Heukwol Auction House (7)

‘Will this be enough to establish a starting point?’

Rereading the emails exchanged with the Awakened who had first obtained ‘Thread Soaked in Sacred Blood,’ Hyeonseong organized the information.

‘What I found out was the structure inside the dungeon, the monsters that appeared there, and the circumstances surrounding the moment they obtained the skein.’

The internal structure of a dungeon could serve as a clue for inferring the general form of a civilization through its architectural style, while the monsters could serve as clues for estimating the kinds of lifeforms that mainly inhabited the region.

If the dungeon happened to contain undead or non-living monsters, one could sometimes infer the nature of the civilization through their appearance and combat style, or speculate about the circumstances that gave birth to them.

‘So, in Earth terms, it was a civilization with an architectural style similar to Southeast Asia.

The monsters were creature-type monsters like snakes and imugi, with a few undead mixed in…. And the undead were said to be wearing ragged clothes that looked like kasaya [monastic robes].’

From that information, Hyeonseong pictured monks trying to protect a temple from a horde of serpent-shaped monsters.

‘That’s roughly the kind of world it feels like that incident happened in. Especially if you add in the circumstances of how the skein was obtained.’

According to the explanation, ‘Thread Soaked in Sacred Blood’ had been obtained in the main hall at the very center of the dungeon.

The Awakened said they did not know the exact acquisition condition either. However, they were certain that they obtained the skein after approaching something beneath a divine statue resembling a Buddha statue with only the crossed legs remaining.

‘They said they somehow ended up there while frantically dealing with monsters, and when they touched something like the altar supporting the statue, something like a hidden drawer popped out. And the skein was inside it.’

And once the Awakened got hold of the skein, the rag-clad undead stopped attacking the raid party. It seemed they had recognized the party as allies from the moment the skein was in their possession.

‘And those undead apparently dispersed on their own once the raid party had killed all the snakes and imugi…. This really does sound like another dungeon that leaves a bad aftertaste.’

That thought crossed her mind, but there was no way to investigate a dungeon that had already closed. And in any case, that was not what mattered right now.

“So if I sum it up, it’s roughly this much.”

Hyeonseong, who had been summarizing the information on a memo sheet, finished and set down her pen.

“This seems good enough as a starting point for asking around, doesn’t it? What do you think?”

Hyeonseong asked Hyeonyeong.

“It looks fine. It has distinct enough characteristics to narrow the range down well.”

Hyeonyeong nodded.

“What if this person was lying or remembered things wrong?”

Haesu scanned the memo with a somewhat doubtful look.

“There may be parts where the explanation is wrong because their memory was unclear, but there’s probably nothing they deliberately lied about. There’d be no reason to lie about something that could be confirmed right away just by contacting the people who raided it together with them.”

“Now that it came up, should we ask them too? It’d be good to cross-check once before starting to ask around.”

Hyeonyeong asked Hyeonseong.

“Hmm… should we? We did get the names and contact information of the raid participants too.”

The Awakened they had exchanged emails with had said that if they wanted to learn more, they should contact them, and had provided the raid participants’ names, email addresses, and SNS accounts.

They had also said they would tell those people in advance that Hyeonseong’s group might contact them, so there should be no real problem with reaching out.

“Then let’s talk it through once before asking questions.”

Together with the other two, Hyeonseong sent emails or SNS messages to the remaining raid participants as well.

Whether the promise to notify them beforehand had been true or not, everyone they contacted showed no particular wariness toward the group’s messages. Thanks to that, the cross-checking was easy to wrap up.

“There are a few minor differences here and there, but this is all within the range of normal variation.”

Looking over the messages Nemesis had projected into the air, Hyeonseong spoke.

“Yeah, this is within the range that could be explained by differences in memory or perception.”

Hyeonyeong nodded while looking together at the hologram messages set to shared mode.

“But this looks incredibly convenient. Was it called the Spirit of the Cybernet?”

Haesu poked at the hologram window floating in the air with an intrigued expression.

“You can make a contract with it even if you’re not a spiritmancer, right? Did you meet it in a dungeon?”

“Well… roughly speaking, yes.”

Since they had received it as a reward for clearing a dungeon, that was not exactly false.

“Right, then now that the cross-checking is done, let’s scatter the questions again. There weren’t any answers to the questions we posted earlier, right?”

As Hyeonseong asked the group, she opened the Interstellar Network screen.

“Most of the comments say they can’t tell from this alone. Other than that, there are, what, two comments saying it looks similar to their world but they’ve never seen a temple like that?”

“I only got comments asking for more information.”

Hyeonyeong and Haesu answered while staring into the air. Hearing that, Hyeonseong checked the comments on the post she herself had uploaded. They were not much different from the other two’s.

‘It really is hard to pinpoint with just the Network’s basic information. If all you have is the scenery visible from the outside, there could be dozens or hundreds of similar places.’

Hyeonseong added in the information she had just gathered and wrote a new question post.

‘Now that I’ve added information from which the cultural style and main incident can be inferred, there should be at least one person or Constellation who recognizes it.’

Soon, three new posts were uploaded again to the Interstellar Network bulletin board.

“At this point, all we can do is wait again. We can’t move on after this unless new information appears.”

Hyeonseong said as she moved the Network screen off to one side.

“Then do we just have to keep waiting here?”

Haesu asked.

“Seriously. It feels a bit strange to just sit in here the whole time.”

Hyeonseong glanced lightly around the room. The room the auction house had provided as lodging was spacious enough for three people, and it was well furnished with various pieces of furniture and facilities.

Meals and other small services could also be handled from inside the room by requesting them through the internal communication device. Unless one specifically wanted social activity, it was an environment where one could stay shut up in the room without much issue.

‘But we didn’t come here to relax.’

She was not sure whether the word ordinary was really appropriate for a place like this, but in any case, if they had simply planned to participate in the auction normally, it would have been fine to rest comfortably.

However, Hyeonseong’s group was already in a situation where participating in the auction normally had gone completely off the rails. They needed information from several different directions, so they could not afford to sit still in one place.

“Should we head outside for a bit?”

“Outside?”

Haesu looked puzzled at Hyeonseong’s words.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous? Ever since yesterday, it’s looked like they’ve wanted to make a move somehow.”

“If that’s the reason, then honestly it’s about the same whether we stay here or go outside. In a way, staying here without moving might actually be more dangerous.”

“Ah… that’s true, isn’t it?”

Haesu seemed to understand right away what Hyeonseong meant.

“It may actually be better to go outside than to willingly keep ourselves stuck in one spot. There are plenty of other guests outside too. As long as we don’t go into some secluded place, they probably won’t do anything openly.”

“But even if we go outside, there’s not really anything we can do, is there? You said we probably wouldn’t get any useful information even if we asked the people here.”

“Rather than that, what was it… I guess you could call it snooping. Those people from earlier who claimed they came to buy the same item we did, remember? Since we’re going out anyway, we can check what they’re up to.

And aside from them, we also need to get a feel for the atmosphere and situation of the auction house itself.”

If it came down to it, they needed at least to find an escape route from the place. Since they had gained a brief bit of breathing room, they needed to use the chance to understand the structure and atmosphere inside the auction house.

“I think that explanation is enough…. Shall we go?”

Hyeonseong opened the room door.

“Uh, but what about my things you took earlier?”

Following Hyeonseong out, Haesu asked.

“Do you really have to carry that stuff around yourself? If you get caught with it, things will only get even more complicated.”

Hyeonseong grimaced.

“When you put it that way, I can’t exactly argue….”

Even as she said that, Haesu looked at Hyeonseong with eyes full of lingering attachment.

At the sight of Haesu fidgeting with her hands as though she were going through withdrawal, Hyeonseong let out a sigh.

“…Just take out one piece of equipment that’s least likely to be misunderstood and keep that with you.”

In the end, Hyeonseong decided to yield once. She went back into the room and pulled Haesu’s bag out of Infinite Corridor. Haesu took out a folding multipurpose tool, then tossed the bag back into Infinite Corridor.

“This should be okay, right?”

Haesu asked, showing the multipurpose tool. Hyeonseong nodded with a dubious look. It was true that having one tool of that sort in one’s pocket would not be especially strange.

‘Though the fact that it has tools that look good for picking locks, and that it’s an item on top of that, makes me uneasy.’

Still, it was awkward to pick a fight over that fact. The tool’s intended use was a matter of how one argued it, and the fact that it was an item was not much of a problem either since Haesu was also an Awakened.

‘…Well, if something happens, it’s not my responsibility.’

Thinking something that would probably horrify Haesu if she knew—namely, that she would abandon Haesu if it came down to it—Hyeonseong stepped outside the room.

“Where are we going first?”

Once outside, Hyeonyeong asked.

“I was thinking we’d head back to the lobby first.”

To get to any other facility, they had to pass through the lobby. Since it was a thoroughfare no matter where one went, quite a lot of people passed through it.

“I’ll get a rough feel for the atmosphere there first, then decide where we’ll go next.”

When Hyeonseong finished speaking, the three headed toward the lobby.

Just as Hyeonseong had expected, the lobby was crowded even now. There were many people passing through on their way to other facilities, and quite a few new arrivals entering through the main entrance as well.

‘The formal auction is in two days, right?’

The auctions in this auction house were not held every day. Unless there was a special auction, they were normally held every few days at fixed intervals.

‘The idea is probably to make people look around at the major goods while they wait for the auction, and spend money on the attached facilities.’

Hyeonseong’s gaze shifted to the analog facility guide map attached to one side of the wall. On the guide map, she could confirm the existence of an item exhibition hall and all sorts of entertainment facilities.

‘Judging by the listed purpose, that facility looks exactly like a gambling hall no matter how you look at it…. Isn’t it kind of ridiculous for an auction house to run a gambling hall too?’

The intention seemed clear enough: as long as they could bleed money out of visitors one way or another, that was all that mattered.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything more to see here.”

Hyeonyeong spoke in a low voice while observing the people passing through the lobby.

“Mm… looks that way.”

Taking her eyes off the guide map, Hyeonseong quickly scanned the lobby. She could not spot any particularly noteworthy person or any conversation worth overhearing.

‘And it’d be strange to just stand here doing nothing until something like that happens.’

Hyeonseong tilted her head upward toward the ceiling. After looking around a bit, she found a surveillance camera. That one was surely a camera they had intentionally placed where it would be seen, just to make a show of it.

‘If we stay still in one spot too long, they’ll think we’re after something here. This isn’t the time to make ourselves look that way, so let’s move.’

Hyeonseong turned her eyes back to the guide map.

“Then want to check out the exhibition hall?”

Hyeonseong asked Hyeonyeong.

“You never know. There might be something there worth buying for you.”

“If it’s equipment handled in a place like this, I feel like a lot of it would be pretty dubious.”

“With your ability, couldn’t you suppress those dubious side effects to some extent? And if skills or stats aren’t enough, maybe if we show it to our boss, she might have some kind of answer.”

Hyeonju’s alchemical ability was not limited to potion-making.

Because she could exert her ability in every area related to chemical change, depending on the type of item effect, it was possible they could receive direct help from Hyeonju.

“And one way or another, if we want to understand what kind of place this is, we have to go there. Is there any place easier for grasping this place’s character than the place where it shows off what it prides itself on?”

“That’s true too.”

“Then let’s go.”

The three headed to the second floor, where the item exhibition hall was located.