Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Go to a magical items store.

It was a clear and straightforward message, and I immediately understood what kind of advice it was.

Among the many problems I had, the most crucial one was money.

As soon as I heard the words “magical items store,” I could only interpret it one way.

Fortunately, I still had the scroll book in my possession. Selling the scrolls at the magic item shop would undoubtedly get me some money because scrolls were relatively valuable items.

I understood the advice to mean to sell them to secure some quick cash and, above all, to take care of the elephant in the room. However, I couldn’t afford to be too relaxed. The Scribe’s advice usually involved both good and bad things happening simultaneously.

So, the advice was to sell the scrolls for money. The bad thing was undoubtedly the possibility that I would be selling the scrolls at a far lower price, since I didn’t know the market price of the magic scrolls.

However, I distinctly remembered what Dyrus had said.

—“Wow, even the low-level scrolls are worth more than my monthly salary. The Demon King’s castle sure is something else.”

The monthly salary of a lieutenant in the royal army cavalry.

The value of a single low-level scroll was either higher or just a bit lower than that.

I wondered how much a cavalry Lieutenant’s salary was. That would give me a sense of how expensive the scrolls were. Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

The so-called “medieval fantasy trope” came to my mind.

In such situations, the descriptions always included how a single gold coin could sustain a family of four.

And it also described how much an average person with a regular job earned in a month.

Naturally, I used such references in my novel as well.

In the novel I had written, one gold coin covered a family of four’s monthly living expenses, and an average worker earned about two gold coins a month.

So naturally, I thought of one gold coin to equal about one million won.

It’s convenient to have a precise conversion like this when I write my novels.

You may be wondering, “How can a family of four live for a month on one million won? Don’t they eat out at restaurants? Our monthly food expenses are about four million won! One million is ridiculous!”

And to that, I say, “It is what it is. They’ll figure it out somehow.”

After all, in the so-called “medieval fantasy trope,” the characters only need to spend on food, and don’t have other living expenses! And in this world, there’s no health insurance, or phone bills that need to be paid!

Those who obsessed over historical accuracy were missing the point.

Some things could only be seen if you emptied your mind and looked at it.

Medieval fantasy trope. A spectacular genre where magic, knights, and magic-like science contributed to the development of the society’s infrastructure. I was a person who felt pity for those who couldn’t enjoy such a remarkable genre and had to criticize every small detail.

The main point of medieval fantasy wasn’t the medieval part; it was the fantasy part!

It wasn’t medieval fantasy, it was medieval fantasy!

Most of it had nothing to do with the medieval period anyway! It was just there for the sake of it!

Anyway, that’s the kind of setting in a medieval fantasy.

I had created this world with that kind of simple and shallow thinking, but now that I was here, I found a fantastical world that had nothing to do with the Middle Ages!

Well... it was fantastical in a different sense.

I decided to sell some scrolls for now and make it through the day.

I’m not a wizard, nor a knight. I was just a fallen Demonic prince. I had the ability to control demons but I was in the imperial capital Gradium, where not one demon was to be found.

“Excuse me, can I ask you some directions?” I asked a passerby.

“Huh? Directions?”

I was addressing the most important question to a passerby who seemed bewildered by my unusual way of speaking.

“Oh! Are you lost?”

Oh, come on.

***

That was roughly the idea. It wasn’t like I was going to create a map of this world and show it to others, so all I needed to do was insert a mental map of a place I was familiar with and roughly change the names. It worked well and was so convenient.

Creating a detailed map of a fictional world was unnecessary because readers weren’t interested in such details. I realized that when I received a comment like, “I’m not curious about any of this. Stop adding useless details!” around ninth grade, back when I didn’t know any of this.

Anyway, an imaginary world map was for the author, not the readers. Gradium being Seoul was entirely for my convenience.

There’s the Temple in Gwanak district and a palace in Jongno.

The place I teleported to was currently Aligar district, but later it will be renamed Artorius district, in honor of the hero. They would even erect a big statue of him later on.

Presently, Aligar district, and later Artorius district.

Where was this on the map? It was the equivalent of Yongsan.

Of course, it was organized that way in terms of the terrain and layout, but the actual buildings weren’t similar at all, so it was a new environment to me regardless.

So, pretending that I had arrived in Yongsan, I headed towards the direction of Yongsan Electronics Market, where I supposed the shopping district sector would be located.

Even though it was a virtual land, this area seemed to have the characteristics of Yongsan.

“What’s with all these crappy scrolls? Hey, where did you pick up stuff like this?”

Great. Right from the first shop, I encountered a typical Yongsan-style salesman, ready to rip me off.

***

The first comment from that dishonest salesman clearly indicated to me that I had no business being in that shop, so I headed back onto the street. I could hear him muttering something as I left, but I didn’t care.

Every building around here was a shop. Numerous people were coming and going, examining goods. Were all of these people adventurers?

Was being an adventurer even a viable profession to make a living? Were there any income-generating ventures I didn’t know about? There must have been something, given how numerous they were.

It felt like someone had strangely supplemented the settings I’d messed up in my writing.

Sounds of haggling and bargaining echoed from all around.

“Oh, young adventurer! Just give it a try! If you try it, I’ll give it to you for half price. How about it?”

“Come on, so you’ve examined the item to your heart’s content but you won’t buy it? Geez, you’re really making fun of us store owners. Hey, come here for a moment. Oh, you don’t want to? No, come here for a moment. No, hey! Let’s talk for a moment. Who said I was going to hurt you? Huh? I just want to speak with you privately. Are you trying to make me look bad right now? Do you know what defamation is? Are you trying to make me look like the bad guy?!”

“Refund? Who is this guy? Why don’t you just take a dump in your underwear and ask for a refund for that? Why are there losers like this? Get lost!”

“Hey, oppa, look, it’s got a scratch on it! How am I supposed to sell this? I’ll give you two for the price of one, just take it! Even at this price, I’ll be in the red! You won’t buy it? You won’t? Should I call security? Huh? Do you think you’re right? Can you guarantee that? Where are you from? Argand? Do you know who Rand oppa is? Never heard of him? Ha. Why do I have to deal with someone who doesn’t even know—hey, fine. I’ll be nice and just let you take it.“

.

.

.

What?

What was going on?

Why did it actually feel like Yongsan?

The medieval version of Yongsan unfolded before my eyes.

“How many times do I have to tell you, they’re the same price elsewhere, too!”

The ones trying to take advantage.

“Um, I, uh... I’ll come back later then...”

The ones rebelling to avoid being taken advantage of.

—Hey, don’t make eye contact. Just don’t look at any of them. There are crazy store owners who will open an item and blame it on you even if you didn’t touch it.

—They’re all retired adventurers, so they can fight really well as well. If you argue, you’ll end up with a broken arm or leg.

Even those who had come knowing exactly what this place was like.

The place I had imagined to be like Yongsan, had literally turned into Yongsan right before my eyes.

And I, a 17-year-old boy, had come to a place that was more of a living hell than the Demon Realm to sell magic scrolls.

"Yongsan."

That one word made it feel like the task I had come here to do was impossible.