I Alone Resurrect Chapter 137
Black Market (3)
Choi Si-hyeon, one of the executives of the black market.
At 27 years old, she was the youngest among the executives and one of the few female executives.
This was only possible because of her outstanding abilities.
Due to the environment she grew up in, Choi Si-hyeon had no choice but to be close to crime, which ultimately made her a strong and tenacious capable person.
“Hmm? What’s this about?”
Choi Si-hyeon smiled at the phone ringing early in the morning.
Although the black market operates 24 hours a day, it’s rare to receive calls this early.
Even if that weren’t the case, given her elevated position now, she doesn’t usually receive direct calls unless it’s absolutely necessary.
The work is handled by Choi Si-hyeon’s subordinates, and she only receives the reports.
‘This is perfect timing, I was bored.’
Choi Si-hyeon answered the phone with a light heart.
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
-We received a call from a bar located on the outskirts of Seoul.
“Where exactly?”
-It’s the Villain Bar.
It was a place she had heard of before.
From her memory, it was a small bar operating on a small scale.
“So. Why did they call?”
-They said Kang Hyeon requested an entry pass.
“What?”
Choi Si-hyeon’s eyes widened for a moment.
“Kang Hyeon? The Kang Hyeon I know? From the Badass Guild?”
-Yes.
“What is that lunatic up to now…”
Kang Hyeon was a famous ability user, well-known even among ordinary people.
But his bizarre eccentricities and power were even more famous among ability users.
Especially those involved in crime.
‘When he single-handedly destroyed the Busan black market before, everyone was in an uproar.’
Kang Hyeon, with only three guild members, smashed the Busan black market, the second largest in the country.
Casualties. Property damage.
Overwhelming violence that didn’t care about any of it.
With just one incident, Kang Hyeon had become number one on the blacklist among those working outside the law.
‘What should I do…’
She knew a day like this would come eventually.
As the scale of the black market grew, she thought that Badass, the country’s top guild, would certainly take interest.
But she didn’t expect Kang Hyeon to come in person.
And she certainly didn’t anticipate that he would directly visit the branch she manages.
-What would you like us to do?
“Tell them to wait a moment. I’m going there myself.”
-You mean you’re going to meet Kang Hyeon in person…?
“Yes! What if we let him in and he causes trouble in our branch? That lunatic probably came without a guarantor, right?”
-Yes, he doesn’t have one.
“Haa…”
She hadn’t expected otherwise.
Choi Si-hyeon continued speaking while hurriedly getting dressed.
“I heard he likes beer, so bring out the expensive ones we’ve been saving. Don’t even think about charging him.”
-Understood.
“Oh, and tell them not to even dream of messing with the food!”
-Yes.
The moment a bartender goes crazy and puts poison in the drink, her branch is finished.
If Kang Hyeon were the type of ability user to die from poison, he would have probably died hundreds or thousands of times already.
‘Kang Hyeon is the kind of guy who drinks poison like it’s Porridge.’
She knew of at least three criminal organizations that had already met their end that way.
“What a mess to deal with first thing in the morning…”
***
Ippotranslation
***
“What kind of beer is this?”
“It’s Supplication. It’s quite a rare beer with not many places selling it domestically.”
Kang Hyeon, after examining the beer from various angles, downed it in one go.
The bartender winced, watching over 50,000 won disappear in 3 seconds.
“How is it?”
“It seems unnecessarily fancy but not that great. Never mind, just give me some domestic beer. Don’t you have Hite or Cass?”
“We do…”
The bartender, looking crestfallen, brought out a glass of draft beer.
“Ah! This is more like it.”
Just as Kang Hyeon was downing his fifth glass in succession:
-Ding-a-ling
The bell rang as the door to the Villain Bar opened.
“You’re here!”
The bartender’s expression brightened upon seeing the woman who entered.
Kang Hyeon, naturally turning his head, also made eye contact with the woman who entered.
“Who’s this?”
“This is the executive in charge of all entries to Seoul and Gyeonggi.”
“Looks like an important person has arrived.”
Choi Si-hyeon, removing her helmet decorated in vibrant colors, approached Kang Hyeon sitting at the bar.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Si-hyeon.”
“Guild leader of Badass Guild. I’m Kang Hyeon. From what I hear, you seem to be a high-ranking person, but what brings you here?”
“I came to personally inform you about the market, Kang Hyeon. I’ll be your guarantor.”
Kang Hyeon nodded at Choi Si-hyeon’s words.
Having received a brief explanation from the bartender earlier, Kang Hyeon knew what a guarantor was and why one was needed.
“There was no need for such a high-ranking person to come.”
“For the leader of the country’s top guild, this much is necessary.”
It was a flattering remark, but it didn’t feel unpleasant.
“Then shall we go right away? We’re both busy people, no need to waste time.”
“Sounds good.”
Kang Hyeon and Choi Si-hyeon immediately went up to the second floor of the bar.
When Choi Si-hyeon opened a door marked “No Entry Except Staff,” a peculiar device was revealed.
“This is a device that opens a portal to the black market.”
As Choi Si-hyeon fiddled with something, a blue portal quickly appeared.
“You can enter through here.”
“Oh ho. Isn’t this expensive?”
“It was a loss at first, but now the production cost has come down a lot. We can operate sufficiently with the entrance fees we collect from visitors.”
“There’s an entrance fee?”
“We won’t charge you, Kang Hyeon, so don’t worry.”
“That’s kind of you.”
Kang Hyeon grinned at Choi Si-hyeon’s words.
“Then, shall I go in first?”
“Yes.”
Kang Hyeon entered the portal without any hesitation.
Choi Si-hyeon, watching this, shook her head.
“What if it were a trap…”
Acting without even a hint of hesitation.
It’s an action that can’t be done without the confidence to back it up.
“I’ll need to be more careful.”
Vowing to absolutely prevent Kang Hyeon from causing any trouble, Choi Si-hyeon also entered the portal.
***
Ippotranslation
***
“Wow… This is nice.”
The inside of the portal was a completely new world.
The temperature was slightly warmer than Korea.
Under the blazing sun, an enormous crowd of people could be seen moving about.
[Today’s Magic Stone Exchange Rate]
There were giant electronic billboards everywhere, displaying the magic stone exchange rates for different countries.
“Please show your entry pass.”
A man standing in front of the portal approached Kang Hyeon.
“Entry pass?”
Just as Kang Hyeon was about to say he didn’t know about such a thing, Choi Si-hyeon, who had rushed over, held out something.
“Welcome. We hope you enjoy your visit.”
Seeing this, the man bowed politely, and Kang Hyeon and Si-hyeon were able to enter.
“Is this your first time at the black market?”
“Yes. It’s much larger in scale than I expected. I don’t think it was this big before.”
The “before” Kang Hyeon mentioned likely referred to the Busan black market he had destroyed.
“The black markets expelled from Korea have merged into one, and foreign capital has also flowed in. Now it’s one of the top ten black markets in the world.”
“An executive of a place like this. You must make good money?”
“Just… I make a decent living.”
Choi Si-hyeon said with an awkward smile.
“To briefly explain the rules, absolutely no disclosure of anything here to the outside. No photos or video recordings are allowed.”
In the early days, there were occasionally attention-seekers who broke the rules and posted photos and videos of the black market on social media.
Those running the black market used every means to delete those materials and punish the ability users who posted them.
After they all quietly disappeared.
Now, no one openly disclosed information about the black market.
“It’s also forbidden to ask about others’ information. Here, you can only buy and sell goods.”
“Sounds simple.”
“It goes without saying, but fighting is absolutely prohibited. If there’s a dispute, there’s an arena you can use.”
“There’s an arena?”
While the no-fighting rule made sense, the existence of an arena was unexpected.
“There are so many belligerent people here. When the arena is used, the time is announced, and we’ve set up a system where people can pay an entrance fee to watch.”
“Oh ho…”
“Even if it’s not for such incidents, there are also matches between people and monsters, so you might want to check it out if you’re interested.”
Eliminating risk factors while increasing revenue.
Although it’s an inhumane method, these people are far from the law anyway, so they probably don’t care about such things.
“Well, I need to get what I came for first. Where do they sell skills?”
“This way.”
Choi Si-hyeon guided the way in response to Kang Hyeon’s question.
Turning into an alley, they saw merchants displaying and selling all kinds of books.
“Wow, there’s a huge variety.”
“Is there something specific you’re looking for?”
“A magic field skill.”
“Hmm…”
If it was a magic field skill, it made sense why he came here.
Because so many people look for them for educational purposes, they disappear quickly even when they’re listed.
“Let’s look around. Just in case, I should mention that such things might be a bit more expensive than the usual market price.”
“I came prepared for that, so don’t worry about it.”
Kang Hyeon waved his hand as if to say not to worry.
Before long, Kang Hyeon was able to find a magic field skill.
Although it was about 30% more expensive than the market price he knew, Kang Hyeon bought it without complaint.
“It’s interesting that you can also purchase things with magic stones.”
“These days, magic stones are valuable everywhere. In fact, there are many dealers operating here to buy magic stones.”
Currently, the world trend was to prohibit the export of magic stones.
At the same time, efforts were being made to secure magic stones by any means, and the black market was an excellent purchasing method.
“In the past, there were dealers who made money from exchange rate differences, but now the prices have stabilized a lot, so dealers are used by people who want to buy magic stones in bulk, slightly cheaper than domestically.”
Kang Hyeon looked intrigued as he learned this new fact.
“Is there a reason to use the black market instead of the official exchange?”
“There are many reasons. The black market can be used by criminals who can’t reveal their identities, there are no transaction records, and you can buy and sell items with unclear origins.”
Government-operated exchanges prioritize transparency.
Because of this, quite a cumbersome paperwork process was required to trade items.
The black market had all of those processes omitted, so it was bound to be more convenient.
“More importantly, there’s no commission fee.”
“Oh ho, no commission? Then how do you make a living?”
“Entrance fees from people visiting this place, booth fees from people selling goods. Plus other income from places like the arena or gambling dens. Just that alone is an enormous amount.”
Indeed, with this level of foot traffic, it was clear that even just selling food would make a fortune.
“Anyway, it’s an interesting place. I should use it often.”
“Pardon…?”
“I’ll drop by occasionally, so please take care of me in the future.”
Choi Si-hyeon nodded with a grim expression at Kang Hyeon’s words.
‘Sigh, this is going to be troublesome.’
It couldn’t be helped.
She couldn’t deal with Kang Hyeon by force, and it was better for her to manage him directly than to let him cause trouble.
“So, is your business here done for today?”
“Yes. I originally came to buy the magic field skill book and do some sightseeing while I was at it. I was thinking of looking around at some equipment too… But for now, I have something I need to do.”
Kang Hyeon wanted to quickly test and study the magic field skill.
He could come back with guild members next time to purchase equipment.
“Then let’s head out right away.”
Choi Si-hyeon let out a sigh of relief.
‘Thank goodness. It ended without any incidents.’
She finished the black market tour with Kang Hyeon without any problems.
After talking to him directly, Kang Hyeon seemed quite normal, unlike the rumors.
‘He’s not particularly aggressive, and he’s easy to talk to. Not bad?’
Thinking that he might unexpectedly become a good customer, Choi Si-hyeon was walking when suddenly:
“What’s this now?”
Kang Hyeon’s voice suddenly rang out.
Turning around, she saw Kang Hyeon surrounded by about a dozen men.
‘Those stupid bastards…’
Choi Si-hyeon clenched her fist as she recognized the familiar men.
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