Came to Sell Gold
The man took the gold bar in both hands.
The casual glance he'd started with sharpened almost at once. He turned the bar over in his palm a few times, gauging the weight, then looked up at Sihyuk.
"Where'd you get this?"
Sihyuk didn't answer.
Riel's words came back to him.
A place that doesn't ask where things come from.
"I thought this wasn't the kind of place that asked that."
"…Fair enough."
The man corrected himself immediately.
"Just curious."
He carried the gold bar into the back. A moment later he returned with a small machine and set the bar on it.
Sihyuk settled into the chair across from him and watched.
Even in the Demon Realm, there had been ways to appraise gold. Some bit it with their teeth or scraped the surface; others used magic to peer inside. On Earth, apparently, a single little machine did the whole job.
Beep.
The man checked the screen. He measured it once more, flipped the bar, and set it back on the machine.
"Something wrong?" Sihyuk asked.
"No."
The man shook his head.
"It's too clean."
"Isn't clean gold a good thing?"
"It is."
He set the bar down.
"The purity's just too high."
"That so?"
Sihyuk showed no particular reaction. He'd simply grabbed something that fit comfortably in his hand from the Demon King's Castle treasury. Nothing more.
The man ran a finger along the edge of the bar.
"Just the one?"
"No."
"You've got more?"
"I do."
The man's eyes shifted, just slightly. Sihyuk didn't miss it.
"How many?"
Sihyuk regarded him for a moment.
"Is that a question you need for the deal?"
"…No."
"Then start with the price."
The man closed his mouth.
"Fine."
He pulled out a calculator and punched in numbers.
"I'll give you a figure based on this one first."
An amount appeared on the screen. It was clearly a lot of money. But Sihyuk had looked up how to sell gold the night before and checked the going rates. The number on the screen was considerably lower.
"You're taking a big cut."
The man's eyebrows lifted a fraction.
"Of course I am. That's the price for converting it to cash without asking where it came from."
"Even accounting for that, you're taking a lot."
"Don't like it, go somewhere else."
Sihyuk didn't answer. Instead he reached for the gold bar on the table.
The man's hand got there first, pinning it down.
"Wait."
He worked the calculator again and showed a higher figure than before.
"This is the max."
Sihyuk looked at the new number. It still fell short of the market rates he'd searched, but factoring in the no-questions-asked policy, it was acceptable.
"Should've said that from the start."
"That's how this business works."
Sihyuk did a quick calculation. He had plenty of gold. Coming all the way back here again, on the other hand, would be a pain.
"I'll sell five."
The man's hands stopped.
"…What?"
"Five."
"You've got five identical ones?"
Instead of answering, Sihyuk reached into his Subspace.
Thud.
A heavy gold bar landed on the table. He reached in again.
Thud.
Another one.
With every bar that appeared, the man's expression shifted a little more. Once the last of them was out, Sihyuk spoke.
"That should do it."
"…Yeah."
The man's gaze lingered on the table, reluctant to leave it. The greed in his eyes had thickened since earlier. Even so, Sihyuk said nothing. People getting greedy at the sight of money wasn't strange — he'd seen it countless times in the Demon Realm. Whether that greed turned into action was a separate matter.
The man pulled the bars toward himself and set them one by one on the same appraiser he'd used before, checking the readings.
Beep.
The first.
Beep.
The second.
Nearly identical numbers appeared on the screen with every bar he swapped. After checking the last one, the man muttered under his breath.
"They're all the same."
"Is that a problem?"
"No. Purity and weight are almost identical."
He examined the bars in turn. Not just the purity — the size and weight were uniform. These weren't something someone had melted down and cast haphazardly. They were gold bars produced to the same specifications at a proper facility.
"Five of these…"
Sihyuk didn't answer. The Demon King's Castle warehouse had rows of identical bars stacked in lines. He'd never bothered counting exactly how many.
The man gathered the gold to one side and called toward the back of the shop. A moment later, a man in a black shirt emerged. The two of them lowered their voices over the bars between them.
"You're taking all of this?"
"When have we ever asked about sources?"
"Still, the goods are too clean."
"If the inspection comes back clean, that's enough."
Sihyuk pretended not to hear and looked around. He'd walked in thinking it was just a gold shop, but a closer look showed it was nothing like an ordinary jewelry store.
Magic stones of various sizes and colors were displayed along one wall. Inside a glass case sat a worn dagger, a necklace, and a book written in characters he'd never seen. A short distance away, people were haggling over the price of a horned beast's head.
"You're offering that for a C-class magical beast horn?"
"The tip's cracked."
"It came out of a fight. Something pristine would be weirder."
"Then take it somewhere else."
Nearby, a woman in a robe was laying out small bottles. Sihyuk narrowed his eyes slightly. A familiar scent rose from one of them.
Low-grade recovery potion?
A common item even in the Demon Realm. His gaze paused on the price tag.
That'd sell for money, too.
In the Demon Realm, they'd handed these out to soldiers by the crate. Sihyuk thought of the inside of his Subspace. He was pretty sure there were recovery potions in there somewhere. He couldn't remember when he'd put them in.
He'd only meant to sell gold, but it seemed there were more things on Earth that could turn a profit than he'd expected.
The two men's conversation ended. The man in the black shirt carried the gold bars into the back, and the first man sat down across from Sihyuk again.
"We'll do the deal."
"Good."
"How do you want the money?"
"How do people usually take it here?"
The man studied Sihyuk for a moment.
"First time?"
"Yeah."
The man leaned back in his chair.
"Cash, or you open a Settlement Account. Carrying large amounts of cash around is inconvenient, so most people split it."
"Settlement Account?"
"Run by a financial firm under the Frost Guild. Used mainly for high-value trades — magic stones, magical beast byproducts, relics, precious metals."
Frost Guild. A name he'd heard during yesterday's orientation. One of the top five guilds in the country, dominating the distribution of magic stones and byproducts.
"Even black market deals?" Sihyuk asked.
"On the account it just shows up as a precious metals purchase."
"Does it record who sold it?"
"Of course it does. But they don't ask where you got it."
"Couldn't that cause problems?"
The man pointed at the gold bars on the table.
"Five gold bars is big for a private deal. But on their end, they also handle guild-scale magic stone liquidations and relic auctions. Nobody's going to personally dig into a transaction this size."
Sihyuk thought it over. A transaction record itself didn't bother him. As long as no one showed up demanding an explanation of where the gold came from, he was fine.
"Then split it between the account and cash."
"What ratio?"
"Whatever's standard."
The man looked at him briefly.
"I'll give you some cash and put the rest in the account?"
"Do that."
The man sighed, took Sihyuk's temporary ID, and entered the information into a terminal. A transaction record appeared on the screen.
Precious Metals Purchase
Quantity: 5
There was no separate approval process. The entered record simply passed into the settlement network.
Before long, a Settlement Account was opened. Following the steps the man walked him through, Sihyuk registered a mobile card on his phone as well. A deposit notification chimed shortly after.
Sihyuk compared the amount the man had said would go into the account against the deposit. No issues.
The man in the black shirt brought out a black bag from the back. Bundles of bills were stacked neatly inside. The first man fed the cash through a bill counter. Numbers climbed with the rapid whir of the machine — same as when he'd inspected the gold. Work once done by hand, now handled by a machine.
"Check it."
Sihyuk looked at the counter's display instead of the bills. The number matched what the man had quoted.
"Good enough."
He pushed the bag into his Subspace. As it vanished into thin air, both men's eyes lingered on the empty space for a moment. The corner of Sihyuk's mouth lifted, just slightly.
One less thing to worry about.
For the first time since returning to Earth, his livelihood was sorted. Compared to what he'd had as Demon King, it was a laughable sum — but for now, it was enough. He wouldn't need to work for money for a while. That was what mattered most.
As Sihyuk pocketed his phone, the man asked,
"You going to sell more next time?"
"Probably not coming back for a while."
"Why?"
"Can't be bothered to come all the way out here again."
"…"
Sihyuk stood up. Then the man added,
"And one more thing."
"What?"
"Got anything besides gold bars?"
Sihyuk's gaze returned to him.
"Why?"
"We handle gems, magic stones, returnee goods — that sort of thing."
Sihyuk thought for a second. His Subspace held all kinds of things. But there was no reason to tell this man about all of them.
"I do, but."
The man's eyes lit up.
"Like what?"
"I only came to sell gold today."
"…Right."
"I'm going."
Sihyuk left the shop. Even after he was gone, the man stared at the entrance for a while.
The man in the black shirt asked,
"Who was that guy?"
"No idea."
"A Returnee?"
"Seemed like it."
The man looked down at the table where the gold bars had sat.
"That won't be all of it."
"The gold?"
"The gold, and other things too."
Every time the man put his hand into empty air, another gold bar had appeared. Whether it was a Subspace-type ability or a storage artifact, there was no way to tell. More than that — there hadn't been a shred of attachment in the way he handled the gold. Not the attitude of someone dumping stolen goods in a hurry.
Instinct honed by years in this business was sounding a warning. Not someone you wanted to mess with.
"Let's not poke that one."
The man in the black shirt looked toward the entrance.
"What about the guys who've been watching from outside? Think they'll stay put?"
"Whatever other people do is none of our business."
The man wiped down the table where the gold had been.
"We just made a deal."
Sihyuk walked slowly through the Black Market. With money in hand, there was no rush. Restaurant listings scrolled across his phone screen. From the photos alone, it was hard to decide what to eat first. He lowered the screen and headed for the exit.
From the moment he left the shop, several pairs of eyes had been trailing him.
Three of them.
Their footwork for muffling sound wasn't particularly good. Inside the Black Market, it could have been coincidence. But even past the exit, the three kept following.
Looks like they've got business with me.
Sihyuk kept walking. If they didn't speak first, he had no reason to make a problem of it.
He slipped out of the crowded area and turned down an alley. They were still following. And when he entered the next alley, two more men appeared ahead.
Sihyuk stopped. The footsteps behind him stopped at the same time.
Two in front. Three behind. Same crew.
The man blocking the way ahead grinned.
"Hey, buddy."
Only then did Sihyuk look up from his phone.
"What?"
The man's eyes swept over Sihyuk's hands and pockets.
"Let's have a little chat."
Sihyuk looked at the two in front, then glanced once behind him. A small sigh escaped.
"Fine."
The unexpectedly easy answer made the man pause for a second. Sihyuk added,
"Just make it quick."