157. Lucky Charm Seo Ye-in

I held a rice cracker up to Seo Ye-in's mouth.

"Have a taste of this too, Lucky Charm."

"Okay."

Seo Ye-in took a tiny bite of the rice cracker and chewed it slowly. Apparently it was to her liking, because she began nibbling away at the rest, little by little.

I'd bought them from the market street near the Daeungpyo Bureau, and I'd figured the flavor would suit her—not overly sweet, simple and clean.

"How's this one, Lucky Charm?"

"Good."

Beyond that, I had laid out a whole spread of local specialty snacks, and I was dutifully offering them up one by one, making sure each got its fair share of attention.

The reason needed no explanation: the random box opening ceremony was fast approaching.

I needed to raise Seo Ye-in's condition to its absolute peak in advance.

Of course, her mood and condition might have nothing whatsoever to do with her actual luck.

Even so, the reason I kept making these offerings was, if I had to put it into an analogy, like tossing coins into a fountain.

"The rice crackers are to your taste, then, Lucky Charm?"

"Tasty."

"Then I should give you more. Here you are."

"You eat one too."

Seo Ye-in was happily munching away at the rice crackers when she picked one up and popped it straight into my mouth.

"……"

Meanwhile, Ahn Jungmi stood a short distance away, watching the two of us.

The expression on her face had gone beyond contentment—it now looked as though she could die without a single regret.

Just as Ahn Jungmi seemed about to ascend to heaven right there on the spot—

"Brother Kim."

Go Hyeon-woo appeared, right on schedule.

Between finishing all his mentoring sessions and squeezing in sparring matches with Han So-mi whenever he found a spare moment, his day was the longest of the three of ours.

He came toward us with a friendly wave, then froze mid-step at the sight of us feeding rice crackers into each other's mouths.

A moment later, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his lips, he turned right around.

"Come to think of it, some urgent business has just occurred to me."

"I know there isn't. Get back here."

"But the two of you are sharing such a pleasant moment, and it feels as though I would only be intruding."

Ahn Jungmi, too, nodded silently in agreement.

However the two of them felt about it, though, opening the random boxes today was a settled matter.

"You're fine. Sit down."

"Could we not simply do this another time?"

"Why put it off? We should knock it out while all three of us are gathered like this."

"Hmm. If that is truly Brother Kim's wish, then so be it."

Go Hyeon-woo sat down across from me, swept his gaze over the spread of specialty snacks, and helped himself to a few of the ones that were comparatively untouched.

His unspoken message was clear: he wouldn't dare lay a finger on the rice crackers.

Anyway, with all three of us present, I moved on to the main event.

"The time of the box-opening has returned once more, ladies and gentlemen."

And with that, I pulled the random ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠boxes out of my inventory one by one.

I had obtained a total of four E-rank random boxes, but I'd handed one over to Shin Byung-cheol, and out of it had come a tea set.

Which left three.

Seven D-rank boxes had dropped in total, but I'd traded four of them for the Demon-Sealing Box, leaving three here as well.

"……"

The moment I started pulling random boxes out of my inventory, Ahn Jungmi smoothly retreated to the back and turned transparent.

Back at the Feathered Serpent Temple box-opening, Seo Ye-in had suddenly redirected an arrow at her, and she'd had no choice but to open a box in her stead—one that produced an F-rank wooden cup.

She had excused herself early for fear the same thing would happen again.

Truly the social savvy of a Future Strategy Office team leader, and the concealment arts of a veteran gunner.

A shame.

Making do with what I had, I handed a D-rank random box to Seo Ye-in first.

"We're counting on you again today, Lucky Charm."

Through several rounds of experimentation, I'd learned that Seo Ye-in's luck operated on something close to a recharge system.

It would deliver staggering fortune once or twice, and then gradually settle into something resembling an ordinary person's luck.

Therefore, the best strategy was to have her open the higher-grade D-rank boxes first.

"……"

Seo Ye-in took the random box and, as always, moved to flip the lid open without a care in the world—then pulled her hand away and tilted her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Opening later."

And she gave a small shake of her head.

Did she think that if she opened it now, something beneath expectations would come out?

There seemed to be something hard to put into words about it, so for the time being I let it go.

It's not like a jackpot pops just because you force it.

Besides, in this situation, Seo Ye-in was the super-ace of aces.

Letting her open them whenever she felt like it was far better than not doing it at all.

I picked up an E-rank random box and faced Go Hyeon-woo.

"Go Hyeon-woo. It's a duel."

"……!"

Go Hyeon-woo caught my meaning at once and picked up a random box of his own.

A contest to see who could pull the higher grade.

"To think my first contest with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Brother Kim would take this form……. But very well. I shall not shy away."

"We open on three. Three, two—"

"—One."

We opened the random boxes at the same time.

- Click,

- Click,

"A draw."

"A draw indeed."

We grinned at each other and tucked our heshouwu into our respective inventories.

When I shot Seo Ye-in a questioning glance, she was still gently shaking her head.

Meaning: still not the time.

So I picked up a D-rank random box again, as did Go Hyeon-woo.

"I shall open first, then."

"By all means."

Go Hyeon-woo closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, then slowly lifted the lid of the box.

- Flash!

Inside were two small wooden cases. The first was filled with finely ground powder, the second with pellets the size of beans.

"Exactly what you needed has come out, I see."

"So it has."

Thanks to my veteran-grade evasion skills, I rarely took hits in the first place, but Go Hyeon-woo was another story.

In the Black Snake Gang alone, he'd run into the hidden boss White Snake and taken heavy internal injuries, and at the Feathered Serpent Temple the damage had been relatively light, but he'd still come out scraped all over.

There was no telling what kind of powerful enemies we'd meet coming in and out of the underground floors, and stocking up on expensive potions wasn't exactly feasible.

And now, with one medicine for external wounds and one for internal injuries apiece, most injuries could be treated with these.

Next was my turn.

I steeled my heart with due reverence and promptly opened a D-rank random box.

- Flash—!

"Not bad myself."

Rank Up permanently raised one of the user's abilities, which made it worth more than any other item of the same grade.

That left one D and one E.

I asked Seo Ye-in again.

"How about now?"

"I'll open it."

At last she seemed ready—Seo Ye-in slowly dragged the D-rank random box toward herself.

And then, unlike the two of us, she flipped the random box wide open without a trace of tension.

- KWAAAAAAAH—!

And just as expected, a brilliant five-colored radiance burst out like an explosion, flooding the entire room.

That's a guaranteed B-rank.

Judging by how absurd the effect was, it had to be high-grade.

But it was still too early to celebrate.

What kind of B-rank item it was, we'd only know once we looked.

Shielding my eyes, I waited a moment, and the light that had filled my vision gradually died down.

And what it revealed was a single pristine white talisman.

"A jackpot."

"What manner of item is it?"

"You remember the Demon-Sealing Box we got? This is its other half."

"……I see."

The Demon-Sealing Box carried demonic qi so thick that not just ordinary warriors but even demonkin of middling skill couldn't touch it.

The Purification Talisman served to purify—or neutralize—a substantial portion of that demonic qi.

Ordinarily you'd have to acquire a Purification Talisman separately, or cleanse the demonic qi through some other means, but Seo Ye-in had pulled one straight out of the random box, as if she'd been aiming for it all along.

"Truly, you are our Lucky Charm."

"Mm."

I offered up one more rice cracker as tribute.

Now only a single E-rank box remained.

"While we're at it, want to open this one too?"

"……"

Seo Ye-in gazed down at the random box for a long moment, then turned around to look behind her.

It was an empty stretch of nothing, yet she kept staring at it all the same.

Then her gaze drifted slowly to the side, and she stared fixedly at that spot too.

After this repeated two or three times, Ahn Jungmi finally released her concealment and appeared.

She could have kept up her invisibility and played dumb, but she'd realized that doing so would only wear herself out in the end.

Like a stand-in accepting a poisoned cup on a condemned prisoner's behalf, Ahn Jungmi received the E-rank random box.

I sent her a wry smile of encouragement.

"No need to be too nervous. It's only E-rank, so feel free to pull an F and get it over with."

"Thank you, Kim Ho-nim. ……Then I shall open it."

- Click,

Ahn Jungmi's face turned the same color as the teacup.

"I sincerely apologize."

"I told you, it's fine."

It wasn't just the butler, after all.

Shin Byung-cheol had unexpectedly gained himself a fellow collector.

The Thief Club room.

Dang Gyu-young stared at the mountain of paperwork and couldn't hold back a groan.

"When am I supposed to finish all this?"

The past month had been one frantic day after another for her.

As a third-year, she had classes, conquest battles, and PvP assessments to get through.

As a mentor, she followed her first-years into dungeons to watch over them and patch them up.

And as president of the Thief Club, she had the club's operations on top of it all.

As a result, the paperwork related to the Black Market had been pushed to the back burner.

She should have been chipping away at it well in advance, but for all the reasons above, here she was cramming it all in on the eve of the event.

The second-year twins smirked slyly and tossed in a comment each.

"You just want to finish quick and go play with that first-year, don't you?"

"Your face's been all bright and sunny lately, Nuna. You used to walk around scowling every day."

Dang Gyu-young showed no reaction whatsoever to their remarks.

Instead, shadow arms rose up from the floor below and locked the twins' joints.

- Crrrreeak,

"That one deserved it."

Chae Da-bin, who had been helping with the paperwork, glanced up briefly and regarded the twins with an expression that said she didn't pity them in the slightest.

Then she lowered her eyes back to her documents and spoke.

"Still, if you push through one more week, things should ease up. Mentoring ends this week, after all."

"That much is true."

But even when mentoring ended, the suffering would not.

That was simply what being a club president meant.

Why she had so readily accepted last year's president's offer and taken this seat—Dang Gyu-young still couldn't understand her past self.

By the time she realized the truth, it had already been too late.

And next year, when Chae Da-bin inherited the president's seat and came to regret it, it would be too late for her as well.

Just then, an unfamiliar presence stirred outside the club room.

Nine times out of ten it would be a customer coming with a request, so one of the second-year members went out to receive them.

"Welcome! What brings you here toda—"

He was rattling off the usual sales pitch when he caught sight of the visitor's face ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and froze.

The other members, curious at his hesitation, peeked over—and the moment they confirmed the identity of the guest, they too turned to stone on the spot.

She was a female student with a poised, immaculate bearing and an intellectual beauty.

The golden pin on her tie marked her as a third-year.

In one hand she held a folding fan, half-open, partially veiling her mouth—which lent her an air at once cerebral and mysterious.

Any student at Dragon Slayer Academy would have known her on sight. She was famous.

Jegal So-so.

Hailed as the Swordsmanship Club's master strategist, its chief tactician and vice president—a figure at the very core of the core.

Her arrival here could mean only one thing.

The Swordsmanship Club was beginning to move in earnest.

Jegal So-so snapped the fan shut with a crisp clack.

Then, a faint smile playing at her lips, she spoke.

"Would you kindly clear the room?"

"……"

At a flick of Dang Gyu-young's eyes, the members abandoned what they were doing and filed out in a rush.

Chae Da-bin was the last to go, casting a baffled look between the two of them—and with that, the Thief Club room fell silent as the grave.

Before long, Dang Gyu-young rose slowly from her seat and matched Jegal So-so's gaze at eye level.