Heukwol Auction House (18)

“Huh? What are you going to do, unnie?”

At Hyeonseong’s words, Hyeonyeong asked in a puzzled voice.

“I think we’ll have to hold out here for now. Go out alone and find the antidote.”

“Got it.”

Without asking anything more about Hyeonseong’s instructions, Hyeonyeong drove the monster horde out through the temporary wall’s entrance.

“We’ll wait here.”

Hyeonseong stopped right in front of the entrance.

“Uh, why?”

Haesu asked.

“There’s no better position than here if we’re going to stop the enemies who’ll come flooding in soon.”

As soon as Hyeonyeong left, Hyeonseong checked the doorknob. Fortunately, from inside here, it could be opened immediately without needing to unlock it separately.

“Do you really think they’ll come flooding in soon?”

“Judging from how they’re talking, there’s a high chance. And it’s also the perfect situation to create an entertaining scene. Hyeonyeong just went out while dragging a swarm of monsters with her.”

Hyeonseong answered while locking the door.

“W-will we be able to hold out just by locking it like that? If they break down the door or walls, that’ll be the end of it.”

One of the Awakened who had been imprisoned asked in a worried voice.

“Check its information. This thing is an item, despite how it looks.”

At Hyeonseong’s words, the Awakened checked the information of the temporary wall and the lock. And soon, they let out low exclamations.

“It’s amazing.”

“It bothers me a little that this is an item meant to keep people from escaping, though…….”

A few people looked at the wall with uneasy eyes.

“Thanks to that, it’s good to use as a defensive wall.”

“But even if we lock the door, won’t it be useless if the staff here chase us? Those people should have proper keys, right?”

This time, Haesu asked.

“That part is simple. But to do that, we need to take out all the equipment we’ll use before then…….”

Hyeonseong checked the condition of the Awakened who had been imprisoned.

Fortunately, none of them were seriously injured. They also had no other status abnormalities aside from the special poisoning. However, perhaps due to the aftereffects of being imprisoned while their stats were reduced, they still looked lacking in vitality.

‘My weapons, skill cards, potions…….’

Hyeonseong threw one stamina potion to each of the Awakened. Then she took out the pickaxe she would use, skill cards, spare potions, and the like.

‘And what else is worth preparing…….’

Hyeonseong’s gaze turned toward the inside of the warehouse. She remembered the few small-to-medium monsters she had not managed to release.

‘There should be pheromone potions matching those species too.’

Just in case, Hyeonseong took out plenty of pheromone potions as well.

“What are you going to use those for now……?”

“We’re not going to use them on ourselves. It would be best if we could get through this without using them, but……. For now, everyone take three or four each.”

As she answered Haesu, Hyeonseong also distributed the pheromone potions to the people.

“Then let’s try holding out.”

As Hyeonseong looked at the new Constellation message that flew in, she opened Infinite Corridor widely in line with the entrance.

A Constellation message appeared before Hyeonyeong’s eyes.

“Did the door open?”

At the answer that returned, Hyeonyeong nodded. It seemed that the Constellation called “Eye Beneath the Surface” had ultimately decided to make the board more complicated.

Hyeonyeong glanced at the monster horde she had made go ahead. She was driving them by applying a wide-area intimidation debuff, but with this method, she could not increase their advance speed any further.

‘I’ll have to change methods.’

Hyeonyeong kicked the ground and launched herself high into the air. Hyeonyeong’s body landed in front of the monster horde in an instant.

After changing positions, Hyeonyeong released the debuff skill. And immediately after that, she sprinted toward the entrance. Behind her, the monster horde recognized Hyeonyeong as an enemy and chased after her at full speed.

Their movement speed was clearly faster than before. Hyeonyeong felt relieved and increased her running speed.

Baaang—

“Find them!”

“Those crazy bastards took everything!”

“Find them no matter what it takes!”

It was when she had come close enough that the door would have been visible soon if not for the shelves. Hyeonyeong heard a loud noise. It seemed the auction house side had opened the door and entered.

Hyeonyeong placed her hand on the sword hilt and calculated the timing.

‘Still too far. They need to get a little closer…….’

“There she is!”

“Catch……!”

“Uh……? What’s that behind her…….”

Before long, the enemy also spotted Hyeonyeong. At last, the opportunity had come.

Hyeonyeong immediately drew her sword and activated an EX-rank iai-type skill.

A white radiance flashed along the path of the sword Hyeonyeong swung. The explosive sound of objects shattering from the sword energy burst out one beat late.

“Guh……!”

“Aaagh……!”

Screams burst from the mouths of the enemies relatively toward the rear. The enemies in front died without even having time to scream.

A sponsorship she had not particularly expected came in. From Hyeonyeong’s perspective, she was not particularly grateful for it.

After all, it was that Constellation who had created this situation. In the end, it was like giving the disease and then giving the medicine.

“Ugh, damn it…….”

“That’s impossible…….”

When the front line was swept away in the blink of an eye, the momentum of the enemies pushing into the warehouse instantly broke.

Both the people who had barely avoided death and the people who had narrowly escaped the skill’s range stopped in place. Anxious gazes focused on the tip of Hyeonyeong’s sword.

“Wait, that sword…….”

“Don’t tell me…… Ye Hyeonyeong?”

Several people who recognized Hyeonyeong’s weapon gasped. Even those who had been unsure at first became certain of Hyeonyeong’s identity after hearing the name that several people stated with certainty.

‘I don’t need this anymore.’

Hyeonyeong took off the mask she had been wearing until now and threw it away. There was no meaning in wearing it anymore.

“What’s an S-rank like you doing in a place like this?”

“Hey, you! If rumors spread that you visit places like this, it’ll only be bad for you. You know that?”

“We’ll file a complaint about this with your guild…….”

The people who had realized Hyeonyeong’s identity shouted at random. Half of them seemed to not even know what they were saying.

“Um…… even if you complain to Ten Thousand Swords, I’m the final decision-maker anyway. Even if you file a complaint, I don’t think you’ll get much fun out of it.”

Hyeonyeong decided to correct the easiest parts first, one by one.

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Die!”

The answer that came back was all kinds of ranged attacks.

‘I was just telling them something helpful, so I don’t know why they’re getting angry.’

Thinking that Hyeonseong would have clapped and called it an incredible taunt if she had heard it, Hyeonyeong leaped high. Attacks swept past beneath Hyeonyeong’s feet.

Some of the attacks that missed like that struck the large monsters that had been chasing Hyeonyeong. However, no one seemed to pay attention to that fact. All of the enemies’ gazes were directed at Hyeonyeong, who had just leaped.

“Shoot! If she’s floating like that, she won’t be able to dodge!”

Several people who had been watching for an opportunity from the rear aimed skills at Hyeonyeong. Since it was a situation she had experienced often enough, Hyeonyeong was not particularly flustered.

Using the momentum from her leap, Hyeonyeong swung her sword. The aura skill pierced through the enemy attacks and slammed into the ground.

“Gah……!”

Several enemies directly hit by the skill collapsed while spraying blood. Hyeonyeong landed in the space created by those fallen enemies.

“Damn it!”

“Move!”

As soon as Hyeonyeong stepped on the ground again, the people fell into confusion. Some tried to attack before Hyeonyeong could correct her stance, while others tried to widen the distance and flee in the meantime.

Because the two completely opposite groups moved however they wanted, the scene became a complete mess.

“Uwaaagh!”

“Aaagh!”

The enemies Hyeonyeong had passed screamed. The monster horde that had been chasing Hyeonyeong changed the target of their attacks to the other people nearby.

The monsters attacking the auction house staff and guests in that way looked even more ferocious than before.

“Hurry up and calm them down! You people are the administrators here!”

“We’re not administrators, just staff…….”

“Damn it, who was the bastard who shot those iron arrows earlier? After getting hit by those…….”

With even the monster horde joining the board, the area around the warehouse entrance became even more chaotic. Hyeonyeong judged that now was the time to push through.

‘The monsters should take care of the rear.’

Hyeonyeong swung her sword at the enemies blocking the entrance. A swordsmanship skill activated according to the form Hyeonyeong performed.

The enemies who had tried to avoid Hyeonyeong’s sword somehow were all injured by her sword and retreated.

In that way, Hyeonyeong succeeded in getting out of the warehouse. Of course, just because she came out into the corridor did not mean it was over. There were still many enemies in the corridor as well.

It seemed they were still inciting not only the staff, but even the guests who had visited the auction house, using products or privileges as bait to make them catch this side.

‘If people attack me, I just need to counterattack. The problem is finding the antidote for those people.’

While using several types of swordsmanship skills, Hyeonyeong thought it over. She could guess a few places where the antidote might be. The problem was narrowing them down to the most likely choice.

‘Hyeonseong unni is much better than me at this kind of thing.’

She thought she should have asked if Hyeonseong had any place in mind before leaving.

‘Should I ask now?’

She swung her sword with one hand and took her mobile phone out of her pocket with the other.

She was still out of service range, so she could not send text messages or make phone calls. However, she had connected to the internet line used by the auction house. If it was a messenger program, she could use it.

[Where do you think the antidote is?]

She quickly typed and sent a message with one hand. The reply arrived around the time Hyeonyeong had crossed half the corridor.

[Right now, there’s a high chance the auction house’s general manager has it. Look for a place like the president’s office.]

After checking Hyeonseong’s message, Hyeonyeong immediately recalled the guide map attached to the lobby.

‘There wasn’t a president’s office or office written separately there.’

Even when they had first arrived here and presented the preemptive right, the staff had personally guided them to the office.

Seeing that they had done that even for a place that it would have been fine to announce so people could find it on their own, it seemed those bastards were quite reluctant to let ordinary guests freely access the office area.

‘If they want to keep ordinary people from approaching carelessly, the easiest and fastest way is to isolate the space. It would also be good to hide the door that lets people enter that space somewhere.’

Hyeonyeong thought about places where they might hide a door.

‘A teleportation magic form? That’s the one that isn’t restricted by space, but…….’

However, unless teleportation magic was used while hidden in an isolated space, it would inevitably stand out. If a person suddenly disappeared before someone’s eyes, anyone would suspect that spatial movement magic was hidden there.

‘……Should I just think about it simply?’

Thinking about it, there was no need to use an unnecessarily complicated and secretive method in their own hideout.

They could simply build the business area and office area separately from the time they first designed the building. Would that not be far more convenient and cost less to maintain?

‘If so, the simplest thing is, as expected…….’

Hyeonyeong’s gaze turned straight ahead. It was the corridor stretching straight in the opposite direction from the warehouse.

‘For guests to enter here, staff had to open the door. And…… considering the number of people who were chasing us earlier too.’

She recalled the group of auction house staff who had been chasing them until they hid in the warehouse. For that many people to gather on the basement floor without catching the guests’ eyes, there had to be another passage besides the stairs connected to the lobby.

‘If an unnecessarily large number of staff keeps going in and out of the basement, it could look unpleasant or strange to the guests. For all of them to gather naturally, they would need another passage, but there wasn’t anything like that in the warehouse direction.’

Kwaaaang—

While sweeping away the enemy that appeared in front of her once again, Hyeonyeong sprinted at full speed.

She ignored the attacks of the enemies chasing from behind and attacked the enemies trying to block her path from the front, shaking them off. Advancing like that, she reached the end of the corridor before she knew it.

‘Found it.’

Sure enough, at the end of the corridor, there was a stairwell and an elevator, just as Hyeonyeong had guessed. Both only allowed one to go upward.

‘I can ride the elevator right now too, but.’

Just as she was about to think it over, her sponsor sent a message.

At a glance, it seemed like a reckless choice. However, “Master of Ten Thousand Swords” was not a Constellation who said things for no reason. There was no way they would recommend the elevator pointlessly.

Hyeonyeong nodded once and immediately boarded the elevator.