Chapter 49: Black Market (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 49: Black Market (2)
Grit.
Alex clenched his teeth so hard they nearly shattered, but he didn't even think of attacking.
It was only natural.
A Necromancer was not built for close-quarters combat.
Above all, his only authorized mandate was persuasion. Anything regarding combat required approval from his superiors.
"Before you go, let me ask you one last thing. Did you know from the very beginning? Where I belonged, I mean."
"I had a rough idea. Still, it was better than when you guys sent that duo. I could tell you were trying hard to look natural."
Back then, they had focused so much on the grand external setup that they missed the finer details.
Thanks to that, he had realized it was a trap immediately.
"Just like last time... you really have a knack for pocketing the down payment and running."
"Well, you guys keep falling for it like suckers, so I can't help but keep doing it."
When someone shoves cake down your throat, you can't help but chew if it tastes good.
"I was just acting naturally."
Jinhyuk smiled brightly.
On the other hand, Alex's face contorted even further.
"You'd better not provoke us too much. Right now, a troublesome enemy has appeared, so he's our priority, but afterward, we will demand a price from you for this as well."
"By troublesome enemy, do you mean the guy in the mask?"
"Yes."
"I don't know. I doubt people of your level can do anything to him."
"Ha! You acted like you'd never even heard of him until a moment ago. Saying that now..."
Alex let out a scoff, dumbfounded.
However, the moment Jinhyuk spoke next, Alex had to overturn every single assumption that formed the foundation of this plan.
"He wore a mask inscribed with Runic characters and recently made contact with a large guild. Of course, you guys were there too."
"...!"
Alex's pupils shook violently.
Cold sweat broke out, and he swallowed hard.
No way.
Is he really acquainted with the guy in the mask?
The uploaded video had the parts about the Demonic Humans edited out, so a third party could never have known.
In other words, what he's saying is real.
Of course, there was one other possibility.
The possibility that the two of them were the same person.
However, Alex never in his wildest dreams imagined that the masked man and Jinhyuk were the same.
And for good reason.
To clear the Corridor of the Fallen on the 1st floor, a player had to maintain level 1.
Naturally, the masked man's level must have been 1 as well.
But Jinhyuk, who stood before him, had just received an estimated level of 20 at the ball a few hours ago.
The level gap between them was a whopping 19.
It's impossible to close that gap in just a few days.
Therefore, they were different people.
At least, Alex was absolutely certain of it.
Because he didn't know that this, too, was part of Jinhyuk's design.
The more half-baked their knowledge, the more certain they are of the information they possess.
The corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled upward.
He figured those Demonic Humans would know a thing or two about clearing the Corridor. Given their vast reach of information and flashy artifacts, they must have uncovered at least a few fragments of information, however superficial.
But.
The only one who knew about the existence of the Tower of Trials' basement 1st floor...
Is me, and me alone in this world.
An insurmountable gap in information that could never be bridged.
It was a privilege that could only be earned by someone who had enjoyed suffering for a very long time.
In the end, Alex let out a long sigh.
"...Whew. So you're saying that if we want information on that guy, we have to tolerate Player Kang Jinhyuk's antics to some extent."
"Exactly. And who knows? Since that guy and I are rivals anyway, maybe I'll throw you some useful info later on."
"I... understand. We'll have to be satisfied with that for now."
Alex nodded reluctantly.
Good.
This seemed like a decent way to establish their relationship.
"Oh, and just so we're clear..."
Jinhyuk spoke one last time.
"Yes?"
"If you can't even handle a single Cheon Yu-seong and are struggling against the guy in the mask, you'd better not mess with me."
If they were thinking of using force, like assassination or torture, to squeeze information out of him, they had better think twice.
At the very least...
"I'll be far more troublesome than either of them."
* * *
After that series of events, the plane smoothly cruised through the sky once more.
After a long flight, they finally arrived at Las Vegas Airport around evening.
Alex was nowhere to be seen, having slipped away at some point.
Jinhyuk didn't pay him any mind.
Right now, he had more important matters to attend to than worrying about that guy.
There were only about four hours left until the auction began.
First, I need to gather some capital.
He needed dollars.
As much as possible.
I need to multiply my current funds by at least two hundred times...
He could have asked Han Sang-jin for money, but if Han started prying into the source of the funds and whatnot, things could get messy later.
As far as I know, the scariest government agency in the world is the tax office.
In that case, his only option was to make do with the money he had.
Even if he exchanged all the Korean won in his wallet, it would only amount to about four thousand dollars.
Of course, that was nowhere near enough.
The minimum bidding increment at the auction house started at fifty thousand dollars.
If so...
"I will summon the memories of the world."
Jinhyuk recalled his stored skills.
What he needed was an ability to fuse with the 'Eye of Truth'.
I was planning to fuse it with a spirit-attribute ability later, but I have no choice right now.
Spirit-attribute abilities acted as a buffer to mitigate side effects even when overusing skills.
On the other hand, dark-attribute abilities were highly efficient but came with the drawback of side effects.
Safety versus efficiency.
He had to choose one.
And given his current circumstances, Jinhyuk chose the latter.
['Eye of Truth (SS)' and 'Blood Demon Qi (S)' are fusing.]
[Fusion successful!]
[You have acquired the skill 'Gluttony's Eye (SSS)'!]
Whirrrr!
With a bright flash of light, the two skills merged into one.
[Gluttony's Eye]
Acquisition Difficulty: SSS
Description: An upgraded version of the 'Eye of Truth'. It grants immunity to all types of barriers and allows the user to peer into an opponent's status window. Furthermore, it enables interference with the target's inner thoughts through 'Shared Vision' and 'Mind Reading'. However, due to the nature of Blood Demon Qi, frequent use carries the risk of corrupting the caster's personality. 'Shared Vision' and 'Mind Reading' can only be used once against targets of a lower level than the caster (the effect lasts for 1 hour after activation).
Gluttony's Eye.
Although it carried the side effect of potentially stripping away one's humanity if overused, its sheer efficiency made it an overwhelmingly powerful skill beyond comparison.
Not bad.
Jinhyuk nodded in satisfaction.
Now that the basic preparations were complete, it was time to rake in some cash.
In Las Vegas, the city where the night shines brighter than the day.
* * *
The casino at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.
David, the head of security here, was losing his mind over the non-stop stream of bad news.
"M-Manager, we've already lost over a million dollars."
"This is the fourth dealer swap, but we just can't stop him."
"There's nothing wrong on the security cameras either. The barrier that blocks unique abilities and skills throughout the casino is working perfectly."
The security staff reported with grim faces.
"Then what the hell is going on?! If everything is fine, how do you explain this?!"
Bam!
David slammed his fist onto the CCTV monitor.
An Asian customer, a common sight around here.
This man was the source of all the trouble.
He brought in a measly four thousand dollars and won over a hundred thousand in just an hour?
It would be one thing if he were playing slot machines or roulette, which relied purely on luck.
But he was playing poker.
Since poker is a game of skill, the longer a sucker sits at the table, the more inevitable it is that the casino wins in the end.
Yet, this Asian man had survived.
No, survived was an understatement.
He was on an absolute rampage, making fools out of veteran dealers who had seen it all.
His win rate isn't even that high.
It was barely over ten percent.
The problem, however, was that every time he did win, he swept the entire pot on the massive hands.
It was as if he could see every single card on the table.
What kind of trick is he pulling?
It wasn't a unique ability.
It wasn't a skill.
In that case, there had to be an insider working with him.
That was the conclusion David had reached.
"Prepare to swap the dealer again. I'll choose the next one myself."
At the same time.
Jinhyuk was busy raking in money at the poker table.
[Damn it. I can't lose this time. Somehow... I have to win, no matter what.]
Through 'Mind Reading', the dealer's inner thoughts echoed in his mind.
At the same time...
[One pair of Jacks.]
Through the shared vision, the dealer's hand was also laid bare.
All that was left was to read the room and place his bets leisurely.
I couldn't lose even if I wanted to.
No matter what kind of barrier was erected in the casino, it couldn't block 'Gluttony's Eye', which possessed barrier immunity.
It was almost as if the skill had been optimized specifically for gambling.
If he had enough time, he felt like he could sweep up all the money in every casino across the globe.
Well, I'll probably be blacklisted after today, so that's not realistic.
But it didn't matter.
He only needed quick cash this once anyway.
"Call. I have two pair, tens."
Jinhyuk pushed his stacked chips forward.
The dealer bit his lip hard, then reluctantly revealed his hand.
"...Two pair, tens wins. Congratulations."
With even his last-resort bluff sawed through, all the dealer could do was concede defeat.
"Oh my god..."
"Just how many dealers has he broken?"
"That's the fourth one already. Damn. I've been coming to casinos for ten years, and I've never seen anything like this."
"He's raked in a ton. It must be at least over a million dollars by now."
"Crazy. It's like he won the lottery. But shouldn't he be getting up soon? People who stay till the end always end up losing the shirts off their backs."
"That's only for idiots. That guy is pacing himself perfectly. If this keeps up, the casino might actually have to shut down."
"Pfft, haha! Now that would be a sight to see."
The onlookers gasped in admiration.
They had already been completely captivated by Jinhyuk's spectacular play.
Clack!
Jinhyuk gathered his chips and stacked them high by color once again.
That was another two hundred thousand dollars.
But.
It's not enough.
The cautious dealers weren't taking the bait easily.
As a result, time was ticking away, but the bet sizes weren't growing.
Only thirty minutes remained.
But right then.
"We will be swapping the dealer once more."
A scrawny man with pale skin stepped forward.
His face had deep dark circles, and he looked like nothing but skin and bones.
However, more striking than his grotesque appearance was the energy radiating from his body.
Oh?
Look at this.
Jinhyuk's eyes narrowed.
Using an Awakener as a dealer?
They must have rigged the barrier so that they could use their own abilities.
He figured the casino would try some dirty tricks to win back their lost money, but...
How cute.
Trying to pull a fast one in front of 'Gluttony's Eye'.
Jinhyuk feigned ignorance.
"Shuffling."
The dealer grabbed a fresh deck of cards.
Hummmm!
Mana could be seen gathering at his fingertips.
[Michael Pedro activates Lv.3 'Sleight of Hand'!]
Flick, flick, flick!
The cards shuffled at a blinding speed.
One, two.
Overlapping up and down, clubs and hearts danced in a blur.
Jinhyuk's eyes tracked them perfectly.
Five, six...
And finally.
The shuffled deck was placed before the dealer and Jinhyuk.
But Jinhyuk didn't flip his cards.
Tap! Tap!
Instead, he tapped his fingers on the table, grating on the dealer's nerves.
"Aren't you going to... check your cards?"
The dealer finally spoke up cautiously.
"Check them?"
"Yes. You need to check them to place a bet, don't you?"
Well.
"A total of seven times. You used three different skills to rig the deck, at least from what I saw. Do I really need to look at the cards?"
"W-what do you mean by that...?"
The dealer's voice trembled slightly.
This guy was decent at card tricks, but he clearly hadn't taken acting lessons.
How could he let his face give him away so easily the moment he was called out?
"Forget it. Get the hotel manager or the security manager out here. Right now."
Jinhyuk commanded.
Right at that moment.
"Who the hell does a filthy Asian punk think he is, telling people to come out? And what? Skills? Cheating? Have you completely lost your mind? You're leaving here in an ambulance today. Got it?"
David appeared, flanked by bodyguards.