Chương 140: Chapter 139: Buying Up Bad Debt — The Rank D Basement Dungeon

An abandoned logistics warehouse on the outskirts of Seoul sat buried under construction debris and cement dust. At the center of the cracked warehouse floor, a three-meter oval Dungeon Gate spun slowly, pulsing with pale blue magical light. Red seal tape from the district court, along with a bank's collateral foreclosure notice, was plastered across the frame in overlapping strips. Screech. A taxi pulled up outside the warehouse.

Lucian stepped out in his black overcoat, followed by Evelyn with her tablet and Sylvia carrying a stack of legal documents. A middle-aged man in a rumpled suit, a Shinhan Bank ID badge around his neck — Park Sang-Cheol — stood waiting with a stack of paperwork. He looked at the ten-year-old and spoke, voice tired.

"Kid, you actually want supervised due-diligence access to this Rank D Gate?" He pointed at the flickering blue vortex.

"The Hunter company that used to own this thing filed for bankruptcy last month, defaulted on the loan. This dungeon is a textbook bad asset: Five hundred Goblins inside. Hiring a four-person D-rank Hunter squad to clear it runs twenty million won in wages, antidote costs, and equipment insurance. Total D-rank mana stone yield from auction only comes to fifteen million won. Net loss of five million won per clearing run.

Skip regular clearing and risk a Dungeon Break, and the government fines a hundred million won a month." Park Sang-Cheol shook his head, resigned.

"This thing's a bottomless money pit. Why would you want it?" Lucian stepped up to the mouth of the gate, fingers lightly brushing the shimmering magical membrane.

"Because your clearing process is too bloated, and hiring Hunters costs too much." He turned and looked the banker straight in the eye.

"I will place fifty million won as an earnest-money and distressed-note option deposit in escrow. The five-year clearance concession remains subject to regulatory closing and beneficial-ownership review." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Park Sang-Cheol stared at him. Before Lucian could change his mind, the man hastily spread the bank's escrow and supervised-access papers across the hood of his car.

"Sign the option paperwork. If the review clears, the auction framework is still the 1. 2-billion-won five-year concession; until then, you get supervised trial access and we keep the seals in place." Click. Evelyn initiated a documented escrow transfer from funds that had already cleared declaration review. Fifty million won was recorded as the option deposit, not a completed asset sale. Ting! [UNIFIED SYSTEM V2. 0: EARTH ASSET NOTE] [SUPERVISED TRIAL ACCESS RECORDED] Asset: Goblin Cave Dungeon (Rank D - distressed five-year concession candidate) Scope: Safety inspection, trial clear, and documented due diligence only. Final transfer remains subject to the existing licensing, safety, and beneficial-ownership process. [SYSTEM OPERATIONAL OBSERVATION:] The asset appears unprofitable because its clearing and handling costs are inefficient, not because Earth's dungeon rules can be rewritten.

Park Sang-Cheol accepted the receipt, sealed the trial-access file into his briefcase, and hurried to his car to notify the bank's asset-recovery team.

"Hey, boss? That rich brat just put down fifty million in escrow for the Goblin pit. Bet he's back crying and abandoning the option within the week!" Lucian didn't bother watching the banker's car pull away. Under Earth's dungeon rules, a concession holder still owed licensed clearing, safety, reporting, and Dungeon Break obligations; the bank's supervised access did not waive any of them. To an ordinary person, five hundred Goblins were a bloody, expensive threat to eliminate.

But to Lucian - someone used to looking at systems as costs, bottlenecks, and maintenance schedules - five hundred monsters looked like an expensive process waiting to be measured. Astra, in her pink puffer jacket, ice cream spoon in hand, stepped forward.

"Lucian, want me to go clear them all out?" Lucian held up a hand to stop her.

"You don't use a butcher's blade on a chicken. Stay out here and finish your ice cream." He pulled the silver dagger from his coat pocket, and in the other hand held a digital stopwatch he'd just bought from a convenience store. Whoosh. Lucian stepped through the blue magical membrane and into the dungeon. Inside was a damp cave reeking of mud and rot.

Ahead, five hundred short, green-skinned Goblins stood clutching rusty clubs and daggers, thousands of bloodshot eyes snapping toward the single human boy who had just walked in alone. BEEP. Lucian pressed start on the stopwatch: 00: 00: 00. His dark eyes swept across the horde, the corner of his mouth curving up.

"Time to clear the lot." He dropped into a low stance.

"Target: forty-five seconds."