One Man Army

One Man Army 175 Dimension Merchant

Sang Hyuk first examined the vaults of the Geumsan Group after coming back to the lower lands. He generally continued to by magic stones. Since he knew that the price of magic stones would continue to rise, magic stones were the top priority from the time he started Geumsan.

Of course, he had used most of them to explore the midlands, but since Geumsan had continued to buy magic stones during Sang Hyuk’s expedition, some of the amounts had been restored.

‘While there are quite many, it’s a shame that more than half of them are low-class or the lowest class.’

The low and lowest class magic stones were not considered sunstones, and the Sun People called them fragmented sun stones and thus would not pay much for them.

‘It can’t be helped. I’ll take the mid-class, the high-class, and the few highest classes for now.’

While the amount he possessed was not enough for Sang Hyuk, there were quite a few objectively.

‘How much extra money would Geumsan have now…’

Sang Hyuk took the magic stones from the vault to fly straight to Ilia.

“Ilia, we need to change the purchase standards for magic stones immediately.”

Sang Hyuk aimed to gather magic stones of mid-class and higher as much as possible even if the price was a bit expensive. His goal was simple, as he would try directly selling sun stones at the Goren Black Market that had trouble supplying them at present. While there were countless problems left to solve to make such an attempt possible, Sang Hyuk could carve his place in Goren City much easier than expected if he managed to grab this opportunity.

“How should we change them?”

“Increase about 10 percent of the purchase price for magic stones higher than mid-class, and 30 percent for high-class and the highest-class magic stones.”

Sang Hyuk was planning to by magic stones from the lower lands and sell them as sun stones in the celestial lands.

‘If the price of sun stones is as I remember, I would make almost no profit for selling magic stones as sun stones. However, material profit is not the only kind of benefit one can make.’

Sang Hyuk was not after such things.

‘Even if I take in some losses, nothing would be better than succeeding in this transaction!’

Sang Hyuk was after profits that were invisible to the eye, such as relationships with NPCs that could not be bout with money and other qualifications. Sang Hyuk thought he could use as much gold as needed to gain them.

“How much should we buy them?”

“You can use all the extra gold we have. Stop buying all other items and focus only on magic stones. Geumsan and even the Gold Mountain will now secure magic stones with everything we have.”

Sang Hyuk was going to give everything he had, and he would even sacrifice the foundations he had built in the lower lands.

‘You have to grab the chance when it comes!’

Sang Hyuk spent some intimate time with Ilia after giving orders, and he thought of the Black Market, Sun Stones, and the Black Cat while they were together. He needed to move meticulously to make this transaction a success.

***

Sang Hyuk spent about half a day in the lower lands and quickly finished the necessary preparations. He could not move slowly because he did not know how the situation in Goren City would change. Sang Hyuk gathered the stones as much as possible and took the recall again to Goren City after commanding Ilia to secure more of them. While recalls were expensive, now was not the time to lament over the price. Sang Hyuk first visited Yufir after returning to Goren City. Since he had suddenly disappeared during an assignment, he needed to convince Yufir about that part.

“Ah, I was aware that dimension travelers regularly returned to their dimensions. However, you should have told me since I thought that something might have happened.”

“I’m sorry, there was an emergency…but I finished the delivery.”

“Yes, I confirmed that.”

The quest Sang Hyuk had received completed right after Yufir said she had confirmed the delivery. The reward was not that much, and there were no other quests following it. However, Snag Hyuk was not disappointed.

“Then, the price for this would be lower, right?”

Sang Hyuk grabbed a red apple in front of him and smiled.

“Of course.”

Sang Hyuk broke the ice with light remarks and naturally continued the conversation as he bit into the apple. He knew that the Black Market had trouble securing the sun stone supply and that the Black Cat and the Camille Group were going against each other regarding this issue. Moreover, Sang Hyuk knew that the NPC ‘Enroph’ was the connection between the Black Cat and the Black Market, and all this was not reported to the Black Witch ‘Kyuna,’ the owner of the Sun Flower Garden and the leader of the Black Cat. Finally, he was aware that the Black Cat was beginning to pay attention to him, the first dimension traveler that had appeared in Goren City.

Sang Hyuk could not do much with this information, and he needed to use Yufir so the Black Cat would approach him in any way possible.

‘Suppose that the power play between the Black Cat and Camille does not end easily…the former would definitely need sun stones. What would they do if there was a way to gain them in bulk?’

The deciding factor was that the Black Cat had begun to investigate about Sang Hyuk, the first dimension traveler. If one considered all these elements, an inevitable conclusion naturally came out.

‘I now need to be a dimension traveler who wanders around to pioneer new markets.’

Sang Hyuk just needed to scratch the itch the Black Cat was feeling now. They and the Black Market needed the sun stones the most, and Sang Hyuk could supply them. A pretty picture formed with these ingredients, and Sang Hyuk slowly gave Yufir information without hurrying. Since Yufir would have been ordered to investigate Sang Hyuk, everything he said would be reported to the Black Cat. Sang Hyuk hinted at his goal and ability to Yufir secretively, and everything he was saying was bait. If the opponent took it, Sang Hyuk would start fishing in earnest.

Sang Hyuk spent much time talking to Yufir for four days. He needed to be careful since giving out information too blatantly would make a smart NPC like Yufir suspicious, and that was why he spent four days slowly revealing the information. Fortunately, Yufir did not suspect or think him strange because of the extra care he put into the effort.

Sang Hyuk spent time waiting after spreading the bait. He needed to wait patiently since acting without thinking would make things worse. If Yufir’s report had gone in, the Black Cat would be even more curious about Sang Hyuk. Therefore, there was a high probability that Sang Hyuk would be under surveillance even now. The best thing to do was to spend time quietly and wait for the opponent to approach.

Time passed by, and Sang Hyuk still waited for the opponent to take the bait without rushing things. Even if they did not bite as Sang Hyuk expected them to, the best thing to do was wait like this since he could try something else differently. Therefore, Sang Hyuk patiently waited a week after finishing his conversation with Yufir.

And now, the boring time he spent in wait was over, as Yufir appeared in front of Sang Hyuk. At that moment, Sang Hyuk knew that his opponent had taken the bait.

***

“Welcome. I am Bacan, the vice owner of the Sun Flower Garden.”

Sang Hyuk knew that this was the man who had sent orders in the meeting room when he introduced himself as Bacan.

“I am Bulmeol, a dimension traveler, and also a dimension merchant.”

Sang Hyuk introduced himself as a dimension merchant, and while he had made the title on the spot, it seemed like a good choice after hearing himself say it.

“A dimension merchant…while I had heard of dimension travelers, that’s the first time I heard of that name.”

It was even more of a successful attempt since Bacan was curious about the title.

“You just need to think of me as a dimension traveler who does business.”

“Is that so? Well, the title is not that important. Let’s cut to the chase since we do not have much time. Our garden needs sun stones urgently, and we have suddenly brought you here after hearing that you have a large quantity.”

While they had brought Sang Hyuk in after much consideration instead of being in a hurry, there was no need to show it.

“Yufir should have explained the basics to you. We want to buy your sun stones, and would it be possible?”

The response Sang Hyuk had wanted finally came out, but he was not going to be satisfied with only this. If he agreed to Bacan’s suggestion and sold the stones, Sang Hyuk would not gain much from the transaction. He did not want a one-time deal, even if it would bring some profit as it was the beginning of a relationship. However, Sang Hyuk did not want to use a chance like this to create a weak connection.

‘They are planning to use me to solve some imminent problems and will try to bring down Camille afterward. However, I’m sorry to say that I won’t act as you guys want.’

Sang Hyuk slowly opened his mouth after nodding to Bacan’s talk.

“It is true that I have some sun stones with me…”

Sang Hyuk intentionally let his sentence drift and slowly looked around before speaking.

“Since you seem to be in a hurry, I’ll also get right to business. I can sell you sun stones since I have them with me for that purpose. However!”

Sang Hyuk looked at Bacan after cutting off his sentence and smiled before continuing.

“I have to make sure of who my client is. Let’s speak honestly. Is the Sun Flower Garden buying my stones, or is the Black Market my customer?”

Sang Hyuk threw a strike right in the middle when no one had expected it, and the NPCs from the Sun Flower Garden took on a completely different attitude as they looked at Sang Hyuk with murderous intent.

“You…how much do you know?!”

Bacan’s tone changed, and his aura also followed. If he had on the vice owner’s mask before, now he had taken it off to show himself as the vice leader of the Black Cat. Every other Sun Flower Garden NPCs looked on Sang Hyuk with a different gaze now, and even Yufir was showing malicious will towards him. However, Sang Hyuk kept his cool in this situation.

“I am a merchant, and merchants are very sensitive to information. The important thing now is not how much I know, but how long can the Black Cat last Camille’s trickeries?”

Sang Hyuk looked straight at Bacan and spoke what he needed to say. Honestly, Sang Hyuk could not estimate what would happen from now on. The worst-case scenario was that the Black Cat would attack Sang Hyuk to shut him up, but now was not the time to fear death. It was an all-in situation, and Sang Hyuk had placed his bet. Now, it was Bacan’s turn to respond.