Chapter 328: The Black Market (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 328: The Black Market (1)
In the pitch-black darkness, where I couldn't see an inch ahead.
Is this what it would feel like to be held in the arms of a mother I've never known?
Just as I was smiling pleasantly at the warmth pulling me down into the Abyss of the Bottomless Pit.
Rip!
With a sickening sound, a giant eye loomed over the darkness surrounding my body.
[The moment of choice is approaching….]
Male and female.
Old and young.
A blend of voices echoed faintly in the darkness.
The moment of choice?
What am I choosing?
[Fall.]
Fall where?
[Fall.]
Each time the being spoke, my body, buried in darkness, sank deeper.
[Fall.]
Down.
[Fall.]
Deeper and deeper.
[Deeper….]
Then, at a certain moment.
[Fall…!]
The control over my body, which had been stolen by a tranquility I'd never felt before, suddenly returned.
Mana surged in an instant.
Power welled up.
I forcibly tore away the darkness that was constantly pulling at me and stood up.
I looked up at the two crimson eyes, now floating far above me, and muttered.
“Fuck off.”
My rebellious nature spurred me on.
I didn't like its tone, as if it were toying with a helpless animal in its grasp.
[Fall.]
I shook off the darkness that bound me like chains, then stepped on it to rise.
[Fall.]
It was the same this time.
[Fall…!]
As if its maw lay in the endless abyss below.
Using the darkness that kept trying to make me fall as a foothold, I returned to my original position and faced it.
The eyes had now turned blood-red.
Once more.
Just before it could tell me to fall again, I shouted first.
“Look down.”
I could feel them.
The taut threads within the darkness.
And through them, I knew I could control the surrounding darkness that moved like its limbs.
As I reached out my hand, the surging darkness moved toward it.
“I told you to look down.”
Soon, the darkness I had shaped with my hand struck the red eyes.
“You bastard.”
A black fist mercilessly crushed the red eyes.
Crunch!
[……!]
With a gruesome tearing sound, the eyes disappeared, buried in the darkness.
[The moment... of choice... is approaching….]
[Apostle... fall….]
After those incomprehensible words swept over me like a gentle wave,
my consciousness, which had been submerged in the depths of the abyss, rose rapidly.
“Gasp...!”
A ragged breath escaped my mouth and nose.
Instead of the comforting darkness, I felt the texture of the 500,000 won mattress I'd bought a few months ago.
Even though I was awake, the sensations from the dream were still so vivid that I gently opened my eyes.
“……?”
But it was still dark.
It was pitch-black, as if my eyes alone hadn't escaped the darkness.
“Gasp...!”
Suddenly, I remembered that moment from the dream.
I'd crushed those arrogant eyes that looked at me like I was a monkey in a zoo.
“Don't tell me those were my own eyes, were they?”
I frantically reached out and touched my eyelids.
Squish.
Something soft and squishy touched my fingertips before they reached my eyes.
A familiar texture that felt good just to hold.
“……”
As I peeled off the black liquid monster, Kkamseul-i, my blocked vision was finally restored.
And there it was, dangling from my finger.
“So it was you…”
Wobble, wobble.
The creature's expression was unusually dark as it shivered and trembled.
Normally, it would have an expression like ‘^.^’, but why the long face today?
“Are you hungry?”
Hmph!
Apparently not.
Its insolent glare seemed to protest, ‘Who are you calling a glutton!?’
You are a glutton, you little punk.
Anyway, if it's not because it's hungry, then what's wrong?
“Why the long face so early in the morning, you little rascal?”
I asked, as if chiding it.
Hmph!
Hmph!
The insolent little thing shook its body as if to say it didn't want to talk, then turned its eyes away from me.
Ah.
I've seen this before.
“…Do you have something like puberty too?”
This is exactly what Seo-yeon was like when she hit puberty.
Just thinking about it makes me shudder.
No lie, if I had to choose between calming down a pubescent Seo-yeon and conquering an S-rank dungeon, I'd pick the latter without a moment's hesitation.
The mind of a teenager who's started raising a black flame dragon in their heart is more complex than a labyrinth in an S-rank dungeon. I could never find the answer.
No, was there even an answer to begin with?
“Aish… Forget it, whatever.”
I put the sulking creature, for whatever reason, down on the floor.
I learned something back then: with a kid going through a stormy phase, it's best to just leave them alone rather than rashly trying to talk.
If it gets over it on its own, great. If not, I'll just buy it a high-quality weapon to eat later.
I scratched my greasy hair, went into the bathroom, and came out after a quick shower.
“Do-jin, are you still not up?”
Jeong-hee's voice came from outside the door.
“I just woke up.”
“Hurry and wash up and come down! You can skip breakfast, but you have to eat lunch.”
“Huh.”
A little surprised by her words, I checked the clock in the corner of the room.
11:48 AM.
“…It really is lunchtime, huh?”
I slept longer than I thought.
The habit of waking up early is ingrained in me, so I rarely oversleep.
“Is my old habit finally starting to fade away?”
Maybe so.
I roughly dried my wet hair and headed straight downstairs.
Click.
The moment I opened the door, the smells of various foods wafted deep into my nostrils.
Another feast today.
Is this what it feels like for a husband to be doted on by his wife?
Smiling contentedly, I headed to the kitchen, where she greeted me with a smile as she placed a bubbling pot on the table.
“Come and sit.”
I pulled out a chair and sat down, looking around.
I couldn't sense anyone else's presence.
“Where's Yu-jeong?”
“She said she had plans and left this morning.”
“Aha.”
So that means it's just Jeong-hee and me in the house.
Jeong-hee sat down gently beside me, holding a bowl of rice from which white steam was rising.
“Here, let's eat.”
“Thanks for the food.”
When it's just the two of us, Jeong-hee always sits next to me instead of across from me, taking meticulous care of me.
“This is kimchi I just made. Want to try some? How is it?”
“What do you mean, how is it? It's always the best.”
“Hehe... You have such a way with words.”
Sometimes she's like a wife taking care of her husband.
“You always get something on your mouth when you eat. Here, pucker up for me—‘ooh’.”
“Ooh.”
“No, not ‘ooh,’ I said ‘oooh-’.”
“Oooh-.”
And sometimes she's like a mother teaching her immature son.
Her affection, which freely crosses these different roles, is her greatest weapon.
Once you fall for it, there's no getting out.
That's me right now.
“What should be next?”
Jeong-hee, with a delighted expression, chose the next side dish to put on my spoon.
Her sultry looks and voluptuous body that practically radiated sensuality.
Just looking at her makes me forget everything I have to do later.
I just want to forget it all and spend the whole day holding her, rolling around.
Once on the bed, once on the dining table, and once more on the sofa.
Even when we wash, we'd stick close together in the bathtub, dirtying each other's bodies with our fluids, and then wash again.
And finally, I want to carve a mark, a stigma, below her ample breasts, a sign that she's mine.
“Mm.”
“What's wrong?”
“It's nothing.”
I'm curious.
What would happen if I carved a stigma on the body of a non-Awakened person?
Would Jeong-hee be able to draw on my mana, just like Yu-jeong and Na-eun?
Could there be some kind of side effect…?
Just as I was growing cautious about the act of carving a stigma on a case different from the previous two,
“Hng…?”
My eyes met hers as she let out a sensual breath and smiled softly.
“So you're already hungry for something else.”
Her tone was completely different from before, sticky and ensnaring.
What the.
Why did her switch suddenly flip?
“Ah.”
I get it.
I was staring at Jeong-hee's chest the whole time I was thinking about the stigma, wasn't I?
“First, finish your meal.”
As she said that, Jeong-hee slid down from her chair.
She naturally moved under the table and pulled at the elastic waistband of my shorts.
My cock, now freed, was hardening as if it had been waiting for this moment.
Seeing it, Jeong-hee giggled and gripped my cock.
“Hehe... So impatient…”
“Expecting me to be patient in a situation like this is a bit much…”
“That's true.”
As she stroked it lightly, its hardness increased in an instant.
Facing my cock, which was now pointing to the sky as if ready to ascend, Jeong-hee licked her lips in anticipation.
“Time to dig in...♥”
As waves of pleasure washed over me from my cock being sucked into her mouth, I thought.
How did this happen?
I only thought about it for a moment, and it immediately became reality.
“Slurp... Schlick...!”
“Ngh.”
This is even better...!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Haaah, haah...♥”
Jeong-hee panted raggedly, spread-eagled like a frog.
I was resting beside her, but then I sat up.
As if feeling the emptiness of the suddenly vacant spot, she snapped to her senses and looked up at me.
“Are you leaving already...?”
She looked surprised.
Well, it made sense. Every time we did this, it was always Jeong-hee who wanted to stop first, unable to endure the constant pleasure. It was only natural for her to be puzzled since I was the one ending it this time.
To be honest, if I had my way, I'd still want to have sex all day, just like I was thinking earlier, but.
“I have somewhere to be.”
“I see…”
Jeong-hee struggled to sit up.
“Why don't you just lie down and rest more?”
“Nn... I have to clean up before Yu-jeong gets home.”
She shot me a sulky glare.
“This is why I said we should just do it on the bed.”
“Ahem.”
I coughed and quickly averted my gaze.
My eyes fell upon the bedroom, a complete mess from our passionate sex.
And it wasn't just the bedroom.
The dining table, the sofa, the shower... We'd made a mess everywhere, moving from place to place.
The only clean place left was Yu-jeong's room.
Even so, I couldn't bring myself to go into her room.
I pushed Jeong-hee, who was wiping away the semen trickling out of her with every movement, back down onto the bed.
“Just lie down and rest. I'll take care of the cleaning.”
“It's fine, dear. I can do it quickly by myself, so you should hurry and go take care of your business.”
It'd be even faster if I did it.
She won't believe me if I just tell her, so it's faster to just show her.
“Watch closely.”
Particles of mana flowed out of my body.
I moved the fine particles, like laundry detergent, to envelop the mess.
「Clean.」
As I chanted the spell, the particles flashed white for an instant and then vanished, taking the mess with them.
“Oh my.”
Jeong-hee was startled by the sight.
But it was too early to be surprised.
Using Psychokinesis, one of the basic spells, I returned the displaced objects to their original positions.
Finally, I used a purification spell on the air, which was filled with all sorts of smells.
「Purification.」
And just like that, the sex we had today would remain only in our memories.
Jeong-hee looked around the perfectly tidy room, clicking her tongue in amazement.
“Magic... it's really amazing.”
Ahem.
My shoulders puffed up with pride.
“For the first time, I'm envious of an Awakened.”
Her eyes were filled with admiration.
It seemed the magic I'd just shown her had struck a deeper chord than any other spell I'd performed before.
Hmm, magic.
It would be nice if there was a way to teach Jeong-hee magic, even at a simple level.
Or maybe I should gift her an artifact enchanted with useful cleaning magic.
Either way, it wasn't a matter I could decide on quickly.
I'll think about it after I take care of my business.
“I'm leaving.”
“Be careful!”
I went up to my room and took out a suit that was carefully stored on one side of the wardrobe.
An A-tier suit, custom-made at Kings & Queens.
It had been delivered a while ago, but this was the first time I was dressing up like this to go out.
You don't use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.
The dungeons I'd conquered so far weren't grand enough to warrant wearing this suit.
In other words, the place I was heading to now was dangerous enough to require a suit.
It's not a dungeon.
“…Or is it?”
In a broader sense, it might as well be one.
When I came out, fully dressed, the sunset was painting the entire world red.
“Good timing.”
I went straight down, got in the car, and headed for my destination.
Caught in rush hour traffic, I crawled my way to my destination: Yongsan.
The Hunter equipment shopping center in front of me wasn't my real destination.
My real destination was not on the surface, but underground.
Beneath this land, visited by thousands, even tens of thousands, of people a day to buy Hunter gear,
lies a hidden Black Market, known only to a select few.
And that is my destination for today.