Chapter 586

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Chapter 586: Quagmire (3)

「‘Amana Sez’ has been added to the Hypocrite Catalog.」

「From now on, you will take 5% less damage from all ‘Sez’.」

As before, a damage-reduction effect was added as the price of hypocrisy, and the Catalog’s collection progress increased from 2 to 3.

[Hypocrite Catalog]

〔3〕

‘Stacking up nicely.’

And now only two hypocritical acts remained.

「Two more hypocrisies required until first collection reward unlock.」

‘Who do I con next? If I make it too intentional, the Catalog will sniff it out instantly.’

As Yeongwoo scanned his surroundings, his gaze stopped on Kejen.

He was the only one present whom Yeongwoo had not yet deceived with hypocrisy.

But Kejen—he was a real villain.

At the moment, Yeongwoo couldn’t think of any way to perform a hypocrisy on Kejen.

‘What am I going to do, offer him a share of the royal seal money? The Catalog won’t accept that.’

As Yeongwoo fell deep into thought, Kejen—who had been staring at him—waved a hand.

—Hey, you brat, what are you plotting? Don’t tell me you’re planning to run off with my seal.

“What are you talking about? I need to actually sell it and turn it into cash before I can run or not run.”

With that, Yeongwoo received the royal seal back from Amana and immediately listed it for sale.

Paaat!

With that, the party now had two items registered for sale.

25 bars of Katangdal ingots and the royal seal of the Kardal kingdom.

“So that wraps things up? Now we just wait for buyers?”

At those words, Kejen tilted his head and pointed at Amana.

—What about the Selulite?

“…Huh?”

—You’re not selling that? Shouldn’t you help the friend you risked your life to save?

“Uh… well…”

Since Yeongwoo considered all business with Amana finished, his expression turned awkward.

Naturally, Kejen picked up on this and turned toward Amana.

—Excuse me… what grade is your admittance ticket?

At the question, Amana pulled her ticket from beneath his feathers.

—Grade 5.

—Grade 5? Then your transaction fee is 10%. Surely you’re not planning to go back to street-side trading?

—…I suppose not.

When Amana nodded gloomily, Kejen continued as if he had been waiting.

—Then give that 10% to us.

—…What?

—In exchange, we’ll accompany you into the trading hall and ensure the trade completes safely.

Then Kejen looked to Yeongwoo for approval.

—How’s my idea?

“Hmm…”

After thinking for a moment, Yeongwoo turned to Amana.

“You came all the way here to sell that stone? Why take on something this dangerous?”

At that, Amana perked up her brilliant plumage and spoke with a heavy tone.

—Long ago, our race incurred tremendous debt to develop our homeworld.

“Debt?”

—But the previous guardian failed to repay it, and the responsibility passed on to me.

“What kind of useless predecessor… Though I guess being an upright owl doesn’t mean being good with money.”

—I heard Selulite is traded at extremely high prices in the underworld of evil practitioners. I had no choice but to come here.

“…So in short, this was the only way to secure a huge sum.”

As Yeongwoo summarized, Amana frowned in displeasure.

—Selulite also drastically reduces the malice-value of evil beings. Bringing light to those tainted by darkness is a noble act.

“Oh? Is that true?”

Yeongwoo turned to Kejen for verification, and Kejen nodded.

—Correct. That’s one of its many uses. Though generally, it’s used to modify weapons or ships.

“What? You can use that stone on ships? What does it do exactly?”

—Selulite is an extremely dense energy condensate with a ‘good’ attribute. Depending on how you use it, it can absolutely be weaponized.

Kejen explained that when Selulite comes into contact with evil-aligned energy, it produces an intense burst of heat, allowing it to be used to modify cannons or engines.

“So big shots will definitely buy it.”

—If it’s sold through the system, yes.

“So how much does it go for?”

—Hard to say. Depends on size… But at minimum, 20 billion.

“Twenty billion? For a rock?”

Yeongwoo’s jaw dropped.

At that rate, even a 10% fee meant 2 billion.

—It is not a ‘rock,’ you barbarian. It is righteous will given physical form.

Amana tried to correct Yeongwoo, but naturally it made no difference.

“Well, that righteous will is being priced and sold, so calling it a rock isn’t that disrespectful. A fancy, expensive rock.”

Then Yeongwoo added casually.

“Pay us another 10%.”

—…What?

“Your original 10% fee for the black zone + an additional 10% for our service. Then we’ll help you.”

—So 20% total?

“From your perspective you’re only paying 10% extra. You’re stuck with a guaranteed 10% fee anyway because of your ticket grade.”

—……

“And if you pay us, we’ll enter the hall with you and even fight for you if needed. That significantly reduces the chance of failure.”

—You really are a bandit.

“And it’ll be the same next time we meet. Might as well get used to it.”

—Just earlier, didn’t you say I have an obligation to live? Why are you doing this?

“I do want you to live. You just need to pay your 10% obligation fee.”

—……

Amana’s beak hung open for a long moment.

But realistically, she knew that without this bandit’s help, the trade would be extremely dangerous.

She had already witnessed Yeongwoo’s skills in the free-trade zone.

Not to mention the ratman expert assisting him.

—Twenty percent… you said?

“Just think of it as paying 10% extra. And we’ll guarantee your safety until you leave.”

In truth, bodyguarding had always been Yeongwoo’s specialty.

His very first income was from a short-term security job for Yechan.

Finally—

—…Very well. Better that than returning empty-handed.

After deliberation, Amana accepted the 20%.

“Then hand over the Selulite. I’ll list it.”

—You’re not planning to run off with it… right?

“Why does no one trust me?”

Thunk.

Receiving the Selulite, Yeongwoo waited a moment.

“This one doesn’t raise prestige, huh.”

Then he began the listing process.

Paaaat!

A blue square appeared on the ground, and when Yeongwoo placed the Selulite on it, it vanished before everyone's eyes.

Swaat!

[Selulite : 1]

“All done. Now we just wait for buyers?”

Yeongwoo dusted his hands as Kejen closed the vault holding the seal.

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—Right. And Katangdal should trigger an alarm soon. It’s a very popular item.

Sure enough, moments later, Yeongwoo’s admittance ticket vibrated.

“That must be it?”

—Yes. Tap the front.

Following Kejen’s advice, Yeongwoo tapped the front, and a stream of holographic text appeared.

「There are 14 purchase requests for ‘Katangdal Ingot’.」

“Fourteen?”

—Most are small amounts. Almost nobody buys more than ten.

And just as Kejen said, the request list appeared:

[Katangdal Ingot ×1]

| 8 buyers

[Katangdal Ingot ×3]

| 2 buyers

[Katangdal Ingot ×5]

| 3 buyers

“What are the one-piece buyers doing?”

—Repairing equipment or patching a small hole in their ship.

“And the others aren’t far off…”

As Yeongwoo complained about the tiny trades, one more listing appeared at the bottom.

Paap!

[Katangdal Ingot ×25]

| 1 buyer

“…What.”

A full-amount purchase.

Kejen, who had been looking with him, instinctively stepped back.

—Don’t accept that.

“Why not?”

—It’s definitely a big shot.

“And that’s bad? Big shots have money.”

—You idiot! Did you forget the top preferred transaction position for Grade-3s?

“Oh.”

Yeongwoo recalled position No.1:

[1] Has no money but wants the goods.

“Right.”

—Even if they did bring money, that’s a problem. Our method is tag-chase trading.

“How is that bad?”

—It pisses off even people trying to trade honestly.

If you tried tag-chase against a big shot, they’d take both the money and the goods.

“Can’t we change the transaction type?”

—Not once purchase requests are in. Ignore that one and sell in batches of five.

Just as Kejen suggested this, Yeongwoo’s ticket vibrated again.

「Buyer has modified trade conditions.」

“Modified?”

A new line appeared beneath the full-purchase request.

[Katangdal Ingot ×25]

| 1 buyer

*1.7×

“…!”

They were offering 1.7×, not 1.5×.

“So this is basically an auction?”

—They must’ve checked the requests and raised the offer when you didn’t respond.

“They really need the ingots? You can just raise prices like that?”

—You need deposit credit to make a pre-bid. Meaning: they actually have the money to buy 25 ingots at 1.7×.

“…Holy…”

—Showing your hand like that requires extreme confidence. Definitely a big shot.

“But now we know they for sure have the money.”

—Don’t forget: the moment the hall opens, that money transfers to us instantly. They’ll wake up penniless.

“…That sounds… amazing.”

—You lunatic.

“If they’re a real big shot, we can just crawl over and hand them the goods. Say we picked tag-chase out of nerves and apologize.”

Kejen stared at him like he was insane.

—Don’t say things you don’t mean. You’re going to crawl over and hand it to them?

“Huh? Why would I?”

—…Huh?

“Huh?”

—What the hell? You literally just said—

Then suddenly, Kejen froze… and slowly turned his head.

Sliiide—

Toward the other Earthling present, Kim Jeonggu.

“W-why… why are you looking at me…?”

Sensing a dark fate approaching, Jeonggu began backing away.

Meanwhile Yeongwoo slowly pulled his transparent cloak over himself—

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