Episode 171 Black Market (1)
I remembered a conversation I had with Kwak Seung-jae a while ago.
– I heard you’re dating senior Dang Gyu-young.
– We are close, but we are not dating.
– I heard that you spend a lot of time together.
– Because we are a mentor and a mentee.
And the look that Kwak Seung-jae is giving me now seems to contain the question, ‘Are you still going to deny it?’
The misunderstanding is growing, and Song Cheon-hye seems to be in a similar situation. Judging from the slight blush on her face, she seems to be writing a romance novel in her head.
Han So-mi is just smiling brightly as if everything is fine.
‘We’re really not dating.’
I decided to exercise my right to remain silent because I felt like explaining the situation wouldn’t clear up the misunderstanding.
As he continued to receive her gaze without saying anything, Kwak Seung-jae turned his attention back to Dang Gyu-yeong.
“I’ve heard that the two of you are quite close, but I didn’t know that you would spend so much time together in a busy area.”
“We’re kind of close.”
“Can I ask what you were doing?”
“I was just wandering around, wondering if I could do something bad with him.”
How did she take it? Song Cheon-hye covered her mouth with her hand and started whispering quickly with Han So-mi.
Dang Gyu-yeong put his hand on my shoulder and smiled playfully.
I think I hear someone saying, “What is a ‘bad thing’?”
Dang Gyu-yeong asked back.
“What about you?”
“They are still immature in many ways, so I am taking them around and teaching them. I also patrol the downtown area.”
“Yeah, it looks like that. You guys are working hard.”
Kwak Seung-jae bowed his head slightly.
“I hope you have a good time too, senior.”
“What’s wrong with Seungjae? He said all these nice things to me.”
“I see your relationship positively.”
“I see? Thank you.”
As Kwak Seung-jae was about to take a step forward, Song Cheon-hye stepped forward and asked,
“Excuse me for a moment.”
In her hand she held a terminal with a glowing crystal orb embedded in it.
An item that functions similarly to the Ban Wave, a red warning light will turn on when it detects that the target is holding a prohibited item or storing it in their inventory.
It means that they will conduct a security check.
Since both Dang Gyu-young and I usually do a lot of suspicious things, there is a possibility that we still have banned items.
Dang Gyu-yeong shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
“Or so.”
Song Cheon-hye held the terminal over to us two one by one with a nervous look on her face.
– Woof—
However, the crystal ball only became slightly brighter, and there was no change in color at all.
‘We’re not that sloppy.’
Of course you couldn’t have expected a security check.
Dang Gyu-yeong left behind all the forbidden items, and I mastered the [Hyeon-eum-ok-ma-ji] skill book as soon as I got it.
So there was no way anything could come out.
Song Cheon-hye stepped back, looking a little embarrassed, then immediately controlled her expression and bowed politely.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Yeah, thanks for your hard work.”
Kwak Seung-jae, who had been watching, walked forward without saying a word, and Song Cheon-hye followed him, glancing in this direction.
Han So-mi also waved her hands cheerfully and joined them.
As he watched the three leaders disappear into the crowd, Dang Gyu-yeong opened his mouth.
“Seungjae backed off early today. He usually bothers me more.”
“I guess you don’t want to bother me. And… … .”
“Did you notice it too?”
I could feel his gaze on me a little before Kwak Seung-jae approached me.
It seems like the leadership is trying to monitor Dang Gyu-yeong.
As the leader of the thieves’ club, he is a key figure in charge of the black market.
Kwak Seung-jae’s disappearance after a few words may have been an attempt to let our guard down.
They were assumed to be the leaders, and they were hiding their presence with stealth skills no less than those of any thief, but there was something they did not know.
The eyes of the thieves’ club are planted all over the downtown area.
Dang Gyu-yeong contacted the control tower.
“Dabin, can you see us?”
– Yes, I can see it.
“I think we’re being followed. Can you please check the 4 o’clock direction?”
– wait a minute.
Not long after, Cha Da-bin’s report came back.
– Yes, there are leaders. One for the third grade and one for the second grade.
“As expected, there it is.”
– Should I contact other people?
“No. We’ll figure it out between us. Thank you.”
After we hung up, Dang Gyu-yeong and I looked at each other for a moment and nodded at the same time.
“Let’s go.”
“It’s fried.”
And immediately started running.
The leadership team seemed quite embarrassed, and their surprised expressions were transmitted all the way here.
How did you find out when you were watching from so far away?
But as if he thought he couldn’t miss it, he also picked up speed and chased after it.
We ran quickly against the crowd like salmon swimming against the current and entered an alley between the buildings.
As I continue to run down the alley, I glance up to check the height of the buildings.
“Jump up.”
“Up? That’s a bit high.”
“Trust me.”
“Okay, give it a try.”
“Just jump in.”
We immediately held hands and kicked the ground.
– Boom!
Then, he cast the Windforce he had prepared in advance and floated up high, landing on the roof of the building.
The next moment, the two leaders entered the alley.
“… … .”
They look around and spread their wings, but they don’t notice at all that we are looking down from the rooftop.
It’s a rather tall building to jump up to, so I can’t think that far, and it’s even more so because Dang Gyu-yeong is using shadow magic to hide my presence.
One of the leaders who had been searching a little longer clicked his tongue quietly.
“Tch.”
And then, as if giving up on the chase, he left the alley.
“Wind magic is useful in times like this.”
“It’s not all bad.”
“Yeah, you’re the bad one.”
Dang Gyu-young poked my cheek.
I said with one cheek slumped.
“I guess they’re starting to move on that side too.”
“huh.”
The fact that the vanguard has begun to blatantly spy on us means that their main target has shifted from maintaining order in the downtown area to the black market.
And before we get to the precipitation, we mark the main characters.
So now the most urgent task is to figure out which of the two is stronger.
When Dang Gyu-yeong contacted the control tower again, Chae Da-bin asked.
– Did you ignore me?
“Yeah, is there anything special?”
– I was going to tell you this. It seems like Exchange B has been discovered. The atmosphere around C is also not good.
Next, Cha Da-bin shares a few screens.
The leaders were shown on each screen, and they were all gradually closing in on Exchange B.
But even after seeing that, Dang Gyu-yeong didn’t look particularly surprised.
Rather, it was closer to an attitude of “what was coming has come.”
“It’s about time I got one.”
We’ve been increasing the number of exchanges one by one since morning, so if the leader wasn’t an idiot, he should have noticed something strange.
Moreover, isn’t the leadership a group comprised of only elites?
– What should I do?
“You have to give what you have to give. Don’t just stand there and get out.”
It was also expected that they would be discovered by the leadership someday, so they set up six exchanges.
It wouldn’t be a big problem if you gave two or three.
Also, it was Dang Gyu-yeong’s order to withdraw all members from B Exchange, as it would only cause more losses if they tried to protect it for no reason.
“The B exchange transactions are also distributed elsewhere. The atmosphere at C is also bad?”
– Yes, I think you are still in the suspicious stage.
“You have to use it as much as possible before you get caught. Just run it as is and give your customers a heads up in advance.”
– All right.
After disconnecting from the control tower, Dang Gyu-yeong handed me a few firecracker-like objects.
It is a signal flare that is used by injecting magic power.
“I have this.”
“It’s what the vanguard uses.”
“I sneaked a peek.”
Dang Gyu-young smiled brightly.
Giving the lead signal flare to the enemy obviously means using it for diversion.
We looked toward Exchange B from the rooftop of the building.
“They say they’re all gathered there… … .”
“We’ll all scatter in no time.”
As soon as the occupation of Exchange B is over, we will disperse in all directions and search for the next exchange.
And what we’re going to do as a reserve force is to disrupt that search.
“Should I shoot one in advance?”
“As you wish.”
As Dang Gyu-yeong shrugged his shoulders, I injected magic power into the signal flare.
A bright beam of light shot up into the sky.
– Shoooooo——bang!
Immediately, sounds of movement quickly approaching.
Even without looking, it’s obvious that it’s the leader.
“Let’s go.”
“Let’s go.”
We flew to the next building.
* * *
– I lost track of it.
“Is that so?”
Kwak Seung-jae nodded indifferently after hearing the news.
They secretly assigned two leaders to watch over Dang Gyu-yeong, but they noticed him like a ghost and sent him away.
If there had been no sting, there would have been no need to run away.
The ‘bad deeds’ that Kim Ho and Dang Gyu-young are doing seem to be related to the black market.
However, chasing them is not a priority at the moment.
Kwak Seung-jae turned his head and looked at Han So-mi and Song Cheon-hye.
“Hello! I’ll be checking for a moment!”
“Please cooperate.”
The two men were stopping students passing by and shoving crystal balls into their hands to check if they had any prohibited items.
However, when Kwak Seung-jae gestured, he immediately stopped the random search and approached him.
“yes?”
“It’s going back to the bad side.”
– Kukukukuku… … .
A wooden door suddenly pops up as the order is released.
As Song Cheon-hye and Han So-mi followed Kwak Seung-jae through the door, the next moment they were standing in the leadership room.
“Welcome.”
Vice President Seon Do-hoon greeted them with a friendly smile.
Many of the leaders, including Oh Se-hoon, were standing near the wall, looking at a large map pasted there.
There were red marks here and there on the map, indicating places where the patrol officers had searched and seized prohibited items.
Those red marks were combined to form a red circle, and a building was placed near the center of that circle.
The second-year student leader reported the progress to Kwak Seung-jae.
“We identified one exchange that was used for black market trading, but were unable to gain entry.”
“Why?”
“A powerful formation has been set up. We cannot advance any further.”
“Have you tried dismantling it?”
This question was answered by a third-grade leader.
Although he was somewhat knowledgeable about formations, you could tell from the frown on his face that he was having trouble.
“My skills weren’t enough.”
“Is that so?”
If the third-year leadership team failed to disband it, it means that the powerful people above them were involved.
Oh Se-hoon’s eyes narrowed gently.
“It looks like Dang Gyu-yeong has prepared a lot.”
It must have been quite a struggle to accommodate the graduates.
This year, there is a strong will to make the black market a success.
However, regardless of Dang Gyu-yeong’s intentions, a violation of school rules is a violation of school rules.
We cannot leave the scene where banned items are being traded openly as is.
Also, graduates are not only from the Thieves Club.
Oh Se-hoon bowed his head to the woman who was sitting quietly on the sofa.
“I hope you can help me, senior.”
