daehan Guild looked at Haeun very much as a patron. Haeun gritted her teeth. She took her steps, promising that she would definitely say something the next time she ran into her again. 

“I will check your membership card.”

At the request of the market staff, Seo Dojoon pulled out a black card. With this membership card, he could bring another person besides the holder.

Haeun pulled Seo Do-jun lightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“That card. Can I make one too?”

The luxurious black card looked special even from a distance. What’s more, a membership card that allows them to enter the premium market. The thought that she must have one occupied her mind.

In Haeun’s question, Seo Dojoon kindly explained it.

“Yes, any Hunter can do it. However, since it is a membership system, there is an annual fee every year.”

Seo Dojoon bent down and moved closer to Haeun, whispering the amount in Haeun’s ear. It was an amount that far exceeded the annual salary of a typical office worker. Is it because it’s a premium market?

“The price may be a little burdensome, but don’t worry. Because I have it.”

It was definitely not cheap, but even so, it wasn’t something Haeun couldn’t afford.

Because Haeun has an invincible mom card.

“You’re going to buy an item? Haeun-ah, take this!”

“Haeun-ah, use mom’s instead of dad’s.”

Upon hearing that their daughter would buy items for dungeon raids in earnest, Jung Jinho and Lee Yoonkyung argued with each other and held out their cards. Both cards were black cards. Then they added to use the card of the one she loved more. 

‘Because mom and dad shouldn’t fight.’

Haeun was thinking of showing her love to both of them fairly today.

“No, it’s all right. I want to join.”

“Yes?”

“Oh, is the procedure complicated to sign up?”

“No. If you are registered as a hunter and can pay the annual fee, you can do it right away.”

“It’s easy. That’s great!”

After asking a few more questions, Haeun turned around and returned to the staff member, who immediately filled out the application form. Haeun, who had been making membership cards in an instant, held out the card to Seo Dojoon as if to brag about it.

“Ta-da.”

Seo Dojoon is speechless.

‘Wasn’t she trying to clear the dungeon because she didn’t have enough money?’

It was a reasonable guess for Seo Dojoon, who was asked if she could make money if she suddenly attacked Dungeon on the phone.

However, seeing Haeun making tens of millions of won worth of memberships, it never seemed like she was short of money. 

“Dojoon-ah! Originally, a person who buys well without saying anything looks the coolest! By all means, you must make Haeun join the Ahyeon Guild! Understand?”

Seo Dojoon felt that his plan for today, to buy Haeun’s favor by becoming the cool guild leader of Ahyeon, who spends money well, wouldn’t go as planned. 

It would have been more effective to show a gesture of wanting to get closer to Haeun by actively using his appearance, but unfortunately, Seo Dojoon didn’t know this.

“Hurry up and get in.”

“Yes.”

Seo Dojoon, who had lost his momentum, followed Haeun with a slightly depressed face.