The Goddess of the Night Cleans House
The stack of chips piled up in front of Nyx.
It looked about twice as much as what I’d won.
“Hah… haaah…”
Davy was breathing hard, almost gasping. I wasn’t sure if the guy was okay.
Nyx waved her hand with a bright, lively expression.
“You basically swept the whole table.”
If the God of Gambling descended, would this be what it looked like?
The opponents the casino had matched us with, the dealers—every single one of them stared at Nyx with pale, bloodless faces.
They’d tried to fleece a sucker and ended up getting fleeced instead.
And on top of that, she’d multiplied the stake I gave her by several dozen times.
“Goddess-nim, how did you do that?”
“No, I’m asking how you multiplied the money.”
Nyx clicked her tongue.
“Um, sir…”
“I had no idea your companion was this skilled at games.”
“No, even so, this is…”
Don’t make that wronged face.
It’s not a crime to win a lot of money at a casino.
Honestly, his personality is just terrible.
“Please, just leave for today.”
Davy let out a long sigh.
“You heard him, Goddess-nim.”
“They have to run a business and make a living too, right? Just let it slide for today.”
Nyx’s eyes sparkled.
This… was dangerous.
In just a few hours, she had become an excellent gambling addict.
“I’ll give you time to play later, so get up.”
Nyx pretended to be reluctant as she lifted her hips from the chair.
“Davy, when will you take care of what we agreed on?”
“It will be ready tomorrow. I will contact you.”
“Do you know where we’re staying?”
“You need not worry about that part.”
“After the rather grand welcoming ceremony you gave us, I’m not sure I can trust that.”
Leaving behind a crooked smile, I exited the casino together with Nyx.
“How did you even notice that?”
Among the spells I’d placed on the bunker, there was a barrier that blocked presence and surveillance. She’d still sensed it.
“Were you worried?”
“Why would I kill people?”
I’d struggled to control my strength so I wouldn’t kill anyone.
I couldn’t find any words to refute her strangely on-point observation.
“How did you win that much at the casino?”
“You mean what you showed me earlier?”
“So you basically used map hacks to play the game.”
“Something like that exists.”
You couldn’t use psychological warfare on machines like slot machines or roulette.
But.
In games where a ‘person’ was the core element—like poker or blackjack where the dealer distributes cards—Nyx’s eyes could not be deceived.
Card games weren’t exactly games that required physical ability either.
If you knew exactly what hand everyone had and what tricks they were trying to pull, losing would actually be harder.
“You really are amazing.”
“Once this matter is finished, I’ll let you play more.”
Nyx held out her pinky finger.
“Did Jiyoung tell you that?”
“She really told you everything.”
I sighed and held out my right hand.
* * *
The long night ended, and the sun revealed itself beyond the horizon.
“Hoo…”
After taking one deep breath, I opened my closed eyes.
The internal energy I had accumulated through the Asura Demon Spirit Heart Method.
The amount wasn’t much, but just circulating my qi was enough to make my body feel refreshed.
— Are you not tired?
“My body is already halfway out of the human category. This much is nothing.”
The Tower system had even recognized my species as ‘Dragonkin.’
Fatigue of this level could be shaken off just by circulating my energy.
Knock knock— Someone rapped on the door.
“Perfect timing.”
I threw on some clothes and stepped into the hallway.
A hotel employee held out a single black envelope.
The paper was dyed completely pitch-black.
— Is that letter your target?
“Yeah. They work fast.”
When I broke the seal, a single map slipped out.
The Black Network—an organization that tied together the underworld of the entire world.
This was a map marking the location of their pride and joy, the underground auction house known as the Black Market.
I wanted to use my pre-regression knowledge, but the problem was that the location of this Black Market changed periodically.
It wasn’t for nothing that I approached Davy to get a recommender.
“Go ahead.”
She was talking about the card I got from the Association President.
I grinned.
“I need to know where the Black Market is before I can use it.”
“They have their own set of rules too. Yesterday, I moved strictly within those rules.”
In the Black Casino, players were allowed to use their abilities.
Davy trying to slash the price in the underground bunker, and me protecting my own body—both were within the permitted range of the rules.
“Criminals, yet they strictly follow their own rules. How ironic.”
When I do it, it’s romance. When others do it, it’s adultery.
Ironically, thanks to the existence of the Black Market, the underground economy was able to stay within acceptable bounds without crossing the line.
A necessary evil, in other words.
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue once and prepared to head out.
When I arrived at the location marked on the map, Davy was already waiting.
“Good to see you.”
“Your words and your face are saying completely different things.”
“Thanks to a certain someone, I’ve had quite a lot of work to deal with.”
Davy, who usually maintained a perfect poker face, had let a flicker of irritation slip through for just a moment.
The chips Nyx had swept away.
To convert all those chips into cash, he’d practically have to empty the entire Black Casino.
“It’s not like we cheated. Loosen up your expression a bit.”
“I will definitely see through that lady’s tricks, even if it takes me the rest of my life.”
Well, I doubt you’ll figure it out even if you live forever.
Even after I reached the realm of completion, I still couldn’t read human emotions.
Nyx reading others’ emotions wasn’t a skill.
It was something a Supreme Constellation of the conceptual class could do as easily as breathing.
“Yeah. Good luck with that.”
Rather than explaining, it would be better for him to experience it himself and realize the truth.
I patted Davy on the shoulder, offering what could generously be called comfort.
“This way.”
The building Davy led us to was a skyscraper that seemed to pierce the heavens.
“It seems the lady assumed the Black Market would be located underground.”
“People in this line of work tend to be more shameless than you’d expect.”
A rather philosophical remark.
A question mark floated above Davy’s head.
Don’t even try to understand what she just said.
She may look like this, but she is literally the goddess who is the night itself.
If you get her started on the topics of ‘night’ or ‘darkness,’ there will be no end to it.
“Let’s go.”
“Understood.”
Davy walked ahead with a slightly sour expression.
The first-floor lobby was packed with people wearing suits and dresses, as if they had come to a party.
Bosses from various underworld organizations.
Or famous players and chaebols who had come to visit the Black Market.
“What do you think, Goddess-nim?”
“There’s a saying that it’s darkest under the lamp.”
While we were chatting quietly, a security guard stepped in front of us.
“Excuse me, but what is your business here?”
“Ah, these two are my guests. I will vouch for their identities.”
“You mean they are recommended by Davy Smith?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The guard gave us a quick once-over.
“Thank you for visiting the Black Market.”
He handed over two badges.
Davy gestured.
“Please take them. These items will prove your identity here.”
“I won’t refuse.”
I accepted the badge and pinned it to my chest.
It was an expensive-looking badge that didn’t match my casual clothes at all.
I hated dressing up just to match the atmosphere of a place.
On the other hand, the badge Nyx pinned over the dress she had woven from Polar Night looked like it had always belonged there.
“Let’s consider the twenty million dollars gone.”
“The lady also took quite a bit, you know.”
“That’s something the two of you can settle between yourselves.”
Davy’s lips twitched.
“Since this is your first time at the Black Market, I will guide you personally.”
“There’s really no need.”
“It is my courtesy. Please accept it.”
Courtesy my ass.
It was obvious he was worried we might do something weird inside the Black Market under his name.
“Then I suppose I’ll accept the guidance of the Black Casino owner.”
I pretended to reluctantly go along with Davy’s obvious intentions.
He was, after all, the contractor of Hermes.
He was also a player who had made quite a name for himself before my regression. Keeping him close wouldn’t be a loss.
His true nature was that of a schemer who loved deceiving others, so handling him was tricky.
But if our relationship became mutually beneficial, the guy would naturally stick to me.
“By the way, where would you like to go?”
“The underground auction house.”
“Sir, just to warn you, the auction house requires a separate item to prove your identity…”
When I held out the card I had received from the Association President, Davy shut his mouth.
“I might be. I might not be.”
“If possible, I’d rather that item not exist.”
Nyx looked at me with mysterious eyes.
I meant it.
According to the original plan, my contact with the Black Market should have happened one or two years from now.
The reason I had moved up the schedule was because of the movements of Set, the evil god who ruled the Oasis.
Sinister.
A gathering of evil-aligned constellations.
It was a small society created by constellations infamous in mythology as troublemakers.
Its members included true ‘evil’ constellations like Set, Mara Papiyas, Baal, and Angra Mainyu, as well as those like Loki, Hermes, and Sun Wukong who caused chaos purely for entertainment.
Sinister had begun showing serious interest in Earth around the year 2030.
But Set’s movements were unusually fast.
“I’ll explain later.”
Whether Sinister had begun paying attention to Earth, or whether Set was moving on his own.
There was no better place than the underground auction house to find that out.
I calmed my complicated thoughts and headed toward the auction house.