The Black Marketeer (1)
Wearing the hoodie from my male days perfectly hid my current figure. Pulling the hood up completely concealed my eye-catching silver hair. A pure white mask covered my lower face, and to finish it off I slipped on a full-face white mask.
“No one should recognize me like this.”
I headed toward the meeting spot we’d agreed on.
“He said the plaza in front of the Tower, right?”
The moment I thought that and reached for the door of my studio apartment—
Viiiing—
“Huh?”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. When I opened it, a message waited from the black market dealer I was supposed to trade with.
— Location Change Notice —
“...?”
Suddenly changing the spot like this was suspicious, but… well, I didn’t have much choice. Thanks to the Tower of Trials’ lovely habit of spiking in difficulty every few floors, climbing without decent gear from now on would be brutal. The ‘Extreme’ difficulty missions always pulled shit that went way beyond imagination. I needed to prepare everything I could. No matter how perfectly I dodged incoming attacks, if my damage was trash, I was screwed.
With my current stats I could probably handle weapons from the 30th floor range now.
“Before that…”
I pulled a book radiating gray light from my inventory. A random skill book—one that would spit out a skill of random rank. It was the reward I’d earned from clearing the quest the Goddess of War and Iron had given me.
“Real gacha isn’t a solo sport.”
Time to call in the audience that would boost my luck.
Heavenly Shattering Star Sword
The heavenly veil lifts, and the stars gaze upon you.
Constellation ‘Goddess of War and Iron’ is watching the skill book she provided.
Constellation ‘God of Hammer and Fire’ is watching you.
Constellation ‘Seeker of the Sword’ is watching you.
Constellation ‘Wanderer of Dimensions’ is curiously examining your world.
The stars’ gazes bestow a faint blessing upon you.
A trace of luck settles into the skill book.
You have acquired a Heroic-grade skill.
Beyond the window, stars began to reveal themselves one by one in the night sky. The pages of the book flipped rapidly on their own. The next instant, brilliant light exploded outward.
Flash—!
The room was flooded with violet radiance.
“Hoo…”
The gray smoke Yeom Cheon-woo exhaled scattered and vanished into the air. In his vision, brilliant starlight filled the entire sky.
“Stars above a city… Is this the Tower’s influence?”
It wasn’t a constant phenomenon—just an occasional anomaly. Even the Ares Guild had been trying to determine its cause but still hadn’t pinned it down completely.
“…”
The shabby black hood he wore fluttered in the night breeze. It was a Tower item that perfectly concealed both face and physique. Beneath the shadow cast over his features, his eyes dropped to the screen of his phone.
— Primary objective: capture or recruitment.
— If that fails, eliminate with extreme prejudice. —
“…”
Ares Guild Master Eternity was that kind of man. No one was allowed to stand above him. Anyone who might threaten that position would be collared by any means necessary… and if that wasn’t possible, crushed before they could grow.
“Sigh…”
As a father with a daughter of his own, he really didn’t want to kill a young girl. He glanced at his phone’s wallpaper—a photo of himself and his daughter together.
…Please, just come quietly.
Footsteps echoed from the narrow path ahead. A figure wearing a hood and mask. He couldn’t make out exact features or build, but the height and aura left no doubt—it was one hundred percent female.
“Hey.”
“…!”
A clear voice like the ring of crystal glass struck his ears. Blue eyes visible through the mask were staring straight at him. Those eyes held absolutely no emotion—no expectation, no interest.
“Shall we trade?”
“…Yeah.”
“Here. The items we agreed on.”
She reached into empty air and pulled out accessories that shone with brilliant golden light. Yeom Cheon-woo accepted them and activated his skill. His eyes glowed gold.
Skill ‘Appraisal’ Lv10 activated.
Granted Magic: None
Granted Stats: None
Granted Enhancement: None
Unit: KRW
Value: 243,503,410
“Not bad.”
Skill ‘Sell’ Lv10 activated.
Sale price increased according to skill level.
Acquired 270,000,000 KRW.
The golden accessories crumbled into ash and were sucked into his inventory as cash.
“I’ll give you two hundred million.”
After a seven-million fee, that was still a decent deal. But the other party shook her head.
“Two hundred and twenty million.”
“Two hundred.”
“Two hundred and twenty.”
“…Take the mask off and I’ll pay it.”
“I’ll pass. Two hundred is fine.”
“…No.”
Sorry, but you don’t get a choice here.
The very next instant, black shadows erupted from the bushes all around. In the blink of an eye they had the masked girl surrounded.
“Sorry… but I’m going to need you to take that mask off.”
“You called this many people just to see my face?”
For some reason, her voice carried a faint trace of excitement.
…Must be my imagination?
“That’s right.”
“This is a little embarrassing. Showing my face in front of this many people is kind of…”
“No matter how much of a genius you are, these are masterpieces I trained personally. A newbie who just cleared the first floor can only put up a cute little resistance.”
“I am pretty cute, aren’t I?”
The confidence in her tone was so natural it left him speechless.
“…”
Eventually Yeom Cheon-woo drew two daggers from behind his back.
“…Then I guess we have no choice.”
The ten shadows slowly closed in, tightening the encirclement. Each one was a veteran capable of clearing the 20th floor. They were specialists in assassination and coordinated strikes, trained to bring down even stronger opponents through perfect teamwork. They were overkill for a single target, but the guild master’s orders had been absolute.
The next moment, the ten black shadows linked together and formed a perfect circle.
“Hiding your face because you know your own value—commendable. But in the face of power, it’s meaningless.”
Skill ‘Combined Formation – Dark Ambush’ activated.
Boom—!
The black circle shrank in an instant, becoming a tiny dot. Whatever had happened to the Heavenly Shattering Star Sword girl inside was obvious without looking.
Yeom Cheon-woo’s face twisted slightly.
“Her presence is completely gone… Did she die?”
But the very next moment—
“You think so?”
A voice that should not have been there spoke right beside him.
“…!”
Shock, astonishment, and a strange flicker of relief crossed Yeom Cheon-woo’s face all at once.
BOOM—!
Her fist slammed into his side with terrifying force.
Space Leap Lv1
A skill that let her leap across short distances. It was the Heroic-grade skill she had pulled from the random book before coming here. Using it, she easily slipped free of the closing shadows and drove her fist into the side of the idiot muttering about her “disappearing presence.”
Heavenly Martial Body Lv1
The most perfect straight punch she could currently deliver. That fist shattered the defensive gear hidden beneath his hood and turned the black market dealer’s internal organs into mush.
Blood poured from his mouth.
“Kuhk…! Cough!”
“Don’t you think that was a bit much?”
“How the hell… You can jump through space?”
“Doesn’t everyone have at least one trick like that?”
“…”
He stared up at me in blank disbelief. Not that he could see my face through the mask anyway.
“You should be gentle with pretty girls. Charging in with brute force like that is a great way to stay unpopular.”
Not that I’m exactly an expert on popularity myself.
“I already have a wife and kid, you bastard…”
“Oh really? Then why are you out here doing this?”
“…”
That single sentence stabbed into Yeom Cheon-woo’s heart like a dagger. He couldn’t offer a single word in reply. He simply clutched his chest, body trembling.
My gaze shifted to the ten shadows rushing toward me. Red lines traced the paths their eyes were locked onto. I clenched both fists tight and charged straight at the black figures closing in.