Heukwol Auction House (9)

The Awakened who introduced himself as Unwol described himself as a lucky refugee.

Unwol was a refugee because he had lost his world. And Unwol was lucky because he had succeeded in escaping from that lost world into another one.

Ordinarily, Unwol too should have died when his world perished. A normal Awakened could not possibly have the power to cross between worlds.

But at the time his world met its end, a dungeon entrance appeared before Unwol.

Since he thought it would all be the same no matter how he died, Unwol jumped into the dungeon, and that turned out to be a stroke of luck for him. That was because the dungeon was connected to another world.

‘The people who jumped into the dungeon with Unwol at that time were moved to the same world, while people who entered different dungeons were transported to other worlds….’

It was quite an interesting story right from the opening.

Even if one entered a dungeon connected to another world, ordinarily one could not actually travel to that world. Even after clearing the dungeon, one would only return to the world one originally lived in. Cases of dungeons through which one could truly cross into another world were rare.

‘So is he saying that one of those rare dungeons appeared at the exact moment the world was perishing? Or that it wasn’t even that kind of passage dungeon, but after clearing it, they were expelled into the otherworld side?’

Unfortunately, that kind of detailed information could not be found in the message. Regretfully, Hyeonseong continued reading the message.

The temple described in Hyeonseong’s group’s post was a temple that had existed in Unwol’s home world. He also said that the incident Hyeonseong had guessed in connection with that temple had really happened in that world.

‘And that was one of the incidents that took place right around the time the omens of destruction were spreading.’

She could not tell whether she ought to be pleased or not that the vague guess she had formed had turned out to be correct.

‘Still, at least I confirmed the name of the place of origin.’

According to Unwol, the name of his home country was Hwasen. It was not the name of the entire world, but combined with the incident Unwol had confirmed as real, it was enough information to identify a single world.

Unwol also told them information about the holy relic kept in the temple.

Each great temple in Hwasen kept one holy relic. The true nature of that relic was a component separated from the spear that had stabbed a fallen god.

Among them, ‘Thread Soaked in Sacred Blood,’ which had flowed to Earth, was the decorative tassel attached to the spear. According to Unwol’s explanation, the white substance covering the threads was the blood of a god.

‘So that’s why the attribute felt somewhat ambiguous. Once it fell, the attribute tilted toward demonic, but a god is still a god, so some sacred attribute must have remained.’

In Hyeonseong’s mind, the information Unwol had provided was now fully organized.

“What do you think?”

When Hyeonseong finished reading the message to the end, Hyeonyeong asked.

“It looks highly likely to be the right answer. We only asked about the world, after all. We didn’t mention a single line about the skein. And yet….”

“Mm, right. The description of the appearance definitely matches the item we saw. And if this story is true, it also explains why the attribute felt like that.”

Hyeonyeong pointed to the explanation about the skein.

“But… even if the odds are high that it’s the right answer, we’re still not at the stage where we can be sure, right?”

Hyeonseong looked at Hyeonyeong.

“Right. We’ve only got information from one person. It’d be nice if we could cross-check it.”

“True enough. What about you, Ms. Haesu?”

Hyeonseong turned to Haesu. Meeting her gaze, Haesu shook her head.

“Just a bit of meaningless chatter.”

“Looks like you’re in about the same boat as me.”

Hyeonseong glanced at her own Network screen. The newly added comments were not very nourishing either.

“Then let’s write up another question post and scatter it again. This time using the information this person called Unwol gave us. If this is real, then at least one more Awakened or Constellation from that place should react.”

At Hyeonseong’s words, a third question post was written right there. This time it was a question that included the country name Hwasen, which Unwol had mentioned.

‘I really wish they’d just piss off.’

Hyeonseong was certain that several of the worthless comments were the work of those damned Constellations.

‘More importantly, this time there wasn’t any separate censorship, was there?’

While writing the post, a new question arose in Hyeonseong’s mind.

When they obtained similar kinds of information while clearing dungeons, the information would sometimes start getting censored by the system midway through. But this time, there were no hidden portions anywhere.

‘We were clearly exchanging information within the Network, and yet it wasn’t censored. Then that means this information wasn’t something that needed to be censored…. What’s the difference?’

Come to think of it, there was a difference.

The censored information had been related to the direct cause and incident that brought an entire world to extinction.

But the information Unwol had sent did not feel like that. It only gave the impression of being one among many passing incidents that took place during that time.

‘If there’s a difference, it’s probably there. …Assuming I’m not mistaken.’

“I’ve posted it.”

“So have I.”

Haesu and Hyeonyeong reported to Hyeonseong. Hyeonseong also quickly finished her own post and pressed the upload button. Then she pushed the Network screen back into the corner again.

“But how much do you think the others have investigated?”

Haesu asked again.

“Good question. If we meet those people again, we should be able to get a rough idea….”

It was something Hyeonseong too was inwardly concerned about.

‘Unless they’re just trying to stall for time and snatch it away, they must be looking for information on their side too. If they can update the item information, that’s a gain for them one way or another.’

Hyeonseong’s gaze briefly shifted to the Network screen she had pushed aside.

Finding the world presumed to be the source of the item had not been that difficult. It seemed like something anyone could obtain with just a bit of legwork.

‘The information was blank only because nobody had the time or thought to look into it that way. If you really set your mind to digging, getting this far is easy. So if they really started investigating too, there’s a high probability they’ve made it this far as well.’

But if they wanted to learn the other side’s movements, they had no idea where they were right now. Even Nemesis was reluctant to dig into the lines here, so it was difficult to find them using surveillance cameras too.

‘If they’re employed by the auction house, whether as staff or day laborers or whatever, then they probably wouldn’t go wandering around crowded places for no reason. If they did, they could end up carelessly dropping some clue.’

“Should we try going somewhere with lots of people?”

Hyeonyeong asked.

“Somewhere with lots of people? Where?”

Hyeonseong turned her eyes to the guide map. There were several places that fit.

“There’s a banquet hall or a café, and from what I heard, the gambling hall also has a lot of people.”

“Hmm, then the café first? That seems the safest.”

With Hyeonseong’s words, their next destination was decided. The group headed toward one of the corridors connected to the lobby.

After passing through the short corridor, they arrived at the café. The fairly spacious café had nearly all of its seats filled with customers. Inside, Hyeonseong’s group barely managed to find a place where all three of them could sit.

“If we’re going to sit in the café, I guess we have to order drinks, right?”

“We’re not even going to drink them anyway.”

“That’s true, but in places like this, if you don’t order something, they’ll immediately start giving you looks.”

Answering Haesu, Hyeonseong pointed to a panel standing beside the counter. Written on it were notices like one drink permitted two hours of use, and all members of a party must purchase a drink.

“They’re even stricter here. It says they link it to the pass we got at the entrance and measure the time exactly.”

“Mmm… then I guess there’s no help for it.”

Replying like that, Haesu stole a glance at Hyeonseong.

“…You don’t have to look at me like that. I’ll pay.”

Hyeonseong hated wasting money too, but she had to take responsibility for unexpectedly bringing Haesu along. Hyeonseong paid for Haesu’s drink as well.

“Let’s stay here for exactly two hours.”

Hyeonseong said as she sat down.

“We’ll stay here until the time’s up, then check out the banquet hall, and the gambling hall after the dinner hour. Sound good?”

She set the schedule so they would visit each place at the time it was likely to have the most people. Both Hyeonyeong and Haesu agreed.

“So here then… is this that thing? You know, the one that comes up a lot in dramas….”

Haesu asked in a low voice. Hyeonseong did not know exactly what she meant, but somehow she understood what kind of thing she was trying to say.

“…I don’t know about dramas, but if you mean collecting conversations, then yes.”

Hyeonseong pulled a set of headphone-shaped equipment out of Infinite Corridor. It was a B-rank equipment item that could amplify and store sounds within a fixed radius.

Its effective range was narrow, so it could not collect the sounds of the entire café. But for areas outside the item’s range, they could just ask Hyeonyeong to handle it.

“Ms. Haesu, you have a hearing-related skill too, right?”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yes. If you have traits good for stealing, you’d usually have at least one sound-related skill too.”

“….”

Haesu looked at Hyeonseong with a dumbfounded stare.

“I do have one, but why does that somehow feel bad to hear?”

“As long as you have one, that’s enough. Ah, and it can be used here too, right?”

“Ah, well… it has a condition.”

Haesu replied in a troubled voice.

“A condition?”

“It’s a skill that lets me hear sounds beyond a wall.”

It was a skill specialized, to an absurd degree, for burglarizing empty houses.

“…So that means we need something like a wall, then.”

Hyeonseong turned her eyes toward the wall.

In this café, the wall by the seats where Hyeonseong’s group was sitting had been decorated as a bookshelf. Seeing another customer in a wall-side seat pulling out a book from the shelves, it seemed the books were not fake props.

After quickly scanning the bookshelf, Hyeonseong found an old magazine with a large format. She pulled the magazine out and handed it to Haesu.

“Try checking whether this satisfies the wall condition.”

Haesu stared blankly at the magazine she received. She looked as though she had no idea what Hyeonseong meant.

“You know how there were kids in school who’d prop open a book and sleep behind it?”

“Ah, you mean do it like that?”

Whether her school-age memories were still intact or she at least had some plausible indirect experience, Haesu understood Hyeonseong’s explanation easily. Haesu opened the magazine, stood it upright on the table like a wall, and leaned down behind it.

“Mmm, it’s not activating.”

“Then what about if I do this?”

Hyeonseong placed a large-format book on top of the upright magazine.

“Oh, it works.”

Haesu answered in a surprised voice. Judging by that, it seemed that the activation condition for Haesu’s skill depended not only on physical spatial structure but also, to some degree, on the user’s own perception.

‘Then I should start too.’

Hyeonseong put on the headphones she had just taken out.

If she used an item of this level, the auction house would probably not try to make an issue of it. Even in this café right now, there were several people using similar kinds of items.

She turned on the headphones’ function and began collecting conversations.

‘Most of what I’m hearing sounds like meaningless conversation….’

Most of the conversations were ordinary everyday talk one could hear anywhere, or discussions about the items that would go up in the regular auction.

Among those, the most useful things she could pick up were bits of information about items that had not been displayed in the exhibition hall.

‘One captured monster from a dungeon, and one more human…. The more I hear, the filthier this gets, seriously.’

Capturing dungeon monsters and bringing them out was an extremely difficult task.

The basic condition for clearing a dungeon was the extermination of monsters. That meant that in order to drag monsters out of a dungeon and bring them to Earth, the dungeon had to recognize the captured monsters as dead.

Skills and items capable of deceiving a monster’s life reaction were, naturally, rare. And the kinds of monsters that could be brought out that way were limited.

‘Big ones are out, the ones that are too strong and savage are out, so in the end what’s left are things of moderate size, moderately strong, and shaped in ways that would suit the tastes of the humans likely to come to a place like this….’

Hyeonseong shook her head. She also found herself wondering what exactly people’s obsession with showing off was, and whether smuggling otherworldly lifeforms out of dungeons by trickery could really be safe for Earth’s environment.

‘There still hasn’t been any accident yet like a closed dungeon reopening because of a monster that got loose…. Hm?’

A strangely familiar voice reached Hyeonseong’s ears as she collected conversations. She could not immediately remember who it was, but it was definitely a voice she had heard before.

‘It’s not someone I’ve met many times. But if it stuck in my memory, then it means it’s someone I met recently….’

Soon, Hyeonseong realized who the owner of the voice was.