Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Gate Merchant
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What emerged from the light was a girl lugging a backpack bigger than herself.
Her pointed ears marked her as no ordinary human.
She looked about middle-school age, dressed in utterly unrealistic clothes—a dead ringer for a fantasy character.
She set her backpack down and spread out a thick cloth.
Items began materializing on it one by one, as if sprouting from the ground itself, until a full stall had taken shape before we knew it.
She counted the wares, then turned to us and bowed politely.
"Hello, customer. Welcome to the Gate Shop."
Ah.
She must be the one she mentioned.
"Are you, by any chance, the Gate Merchant?"
"Yes, that's me. I'm the Gate Merchant."
Seo Nayeong tilted her head beside me.
"What's this? You know her?"
"First time seeing her, but I've heard about her. She's a merchant who sells stuff inside gates."
"I had no idea anyone sold things in gates. But why'd she only react to you? Nothing happened when I touched it."
"Pretty sure it reacted to my Yin Energy... Hold on, do you have any points in your status window, by chance?"
"Points? What's that?"
Sure enough, none.
Points are unique to me.
That's why the Gate Shop responded to me.
Available Points: 3,704pt
Finally, I can use these.
*
Before buying anything, I asked about the artifacts I'd acquired.
"I cleared a gate earlier and got two artifacts as a reward? But I only got the message—they're not usable. How do I use them?"
"You don't have an inventory. Regular artifacts can be used or sold outside, but ones only you can use can't be traded. You have to store them in your inventory and keep using them from there."
So that's why I needed an inventory.
"Can I buy an inventory from you?"
"Of course. Here you go."
She floated an item up from the stall.
It was a tiny pouch.
【Inventory】
An inventory for storing artifacts usable only by the King of Yin Energy. Insert artifacts and pull them out anytime for use. No capacity limit.
Price: 1,000pt
The price was 1,000 points.
It'd cost a third of what I'd saved so far, but without it, I couldn't use artifacts—so it was essential.
I said I'd buy the inventory, and the pouch sucked right into my body.
— Infinite Yin Energy
— Climactic Yin Energy
— Materialized Yin Energy
— Ascending Yin Energy
— Suturing Yin Energy
— Yin Energy Scout
— Yin Energy Terminator
Available points dropped by 1,000, and an inventory slot appeared below my unique skills.
When I focused on the Yin Energy Scout, its description popped up.
【Yin Energy Scout】
A scout that peeks into a hunter's status window. Reveals not just rank, class, and skills, but also intimate details like erogenous zones and sexual preferences.
'Erogenous zones? Sexual preferences? There's stuff like that?'
I had no idea hunter status windows included such things.
I figured it was just rank, class, level, skills, stats—the usual.
[It's for the King of Yin Energy only. No one else can see it.]
'I see. But why do I need to know a hunter's erogenous zones and sexual preferences?'
I couldn't have sex anyway because of the hymen—what good would knowing do?
[Check that hunter's status with the scout. I'll explain while you look.]
I selected the Yin Energy Scout from my inventory and looked at Seo Nayeong.
Something other than my own status window appeared before my eyes.
— Parasitic Bow
— ■■■■■■
— ■■■■■■
Seo Nayeong's status window.
C-Rank hunter, level 42, Archer class.
Ranks go up every 10 levels from F to D, then every 20 from C to A.
At 42, she'd passed the halfway mark to B-Rank.
No experience or stats—apparently those weren't important enough to show.
One unique skill unlocked, with more opening per rank-up.
Hunters had 3-5 unique skill slots; hers had three for now.
Her erogenous zones and preferences were still locked.
'Okay, explain. Why do I need to know about erogenous zones and preferences?'
[Satisfy a hunter's erogenous zones and preferences, and their rank and level skyrocket, unlocking stronger unique skills. In short, you're the man who makes hunters powerful.]
'Then what's the point if I can't have sex? Satisfying those means doing it, right?'
[It doesn't have to be sex.]
'No, it absolutely does.'
You could climax from foreplay, but nothing topped the in-and-out pounding.
Once you went all the way, a virgin became used goods—unavoidable.
Sure, used goods could still enter gates, but skill output dropped sharply.
That's why top hunters without exception stayed virgins.
[Ever heard of 'edging'? I looked up terms that might explain it, but that's all that came up.]
'What's that?'
[It's a martial arts sparring technique: you attack but stop just before hitting. Also a sex slang term for revving her up full throttle, then halting right before penetration.]
'Why bring up martial arts all of a sudden?'
[Because it's sex slang too. That's edging.]
'Whoa, people actually do that?'
[That's what you'll be doing from now on, Master. Drive her so wild she forgets all about going all the way. That way, you preserve her virginity.]
I was speechless.
What kind of difficulty was this?
[I'm not saying no sex ever. If a hunter goes mad for you and quits hunting, go ahead. If she loves you that much, you said you'd let the gates slide. Of course, that's no easy feat. Few women would ditch S-Rank dreams for a man.]
Mission impossible, for sure.
She'd have to weigh years of effort to reach S-Rank against my worth.
I had no clue if I measured up.
Guess I'd find out rubbing elbows with women hooked on my Yin Energy.
'When do erogenous zones and preferences unlock?'
[When you're ready to satisfy the woman the gate chose. You're still green—freaking out over 'lick here, do that.' Hone your skills with women, and it'll unlock naturally. Practice hard.]
Hone my skills—like some martial art I had to master for it to unlock.
I turned my gaze to the Yin Energy Terminator below the scout, and its description appeared.
【Yin Energy Terminator】
An artifact that blocks the King's Yin Energy flow. Use it to temporarily cut off Yin Energy transfer to hunters.
I'd thought Terminator meant some sunglass-wearing murder machine, but here it was like the end-cap device on a network cable.
'This is handy.'
Any contact with a hunter sent Yin Energy flowing regardless of my intent.
Since it induced pleasure, I'd always been cautious in gates—but no more.
I activated the Terminator and held out my hand to Seo Nayeong.
"Gimme your hand."
She recoiled in disgust.
"I don't need more Yin Energy. I'm good."
"I won't make you horny this time. Hand it over. Got an experiment."
Prodded, she reluctantly extended her hand.
I snatched it and kneaded roughly—her eyes went wide.
"Nothing... nothing at all... Is this possible?"
Every touch used to draw gasps and moans, but now? Zero reaction.
Experiment successful.
"Now I can control it. I'll tell you when I'm injecting Yin Energy, so feel free to touch me freely from here on."
"Why the sudden change... Wait, you could do this from the start and just didn't? To watch me squirm?"
This thick-headed girl was jumping to ridiculous conclusions.
"Why would I? You think I'm some perv who gets off on teasing girls into a frenzy?"
"Yeah."
No hesitation—not even a second.
This woman...
"Hey. Unless you're getting horny from sucking—"
"That's not good."
The kid cut in, stopping me short.
Not good? What?