Chapter 88
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: A Secret Sponsor (3)
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The inside of the department store was almost exactly as I remembered it.
There were staff waiting with bright, alert eyes, and luxury goods glittering under the brilliant lights. The air was thick with the scent of rich perfume.
The only difference was that, within this vast department store, Yoon Sua and I were the only customers.
“Well then, you two take your time coming up. I'll go on ahead.”
With those words, Yu Geonha headed for the Black Market, his security hunters in tow.
And now, I was left alone with her. Yoon Sua spoke, a slightly flustered look on her face.
“This is… on a much grander scale than I expected.”
“I agree.”
I never imagined he’d open up the entire department store for us.
And to top it off, anything we chose was free. It seemed Yu Geonha was covering the bill, which meant the sales would be recorded.
Thus, every employee was staring our way with gleaming eyes.
‘To be precise, they’re staring at Yoon Sua.’
Choosing her was a good move, for several reasons.
Yoon Sua was a hunter whose popularity surpassed that of most celebrities.
Thanks to all eyes being fixed on her, I could move about without any hassle, seen as nothing more than Colleague #1 or a bodyguard.
“Hanul-nim, what would you like to do? Shall we look around for a bit?”
Yoon Sua asked cautiously.
“Shall we?”
Truth be told, I knew next to nothing about luxury brands.
I considered just heading up to the Black Market, but it felt rude to ignore Yu Geonha’s gesture, so I decided to browse for a little while.
I walked over to the first-floor perfume section without much thought.
Yoon Sua simply followed behind me.
“Excuse me, is this…”
I picked up a perfume bottle the size of my thumb and started to speak. The employee, who had been engrossed in Yoon Sua until that moment, approached.
“Ah, sir. Are you perhaps looking for a gift?”
“A gift?”
“Yes, that’s a women’s perfume… It’s a product that’s very popular with women in their 20s and 30s.”
I see.
I really had no clue. This entire glittering store felt more difficult to navigate than a dungeon.
Worse, the Sage’s special analysis was utterly useless here.
[…φ(._.)]
It’s too late to start studying now.
“This one has an added extract from the Dust Butterfly, and in terms of weight, it’s considered a head note. In some ways, its scent is similar to existing fougère products, but this one is…”
So what’s a head note, and what’s a fougère?
I could rattle off the ecology, weaknesses, and characteristics of the monster called the Dust Butterfly, but this was beyond me.
As I listened silently, the employee got excited and started chattering away.
“Ah, thank you for the explanation!”
It was Yoon Sua who cut off the employee’s rapid-fire speech.
“Could you recommend something in the green family for a base note? Woody or animalic would be fine too. Something in the civet family would be great, and I’d like to see something with an eau de parfum concentration.”
…In an instant, at least six words I didn’t know had flown out of her mouth. Of course, the employee seemed to understand perfectly, her eyes widening as she asked.
“Oh, that’s a profile men tend to use quite often. Hunter Yoon Sua, are you also buying a gift for someone?”
“Yes, I’m planning to give it to my brother.”
“Eeeeeek! You mean Hunter Yoon Suhyeok?! Ah, ahem. I’m sorry, I’m a huge fan of his… But when he came in the other day when I wasn’t here, he bought a product from a completely different family…”
“I just think this would suit him better.”
“Ah, yes! I’m so sorry for getting carried away. Then how about this product here?”
Before I knew it, the employee’s attention had shifted from me to Yoon Sua.
Thanks to that, I was able to put down the perfume and catch my breath for a moment.
I moved away from Yoon Sua and the perfume salesclerk and began to wander slowly through the store.
‘Being a department store VIP isn’t easy.’
If Yoon Sua hadn’t been here, I might have buckled under the employees’ expectant gazes and gone straight up to the Black Market.
A short while later.
“Hanul-nim!”
Yoon Sua’s soft voice called from behind me.
When I turned, she was holding out a shopping bag.
“Here…”
I took it and saw that the perfume she had just received from the employee was wrapped inside.
Didn’t she say it was a gift for Yoon Suhyeok? I looked at her with a questioning gaze.
“I’m sorry. You looked like you were in a difficult spot, so I wanted to help a little… But I did my best to choose a scent that would suit you, Hanul-nim.”
“Ah, thank you. To be honest, the employee was using such technical terms that I was having trouble.”
“Not at all, it’s completely understandable. And, if you don’t mind…”
Yoon Sua asked cautiously once again.
“Would it be alright if I helped pick out some clothes or other things that might suit you?”
Oh. She was literally offering to be my guide.
It was an offer I had no reason to refuse.
Frankly, it was like a ray of light.
I didn’t let it show, however, and asked with a slightly troubled expression.
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”
“Not at all! This kind of help was part of the request you made, and I accepted it! It’s no bother at all!”
Yoon Sua shook her head, even waving her hands dismissively.
The employees watching us looked puzzled.
How could I refuse when she was expressing herself so clearly?
I smiled and nodded.
“Then I’ll be in your care.”
* * *
Two hours later.
“Sua-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“I think this is more than enough now.”
I said, holding up the shopping bags that filled both my hands.
Yoon Sua, who had been holding a sweater up to my frame, finally lifted her gaze to look at me.
Her face immediately turned red, and she quickly bowed her head.
“Ah, I’m sorry! I got a little too excited, didn’t I?”
I didn’t deny it.
For the past two hours, she had certainly been proactive in a completely different way than before.
Thanks to her, I didn’t get lost among the luxury brands I’d never seen before, and I was able to pick out the perfect gifts for my mother.
All in all, shopping with someone of the opposite sex wasn’t a bad experience.
“It’s fine. I had a lot of fun, thanks to you. But I think we should head up now.”
For one, my hands were full, just as Yu Geonha had said they would be. Plus, it had already been two hours since we started shopping.
Yoon Sua neatly hung the sweater back on its rack and smiled in relief.
“Yes, I’m glad you had fun.”
“I did. Let’s come back again sometime.”
“Oh, can we?”
It was meant as a closing remark, but Yoon Sua’s eyes sparkled.
Well, it wouldn’t be so bad. With her around, I could blend into her radiant aura and move about naturally.
I was about to reply with a smile when my smartphone suddenly rang.
[Yoon Suhyeok: I. Am. Trusting. You.]
Trusting me with what, exactly?
* * *
“Hm, you took your time.”
As we stepped out of the elevator, Yu Geonha, who had been resting on the other side of the room, spoke with a deadpan expression.
He then looked at Yoon Sua, who followed me out empty-handed, and asked.
“Why are your hands empty? The items in the Black Market might be an issue, but I’m sure I said you were free to choose whatever you wanted from the floors below.”
“Chairman, you invited Hunter Kim Hanul, not me.”
“Hmm… I see.”
Yu Geonha nodded without another word.
He then gestured behind him, toward the interior of the Black Market.
“Look.”
The Black Market was shrouded in darkness, as if covered by blackout curtains.
Then, in an instant.
*Flick.* The lights hanging from the ceiling switched on, brilliantly illuminating the interior.
‘So this is what it looks like.’
The Black Market resembled a museum or an art gallery.
It was a spacious area, similar in size to Yu Wolha’s ‘Banquet Hall’.
All sorts of items were displayed within.
Mannequins dressed in hunter suits stood in a row, and various weapons hung on the walls.
Among them were melee weapons that shimmered with an array of colors, brimming with mana.
On another side, there were glass display cases, inside which small items, no bigger than the palm of a hand, gleamed.
“What do you think?”
“This is my first time seeing it in person. Now I understand why they call the Black Market the best.”
There were many establishments that sold items like this.
But the Black Market was unequivocally rated as the best among them.
[The Sage informs you that most of the items present in this location are A-rank or higher!]
And now, it was proving that reason right before my eyes.
Yu Geonha nodded.
“Take your time and look around. You have until opening time tomorrow to choose.”
Come to think of it, tomorrow was the one day a month the Black Market opened.
I had been wondering why there were so many items for a Black Market, and that was the reason.
And I had been given the chance to pick the best items before anyone else.
However, I had only one purpose for the items I sought here.
“Could I possibly see the monster byproducts first?”
“Byproducts?”
Yu Geonha looked puzzled for a moment but soon gestured to a staff member behind him.
“This is the list of byproducts for sale.”
Guided by the staff, I arrived at the section where the byproducts were displayed.
Yoon Sua, who had accompanied me, spoke with a surprised expression.
“The Black Market is really something else. There are quite a few byproducts here that are incredibly hard to find at the regular headquarters exchange.”
“I see.”
I slowly scanned the byproducts with my eyes.
The heart of a Vampire Count, the jeweled orb of an Imugi.
There were also priceless items whose value was whatever the seller named.
On average, these were things that ordinary hunters would have a hard time even seeing once, let alone purchasing.
But again, I had no use for them.
I asked the Sage, who was staring intently beside me.
‘Sage, what do you think?’
A moment later, a disappointing answer came back.
[The Sage informs you that none of the materials required for manufacturing the Lord’s Castle’s defense facilities are present.]
Well, this is a bust.
No matter how masterful these A-rank items were, they couldn’t compare to the Bloodstone items I possessed, like the Lingering Shadow Sword, Benevolence, and Gratitude.
Besides, these items weren’t exclusively for summoned creatures, so it was doubtful they would even work for the monsters of the Lord’s Castle.
‘I’ll just look around a bit more and take anything that seems useful.’
It would be awkward to say that there was nothing I needed.
With that thought, I left the byproduct display and turned my head elsewhere.
My gaze fell on Yoon Sua, who was staring intently at something in a corner.
“See anything interesting?”
“Ah… Hanul-nim.”
Yoon Sua continued speaking, her eyes still fixed on the object.
“Yes, interesting, I suppose. I’m just surprised there’s still someone who makes items like that.”
Items like that?
I followed her gaze.
In a corner of the Black Market, in a spot so dim that even the bright lights didn’t fully reach it, lay something that looked like a lump of scrap metal.
I walked over to it.
“A chair?”
It was a metal chair, reminiscent of the throne the Dream Lord used to sit on.
However, its size was quite modest.
It looked just big enough to squeeze my hips into.
Yoon Sua, who had followed me, spoke cautiously.
“It’s a Magic Deployment Turret. It’s amazing that someone is still making these. Hmm… But I wonder if it’ll even sell, even at the Black Market?”
It was an item I’d never heard of. No, wait, this is a turret? No matter how I looked at it, it just seemed like a slightly unusual chair.
But Yoon Sua nodded and replied.
“It’s a turret that can concentrate and fire magic. You could say it’s the precursor to the anti-kaiju BF Cannons or the large-caliber Mana Rifles.”
“You’re looking at something interesting.”
This time, it was Yu Geonha who interjected.
He stared at the chair, which was apparently called a ‘turret’, and asked.
“Have you seen one before?”
“No, this is my first time.”
“I see.”
He gazed at the chair with a reminiscent look in his eyes and muttered.
“Back during the Great Cataclysm, you know, D-rank and E-rank hunters used to carry turrets like this. Since they couldn’t be of help with their own power, they desperately clung to unstable things like this, risking their lives.”
With that, he gestured to the security hunter behind him.
The hunter, receiving the order, sat down on the metal chair without a word. And suddenly.
*Vwooom!*
“?!”
A small fissure opened in the lower part of the chair, and a long barrel shot out from within as it began to transform into a new shape.
*Clank, clank!*
It was a transformation I couldn’t comprehend even as I watched it.
Soon, the chair had morphed into something resembling an artillery piece with its wheels removed.
It looked like things had been haphazardly attached to the original chair, giving it a rather crude appearance.
“It’s a magic turret made using subspace formulas and lightweight materials. Hunters these days have no use for it. Isn’t that right, Hunter Yoon Sua?”
“Yes. There are many mana rifles available now that are much smaller and have more than enough destructive power. Plus, the magic turret has to go through a deployment process, which makes it less versatile, and its mobility is terrible. In many ways, it’s not suited for dungeon expeditions.”
“Hmm.”
“On top of that, the difficulty of crafting it is absurdly high. In the first place, it’s impossible to make without the ‘Subspace Endowment’ skill.”
Yoon Sua rattled on about an item I didn’t even know existed.
I see.
So this is why Sanarae called her an item otaku.
I stared at the magic turret before me and nodded inwardly.
‘From what I’m hearing, it’s an obsolete item in practical combat.’
Yu Geonha nodded with a blank expression and spoke.
“I suppose so. The truth is, this is a rather special magic turret.”
“Special?”
“Yes. It’s the life’s work of a stubborn old artisan. He wasted away and passed a few months after completing it.”
“It seems you knew him.”
It was just a casual comment.
But the reaction was surprising. The iron-blooded Yu Geonha actually winced, if only slightly.
He uttered just one sentence.
“I can’t say that we didn’t.”
Then, his face returned to that of a stoic old man as he continued.
“Anyway, that’s what it is. I just put it out here on the off chance someone might have a use for an old relic like this. If not, I plan to dispose of it.”
With those words, the old man gestured, and the security hunter got off the magic turret.
*Clank.*
The turret, its operator gone, reverted to an ordinary chair.
I didn't know its weight, but in terms of size, it was modest, only coming up to about my waist.
That thing… could it work?
My eyes met the Sage’s, and the little fellow bobbed up and down. It would work.
“Well then, take your time and look around.”
“Chairman.”
“Hmm.”
“I’ll take this one for now.”
And this time, for real.
A crack appeared on the old man’s stoic face.