[Don't go straight there. Stop by and see me first.]
[Don't make any rash calls.]
[Min-jae. Let's make a plan first....]
Despite Sang-min trying to stop me, I took a taxi straight to Hannam-dong. Everything Sang-min said was right. The person who had wanted to run to Hyun-woo first must have been Sang-min. If the money would come back just by running over like this and grabbing him by the collar, none of us would have suffered so much.
"Here. Keep the change."
The moment I got out, I let out a hollow laugh at the magnificent exterior of the luxury house before me. I had seen places like this on TV now and then. On shows that toured the homes of lawmakers and celebrities. To think he was living in a place like this on money he had made conning people.
'I don't even know what I came here to do.'
The wishes a Promising grade could make were D-Grade. I wondered whether that would be enough to bring him to judgment.
I shook my head at once. With my grade, making a wish of A-Grade or higher was still out of the question. And even if it were possible, I didn't want my revenge for my betrayal and despair to end so simply, with something as small as a D-Grade wish.
"I'm heading out, so take good care of our Lucky."
With a clank, the door opened and Hyun-woo appeared, and at the sight of him, I hurriedly hid.
His innocent face, smiling as he asked someone who looked like a housekeeper to look after the dog. His glossy skin.
Kim Hyun-woo. While I had fallen into the abyss and was tasting hell, he was eating well, sleeping well, and living each day carefree, without a worry in the world.
I bit down hard on my lip, holding back the urge to burst out right then and smash my fist into his face. The sight of him climbing into a luxury sports car and leaving, even the glossy coat on the dog he kept, all of it made me shake with revulsion until my skin crawled.
'Enjoy it while you can. I'll be coming to take it all back soon.'
I had decided. I was going straight to hell.
I didn't want Kim Hyun-woo to enjoy this peaceful life for even one more day.
I was quietly taking in everything about him, my eyes gleaming, when it happened.
DING—
[No. 3029, do you remember me?]
A text out of nowhere. There was no sender shown, either. But since it said "No. 3029," it was clearly one of the investors from the market.
[Who is this?]
[Me? It's Eden. Word's all over that you hit number one at the auction this month.]
Only then did I remember. The guy in the market chat room who had been caught pretending to be a Promising and then gone dark.
I didn't bother asking how he had gotten my number. I didn't know why he had contacted me, but keeping in touch with this guy would get me nothing.
I was about to ignore it and put my phone away when message after message came in.
[Want to join our crew?]
[I hang out with Experts, and I wasn't going to let you in, but noona said she was interested.]
[You're seriously lucky, No. 3029.]
After thinking it over, I sent a reply. I had figured he was a compulsive liar, but if he really had connections to an Expert Investor, there was nothing to gain by refusing. Of course, I didn't believe 100 percent of what Eden said, but if he was inviting me into the crew, joining for now was no loss.
[There's a vetting process first, so meet me tonight at 9 in front of the XX Building at Banpo Park.]
[I'll put in a good word for you, so don't be too scared.]
Whether this was really a chance to meet higher-ranked investors or a trap, I couldn't tell; I couldn't get any high-level information about the Ghost Story Market yet, so it was hard to read Eden's intentions. The only way was to meet him and find out.
***
9 o'clock on the dot.
I arrived in front of the XX Building at Banpo Park and sent Eden a message.
[Ah. You're punctual. Then come to room 305 at the XX Motel behind that building.]
As I read the reply, my brow furrowed deeply between my eyes. This building was on a main road with plenty of people passing by, so I had been a little reassured, but a motel was a different story. I took the Human-Skin Armor and the spray I had brought just in case out of my bag and moved them into my pockets.
I didn't know how many of them there were or what they had in mind, but if they meant harm, I could end up in a situation I could never easily get out of on my own. So I stood there for a long while, not moving, thinking it over.
But still.
'Any other investor wouldn't have passed up this chance.'
To enter hell, you have to knock on hell's door. I stopped deliberating pointlessly and headed around the back of the building.
"Hello. Just you?"
"Ah. I'm with someone upstairs."
It was kind of awkward. It was my first time going to a motel alone, and also the first time I had told a part-timer asking like that that I was with someone. The part-timer's eyes narrowed with a glint as he looked me up and down. His stare was so intense it was obvious what he was thinking.
"Heh heh. Have a good time."
I wanted to tell him it wasn't what he was thinking, but my face, already frozen under that peculiar stare and gone into poker face, kept its blank expression. I calmly took the toiletries he handed me and pressed the elevator button.
'...If I get into the crew safely today, I'll have to ask to meet somewhere else next time.'
Wiping my hands, soaked with cold sweat, on my pants, I knocked in front of room 305. It was quiet inside.
KNOCK KNOCK—
When I knocked again, louder, the door finally opened with a click, and a blond man who looked like a punk appeared.
"No. 3029?"
"...Yes."
At his gesture to come in, I walked stiffly into room 305 like a broken machine. When I looked around the motel room, there was no one but the blond man. That meant the man standing there was 'Eden.'
"Is there no one else?"
"Ah~ Noona's in the bathroom. But you're skinnier than I thought."
I wondered if I had been tricked, but now that I thought about it, I had seen a pair of women's sneakers when I came in. But it was quite grating that he didn't even tell me to sit and just stood there with his arms crossed, staring holes through me.
"You know who I am without my having to say, right?"
"You're Eden, right?"
"Oh! But seriously, how did you run the Colo with a flimsy body like that?"
"...I do have a slender build."
The way he talked while smacking his gum turned me right off. This type who only ever talked about himself. It was the type I hated most. My first impression of him wasn't good either, and the way he talked and acted looked so ignorant that he seemed like a third-rate neighborhood punk.
I really didn't want to be alone with him, and just then the bathroom door opened and the person inside came out.
"Huh? Min-seo?"
"Ah. Hello. I heard most of what you were saying from in there."
So the Expert Investor Eden had mentioned was Min-seo.
I had been collecting information about her precisely to find a point of contact for meeting Min-seo again, so this was so welcome that I could only think the devil himself had given me a chance.
"Have a seat for now."
When Min-seo sat on the sofa, Eden sat down next to her as if it were only natural.
"I'm short on time today, so shall we just check your grade and talk in detail later?"
"So I just need to tell you my grade?"
"Yes. My grade is Expert. Eden here is a Beginner."
Given his connection to Min-seo, I had thought Eden really was a Promising, so at the word "Beginner," the hand resting on my knee gave a small jerk. Of course, I hid it well on my face, but Min-seo didn't miss it.
"Do I have to spell it out? I'm not a Beginner."
"Then you qualify for now. There'll be a test later. Is that all right?"
"Yes. That's fine."
With that, Min-seo checked her watch and got up from her seat. I was thrown by how she shouldered her bag and hurried, as if she really did have something urgent afterward. My confused head couldn't sort out the fact that the meeting was ending just like this. If she was a higher-ranked investor than me, she could check something like my grade anytime, so it made no sense that she had called me here just to check my grade.
"I'll get going, then. Eden, you hurry on home too."
The moment I was about to say something to Min-seo in my confusion, I felt something crinkle in my hand, and she brushed past me in an instant. By the texture, this was paper. It seemed she had passed me a note behind Eden's back as she left.
'Then I've got no more business here either.'
"Wait. Getting into the crew isn't normally easy."
As I was about to leave without a second thought, Eden called out and stopped me.
"Ah. Yes...."
"Once you're at my level later, you'll get to see more of noona too."
Swaggering, he stood blocking the way so Min-seo and I couldn't leave together.
That aside, he seemed to be younger than me, and I felt a surge of displeasure wondering since when exactly he had been talking down to me so casually.
"Ah. And I'm only staying at Beginner for a bit because I need money right now; I can switch over to Promising anytime. So treat your senior with proper respect."
He rattled on at length about how he hadn't been able to raise his grade because he had been turning his points into real-world money to have fun with.
"Yes. Then may I leave now?"
"When you go out, don't go hitting on noona. Go straight home."
Between the casual talk and everything else, it seemed too late to call him on it, so I gave him the proper respectful speech he wanted. That bastard was a pawn to be discarded anyway. I didn't want to spend time and emotion on him. Rather than waste myself on something inefficient, I had to get out of here quickly and check what was in the note Min-seo had given me.
[Room 401, same motel.]
Since she had given me the note secretly, behind Eden's back, she must have had something to talk about with just the two of us. To meet Min-seo again, I came out as though I were leaving the motel, then headed to room 401, this time taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
KNOCK KNOCK—
"Min-seo, it's me."
Unlike earlier, I knocked politely. The door opened, and Min-seo greeted me with a completely different air.
"Now, shall the two of us talk?"
"Let's. Is there a reason you called me here separately?"
A crew meant there were several people in it besides Eden, so I was curious why she had gone out of her way to call me here alone.
"Because there are things you can't talk about where there are disposables around."
"You mean Eden."
"Heh. Have a seat."
Apparently satisfied with my answer, Min-seo flashed a devastatingly pretty smile and set some documents on the table. When I picked up a sheet with familiar handwriting, it was full of information about me. My movements from my days at Next Vision up until recently.
And my achievements in the Ghost Story Market had been recorded too, without a single omission.
"What on earth is this....?"
"A change of registered holder, and the fastest-ever rise to Promising Investor. The highest price at the auction house in 4 months."
There wasn't a trace of a smile on Min-seo's face as she said it, looking me straight in the eye. Then, studying me closely as if observing me, she made an offer I couldn't refuse.
"You want to climb higher, don't you? Want to make a deal with me?"
"......."
The eeriness I had felt from the market's managers came spreading out from Min-seo. That aura was deeper and thicker than mine, and I couldn't answer right away.
"If you don't want to, you can walk out this door and go home. I won't do anything."
"You mean it."
"But I can't promise anything the next time I see you in the market."
This was an offer I had no choice but to accept.
To deal with a devil, become a human the devil would like.
I seemed to have passed the first condition.
"I'll make the deal. What do I need to put up?"
"Your soul."
I stared, spellbound, at Min-seo's face as she smiled softly after spitting out those frightening words.