“Why are you stopping here? Because of the sandwich?”
In response to Ethan’s question, Ho Sung Lee smiled.
“He wants me to deal with the items before we go to the 9th floor. Our item windows are full.”
Ethan’s face stiffened.
“So… you’re going to sell the items that you got until now to us?”
“That’s right. Let’s make it an auction.”
“Ha…”
Ethan laughed as if he couldn’t believe it.
Ho Sung Lee just nodded as if he understood.
Ethan just watched Min Sung as he finished his sandwich with an absurd look on his face.
Min Sung then met eyes with Ethan.
In response, Ethan looked away.
After all, under the law of the jungle, those who had power could control those who didn’t.
He just had to accept it.
“… I’ll relay the message. Wait here.”
Ethan held back his emotions and gathered the other hunters.
He then delivered the current situation.
The commanders’ faces turned sour all at once.
As if taking all of the experience points and items weren’t enough, they were trying to sell them to the other hunters inside the tower, and this made the commanders absolutely speechless.
However, unlike the other commanders, Ethan maintained his cold stance.
“If we don’t accept the auction, we can’t go up to the upper floors. So we should take the items.”
It would cost them, but for the time being, doing as Ethan said was the wisest thing to do.
Since they couldn’t go up the tower without Min Sung Kang, they had to empty his item window with money.
“But if they try to sell them for too much…”
“So you think that’s possible.”
“Yeah. We’ll have to come up with a Plan B…”
In response to the commanders’ worries, Ethan clenched his teeth.
“We just have to accept any conditions they give us. If you can think of another way, say it now.”
In response, the commanders kept their mouths shut.
“Since the dungeons started appearing, American’s national defense experiences have been over 2 quadrillion dollars. Now that a tower capable of making mankind extinct is here, it’d be stupid to be stingy. Americans will take care of 50% of the items being auctioned.”
In response, the commanders’ faces brightened up.
% was a substantial amount.
They were happy that they were going to take that much.
But Ethan added a condition.
“But in return…”
Ethan stressed the word “return” and continued,
“Once we get to the 9th floor, the purchase rights to all of the high-level items will belong to America.”
In response, the commanders gasped.
They calculated the proposal in their heads.
The answer didn’t come about easily.
After seeing their response, Ethan smiled.
“If we go with the auction method, you can’t beat America in terms of money anyway. There’s no need for all of us to give up money to Korea’s hyena.”
Ethan’s explanation made sense.
The commanders were sad, but they had no choice but to agree.
The decision Ethan made was the closest to an answer as they could get.
“Then for the first auction, let’s make it so that each commander participates in each one. The right to bid is free for all.”
The conversation ended according to Ethan’s rules, and he proceeded to walk toward Ho Sung Lee.
“What kind of currency?”
“The limited Black Mithril.”
Paper currencies were dangerous.
The most certain currency was Mithril.
After all, it was a substance with the most worth in the current generation.
So Ho Sung Lee went with the Black Mithril as the currency.
“Okay. Hm… Shall we begin right away?”
“Sure.”
Ho Sung Lee notified Min Sung that they were ready.
After that, Ho Sung Lee sighed and walked toward the world hunters in order to begin.
***
“Can I go for a smoke first?”
In response to Ho Sung Lee’s request, Ethan gave him the go signal.
Ho Sung Lee walked off a bit and lit a cigarette.
He took a big puff and exhaled it in a refreshing manner.
‘I’m aging fast here.’
He wished Min Sung Kang would go after the world hunters himself, but here he was, getting death glares from everybody.
But he understood.
They took all the kills, monopolized the items, and now they were selling off the items.
They were all Min Sung Kang’s decisions, but it was Ho Sung Lee who had to take all the hate.
‘I’m nothing but a punching bag. Damn it.’
He would have felt better if Bowl was by his side, but he was hiding away in Min Sung’s pocket, and since he was a doll, he probably perceived this differently.
But on the other hand, if he didn’t have Min Sung Kang, he was nothing but a powerless ant.
Anyone of those world hunters were capable of killing him if they really wanted.
It was hard to just live day by day.
‘Sigh.’
Ho Sung Lee looked at his burnt-out cigarette and felt sad.
He wanted to smoke one more, but he didn’t have much time.
The world hunters were staring at him as if they wanted to kill him.
‘I’m coming, you bastards.’
‘Anyway… I can’t believe I’m actually having this auction.’
‘Haha.’
Ho Sung Lee shook his head.
While the world hunters watched him, he opened his item window in order to start the auction.
‘Let’s see. What do we have here?’
‘Wait…’
“What’s this?’
‘If I do a good job, this could become really comical.’
The items that the monsters spat out from the 1st floor to the 8th floor were impressive, but this item would change everything.
Inside the item window was an item that they obtained after Min Sung killed a devil when they came to the Black Tower last time.
And among them was an object that shined with an Aurora all by itself.
Since it was an item from a dead devil, it looked different from the rest.