You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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20

 

 

Bang!

 

I kicked open the manhole cover connected to the surface and threw my body up onto the ground.

 

I lay with my back against the floor and caught my breath for a long while.

 

“Phew…”

 

The sky I looked up at while sighing was clear without a single cloud.

 

The battle from just moments ago and the escape from the collapsing underground waterway all felt like a dream.

 

I got up from my spot and brushed the dirt off my clothes.

 

I turned my gaze back toward the manhole.

 

I opened the cover and carefully peered inside.

 

A dark sewer passage.

 

The entrance that had been connected to the dungeon had returned to damp concrete walls and rusted metal pipes from before it became a dungeon.

 

“…It really disappeared.”

 

There wasn’t a single trace left that a dungeon had existed there.

 

No dungeon reaction, no presence of monsters.

 

Just a part of the old city sewer system.

Only the smell of moldy dampness and sewage pipes stung my nose.

 

I covered the lid and let out a short sigh.

 

‘What am I going to report to the Association about this…’

 

The dungeon had really disappeared.

 

Cleared dungeons have a stabilization period and then reconstruct.

 

This is a law as certain as a mathematical formula.

 

It’s common knowledge that even an elementary school student you grab off the street would know.

 

But what could I do?

 

The fact that the dungeon had collapsed was true, and I had the responsibility to report what I saw.

 

I took out my smartphone from my bag.

 

After hesitating for a moment, I pressed a number.

 

***

 

Before long, Association staff arrived at the scene.

 

“We came out after receiving a report of an anomalous phenomenon.”

 

Three Association staff members wearing fluorescent work vests entered inside the police line that had been set up.

 

When something appears that breaks existing laws, there’s only one best way to explain it.

 

Show it directly.

 

There was no explanation faster or more convincing than that.

 

So I skipped the crazy talk about the dungeon disappearing and reported it as an anomalous phenomenon I’d never seen before.

 

And the result was quite satisfactory.

 

In less than 20 minutes, the Anomaly Response Team was dispatched directly.

 

If I had said the dungeon disappeared, it would have taken quite a lot of time starting with being treated like a crazy person and then convincing the staff member who took the call.

 

And at the end of that long persuasion, they would have just pretended to send the response team administratively, acting like they’d seen all kinds of troublemakers.

 

Well, couldn’t a disappeared dungeon also be classified as an anomalous phenomenon?

 

I got up from my spot and raised my hand.

 

“Over here.”

 

“You’re Hunter Han Sang-in who made the report, right?”

 

“Yes, yes. I’m the one who made the report.”

 

“I see. Could you briefly explain what kind of anomalous phenomenon it is?”

 

“Yes, yes.”

 

One of the staff members took out a small notebook from his vest pocket.

 

“A new route was discovered during dungeon conquest.”

 

“Ah, you discovered an incompletely explored route.”

 

The Association staff member nodded and wrote something in his notebook.

 

“You completed the conquest using the new route?”

 

“Yes, we used that route to attack the boss…”

 

“Yes, you completed the boss conquest in the new route and…”

 

“Then the dungeon disappeared.”

 

“Ah, so when you conquered the boss, the dungeon disappear… What?”

 

The staff member who had been diligently taking notes widened his eyes.

 

“Uh, so you’re saying. After you conquered the boss, the dungeon… disappeared?”

 

The staff member looked at me with a bewildered expression, as if asking what kind of nonsense I was talking.

 

I nodded and pointed toward the manhole.

 

“See for yourself.”

 

The staff member still had an expression of disbelief.

 

“Ha… There’s no way such a case could actually exist.”

 

Even so, he carefully opened the manhole cover.

 

“I’ll check the internal structure.”

 

Another staff member put down his equipment bag and operated a measuring device.

 

One person climbed down the ladder into the interior, and after a moment, a voice came up from below.

 

“…Team Leader.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“There really is no dungeon.”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s just old sewers. The walls are ordinary concrete and there are only pipes inside.”

 

The staff member who had been measuring with equipment also looked up.

 

“No dungeon reaction at all. No mana residue, no generation reaction either.”

 

The staff member called Team Leader looked back at me with a gradually panicked expression.

 

“…This happened after you killed the boss?”

 

“Yes. It suddenly started collapsing so we escaped quickly, and it became like that.”

 

“Hmm… This is the first case I’ve seen.”

 

The Team Leader looked at me with a face seeking answers, but…

 

That doesn’t make answers appear.

 

Even the Anomaly Response Team was seeing this for the first time, so how would I know the answer?

 

I answered indifferently.

 

“Same here.”

 

The situation concluded with them saying the Association might call me later for investigation.

 

From the conversation I overheard, it seemed the Association staff’s overtime was confirmed.

 

***

 

I returned to the guild building.

 

When I opened the door and entered, the office was empty.

 

Since I had told them to build up achievements before the regular conquest, they seemed to be busy running dungeons.

 

I roughly washed up and threw myself onto the sofa.

 

Then I activated the Golden Fragrance system.

 

I needed to find out what kind of staff my companion sword had consumed.

 

Of course, I could have the appraisal done at Cheongram Trading Company…

 

But then too many things would be exposed, starting with Galmu’s existence.

 

So what I chose was Golden Fragrance.

 

Golden Fragrance doesn’t have an appraisal function.

 

But if I used a slight workaround, I could appraise any item.

 

When you register something for auction, it automatically appraises that item.

 

Whether it was dungeon by-products or convenience store items, they were automatically appraised just by registering them.

 

Golden Fragrance’s appraisal would be more accurate than any, no, than any appraiser in the world, wouldn’t it?

 

I transformed Galmu into the form of a ceremonial staff, then uploaded it to the Golden Fragrance system.

 

I broke out in a cold sweat trying to calm down Galmu, who had mistakenly thought it was being abandoned again halfway through.

 

[Registration Name: Staff of Rest (Mimicry)]

[Grade: Rare]

[Description: A form mimicked after being absorbed by the Companion Sword Galmu, capable of using some effects of the ‘Staff of Rest’.

– Sanctuary Veil: A veil that spreads out centered on the staff.

Targets within a certain range will not die for a certain period of time and will rapidly recover health.]

 

“I expected as much, but…”

 

It contained a quite ridiculous skill.

Exactly the same function I had seen in the dungeon.

 

This veil could be used not only for myself but also for others.

 

Right now it’s just Kim Jin-woo, but in the future I could use it on Ashin Guild members.

 

Or maybe…

 

‘I might be able to use it on Mother.’

 

If I can’t get my hands on an Elixir before Mother’s time runs out, that is.

 

I stared at the floating window for a moment, then closed my eyes and leaned back on the sofa.

 

“I’ve obtained something… quite good.”

 

***

 

A few days later, the Association contacted me.

 

It was for supplementary reporting procedures related to handling the anomalous phenomenon in the Sewer Dungeon.

 

I headed to Association Headquarters without saying much.

 

It was a building I was visiting for the first time in quite a while since joining Asin.

The lobby, the corridors – everything was still the same.

 

The statement was finished simply.

 

I omitted all parts about the staff.

 

The dungeon collapsed during the boss fight, and we quickly escaped.

 

I wrapped it up with just that much.

 

“It’s all true.”

 

The Association Investigator who had been examining an artifact like a lie detector nodded.

 

The questions and answers that followed were formal content.

 

What monsters appeared, what the structure was like, and so on.

 

While it was unfortunate that the dungeon disappeared, it had been an avoided dungeon from the start.

Rather, if new characteristics had emerged from that place, it would be sufficiently inspiring content academically – with that, the investigation was concluded.

 

On the way out along the corridor.

 

I heard shouting from somewhere.

 

“Can’t a damn Porter manage to keep track of one bag!”

 

A low, rough voice mixed with profanity.

 

Thud, thud – the sound of someone kicking something with their foot.

It was a familiar tone.

 

‘There are still bastards who openly look down on Porters.’

 

It wasn’t sympathy I felt because I was from a Porter background.

 

No matter how poor the perception of Porters was, cases of such blatant persecution were rare.

 

And this was at Association Headquarters, no less.

 

One of the group threw a completely torn cargo bag to the floor.

 

“If this bitch’s bag hadn’t burst, we would have earned several times more today. We let her join the party because she’s a woman, but she turned out to be a brainless bitch who can’t even do her job properly.”

 

In front of them stood one Porter with a small build, quietly.

 

A worn work uniform over a bulletproof vest, eyes quietly cast down.

 

It was a face I knew.

 

‘Why is she there?’

 

The Porter silently picked up the torn bag.

 

The Hunter in front of her was still shouting.

 

“Hey, what does a Porter know to go on about traps?”

 

He kept poking the Porter’s forehead with his finger.

 

“Are you mute? You were babbling away with that hole in your face earlier. Answer me. I said answer!”

 

He approached the Porter who had raised her head and clenched his fist.

 

At that moment, I instinctively grabbed that arm.

 

“That’s enough.”

 

***

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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