Chapter 87 — The Superstar of the Auction House (1)
The moment had finally arrived.
Saturday, September 27th, 2025.
Did you know what day this was? World Tourism Day, as designated by the UN World Tourism Organization? Or perhaps the 435th cycle since the passing of Pope Urban VII, the shortest-reigning pope in Catholic history? If not that, then maybe the 85th anniversary of the Tripartite Pact signed between Germany, Italy, and Japan?
No — none of the above.
Of course, all of those were meaningful days in their own right, but today there was something far more important on the calendar.
Namely—
"Jeanne, are you ready?"
"Mm… yes. It's a little uncomfortable, but I'm fine."
"Just bear with it a bit longer. Presentation matters today."
It was a spacious van — not Lee Jun's own car that they'd taken to the Seoul Dungeon before, but a rental boasting far more comfortable quarters. Four people sat inside it.
"Wow… there are so many people out there."
"This is our management's first public appearance since then. Given the spectacle we put on last time, they've all swarmed here hoping for another exclusive."
Choi Jeong-hyeon's eyes went round as saucers at the sheer sea of bodies visible outside. Most of them would be reporters or people working in the hunter industry. It made sense, really. The participant list was never officially published, but it wasn't strictly guarded either — the crowd gathered here had all found their way through one channel or another.
That said, Lee Jun had no intention of stealing the spotlight like last time. Back then, it had essentially been the management's debut, so the theatrics had been warranted. And after a flashy debut, the unspoken rule was to give the audience a breather.
"Our role today is simple anyway."
"Yes. You told us we're to stay thoroughly in the background, sir."
"Right. Today's main characters aren't going to be us."
Which was why they'd put thought into their outfits as well.
Last time, both Lee Jun and Seo Yoon had dressed to impress — Lee Jun in a jacket with an eye-catching design, Seo Yoon in a full dress. But today was different. Lee Jun, Seo Yoon, and Choi Jeong-hyeon were all wearing ordinary suits.
Plain black formalwear. Nothing about their clothes drew the eye, no matter how you looked at them. And that plainness was deliberate — designed to funnel all attention toward a single point.
Toward… the S-Class hunter of mystique.
"Will I really do well?"
"Of course. Look how well it suits you."
Jeanne wore a pale yellow dress that stood in stark contrast to the three of them. True to her image, it emphasized her cuteness with frills and the like, and beige accents were worked in between — a safeguard, since solid yellow could easily tip into country-bumpkin territory. Beyond that, the ornamentation was kept restrained, almost nonexistent. Her outfit carried a simplicity that somehow still felt full, never sparse.
Siara looked her over and sighed.
"Haah… I swear, if you leave it to Johanna, there's no telling what kind of clothes she'll pick…"
"Hahaha, remember last time? She chose something that looked like it belonged on a haute couture runway."
Siara exhaled another sigh while Timothy chuckled — though his laughter was missing a bit of its usual cheer. Apparently it had been quite the ordeal.
"So that's why it ended up on me?"
"Yep. You're good with this kind of styling, Hyung."
In the end, the two of them had scoured every option for a dress that suited Jeanne before turning to Lee Jun for help. Presumably her eccentric fashion sense had run rampant during the selection process. She was a child whose tastes were ordinarily quite tame — but when it came to clothes, her personal convictions were strangely unshakable.
Is it because she's French that she cares so much about fashion?
Every nation had its pride, after all. Italian pasta, Korean kimchi — that sort of thing. Lee Jun remembered how furious he'd been the first time he heard about kimchi fresh-cream cake, a culinary abomination. Kaede had actually described it as delicious, and his blood pressure had spiked accordingly.
At any rate, Jeanne seemed to have her own firm preferences in that same vein. Of course… hers were just a bit too bizarre.
"But I… thought it was pretty."
A hint of sulkiness crept into her voice. Well… even by Lee Jun's standards, the outfit Jeanne had originally picked had been… something. Normally he'd accommodate a person's basic preferences when putting together a look for them, but in this case her suggestions were simply unusable.
"For starters, ochre as a base with neon accents is a hard no."
"…You wouldn't understand, Siara."
"But even Jun said it was bad!"
"……"
Zzigeuut—
Jeanne stared at Lee Jun in silence. Only someone without a human heart would look into those unwavering eyes and flatly declare disagreement. At least, Lee Jun wasn't that person.
"That outfit wasn't bad either."
"Ah! That's different from what you told us!"
"There's a time and a place for everything. It'd be a little too flashy for today, but… on a normal day, sure, why not."
"…Do you mean that?"
Every ordinary piece of daily clothing Jeanne wore now was the fruit of Siara and Timothy's labor. Apparently they'd spent countless hours overhauling her wardrobe into normal coordinates, and even now she agonized over her choices every single morning. If one remark from Lee Jun sent her tastes right back to square one, the two of them would hardly forgive him for it.
But he didn't want to leave Jeanne sulking, either.
Sorry about this — hang in there a little longer, you two.
"I'm not the one who gets to judge."
"…Just you wait. You'll regret this too, Jun."
Lee Jun responded with a shrug. It didn't seem likely.
In any case, today's styling had a clear purpose: to lift Jeanne up as the star of the show. Which was exactly why the other three were dressed so modestly.
"Hmm… but mine is a little different…?"
"You're the new addition, Jeong-hyeon. It's your first time in front of the cameras — we can't have you buried completely."
Choi Jeong-hyeon's outfit was designed to draw slightly more attention than Lee Jun's or Seo Yoon's. A red tie matching her hair color provided the focal point, rounded out with subtle accessories — earrings, cufflinks. He would have loved to dress her outright glamorously, but preserving today's concept took priority.
"A shame, but you'll have to look forward to next time."
"Ah, I… I'm fine with this, really…"
Choi Jeong-hyeon didn't seem to want to wear a dress at all. Judging by how she normally chose androgynous pieces or strictly casual wear, she simply preferred that style. Hmm, it would suit her, though.
Well, there's another reason the dress is off the table this time anyway.
Choi Jeong-hyeon's arm. Her right arm, replaced by the prosthesis, wasn't ready to be revealed yet. That reveal needed to function as one more device in the narrative — after public interest in her had climbed a notch higher. A pair of gloves concealed it completely for now, so hiding it this way would do.
What the reporters see… has to wait a little longer.
Someone digging deep enough might uncover it, but for the moment there was no problem. Her right arm had to be unveiled at a more fitting time — a moment when public sentiment toward her would burn even hotter. By Lee Jun's plan, that moment would come only after her profession had been redefined.
"Ah, Jeong-hyeon. One moment."
"Yes?"
Swiish—
Lee Jun leaned across toward Choi Jeong-hyeon, seated diagonally from him, and straightened her crooked tie. The red tie was, in a sense, the single most important accent of her entire outfit today. It had been placed there to pull the eye, so it needed to sit as cleanly as possible.
"S-Sir…?"
"Today's all about appearances, so please bear with any discomfort for a little while."
Tsk, tsk—
While he was at it, Lee Jun also tidied the drape of her jacket. She straightened her back so he could fix the shoulder line more easily.
"Mm…"
Choi Jeong-hyeon held her breath for fear of being rude — eyes squeezed shut, too, which suggested she was nervous. They'd stood far closer than this during training, so why was she like this now? She really did get flustered in the strangest moments.
"……"
Just then, he felt a pointed gaze from right beside him. At the end of that stare sat—
"Jeanne? Is something bothering you?"
"…No."
Jeanne looked somehow prickly. Was she sulking because she'd been dressed to stand out while the others faded into the background?
Jeanne, sulking…
Emotion, if you could call it that — one more piece of evidence that her faint expressions were growing richer by the day. Shouldn't that be welcomed, then, especially considering all the changes unfolding within her? And so Lee Jun wore a fond smile instead and gently patted her head.
Perhaps she couldn't yet fully resonate with every emotion of the people around her, because she simply let her hair rest under his hand with a bewildered look. As he smoothed down the strands he'd ruffled, Lee Jun spoke.
"Anyway, we're just here for something light today, so don't worry about the details. If you want something, you can bid on it."
"May I really bid on things I want?"
"You can. Foreign hunters are allowed to participate, as long as it's not gate listings."
"I see."
With that, Lee Jun shot a glance at Siara and Timothy. He'd given the two of them instructions in advance. With those instructions… they were going to raise hell at the auction house.
Today's auction has quite a few listings that certain guilds absolutely need.
Which meant they'd have to chase the price up no matter how high it climbed, gritting their teeth the whole way. Time to see how deep those coffers really went, wouldn't you say?
{Your inner thoughts are villainous every time I look at them, you know.}
That's from the guilds' perspective.
The Association, on the other hand, is going to adore me for it.
{That part's secondary anyway.}
I told you before, didn't I? I need to act as a check on the guilds, keeping them pressed down on a regular basis.
{My question is why you have to be the one doing it.}
As it stands, the Hunter Association finds it difficult to exercise that kind of restraining force — at least when it comes to auctions. There are all sorts of legal constraints tying their hands. So Lee Jun, free of the Association's fence, was stepping in to dam the flood in their place.
{Hmm… even so, aren't you making a lot of enemies this way?}
Hard to say. Seolwon and I are already at each other's throats thanks to Lee Hyeon-ah, and our directions don't align anyway. As for Samhwa Group… their guild will produce an S-Class within six months, so they need to be pressed down now, while there's still time. It's not a question of whether to burn bridges — it's a must.
And well… Taesan and HIM have no reason to be crossed today, so they're irrelevant. {What about everyone else?}
Outside the Big Four, nobody else warrants consideration. Excluding the four great guilds, Korea has no particularly threatening factions. Restrain just Seolwon and Samhwa — the two whose goals diverge from mine — and I've already covered more than half the board.
{If the plan goes off today, the Association will think well of you, then.}
That may be a side benefit, but internal opinion within the Association is already firmly in my pocket — no need to raise it further. Besides, being doted on by Go Seok-gu isn't exactly an appealing proposition.
Ugh. Gross.
"……"
So went Lee Jun's silent exchange with Silhouette — until, mid-hair-smoothing, his eyes met Jeanne's. She'd been listening in on their conversation this whole time, no doubt. Silhouette's half of the dialogue alone wouldn't reveal the full picture, but someone with Jeanne's deductive ability could piece together the gist easily enough.
Lee Jun gave her a faint smile. Looking at his expression, Jeanne answered with a small smile of her own — though it wasn't the natural one he'd glimpsed from her a few times before. Her emotions hadn't fully awakened yet; some days it worked, some days it didn't.
Well… a shame, but it would only get better with time. This much was already remarkable progress.
"There, all done. How is it?"
"I think it looks good. What about you, Oppa?"
"I think you look lovely too."
"Do you?"
"Mm."
"I… see."
At his words, Jeanne smiled. Mm — that one was a fairly natural smile.
With Jeanne's finishing touches complete, Seo Yoon, seated directly behind them, called out to Lee Jun.
"Sir. It's nearly time."
"Ah, it's already that late, huh."
At last — 6:50 in the evening. Ten minutes before the auction began. Timing it to the minute, the four of them set off toward the Korean Central Auction House.
Clack—
The first to step out of the car was Lee Jun. The instant he appeared, the reporters' attention snapped to him in unison. Then Seo Yoon and Choi Jeong-hyeon descended one after another.
And finally—
Click— click—
Click—
Click— click—
"Ooh… it's dazzling…"
Amid a storm of camera flashes, an S-Class hunter made her entrance at the auction house.
Jeanne d'Arc Bernadotte.
The Saintess of Orléans set foot in Mokdong.