TNHAS 13

Chapter: 13

VIP

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The passengers getting off the shuttle greeted the long line of guild personnel and passed by.

I also bowed my head to them in thanks.

But then, a problem arose at one particular spot.

[Huh? The barrier’s been broken! It looks like some kind of spell strip…?]

Chae Seonhwa pointed at someone.

[Right over there!]

It was the same high-level Hunter who had warned me earlier.

[Ugh, that guy. I’ve disliked him ever since earlier. And now he’s causing trouble. Making trouble.]

That was when it happened.

Crack─! Crack!

The ground shook.

A bizarre cry rang out, and red mist began seeping up from beneath the ground.

From within the cracked earth.

Something enormous began to rise from the depths of that bottomless abyss.

“Kuoohhhhh!”

Clicking his tongue, Cha Junhyeok yawned as he looked at the monster rising from the ground.

[What is this? What’s with this minnow?]

Slashslashslashslash─!

Draw.

Cha Junhyeok had only said a single word. And yet….

Thud-thud-thud!

Like neatly sliced sashimi, the monster’s body fell piece by piece onto the ground.

It was quite unexpected.

Even after entering the dungeon, Cha Junhyeok had remained in his spirit state.

Unlike in the Tower, he hadn’t become human, so I naturally assumed he wouldn’t be able to use his strength.

But he could actually deal with monsters even inside a dungeon?

[See that, landlord?]

Cha Junhyeok shrugged and sheathed his sword.

Ah, was it because the mana concentration inside the dungeon was so high?

He had said that he felt overflowing with strength earlier. Was this what he meant?

Thinking about the future, this was quite welcome news.

[Are Hunters these days really this undisciplined? Back in my day, something like this would never have been tolerated.]

Cha Junhyeok, who was young enough himself, began criticizing the discipline of modern Hunters while pulling out the classic “back in my day” routine.

[Let’s hurry to the expo.]

“Right.”

Before even more attention gathered, I headed toward the exhibition hall. Since I had already attracted more than enough attention, I thought I should run the random transformation one more time before entering.

[Perfect!]

[Wow, landlord. You really look like someone I’ve seen around the neighborhood at least once.]

This random transformation was another success.

When I showed my admission ticket at the entrance to the exhibition hall, they fastened a paper wristband around my wrist.

“Enjoy your visit.”

The exhibition hall was less crowded than I had expected.

The pathways were spacious as well, and I was slowly passing several booths belonging to major guilds when I heard some voices.

“How long do we have to guard our booth?”

“Aren’t we supposed to stay for the whole day?”

“No way! I have to go to the Tower!”

“Exactly. What’s the point of an expo, anyway? Those Association bastards are useless.”

“What did the guild master say? Are they really staying for an entire month?”

“I heard we’re stuck here for at least a week.”

“Let’s finish it in a week, please!”

The public opinion toward the Association was worse than I had expected.

[Oh! Over there!]

It was a booth where the Association chairman’s secretary was believed to be located.

I briefly stopped and looked at my reflection in a mirror attached to the exhibition wall.

A baseball jacket and sunglasses with a camera attached.

I was also wearing a baseball cap.

And on top of that, I had an utterly ordinary face—the kind that nobody would remember even if they passed right beside me.

Perfect.

Just as I had practiced beforehand, I fiddled with the frame of my sunglasses.

The recording device activated, and the camera attached to the sunglasses began recording everything visible to my eyes.

After making this final check, I walked into the booth.

“Welcome.”

Yesterday, when I told Chae Seonhwa that I was going to sneak in like a spy, she had gotten excited and gone to see Kim Hyunsu. Now, she spoke with absolute certainty.

[The appearance is different, but it’s definitely the same aura!]

Thin, cold-looking eyes.

Like me, he was also disguised to conceal his identity.

But….

‘Why is he dressed as a woman?’

The Association chairman’s secretary in the photograph had been a man, but the Kim Hyunsu standing before me now was a woman wearing a two-piece suit.

Strangely enough, the appearance looked remarkably natural.

“Please take your time looking around.”

Fortunately, he didn’t suspect me.

He naturally asked,

“Master, is there something you’re looking for?”

It was the password.

The exact password Sua had taught me.

<Master, if they ask, “Master, is there something you’re looking for?” you should answer like this!>

“Fusark, Fehu. Yeran. Naudis.”

In order, it meant, ‘Use runes. Wealth and harvest are needed.’

The secretary then opened his mouth.

“Raido.”

It worked.

It meant to board the ride on this journey.

In other words, they were inviting me to their secret exhibition.

Behind the double-sided booth panels, there was a door leading somewhere.

“Master, this way.”

The moment I stepped through, another exhibition space identical to the one we had just been in appeared.

However, more than half of the people who had filled the expo had disappeared.

‘A mirror.’

A mirror space.

A shortcut through the course dungeon created using mana stones.

This dungeon would hand over as much of its territory as you wanted if you fed it mana stones as bait.

Perhaps for that reason, closed-off and secret exhibitions that weren’t open to the general public were occasionally held in course dungeons.

But even so, recreating a space this large within the course dungeon would have been impossible with an ordinary amount of mana stones.

Which meant there was a tremendous amount of illegal mana stones circulating through the underground market.

This place was a crime scene.

At the booths stretching into the distance, mana stones were being traded for cash, jewels, and gold.

The Association chairman’s secretary, who had been guiding us, stopped in front of a booth.

“This way.”

The moment we sat down on the chairs in front of the booth, the transaction began.

“What kind of goods are you looking for?”

“Ten of each grade. I’ve come to make a sample purchase today. If the quality is satisfactory, I’ll come back.”

“I hope you are pleased with them, Master.”

I took a bag filled with cash out of my inventory and exchanged it for mana stones.

The mana stones he handed over were inside unusual pouches. They were rough-looking but sturdy black leather pouches.

“Master, you can place these pouches directly into your inventory. That way, you’ll be able to pass through the inspection area without any problems.”

So that was how it worked.

After purchasing a total of one hundred mana stones, we left.

Just as we had entered through the New Wave booth, we also exited through it.

“May fortune always be with you, Master.”

The Association chairman’s secretary politely bid me farewell.

I returned the same greeting.

“May fortune be with you.”

It was something Kim Hyunsu desperately needed right now.

The illegal mana stone trading operation had been exposed.

I didn’t know what kind of punishment awaited him, but if the stones were really determined to be synthetic mana stones, there was no way this would simply be overlooked.

In any case, my business with the Hunter Management Agency was finished.

Now it was time to head to the course dungeon auction house.

[Aquarium, let’s go!]

[The aquarium? Wow!]

The course dungeon auction house had been located where the aquarium once stood before it became a dungeon.

Chae Seonhwa, who had been happily fluttering along toward the auction house, soon turned pale.

[…Huh?]

[You’re not going to die.]

The problem was that we had to pass through a gigantic aquarium to reach the auction house.

I had brought items related to underwater combat in my inventory, but the aquarium was far larger than I had imagined.

[…There’s a shark.]

[Megalodon.]

[…There’s an octopus the size of a dinosaur, too.]

[It’s a Kraken.]

[I’m not going! I can’t go! I’ll die!!!]

[I told you, you won’t die.]

“…….”

I suspected this item probably existed for situations exactly like this.

[Huh? Landlord, that?]

[Ah! Right! We had that!]

The course dungeon shortcut map.

I took the map out of my inventory and unfolded it.

“Five steps to the right from the first pillar on the right side of the aquarium.”

It was a simple hand-drawn map.

There were drawings of fish and footprints, along with the number 5.

“Thirty steps to the left. At the fork, another seventeen steps to the left.”

A new door appeared.

The arrow on the map was pointing toward it.

[There was a door here?]

Creak─

The door opened by itself even though we were merely standing in front of it.

Warm light and the sound of singing seeped out from inside.

“Suspicious.”

[I think so too.]

[Could it be an extra-dimensional space?]

Just as we were deeply suspicious of the place, someone inside greeted us energetically.

The lively voice contrasted sharply with the person’s emotionless features.

It looked as though someone had dressed a mannequin in a uniform.

“Welcome. Are you perhaps a VIP guest?”

VIP?

Ah, did they mean a VIP of the auction house?

“This is the VIP lounge!”

[There was a VIP lounge in the auction house?]

“Do you have a ticket?”

I took the jewelry auction house VIP admission ticket out of my inventory.

“Really! You really are a VIP! Everyone! Get up! We have a VIP guest! Please come in. You’re our first VIP guest since the lounge opened!”

Before I knew it, the door had been thrown wide open.

Between the bright lights, I could see a bar with a bartender, a salad bar filled with various foods like a buffet, and tables scattered around.

All the employees stood in a line and applauded me.

[This is nice!]

[They’re definitely treating us like VIPs.]

But why was the VIP lounge a shortcut?

“You may rest here for as long as you wish. The lounge exit connects directly to the auction house ticket booth.”

Ah, so that was how it worked.

“You may eat as much of the food in the lounge as you like. It will all be discarded after today anyway.”

[Wow! I was hungry. This worked out perfectly!]

[Landlord, what are we eating?]

There was no need to think about it.

For an entire hour, all the ghosts in my household sampled every dish in the lounge, one plate at a time.

[I’m going to burst.]

[This lounge really takes food seriously.]

“Thank you for visiting. Please come again!”

The place we exited was directly behind the auction house ticket booth.

“Are you here for the jewelry auction? May I see your ticket?”

I handed the jewelry auction VIP admission ticket to the ticket booth employee.

“A VIP ticket!”

“A VIP has arrived?!”

“Where?”

“Who is it?”

The employees who had been sitting and selling auction catalogs all stood up.

“Welcome!”

“Gift! Bring the gift box!”

The moment an employee shouted, a refrigerator-sized box suddenly appeared from somewhere.

“Please continue to show lots of love for the jewelry auction!”

The gift box had jewelry logos and stickers plastered all over it.

Even the packaging had clearly been prepared with great care.

But there was no way I could carry something this large around.

“I’d just like to take the contents inside.”

“Oh, really? In that case, we’ll take the contents out separately for you.”

Five employees gathered around and began dismantling the refrigerator-sized box.

There were five more boxes inside the box.

Typical excessive packaging.

A sophisticated marketing strategy that allowed the giver to make a show of generosity while also impressing the recipient.

“Here you are!”

Fortunately, there wasn’t much inside.

Everything fit into an A3-sized paper bag.

There was one exhibition catalog, along with various buttons and file folders designed with jewelry characters.

There was also a tumbler, and of course, a commemorative towel.

And finally….

A mask?

There was a glittering metal mask inside.

As I picked it up and examined it, an employee spoke proudly.

“Our VIP guests are precious!”

“Does it have a specific purpose?”

“Yes. Please wear it when you’re in danger.”

Danger?

“Ah, and this is a priority bidding pass. You can use all three.”

The employee handed me three yellow jewel-shaped stickers.

“Peel these off and stick them onto the catalog. Put them on top of the items you want. These bidding passes can be used at all events held in course dungeons in the future. As long as you have the catalog for the corresponding event. They can be used starting tomorrow.”

The bidding passes were surprisingly versatile.

It seemed best to keep them in my inventory so I could take them out whenever I needed them.

“Also, we provide VIP guests with a special catalog.”

A special catalog?

“If you place your VIP admission ticket on top of the catalog like this….”

A 3D holographic image appeared over the ordinary booklet.

“The special catalog is more user-friendly.”

The employee rapidly flipped through the catalog, and the auction items shown on each page appeared and disappeared as holograms.

“You can examine the auction items up close like this. It also provides much more detailed information than the regular catalog. Also….”

The employee opened the very last page of the catalog and ran his hand over the blank endpaper.

[Huh? I can see letters!]

Then, as if by magic, letters began appearing on the page.

“You can also find out the information about surprise auction items in advance.”

<Today’s Secret Auction Items>

Caesar’s Signet Ring

Kerk’s Compass: Season 3

A Replica of the Holy Grail Made from Moldavite

Kerk’s Compass?

The name wasn’t unfamiliar.

I checked my inventory, and sure enough.

<A map showing the location of the Golden Goblin’s legacy.

A set with Kerk’s Compass, the progenitor of the Golden Goblins.

Sealed.

Usable on the 30th floor.>

Seeing this, I understood why the jewelry auction house VIP admission ticket had dropped when I defeated Kerk.

‘Perhaps it was to obtain the secret auction item….’

But if it was Kerk’s Compass, wasn’t it originally his own item?

How had he lost it?

And what did Season 3 mean?

I was also curious how he had intended to bid despite being a ghost.

Had he planned to ask a living creature to do it for him?

Several questions came to mind at once, but today’s goal was clear.

I was going to win the bid for Kerk’s Compass.

The employee closed the catalog with a satisfied expression.

“And this is the digital bell used to participate in the auction.”

When I received it, it was about the size of the vibrating bells used to notify customers when their drinks were ready at cafés.

There was one red button and one blue button at the bottom, with a digital display in the center.

“The red button is for bidding, and the blue button is for entering the amount. Press the blue button, and a number keypad will appear on the display.”

The employee pressed the blue button, and numbers from 0 to 9 appeared.

“Enter the number, then press this red button. And….”

The employee paused and checked the manual again.

“VIP guests can use physical coins. After the serial number is verified.”

Serial number?

“Is verification necessary?”

“Yes. Every now and then, someone tries to bring in unverified coins. Since this is a package product with the VIP admission ticket, it puts us in quite a difficult position.”

When the employee held the catalog up to the machine, the serial number of the VIP admission ticket appeared on the display.

“The coins simply need to have the same serial number as the one on your VIP admission ticket. May I ask you to verify them?”

I took the coin pouch out of my inventory.

“Please pour them into this coin counter!”

Clatterrrrr!

The coins were sucked into the machine and dropped straight into the basket underneath.

【ALL CLEAR】

“Thank you for your cooperation!”

Cha Junhyeok clicked his tongue when he saw that.

[No wonder nobody could use them.]

“Ah! Would you happen to need additional coins? We can exchange them right here. It’s one coin per one million won. We’ll load them into your auction bell as digital coins.”

[That’s incredibly expensive.]

So did that mean the coins I currently had were worth roughly 1.1 billion won?

“Unused digital coins can also be refunded. However, only within 24 hours.”

Once all the explanations were finished, the employee opened the curtain at the entrance to the auction house.

“After checking your name on the waiting-room list, you can enter the auction house right away!”

Now that I had received the gift box, all I had to do was go into the auction house and win the bid for Kerk’s Compass.

But what we encountered inside the auction house was someone I never could have expected.

A ruby pendant in a deep, blood-red color appeared on the large screen.

The auction item was definitely a ruby pendant.

But.

[Isea?]

Isea, the No. 2-ranked Korean Hunter who was said to have died in the Tower several months ago.