Chapter 103
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Turning the Muzzle (3)
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However, the hand Jo Jaehyuk held was utterly pathetic.
He only knew fragments of Kang Ihyeon from what he'd glimpsed during the Straggler Reorganization Exam.
He hadn't received any further information from Seraphina, nor had he personally dug into the guy's background. It was outdated intel with zero updates. That was all he had.
"Th-that... Kang Ihyeon was originally a notorious flunk-out at the Academy. He was an F-rank with not a single skill, but then one day, out of nowhere, he awakened that doll-making skill and..."
Jo Jaehyuk hemmed and hawed under Rena's piercing glare before barely managing to open his mouth.
But his explanation was as vague as a cloud, circling the edges without hitting the core.
"So, what's the grade of that skill? How many dolls can he make at max? What's the duration? What dolls has he created so far?"
"I don't really know..."
"Tch. Then where can we find him?"
"W-well, yeah. He hasn't been showing up at the Academy much lately..."
"Hah?"
Jo Jaehyuk couldn't answer a single question properly.
She bent at the waist, locking eyes straight with him as he huddled on the floor.
"You scared?"
"...N-no, ma'am."
"Then why do something this stupid? If you're gonna rat someone out, at least come prepared. You gotta know what kind of bastard you're dealing with, what cards he's holding, at least one weakness to stab at. Right?"
At those words, color flushed back into Jo Jaehyuk's pale, humiliated, terrified face. He shot back without thinking.
"Th-that's just mocking the victim...! In the face of clear-cut crime, the victim shouldn't have to dig up the perp's info...!"
"Victim?"
Rena snorted derisively.
She tapped her chest with her fingers.
"You're right about everything. But the victim here? That's me. You get sexually harassed or something? That Kang Ihyeon punk gay? Did he make a doll of you and jump you?"
"N-no...! No way...!"
"Exactly. So why are you playing the victim? Don't flap your gums with that nauseating self-righteousness. What you're doing right now? It's insulting the real victim—me."
Jo Jaehyuk couldn't say another word. This wasn't the scenario Instructor Seraphina had described. Rena should have been furious, Kang Ihyeon ruined. He couldn't fathom how everything had gone so wrong.
Rena stood, interest completely gone.
"Manager."
"Y-yeah... Rena. Let him go? Please? He's still a student, kid looks half-dead."
"Nah. Seeing trash like this pisses me off again."
She raked back her mint-green hair irritably and spat coldly.
"Beat him a few times and send him packing. Teach him to fear the world a bit, and that he shouldn't butt into other people's business."
"Rena! Come on!"
"Don't argue with my decisions. Or you wanna take his beating?"
The manager sighed heavily in the end and roughly hauled Jo Jaehyuk up by the collar.
Shooting crew eyes turned at Jo Jaehyuk's scream, but Rena never once looked back.
"Manager, after this, contact Hermes too."
"Sigh, got it..."
Hermes's Scales.
Nocturne Town's info broker, trading equivalent compensation and intel.
Nowhere better for buying and selling information.
Two days later, at dawn.
But the deal wasn't as smooth as she'd hoped.
Nocturne Town was a place where top dog and underdog flipped.
Even active veteran hunters and the Hunter Association stepped down from their high horse there.
"I-I have to wear this hood?!"
"Can't risk the press catching you. Nocturne Town's more open these days, but rumors could tank your rep."
"Hmph, let 'em catch me. I don't give a shit."
"...At least hold back for my sake!"
Their petty bickering stopped only when the info broker's creaky old door swung open.
The room they were led into was dimly lit.
Shelves lining the walls brimmed with dusty tomes of unknown origin and bizarre artifacts.
At the room's center, behind a hefty oak desk, a mysterious man in a pure white mask covering his entire face greeted them.
He introduced himself as 'Hermes'.
"The information you requested is already prepared."
He slid a small parchment across the desk. Magical ink boldly inscribed the price they owed.
The manager's face went white upon seeing it.
"Th-that much money? For dirt on one Academy student?"
"Customer, precisely because it's no mere Academy student that we demand this value. Moreover, the intel you seek includes various classified matters—we have no choice but to charge for it all."
"What?!"
The manager erupted in open dissatisfaction the moment he sat at the negotiation table. He wasn't even really mad, just acting it.
Rena was watching from behind. Slacking off meant getting grilled himself!
But the man called Hermes didn't flinch a bit.
"May I now briefly recite our guild's evaluation report for you, customer?"
"......"
The man didn't wait for a reply, folding his slender fingers one by one.
"First, his provisional skill grade. Second, the skill's utility value. Third, the value of the project he's involved in. Fourth, the value of his connections. Fifth, the value of the information he holds. All five exceed what your side appraised... That's how our guild's analysts see it."
"Hah? No way. How's one student worth that?"
"R-Rena, hold on, I'll handle this...!"
Rena yelled from under her hood, making the manager fidget anxiously.
He always got heartburn knowing she, a public figure, risked exposure here.
'Even this gets logged as info—someone might buy it!'
The manager squeezed his eyes shut.
"A-alright! We'll buy all the info!"
"Manager!"
"We came to buy info anyway. Let's hear it first, then get mad. Yeah? Not too late after."
"Heh, wise judgment. You won't regret it."
Hermes nodded behind his mask with a satisfied chuckle.
He pointed to the worn, hefty brass scales on his desk.
Placing a bundle of faintly magical documents carefully on one pan made it tilt heavily.
"We began collecting on him precisely from when he joined the Maker Sect as Elder Marsha Leosica's personal disciple. Honestly, pre-Straggler Exam info held little value. F-rank flunk-out. Nothing more, nothing less."
Hermes's voice was calm, but his confidence unwavering.
He continued as he added small weights to the other pan, the scales slowly balancing.
"The skill you're most curious about, 'Doll Creation.' Our guild estimates its potential grade at Legendary—right below Mythic—or possibly Heroic."
"Legendary? Heh, not bad... Still, back in my Academy days, I had─"
"Apologies, but focus on the skill itself, not the grade. It's not mere mimicry of appearance. As you've experienced, it replicates the target's skills and combat patterns in degraded form. Pure combat dolls might lack utility... but what if beyond combat?"
Weights climbed one by one.
Rena's insides burned more with each.
Yet the scales still tilted.
"What else? What's left?"
"Additionally, he's deeply involved in the Maker Sect's core project and recently sealed a deal with the Yu Family, proving its viability. Also, secret dealings with Nocturne Town's top VIPs—names we can't disclose."
Hermes added the final weight, pointing to the documents. The scales hit perfect balance. A silent declaration: value matched price.
"All this intel is in this document. His known doll list, project details. And the recent controversy you wanted."
"Ugh..."
"Satisfactory, customer?"
Rena swallowed dryly.
This level of intel made their price seem fair, maybe even a steal.
"...Manager, pay up."
Hermes, facing them, wore a bitter smile inwardly.
The brass scales were no mere decoration.
The manifestation of his unique skill, 'Scales of Equivalent Exchange.'
The absolute arbiter of information's 'value.'
The scales gauged the total 'knowable or collectible' info in the world, rendering its worth in weight.
And Hermes himself had to gather actual intel matching that weight for the opposite pan.
Only when balance was achieved did he sell.
This self-imposed rule was his secret to ruling Nocturne Town's back alleys as top broker for a decade.
Absolute fairness and trust. The scales never lied.
'But this Kang Ihyeon kid was a real pain.'
Over the past couple months, his scales' weights shifted constantly. The fluctuations were beyond imagination. It went beyond mere rapid rise.
The info volume itself writhed like a living thing, redefining its value in real time.
'Clear implication: I haven't grasped the root of his secrets.'
Hermes knew two of Kang Ihyeon's dolls.
One modeled after Miyazaki Rena, the other his recent reveal: Yu Yejeong's doll.
The scales swung big at each emergence.
'Meaning the dolls themselves aren't the secret—the creation principle hides something big.'
That was why Hermes rated the skill so high.
Only that patched the current info imbalance for balance.
A hack, basically.
Padding weight with absurd 'estimates.'
Hermes hated it. A decade-hardened vet resorting to tricks.
He'd done this rarely before.
Swamp Witch, a few guild masters, crime syndicate heads...
Before those cloaked in secrets, Hermes sketched diligently.
Like old cartographers drawing cliffs beyond uncharted seas.
'Is this Kang Ihyeon in their league? That level of potential?'
The speculation scratched his pride yet thrilled his heart.
Unclear if it meant his incompetence—or Kang Ihyeon's greatness.
"H-here's the promised amount."
The manager tremblingly offered a pouch brimming with mana stones.
As Hermes reached to take it and set it by the scales—
Kaang—!
A clear, sharp scream.
The precariously balanced pan holding Kang Ihyeon's info docs began shattering.
Spiderweb cracks raced across its surface, brass shards raining like debris.
"Wh-what...! Y-you scamming us?!"
"No, this is... probably my scales' priority kicking in automatically..."
The manager reeled back in shock, but Hermes stayed put.
Behind the mask, he gazed at the wreckage and burst laughing.
"Looks like another info shift just hit."
Inside the mask, his lips curled into a chilling grin.