Chapter 33
The Blade Artisan's item had been listed at a general auction.
After that single post went up, Goblinfire was thrown into utter chaos.
[HOT] So the Blade Artisan's item really did go to a general auction, for real ㄷㄷㄷ
I just went into Gyeongseong Auction and checked it myself.
└ Kyaa…… the Blade Emperor's way of doing things is on another level, seriously.
└ Wow, is this real?
└ No, but is this even allowed? Isn't the Bureau going to crack down??
└ LOL what's not allowed about it? Even Juhwasa paintings get sold at auction, and retired cursed tools are always being listed as antiques anyway.
└ But if that's the case, why not just sell it overseas? Why even bother……??
└ For domestic cursed tools, don't you need Bureau approval to sell them overseas? It's treated as exporting spiritual assets.
└ Yeah, I heard if you get caught, the screening alone takes years.
What really drove people even crazier was the lot page itself.
[Lot 77. Unknown Maker, Blue Crystal Necklace]
[Date of Manufacture Unknown. History Unknown. Good Condition.]
That was all the description there was.
E-rank, huh. An appraisal certificate, huh.
Not a single line tried to prove the item's value.
Since it was an auction mostly seen by ordinary people, that was understandable in a way, but to those in the sorcery world, it carried a different meaning.
It was as if they had tossed the item that had shaken the entire sorcery world just days ago onto the market with the same casual dryness as dumping an unwanted thing at a neighborhood secondhand sale.
As if to say, if you know what it's worth, buy it yourself.
[Real man trait) Just slapped it onto a general auction without a second thought]
└ Kyaa, the Blade Emperor is insane.
└ He's posting it again for our dopamine, huh~
└ I can hear the clan bastards shaking with rage all the way over here lol
└ Manbogak: Can't sell it because verification is incomplete ^^
└ Blade Emperor: OK, then I'll sell it somewhere that doesn't need verification ^^
└ LMAO, that's the way.
Starting bid: 3 million won.
It took less than a day for the necklace's bid to hit 100 million won.
[Breaking] LOL Gyeongseong Auction site is down again
└ Ordinary people must be totally confused lol
└ For real, they'd probably think it got hit by a DDoS attack.
└ The staff must be losing their minds. Who knew a 3-million-won necklace would bring people swarming in from all over the country lol
There was a total uproar.
……But then.
[Question] Honestly, what kind of people are buying that? lol
No, I'm genuinely curious. What are they trusting to pay that much for it?
└ Wasn't it already judged to be fake? Manbogak said the verification was incomplete.
└ Yep, that's why they sell it only in places like that. If it were a proper item, why would they hide it in an antique auction?
└ If you buy it and open it up, what if it isn't even B-rank? They probably won't even refund you lol
└ For real lol
At first, I thought it was just ordinary hate comments.
There are always one or two buzzkills in any crowd.
But.
[Info] Honestly, I'll bet my entire fortune that if you open it up, it won't even be B-rank.
Do you think Manbogak delisted it for no reason? If it were really E-rank, they'd have just sold it there.
The commission they'd lose would be huge.
Isn't the fact that they labeled it 'verification incomplete' answer enough?
└ For real, agreed.
└ I think people are hyping up some nobody's item that came out of nowhere way too much.
└So how much is your entire fortune, then?
Similar posts began to appear, one by one.
Their tone and logic were all different.
Strangely, though, they always converged on the same conclusion.
That item is fake, and that guy is a fraud.
└ Wow, there've been a lot of posts like this these past few days lol Did someone hire paid posters or something?
└ Obviously it's those guys lol
└ Tsk, those clan bastards really know how to handle business ^^
[Chatter] Hm… but the firepower isn't building like I expected. Boring.
└ LOL who would burn hundreds of millions on something that didn't even get an E-rank appraisal?
└ 100% he'll go back to his own country once it's sold, for real.
└ It's so obvious he's just trying to make a killing and run.
No one knew who had started it in the first place.
Only, as those posts piled up one line at a time.
The fever that had risen so madly during the Manbogak days was somehow cooling off.
***
Clang. Clang―
“Damn…… what is this.”
Jin Mu-young, sprawled on the sofa and looking at his phone, suddenly twisted his face into a scowl.
In one hand was a half-eaten chicken drumstick.
“These clan bastards are unbelievable……! Brother, take a look at this! I’m telling you, this is definitely those bastards’ work!”
“…….”
I didn't know how many days he'd been at that already.
The moment he saw my item go up on the board and the auction begin, he got so excited he had been clocking in at the workshop every single day.
“……Hey. You're one of those clan bastards too, aren't you? Go home already. Shoo, shoo.”
“Aw, Brother! Why say such hurtful things again? It's been ages since I cut ties with the clan! How many times do I have to say it before you'll believe me! If you keep this up, I'll really be hurt!”
Even as he went on about how hurt he was, he didn't seem to have any intention of lifting his ass off the seat.
'…….'
I had learned enough over the past few days that kicking him out would be useless.
That guy's a dog.
He'd just come back wagging his tail before long, no matter how many times I shooed him away.
Jin Mu-young, with the chicken leg still in his mouth, thrust his phone screen toward me.
“Look at this! They're saying it's 'fake' and 'an item that hasn't even been verified,' just stirring up the waters! The same guys who were fawning over the Blade Emperor just yesterday, I tell you!”
Jin Mu-young, unable to contain his anger, shook the chicken leg around.
“They must have hired a bunch of shills somewhere! Otherwise, there's no way a perfectly normal board would flip like this overnight!”
Listening to his fuss, I set down my hammer.
I could roughly see the picture.
I already knew the clans wouldn't just sit by and do nothing.
Ever since I pulled the item down from Manbogak.
Once they could no longer stop it openly, it seemed they'd shifted to trying to sway public opinion.
“Brother, seeing that doesn't even make you angry? My blood is boiling just from this.”
“What's there to be angry about.”
Well, I had expected this to some degree.
I figured that once it had gained fame, it would probably sell even at a general auction.
But if you think about it, the ones buying that item would still be sorcerers.
So this kind of public-opinion warfare wasn't going to stop easily.
“……Let them do what they want.”
Clang―
I picked up my hammer again.
If I reacted to every word like that, I'd be the only one losing.
The lump of metal cooling in the furnace was a hundred times more important than those scraps of forum drivel.
No matter what trick the clans pulled.
The fact that the item was real wouldn't change.
In the end, someone would recognize it.
It was only a matter of time.
At any rate, once even one sold, it would be over.
After that, word would spread on its own.
In short, if I let that kind of thing keep me from hammering, I was the only one taking the loss.
“……As expected.”
Jin Mu-young suddenly murmured while gazing at me.
“Kyaa…….”
He let out a sound I couldn't tell was admiration or a sigh.
“So this is the measure of a big shot…….”
What was he going on about now?
***
At the same time.
The monthly joint meeting hall where the leadership of the Four Great Houses gathered.
As the major matters of interest distribution were being processed one by one, the meeting was nearing its end.
Rustle―
With the sound of papers turning, an elder set down his teacup.
“Ah, right.”
As if he had nearly forgotten, the elder casually began.
“So. How is that outside auction matter going?”
That item pulled out of Manbogak had flowed into the outside market within just a few days.
No one in this room was unaware of it.
“Rest assured.”
Another elder across from him responded leisurely.
“We have already sent word to each house and the merchant groups under them. There will be no one on our side bidding. Ordinary people wouldn't even know that thing is a cursed tool, so they won't be interested either.”
“I hear the rabble outside has been making quite a fuss on the board. Supposedly bids are pouring in.”
“As for Goblinfire…… we've already put a little work into that side.”
The elder stroked his teacup and smiled faintly.
“We arranged things so that talk like 'its authenticity is doubtful' and 'it's an item that hasn't even been verified' would naturally spread. Thanks to that, the fever that was rising like mad, just like back when it was at Manbogak, seems to have cooled off a bit.”
“The bids.”
“They're still hovering around the 100 million won mark, bouncing back and forth. Not even close to what it was during the Manbogak days.”
“Only that much.”
“Leave them be. The starting price was only 3 million won, wasn't it? It's just people who've never even laid eyes on an E-rank item in their lives excitedly tossing around pocket change. Once it rises a bit, they'll all tire themselves out and fall away. Who would buy an unverified item for that kind of money, anyway?”
A thin, nasty smile spread across the elder's lips.
“Once the bids stop like that, we'll just pick it up for a pittance.”
“Pick it up?”
Low chuckles leaked out from among the seated elders.
“We'll just have to look inside it slowly and see what it's made of.”
“What E-rank? When you open it up, it'll probably be nothing special. With a single line like, 'After verification, it turned out to be a crude B-rank item,' all that hype about the Blade Emperor and everything else will burst in one go.”
“Hmm.”
The elders nodded slowly.
“However…… the outside market is a place where our messages don't reach.”
A low, subdued voice came from the seat of honor.
“If by some chance some blind fool with money snatches it up, what then?”
“Then…… how about informing the Sorcery Administration Bureau?”
One elder leaned forward.
“On what grounds…?”
“I mean we should make them block the transaction itself. Say it's too dangerous to release cursed tools to the outside so carelessly.”
“That won't do!”
An immediate objection came from across the table.
It was a key executive of House Suzaku.
“Talismans and famous-painting cursed tools have been circulating outside for ages, have they not? Even House Suzaku itself lets how many such items out every year, do you know? If we suddenly make a fuss about this now, everyone gets dragged in together. Are you planning to burn down the whole house to kill a flea?”
“Come now, but this is supposed to be E-rank!”
“Officially, it's unverified.”
“…….”
“We made it that way ourselves.”
Han Ye-rin watched the scene silently, keeping her mouth shut.
'…….'
They'd overturned the board under the pretext of verification.
And the other side had gone and shifted to a board that didn't even need verification.
So that the very justification they had put forward would end up tying their own ankles.
The moment they tried to move the Bureau by claiming it was a high-risk cursed tool, wouldn't they be effectively asking for an appraisal with their own hands?
'……I don't know who put this together.'
This wasn't ordinary.
Right now those old geezers were all saying, 'It'll drop anyway' and 'We can just pick it up slowly later,' but.
For some reason, I kept getting a bad feeling that things weren't going to go so smoothly if they went on like this.
“……For now, let's keep watching.”
After a tedious war of words, someone spoke as if taking a step back.
“Everyone seems suspicious of it, so before the auction ends, we can quietly pick it up cheap. No need to stir up trouble.”
Just as the meeting was heading toward a conclusion.
Bzzzt.
Han Ye-rin's phone buzzed briefly.
She glanced at the screen discreetly under the table.
“…….”
And then.
“……It seems we're already too late.”
Han Ye-rin said as she set her phone down.
All eyes in the room turned to her at once.
“And what exactly does that mean?”
“Just now.”
She slowly opened her mouth.
“It was sold.”
***
[Breaking] Gyeongseong Auction Lot 77 has been sold
└ Kyaa. How much did it sell for?
└ 1 billion won.
└ ?????Wasn't it clearly stuck at 110 million until yesterday?
└ Ah, I was going to watch it a little longer. Why did it end so fast?
└ It was supposed to have plenty of time left before the deadline, but someone just slammed in the 1-billion-won buyout price and ended it right there lol
└ LOL they said it was fake, but it sold in the end.
└ 1 billion won? For something not even verified? Wow ㄷㄷ
[Question] But who bought that??
└ The buyer is private, though.
└ It can't be the clan bastards. I heard they sent out messages to all the clans telling them not to buy it.
└ Maybe some rich civilian collector bought it? There were a lot of bids, so I guess word got around.
└ Come on, no way. Not even a sorcerer?
└ Wow, but seriously, who bought it? Paying that much for something not even verified?
The buyer never showed themselves.
Neither their name nor identity.
Nothing was revealed.
After a few days passed like that, the once-scorching topic gradually began to die down.
The fact that an unverified item had sold for 1 billion won excited people for a brief moment, but.
Once the buyer refused to speak to the end, everyone eventually lost interest.
And so.
It was just around the time everyone thought Goblinfire would settle down again.
A post went up.
[Daily] Oh, did Noh Jin-hyeok come back to Korea?
It just went up on his own account.
(airport photo.jpg)
A photo taken while leaning crookedly against a suitcase.
Beneath it was a light, casual line.
―Back. Eating first.
└ Oh, you're back? Hi hi
└ I heard he had overseas schedules until the end of the year, but he came back surprisingly quickly?
└ I heard this time it was a request from some royal family in Dubai, so he probably raked in a fortune.
└ Kyaa, the emperor's return ㄷㄷㄷ The clan bastards are going to be on edge again.
Noh Jin-hyeok.
Born outside the clans. A special-grade sorcerer.
A monster who rose to the top ranks of the sorcery world on sheer overwhelming skill alone, having inherited not a drop of clan blood.
A man who called domestic requests boring and went around selecting only the big jobs from overseas heavyweights.
The Four Great Houses sent him love calls for nearly ten years, but he had never bowed his head even once.
―Why should I? You come under me.
The only person in this field who could say that in an interview and still walk away alive.
His skill was overwhelming, and his personality was arrogant beyond reason.
He was also a nutcase who poured all the astronomical money he made into collecting rare cursed tools.
And the cursed tools he bought like that, he always called them this.
Toy.
A man who didn't care about the clans, the association, or anyone else's opinion.
That's why people called him the Emperor.
And that night.
Ding―
A short video was uploaded to Noh Jin-hyeok's account.
The screen shook violently once.
With the rustling sound of someone getting into a car, the face of a grinning man came into view.
He held something up in front of the camera.
A necklace with a blue spirit stone like a moon embedded in its center.
And beneath the video, there was a short line of text.
―Snagged a new toy.
└ ……?
└ Wait.
└ No way, is that the one?
└ ?????
└ Noh Jin-hyeok bought this???
It took less than a minute for the board to explode again.
And not long after that.
Another post went up on the same account.
It was just one line.
―ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋThis is insane.