Spread, Scatter, and Abandon
It was a peaceful night at Hyoseon Girls' High School. The three American slaves stationed there were taking turns monitoring the auction house. After all, that was their assigned duty. In a way, they were happy. Once the search for the Ghost Gate had concluded, they had been granted the new title of "Auction House Monitors," which meant they could eat, sleep, and defecate as they pleased, provided they kept an eye on the market 24/7. There was no more manual labor or menial tasks to perform. The only routine that wasn't related to the auction house was studying Korean, but even that was limited to four hours a day. It was, by all accounts, a cushy job that anyone would envy.
"Yaaawn."
"Hey, bro. Candy, please?"
"Here you go."
"Oh, thank you. Much appreciated."
They were trying their best to use Korean. Since everyone around them was Korean, speaking the language was essential for proper communication.
"Hmm? Hey. Auction house. It's weird. Strange thing..."
"What?"
Louis, who had been lying in a vacant classroom munching on candy, checked an item that had just been posted to the auction house.
"'Mer'? Isn't that the angel's name?"
"Holy... Hurry, hurry!!"
A letter addressed to Mer. No matter how they looked at it, it was clearly from Jojun. Realizing this, they scrambled out of the empty classroom and shouted down the school hallway as if the building were collapsing.
"Mer!!! Merhere!!! Emergency!!! Jojun's letter!!!"
The three Americans babbled whatever came to mind in their panic. Mer, who had been waiting for Jojun with wide-open eyes, rushed out of the principal's office.
"What is it!"
"Oh!! Here!! Trade market!! Check it out!!"
"What?"
At their urgent cries, Mer hurriedly checked the auction house and discovered Jojun's letter, which had only two minutes of bidding time remaining.
"This is..."
Soon, a scrap of paper fell into her hands. On a very tattered poster, words were written in what was clearly Jojun's blood. It was a distress signal from Jojun to Mer and her companions.
"Damn it!! Emergency!!!!! Emergency situation!!!! The Master is in danger!!! Wake up!!! Everyone, wake up!!!!"
As Mer began to scream, several classroom windows shattered, and everyone in the school jolted awake. Furthermore, the women who had been waiting for Jojun without sleeping rushed out of the principal's office.
"What's going on!"
"What is it, what is it!"
"The Master is in danger!! Cheshire's status is unknown...!!"
"What!!?"
"Th-this!! We must go to the black market immediately...!!"
"Wait!! We must deploy our maximum force. The information suggests the entity that appeared in the black market is at least Palus-level. A normal player cannot handle this. We must fight with fellow transcendents."
"Th-that...! What about him!! Is he safe!?"
"He seems safe for now... But a blood letter arrived. It's clearly a crisis. Everyone, move. There's no time for further explanations."
Mer immediately ordered the women to gather necessary tools and items. Some descended into the Abyss to find Hellas and Kekere, while others entered the Jeonyul Mansion to retrieve Jeong Ji-yeon.
"Ha Jin-seong!!! Ha Jin-seong!! Where are you!!!"
"Yes!! I'm here!!"
Ha Jin-seong, who had been fast asleep, came running out, not even having managed to pull his pants on properly.
"Bring every item we have that can be used and discarded."
"Uh... Yes!"
Ha Jin-seong didn't ask twice and sprinted toward the school auditorium. He began moving immediately, even without fully grasping the situation.
"Hoo... Damn it... Master..."
In about ten minutes, the items to be listed on the auction house were gathered on the school playground. Mer told Anna and the Americans capable of using the auction house to register the items for 10,000 coins incessantly so that others wouldn't even dare to purchase them, and then she formed the team to enter the black market.
"Hilde. Hilde... please wake up."
"Hmm...?"
Hilde, who had been sleeping in the infirmary while hugging Helgen, finally opened her eyes at Kim Ye-won's desperate call.
"What is it... I'm sleeping, don't wake me... Today is the day I sleep hugging Helgen..."
"N-no, that's not it, it's a real emergency... The Master... Jojun is in danger... *sob*... Hilde, please help us... What do we do about our Master..."
"What...? *Sigh*... He's not a sunfish, is he... This human is a total troublemaker..."
Hilde barely managed to get up and conjured clothes to drape over herself.
"Where is he dying?"
"Th-the black market... *sob*..."
"First, stop crying and calm down. It wasn't his fate to die so easily..."
"Hilde, what do we do... They say he can't even use his skills right now..."
"What? That's impossible... That's truly serious..."
Hilde speculated. 'Skills are powers granted by gods... If they are blocked, it means... the Myriad Ghost Realm or the Pantheon is directly stepping in to hunt a Cultist. Since they've sealed the power of a hero from the opposing faction... they must have endured a massive consumption of causality... Did the two factions join forces...? This is insane...'
Hilde opened the window and jumped down. If her speculation was correct, this was no ordinary situation. If Jojun were to die here at the hands of a player from the Pantheon or the Myriad Ghost Realm, the Manma-jeon would suffer an irreparable blow. In that case, the life of Brynhild herself, who relied on the Manma-jeon, could be in jeopardy.
'Helgen hasn't grown enough yet... Fighting the Dragon King now is fatal...'
She quickly approached Mer, who was gathering people.
"Ah, you've come."
"Who is going in?"
"For now, I want Killian and Henry to be the Cheshire tracking team. Myself and Kekere as the Jojun tracking team... And Eila and Hilde as the monster exploration team."
She paired Killian, who was specialized in tracking, with Henry to find Cheshire, and Eila, who was excellent at searching, with Hilde to hunt down the monster that had attacked Jojun's party. Finally, Kekere, who could sense Jojun's scent, was paired with Mer. Since they didn't know the exact situation, they decided to move separately. It was a truly reasonable team composition. Soon, they stood in front of the door with the key. The party members who were to guard the base saw them off. Perhaps they could return safely within an hour, or if they were late, they would have to wait until next Friday.
"Keep checking the auction house. I will contact you through the auction house from time to time."
"Yes... Please go safely... Please make sure to save the Master."
"Understood."
Mer and her party stepped beyond the door. Six transcendents entered the black market. Even if they had to destroy the entire black market, they would find Jojun.
******
"Gyaaaa!!!!"
-Thud!!!
I killed the last remaining bipedal creature in the abandoned hospital. If only I could have used my skills, I could have turned it into a slave...
'Can't I use skills like magic...'
When using a skill, there is a unique flow to it. It feels as if mana is erupting from my heart, like forming a magic circle, and drawing patterns on its own in my hands. 'I've been trying to mimic it since earlier... but it's not working well.'
Because the patterns were so complex, I tried to manipulate my mana to follow them, but it didn't go well.
'I need training... Once I get out of the black market... and I can use my skills again...'
I should train to use skills even without the system's help. If that becomes possible, wouldn't I be able to use them even when my skills are sealed like this? I'll use skill acquisition only to learn magic circles, and I'll learn to operate mana directly to use skills myself...
"Hoo..."
Of course, that was just a thought. Because I just realized the fundamental reason why I can't use my skills.
'The bastard called Boxman or whatever... there's no way he sold me to these pathetic losers for a mere 10,000 coins... There was some kind of deal... and I've been thrown into an artificially created situation.'
And the only beings capable of throwing me into such a perfectly measured crisis and rolling me around are the Evil Gods. If the Pantheon or the Myriad Ghost Realm had stepped in to crush me, the Evil Gods wouldn't have just sat by. Wouldn't they have manifested directly in the black market to pull me out? Therefore, the fact that they've left me alone for this long means either the Manma-jeon is in a truly desperate situation where they can't move... or the Evil Gods have intentionally thrown me into this crisis.
Even I think it's a pretty plausible deduction.
'Indikron has been nagging me lately that I've lost my edge... so they must have planned this to whip me back into shape...'
I just gained another reason to become a god.
'I have no choice but to become a god to insult the gods... and ravage the Abyss itself along with its space...'
I will make them pay the price for daring to treat their servant so recklessly. Kashnax and Botamilli, who stood by and watched, are included in the price. First, I need to find the drug dealer's shop. I'm about to lose my mind worrying about Cheshire's safety.
'The feature that moving through the door takes you to a different location...'
I opened the only door in the hospital. Soon, my body was sucked somewhere, and I was blown to a different location. Ah, come to think of it, if I move like this alone, what happens to the parasitic tree hosts...?
******
"Urrrgh..."
The hospital where Jojun had disappeared. The parasitic tree hosts lost their master in an instant.
"Urrrgh...?"
"Urrrrrr..."
"Keeee..."
Soon, the parasitic tree hosts reached a consensus and scattered. Two of them moved to the morgue to infect all the corpses inside the hospital, and the other seven opened the door and went outside to find Jojun. Thus, the parasitic tree hosts spread throughout the entire black market. The fact that this leads to Son Ha-eun, the master of the parasitic tree hosts, and Jojun, the master of Son Ha-eun, being branded as black market terrorists and attacked by the black market vigilantes is a story for later.
******
[Hmm...]
The Demon Castle. Somewhere in that place. Paimon, who had been anxious, not knowing when Jojun would drag Sataniel and Hilde to find him, realized that now was his chance.
[The root of all problems is that bastard... Now is the only chance to kill him...]
Soon, he picked up an old antique-style telephone that was sitting in the room.
[Move right now. The time has come to hunt the servant of the Manma-jeon...]
The underground floor of the black market shakes.