You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 40

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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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40

 

 

 

The Association President’s words went like this.

 

He had headed to the detention cell early in the morning to interrogate the Raid Leader.

He felt something was off in front of the detention cell and quickly opened the door to enter,

but Nokchung’s Raid Leader had already become a cold corpse.

 

The problem more serious than the Raid Leader’s death was that only a very few people in the Association, including the Association President, knew the location of the interrogation room.

 

In other words, it meant that the Sect’s forces had infiltrated even the high-ranking officials within the Association.

 

And among the Association President’s close associates at that…

 

“I understand for now.”

 

– Really… I’m sorry about this.

 

That was the end of the call with the Association President.

 

I could feel cold anger in his calm final voice.

 

‘There’s going to be a bloodbath within the Association.’

 

The Association President, who had been backstabbed twice, didn’t seem like he would sit still.

 

At the same time, this was the Association President buying me time.

 

While the Association President was making his moves, even that place called the ‘Sect’ would be watching cautiously.

 

During that time, I just needed to finish my preparations.

 

Anyway, with the Raid Leader dead, investigating information about the Cult had become impossible.

 

‘I need to strengthen defenses both internally and externally.’

 

I immediately returned to the Guild Building.

 

I sat in my office chair and logged into Golden Township.

 

Then, a familiar message appeared before my eyes.

 

[You have achieved the promotion conditions.]

[Your Golden Township membership grade is rising.]

[Silver → Gold]

[Additional features according to your grade are unlocked.]

[Tradeable items are expanded up to B grade.]

[The ‘Labor Market’ feature is unlocked.]

 

The Gold promotion conditions were simple.

 

Achieve cumulative sales of 1 million Gold and cumulative purchases of 1 million Gold.

 

The sales amount had already exceeded 1 million Gold long ago,

but it seemed the purchase amount condition was fulfilled when I bought the Aegis Replica and other items.

 

“Should I try winning some Stats first?”

 

It was perfect timing since no Stats listings had been coming up anyway.

 

The supply was low, but the demand was also just me alone.

 

Having no competition was good, but there was a corresponding lack of listings.

 

What meaning would there be for those so-called gods to raise their Strength stats anyway?

 

I had already won all the Stats available at Silver grade.

 

Even E-grade Stats couldn’t be ignored, so how outrageous would B-grade Stats be?

 

I tapped Golden Township’s search bar with some anticipation.

 

But contrary to such expectations, there was only one listing available.

 

And it was priced at about half of my remaining Gold.

 

‘500,000 Gold for one Stat…’

 

The price was one thing, but the name was also quite unsettling.

 

[Ghostly Energy]

[Grade: B -> C]

[Buy It Now Price: 500,000 Gold]

[Description: Energy left behind by Evil Spirits.

When used, Ghostly Energy stat increases by +1.

*This item is currently in a degraded state.]

 

The grade had also dropped from B to C.

 

Well, that’s probably why it was priced at the relatively cheap 500,000 Gold…

 

The description was practically nonexistent.

 

Most importantly, the question was whether to invest the huge sum of 500,000 Gold in raising 1 stat.

 

Converting the value of 500,000 Gold to cash would amount to 50 billion won.

In reality, it could be even more.

 

Thinking rationally, it would have been wise to buy other items with 500,000 gold.

 

But something was strange.

 

My Sixth Sense stat, which had been quiet for a while, was reacting.

 

“…”

 

I stared at the screen for a moment and chuckled softly.

 

Had rationality ever worked in Golden Township?

 

This was that kind of place.

 

A place where instinctive intuition worked.

 

Judging the divine auction house with human rationality was foolish in itself.

 

Besides, I had the Sixth Sense stat.

The ability to quantify instincts to the maximum extent.

His intuition stat was sending a powerful signal, so his finger was already moving toward the bid button.

In the end, I have no choice but to believe.

I immediately clicked the bid button.

[You have successfully bid on the ‘Ghost Energy Stat’ item.]

[500,000 Gold will be deducted.]

[Gold Held: 473,275 Gold]

[This is a Buy It Now item.]

[Items are awarded immediately without competitive bidding.]

[The ‘Ghost Energy Stat’ is awarded to ‘Nameless ‘.]]

[Ghost Energy stat increases by +1.]

A stat called Ghost Energy had appeared, but nothing had changed.

After gaining the strength stat, he bent the handle of the hospital bed,

After gaining agility stats, I obtained speed so fast that I couldn’t adapt to it.

Although he couldn’t use the magic stat right away, at least some magic powder had sprayed from his fingertips.

For a while, I tried a few things to see what had changed with the귀기 stat, but it was no use.

Since they said it was a ghostly presence, I looked at the mirror on the desk, wondering if perhaps…

But all that was reflected back was my own face rationalizing the reasons for my investment failures.

‘Sigh… Is this another one of those things where I have to figure out how to use it myself?’

The higher the stats went, the less intuitive it became to use them.

In the end, it meant that it couldn’t be used right now.

‘There’s nothing we can do. Golden oranges can’t be returned.’

I stared at my bank account balance, which had been cut in half.

Even stocks wouldn’t crash this hard.

‘I should tell Jinwoo to develop some new products.’

***

I downed a glass of cold water and shook off any thoughts about the charm stat.

Next, my attention turned to the newly unlocked ‘Labor Market’.

I gave my mother and younger sister protective artifacts, but that’s only a temporary measure.

Moreover, it’s realistically difficult to give such artifacts to each person around me.

Ultimately, they needed to recruit combat personnel.

But that wasn’t easy either.

If it’s Ashin who rakes in money, it seems like she could just recruit hunters, but…

Using hunters merely as escorts for porters was excessive.

Internally, it could serve as a defense against ‘Gyo’,

Externally, it could have been perceived as reverse discrimination.

Just because porters have risen in status, does that mean they can now boss around hunters?

It could shake the foundation of the system Ashin had established.

 

And setting all this aside, even if I recruited hunters, that would be problematic in its own way.

 

Suppose I recruited skilled and excellent hunters – could I completely trust those hunters?

 

No. I couldn’t.

 

No matter how clean a person was, I couldn’t eliminate the seeds of suspicion.

 

The Sect had infiltrated even inside the Association.

 

No, I didn’t even need to go that far – just look at Nokcheon Guild.

 

In the end, the answer was obvious.

 

What use was it to hire many Hunters if you couldn’t trust them?

 

But…

 

‘What if they weren’t human?’

 

Naturally, my gaze turned to the new function that had appeared in Golden Township.

 

[Labor Market]

 

I couldn’t be certain what kind of function it was yet, but I had a feeling that there would definitely be an answer inside.

 

As I pressed the Labor Market button, the floor began to vibrate with a rumbling sound.

 

When the floor’s vibration stopped, a white door rose up before me.

 

It looked like an ordinary wooden door.

 

However, the door had intricate patterns carved into it, and seeing mana flowing through them, it seemed the patterns were carved with mana lines.

 

I slowly approached the door.

 

The Door Handle had golden patterns delicately carved into it, which were also mana circuits.

 

When my fingertips touched the Door Handle, an oddly warm heat was transmitted beyond the cold metal sensation.

 

But the door seemed locked and wouldn’t open.

 

Just as I was wondering ‘What’s this?’, a strange energy swept over me through the hand gripping the Door Handle.

 

Only then did the locked Door Handle turn.

 

‘Is it some kind of fingerprint recognition?’

 

I steadied my breathing and turned the Door Handle.

 

As the door opened, dark energy poured out, rippling like black ink dissolved in water.

 

That Darkness, pouring out like floodgates had opened, began to dye everything around me black.

 

The black energy that was dyeing everything at rapid speed even swallowed up the door I was holding.

 

All that remained in the room was me and the door handle left forlornly in my hand.

 

“Well, really…”

 

The moment I looked at the Door Handle in my hand with an absurd expression,

 

someone grabbed and pulled my arm with a sudden suction sensation.

 

A familiar development.

 

Just like the Training Manual—

 

Before my thought could finish, I was pulled somewhere at high speed as if being dragged by someone.

 

[Connecting to ‘Labor Market’.]

[Requesting server…]

[Loading…]

[Loading…]

[Server assignment completed.]

[Assigning to Server: Earth Server #324.]

 

[Nobody! We sincerely welcome your first visit to Golden Fragrance Labor Market.]

[We hope you have a pleasant shopping experience.]

 

***

—————
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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