Chapter 1716 – 1716. The Black Market Merchant
[The game is terminated.]
“Heh heh. You’ve gotten even tighter, Joo Seo-hyun.”
I just finished a round of sex with Joo Seo-hyun. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it felt like her pussy was tighter than usual.
‘It seems a bit confusing… but it’s a relief that it doesn’t seem dangerous.’
I sit on the sofa and check the calendar. I do this to remember what’s going on in the real world. If I stay in the game world for too long, I tend to forget things or appointments in reality. So, lately, I’ve been trying to write down my schedule on the calendar.
‘Writing a diary is too much of a hassle. Just jotting down my schedule is easy enough.’
Today’s schedule was to meet a black market merchant.
It’s not like I’m meeting him to buy something in particular. It’s more like networking. If you trade with them often and become a regular, you can get all sorts of information, and the black market merchant will contact you first when they have something special.
‘I don’t have anything else to do, so should I go?’
But first, there’s something I need to prepare.
I need to use the shapeshifting mask to change my face. There’s no point in wandering around the black market with my real face. I also use a pseudonym. My pseudonym is Jeokgwang.
* * *
The place I went to wasn’t too far from Seoul. However, it didn’t have the cutting-edge atmosphere of Seoul at all.
Most of the buildings were built before the 2000s, and the alleyways were complex. It’s known among people as a place where many illegal immigrants live. There are indeed many illegal immigrants who have flowed in from overseas. When you see them, it’s hard to tell if you’re in America or Korea, with so many different races.
There are shops lined up in the neighborhood. But there aren’t many people walking around the market. That’s because the shops are so old that they’re practically ruins. And the things they sell are ridiculously expensive. There’s no reason for ordinary people to come to this market.
‘Because it’s not an ordinary market, it’s a black market.’
The things they sell on the surface are all just for show.
I wandered around the black market. I saw other people wandering around like me. They were all hunters.
‘If they’ve found this place, they must be resourceful.’
Not all hunters know about the black market. Among hunters, only a few know about it. In my case, I hacked into one of the hunter-only membership communities to find out about the black market.
The problem was that I went to the black market without an introduction, so it was quite a struggle to start trading.
‘There were so many bastards trying to rip me off.’
Those kinds of bastards aren’t in this black market anymore. I didn’t secretly kill them… I anonymously reported them to the police. If the police didn’t move, I posted the information on the community and made it public. Then the police had no choice but to move.
‘After all that hardship, I met a decent black market merchant.’
I headed to a laundromat in the corner of the market. The sign was so old it was broken, and the door and glass walls were covered in dirty graffiti. Ironically, there was a sign saying “Open” at the entrance of the laundromat.
If you were thinking, you’d realize it was a good idea. No sane person would leave their laundry at this dirty shop.
I opened the door and went inside. The air felt different. I walked past the dirty laundry and rusty washing machines and went further inside.
In a place hidden from the outside, a man was sitting on a one-person sofa.
He had messy hair, a stretched-out tank top, and an unidentifiable tattoo on the right side of his face. He looked at me and scratched his stubble. He was skinny, but his muscles were well-defined.
“Oh, you’re here?”
Park Jung-gu. We’ve been trading for almost two years. There hasn’t been any problem during those two years. Unlike his laid-back appearance, he’s quite resourceful.
Even though I’ve known him for almost two years, I don’t know much about Park Jung-gu. His hacking information is also thorough, so there’s almost no information about him on the internet. It seems like he periodically deletes his information.
“Did you get any interesting items?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have anything that you’d find interesting. You’re probably just looking for some useless adult toys, right? There’s a new drug, though… wanna try it?”
“No, thanks.”
I shook my head.
I’ve tried drugs out of curiosity before. And it wasn’t a good feeling. Because of my Absolute Mind, I don’t hallucinate even when I take drugs, and my mood doesn’t improve much. It just messes up my body.
I’d rather drink beer than do drugs. At least beer tastes good.
“Looks like you didn’t come to buy anything. Show me what you got.”
I put the bag I brought on the desk. I opened the bag and took out the duds I got from the random draws. Among them were items with unique effects.
“This! This is what I wanted!”
Park Jung-gu picked something up and chuckled.
[The Great Medicine
Makes you feel great when taken.
Price: 1 point
※Caution
Addictive if taken too often.]
Park Jung-gu thinks this is a drug I made myself from a special plant I got in a dungeon. He said he analyzed the ingredients separately, but the ingredients themselves are the same as water.
I didn’t bother to explain. Park Jung-gu didn’t ask about the recipe or the ingredients. That was one of the reasons why I’ve been trading with Park Jung-gu for over two years. Park Jung-gu doesn’t bother me.
“There are three. 2,000 each. How’s that?”
Park Jung-gu took out a bag full of cash from the desk drawer.
“It’s gone up again this time. Wasn’t it 1,700 last time?”
“Come on. You still don’t know the value of this drug? You can feel like a god when you take it, and unlike other drugs, there are almost no side effects. It’s spreading among the rich junkies these days. Do you know what those bastards call it? Nectar. Nectar.”
Park Jung-gu chuckled. Maybe it was because of his appearance, but he seemed very vulgar.
“Okay. 2,000.”
“Wow, cool trade! That’s why I like you. I wish all my customers were like you.”
60 million won.
Honestly, I don’t feel much. I’ve already made billions of won, and if you add the assets from other worlds, it’s even more than that. Well, I can’t just use money from other worlds carelessly.
‘But you never know. I might need some quick cash later.’
The more, the better.
That was just for the money.
There were other items that Park Jung-gu was interested in. One of them was a comb.
[The Comb of Peace
Makes your mind peaceful when you comb your hair.
Price: 10 points
※Caution
Not effective when emotions are heightened.]
“This is 100 million.”
“Didn’t you say this kind of comb was trash last time?”
“There’s a crazy mage, and when I used this on that crazy bastard, he became a bit calmer. It’s especially effective for the mentally ill. I’m not going to sell this to anyone else, I’m going to use it as a gift.”
“As a gift?”
“There’s someone I know who’s suffering from mental illness. This comb might help them.”
“Was it that effective? Then 100 million is too cheap.”
“It wasn’t very effective on a really crazy bastard.”
“……Hmm. 100 million is good.”
[Nose Popper
Clears a stuffy nose right away!
Price: 1 point]
“This is 100,000 won. I’m going to use it. It feels great when I use it when my nose is stuffy. It’s like a drug. Like a drug.”
“Okay, 100,000.”
[Heavenly Wet Wipes
Wet wipes made from heavenly clouds. Very soft.
Price: 1 point]
“2 million.”
“Why is this so expensive?”
“I gave it to some customers to try, and they said it was softer than a woman’s skin. Especially when wiping after taking a dump… well, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah. 2 million.”
The trade was over in less than 15 minutes. I made about 200 million won. Honestly, I didn’t think it was a lot of money.
‘In the Vampire Detective world, I make tens or hundreds of billions of won a day.’
It’s the money the company makes, but since the company is mine, that money is also mine.
“Thanks for the cool trade today! I wish all my customers were like you.”
“I heard that before. If you don’t have anything else, I’m leaving.”
“Ah, wait. I found something interesting. Do you know about HB-1?”
Park Jung-gu held up a fancy glass bottle and shook it.
HB-1.
It’s the item that Ha Seung-hee copied using alchemy from the Heavil’s catalyst I gave her. I heard from Ha Seung-hee that she started selling HB-1. She said that I could get at least tens of billions of won, although I haven’t received the settlement yet.
“…How could I not know about it? It’s the new drug from Sejin Group that’s been in the news lately.”
“If you’ve seen the news, you’d know what kind of effect it has, right? This one bottle is worth 3 billion. These days, big guilds are groveling to Sejin Group to get this. But the government is actually managing HB-1.”
“The government?”
“The effect is that it makes plants grow instantly. The downside is that it sucks up too many nutrients from the soil, but that’s not a big deal in dungeons. Thanks to this, we’ve been able to get a lot of rare plants in dungeons. We can get a lot of potion ingredients and special drugs. The Korean and American governments are working together to manage it. Sejin Group is just sucking up the honey that falls from below. There’s even talk of it being designated as a strategic material.”
“…If the government is managing it, shouldn’t Sejin Group be taking a hit?”
“You idiot! Is Sejin Group just a regular company? It’s a huge global corporation! And above all, there’s that monster at the top of Sejin Group! The Korean government, not to mention the American government, is reluctant to turn Sejin Group into an enemy.”
“Oh.”
I didn’t know Sejin Group’s influence was that huge.
“So? Are you telling me to buy HB-1? I’m not interested in that kind of stuff.”
“I told you about the effect of this interesting item. You can make a lot of interesting items with this interesting item.”
Park Jung-gu took something else out of the drawer.
It was about the size of a fist and blue in color. It was spiky like a durian.
“That’s….”
“Vanilla’s mana seed. You know? The seed inside this fruit is Vanilla’s mana seed.”
It’s a medicinal herb. If you eat a mana seed, your mana will increase slightly permanently.
“Let me ask you a favor.”
“I think I know what kind of favor you’re going to ask.”
“Really? That’s good because it saves me time explaining. How about 7 to 3?”
“I get 7? Well, that’s fair.”
“No, you bastard. I get 7! I prepared all the HB-1 and mana seeds!”
“5 to 5. Or go do it with someone else. I’m leaving.”
“Ugh, you bastard. Let’s go with 5 to 5.”
