Chapter 20

Not far from the hotel, the auction house known as the Crystal Pavilion stood on a steep slope at the edge of Achasan, overlooking a bend in the Han River.

Designed as a cantilever jutting out from the earth, the mysterious building looked as though some giant had set a jewel box or enormous lantern on the edge of a cliff.
It had been designed by dwarves, and dwarves had built it as well.

It was truly a masterpiece that defined the era.
There were three masterpieces said to represent the age of Dimensional Fusion: the Gate Hall erected in Gwanghwamun, the Crystal Pavilion, and the Dimensional Agency building constructed jointly by dimensional migrants and Earth natives.

That was the extent of Jun-gyeong’s knowledge.
He had no knowledge of who owned the building, or who had commissioned it and for what purpose.
Nor had he ever imagined an auction exclusively for the wealthy being held here.

“There is much in this world I still don’t know.”
-You’ll have to get used to it now. Little by little.
“You seem interested in this too.”
-Of course. It’s not exactly an everyday occurrence.
“Is that so? Even for you, this isn’t commonplace?”

Ok-hee had suddenly contacted him through Dokkaebi Transmission.
She explained that hacking into the Dokkaebi Transmission was the reason she had been busy today.
Jun-gyeong had no idea how she had done it, but she had ultimately managed to hack the Dokkaebi Transmission and contact him on her own.

“You hacked a power bestowed by Heaven. You’re quite daring.”
-Of course. I’m amazing. No one can beat me when it comes to this sort of thing.
“I said daring, not amazing.”
-Same difference. Heheh~

Jun-gyeong slowly shook his head.
Still, he had to admit it.
A Jade Rabbit who hacked divine powers.

Jun-gyeong slowly looked around the interior.

Specially reinforced glass surrounded the space in a full 360-degree panorama.
On one side rose the sheer rocky cliffs of Achasan. On the other, the Han River flowed like a black dragon beneath the night skyline of Seoul.

To prevent the interior lights from reflecting off the glass and obscuring the view outside, every light was aimed toward the floor, with only faint indirect illumination touching the ceiling and glass.
The result gave even those indoors the dizzying sensation of standing at the edge of a cliff in the dead of night.
A bitter river wind was undoubtedly raging outside, yet the interior was perfectly soundproofed, shutting out every sound from beyond the glass.

And then there was the centerpiece of the pavilion.
The circular platform at its center.
The hall was dark overall, with a single sharp spotlight falling upon the circular platform in the middle.
Seung-ho had explained that the auction items would rise onto that platform.
The platform resembled a mound of ancient stone placed in the heart of a modern space made of cold glass and steel.
The contrast felt both fresh and beautiful.

In front of it stood rows of large luxury sofas and heavy-looking consoles made from thick solid wood, positioned so the guests could sit facing the platform.
Jun-gyeong looked down at the dark river flowing beyond the windows.
Beyond the transparent glass yawned a seemingly bottomless drop, creating the illusion that he was seated in meditation in empty space.

“Beautiful. But to a martial artist, a place exposed on every side like this is no different from death ground.”

He was right.
At this very moment, the beautiful Crystal Pavilion was little more than an extravagant glass prison holding tycoons from around the world.

“As you saw when we came in, security here is exceptionally strict. No one is exempt from having their belongings inspected, and even smartphones and tiny keys have to be surrendered at the entrance. After that, everyone passes through a full 360-degree X-ray scan. That’s why people so particular about their safety are willing to gather here.”

Seung-ho said this as he offered him a glass of champagne.
Jun-gyeong gave a slight nod.
At the moment, Jun-gyeong was the only person here capable of communicating with the outside world.

Every single person gathered here was a major figure.
There were people with more money than they could ever spend, along with former premiers and prime ministers who had once wielded the power of nations.
It was a place where the world’s wealth and power had gathered.
Naturally, every possible effort would have been devoted to security and safety.
Yet no one here knew that Jun-gyeong could draw a sword whenever he wished.
That included Seung-ho, smiling brightly beside him.
He was fairly certain no one else possessed an ability like his, but there was no way to know for sure.
If Ok-hee could hack a divine power, perhaps someone else had created another power capable of something similar.

Jun-gyeong sharpened his senses.
He extended his internal energy outward and swept the surrounding area.
Then he raised his head toward the hemispherical glass dome.
Brilliant stars shone through it in the night sky beyond.
The dome was undoubtedly meant to showcase the view, but if someone intended to break in, it would also make the perfect point of entry.

“I can’t afford to let my guard down.”
“Come on~ It’s fine. Relax. Looks like it’s starting.”

Soon, a woman’s voice rang out from speakers hidden somewhere in the hall.

“The auction will begin shortly. Honored guests, please take your assigned seats.”

Plush sofas were set within consoles made from solid wood.
Jun-gyeong and Seung-ho went to the seats indicated by the attendant and sat down.
As the lights slowly dimmed, a beautiful woman in a neat ivory two-piece skirt suit appeared beside the circular platform beneath the spotlight.
In a dry, emotionless voice, she announced the beginning of the auction.

“We will now begin the Eighth Private Auction.”

Because everyone present wore translation receivers, she conducted the auction in Korean, and silence descended over the hall in an instant.

Elaborate works of contemporary art rose onto and disappeared from the central platform one after another.
Someone would bid, and someone else would compete.
The sums involved were so enormous that they scarcely seemed real.

“A work by Ikena Peach. Lot 32-8, sold for 5.8 billion won.”

Bang-Bang-Bang-

The auctioneer’s same dry voice remained the only sound flowing through the hall.

“Next is the highlight of today’s auction: a Goryeo-era artifact excavated in Kaesong, North Korea.”

The spotlight seemed to brighten over the central platform, and with white mist billowing around it for dramatic effect, the artifact began to rise into view.

From the moment the sword’s hilt began to appear, Jun-gyeong knew what it was.
The hilt, the blade, and the stone lion statue still skewered halfway down it.
It was unmistakably Mukhwa, the sword he had driven into the stone lion that served as Seol-hui’s gravestone.
Mukhwa had appeared before his eyes once again.
Before he even realized it, Jun-gyeong had risen from his seat.

“Mukh… wa…”

His voice was quiet, but everyone who heard him speak as though he knew exactly what the artifact was turned to stare.
It was the one thing he absolutely shouldn’t have done at an auction.
It was practically the same as announcing, ‘I’m going to buy that.’
Naturally, even people who had shown no interest in the item found themselves taking another look.
But Jun-gyeong was not the only one interested in Mukhwa.
A wealthy Chinese man seated opposite him was staring at Mukhwa while wiping drool from his mouth.

“That’s mine.”

Where Jun-gyeong’s words had been little more than a quiet murmur to himself, the other man’s were a declaration.
Every eye turned toward him.
Jun-gyeong’s gaze also shifted to the Chinese tycoon.
A greasy face plastered with naked greed.
Jun-gyeong’s brow furrowed.
Then Seung-ho placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get it. I wanted to give you one more gift anyway, so this works out perfectly.”

When Jun-gyeong looked back, Seung-ho gave him a reassuring smile.
The cheapest items traded here started at around three billion won.
It was far beyond what Jun-gyeong could afford.
Normally, he would have refused, but Mukhwa was the one thing he couldn’t let slip away.

The bidding soon began, and just as expected, the price quickly passed three billion won.
Whenever someone placed a bid, the Chinese man immediately raised it.
Before long, the price approached ten billion won, and the number of bidders dropped sharply.

“Now it starts. The real war.”

Seung-ho grinned, showing his neat white teeth, and pressed a button on the tablet in his hand.

“We have eleven billion won.”
“Twelve billion.”
“Thirteen billion.”
“Fifteen billion. From this point forward, bidding will increase in increments of five billion won.”
“Any further bids?”

A victorious smile appeared on Seung-ho’s face.

“That’s Wang Jo-young, basically the head of the Princelings. He runs Taehwa Pharmaceutical. He’s as ignorant and greedy as he looks. I’d heard he was fanatical about collecting East Asian antiques. Looks like the rumors were true.”

Seung-ho pressed the button on his tablet again.

“Twenty billion won. We have twenty billion won.”

Wang Jo-young glared fiercely at Seung-ho, his face twisted with rage.
But Seung-ho merely smiled back with complete ease.

“Any further bids?”

The crowd’s gazes shifted back and forth between Seung-ho and Wang Jo-young.
Wang Jo-young, who looked ready to explode with rage, dropped heavily back into his seat and shook his head.

“One, two, three, sold!”

Bang-Bang-Bang-

In the end, Mukhwa was won for the absurd price of twenty billion won.
Seung-ho beamed, clenched his fist in triumph, and patted Jun-gyeong on the shoulder.

“We got it. It’s ours.”

But Jun-gyeong was watching Wang Jo-young rather than Seung-ho.
The man’s expression was not that of someone who had lost.
If anything, a smile was hiding beneath his twisted features.
At the same time, Jun-gyeong’s five senses warned him that something was approaching from above.

“Something’s about to happen.”
“What?”
“Stay behind me. Don’t move unless I tell you.”

Jun-gyeong pulled Seung-ho behind him.
Then he looked up at the ceiling.

BANG-!! BANG! KABOOM-!!

Something was hammering into the glass dome overhead.
Something enormous and rectangular.

KABOOM-!! CRASH-!

At last, the rectangular objects shattered the glass ceiling and began crashing into the pavilion.

“Kyaaaaaa-!”

Glass rained down as the objects buried themselves in the floor.
They were black coffins fitted with drill-like spikes.
Jun-gyeong stared at them without looking away.
An evil presence emanated from within.
Then Ok-hee’s urgent voice struck his ears.

-There are three helicopters. People are rappelling down from them.
“Contact the police.”

Jun-gyeong looked skyward again.
Three helicopters hovered overhead.
He could see people descending on ropes from each of them.
Every one of them was armed.

Jun-gyeong’s brow tightened sharply.
For security reasons, there was not so much as a small piece of metal that could serve as a weapon inside the pavilion.
All the bodyguards responsible for protecting the guests were outside.
But if intruders had made it inside, that meant the exterior security had likely been attacked at the same time.

Everyone within Jun-gyeong’s sight was completely exposed.
And the danger didn’t come only from the men descending from above.
There were also the rectangular coffins of black iron already embedded in the auction hall.
Those were what Jun-gyeong sensed as the true danger.
A familiar smell was coming from them.

“Corpse stench.”

A smell he knew well from the battlefield.
The distinctive, pungent odor that seeped from a corpse.

“Wh-What are those?”

Jun-gyeong shook his head at Seung-ho’s question.

“I don’t know exactly yet. It seems there are corpses inside.”
“Corpses?”
“Yes.”

Jun-gyeong and Seung-ho narrowed their eyes at the iron coffins that had punched through the reinforced glass floor and the marble beneath it.

Armed mercenaries began pouring down from the helicopters and landing inside the pavilion.
They leveled their rifles and herded everyone into one area.

“Get over to that corner!”

The unarmed guests raised both hands and obeyed.
Jun-gyeong and Seung-ho likewise moved toward the gathered crowd as ordered.

They were completely trapped, like rats in a jar.
An armed mass-hostage situation of this scale was the sort of crime that should have been impossible in Korea.
Helicopters were flying through a strict no-fly zone in the heart of Seoul, and firearms rarely seen in Korea were being openly used.

Ok-hee would already have contacted every relevant authority, and the government, military, and police would be responding.
They too would have known in advance that a VVIP event was taking place here today.
No matter how secretive the auction was, what remained secret were the items being sold. The auction itself was not some black market hidden entirely from the state.
In modern society, an event attended by people of this stature could never operate that way.
Nor was the auction itself an international criminal operation that would justify such secrecy.
Naturally, the state couldn’t ignore a gathering of VVIPs of this caliber, and security measures would’ve been thoroughly prepared.
There was no chance the authorities had not yet heard that helicopters had flown straight into such a location.
Which meant that whatever these people intended to accomplish, they didn’t have much time.
A few dozen mercenaries couldn’t stand against an entire nation.

Jun-gyeong looked up at the sky.
Even though the mercenaries had already rappelled inside, the helicopters remained hovering overhead with their ropes hanging down.

“Are the helicopters their escape route?”

At that moment, Wang Jo-young rose from his seat and began cackling.

“Heheheh. There’s no need to kill everyone. Just kill that bastard over there. The one who screwed me over.”

His finger pointed toward Seung-ho beside Jun-gyeong.

“Unbelievable.”

Jun-gyeong had known from Wang Jo-young’s earlier expression that something was about to happen, but he hadn’t expected the man to openly order someone’s murder.
A Chinese mercenary swaggered toward them.

“Shǎn kāi, wáng bā dàn!”
(Move, you bastard!)

Jun-gyeong’s brow furrowed sharply.

“What the hell is this bastard saying?”

Unlike aboard the ferry, Jun-gyeong was wearing a translation receiver just like everyone else.
Naturally, the man’s words were being automatically translated for him, so he knew perfectly well what had been said.
And besides, it was Chinese.
There was no way he wouldn’t recognize it.
The accent and vocabulary had changed somewhat since his era, but there was no mistaking the curses spat by barbarians.
Jun-gyeong met the mercenary’s gaze and stepped squarely in front of the assault rifle.

“What? You want to die?”

Every eye in the pavilion turned toward them.
Jun-gyeong’s gaze dropped to the muzzle aimed at him.
It looked slender, but he knew just how much destructive force it contained.
His gaze slowly rose until it met the mercenary’s eyes.

“You’ll regret what you’re doing right now.”
“What the hell are you saying?”

Jun-gyeong drew Seolhwa from his pocket.
Startled by the sight, the mercenary stumbled backward.

“Wh-Why the hell did that come out of there?”