LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 13 - The Summoning Grind
Chapter 13 The Summoning Grind
Player Headquarters.
Park Chang-seok’s office.
“Representative! Representative!”
His secretary came rushing in.
“This is huge! You should check the news!”
“I’ve already seen it.”
Displayed on Park Chang-seok’s phone screen were the following headlines:
[Korea Breaks Tuesday Dungeon Records in Quick Succession! Who’s Behind It? The Headquarters’ Yaksha, Representative Park Chang-seok.]
[Representative Park Chang-seok: ‘Valuable Information Obtained at a Bargain from Overseas.’]
[The Proud Rankers Led by Representative Park Chang-seok! Aiming for World Records? The Public Thrilled with the Potential for Progress.]
It might seem like a minor issue.
But the people were excited, having been starved for good news.
The fact that Korea could challenge a world record!
– Always last in the league!
– The gap in national wealth created by lower-level benefits!
– A backward summoner nation!
After hearing only depressing news that crushed their self-esteem, how long had it been since such hopeful news arrived?
The name Baek Jin-woo, the record holder who briefly circulated in the community, had already been forgotten.
All the attention now focused on Park Chang-seok, after it was revealed that he was the main figure behind the record-breaking achievement.
“All this… it all came from Baek Jin-woo, didn’t it? That first-year gamer…”
The secretary cautiously inquired.
It was impossible not to know unless one was a fool.
After all.
Recently, Park Chang-seok had established the
Secretary Kim Byung-jin, Employee Yoo Ji-ah, and Employee Hwang Tae-seop.
All three were elite talents, the pride of the headquarters.
For the record, the
Their role was to drop everything and assist him whenever he contacted them.
Currently, they were focused on pulling every string to legally extract lower-grade summoning books from the state treasury.
“That’s right. This event solidified my conviction. At least for the rest of my term, I plan to dedicate all my resources to Baek Jin-woo.”
Park Chang-seok was certain.
He’d been in the industry for a long time.
Just from observing Baek Jin-woo’s expressions and gestures, he could tell.
Only those who had something substantial and plenty of it could behave with such ease.
From now on, Park Chang-seok’s task was simple.
He would help Baek Jin-woo and, in the process, slowly extract valuable information from him.
It was a mutually beneficial, win-win strategy.
“Byung-jin.”
“Yes?”
“What’s Baek Jin-woo doing right now?”
“He’s still ripping through summoning books, it seems.”
“…Still?”
“Yes, he took more today as well.”
Ha.
Was he really using up all of that in a single day?
Could a person even do that?
‘Why on earth?’
D-rank summons were mostly worthless, hardly worth selling.
Only from C-rank upward did the summons fetch a decent price.
“He’s not selling any of the summons, is he?”
“No, it seems he’s synthesizing all of them. We’ve confirmed that he visits the synthesis station every night.”
“Huh.”
The synthesis station.
It was a place where you could sacrifice summons to gain experience.
But it wasn’t efficient.
Running a dungeon even once would give you more experience than synthesizing summons.
“Oh, and he did mention something.”
“What did he say?”
Park Chang-seok’s eyes gleamed.
“He asked if he could use the 1.5 billion won to buy more lower-grade summoning books.”
“…What?”
Park Chang-seok was stunned.
Was 10,000 books a day not enough, and now he wanted even more?
“He also asked if we could sell them at a discounted price, so I said I’d consider it for now.”
“Hah.”
What could this be?
Was there a must-have summon among the F to D ranks?
If so, he would’ve already drawn it by now.
‘For now.’
The fact that Baek Jin-woo was reinvesting the 1.5 billion won he had earned suggested just how desperate he was.
“What should we do? It feels a bit awkward to ask the administration. They keep giving us the side-eye, asking why we keep pulling from our inventory.”
“The lower-grade summoning books are piling up in stock anyway. We need to clear them out eventually.”
“So… should we sell them at a discount?”
“Sell them at half price.”
“Excuse me?”
The secretary’s eyes widened.
He knew exactly how reckless that was.
As a public official, Park Chang-seok had to be careful with every action.
If caught giving someone an unreasonable privilege using state funds, it could become a point of political attack.
“Don’t worry, Byung-jin.”
Park Chang-seok smiled, as if he knew exactly what the secretary was thinking.
‘This is all part of a political move.’
Baek Jin-woo might one day become a hero of South Korea.
If it became known that Park Chang-seok had supported such a hero, both financially and materially, even at a political risk?
He would be praised for his extraordinary vision, and it could help secure even more votes.
Crafting such a narrative was child’s play for Park Chang-seok.
“Just do as I say. And remember, this is strictly confidential. Only you, Ji-ah, and Tae-seop can know about this.”
“…Yes, understood.”
* * *
Rip, rip!
The sound of paper tearing had now become a hallucination.
Ten thousand summoning books a day meant seventy thousand a week.
For about two weeks, Baek Jin-woo had torn through them nonstop.
He didn’t even go home anymore.
He rented a small apartment near the 「Player Zone」.
A 16-pyeong two-room unit, neither too fancy nor too shabby—just the right size.
‘Time to live independently.’
A man making over a billion won in a week.
It felt wrong to still live in his parents’ house while coming home late and barely sleeping.
– Jin-woo… I feel like I’m dying.
Rip, rip!
Ignoring Lamba’s whining, Baek Jin-woo stood up after finishing another 10,000 summoning books in the empty lot.
– Cream bun… I want a cream buuunnnn…!
He paid no mind to Lamba’s complaints and headed straight to the synthesis station.
Three years ago.
Just as Jamsil Tower had turned into the Tower of Trials, a nearby building had been entirely converted into a synthesis station.
Inside the building were over 500 rooms, each dedicated to synthesis.
The station was managed by the headquarters.
“Your queue number is 125.”
The wait time was about five minutes.
After lining up and waiting, Baek Jin-woo entered a room on the third floor and saw the summoning circle drawn on the floor.
[Welcome to the Synthesis Station!]
[Please proceed with your summon synthesis!]
“Lamba, get on.”
– Jin-woo! Don’t mess this up!
“Of course not.”
Summon synthesis required caution.
If he lost focus and accidentally used Lamba as a sacrifice, it would be a disaster.
Baek Jin-woo placed the ‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-rank) as the primary synthesizer and began putting other summons into the summoning circle one by one.
[Do you want to proceed with synthesis?]
[Y/N]
“Yes.”
A bright light burst from the summoning circle, swallowing the summons.
[Synthesis complete!]
[The ‘Fire Lizard’ (F-rank) has been sacrificed.]
[The ‘Blue Bat’ (F-rank) has been sacrificed.]
[The ‘Poison Goblin’ (E-rank) has been sacrificed.]
…….
The messages scrolled rapidly.
[The ‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-rank) has leveled up to 21.]
[The ‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-rank) has gained 2 Intelligence points.]
Lamba had reached level 21.
‘Only level 21?’
It had barely increased.
Even after sacrificing nearly 140,000 summons over the past two weeks, it had only gone up to level 21?
The max level was 100.
The higher the level, the more experience was needed.
To reach level 22, he would probably need to sacrifice as many summons as he had so far.
‘Well.’
It didn’t matter.
As mentioned before, this was just a storage clean-up.
* * *
The next day.
Rip, rip!
Once again, Baek Jin-woo sat in the empty lot, tearing through summoning books.
After about an hour of ripping, someone approached him.
‘Hmm?’
Usually, it was Secretary Kim Byung-jin who brought the 10,000 lower-grade summoning books.
He had already received his supply from the headquarters that morning, so this wasn’t likely from them.
‘Or is it…?’
He noticed the badge from the headquarters.
“Hello, this is our first time meeting, isn’t it? I’m Yoo Ji-ah from the headquarters.”
“Oh, yes.”
The chatterbox Lamba immediately fell silent at the appearance of a new face, a woman.
Baek Jin-woo stopped tearing the books and stood up, showing respect.
“What brings you here?”
“It’s about the summoning book transaction you mentioned last time.”
“Ah.”
Baek Jin-woo’s eyes sparkled.
Right, he had planned to increase the number of summoning books since nothing good had come out lately.
Was he worried about wasting 1.5 billion won?
Not at all.
He had earned it easily and could always earn more.
At this moment, the right thing to do was to invest in himself.
“The usual price of a summoning book is 5,000 won, correct? You know that, right?”
“Yes, I know. As I mentioned last time, can we negotiate the price a bit…”
“Haha, yes. After some discussion, considering your recent contributions, we’ve decided to offer a half-price deal on this 1.5 billion won transaction.”
“Oh, really?”
As expected, Park Chang-seok came through.
This was a huge win.
At 2,500 won per book, 1.5 billion would get him 60,000 books!
He’d be able to rip through even more today.
“And on top of that…”
Yoo Ji-ah paused for a moment before continuing.
“We’ve also managed to secure an additional 1 billion won from the ‘Talent Management Budget.’”
Wow.
Really?
That’s an extra 40,000 books, making it 100,000 in total?
“However, we do ask that you keep this confidential…”
“Oh, of course.”
No need to explain further.
“If I’m the only one benefiting, I definitely won’t say a word.”
“And we hope you understand that this is to foster a more cooperative relationship between you and us.”
“Heh heh, yes, I understand very well.”
A perfect justification.
Park Chang-seok’s determination was evident.
His desire to help was clear.
‘How admirable.’
Baek Jin-woo decided to accept their goodwill.
Along with the 100,000 summoning books.
* * *
Rip, rip!
– Jin-woo.
“Hmm?”
– How long do we have to keep doing this?
“Until we summon the Training Instructor and Explosive Dragon Sage.”
‘Training Instructor’ was short for the Training Instructor summon, and ‘Explosive Dragon Sage’ was abbreviated to ‘Explosive Sage.’
– Aaaah! I’m going to get a complex just from hearing the ripping sound!
There was no choice.
If he hadn’t started in the first place, maybe he wouldn’t feel this way, but now that he had come this far, he had to see it through to the end, no matter how frustrating.
He had already torn through the 100,000 books.
Now, he was working through the extra 10,000 he had left.
The sun had already set, and the surroundings were growing dark.
Growl.
His stomach was rumbling, but he had no intention of stopping.
– You stubborn man! You cruel, stubborn man!
“Hmm, I’ve heard that before.”
When it came to 「Battle of Summoners」, he was notoriously stubborn, even by others’ standards.
He had probably never slept more than five hours a night throughout his school years.
Rip, rip!
[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained the summon ‘White Serpent’ (F-rank)!]
[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained the summon ‘Giant Rhinoceros Beetle’ (F-rank)!]
…….
Please.
Please, just appear already.
I won’t ask for any other EX-rank.
Just the Training Instructor and the Explosive Sage.
Come on, just those two.
Honestly, the other ones?
I don’t need them.
If I can just summon those two, I’ll easily reach the top of the world rankings.
Of course, it would take some time, but.
Rip, rip!
Baek Jin-woo was a machine.
A summoning-book-ripping machine.
How much time had passed by?
Rumble!
The lightning effects striking the torn paper were different this time.
Crackle, crackle!
There were far more sparks than usual, and they were golden in color.
– W-what’s happening?!
Lamba was flustered, and Baek Jin-woo’s eyes widened.
‘That’s…’
It was the same effect as when the Wind Fairy had appeared!
Swoosh!
Finally?!
[You are using a ‘Lower-Grade Summoning Book’!]
[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained the summon ‘Explosive Dragon Sage’ (EX-rank)!]
“Whoaahhhh!”
Baek Jin-woo let out a shout without realizing it.
– Kyahhhhh!
Lamba flipped through the air, squealing in excitement.
‘Is this real?’
It was real.
After all this time, EX-ranks did come out if you kept summoning.
My Dragon Sage!
The real Dragon Sage!
How anxious he had been!
Was I mistaken after all?
Was Lamba the only EX-rank all along?
That fear had vanished in an instant.
“No.”
Now wasn’t the time to stop.
Rip, rip!
– Jin-woo?
“We can’t stop now.”
He had to summon in quick succession.
“Time to trigger my streak.”
‘Streak,’ short for ‘lucky streak,’ was a quirk of Baek Jin-woo’s where, once something good was summoned, ripping more books in quick succession would often lead to more good results.
“Haaaa! Let’s gooo! Keep ripping!”
– Keep ripping, rip, rip, rippp!
With renewed vigor, he tore through the remaining summoning books like a madman.
Then, after about 300 more…
Rumble, rumble!
[You are using a ‘Lower-Grade Summoning Book’!]
[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained the summon ‘Training Instructor’ (EX-rank)!]
It really happened.
The summon had appeared.
– I-is this for real?
Lamba was so shocked she looked like she was about to faint.
“Whoaa!”
Seeing the ‘Training Instructor’ on his screen, Baek Jin-woo collapsed backward in disbelief.
Finally!
At long last!
‘I did it…’
Dopamine flooded his brain, almost as if it was pouring out.
This, this was it!
Was he going to die of happiness?
Yes, this is exactly why summoning is so addictive!