Chapter 93: The Cost of a Busy Genius

Jeong Ki-tae was a new member of the Taesung Guild.

Vice Guild Leader Kang Woo-joo, regular members Go Hyeon-seok and Jeong Ki-tae—these three were the first to join the Taesung Guild. To be honest, they had struggled a lot at first.

Spending all day doing packaging work, Jeong Ki-tae had often thought, ‘Did I really join for this?’

However, his thoughts had completely changed recently.

“Oh! Peipei! To think I’d bump into you here!”

“This is an office.”

“Haha. Can’t people bump into each other in an office too?”

“……”

Peipei looked at Jeong Ki-tae as if he were a madman.

However, Jeong Ki-tae did not falter under her gaze.

Yang Fei-fei.

She was a Hunter Lee Tae-sung had recruited from China a while ago, and she was a new junior colleague to Jeong Ki-tae.

She was a talented individual who could grant a Lightning Buff to her allies!

Healers and buffers were rare even among Hunters, and naturally, their value was incredibly high.

Even in a large guild, a regular member would never even catch a glimpse of one.

And such a buffer was even beautiful!

Although Peipei always wore a cold expression, there was a beauty to her that could not be hidden.

‘I’m truly blessed.’

Back when he had moved away from packaging and started performing missions again, he had been happy just to be free from the menial labor.

But that was short-lived; after facing several life-threatening missions, he had sometimes thought that the packaging days were better.

The stress was immense because a single mistake during a mission could cost him his life.

In that situation, Peipei had arrived.

In party missions with her, the burden on his life was significantly reduced thanks to her buffing abilities.

She was beautiful and had helpful skills.

It was only natural for Jeong Ki-tae to fall for her.

Of course, Peipei clearly disliked Jeong Ki-tae’s advances…

But he still intended to try his best.

Just then, Go Hyeon-seok entered the office.

Only then did Jeong Ki-tae tear his eyes away from Peipei and approach him.

He had something he wanted to ask, anyway.

“Hey. How was it?”

“What was?”

“What do you mean, what? I heard you went on a party mission with the Guild Leader yesterday.”

Jeong Ki-tae grabbed his shoulder.

“Man… I’m so jealous. Why did I have to be injured then… How is he? Is he really as incredibly skilled as the media says? Did you learn anything by watching him? Did you have any realizations?”

“Stop. Stop. You talk too much.”

“Haha. That just shows how curious I am.”

“To be honest, I don’t know about anything else.”

Go Hyeon-seok let out a deep sigh.

“I just realized that he’s at a level where you can’t even learn anything by watching.”

“Eh? You didn’t learn anything? Not even one thing?”

“…Yeah.”

“No, why? Someone like you should have been able to get something out of it.”

The two of them had gone on several party missions together.

After Peipei joined, they had both fallen for her beauty and had gone on missions as a trio many times.

Her buffing ability was amazing in missions, but even without it, Go Hyeon-seok was a fairly decent Hunter.

But to say he had learned nothing?

“…No. He did help me with my swordsmanship a bit. I got something there.”

Go Hyeon-seok was also a Hunter who used a sword, and Lee Tae-sung had coached him on his swordsmanship between missions.

From the Swordsmanship Passive he had coincidentally acquired in China to the Transcendental Realm swordsmanship called the Flame Tide Wave Sword, Lee Tae-sung had reached a level beyond what was called a master of the sword.

Therefore, even just looking over his form briefly between the start and end of a mission brought about a dramatic change.

Of course, other than that, he hadn’t really gained much in terms of how to tackle a mission or the mindset for approaching one.

What was there to learn when a mission was cleared with a single swing of a sword?

Go Hyeon-seok sighed.

“Explaining the details would just tire me out. Experience it for yourself.”

“??”

“The Guild Leader said to contact him whenever you have time. He’ll go on a party mission with you.”

“Oh! Then I should do it right now.”

The right to use the Guild Leader as a free pass!

His eyes sparkling, Jeong Ki-tae immediately contacted Lee Tae-sung.

Lee Tae-sung welcomed him readily.

Developing the guild members was also the Guild Leader’s role, so he had no intention of being annoyed or negligent.

And Jeong Ki-tae soon came to understand exactly why Go Hyeon-seok had said those things.

The party mission started as soon as he contacted Lee Tae-sung.

“This mission is just about beating up the enemies.”

“What? According to the mission tips, it says we should weaken the shield before attacking.”

“Of course, you could do that, but if there’s a simpler and more convenient way, wouldn’t it be better to save time? Even if we attack now, it’s possible to kill them along with the shield.”

“???”

Lee Tae-sung barely paid attention to the tips provided in the missions.

Of course, he would carefully follow the tips if a mission exceeded his power, but now, he could dispose of any enemy with a single swing of his sword.

After doing a few such missions together, Jeong Ki-tae realized why Go Hyeon-seok had spoken that way.

‘This… this is even more than doing a mission with a buff…’

He had felt that missions were quite easy when Peipei’s buff was active, but seeing Lee Tae-sung, it wasn’t just a matter of being easy.

It was like having someone put the food in your mouth for you; you just had to chew.

Just as Go Hyeon-seok said, unless you possessed that genius level of skill, there wasn’t much to learn.

***

**[-Ping!]**

**[You have defeated all enemies.]**

**[Mission Success!]**

**[You have earned 17,750 SC]**

**[You have earned a ‘Dimensional Barrier Fragment’ as a special reward.]**

Lee Tae-sung smiled slightly at the successive notifications.

‘As expected, solo missions are much better than party missions.’

He had just completed a solo mission.

It was definitely better in that the overall rewards were larger than party missions and weren’t divided by the number of people.

‘I like it, but I don’t know why the guild members declined.’

Originally, Lee Tae-sung had intended to continue party missions with Go Hyeon-seok or Jeong Ki-tae as long as they wanted.

Weren’t they the members who had trusted him and joined when the Taesung Guild had almost nothing?

Naturally, as a reward, he wanted to let them earn Scores and give them the opportunity to see and learn many things.

But contrary to his thoughts, the two of them unexpectedly didn’t ask for any more after doing a few missions.

“Um… I think I can stop for now.”

“No, why?”

“I’ll just try it alone. I felt my own inadequacies.”

The two of them had felt a lot after watching Lee Tae-sung. For now, they weren’t even at a level where they could learn by watching.

To learn anything from Lee Tae-sung, they had to work much harder and improve their skills.

Therefore, they decided to go back, perform their own missions, and seriously begin training to increase their strength.

In the end, Lee Tae-sung returned to solo missions.

The advantages were clear: a large amount of points and Dimensional Barrier Fragments to boot.

He thought he had performed quite well in party missions too, but no Dimensional Barrier Fragments had appeared.

It was presumed that they only appeared in individual missions.

Lee Tae-sung performed four more missions in a row after that, and since he obtained a Dimensional Barrier Fragment every single time, his suspicion was confirmed.

After finishing the missions, Lee Tae-sung moved to the factory site.

It wasn’t the original location, but a newly purchased site.

Arriving and heading inside, he called out to Abeson inside the Death Spirit Pill.

“How is it?”

“Phew. That’s a relief.”

As he performed Hunter missions, a large amount of Score accumulated.

He used it to fill the orders coming into the guild, but he also used it to purchase Dream Manifestation Runes.

In the end, Abeson had failed to significantly enlarge the Lowest Grade Alchemical Furnace or create another one, so they had to bring one from the Dream World.

Since they were on even better terms with the Golden Altar of Alchemy than before, it wasn’t difficult to purchase and bring one.

He had acquired an additional abandoned factory and finished the expansion work as he had before.

Since it was something he had done once, it wasn’t difficult, and they had entered the trial run.

If there were no problems, they would immediately operate the factory 24 hours a day to drastically increase production.

And the real main point came after that.

“It’s because it has an important meaning to them.”

With the rights gained from giving them the Flame Emperor’s Gloves before, he had received a Lower Grade Alchemical Furnace and brought it to reality.

A Lower Grade Alchemical Furnace was clearly different from a Lowest Grade one.

The size, scale, material of the furnace, the level of the magic circles, the required materials, and the quality of the items produced there—everything was significantly upgraded.

There was a reason why the Golden Altar of Alchemy was extremely reluctant to let them out.

And Abeson, a former Archmage, had successfully modified the Lower Grade Alchemical Furnace as well, and work was underway to purchase a new factory and connect it.

However, the problem was that the work took much longer than it had for the Lowest Grade Alchemical Furnace.

“So the stabilization is over, but how long will it take until production?”

“A few months… That’s fine.” It was long, but the timing wasn’t bad. He hadn’t even sold all the Lowest Grade Elixirs yet anyway. He would ramp up production to supply all of Korea quickly, and then spread them to the rest of the world. After working hard to sell the Lowest Grade Elixirs and getting the Hunters addicted to them, they would be ecstatic when he later casually mentioned that he could now make Lower Grade Elixirs. They would come running with their wallets, no matter the cost! ‘Heh. The path to becoming a billionaire isn’t far.’ It was while Lee Tae-sung was wearing a satisfied smile. *Ring-ring!* His phone suddenly rang. Checking the caller ID, it was Section Chief Song Sang-yeop. “Yes, Section Chief. What brings you to call today…” “H-Hunter! Please help me! It’s an emergency!” “What’s the matter? Calm down and tell me.” Since Song Sang-yeop’s voice sounded so urgent, Lee Tae-sung also took the call seriously. “T-The Dimensional Barrier…” “Did the Dimensional Barrier collapse? Is it a Gate incident?!” Lee Tae-sung had personally stopped a Gate incident in China not long ago. Since it was a vast country, the Gate incident had occurred outside the urban areas, and fortunately, there were no casualties. But Korea was different. Even if a Gate incident occurred in the mountains, it would only be dozens of kilometers before those things reached the city. It was on a different level in terms of danger to civilians. “N-No, not yet. But the barrier is on the verge of collapsing. We must secure Dimensional Barrier Fragments as soon as possible! I’m sorry, but please go on a mission right now!” “Dimensional Barrier Fragments? I have a few of those.” “What? You have them?” “Yes. I have four. Will that be of any help?” “……?” Even through the phone, he could tell Song Sang-yeop was bewildered. “I-If you have four, we can put out the immediate fire… but why on earth are you just holding onto that many?” “……” This time, Lee Tae-sung fell silent. He had forgotten to contribute the fragments to the Dimensional Barrier because he had so many things to do, but it was difficult to say that honestly.