Chapter 149: The Auction
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 149: The Auction
"A refund?"
The air went still for a heartbeat before the shopkeeper flatly refused.
"Absolutely not!"
"Then believe me when I say I'll find someone to tear this dump to the ground!" Muen sneered. "Or do you think I can't pull it off?"
"…Given the level of 'big spender' energy you’ve displayed so far, you probably could," the shopkeeper admitted, looking troubled. "But I’m honestly broke right now. Even if I wanted to give you a refund, I couldn't."
"You? Broke?" Muen didn't buy it for a second. How could the owner of such a predatory shop be out of money?
"How about this? I’ll compensate you in another way." Seeing that Muen was dead-set on getting satisfaction and clearly wanting to avoid trouble, the shopkeeper thought for a moment and said, "What do you think?"
Muen raised an eyebrow. "What kind of way?"
"You didn't come to the black market just to pick a fight with me, right?" The shopkeeper glanced left and right, then leaned in close to Muen. Lowering his voice, he whispered, "If you want to find the good stuff in this black market, information is everything. As it happens, I’ve always been quite well-informed."
"Information..."
Muen’s interest was piqued. He was currently struggling to find any leads on Ancient Dragon Heart Blood. If he could get relevant intel from this shopkeeper, it would indeed be worth far more than a measly 130,000 Emiels.
"Go on. I'm listening."
Muen leaned in as well. As he did, he caught a faint, delicate fragrance. It felt familiar, but it seemed muffled by the aura-shielding properties of the black robes. He couldn't quite place where he had smelled it before.
"To be honest, I only know about this through my private channels. If you weren't such a generous customer, I usually wouldn't say a word."
The shopkeeper pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. On the gold-embossed parchment, one could faintly make out the pattern of a red-eyed bat. There wasn't much text on it, just a brief message: “Secret Auction. You are cordially invited to attend.”
"This is..."
"An invitation," the shopkeeper said mysteriously. "A secret auction will be held in the black market soon. This is the invitation—or rather, the entry ticket."
Muen’s eyes lit up. "What kind of good stuff will be there?"
"Well, I don't know the specifics. But the organizer of this auction is one of the biggest moguls behind this black market. Anything he puts up for sale won't be trash."
"A mogul..." Muen rubbed his chin. It sounded like an opportunity he couldn't afford to miss. "Fine, I'll take it."
Muen reached out to grab the invitation, only to find that the two slender fingers holding the other end were like iron clamps, refusing to let go.
"Second thoughts? Then that 130,000—"
"...It’s not that. It’s just that spots for this auction are limited and extremely precious. I went to great lengths to get my hands on this, and I only have this one. If you just walk away with it, won't I be taking a huge loss?"
"What do you want?"
"Maybe you could top it off with another eighty or a hundred thousand?" the shopkeeper suggested tentatively. "Even fifty thousand would do?"
"In your dreams!"
Muen violently snatched the invitation from the shopkeeper’s hand and sneered, "I haven't even charged you for my emotional distress yet!"
"But—"
"No 'buts.' I'm leaving!"
Muen carefully tucked the invitation into his robes, terrified that this crooked, mysterious shopkeeper might have some other trick up his sleeve. He greased his heels and bolted.
The moment he stepped out of the shop, Muen’s stride felt much lighter. Wringing a benefit out of that black-hearted shopkeeper was harder than pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth. He felt absolutely smug.
*
"The address on the invitation should be around here."
After leaving the mysterious little shop, Muen followed the address on the invitation to a relatively bustling area of the black market.
On both sides of the road, many people—also concealing their identities—had set up stalls on the ground, selling all sorts of strange items.
According to Muen’s past experience, these roadside stalls were bound to hide many "pearls in the dust"—treasures waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately, he wasn't a protagonist, nor did he have a white-bearded old man to guide him. Aside from a pile of filthy lucre that could buy anything, he had nothing.
Therefore, he could only play the part of the "sucker" at an auction—a place where prices were ridiculously inflated, but at least the goods weren't fakes.
"Huh, strange. Is it really here?"
Upon reaching the destination, Muen scratched his head in confusion. The location indicated by the invitation was a magnificent, palatial building—a level of luxury rarely seen in the black market.
Wasn't this supposed to be a secret auction? Why is it so conspicuous?
"Hello, sir. Please take one of these."
While Muen was wondering, a seductive woman in a sexy short skirt walked over. She held a stack of papers in her arms and handed one to Muen.
"A flyer? Sorry, I'm not buying a house, I don't want milk tea, and I'm not looking for club models."
Muen instinctively tried to refuse, but when his peripheral vision caught the content of the flyer, he froze.
Why did that big bat on the flyer look so familiar?
"This... this is?"
"It's a flyer for the auction," the beauty explained. "The entire black market took a heavy hit after the recent Great Purge. To revitalize the black market's economy, our boss is specially hosting this auction. Many of the items are from the boss's personal collection. It’s definitely worth looking forward to!"
You're a black market! What kind of economy are you trying to revitalize?!
No, that wasn't the point. The point was...
"Are spots limited?"
"Hmm? Oh, I guess you could say that. Due to venue constraints, we can only allow five hundred people at a time." The woman looked a bit confused by Muen’s question, but she answered diligently nonetheless.
"A secret auction?"
"Oh? You know the name of our auction, sir? The boss said that since it's being held in the black market, it should have a bit of a mysterious flair. That's why we haven't announced the specific items and gave it such a strange name."
"..."
Muen’s hand began to tremble. "An invitation?"
"Did you notice, sir?" the woman said proudly. "The boss said that since this is the first auction after the black market reopened, it had to be formal. So, every flyer was made to look like a real invitation. See the gold lettering? That’s actually written with liquid gold."
"..."
"Is something wrong, sir? Won't you take one? Even though it's just a flyer, you still need it to get into the auction." The woman persistently held out the flyer.
"No... sorry, I already have one."
"You do?"
The woman blinked, watching as Muen used a trembling hand to pull out his "invitation."
Her face instantly went cold.
If he already had one, why didn't he say so earlier? Making her waste all that breath. Was he doing it on purpose? He was probably just some lecher who thought she was pretty and wanted to strike up a conversation to hit on her.
I've seen plenty of your kind in the black market. You only dare to think about such things while hiding behind a mask, but in daily life, you've probably never even touched a girl's hand!
"Pervert!"
The woman spat the word under her breath and swayed her hips as she walked away, leaving Muen with nothing but a disdainful view of her back.
"..."
As the woman’s scornful figure receded, Muen stood in silence.
He was dazed.
He pondered.
He realized.
He understood.
And then, he was absolutely livid.
Dammit!
That black-hearted merchant!
I got scammed by her again!