You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 85
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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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85
Why was it so?
The air in the laboratory was strangely heavy.
Between the cold metal walls, faint mana lines writhed and flowed along the surfaces.
The Professor was humming while connecting terminals and wires.
Creaking mechanical sounds and rustling noises.
In rhythm with those sounds, Lee Seo’s consciousness slowly rose to the surface.
“…!”
Lee Seo, having regained consciousness, tried to sit up.
But she couldn’t.
Before she knew it, her hands and feet were bound by cold restraint devices.
She looked around.
Next to her was a massive, faded Magic Stone.
Lines extending from its center were embedded in various parts of Lee Seo’s arms, neck, and legs.
She remembered coming to the laboratory to help with the Professor’s experiment.
But her memory was cut off after that.
She had lost consciousness and when she came to, she found herself placed on an experiment table.
This was like…
‘Was I the test subject?’
As she realized the truth, Lee Seo’s heart began beating frantically.
“Are you awake?”
The Professor approached with a gentle expression.
“What is all this?”
The Professor took a sip of coffee.
“What else would it be? Preparations for today’s experiment.”
The Professor’s voice was as steady as when giving lectures.
“Why… why are you doing this?”
Lee Seo’s voice cracked.
Her chest felt tight.
She wanted to tear out all the wires stuck in her arms.
But the restraint devices around her wrists were made of steel.
They were too solid for a second-year middle school student to break.
“Professor, this isn’t an experiment. This is—”
“It is an experiment.”
He cut her off.
“Why do you think I would keep a defective product who can’t even use a single spell in the Magic Tower?”
Defective product. Those words settled coldly in Lee Seo’s chest.
“…You were the one who recommended me, Professor.”
“You are a child blessed with mana.”
He set down his coffee cup.
The cup chimed lightly against the metal table.
“And it’s not ordinary mana either. It’s mana specialized for Space-Time Magic.”
Lee Seo’s eyes widened at the Professor’s words.
‘He knew?’
That Lee Seo had a large amount of mana,
and that her mana was specialized for space-time,
the Professor had known from the beginning.
No, because he knew, he had kept her in the Magic Tower despite the opposition and concerns of others.
“You knew from the start. You deliberately isolated me knowing this?”
The Professor didn’t answer.
“Why… go to such lengths.”
She couldn’t understand the Professor’s actions.
For what purpose had he extended such meticulously malicious hands?
“Why think so hard about it? Just think of it as a sacrifice.”
“A sacrifice…?”
It was absurd.
For whom, for what was she supposed to sacrifice herself?
“Your mana is specialized in Space-Time Magic. Warp, Teleport, those kinds of High-Level Magic.”
He began explaining like a professor answering a student’s question.
“When carving the two Magic Circles, your mana shows incomparable efficiency.”
“What does that have to do with sacrifice?”
“Of course it’s related. What do you think would happen if we could do rocket delivery worldwide?”
The professor’s voice grew increasingly excited.
“Not just daily life, but trade too? Aviation, transportation, even national defense.”
The professor paused to catch his breath, then slowly opened his mouth.
“Your mana has the potential to commercialize all of that.”
Though nicely packaged, there was greed within those smooth words.
If all those technologies were developed, whose pocket would the usage fees go into?
“It’s about money, isn’t it?”
“That’s part of it.”
He no longer bothered to hide it.
“Still, if you think of it as sacrifice for humanity’s advancement, wouldn’t that be good for both of us?”
The professor’s hand moved toward a button on the panel.
“Wait—”
“So accept it humbly.”
Before Lee Seo could finish speaking, the professor pressed the button.
The wires embedded in Lee Seo’s body began absorbing her mana.
At the same time, the faded Magic Stones began slowly recovering their light.
But perhaps the total amount of mana the professor had estimated was insufficient?
Sirens began blaring throughout the entire laboratory.
“Wh-what is this?”
Lee Seo began gradually losing strength.
As the mana that had filled her body suddenly drained away, dizziness overwhelmed her.
Through her blurred vision, she could hear the professor’s panicked voice.
This was actually better.
Rather than being trapped and used as a mana power plant, she should blow everything up.
The moment that thought occurred, even the mana settled deep within Lee Seo began to fluctuate.
Once the floodgates opened, she could no longer easily control it.
No, she had no intention of controlling it.
As her consciousness slowly faded, one regret remained.
She had finally found her proper place…
She had finally become able to use the magic she had so desperately wanted…
‘Mister.’
That Half-Unemployed Uncle from yesterday came to mind.
Of all things to think of in her final moment, it wasn’t even her parents but that uncle.
Just as her last remaining consciousness was about to fade.
BOOM—! With a thunderous roar, the Research Lab door exploded.
And Blue Flames filled the entire Research Lab.
A person walked out from within those flames.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Where’s our Youngest!”
With that shout, Lee Seo lost consciousness.
***
I rested my chin on my hand and tapped the table.
It wasn’t like I had any particular purpose.
I was just sitting there doing nothing, which made me feel awkward for no reason.
In front of me were various breads, more diverse than yesterday.
And in front of that was a contract placed in a document envelope.
‘Why isn’t she coming…?’
The appointed time was almost here, but Yoon Yi-seo was nowhere to be seen.
I prepared the bread more diversely than yesterday too.
Moreover, I had issued a cafe entry ban to all guild members.
Word must have spread, as there were people possessed by uncle and aunt spirits who got a niece, even trying to take annual leave.
‘What niece when they’ve never even seen her…’
From labor laws to guardian consent, Jin-woo had already finished handling everything.
It was a situation where we just needed to check the contents and stamp the seal to finish cleanly.
Yoon Yi-seo would bring her seal, and I would bring the grimoire.
Yesterday I asked Shin In-seon to prepare a personal training room exclusively for mages, though it was actually exclusive for Yoon Yi-seo…
Anyway, I had everything ready, and now I’m being stood up…?
Well, at least she was considerate enough to text me in the morning.
She said she would just assist with the professor’s experiment as a final flourish at the Magic Tower and come right over.
So I leisurely pushed back our appointment time by an hour.
“Even so, an hour has passed without a single text…”
‘Wait, is the professor Yoon Yi-seo mentioned the same guy who wrote her recommendation letter?’
Suddenly, a line from Sadangpae’s report I read yesterday flashed through my mind.
– The professor appears to have approached her knowing about her mana characteristics from the beginning.
“This is starting to smell suspicious.”
“Huh? But I showered this morning.”
Kim Jin-woo, who was eating bread beside me, felt unnecessarily guilty.
I stood up from my seat.
“Sadangpae.”
At my words, the fork Jin-woo was holding transformed into a goblin.
“Find out the location of that professor’s laboratory. And Jin-woo.”
“Yes, Elder Brother.”
“Contact the Magic Tower Master.”
“Understood… Huh?”
“It seems like our youngest has run into trouble.”
She’s the youngest (in truth), but anyway.
I quickly gave orders and followed the Sadangpae goblin outside the building.
***
Once I arrived somewhat nearby, I no longer needed guidance.
The dense concentration of mana I could feel from afar was telling me that was the place.
‘Tch, I was hoping there wouldn’t be any problems.’
That was definitely Yoon Yi-seo’s mana.
“Tower Master, the situation is urgent so I’m going ahead first.”
“What? Wait a moment—”
Without even listening to the Magic Tower Master’s response, I exploded my Karmic Fire.
I could see the laboratory door.
The door had various sealing and protective spells layered on it.
But so what.
I didn’t stop and increased the density of my Karmic Fire even more.
And just like that, bang! I smashed the door with Karmic Fire.
The inside of the research lab was an even bigger mess.
Mana with incomparably denser concentration than outside filled the interior.
And in front of that, I could see the professor suffocating from the mana.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Where’s our youngest!”
I moved in an instant and grabbed him by the collar.
He only gasped and wheezed, giving no response.
“Tsk…”
I wanted to just save Lee Seo and blow him up along with everything else, but I exercised patience.
I threw the professor down on the floor and pulled out the pocket watch from my pocket.
It was the first price I received from the god for using Lee Seo’s grimoire.
When I turned the pocket watch, the situation in the research lab rewound as if going backwards.
When the wires embedded in Lee Seo’s body fell away, I stopped my hand.
The research lab was instantly restored to its original state.
After landing a punch to the face of the professor trying to escape, I approached my employee.
“Getting a seal stamped on a contract is damn difficult.”
With that, I pulled out the Bacchus I had brought in my pocket.
***
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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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