You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 51
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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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51
She had left the secular world declaring she would complete the greatest masterpiece of her life, but Ahn Hyeon-su’s heart only grew emptier.
Wasn’t it said that the more you know, the more you see?
The workshop was filled only with old works from the past.
After settling in this place, she hadn’t completed a single sculpture.
Sculpting and destroying tens of thousands of times.
Even so, she had no choice but to pick up the hammer again.
If only she hadn’t met that goblin fellow, she wouldn’t be shaken like this.
But perhaps it was because she had sculpted the Ghost Stone with him that her skills had developed dramatically.
Ghost Stone and Bi Hyeong-rang.
They were names mixed with love and hate.
One day, as time continued to flow like that, a phone call came from Han Ki-cheol.
That snotty little brat had apparently become the Association President of the Korean Hunter Association.
Normally, it would have been a call she would have ignored.
But that day, she had a premonition that she should answer it for some reason.
A call saying a guest was coming and requesting cooperation.
Well, someone who’s become an Association President wouldn’t call just for pleasantries.
Ahn Hyeon-su hung up the phone lightly.
And as she was about to sculpt again, she felt an unfamiliar presence.
It seemed to be the guest Han Ki-cheol had mentioned.
‘What a bold little brat.’
She focused only on hammering without even giving him a glance.
But at the same time, one question arose in her mind.
‘How was he able to get in here?’
Ahn Hyeon-su was also a Hunter.
Life dwelled in the sculptures she created.
Though they were called sculptures, her works were closer to living golems.
Though it seemed like an artistic ability,
without Mana Stones or magical engineering.
Creating golems with only Sculpture Art—
that was the ability Ahn Hyeon-su had awakened.
In other words, all the sculptures filling her workshop were top-grade golems.
So without her permission, no one could reach this place.
The question was brief, and only after confirming the Ghost Stone he brought out did she somewhat understand.
‘No wonder Han Ki-cheol was so confident.’
An extraordinary boy and a Ghost Stone.
Only then did she turn her gaze and sense a familiar energy from the boy.
An energy that only non-human beings would emit.
‘A human with Ghostly Energy…?!’
Only then could she understand why the boy before her had been able to come here.
‘These things all got scared.’
The sculptures that had experienced Bi Hyeong-rang had sensed the Ghostly Energy and become frightened.
‘Tsk, I’ll have to completely retrain their minds.’
With that resolution, she became interested in that boy.
She thought that perhaps the last opportunity to sculpt a Ghost Stone once more had arrived.
But the boy’s Ghostly Energy had not yet been inherited.
She couldn’t ruin her sculpture with incomplete Ghostly Energy.
Along with that, she recalled the words Bi Hyeong-rang had left behind.
If someone with Ghostly Energy came looking, she must guide them to the Stone Chamber.
She didn’t like following Bi Hyeong-rang’s words, but for the sake of sculpting, it couldn’t be helped.
After guiding the boy to the Stone Chamber like that, she began analyzing the Ghost Stone he had given her.
After all, the Inheritance would probably take at least several days to complete.
“Tsk, what a nasty prank they’ve pulled.”
She clicked her tongue and frowned.
Traces of alchemy performed through forbidden methods that no human should use were discovered.
The fortunate thing was that she had found a clue that would greatly help in tracking down that pseudo-religion, whether it was a sect or whatever.
There weren’t many people who used such vile sorcery.
It was when she had finished analyzing the Ghost Stone to some extent.
She felt the presence of people outside again.
“These bastards…”
It hadn’t even been half a day since she had gathered the sculptures for disciplinary education.
And yet they let intruders pass through freely again?
“They don’t listen when I just talk to them.”
Ahn Hyeon-su grabbed her hammer and rushed out of the work room.
“Hey you, damn rotten…”
But her anger turned to shock in an instant.
“What? Why are you here?”
***
‘Bi Hyeong-rang…’
It was a name I had heard somewhere. It seemed to linger on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t recall the exact memory.
Well, that wasn’t important.
Now I could properly handle Ghostly Energy.
Moreover…
I looked at the goblins lined up behind me.
I now had a way to summon them anytime.
What if I summoned 41 A-rank Hunters in the middle of enemy territory?
Wouldn’t most guilds fall into my hands?
‘Well, that probably won’t happen…’
Then suddenly, an important fact I had forgotten crossed my mind.
“But weren’t you guys on duty right now?”
“When the King calls, shouldn’t we naturally come running?”
Along with the change in address from Mister Kim to King, Dolsoe spoke with a proud expression.
I pressed my forehead.
No, you fool. What if a bodyguard suddenly disappears while on escort duty? Won’t the Guild Members be shocked…
“Go back quickly.”
At my words, the goblins began to disappear one by one, each leaving a parting comment.
“Mister Kim, Your Majesty, just call us anytime.”
“Of course, of course, we’ll come running even during duty.”
“No, during duty, consider the situation a bit… no, forget it. Handle it yourselves.”
I gave up trying to make them understand.
Instead, I resolved to definitely reorganize the manual when I returned to the guild.
I also needed to sort out the titles, whether ‘Mister Kim’ or ‘King’.
After the other goblins left, Dolsoe remained alone, looking at the sculpture.
Bi Hyeong-rang’s energy had seeped into me, but the shell still remained in place.
Though it no longer contained the same vitality as before, it was still an excellent work unchanged.
“Did you know each other?”
“He was a close friend.”
“I see.”
“He was a friend who left long ago, so there’s no need to keep it in your heart.”
“…Right.”
“Besides, thanks to Bi Hyeong, didn’t you get to meet the benevolent ruler Mister Kim?”
“No one knows whether I’ll be a benevolent ruler or a tyrant.”
“Is that so? I think you already know.”
Dolsoe smiled.
“Anyway, please take care of me from now on.”
“Sure.”
Dolsoe bowed his waist in greeting and quietly disappeared.
I looked at Bi Hyeong-rang’s sculpture for a moment, then turned around.
‘He said the door would open once I learned ghostly energy…’
The stone door was quietly open.
***
I left the stone chamber and headed toward where Ahn Hyeon-su’s work room was.
As I got closer, Ahn Hyeon-su came storming out, kicking the door open with an angry expression.
She was holding a sculpture hammer in one hand, looking ready to hit anyone.
“What? Why are you here?”
Ahn Hyeon-su was looking at me with an incredulous expression.
I definitely thought I heard some cursing…
“That hammer is…?”
When my gaze turned to the hammer in her hand, Ahn Hyeon-su flinched.
“Oh, this?”
She awkwardly hid the hammer behind her back.
“I just brought it out of habit, so don’t worry about it.”
A habit of bringing out a hammer…
Could that really be called a habit?
Though I felt uneasy, I decided not to dig deeper.
If I pressed further here, that hammer might actually fall on my head.
“More importantly, it seems like you can now handle ghostly energy perfectly.”
“Should we start working right away?”
Since I had inherited ghostly energy, it was time to fulfill her request.
“No.”
But she shook her head.
“I’m not ready yet. Besides…”
She took out a ghost stone from her pocket.
It was the unprocessed raw stone I had given her earlier.
“I can’t make a sculpture with just this kind of stone.”
True, compared to the Bi Hyeong-rang she had sculpted, it was ridiculously small material.
“I’ll contact you later when I’m ready, so until then.”
With that, she handed me some documents.
“This is data related to the ghost stones and sorcery you were looking for.”
At those words, I quickly skimmed through the documents.
There were many words that were difficult to understand at once, but the most eye-catching word among them was this:
“Black magic…?”
“Right. Based on the ghost stone, traces of black magic remained. And…”
She pointed to one part of the documents.
“There aren’t many black magicians capable of creating S-rank monsters.”
At her fingertip was a list of several black magicians.
“I think I’ve done my part sufficiently with this, don’t you?”
More than sufficient – based on the information she gave me, I could get an outline of the sect by investigating them.
However, most of the names written on that list were unfamiliar, and even if I knew them, they were names I couldn’t investigate carelessly.
For example…
“Vivian is also… a black magician?”
Vivian, an S-rank Hunter from the United States.
“Oh, I’ve met her a few times because of materials.”
Ahn Hyeon-su spoke casually.
‘Can I meet an S-rank Hunter from the United States… like running into a neighborhood lady at the supermarket?’
“Well, that was before she became an S-rank Hunter though.”
Even before becoming S-rank, she was already a fairly famous Hunter.
“Headache-inducing, right?”
“I can’t say it isn’t.”
“I’ve already prepared simple profiles for several of them. Go run around diligently.”
“Understood. Then please contact me later when you’re working.”
“Sure.”
With those words, she was heading back to the Workshop when something seemed to occur to her, and she turned around.
“It would be troublesome if you died before the work. I put a Gift in the last page.”
Without even waiting for my response, she finished what she had to say and went into the Workshop.
It was a brutal farewell, but her words weren’t wrong.
Each and every name on the List she had given me belonged to high-risk Hunters.
I carefully opened the last page.
And then I quietly let out a sigh.
“This isn’t a Gift… it’s a work bomb.”
***
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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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