Chapter 103 — Ten Minutes Before Causing Trouble
Kugugung! Crack! Krrrkkk—
It sounded as though the entire world was collapsing.
Something twisted and buckled with a horrible noise, while the lights overhead flickered nonstop before finally shattering.
Chunks of stone rained down from a ceiling so distant that it was hard to tell whether we were even beneath the sky anymore.
“You…! You crazy bastard! What the hell did you do?!”
A woman glared at me in disbelief, one hand gripping a pitch-black chain as she spat out curses.
The floor itself had cracked open, and the bright lights from the buildings below seeped through the gaps.
Thanks to that faint glow, I could barely make out half of her distorted expression.
“What’s wrong? Go ahead. Pull out the rest.”
Two chains had already been pulled free.
Only one remained.
Sitting in front of that final chain, I grinned as light reflected from somewhere far below and illuminated my face.
The woman holding the chain stared at me as though she had just witnessed something she should never have seen.
Then she dropped the chain and stepped backward.
And thus, once again...
I had successfully piled up another mountain of bad karma with someone somewhere.
“This is the place.”
Turning back the clock a little...
We were currently standing along the outer wall of the Black Market, the place the Village Chief had introduced to us.
We had arrived through a portal hidden inside an alleyway.
Jayeon didn’t have a proper pass, but perhaps she was simply treated as part of my baggage, because no one caused any trouble over it.
“Ohhh, so this is where Village Chief works?”
“U-Ugh... Father, I can’t feel any natural energy here at all...”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s okay~”
Jayeon trembled as she complained that she couldn’t sense even a trace of natural energy.
I gently patted her back to calm her down while looking over the place that apparently lacked anything remotely natural.
Beyond the window was an enormous district stretching so far that its end couldn’t even be seen.
Only countless lights were visible.
A massive outer wall surrounded that entire district, while we stood inside one of the passages built into the wall.
So this was the Black Market I had only heard about until now.
Just looking at it, the place definitely seemed very far removed from nature.
“Something about this feels... extremely dystopian.”
I tilted my head.
“Or maybe I should call it futuristic?”
There was already an alliance based around the modern era.
So I supposed it wouldn’t be too strange for a place based around the future to exist as well.
Honestly, the whole area looked like the setting of some cyberpunk game.
Maybe it really wasn’t that unusual.
Below us, on the eastern side, were the lower commercial district and the residential areas where its inhabitants lived.
Buildings were tangled together in such a complicated mess that it was impossible to understand the roads at a glance.
It looked like far too many people had been forced to cram themselves into a tiny space.
The entire district had been built in a chaotic, haphazard way.
Every now and then, neon signs flashed in the distance.
One of them even said Finance.
Yeah.
This place was definitely screwed.
“This side looks like a shantytown, but what’s that over there? Why are those buildings so tall? Was this city built on top of a hill or something?”
On the opposite side, far to the west, the scenery was completely different.
Unlike the eastern district, where even keeping the lights on seemed difficult, the western buildings glittered brilliantly with extravagant golden lights.
Apparently, that area contained the upper commercial district and the residential zone where the wealthy lived.
It was basically the perfect image of the rich getting richer while the poor got poorer.
I had already seen this sort of setting countless times in other media, so rather than feeling fresh or impressive, it almost felt like the standard textbook version of a dystopia.
“Normally, we would enter through a passage closer to the western district. However, since this is the first time both Ingwang-nim and Lucy-nim have visited, it seems the administrator became cautious and sent us somewhere far away so they could observe you.”
“Ohhh. Then that means Village Chief lives on the western side, right?”
“Hoho! That is all thanks to Ingwang-nim! That product sells so incredibly well that establishing myself here was surprisingly easy!”
That was good news.
Malangi’s Purified Water had already spread quite widely, so I had been thinking its price would eventually start falling.
But if Village Chief had already established himself in the western district, simply maintaining the current business would probably be more than enough.
What I had asked him to prepare was a large amount of information, money, manpower, weapons, and a suitable location.
It seemed all of those things could be obtained fairly easily in this place.
More than enough, actually.
Honestly, I feel like I’ve already seen everything worth seeing.
Sure, we had founded a company.
And apparently, that company had already grown into a major corporation.
But considering my entire life had once been spectacularly ruined by the chairman of a major corporation, even the word company itself made me uncomfortable.
And now I was being watched again.
My mood kept getting worse.
These guys and those guys...
Seriously.
It wasn’t like I could just rip everyone’s eyeballs out.
“In fact, Ingwang-nim, I was planning to tell you a little later, but there is something here that I believe may interest you.”
He sounded so proud of himself.
If I suddenly acted like some spoiled girl and went, Hmph! I’m not interested anymore! before leaving, that would be a little awkward.
There was no helping it.
I supposed I could stay with them a little longer.
“Wait. You’re a Hero now. Won’t it be troublesome if people recognize your face?”
“Ah.”
“You seriously... At least think about something like that before you start walking around.”
If necessary, I could probably use the shadow-manipulation ability I had awakened after becoming a Hero to hide myself.
But considering my entire appearance screamed, Hey, look at me!, that might not be enough.
“There is no need to worry. Many people here prefer not to reveal their identities. For that reason, the passes issued here contain recognition-interference magic. At the moment, it should be difficult for other people to properly recognize Ingwang-nim.”
So it was similar to whatever Jin and Dolphin used when they visited the café without anyone noticing them.
If it worked like that, then its performance was certainly trustworthy.
Still, I should probably disguise myself a little, just in case.
You never knew.
Someone might deliberately remove the recognition-interference magic on me just to cause trouble or find something they could use against me.
And even if I could hide myself...
What about Jayeon?
I couldn’t dismiss her summon.
There wasn’t exactly anywhere nearby where I could hide her, either.
“Even so, I think it would be better to cover my face as much as possible.”
“Hmm. In that case, I shall introduce you to a place I know. There is a tailor who specializes in custom suits. Fortunately, they run their shop inside this passage.”
“A suit! Is that the person who made those expensive-looking clothes you wore before?”
“Yes.”
Hmm!
If they had that level of skill, then I was definitely interested.
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind owning a cool suit like Village Chief’s.
Back in reality, I had never worn a proper expensive suit because they cost too much.
I couldn’t deny that somewhere deep inside me, I had always wanted one.
Maybe I could get one made here.
And if it turned out well, buying one in real life wouldn’t be such a bad idea either.
Seriously, I wished this game would hurry up and add a costume system.
I wanted to equip good-performance gear while using separate equipment just for appearances.
Every other game had something like that.
Why didn’t this one?!
“The tailor is very quick with their hands. You should not have to wait long.”
“Sounds good.”
Alright.
First...
Time to work.
I began embedding chains into the wall, just like I had done in Karantlia and inside the tower in the middle of the desert.
Recently, I had started enjoying this work quite a bit.
How should I describe it?
It felt like filling an entire bathtub with liquid slime and repeatedly plunging your hands deep inside it.
Strangely satisfying.
Besides...
Someone was watching me.
Why wouldn’t I do it?
“What kind of person is the administrator?”
“When one of the elders of the Black Market receives a recommendation and is granted authority to oversee the entire Black Market, that person becomes known as the administrator.”
“So basically, they’re a merchant?”
“That is generally the case. However, the elders of the Black Market are closer in nature to nobles or royalty, so I do not believe it would be accurate to define them simply as merchants. Even I have yet to obtain information regarding their identities.”
I see.
So even though Village Chief was fairly influential inside the Black Market, these people were powerful enough to completely hide their information even from someone like him.
Within this place, they possessed absolute authority.
Hmm.
That made them even more annoying.
They sounded like some combination of fanatics and Imperial nobles.
Basically, someone had gathered every kind of person I hated and mixed them together.
“When one becomes administrator, they gain the right to live in the penthouse attached to the ceiling of the Black Market. Over there. Can you see it?”
At the very top of the massive dome-shaped ceiling was an enormous residence.
It was far away, but even from here, its size was obvious.
If we went there in person, it might be as large as a small village.
“As far as I know, the current administrator is a woman, and she possesses combat power comparable to that of a Great Hero.”
“That sounds a little terrifying.”
“It’s fine. The difference between a Great Hero and someone who failed to become one is as vast as heaven and earth. Even someone said to be comparable to a Great Hero would still be weak before a genuine Great Hero.”
“...You’re sure it’s fine?”
I had only just become a Hero.
I was practically a baby Hero.
Didn’t that mean this administrator was still stronger than me?
Well...
Hearing that she was insignificant compared to an actual Great Hero did make me feel a little better.
After all, standing in front of a real Great Hero left you completely helpless.
“I have also heard rumors that she enjoys making wagers, though that is merely a rumor, so I cannot guarantee its accuracy.”
“A gambler, huh... I hope she really likes them.”
There were more shops inside the passage leading west than I had expected.
Because of that, installing the chains was slightly inconvenient.
Still, it was a new experience, so I didn’t mind too much.
It almost felt like walking through an underground shopping mall.
After wandering around for quite some time, we finally arrived at the shop Village Chief had mentioned.
