The "Underground Exchange" wasn't a hidden cave or a smoky basement. It was a high-end pawn shop in Gangnam, masquerading as a luxury watch boutique. To the public, it sold Rolexes; to the Awakened, it bought things that didn't officially exist.
Joo-won entered, his hood pulled low. The chime of the door was the only sound in the plush, carpeted room. Behind the counter sat a man known only as Old Man Han, an unranked appraiser who had survived the first Gates by being more useful than he was dangerous.
"I'm not buying D-Rank goblin ears today, kid," the old man said without looking up from a mechanical chronometer. "Go to the Association for your pocket change."
Joo-won didn't speak. He reached into his bag and slammed a heavy, dented breastplate onto the glass counter. Beside it, he laid out four high-quality mana stones and a cracked, but still humming, caster's staff.
The old man's loupe fell from his eye. He recognized the crest on the armor. "This... this belongs to Park Sang-ho. He's a C-Rank Tank. He was supposed to be in Guro-gu today."
"He had an accident," Joo-won said flatly. "I'm the beneficiary."
The Unnatural Decay
Old Man Han picked up the breastplate. He wasn't just checking the metal; he was checking the mana residue. As he ran his fingers over the chest piece, he froze.
The metal wasn't just dented from a golem's fist. It was pitted. Small, microscopic holes riddled the steel, as if it had been submerged in acid for a decade—except the leather straps were perfectly intact.
"The Golem did this?" the old man whispered.
"The environment was harsh," Joo-won replied.
The old man squinted. He had a specialized appraisal skill: [Trace Analysis]. Usually, it showed him the element of the attack—Fire, Ice, Physical. But as he looked at the breastplate, the "color" of the residue was a hue he had never seen. It wasn't green like poison. It was a void-like grey. It felt... absolute.
"There's no mana signature here," the old man muttered, his hands trembling slightly. "It's like the energy itself was erased by a disease. Who did you say cleared this dungeon?"
"I said I was the only survivor," Joo-won leaned in, his voice dropping to a cold, razor-thin edge. "Are you an appraiser or a detective, Han? If it's the latter, I'll take my business to the docks. I hear the triads don't ask about rust."
The old man swallowed hard. In the underworld, curiosity was a terminal illness. "3.5 million Won. Cash. No paper trail."
"4.5 million," Joo-won countered. "The mana stones are Grade 4. You'll make that back just on the mana dust."
"4 million. That's my limit."
"Done."
The Hidden Progress
As the old man counted out the stacks of bills, Joo-won felt a hum in his mind.
[System Notification]
Task Completed: First Liquidated Asset.
Reward: +100 Exp.
Hidden Condition Met: "The Greed of the Survivor."
New Feature Unlocked: [The Black Market Interface]
Joo-won's eyes widened slightly. A new icon appeared in his peripheral vision. He clicked it.
[Black Market Interface] Current Points: 400 Items Available:
[Mask of the Nameless (Rank C)] - Hides Level and Class from appraisers below Rank B. (Cost: 1,000 Points)
[Formula: Soul-Binding Plague] - A disease that binds the victim's soul to the user upon death. (Cost: 5,000 Points)
[Skill Reset Voucher (One-Time)] (Cost: 10,000 Points)
Joo-won tucked the cash into his jacket. He didn't feel rich; he felt underfunded. 4 million Won was a drop in the ocean for what he needed. To become the strongest, he couldn't just wait for diseases to kill monsters. He needed to cultivate his power.
The Next Target
As he walked out of the shop, he checked his government app. The "Investigation Division" had sent a mass alert.
[Notice] Guro-gu Sub-Station Dungeon has been flagged for 'Irregularity.' Survival rate: 20%. Investigation pending. All Class-D survivors must report to the Association for questioning by 09:00 tomorrow.
Joo-won deleted the alert. He had twelve hours.
"They'll use a truth-detecting skill," he reasoned, walking toward a 24-hour internet cafe. "I can't lie to a B-Rank Investigator. But I don't have to lie if I'm not there."
He sat down at a terminal and searched for "Unregistered Gates." These were dungeons that appeared in the wild but hadn't been cordoned off by the government yet. Dangerous, illegal, and—most importantly—100% tax-free.
"If I reach Level 10 before dawn," he whispered, "I can unlock my first Curse Slot."
He found a lead: A "Bug" in a construction site in Incheon. People were disappearing, and the government was too busy with the Guro-gu incident to notice.
He stood up, his stomach growling. He ignored it. He bought a single bottle of water and headed for the subway.
The slow crawl to 10,000 chapters had just finished its first step.