The Skill Maker

“……Excuse me?”

“Is there a reason to pressure you in making those potions? Before you joined, all the members were already above average hunters that received attention wherever they went . ”

It meant that there was no reason to make the potions exclusive .

‘Well, someone is overflowing with confidence . ’

Even if other hunters increased their stats by using a potion, Kim Yoo-Na was confident that the members would still win .

She was definitely worthy enough to be the clan’s leader .

She was confident that they would rule over even without using those tricks .

And her dignity .

Hyun-Soo felt that Kim Yoo-Na was able to become this confident and have pride because she didn’t question her skills .

‘I knew it . ’

He had a keen eye .

The more he spent time with her, the more he admired her .

The confidence that a strong hunter displayed was really beautiful .

“I see . I guess there was no point in asking . ”

“It’s fine . I understand why you would ask . But, I am a bit sad though . Did I do something to make you not trust me?”

“No, it’s not that . You already know all the things that I went through…”

“Oh, right . You did . Right . ”

Hyun-Soo was surprised, so he tried to come up with an excuse .

It felt like sweat was rolling down his body .

Hearing a beautiful woman sorrowfully express how sad she was wasn’t good for anyone’s heart .

Hyun-Soo felt like it was his fault .

When he mentioned the past events, Kim Yoo-Na must’ve understood because a small smile appeared on her face .

‘……She’s not doing it on purpose, right?’

Hyun-Soo was confused by how quickly the conversation changed .

“Are you free this afternoon?”

“H-huh? Well, I don’t have any plans . ”

“Then, do you want to go to the black market together? As you know from Mr . Herhim’s personality…it’s better to go as soon as possible . ”

Hyun-Soo felt a bit disappointed because there were some potions that were incomplete, but he nodded his head .

“Then let’s meet at the entrance in an hour . ”

“Okay . ”

When Hyun-Soo stood up, Riri, who was playing on his shoulder, slid off so they started flapping their wings .

Kim Yoo-Na’s eyes naturally turned to Riri .

“It’s…Riri, right? When you do something with Riri, please call me too . I think it’ll be good research material . ”

Kim Yoo-Na’s eyes were filled with excitement and expectation when she made that request .

Even though she said it was for research material, it looked like she was trying to fill her personal greed .

She reminded him of Hyuna .

It didn’t really fit well with Kim Yoo-Na, but Hyun-Soo thought it was pretty cute .

Maybe that’s why .

“Ha ha, okay . ”

He laughed .

He felt Kim Yoo-Na looking at him with disappointment as he left the room .

‘I guess Riri must be really cute . ’

Honestly, Riri was pretty cute .

But since Hyun-Soo was a guy, it was hard to understand why Hyuna and Kim Yoo-Na were desperately trying to look at Riri .

‘Is it because they both like cute things?’

Hyun-Soo assumed it’s because of Riri’s appearance and returned to his dorm to grab the potions .

Other than Hyuna and Kim Yoo-Na, Hyun-Soo never imagined there would be others that would react the same way .

***

“Welcome . So, you brought the potion, right?”

After they passed the security check, they were led to the most private in the black market and Herhim welcome Hyun-Soo with open arms .

Like the first time, Herhim walked towards him with a warm smile .

But Kim Yoo-Na already informed Hyun-Soo about Herhim’s personality, so Hyun-Soo smiled awkwardly and handed the shopping bag he brought with him .

“Oh my! Precious items shouldn’t be placed in a bag like this . I’ll provide you with a bag next time . ”

Herhim was extremely shocked when he saw the shopping bag .

“Did Yoo-Na tell you?”

“Yes . ”

“Great . That makes things a lot easier . We’re going to auction it first so that we can promote it as well . I’ll make sure to give you a big share . After we deduct the processing fee, we’ll give you the rest . If you want, we can give you that amount in cash . And in the future, we’ll do whatever you ask, as long as it’s possible . But . ”

Hyun-Soo didn’t know much about this world, so to him, it sounded like a good deal .

However, Herhim wasn’t finished .

“I want you to sell only through us . ”

“Didn’t we already agree to do that?”

“Ha ha ha! You’re right . We did . I just wanted to make sure . I look forward to…huh?”

Hyun-Soo was nervous about what he was going to say, but released a sigh of relief when Herhim said something he already knew .

But Herhim’s smiling face turned into a serious one .

Hyun-Soo felt overpowered by his stern expression .

Hyun-Soo knew what it was regarding, so his body became stiff .

Herhim probably wouldn’t do this, but Hyun-Soo thought that maybe Herhim would try to backstab him after getting Hyun-Soo to put down his guard . That thought made Hyun-Soo nervous .

“What is that?!”

Herhim yelled .

“The thing on your head! That! Am I hallucinating?”

“This?”

“Yes! You can see it too, right? That means it’s actually there . What exactly is that?!”

He remembered putting Riri into his coat pocket, but it must’ve flew out and went to the top of his head .

The well-mannered gentleman quickly stood up and after running up to Hyun-Soo, he yelled because he couldn’t contain his excitement .

Hyun-Soo almost fell, but after calmly stepping back, he extended his hand out .

Riri’s wings gently fluttered and flew in front of Hyun-Soo .

“Gasp . Pant……!”

His heart……!

Herhim jokingly grabbed his chest .

It meant that he was that shocked to see Riri .

“That…what is that?”

“Mr . Herhim . We came here to talk about selling the potion . ”

Kim Yoo-Na intercepted when she noticed Herhim’s hand shaking like someone that was experiencing drug withdrawal .

Kim Yoo-Na must’ve felt embarrassed because her cheeks became red and she knew she reacted the same way as him .

But Herhim reacted more aggressively .

“I’ll exclude two, no three percent of the processing fee . How about it?”

When he gave a specific amount, Kim Yoo-Na looked at Hyun-Soo and waited for him to make a decision .

‘There’s nothing for me to hide . ’

He was going to show it off anyways .

On top of that, a lot more people were going to see Riri as time passes .

And that’ll raise Hyun-Soo’s and the clan’s value .

“It’s a monster . ”

“Monster! Is it from the colorful portal? No . I heard the corpse was taken to the research lab . ”

Even though they didn’t tell him, Herhim already had the information and he mumbled as if something was wrong .

“That’s correct . The fairy is from the colorful portal . It was in an egg when I found it and then it hatched . ”

“Tell me the details . ”

“There isn’t much to say, but…”

“One million!”

“Where should I start?”

***

Hyun-Soo was going to tell him anyways, but after stalling for a bit, he earned one million won .

‘It’s really easy to make money . ’

He never imagined this happening .

Herhim agreed to categorize the information into the special category and not reveal it to anyone .

Hyun-Soo asked why he was gathering information he wasn’t going to sell and Herhim said .

“There’s nothing more pleasing than satisfying my curiosity . ”

After telling him about Riri, they finished talking about selling the potion and how they were going to share the money .

After talking about the official duties, they started talking about more private matters .

“Right, I heard . You’re not getting approval?”

“Yes and according to them, there’s an issue in management, so that’s why it’s being delayed . ”

“Bullshit . ”

“That kind of language is…but I agree . ”

“Is it because we got involved?”

“That’s probably part of it . But it’s probably because they’re disgusted by us . ”

Herhim clicked his tongue .

“Did you know that the number of portal hunts are decreasing?”

“The number of hunts are decreasing?”

“That’s right . The number of approval have decreased significantly . Because of that, the portals that are closer to their pop-up time aren’t being taken care of, so it has become a big headache . ”

“Why is that?”

Kim Yoo-Na was confused .

Hyun-Soo was also curious .

Other groups and guilds were probably getting approvals, but after listening to what Herhim said, the hunters refused .

“The reason is simple . It’s because of the colorful portal . ”

“Aren’t ordinary portals and colorful portals different? Why are they avoiding the ordinary portals?”

Hyun-Soo had an idea why .

“Are they getting more scared of the colorful portal?”

Herhim nodded his head after being surprised by what Hyun-Soo said .

“You’re right . That’s the answer . Since there aren’t a lot of information regarding the colorful portal, everyone is trying to be careful . Not that long ago, two very famous groups entered and didn’t come back, so it impacted heavily amongst the hunters . ”

“Did they receive the request?”

“No, they didn’t . They said they were confident so they volunteered . ”

Kim Yoo-Na’s clan was the only clan that succeeded in hunting the colorful portal .

Even though the information about the colorful portal was revealed through the black market, it wasn’t that effective .

The colorful portal always changed .

It was different from the ordinary portal that had a majority of things set in place .

It meant that there was no information about what was inside or how they should hunt .

Everyone failed to attack the colorful portal before, but it was different now .

But one .

There was one clan that cleared it .

The two clans that failed to clear the colorful portal probably felt like they were in danger after hearing about the one clan that succeeded .

If they don’t go for it now, they’ll be left behind .

That feeling drove the two groups to their death .

High risk, high return .

The more dangerous it is, the more profit one earns .

They knew it was dangerous, but if they clear it, they knew they would receive a big reward so they put their life on the line for that reward .

“When considering the rank, the group was pretty high up there . But in the end, they failed . Because of that, things got out of hand . ”

Majority of the hunters knew of the colorful portal’s existence because of the information that was revealed .

It’s all thanks to Kim Yoo-Na . She revealed that information to warn the other hunters to not throw their life away because of the reward .

But they didn’t realize how dangerous it really was .

They knew other groups failed in the past, but since a clan succeeded in clearing it, they believed that the past groups that failed were just unlucky .

Because of that, when the hunters found out that the two, confident groups failed, they became more anxious .

“If they succeeded, things would be the total opposite . ”