You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 6

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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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6

 

 

I suddenly had 1.5 billion won.

 

It was like receiving first-place lottery winnings after taxes.

 

Normally, buying a house and car would be typical, but that’s far from my reality.

 

1.5 billion won isn’t even enough to buy a Seoul Apartment.

 

I never even had such thoughts to begin with.

 

A Seoul Apartment for someone in my situation…

 

The first thing I did was pay rent in advance.

 

Six months’ worth. I don’t have to worry about housing for a while.

 

Next, I paid for Han Jia’s Academy fees and textbook costs.

 

Finally, I stopped by Mother’s Hospital and settled all the overdue hospitalization and treatment fees.

 

After that, about a third of the original money remained.

 

Though nearly 500 million won was left in my account, it was nowhere near enough for life-sustaining treatment for magic stone disease.

 

“Is that everything?”

 

I put down my Smartphone and slowly looked up at the sky.

 

The dark clouds blocking my path had cleared, and the scattered sunlight felt strangely warm.

Even the smell of city air seemed less bothersome today.

It felt like I could breathe a little easier.

 

It wasn’t just because I had money.

My days of barely surviving while clinging to futile hope now had a clear goal.

The hope that someday I could change even this reality through Golden Township.

Today, I took the first step.

 

‘I can do this.’

 

I put my Smartphone in my pocket and stood up.

For the first time in a while, my mind felt at ease.

 

‘This much should be fine for taking it easy for a day.’

 

***

 

On my way home, I bought a Laptop and Tablet.

 

These were devices that all students have these days.

 

My Younger Sister didn’t show it, but she probably wanted them deep down.

 

However, my original plan for dinner out completely fell through.

 

Chicken is better than eating out, apparently?

 

“Is it good?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

My Younger Sister was calmly massacring the Chicken.

 

She’s definitely my sister – her adaptability is incredible.

 

“Don’t you think you should ask something?”

 

“Hmm… not really?”

 

“Aren’t you curious where this money suddenly came from? Things like that?”

 

“You must have worked hard.”

 

Han Jia answered casually and immediately reached for the next chicken leg.

 

…Right. I did work hard. I really worked myself to death.

 

I was speechless at such an obvious answer.

 

“Ah!”

 

Then, as if something occurred to her, she pushed the bone-only chicken leg away with her lips.

 

“Are you quitting being a porter and doing Hunter work?”

 

She seemed to think that for a miser like me to spend money like this, I’d need to at least be doing Hunter work.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Isn’t that too much of a stretch for F-rank?”

 

“I had a Re-Awakening.”

 

I reached for the Chicken but stopped.

After looking at the devastated table for a moment, I changed direction to the Pickled Radish instead of chicken.

 

“Then… you’re at least E-rank now, right? It’d be unfair if you stayed the same after Re-Awakening.”

 

I smiled and shook my head slightly.

 

“Well… probably similar?”

 

I’m working hard to climb up. Well, wouldn’t it be similar?

 

“Are you completely quitting being a porter and working as a Hunter?”

 

“That’s how it’ll be. Considering our house pig’s food expenses, porter work alone isn’t enough.”

 

“What are you saying.”

 

Younger Sister pretended to swing a chicken leg.

 

“Still…”

 

Then she opened her mouth with a slightly serious expression.

 

“Don’t do anything too dangerous.”

 

“… We’ll see.”

 

At my answer, she bit her lips for a moment, then nodded.

 

Dinner ended only after we finished a whole chicken and a pizza.

 

After nagging Younger Sister to digest her food before lying down, I entered my room.

 

Without turning on the lights, I quietly sat in my chair.

 

‘Hunter…’

 

I quietly looked at my smartphone.

 

[Member Information]

Member Grade: Bronze

– Current Benefits: Golden Fragrance M

– Points increase when selling items, winning auctions, and acquiring gold.

 

With my gaze fixed on the Golden Township screen, I repeated to myself.

 

‘Escaping Bronze is the starting point.’

 

***

 

Sunlight occasionally shone through the densely grown trees.

They’re all mangrove trees.

I didn’t know they could grow that large…

 

“Phew… I should finish this quickly.”

 

Catching my breath, I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand.

 

Around me lay scattered corpses of green-skinned dwarves.

Goblins, F-rank monsters.

 

I was currently inside the Swamp Goblin Village.

 

Though F-rank, it’s a dungeon not recommended for F-rank Hunter subjugation requests.

 

The most unpopular place among dungeons.

 

Living up to its reputation, moldy air enveloped me as soon as I entered.

Just breathing made me feel like my lungs were rotting.

 

The environment is the worst, and there’s no money in it either.

Apart from the Association’s subjugation commission, there’s no way to profit from byproducts.

What would anyone use goblin ears for?

 

They’re only taken for subjugation verification.

 

The moment I bent down to cut off the goblin’s ear—

Swish!

A rusty dagger flew out from among the corpses.

 

I reflexively ducked my head.

The blade grazed the top of my head and embedded in a tree behind me.

 

“Tsk, this is why it’s an avoided dungeon.”

 

A goblin popped out from under the corpses.

 

Seeing the goblin, my hand reacted first.

I gripped the dagger at my waist and immediately stabbed it in.

 

“Kieeek!”

 

The goblin died instantly with the dagger embedded in its neck.

 

Goblins are weak.

They’re such pathetic creatures that alone they can’t even catch a single slime.

 

Yet the reason the Association recommends E-rank or higher entry to this dungeon is…

because goblins are the only intelligent beings among F-rank monsters.

 

Above all— their hunting method is disgusting.

 

They use dead kin as bait.

And they consider it natural.

To survive, to win, they’ll do anything.

 

Why did I come to a place crawling with those bastards?

 

If it weren’t for the stats I newly purchased, I wouldn’t have come either.

 

The E-rank stat ‘Sixth Sense’ I bought from Golden Township.

 

An invisible presence.

No sound, no movement…

Yet there’s a feeling of momentary threat approaching from somewhere.

That feeling makes my hands, feet, and reflexes move first.

The dagger from earlier was like that too.

To be precise, I didn’t see it but felt it.

 

A real-time danger detection radar.

 

This is definitely a useful ability.

 

It’s just that adapting to it isn’t easy.

 

***

 

After collecting the ears from the goblin corpse, I moved deeper into the village.

 

Though calling it a village,

it’s just structures made of a few huts and some planks thrown together.

 

The problem is that traps lurk between them.

 

Thud.

 

A stone under my foot shifted slightly.

That momentary sensation ran up my spine.

 

‘Upper left.’

 

Sixth Sense told me the direction.

 

I reflexively bent my waist, and a spear grazed my shoulder as it flew past.

I rolled and hid behind a rock.

 

Click.

 

Right after hearing the mechanical sound—

 

Swish, swish, swish!

 

Dozens of arrows poured down.

 

Leaning against the secluded rock, I waited until the arrow rain ended.

 

Spears, arrows, and traps. Crude but lethal.

 

What’s most troublesome is that the patterns aren’t simple.

 

Hit and run, luring, ambush.

 

Goblins stick to their characteristic guerrilla warfare tactics.

 

The terrain was also extremely disadvantageous for humans.

Movement is restricted in the swampland, but for goblins it was the optimal environment to hide their bodies.

Mangrove trees, mud, humidity, mold… all of it.

 

By the time you try to counterattack, they’re already gone.

 

They gradually gnaw away at their prey like that.

 

Eventually your feet end up heading in the direction they’ve guided you.

The problem is it’s obvious what’s at the end of that path.

 

‘There’ll be traps packed densely everywhere.’

 

It’s obvious what the goblins are aiming for.

 

‘If they’re luring with traps…’

 

I just need to use that first myself.

 

I actually threw my body toward the trap field the goblins were guiding me to.

 

The Sixth Sense stat helped me find direction.

Red lines overlapped above my vision.

What I could see with my eyes was clearly just ground, but—

 

‘Those are trap markers.’

 

I jumped, subtly avoiding the red boundary lines.

The momentary sense of crisis naturally twisted my body.

One step, one step, precisely.

 

At the same time, I concentrated on my fingertips.

 

The other E-rank stat I bought from Golden Township, Mana.

 

People say the distinction between pros and amateurs is determined by mana, but…

 

I had no idea how to use it at all.

 

All I could do was let mana flow from my fingertips.

 

It was literally that.

 

Releasing mana didn’t produce magic, nor did it create sword energy on the dagger.

 

Literally, all it did was emit pretty smoke.

 

Still, I had learned that mana was definitely dangerous.

 

Densely concentrated mana could explode from even a small shock…

 

Believing only in that one textbook phrase, I ran while scattering mana on the ground.

 

Over traps, over spears, over ground laid with mines—

 

When the traps didn’t activate despite me passing over them, the goblins began chasing me with suspicious looks.

 

That was exactly what I was aiming for.

 

When they entered the area I had laid out, I threw the dagger I was holding onto the mana fallout.

 

At the same time, I fled the spot with all my strength.

 

KWAAAAANG!

 

An ear-splitting explosion rushed from behind me.

A strong shockwave struck the back of my neck.

 

Dirt, trap fragments, and goblin remains scattered in all directions.

 

In an instant, a large Empty Lot formed in the middle of the Swampland.

 

On top of it, flesh from what used to be goblins was spread everywhere.

 

“Tsk… I can’t even take proof of the subjugation.”

 

Forget ears, there wasn’t even any flesh left intact.

 

Just as I was about to turn around reluctantly— my vision shook.

 

“Urgh…!”

 

My stomach churned.

My vision blurred and my consciousness floated away.

 

It was mana depletion symptoms.

 

Experiencing mana depletion that I’d only seen in textbooks…

What a thing to witness after living so long.

 

My stomach was completely empty, yet it kept writhing as if telling me to vomit something.

 

‘This is why… you shouldn’t carelessly use Stats you don’t understand.’

 

At the same time— my consciousness flickered.

 

***

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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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