Level Up Machine

Chapter 109 Super Supplier (3)

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!”

*Bang*

Han Jun-man urgently slammed the table. He couldn’t grasp the situation due to the sudden change in Yeong-sik’s demeanor.

“You’ve spouted a lot of nonsense yourself, so let’s call it even.”

“What are you talking about…”

“The refrigerator explosion. That someone died because of it. All of it was the nonsense you made up, wasn’t it?”

Yeong-sik leaned back in his chair with a relaxed expression. His words made Han Jun-man’s face twitch violently.

“W-What do you know to say such things? Do you even have any evidence?”

“None.”

Yeong-sik shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

Seeing his calm demeanor, Han Jun-man forced a smile and continued.

“Hmph, without any evidence, what are you talking about… If you keep this up, I’ll let people know that your products are at risk of exploding.”

“Really? Then go ahead. Or should I tell them myself?”

Han Jun-man looked at him with a stunned expression.

“Don’t you care what happens to your business?! You must know what will happen if this gets out!”

“Of course, I know. That’s why I’m telling you to spread it as much as you want.”

Yeong-sik’s lips twisted into a smile. He continued with a mocking tone.

“But you can’t, can you? All my products have been sold under the name ‘Goldrun.’”

At those words, Han Jun-man clamped his mouth shut. He stared at Yeong-sik with a rigid expression.

The appearance of the pushover he had shown so far was nowhere to be seen. He was calculative and cold. The sharp, blade-like atmosphere choked him.

It was a different kind of pressure compared to when he faced Park Do-hoon.

If Park Do-hoon had a madness that burned like fire, the young man in front of him now exuded a cold aura that seemed to freeze all that fire.

“W-Wait a moment…”

Han Jun-man looked at Yeong-sik with an expression of disbelief.

Considering the pushover image Yeong-sik had shown so far, the current situation was unimaginable.

Therefore, the answer was simple.

His tightly clenched fists began to tremble.

“C-Could it be… all of this was an act?”

“An act? I just showed you what you wanted to see.”

Yeong-sik continued with a cold sneer on his lips.

“You wanted an easy mark to exploit, didn’t you? A fool you could manipulate like a puppet? So I just showed you that.”

Han Jun-man couldn’t respond to his harsh words. He couldn’t argue. Everything Yeong-sik said was true.

“What on earth are you doing this for…?”

He looked at Yeong-sik with a puzzled expression. He realized that Yeong-sik wasn’t the pushover he had thought.

But even so, questions remained. If he wasn’t an idiot, he wouldn’t have let the Goldrun Guild’s extortion go unchecked.

Even so, he had signed a contract with the Goldrun Guild and had been supplying them with goods for the past three months as if nothing was wrong. He couldn’t understand why he had willingly taken such losses.

“What for, you ask? You heard what I just said, didn’t you?”

“…What?”

“Batteries. I’ll sell you each one for 10,000 gold. So, work hard to come up with the money.”

“Ha.”

Han Jun-man let out a laugh, finding Yeong-sik’s nonsense utterly ridiculous. A hundred billion for an external battery? It was a price only a madman would consider.

“Do you really think we’ll buy that?”

Han Jun-man looked at Yeong-sik with a pitying gaze. The Goldrun Guild wasn’t full of fools; there was no way they would pay such a ridiculous price.

It was like picking up a pebble on the street and trying to sell it for ten million won.

“Yeah. I think you will.”

Yeong-sik replied with a broad smile. Han Jun-man frowned.

“In that case, you’re still just a fool. Get lost. Do you really think we’ll pay that kind of money for a battery?”

“Really? Alright. Then I’ll just sit back and watch your guild go completely bankrupt.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“Are you really a merchant? You should know exactly what I mean.”

Yeong-sik tilted his head and asked back. Han Jun-man frowned, pondering the meaning of his words.

Han Jun-man’s face turned pale. Yeong-sik chuckled and spoke.

“Do you understand now?”

“W-Wait! You, you bastard…!”

“By now, all my products have been selling like hotcakes under the name of the Goldrun Guild. Didn’t you recently overextend yourselves to expand into the South? Congratulations. I’m delighted that my products are so popular that they’re flying off the shelves.”

A cold sneer was directed at Han Jun-man.

A devilish smile formed on Yeong-sik’s lips.

“The people who paid a fortune for something that won’t last more than four months might feel differently, though.”

*Bang.*

Han Jun-man, greatly shocked, fell off his chair. He barely managed to prop himself up with the table, his body trembling.

“That, that can’t be…”

In a state of shock, he couldn’t complete his sentence. He understood what Yeong-sik meant by his words.

The Goldrun Guild, driven by brand obsession, had imprinted their guild’s emblem on all of Yeong-sik’s products before putting them on the market. People bought these items without any suspicion, believing that they belonged to the Goldrun Guild and had excellent performance.

But now they were being told that they couldn’t replace the battery and could only use it for four months?

It was utter nonsense. Especially in the case of air conditioners, they had sold them at exorbitant prices to high-ranking nobles and top guilds in various countries. There was no way those buyers would simply say, “Oh, I see. In that case, we will buy new ones.”

There would be a torrent of complaints, and the Goldrun Guild, which didn’t have much money left due to their reckless business expansion, would collapse miserably.

“Th-Then from the beginning, you aimed for this…”

Having thought this far, Han Jun-man glared at Yeong-sik with burning eyes. Yeong-sik shrugged with a sly expression.

“Well? What are you talking about? I was so distracted by these lovely ladies here that I didn’t even know how the contract was going.”

Yeong-sik slightly pulled the two women, who were looking at him in bewilderment, closer to him.

The peculiar charisma emanating from him made their faces blush.

*Bang!*

“Bullshit! This, this is fraud! Fraud!”

Han Jun-man slammed the table with an angry expression. Yeong-sik calmly pulled out the contract he had previously signed with Han Jun-man.

“What is this?”

“It’s the contract you guys drafted yourselves. Take a good look at the contents. There’s no mention of the price of the external battery. So strictly speaking, it’s not a breach of contract.”

“What kind of twisted logic…!”

Han Jun-man trembled with rage as he glared at Yeong-sik. Even if such minor details weren’t explicitly agreed upon in the contract, it was common sense to match them to a reasonable standard.

Consumables that needed to be replaced periodically were priced almost ten thousand times more expensive than the main unit. If this wasn’t fraud, then what was? It was beyond having the tail wag the dog; it was like the tail swallowing the entire body.

“I know. I’m aware this is unreasonable.”

“Then what’s the reason for making such a crazy proposal?”

“Well, maybe because the original contract conditions were also unreasonable?”

“Ugh…”

Yeong-sik smirked mockingly. Han Jun-man’s face turned red, but he couldn’t refute his words. He knew all too well that the contract terms were no different from extortion.

“But still…”

Han Jun-man’s body trembled.

This was different. This was akin to forcing someone to drink poison and then telling them they wouldn’t get the antidote unless they handed over everything.

Though they only had a 9:1 ratio, they had sent fair profits to the Eclipson Guild. This was a completely different matter.

This was disregarding the very essence of a corporate transaction aimed at mutual profit generation.

“You… you extortionist bastard!”

“Heoigu. Haven’t you heard that somewhere before?”

Yeong-sik lowered his two legs from the table and leaned forward.

“If you had just agreed to the initial terms of 20/30 and proceeded as suggested, this wouldn’t have happened. At the very least, if the brand had been under our guild, you could have avoided responsibility.”

Yeong-sik’s cold gaze was fixed on him.

“But you didn’t do that. Blinded by greed, you eagerly swallowed the poison, didn’t you? So isn’t it only right to take responsibility for it?”

Yeong-sik burst into laughter.

Han Jun-man gritted his teeth in anger.

“Isn’t it all because you encouraged us with your pathetic acting from the start!”

“Hahaha! That’s a funny thing to say. Are you trying to say that because someone dresses provocatively, it’s okay to assault them? Do you think that’s a valid excuse?”

Yeong-sik leaned back in his chair with a mocking expression.

“As a merchant, you should know how powerful a monopoly is, right?”

The greatest power of a monopoly was that there was no way to replace it.

Because it was unique, those who held the monopoly could wield it with impunity.

The machines Yeong-sik was producing were exactly like that.

Since only he could make them, there was no alternative. Whether he charged 1 billion or 10 billion for a battery, it was entirely up to him.

Super Supplier. A term referring to a supplier with the power to control buyers at will.

That was exactly Yeong-sik’s situation now.

Super Supplier. An absolute supplier with the power to surpass and crush the buyers.

Normally, when such an outrageous price was proposed, buyers could simply refuse.

No one in their right mind would buy a refrigerator that required 100 billion for a battery replacement.

But the situation was different now. All the products Yeong-sik had produced were already selling like hotcakes.

Suddenly saying, ‘Actually, battery replacement is impossible, and you need to buy a new product every four months,’ was sheer madness.

If that happened, it was obvious that the Goldrun Guild would collapse due to the enraged customers.

“You should have thought more carefully before signing the contract. How could you rush in so hastily just because it seemed good to eat?”

Han Jun-man couldn’t respond to his words. His face flushed with boiling shame.

In fact, if he had only prepared for this, he could have avoided it.

It was something he could have dodged.

The reason he didn’t was that he initially thought of Yeong-sik as an ‘easy prey to exploit.’

Carelessness, was the most fitting expression for this moment.

“Haha. This is…

Han Jun-man let out a hollow laugh and bowed his head. The thought that he had been completely tricked flashed through his mind.

He thought it was a delicious prey and swallowed it whole, only to find out it was bait to catch him!

Arguing whether it was the fish that took the bait or the fisherman who set the bait in the first place was meaningless.

“This is interesting.”

Han Jun-man twisted his mouth. If this were Korea, a society governed by strict law, he would have been helplessly caught.

But this was the Elnote Continent.

A place where violence stood above the law and sheer power ruled everything.

– Uuuung.

He took out a crystal ball from his pocket and infused it with magic.

– Thud!

The door burst open roughly, and five men with menacing looks entered. They were warriors, all armed with lethal weapons.

“But it seems you still don’t understand this world. It’s not an easy world for a naive kid to navigate.”

He smiled sinisterly as he looked at Yeong-sik.

“Five level 80 summoners. After a good beating, you’ll reconsider the price.”

Yeong-sik stared at him with a deep, sunken gaze.

“…Isn’t it against the rules for a merchant to use force?”

“Force is also a part of good business acumen.”

Han Jun-man shrugged as he answered.

Hearing those words, Yeong-sik nodded.

“Force is indeed a part of good business acumen…”

Yeong-sik licked his lips as if finding it amusing.

“That’s a good point.”

Click. With those words, a sharp blade protruded from the back of his left hand.