Mr. Kim Strikes It Rich with Auto-Hunting [Novel] Chapter 36

Manage Fixed Team expansion conditions:

1. At least two highest-grade laborers.

2. All laborers must be high-grade.

Condition one had already been met once Arthur reached highest-grade.

The problem was condition two…

“Chwik?“

Hm.

I have to get those guys to high-grade…?

A headache hit me all of a sudden.

“Boss, why like that?”

“What is this sudden mention of high-grade, Director?”

Right.

Worrying about it alone wouldn’t produce an answer anyway.

Time to put our heads together.

“A message just popped up. It says that to expand the Manage Fixed Team slots, every registered laborer has to be high-grade.”

I laid out only the essentials.

The reaction?

“Weak bastards, high-grade…?”

“Hmm.”

“Do the orc misters have to get stronger?”

“Chwiiik?“

Everyone tilted their heads in confusion.

Naturally.

The orcs had originally been low-grade.

They had only just moved up to intermediate-grade not long ago.

Yet now, to high-grade…?

“Arthur himself was high-grade until just a few hours ago, after all.”

“Boss speaks truth! Arthur got sturdy today!”

That was true.

Even before that…

“Even before you became highest-grade, there was a huge gap between you and the orcs.”

“That is true! Those bastards are weak!”

“Chwik!“

The orcs nodded in agreement.

That meant there was a long way to go…

The bigger issue was that nobody even knew how to get there.

“This is rough.”

“Mm… Removing the orc pack from the fixed team and taking on other laborers is also one option, Director.”

Gasp.

Saying that right in front of them?

“Chwik!“

“Bad teddy!”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t wrong either.

“Chwiiik?!“

Hey, fair is fair.

Honestly, that really was the simplest way.

Even so…

“I don’t really feel like doing that. Motion denied.”

“Understood.”

“Chwiii…!

Last time, when I took the slimes off the fixed team, I felt it.

Squeak, squeeeak—.

Seeing them wriggle in upset, for one.

[A laborer is disappointed by the unilateral breach of contract.]

[Word of the Manpower Office Director spreads among waiting laborers.]

[Your reputation decreases.]

And those system messages too.

Removing someone from the fixed team wasn’t just a breezy farewell.

…Was that what it felt like?

It just left a bad taste in my mouth…

Yoon Hajun, twenty-three years old.

Occupation:

Manpower Office Director and manual laborer.

So I knew full well.

You put a team together to work, and then tell people to clear out for no good reason?

I couldn’t stand that sort of thing.

“Chwik! Chwik! Chwiiik!“

“Um… They say they’ll work hard, so please give them just one chance. That’s what the orc misters said!”

See?

How could I kick them out when they were like that?

If they weren’t pulling their weight, that would be one thing.

These orcs?

They were pulling their share just fine.

I couldn’t dump them.

“The question is whether we can actually raise them to high-grade…”

“Hmm… Arthur thought about it…! Seems like they can become high-grade!”

Oh?

They can?

*

How could grades be raised?

In my experience, the required conditions differed by grade.

First, from low-grade to intermediate-grade.

That part was easy.

“We just had to max out their EXP through training and then hand them a suitable weapon.”

“True!”

Next, from high-grade to highest-grade.

Come to think of it, this was similar.

Once Arthur’s EXP hit the ceiling, obtaining equipment with which he shared an affinity pushed him up immediately.

“So Arthur had an idea! First give high-grade weapons to weak bastards. Train them, and they go up! True, right?”

“Hmm…”

In other words…

“Originally we gave them the weapons after building EXP, but you want to do it in reverse?”

“Kyah, our boss! Exactly!”

“Isn’t that just three in the morning and four in the evening? The same difference?”

“Three mornings? What is that…? Arthur does not know difficult words.”

“He means it comes out to the exact same thing either way, Laborer Arthur.”

“Eh? Different! High-grade weapon? Takes lots of strength!”

Sounds like wearing sandbag weights.

True enough…

Working out with weights strapped on was definitely effective.

Would it be too grueling, though?

“Arthur thinks! If weak bastards want to get strong, they must suffer! If they want, Arthur will roll them through the mud!”

“Chwik! Chwiiik!“

“Everyone ready?!”

“Chwik!“

Wait, when did he put on that red drill instructor hat?

Meanwhile, the orcs raised their hands in instant agreement.

“Arthur will make men out of these bastards!”

“Chwik! Chwik!“

“Uh… Arthur…”

How many times do I have to tell you?

They were never human to begin with…

They’re orcs.

Still, you had to respect the drive.

“Heh! The orc misters say they love it! Then Rani just needs to craft them, right?! Rani’s happy to!”

And our lucky charm was on board too.

“Can you make them right now, though? You must be worn out from making Arthur’s shield just now.”

“Mm… Rani’s a little tired, but Rani can do it! Rani wants to make them! Start right now? These will be quick to craft!”

She could even make them right away?

Nothing left to say, then.

Let’s get right to it.

“You may take the materials from here, Laborer Rani.”

“Whoa! Hooray for teddy!”

“Uurgh—.“

Look at that teamwork.

The second materials were needed, the bundle was offered right up.

Thanks to that, the hammer work began at once.

The result arrived before long.

“Ta-da! Kokkok puk kkwa-ang! The powered-up version!”

“Same weapons again, huh.”

“Yup! They said they liked these best!”

Got to respect personal preferences, yep…

They looked similar on the surface, but was something different?

“Chwik—?“

Thump!

I had been wondering, but watching the orc pitch forward and hit the dirt the moment it picked up the new weapon cleared things up immediately.

Aha.

Definitely different, all right.

“Kwik?“

Merely holding them required gripping with everything they had.

One swing, and…

Whoosh—, whoooosh—!

Whoa.

How many times are they spinning around in circles?

They couldn’t handle the weight at all.

“Think you can reach high-grade like this?! Do it properly!”

“Chwik! Chwik!“

Well… since they said they’d give it a shot, I should cheer them on.

“Do your best, everyone.”

A little suffering would be a massive win if they hit high-grade, wouldn’t it?

Would the orc misters get specialties once they reached high-grade?

Usually, summons had specialties starting at high-grade.

Something to look forward to.

How will it turn out…?

*

Beijing, China.

Though China was now relegated to has-been status after being knocked out of the Five Great Powers, the Central Awakened Management Bureau was in absolute turmoil.

“Director, the higher-ups called again…”

“What now?”

“They want to know why there’s still no news about the Manpower Office Director naturalizing…”

“Hah…“

Enough to drive a person completely mad.

Work was already piled mountain-high, and having to endure that kind of absurd nonsense on top of it was sickening.

“Naturalizing, my foot…”

That bastard, the Manpower Office Director, wouldn’t even answer calls asking for a single weapon to be crafted…

No, really.

After squeezing so much out of them, couldn’t that hunter at least make one weapon?

Utterly shameless.

“When will Chen Yu be ready to serve as a proper combat asset?”

“Still needs a bit more time. Chen Yu is only now working on clearing the 57th floor…”

“Sigh… If only that Manpower Office Director had crafted the weapon, Chen Yu would’ve climbed to the 60th floor by now.”

No matter how much the Director thought about it, indignation flared.

If only materials and elixirs had been taken, fine.

Carrying off the Robin Hood’s Bow Fragment and the Elixir of Potential Increase, only to clam up completely afterward?

Outraged, the bureau launched a deeper investigation to track down the hunter by any means possible.

The problem was…

“We carried out the investigation exactly as we always do, but we still haven’t caught a trace of a tail.”

“How does that make any sense? What, is that person an actual ghost?”

Was the Manpower Office Director the only hunter trying to conceal their identity?

Naturally, there had been quite a few.

Almost all of them were eventually exposed.

In modern society, the movement of money couldn’t be hidden.

Hunters in particular: making enormous sums inevitably led to enormous spending.

Anonymous magic stone exchanges?

What good was that?

Spending the money always left a trail.

“We thought we’d definitely find the Manpower Office Director this time, even if staying so deeply hidden wouldn’t make it easy…”

And nothing turned up at all?

Truly, the more one dug, the less that person made any rational sense.

“Didn’t you say the Manpower Office Director is still sweeping through S-grade dungeons even now?”

“Yes. Word is that hunter cleared the dungeon in India and has wrapped up Egypt as well.”

“Is that person someone who just enjoys clearing dungeons…?”

An S-grade dungeon.

Back when Wei Jin was still alive, China had cleared one too.

Back then, surely…

“A hundred high-grade magic stones dropped from that alone.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Sitting on that massive haul of magic stones without spending them? Complete lunatic.”

Don’t Koreans usually go crazy over luxury houses and foreign cars?

Not buying those either…

Was that person some kind of ascetic sage?

“It seems this is…”

It was obvious what the deputy director was about to suggest with that cautious tone.

To give up.

True, fair enough.

Even to the Director’s eyes, the Manpower Office Director was abnormal.

The deeper they dug, the worse the bad feeling grew.

“Right. Chen Yu will reach the 60th floor in time… If something happens before then, whew…”

They would just have to petition the Manpower Office Director again.

Whether they could offer terms that would satisfy that monster was another question…

Just as their resolve was steadily wearing thin—

Ding—!

“Director, a list of recently registered Awakened in South Korea just arrived in my inbox?”

“What? Why would that come to the deputy director’s email?”

“I’m not sure either…”

“Isn’t that the exact list we tried and failed to obtain?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Who sent it?”

“It’s anonymous, but I’ll trace it right away.”

“Go ahead and try.”

Not that they’d actually manage to trace it…

Whoever obtained intel that China couldn’t get and sent it over wouldn’t have been sloppy enough to leave a trail.

Still…

Who on earth were they?

Intelligence gathering capability superior to China’s.

On a global scale, only a handful of entities possessed that kind of reach…

Regardless.

“Hand it over for now. Let’s check it.”

Whoever sent it, and whatever the motive behind it…

Yes.

Since it was the exact intelligence they had been searching for, they would swallow the bait with eyes wide open.

*

Both the hunters who had fled India and the civilians longed for their homeland.

“I miss the view of the Ganges River even more today.”

“Tell me about it…”

The cherished homeland they could no longer see.

Dreaming of it day in and day out, yet unable to go back.

Crossing the border meant running straight into hordes of monsters, so how could anyone return?

“If all the hunters from India banded together, wouldn’t there be a way?”

“Keep dreaming.”

“Yeah, forget it. Most are in the low-to-mid 50th floors, and with so many countries taking them in, they’ve all naturalized…”

Impossible.

So they had given up.

Until unexpected news arrived.

[Breaking News) South Korean Hunter, the Manpower Office Director, Successfully Conquers India’s Broken S-Grade Dungeon!]

“The Manpower Office Director? I heard that hunter resolved China’s S-grade dungeon! Why would that person come here?”

“My point exactly. I heard that person’s commission fee is ridiculously high…”

Rumors had circulated enough for everyone to know.

Just how much the Manpower Office Director had taken from China.

Resolving the crisis was one thing, but the sum demanded had been staggering.

Well, if paying money put an end to a national catastrophe, it was a bargain.

The real issue was:

“Doesn’t our India lack the money to commission a request…?”

Naturally, there was no money.

With the country ruined, where would money come from?

The little wealth that remained had reportedly been swept clean by those in power before they fled.

Could it be…

Did those people place the request?

“Like hell they did. I just heard the politicians were too busy offering bribes to the UK.”

“Then who did?”

“They say the refugees pooled whatever they had and submitted a request to South Korea.”

“Huh? There were refugees with that kind of money?”

“No. Even put together, it was pocket change. That’s why the Manpower Office Director is incredible. Extorting China because they have money, but choosing to help us for nothing because our country collapsed. Wasn’t that the whole point?”

“My goodness…”

Such a hero still existed in this world?

Unbelievable…

Could that person be after something else?

“What is there left to give in a ruined country…? People say that hero even helped Egypt without taking a single thing in return. What is that if not a hero?”

“Egypt too?”

“Yeah. Flew straight over to help them right after helping us.”

Good heavens…

Indeed.

“A true hero.”

The hero of India and Egypt, the Manpower Office Director.

The rumor spread like wildfire.

From the mouths of Indians, from the mouths of Egyptians.

And from the mouths of people across the globe.

To the point where even ordinary civilians who knew nothing about the hunter world came to learn the name: Manpower Office Director.