Skyrocketing Bids and Village Foundations
Black Guild Master, Hyeok-su.
"Mu-hyuk's still turning us down?"
"Yes."
"Hmph, nothing we can do about it. Looks like he has no interest in joining. We'll drop it here. No more recruitment pushes."
"Oppression could be one way..."
The guild master's face hardened at the executive's words.
"Are you an idiot?"
"Pardon?"
"The Apophis Guild incident—ring any bells?"
"Well, that guild was a total nobody..."
"Sigh. Secros."
"Yes."
"You're expelled from the guild. Got it?"
"W-what?!"
You have expelled user 'Secros' from the guild.
The guild master waved his hand dismissively, then turned to Secros.
"Get out."
"I can't do that! What did I do to deserve expulsion?!"
"I've heard reports on your recent behavior. Stealing items, bullying other users in hunting grounds by throwing the guild name around. I was watching because of your level, but this attitude? It's clear you'll keep pulling dirty stunts. Leave this meeting room now, or I'll issue a kill order."
"You...!"
Secros ground his teeth and stood up.
"You'll regret this!"
"We'll see."
The expelled user stormed out of the meeting room.
"Alright, back to the meeting."
"Y-yes!"
"No more recruitment for Mu-hyuk, as discussed. Keep sweeping up enhanced items like before."
"Understood."
"Any other news?"
"None."
"Meeting adjourned, then."
As the Black Guild meeting wrapped up...
"Oh, one more thing."
"What?"
"Today, the +7 weapon—Kurkan's Longsword—goes on sale."
"Auction time left?"
"One hour."
"Get it. No matter what. Clear?"
"Yes!"
The executives shouted in unison.
*
The enhanced items sold so far had already netted over 10,000 gold. And today was the sale of Kurkan's Longsword, the first weapon Mu-hyuk had successfully enhanced to +7. Even he had no clue what it'd fetch.
About 30 minutes left.
He opened the auction house to check the current bid.
900 gold...
◈ 900 Gold
True auction frenzy started now—no point fixating on the current price. Mu-hyuk watched for a bit, then closed the window.
Check again with 5 minutes left.
In the meantime, he set a goal: craft one weapon to +5. He got to work.
Clang! Claaang!
After 25 minutes crafting a +5 weapon, he listed it on the auction house with 72-hour bidding. Then he searched for Kurkan's Longsword again.
◈ 4 minutes 17 seconds
◈ Current Bid: 1,209 Gold
It had jumped 300 gold in moments.
◈ 4 minutes 11 seconds
◈ Current Bid: 1,239 Gold
The price climbed again.
Now the real speed kicked in.
Time to watch.
As he observed, bids updated constantly.
1,245 gold.
1,250 gold.
1,251 gold.
1,260 gold.
Every 3-4 seconds, it rose.
"Whatcha doing?"
Sung Min-woo and Yerin, taking a break from hunting, approached Mu-hyuk. He wasn't working, so they asked.
"Oh, checking the auction house."
"Auction house?"
"Yeah, Kurkan's Longsword sells in 3 minutes."
Yerin's eyes widened.
"Oppa, Kurkan's? The +7 weapon?"
"Yep."
"Whoa, jackpot. Lemme watch."
"Ooh, me too!"
Sung Min-woo and Yerin opened the auction house and searched for the weapon.
"Huh? Still at 1,300 gold?"
"Yeah, for now."
"Kinda low, huh?"
"It'll pick up soon."
"Oho."
With 2 minutes left...
"Whoa, oppa! Insane, insane!"
"No joke, for real."
Mu-hyuk chuckled at their reactions.
Pretty fast, yeah.
At 1:50 remaining, it hit 2,500 gold.
"One sword for 2.5 million won..."
"At least 5,000 gold, I'd bet."
"Sigh, wish I'd learned crafting!"
"Start now, grind hard."
"Yeah, guess so. Dang."
Time ticked to 1 minute left.
"Whoa, 2,700 gold."
"Already 2,800."
"Oppa, what'll you do with the cash?"
"Hm, buy some Illusion stock."
"Invest in the village?"
"Some there too. Like 100 gold."
"That enough?"
"Yeah, kick off mining development properly."
"Ah."
They fell silent mid-chat.
10 seconds left.
Prices exploded.
◈ Time Remaining: 10 seconds
◈ Current Bid: 3,639 Gold
◈ Time Remaining: 9 seconds
◈ Current Bid: 3,721 Gold
◈ Time Remaining: 8 seconds
◈ Current Bid: 3,899 Gold
Terrifying pace.
"In-insane...!"
At 3 seconds left, it hit 4,500 gold.
And then...
Kurkan's Longsword +7 has been sold.
You have acquired 6,725 gold 95 silver (after fees).
An enormous sum poured in.
*
Logging out of Illusion, Mu-hyuk converted his gold to cash and bought a ton of stock. After lunch, he checked the homepage for trends, noted a few events, then hopped into the Illusion TV chat to skim the posts.
Mu-hyuk tilted his head.
Monopoly?
The screenshots made it plausible. There were always folks who grabbed whatever they wanted, rules be damned.
If true, not great. One guild dominating would unbalance player growth.
He wasn't about to dwell on it. But imbalance could shift flows, twist the major storylines—episodes—from his memories.
Mu-hyuk nodded at one viewer's comment.
Sounds good.
Solid idea.
He'd go with it.
Logged out of chat, lay in the capsule.
Welcome to Illusion.
Logged in, opened auction house.
Cancel bids.
All 72-hour listings canceled. Sales so far set a baseline—he switched to buy-it-now prices. Even if rumors false, no loss for him. No hesitation.
Swift Dagger +5 has been sold.
You have acquired 1,675 gold (after fees).
Soaring Staff +6 has been sold.
You have acquired 2,217 gold (after fees).
Items sold in a flash.
This is better.
Instant cash fired him up.
Alright, more enhancements today.
Bought a 200-gold greatsword from auction, summoned skeletons. Spread them to hunt, set the sword down, gripped the hammer.
Enhance.
Skill activated—red dot appeared. Title bumped it to level 4; bigger dot meant better accuracy, higher success.
Enhancement successful.
Straight to +4, no stops.
+5 is the hurdle.
Eyes sharp, hammer down.
Claaaang!
Sung Min-woo logged in then.
"Whew, tough customer."
He shook his head at Mu-hyuk working.
Yerin followed.
"Oppa's crafting again?"
"Yup. Let's hunt."
"Okay!"
They headed out; Mu-hyuk kept enhancing as usual. Stopped at sunset, went to the village alone briefly.
"You're here."
"Yeah. Anything special?"
"Buildings nearly done."
"Ah, inn and restaurant?"
"Yes. Want to see?"
"Of course."
He went to the site with Rakak.
"Just finishing up."
As he said.
You can raise Architecture Level to 2.
Grinning, he checked details.
Clicked level up.
Raising Architecture Level to 2.
Requires Fame 5,000. 10% of required Fame will be consumed.
That explained the Fame need.
Current Fame: about 100,000.
Plenty spare. Leveled up immediately.
Architecture Level has reached 2.
500 Fame consumed.
Now could build Carpenter Guild and Blacksmith Guild too.
Whew, now it begins.
Key foundations.
"Floating population up?"
"More outsiders lately."
"Funds?"
"Used up on these buildings."
Mu-hyuk pondered, pulled 200 gold from inventory.
"200 gold."
"This is..."
"My personal funds."
Handed it with right hand, tinkered system with left.
Inn construction plan set.
Restaurant construction plan set.
"I'll recoup from taxes later, so no worries. Add one Carpenter Guild and one Blacksmith Guild."
"Village chief...!"
"Oh, and stick by me ongoing for management."
Rakak's eyes widened.
"Be my steward."
Stunned, he pondered briefly, met Mu-hyuk's steady gaze, smiled softly, nodded.
"Understood. I'll devote my remaining years here."
"Thank you."
"Handle the rest well."
"No worries, Village Chief."
Once Carpenter and Blacksmith Guilds up, retrain talents as carpenters, upgrade housing first.
Comfortable homes raise quality of life. Then arm security with gear for safety.
"Counting on you."
"Yes."
Wrapped village business, returned to hunting grounds.