The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

However, mana stones weren’t something that just anyone could sell if they wanted to.

Mana stone were traded primarily in hunter markets, which required a hunter registration card to enter and were not open to the general public. The internet hunter community also seemed to be a place for know-your-own-trade, but it also required a registration card.

‘It’s not even accessible to the general public.’

I thought about putting a griddle on my face and selling it to the regulars at the haejangguk, but I knew that someone, somewhere, would say something. And they’d ask me.

‘No, you’re not a hunter, where the hell did you get these mana stone?’

If a normal person had a mana stone this pure, I honestly felt like they would ask even if they were me. There are so many things to pay attention to. The life of ordinary people was so hard.

‘Should I said a regular gave it to me to help my family’s finance.’

Ui-jae shook his head in a consultative manner. This is because the regulars at Haejang-guk house are now more of a community than just customers. Even if there was one person in the ten thousand who had only touched their lapels, they knew each other across two bridges, and if they snooped on each other’s backs, it would quickly become clear that no one had given this to a mere part-timer.

In the end, there was only one option left for Cha Ui-jae.

‘Tomato Market’, a local sceond-hand app.

Tomato Market, which has been around since before Rift Day, helped survivors share information and stay alive while waiting for rescue as the world collapsed after Rift Day. People who didn’t know their neighbours used Tomato Market to feel the warmth of neighbourliness.

‘It was very helpful during the rescue of survivors….’

If I put the mana stone on Tomato Market, will it sell? I had to get to the bottom first. He immediately opened the Tomato Market app and tried to log in, but his old account had become dormant and seemed to have been deleted. No wonder, it had been eight years. He hit the sign-up button.

[Please set a nickname]

What should he put? He tried garlic, haejang-guk, seonji, bones, and so on, but all of them were nicknames used by someone else. When ‘Haejang-guk1234’ was rejected, a little annoyed, he stopped and typed in a random alphabet.

[EZ]

[Welcome to the Tomato Market, EZ, turn on your GPS and register your area!]

After successfully signing up, Ui-jae logged in and tried to navigate around the app.

When he checked the app, he saw that there was a new category for hunters! Of course, the items being traded were things like hunter civil service exam question books and merchandise from famous hunters, which seemed a little different from the purpose of the app.

‘Will it sell if I list it for 80 million won?’

He doesn’t know if it’s easy to get a deal for a few million won, but… If it doesn’t sell, he’ll sell it to a regular. He’ll give them as high a price as they want, and if he begs him to keep it a secret, they’ll at least be loyal enough to keep their mouth shut, right?

Ui-jae reverently laid the newspaper on the green table, angling it so that the golden, glistening flakes were clearly visible.

Click.
Click.

He snapped photos from several angles, then selected the best shots to write about on Tomato Market.

Title: Selling mana stone
Seller: EZ
Price: 80,000,000 won
Highly pure mana stone with no impurities.
Negotiable, so please chat.

He was worried that he had overpriced it, so as a last conscience, he added the phrase “negotiable, so please chat” and felt a little better.

‘If this sells, we can buy Ha-eun and grandma a winter coat and pay for her surgery. I’ll even buy a new ladle.’

It is an impeccably perfect plan. It was the moment when Ui-jae had a sweet dream and posted a message on the tomato market in a good mood.

Ting-

Ting-

Ting-

Ting-

Suddenly, his phone started shaking like he’d been thrown out into minus 30 degrees. He’s not even done with the contract yet, what’s going on? The incessant vibrations made him worry that his phone was broken, and he quickly checked it,

I’m not sure if it’s a scam or not, but I’m sure it’s not a scam, so I’m not sure if it’s a scam or not.

Piling in Majang-dong: **Hey, I report fraud to the bureauᄀᄀif it’s not fraud, could you please reply to the chat? Would you do me a favor?

XLevel : Direct tradeᄀᄀ

Good Neighbour : Scam ** Legend

Pupatpongkurri : Where are you? I’ll come to your place, just give me your address and I’ll take the money and go straight thereᄅᄋᄋ돈방석에앉아드려서돈으로레드카펫 을깔려드려요

Pu Pad Pong Curry: Whereareyou?I’llgowhereyouarejustgivemeyour addressIcangostraightwiththemoneyI’llputyouontheredcarpetwiththemoneyIgiveyou
(TL/N: yeah, it’s like that on the raw, probably typing fastly that he doesn’t have time to space. The word, in sentence: “Where are you? I’ll go where you are, just give me your address. I can go straight with the money. I’ll put you on the red carpet with the money I give you.”)

White: You posted a bait item to meet and kidnap me, right?

I’ll put in a good word for you: What?

Haing: Is there any more mana stone like this?

Mackerel : Address

:

:

I was confronted with a tomato market chat notifications that was piling up like crazy in real time….

It took me less than 30 seconds to unlock and check my phone before I realised what was going on, a red +99 speech bubble over a cuddly tomato icon.

‘Fuck.’

The new messages that kept piling up seemed to whisper to him, ‘Yeah, you’re fucked’. It had been a long time since he had broken out in a cold sweat. Maybe this wasn’t a wise choice after all. No, he must have done the stupidest thing ever!

Did he price it too low? Are mana stones more expensive than he thought? Of course, he didn’t just raise his prices randomly, and he made sure to swim through the sea of information before listing his mana stone on the Tomato Market. However, when he clicked on the mana stone price thread, a window popped up asking him to verify his hunter status, which he did on a whim and added a few thousand more.

It said it had risen incomparably in the past, but how much more had it jumped…

Ui-jae left his phone vibrating and clasped his hands together in prayer and closed his eyes. He needed a moment to disconnect from reality.

‘Life is so hard.’

His life couldn’t have turned out this way since the system had chewed him up and spit him out in South Korea eight years later, but according to the law of karma, you have to finish what you start. He quickly gathered his thoughts and concluded.

‘…Let’s just run.’

Eventually, he chewed through all the chats and decided to leave. He ignored the chat notifications that kept popping up, went into his profile, and hit cancel.

[Is this a breakup? I’m so sorry]

At this point, the chat was still pouring in. Ui-jae prayed fervently that Tomato Market would stop holding on to him. But Tomato Market sagged, clinging pathetically to the crotch of Ui-jae’s bar. It was tighter than the sucker of a third-rate giant octopus he’d sliced up in the South Seas about nine years ago.

[I wonder why EZ wants to delete his account]

No matter how urgent it is, this is the least I can do, so he calmly ticked two boxes.

[√People use my posts too much]
[√I met a rude user]
[√Other: I’m new here and they swear, these ** people]

Unsubscribe. Delete the app.

After completing all the procedures with speed and precision, Ui-jae sat back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling in a daze.

‘That was pretty quick, wasn’t it?

But life, once twisted, doesn’t flow as easily as he thought it would…

HunterNet, the anonymous community of Hunters that Cha Ui-jae was unable to access. It was burning hotter than hell with one anonymous post.

Title: [Anonymous] Single Bungle Tomato Market…JPEG

(Photo)

Yesterday, an A+ grade magic stone was posted for sale on the tomato market, but was removed in 2 minutesᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ

Comments (99+)

-Tomato Market is the future

-Freaking brilliant

-Wow… What the hell do I have to do to get an A+ grade magic stone? I’ve been eating well, but it’s a B grade.

ᄂYou have to get at least a level 2 dungeon boss monster. However, if the mana stone is as pure and pristine as the photo, it could be from a rank 1 monster.

ᄂSo the person who posted that is a high-ranked Hunter?

ᄂYes. Maybe one of the rankers posted it.

-Tomato Market is a direct trade, so they won’t have to pay market fees and taxesᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ

ᄂDid they put it on Tomato Market to avoid taxes? Strong reading comprehension

ᄂIt’s only 8,000 for something like that;; It’s a low price.

ᄂDidn’t they put it up without the two zeros?

ᄂI think this is the most reliable

-You can tell it’s an A+ mana stone just by looking at the picture?

ᄂIs that a fake photo or something?

ᄂHong Ye-sung wrote on Inktionᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ Why didn’t you put this precious thing on Hunter Market but instead put it on Tomato Market?

ᄂIf it’s certified by Hong Ye-sung, it’s approved.

ᄂWasn’t he burning weapons in Jirisan Artisan Village after breaking off his relationship with the world?

ᄂHe was trying to escape to Seoul. Jung-bin personally went to Jirisan and caught him.

ᄂ** ᄏᄏᄏᄏ ᄏᄏᄏᄏ ᄏᄏᄏᄏ

ᄂThere is no more extreme job like Jung-bin

Subject: [Anonymous] Hong Yehsung’s inkblot postᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ

xxYeahsungH EZ, I don’t know who you are, but let’s make a deal #Jiri Mountain #I want to hit it #Seoul #TomatoMarket #Master’s Road #WhiteCheck #Price #Without posting this #Without posting on HunterMarket #The next production equipment is a long emergency escape button

604k Likes

jungVin80 Why doesn’t my wifi work?

Comments (99+)

-Jungbin’s words are so scary

-ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏAlso, it seems that you are making equipment to break the connection with the world.

ᄂHong Ye-sung has a lot of money? He’ll give you a blank cheque ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ

ᄂOf course. If he makes an S-rank weapon and sells it, he’ll make billions.

ᄂFriend… He’s the only S-rank maker in the world…

ᄂHe’ll be even richer when the auction is held in Songdo this time~

The chirping of a magpie nesting in a pine tree echoed through the silent mountains. A man sitting on the floor of the main hall, scrolling through internet posts, switched off his mobile phone and gazed at the surrounding scenery.

A tranquil hanok on the ridge below Banya Peak in Jirisan. The only thing a little out of the ordinary was that the stone walls and pine trees surrounding the house were dotted with gold bands and amulets. In the middle of the yard, which was probably two or three times the size of most people’s front yards, was a huge kiln.

And next to it,

a man in a white woollen fleece was sprawled out on the ground…