Tap the text to show or hide reading controls.
When Hyeonseong’s group approached the game table, the game had already begun. An employee asked the three of them whether they wanted to reserve a seat for the next game.
‘There’s no telling whether that person will play again or not…….’
Hyeonseong answered that she would just watch for now. Then the employee guided them to the spectator seats.
“I can’t tell what that person is saying……. No, never mind.”
After taking a seat in the spectator area, Hyeonseong took out the headphone item again.
‘There might be something I need to save.’
Hyeonyeong would hear the conversation too, but without any particular skill or item, it would only be saved inside Hyeonyeong’s head.
Since she had an item that could save voice records, there was no reason not to use it. Hyeonseong put the headphones on her head again.
She had checked while coming inside. It was the same as the café. Even inside this gambling hall, there were plenty of people using similar types of items. It was not an action that would stand out now.
While Hyeonseong was doing that, cards had already begun being dealt at the game table.
While the cards were being dealt, no particular conversation passed between them. Minor small talk started only after everyone sitting at the table had placed a bet once.
“By the way, does everyone have any item they’re aiming for? This place is still an auction house in name, after all.”
The customer who had bet last opened his mouth.
“I do. Though I don’t know whether I’ll be able to win the bid.”
“Same here. It’s obvious a lot of people will be aiming for it.”
Another customer joined the chatter.
“People like that came here?”
“What’s wrong with it? We’re just casually enjoying a few rounds.”
“People who say that are usually the first to ruin their entire household.”
Perhaps the words he said sounded funny to him, the customer who mentioned ruining one’s household chuckled.
“What about you, young man over there? Is there no auction item you’re aiming for?”
“Right. You’re the only one being quiet.”
Soon, the customers’ gazes focused on the customer who had interfered in the preemption of the thread. That customer looked around for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“There is. It isn’t an especially famous item, but…….”
“Really? Then winning the bid should be easy.”
“I thought so too, but it seems there are a few other people besides me aiming for it. Unexpectedly.”
“What kind of item is it for that to happen?”
“I don’t know whether you’ll know even if I tell you. It’s an item called the ‘Thread Soaked in Sacred Blood’…….”
‘……Look at this bastard?’
At the sight of him openly mentioning the item’s name, Hyeonseong’s eyebrow rose. That was clearly a trick to focus attention on the item.
“Ah, that. I did see it on the auction item list.”
“I’ve heard of that object in passing before. It’s S-rank, but I don’t know what kind of item it is……. I think that was how it went.”
“Even now, probably no one knows exactly what kind of item it is. I searched it up, but no particular information came out.”
“You never know. It wouldn’t be the first or second time this place quietly blocked information until putting something up for auction.”
“It might really be that there’s no revealed information. It’s not as if this place only brings in and sells flashy things, right?”
“That’s true too. During every break, they bring out ordinary items or gambling-type items with no information…….”
“Then which side would that item called the thread be on? An unexpectedly valuable item? Or a gambling item no one can tell anything about until they investigate it?”
“The fact that there are more people aiming for it than expected means…….”
Sure enough, the conversation flowed in the direction of guessing the true identity of the ‘Thread Soaked in Sacred Blood.’ It was a situation Hyeonseong did not want very much.
“So, what kind of people are aiming for that one? With the others, the people aiming for them and the reasons are all obvious…….”
“I don’t know well either. I only know that there seem to be more people aiming for it besides me.”
“Well, it would be a strange situation to ask the reason. They’re strangers, and even competitors at that.”
“Are there several competitors? You said earlier that there were a few more people.”
While the betting repeated, the conversation continued without pause.
“Yes. Two people……. To be precise, I suppose I should say two teams.”
“Even just two teams is quite a lot…….”
“Wait, you said there were several people, but you’re speaking quite definitively and saying two teams?”
One customer pressed him with a puzzled expression.
“Ah, the truth is, I tried to use preemption rights. But at the same timing, those two people came to use preemption rights as well. Even if I was unlucky, I was too unlucky.”
The customer who had interfered in the thread preemption shrugged.
‘That bastard, acting like that when he’s a spy who took money and came to break the game…….’
It was when Hyeonseong was glaring at him with displeased eyes.
A message appeared before Hyeonseong’s eyes. It was in the form of a private message sent by a Constellation.
‘So it really was a Constellation after all. But…….’
Hyeonseong’s eyes turned back toward the customer sitting at the game table. The timing was not very good.
‘……Still, I should at least send a reply first.’
It was a rare chance for conversation. Since the customers’ conversation was also being saved in the headphones, she decided to send a reply to the Constellation first.
Hyeonseong asked ‘Lotus That Gazes Down Upon the Six Paths’ why they had requested a conversation.
“Overlaps like that are usually rare, so how did it happen…….”
“Exactly. Even if I was unlucky, I was too unlucky.”
“If it overlaps like that, aren’t you supposed to settle it among yourselves?”
“But that process called settlement is pretty annoying, isn’t it? If it were me, I’d set some rough settlement conditions first and quietly…….”
This time, the reply arrived quickly. It seemed this Constellation also wanted to carry out the conversation in real time.
“If it were up to me, I’d like to do that too. But I’m alone, and those people have companions.”
“Ah, unless you can crush them with rank, it’s hard to overcome a difference in numbers.”
“So, what are the settlement conditions?”
“Do you know the identities of the other people who came to use preemption rights?”
“I don’t know their identities well either. If they came all the way here to buy an S-rank item, they probably aren’t ordinary people, but……. Settlement conditions, huh. That’s a little troublesome…….”
“They set all kinds of unusual conditions.”
“That’s an extremely annoying condition……. Why don’t you just clean them up even now? Even alone, if you aim to defeat them individually with a surprise attack, it should be worth trying.”
“Come on, we should at least wait until the information is updated. Even if you deal with them when dealing with them, you should extract information on what kind of item it is first and then deal with them…….”
‘Those bastards, seriously.’
While listening to the conversation, Hyeonseong looked at the customers at the game table with a dead-serious gaze.
‘Right, what was I expecting from the character of bastards who play in places like this?’
“All of that sounds like useful talk. For now, I intend to investigate the information too, but if it seems truly difficult, I’ll keep it in mind.”
‘Keep it in mind, my ass.’
Hyeonseong quietly raised her middle finger in her heart.
“Right, please do keep it in mind. That way, I think we’ll get to see something fun.”
“But, you know. I understand that if preemption overlaps, people roughly make settlement conditions and settle it.
But what happens if they can’t settle by the auction time…… or if they end up in a situation where they physically cannot settle?”
One customer suddenly threw out a question.
“If they physically can’t…….”
“Why even ask that? Obviously, it means a situation where everyone disappears to the other world or somewhere else due to an unfortunate accident.”
“Oh…… now that I think about it, I never considered that kind of situation. What really happens in that case?”
“Wouldn’t they just put it up as an ordinary auction item? I don’t know about a situation where they’re alive but can’t settle, but if they’re all dead, there’s nothing more to examine, is there?”
“Ah, true. I asked something too obvious.”
“Damn it……!”
While checking the message from the Constellation, a voice that was gradually becoming familiar suddenly flew into Hyeonseong’s ears.
‘You again?’
At the voice shouted by the A-rank Awakened from whom she had obtained information about the entrance ticket, Hyeonseong narrowed her brows.
“You should be careful too. Honestly, I don’t think the people over there wouldn’t think of what we talked about like this.”
“Honestly, if they’re people who would come this far, their character and way of thinking are obvious, aren’t they?”
“Damn it, isn’t this a scam? How can a combination that’s hard to come out even once…….”
The shouting of the A-rank Awakened cut into the customers’ conversation.
‘Is he today’s person in charge of ruining his household?’
Hyeonseong clicked her tongue inwardly. If this was what game tables in a place like this looked like, there was no need to see more.
‘They probably let him win a suitable few rounds, and then stripped him clean from then on. It’s a typical method used on customers marked as suckers.’
It seemed the one marked as a sucker in this gambling hall today was that A-rank Awakened.
‘……But wasn’t there talk that this place doesn’t only rip off money and items?’
“Ah, dear. I lost.”
“Wow, you bet like that with that hand? Your guts are really…….”
While Hyeonseong had briefly been distracted by the A-rank Awakened, the game at the game table ended.
When the round ended, an employee approached Hyeonseong’s group in the spectator seats and asked whether they would participate in the game.
‘Over there…… he’s just leaving.’
The customer who had interfered in the preemption of the thread rose from his seat and left for another place. If so, Hyeonseong’s group had no need to insist on this table either.
They answered the employee that they would look for another table and left their seats. Hyeonseong’s group quietly followed behind the customer who had left.
“Customer, if you keep doing this here, it will be difficult.”
“Then I’m doing this to make it difficult…….”
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.”
“Ahem…….”
Meanwhile, the A-rank Awakened was speaking with a gambling hall employee. It seemed an employee had stepped in because of the commotion he had caused while shouting.
“Unni, doesn’t this feel a little uneasy?”
Hyeonyeong suddenly asked.
“Huh? Even you say things like that. Does it feel like a dungeon is about to open somewhere?”
“No, not that. That person.”
Hyeonyeong’s gaze headed toward the direction where the A-rank Awakened was making loud noises.
“……Well, even if something happens, it’s that person’s responsibility. He’s the one who gambled without coming to his senses.”
“That’s really cold.”
“Honestly, that person also isn’t what we should be paying attention to right now.
……But if you’re going so far as to say you feel uneasy, there must be something too uncomfortable to just ignore.”
A child like Hyeonyeong would not say such a thing for no reason. Hyeonseong decided to hear a little more.
“Yeah. The employee talking to that person seems like he’s trying to pull some strange trick.”
“Trick? Are you saying it seems like he might kill that person if things go wrong?”
“No. I don’t think it goes that far. And you heard it earlier in the banquet hall, didn’t you? What they do in the gambling hall.”
At those words, Hyeonseong recalled the back-alley rumors about the gambling hall again. She had thought it disgusting that they laughed while saying such sinister things, but now she suddenly found herself about to confirm whether those rumors were actually true.
“……Don’t tell me that employee is going to drag that person away and sell him off…….”
“Thank you for your understanding. Then please follow me this way.”
“Hah…… So if you’d acted like this from the start, it would’ve been fine, right?”
In the meantime, perhaps their conversation had ended, the A-rank Awakened followed behind the employee and headed somewhere.
“……What are you planning to do?”
Hyeonseong asked Hyeonyeong in a reluctant voice. If the rumors the banquet hall guests had been chattering about were true, that Awakened was now in a very dangerous situation.
“Realistically, we can’t follow that person and help him. We don’t know where they’re taking him or what they’ll do, and if all that talk is true, we’ll be in danger too. And to begin with, we have a separate purpose for coming here.”
“I didn’t think that far either. I meant that if we keep staying here, that kind of situation might happen to us too, so we should be careful.”
“That’s a colder conclusion than I expected.”
“It can’t be helped. Like you said, Unni, we have a separate purpose for coming here. And the Constellation said so. He said we shouldn’t recklessly break the walls in this building.”
“Huh? ‘Master of Ten Thousand Swords’ said that?”
The only one Hyeonyeong called Constellation was her sponsor, ‘Master of Ten Thousand Swords.’
“To be precise, he said there are walls that can be broken and walls that would cause serious trouble if broken…….”
“……What is this, shoddy construction or something?”
That was about the limit of what immediately came to Hyeonseong’s mind.
“Anyway, the point is that it’s a burdensome situation to rampage recklessly, right? If what ‘Master of Ten Thousand Swords’ said is true.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what he meant.”
After hearing Hyeonyeong’s answer, Hyeonseong looked in the direction where the A-rank Awakened had disappeared.
The aftertaste felt extremely unpleasant, but for now, there was nothing she could do.
“……Let’s just keep doing what we were doing for now.”
Hyeonseong’s group changed direction. Then they moved their steps in the direction the customer who had interfered in the preemption of the thread had headed.
Reading Settings
