Chapter 170: Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger

Chapter 170: Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger

Dang Gyu-young immediately began leading me somewhere.

As we were following the flow of people in the downtown area, I asked a question.

“Where are we going, senior-nim?”

“You made a prohibited item list for me, remember?”

“I did.”Yôur favorite stories at novelhall.comething just came up. We’re heading to Exchange E because they’re waiting for us there.”

“Oh.”

The item that the thieves’ club promised to secure for me had just been listed for sale.

Since I had narrowed down the countless prohibited skills to a few that met my criteria, I had considered the possibility that they might not appear in this black market at all.

Still, seeing it listed like this, it seems my luck isn’t too bad.

As we neared the exchange, we subtly changed direction towards a nearby meeting point.

A soft-serve ice cream cart.

A familiar member of the thieves’ club greeted us with a familiar sly smile.

“Welcome.”

“What flavor? Half and half again?”

When Dang Gyu-young and I chose half chocolate and half vanilla, the member skillfully scooped the ice cream into the cone.

“Half and half it is.”

During my preliminary field trip in the black market, the presentation had been so bad that Dang Gyu-young had said something about it, but it seems they had practiced quite a bit since then, as it was now nearly perfect.

“I’ll have the same.”

“Here you go. Enjoy.”

The member wrapped two ice cream cones in napkins and handed them over to us.

The napkins were the main thing here. They served as our black market tickets and guides.

The arrow patterns on the napkins pointed us to our next destination, the Exchange E.

After taking a few small licks of her ice cream, Dang Gyu-young asked me,

“Don’t you think you can manage without it?”

“It’s nice to take it easy.”

If I were to use my stagnant water senses, I could navigate the maze-like path without a guide or a marker.

But since there was no bet riding on it this time, why go through the extra trouble?

Following the markers for an easy journey seemed like the best plan.

As Dang Gyu-young and I leisurely ate our ice cream, we arrived at the Exchange E area.

The exterior of Exchange E looked like a store selling various daily necessities, and since it was open for business, students were milling about inside.

We went inside and pretended to look around calmly, but we were actually following the direction indicated by the napkins deeper inside.

We pushed through a door marked “Authorized Personnel Only” without hesitation, and the students passing by didn’t seem to find our actions strange.

There’s a barrier in place.

The formations that the graduates have installed throughout the store were very cleverly distorting the view.

Therefore, everything appeared perfectly normal to those without napkins.

They probably didn’t even notice that we disappeared.

The napkins’ arrows pointed to a half-sized room used for storing cleaning supplies.

We squeezed inside, and as soon as we stepped towards the seemingly empty wall, the [Throughwalk] was automatically activated and we moved to the next room.

It was decorated like an office.

We continued to move through walls. We emerged into corridors, climbed stairs, and crossed more walls.

After an indeterminate number of such rooms, we entered another office-like space where someone was already waiting.

A man was sitting calmly in a chair and greeted us.

“You’ve arrived? What brings President Dang here in person?”

“Hello, senior-nim.”

And Dang Gyu-young respectfully bowed her head.

A graduate mentor senior.

Judging by the sword and martial arts uniform he had beside him, he exuded a strong martial artist vibe.

He then took out an old faded martial arts manual from his clothing. It was inscribed in rough handwriting:

“Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger”

“I heard you were looking for this.”

“That is the skill book.”

“......”

The man’s gaze briefly left Dang Gyu-young and lingered on me.

Though, considering how powerful this skill was, it was hard to imagine a situation where I would overuse it.

“You always learn such dangerous things. Who are you planning to take down this time?”

“If they hinder world peace, they need to be eliminated.”

Wouldn’t peace be achieved if all the annoying ones were taken down?

Dang Gyu-young shook her head.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Let’s get out of here now.”

“Yep.”

Just like when we entered, the napkin’s markings guided us to the exit.

We climbed over a few walls, went down the stairs, climbed over a few more walls, opened the door in front of us, and found ourselves at the back of the Exchange E building.

When I looked down at the napkin, the intricate markings that had been engraved on it gradually faded and eventually disappeared as if they had evaporated.

It had served its purpose, and it was a device installed in advance to leave no evidence.

I threw the napkin which had reverted to being just a napkin into the trash can, circled the building, and entered the downtown area again.

I walked along the crowd and asked Dang Gyu-young.

“How far along is the black market now?”

“It’s just starting.”

In the morning, only the A and B Exchanges had been opened. They were testing the waters by receiving customers gradually and increasing the number of open exchanges one by one.

And now, in the evening, with the final Exchange F activated, the black market has officially begun.

“So, what’s our role?”

“Right now, not much. We just hang around near the exchanges, kill time, and go immediately when Da-bin contacts us.”

Chae Da-bin was acting as the control tower.

She constantly monitored the downtown area through the crystal balls installed around the exchanges.

If any issues arose, she would promptly notify the nearby team members to respond.

And so far, no significant issues have occurred.

“In the end, we’re just reserve forces, huh?”

“In a way, yes.”

“Then, wouldn’t it be the same whether I stick with that slacker senior or with you, senior-nim?”

“Nope, it’s very different.”

When I asked with my eyes what was so different, Dang Gyu-young answered confidently.

“If you leave, I’ll get bored.”

“...”

“Ah, honestly, you feel the same, don’t you? Do you really want to go over there?”

“Honestly, it’s more comfortable to be with you, senior-nim.”

“Right? Fufufu.”

Dang Gyu-young laughed happily.

So, while Chae Da-bin and the other members of the thieves’ club diligently managed the black market, we wandered around the busy streets and killed time.

“How about some bead ice cream?”

“We just had ice cream.”

“Have more. If there’s too much, we can share.”

“Alright, let’s do that.”

For some reason, Dang Gyu-young was obsessed with bead ice cream so we shared it.

“Have you been to the game center?”

“Yes, I went today.”

“Hey, go with me too.”

“Next time.”

I diverted Dang Gyu-young’s interest away from the game center.

If we played mini-games, we wouldn’t be able to move right away if Chae Da-bin contacted us.

As we diligently killed time, a familiar voice came from behind.

“Hello, senior-nim.”

Dang Gyu-young and I turned our heads at the same time, and Kwak Seung-jae bowed his head.

Next to him were Han So-mi who was waving her hand brightly, and Song Cheon-hye who was looking at us with curious eyes.

It seemed they had been patrolling the downtown area and stopped when they saw us.

Dang Gyu-young quickly understood the situation and casually greeted them.

“Seung-jae, how are you doing?”