Chapter 16
Thursday morning.
The second basement floor of the Hall of Justice, where Yun Jeongseop’s lecture, ‘Understanding Crime Scenes and Superpowered Investigation Techniques,’ was held.
Unlike the tactical training grounds, this underground facility within the building had crime scenes perfectly recreated in each section. As an Investigation Training Ground where the Investigation Division’s practical classes—reinterpreting various criminal tricks and utilizing standardized investigation techniques—took place, it was also lined with corpses that looked so real one might wonder if they were actually dead.
“I heard he latched onto Lee Eunho again this time.”
“Seeing how he gets caught up in incidents wherever he goes, maybe his whole life is just unlucky.”
I had woken up at dawn to exercise in the Hall of Endurance and arrived at the training ground early with no sense of time, so I was receiving uncomfortable stares from the investigation cadets.
“Well, Do Minyeong, who hangs around him all the time, ended up in that state too.”
“Maybe being within a 1-meter radius of him brings bad luck.”
“You believe in superstitions at your age?”
“You know, it’s better not to do things you’re told not to do……”
They were really having a field day.
I put on a nonchalant expression and leaned my back against the facility wall, waiting for Yun Jeongseop to arrive.
Thanks to my increased agility stat, I could hear even the smallest whispers, but there was no need to be swayed by words spoken without knowing the full story of the incident.
Well, it was not as if my reputation would change even if they knew the full story, but from the perspective of someone who had been transmigrated, this position was not so bad.
Not having to meet others’ expectations meant that I could go off track as I pleased for the sake of the episodes.
“If there are no expectations, there’s no harm in causing disappointment.”
A little later, as the class time approached, Do Minyeong, whom I had thought would be absent, showed up at the Investigation Training Ground.
Consequently, a silence fell over the once noisy scene.
Everyone’s eyes were on Do Minyeong.
If it had been a normal classroom, she would have sat in the front row with her characteristic haughty expression, but…….
For some reason, she came over to my side, where I was leaning against the wall, and naturally leaned her back against it as well.
“…….”
“…….”
She stood next to me, drawing all the attention in the training ground, yet said nothing.
Shouldn’t one usually offer a perfunctory greeting like ‘hello’?
Especially in a drowsy morning class.
The surroundings became noisy again.
The topic was me and Do Minyeong.
Naturally, nothing good was being said.
If I was being ostracized by the division, Do Minyeong gave the impression of not forming friendships on her own, to the point that I wondered if she would end up in the same boat as me.
I parted my lips to offer a thoughtless greeting.
However, Do Minyeong’s voice came first.
“Thanks.”
She spoke without even looking to the side.
I was so taken aback that I turned to look at Do Minyeong, but her expression was as calm as usual.
It was just that…… she was blinking excessively.
I soon shifted my gaze to Yun Jeongseop entering the training ground and replied softly.
“Uh, well, ……you’re welcome.”
***
In the evening, after all the classes had ended.
I was leaving the building after eating at the Grand Pistachio when I was suddenly faced with a question.
“So you eat at this time?”
I quickly turned my head to see Lee Eunho, his hair still not dry from his workout, pushed back to reveal his handsome forehead.
“Ah, yeah.”
He had been acting noticeably more friendly since he found out I had the Demonic Eye.
They say there is nothing that brings people closer than sharing a secret.
It made me want to visit the Bureau of Superpowers right away and report my Demonic Eye.
“I guess I should have come a little earlier.”
“Why?”
“It’s already been two weeks since the semester started, but we’ve never eaten together.”
“That’s because our divisions are different. Besides……”
“Besides?”
Because I think I’d get indigestion eating with you.
“Our class schedules are different, too. Especially on days like today when we only have major lectures.”
“Right, I guess it can’t be helped.”
Soon, Lee Eunho’s followers appeared in the lobby.
If there was one characteristic of his followers, it was that they were all female cadets.
If Gong Minwu was revered by the male cadets, Lee Eunho enjoyed considerable popularity among the female cadets.
He was truly a possessor of personal virtue, someone who did not need to scheme in human relationships.
A typical academy protagonist.
His only flaw was that he received jealousy and envy for being too perfect.
Lee Eunho was instantly surrounded by the cadets and gave me an awkward smile.
At the same time, he moved his lips, signaling to see me at the Mystery Club meeting tomorrow.
I turned my back as if to ignore him and left the building.
“Other than the club activity on Friday, I don’t want to get involved with him.”
Protagonist or not, my personality was structurally incompatible with that type of person.
The so-called popular kids.
Those who were always at the center of a group.
Among them, especially when facing Lee Eunho, it was hard to feel a sense of kinship as a human being.
You know how they say that perfect symmetry can sometimes be uncomfortable?
It was exactly that feeling.
Lee Eunho, who lacked the flaw of regression, was a perfect human image that could not exist in reality.
“Ha, what a joke.”
I let out a self-deprecating sigh and walked towards the dormitory.
The first floor of the dormitory building, the package room.
The items I had ordered last weekend had arrived.
“They’re so slow. I guess the procedures were complicated because they’re items.”
I tagged my smartwatch to the locker to unlock the security, took them to my dorm, and checked the contents one by one.
Clothes to wear when going out.
A brand-new smartphone to replace my clunky laptop.
And various relief supplies for emergencies, and bath products purely for washing…….
They were standard items needed for living alone, all purchased by converting points.
“Thanks to that, my points are all gone, though.”
I organized my things, putting as many necessary items as I could into my inventory.
Finally, I plopped down on the sofa and unboxed the smartphone with the Hyeonseong mark on it.
The smartphone had been activated in advance with the order.
I had also linked the savings and stock accounts I opened online last weekend.
Originally, opening an account in Seoul was quite difficult.
However, the absolute status of being a Hero Preparatory School cadet made it possible.
Not only that, but I also obtained an ID that allowed me to enter the auction house run by the ‘Production Guild,’ where production awakeners belonged, just like the ‘Hunter Association’ where hunters belonged.
This was a part where even I, the original author, had been half in doubt about whether the screening would pass.
“I guess I was lucky.”
The Production Guild’s directly managed auction-exclusive site, ‘Mammoth Market.’
An online market that used the symbolism of being the last giant animal on Earth before the Great Rift opened.
All members of the market were top 1% awakeners.
Even if one became a member after passing the screening, there were many cases where they were dropped from membership every year depending on their transaction records.
“A borderline member like me will probably be dropped from the records the moment I’m expelled from the school.”
As long as I did not get involved in any serious trouble, I did not have to worry about expulsion.
I just had to meet the desired transaction record at the market.
I took out the MA6 from my inventory as planned.
When I scanned the shape of the MA6 with my smartphone, a hologram copy of the MA6 floated in the air.
“Wow, future technology……”
When I touched the light form with my hand, even simple information that someone had registered was added.
Like the item’s specifications and description.
In this way, scanned items could be registered on the market.
One could also make an identical fake and scan it, but since there was no factor as important as identity in the world of awakeners, it was extremely rare for someone to commit what was essentially social suicide.
Most importantly, if one could not prove the authenticity of the item during a transaction, they would be immediately sanctioned by the market.
Since the 1% awakener distribution included guild masters, high-ranking officials from Dispel, and key figures from groups like Park Cheolyeong, if one tried to pull a fast one, there was a high probability of facing direct consequences before the market’s sanctions.
“If I’m found out to be a fake, I’ll be buried in the awakener world.”
Mammoth Market was basically an anonymous system that used IDs.
The nickname I applied for was ‘Phantom Thief.’
As long as I did not violate the market’s policies and rules, even the guild master could not look up a member’s information, so the nickname did not matter.
As long as it was not ‘Witch’ or ‘Demonic Being,’ of course.
“Then, the starting bid will be the minimum unit of 1 million won, and the deadline will be the maximum period of 15 days……”
I registered the item with a simple setup.
A registration fee of 100,000 won.
The sales commission was a whopping 45% because I had no transaction record.
It was a figure that could make one wake up in the middle of the night and have a seizure, but it could not be helped since I had no record at all.
I could only hope that the MA6 would sell at a high price.
I turned off the smartphone screen and put the MA6 into my inventory.
The moment I turned on the TV to check the news, my smartwatch vibrated.
-Investigation Instructor Yun Jeongseop: Approval for entry to the library’s restricted area has been granted. It takes effect from midnight. The period is 7 days. The Bureau is paying attention to this facility, so be especially careful.
The favor I had asked for in the infirmary hallway yesterday.
As expected, he was sharp when it came to getting things done.
“He’s quite useful.”
***
A living room with the lights turned off a little early.
A unique atmosphere with several hologram screens floating in the air, emitting various colors of light.
Cha Yeri’s modulated voice let out a burst of irritation.
“No, why are you going in there! Are you determined to ruin the game?”
─I’m sorry, Master. I heard footsteps…….
“You crazy bastard! There’s a sniper, a sniper!”
─Ack!
[System] ‘SniperMaster (Party Player)’ has died.
“No! Ah! Seriously!”
Two hands operating the mouse and keyboard without rest.
Eyes moving quickly, not settling in one place.
And a fat can of soda that had gone flat after one sip, and a convenience store lunchbox bought for dinner that had not even been unwrapped…….
The reason she was so engrossed in the game was because of the clan battle that took place every Thursday night.
[System] ‘AnswerOrThrow (Party Player)’ has died.
“Nooo! You crazy bastards!”
─Didn’t Master’s high tone just now sound like a girl’s voice?
─Huh? Me too. For a moment, I thought you were a girl.
“Stop talking nonsense and just move, you bastards! Why would a girl play this game!”
[System] ‘4th Scholastic District Sheriff (Player)’ has killed 97 people in a row!
And so, an hour passed.
Cha Yeri finally achieved victory and exited the game session.
“Haa…… I finally won.”
Exhausted, Cha Yeri took off her headset and buried herself in the plush sofa.
She muttered as she stared blankly at the hologram screen.
“It really is fun……”
Some people said they got stressed while playing games, but for her, gaming was the best escape.
A quiet sanctuary where she could be freed from the cage of being a fourth-generation chaebol heiress, steeped in all sorts of formalities and etiquette.
“……Should I play just one more game.”
Buried in the sofa, Cha Yeri picked up her headset again.
But at that moment, a text message arrived on her smartphone, which she had left somewhere.
“Hmm?”
The smartphone was on the floor by the table.
Muttering, ‘When did it fall,’ she picked it up, and the message content popped out of the screen.
-Assistant Kim Songi: Miss, the item is finally on the market. (link: mammothmarket_items_MA6) Shall I place a bid?
“……Crazy.”
It seemed this was no time to be playing games.