Chapter 169 (1/2)

Chapter 169 – Black Market Fourteenth Shopping (4)

Sungjin looked around the area where the shop owner disappeared.

“What… What happened?”

Besgoro muttered,

‘He… vanished?’

Sungjin actually got up and began to examine the area where the shop owner had been sitting. There was no sign of his presence at all; the shop owner had disappeared without a trace. Sungjin crossed his arms as he stared at the empty spot where the shop owner had been.

“Just…”

However, as he was crossing his arms, something touched his elbow. It was the empty bottle of elixir from which he had just drunk. Sungjin picked up and inspected the empty bottle. The shop owner had bidden farewell as if it were permanent instead of a temporary separation.

Considering his characteristics of ‘not telling everything, but being true with what he does say’, the man was most definitely gone forever. As if blaming the already disappeared shop owner, Sungjin said,

“But then… where am I supposed to use my Black Coins now…”

For the past few chapters, he had used all of his Black Coins in purchasing elixirs, but now that the shop owner was gone he could no longer buy more elixirs. He now had nowhere else to spend his Black Coins.

“Shit… He does whatever he wants until the end.”

Sungjin kicked the chair that the shop owner had sat in. Besgoro whispered in his ear afterwards.

‘Well, there’s that at least.’

“What is?”

‘That you changed all of your white coins into Holy Water of Baptism.’

“Hrm…”

‘If you didn’t do that much, then you wouldn’t have been able to increase your number of allies.’

Sungjin briefly looked at the empty chair before he said,

“… That’s true.”

Afterwards, he left the place. On the way back to Ninety Nine Nights, Sungjin reflected on the words that the shop owner had said.

“I’m a being that exists to convey ‘will’. I’ve accomplished my duty as of today, so I can no longer exist here.”

“You already had the determination, and now you obtained the power. It’s time for the story to end.”

“I’m just saying that all requirements have been met.”

Most of what the shop owner had said had been difficult to understand. But of the things he had said, Sungjin did understand one thing; this was what the shop owner had said while pointing to Sungjin’s earring.

‘When you have to choose one thing, choose that. The truth is always precious.’

Sungjin held his hand to his ear.

‘But… why this?’

He touched the earring and said,

“Unequip”

Soon the purple light of the gem embedded in the earring caught his gaze. The sleepy looking half closed eyes inside of the gem was looking back at him. In some angles, it looked like it was somewhat drowsy, and in others, it looked like it was glaring sharply at him.

‘This… what was its name?’

Sungjin held the earring above his head. Soon, the Operator’s information window popped up and he read the name of the earring again.

“Trite… Eye of Jeremiah…”

Leaving that aside, Sungjin was incredibly curious about what the shop owner had meant by, ‘when you have to choose one thing’.

‘When will it be the time for that? He’s not someone who would say things lightly…’

For now, Sungjin re-equipped the earring by saying,

“Equip.”

Afterwards, he walked on the road to Ninety Nine Nights. But along the way, Sungjin suddenly had an idea and he turned and headed towards Kargos’s Smithy; he was curious about how the work from yesterday was progressing.

Kargos’s smithy was as bright as the middle of the day despite being so early in the morning. The glow of hot molten steel shone from the furnace, and there were fireworks ceaselessly rising from the anvil and hammer. What was unique was that there were several dwarves similar to Kargos that were gathered at the smithy.

‘Aahh, he did say he was going to call his relatives, didn’t he? One, two, three, four…’

Sungjin gave up counting them when the number exceeded seven. This was because their appearance was so similar to the point that it was like attempting to solve a puzzle. They were still concentrating on their work even when Sungjin came close by.

It was as if Sungjin had become an invisible ghost. Sungjin watched them work with his arms crossed. After a while, Kargos saw Sungjin and raised his hand,

“Hullo, there! Commissioner.”

Sungjin almost didn’t recognize him. This was because Kargos’s face had been turned completely black and there were several places on his beard that had been burned away. Also, since he had been mixed amongst his relatives that looked like him, Sungjin had mistaken him for someone else.

“Ah… Hello, Kargos.”

Sungjin approached him and asked,

“How is it? Is it going well?”

The smith’s eyes glowed like a drunk man,

“Everything is going well since my cousins and I are putting our soul into crafting it. Now, take a look.”

He gestured Sungjin to look inside of the furnace. Sungjin tried to look as directed, but just the act of trying to take a peek inside caused Sungjin’s face to be blasted with immense scorching heat. But he forced himself to look inside anyway in spite of the heat.

There was something resembling a mesh filter placed below it, but something placed on top of it was giving off a radiant blue glow. Sungjin stared at it attentively for about three seconds when,

“… Hrm?”

he came to realize that the shining light was just like the form of a shining star. He endured the scorching flames threatening to melt his face and asked Kargos,

“Kargos, that gem.”

“Hrm?”

“Are you crafting it into the shape of a star?”

“No, no. That gem… I can’t explain it, but I can’t change its shape however I want.”

“Then?”

“It chooses its shape by itself.”

Sungjin asked in surprise,

“What?”

“I also couldn’t believe it the first time I read the ancient notes left behind by blacksmiths of old. However, now that I see, the legends were true. That gem, it’s as if… it originally was in that shape.”

It seemed that the gem was made of some sort of shape memory alloy, though it was likely that Kargos did not know what it was.