Chapter 28
The capsule sales counter at Lase’s Korean branch.
Shin Bong-hyun, the marketing manager for the luxury section, wasn’t feeling particularly good today.
“Ugh. So irritating.”
He was way too busy.
Despite the fact that the luxury section didn’t usually have many customers, they hadn’t stopped coming for the past three days.
The reason was clear.
The new model capsules developed by Lase.
It was all because of the monster machine, ‘Apollo,’ released with performance that far surpassed existing machines.
“Why are these people coming one after another?”
As expected of the latest model, Apollo boasted an exorbitant price. Naturally, it was a price that ordinary citizens couldn’t even dream of affording.
However, even such ordinary citizens could experience a free trial.
For seven days after the release of Apollo, a free trial event was held for those who visited the Lase headquarters.
Thanks to that, for the past three days, the luxury section had been bustling with all sorts of bargain hunters, which was quite unfitting for its name.
“The luxury section should only cater to people with a certain level of taste.”
And in Bong-hyun’s judgment, he was the perfect fit for the luxury section.
A face handsome enough to catch anyone’s eye as they walked down the street. And a styling that matched his face, from head to toe, not a hair out of place.
Naturally, he had received numerous modeling offers.
Rejecting all those modeling offers and working in the luxury section was because he believed that this position suited his taste perfectly.
“But why are these riffraff…”
Seeing a man entering the luxury section wearing a somewhat shabby hoodie automatically made his expression frown.
Bong-hyun quickly scanned him.
Hoodie, jeans, sneakers. Crossbody bag.
A clean appearance was quite likable, but that was about it. From head to toe, there wasn’t a single thing that matched the luxury section’s standards.
“Oh, another riffraff. So annoying.”
Having grasped that, he quickly approached the customer with a smile.
“Hello, sir. I’m Shin Bong-hyun from the luxury section. The trial event is until 5 p.m., and it’s closed for today.”
“…Huh? Trial event?”
“Yes, sir. The trial event is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., so if you’d like to experience it, please come again tomorrow.”
“Whether it’s an event or whatever, I came to buy capsules.”
“Yes?”
Upon hearing that, Bong-hyun scanned the man once again.
There were occasionally customers who bought capsules in the luxury section wearing such attire.
In such cases, there were usually two possibilities.
Those who mistook the floor and entered the luxury section.
Or those who simply wanted to show off to the staff.
The former didn’t matter, but the latter often led to somewhat tiresome situations.
They’d demand to see this product and that product, even though they had no intention of buying anything.
However, the response was surprisingly simple.
“Poking at their pride.”
Blatantly ignoring them or making remarks like “The price might be a bit burdensome” was considered third-rate behavior.
Of course, emotionally, he wanted to say something even more harsh to drive them away, but if a complaint was filed, it would be troublesome.
In such situations, it was better to subtly show through attitude rather than words.
Responding a little late to the customer’s words or maintaining a high posture. Pretending not to understand even when they repeated themselves.
“Excuse me?”
“Sorry, could you repeat that one more time?”
It was just like this moment.
‘Either they’ll turn around exhausted and leave, or they’ll actually buy something out of anger. It’s one or the other.’
Either way, it was fine with Bong-hyun.
The luxury section operated on a system where sales led to results.
If someone bought something out of anger, there was nothing more gratifying. It was what they called “pride-poking marketing.”
But this method couldn’t be applied to ‘Apollo.’
Apollo wasn’t just something you could buy if you had money.
So he sincerely hoped the man would just leave.
And in response to Bong-hyun’s attitude, the man in the hoodie chuckled and spoke up.
“Wow, there really are people like this. I thought they only existed in morning dramas.”
“Sir?”
“No, anyway, I came here to buy for real, so show me the models. Artemi… I mean, Apollo.”
“…This way, sir.”
Bong-hyun smiled and led the man, even though his expression was creasing inside.
“The finest machine we boast, Apollo.”
Whether the title of the finest machine was an exaggeration or not, Apollo’s appearance was splendid from the outside.
And the price was also top-notch. The price tag next to it made a staggering sound.
“Sir, Apollo is not just something you can buy with money.”
The reason Apollo was special was because of the headquarters’ instructions that it could only be sold to ‘Platinum Grade’ members.
“What a waste of time. Can we confirm with this?”
The man pointed to the biometric recognition device next to Apollo’s table.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Bong-hyun glanced briefly at the man’s words but the man didn’t seem to care at all.
Instead, he hesitated without hesitation and raised his hand to the recognition device installed next to the price tag.
‘As if he’s Platinum Grade.’
Bong-hyun snorted.
The Platinum Grade accounts for the top 0.01% of the population enjoying Lase. It wasn’t a grade that could be achieved simply by being good at a game.
Ping.
-Grade confirmation complete.
The account grade was confirmed through the registered fingerprint.
Bong-hyun glanced at the grade displayed on the screen.
Of course, it wasn’t Platinum Grade.
He smirked.
“Sir. As I mentioned earlier, Apollo is for Platinum Grade…”
Bong-hyun stopped abruptly as he suddenly realized something strange.
The obvious riffraff in front of him wasn’t Platinum Grade.
But it didn’t seem like he was Bronze Grade, Silver, or even Gold Grade…
“Um, just a moment, sir.”
Bong-hyun checked the screen again.
“Oh!”
His face turned pale with shock.
Seeing Bong-hyun’s astonished expression, the man in the hoodie, Karpe, chuckled.
“I don’t think there should be any problem with the purchase. What do you think?”
“…Of course, sir. Shall we proceed right away?”
Bong-hyun swiftly shifted his stance as if it were nothing.
Externally, he maintained as much composure as possible, but his heart was pounding.
‘Black? This is huge!’
Just being able to sell Apollo was already a remarkable achievement.
But if the target buyer was the ultra-exclusive Black Grade?
It would undoubtedly have a significant impact on the next performance review…
“But before that, could you change the person in charge?”
“Yes?”
“You seem a bit tired. You’ve been slow to respond since earlier.”
“Well, that’s…”
Bong-hyun broke out in a cold sweat.
He never imagined that deliberately delaying his response to the man’s words would backfire like this.
“Whatever happened, even NPCs are better at serving than actual people.”
The NPC attendant he met at the auction house had been truly flawless.
“I’m short on time, so please hurry.”
“Yes.”
Unable to refuse the words of the Black Grade customer, Bong-hyun’s face turned ashen.
The employee who had just been with Karpe was swiftly replaced by a new one.
The new employee was a beautiful woman with long hair that gave off an intellectual vibe.
“Hello, sir. I’m Hee-ae Lee, the head of marketing. You mentioned some inconvenience with the service?”
“It’s not so much an inconvenience as it is that I wasn’t able to communicate well with the previous salesperson.”
“I see. Allow me to apologize. I promise to address your concerns ‘definitely and absolutely,’ and from now on, I’ll personally guide you.”
After that, everything proceeded smoothly.
Whether it was because of her position as the head of the department or not, she precisely grasped the points Karpe wanted and led the conversation.
“While Apollo is touted as the top machine on the market, there is actually another machine that is only sold to Black Grade customers.”
“Oh. Is there such a thing?”
In truth, Karpe knew all about it, but he played along appropriately.
“Yes, sir. Right this way.”
The team leader led Karpe to a place deep within the luxury section, where only those with administrator-level ID cards could access. The machine was located there.
“Artemis. It’s Apollo’s sibling machine, and the rarest product among all existing machines.”
“It looks exactly like Apollo on the outside.”
“Not only on the outside, but it’s also the same product in reality. The blueprints, parts, and even the performance are identical to Apollo.”
In essence, it wasn’t just a sibling product in name; it was a product that was perfectly identical in composition and performance.
There was only one difference.
“Artemis is a 100% handmade work by the developer of Lase, in other words, our chairman. There are only three of these products in Korea in total.”
The manufacturing process and components were identical, but the maker was different.
That was the sole reason why Artemis was unique compared to Apollo.
“Hmm.”
In truth, Karpe’s principle was that as long as the performance was the same, it didn’t matter who made it. However, because Cheonma emphasized that he must absolutely get Artemis, he proceeded with the purchase.
“Can I purchase it right away? How much does it cost?”
“Black Grade customers can purchase all our products at cost price.”
With that explanation, she revealed that the cost price of Artemis was $83,000. Approximately 100 million Korean won.
It was an amount that could easily be paid with the money in his cross bag.
“I’ll buy it right away. How long will delivery and installation take?”
“If your home is in Seoul, delivery and installation should take up to one hour.”
“Wow.”
This was the dignity of the Black Grade. It was much faster than he thought.
“Alright, please proceed now.”
“Thank you. Is there anything else you need?”
“I’m fine. I just came to buy the capsule today.”
Though he was tempted to explore other things, his desire to play games was stronger.
“Understood. It was an honor to have you as our customer today. Please feel free to contact us if you need anything.”
With those words, Manager Hee-ae handed her business card to Karpe.
With her farewell, the capsule purchase came to an end.
As she promised, delivery and installation took less than an hour. After all, Junghoon’s house wasn’t far from Lase’s Korean branch.
Karpe immediately logged back into the game as soon as Artemis was installed.
“Oh, you’re back? You came back faster than I expected.”
Cheonma greeted him.
“Was there any trouble?”
“Not at all. Oh, the staff seemed a bit surprised when I paid in cash all of a sudden. It caught them off guard.”
Thinking back, it was suspicious for anyone to carry such a large amount of cash with them.
Although he could have been suspected of the source of the money, fortunately, the staff only seemed momentarily surprised but continued with the transaction as usual.
“It’s a relief that everything went smoothly.”
“If a third-generation chaebol walks around with a bunch of cash, people don’t really question the source of the money, do they? It’s similar to that.”
“I’m not a chaebol though?”
“But being a Black Grade member of Lase is much more impressive than being a chaebol.”
“Oh…”
He had registered his account grade up to that point. He admired Cheonma’s cunningness once again.
“Has anything happened with you, Hyung?”
“Whether something happened or not, it’s up in the air.”
“Huh? Was that just a casual greeting or was there actually something?”
“Well, you see…”
That’s when it happened.
“Mew!”
Mukhyang popped out of Karpe’s shadow and hopped onto Karpe’s shoulder.
“Mew! Mew!”
“Oh, Hey, Hyeongi. Did you miss me?”
“Mew! Mew!”
“…Why is he like this?”
He was usually affectionate, but this level of excitement seemed excessive after only a few hours.
“It’s understandable. He’s been with me the whole time.”
“My room?”
Why would he be there?
He looked at Cheonma with a mixed look of confusion, but Cheonma just shrugged.
“I don’t know either. Both he and I were tied to you, so maybe the system just bundled us together? Well, regardless of the reason, as long as the summons are done properly, it’s fine.”
“That’s true.”
It was certainly a strange occurrence, but as long as there was nothing wrong with both of them, Karpe was fine with it.
“Alright, let’s start the quest again from now.”
Throughout the purchase and installation of the capsule, he could only think about the quest.
Today, he must retrieve the artifact of the Archmage without fail.
With that determination, Karpe set out on his hunt again.
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