Chapter 135: Preliminary Field Trip (3)

Chapter 135: Preliminary Field Trip (3)

When dozens of students swarmed through the downtown area, it was impossible to avoid attracting attention.

Especially if those dozens of students were all members of the thieves club, it was practically advertising, “Hey, we’re suspicious people~ and we’re here to do suspicious things~!”

Therefore, we decided to split into smaller groups and meet at the destination and I ended up alone with Dang Gyu-young again.

Dang Gyu-young asked me as we walked side by side.

“After observing a bit, what do you think?”

“It’s interesting. I can see you’ve done a lot of preparation.”

The participation of five graduate mentors, the thorough security with double and triple safety measures, and so on.

Last year’s black market was said to be a failure, but it seemed they had sharpened their skills this year.

However, since the student disciplinary committee was no easy opponent, we would have to wait and see who would have the last laugh.

Dang Gyu-young smiled happily. She seemed satisfied with my answer.

“Huhum, I’m glad I brought you along.”

Today’s main goal for showing me around was to pique my interest, and seeing that I was intrigued, she seemed to think that she had achieved her objective.

Then she subtly made a suggestion to me.

“Do you want to get involved?”

It was a question about whether I was interested in participating as a mercenary like I did during the temporary storage infiltration.

Of course, I was interested but I thought it would be better to hear everything before deciding, so I asked back.

“What do you need me to do?”

“You see that annoying-looking senior? Stick with him.”

From Dang Gyu-young’s perspective, the annoying-looking senior was definitely that shrewd-looking man among the graduates.

It meant that, like his role, I should stand by as a reserve power and help out in case of an unexpected situation.

“Well, isn’t that too much to ask of me? I can’t handle the second and third-year disciplinary committee members.”

“Who said anything about fighting? Just create some distraction and then back off. You’re good at that, right?”

“Alright then. What about the compensation?”

“You, you’re looking for prohibited items, right?”

“Of course.”

Most of the people selling items on the black market were graduates.

Therefore, far more items of much higher rank were up for sale compared to the temporary storage we infiltrated at the beginning of the semester.

There was no better opportunity to secure prohibited items.

Dang Gyu-young smiled as if she knew this would be the case.

“Tell me what you’re looking for. I’ll let you know as soon as it comes up for sale.”

The thieves’ club had the advantage of being able to clearly see the prohibited items being traded while connecting sellers and buyers.

Making use of this advantage, she promised to secure the items I was looking for and give me priority in transactions.

From my perspective, this was exactly what I wanted.

Due to the influence of the EX-rank quest, the characters had changed, and naturally, the items they possessed had also changed.

Therefore, it was impossible to predict what would appear in this black market.

It was a situation where a lot of legwork was needed, but if the thieves’ club could take on that effort, it would save me a great deal of time and effort.

And the type of prohibited items I was looking for was, just like in the temporary storage infiltration,

Elemental Penalty Items.

I had picked up two items at that time.

The [Inferno Fist] skill book and two [Heart of Thunder] gems, which were still lying quietly in a corner of my dormitory.

Using them would incur a massive elemental penalty, but in my case I could almost completely nullify it with my S-rank [Elemental Resistance].

It was essentially a choice that allowed me to take the benefits without the penalties. It was the best option for now.

So I handed Dang Gyu-young a piece of paper.

“This is what I’m looking for.”

“What, you already made a list?”

“I was going to ask for your help anyway, but I’m just grateful that you suggested it first.”

“.......”

I was puzzled but I loosened my grip and she quickly snatched it away.

When I turned toward her, I found her eyes filled with mischief so I asked,

“Why did you suddenly take my napkin?”

“Try it without a marker, just once.”

“Do you mean passing through the formation without a marker?”

“Mhmm, mhmm.”

“What do you gain from this, senior-nim?”

“I’m just curious about how you’ll do it.”

Looking at her again, I saw not only mischief in her eyes but also anticipation.

She probably wants to see me wandering around lost and finally getting chased out, but unfortunately for her, that wish won’t come true.

“I’m sorry Senior-nim, but I won’t get lost.”

“Even without a marker?”

“If I do it well, yes.”

At that, the graduates who had been watching us with amusement, like they were watching a sitcom, joined the conversation.

The woman with the tear mole spoke first.

“That’s not something I can just ignore. I put a lot of effort into setting up this formation, you know. It won’t be easily broken through.”

She wore a soft smile on her face like when we first met, but there was a chilling undertone to it.

I guess my words had subtly touched her pride.

I responded politely.

“I didn’t intend to belittle your skills, senior. It’s just that I have a better sense than most people, so I thought I might be able to navigate through this as well.”

“...”

The woman with the tear mole stared at me silently, as if deep in thought.

Since I had immediately seen through her invisible ghillie suit during our first meeting, she seemed to somewhat agree with my claim about having a good sense.

Still, she seemed skeptical about whether my sense was enough to nullify the formation she had confidently set up.

Next, the middle-aged graduate spoke.

His role in the black market was to apply [Throughwalk] to buildings and create mazes.

He pointed at Exchange A which was his creation with a glance.

“If your sense is that good, can you navigate through that without a marker?”

“I’ll have to try to find out.”

“You’re not saying you can’t do it.”

The middle-aged graduate laughed as if he found this amusing.

The two graduates then put their heads together. They seemed to be discussing something.

Judging by their occasional glances in my direction, they were definitely talking about me.

After a while, they seemed to reach a conclusion and made me an offer.

“Then let’s do this. We will wait for you inside that building. Try to come to us without any markers.”

“What happens if I succeed?”

“If you succeed, I’ll get you anything you want from this black market.”

It was quite a tempting offer.

Dang Gyu-young promised me to secure the item and also to arrange the transaction.

But buying that prohibited item was another matter.

The only valuable item I had for the transaction was the large ruby I got from Hong Yeon-hwa, but I was hesitant to use it since jewelry items have many uses later on.

However, if I succeeded now, they would buy that expensive prohibited item for me.

Since there was nothing to lose even if I failed, I had no reason to refuse.

I bowed respectfully.

“I accept your test, seniors.”

TN: Bruh, stop betting against this mf...