It's My First Time at an Auction House-2
It's My First Time at an Auction House-2
General auctions are held differently from grade-specific ones.
A separate space is set up in a corner on the 6th floor to display items registered for the general auction.
It's a place where anyone, whether they are a Hunter or a civilian, can come to look around. If you see an artifact you like, you simply write down your bid and submit it.
Then, at 6 PM.
The moment the auction closes, ownership goes to the person who wrote down the highest bid.
It had a system quite different from typical auctions.
Among them, the most popular items were, of course, the Unappraised Artifacts.
Artifacts registered without going through the hands of an appraiser.
What is its name? What effects and skills are attached to it? Is there a curse that imposes a penalty on the wearer? And so on.
With an Unappraised Artifact, you can't know any of that.
You have to look at it with your own two eyes and buy it relying solely on your gut feeling—that is what an Unappraised Artifact is.
Nevertheless, Unappraised Artifacts were popular.
That's because if you're lucky, you can get an A-rank artifact for the price of a D-rank one.
Of course, the probability of that is lower than the chance of surviving being struck by lightning 12 times in a row on a rainy day, and then winning first place in the lottery five times in a row after that.
Artifacts are precious.
Truly. Truly precious.
That is why if Hunters happen to find an artifact inside a Gate, they always check the artifact's information through an appraiser.
And if it has effects or skills that suit them, they use it as is.
If it has effects or skills that are somewhat ambiguous for them or their party members to use, they sell it right away.
Such an artifact, sold without even being appraised?
Who knows what kind of jackpot it might be?
That is why it was quite rare for an Unappraised Artifact to appear in a general auction.
And the minimum starting price for the few Unappraised Artifacts that did appear was also high.
But, right now.
An Unappraised Artifact had appeared in the general auction.
The first person to discover "Loyalty Offered to the Fallen Monarch," which Kang Yeo-ryeong had registered, was a civilian.
A civilian who lived near the Association and had a hobby of checking the items listed in the general auction.
He discovered the Unappraised Artifact that had appeared in the general auction for the first time in a while, and immediately posted about it on the Preliminary Hunter Gallery.
[Title: Gacha is here!!!!!]
Once the person who first discovered it posted a thread with that title on the Preliminary Hunter Gallery, all hell broke loose.
The Preliminary Hunter Gallery is a gallery where people who dream of somehow awakening and becoming Hunters are active. But that doesn't mean everyone is like that.
As a fairly large gallery, countless lurkers are active there.
And through them, information about "Loyalty Offered to the Fallen Monarch" spread far and wide.
The result was the scene currently unfolding before Kang Yeo-ryeong's eyes.
Damn it, stop pushing!
So what did you say the starting price was?
Does it have an evil aura? It would be useful for Hunters with Necromancer-type traits.
This is mine!
Since when is there "yours" or "mine" in an auction!
Ahem, the Red Dog Guild will be taking this Unappraised Artifact, so everyone please go back.
Red Dog? Are those mutts crazy?
The space prepared for the general auction was instantly bustling with a crowd.
Everyone, from Hunters who gathered to claim the Unappraised Artifact that had appeared in the general auction for the first time in a while, to even civilians.
Thanks to this, the 6th floor, which was usually somewhat quiet despite being an Association building, was swept by an untimely chaos.
Civilians just watched, knowing that even if they got it, they wouldn't be able to use it.
However, the Hunters were different.
"Unappraised Artifact..." The "Loyalty Offered to the Fallen Monarch" that Kang Yeo-ryeong had put up for general auction looked ominous even from the outside.
To Mother Kang Yeo-ryeong, it was truly unimpressive.
But to humans, and especially to Hunters, the power contained within "Loyalty Offered to the Fallen Monarch" was quite strong.
An appraiser would have to examine it to know for sure.
But the Hunters gathered here were all convinced that it was at least a B-rank artifact or higher.
They had to take it, no matter what.
They didn't know who had put such a treasure up for general auction in an unappraised state, but this was an opportunity.
With just that, they could become stronger, too.
They wouldn't have to grovel anymore to those bastards who just happened to awaken with good traits and skills while they themselves had been scraping the bottom.
The obsession of the Hunters gathered on the 6th floor toward "Loyalty Offered to the Fallen Monarch" was turning into madness.
Kang Yeo-ryeong, who had been watching all of this from the corner, smiled softly and said.
"It's popular with the children, as expected. It's just a toy that's a bit embarrassing for an adult to play with. Well, it's not bad."
Yes. If they are children, it is only natural for them to be interested in good toys. To be greedy for fun toys.
The overheated excitement and obsession turned into madness. Before long, some Hunters even violated the rule that "Skills must not be used within the Association" and began to flare up their mana.
In an instant, various skills erupted from all over the 6th floor. It was the moment when the chaos that had swallowed the 6th floor, and the madness that was swallowing the Hunters' minds, became even deeper.
No, you are a child too.
Aren't you tempted by that toy?
Why on earth.
"Are you stopping those children? You are a child too. Aren't you greedy for that toy?"
Kang Yeo-ryeong tilted her head as if she couldn't understand, looking at the young man who had newly appeared among the Hunters who had been swallowed by excitement and madness.
The young man Kang Yeo-ryeong was looking at looked around for a moment.
Kugugu-.
He spewed out massive mana and pressed down on all the Hunters on the 6th floor.
Vast mana. The overwhelming presence imbued within it. At the same time, flames blazing based on that mana.
The Hunters who couldn't withstand it stumbled backward, and some groaned with distorted expressions and knelt.
In an instant, the chaos on the 6th floor disappeared.
The Hunter who had cleaned up the situation on the 6th floor, which had turned into a mess, said with a cold expression.
"This is the Association. Therefore, all Hunters, please calm your excitement."
As he spoke, looking around with coldly chilled eyes, suppressed groans leaked out from the surroundings.
The newly appeared Hunter belonging to the Association.
All the Hunters here had been blinded by the Unappraised Artifact and swept away by greed and madness. Yet, not a single one of them disobeyed his words.
No, they couldn't.
It was only natural, because the one who had newly appeared was none other than the strongest Hunter belonging to the Association, and one of the pinnacles of Hunters in South Korea: the Flame Emperor.
Flame Emperor. His name is Jin Mu.
His rank as a Hunter is S.
However, he wasn't this strong from the beginning.
On the contrary, when Jin Mu first became a Hunter, the rank he received was F-rank, which is called the bottom of the bottom.
When he first awakened, he didn't have any skills.
Even his unique trait was so unimpressive that it was just "Eat Fire."
But, Jin Mu didn't give up.
He desperately went around Gates hunting monsters. Furthermore, he ate up all the fire he could find, growing his power.
The result was the S-rank Hunter and the alias Flame Emperor.
Jin Mu, who had calmed the chaos on the 6th floor just by his presence, looked at Kang Yeo-ryeong this time and said.
"Can we talk for a moment? Hunter Kang Yeo-ryeong-nim."
To Jin Mu, who spoke while looking at her with coldly chilled eyes.
"Sure."
Kang Yeo-ryeong nodded with a soft smile.
"I am the Association's S-rank Hunter, Flame Emperor Jin Mu."
"Nice to meet you. I'm A-rank Hunter, Kang Yeo-ryeong."
"I know. Mother Kang Yeo-ryeong."
When Kang Yeo-ryeong introduced herself in response to the other's self-introduction, Jin Mu replied as if he already knew.
No, more than that.
"What is with the 'Mother'?"
"A pure supporter with unique traits and skills specialized in recovery and buffs. Thanks to that, Hunters call you Mother. Of course..."
Jin Mu, who trailed off, let out a dry cough.
What did he want to say?
When Kang Yeo-ryeong looked at him with curious eyes, Jin Mu coughed again and changed the subject of the conversation.
"More than that. What on earth were you thinking, putting this up for general auction without even appraising it?"
Having said that, Jin Mu took out a small orb from his pocket.
No, that's not an orb. That is an artifact called an orb. It was also the "Loyalty Offered to the Fallen Monarch" that Kang Yeo-ryeong had previously put up for general auction as an Unappraised Artifact.
Kang Yeo-ryeong tilted her head, looking at the orb Jin Mu had taken out.
What was she thinking when she put it up for general auction?
That's obviously because.
"I needed money."
Kang Yeo-ryeong said as if it were nothing.
Humans need money to live.
And there are various ways to get money.
Provide labor and receive fair compensation for it.
Or sell the items you have to someone else.
Especially since Hunters are a profession that earns income by selling the byproducts of monsters they've hunted, and items they've found in Gates.
"I was just trying to sell an artifact I 'accidentally' found in a Gate, in line with that."
Haa-.
Jin Mu let out a deep sigh.
To be honest, Jin Mu thought Kang Yeo-ryeong had intentionally deceived people by passing this artifact off as an Unappraised Artifact and registered it in the general auction.
He didn't know the intention.
He didn't know the purpose.
Even so, the reason he thought that was because she had put an artifact with clearly extraordinary power up for general auction.
If you're a Hunter, you can grasp at least roughly how much value an artifact has even without getting it appraised.
He couldn't understand Kang Yeo-ryeong's behavior unless he thought she had the purpose of intentionally causing chaos.
However, when facing Kang Yeo-ryeong, he didn't feel such an intention.
It just felt like she had put the artifact up for general auction purely to get money, as she herself had said.
So, Jin Mu said.
"If you need money, couldn't you hunt or take on requests?"
"But selling an artifact is the fastest and easiest way to make money, isn't it?"
"That may be so, but."
"So, I haven't done anything wrong."
Having finished speaking, Kang Yeo-ryeong smiled softly.
At that, Jin Mu let out another deep sigh and said.
"First of all, I will exclude this artifact from the general auction. Of course, I will also refund the 100,000 won you paid to register it for the auction. Also, this artifact will be appraised through an Association appraiser, and we will re-register it in the appropriate auction according to the results."
"Isn't that overstepping?"
Kang Yeo-ryeong asked at Jin Mu's words.
No, the question just now was merely representing the voice of the memories from when she was a human, squawking away.
As for Kang Yeo-ryeong, she was fine as long as she could get the money, no matter how the situation unfolded.
Meanwhile, Jin Mu nodded and admitted it at Kang Yeo-ryeong's words.
"That is correct. However, if this remains in the general auction as is, the chaos cannot be calmed. Perhaps a situation where Hunters kill each other to take the artifact might occur within the Association. As an S-rank Hunter belonging to the Association, I cannot just watch such things happen. So, please understand."
"It's overstepping."
As Kang Yeo-ryeong again represented the shout of the memories from when she was a human, Jin Mu showed a bitter smile.
He also knew at least that what he was doing right now was wrong.
No matter what justification or reason he brought up, it was an undeniable fact that he was crushing the will of an individual named Kang Yeo-ryeong.
So.
"I will provide appropriate compensation for that. So."
Please, just stop here.
To Jin Mu, who looked at her as if pleading, Cheon Mu-ryang smiled softly, nodded, and.
"I understand."
Answering like that with her mouth, she thought to herself.
Ah. Really.
If you ask with eyes like that, this Mother has no choice but to accept, doesn't she?