The Black Card and the Anti-Demon Gold
“I’m here to sell some gold,” Kim Hwang-je said.
The woman smiled gracefully, though a faint sheen of cold sweat still clung to her forehead.
“I see. You gave me quite a start. The barrier isn’t something that opens easily, you know. So you truly came to sell gold?”
She covered her mouth lightly as she laughed, then studied him for a moment.
‘If “selling gold” is actually code for coming after my neck… can I even run?’
But Kim Hwang-je simply stood there, blinking at her. Once Jung Da-yeon confirmed he had no hostile intent, she gathered her skirt and offered another polite bow.
“My apologies. I haven’t even offered you tea. Would you follow me this way?”
Jung Da-yeon gave a subtle signal to a nearby clerk. The staff scattered in every direction and the doors quietly closed.
Kim Hwang-je followed her through a set of deep red curtains into a VIP room.
She guided him to the table with impeccable courtesy. The space perfectly balanced dignity and opulence. Having never set foot inside a bank’s VIP lounge before, he swallowed hard.
“I’ll call for tea.”
‘Call for tea?’
As soon as he sat down, she spoke. While he was still wondering what she meant, she murmured a short incantation.
From across the room, a cup, saucer, tea strainer, and white porcelain teapot floated over smoothly.
The water inside the teapot began to bubble on its own, then poured gently into the strainer. Soon, fragrant tea drew graceful spirals in the air before settling into the two cups.
It was an advanced application of telekinesis and multi-layered magic. Her magical prowess was clearly no small thing.
Rarity: Supreme Grade
Effect: Brewed from the scales of a young dragon. A treasure among mages that sharpens mana sensitivity and calms the mind.
“I fear it may have dazzled your eyes, but this Soyong Tea is an exceptional top-tier product. I would be grateful if you would overlook the display.”
“I see…”
Just as she claimed, the aroma of the Soyong Tea was extraordinary. The flavor was so smooth it felt like clouds were gently wrapping around his throat as it went down.
‘Top-tier? Then they must have even better stuff on the other side. I should set this aside for tribute trade.’
Hwang-je opened his status window, activated the trade window, and moved the Soyong Tea that had entered his body into storage.
Since status windows were controlled by thought rather than physical touch, it was effortless.
He stored only the tea in the trade window without opening the royal warehouse. Jung Da-yeon’s eyebrows twitched faintly, but Kim Hwang-je didn’t notice.
“I am Jung Da-yeon, the precious metals contract manager for the Lost Association. May I ask your name, honored guest?”
Even while listening to her refined voice during the process, Kim Hwang-je felt somewhat awkward.
He had come to sell suddenly acquired gold, yet he was being treated like a VIP archmage. It felt even stranger than being treated like a fence for stolen goods.
“My name is… Emperor.”
He couldn’t very well stay silent when she asked so politely, so Kim Hwang-je answered. Da-yeon smiled softly and continued.
“As expected, you possess a truly special name. Whether Emperor, Majesty, or Monarch, any of them would be more than sufficient for the master of extraordinary magic.”
People who had trained in magic for a long time tended to lack social graces. Dealing with such individuals was one of her specialties.
“Then, Your Majesty, what item have you come to trade today?”
Only then did Kim Hwang-je snap back to his senses. When he opened the bag slung over his shoulder and lifted the plastic bag, his face burned with embarrassment.
‘I should’ve brought a nicer bag if I knew this would happen.’
Yet Da-yeon stared intently at the plastic bag from beginning to end. The edges of her pupils shimmered with a silver-blue light, giving her an almost mystical aura. Before he could open it, she spoke first, her voice warm with excitement.
“That is… Anti-demon Gold. And it’s been cast into coin form. A true treasure.”
“Anti-demon gold.”
He swore it was the first time he’d ever heard the term. Kim Hwang-je took another sip of tea to steady himself.
“Correct. Though I am but a humble practitioner of alchemy, I could tell at once that what you brought contains the power of anti-demon gold. May I see it?”
Kim Hwang-je nodded. He took the bag off his back, pulled out the black plastic bag, and set it on the table.
‘Ugh, this plastic bag is so embarrassing.’
The sight of 1,010 gold coins spilling from a black plastic bag was bizarre to the point of being grotesque. The gleaming yellow light made it look like someone had turned on a lamp inside the plastic.
“Ahem. I’d like to sell them.”
But Da-yeon calmly swallowed once while gazing at the brilliant shine of the coins, then continued.
“In that case… how does one million won sound?”
“One million won?”
It was far lower than he had expected. And she hadn’t even examined the coins. Kim Hwang-je felt disappointed.
Just how could she offer only a million won for over a thousand gold coins? Before coming, he had searched online and seen that gold was currently around 100,000 won per gram. Could these be fake? Expensive fakes? So maybe…
“Haa.”
Kim Hwang-je let out a small sigh. Jung Da-yeon’s heart tightened with anxiety.
Of course. It was absurd to expect someone to understand monsters or status windows. Maybe this was just his average luck.
Unaware of his inner thoughts, Jung Da-yeon spoke again, carefully.
“This is the highest price I can offer. However, if you register as a member and continue trading with us… we could go up to 1.2 million won per coin.”
“Hmm. Per coin?”
“Yes. Would that be acceptable?”
At her polite suggestion, Kim Hwang-je’s mind briefly went blank before snapping back. Right. Now everything made sense.
He had come expecting around 500,000 won for a 5-gram coin, but 1.2 million per coin? Even if the gold was 100% pure, that was more than double the value. And there was still a mountain of gold left in the royal castle. Since he had set the tribute trade on installment, he would receive more gold coins every day.
He barely held onto his sanity to keep from shouting in triumph.
“Of course.”
Seeing his small nod and quiet voice, she smiled brightly and immediately produced a card.
“This is our Black Credit Card. All payments will be deposited into this account. Feel free to withdraw and use the funds as you wish.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yes. If it’s alright with you, could you fill this out?”
This was the price of the contract, and the secret behind raising the payment from one million to 1.2 million won per coin.
Every time he used the card, they would know where and how the money was spent.
Of course, most people withdrew cash from credit cards or used them for large transactions anyway, so it wasn’t a huge issue. The branch handled hundreds of billions of won in cash daily; there was no way to store it all.
After looking at Kim Hwang-je’s registration card, she spoke to the crystal orb.
“New registration: Kim Hwang-je.”
When she spoke to the orb, it glowed and absorbed the information.
“1,010 anti-demon gold coins. Record the transaction at 1.2 million won each, please.”
“Understood. 1,212,000,000 won has been deposited.”
The orb replied.
They said good things were announced by the sound of bells. But this felt more like having his head inside a bell while someone struck it.
1.212 billion won!
1.212 billion won!
A day of manual labor paid 150,000 won. This was 8,080 days’ worth of wages. He would have to work without a single day off for twenty-two years to earn this much!
Strength drained from his entire body. Feeling as if he had won the lottery, he sat dazed in his chair.
After finishing her conversation with the crystal orb, Jung Da-yeon gave him a lovely smile that showed her dimples and handed over the card.
“Thank you, sir.”
Kim Hwang-je took the card in his hand. Da-yeon smiled gently and continued.
“As you probably know, Archmage, this is a Black Card reserved for VIP members. For personal security reasons, no information is registered on it. Even if you lose the card, we cannot recover it for you.”
Her tone was polite, but the content was terrifying. Kim Hwang-je’s mind snapped awake. It was like those stories about Swiss banks—if you lost the key, the money became the bank’s forever.
“However, with a Black Card, you may participate in the auctions hosted by our Lost Association and trade in special items. We will send a catalog to the address you provided once per month. Additionally, a professional consultant will visit you with a small booklet detailing various other benefits.”
Kim Hwang-je simply nodded.
“You may stay and relax as long as you like. We can escort you to the VIP lounge inside.”
She spoke after the contract was complete. But Kim Hwang-je felt that staying any longer might cause his hair to fall out, so he stood up.
“I’ll be heading back for today. I’ll return with more gold next time.”
“Thank you, sir. Our association will always be here, ready with promises and trust.”
Jung Da-yeon bowed deeply and remained that way as she saw him off.
Ding-ling—
The door closed behind Kim Hwang-je. He carefully looked back, but there was nothing there.
It really meant he had passed through the barrier thanks to the anti-demon gold coins. The street where the shop had been was now bustling with countless people moving about noisily.
“…What the…”
But the Black Card in his hand was real. It had a deep, subdued luster. Its texture felt more like silk than plastic. He went to the nearest ATM and inserted the card.
1,212,000,000 won
He swallowed hard.
His life had changed.
“Has he left?”
From the darkness inside the shop, a man spoke to Jung Da-yeon. She turned to look at the man standing in the shadows.
He wore a black hooded robe that covered his face and entire body. In both hands he held short swords crossed in an X shape, each pommel embedded with a red ruby.
Long gray hair peeked out from beneath the hood.
“Ghost. You were here.”
“Yeah. Since yesterday. I’ve been here the whole time.”
“How unpleasant… No, I suppose I should say thank you.”
Despite his languid voice, his eyes were sharp.
“Forgive me. Master ordered me to protect you in Korea. Besides, if I hadn’t come, not only would you have been in danger just now, but the entire operation of the Death Corps itself would have been at risk. I told you not to underestimate Korea.”
Ghost chuckled and raised both hands. The short swords in his grip quietly vanished into the darkness.
Jung Da-yeon bit her lower lip.
“Please use the name Lost Association.”
“Must we keep secrets even when it’s just the two of us?”
“Shouldn’t we? A man just walked in carrying a thousand anti-demon gold coins. How can we be sure no one is listening?”
“Now that you mention it, you’re right. I apologize for that too. But if I hadn’t been here, the Lost Association’s business would have been in danger from the very start. It really felt like a walking fortress had stepped inside.”
In the darkness, Ghost’s eyes shimmered with the same silver-blue light as Jung Da-yeon’s. It was the special eye technique of the Death Corps that could see through magic.
“A man like a fortress came in carrying anti-demon gold. Like a flood or a landslide.”
Her face was pale. She was still struggling to shake off the shock of the barrier being broken.
But anti-demon gold?
Gold was a metal highly receptive to magic, making it an absolutely essential resource in the world of mages.
Conversely, changing the properties of an entire mass of gold to give it anti-magic properties required an absurdly difficult spell.
It was the same as trying to counterfeit an American dollar using only pure technology.
The kingdom inside Kim Hwang-je’s body had used gold coins as currency during its golden age. To prevent counterfeiting, the grand alchemists had cast powerful spells on them.
Those who didn’t know this assumed an impossibly powerful mage had reversed the very nature of the gold and brought it.
In the world of mages, that was the ultimate threat. It was a practical demonstration of force—the ability to dismantle both protective and offensive magic.
“Hmm. There might be traces left.”
Ghost sat down in front of Jung Da-yeon and carefully examined the remaining Soyong Tea and the traces around it. He even took out a magical handkerchief and gently wiped the rim of the cup where Kim Hwang-je’s lips had touched.
If any saliva remained, the Death Corps research facility could identify him.
“Was bringing the anti-demon gold the intention of one of the Korean Tower Masters? Why didn’t you ask?”
“I summoned the cups and saucers from a distance. It was a show of force—that I could still use that much magic in front of anti-demon gold. But at that moment…”
She looked down at the empty cup on the table. It was the one Kim Hwang-je had drunk from.
“Didn’t you notice? The moment the Soyong Tea went down his throat, it disappeared. He showed me that tracking was impossible using a localized instant teleportation spell. And he did it without any chant. From inside his stomach. He answered my display with an even greater one.”
“Localized instant teleportation? That must have been a skill.”
“I can sense when a skill is activated.”
Soyong Tea—literally brewed from the scales of a small dragon—was an incredibly valuable treasure to any mage. No one would refuse it.
Yet he had refused it by sending it away with localized instant teleportation. It was practically a show of force.
He had a thousand anti-demon gold coins in his hand that should have interfered with magic, yet he used a spell of that level.
Of course, that wasn’t actually the case. The trade window had simply been open because the transaction hadn’t been completed yet. The skill hadn’t fully activated, which was why Jung Da-yeon hadn’t detected it.
“And yet he still took the card.”
“It shows he intends to maintain a friendly long-term relationship with us. Still, expanding our business here isn’t going to be easy. There are already people suspicious of our identity.”
Ghost swallowed.
“Yeah. So that’s why Master was wary of Korea.”
“If it was merely reconnaissance, we must not become his enemy.”
The misunderstanding was deepening by the minute.