Ch.127127. Two Hair Loss Sprays and the Blade of Madness

Looking at the auction hall filled with so many people gives me a strange feeling.

Just a little over a month ago, I was someone who could disappear from the world without anyone noticing.

At most, only my mom, dad, and Kim Su-jeong would remember my death.

But now, after going to the Rift Dimension and passing the 30-day mark, I’ve become a YouTuber with hundreds of thousands of followers, and someone sought after by the world’s wealthiest people.

Well, more precisely, it’s the hair loss treatment—the hair growth formula—that I brought back.

“I’m so excited to see how much it will sell for.”

Ji-hyun Lee is also participating in today’s auction.

Of course, Su-jeong is here too, and we’re watching the auction from a space where we can observe the auction hall.

After creating separate VIP and VVIP auctions, I asked my dad to build a separate auction house building. This one is larger and provides more anonymity, while still allowing us to see who’s participating from this room.

Since this was announced in advance and those who didn’t want to participate were told not to come, even if there are complaints, at least the people participating in this auction have agreed to have their identities exposed to me.

In a way, this auction house was designed specifically for this moment.

“There really are a lot of bald people.”

The auction for the permanent hair loss treatment is coming up.

I’ve only put up two items for sale, and I was curious about how many actual buyers there would be, so I looked around and noticed that most of the auction participants were bald.

Roughly estimating, they might make up 20-30% of the crowd.

They’re wearing natural-looking wigs, but there’s still a subtle difference from real hair, so that’s how I can tell.

And there are probably even more people buying on behalf of others or planning to give it to family members.

That makes me even more excited.

I wonder how much they’ll sell for.

Honestly, I’m still a bit uncertain.

Today’s auction items: 2 hair loss treatments, the Greatsword of Madness, and 1 Elixir.

From my perspective, I’m not sure why the hair loss treatment would be so popular.

The Elixir is a miracle drug that can almost bring the dead back to life, and even better is the S-grade +3 enhanced Greatsword of Madness.

I’ll have to see how the auction goes, but judging by the current atmosphere, the hair loss treatment is receiving much more attention and interest than the other two items.

Of course, I understand that hair loss can be incredibly stressful, but it’s not a life-threatening disease like Kellin’s father has. You can just wear a wig or shave your head completely… but that’s probably just my own perspective.

There’s no need to ignore the customers’ needs.

At that moment, the auction began.

The first item was the spray-on permanent hair loss treatment.

“This hair loss treatment just needs to be sprayed on. The effect is almost immediate, and now, we’ll show you two application examples.”

There was a brief explanation about the hair loss treatment before the auction.

To demonstrate its effectiveness, they showed a video of an experiment on a bald mouse, and simple before-and-after photos of Kukum.

“Please note that for the second example, we only have before-and-after photos of a dwarf who used the hair loss treatment over a 48-hour period, as no video was recorded. One bottle of this treatment, when applied in the appropriate amount to the areas where you want hair to grow, will stimulate growth.”

The auction started.

And I witnessed reality.

“1 billion.”

“1.1 billion.”

“1.2 billion, we have 1.2 billion.”

“1.4 billion. 1.5 billion. Do I hear 1.7 billion?”

There are famous memes among bald people about how they’d give up their entire fortune if they could solve their hair loss.

It’s not just a joke—many people say they really would give everything.

But this is the reality.

Even people with excessive wealth don’t spend their entire fortune.

In a way, it makes sense.

Unlike in the past, with modern medical advances, hair loss is a condition that can be somewhat overcome if you have enough money.

Hair transplants have become extremely sophisticated, and when combined with medication, they can look natural enough that you don’t need to wear a wig.

So in a way, the hair loss treatment I’m selling just saves the hassle of lifelong maintenance for its price.

That means this price is actually quite expensive.

I was relieved.

I was worried that I might not understand common sense as someone who doesn’t suffer from hair loss, but the price was moving according to my expectations.

Honestly, if it sold at this level, I could release the one-year hair loss treatment at a price that many people could afford without too much burden.

Or so I thought.

“2.5 billion. 2.7 billion. 3 billion. We’ll go up by 500 million.”

“3.5 billion. 4 billion. 4.5 billion. 5 billion.”

“…What?”

My sense of reality was shattered.

—————–

“Dad, why would those people pay 18.5 billion for something like that?”

The first hair loss treatment was sold for 18.5 billion.

Dad looked at the bidder with an expression of incomprehension.

“George Warren. He used to be the wealthiest person in the world.”

Before the era of Hunters.

The legendary CEO who opened the door to the IT era still held substantial assets through stocks.

Over 60 years old, he enjoyed attracting attention by acquiring social media companies and such, but if he had one complex, it was hair loss.

He had tried everything from hair transplants to whatever else was recommended, but he could never shake off the label of being bald, at least in appearance.

And there he was, sitting here.

Not only that, but he was happy to pay 18.5 billion won for a single bottle.

I couldn’t understand it even as I was selling it.

What was even more surprising was that there weren’t just one, but three people bidding up to 18.5 billion.

The more shocking fact came during the auction for the second hair loss treatment.

Again, the minimum bid started at 100 million, but it jumped to 10 billion right away and exceeded 20 billion in less than a minute.

“If they were going to do this, why didn’t they just buy the first one?”

They must know that when there are two identical items, the second one typically sells for more than the first.

It’s because of psychological pressure.

People tend to be more passive and observant with the first item, thinking, “Well, there’s still another chance later…”

People have a price ceiling in mind, and when the auction price exceeds that ceiling, they initially deny reality.

“No way. Those must be desperate people making irrational bids.”

And George Warren bid smartly.

He would immediately double the bid when others made offers.

When bids were increasing by 500 million, he’d bid 1 billion more.

When they were increasing by 1 billion, he’d bid 2 billion more.

Competing with such a madman would make anyone lose control and spend more money.

Rich people are good at restraint.

That’s why the first item sold at that price, but for the second item, people’s expectation that “now that the crazy bidder is gone, the price will be more reasonable” actually signaled that the competition would be even hotter and more intense.

I thought only someone with hundreds of trillions in assets, even a decade after the era changed, would be crazy enough to buy a hair loss treatment for 18.5 billion.

But the second hair loss treatment sold for about 30 billion, 1.5 times the price.

“…Boss.”

“Yeah…”

“Should we just make hair loss treatments?”

“I’m thinking we should look for more places to get hair growth seeds.”

I was a bit intimidated.

Is my business sense lacking?

I knew the hair loss treatment would be a hit, but I didn’t expect it to sell for this much.

Of course, it’s good when things sell for high prices, but the problem is that I might have been too conservative in pricing the one-year hair loss treatment.

If this were another company, various experts would determine the price through meetings and market research, so there wouldn’t be an issue.

But I’m basically a one-person company, roughly setting prices and selling, so any profit or loss is entirely based on my choices.

So while it’s good to sell at high prices, selling too cheaply undervalues the resources from the Rift Dimension, which means I need to think more carefully.

Whatever the case, the outcome is good.

The next auction item was the Greatsword of Madness.

I was a bit worried after the previous results that differed from my expectations.

I wondered if the Greatsword of Madness might sell for less than I anticipated.

But it should still sell for more than the Gray Wolf Leather Jacket, right?

“Oppa, how much do you expect for this one?” Su-jeong asked.

“About 200 billion?”

This kind of item is among the top items currently available to the public.

After all, blacksmiths who can enhance S-grade items are extremely rare worldwide.

Still, due to demand issues, I estimated a reasonable price range based on what I could think of.

As the auction started and exceeded my expected price, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phew. That’s more like it. No matter how many bald people there are in the world, there can’t be this many people willing to pay 10 billion just for entry tickets to buy hair loss treatments.”

As expected, the main auction item was the Greatsword of Madness.

“380 billion. Do I hear 380 billion?”

It was an incredibly fierce auction that resulted in a record-breaking price.