I Alone Am an EX-Class Summoner - Chapter 47

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

I Am Alone EX-Grade Summoner Episode 047

National Team Consulting

As a new building was added to “Yubaek,” Baek A-jin also moved her workplace.

Headquarters 34th floor.

The entire floor was a department responsible for purchasing and selling Baek Jin-woo’s items.

Baek A-jin’s position was director, and since they had hired quite a few staff members, she now rarely had to go out to Samseong-dong Market.

“President.”

“Yes, Director Baek.”

Although Yu Ji-a and Baek A-jin had become close enough to call each other sister, during work hours they cleanly addressed each other by their positions.

Currently, they were doing their best to obtain universal runes.

“I’ve searched through all the markets worldwide, and based on the available quantity, there are about 25 pieces.”

25 pieces was fairly good news.

At least there was stock available.

“What about the prices?”

“They vary. If we average them out, it’s about 150 billion per piece?”

It was truly an enormous price.

Considering that the market price for top-grade speed runes was 15 billion, it was beyond words.

Actually, this was natural.

While speed runes only benefited attack speed summoned creatures holding staffs, universal runes were truly universal.

They were versatile enough to suit any summoned creature.

“Hmm, Jin-woo wanted 18 pieces, and the budget is 2 trillion… We’re quite short.”

“That’s right.”

To buy them all, even with simple calculations, 2.7 trillion won would be needed.

Yu Ji-a, who had been tapping the documents Baek A-jin brought with her fingernail, continued speaking.

“Moreover, we can’t trust all those prices, because even after we go find them, negotiate everything, and get right to the point of purchase, many sellers back out at that moment.”

“Those who are testing the waters in case they can sell for higher prices later?”

Originally, high-priced items involved particularly intense psychological warfare between buyers and sellers.

“Yes, so even when buying, we need to buy carefully without causing a stir all at once. If we buy slowly one by one, they’ll all contact each other and raise prices.”

“…Then how?”

“We need to work them.”

Yu Ji-a said clearly.

Work them?

“We’ll create different identities for each. We’ll disguise ourselves with identities that seem to have purchasing power and approach all at once. We’ll strike before they have time to gather information.”

“…Oh.”

“And Director Baek, please write a post about purchasing universal runes. At a much cheaper price than market value… Um, about 100 billion to purchase 6 pieces.”

“On the global marketplace?”

“Yes, and we’ll gradually reduce that to 5, 4, then 3 pieces each week that passes.”

“Ah!”

Baek A-jin clapped her hands.

“You’re inducing them to feel rushed?”

“Yes, it won’t work perfectly, but it should have some impact. The fact that items remain on the market means buyers who can afford those prices haven’t appeared yet. In that situation, we’ll keep showing them that they’re being sold at prices cheaper than market value.”

“Wow…!”

Baek A-jin felt many things while looking at Yu Ji-a.

Not just selling, but purchasing also required this kind of strategic approach!

“What about the insufficient budget?”

“Let’s try to solve it somehow within the national budget. If that doesn’t work… we’ll obtain them even if we have to use Yubaek’s money.”

For limited edition runes, you had to move quickly.

The more we secured, the more unique the value of the runes Baek Jin-woo used would become.

“Then let’s move quickly!”

“Yes!”

The promised Saturday.

It was the day of the first national team assembly.

Baek Jin-woo just ran through the advanced weekly dungeons in the morning, then came out to the arena.

The meeting time was 10 AM.

Even though he arrived 20 minutes early at 9:40.

“Huh…?”

All nine rankers were already there.

They had been chatting in groups with rankers they were close to, but as soon as Baek Jin-woo entered, they all shut their mouths tight.

Those who had been standing casually straightened their posture, and everyone made polite yet humble expressions.

Especially in the case of Gi Jae-hyeok and Kang Ji-ho, famous as high school student rankers.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning!”

They looked at him with bright eyes, then bowed their heads at right angles toward Baek Jin-woo.

‘Why are they acting like that.’

So awkwardly.

It’s cute when young kids act like that though.

“Haha, nice to meet you.”

After bowing back and entering, Baek Jin-woo thought.

‘Is it because they’re rankers?’

They kept their time commitments cleanly.

At least their first impressions passed!

Still, they didn’t chatter just because the captain entered, nor did they ignore him or act territorial because they were existing national team members.

Actually, it was natural.

This was Baek Jin-woo who had defeated Kang Geon-ho, the domestic ranking 1st place, in 1 minute, so what territorial behavior could there be.

They should maintain a humble attitude and absorb anything they could.

‘Six months until the world league.’

It was a time that could be long or short.

Baek Jin-woo also preferred South Korea to win, as long as they were going to win anyway.

“Hello. Though I may be lacking, I’m Baek Jin-woo, who will serve as this national team’s captain.”

Under many gazes, he greeted them calmly.

Then.

As if they had made a promise, everyone introduced themselves.

“I’m called Kang Geon-ho. I’m thirty-three years old. I’m the vice guild master of Baekho Guild. Ho hyung here, and Jeong-hee and Sang-won are also from the same Baekho. I was captain for 3 years, but I’m happy that a better captain has appeared.”

The information on Baekho-affiliated players was as follows.

Ranking 1st place, Kang Geon-ho (33 years old)

Ranking 2nd place, Park Ho (35 years old)

Ranking 6th place, Bok Jeong-hee (31 years old)

Ranking 7th place, Seo Sang-won (30 years old)

‘Is it a guild of people in their 30s?’

Still, their specs were incredible.

Four out of the domestic top ten rankers belonged to Baekho.

It wasn’t for nothing that they were called the best among the three major guilds.

Baekho’s guild members came forward one by one to greet him.

Next.

“As you all know, I’m An Gi-jeong from Ilwol.”

There were two members from Ilwol, one of the three major guilds.

Ranking 4th place, An Gi-jeong (41 years old)

Ranking 8th place, Hwang Ju-won (53 years old)

An Gi-jeong was the guild master, and Hwang Ju-won was the vice guild master.

Both were in their 40s and 50s, making them quite aged here.

“I’ve always participated in the national team together with Ju-won hyung.”

“Haha, I’m getting a bit old, but… I’ve been working hard and somehow ended up participating again. Player Baek Jin-woo… was truly impressive. When I go home, my wife only talks about you. She says you’re so handsome, aside from the match content. She keeps asking me to get your autograph or something.”

His face looked warmly like a neighborhood uncle, and he seemed to have a somewhat outgoing personality.

It felt like he was helping to lighten the stiff atmosphere.

Next.

“Hello, hyung! I’m Gi Jae-hyeok!”

“I’m Kang Ji-ho! I became your fan after the last selection tournament!”

“Just give me any order! I’m ready to properly fulfill my role as the youngest!”

Those two energetic high school students.

The guild master and vice guild master leading the currently hot Carpe Diem.

Ranking 15th, Gi Jae-hyeok (19 years old)

Ranking 25th, Kang Ji-ho (18 years old)

Personally, Baek Jin-woo liked them.

Originally, Battle of Summoners requires quite a bit of physical elements.

Like when riding a wyvern or swimming with dolphins… there are definitely sections where you need to use your body.

That was why Baek Jin-woo consistently exercised regularly.

‘It’s like seeing my younger self.’

Making it to the national team with a low ranking meant there was blood, sweat, and tears behind it.

“Yeah, nice to meet you.”

Finding them endearing, he immediately dropped the formal speech.

As if that was touching, the two rankers smiled brightly.

And lastly.

“I’m Hong Ari.”

Ranking 3rd, Hong Ari (27 years old)

“I run the Arirang Guild, and I was originally on the national team with Sun-young unnie, but this time I’m participating alone.”

While saying this, she glanced at Baek Jin-woo.

“We encountered some kind of natural disaster in the multi-player tournament.”

‘Sun-young unnie means…’

She was talking about Oh Sun-young from Orang (Five Wolves).

As the vice guild master of Arirang Guild, she was a formidable player, but got cut down by Hunkyo in 10 seconds during the multi-player tournament.

“Still, Sun-young unnie is satisfied. She said it was an honor to meet a strong opponent. We’re the same age, so if you let me know, I’ll follow well.”

“Yes, thank you.”

All the rankers’ introductions were finished.

It was truly fascinating.

A situation where the heads of the domestic Big 3 had gathered together.

Such big shots were all taking a humble stance looking only at Baek Jin-woo.

Well.

They must have become rankers among 50 million people because they were good at reading the atmosphere and had some sense.

‘How should I teach them?’

If it were the original Baek Jin-woo, he would have just casually looked at their summoned creatures and been done with it.

Even the Five Emperors, who had known him for 5 years, only occasionally gave hints.

‘But.’

Since the country had given him an additional enormous sum of 1 trillion won, he couldn’t just brush it off.

He planned to provide consulting worth at least that much.

“Anyway, we’ve ended up in a situation where we need to spend half a year together.”

Baek Jin-woo, who had organized their information well in his head, opened his mouth.

“I don’t know if we’ll continue together or if it’ll be brief… but during that period, if you have any questions, I’ll do my best to teach you. However, I won’t spoon-feed you directly. Like how the thirsty person digs the well, if you try and it doesn’t work, or if you feel something is lacking, please ask me about it directly.”

Baek Jin-woo’s honest feelings?

Everyone in front of him was below standard.

They were at a level where he couldn’t figure out where to start teaching what.

‘First of all.’

They had too little experience.

When Baek Jin-woo was young, he was so obsessed with the game that he analyzed the skills of over 40,000 summoned creatures per grade one by one to compare compatibility.

He had struggled to beat rankers with weak summoned creatures in the Player Arena, and had attempted the extremely difficult Tower of Trials thousands of times to develop that ‘sense.’

‘But?’

Their summoned creatures were too standardized.

If you set a framework and only develop that one thing, you can’t respond when you meet a counter.

To standardize?

You need to have overpowered summoned creatures.

Like Baek Jin-woo’s EX-grade summoned creatures.

Regular players should never standardize their summoned creatures.

‘But well.’

Is there a need to teach them that deeply?

“First, let’s start with sparring.”

Once each.

He would battle them and receive questions about points they found lacking or puzzling.

After that?

He would provide feedback on better methods, summoned creatures, rune settings, psychological warfare, etc.

That was the best consulting Baek Jin-woo could offer them.

A remote area of South Korea.

An abandoned building deep in the wilderness.

A voice flowed out from that gloomy place that seemed to have been cut off from foot traffic for a long time.

“What do you think?”

“…”

The man who had maintained silence for a moment at that question slowly nodded his head.

“What’s certain is that we can’t just sit back and watch.”

In his responding hands were a large amount of documents, and the contents within all dealt with one player’s activities.

‘Baek Jin-woo.’

The man thought.

‘An absurdly strong player.’

“Then what shall we do? Should we strike at Baek Jin-woo, Ji-hak-nim?”

Ji-hak.

If someone had heard that name, they would have gaped in shock.

Ranking 30th, Jo Ji-hak.

The head of the gang union that had stirred up South Korea, and the one sitting at number 1 on the headquarters’ blacklist.

Although his ranking was pushed back because he didn’t participate in the world league, his force couldn’t be ignored.

“You idiot. Strike at Baek Jin-woo?”

Jo Ji-hak laughed as if it was absurd.

Didn’t that guy even watch the selection tournament videos?

How could a gang touch Baek Jin-woo, who sliced through current top rankers like he was playing with them?

Actually.

That was the gang’s big concern lately.

Because Baek Jin-woo was too strong, the balance with the headquarters had been disrupted.

If the headquarters got serious and controlled Baek Jin-woo to move?

The end could come for the gang.

“First, call back all the guys who are overseas. This is an emergency situation.”

Incidentally, the gang couldn’t use South Korea’s Player Zone.

Seoul, Busan.

Because the headquarters had perfect control over everything.

So they went overseas.

Nearby Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

They secretly feed bribes to those governments and use their facilities in secret.

“If we can’t hit Baek Jin-woo directly, we just need to hit him indirectly.”

“Indirectly?”

“First, how did that thing I ordered last time turn out?”

“Ah, you mean Oh Ji-myeong and Park Ho-seop. We’ve made contact with them. We haven’t received an answer yet, but it seems like we’ll get quite positive results.”

Recently, the gang had been recruiting two rankers.

9th-ranked Oh Ji-myeong and 10th-ranked Park Ho-seop.

They had been eliminated from the selection tournament and recently expressed plenty of dissatisfaction with the headquarters, so they were targeting that gap!

“For now, we’ll wait for those results. Let’s meet here again in a week.”

“Yes, I’ll follow your orders, Ji-hak sir.”

The subordinate bowed his head respectfully.

Jo Ji-hak didn’t even look at him.

He simply looked around the abandoned building once, then disappeared with a swoosh.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————