It was 4 in the morning when I got out of the market.
Of the 84 points I had earned at the Colosseum today, I converted 4 points into funds, then used 200 credits to turn them into cash.
Ten million won was deposited into my bank account again under the name Ghost Company.
"Should I at least say hello?"
When I went in through the QR code link I had exchanged with Ocheonsa, the schoolgirl, the chat was lively despite the early-morning hour.
[3029 : Hello. I came on an invitation.]
[5000 : Huh? Hello. Who's this? Who invited someone in the 3000s?]
[4992 : Whoa! Thank you for gracing our humble abode.]
All I had done was say hello, but the messages in the group chat started scrolling up faster than I could read them.
[5004 : I invited him. That mister did the Colosseum with a lady in the 2000s and it was insane.]
Ocheonsa, the schoolgirl, must have watched the Colosseum game that had just happened, because she was spinning the story. I hadn't expected to win my very first time either, so I quietly kept my mouth shut.
It looked like this room held everyone from the 4500s down to newcomers in the 5000s. But compared to the numbers, there were only a little over 300 people actually in it.
[Promising Eden : Are you really in the 3000s? Can you verify?]
While everyone else was chatting under their own number, the only person chatting under a name picked a fight. I didn't know whether it was his real name or not, but at the blue crown mark above his nickname, I held back from answering rashly and watched the situation.
And then.
[5004 : That mister really is in the 3000s. I saw his key.]
[Promising Eden : So, can you verify?]
So all it took was verifying with the key. I decided to take Eden's bait, went somewhere the inside of my place wouldn't show as much as possible, and posted a photo of the key. I didn't know his number, but if he was already a Promising Investor, there was nothing to gain from getting on his bad side.
[Promising Eden : Can you verify again with today's date showing?]
I ignored that request. This was a move to gain the upper hand over me. I couldn't let myself be dragged around by someone I had no need to impress. Either way, as the only one in the 3000s in this room, I had to show them that they were the ones who needed me, not the other way around.
'This room must be full of nothing but bratty little bastards.'
Seeing the level of the conversation, I worried whether I could get any useful information out of these people in this room.
So I said nothing for a while and watched the conversation, and then someone appeared to scold Eden, worried I might have been offended, and the topic changed.
[4888 : Mr. 29, how about letting us know when you go into the market next, and we meet you in the market alleys?]
[3029 : I prefer being alone.]
[4734 : Why are you making Mr. 29 uncomfortable?]
It was a strange feeling. They were all on pins and needles, afraid I would leave. Inside the Ghost Story Market, the number you were given meant experience and knowledge. If it came out that I was a beginner, they would flip on me in a heartbeat. For now, there was a market rule that you couldn't see the details of a grade higher than your own, so it seemed none of them had thought of checking my grade. Luckily, their assumptions would cover for my grade to some extent, so my job here was this.
'If they ask me anything, I have to say as little as possible.'
More people than I had thought had watched my performance at the Colosseum today, and keeping quiet seemed to cover up the fact that I was new, so I decided to keep up this act.
[Promising Eden : But Mr. 29, how much did you pay for the human skin?]
I had only just resolved to keep up the act when a question came in that I couldn't dodge. I was relieved that, as I had expected, the human skin had been bought through the Ghost Story Market, but I didn't know the price, and while I hesitated over what to answer, more messages came up.
[4789 : Didn't you say you're Promising too, Eden, so you can use the shop? Why ask the price? Heh.]
How kind of him to blow himself up without my even having to answer.
Dozens of messages tearing into Eden's slip went up all at once. The firepower was tremendous.
I opened the notebook and started looking for whether it said how to use the shop. Since shop privileges were granted at the Promising Investor grade, the old woman must have been able to use the shop too. She had the human skin and the spray as well, so she must have written it down somewhere.
"Here it is."
Ghost Company In-House Shopping Mall.
http://Ghost.company/shop6666.
1. You can log in with the number assigned to your key.
2. It is available every day from 22:00 to 23:59.
3. Updates are every Monday.
I meant to check whether I could log in with my key, but there was a time restriction, so I couldn't use it right away. I had gotten information about the shop from the room, but it didn't look like much useful information was being passed around. The guy called Eden must not have been a real Promising after all, because he disappeared under the barrage of attacks.
In that case.
[3029 : Does anyone have information on the person I partnered with today?]
I wanted information about Min-seo. With an investor who had been in the market a long time, there were bound to be a rumor or two floating around, even if there was no telling whether they were true. In no time, information about the straight-haired woman came pouring in, and I wrote down every last bit of it.
***
"Ha. It's not working."
The moment it hit 22:00, I went to the Ghost Story Market's shop site and tried to log in, but failed. Even with the old woman's key, the system wouldn't let you use the shop unless you became a Promising Investor.
In that case, to become a Promising Investor as soon as possible, I had to make up the remaining 20 points.
'The Colosseum....'
Now that I had properly realized how dangerous it was, I hesitated to take part again right away. It seemed safer to analyze plenty of cases, at least to see what games there were, before trying again.
"Ocheonsa paid her funds with emotions...."
I understood that negative emotions, minus energy, were worth something as funds. But I had my doubts about whether other people's emotions could definitely be converted too.
'That was a puppy. Not a person.'
A living person was a different story. I couldn't kill people in the real world. And blindly causing them pain could also land me in the pit if it went wrong.
I had to check the conditions for converting emotions into funds.
If other people's emotions could be turned into funds too, I needed to check whether I had to inflict the pain myself, or whether the condition was met just by being next to the person when they suffered or when their emotions changed.
'But using a wish to get information like this....'
It was a waste. After struggling through the Colosseum, using even a measly E-Grade wish carelessly felt like a maddening waste. I also had some doubts about having used the Trade Box I had gotten for free to get rid of that bastard of a department head, but I didn't regret it.
And come to think of it, there was one more option for getting information besides using a wish in the market. I took a deep breath and opened my phone screen.
[3029 : No. 5004, when are you coming into the market?]
All I had to do was ask her directly. Asking the person who had converted it into funds and become a Beginner Investor was the surest way. Of course, I would have to watch my words a little so she wouldn't catch on that I was a beginner too, but judging from the conversations that had gone up in the group chat so far, everyone earned points in their own way.
'So if I ask carefully, I can avoid raising suspicion.'
She was a bit of a brat, but she was still a student, so if I played it right, I thought I could get the information out of her. So I set up a meeting with Ocheonsa, the schoolgirl, for today, and dug through the old woman's piles of belongings to pack a few useful things.
***
Inside the Ghost Story Market, I saw Ocheonsa waiting for me at the agreed place. When I checked my watch, I had arrived about 4 minutes late. She seemed to spot me at the same moment, because our eyes met.
"Don't get too close. Keep your distance right there."
Feeling bad for making her wait, I had raised my hand, but at Ocheonsa's words, I awkwardly lowered my arm. She had accepted my request to meet without hesitation, so I had thought it would be fine, but the eyes looking at me over the candy in her mouth were insolent beyond words.
"Sorry. I'm allergic to ugly people and to misters, and you're both."
"...For the record, I'm 28...."
"Whoa! Total mega-boomer! Grandpa-mister!"
"......."
She seemed to see me as even older than I had thought, so I had only wanted to make it clear I was still in my 20s, but this student showed no mercy. I really wanted to demand how old she was, then, but it seemed the more I said, the worse it would get, so I kept my mouth shut and quietly moved into the shopping street.
"But why'd you call me here?"
Kids these days sure get straight to the point.
The second we sat down, she asked without giving me a moment to breathe.
I set the few items I had brought on the table. I meant to win her over first.
"Oh! But I don't do sugar daddies."
"......."
I had no intention of that. Still, she was turning the things over this way and that, so it seemed she wasn't completely uninterested.
If I dragged this out any longer, I felt I would get a headache, so I decided to just go for it.
"Answer a few questions for me, and I'll give you one you like."
"Hmm. Are these shop items?"
I nodded. Then Ocheonsa crossed her legs high and lifted her chin in a lofty pose, as if to say, go on, ask away.
"I'm thinking of making up my remaining points with emotions, and I figured you'd know an effective way."
"Aha~ So you want me to tell you that?"
Ocheonsa's expression changed subtly. Then she stopped talking for a moment and started staring at me. Wondering if she was suspicious, I deliberately acted all the calmer and more composed.
But as the silence stretched on, a small gulp sounded in my throat. Ocheonsa didn't seem to notice, but the tense moment dragged on.
"Two items."
Huh? At Ocheonsa's words, the strength drained out of me. She hadn't been suspicious of me; she had apparently been thinking about how to get more items.
"I'll decide after I hear it. Your method might not suit me."
"You're only asking because you're too old to go into the Colo back to back, mister."
Age... had nothing to do with it, but the more I talked with Ocheonsa, the more my temples started throbbing. They were useless items anyway. I had spares, and I had brought only things that looked good on the outside, so I tossed them to the item-hungry Ocheonsa. She couldn't use the shop anyway, so she had no way of knowing the items' grades. If I wrapped it up as though I were giving her something good, who knew, I might be able to use it later as leverage to get something more.
'Anyway, I don't want to get any more drained by talking.... Scary. Gen Z these days.'
"...Fine. Two."
"It's nothing special. You just push through on numbers."
There was no context at all. When no further explanation came out of Ocheonsa's mouth, as she kept sucking on her candy, I took the items back off the table. Then Ocheonsa hurriedly revealed her points.
"Here, 30 points. They only give you 3 points for each one you kill."
"...So you killed 10 of them?"
Ocheonsa nodded as if to say, why ask something so obvious. That sent a chill through me, but the score was definitely low compared to the 5 points I had gotten for the pain of 5 toenails. It was a method of brute-forcing it with numbers.
"If you beat them to death like that, someone's going to crack down...."
"Who said that? That I beat them to death?"
When I muttered to myself, Ocheonsa bristled. I tilted my head at her reaction. Going by her temper and the way she acted, I had assumed she beat them to death, but was I wrong?
"This is a secret. But you gave me two items, so I'll tell you."