I'd come to Gangneung.

Last night's team dinner had been simple: 1++ Korean beef, and that was it.

Kim Han-byeol's prophecy had taken all the wind out of Do Do-hui.

We'd basically hired a real huntress, one who could bag even Do Do-hui.

Feeling pretty good about it, I drove out that morning and took the Yeongdong Expressway.

I tracked down the factory at the address posted online.

"I guess this is it? Whoa... Somebody's got a real knack for names~."

The sign on the factory read Dwarf Stainless General Trading, and I didn't know what to say.

The owner here, a President Im Hae-ryong, had to be a fantasy nut.

Even the statue out front copied the logo stamped on the dishes: a dwarf, standing in front of the building like a village guardian post.

"But why isn't anybody here? Did they go under?"

The factory sat in an industrial park on the outskirts of Gangneung.

The lot was fairly big, and a few round stainless-steel sheets were stacked in a corner of the yard.

But nobody was coming or going.

Ten in the morning had come and gone, and unlike the businesses around it, the place showed no sign of life.

Just a black sedan and a truck sat in the parking lot.

"Did they really go under?"

I got out of the car, followed the signs for the office, and walked in through the open factory doors.

My subspace wouldn't take any other stainless-steel products.

It only accepted the ones this dwarf company made.

When I looked into it, the company was a step away from shutting down.

The products were good, but they'd lost out on price.

Nobody answered the phone, either.

That left me no choice but to come all the way to Gangneung myself.

I had to save the company before it closed its doors for good.

Toward the back of the factory I could see a makeshift office.

Crash-tinkle-crash-crash!

"What, did this old man eat dried herring through his ears? Give us our money!!!"

Glass shattered, loud and clear, and the sound carried…