#119: Heukwol Auction House (19) — The Constellation Hunting Life of an S-Class Porter

[You have obtained an item.]

At the messages that kept continuing, Hyeonseong yawned deeply.

‘Honestly, they’re all pouring things in without getting tired of it. Well, I’m grateful, though.’

All kinds of skill cards poured into Infinite Corridor, which she had opened in line with the door’s position. Many cards were destroyed because of the force rushing in, but most skill cards that guaranteed firepower above a certain level were safe.

“Why won’t this break through!”

“Damn it, move that bomb away! What are you going to do if it bounces back……!”

“How’s the wall coming along?”

“Damn it, why don’t you come and hit it yourself!”

Beyond the temporary wall, it was complete chaos. The words and actions of the auction house gang gathered beyond the wall quickly grew rough.

‘I guess they must be losing their minds. They went through the trouble of opening the door, but they can’t get in, and the wall is so sturdy it won’t even get scratched.’

Even an S-rank wall could probably be pushed through with quantity if there were many A-rank attack skills or pieces of equipment. But judging from the atmosphere, there seemed to be few people with such skills or equipment.

‘Are they stingy with manpower, stingy with equipment, or were they so rushed they didn’t even have time to bring tools……?’

Hyeonseong judged that the latter was more likely than the former. Even if the auction house administrator’s tendency was the former, right now, this was a situation where they needed to drag this side out by any means necessary.

‘This kind of breathing room will probably only last for a short while.’

“I thought so earlier too, but…… that really is amazing.”

Haesu muttered while looking toward the direction where Infinite Corridor was opened.

“Can you really keep that open like that continuously? Without any restrictions?”

“Yes. As long as I don’t die.”

“Then until Hyeonyeong comes back, you can keep…….”

“That’s not it. They just have to break the wall and come in.”

“But even breaking that wall isn’t easy. That wall itself was an S-rank item.”

“They aren’t fools either, so they probably prepared a means to dismantle the wall just in case. Once that arrives, we’re finished too.”

“Eek, then what do we do?”

At Hyeonseong’s words, Haesu asked in surprise.

“So, Haesu, please open all the monster cages we left unopened. The rest of you, take the potions and each guard one cage door that Haesu opens.”

“Y-you mean we should open the doors if things get desperate, right? So they bite those people.”

One of the Awakened asked.

“Yes, that’s right.”

After hearing Hyeonseong’s answer, Haesu and the Awakened nodded and moved to find the locked cages.

‘I wonder if Hyeonyeong is doing well.’

Since Hyeonyeong had asked her to tell her where the antidote might be, Hyeonseong had told her to search for the president’s office first. There had been no other contact after that.

‘Well, she’ll take care of herself.’

If it was Hyeonyeong, she had more than enough military force, and the Constellation who served as her sponsor was also unusually reliable. Even if some problems arose, she would surely resolve them and return.

‘The problem is whether we can hold out until Hyeonyeong returns.’

Hyeonseong thought while glaring at the open door beyond Infinite Corridor.

While Hyeonseong’s group opened the monster cages, the bastards seemed to have checked on equipment capable of dismantling the wall. Someone presumed to be an auction house employee shouted that an item would come down soon.

“Let’s stop wasting strength now and rest!”

“As long as we can tear down the wall, those bastards trapped inside are nothing…….”

The enemies beyond the wall loudly chattered all sorts of things. Since every word they spoke was full of swagger, it seemed they were hoping this side would get scared.

“But what are they even doing in there?”

“If only we could see inside.”

A few people seemed to want to look inside the temporary wall and loitered around the door. But they would not be able to see inside.

‘Because when I opened that, I made it so the inside looked pitch-black from that side.’

Anyone could tell she had used a skill, but it could not be helped. She could not already show them the sight of all the people who had been trapped behind the iron bars being released.

‘There’s a big difference in shock between expecting that possibility and actually seeing what happened with your own eyes.’

[“Eye Beneath the Surface” says that this side’s riffraff have no spirit and are acting boring, so there is no fun.]

[“Coordinator Behind the Curtain” says that if it is that boring, maybe they should also send those people one useful item…….]

Meanwhile, the Constellations did not seem to like this situation, where both sides had entered a half-resting state with one wall between them.

[“Black Hand Pulling the Puppet Strings” gets angry, pointing a finger and saying that the black thing was the problem from the very beginning.]

[“Eye of the Heavens” says they had disliked that absurd subspace since before.]

[“Hands Faster Than Eyes” clicks their tongue, saying that skill had problems in the compatibility test from the beginning.]

Several Constellations criticized Hyeonseong’s skill. As a bonus, there was also the swindler Constellation subtly blending into that group.

‘So what? I already received a suitable judgment ages ago.’

Hyeonseong passed over the message about the compatibility test and whatnot with indifferent eyes.

That compatibility test was something she had received several times before. And each time, the Interstellar Network had sent back the answer that there were no problems with Hyeonseong’s skill or Hyeonseong’s qualification to possess the skill.

[The Interstellar Network announces. The suitability judgment for “Skill: Infinite Corridor” possessed by the user “Ye Hyeonseong (Administrator of Infinite Corridor),” which was inquired about by an anonymous informant, has already been completed.]

[The Interstellar Network guarantees that there are no abnormalities whatsoever with “Skill: Infinite Corridor,” and that the user “Ye Hyeonseong (Administrator of Infinite Corridor)” is qualified to use “Skill: Infinite Corridor.”]

Just then, this time as well, an alert message giving the same answer appeared. It seemed one of the Constellations who had been cursing her skill had already reported it to the network.

‘Same as always this time too.’

[“Hands Faster Than Eyes” points at the judgment message, telling them to look at that absurd result.]

[“Eye of the Heavens” agrees with “Hands Faster Than Eyes,” saying it truly is an absurd result.]

[“Space-Time Designer in His Room” carefully examines the “Skill: Infinite Corridor” you have deployed once again.]

“I opened them all.”

While she was checking the Constellations’ messages, Haesu approached and spoke.

“Ah, thank you for your work.”

“Did you get some message?”

“There are always a lot of messages. What about you, Haesu?”

“Me? I…… uh, have some. There’s talk cursing at you, Hyeonseong, and…….”

“……You don’t have to tell me about that.”

Hyeonseong’s expression immediately became reluctant.

“But are those people really going to keep doing that until the item to tear down the wall arrives?”

Haesu then cast her gaze beyond the door.

“They’ll probably keep loafing around there like that until a variable occurs. It’s much more advantageous for them to save their strength until the item arrives.”

“That’s true, I guess……. Anything else? News about Ye Hyeonyeong, or…… that Constellation who told you the item information…….”

Haesu continued asking.

“There’s been no news from Hyeonyeong since her question, and as for the Constellation…….”

Hyeonseong checked her personal messages. Thanks to sending replies whenever she had breathing room while looting the warehouse, she had gathered all the information about Hwasen’s relics.

“……Already?”

“Well…… it was awkward to chat out loud, so I was just quietly exchanging messages for now.”

“Mm…… It really has been a bit of an awkward situation to talk about other things, the whole time.”

Haesu seemed to understand quickly.

“Then what should we be doing now?”

“We wait. Whether that side breaks through and comes in, or the situation changes in another direction…….”

[“Eye Beneath the Surface” bursts into loud laughter at the interesting situation that just occurred.]

At that moment, a sudden, out-of-nowhere message flew in.

‘Interesting situation?’

Hyeonseong furrowed her brow and began guessing the meaning contained in that message.

‘First, it’s likely not this side. If something had happened, they wouldn’t be sitting still and quiet like that.

Then that means they deliberately broadcast into my ears something that happened somewhere other than here.’

Hyeonseong soon realized what sort of thing would be worth broadcasting like that.

‘……Something happened on Hyeonyeong’s side. Which direction is it?’

[“Black Hand Pulling the Puppet Strings” gapes at the swordsman’s ignorant and barbaric behavior.]

[“Coordinator Behind the Curtain” fumes that that swordsman bastard destroyed all the precious things.]

[“Wanderer of the Quantum Sea” claps and enjoys it, asking if that swordsman does not know the essence of hacking very well.]

[“Information Broker of B-1st Street” says not to call that kind of barbaric act hacking…….]

Just as she was thinking of sending Hyeonyeong a messenger message, Constellation messages kept flying in. The moment she checked those messages, Hyeonseong could guess what had happened.

‘Looks like she smashed the main computer the administrators here use or something.’

In any case, it did not seem to be a situation where Hyeonyeong was in danger. If so, she was relieved.

“What does this mean? I know the swordsman is Ye Hyeonyeong.”

“It doesn’t seem to be anything serious, so don’t worry.”

Hyeonseong answered Haesu’s question lightly.

‘I don’t need to worry about Hyeonyeong’s side. What I need to worry about now is how to respond when that side starts moving.’

Hyeonseong began thinking one by one about the situation where the wall was removed and the corresponding response methods.

There were more than one or two patterns for how the wall could be breached, and there were also several possible attack patterns that could follow after the wall was breached. For Hyeonseong, it was a situation that naturally made her head complicated.

‘Still, I need to think of everything I can. Even after wringing out every idea like that, unexpected things can happen in this kind of board…….’

It was while Hyeonseong continued thinking like that.

A noisy sound came from beyond the wall.

‘It’s here.’

The things the enemies said were only shouts like “It’s finally here?” or “At last.” But that alone was enough to understand the situation.

The item capable of tearing down the temporary wall had arrived.

“Haesu, get ready.”

Hyeonseong warned Haesu. Haesu nodded.

Kwaaaang—

Soon, a heavy sound rang out from the wall. From where Hyeonseong stood, she could not see the item’s appearance, but judging from the sound, it seemed they were using an item in the form of a hammer or ram.

‘Single-use? Multi-use? If it’s the latter, even if there’s only one of those, it could get pretty troublesome.’

The sound only came from one direction. So there was a high chance the item they had brought was only one.

The problem was if that thing was an item that could be used multiple times. If the item remained intact, it could be reused as a weapon as much as they wanted.

‘I can’t be sure until they break the wall and charge in.’

Hyeonseong glanced at Infinite Corridor blocking the door.

If the item that broke the wall did not disappear, the timing for closing and opening Infinite Corridor again would become extremely important.

‘Even just deflecting it would be a success. If I can eat it, that’d be even better.’

Hyeonseong opened the item information for the temporary wall. Then she could confirm that its durability value was dropping rapidly.

Seeing that the amount of durability lost grew larger with each hit, it was only a matter of time before the wall collapsed.

She calculated the expected number of strikes until a hole was opened in the wall and took one deep breath. Not long after she steadied her breathing like that—

Crack—

She heard the sound of something splitting. The wall had truly reached its limit.

‘The next one will end it.’

Once that thought was finished, she heard the voices of the enemies trying to break the wall once again.

And the moment the enemies swung the item toward the wall, Hyeonseong withdrew Infinite Corridor that had been blocking the door.

Kwaaaang—

With a loud sound, the wall collapsed. Beyond the collapsed wall, a heavy battering ram flew toward the inside of the wall.

At that timing, Hyeonseong opened Infinite Corridor in front of her. The battering ram touched Infinite Corridor’s entrance.

[You have obtained an item.]

‘It worked!’

It would have been good enough if it only bounced away, but she had even swallowed it completely. It seemed to be an item with unclear ownership.

‘With this, I’ve obtained a weapon I can use if things come down to it.’