"Thanks to the participation of a lot more number of people than what we had been expecting, it seems like today would be a very lively auction. I'm looking forward to it."
The MC immediately began the auction after saying that with a smile. There was no reason for him to waste time, since he knew that the real purpose for today wasn't the auction and was something else.
"Now, I introduce to you, our first item!"
It was the same procedure as the previous secret auction; a stand made of glass came down from the ceiling. Within it was a book that seemed to be a martial art law.
As the auction proceeded, the MC attentively glanced over the people inside the warehouse. He was trying to determine which people were likely to be the one they were searching for.
He eliminated those whose faces he knew. For organisations that had connections with the Black Bear Group, he knew all the faces of people high enough to attend these types of auctions.
'Why are there so many unfamiliar people?'
They did intentionally divulge the information, but it was done in a crafty manner. It wasn't that likely for random dudes to mix in.
But looking around the people gathered today, there were too many gawky people that appeared to be random third-rates.
'I don't think they'd be a threat but…'
He couldn't afford to relax just because of how they looked on the outside. Who knows what kind of weapons or plans they had?
While he was thinking along those lines, the auction steadily progressed.
The martial art laws that the Black Bear Group had prepared today numbered thirty in total. Of course, twenty of those were exquisitely crafted fakes.
And even from the remaining ten, half of them were books which they couldn't tell whether they were real or not, which meant there were only five martial art laws which the Black Bear Group had confirmed out of thirty.
But no-one would tackle or argue on this point. After all, it was natural for this to be the case in secret auctions that sold martial art laws.
While skilfully proceeding the auction, the MC had finished his analysis on the attendees of the auction. It was now time to relay the information he had found.
"Now, it's gone up to 20 million! Anyone going for 21 million?"
He looked around the building and then shouted while forming his hand into a fist.
"The winning bid is 20 million!"
The MC shouted in an excited tone but was feeling a bit uncomfortable inside.
'It's that guy again? How many has it been?'
All the books that were real, or could possibly be real martial art laws were swept clean by one person. In other words, he was avoiding the fakes and only picking up the real ones.
It was impossible for this to happen unless the information was leaked beforehand. The MC's mind turned complicated for a while but he soon discarded them all.
They were going to catch them all later anyways. It would be the end if they make him expose his backing through torture. Whether there were traitors or spies, it would be over once they catch them all.
"Now, if you could please transfer your money into the designated account."
In response to the MC's words, Han JinHo who had just won the martial art law raised his hand.
"I want to receive the items right now as well."
The MC formed a frown with his eyes. In truth this secret auction had no rules or regulations; everything depended on the situation, and usually in the favour of the hosting side.
And thus this type of request was generally accepted, because the moment the item was given, the responsibility of the item would also be given away.
"Alright. With my authority, we'll immediately give you all the items that you have bought. If anyone else would like to receive their items right now, you can tell me and we'll take care of it asap."
He smiled after speaking.
"Just in case, be extra cautious of pickpockets."
Due to those words, everyone who had been pondering on whether to receive the goods now or not shook their heads.
It was fine to receive the items later. The fact that the MC had put it that way meant that he had sensed something out of norm or the hosting side possibly had set something up.
That was how this auction worked.
Han JinHo fully understood the reasons for other people's reactions. He could also indeed see some guys that seemed to be pickpockets here and there. They had within them, refined mana that perfectly fit a thief.
A door in the corner of the warehouse was pushed open and a person carrying many things appeared. He carried the items over and handed them to Han JinHo.
Han JinHo first made sure that nothing funny was done to the items. If they had swapped something, a person would be powerless to do anything.
But fortunately, the items were honest; they had brought the exact items that had been auctioned.
They were all ancient books so it was possible to carry all of them with one hand. He pretended to put them away into his clothes and moved them into the interdimensional space.
There was only one left now. He focused back on the auction.
Soon, the last real item was put up on the auction, and he successfully bought it as well. No-one could follow him since he called a price that exceeded the value of the book.
The auction still continued after that, but he didn't buy anything afterwards as there was no reason for him to buy an obvious fake.
"Now, today's auction has come to an end. The people who have unfortunately been unable to buy any items, please wait until the next opportunity comes by. We'll be hosting something similar very soon."
An atmosphere of conclusion was naturally formed by those words, but in that moment, the MC added a few words.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Our employees would now greet a few of you guests. If you're one of those, could you please quietly follow the directions of those employees? That would be great."
Sounds of confusion could be heard here and there.
"Please don't worry too much about it. We have hosted several auctions till now but there are many unfamiliar guests today so we just want to greet them separately."
The noise drastically decreased after that. The people who regularly attended these auctions now understood that they could avoid troublesome matters so they were happy enough with just that.
There was no-one here who didn't know that the host of this auction was the Black Bear Group.
If the Black Bear Group was determined to bother them, they would be extremely troubled. That was same for everyone gathered today.
Soon, a large group of men wearing black suits with athletic hairstyles entered the warehouse. They followed their orders and each stood before one person.
Only the people that were hired by Che MinYoung today and Han JinHo had the men in black suit standing in front of them.
"The rest of you guests, you may exit quietly. I hope we could give you better hospitality next time."
In response to the MC's words, the group of attendees left the warehouse. On the other hand, the people grabbed by the men in black suit let their eyes swim around in panic.
Han JinHo stared at the man standing in front of him with slight admiration. The man wasn't a martial artist, but it was evident that he had underwent quite the training. Han JinHo could feel it with his body.
This person standing in front of Han JinHo was probably the strongest man out of all the black suited people. And it was undoubted that he was the leader of the rest of the suited guys.
"Please follow me quietly. There won't be anything bad, we just need to confirm something."
"This is quite unpleasant."
"I understand, of course you would feel unpleasant. But this is an important task even for us, so on the fact that I'm unable to back off, I ask for your understanding."
The man's attitude was consistently polite. But even so, the fighting spirit and pressure he emitted from his body wasn't something to scoff at.
Most likely a normal person would have been intimidated here and carried away like a puppy.
However, Han JinHo was not a normal person.
"Does that 'important task' have something to do with the person who looked like a mix of a bear and a pig?"
Hearing the words, 'mix of a bear and a pig' made the man's face turn solemn. Jo DongPal indeed looked like a mixture of a bear and a pig. It might perhaps be the most exact description of Jo DongPal than any other phrase or word.
This guy is the guy. The man tried to carry out the next procedure with eyes full of certainty, but in that moment, Han JinHo clicked his hand.
Click!
It was loud enough to make the warehouse itself vibrate. Due to that, the man had lost his timing to shout. He had lost control of his breath.
With that sound as the cue, smoke started to rise from different parts of the warehouse. The smoke rose up and quickly spread sideways to all directions. Without a chance for them to react, the warehouse became full of smoke.
The people panicked after losing their vision. The only one within the warehouse who had maintained his composure without being alarmed was Han JinHo.
From the moment he first walked into the warehouse, he had began the preparations. He walked around the warehouse and dropped coins that had magic circles embedded in them in various locations.
It was highly likely that no-one had noticed him. When he dropped the coins, he was extra careful with avoiding cameras and the eyes of other people.
The coins weren't normal either; they were coins made of special materials. Gold dust that had been exposed to mana for a long time, was then kneaded with modified mana to create the coin. When the magic circle activated, the coin would evaporate and turn to a fog that had special attributes.
It was something Han JinHo had prepared to turn the trap into his game.
First, it blocked the vision of everyone except himself. The people inside the warehouse probably had their vision filled with gold fog, unable to determine what was 1 millimetre in front of them.
It also confused their co-ordination.
The people inside were perfectly caged within. If they moved following their senses, they would be unable to tell up from down and would eventually fall down.
Han JinHo stood still in that place and looked around the surroundings. He could easily keep his sense of sight through the gold fog.
All of this was thanks to mana.
Only the people who had the correct mana in their eyes could secure their sense of sight, and only those who could carry the correct mana on their senses could keep their senses right.
The people probably couldn't hear anything right now as their hearing was also blocked.
He could see people fall while trying to do something on their own. It was an obvious result since their senses were all over the place. They'd even find it hard to crawl properly.
The only solution was to wait until all the fog inside disappeared.
Han JinHo moved slowly as there was no reason to haste. He first had to put the ones that Che MinYoung had hired to a safe place.
Taking them outside the warehouse would be a stupid move. The fog inside the warehouse wouldn't dissipate even if the door opened but there probably would be guys from the Black Bear Group standing outside the building.
He slowly approached a person that Che MinYoung had called and made him faint with magic. He'll be in deep sleep for the next six hours or so.
Han JinHo then brought that fainted person to a corner of the warehouse and let him lie down.
Like this, he gathered all the people Che MinYoung had hired into one place and drew a simple magic circle on the ground.
It was a simple stealth magic. It cleanly erased one's presence, and once activated, it would repel others from approaching unless something major happened. It was quite an effective spell.
He roughly finished saving all his allies, so it was now time to punish the enemies.
Han JinHo had no intention to let the Black Bear Group, who had attempted to drag himself into a trap be. If he let them off this time, something similar would happen again later, and they'd be crueller in their approach.
It was possible for him to prepare like this because he saw through them beforehand, but who knows what would happen next time?
Thus, he had to do it thoroughly when he had the chance.
He had crushed them with power today but he wasn't done with it yet.
Is the Black Bear Group the only one allowed to set up traps or attack? He was planning to show them that he could do it as well as they can.
The first thing he had to do was to punish the ones that had participated in setting up the trap this time.
Han JinHo slowly moved his feet.
"Thanks to the participation of a lot more number of people than what we had been expecting, it seems like today would be a very lively auction. I'm looking forward to it."
The MC immediately began the auction after saying that with a smile. There was no reason for him to waste time, since he knew that the real purpose for today wasn't the auction and was something else.
"Now, I introduce to you, our first item!"
It was the same procedure as the previous secret auction; a stand made of glass came down from the ceiling. Within it was a book that seemed to be a martial art law.
As the auction proceeded, the MC attentively glanced over the people inside the warehouse. He was trying to determine which people were likely to be the one they were searching for.
He eliminated those whose faces he knew. For organisations that had connections with the Black Bear Group, he knew all the faces of people high enough to attend these types of auctions.
'Why are there so many unfamiliar people?'
They did intentionally divulge the information, but it was done in a crafty manner. It wasn't that likely for random dudes to mix in.
But looking around the people gathered today, there were too many gawky people that appeared to be random third-rates.
'I don't think they'd be a threat but…'
He couldn't afford to relax just because of how they looked on the outside. Who knows what kind of weapons or plans they had?
While he was thinking along those lines, the auction steadily progressed.
The martial art laws that the Black Bear Group had prepared today numbered thirty in total. Of course, twenty of those were exquisitely crafted fakes.
And even from the remaining ten, half of them were books which they couldn't tell whether they were real or not, which meant there were only five martial art laws which the Black Bear Group had confirmed out of thirty.
But no-one would tackle or argue on this point. After all, it was natural for this to be the case in secret auctions that sold martial art laws.
While skilfully proceeding the auction, the MC had finished his analysis on the attendees of the auction. It was now time to relay the information he had found.
"Now, it's gone up to 20 million! Anyone going for 21 million?"
He looked around the building and then shouted while forming his hand into a fist.
"The winning bid is 20 million!"
The MC shouted in an excited tone but was feeling a bit uncomfortable inside.
'It's that guy again? How many has it been?'
All the books that were real, or could possibly be real martial art laws were swept clean by one person. In other words, he was avoiding the fakes and only picking up the real ones.
It was impossible for this to happen unless the information was leaked beforehand. The MC's mind turned complicated for a while but he soon discarded them all.
They were going to catch them all later anyways. It would be the end if they make him expose his backing through torture. Whether there were traitors or spies, it would be over once they catch them all.
"Now, if you could please transfer your money into the designated account."
In response to the MC's words, Han JinHo who had just won the martial art law raised his hand.
"I want to receive the items right now as well."
The MC formed a frown with his eyes. In truth this secret auction had no rules or regulations; everything depended on the situation, and usually in the favour of the hosting side.
And thus this type of request was generally accepted, because the moment the item was given, the responsibility of the item would also be given away.
"Alright. With my authority, we'll immediately give you all the items that you have bought. If anyone else would like to receive their items right now, you can tell me and we'll take care of it asap."
He smiled after speaking.
"Just in case, be extra cautious of pickpockets."
Due to those words, everyone who had been pondering on whether to receive the goods now or not shook their heads.
It was fine to receive the items later. The fact that the MC had put it that way meant that he had sensed something out of norm or the hosting side possibly had set something up.
That was how this auction worked.
Han JinHo fully understood the reasons for other people's reactions. He could also indeed see some guys that seemed to be pickpockets here and there. They had within them, refined mana that perfectly fit a thief.
A door in the corner of the warehouse was pushed open and a person carrying many things appeared. He carried the items over and handed them to Han JinHo.
Han JinHo first made sure that nothing funny was done to the items. If they had swapped something, a person would be powerless to do anything.
But fortunately, the items were honest; they had brought the exact items that had been auctioned.
They were all ancient books so it was possible to carry all of them with one hand. He pretended to put them away into his clothes and moved them into the interdimensional space.
There was only one left now. He focused back on the auction.
Soon, the last real item was put up on the auction, and he successfully bought it as well. No-one could follow him since he called a price that exceeded the value of the book.
The auction still continued after that, but he didn't buy anything afterwards as there was no reason for him to buy an obvious fake.
"Now, today's auction has come to an end. The people who have unfortunately been unable to buy any items, please wait until the next opportunity comes by. We'll be hosting something similar very soon."
An atmosphere of conclusion was naturally formed by those words, but in that moment, the MC added a few words.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Our employees would now greet a few of you guests. If you're one of those, could you please quietly follow the directions of those employees? That would be great."
Sounds of confusion could be heard here and there.
"Please don't worry too much about it. We have hosted several auctions till now but there are many unfamiliar guests today so we just want to greet them separately."
The noise drastically decreased after that. The people who regularly attended these auctions now understood that they could avoid troublesome matters so they were happy enough with just that.
There was no-one here who didn't know that the host of this auction was the Black Bear Group.
If the Black Bear Group was determined to bother them, they would be extremely troubled. That was same for everyone gathered today.
Soon, a large group of men wearing black suits with athletic hairstyles entered the warehouse. They followed their orders and each stood before one person.
Only the people that were hired by Che MinYoung today and Han JinHo had the men in black suit standing in front of them.
"The rest of you guests, you may exit quietly. I hope we could give you better hospitality next time."
In response to the MC's words, the group of attendees left the warehouse. On the other hand, the people grabbed by the men in black suit let their eyes swim around in panic.
Han JinHo stared at the man standing in front of him with slight admiration. The man wasn't a martial artist, but it was evident that he had underwent quite the training. Han JinHo could feel it with his body.
This person standing in front of Han JinHo was probably the strongest man out of all the black suited people. And it was undoubted that he was the leader of the rest of the suited guys.
"Please follow me quietly. There won't be anything bad, we just need to confirm something."
"This is quite unpleasant."
"I understand, of course you would feel unpleasant. But this is an important task even for us, so on the fact that I'm unable to back off, I ask for your understanding."
The man's attitude was consistently polite. But even so, the fighting spirit and pressure he emitted from his body wasn't something to scoff at.
Most likely a normal person would have been intimidated here and carried away like a puppy.
However, Han JinHo was not a normal person.
"Does that 'important task' have something to do with the person who looked like a mix of a bear and a pig?"
Hearing the words, 'mix of a bear and a pig' made the man's face turn solemn. Jo DongPal indeed looked like a mixture of a bear and a pig. It might perhaps be the most exact description of Jo DongPal than any other phrase or word.
This guy is the guy. The man tried to carry out the next procedure with eyes full of certainty, but in that moment, Han JinHo clicked his hand.
Click!
It was loud enough to make the warehouse itself vibrate. Due to that, the man had lost his timing to shout. He had lost control of his breath.
With that sound as the cue, smoke started to rise from different parts of the warehouse. The smoke rose up and quickly spread sideways to all directions. Without a chance for them to react, the warehouse became full of smoke.
The people panicked after losing their vision. The only one within the warehouse who had maintained his composure without being alarmed was Han JinHo.
From the moment he first walked into the warehouse, he had began the preparations. He walked around the warehouse and dropped coins that had magic circles embedded in them in various locations.
It was highly likely that no-one had noticed him. When he dropped the coins, he was extra careful with avoiding cameras and the eyes of other people.
The coins weren't normal either; they were coins made of special materials. Gold dust that had been exposed to mana for a long time, was then kneaded with modified mana to create the coin. When the magic circle activated, the coin would evaporate and turn to a fog that had special attributes.
It was something Han JinHo had prepared to turn the trap into his game.
First, it blocked the vision of everyone except himself. The people inside the warehouse probably had their vision filled with gold fog, unable to determine what was 1 millimetre in front of them.
It also confused their co-ordination.
The people inside were perfectly caged within. If they moved following their senses, they would be unable to tell up from down and would eventually fall down.
Han JinHo stood still in that place and looked around the surroundings. He could easily keep his sense of sight through the gold fog.
All of this was thanks to mana.
Only the people who had the correct mana in their eyes could secure their sense of sight, and only those who could carry the correct mana on their senses could keep their senses right.
The people probably couldn't hear anything right now as their hearing was also blocked.
He could see people fall while trying to do something on their own. It was an obvious result since their senses were all over the place. They'd even find it hard to crawl properly.
The only solution was to wait until all the fog inside disappeared.
Han JinHo moved slowly as there was no reason to haste. He first had to put the ones that Che MinYoung had hired to a safe place.
Taking them outside the warehouse would be a stupid move. The fog inside the warehouse wouldn't dissipate even if the door opened but there probably would be guys from the Black Bear Group standing outside the building.
He slowly approached a person that Che MinYoung had called and made him faint with magic. He'll be in deep sleep for the next six hours or so.
Han JinHo then brought that fainted person to a corner of the warehouse and let him lie down.
Like this, he gathered all the people Che MinYoung had hired into one place and drew a simple magic circle on the ground.
It was a simple stealth magic. It cleanly erased one's presence, and once activated, it would repel others from approaching unless something major happened. It was quite an effective spell.
He roughly finished saving all his allies, so it was now time to punish the enemies.
Han JinHo had no intention to let the Black Bear Group, who had attempted to drag himself into a trap be. If he let them off this time, something similar would happen again later, and they'd be crueller in their approach.
It was possible for him to prepare like this because he saw through them beforehand, but who knows what would happen next time?
Thus, he had to do it thoroughly when he had the chance.
He had crushed them with power today but he wasn't done with it yet.
Is the Black Bear Group the only one allowed to set up traps or attack? He was planning to show them that he could do it as well as they can.
The first thing he had to do was to punish the ones that had participated in setting up the trap this time.
Han JinHo slowly moved his feet.
