Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Auction (2)
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Gorgeous blonde hair. And a burn scar that didn't suit it at all.
It was a feature I'd seen countless times on the news, impossible to forget.
‘Isn't that Jeong Tae-yeon? The Flame Sorceress... So people like her show up here too....’
The woman on screen was Jeong Tae-yeon, guild master of the Hwayeon Guild.
One of only five mages in Korea, and the ruler of Busan.
Suddenly, the attendees at this auction house started looking different to me.
But the reactions of the others were unlike mine.
"No way, Jeong Tae-yeon. She already has a better cape. Why buy that one?"
"Yeah, isn't this a bit much?"
Protests flew thick and fast. Then Jeong Tae-yeon turned her head toward them.
"It's not for me. I've got someone else to give it to."
Her firm reply sent murmurs rippling through the room again.
"Someone else? What a lame excuse."
"She's probably stocking up for her guild while kicking away the ladder. That's why guild masters are the worst...."
"If you're jealous, bring more money next time."
"...."
People grumbled among themselves, but no one else dared say anything to her.
And so, the robe went to her for the staggering sum of 300 million won.
"Sigh, I wish I had an item like that too...."
I smacked my lips bitterly.
Just then, the auctioneer cleared his throat and called out.
"Alright, everyone. The highlight of today's auction! The item you've all been waiting for! Revealing it now!"
Every sound in the room died away.
All eyes focused on the platform.
The appraiser carefully lifted the veil, revealing a massive battle axe at last.
The room began to buzz.
"That's... the Orc Warlord's battle axe!"
"The unique item that only drops from the Hard Mode 10th floor boss?"
"Drop rate's supposed to be abysmal. Who the hell got it?"
Exclamations and praise poured out.
People wondered about the unknown hunter who had claimed this incredible item.
"Was there a guild that cleared the 10th floor recently?"
"Dunno. Weren't they all pausing climbs because of the strike?"
"That's for the new floors. They'd keep clearing the lower ones for the money."
"Come on, everyone! The seller's identity is strictly confidential! Let's refocus!"
The auctioneer deftly shut down the crowd's dangerous curiosity.
"Alright, let's start the bidding! Opening bid is 100 million won!"
People expressed their regret but couldn't hide their curiosity about the mystery hunter who got the axe.
The bidding was far more intense than before.
The price skyrocketed in moments.
"180 million won!"
"200 million!"
Then, Jeong Tae-yeon, who had just won the robe, stood up again and called out softly.
"500 million."
Silence fell over the auction house in an instant.
Every gaze turned to her.
Whispers started up.
"No, why is Guild Master Jeong going for that one too...?"
"What's a mage gonna do with an axe?"
"Talk about greed...."
At that moment, a man stood from his seat and approached her.
Jeong Man-ho, guild master of the Ironblood Guild based in the Daejeon region. An A-rank warrior.
"Come on, Tae-yeon. This is going too far. A mage can't even use it.... Hand it over to me—I really need it."
But Jeong Tae-yeon shook her head firmly.
"What are you gonna do with it? You don't even plan on climbing the tower."
She shot back sharply instead.
"This axe is going to one of my guildmates who's been quietly climbing the tower without joining the strike.
That's what it means to need an item for real. Right?"
"...Got a lot of money, huh? You've been snapping up items for your underlings left and right."
"Yeah, plenty. Unlike some people, we've been steadily climbing the tower."
"...Hah, you're impossible to reason with."
"Go ahead and keep glaring. What're you gonna do about it? Wanna try me?"
"...."
The two locked eyes.
A tense standoff.
The auction house brimmed with tension that felt ready to explode.
Jeong Man-ho backed down first.
Looking unsatisfied, he glared at Jeong Tae-yeon with eyes full of resentment and spoke.
"You'll regret this, Guild Master Jeong Tae-yeon."
"Yeah, please do make me regret it."
"...."
Jeong Man-ho spat on the floor and turned to leave.
***
Moments later, my phone vibrated.
It was a deposit confirmation from the broker.
[Nara Bank: 400,000,000 won deposited. Depositor: SSalDaPam]
500 million minus the 50 million advance and 10% fee.
One axe had netted me over 400 million won.
"Just a bit more, and I'd have 500 million...."
My account balance jumped into the hundreds of millions in an instant.
I stared blankly at the numbers on the screen.
To some, it was a month's income. To others, pocket change for a shopping spree.
But to me, a jobless guy, it was an unimaginable fortune.
What to do with all this money?
After a moment's thought, I remembered the first thing I needed to handle.
"Boss, pack up one Golden Olive chicken, please."
In the end, life is all about chicken.
And out of habit, I logged into the Hunter Gallery and posted.
[Title: Successful Hun-bung... tonight's dinner....jpg]
***
The chicken was delicious.
Crispy batter and juicy meat.
But something was missing. The final piece to complete the perfect meal.
"Sigh... my beer...."
I pulled a cola from the fridge, drank it, and smacked my lips in regret.
The memory hit me—of trying to buy beer at the convenience store just now and failing.
ID. Damn ID.
I'd absentmindedly pulled out my wallet and shown my ID, but the clerk said even a parent's ID doesn't count for minors and kicked me out.
"Fuck, my chi-mak...."
Frustration boiled over.
What's the point of becoming a mage? Of having hundreds of millions in the bank?
When I couldn't even buy a single chi-mak.
"Wait, isn't this actually a huge problem?"
What started as simple regret turned into a new worry.
I'd planned to head to the Hunter Association after reaching the 20th floor for official A-rank certification.
Once I hit A-rank, the government couldn't touch me recklessly, so no worries about double military service.
Then live it up in the sunlight, sucking all the sweet benefits while enjoying gallery scrolling. That was my goal.
But with this body, identity verification was impossible.
I'd get blocked at the Hunter Registration building entrance.
A real dilemma.
I clutched my head and pondered for a bit.
But as a law-abiding citizen, no clever solution came to mind.
In the end, I set it aside for now.
Give it time, think slowly—something good would come up.
I still had a long way to the 20th floor anyway.
***
The next day, I headed back to the tower.
11th floor. The start of a new section.
According to gallery info, floors 11 to 20 were jungle and swamp fields.
This stretch was infamous for frustrating countless hunters.
The so-called A-rank wall.
Dense foliage blocking sight, swamps that sucked at your feet.
The 10th floor fields were a perfect stage for monsters.
Goblins camouflaged with protective coloring, shooting poison darts from hiding.
Goblins hurling stones from invisible treetops.
Goblins digging tunnels and setting traps.
Even mere mob goblins became the worst monsters under these field effects.
And on top of that, the sweltering heat, mosquitoes and leeches clinging to every inch of skin.
A floor that gnawed at your nerves in every way.
The standard strategy here: a tank to blaze the trail ahead, an archer spotting traps and camouflaged monsters, and a healer for unexpected accidents—pure party play.
But today, like always, I was solo.
[Entering Tower 11th Floor (EXTREME).]
I opened my eyes to humid, sticky air clinging to my skin.
Unfamiliar grassy scents and rain-soaked earth at the tip of my nose.
Wings of unknown insects buzzing from all directions.
One step ahead could be a swamp or trap.
But none of that mattered to me.
"Quicksand Marsh."
I cast the skill right there on the spot.
Without question or hesitation, the damp ground turned into dry sand in an instant.
No matter how I thought about it, this wasn't a trash skill, right?
I couldn't understand why everyone rated it so low.
I didn't stop there. I activated the rainbow-grade skill I'd gotten recently: Erosion.
[Using Skill: Erosion.]
[Skill: Combining with Quicksand Marsh to cast a new skill.]
[Desertification activates.]
The quicksand marsh before me writhed, expanding its area.
Everything touching the edge of the quicksand marsh crumbled to dust and scattered.
Massive trees, sticky swamps, thick foliage blocking my view.
All returned equally to sand.
Range: about 20m radius. Half a soccer field.
In seconds, my surroundings became a flat, obstacle-free sand plain.
"Plants, huh? Mana drain's heavy...."
Thanks to Open Eye, my mana pool was vastly larger, yet nearly half vanished in a flash.
Apparently, efficiency dropped sharply against living plants.
In a rocky zone, I could've turned a wider area to desert with far less mana....
I'd heard the next section was volcanic terrain. Should be even more useful then.
"Just you wait...."
Regret was regret.
I slowly stepped forward.
The world turned to desert along my path.
Swamps, giant plants—all vanished into sand.
In the process, monsters cunningly hidden in the underbrush revealed themselves.
"Gotcha, you bastards."
I went ahead and tried Desertification on the monsters too.
Cast Sand Totem to grab and pin the goblins.
Sand slowly creeping from the quicksand marsh toward the goblins.
I tried converting them to sand from the toes up.
Ah, no good. Impossible.
The moment I tried, mana drained out of me like crazy, so I hurriedly stopped the skill.
I gave up on the greed right away.
Snapped my fingers and launched sand bullets.
Dozens of sand projectiles flew toward the defenseless monsters exposed in the open plain.
The massacre ended in seconds.
A far easier clear than the gallery warnings suggested.
[Congratulations on clearing Tower 11th Floor (EXTREME).]
Heart-pounding reward time.
All-stats bonus and magic stones again?
Maybe a level up? Skillbook?
[First Clear bonus applied!]
[Ranking 1st bonus applied!]
"Huh? What's this?"
But the reward that appeared before my eyes was completely unlike my guesses.
Something I'd never seen before.