Chapter 136 – Black Market Eleventh Shopping (3)

“Here we have Cherry Clafoutis and Macarons.”

Desserts were placed on the table by Dalupin once the feast was over. Sungjin enjoyed the sweets with his Chosen Ones. This marked the end of tonight’s meetings.

“Let’s call it a day here. Go rest up and let’s meet tomorrow morning again before the Raid begin.”

“Ok”

“Sure”

“Ah, Serin and Baltren, please remain behind since we still have to trade items.”

“Then I’ll be off.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Franz and Nada returned to their own dimensions first. Sungjin retrieved the Bow made of Ice and Illich’s Shield and placed them on the table. Before Sungjin could open his mouth, Serin already pointed at the bow and asked

“So how much will you charge for it?”

“Hmm… Since it’s legendary, it should be worth roughly ten to fifteen thousand Coins. But with these specs, it should be twelve thousand.”

“Twelve thousand?”

“Yes. is it a bit expensive?”

Serin moved a bit closer and leaned forward, with upturned eyes she blinked as she asked

“Can’t you give me a discount?”

Sungjin gazed at her

‘This girl…’

Women were strange creatures. When he first met her, she had a cold and mature image which he was used to seeing through the TV (It just goes to show that TV is a poor indicator of an individual’s character), but now that they became friendly, she played up her charm, appealing and acting cute. It was like she was a completely different person. Due to her exceptional appearance, Sungjin couldn’t help but be swayed by her.

“Well… I want to sell it to you for cheap as well.”

“Then you should. Why don’t you?”

Sungjin decided to be rational. It would be far more optimal to get as much coin as he could muster and buy Elixirs. And Serin would also benefit greatly from this.

“But I can’t do that. I have places I need to spend the money. I don’t want to play salesman with you, but I need to get stronger so that…”

Sungjin was spouting a flood of excuses when Serin stopped him.

“I got it, Oppa. Actually… I was going to pay whatever price you ask for.”

Sungjin tilted his head.

“Hmm?”

“I know Oppa is doing this and that for everyone. So, I wanted to pitch in and be helpful.”

“Then why did you ask for a discount?”

“I… just wanted to ask. Just to see how you’d react.”

Serin made an indecipherable smile.

“Thanks to the Hidden Piece I just sold, I do have enough Coins to buy it. I’ll buy it now.”

Sungjin was confused at her behavior, but he still completed the trade with her.

“Hmm…ok.”

“Trade Ashetaut Legendary Bow”

“Trade twelve thousand Black Coins.”

“Approve”

“Approve”

The Ashetaut was now the property of Serin. Even though Sungjin was able to touch the bow, he could no longer use it. And even if Serin left the bow behind in his dimension, the weapon would be available to her at any time via her Cube.

“Now that that’s done, where will you get the other two?”

The thought only occurred to him after the fact.

“One I might be able to find on the Auction house. The other, Nada Unni promised to sell me.”

“Nada?”

“Yes. We were speaking earlier, and Nada Unni said she got one this round as well. And since she can’t use the bow…”

“Oh really?”

“Yes. I don’t have enough to buy all three at the same time… so Nada Unni decided to give me the bow now and said that I should repay her back slowly as I earn more Coins.”

The two women must have gotten quite close to each other without Sungjin noticing. And why wonder; in the raids dominated by men, it must have been a big relief to be able to rely on each other.

“That’s good.”

“Yes, I also promised to sell magic related items to her for cheap. As Oppa said, be mutually beneficial to each other.”

“Ok. I’m glad to hear that.”

“Then I’ll be on my way. See you tomorrow morning, Oppa.”

“Yeah.”

Serin retrieved the bow and headed back to her Dimension. The last one remaining was Baltren. On the table was Illich’s Shield.

Baltren should be able to deduce by now that the shield was meant for him. Sungjin first began to speak without moving the shield from the table.

“As you might have noticed from the trade just now… I have brought out this shield to sell. To you, Mr. Baltren.”

Baltren gulped audibly. He must have realized that this Shield was not an ordinary item.

“But I can’t sell this shield so easily.”

“Why is that?”

To his question,

“Operator”

Sungjin instructed the Cube to show Baltren the Shield’s specs. As expected, Baltren’s jaws dropped. Sungjin raised two fingers like a V and said to him

“There are two reasons why I cannot easily sell this item to you. First, it is too expensive. It is difficult to determine a fair price for this item. Judging from the specs alone, it should be worth over fifty thousand coins…”

Sungjin checked his expression. Baltren didn’t look so good. And it was to be expected. Even Sungjin only received twelve thousand coins this round.

A regular hunter without the ability to hunt trolls for coins would have to save up every scrap of coins he earned for over three chapters and sell almost every item he received in order to scrape together such a large amount.

But this is only true in ‘theory’. Not spending a single coin and having them accumulate in the Cube would drastically increase the chances of dying.

“And that’s realistically impossible, and since you are now a comrade, I’ll just leave it at thirty thousand coins.”

Baltren puckered his lips and nodded. He must have also thought that such an amount might be realistically attainable.

“If it is about thirty thousand, I might be able to manage it in one or two raids. I’ll buy it then.”

Sungjin waved his index finger and said

“Ah, no no. The reason why I can’t easily sell this item is really due to the second reason. If we can overcome this issue, I can hand over the item now, and receive payment in installations.”

“Then what is the other reason?”

“As you can see… this Shield is a Unique Legendary item. I am not sure if you’ve seen it before… but it’s on par with the items that I currently use. The only reason why I am offering this for sale… is because I do not use a shield. If this was a piece of armor or helm, I would have used this myself.”

Baltren nodded. If Besgoro heard him, he would have said,

‘What?!’

And made complaints, but Sungjin already placed him on top of Shadowrun in the stables before the ladies were called over. Sungjin continued to speak.

“This item is too strong. So in order for me to sell this to you, Baltren… I need a higher degree of trust for you.”

“Higher degree?”

“Yes. There is a possibility that you might betray me after taking the item.”

“No way…”

Baltren made a face as if he couldn’t even imagine it. But this was not enough. Edward would have made the same face.

“Baltren…it is true our fates have crossed paths. But…realistically we did not have much chance to interact with one another.”

“I guess… that’s true.”

“I know I said you passed last time… but do you mind if I ask you few more questions?”

“Yes. Please ask me anything.”

Sungjin said to him

“Let’s speak about family. Do you have a family?”

“I have a mother… and a fiance.”

“What about your father?”

“He left us when I was young. I know his name, but I can barely remember his face.”

“Hmm…”

Sungjin nodded quietly. He himself was an orphan. In comparison, single mother household wasn’t all that bad. What was more important was to find out how much he cared about his remaining family.

“What about your mother and fiance? How do you feel about them?”

“First of all… my mother is an amazing woman. She raised me alone and worked as a housemaid all her life. Despite our difficult conditions, she financially supported me until I became a Police Officer. I can’ fully express my gratitude.”

“And your fiance?”

“My fiance is the most wonderful person. She loved me despite my difficult background. She was pregnant with my child at the time, but I don’t know what…”

Sungjin touched the Eye of Jeremiah as he asked

“So, did you see them both through the Operator’s broadcast?”

“…Yes.”

But as he replied, his eyes reddened slightly. A strong voice then began to speak.

‘I must save them’

It appeared as though the stronger the emotion, the louder the voice of the mind was through the Eye of Jeremiah. Sungjin took into consideration what he heard in Baltren’s head as he began to direct the conversation.

“Then… you must wish to save them both.”

“Yes.”

Sungjin was waiting for his thoughts, but then Baltren continued to speak.

“I saw my mother from the first chapter… but I didn’t see my fiance until several chapters later, in the hunter’s hall. That means…”

Baltren could not continue his words. He saw her only after several chapters had progressed. It means she survived the initial chapters and died and ended up in purgatory much later on.

“I don’t know how she managed while carrying a child…I wonder if the child is fine…”

Sungjin did not press any further than this. Baltren was already heaving away, crying.

‘I have to do it. I have to finish the raids. If I don’t…’

Sungjin heard loud voices again. Here he made up his mind. In the case of his former teammates, the two he could most assuredly depend on were Mustafa and Hildebrandt. And both of them had a strong desire to save and protect their families. Sungjin didn’t notice, but Dalupin was by his side, offering him a towel. Baltren accepted the towel and wiped his face. Once his emotions settled back down, Sungjin said to him

“I am sorry for testing you, Baltren.”

“No no, I understand your reasons, Kei.”

Sungjin pushed the shield towards Baltren and said

“Take it. It is yours.”

Baltren nodded.

“Of course, it is not free. I’ll take ten thousand coins for the next three raids. That should lower your burden considerably, right?”

“Of course.”

Sungjin and Baltren completed their transactions. It was an extremely profitable trade for Baltren. He was able to obtain a Unique Legendary item at a discount and with zero interest installation of payments.

Of course, it was not a bad trade for Sungjin by any means. To begin with, Sungjin’s goal from the start was to have ‘Strong and reliable 9 comrades’. Investing in the combat ability of people he could trust was the right thing to do.

Sungjin was strong on his own, but he only had two hands. In order to finish the raids, dependable tanks like Baltren were necessary.

“Then let’s see each other again tomorrow, Baltren.”

“Ok Kei. Good night.”

Once Baltren was gone, Sungjin briefly walked out of Ninety Nine Nights. Outside, Cain and Rajenta walked up to Sungjin to nudge him. Sungjin looked up into the night sky as he rubbed their fur. The round moon hung in the sky. He made a promise to himself while looking up at the moon.

‘This time… I won’t fail… Not again.’