Janet had appeared in a… unique way.
Seol imdiately pressed her with questions.
“What was that toad, and what are those jewels on your body?”
“They’re all things I bought recently. What do you think? You like them?”
“Even that big toad?”
“Yes, and only refined rchants such as myself ride those elegant creatures.”
“...I don’t get it at all.”
"It's difficult to grasp with human understanding. Nevertheless, I'll try to understand even that part of you."
Seol didn’t understand what was praiseworthy about coming out of a toad’s mouth and taking its tongue down to the ground.
“Is it like a trend in your world?”
“Kind of? It might look ridiculous to you, but do you know how much this costs? Well, that’s exactly why I’m using it, though.”
“Did you suddenly beco rich or sothing? Your outfit last ti was a lot more… humble…”
"Rich? Well, kind of, haha. Do I co across as soone who just beca wealthy and is squandering all their money?"
“A bit.”
“Woah, how honest. Well… I guess I can’t deny that I’ve lined my pockets fairly well after receiving the comndation.”
“Comndation?”
Janet smiled and began boasting.
“It turns out that… my trade volu was at the highest amongst the rchants or sothing like that. To be honest… it was kind of inevitable. The other civilizations barely have anything, even if you try to squeeze it out of… Uh… I’ll stop there.”
“Other civilizations? Squeeze what out?”
“That’s why I said I was going to stop there. My higher-ups will scold if I share information without permission.”
“I thought you weren’t the type of person who cared about that.”
“Normally, you’d be right. But I still need to pretend like I’m listening to those fossils, you know? They’ve lived hundreds, if not thousands of years more than , after all.”
“Hm…”
Even though Janet didn’t say much, Seol could still infer a few things from it.
‘So, Madness likely doesn't just exist on Earth and this connected world...’
Despite the swarm of questions in his mind, Seol knew it was impossible to pursue them further. As such, he opted to ask other questions.
“But having the highest trade volu ans… Did you really trade that much Madness, Janet?”
“Of course! Ah, it was thanks to you too.”
“Thanks to… ?”
“Yeah, I sort of… ntioned your existence.”
“What do you an by that?”
“There were so humans who were on guard against . So I ntioned that you were one of my trade partners.”
“...Did it work?”
“I don’t know… Would anyone be able to resist trading if I revealed that the individual with over 3 million points exchanged over 10,000 Madness with ? Thanks to you, I made multiple trade partners and created better conditions for myself.”
Seol thought she was ridiculous for doing that, but he chose not to do anything as he had also acquired a lot from working with her.
Ultimately, the two of them were bound to each other through trades. As long as they could continue this exchange, everything else was aningless.
“So… why did you appear? I didn’t use the invitation.”
"It's not as if I'll only appear when you use the invitation. Certainly, we'll trade when you want, but wouldn't there be tis when I'd want to as well?"
“You leave at a loss for words.”
“Oh, also, I enjoyed watching your experiences in the labyrinth.”
“...You watched all of that?”
With a shocked face, Janet laughed loudly.
"Of course! It's not as if we rchants work every day, you know? When we don't have tasks at hand, we also observe you all, like the residents of other worlds. Observing you serves both as work and personal interest."
She observed them to discern their needs and also because she was fascinated by them.
rchants seed like an unusual bunch.
“But the reason I observed you in the labyrinth… was mostly for the latter reason.”
“......”
“If I could tell you sothing a bit funny… a lot of rchants are talking about you these days.”
“So I’m just gossip for them, huh.”
“Well, you’re not wrong? But it isn’t necessarily bad for you.”
“What do you an?”
"It ans a lot more rchants want to do business with you now. There are plenty of eccentric rchants, but there are also those who only sell their wares to people they like, you know? And those rchants usually have a lot of special wares. What do you think? Doesn't this get you excited?"
“Not particularly. But doesn’t this just put your position at stake?”
Janet’s eyes were shocked wide with confusion.
“? No, not at all.”
“Why not?”
“The rchants who ca last ti to compete spread a bunch of rumors. Rumors that you and I have a really close relationship.”
“Really?”
“I didn’t believe it at first either, but I nodded along once, right? And they all just sward , believing it! Hahaha! Those idiots… Well, it’s better for this way. Because of that, rchants believe that the items they want to sell to you have to go through . All with a small fee, of course.”
“Do they really want to trade with that badly?”
“They’re also curious about your stories, but they also gain so status from trading with you. The more you trade with big spenders, the more reputed you beco, so… Well, you could essentially just think of it as the rchant’s status being directly correlated with the famous clients they handle and how well they maintain that relationship.”
“Is it really that important?”
“Of course. And thanks to that, you’ll also get better trades, Snowman. You’ll be shocked to see what I’ve brought for you today.”
“Show then.”
“Say less!”
Flutter!
In an instant, a colossal market, reminiscent of the scale of night markets, materialized.
There were many items on stand and on display. However, only an amateur would check each and every one of these items individually.
Instead of looking at the individual items, Seol walked through the market while reading the interface in front of him.
Scroll… Scroll…
He didn’t even glance at the items he didn’t need.
Madness was a scarce resource. For that reason, he had to focus on acquiring items that were currently difficult or impossible to obtain.
Step…
“Ah, that reminds . The ingredients pouch I bought last ti didn’t work properly in the labyrinth.”
“......”
“Do you have anything to say about that?”
"...Well, what I had with then was the low-end product. It turns out there's a flaw that causes it to not work in special situations like that."
“So, what you’re going to say is…”
“I will replace it free of charge. Happy now?”
“Definitely.”
Seol gave a devilish smile and picked out the most expensive ingredients pouch he could find.
[[ticulous Ingredients Pouch]
Quality: Madness
Recomnded Level: N/A
Weight: 0.1kg
Bonus Effect: Ingredients will neither rot nor spoil in this pouch. Each container can be set to a different temperature, and there is a lot of room for ingredients to be stored. However, only food ingredients are allowed storage, and certain food ingredients cannot be stored. This is an improved model that has fixed its internal defect.]
“Ah! That’s the high-end model, though…”
“‘...High-end model, though’?”
“So it suits you perfectly, Snowman. I guess the low-end model really was bad, huh?”
Seol then requested Janet to upgrade his This&That Seasoning Jar from Special-quality to Rare-quality.
After that… he began scrolling again.
“Let get this, this… and this as well.”
“You’re picking a lot of poisonous plants… Ah, I think I know how you’re going to use them.”
“Yeah, and… huh?”
Seol looked at an item.
‘I can’t believe this is here.’
“Let get the ‘Love-Hate Deer’s Sachet’.”
“Hah! I knew you’d recognize its value right away. I was only able to get one of those.”
“How much is it?”
“20,000 Madness.”
“...That’s really expensive.”
“Because it will be that useful. Are you already aware of how to use…”
As Janet began trying to read Seol’s expression, he responded.
“I do.”
“Great.”
After making multiple purchases, the list of items that Seol had acquired had grown significantly.
Seol, believing nothing left was worth purchasing, quickly scrolled to the bottom only to find sothing interesting.
“Wh-what?”
“What is it?”
“I’m talking about this, the ‘Biotal Ingot’.”
“Ah, I see! You’ve picked sothing quite appropriate, haven’t you?”
The 'Biotal Ingot' was a material obtainable only through a special monster known as the Armor Rat.
Armor Rats, as their na suggests, possessed skin with exceptionally strong defenses resembling armor.
Nurous individuals have sought to use Armor Rat's leather as a material for their equipnt. However, due to the scarcity of drops and the rarity of Armor Rats, it was a trendous feat.
These Biotal Ingots were the results of overcoming such adversity and collecting the scarce drops. The effects were as below.
[[Biotal Ingot]
Quality: Madness
Recomnded Level: N/A
Weight: 100kg
Bonus Effect: An ingot crafted from the leather of countless Armor Rats. It has the effect of enhancing the raw damage of weapons. Though it cannot be applied to Peerless-quality items, it can still be applied to Divine Relic, Abomination, and Madness quality items.]
Janet spoke up in a triumphant tone.
“20,000 for this one as well! What do you think?”
“How much Madness do I have right now?”
“Hold on… Your current Madness… Um… Subtract that and that, and… Ah, got it.”
Janet scratched her head, thinking the Madness Seol had was a bit ridiculous.
“117,000 Madness.”
“Then give as much as I can get with that.”
“...What?”
“Biotal Ingots. As much as I can get with 117,000 Madness.”
“H-Hold on. What should I… I don’t even know if I have that many ingots…”
Janet shouted back when Seol shot her a disappointed look.
“It’s a really rare material! I have 300kg's worth because it’s , you know…”
“......”
“Just wait a second, then! Hold on!”
Fade…
A red haze surrounded Janet, and she began talking into the fog as if she was calling soone.
“Yeah… it’s , it’s a bit urgent…”
“No, like right now. Are you deaf or sothing…”
“I’ll send you the coordinates right now, so…”
And after about five to ten minutes…
Fwoosh… Fwooosh…
The space opened up, and two rchants appeared.
“Senior rchant! I was in the middle of a trade, you know? I hurried here because of you!”
“I only have one of these! How could you just suddenly ask for this from ?”
The first voice sounded like a young man, while the second sounded like a young woman. The two were, like Janet, Madness rchants.
They began inspecting Seol the mont they entered the space.
“Woah… Is he that…?”
“I-I’ve been enjoying your stream.”
“You little brats. Just give your items and scram!”
“Tch… you’re only taking the good things for yourself.”
“Right?! This is tyranny, tyranny! Janet’s a tyrant just because she’s a big shot!”
Janet did her best to hold back her anger, calming down.
“I’ll… I’ll create an opportunity for you guys later too.”
“I’ve always respected you, senior rchant. Farewell.”
“She really is kind to those who are nice to her. See you then, Snowman! Let’s enjoy our ti a bit more next ti, okay?!”
Five ingots were now placed into Seol’s inventory.
“I can’t lower the prices for these. These aren’t sold because there’s a lack of supply, so…”
“It’s fine.”
“Then I’ll look forward to next ti, hoping you’ll call first! Thank you for the good trade this ti as well. This was Janet, signing off!”
[You have acquired Biotal Ingot x5.]
[You have acquired ticulous Ingredients Pouch.]
[You have acquired Love-Hate Deer’s Sachet.]
[You have acquired Starving Clown Mushroom Powder.]
[You have acquired Regret Moss.]
* * *
Translator - goguma
Proofreader - Karane
* * *
It had now been twenty days since Seol arrived in Audenin.
Everyone was discussing the public information released about the events in the Labyrinth of Penance.
Seol was now in the Adventurer Association, looking through the posts.
[(NEW) [’s Post]
[Post Date: Just now]
[Title: Coo… Coo… Guys, do you know this?]
(Recent News) The Labyrinth of Penance disappeared sowhere. No one knows where it is now.
- We knew about that three days ago…
- Recent? LMFAO
- It’s because of Coo… Coo… the ti zones… asshole.]
[(NEW) [’s Post]
[Post Date: Just now]
[Title: Coo… Coo… What did the alliance say about the events?]
(News) The alliance is now sharing information about the Labyrinth of Penance. Surprisingly, they made an official letter of cooperation and paid so adventurers to go to other locations to share this.
- We know about that too…
- Stop ruining my mood, Coo!
- Where can we see the letter, though?
- It’s hard to understand anything about it, though…
- Ah, I summarized it before. Hold on… I’ll create a new post.]
[(NEW) [’s Post]
[Post Date: Just now]
[Title: There was a noob who said they didn’t see the cooperation request letter, so I’m summarizing it.]
1. The Audenin guild alliance and an outsider they invited challenged the labyrinth. They attempted it three tis, with 2 failures and 1 success. However, the successful attempt resulted in the most deaths.
With that, a total of 5 people have died in their three attempts.
2. They don’t plan to share details about the labyrinth’s trials. This isn’t because they’re trying to hold information but out of consideration.
This is in case soone uses the limited information they could gather as confidence to attempt it.
The labyrinth gave awful rewards compared to its unimaginable difficulty. Basically, don’t waste your ti and don’t go in.
However, in case soone gets their hands on a token and wants to attempt it, we’ll leave this behind.
3. The leader of the final party that cleared it had points in the early millions, and the person who took on the final penance had points in the mid-three millions.
Park Changsik, the party leader, couldn’t help at all, and the person who had three million points received severe injuries. The rest of the party mbers died.
The monster that appeared at the end of the labyrinth was much stronger than the transferee who had 3 million points, and they were only able to defeat it through sheer luck. However, Changsik was unable to do anything at all.
Changsik couldn’t do anything as the monster carved out bits and pieces of the other transferee.
As such, because we have reached a verdict that the Labyrinth of Penance is impossible to clear at this mont, we hope that this news spreads far.
I emphasize this one more ti.
Don’t enter the labyrinth.
Don’t go into the labyrinth, even if you have a death wish.
- Huh? They really wrote it like this?
- Nah, it was like 3~4 tis longer than this? I summarized it.
- Ah, thank you.
- You guys have no reading comprehension, after all :)
- Woah, I guess it’s worse to be the later person to enter the labyrinth then?
- It might be better to enter it first, then.
- It might be better to not enter it at all if you value your life.
- Still, it took four months to clear? That’s so fucking long LOL.
- Your points go up like crazy, though. The person who entered it has 5 million points now.
- WTF… How strong are they, then? Will they really be that much stronger than ? Are points really everything?
- They are.
- I guess I can’t deny it. I won’t fuck with them.]
Seol was satisfied with what the alliance did after clearing the labyrinth.
‘Right now… entering the labyrinth is essentially a death sentence.’
It would be impossible to clear unless the individual had near 10 million Adventure Points.
Obviously, even that wasn’t a guarantee either.
Seol looked through the various posts, and as he did… he saw a familiar na.
‘...Huh?’
There was a blinking letter emoji near the na. It seed like there were more ssages as well. As Seol tapped on the letter, he saw a collection of them.
✉️[Friend ’s Letter]
[Send Date: 4 months ago]
[Title: It’s , Somi! How’s the south? Is it manageable?]
That was probably her first letter.
✉️[Friend ’s Letter]
[Send Date: 3 months ago]
[Title: Oppa? You haven’t responded to at all. Has sothing happened?]
‘This was around the ti I couldn't contact her because I was in the labyrinth.’
And this ssage… arrived not too long ago.
✉️[Friend ’s Letter]
[Send Date: 10 days ago]
[Title: Seol oppa, are you the one who cleared the Labyrinth of Penance?]
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