Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Honest Conversation
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Tudor was still smiling, but the emotion hidden within was profoundly peculiar. It seemed a touch angry, yet it wasn't that at all. It was certainly the most serious expression he'd shown lately.
“What?”
“Ever since before the Gamaksan incident last time, your market value keeps climbing, expectations keep rising, but if you come out this indifferent, it's tough on the broker.”
Then he waved his hand in an utterly exaggerated gesture.
“Ahh... this is rough. Looks like ramping up the monetary rewards won't hook you after all.”
“I've never had any complaints about the pay.”
Tudor narrowed his eyes and shook his head.
“I like you. You get the job done right, and I've got expectations you'll pull off even bigger feats than what you've shown so far.”
“And?”
“But it doesn't look like your job satisfaction is all that high. Even if you're taking this gig reluctantly just for the money, we can't keep going like this without some assurance for the next one, or we'll just wear each other down.”
“Hm...”
“What do you say? It'd be ideal if you had a wish I could make happen, or at least a desire I could wrap my head around. But even without that, don't you think it's about time you let slip a little of what's on your mind?”
“A wish...”
The words from the shadow conjured by the [King in Yellow] last time floated back to me. Of course, that didn't mean Tudor was tempting me with anything like that now.
It was simply a proposal to make our dealings a bit more concrete.
Only then did it hit me what this scene was.
In the game, it'd played out completely differently, but it looked like my relationship with Tudor had leveled up to 2.
Once this event wrapped, the services available to me would expand.
“Like I said before, more money is good.”
“And?”
Fair point. Money was great. What I wanted in the short term was safety, a few perks, and cash to acquire limited resources.
But with enough money already secured for getting around right now, what came after that “and”? What lay beyond couldn't be bought.
In the game, these chats flowed naturally with button clicks, but piecing together every word myself wasn't so simple.
“Thing is, I want stuff that's harder to buy with money more than the money itself.”
“Like?”
I hesitated for a second, then opted to just lay it out straight. Beating around the bush would only tire us out, like Tudor said.
“Since we're talking money, magic tomes with acquisition difficulty A-rank or higher. Or S-rank artifacts and up would work too.”
Not sure if it caught him off guard, but Tudor's eyes went wide.
“You need magical knowledge? But with your skills and talent, you could train formally under a real wizard or enroll in a magic academy elsewhere... Why bother with this grimy work in Paju...”
“I'm not after modernized magic theory. I need something more primal.”
Tudor's words were veering off track, so I cut him off.
“More primal how?”
“Abyssal entities, demons, Great Old Ones, gods from other realms, rulers of alien worlds. Info tied to things called by names like that.”
“Ah, so you need the kind that circulate as magic tomes or artifacts? Yeah, those definitely aren't something you can just buy with cash.”
Standard magic theory tomes or sub-A-rank artifacts could be had for money.
But I needed more than that.
S-rank artifacts or tomes with abyssal entity intel couldn't be sourced through normal channels.
Without connections, power, and a bunch of other factors, getting them was impossible flat-out—and most brought massive harm to their owners just by existing.
In short, if the client was some nouveau riche with nothing but money to flaunt, they couldn't fulfill a request like this even if they wanted to.
“That's the kind of magic tome I mean. Or hook me up with someone who can get me into the black market or deeper spots.”
By now, the smile on Tudor's face lit up with energy. Her expression openly broadcast her delight.
“Nice, nice. If you'd said so sooner, I could've thrown my weight behind helping you more.”
“Well, nothing worth mentioning till now.”
This was probably an event triggered by rising trust and intimacy with Tudor.
No guarantees, but saying it earlier would've gotten me nowhere. That fickle witch would've deliberately lined up jobs ignoring my preferences or straight-up forgotten.
But right now, her mood was plainly good. Starting with the next job, I could look forward to rewards beyond cash.
“Then I don't have anything to recommend for you just yet. Still, take that binder.”
“I'll give it a read.”
“Yeah, if anything catches your eye, let me know. And even if you get market access down the line, it'd suck to be short on funds, right?”
“Good point.”
That wrapped up my chat with Tudor.
As I headed out of Basilissa, Tudor trailed me to the entrance with some idle banter.
She rarely saw guests off personally, so I could feel the sidelong glares of jealousy from the layabouts sprawled around the cafe.
“If I dig up something that fits your criteria, I'll call right away—so pick up this time. And no flirting with other brokers while you wait. Got it?”
Tudor kept hammering the no-straying point, like something about it rubbed her wrong.
Maybe she was irked seeing business cards from rival brokers trickling in?
Or could her witch instincts be picking up on some looming threat?
*Nah, just idle paranoia.*
If it were legit, she'd have spelled it out.
“Well, no plans to deal with anyone else for now... I'll head over the second you call.”
Fully clear of Basilissa, I glanced around. The sun had set completely—it was dark out.
The rundown, shadowy buildings lent the air a spooky chill.
“Alright. Time to tackle the real point of today's outing.”
I made my way slowly toward Geumchon Market. Tudor would sort out the jobs I wanted without further prodding. Might take a bit, but I was moving anyway. No downside to prepping early.
For moving prep, my destination was Geumchon Market.
The sun was down, streetlights flickering on all around.
The market's main drags—stalls and alley shops—had shuttered for the night. I hadn't come for Paju's daytime haunts anyway, even if I'd arrived earlier.
I headed for Geumchon Pawnshop, tucked into one corner of Geumchon Market.
Up the shop's rickety old stairs, groaning underfoot, and there it was: the pawnshop crammed with curios from every era and corner of the globe.
Its lone part-timer, Jeong Ye-eun, greeted me with a bizarre hiccup.
“Hic! W-welcome?”
Still rocking that faded green gym uniform over her 'Geumchon Traditional Market Prosperity Association' apron.
She'd seemed on the chopping block last time... But there she was, feather duster in hand, somehow still on payroll.
“You're still working here?”
“Oh, yeah! And you're still rocking the mask, mister. Ooh! That's the one you bought here last time! Right?”
Jeong Ye-eun jabbed excitedly at my mask.
“Yeah, that's it. Where's the old man?”
“In the back. Grandpa!”
Out from the pawnshop depths shuffled a stooped elder, Jeong Eun-taek.
His face was a map of wrinkles, but etched with a tough, unyielding stubbornness.
“What? Oh... you mask freak back again?”
“Yeah. Got stuff to off like last time, and some things I need.”
I pulled four mana stones from my bag and set them on the counter.
Jeong Eun-taek's eyes bugged out.
Looted from the golden dancer that guarded that weird ruin in Tanheon.
Insane purity, not a speck of impurity, flawless sheen—and that size.
Mana stones this caliber were a rarity even in Paju.
“What the hell is this...? Where'd you scrounge up something this pure? Sneak across the Imjin while my back was turned?”
Jeong Eun-taek fished out his glasses with a grumble.
The odd contraption with its cluster of tiny lenses, same as before.
He snatched up one mana stone, peering through each lens in turn.
“Son of a... it's the real deal. You bring this to clean out the shop's cash?”
“Grandpa, but why the Imjin River? Monsters pop up in Paju too, y'know? What about that werewolf in Gwangtan? That was only like two months ago!”
Jeong Ye-eun sidled up and chimed in.
The Gwangtan werewolf from two months back... No way that was Lee Chang-hyuk? Sounded like the details got mangled.
“Nah, werewolf or not, nothing in Paju drops mana stones like these.”
“Oh...”
“It's not some gold rush. Solvers and monster hunters tore through Paju over twenty years back—what's even left?”
Spot on. Per the [Cthulhu World] lore, two decades ago, the [Great Collapse] hit: Cthulhu mythos beasts swarming the globe en masse.
Irony of ironies, the Korean Peninsula's worst outbreak—by sheer numbers—dumped into North Korean soil. Sure, South Korea saw its share of abyssal cultists, monsters, surreal horrors, and extraterrestrials, but next to a whole country vanishing? Laughable.
Bad enough that Gangwon and northern Gyeonggi got wrecked just from the hordes spilling south over the DMZ.
Ancient history now, though. Game timeline-wise, most threats were mopped up. These days, Paju groaned under an excess of treasure hunters, fixers, and crime syndicates more than any lingering monsters.
*Stick to the game plot, though, and this is just a lull before the main story kicks off the Second Great Collapse and doomsday harbingers.*
No ending I'd seen ended with the world safe, monsters purged clean.
Meantime, Jeong Ye-eun wore an 'aha' look for a beat—then jolted.
“Ah!”
Looked like she'd connected grandpa's dots.
“Mister, wait—you really went to North Korea?”
“Nope.”
Jeong Eun-taek jumped in this time, face souring as he raised his voice.
“What? So you're saying Paju's crawling with monsters that drop stuff like this?”
Hm... Gotta tread careful with this answer, or it could get messy.