You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 59

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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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59

 

 

 

After the Chain Break occurred, all the relevant dungeons were completely closed off.

 

Currently, the Association’s direct Hunters were taking turns guarding the entrances.

 

Guarding dungeons that had already entered their stabilization period was a meaningless task.

 

It was more or less just for show.

 

The citizens also knew this fact well, so they questioned the Association’s actions.

 

In particular, Association President Han Ki-cheol was someone who didn’t just oppose such performative administration, but openly despised it.

 

So the citizens’ doubts could only grow larger.

 

This is why a person’s image is important.

 

If he had been just an ordinary high-ranking civil servant, all sorts of rumors and complaint calls would have poured in.

 

Before being Association President, Han Ki-cheol was a retired hero.

 

Even now his fiery personality burns bright, so how much more intense must it have been in his prime?

 

The image of a righteous hero who couldn’t tolerate injustice had been embedded in the citizens’ minds for as long as his Hunter career.

 

Quick-footed NewTubers investigated and found that this incident was the result of the Vice President overstepping his authority.

 

And when that fact spread, Han Ki-cheol immediately gave the Vice President severe disciplinary action as if he had been waiting for it.

 

Considering the manpower that had already been expended, the Association President announced he would inspect the dungeons where Breaks had occurred and reopen them after the stabilization period.

And through a press conference, he once again imprinted his recognition among the citizens.

 

This was the extent of the facts that had been revealed.

 

“Tsk tsk, my lord said he was a snake-like fellow, and that was an accurate assessment.”

 

Yamyeong clicked his tongue and put away his smartphone.

 

According to his information, this entire series of events was all a setup.

 

First, it was true that the Vice President had overstepped his authority.

 

Even if he had been led by the Association President’s hand and forced to stamp the documents, the fact remained that he had stamped them.

 

The stamp on the documents clearly belonged to the Vice President, so denying it would only make public opinion worse.

 

The Vice President wasn’t even given a chance to explain himself from the beginning.

 

Before the facts were announced, he had already been dragged to a deep underground interrogation room that the Association President had newly built.

 

According to the Sadangpae agent who had infiltrated there, the Vice President was also in cahoots with the Sect.

 

Detailed information would be transmitted additionally as the interrogation proceeded.

 

Indeed, a goblin that could shape-shift into a mug was well-suited for infiltration.

 

Whether it was guards or prisoners, even when the Association President came to interrogate personally, a cup of coffee was essential.

 

The second reason was to conceal the truth.

 

An artificially created S-Rank Dungeon.

 

When Gnugn, who had become a boss through the power of the Ghost Stone, disappeared, the dungeon lost its function as a dungeon.

 

To hide this fact, the Association President’s showmanship was necessary.

 

The Association President had been setting up this entire scheme from the moment the Dungeon Break was resolved.

 

Through this, the Association President secured both justification for eliminating spies and practical benefits.

 

No matter how well things aligned, orchestrating a scheme to this extent was impossible with an ordinary mind.

 

Yamyeong wanted to scout the Association President for Sadangpae if the opportunity arose.

 

Well, bringing him over as a goblin when his human lifespan ended wouldn’t be a bad method either.

 

“Separate from that… our lord has quite a temper.”

 

Yamyeong muttered while lightly stepping on the ashes with his toes.

 

He had visited the closed S-Rank Dungeon just in case.

 

The earth, blackened by Karmic Fire, was still emitting an acrid smell.

 

Though Yamyeong hadn’t seen it directly, he could sense the temperament just from the traces of battle.

 

He tried to find clues by following the traces of combat, but there were hardly any remains left.

 

“I should remove this first.”

 

Yamyeong reached out and removed the Ghostly Energy remaining on the floor.

 

While Karmic Fire was one thing, Ghostly Energy was still an undisclosed ability of his lord.

 

After going around the area and erasing traces that shouldn’t be revealed,

 

“I hear the Association has a classified document room. I should start by going there.”

 

I headed toward the Association headquarters.

 

***

 

The basement of the Association headquarters.

 

There were rumors that an ‘S-rank Artifact Storage’ existed there.

 

Some said there was a legendary sword,

All sorts of rumors circulated, but the reality was just a document room filled with papers.

 

The reason for the rumors was simple.

The reason the rumor spread was simple.

This was because unauthorized personnel could not access the underground document room.

In fact, it was only natural that employees who weren’t in charge of administration or document storage wouldn’t have access rights.

But there are always people everywhere who love to exaggerate rumors.

It was like one of those conspiracy theories floating around the internet about a time machine hidden beneath the Vatican.

So it wasn’t particularly difficult for Yamyeong to infiltrate the document room.

if it’s a place with adequate security measures that automatically gets treated as conspiracy theory no matter what rumors arise…

 

Wouldn’t this be the perfect place to hide secrets?

 

That cunning Association President wouldn’t just leave such a good location unused.

 

Yamyeong quietly reached his hand toward the bookshelf.

 

It was an empty bookshelf, but Yamyeong held a box in his hand.

 

Inside the box were a white robe and a document file.

 

It was a record of the Nokcheon Guild incident that had targeted Park Ju-yong and Shin In-seon.

 

Nokcheon’s raid leader had been assassinated before interrogation, but the guild members hadn’t been.

 

Yamyeong clicked his tongue as he quickly flipped through the documents.

 

“Tsk…”

 

[…Finally, memories were forcibly extracted through hypnosis and magic,

but the memory extracts from all 12 members were blank…]

 

That was the final record of the interrogation.

 

Given that only the raid leader was assassinated, I expected the rest would be small fry…

 

But this was excessively clean.

 

It was as if someone had artificially erased the person themselves.

 

Aside from the most basic personal information like names, addresses, and resident registration numbers, there were no records at all.

 

Core background information like their occupations, abilities, and when and how they joined Nokcheon Guild was completely empty.

 

As a final check, I unfolded the robe that came with the documents.

 

It was a robe made of ordinary white cloth.

 

A very ordinary robe with no magical treatment whatsoever.

 

“No significant findings here either.”

 

It seemed I’d need to change my tracking approach.

 

Just as I drew up ghostly energy to move—

 

“…?!”

 

A distinctive pattern began to appear on the white robe.

 

Yamyeong stopped his intended movement and quickly examined the pattern.

 

A pattern of a hammer and chisel crossed in an X shape.

A pattern of a hammer and chisel crossed in an X shape.

Below that, Japanese characters were carved.

“Yata…Garasu?”

The meaning of the pattern was unclear, but that Japanese word was pointing to Yamyeong’s next destination.

“It looks like I’ll have to go on a business trip.”

That was when it happened.

“Who are you…?!”

The female employee who entered the document room fainted immediately upon seeing the night cry.

Come to think of it, finding a monster with a long white beard in an empty document room would certainly be terrifying enough.

“Oh my…”

Yamyeong carefully propped the collapsed employee against the bookshelf, then left the document room.

 

Now I suspect there might be additional rumors about ghosts appearing in the underground document room.

 

***

 

“Still no news?”

 

I rested my chin on my hand and asked Dolsoe.

 

It had been several days without contact since Yamyeong left word that he was going to Japan.

 

“The last message was that he had arrived in Japan.”

 

“I see.”

 

I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes for a moment.

 

The office was filled with the sound of Han Jia and Kim Jin-woo’s keyboards today as well.

 

We had even established a new household goods company to export Sadangpae’s goblins worldwide,

because the idea Han Jia proposed had been a huge hit.

 

Selling products with traditional Korean designs, riding the wave of the Korean Wave.

 

It was the optimal condition for goblins to hide in.

 

Plus, they used a premium strategy?

 

Thanks to the expensive souvenir feel, there were even pre-orders coming in.

 

“Things are going well in reality, and things are going well in Golden Fragrance too.”

 

It was going so smoothly that I was actually anxious.

 

The calm before the storm, perhaps?

 

Just then, the smartphone I had placed on my desk rang.

 

‘Who could it be?’

 

The people who would typically call me were already right in front of me.

 

When I checked the screen, Association President Han Ki-cheol’s name was displayed.

 

‘Tsk, when this guy calls, it’s usually not particularly welcome news…’

 

With that suspicion, I answered the phone.

 

“Do you have time right now?”

 

Straight to the point without even a greeting.

 

“I’m not particularly busy.”

 

“Then can you come to the Association right now?”

 

“Going there isn’t a problem, but did something happen?”

 

According to the information I had received, there were no problems in Korea.

 

So what reason could this guy have for calling me so urgently?

 

‘Is he calling me somewhere again to have tea or something?’

 

But at the Association President’s answer, I shot up from my seat.

 

“An S-Rank Dungeon has appeared in Japan.”

 

***

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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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