The Healing Solaris Cleric

Chapter 58: Bidding War (1)

The auction house NPCs in Glendale were always smiling and friendly by default. There was no reason not to be since the adventurers visiting the auction house were all customers who paid a commission whether they were selling or buying items.

"May I have a ticket number, please?"

"Of course... oh!"

The employee, who had been smiling brightly as they handed out a ticket, recognized Kai and excused themself for a moment before disappearing. A short while later, a man dressed in a neat suit approached instead.

"Hello. I am Brad, the manager of this branch."

"I see.... Is there a problem?"

"Not at all. I've come to assist you with your business. Please, come this way."

With a professional smile, Brad guided Kai to the VIP room. The VIP room was a place reserved for those who traded items worth at least several hundred gold!

It was illogical for a casual gamer to spend millions of won at a game's auction house. In other words, only those who dedicated their lives to the game could use this VIP room.

The items I registered last time did sell for quite a bit.

There was no reason to refuse the special treatment offered.

Brad, who had seated Kai on a luxurious sofa, sat in front of him and politely asked, "What brings you to the auction house this time?"

"The same as last time, selling."

"Then please put the items you wish to register in this box."

Brad handed over a rather large box, but honestly, he didn't have high expectations for Kai's items.

It’s the client who sold items worth 200 gold in his first transaction.

He was well aware of Kai's transaction history. In his mind, Kai was an adventurer who sold exceptionally Rare items. Therefore, he expected that, at best, Kai would register items of similar quality to last time.

"I've put everything in."

"Allow me to confirm them. The items you wish to register for sale include the Fang of Fermi, a Black Widow’s Venom Skill Book, a Bloodthirsty Double-Ax, and....”

As Brad named the items one by one, his complexion turned increasingly pale.

Wh-what’s with these items!?

Kai had registered only five items. It wasn’t a large quantity, as there were those who registered dozens or even a hundred items in a day. However, what shocked Brad was not the quantity but the exceptional quality of the items.

A Unique double-ax, a staff that’s also Unique... and a Rare dagger and Rare skill book that can’t even be compared with Unique items...!

There also was a Magic-grade bracelet among them, but even considering that, all the items could be called an extraordinary jackpot! Moreover, the auction house had been lacking in useful Unique items recently.

If these items are released at the same time under such circumstances....

It was possible for a bidding war to arise!

Quickly realizing this, Brad swallowed hard. A transaction of this magnitude couldn’t fall through. Therefore, he was careful not to make even the smallest mistake.

"C-could you please tell me your desired starting bid for the auction?"

"Hm? Last time, the staff recommended a price according to the market value."

"However, it is common for the seller to set their own prices for high-value items like these."

This was because if the auction house recommended a price lower than the market value, it could significantly damage trust!

"Hm. In that case...."

Kai boldly wrote prices on the tags attached to his items.

[Fang of Fermi (Rare) - 60 Gold]

[Skill Book - Black Widow's Venom - 150 gold]

[Bloodthirsty Double-Ax (Unique) - 300 gold]

[Wand of Remembrance (Unique) - 500 gold]

[Wanderer's Guiding Bracelet (Magic) - 1 gold]

"Please list them like this."

"Sure, I will take care of it right away."

Brad, still unable to calm his startled heart, bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle and promptly proceeded with Kai's request.

Meanwhile, Kai sipped on the fresh fruit juice in front of him, thinking about the prices of the items.

If they all sell at those prices, it'll be over a thousand gold.

That was an amount exceeding one hundred million won in Korean currency!

If the items were successfully sold, Kai would no longer have to worry about money.

Always be hungry for more? That’s nonsense.

It was well-known that those who were warm and well-fed always performed better!

After successfully registering his items at the auction house, Kai rubbed his eyes, sleepy, and logged out.

***

Meanwhile, Claude, the promising member of the Black Bee guild, swallowed hard. The usual arrogant and confident expression was nowhere to be found on his face. Instead, he was uncharacteristically anxious and scared, with his head bowed low.

The silence, which seemed to last forever, was shattered by the person he was video calling.

—You dropped what?

"Th-that is...."

—Shut up and answer me. You dropped what?

"Th-the Wanderer's Guiding Bracelet...."

—You idiot!

Thud!

The sound of the other person slamming their desk echoed through the monitor.

At the same time, Claude's heart sank. Normally, considering his temperament, he would have cursed at anyone who yelled at him and hung up the call, but the person on the monitor was someone Claude could never disobey.

"I-I’m really sorry."

—Sorry? You think saying sorry is enough? You know what kind of item that was, don't you?

"...I'll surely get it back."

—Damn, I shouldn’t have entrusted it to you just to hide it from the other top ten guilds.... I'll give you exactly one week from now... what is it? I said I was on a call, didn't I?

Suddenly, another person appeared on the screen. Then they whispered something to the person on the call.

–What?

Whatever was said caused the caller's face to contort in anger, which was followed by an outburst louder than any before.

—Buy it immediately! No matter how much it costs!

The person on the other end of Claude’s call, namely the master of the Black Bee guild, Sting, seemed utterly nervous, and then warned Claude with a chilling voice,

—Thanks. That item you clumsily lost, it's been put up for auction.

"Th-then...."

—If our guild retrieves the bracelet, I'll overlook it this time. But if someone else gets their hands on the bracelet....

Sting glared at Claude as if to pierce him with his gaze.

—You'd better be prepared then.

"P-please forgive me...."

The call ended as if there was no further business left, and only the call program remained blinking on the screen.

"Th-that bastard registered it at the auction house?"

It seemed unlikely that Kai knew what the item really was because the item could only be known by those who had focused on the game’s main story for months.

This is actually better.

If he didn't know its value, he would have listed it at a low price. It was certain that bidding at a reasonably high price would allow them to retrieve it.

Having come to this conclusion, Claude, barely remaining calm, turned on his computer. Then he logged into Mid Online’s auction site. It was a site where one could buy or sell items registered at the auction house without logging into the game.

The Wanderer's Guiding Bracelet....

Claude's face turned pale as he searched for the item and saw the updated bid amounts.

[Wanderer's Guiding Bracelet]

[Starting price - 1 gold (100,000 KRW)]

[New Bid - 5 gold 46 silver (546,000 KRW)]

[New Bid - 10 gold 12 silver (1,012,000 KRW)]

[New Bid - 15 gold 36 silver (1,536,000 KRW)]

[New Bid - 20 gold 74 silver (2,074,000 KRW)]

[New Bid - 22 gold 22 silver (2,222,000 KRW)]

"Damn it...!"

There was already a pack of hyenas crowding around it, drawn by the scent.

***

Han Jung-Woo let out a big yawn. He had woken up but hadn’t yet gotten up from bed. As if wishing for an out-of-body experience, he sat on his bed and just scratched his tousled hair.

I haven’t slept this much in a while.

According to the clock, he had slept for thirteen hours. Perhaps that was why he felt much better than usual.

I do feel a bit lazy like a lazy bear.

He had slept twice as long as usual due to his accumulated fatigue without even waking up once.

"Uuuuugh!"

Stretching his arms out, Han Jung-Woo turned on his computer and logged into the auction site.

"It's only been about thirteen hours, but...."

He was curious about the current bids for the Unique items, given their value.

"Wow, things are going smoother than I thought."

A satisfied smile found its way to Han Jung-Woo's face first thing in the morning. The Unique items he had registered at the auction house had new bids ranging from as low as 5 gold to as high as 8 gold!

Oh, right, I had one more item registered.

It was just a Magic item, but since it was listed at 1 gold, that was still worth 100,000 won!

"Was it called the Wanderer’s Guiding Bracelet?"

As Han Jung-Woo, tilting his head, typed in the keywords and pressed enter, he doubted his own eyes.

"Wh-what is this?"

Witnessing the absurd price, Han Jung-Woo paused to think for a moment, and then chuckled and let out a big laugh.

"Haha! That's what I thought. Of course, there's no way I slept for thirteen hours. I'm a person, I don't hibernate like a bear."

Han Jung-Woo chose to pinch his cheek with all his might in an attempt to wake from what he thought was a dream. Undoubtedly, it was the worst decision he had made that year.

"Oww!"

He snapped back into reality as sparks seemed to fly before his eyes! As he looked in the mirror, his numb cheek quickly started to turn red from the pinch.

This isn’t a dream? So then....

Then he hurriedly began to count the zeros on the amount shown on the screen.

"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million... ten million won?"

Moreover, the number started with a three.

Han Jung-Woo couldn’t believe his eyes.

Unless I'm an idiot who can't read numbers, this looks like 30 million won.

[New Bid - 307 gold 20 silver (30,720,000 won)]

At least his vision seemed fine!

However, instead of a sigh of relief, a strange noise, like the sound made when a flat coke was opened, escaped Han Jung-Woo's mouth.

"Woow. Amazing."

At the same time, his eyebrows furrowed, and his head tilted to the side.

Why is this happening?

It was just a Magic-grade item. Moreover, it didn't have any special abilities attached, and its defense or magical resistance wasn't particularly great.

Why is there such a fuss about buying this item?

The first thought he got was that it could be a new scam, but that thought quickly vanished.

If this were a scam, it would have to harm me somehow. But there's no harm anywhere, is there?

Whoever it would be, buying the bracelet at such a high price would only make Han Jung-Woo grateful!

"I guess it was strange from the beginning, wasn't it...?" Han Jung-Woo mumbled as he stroked his chin.

It doesn’t seem like Claude, that ill-tempered and arrogant bastard, would carry around such a trash item.

Yet, he had. That was why he dropped the item when he was killed by Kai.

Why did he carry it, though?

There would have been a reason.

Kai read the item's description again.

"A wanderer who knows the location of an ancient king's tomb...."

He had overlooked it at first because it was a Magic-grade item, but given the current situation, there couldn't be a more suspicious sentence.

It seems like this bracelet is somehow related to this ancient king....

The important thing was that he currently had no information related to this ancient king! In other words, even with this item, he had no idea what to do with it.

And....

Han Jung-Woo watched the IDs that were continuously updating their bids without a break.

Once the bid exceeded a certain amount, buyers were required to disclose their ID when placing a bid, and obviously, that account had to have enough money to make the purchase.

In other words, the ten people who are continuously bidding right now... they actually have real cash.

Moreover, the existence of a slight rivalry among them could be seen just by watching the bidding war.

At the same time, the corners of Han Jung-Woo's mouth curled up as if he was amused.

This guy is with the Black Bee guild.

The ID was [Fly Like A Butterfly].

Whenever a new bid was updated, this person would add a few tens of thousands of won more to make the top bid within thirty seconds.

Our Butterfly seems to be in quite the urgent situation here... and that means the rest must be from the top ten guilds.

It was hard to believe that the others wouldn’t know what the Black Bee guild knew. In short, the value of this item, unknown to ordinary people like Han Jung-Woo, was known to those who had progressed far into the game’s main story!

"Well, the one who bids the highest will take it."

Han Jung-Woo thought very simply, unaware of how big a ripple this event would cause.