Former Ranker's Newbie Life

It was finally over. Although that encounter was a total pain in the ass, at least he had leveled up a ton, grabbed all the loot, and most importantly, protected everyone in their party. They all made it out in one piece, even Theresa. Now, all that was left was splitting the spoils.

To handle the loot distribution, they gathered at the same tavern where they had first met, eyes fixed on the screen displaying everything they had collected from the dungeon.

[Mythril Steel Bracelet]

[Mythril Steel Ring]

[Mythril Steel Ring]

[Mythril Steel Necklace]

[Mythril Steel Earring] 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Among them, the Mythril Steel Accessory Set stood out, famous as a top Emperor-tier set in the late game. More accurately, it would be famous in the future. He had already snagged a bracelet from the first elite monster they killed. Then, after taking down the boss, they picked up two rings, a necklace, and an earring, bringing the total to five pieces.

Fifteen years from now, even the shittiest of these would sell for at least 500,000 won a pop. And the necklace would easily go over a million.

There’s no market price for these yet... but even a rough estimate would put each piece at 3 million won minimum, and the necklace would probably be 5 million or more.

Just counting the accessories alone, they’d pulled in at least 20 million won. Before forming the party, Do-Jin had negotiated a fifty percent cut of the loot, meaning his share alone was worth at least ten million.

And that’s not even counting the other shit we picked up.

Do-Jin skimmed the rest of the loot. Liquidating everything, he estimated his total take at about 15,000 Gold. With the current exchange rate, that’d put him at around 15 million won.

It wasn’t quite enough to fully cover what he’d dumped into this dungeon run, but that was never the goal. He had done this to buy time and EXP with money. And considering how much he had managed to recover, there was zero reason to complain, especially with the extra bonus.

As for the Rōnin Guild, despite all their members having been Chaos-aligned players, none of them dropped anything crazy. Regardless, he looted enough scrap from them to make it worth the trouble.

As Do-Jin was busy wrapping up his calculations, Theresa had been staring blankly at the air for a solid minute.

Suddenly, she let out a strange noise. “Mmmggghhhhhh!”

Do-Jin turned his head, staring at her with furrowed brows. She had faceplanted onto the table and was shaking violently.

What’s her problem?

Before he could figure it out, she suddenly jerked upright, her eyes wide as she grabbed Soso and Sang-Soo.

“Do you see this?! It’s not just me, right?! Tell me I’m not hallucinating!” Her voice was borderline hysterical. “This... how much is all this even worth? Just the mana stones alone are easily over 3 million won! And the high-grade iron ore... God, that shit is expensive as hell right now because of all the Level 40 crafting demand! That’s gotta be worth at least as much as the mana stones! And then the gear, and the materials, and...”

Theresa kept rambling, listing out market values, total estimates, and all the profit they just made. Her expression was that of pure, unfiltered euphoria.

“After all the shit we went through? You literally got your leg fucking crushed. If that happened in real life, you’d be dead from shock. This is the least we deserve,” Soso snapped at Theresa, clearly annoyed by how over-the-top she was acting.

Though still visibly unconcerned, Soso continued her chiding. “Are you seriously okay? I’ve heard of people getting PTSD from the shock of dying or getting injured in VR. If you’re hiding something and it comes out later, you know what’ll happen.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Theresa was having none of it, wagging her finger dramatically and shaking her head like she was pitying them. “Soso, my dear, privileged little rich girl. You clearly have no fucking clue how the real world works. In this cold, cruel society, even if you got your leg mangled in real life, you still wouldn’t make this much money in such a short time.”

Her smugness was cut short. Soso was clearly done with her bullshit as she grabbed Theresa’s cheeks and stretched them out like dough. The anger-fueled pulling made her face distort hilariously, stretching way more than it should. It was so weirdly fascinating that even Do-Jin found himself staring.

Meanwhile, Sang-Soo, the ever practical one, cut through their nonsense with a question. “So, how much are we actually getting? We agreed at the start that Do-Jin gets half and we split the rest. So, what’s our cut?”

Despite having her cheeks mercilessly kneaded, Theresa instantly answered, “Since there are no listings for the accessories we got from the elite and boss monsters and we don’t know their prices, let’s leave those out for now. If we only count the items that actually sell on the exchange, that’s about 11,511 Gold. Converted to cash at today’s rate, that’s around 12 million won. If we split that in half and then divide that again three ways, we each pocket about 2 million won. Well, it’ll be a bit less once you factor in fees.”

Do-Jin raised a brow. Theresa’s sudden switch to being a numbers-obsessed calculator was... unexpected. It was a stark contrast to the ditzy, chaotic mess she usually was.

“You’re surprisingly good at math.”

Theresa grinned. “Heh. I memorized all the current market prices for this dungeon before we even went in. Since the mana stones from the boss and elites were separate, the calculations were easy. The real problem is...” Her voice trailed off, eyes drifting back to the loot screen.

Do-Jin didn’t even need to ask. He already knew exactly what she was looking at. Her eyes were pinned on the Mythril Steel Accessory Set. Since they were the first ones to ever get them, there was no market price yet.

“These accessories... we might be the first players to ever loot them.”

Do-Jin nodded at her words.

“We were the first ones to enter that section of the mine. But even if there’s no set price yet, dividing them shouldn’t be an issue. There are five accessories in total. Since the necklace was worth about twice as much as the others, they could just count it as two pieces. So we’ll count the set as six pieces total. Two rings, an earring, a bracelet, and the necklace. Each of us gets two, and after that, you can either sell them or use them.”

Without hesitation, Do-Jin adjusted the loot settings, distributing the gear evenly.

Just as everything was wrapping up, Theresa called out to Do-Jin, suddenly serious. “Uh... I need to say something.”

Do-Jin turned to look at her. Despite the short time they’d spent together, she had already picked up on his habit of speaking mostly through looks.

Instead of waiting for him to respond, she just kept talking. “We talked it over... and we think you should just keep all the accessories from the boss and elite monsters.”

Do-Jin’s eyes narrowed slightly in surprise. “You sure? That’s a lot of money.”

Theresa let out a small, reluctant sigh but nodded. “Yeah, it sucks a little, but... it’s just the right thing to do.”

She glanced toward Soso and Sang-Soo, who both nodded in agreement. “If we’re being real about contribution, it’s only fair. You were the one who found that hidden passage. You were the one who figured out how to break through.”

Then, after a brief pause, she added, “Also, uh... that thing you used back there? It looked expensive as fuck.”

Do-Jin stared at Theresa for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Sang-Soo and Soso. “I know you guys talked it out beforehand, but are you really okay with this?”

Sang-Soo just shrugged, grinning easily. “I mean, we were basically side characters. You did all the important stuff.”

Soso, on the other hand, just gave the most indifferent nod possible. “I don’t really care about in-game money. Do whatever you want.”

Do-Jin watched them quietly. When loot got big enough, even family members usually turned on each other, trying to grab as much as they could.

“You did the most work, so you should take the bigger share. We’re fine with this split.”

That kind of reasoning was easy to say. Just because it made sense, though, didn’t mean he should follow through with it. Do-Jin had lived long enough in his past life to see exactly how hard it was for people to stick to their principles when real money was on the line.

Well... This is actually kind of surprising.

He had never planned on demanding a bigger cut. For him, this whole dungeon run was just a stepping stone. His goal was far, far beyond this. He was going to the top, and he knew he’d get there, so he had zero issue splitting a bit of cash with the people who had helped along the way.

Then again, if they wanted to hand it over, he sure as hell wasn’t gonna refuse.

“Alright then. I won’t turn it down.” He nodded calmly.

At that, Theresa fidgeted for a second, biting her lip, before finally blurting out the words she’d been holding back. “T-then... um... could you, uh... a-add me as a friend?”

“A friend?”

That caught him completely off guard. Do-Jin’s expression flickered slightly. He hadn’t expected that. Not because it was a weird request but because he hadn’t used the damn friend feature in years. Ever since he’d gotten stabbed in the back one too many times, he had simply stopped getting involved with other players. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d added someone or chatted with an in-game friend.

A friend, huh...?

It wasn’t like he never had friends in his past life. But when he thought back, the ones he remembered most clearly weren’t other players. They were NPCs.

Do-Jin felt a strange wave of nostalgia for a second, then immediately shoved it aside. It’s just a friend request, nothing more. He was just adding someone he happened to party up with once. Back when he was at his lowest, he used to cling to even the shallowest connections, giving them more meaning than they deserved. And every time, it just ended with disappointment and pain.

Things were different now that he was stronger. The world around him was different. He didn’t need to be on guard over every little interaction anymore. There was no need to flinch at something so minor.

So, Do-Jin did something he hadn’t done in a long time. He smiled. It was small, but it was real. Every time he noticed that change in himself, every time he realized how much he had grown, it felt satisfying.

“Uh... I-I’m not trying to be a pain in the ass or anything. Not saying we should always hunt together or that you have to take me places or whatever. Just, you know... information sharing? Helping each other out if the opportunity comes up? That kinda thing...” Theresa was rambling at this point.

Maybe it was the silence that was killing her, or perhaps it was Do-Jin’s unexpectedly genuine smile which completely threw her off.

“Sure.”

“Huh?” Her nervous word vomit came to an abrupt stop. She blinked stupidly, as if she was trying to process what she just heard. “You want to?”

“Yeah. Why are you acting like it’s such a big deal?”

“Ah, no, it’s... yeah. Yeah, right. It’s nothing. Ha ha.” She laughed awkwardly, making herself look even more ridiculous.

Do-Jin found it mildly amusing and chuckled as well. As if it was nothing at all, he casually mentioned, “By the way, if you haven’t decided on your next hunting spot, you might wanna check out Galiel Forest.”

“Galiel Forest?”

“Yeah. I happened to pick up a quest over there. Not sure if there’s anything worthwhile, but... maybe.”

For a moment, the air shifted. Theresa’s eyes went wide like a frog while Sang-Soo’s lit up. After spending the past few days with Do-Jin, they knew one thing for certain. He wasn’t just casually bringing up a random place.

“A quest in Galiel Forest? Wouldn’t it be better for you to clear it yourself?” Theresa asked.

“I’ve got other shit to do. No time to handle it myself. Better to pass it on to someone I know rather than let it rot in my logs,” Do-Jin replied.

The “quest” was complete bullshit, of course. It was just a made-up excuse, but the part about Galiel Forest having something important was real. Somewhere deep inside that forest, a wounded giant lay hidden. It wouldn’t be discovered and hunted until later.

Even if it’s not some crazy hidden content, just the location of a field boss is worth a damn good price.

“I can’t guarantee anything. Just something I heard. If you don’t feel like checking it out, just forget about it.”

“No, no! We’ll definitely go! Thanks so much. Information like this is worth money, and you’re just handing it to us...”

Theresa bowed deeply, then clenched her fist under the table. Good thing I played my cards right.

Giving up the accessories hadn’t been purely out of the goodness of her heart. Sure, there was some morality involved, but it was also a calculated move. Rather than grabbing the quick cash, she’d decided it was smarter to build connections.

Sang-Soo’s gonna be shipped off to the military soon, and Soso’s gonna inherit her family business. Before I end up alone, I need to set things up properly.

While she smiled to herself, planning ahead, Do-Jin finished adjusting the loot distribution.

“All done. Check the list, and if there’s no issue, we’ll call it here. We’ve all got other things to do.”

“Oh, no issues. It’s obviously fine if you’ve handled it. We’re taking a few days off, but you’re just jumping straight into your next hunt, huh?”

Do-Jin had already stood up, ready to head out. Just as he did, a friend request popped up in his interface, which he accepted.

“Yeah. I’ve got too much shit to do to be taking breaks.”

His current level was 48, only two more to reach his first major milestone. He wasn’t planning on wasting a single second.