Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 68
Auction House (3)
There was a shadow.
Something black within it.
It stretched long, following the moonlight in the night sky, and limped as it moved.
The one whose groin seemed to hurt was named Il-yeong.
No, Sim-yeong.
He was ‘the shadow of the Fifth Elder’ who had lost everything with his two brothers in the Garden of Efnell, one of the three major untaken dungeons in South Korea, a few weeks ago.
“…Ha, Baek Seung-woo.”
Was.
Clearly past tense.
Now, Sim-yeong was neither a subordinate of the Fifth Elder nor an unofficial assassin of Nine Tails. He was a loser who had lost all his comrades, his purpose, and had gone to the brink of death.
“I will… I will definitely get revenge…”
He lost his dreams, his hope.
And that was because of Baek Seung-woo, whom he had always looked down upon as being foolish and incompetent.
‘So, I will pay you back in the same way,’ he thought.
“If I can’t be the shadow of Nine Tails, I will become the shadow of the Seven Stars, chasing after you and biding my time!”
A quiet valley with no one around.
This valley, where the cries of wild animals and the fluttering of insects’ wings could not be heard, was within the vast territory of the Seven Stars.
Among the students, it was known as one of the Seven Mysteries of the Seven Stars.
Right there.
—Rustle, rustle.
The sound of bushes moving.
A normal person would have thought it was the wind or a small animal and gone on their way, but perhaps because his groin felt empty [referring to his lost purpose and status].
For some reason, Sim-yeong felt a chill and frantically searched through the bushes.
Having lost his place to go, he planned to stay at the bottom of this valley for the time being.
Until he could stab Baek Seung-woo in the back.
His life would continue here for the time being.
For a comfortable life, Sim-yeong decided to kill all the wild animals that were noisily wandering around and crying.
—Rustle, rustle.
‘Look at that,’ he thought.
Even now, it was moving around and making noise.
He hated these subtle sounds so much.
Having lived his whole life as an assassin, his hearing, trained to perfection, was far superior to that of an ordinary person. It was a habit for him to hear even the smallest sounds without missing them, so wild animals were a nuisance to him.
Sim-yeong created a dagger from the shadows.
—Thwack!
The moment he stabbed the wild animal hiding in the bushes.
“Huh?”
The sensation of piercing flesh was… squishy?
He felt something was wrong, but it was already too late.
Something jumped out of the bushes.
‘It’ stood up with the dagger stuck in it.
Blocking the moonlight above its head, large enough to cover the night sky.
Before Sim-yeong, overwhelmed by its enormous size, could take any action.
It made a sound like fingernails scratching a chalkboard.
“No. Bad. Words. Al. lowed.”
A grotesque sound as if forcibly imitating a human voice.
He thought he had to run away, but it was already too late.
Sim-yeong’s body was sinking into the deep shadows.
When ‘it’ that had blocked the moonlight disappeared, even the trace of a person being in the valley vanished.
“Bad. Chil. dren. Must. Be. Pun. ished.”
However, only an unpleasant voice echoed faintly and hollowly in the valley.
* * *
It is common for auctions to overheat.
After all, auctions are often about extravagant spending.
However, this item was different. The price, which was skyrocketing, showed no signs of stopping, heading towards 15 billion, 20 billion, 30 billion, 35 billion… an amount that most ordinary people could not afford even if they poured in their entire lives.
“Number 52, 49.2 billion won!”
“Number 82, 49.7 billion won!”
“Haha, you can’t even raise it by 10 billion, but your mouth is still alive… Number 3, 62 billion won. No, 72 billion won!”
“Th, this is crazy…!”
The auction was intensifying to the point where customers were getting up from their seats and shouting directly, without going through the manager.
“Number 66, 72.1 billion won.”
“These wicked things…! Do you even know why I came all the way down to this narrow basement…!”
“Number 18, 72.2 billion won.”
“Listen when I speak, you damn things…!!”
However, even that gradually subsided after surpassing the huge sum of 70 billion won.
No matter how rich you are, there is a limit to the amount of money you can spend at once.
It’s just that the limit is so large that it usually doesn’t stand out.
“Tch, seven hundred…! 74 billion to number 3…!!”
“Number 18, 74.1 billion won.”
“Number 66, 74.2 billion won.”
“These guys…! If you’re going to raise it, raise it big…!! Why are you raising it by 100 million little by little! Number 3, 80 billion…!!”
The fire that had been set to the auction did not go out and continued to burn.
From the second half, I couldn’t keep up either, so I gave up.
‘Sorry, Black Card,’ I thought.
Originally, I should have responded to the card with trust.
I’m starting to feel uneasy about your balance.
“By the way, who is that Number 3 grandpa that he’s spending so much money?”
“Don’t you know, Teaching Assistant? He’s the head of the Choi family.”
“Choi family? I’ve never heard of that name before.”
“Teacher, do you know Choi Jin-cheol from the first year?”
“Ah, that promising student? I haven’t seen him separately, but I’ve heard of him.”
Choi Jin-cheol, ranked 4th in the first-year entrance exam.
He was Extra 1 that I had never heard of from Eve [referring to the game creator].
If I were to be generous, I could treat him as a minor role like ‘Academy Extra A who is good at studying’.
In the end, he’s an extra.
Moreover, he’s an extra among extras that Eve, the creator of the world, has never mentioned to me.
Anyway, is he the head of the Choi family (崔家) [Choi family in Hanja, a system of writing Chinese characters in Korean] where he was born and raised?
I wonder if it’s just a so-so nouveau riche family.
Personally, I wasn’t very impressed.
Rather, when I found out that he was the grandfather of Extra 1, I saw a glimmer of hope. Maybe I have more money than the grandfather of an extra.
That’s the hope.
“Where should I check my balance?”
I tapped the phone in my back pocket.
I immediately used the app to check the account in the Black Card.
‘I’m counting on you,’ I thought.
[Doji Bank – ‘Baek Seung-woo’s Account]
─Balance: 257.55 billion 50.089 million won.
I nodded after checking the balance.
‘Well, with this much…’
‘…It’s not overflowing, but,’ I thought.
Excluding the 100 billion already used here, there is enough balance to at least launch a counterattack.
I immediately raised my hand. The eyes of Number 66 and Number 3 widened at my intention to re-bid, which I hadn’t done for several minutes.
“Number 18, 100 billion won.”
Their eyes instantly became as large as saucers.
They couldn’t believe the amount that came out of my mouth.
“Money! Bring more money…! I need more than 100 billion…!”
“Ch, Chairman, we don’t have enough funds to operate anymore.”
“Then bring the company funds…! Bring the money earned from selling dust…!”
“If you handle hundreds of millions of company money arbitrarily, the higher-ups might notice. Moreover, if the news that the money went into an illegal auction house without paying a penny of tax reaches their ears, the family will be over that day!”
“Keugh…….”
The veins on the forehead of the old man Number 3 bulged at the words of the secretary in a suit.
The old man Number 3 was very angry, but his expression was gradually becoming calm. There was no way to secure the money.
The old man glared at me, who had put forward 100 billion won as a bullet.
The murderous intent gleaming in his eyes was particularly sticky and viscous.
‘Seriously, a person who is very old has a strong obsession,’ I thought.
‘Anyway, the Sesshoseki [killing stone] will be mine.’
There is nothing more to consider.
Number 3 only glared at me and could not express his intention to bid further. Number 66 was in the same situation.
Whether the bullets they brought were less than 100 billion won, all they did was glare at me.
─O, one, one hundred, one hundred billion won! It’s an amount that far exceeds the highest auction price ever! It seems difficult for a higher amount to come out than this. Ten seconds have passed, so if there is no one who wants to bid even after three calls, we will award the bid to VIP number 18.
The manager, whose eyes were wide with shock at the amount, which was similar to the total price of all the items auctioned today, proceeded with the auction while calming down as much as possible.
─Number 18, 100 billion won.
I turned my head and looked at Number 66.
Whether they didn’t have more money than now, they were completely giving up.
Unexpected.
As much as a person who would commit theft in the Seven Stars, I thought they would steal if things went wrong. There wasn’t even a sign of that.
─Number 18, 100 billion won.
This time, I raised my head and met the gaze of the old man Number 3, who was looking down at other people from the highest seat.
He was making phone calls, trying to scrape together money somehow.
It was already too late to gather dust and create a mountain of 100 billion won.
─Number 18, 100 billion won. Since there were no additional bidders even during the three calls, VIP number 18 has won the highlight of this auction, ‘Sesshoseki’! Congratulations!
In the end, I became the winner of the auction.
I spent a huge sum of 200 billion won in all the auctions, but I have no regrets. Rather, I felt proud of the fact that I had obtained such items at a cheap price.
─Well, this is the end of this auction. Ah, customer number 18. You have purchased so many items, and especially purchased the item with the highest amount in the history of our auction house, so we will invite you to the stage.
‘Did they have such an event if you spent a lot of money?’ I wondered.
I had no reason to refuse, so I readily accepted.
“Before that, can I check the Sesshoseki?”
─Ah, yes, of course. I will escort you to my seat.
As soon as the manager finished speaking, four escorts surrounded me as if protecting me. At the same time, everyone’s eyes turned to me.
All four escorts were weaker than me, but for some reason, I felt thrilled to be escorted. ‘Yeah, it’s not for nothing that rich people waste money,’ I thought.
The gazes of people looking at me.
Jealousy, envy, and astonishment were united and directed at me.
I had received such gazes countless times in my life, but it wasn’t just my imagination that it felt new.
Realizing that this was the vision of the rich, I immediately stood on the central stage. I couldn’t get close to the Sesshoseki for fear of damaging the value of the product.
I just took a look around and scanned the Sesshoseki.
‘Well, it’s undoubtedly genuine,’ I thought.
“Customer number 18, do you have any preferred method of receiving the item?”
“Can you give me an example?”
“Ah, our auction house is operating illegally, so there are no separate ledgers to avoid being caught for trading. So most of the customers take it directly from the spot. Of course, sometimes the size of the product is too large, so we often move it by delivery.”
“Hmm…….”
There was no good way.
I had bought so many auction items, and even the 「Sesshoseki」 was a huge Gumiho statue.
It was impossible for me to carry it.
Then the remaining means is delivery.
My whereabouts were a problem for receiving the item by delivery.
First of all, the Cheonho Baekga’s mansion is not entirely my territory, and if I deliver it there, I will surely be deprived of it all under the pretext of all kinds of fault-finding.
Also, there was no suitable place to store the Sesshoseki if I delivered it to the dormitory. Should I just use Gu Yaza’s workshop as the address and receive the delivery?
Anyway, most of them were materials to ask that person to make equipment.
If there are any remaining castings, would it work if I said I would give them for free?
While my head was getting complicated, something ominous caught my eye.
There were teratological [abnormal or monstrous] characters engraved on the corner of the Sesshoseki.
“Rune of Explosion?”
Rune, an ancient magical language.
Depending on the interpretation and the origin of each word, it has a wide variety of abilities. The ancient mystery that has not yet been properly deciphered was written on the Sesshoseki.
Most people don’t even know it’s a rune, let alone read it, but I knew it well.
The interpretation of the runes written in various magical books I read in the library.
What was drawn on the Sesshoseki was a grenade-level explosion among the various rune characters.
‘Why is that drawn on the stone?’ I wondered.
I didn’t have such an obvious thought for long.
Cheeeeeek!
A sound like grilling meat on a griddle.
I, who had handled various firearms on the battlefield, knew immediately.
It’s not the sound of grilling meat.
It’s the sound of lighting a fuse.
The source of the sound is the rune engraved on the Sesshoseki itself.
‘Damn it,’ I thought.
“Everyone, duck!!”
Everyone flinched at the sound that filled the auction house, but only for a moment.
As if the sound of ducking was meaningless, the explosion occurred immediately.
Puh-uh-uh-uh-uh──!!!
The underground auction house shook greatly from the huge explosion.
But nothing collapsed.
If there was anything special, it was just that a group with horns on their heads appeared.
The shock was weak for an explosion of an item worth 100 billion won.