Chapter 51
Chapter 51
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: The Egg Candy Maniac
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Fuck! How much cash is that shiny-headed prick dumping into that shitty candy?!"
"Min-jae... maybe it's time to call it quits."
A middle-aged man was speaking politely to a young punk in his own neighborhood.
As anyone could tell from the young man's crude language, it wasn't because the kid was some big shot.
It was because his father was a man worthy of respect.
His name was Heo Min-jae, born into the life of a chaebol heir thanks to his self-made millionaire dad.
And he was the living embodiment of every arrogant, spoiled rich kid from books and movies.
"Hey, old man, poke around at the Bureau for me! They manage every damn tale out there—they've gotta have some intel, right?"
"I'm sorry, but messing with the Tale Management Bureau is—"
"Old man! Come on! Just try it. No problems will come up. Who do you think my dad is? Hell, his company even funds part of their operating budget!"
"...There won't be anyone at the Bureau willing to spill secrets for money."
"Bullshit. Wave some cash, and a couple will bite!"
In the end, the Bureau was still full of people—and plenty loved money.
But amid all that optimistic scheming, Heo Min-jae's brilliant idea fell flat.
The Bureau's atmosphere had grown lax in the aftermath of recent cleanup efforts, and sure, there were gold-diggers who came running with hands out—five of them, in fact—but not a single one knew anything about the candy, not even that it existed.
Given that the only Tale Shop items currently circulating were Momentary Dream and the Carpenter's Gloves, it was almost predictable.
Truth be told, even before that, anyone who knew about the candy wasn't the type to sell out for pocket change.
And oblivious to all this, Heo Min-jae's immature brain had more than enough fuel to rage from the simple fact that "Bravery Egg Candy" wasn't in his possession.
"Fuck!"
Heo Min-jae went through his usual routine for blowing off steam: hurling objects.
He chucked a porcelain vase polished to a mirror sheen, then a luxury watch beside it, considered yeeting a prized horse sculpture but spared it since he liked it—and this went on for a solid ten minutes.
The servants simply watched in silence, left with nothing to do but sweep up the shards littering the floor afterward.
Soon enough, his immature brain plunged him from manic rage into depressive gloom, as if he were some bipolar mess.
"I feel like I've lost everything."
Of course, the fact that the clothes he was wearing cost as much as a sports car didn't matter.
"Fuck. I'm going out."
In the end, he opted for the next phase of his tantrum routine.
A walk.
It seemed healthy at first glance, but for Heo Min-jae, "walking" meant basking in his superiority by ogling the weary faces of laborers.
As such, his obsessive mania for "Bravery Egg Candy" inevitably drew him straight to The Shop.
The incident happened after he'd vented plenty of stress and stopped by his usual specialty coffee spot.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Pardon?"
"I'll take that Bravery Egg Candy!"
With the black cat mask activated and business off to a good start, here comes another weirdo out of nowhere.
This new customer definitely seemed to be missing something.
His brains, his manners... or both.
The black cat mask is impressive.
"As I've told you several times already, we do not sell any product called Bravery Egg Candy here."
This was driving me nuts.
I'd been hyped up, hoping an eager customer meant big sales, but no—he was hunting for some nonexistent item.
He must've seen the Eyeball Candy and mistaken this for a regular sweets shop. Total lunatic.
"No! Then what the hell is this?! Decoration?!"
Look at him yelling in informal speech. If my tentacles had twitched visibly, he wouldn't dare be so rude.
"What, you picky about customers?"
"No, what exactly are you referring to?!"
"This!"
The jerk's finger pointed straight at the Eyeball Candy.
"Ahh—!"
By the way, that scream was from me.
What kind of bullshit is this? Calling it by some name only he knows?
Where the hell did "Bravery Egg Candy" even come from?
I swallowed my anger, forcing myself back into proper merchant mode.
"Hoo... This is a product called Eyeball Candy."
"What? What kind of candy?"
"Eyeball—"
"Whatever, that's not the point. I'll buy every last one."
Should I just kill him?
The Shop would go hungry today, but I could probably skip a meal.
This felt like the biggest crisis of my merchant career.
I once heard from a little brother who worked convenience store night shifts that real karens were actual horror stories. Now I got it.
Wished the Bureau would handle these types too.
Wait, did I ever say that out loud?
"Hey!"
Have to endure.
I'm a pro merchant with a month and a half under my belt.
If I couldn't handle a karen like the convenience store pros did, I had no right calling myself a merchant.
"How long you gonna make me wait?"
Let's see—about 80 Eyeball Candies left.
Two fingers each, so he'd need at least 15 more hands to buy them all.
"Sorry, but you don't seem to have enough to purchase them all."
"What? You have no idea how loaded I am. Don't know who I am, huh?"
Seems like he has no clue what a tale even is.
If I'd been a nastier one, one of his limbs would've been gone already.
"Tch. Even if I told you who I am, you wouldn't know."
"The price is two fin—"
"Forget it. Just give me as many as I can afford."
"...Understood. You've purchased five Eyeball Candies."
Could warn him again, but honestly? I hoped this jerk learned a lesson.
Time to feel the magic of ten fingers vanishing at once.
Looks rich anyway—he'd handle treatment himself.
I nodded, and The Shop proudly claimed its due.
"Gaaah! Fuck!"
He tried clutching both hands to endure the pain, but he had no fingers left to do it with.
Just rolling on the floor, physically incapable of ever winning rock-paper-scissors.
Floor needed cleaning anyway, but I wanted to do that solo.
"Thank you for your business. Since carrying them seems difficult, I'll store them in your pocket for you."
With that, I shoved the jerk out of The Shop.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Fuuuuck! I got scammed! Scammed!"
Heo Min-jae staggered home.
"That fucking shop!"
His curses poured out loud enough to unsettle passersby.
"Min-jae, what happened?"
The butler, who'd raised him since birth, wasn't fazed by that much.
Not until he saw all of Heo Min-jae's fingers severed.
"Y-Your fingers!"
The butler's veteran brain blanked at the horrific sight, but as a pro, he snapped back fast.
"To the hospital, now!"
"Bitch... call Dad first."
"But your fingers—"
"Now!"
"...Yes, sir."
Truth be told, Heo Min-jae's father bore some blame for raising such a little shit.
Having heard the news over the phone, the man didn't waste a second rushing home.
"Min-jae! Your fingers!"
Heo Min-jae's dad had every talent to become a great businessman—but not a great father.
By the time he realized it, he was already the doting dad who gave in to every whim.
Heo Min-jae poured every ounce of pathos and agony into his pleas.
What followed was lightning-fast.
"What? A tale? You Bureau fucks gobble up my money, but can't protect my son?!"
Furious parent.
"You goddamn shits!"
Storming into the Bureau.
"Agh... we're terribly sorry. We'll handle this immediately."
Parent receiving a half-sincere apology.
"It'll be sorted soon. That merchant bastard? I'll have him torn limb from limb in front of you."
Parent hugging son.
Meanwhile, at the Bureau, someone else was getting a hug.
"Huh? You know I trust you, right? Let's do this."
Though it came with a vice-grip arm.
With Park Se-jin and Kim Do-hyun tied up on rookie abductions, the Headquarters Chief had summoned Moon Woo-seok instead.
"That business card thing. Can't we use it?"
"It activates periodically, but the location changes every time, so we can't respond..."
"That's why back then! Ugh... shoulda just nabbed it."
He deeply regretted ignoring Park Se-jin's advice on the last trade day and failing to eliminate The Shop.
The stress was so bad, he could feel handfuls of his lifelong thick hair falling out every shampoo.
"W-Well, it's different, but... it's not impossible."
"Hm?"
"The chairman's son lost fingers—that means he traded there, right?"
"Yeah."
"So why not bust them for illegal possession of tale items?"
"Hmm..."
The Chief's mind raced through calculations.
He'd groveled humiliatingly before the chairman earlier, but their absence wouldn't cripple the Bureau.
Besides, the Bureau was in rough shape lately, but its authority had always rivaled the president's.
With all accounts settled, the corners of the Chief's mouth slowly curled upward.