Chapter 30

Chapter. 30

"Those are excellent benefits. There is just one thing I am curious about."

"Yes, please go ahead."

"Why was I given a Number Card?"

Kang Hyo-jun's eyes gleamed.

'That indifferent gaze, that bored expression... does that mean he already knew about the existence of the Portal?'

A giant so powerful that even hearing the Black Market's most secret secret was not enough to keep him from yawning...?

Kang Hyo-jun's thoughts turned ice-cold.

If he failed to respond properly here, this man could leave the Market at any moment.

Someone capable of supplying Divine Relics like this would have no reason to cling to the Market.

'I have to make him understand clearly. Why we have no choice but to hang our hopes on him.'

Kang Hyo-jun opened his mouth calmly.

"I will set aside the value of S-rank for the moment. You are surely already aware of that much."

...The response was silence.

He had expected that.

"No matter how good a consumable is, the human body normally develops resistance to it. Once that resistance builds up, the consumable stops working properly, and side effects begin to appear."

Consumables were, in the end, still objects from the Tower.

No matter how little, they always contained components unsuited to humans of Earth.

Impurities. What they called 'mana residue.'

The man was simply looking at Kang Hyo-jun, not even nodding.

Under that indifferent gaze, Kang Hyo-jun felt strangely overwhelmed.

'Right. He is telling me to skip over what he already knows.'

So Kang Hyo-jun quickly moved on to the heart of the matter.

"...This consumable has no impurities. Even the Church's Holy Water, which had firmly held first place until now, ultimately had obvious limits because it could not filter out its microscopic impurities. But your consumable... is perfect. An Elixir that can be used endlessly. This is a miracle that will destroy the existing ecosystem."

There was a faint change in the man's expression.

'I got it. That was the right answer.'

He did not know how this consumable had been obtained.

As a merchant, that was not something Kang Hyo-jun needed to wonder about, nor something he should wonder about.

But Kang Hyo-jun instinctively understood the commercial value of 'a consumable without impurities.'

S-rank? Of course that was astonishing.

But a consumable disappeared the moment it was used. It was still a one-time item.

That alone was not enough to justify 'Number.'

What made this consumable not merely astonishing but great was the fact that it had absolutely no impurities.

Which meant no resistance. In other words, this top-grade consumable, which could even reattach severed body parts, could be used without limit.

It had no side effects. Man or woman, old or young, high or low, anyone could use it without burden.

The social change that could be caused by a single vial of medicine in this cheap glass bottle was beyond anything Kang Hyo-jun of today could dare imagine.

But there was one thing he knew with certainty.

'This consumable is going to be an absolute sensation.'

"It is clearly an Artifact created by a special existence. And the fact that you acquired a consumable Artifact like this means that you have a connection to that special existence."

He was careful not to stumble over his words.

He tried to speak with confidence, in a voice that would inspire trust in the other party.

"It means you are the only being on this Earth who can supply Divine Relics like this."

Kang Hyo-jun spoke in a voice filled with conviction.

"That is why you are a Number. And among them, Number 1."

Yes. That was why he was a Number. And not just any Number, but No. 1.

The greatest card the Market could possibly play.

The only way to keep hold of this man.

"Hm."

The man smiled as though he found it interesting.

***

On my way out, I found myself thinking:

'Was this what this guy was like...?'

This might have been Kang Hyo-jun's first time meeting 'Ha Seong-un'...but it was not my first time meeting him.

I had seen him a few times before while selling Mana Stones and buying a few things I needed.

Back then, he had not felt like this.

He had been more like some kind, smiling store manager going, "Please go ahead, dear customer~"

But now...

'He seems like a professional.'

It was an astonishing transformation.

To be honest, halfway through I almost laughed, because I started wondering what kind of misunderstanding he was having.

No impurities?

I had made it in my room, in a rush, using alchemy gear I had hurriedly bought off the market. There was no way that was true.

A ton of dust had probably gotten into it.

"Heh-heh."

An Artifact created by a special existence?

Was an Awakening Failure like me special?

Well, I was special in a bad way.

I did have an absurdly overpowered ability called Synchronization.

But if you thought about it carefully, was that really 'my skill' rather than 'my character's skill'?

There was still too much lacking for me to consider myself some kind of special existence.

Still, hearing that kind of praise did make my chest tingle a little.

'More importantly, the time...' I glanced at the holographic clock.

There were roughly eighteen hours left until Lee A-un's life ran out.

I still had a little room to breathe.

Slip.

I took the luxurious black card out from inside my coat and examined it.

The front was a perfect black with no decoration at all.

Perhaps some special material had been used, because it was black to the point of feeling unnatural.

I had heard there were special paints that absorbed light. It seemed to be made of something like that.

The back was extremely simple.

In gold, it had 'No.1' engraved on it.

[Interesting. It looks like it is engraved in gold, but this is actually hologram technology on a level similar to the optical camouflage I use.]

Oh ho.

[This kind of technology has been released for civilian use...? At least, that is not a development reflected anywhere in my database... That number is probably being changed according to commands from the control Tower. And judging by this, it is not just an ordinary card either. It seems to function as a communicator as well.]

After that, Snowy went on muttering things I could not understand.

The gist of it seemed to be, How does something like this exist here?

In any case, to my eyes it looked extremely luxurious.

That splendid combination of pitch-black and gold.

And beneath that, the epithet I had given myself was engraved.

'Ahem.'

When they asked me to choose a title to have engraved on the card, I had to come up with one on the spot.

To carry the meaning of a special existence.

It was 'Special One.'

And it also carried the meaning of Number 1.

'But if only one hundred people can have these, then me entering at Number 1 means one person got kicked out of the top one hundred, or the one who used to be Number 1 got pushed down to Number 2, right?'

Whoever it was, they might be clutching the back of their neck right about now.

'Well, that has nothing to do with me. It is not as though someone who does not even know who I am would come straight to me and complain.'

***

"Eeeek!!!"

In a dim underground chamber, the Saintess, Yeriche, who had been offering her prayers in solemn posture, shot to her feet.

The divine power that had been softly surrounding her scattered with a loud POP!

"T-this cannot be!"

"Saintess!"

"What happened?!"

The believers who had been waiting outside the basement room called the 'Prayer Room' hurried inside.

"It changed."

"Pardon?"

With trembling hands, the Saintess held out a pitch-black card.

Even inside the dark Prayer Room, the card stood out for how black it was.

It was the Black Market's 'Black Card.'

"Why is that..."

It was as black as usual, was it not?

At the very moment the believers voiced their confusion,flip.

The Saintess turned the card over.

"!!!"

The believers' mouths fell open in shock.

The number.

It had changed.

The Saintess's Black Number had been 1.

But now, the number had become 2.

"I have become Number 2."

Crunch.

The Saintess ground her teeth.

Holy Water, which only the Saintess could produce.

The Black Number had been what she received in exchange for supplying it exclusively.

Holy Water did not quite measure up to a true Artifact.

But it was at least something like a pseudo-Artifact that increased healing power and disease resistance.

That alone made it so precious that not even money was enough to guarantee purchase.

Naturally, a value like that had meant Number 1.

It had taken quite some time to claim that number, but once she had, she had remained the immovable Number 1 ever since.

And that had just been shattered.

"Who on earth is it?"

The Saintess called the Italian Market handler.

[Yes, Saintess.]

"My Number dropped."

[Yes. I suppose it would have.]

"...What happened? Are you saying they do not intend to receive the Church's Holy Water anymore?"

[Ah, it is not that. How should I put it? It was a very 'legitimate usurpation of the Number.']

"'Usurpation of the Number?' What is that supposed to mean?"

[Oh my, you have never heard the term? Ah, of course. You have always been ranked first, so perhaps you would not know. When a newly appeared rookie takes the head of the existing Number 1 with their very first listing and steals the position, that is called usurpation of the Number.]

Yeriche was left speechless.

"...A newcomer? Do you really think that makes sense?"

[Yes, it made perfect sense. Every single one of the Market's leaders rose to their feet and applauded unanimously. Ah, and you will continue supplying Holy Water, of course. That is, if you wish to maintain even the Number 2 position. Goodbye.]

Click.

The line went dead.

"...That fucking bastard. He thinks he can treat me like this just because I dropped one Number?"

Her rank had fallen.

This was not merely a matter of 1 becoming 2.

The Church's income depended absolutely on the Holy Water the Saintess produced.

Becoming second priority meant that the fee benefits she had once received would now be drastically reduced.

And that led to a single conclusion: from now on, it would deal a fatal blow to the Church's finances.

Crunch.

Yeriche bit at her nails irritably.

"Damn it. Damn it."

It felt hard to breathe.

'I do not know what gutter that bastard crawled out of, but there is only one place something like that would surface.'

The black market.

Something extraordinary had clearly happened there.

The one who had stolen Number 1 had apparently listed some kind of extraordinary Artifact.

"Bring me the Moneybag."

"Um, Saintess. Calling His Holiness the Pope a moneybag is..."

"Bring me the Moneybag."

"...Yes, ma'am."

'I will see for myself just how extraordinary this item really is.'

Yeriche, the Saintess, decided to raid the Church's finances.

The finances of the Church, which possessed more Gold than anyone else in the world.

***

"Hm?"

Feeling the Black Card in his pocket begin to tremble, the man quickly pulled it out and checked it.

"Oh ho."

The number '99' on the back had vanished, and '100' had appeared in its place.

It meant that the man, who had barely managed to cling to the lowest seat among the Numbers, was now standing at the very edge of the cliff.

The man scratched at his patchy beard,

then slowly placed a call.

"Hey, Hyo-jun. I just saw it."

[Sir. I am sorry.]

"No. I was already wobbling at the edge, so I suppose what was bound to happen finally happened. More importantly, the medicine?]

[...That is the first thing you ask about?]

On the other end of the line, Kang Hyo-jun, the head of the Black Market's Korean branch, let out a sigh too faint to be heard.

Sir.

He was the mentor who had once led Kang Hyo-jun onto the path of the Market, and a legendary merchant prince who had once ruled the Black Market.

But ten years ago, he had thrown everything away in order to save a dying child and disappeared into the shadows.

[The Stabilizer... has been discontinued.]

"Discontinued? Not just hard to deliver? I told them I would pay plenty of Gold. What was it again? Fifty thousand Gold per pill?]

[They say they are not making it anymore. It would not matter if you offered one hundred thousand Gold or one million Gold.]

"Why?"

[They say there are too few customers for it to be worth making.]

"...Hyo-jun, then what happens to Blood Rice Cake?"

[...]

Blood Rice Cake.

In Korean, Lee A-un.

He had awakened the S-rank ability Circulation.

But because of that accursed incurable disease, he had fallen into the ranks of mediocre Hunters.

Kang Hyo-jun knew very well what Lee A-un meant to this man he called Sir.

That was why he could not possibly bring himself to say the words, "Then give up."

Through the receiver came the sound of Sir's rough breathing.

It was breathing steeped in despair.

"Is there... no other way?"

[Sir.]

Kang Hyo-jun clenched his fist tightly.

It was a violation of protocol.

But surely it was acceptable to repay this much of the debt he owed his benefactor.

[There is no 'Stabilizer.' But...]

"..."

[A 'cure' has appeared.]

"What?"

[At this auction, an Elixir has been listed that may... be capable of curing Mana Reflux.]

"I-is that true? Does something like that really exist?"

[I appraised it myself. It is S-rank.]

Silence.

A tremor of emotion came through the phone.

[So, Sir.]

"..."

[How much Gold have you saved up?]

Kang Hyo-jun chose to offer him 'hope.'

Because that was the only way he could repay the kindness he owed Sir.

But this hope would never be gentle.

It was obvious that a brutal war of wealth was about to break out over a single Elixir.

And yet.

Lee Hyeong-je bared his teeth in a grin.

"A fucking lot."

A being who had survived and triumphed in that war, claiming even the lowest seat among the Numbers.

That was Lee Hyeong-je.

***

"...The Saintess and even the Gold Mine? This is going to sell for an absurd price."

After ending the call, Kang Hyo-jun summoned all of his staff.

This auction.

It was truly going to be a huge one.