You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 48

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

48

 

 

 

Hae-in made a deliberately disappointed expression and shifted his gaze to the stone.

 

“I heard roughly from the Association President that you created an S-Rank Dungeon with this?”

 

“Not a dungeon, a monster. I turned a C-rank Gnugn into S-rank.”

 

“Is that so.”

 

That was the end of my conversation with Hae-in.

 

Hae-in began analyzing the stone in earnest.

 

It felt quite different from a professional appraiser like Team Leader Lee Woo-ram.

 

Well, I’m not sure if I should call it different…

 

He tapped it with a small hammer, and sometimes struck it hard against the table.

 

Then he squinted one eye and examined the stone from various angles.

 

I turned my gaze away from Hae-in.

 

If I kept watching, I felt like I might get a stress-induced illness.

 

More than anything, I trusted Hae-in to some extent.

 

Not just his skills, but because I knew who his master was.

 

A god. G.O.D. A real god, I mean.

 

I’m talking about Forge That Tempers Fire, the god of blacksmiths and my loyal customer.

 

Since Hae-in was the disciple that such a god chose from Earth’s 7 billion population, I thought he might find some clue.

 

I sat on the sofa and took a sip of the tea Team Leader Lee Woo-ram had prepared.

 

It was a light green tea with moderate acidity and not overly sweet.

 

It seemed he remembered something I had mentioned in passing before and prepared it accordingly.

 

He’s not part of the National Trading Company for nothing.

 

It was around the time I was finishing my cup.

 

Hae-in let out a short breath and put down the stone.

 

“Haah…”

 

As if shaking off the remaining heat, he rubbed his palms against his work clothes.

 

It seemed the analysis was finished.

 

“It’s not an ordinary stone, and there are traces of something powerful having resided in it. It seems like some kind of magical modification was done.”

 

The explanation was long, but the important part didn’t come out.

 

“So what exactly is that stone?”

 

Hae-in shook his head.

 

“It’s called a Ghost Stone, but I don’t know exactly either.”

 

We had found a clue, but there wasn’t much progress.

 

The fact that the stone was a Ghost Stone,

and that someone was definitely involved in this dungeon break incident.

 

I had already suspected someone was behind it from the beginning anyway.

 

‘It must be those Sect bastards.’

 

The fanatical cult group that had asked me to become one of their members.

 

As much as I hate to admit it, they were the only group capable of pulling off such schemes.

 

The matter about the Sect was just speculation.

 

But if I could somehow find out how they were doing such things,

that could become a clue for tracking them down.

 

That’s why I thought Hae-in, who handles countless minerals, might be able to provide that answer…

 

‘Was I being too hasty?’

 

“Don’t make that face. This just isn’t my area of expertise.”

 

‘I guess my disappointed expression showed.’

 

As Hae-in said, he was a blacksmith, not an alchemist.

 

“But I do know someone who might know what this is.”

 

Then he pulled out a business card from his work clothes pocket.

 

He blew on the business card to remove the metal shavings and held it out to me.

 

“It’ll take about two hours from Seoul.”

 

I accepted the business card.

 

[Workshop Bihyeong]

[Sculptor Ahn Hyeon-su]

[Address: Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province…]

 

It was a business card overflowing with the beauty of white space, containing only a name and address.

 

Even the font was Batang.

 

“A sculptor…?”

 

“Yeah, there’s this person who’s crazy about stone. If you told them to marry a rock, they’d probably do it.”

 

Hae-in shook his head back and forth.

 

“God is truly fair though. To have such sculpting skills yet fall in love with stone. Or wait, did they gain such sculpting skills because they fell in love with stone?”

 

I looked at Hae-in with an incredulous expression.

 

‘That’s not really something a sword maniac should say, is it?’

 

Hae-in silently turned his head to look at me.

 

“They’re eccentric. But their skills are real.”

 

***

 

Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.

 

Following the address written on the business card, I arrived at what could only be called an empty plain.

 

Even for outskirts away from the city center, having absolutely nothing here was unique.

It’s not even a green belt, yet it’s this desolate…

 

And right in the middle of that horizon sat a massive stone mountain.

 

Only after getting closer could I tell it wasn’t actually a stone mountain.

 

“They said this person fell in love with stone, but this isn’t love level.”

 

Countless sculptures were piled and stacked, appearing like a massive mountain.

 

At this level, it seemed less like love and more like obsession bordering on madness.

 

But one thing was certain.

 

The sculptor named Ahn Hyeon-su’s skills had reached their peak.

 

Two stone jangseung positioned on either side of what appeared to be the entrance.

 

They were carved so perfectly that a subtle radiance emanated from the sculpture surfaces.

 

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing was even theoretically possible.

 

‘Is it possible to make mana flow without mana lines?’

 

If such techniques were actually possible, it would cause a revolution in alchemy and magical engineering.

 

But like all geniuses, such things were probably techniques only Ahn Hyeon-su could achieve.

 

‘Should I try to recruit them to our guild?’

 

But I soon shook my head.

 

If such a craftsman had chosen to settle here, there must be a reason.

 

The conditions for bringing them over wouldn’t be easy.

 

I passed the jangseung and walked inside.

 

Following the pile of sculptures stacked like a mountain, the entrance jangseung began to feel ordinary.

 

Various sculptures lined up – half-human half-beast, dragons, angels with severed wings, and more.

 

‘This person is quite the eccentric too.’

 

“Hmm…”

 

Upon entering the interior, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

 

It wasn’t threatening or anything like that.

 

The sculptures were so perfect that they all felt alive.

 

The feeling was so strong that it seemed like the sculptures were watching me.

 

‘No matter how I look at it, these guys seem to be avoiding my eyes…’

 

I’d seen sculptures where all eyes met yours from any direction, but sculptures that avoided eye contact was a first.

 

I briefly admired the sculptures before moving on.

 

There wasn’t an exact path, but I followed traces of old footprints heading inward.

 

Soon, an old workshop came into view.

 

Next to it was a small facility that appeared to be a work area, and from its center came the sound of hammering.

 

The sound of the chisel and hammer colliding was more rhythmic and sharp than I had expected.

 

I carefully walked around the area and stepped inside.

 

That’s when it happened.

 

“I’m not doing business. Get out right now.”

 

An irritated high-pitched voice struck my ears.

 

A voice that seemed to echo from all directions.

 

I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it was coming from.

 

“I came here on Hae-in’s recommendation.”

 

There was no response.

 

However, another ‘clang’ sound continued from beyond the pile of stones.

 

Only then could I see the owner of the voice.

 

‘A woman…?’

 

A woman in work clothes was hammering a chisel among half-collapsed stone fragments.

 

She had a considerably thin build with long straight hair roughly pinned up.

 

There were no proper tools around, and she was holding an axe-like curved hammer in her hand.

 

“Are you Ms. Ahn Hyeon-su?”

 

“You’re a Hunter, right?”

 

She spoke without lifting her head.

 

“I told that Hae-in guy too, but I don’t get involved in Hunter business.”

 

Her tone was indifferent, and her attitude was cold.

But it felt familiar somehow.

 

It was similar to Hae-in’s attitude when I first met him.

 

‘Is being prickly a common trait among craftsmen?’

 

I opened my bag and took out a Ghost Stone.

 

Ahn Hyeon-su flinched for a moment.

 

There was a reaction.

 

‘It’s not like she’s a fish or anything…’

 

I hadn’t expected this to work, so I looked at her with a bewildered expression and shook my head.

 

‘Well, that Hae-in guy did react to Galmu too.’

 

“I don’t know where you got that Ghost Stone, but it’s already a used-up shell. A roadside pebble would be better.”

 

Soon she began hammering again.

 

“Then how about this one?”

 

I took out another differently shaped Ghost Stone from my bag and tossed it onto the pile of stones.

 

That was the moment.

 

Her hand, which had been striking down the chisel, stopped.

 

Then slowly, very slowly, she turned her head.

 

I already knew that Ghost Stones that had fulfilled their role were worthless.

 

Hae-in had given me that tip.

 

But what about a Ghost Stone that hadn’t fulfilled its role yet?

 

Actually, I had been carrying a Ghost Stone for quite a long time.

 

Well, I didn’t know it was a Ghost Stone back then.

 

The joint raid on the Abandoned Subway Dungeon that I first participated in to raise my Hunter rank.

 

Back then, that stone the assassin class Raid Leader tried to obtain by killing Kim Jin-woo.

 

I never dreamed that the stone stuffed in the corner of my bag was actually a Ghost Stone.

 

I had only thought it was something valuable since he tried to get his hands on it by wiping out the entire raid team.

 

I never dreamed that stone, which was fading from my memory, would be used like this.

 

I looked at Ahn Hyeon-su, who couldn’t take her eyes off the Ghost Stone, and raised the corner of my mouth.

 

“Are you willing to cooperate now?”

 

***

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