Monopolizing Skills to the 666th Floor - Chapter 47

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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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Skill Devouring to the 666th Floor Episode 047

47. Jjajangmyeon Treat

The first thing I did as soon as morning came was send a text message.

[Good morning. This is Lee Tae Seong. I hope you had a good night in Korea. I’ve given deep thought to the proposal you made yesterday, but I’ve decided that canceling an already concluded contract wouldn’t be the right choice. I’m grateful for your offer, but it will be difficult this time. Please rest well and have a safe return home.]

I sent a long text message in English to Lawrence Winterstone.

For him who would only be waiting for a positive response, this would be like a bolt from the blue.

‘Can’t help it. I already have a contract with Costech.’

I don’t betray my people.

I have no regrets about my choice.

They might be dissatisfied having to hear such an answer after flying 13 hours to Korea, but…

‘Whatever the case, they must have clearly realized that we hold the upper hand here.’

I wonder what kind of reaction the Winterstone father and son will show?

Will they curse me out?

I closed my eyes to check.

I could see Oliver’s perspective as he was having breakfast at the hotel.

―Father, you don’t look well.

―Oliver, a text message came.

―Really? That’s great!

―It’s a rejection.

―What? Why?

―He says he can’t betray them.

―Just for that reason? We offered to pay double.

A reaction of incomprehension.

If one only thought about money, switching would be the rational choice.

But I had looked into the future and was confident that Costech would bring greater profits.

However.

―This person… has unexpectedly strong convictions. He’s not someone who moves for money.

―Then how do we persuade him? Money doesn’t work either…

―Can’t help it. We should be grateful just for being invited.

―True, we did get to eat at this high-class buffet, so it’s not all bad.

They were viewing me favorably.

My expectation that they would curse me out was spectacularly wrong.

‘Surprisingly, they’re evaluating me highly?’

Having confirmed their sincerity through Parasite, I also reevaluated them.

‘Oliver, he’s not a bad person.’

His character passes for now.

I’ll observe him more, but there’s no reason to exclude him from Parasite candidates right away.

If only for the Money Bundle Swing skill.

‘I have time left, should I go collect the prize money? Might as well increase the skill damage.’

I searched on the internet.

Where I need to go to receive Lotto prize money.

This is my first time winning first place, so I’ve never looked it up before.

‘I need to go to the main branch.’

If it’s near Seodaemun Station, it’s not too far from here.

I should be able to make a quick trip there in the morning.

‘It’s nothing special. Collecting prize money.’

As I left the Nonhyeop Bank Main Branch, I looked at the bank account book in my hand.

[Balance: 20,152,102,983 won]

Over 20 billion won is recorded as my balance.

I recalled the moment when the employee was surprised and spoke when I handed over 20 winning tickets.

―Th-this round’s total prize money is about 35.1 billion won. The number of first-place winning games is 117, and you’ve won 100 of them… Your prize money is about 30 billion won. Excluding 33% tax, your actual amount received will be 20.1 billion won.

‘That’s when I snapped to attention hearing about taxes.’

They call it unearned income, but it’s painful to lose nearly 10 billion to taxes.

‘I heard Japan doesn’t even tax lottery winnings…’

Anyway, I need to remember the next round’s Lotto numbers too.

Currently, there’s nothing as reliable as Lotto for securing funds, right?

Of course, the most ideal method would be to target American lotteries.

‘Winning the American Powerball once would be much better than winning Lotto dozens of times.’

Powerball’s prize money is in the trillions.

It’s on an incomparable scale to Lotto.

Tourists can buy tickets too, so there’s no need to go through complicated procedures like immigration.

‘The problem is that to know the winning numbers, I need to have seen those numbers at least once in my memory.’

Fortunately, before my regression, I was interested in such things and remember seeing the winning numbers.

Though I can’t recall the exact numbers.

‘It’s fine. I have Clear Mind Like Still Water.’

Clear Mind Like Still Water is a skill that can recall memories through meditation if I’ve seen them even once.

Conversely, information that’s not in my memory can never be recalled no matter how hard I try.

‘In that sense, Clear Mind Like Still Water isn’t omnipotent.’

First, since I remember the lotto numbers for a few draws, I should use those first.

The Super Bowl win comes after that.

I put the bank account book in my pocket and headed to the meeting place, where Joshua had already arrived.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“Oh, Tae Seong. Not at all! I just got here.”

Joshua’s face lit up with anticipation.

He was probably expecting a lunch that would surpass the pork belly.

“Shall we handle the transaction before eating?”

“Sounds good. How many magic stones do you have?”

“120 pieces.”

“Oh, that’s quite a lot.”

80 of them were from the 66th floor, but there’s no need to tell him that.

“We agreed on $6,000 each, so 120 pieces would be $720,000, right? I’ll transfer it right away.”

“Yes.”

Soon after, a text message arrived.

[International Transfer]

[USD 720,000.00]

Converted to Korean money, that’s about 1.3 billion won.

Despite such a large sum coming in, my expression didn’t change.

There was already over 20 billion in my account.

‘Joshua’s expression isn’t changing either? His stomach must be churning a bit.’

The current market price for F-grade magic stones is $1,500 each.

He bought them at four times that price.

Even if it’s because of the contract, from Joshua’s perspective, this is a painful transaction.

‘Yet he acts like it’s nothing.’

Is it because of the satisfaction of obtaining exclusive rights?

Or did he judge that his relationship with me is valuable enough that money doesn’t matter?

I can’t know his true intentions, but one thing is certain: no one benefited more from this transaction than I did.

“Here they are. 120 magic stones.”

I took the magic stones out of my inventory and handed them over.

Joshua quickly put them into his own inventory.

“Shall we go have lunch?”

“Where are we going?”

“Follow me. You won’t regret it.”

What delicious food would we eat after pork belly?

Joshua followed me curiously.

The place I guided him to was a famous Chinese restaurant in Seoul.

“This place is…?”

“A jjajangmyeon restaurant. Jjajangmyeon is my favorite food. Do you like noodle dishes?”

“Well, I eat them… but I don’t particularly enjoy them.”

I know.

I’ve known Joshua’s taste preferences since before my regression.

‘But he never said he disliked jjajangmyeon.’

Some foreigners might dislike jjajangmyeon, but Joshua was different.

After pork belly, one of his favorite foods was jjajangmyeon.

I ordered two bowls of jjajangmyeon, sweet and sour pork with glutinous rice, and kanpunggi.

When the food arrived, Joshua frowned at the black sauce he was seeing for the first time.

“What is this sauce made from? Black beans?”

“That’s right. It’s chunjang made from fermented black beans. You eat it by mixing it well like this.”

After mixing the noodles, I picked up a large portion with chopsticks and brought it to my mouth.

Slurp!

I chewed the noodles and gestured to Joshua.

Signaling him to try it quickly.

“Well, just one bite then…”

Joshua cautiously put the jjajangmyeon in his mouth.

Slurp!

“Hmm!?”

With a surprised expression, he chewed thoughtfully.

“Th-this is really delicious!”

“Right?”

I let out an exclamation.

“At first, I was a bit confused by the black sauce, but after taking one bite, it was a completely unexpected taste. Sweet yet salty, and strangely addictive.”

As if wanting to experience that taste once more, he picks up some noodles.

Slurp! Slurp slurp!

One bite, two bites, three bites.

He’s already completely hooked, inhaling the noodles without pause.

“You’re quite good with chopsticks.”

“I heard you need to use chopsticks to properly eat pork belly, so I practiced hard. It was a bit difficult. Haha.”

He said that, but it probably wasn’t really difficult.

He’s a talent prodigy who learns everything quickly.

“But seriously, this is really addictive. Wow, it’s so delicious I can’t stop!”

“Please try the other dishes too.”

When I dipped the sweet and sour pork in sauce and ate it, Joshua watched carefully and followed suit.

“Oh? This is delicious too.”

Then he reaches for other dishes.

This time he challenged the bright red kanpunggi.

He takes a bite and shows a happy smile.

“Mm, delicious. What kind of meat is this?”

“It’s chicken.”

“The spiciness is perfect for my taste? It’s completely different from the chicken we eat in the United States.”

“I’m glad kanpunggi suits your taste. Actually, this is Korean-style Chinese food, but you should try Korean-style chicken too.”

“Korean-style chicken? How is it different from American chicken?”

“Korean-style chicken is double-fried to be crispier, and there are various seasonings. From sweet and spicy seasoned chicken to soy sauce, garlic, and many other flavors.”

“Really? I definitely have to try it next time. Korea really has many interesting foods.”

Joshua diligently devours the food.

Then suddenly, he stops eating and asks in a low voice.

“But Tae Seong. Why don’t you post strategy guides for Floor 30?”

“Strategy guides?”

“Yes. You only posted up to the 29th Floor strategy on Transcendence Net.”

That’s right.

I only wrote up to the 29th Floor strategy and after that just filmed action camera videos.

“Are you perhaps not planning to post more?”

“That’s not it, but why?”

“It’s a bit shameless to say this, but as I’m getting close to Floor 30, I’m getting a bit scared. I think having a strategy guide would be a great help…”

Already getting close to Floor 30?

Joshua?

“What floor have you cleared so far?”

“I’ve reached Floor 24.”

That means he’s about to tackle Floor 25…

‘If he does well, he might be able to get an Orb of Darkness.’

But that process won’t be smooth.

He has to kill 100 Dark Rollers and then the boss too.

‘In the past, Joshua obtained an Orb of Darkness on Floor 25.’

However, that was only possible because he had Skill Copy.

In this life, it would be hard to expect such luck.

‘Still, who knows. He might get an Orb of Darkness like in the past.’

If he has the Time Regression Skill, hunting a Giant Dark Roller isn’t entirely impossible.

Plus, he also has skills sponsored by other gods.

‘Before regression, Joshua cleared Floor 25 alone. He’ll be able to do it himself this time too.’

Because I believed in him, I didn’t mention anything more about the Floor 25 strategy.

“I plan to post strategy guides for Floor 30 and beyond on Transcendence Net soon.”

“Ah, that’s a relief. I was worried about what to do if they didn’t get posted. Haha!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll continue to provide strategy guides.”

Of course, I don’t plan to post them as text.

It’s time to release videos now.

After parting with Joshua, I turned on my laptop as soon as I got home.

I’m going to edit the videos I’ve been filming.

‘There’s not much to fix.’

After creating thumbnails and adding a few subtitles, the Floor 30 strategy video was quickly completed.

I made one video per floor, and finished up to the 39th Floor like that.

Ten videos were prepared.

‘Now I just need to upload them.’

I scheduled them to be uploaded one per day on my ViewTube channel, [Amon’s Labyrinth Strategy].

Uploading them one by one is more advantageous for subscriber influx than uploading 10 at once.

After finishing the upload, I accessed Transcendence Net.

I should do some promotion, shouldn’t I?

[Author: Amon]

【Title: Releasing Floor 30~39 strategy guide. This time it’s a video.】

└Content: From Floor 30 onwards, it’s difficult to release strategies in text, so I prepared videos.

If you search for [Amon’s Labyrinth Strategy] on ViewTube, the channel will come up.

I’ve uploaded the videos there, so please check them out.

I’ll also post links below, so take a look.

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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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