Chapter 587

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Chapter 587: Quagmire (4)

Sssht—

Once Yeongwoo pulled his cloak all the way over his head, his figure vanished completely from the room.

And from within that invisible state, he continued speaking.

“Father has to do something too, right? You can’t just freeload forever.”

“T–That… still doesn’t mean you should throw me into the jaws of death, does it? Wasn’t the original plan that I’d watch your back…?”

From inside the cloak, Yeongwoo shrugged.

“If the enemy is in front of us, why would you be watching my back?”

“What?”

“You just walk forward. I’ll watch the rear.”

Then Yeongwoo extended the Aratubank out from the cloak.

“Still, if you just stand there with no protection, you’ll get holes punched in you by bullets, so at least hold this.”

“You’re not giving me a weapon…?”

“Even if you did have some illegitimate child out there somewhere, could it beat a heavyweight villain?”

“That’s not… that’s ridiculous—”

Jeonggu was about to protest when he shut his mouth.

Because protesting wouldn’t change a thing—he knew that all too well.

And besides, Yeongwoo had handed him the Aratubank.

“……”

Jeonggu knew very well that this was a sacred artifact borrowed from the Red Foot Clan.

In other words—by giving this to him, Yeongwoo was signaling that no matter how bad things got, he didn’t intend to abandon his father.

‘…Probably.’

When Jeonggu reluctantly accepted the Aratubank, Yeongwoo shook the admission ticket.

“So, do you accept this deal?”

Twenty-five Katandal ingots, at 1.7× their original price.

Kejen’s eyes bulged as he flailed.

—W-Wait! Let me think for just a—

But Yeongwoo had already selected the mysterious buyer for the transaction.

Piiit!

[Katandal Ingot ×25]

| 1 buyer

*Price multiplier: 1.7×

“Hey, master thief. Are you short on guts?”

Yeongwoo spoke of courage while hidden under the cloak, and Kejen collapsed helplessly onto the spot.

—We’re all going to get our stomachs slit open and hung in the streets…

“Don’t jinx it. We don’t even know who the buyer is yet.”

—But we do know how the transaction will go.

“We just need to make it clear we didn’t intend to trick them. My father is really good at begging for his life.”

This was Yeongwoo’s plan.

Once they entered the transaction chamber and the buyer’s payment was transferred over, they’d quickly appeal to the other party before things grew violent.

They’d claim they had no choice but to pick tag-mode because scammers are everywhere.

And simultaneously, they’d begin handing over the twenty-five Katandal ingots.

Of course, all of this had to be done by Jeonggu, whose life depended on that single Aratubank.

“Couldn’t you just handle this from the start…?”

Jeonggu tilted his head in confusion.

But Yeongwoo had prepared a Plan B.

“Kejen said so, right? Maybe some really nasty folks will show up. Then they’ll almost certainly attack the seller.”

At that moment, invisible Yeongwoo would strike them from behind.

“…So first I have to get hit? And what if I die?”

“Trust the Aratubank. If a monster strong enough to break that shows up, I wouldn’t be able to beat them anyway.”

Then Kejen’s whiskers twitched as he asked.

—And what if someone shows up that even you can’t handle?

“Then I’ll beg too.”

—But by then you’ll have already attacked them. Just begging won’t save you.

“Well, what else can I do? I can try throwing around the Chairman’s name. And if that doesn’t work, then I really die.”

—…….

Kejen was speechless.

Even though this kid had a planetary fortress in orbit above the Black Zone, he was tossing himself into a situation with a real possibility of death—and acting like it was nothing?

—Well… I suppose that is a kind of courage.

Truly the spirit of a 3rd-rank citizen.

Kejen let out a quiet, reverent sigh.

—At least you won’t die alone.

In this universe, thieves almost always die alone.

They die failing to disarm traps in vaults, or as mangled corpses after being chased by security machines, or ambushed on the way back to their hideout.

But this time was different.

Even if the end result was the same, there were five of them here.

Unlike Kejen—who had already accepted death—Yeongwoo was too busy thinking about the next step.

“We accepted the purchase request, right? So what happens now?”

—The transaction space is being assigned right now. Once that’s done, a portal will open and the transaction starts immediately.

“How long does the assignment take?”

—Well—

Before Kejen finished, a gray portal appeared at the center of the hideout.

—Looks like it’s done already.

Kejen’s expression hardened.

He knew this world far too well; that portal was a door straight to death.

On the other hand, Yeongwoo—blissfully ignorant—approached the portal without the slightest fear.

Churrrk.

“If you’re scared, don’t come in. I can handle the transaction alone.”

But Kejen immediately shook his head.

—Since you used your ticket, everyone is classified as your party. If even one person enters the portal, everyone gets dragged in.

“What? What about Amana?”

Yeongwoo pointed at the Guardian, and Kejen shook his head.

—The Selulite got registered under your ticket too. So it’s considered part of the party.

Meaning: Yeongwoo, Jeonggu, Kejen, the Golden Goblin, and even Amana…

all five would be thrown into the danger zone together.

“A complete gift set, from the buyer’s perspective.”

Yeongwoo cracked a joke and pointed at the portal.

“Everyone ready?”

But who in the world could be ready for death?

No one answered.

Seeing that, Yeongwoo walked forward decisively.

“I’m ready…!”

* * *

Shhhiii—

That familiar portal-induced disorientation washed over him.

Then he saw the same gray color above him—the ceiling.

“…Huh?”

The ceiling formed a massive dome.

The height was at least twenty meters.

Yeongwoo was stunned by how huge the transaction arena really was.

With a ceiling that high, the width easily exceeded a hundred meters.

Pa-pat… Paaat—

The others followed one by one.

Kejen tried to step aside—only to smack into an invisible wall.

Twuung!

—Ugh… Looks like the other party hasn’t arrived yet.

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“So we have to wait here until they do?”

—Of course. If you could move right away, the first to arrive could set traps.

“This entire arena is a trap…”

Yeongwoo muttered just as another portal appeared about a hundred meters away.

“Huh?”

Three ominous silhouettes walked out.

“They’re here…!”

The buyers had arrived.

Beeeep!

A sharp alert echoed overhead, and system text appeared above them:

「Transaction Mode: TAG」

And at that same moment—

A torrent of crimson 1,000-Karma coins

and orange 30,000-Karma coins

began pouring down on Yeongwoo’s group.

Shoaaaaaa!

—We’re doomed! They brought everything in raw coin form so we can’t run!

While Kejen panicked, the Golden Goblin frantically shoveled the coins into its dimensional pouch.

—Kikit! Kiiiiik!

Instinctively hoarding something valuable—yes.

But more importantly, even it understood how bad the situation was.

Because—

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAT!

The coins had already stacked up past their waists.

Since the payment transfer was ongoing, the transparent barrier blocking movement remained active.

Meaning the mountain of coins just kept rising in a neat rectangle—

burying Yeongwoo’s group in the center.

“They clearly planned this, right? Trapping us inside the barrier like this?”

Kejen—already chest-deep in coins—nodded.

—Obviously. See? Just like I said, these guys aren’t normal. Once the barrier comes down, all these coins fall. Your cloak gets exposed too.

“Good lesson.”

—You can only learn if you survive. If you die, what good is learning!?

“They haven’t said they want to kill us yet.”

—Give it time. Just look at how they’re pouring coins—they expected tag mode.

“Hmmm.”

Yeongwoo agreed.

The buyer clearly had extensive experience in Black Zone transactions.

And anyone carrying 42.5 billion in hard currency was definitely a heavyweight.

Their lives were already in the buyer’s hands.

“When someone gets strong enough, they get more relaxed. Maybe if we talk well, we can walk out alive.”

While saying this, Yeongwoo activated Clairvoyance.

Piiit!

「Clairvoyance」 – Mutated Earring

【Magnifies vision up to 5×】

With that, the buyers’ faces came into clear view.

“…Holy shit.”

—W-What is it?

“They look insanely strong.”

There were three of them.

The one standing in the center, arms crossed, was a mechanical swordsman wearing a ragged cloak.

His floating, gravity-defying hair was made of circuitry.

His jawline was reinforced with ashen steel.

And above it burned a pair of huge crimson mechanical eyes staring straight at them.

“Definitely a big shot. That ragged cloak probably has some kind of meaning. Sentimental value or something.”

Yeongwoo muttered nonsense even now.

Kejen, nearly submerged in coins, asked.

—So what now? Will you beg a machine that literally can’t bleed?

Right then, the transparent barrier began flickering.

The transaction was about to begin.

Yeongwoo gently touched Bastard and murmured.

“Time to sell everything that can be sold. Staying alive is top priority.”

—Don’t tell me you’re planning to offer up Bastard?

Yeongwoo frowned down at Kejen.

“…No?”

—Then what are you going to sell?

“My name.”

—You’re going to pull out the Chairman’s name again?

Yeongwoo shook his head and summoned the legendary spear Lightning Rod from his weapon catalog.

“Today, I’ll be selling the President’s name. Maybe that person saw this future coming.”

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