Heukwol Auction House (14)

The employee mumbled something and protested. But once he was caught in Hyeonyeong’s hand, there was no other way for him to resist.

If he had been another S-rank physical-combat-type Awakened, there might have been a way, but there was no face like the employee’s on the list of Korean S-rank Awakened that Hyeonseong had memorized.

“I’ll let you live as long as you open the door.”

Hyeonseong brought the scythe closer to the employee’s neck. It was close enough that even a slight mistake could leave a cut on his neck.

But the employee did not seem to intend to open the door. Rather, the employee pushed his neck closer toward the scythe.

“……!”

When his neck was slightly cut by the blade, the employee flinched in surprise and pulled back. His reaction was as if he had never imagined his neck would truly be cut.

‘Is this guy at least a B-rank or higher ability user? Or does he have a Vajra-Body-type skill or item?’

Whatever it was, it was clear he had skin that could block half-hearted attacks. If Hyeonseong’s scythe had been ordinary, it would have been a tactic that might have worked well enough.

“What a shame. This thing is more impressive than it looks.”

Unfortunately for the employee, Hyeonseong’s scythe was A-rank.

It was an item whose blade had been reinforced with a special alloy spat out by the S-rank Bulgasari.

“There they are!”

“Those are the people, right?”

In the meantime, the auction house’s broadcast ended. As soon as the broadcast ended, the guests in the lobby all focused on Hyeonseong’s group at once.

She had not heard the descriptions of their appearances being explained in words, so they had probably scattered images in hologram form. If they had seen the images, there would be no room for mistake.

“What will you do? If it comes down to it, I’ll just…….”

Though the situation had become urgent, Hyeonseong still spoke to the employee while pretending to be as calm as possible.

Perhaps that act worked, because the employee opened the basement door with a resigned hand motion. As soon as the door opened, Hyeonseong withdrew the scythe.

“They’re running away!”

“Catch them!”

Hyeonyeong hugged the employee’s body and jumped into the basement floor first. Right after that, Hyeonseong and Haesu also entered through the door. Before going down underground, Hyeonseong locked the door again.

— Bang, bang, bang.

— Damn it, open this!

— Hey! Call an employee over here!

The noisy sound of the door being pounded and the guests’ shouts came from beyond the door.

“That won’t hold for long.”

“You’re stating the obvious…….”

Haesu replied to Hyeonseong’s mutter in a reluctant voice.

“Why exactly did you come this way? This is a perfect place to get trapped if one wrong thing happens.”

Haesu pressed her in a somewhat angry voice.

“If it were an ordinary basement floor with nothing special, that would be true. But this isn’t an ordinary basement, is it?”

“If it’s not ordinary…… well, I don’t think that’s wrong, but…….”

“If there’s a gap to dig into, it feels like it would be here.”

Answering that way, Hyeonseong stepped into the basement hallway. Hyeonyeong, who had entered first, was waiting while holding the employee who had opened the door.

“……! ……!”

Because Hyeonyeong was still covering his mouth, the only thing the employee could let out was a silent scream.

“But this person is…… ah, you brought him along in case he has to open a door right away.”

Haesu, who had been about to ask reflexively, soon found the answer.

“Where?”

Hyeonyeong asked Hyeonseong.

“That way.”

Hyeonseong pointed to one nearby door. It was the office they had stopped by as soon as they had come to the auction house yesterday.

As soon as they changed direction toward the office, Hyeonyeong threw the employee she was holding at the office door.

— Thud.

“Keuk!”

“Ugh!”

The employee who came bursting out as soon as the office door opened collided with the employee Hyeonyeong had thrown. Since both of them hit their heads squarely, they could not come to their senses quickly.

“Hyeonyeong, grab him.”

Hyeonseong pointed at the familiar-faced office employee. Hyeonyeong grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

— Kwaaang!

— Got it!

— Catch them!

— Who’s cutting in line! Move!

In the meantime, it seemed the basement door had already opened. Loud noise echoed from the stairwell.

“There they are!”

“Catch them!”

“How long has it been since anyone came down here without permission?”

A crowd of people also came running from the opposite direction of the hallway where the item warehouse was located. Judging by what they were saying, they seemed to be the gang in charge of physical work inside the auction house.

“Let’s hurry too.”

Hyeonseong said to her group. The three quickly ran in the direction of the warehouse while dragging the office employee.

“Catch them!”

“What are those guys over there doing?”

“I called them, and they got annoyed while saying they understood…….”

“These bastards are getting sloppy…….”

“There they are!”

“What are those people?”

The auction house’s gangsters and the guests mixed together. Because of the people who had gathered to chase Hyeonseong’s group, the generously wide hallway became crowded in an instant.

“Does it make sense for them to just chase us like this because there’s a bounty? When we threatened the employee, no one cared.”

Haesu shouted in an incredulous voice.

“To bastards who enjoy this place, it makes sense. And among the guests, there were probably shills released by that side too.”

A situation like this was not difficult to create if they only inserted a few noisy and action-oriented people.

‘Threatening employees probably isn’t that rare here either. Even if some commotion broke out, they probably thought the auction house would handle it.’

“Unni, move aside.”

Hyeonyeong, who had been running ahead, stopped and turned around. Hyeonyeong stepped in front of Hyeonseong and Haesu and faced the group of pursuers chasing after them.

Hyeonyeong drew the sword she wore at her waist. It was the one she had borrowed from the underground arena in the Free Market the day before yesterday and had brought along without returning.

“Does she plan to fight alone?”

“What arrogant nonsense…….”

“Is that all right? What do you mean, all right…….”

The chasing group mocked Hyeonyeong, who had drawn her sword alone. Seeing that, Hyeonseong mourned their stupidity.

‘I’ll leave that side to her…….’

Hyeonseong turned her body back toward the warehouse. This side was not exactly in a good situation either.

“Those are the ones, right? The ones we have to catch.”

“They said it doesn’t matter if we kill them.”

“How long has it been since I warmed up like this…….”

There was also a group of gangsters waiting in this direction. Thinking about it, it was only natural. There was a warehouse storing important auction items, so it would have been stranger if there were no people guarding it.

“What are we supposed to do about those ones now?”

Haesu shouted with a troubled face.

“We stop them. Well…… though stopping them is all I can do.”

Hyeonseong loosened up while cracking her neck left and right.

‘If the width and height are both around this much…….’

The gangsters each prepared their weapons and skills and charged. Long-range combat Awakened fired skills from far away.

“D-do something quickly! Anything! Aaagh!”

Frightened by their momentum, Haesu let out a strange scream and hit Hyeonseong’s shoulder.

“Ugh, I get it, so be quiet!”

At the sound that felt like it might burst her eardrums, Hyeonseong grimaced. While covering the ear Haesu had screamed into with her palm, she opened Infinite Corridor ahead of them at its maximum width.

— Kwaaaaaang!

At the same time, a tremendous sound came from behind her back. Hyeonseong’s gaze slipped backward.

Then she saw Hyeonyeong raising her sword high, and the hallway scenery where the ceiling had collapsed.

— Thud.

— Crash!

“Ugh!”

“What, where did my javelin go?”

In the meantime, there was also a reaction from the Infinite Corridor Hyeonseong had spread out.

Awakened who had charged in without knowing anything collided with the entrance and were bounced away. Because they had been running with all their strength, the sounds of them being bounced back and falling were quite something.

Ranged attacks were thrown into Infinite Corridor without exception and became Hyeonseong’s items. Messages announcing the acquisition of items like bullets and skill cards appeared in a row.

‘There isn’t anyone using a skill in a form I can’t eat.’

— Kwaaaaaang!

An explosion rang out once more from behind her. Hyeonseong looked back again.

This time, Hyeonyeong was aiming her sword at the floor. The hallway floor right in front of Hyeonyeong was greatly overturned and surged upward.

It seemed she had blocked the hallway this time by destroying the floor.

“Aaaagh!”

“This crazy……!”

“How can two sword strikes do……!”

Noisy voices came from beyond the debris that sealed the passage. Judging by it, among those people, no one had recognized Hyeonyeong’s identity so far.

‘Well, her face is covered, her clothes are a common casual style, and the sword she’s holding looks like a mass-produced object. With that much, she could look like a young swordswoman you’d find anywhere.’

When the auction house designated Hyeonseong’s group as bounty criminals, it did not reveal any of their actual personal information.

It was unclear whether that was because exposing guests’ information in that way would harm the auction house’s operation in the long term, or simply because Hyeonseong’s group had appeared somewhere they could immediately confirm their appearances.

In any case, what mattered was that, thanks to them not openly exposing names, Awakened ranks, and such until now, the effect was like an unexpected surprise attack.

‘Though that seems to be over now.’

Hyeonseong examined the enemies visible beyond Infinite Corridor.

The bastards who had looked down on Hyeonseong and Haesu and charged in were now glaring at the two with extremely wary eyes.

No matter how she looked at it, they seemed to have realized the identity of the skill blocking the passage.

‘Tsk, this damn skill. The problem is that it stands out too much.’

“W-what do we do now? Doesn’t this mean the path is blocked both in front and behind?”

Haesu looked around front and back in anxiety.

“It’s all right. I’ll clear that side right now.”

Hyeonyeong said as she approached the two.

“Unni, remove that.”

Hyeonyeong aimed the now-aged sword at the enemies beyond Infinite Corridor. Seeing white radiance gather around the sword, Hyeonseong immediately closed the entrance of Infinite Corridor.

— Kwaaang—

At the same time Hyeonyeong swung the sword down, a sharp white aura shot out. A large aura slash swept over the enemies ahead.

“Aaagh!”

“Keuheok……!”

Screams came from beyond the radiance. And when the radiance disappeared, only the fallen enemies could be seen in front of Hyeonseong’s group.

“Uh, uh…….”

The office employee, whose nape was caught in one of Hyeonyeong’s hands, looked at the scene with disbelieving eyes.

“Let’s go.”

Hyeonyeong dragged the employee toward the warehouse first. Hyeonseong and Haesu immediately followed behind.

As soon as they stepped forward, the three ran toward the warehouse.

“How can a person do that with one sword strike…….”

Haesu muttered in a stunned voice.

“That’s because her ability is what it is.”

Hyeonseong answered while ignoring the sounds of the blocked passage being opened behind them.

“Are all swordsmen at that rank like that?”

“Not all of them. Once it’s around S-rank, the stat gaps are quite large even within the same rank.”

An Awakened’s comprehensive rank reflected their basic stats and skill levels. Among these, the easy-to-understand standard was the average value of their stat numbers.

Except for exceptions among exceptions like Hyeonseong, the minimum average stat value for S-rank was normally 700. The upper limit was known to be 999.

“Unlike other ranks, S-rank can have a gap of nearly 300 between the lowest and the highest. So even within it, there are people who can do things like that, like her, and people who can’t do that much.”

“There are also people stronger than that person?”

“That’s right.”

“Then Ye Hyeonseong-ssi is, even among the lowest…….”

“Shut it.”

Hyeonseong spread Infinite Corridor behind her back.

— Thud.

“Ak!”

“Aaaagh!”

“Don’t push!”

When the path was suddenly blocked, the people chasing them blindly screamed. Because of the people who had been rushing after them without knowing the situation ahead, they ended up trapped between the front and back.

“……Still, that skill at least seems insanely good.”

Haesu glanced back. She looked at the pursuers, who looked as if they were performing a strange mime in midair, with odd eyes.

“I think so too.”

Hyeonseong had no choice but to agree with those words.

Somehow, it felt as if she was using it as a shield more often, but it was still a skill that faithfully performed its roles as a warehouse and skill-card maker too.

“That was it, right? Yesterday’s warehouse.”

When a large warehouse door came into sight, Hyeonyeong asked.

“Yeah, it was.”

“Then…….”

At Hyeonseong’s answer, Hyeonyeong’s gaze turned toward the employee.

“Ugh…….”

The employee desperately shook his head. His face had turned deathly pale.

Whether it was because he had been dragged by the nape, or because he understood the meaning in Hyeonyeong’s gaze, Hyeonseong did not care.

“Even if you do that, you’ll end up opening it anyway.”

Hyeonseong muttered and clicked her tongue.

In the meantime, the group arrived in front of the warehouse door.

“This looks similar to what we saw the day before yesterday, right?”

Hyeonyeong asked while examining the warehouse door lock.

“Probably. The spot where you put your fingertip is the same too.”

Hyeonseong pointed to the small panel attached to the door lock.

“Then…….”

Hyeonyeong pulled the employee’s hand toward the door lock. He tried to pull his hand away, but he could not overcome Hyeonyeong’s strength.

‘You must have had so much fun yesterday. An S-rank was quietly doing exactly what you told her to do.’

The employee’s fingertip touched the panel. With a short electronic sound, the lock was released. But the warehouse door did not open immediately.

“It says the first lock has been released.”

“Really? Then that means something more has to be done for the second lock.”

Hyeonseong glared at the employee. But he endured with his face deathly pale. Even at Hyeonyeong’s demand to open the door, he only desperately shook his head.

‘Looks like he’s more afraid of the aftermath than a crisis where he might die.’

Hyeonseong’s head unconsciously turned toward the ceiling.

And at that moment, a new Constellation message appeared before Hyeonseong.