The Hero Returns

"50 billion won…"

"Why did it get so expensive all of a sudden?"

"Well. He is Gordon Rohan…"

The loud auction house became quiet for a moment. Although they were people with so much money, they had no choice but to be quiet in front of Gordon Rohan.

The head of a big company? The grandchild of a wealthy family? An oil giant? Royalty from any country? An S-Rank awakener? It was all useless. Unless someone was from a giant conglomerate, they would have a slim chance of winning against Gordon Rohan in terms of money.

<<Competing with Rohan money-wise…>>

<<That's just nonsense. It's like fighting against Kim Su-hyeun, risking my life to try!>>

<<What kind of guy will challenge that?>>

<<Well. I still don't know how much Rohan will spend.>>

Although Gordon Rohan had a lot of money, people still didn't know how much he wanted this adamantium.

"51!"

So, there were still some people who bet more money bravely.

"60."

The number went up without hesitation. But it didn't stop there.

"62!"

"70."

"71!"

"80."

The number kept increasing. All of those present who participated in the auction as a joke and with a simple desire to collect gave up quickly.

When it finally reached 100 billion, Gordon mumbled, "This is getting annoying."

And people became quiet. He didn't spread his violent temper, but people could sense something. Gordon Rohan became annoyed at the overheated atmosphere.

"Hey, man. Can I suggest one thing?"

At the question of Rohan, Lee Kyeong-jong quickly answered, "Yes, sir."

"It looks like there are about five people, including me, participating in this auction right now."

As he spoke, Rohan looked around at the four other people who raised money in billion won units. One of them was an S-Rank awakener. There was also the head of a few British companies and a young man who looked like an oil giant. The last was a middle-aged man known for his wealth through the Chinese real estate business. There were only a few competitors left.

Rohan grinned and said, "Let's stop this raising money little by little thing. How about we open our card at once? Just open the price what we think for maximum. What do you think?"

"Are you saying you want to end it at once?"

"Yes. Just let us call out our maximum, and we can't raise money more than that. Of course, the more you call, the more likely you'll take this thing. What do you say?"

It was a hot offer. It would end in a single round, but it was clear that the price would rise the most.

<<I won't get more competition. But they'll call the highest price they're thinking.>>

Lee Kyeong-jong thought for a moment and soon made a decision.

"All right. Do you guys all agree?"

"I agree."

"Same here."

"Whatever."

Everyone in the competition agreed. The other people just became spectators, watching the auction. They watched the auction with an excited gaze, wondering about the price of adamantium.

"Then I'll hand out a paper. Please, write down the highest price you think of and submit it."

Lee Kyeong-jong took out the notepad. He tore the pages and handed them to the five participants. People, including Rohan, submitted the highest price that each person could pay. Lee Kyeong-jong took the paper and opened them one by one.

"First. Mac Ryan wrote this note. 200 million dollars. Two hundred twenty-seven billion in Korean won."

"Oh…"

"Wow!"

In an instant, it more than doubled the price that had been in progress. The next two people wrote down less than 200 billion won. It was time for the fourth one.

"Fourth. Shi Jahong wrote… 500 million…dollars. Five hundred sixty-seven billion Korean won."

"500 million dollars?"

"That's crazy!"

The auction was in an uproar in an instance. Shi Jahong was a well-known name among wealthy people.

"He's some kind of land baron of China."

"I'm sure he's got quite a lot of holdings, but I can't believe he's willing to spend 500 million dollars here…"

"I heard he's a famous collector. I guess he really wants it."

"What I heard was that his son is an awakener."

"Wasn't that just a rumor?"

People whispered to each other. Shi Jahong, who bid enormous money, looked at Rohan with a proud face. In a sense, he bid that much money to show up Rohan.

"And for the last…"

When Lee Kyeong-jong opened his mouth to speak, people became quiet. It was the last paper. Rohan's bid wasn't public yet. People wondered if Rohan wrote a higher price than Shi Jahong.

"Rohan wrote one billion dollars. One thousand three hundred fifty trillion in Korean won."

"…"

Nobody said anything for a moment.

"One billion…"

"Dollars?"

People could not say anything. Lee Kyeong-jong continued to speak.

"Congratulations! Gordon Rohan is the new owner of the adamantium!"

Act 3

One billion dollars. It was such a large amount of money. People couldn't even grasp how big it was. But Rohan paid the price in a lump sum and handed the adamantium to Su-hyeun.

"…Don't you think you wrote too much?"

Su-hyeun looked puzzled as he received the adamantium. He was the one who asked Rohan to make sure he could the auction when it became more expensive than what he could pay. Su-hyeun promised he would pay his debt.

"Why? I win the bid. Why do you look so dissatisfied?

"I didn't expect you to spend that much."

"If you're worried about the debt, I told you. You don't have to pay me back."

"I was the one who asked. And I have a sense of honor."

"Sense of honor…" Rohan shook his head and sighed. "Well. You can think about that way. But…" Rohan met Su-hyeun's eyes and asked, "Do I look like a philanthropist?"

'Philanthropist' wasn't quite the word for Gordon Rohan, who was the CEO of Gordon company and world-class rich.

"What are you talking about?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Don't you know your value?"

At Rohan's question, Su-hyeun couldn't say anything. He had never thought of his value before. No, he had thought about it, but he never linked it to money before. Gordon Rohan was a successful businessman long before he became an awakener. In his mind, Su-hyeun's value was already being converted into money.

"Look at the flow of the world. And look at yourself. Know the present and look at the future. How valuable will you be? One billion dollars? Ten billion dollars?"

It was an absurdly high price. But that wasn't what he wanted to say.

"Honestly, I can't even guess. Do you know why? Although people don't change, the market changes and the world changes. If it were like the old days, an excellent awakener would just go and get a lot of Ether stones." Gordon emphasized when he said 'the old days.' "But the world has changed, hasn't it?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Your value won't stop at only one billion dollars. And what I did was investing in your future."

"If it's an investment—"

"I'm not saying that I will get a return out of it. I won't ask you to do something for this, either."

Su-hyeun clearly realized what Rohan was trying to say.

"One day, that stone will be worth not only a billion dollars. It might be worth hundreds of billions. No. Maybe money won't matter by then. So…" Rohan grinned and tapped Su-hyeun's shoulder. "I invested in you and in this world. Okay?"

***

Rohan left the auction house and went straight to his plane. There were no bodyguards. Rohan didn't like useless things, and bodyguards were the most useless wastes of money for him. But, instead, he had was accompanied by a woman named Ashlyn. She was an S-Ranks from the United States, and she had been acquainted with Rohan for a long time.

"Wasn't a billion too much?"

Rohan sat down and leaned back in the seat of the plane, instead of answering her question.

"You said 500 million dollars would be enough. I've never seen you lose so much."

"It wasn't a loss."

Rohan put on a blindfold that he had placed next to his seat. He continued to speak as he settled into a comfortable position.

"And this will be better. He'll think he owes me that much."

"Do you think he's that kind of man?"

"If he isn't, oh well. I guess I should think of it as an opportunity cost."

Even for Rohan, a billion dollars wasn't pocket change. But, of course, it wasn't a burden for him. He could consider it as an opportunity cost as if he didn't have it from the beginning. For Rohan, Su-hyeun had a special meaning.

"He's a ceiling that I have to breakthrough. The higher the ceiling, the bigger the world I will live in."

"You sound like a creep."

"Well, and that's not just it. In the future, more difficult dungeons will appear. Then, Kim Su-hyeun's value will increase more and more. I invested in that future value in advance. And maybe he can be a real hero in the future."

"Do you really think so?"

"Times are changing. The world changed much faster than I expected about five years ago. Time flies. If Kim Su-hyeun wins again in the next Ranking Wars, his era will really begin."

Ashlyn looked at Rohan with a look of surprise. Rohan said somebody else's era would come, not his. Such humility didn't suit one who always experienced the best and pursued it.

<<I thought a billion was too much…>> When she heard Rohan, she realized. <<But it was not.>>

A billion wasn't a high price to pay for the one who could push Rohan's era out. It would be such small and trivial money.

***

"What's all this?"

Su-hyeun, who had received the adamantium from Rohan, ran straight to Kim Dae-ho. And Kim Dae-ho, who saw all the adamantium that Su-hyeun brought, stared at it blankly.

"Is this all adamantium?"

"Yes."

"Where did you get this?"

From his question, Su-hyeun realized Kim Dae-ho really didn't watch TV at all.

"I bought this from the auction."

"From the auction? Where did you get that much money?"

After he asked, Kim Dae-ho shook his hands with an embarrassed face because he remembered who Su-hyeun was. Even Kim Dae-ho, who was ignorant of the world, knew that awakeners could earn a lot of money And Su-hyeun was the best among awakeners.

<<Well. I guess it's better not to say that I borrowed the money.>>

Su-hyeun thought it would be better not to talk about what had happened. And he looked at the massive amount of adamantium that he brought. With this amount, it would be hard to make the equipment out of just adamantium, but still, it was possible to make some equipment mixed with adamantium.

"Do you remember what you said before?"

At Su-hyeun's word, Kim Dae-ho was startled. The last time Su-hyeun and Kim Dae-ho had drunk together, after he had gotten drunk, Kim Dae-ho said something as if it was nothing.

"The hammer of Hephaestus made of adamantium," Su-hyeun said.

"How…do you…"

It was a story that was said as a joke, just as it flowed. Kim Dae-ho even had changed the subject because he had felt he spoke useless words. But Su-hyeun had remembered it.

Su-hyeun asked with a proud face, "Do you think it will be enough?"