Chapter 297: Fact (2)
Morning has arrived. The third day of the Tokyo Artifact Expo dawned safely. There had been a lot of chaos in betwee n, but thanks to the unexpected efforts of a certain Awakened, the initial response proved effective, and the highlight auction managed to proceed without issue. And so, it was only natural that everyone could greet the final day of the e vent like this.
“There’s still plenty of ti before the flight, but since I’ve already eaten… maybe it’s ti to head out.”
It would’ve been nice to take a look at the auction in person while I was at it—but that’s fine. As you can see, I gave up on bidding the mont I saw the starting price, almost at the speed of light, and instead spent my ti thoroughly exp loring the rest of the venue. And now, here I am, waiting to depart, empty-handed.
‘Before leaving, let’s stop by the ice cream shop just one more ti. They have a few flavors here that I can’t find in K orea.’
Originally, I planned to run away the day before yesterday if I succeeded in stealing a certain black fabric…
‘Hmm.’
Since the plan had already failed, was there really any point in returning ho early now? Changing my ticket in a rush and fleeing the mont sothing happened would have only raised suspicion. So, in order to hide any sense of guilt or abnormality, I deliberately forced myself to enjoy sightseeing all the way through to the third day.
‘…Anyway, these people here. They still haven’t taken a proper statent from , the one who was actually at the sc ene.’
Co to think of it, there was sothing slightly unsettling about the whole thing.
‘Is the investigation culture just different here because it’s a foreign country?’
No matter how cautious I stayed, the other side never made a move. So now, with departure just ahead, every my nerv es have settled.
Soon, I arrived in front of the ice cream shop inside the event hall. Holding the cash I had borrowed from Seonwoo Ye on in one hand, I raised my phone to my face and checked the screen.
‘Hmm.’
For now, I decided not to cancel the reservation emails—which were essentially polite ways of saying ‘please save m e’—until I safely returned to Korea.
Let’s see… Seonwoo Yeon’s number should be around here.’
I exited the mall app and switched to the call screen.
But at that very mont, a call ca in from outside.
‘Ion?’
The number flashing on the screen belonged to the Japanese Hunter whose business card he had saved on the first d ay.
“Hmm? Hello?”
And the content of the call that followed was…
“You’re lifting the restriction and suddenly want to et at Building A?”
What was this about? Could it be that the stunt I pulled on the first day got found out, and they were planning to public ly execute ? For a mont, such thoughts crossed my mind—but Ion’s explanation that followed was nothing of the sort. On the contrary, that grand engineer seed genuinely intrigued and wanted to co out to hear sothing i nteresting.
So.
“Y-yes, understood. Then… I’ll see you at Building A in ten minutes.”
Besides, there were even Korean governnt officials on site that no one would dare ss with—so it should be fine, right? After a brief mont of hesitation, I decided to accept Ion’s request without resistance and made my way to the designated building.
But soon, inside the exhibition hall—
“Hmm?”
I ran into an S-rank Hunter who was waiting there. It was an unexpected face. Ion was the one I’d talked to on the pho ne, but Montake was the one waiting for . What’s more, the typically serious-looking adult man suddenly began to grin broadly, delivering his ssage.
“Hunter Kim Giryeo, the negotiation went well!”
It was perplexing, but at the sa ti, it was good news. To hear that the negotiation went well.
“The [Fragnts of Midnight] that were exhibited here. After discussions with the Technology Bureau, we’ve finally g ot permission to export it overseas!”
This news was far better than expected. If I acted carelessly here, it would be obvious just how thrilled I was. So I tried my best to keep my facial muscles in check and casually shifted the topic.
“By the way, where is Ion? I got the ssage from that person.”
“Ah, you an Yamasaka Ion. That ranker isn’t at the venue right now—due to the incident that happened in Building A, the police needed to check a few things with him, so he’s been held up with them.”
“Hmm.”
“But that’s not what’s important. For now, the negotiation regarding the [Fragnts of Midnight] that we, Japan, posse ssed, is definitely concluded.”
The Japanese representative hunter’s explanation continued as follows. Throughout the event, Montake persistently p leaded with the nation that was the actual owner of the [Fragnts of Midnight]. In response, the Japanese Magical T echnology Agency proposed that if the Imaltan Guild, as S-rankers, would assist with national research projects, they would grant permission. The three highest-ranked hunters in Japan imdiately approved this.
Why? Because all three of them were, coincidentally, involved in a past dragon raid.
“For a selfish intelligent being, he apologizes well.”
Well, I suppose it makes sense to play nice after getting a legendary item. I glanced lazily at his item box, then quickly composed my expression again.
“E, excuse . But unfortunately…”
What imdiately erged was Ion’s rather hesitant attitude.
“There’s just one thing. There’s an additional condition.”
“Hmm?”
“The governnt has declared that they cannot hand this over for free.”
From what I could gather from the explanation—it seed the Japanese governnt had so kind of essential rese arch they needed to conduct involving this Epic-grade artifact. Even if they handed over [Fragnts of Midnight] to m e, they were planning to buy back secondhand items of the sa kind from abroad. The problem, however, was that t he used price of this particular Epic item had skyrocketed in past trades.
“Bringing in new [Fragnts of Midnight] would cost an astronomical amount of money. Even if an item were to beco available, it would be difficult to get such a large budget allocated by politicians. On top of that, competition with th e Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is already fierce these days…”
It’s long. In the end, to summarize, Montake’s words were as follows.
“They thought the price might sound outrageous to you, but according to the Technology Bureau, this is the minimum they must receive to justify transferring the Epic to a Hunter like yourself.”
“You can tell .”
“After negotiating down again and again… the final offered price is 10.2 billion yen.”
But by coincidence, when I calculated that in Korean won, it ca out to a strangely familiar amount.
It’s almost the sa as the 100 billion won in my bank account.
On the first day of the event, when I offered around 20 to 30 billion won, they didn’t even bother to listen.
‘So this was the original price all along. Well, it makes sense—unlike [Twin Guardian Angels], this item offers a comple tely unprecedented thod of protection.’
I ca to so understanding and briefly pulled out my phone. Calculating the exchange rate between Japanese Yen and Korean Won, after transferring 10.8 billion Yen (including transaction taxes like VAT), I would actually have about 2 billion Won left in my account. A truly staggering amount.
Assuming the international transfer fees on this planet aren’t too outrageous, it doesn’t seem like a bad deal…
“I, I’m sorry. We absolutely didn’t intend it, but sohow, that’s just the price the governnt set.”
“That’s interesting.”
“The Technology Bureau inford us that it would be extrely difficult to transfer it below this point.”
Montake. To put it a bit rudely, the man, as tall and thin as a toothpick, was sweating profusely. He kept glancing nerv ously in my direction, as if an F-rank without magic had sothing to fear.
“Furthermore, the biggest problem is that our Imaltan Guild currently has no cash. I know this sounds incredibly rude, but Hunter Kim Giryeo, the truth is, we’ve been preparing the compensation—no, the distribution funds—for the Kages hima incident that happened earlier…”
“Yes.”
“We’ve truly used every bit of funding we have and are currently running the company on debt. Therefore, it’s realistic ally difficult for our Imaltan Guild to pay the transfer fee proposed by the Technology Bureau on your behalf.”
However, from my perspective, I’m happy about the current offer. In short, isn’t this saying they’ll hand over that e ntre black fabric if I just pay the money?
‘Considering the actual function of that fabric, even a trillion won might be an undervaluation. Co to think of it, looki ng at the auction results, even sothing like [Traina] almost hit the trillion mark.’
I made up my mind right away.
Okay. Fine. I’ll buy that fabric.
When I conveyed my decision without even a few seconds of hesitation, Ion looked surprised and widened his eyes—b ut he imdiately proceeded with the transaction.
“Aah, understood! In that case, I’ll contact the event manager imdiately to release the display case barrier.”
I’ve gotten everything I ca for, so lingering here any longer would just be a waste of ti.
‘I had half given up on it… but I really got it in the end.’
How exciting. And just like that, I was able to return ho feeling proud, having fulfilled the original goal of my trip to Tokyo. If I had known I’d have this much money left over, I would’ve splurged on the most expensive seat on the plan e. Well, I was curious about the other class anyway—let’s say I just satisfied my curiosity.
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