Black Market (1)

Wednesday.

Lee Dojin opened his eyes. Warm sunlight shone on his eyes.

He was still in Sword Demon Jung Yong-ha’s mansion.

The door opened and Sword Empress Yoo Seol-ah’s red hair came into view.

“Today is the day we go to the Black Market. I can finally keep the first promise I made to Student Dojin.”

Black Market.

Though it had a name that sounded like it was operated illegally in secret, it was actually a legal auction house and item exchange.

“Ah, you mean that elixir?”

The elixir she had said she would get on the day of the entrance exam.

“Yes, ah. There’s no need to negotiate separately at the market. I’ve already spoken and set one aside, so you just need to take it.”

That was certainly possible with the Sword Empress’s connections.

The servants in Sword Demon Jung Yong-ha’s house had to move busily because of the guests they hadn’t had in a long time.

It was to prepare breakfast for Lee Dojin, Baek Hwayeon, and the Sword Empress.

“Were those people hired by Elder Sword Demon?”

To Lee Dojin’s question, Yoo Seol-ah slowly shook her head.

“I did it. Of course, I used Elder Sword Demon’s money. It was too much of a waste for Elder Sword Demon’s money to just sit in the safe forever.”

Well, with his past as one of the Four Superhumans of the previous generation, the money he received from the government as a warrior who climbed the tower would amount to an astronomical sum.

“Yes. Thanks to you, I spent useless money.”

The Sword Demon, who had eaten direct food for the first time in a long time instead of nutrients given through hoses, muttered softly.

“Who knows if the government might try to reclaim all that money you’ve piled up? You haven’t even written a will.”

“I’ve written a will.”

At the white-haired old man’s firm words, Yoo Seol-ah opened her eyes wide.

“Really? What did you write?”

Jung Yong-ha stared into Yoo Seol-ah’s eyes.

“When I die, divide my assets in half and give them to Kang Seok-hoon and Yoo Seol-ah.”

The seaweed soup in Yoo Seol-ah’s mouth spurted out.

“Eek! Teacher, that’s dirty!”

Baek Hwayeon, who had scolded her teacher, hurriedly got up and brought tissues.

“Teacher, this has never happened before!”

Yoo Seol-ah removed the rice grains stuck around her mouth with a hardened face.

“Well, that’s because I’ve never been this surprised while eating…”

She finished cleaning her mouth with a reddened face. Then she stared at her old superior.

“You’re really leaving your assets to me?”

“Do I have any other connections besides you and Kang Seok-hoon?”

Yoo Seol-ah thought for a moment.

Indeed, there was no one except those two old subordinates.

Quite coincidentally,

Everyone else was dead.

The Sword Demon’s wife and son had died on the day the Great Change occurred.

And that was too common an occurrence to even be able to confide in anyone about it.

“…There’s no one.”

“That’s right. So I’m only leaving it to you.”

Yoo Seol-ah put down the spoon she had been using to eat seaweed soup well and glared at Jung Yong-ha.

“Contrary to what I thought, you’ve been organizing things one by one.”

The Sword Demon himself didn’t seem to mind at all.

“I can feel this body rotting day by day. I’ll last 2 years at most.”

Jung Yong-ha’s gaze turned to Lee Dojin.

“So if you want to get anything out of me, you’ll have to come here often and annoy me very frequently.”

Lee Dojin nodded his head very greatly.

“I’m confident I can annoy you a lot. This is the first time I’ve had an environment where I can fight an overwhelming strong person without needing to think about my movements!”

Lee Dojin’s tone rose uncharacteristically.

He was genuinely happy. At being given a situation where he could fight freely without holding back.

“…Just before I die, I’m seeing a real madman like this.”

A pure desire for martial arts.

Sword Demon Jung Yong-ha spoke as if disgusted while looking at Lee Dojin, whose eyes were shining brightly.

“Oh my, but he’s like a disciple now. How can you call him a madman? You should say he’s a man full of passion.”

Yoo Seol-ah spoke while demurely eating a mocha bun, completely erasing the memory of the seaweed soup she had just spat out.

Along with a warm Americano.

The Sword Demon burst into laughter.

“Right, he’s a guy full of passion.”

The chaotic breakfast passed by.

Lee Dojin checked again that his body was fine and put on casual clothes.

---

Incheon’s Hunter Street.

The SUV stopped.

When they got out of the car, there was a building with neon signs flashing.

Black Market.

People lining up to enter the Black Market could be seen.

Why is it called the Black Market when it’s not even illegal?

There was already a widely known story about that.

It started as illegal. Because it was a ‘Black Market’ in the sense of a truly dark market.

In the early days of the Great Change when laws weren’t properly established.

It was truly a harsh time when people had to risk their lives to participate in raids.

The Sword Empress explained.

“Since all the famous hunters at that time were using the Black Market, the government couldn’t denounce it as illegal.”

And the name that had solidified didn’t change so easily.

The Sword Empress didn’t stand in the line where everyone was standing. An underground passage that only those who knew about it knew.

And a door on that underground passage side.

A large doorkeeper was standing in front of the door. Though he was wearing a suit, he had a physique that looked like he could fold anyone in half at will.

And such a person bowed, folding himself in half.

“Welcome, Sword Empress.”

“Yes, these two are my companions.”

“Yes, I’ll just check their IDs.”

The doorkeeper checked the student IDs issued by Iroaz Academy and opened the elevator door.

A one-way door that ignored the line that would easily take over an hour.

A 30-story building.

The elevator stopped on the 29th floor.

“Welcome, Yoo Seol-ah.”

An elixir shop hidden in the innermost part of the 29th floor.

The middle-aged male owner of the shop bowed deeply. His stylishly grown mustache stood out.

“Yes, it’s been half a year.”

The shop owner immediately took out the item he had prepared.

It was a wooden box.

“The elixir is inside the box.”

Yoo Seol-ah handed the box to Lee Dojin as soon as she received it.

Inside the box was a purple bead the size of a man’s fist.

The bead was shimmering with a mysterious light.

Lee Dojin approached the middle-aged man directly, passing by Yoo Seol-ah.

“Excuse me, how much is this elixir?”

“It’s classified as an S-grade elixir. The lowest price it has been sold for is 5.5 billion won. Currently, since there’s no other quantity besides this, it’s worth at least three or four times that. There would be people willing to buy it even at five times the price.”

Lee Dojin slightly furrowed his brow.

“How much did you sell it to the Sword Empress for?”

The middle-aged man slowly shook his head.

“She told me to keep it a secret.”

Yoo Seol-ah put her index finger to her lips.

“Se-cret.”

“…I’ll repay you. Please tell me later.”

Yoo Seol-ah stroked Lee Dojin’s head.

“You know now, don’t you? That I don’t want anything from Student Lee Dojin.”

He knew.

That she wasn’t investing in him like this because she wanted something materially or emotionally.

That it was an investment made because of the clear goal of conquering the 『Tower』.

“But gratitude is still gratitude.”

“Hmm, how cute.”

Yoo Seol-ah continued stroking Lee Dojin’s head as if she found him adorable.

Baek Hwayeon, standing next to her, was looking on with shining eyes, wanting to stroke Lee Dojin’s head too.

He put the elixir in his spatial pocket, and only then did Yoo Seol-ah casually lower her hand that had been stroking his head.

Lee Dojin, who had gone to the bathroom for a moment, looked around the inside of the Black Market alone after finishing his business.

He looked around the 25th floor where accessories were sold.

Half were artifacts related to raids, and the rest were general accessories.

“Oh ho.”

In fact, Lee Dojin himself wasn’t very interested in either.

There were certainly times when he thought he might need defense-related artifacts, but because the performance of the nano black suit he received from the Sword Empress was so excellent, he no longer had such thoughts.

The reason he was looking around these accessories now was the conclusion he had reached after agonizing over how to express gratitude to the connections around him.

In the end, Lee Dojin turned his head to general accessories, excluding artifacts.

Because it was a gift to express gratitude rather than for utility.

“Welcome, customer.”

“Yes, hello.”

A female employee greeted Lee Dojin with a bright smile.

After looking around for a while, Lee Dojin looked at a product consisting of a set of earrings and a necklace.

It was a 14k diamond jewelry set.

“It might be burdensome to give all this to one person. Should I give the necklace to one person and the earrings to another…”

“????”

The employee opened her eyes wide at Lee Dojin’s crazy words about separating one set to give to two people, but she couldn’t add anything because Lee Dojin’s expression was deadly serious.

‘I should… say something.’

But in the end, the employee couldn’t say anything about it.

Due to the nature of the Black Market, it was impossible to gauge what position the customers held.

And they could judge it as rude.

“How much is it?”

“It’s 550,000 won, customer.”

So in the end, she couldn’t say anything until the end.

And Lee Dojin, who bought a few more accessories, got back on the elevator.

The elevator arrived at the 29th floor and the doors opened.

As he was looking for Baek Hwayeon and Yoo Seol-ah, someone shouted loudly.

“Tea-cher! Dojin! Lee Dojin!”

A short-haired girl was running over.

It was Choi Bit-na. And behind her, a large man was standing blankly.

It was Spear King Lee Ji-gwang.

He also seemed to have visited the Black Market with his disciple.