I Alone Am an EX-Class Summoner - Chapter 13
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Alone EX-Grade Summoner Episode 013
Tearing Grind
Player Headquarters.
Park Chang-seok’s Office.
“Councilman, Councilman!”
His secretary came looking for him.
“This is incredible! Please look at the news articles!”
“I already saw them.”
On the phone screen of Park Chang-seok, who was sitting in his office, were the following articles.
[South Korea breaks Tuesday Dungeon records consecutively! Who’s behind it? Headquarters’ demon, Councilman Park Chang-seok.]
[Councilman Park Chang-seok, ‘Valuable information obtained cheaply from overseas’]
[The proud headquarters rankers led by Park Chang-seok! Will they challenge world records too? Citizens excited about development potential.]
In some ways, it was nothing special.
However, the citizens were stirred up even by such trivial things.
They had been thirsting for this all along.
My goodness.
South Korea might actually challenge world records!
– Perpetually at the bottom of the league!
– Wealth gaps between nations due to low-grade benefits!
– A summoning backward country!
After constantly hearing things that crushed their self-esteem, how long had it been since such good news!
The name Baek Jin-woo, who had briefly been talked about in communities as the new record holder, was already forgotten.
All public opinion turned toward Park Chang-seok.
This was after it was revealed that he was the main figure behind this record-breaking achievement.
“This… everything came from Baek Jin-woo’s head, right? That first-year gamer…”
The secretary asked cautiously.
Unless he was an idiot, there was no way not to know.
Because.
Recently, Park Chang-seok had created a 【Talent Management Team】 and moved three capable staff members under him to that department.
Secretary Kim Byeong-jin, Staff Yu Ji-a, Staff Hwang Tae-seop.
All three were the finest elites that headquarters boasted.
For reference, the 【Talent Management Team】 was essentially dedicated solely to Baek Jin-woo.
A team that would drop everything and help him whenever Baek Jin-woo contacted them.
Right now, they were putting all their effort into legitimately extracting low-grade summoning scrolls piled up in the national treasury.
“That’s right. This incident gave me conviction. At least during my term, I plan to use all my strength for Baek Jin-woo.”
Park Chang-seok was certain.
Having been in the industry for a long time.
He could tell just by looking at Baek Jin-woo’s expression and gestures.
The behavior that only someone leisurely, someone who possessed something in abundance, could show.
What Park Chang-seok had to do from now on was simple.
Help him while gradually extracting that information bit by bit!
It was a win-win strategy for both sides.
“Byeong-jin.”
“Yes?”
“What is Baek Jin-woo doing right now?”
“He seems to still be opening summoning scrolls.”
“…Still?”
“Yes, he took some today too.”
Haha.
He really uses all of that in one day?
Is that humanly possible?
‘Why on earth?’
D-grade summons are mostly dirt cheap and don’t sell well.
You can get proper prices starting from C-grade.
“He’s not selling the summons separately or anything, right?”
“No, he seems to synthesize them all. We’ve confirmed he shows up at the Synthesis Chamber every night.”
“Huh.”
Synthesis Chamber.
There is a method of grinding summons there to receive experience points.
But it’s inefficient.
Running a dungeon once would probably give more experience than doing that.
“Oh, and he did mention something.”
“What did he say?”
Park Chang-seok’s eyes lit up.
“He asked if he could spend 150 million to buy more low-grade summoning scrolls.”
“…What?”
Park Chang-seok was dumbfounded.
No way.
Even 10,000 sheets daily isn’t enough, so he wants to open even more?
“Instead, not at regular price… He asked if we could sell them cheaper, so I said we’d consider it for now.”
“Huh.”
What could it be?
Is there some summon among F~D grades that he absolutely must draw?
If so, he should have drawn it already with plenty to spare, right?
‘For now.’
Just the fact that he was reinvesting the 150 million he had earned showed how desperate he was.
“What should we do? It’s a bit awkward to keep asking the management office. They keep giving us looks for constantly taking from their stock.”
“Low-grade summoning scrolls. Those keep piling up as inventory anyway. We need to clear them all out.”
“Then… should we sell them cheap?”
“Give them to him at half price.”
“Excuse me?”
The secretary’s eyes widened.
Because he knew very well how absurd that was.
A councilman is a public office.
He must be careful in all his actions.
If caught giving someone irrational special treatment with national money, he could become a target of political attacks.
“Don’t worry, Byeong-jin.”
Park Chang-seok smiled as if he knew exactly what his secretary was thinking.
‘What I’m doing now is political action.’
Baek Jin-woo could become South Korea’s hero in the future.
If it became known that he had helped such a Baek Jin-woo with both material and moral support, even taking risks?
He would be praised for his tremendous insight and might even gain more votes.
Creating that kind of story was nothing for Park Chang-seok.
“Just do as I say for now. You know to keep it absolutely secret. Only you, Ji-a, and Tae-seop should know about this.”
“…Yes, understood.”
Rip, rip!
Now the sound of tearing paper was like a hallucination.
10,000 sheets a day meant 70,000 sheets a week.
Baek Jin-woo had been tearing them non-stop for about two weeks.
He didn’t even go home.
He found a monthly rental near the Player Zone.
It was a 16-pyeong two-room apartment, a decent place that was neither too fancy nor too shabby.
‘Time to become independent.’
He was a man who earned over 100 million won in a week.
Coming home late every day and barely sleeping properly while still living off his parents didn’t feel right.
– Jin-woo… I feel like I’m dying.
Rip, rip!
Today too, Baek Jin-woo, who had torn through all 10,000 cards in the vacant lot, stood up from his spot.
– Cream bread, cream breaaad…!
Ignoring the whining Ramba, he headed straight to the Synthesis Facility.
Three years ago.
Just as Jamsil Tower had transformed into the Tower of Trials, an entire nearby building had been converted into a synthesis facility.
Inside the building were roughly over 500 rooms, each one serving as a synthesis chamber.
And the synthesis facility was managed by Headquarters.
“Waiting number 125.”
The wait time was about 5 minutes.
After waiting in line and entering a room on the third floor, he could see a summoning circle drawn on the floor.
[Welcome to the Synthesis Facility!]
[Please synthesize your summons!]
“Ramba, get on.”
– Jin-woo! Don’t make any mistakes!
“Of course not.”
Summon synthesis had to be done carefully.
If he carelessly used Ramba as sacrifice material, it would truly be a disaster.
Baek Jin-woo set the synthesis subject as ‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-grade) and placed summons on the summoning circle one by one.
[Do you wish to synthesize?]
[Y/N]
“Yes.”
Flash!
Light burst from the summoning circle and engulfed the summons.
[Synthesis complete!]
[‘Fire Lizard’ (F-grade) becomes sacrifice and disappears.]
[‘Blue Bat’ (F-grade) becomes sacrifice and disappears.]
[‘Poison Goblin’ (E-grade) becomes sacrifice and disappears.]
…
Whoosh!
Messages appeared.
[‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-grade) level rises to 21.]
[‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-grade) intelligence increases by 2.]
Ramba’s level had reached 21.
‘Only 21 now?’
It had barely increased at all.
He’d fed roughly 140,000 summons over two weeks and it was only 21?
Max level was 100.
The higher the level, the larger the experience pool became.
To reach level 22, he’d probably need to feed as many summons as he had up until now.
‘Well.’
It didn’t matter.
As he’d said before, it was just clearing out storage anyway.
The next day.
Rip, rip!
Once again, Baek Jin-woo sat in the vacant lot and began tearing summoning cards.
Had he been tearing for about an hour?
It was then that someone approached him.
‘Hm?’
Usually Kim Byeong-jin, the secretary, would come with 10,000 low-grade summoning cards.
Since he’d already received them this morning, it shouldn’t be someone from Headquarters, right?
‘But then again…’
She was wearing a Headquarters badge.
“Hello. We haven’t met before, have we? I’m Yu Ji-a from Headquarters.”
“Ah, yes.”
At the appearance of the new female face, Ramba, who had been chattering away, shut her mouth tight.
Baek Jin-woo also stopped tearing and stood up politely.
“What brings you here?”
“Well, it’s about the summoning card trade you mentioned before.”
“Ah.”
Baek Jin-woo’s eyes lit up.
Right.
Since the drop rates were so bad, he’d decided to increase the quantity of summoning cards.
Wasn’t 150 million won a waste?
It was money easily earned, he could make it again anytime.
Right now, investing in himself was the right decision.
“The original price of summoning cards is 5,000 won each. You know that, right?”
“Yes, I know. About that… I mentioned before about negotiating the price…”
“Haha, yes. We discussed it among ourselves, and considering your recent contributions, we’d like to offer half price just for this 150 million won purchase.”
“Oh, really?”
As expected of Park Chang-seok?
This was a great deal.
150 million won at 2,500 won each meant 60,000 cards!
He could tear more today, couldn’t he?
“And in addition to that…”
Yu Ji-a paused slightly, then continued.
“We’ve allocated an additional 100 million from our team’s ‘talent management budget.'”
Wow.
Really?
So 40,000 more cards, making it 100,000 total?
“However, you’ll need to keep this confidential…”
“Oh, of course.”
What was there to say?
“I’m the only one getting special treatment, so naturally I won’t mention it anywhere.”
“And please understand that this is given to foster a more cooperative relationship between you and us.”
“Hehe, yes. I understand well.”
A very good pretext.
He could feel Park Chang-seok’s will behind this.
That will to somehow be helpful to him.
‘How thoughtful.’
Baek Jin-woo decided to accept that sentiment.
Along with the 100,000 summoning cards.
Rip, rip!
– Jin-woo.
“Yeah.”
– How much longer do we have to do this?
“Until we pull the Training Instructor and Explosive Dragon Mage.”
‘Training Instructor’ was short for Training Instructor, and ‘Explosive Dragon Mage’ was short for Explosive Dragon Mage.
– Aaaahhh! I think I’m going to get neurosis just from hearing that ripping sound!
There was no choice.
If I hadn’t even tried from the beginning, maybe, but having come this far, I had to finish it even out of spite.
I had already torn through all 100,000 cards I received.
I was in the middle of tearing the extra 10,000 cards I had stopped tearing earlier.
The sun had already set, and the surroundings were getting dark.
Growl!
I was hungry, but I had no intention of resting.
– You maniac! Terrible maniac!
“Yeah, I hear that a lot.”
I might not know about other things, but when it came to Battle of Summoners alone, I was a recognized maniac by everyone.
I probably never slept more than five hours a day throughout my school years.
Rip, rip!
[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained summoned creature ‘White Python’ (F-rank)!]
[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained summoned creature ‘Giant Rhinoceros Beetle’ (F-rank)!]
…
Please.
Please come out.
I won’t even hope for other EX-ranks.
Training Instructor, Explosive Dragon Mage.
I’m just asking for you two to come out.
Honestly, the other ones?
There’s no need to pull them.
Just pulling those two would easily get me world ranking 1st place.
Of course, it would take some time.
Rip, rip!
Baek Jin-woo was a machine.
A summoning card tearing machine.
How much time had passed like that?
Rumble!
The lightning effect striking over the torn paper was somehow different.
Crackle!
There was much more than before and the color was golden.
– Wh, what!
Ramba panicked, and Baek Jin-woo’s eyes widened too.
‘That’s.’
The exact same effect as when the Wind Fairy appeared!
Whoosh!
Finally?!
[Using ‘Low-grade Summoning Card’!]
[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained summoned creature ‘Explosive Dragon Mage’ (EX-rank)!]
“Woooooooh!”
Baek Jin-woo unconsciously shouted.
– Kyaaaaaaah!
Ramba also got excited, doing somersaults in the air.
‘Really?’
It was real.
EX-ranks really did come out if you kept pulling.
Our Explosive Dragon!
A real Explosive Dragon!
How anxious I had been all this time!
What if I had been wrong?
What if Ramba was the only EX-rank?
That anxiety disappeared in a single moment.
“No.”
I can’t stop now.
Rip, rip!
– Jin-woo?
“I can’t stop now.”
I have to pull consecutively.
“It’s hot streak time.”
Hot streak.
Short for ‘hot moment’, it was Baek Jin-woo’s personal superstition that if you kept tearing when things were going well, they would continue to go well.
“Hyaaaah! Let’s go! Keep tearing!”
– Tear, tear!
Rip, rip!
He even shouted spirited battle cries while frantically tearing through the remaining summoning cards.
Just as he was about to tear through about 300 more summoning cards.
Rumble!
[Using ‘Low-grade Summoning Card’!]
[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained summoned creature ‘Training Instructor’ (EX-rank)!]
Really.
That guy had appeared.
– I, is it real?
Ramba opened her mouth wide in shock, looking like she might faint.
“Uwaaah!”
Baek Jin-woo, confirming the ‘Training Instructor’, fell backward and collapsed.
Finally!
At last!
‘I pulled them…’
It felt like dopamine wasn’t just being released in my brain but pouring out.
This, really!
I could die happy!
Yeah, this is why you do gacha pulls!
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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