I'd like to think I can do better. No matter how smart I am, or how much I think I know, there's only one thing I can say for certain. Hank Pym is not always right.
Hank Pym
...
After trying a bit more, he gave up. His heavy breathing indicated that he had given his all, and even more.
Once his breathing stabilized, he looked at me and said, "What the heck is this? How can it be so thin and lightweight yet so strong?"
"Hahaha, you're still underestimating it. This metal could very well make your father the richest man in Asia," I said, taking the helmet from his hands. "You see, it's lighter than steel and stronger than tungsten. It can handle both heat and cold."
As he saw what I said, his eyes widened even more.
"In the hunter world, wearing gear can level up your rank. Can you imagine the value of gear made out of this? It wouldn't restrict your movements, it would be very light and easy to wear, and easy to mold. This could make a difference between life and death for a hunter. And it's not just limited to the hunter business; imagine if this was used in rocket engines. They could be so lightweight, enabling us to reach more than just Mars. It could possibly reach Venus. Imagine military weapons made out of this. It could very well be the strongest metal on this planet, and the most valuable resource in the world."
I said, shocking him with the potential uses and value of this material. He began to grasp the significance it holds, not only for the hunter market but for the entire world. Korea is soon going to be in even more chaos.
As soon as he understood, he started dialing numbers, informing them to call the superiors. The first call he made was to his father.
Even after ten minutes, he was still dialing numbers. And after five more minutes, he saw me just standing there, so he walked up to me and said,
"Sorry about that, Hyungnim. It's just too shocking and too valuable to be in the hands of a company," he said with a big bright smile. "Anyway, my father, along with some high-ranking blacksmiths, will be coming here soon. He said if the value is what you said, this could be a national treasure, with the national government and security department getting involved, and possibly even the UN."
"I knew that's why I selected you. Anyway, I had to be somewhere by 5, and I can't be late or skip it," I said while looking at him with a smile. I placed my hand on his shoulder and continued, "So, my friend, you will deal with them. Also, keep in mind that my name or details shouldn't be revealed before I become S-rank. Do you understand?"
Hearing me, he gave me a look as if to say, "Don't do this to me, brother." To which I simply replied with a "Yes, I will," as he sighed and admitted defeat while nodding.
"Great! I knew I could rely on you at any time. I don't know what I would have done without you," he said, smiling brightly.
"Yes, yes, I understand, Hyungnim. You are free to go. Let me handle this work," he told me with a great smile, like a puppy expecting a good pat after its work.
"Yes, and I am very thankful for what you do. But aside from that, you know after construction, I am lacking in budget. So, if you don't mind, can you transfer a few billion to my account? I will count that as an advance payment for our deal."
"Of course! I'm sure that after we account for the value of this metal, you could be the second or third richest man on this planet."
"I like your positive attitude. With this, you could be much more than just a guild leader. You could also be the manager of one of the richest men in the world, even after the fact that you are the one who employed me," I said, emphasizing the irony of the situation.
We both laughed hard, realizing the irony of the circumstance. He truly looked like my manager.
After laughing, he grabbed his phone and started to transfer the money. Five minutes later, I received a message confirming that 20 billion won had been transferred to my account. It was more than I expected, but it showed his control over money. It wasn't a small amount, but it was also not something he transferred on a daily basis. Besides, 20 billion won was nothing compared to what lay in front of us. There was much more value to be explored.
"Well, now it's done. From tomorrow, we will start our usual routine. Call everyone," I said.
"Really?" Yoo Jinhoo asked in excitement.
"Yes, and I want to finish this as soon as possible, so you should secure as many dungeons as you can, at a bare minimum of 7 dungeons. The distance doesn't matter, nor does the rank."
"What?!" he muttered in shock. After he took a deep breath, he asked, "Why are you in such a hurry, if I may ask?"
"Yes, I want to promote my rank as soon as possible, but before that, I want to fulfill the deal we made."
After he heard me, I saw some tears in his eyes as he tried to jump and hug me, but I stopped him before that. "As I said, no homo."
"..."
"..."
"Thanks a lot, Hyungnim. I never knew you cared about me so much."
"Don't need to get emotional about such things. I see you as a friend or even a brother sometimes, so it's nothing," I replied, which brought more tears to his eyes.
He controlled himself this time and simply nodded, so with those words, I started to make my exit. But suddenly,
"Hyungnim," he called out as I turned around and raised my eyebrows.
"Catch this," he said while throwing his car keys at me, which I easily caught.
As I grabbed the keys and looked at him, he said, "Take it. Remember, I promised to drive you around, but you know the situation has changed." He smiled and continued, "But it doesn't mean you can't take my car."
"Is it really okay?" I asked.
"Yes, it's just a car, and it's not even my favorite one." He said as his phone rang again, and he got busy while waving his hand towards me.
I nodded and started to walk out, but before leaving, I sent Gold and a few shadow knights into the shadows of Yoo Jinhoo. Gold would keep an eye on him, while the others would blend into the shadows of the people who would come here.
I wondered what was going on behind my back. I also sent Croc, Alpha, Beta, Dawn, Zero, Aella, Zink, and BumbleBee into the shadows of the drivers, ensuring that nothing out of the ordinary happens. The metal held too much value, and greed can corrupt any mind, so I didn't want to lose even a single piece. If the delivery went as planned, they would switch with the shadows of higher-ups so that I could learn the structure, as I plan to build my own guild.
After giving my commands, my shadow moved to confirm that my work was done here. I sat in the driver's seat of the car, a Ferrari F8 Spider. It was my first time driving such an expensive car, and in my past life, I couldn't even think of buying something like this.
But while everyone else would feel happy for their first time, I only felt a slight joy. It wasn't fun anymore. Yes, it felt comfortable and great inside this car, but the fun was gone when you could run faster than the speed of sound yourself.
First, I visited the bank. I was severely lacking in cash, and I wanted to have a few billion in my inventory just in case. The best currency would have been dollars, as the green rules every economy in most worlds of the multiverse. But I didn't think I would find dollars in this bank. It would be a surprise if they even arranged 2 billion in cash. So, for now, I had to work with won.
I was also curious about the latest money transfer and how much I received from the magic cores. After all, I had killed more monsters than I collected cores from.
"I was too busy to check it."
The management of the magic cores was left to the Raid Leader, Yoo Jinho. The young man had told me that he had sold all the magic cores after each day's Raids, and the funds were deposited into another bank account, the handbook of which I was holding. However, we didn't discuss the actual amounts involved.
"Jinho, that punk. He's so good at reporting on everything else. Guess he doesn't really have an interest in money."
Maybe due to the circumstances of his life, the young man probably had little interest in financial matters. His conversation topics mostly revolved around celebrities, Raids, music, and movies. But he had inherited a business mindset from his father.
"Well, 'conversation' mostly entailed Yoo Jinho talking while I just silently nodded along.
'Hmm, also…'
When I thought back on the times I spent with Yoo Jinho, the chattermouth had never talked about his family. It was strange.
Before I could give it more thought, I arrived at the bank.
'Of all the days...'
{The ATMs were being serviced.}
Defeated, I grabbed a number and waited. Soon, I was called and went up to the counter.
'Hello.'
The female service employee had long hair and a bright smile, with a beautiful face and an attractive body. She asked helpfully,
...
*POV Switch.*
'How may I help you today?'
'Could I get some help with this?'
'Of course.'
The employee took the bankbook from my hands with a smile. While waiting, Jinwoo looked around the bank. Even though it was a weekday afternoon, there were unusually many people around. While he was people-watching, the bank employee took a look at Jinwoo's bankbook and was surprised.
'Holy!'
[Account Balance: 2,697,950,900]
She carefully reread the number, counting the zeroes; it was definitely over two billion. And the amount wasn't some life-saving. The transaction history showed that it was all collected in the past week.
'He's so young, how could he...?'
She had first thought of Jinwoo as a college student running bank errands for his mother. Now, she stared at the man with a completely different look. She carefully asked him a question with a slight ulterior motive.
'So... what do you do?'
Realizing how her question sounded, the employee became embarrassed and looked away with her cheeks reddening.
'I'm a Hunter.'
'Ah...'
The employee nodded. The rumors were true.
'I heard that Hunters earned a lot of money.'
To think it would be this much. She suddenly felt shame at her ordinary desk job. Just moments ago, Jinwoo was just a customer like any other. Now, she realized he lived in a different world.
'He's probably a really high-ranking Hunter.'
Only they would earn this much money. This was the first high-ranker she had met. The thought made her heart flutter. A young man like him with over two billion in cash would be considered a VIP at this bank. And if he was a Hunter on top of that, he would be a VVIP. She did not want to miss the opportunity. The employee started to go off as mandated by her training,
'So, there's a new product for VIP customers at our bank,'
Her business-use smile had turned into a genuine one; her eyes were fixed on Jinwoo.
'Oh my, he's...'
The man looked like he had left his house in a hurry, wearing carefree clothes and unstyled hair still slightly wet. She realized he probably lived a very busy life and took valuable time out of it to come here. Looking at such a capable man (in her head), her heart beat slightly faster.
'It's been very popular with the customers. Would you perhaps like to invest in it?'
But Jinwoo held out a hand.
'No, I'm good.'
'Ah... Okay.'
She could not hide the disappointment in her voice. After she was done with the entry, Jinwoo took out another bank book and gave it to her.
To which she just nodded as she entered the account number in the database and all the transactions showed up in front of her.
And looking at her face, to say she was shocked would be an understatement. Looking at the last 20 transactions, she had never seen so much money flowing from One account to another.
As she looked at the bank balance, my eyes widened at those numbers.
[Account Balance: 21,789,278,000]
"Gulp!"
The only word she could mutter was, 'Impossible!'
As I looked at him, I didn't know how to respond to this. I had never seen this much in a single account. Forget about that, this young man could very well be one of the holders of the top ten accounts in this bank.
She didn't realize it, but her hands were trembling as she handed over the bankbook to Jinwoo.
The shock didn't end there, as the next second Jinwoo took out his checkbook and stared. Soon after signing it, he handed over the self-check to the counter lady.
Again, she grabbed the check with her trembling hands.
And when she saw how much cash Jinwoo wanted to withdraw, it shocked her once again.
[5,000,000,000]
"Sir, I don't think we have that much liquid funds in this branch."
"I see, but I don't see when it will become my problem," Jinwoo replied with a straight face.
Hearing this, she was shocked. She didn't realize he was such a jerk.
"Don't just sit here, go talk to your manager. Or do you want me to switch accounts to another bank? There are many who will happily accept me."
Hearing Jinwoo talk in the way a typical Karen would do, she instantly got up from her chair and ran towards the manager's office.
After entering, the manager smiled at her, but to his shock, she told him everything that happened.
And the manager's mood took a sudden turn as he processed the account number and looked at the current available balance. His reaction was the same.
In his five years of work here, he hardly ever saw an account balance of more than 10 billion. And here was someone who wanted to cash out 5 billion.
But looking at his money transfers, he could clearly see that the man had gotten very rich in a mere month. The last few transfers were more than 30 billion to a construction company.
Looking at the check of five billion, he asked the bank to withdraw the amount right away. She felt her legs turn to jelly, and she thought he would probably drink a whole bottle of antacid right in front of her.
Looking out, she could clearly feel that he was a very intolerant person. So he called every employee currently working and explained the situation to them. They all started to dial numbers with trembling hands.
After all, their jobs were on the line, so they better line up the numbers.
They didn't have anywhere close to his billion in cash, and he may have just triggered the two words a banker fears most: a "bank run." That's where depositors get scared that the bank doesn't have enough money, start panicking, and everyone starts demanding all their money at the same time. Since there is no way to pay everyone, the bank collapses, and almost everyone (except the lucky first few to make withdrawals) loses their money. Bad news.
....
Yes, we were able to accumulate over 500 power stones this week, the highest score for any novel.
Now, onto the important things. I don't know why, out of nowhere, people started to think that the MC became a villain just because he said no to a girl...
After what happened between them, both parties were consensual; the MC didn't force anything. So now, the MC realizes that she is not suitable for his personality or the traits he wants in a girl.
At this point, he knows he won't be happy with her, and if he's not happy, how can she be happy with him?
As for the words he spoke during sex, well, if you're not aware, let me tell you: most times during sex, both parties spout nonsense. It happens because of the heat of the moment.
Lastly, the MC is not a villain. At most, he is an anti-villain, and at worst, he is an anti-hero. He doesn't go out of his way to kill...
So no it's not villain story he won't go out his way to butcher a town full of people.
At least not without something big to gain or for the good as my mc is at his worst is utilitarian.