“Oh! So this is where the SS rank appraiser is?”
From the outside, the shop looked like a nondescript pawnshop. Lee Gun was having a good time looking at the contents of the shabby workshop as high-quality items were on display here.
<Butcher> Rank S
- A translucent wire that never breaks. It extends a maximum distance of 500m.
<Oil that eats monsters' blood> Rank S
- It never dries up. The more blood it drinks, the thicker it becomes!
- Permanent increase in durability and strength.
The items were much better than those in the nearby big stores. However...
‘Why is it so expensive!’
Five ml of that oil cost several hundred thousand dollars.
‘At these prices, weapons are out of the question! I won’t even be able to buy a stack of clothing!’
From what Lee Gun had heard, it seemed the quality of items was guaranteed. However, the store ruthlessly overcharged Saints for their items. This was why Chun Sungjae came only here to sell his items.
‘Still, it will be a waste to return empty-handed.’ Lee Gun thought that if he used the items here, he could make a decent weapon. He forlornly looked at the items when someone spoke up.
“Are you sure it's a good idea to introduce him to the owner of the store?" The guard, who had accompanied them, grabbed Chun Sungjae. All the disciples under the Gemini were magicians. This man in his twenties specialized in strength-based magic. “This is a VIP store that the General regularly visits. Most disciples can only wish to meet this appraiser.”
“Why? What’s the problem?”Chun Sungjae sounded apathetic.
It seemed the guard was feeling more and more uneasy after meeting Lee Gun. “He poured salt in the wound of the phone seller when he left. Why did the phone seller give a token to him?”
“The phone seller was probably a crooked dealer. It's obvious that Hyung turned the table on the phone seller,” Chun Sungjae replied.
“The holy items he is trying to sell are odd too! I’m pretty sure I saw an item that the Wealth Saint was supposed to list in this auction.”
“That's probably a coincidence. It should be a common item,” Chun Sungjae again tried to explain.
“What about the badge he has! I saw a badge for the Libra and the troublesome Leo! The rest are our badges! I’ve never seen him in our temple!”
“…” Even the great Chun Sungjae could no longer shield Lee Gun. ‘Of all the people to steal from, he picked a general of the Libra temple.’
Soon, the guard asked a question with a serious expression, “He stole those badges. Are you sure we shouldn’t report him? He looks like a fob. There is a high probability that he's a swindler. Why do you want to take him to our temple? Our general will get angry if you do...”
Chun Sungjae was dumbfounded. It was the general who had ordered him to bring that man in. In the end, Chun Sungjae ignored the guard and headed toward the store's reception area. However, there was one small problem.
I’m sorry! We are swamped with commissions. We are closed!
Please return after a week!”
Chun Sungjae was in a bit of a bind as he looked at the CLOSED sign. “Shit! I can’t believe it's closed.”
The guard clicked his tongue as if he had expected this. “Of course, they are. They are swamped with work. A lot of people are trying to raise extra money for this auction. Even the Saintess will be participating in the Lee Gun auction. This will be the most competitive auction so far.”
“!” The one to open his eyes in surprise was none other than Lee Gun. He didn’t know what the Saintess looked like, so she was secondary to the other news.
“Lee Gun auction?” Lee Gun wondered why his name would show up here, but Chun Sungjae acted as if it was nothing special.
“Lee Gun-nim’s holy item will be put up for auction. I thought Hyung was here for that.”
Lee Gun hadn’t come here for that reason. He had been wondering why he kept hearing his name from various places. Now, he knew the reason. He asked, “Which item is being put up for auction?”
“I’m not sure. According to the rumor, a whale put that item up for auction. Many are assuming one of the twelve Saints might be behind it.”
“It doesn’t matter what comes out! The item will be extremely expensive!” The guard butted in.
[Hwahng Young]
Awakened Name: [One who doesn’t yield after being hit]
Attribute: Resilience! Doesn’t fall after being repeatedly hit. The body becomes harder the more it is hit.
- Skill possessed by One who doesn’t yield after being hit
[Imposing S rank (Gemini)]
[Roly-poly A rank (Gemini)]
[Appearance Change A rank (Gemini)]
The guard continued, “It was said that Lee Gun’s equipment was created by constructs. Also, everyone is saying Lee Gun has returned. It's a bedlam out there. There’s so much interest in him that any rental magic related to Lee Gun has been sold out. My Appearance Change spell was especially popular.”
'This bastard is the reason why there are so many Lee Gun wannabes.' Lee Gun clenched his fists.
The oblivious guard laughed. “If I’m being honest, Lee Gun’s charisma was on another level. Even if his face was like that, his voice was crafty. I have to watch old footage to make my spell, and I’m always impressed by what I see.”
“Oh, really?” Lee Gun’s fists relaxed a little bit.
“However, that doesn’t really matter. He makes me money—
"Ahk!”
The guard screamed when he received a hit from Lee Gun. “Kuh, kuhk! Why are you hitting me!”
“Give me money for using my likeness, you bastard.”
The guard gave up after being ruthlessly beaten.
“Ok. I’ll give you my token for the auction! Stop!” The guard had tried to have a good opinion of the man since Chun Sungjae was trying to scout him. However, it seemed this man was a lunatic. 'I should've picked up on it when the crying phone seller begged him to leave.'
Since he had acquired a token, Lee Gun was about to stop beating the guard. Suddenly...
[You have acquired data]
[You have acquired Saint’s EXP]
“!!” Lee Gun’s eyes turned round as he continued beating up the guard. He hadn’t expected his EXP to increase. ‘Does the EXP increase depending on the rank?’
To be precise, he had no idea what exactly triggered the increase in EXP. However, a big smile appeared on his face nonetheless.
Puhk puhk puhk!
Data and EXP continued to pour out as he continued to hit the guard. It might be because the guard was resilient, but he could take a beating. In the beginning, Lee Gun’s eyes had been filled with anger, but enjoyment gradually replaced that.
All this frightened the guard. “I get it! I get it! I’ll give you one more token!” He tossed the expensive teleport token to save his life.
“The Saints will be participating in the auction.”
“!!”
Chun Sungjae surreptitiously spoke up. “That's why if you plan on participating in the auction, you should change your name. You might incite anger amongst the Saints if you claim that you are Lee Gun-nim.”
Chun Sungjae was just warning him, but Lee Gun’s eyes flashed in anger. It was to be expected.
‘It seems I won’t have to go to the stores directly owned by the 12 Saints.’ That was right. Lee Gun had planned on kidnapping generals to lure the twelve Saints out of their holy grounds.
He had heard that high-rank disciples frequented the stores owned by their respective Saints. However, the Saints were coming to the auction on their own.
‘I don’t have to waste energy. I just have to head toward the auction house.’ Lee Gun laughed.
He favorably looked at Chun Sungjae, who had saved him from doing unnecessary work. However, that wasn’t the only reason his opinion of Chun Sungjae had risen.
“I’ll try to get the highest price for Hyung’s item. I can probably sell it for five times the market value.”
Lee Gun laughed. “You don’t have to overdo it like that. This store is temporarily closed.”
“You fixed my weapon. Also, you won’t be able to buy Lee Gun-nim’s miscellaneous items with so little money!”
It seemed there was a big misunderstanding, but Lee Gun didn’t elaborate. ‘If I reveal my identity, I think he’ll run away.’
Chun Sungjae was doing all the annoying tasks for him.
The guard pounded at his chest with rage when he saw Chun Sungjae’s love for Lee Gun. “Phew! If it wasn’t for his fanaticism for Lee Gun, he would already be at the SS rank.”
“Why would being a Lee Gun fan matter?”
“What do you mean why?! His faith toward the Gemini god is a fat zero percent!”
“Ah!” Lee Gun had heard about this from Hugo. Disciples brought EXP to the Gods, and they awakened when the Saints blessed them. The blessing allowed them to develop their skills. The problem was loyalty. Basically, one needed faith for all of this to happen.
‘The power gap between awakened beings develops in that process.’
In other words, the more loyal one was to one’s god, the more one had a chance to develop a variety of skills. If one received support from one's temple, there could be an explosive growth in power.
If a person had zero faith toward their god, it meant the god basically ignored them. That person was fortunate that their god hadn't disowned them.
“The general was flabbergasted. Even civilians have a faith value of fifty percent. He wondered why this young man even bothered to enter the Gemini temple!”
It was a joke, but someone would wonder if Chun Sungjae held a grudge against the Gemini because of his zero faith. He was somehow hanging on using only his own talent, but his ceiling was Rank A.
“His achievement puts him in the top three, yet he's ignored. It isn’t easy to become rank A without the support of one’s god.” The guard clicked his tongue. “Anyway, both siblings are oddballs. Sungjae’s noona is a Lee Gun fan too. She's beautiful and talented enough to be an S rank disciple.”
“Is that so? Who is it?”
“You don't know? She’s very famous. Anyway, I don’t know why they are obsessed with Lee Gun instead of their affiliated gods. I heard their father hated them being fans of Lee Gun, so he almost kicked them out of his house. It's said their father threw away all of their Lee Gun figurines.” The guard found the situation so regrettable that he cussed out the blameless Lee Gun. “If it wasn’t for Lee Gun...”
Even Lee Gun felt sad by what he heard. He looked toward Chun Sungjae. “Hey, Is his faith that bad because of his fandom of me?”
“The connection hasn't been proved, but there’s no other explanation for it...!” The amped-up guard suddenly went silent. He tilted his head in puzzlement. “Fandom of me?”
* * *
At that moment, Chun Sungjae was very flustered. He had awakened a sleeping SS rank appraiser, so he overlooked the fact of being hit with the appraiser’s slipper. However, the issue was Lee Gun’s holy items, which Chun Sungjae had come to sell in his stead.
“You brought very good items for a rookie. Even if you poorly negotiate, you can get hundreds of thousands of dollars for it. What if I give you a million dollars for it?”
“One million?” Chun Sungjae’s mouth fell open.
That amount meant a billion Won. None of his items from before had received such a high valuation before. 'Where the hell did this item come from? Did he really steal this item from the Wealth Saint?’
“It seems you're doing well, kid. I heard your temple takes a cut as soon as you deposit anything. It seems you're making a lot of money.”
“Ah, no. This isn’t my item,” Chun Sungjae explained.
“Ah! You're selling it for someone? Is that it?”
“No. I have one more. It's the most important one.” Chun Sungjae brought out the wooden doll Lee Gun had made. “This is it.”
The middle-aged appraiser smirked a bit as he pushed up his glasses. “What the hell? This is a no-brand. Did an amateur make this?”
The appraiser looked over the wooden doll. “Haha! I can’t give you a lot for this. At most, no-brand items are priced 500 dollars. I’ll give it to you in Korean currency of 500 thousand won.”
Chun Sungjae scratched his cheek. He felt bad for his hyung, but he had expected this. If a product in question wasn't made by the Manufacture Saint, it wouldn’t sell for a high price. Of course, Lee Gun hadn’t expected much either. He would be satisfied if he got enough to order several rotisserie chickens later.
However...
“Hey, Sungjae,” the appraiser looked at him.
“I know, ahjussi. However, you know that I’ve done a lot of business here. Can you give an additional 300...” Chun Sungjae tried to bargain.
“Who made this?”
“What?”
“Where’s the person who made this!” The appraiser was reacting oddly. He was shaking.
* * *
“Fandom of me?” For a brief moment, the guard thought he had heard wrong. He looked at Lee Gun. “What do you mean by—”
Suddenly...
“Hyung!” Chun Sungjae, who had gone to meet the appraiser, hurried out of the store.
“You came back really quick. Was he willing to buy it for a lot of money?”
“No. I got a good valuation, but that’s not the problem.”
“?” The guard was shocked when he saw the estimation sheet brought out by Chun Sungjae.
Chun Sungjae, “Hyung, you said I will only be able to get enough to buy a couple of rotisserie chickens for the wooden doll, right?”
“At the very least, it should be worth $400. The phone salesman was an appraiser, and he said it wasn’t worth enough to buy a single phone. Do you think I should've sold it to him?”
“No!” Chun Sungjae still couldn’t forget the SS-rank appraiser’s reaction.
This appraiser was a veteran, who was never surprised no matter which holy item was placed in front of him. Famous Users and Saints used his service. Yet, his expression had drastically changed when he had seen that handmade wooden doll.
“Please follow me for now.”
Lee Gun followed Chun Sungjae into the store.
On the other hand, the appraiser was pacing back and forth after he had sent Chun Sungjae out. He cleared the food that he had been about to eat and silently stared at the wooden doll with a serious expression.
‘I’m sure of it.’
He wished Chun Sungjae would hurry back.
Bul-kuhk!
“I brought the maker, ahjussi.”
The appraiser shot up to his feet. However, it didn’t take long for his expression to change. “…!”
Chun Sungjae had brought a young man with him. At most, the young man looked like a recent high school graduate. This surprised the appraiser.
In contrast, Lee Gun let out a bitter laugh. “What? How much are you going to cut the price of my item?”
“No. This...”
When the appraiser brought up the wooden doll, Lee Gun furrowed his brows. “What about it?”
“Did you really make it?”
Chun Sungjae had an odd look in his eyes as he stared at the appraiser. He had no idea why the ahjussi was acting this way.
Lee Gun laughed. “Why? Is there some reason I shouldn’t have made it?”
“No.” The appraiser was in disbelief after he saw Lee Gun.
He hesitated for a bit, then asked, “Do you perhaps have a connection to Lee Gun-nim?”
“I do.”
“!”
The one to reply next was Chun Sungjae. “He is a fraud.”
The guard was flustered as he looked between Chun Sungjae and Lee Gun. Chun Sungjae was apathetic. ‘I can understand why ahjussi would ask that.’
Chun Sungjae knew the other man with him was a maker, and it seemed he had created an exact copy of Lee Gun’s holy item.
“I know the confusion you're going through, ahjussi. However, my father said he isn't...”
“Jeez! Get out of here for now!”
“???”
The angry appraiser kicked Chun Sungjae and the guard out of the store. He knew Chun Sungjae’s father was the Archer Saint, but Saints were nothing in his eyes. In the end, only Lee Gun and the appraiser were left within the workspace.
The appraiser grabbed Lee Gun with trembling hands. “I’m being serious when I’m asking you this question. What is your relationship to Lee Gun-nim?”
“Why?”
“Lee Gun-nim gained his fame as a fighter, so most people don’t know this. However, he was a Maker who made his own equipment and holy items.” The appraiser brought up the wooden doll and continued, “This sculpture was sculpted through the same method Lee Gun-nim used… I’ve seen countless copycats before, but this is...”
Lee Gun laughed out loud. This man was an SS rank appraiser, who the Saints treasured. He had been curious to meet the man, and it seemed the appraiser was better than he had expected.
“Then there are the patterns on the sculpture. It's the exact same pattern as that on the Lee Gun-nim’s holy item that is being put up for auction today!”
“!” Lee Gun’s eyes turned round. 'If it has the same pattern... Ah! That one is coming up for auction?’
He had acquired a pretty valuable piece of information. It seemed his reaction made the appraiser feel anxious. “How do you know a pattern that hasn’t been revealed to the public...”
Lee Gun thought for a brief moment. If he revealed some information about himself, would he be able to increase the valuation of his item? ‘I also have to ask him about the blade that was thrown at me.’
Lee Gun asked for more information. “It seems you're well-informed about Lee Gun. How are you so knowledgeable?”
“I have no choice but to know him well.”
“Ah! You're an appraiser. Did you appraise his items?”
The appraiser whispered his next words. “This is for only your ears. I’m actually Lee Gun-nim’s disciple.”
“…?”
'What?'
'Who’s the disciple of whom'?
