The Cursed Blacksmith Who Regressed - Chapter 8

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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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Episode 8

“How much?”

– Ten billion won.

Totoland Office.

Park Gwang-sik, one of the team manager-level administrators, answered the phone while checking his monitor.

The person on the call was a dedicated manager for high-stakes bettors, providing special deposit services for people who charged large amounts of money in the hundreds of millions.

Moving too much money at once would raise suspicions from financial authorities and lead directly to investigative agencies.

So big players preferred to play safely after having such managers handle the laundering process.

But the manager said someone had requested a 10 billion won deposit.

“Oh, it’s really here?”

Looking at the monitor, 10 billion won had indeed come in.

“Ten billion?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Ten billion?”

“Wow, it’s been a while since we caught a big fish.”

Other employees who were sharing the monitor started buzzing.

That was understandable since, even though they were the largest company in the country, it was still rare for an individual to deposit 10 billion won in cash into a single account.

Park Gwang-sik chuckled and said.

“Looks like another guy embezzled company money and put it in.”

“Well, there’s no other explanation for it.”

“Geez, wonder what kind of ruined life this one is.”

The surprise at the amount was brief, and soon the workers’ interest dissipated.

Because while it was rare for an individual to deposit 10 billion, it wasn’t completely unheard of.

Moreover, while 10 billion was a large amount, it wasn’t the largest deposit in Totoland’s history either.

‘The highest deposit was around 60 billion, wasn’t it.’

The member who made that deposit was a bank employee who had embezzled company funds, and they found out the source of the money when it appeared on the news a few months later.

‘Now, let’s see what this guy bets on.’

It was good timing since he was bored.

Since he had nothing else to do anyway, Park Gwang-sik observed the big fish member’s activities.

But surprisingly, instead of sports or Gate conquest results, the guy went all-in on tomorrow’s Hunter exam.

“Choi Hyun?”

He even finished selecting the candidate himself.

He was an interesting guy.

‘Is it himself?’

He thought that might be the case.

Otherwise, it would be hard to put in this much money.

‘There are guys like this sometimes. Those who think they’re different and bring their entire fortune to bet on themselves.’

To put it nicely, they were overconfident; to put it badly, they didn’t know their place.

But this type of customer appeared constantly.

Because in cases like this betting, they thought what they were doing wasn’t gambling on uncertain results, but a safe investment based on trusting themselves and their efforts.

‘But not a chance.’

How many geniuses are there flying around in this world?

Park Gwang-sik had never once seen this type of betting succeed.

There’s a reason for the saying “there’s always someone better.”

Of course, that didn’t mean Totoland was the type to just be complacent. There was always the one-in-a-million chance.

To prevent any possible mishaps, Totoland deliberately inserted some established hunters with forged identities every year to take the 1st and 2nd exams.

That way, absolute victory was guaranteed.

Of course, exam questions never leaked, and the exam questions were always composed of different problems each time, but even so, since they were veteran hunters with rich field experience, they always secured the top spots with only missing one or two questions.

There were no perfect scorers.

It was because of the killer questions.

‘I don’t know where the 10 billion came from, but farewell to you too.’

Park Gwang-sik chuckled as he took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

* * *

The next day.

Choi Hyun took his ID and headed to the Association without being late.

When he arrived at the Association, this quarter’s exam candidates had gathered like clouds, and Choi Hyun calmly received his exam ticket and moved to his seat.

“Please let me pass this time.”

“Please.”

“Phew, stay calm. I can do this.”

They say only a small number compared to the total population become awakened, yet how do so many test-takers appear every exam period?

Choi Hyun quietly waited for the exam to start, then received the distributed exam paper and silently worked through the problems.

‘Now that I see it, the problem difficulty was really ridiculously easy.’

For Choi Hyun, who had returned from the apocalypse, this level of exam could be solved with his eyes closed.

Then he paused briefly at the last problem.

It was the killer question.

The killer question was multiple choice, but while other problems required choosing one out of 5 options, the last killer question required choosing one out of 20 options.

‘This last problem is why there were almost no perfect scorers, right?’

Naturally, Choi Hyun from his previous life had also gotten this problem wrong.

No, not just this problem, but he hadn’t received such a high score overall.

Everything was new to him back then.

But this time was different.

Choi Hyun calmly read through the problem and without any hesitation, selected the correct answer and filled out his answer sheet.

‘It would definitely be a difficult problem for aspiring candidates.’

But for Choi Hyun, who had returned from the end of destruction, it was an easy problem if anything.

Soon after finishing his answer sheet, Choi Hyun quietly lay his head down and just waited for the bell to ring.

Ring ring ring ring!

“Alright, everyone stop. Take your hands off the answer sheets, and supervisors in the back, please collect the answer sheets.”

The answer sheets were collected.

Test-takers compared answers with their acquaintances.

But Choi Hyun left the exam hall without any regrets.

And some time later, exam results were reported from the established hunters who had been inserted into the Totoland office.

“I think I got everything right except the killer question.”

“Me too.”

“I had about two questions that were iffy besides the killer question, but I’m still confident.”

Confident reports came in one after another.

Park Gwang-sik smiled.

Ten billion, did you see that?

Our guys are this confident, so unless you get a perfect score, that 10 billion is going straight down the drain.

Park Gwang-sik immediately called the boss to report the results, then continued receiving his massage.

“Hey hey, massage a bit harder.”

“Yes, oppa.”

The next day, the 1st written exam results were announced on the Association website.

And the Totoland office was turned upside down.

“What is this?”

Park Gwang-sik’s hands began trembling like aspen leaves after checking the results.

Because a familiar name was listed as the top passer in the main popup window of the website.

[ 20xx Year 3rd Quarter Hunter Exam 1st Written Test Top Passer – Choi Hyun. ]

[ Congratulations to Choi Hyun on your perfect score! ]

Choi Hyun!

It was him.

The guy who had deposited a billion won the day before the exam!

Park Gwang-sik swallowed his dry saliva.

A whole billion won.

And the odds were 10 to 1.

Since it was a single-match betting system, they had no choice but to pay back 10 billion won.

Faced with this unexpected major incident, Park Gwang-sik called his boss.

The boss, who had been leisurely receiving a massage, was struck by lightning out of the blue.

– What?! A billion won?!

“Yes, and he’s the sole perfect scorer, so there’s nothing we can really challenge.”

– This is insane, hold on a second.

Han Gu-hong, the president of Totoland, had been receiving a massage when this bolt from the blue suddenly struck.

It wasn’t that the company didn’t have 10 billion won, but it was still at a level where they’d have to pour in almost all their available cash.

Besides, was this money really Han Gu-hong’s own?

To operate such a massive-scale betting site, there naturally existed a real owner who provided the capital and backing.

But he was someone who must never be revealed.

That’s why he never made contact first unless it was truly a special matter.

However, this case was one where he couldn’t avoid making contact.

After much deliberation, Han Gu-hong made the call.

– What’s the matter?

A middle-aged man’s voice came through the receiver.

Han Gu-hong spoke in a submissive tone.

“Well… an incident has occurred. Some sucker bet a billion won on this quarter’s Hunter exam, and it hit, so we’re in a situation where we have to pay out 10 billion.”

– Ten billion?

“Yes, and it seems the person who bet is the same guy who became the top scorer in this exam.”

At that moment.

Bang!

The massage room door opened.

The person who opened the door was a young man, and at the sudden appearance of this uninvited guest, the woman screamed and left, while the naked Han Gu-hong awkwardly got up from his position.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Choi Hyun. The one who got a perfect score on the written exam this time.”

“What?”

“You’re on the phone with your money man right now, aren’t you? Hand it over. I have something to say to your boss.”

“What do you mean…”

However, Choi Hyun pressed the hammer he’d brought against Han Gu-hong’s neck and took the phone.

“Hello.”

– Who is this?

“I’m the person who got a perfect score on the written exam this time. And I’m also the customer who should receive 10 billion from Totoland.”

– What do you want?

“Let’s meet briefly. If not, I’ll reveal to the world that the owner of Totoland is Han Yeong-min, the third son among the fourth generation of Taesong Group.”

At Choi Hyun’s words, the man on the other end of the line laughed.

– Do you have evidence?

“No. What am I to find evidence that a major corporation is determined to hide? But if I spill this fact and make the world noisy, what would Han Yeong-min’s father, the chairman of Taesong Group, think of Han Yeong-min?”

– …So what?

“If you keep pretending not to know, it won’t be fun, will it? I know why Han Yeong-min is doing this business. It’s to make cash to use in the succession competition, isn’t it? He’s actually scoring quite a few points with his father through that. But if things get noisy because of that money, what kind of treatment would Han Yeong-min receive? He’d become a sitting duck, pushed out of the succession competition, wouldn’t he?”

– …

The person on the other end falls silent.

Then he asked calmly.

– What do you want?

“I’ll discuss the details when we meet. That’s my first condition. I’ll leave my number with this guy here, so arrange a meeting today. If not, I’ll say exactly what I just said in the interview as the top scorer of the written exam.

Having finished what he had to say, Choi Hyun hung up the phone.

Then he used the marker he’d prepared to write his number on Han Gu-hong’s forearm.

As Choi Hyun finished writing the number and was about to leave, Han Gu-hong urgently called out to him.

“W-wait a minute!”

However, Choi Hyun didn’t even pretend to listen and left the place.

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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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