Chapter 18 : Search for the Appraiser

After that, I picked out a few more items for Jiye.

[SS: Starlight Staff (Unidentified)]
[Category: Staff]
[Warning! This item is unidentified.]
[A staff said to be wieldable only by a heart through which starlight flows. However, because there was no star to bestow its noble blood, it has wandered through dimensions for a long time, its grade even dropping. If given blood periodically, it might regain its original grade.]
It was a bit ominous, but a heart through which starlight flows clearly meant a Constellation’s or a Constellation’s heart, so it was a perfect choice for Jiye.

[A: Linked Multi-Attribute Triple Casting Auxiliary Device]
[Category: Hairpin]
[Warning! This item is unidentified.]
I also picked up a hairpin whose name explained everything.

[S: Memorize]
[Category: Bracelet]
[Warning! This item is unidentified.]
I also picked up a Memorize bracelet that could store about three spells.
Unfortunately, these were all the items that suited the two of them at the moment.
Although there weren’t many treasure-like items when I actually looked, it was also difficult to find items that were a perfect fit for them.
But that wasn’t the end of our shopping.

[S: Frost Staff]
[SS: Sun Chariot]
[A: Hand of the Deep Sea]
[A: Surging Whale]
[S: Bandage of Recovery]
[S…]
I picked up all the unidentified items of A-rank or higher that I saw.
At first, the two were squealing with delight that Pion had picked out items for them, but as the number of items I brought increased, they grew quiet.
Finally, when I placed a pair of earrings on the floor, Han Sion spoke.
“Um, Pion…?”
“Piuk.”
“Should we buy all of these?”
“Piik!”
When I nodded in affirmation, the two seemed to ponder for a moment, then muttered something and made up their minds.
What was that?
Baek Jiye flamboyantly spun her black card and handed it to the employee.
“One-time payment.”
It was a flex.
Before I came here, I had heard something from Hong Yuon.

“I told Jiye that card is the association president’s exclusive black card, but… it’s only black in color, it’s actually my personal savings. Could you please tell her to buy in moderation?”
Far from stopping her, I was the one who went on a spree, but it was fine.

“Pikku?”
“The budget? Well, as long as you don’t exceed 50 billion won…”

“It’s 50 billion won. Thank you.”
I matched the limit with divine skill, then hummed on Han Sion’s head and left the auction house.
Although it was an auction house, we didn’t even look at the auction items, but I didn’t think EX-rank or S-rank items would come out in droves, and at this price.
We hit the jackpot!
The price of a single S-rank item exceeds 10 billion won.
For SS-rank, the number of zeros changes by one or two.
EX-rank would be priceless.
On the other hand, F-rank was 100,000 won, and D-rank was 1 million won, so the value was significantly lower.
The employee also knew this and repeatedly asked if we were really okay with it, saying that since they were unidentified items, they couldn’t be refunded.
Our contractors trusted me and bought them, and as a result, they would see an unimaginable profit margin.
I bet the auction house didn’t expect us to pick out only A-rank and above.
I’m so excited!
“But what do we do with these?”
“What?”
Baek Jiye’s one sentence shattered my humming.
“These are items that even the auction house staff couldn’t appraise. Although there are some items that haven’t been appraised at all.”
“So what? We just need to find someone who can appraise them.”
“It’s not as easy as it sounds! I know the appraisers at that auction house are A-rank… If even they can’t appraise them, there’s no one in the country who can.”
“What?!”
“Piik?!”
It meant that my 50 billion won, which I had happily spent, could be wasted.
Though it was Hong Yuon’s money.
Han Sion said urgently.
“Then what do we do?”
“We’ll have to find an appraiser from abroad. I doubt the items Pion chose will be low-grade.”
“Is there really no appraiser in Korea?”
“There used to be. He lost his ability when his Constellation broke the contract. He’s probably quite famous.”
“Ah…”
Unlike Han Sion, who nodded as if he remembered, I tilted my head.
There was?
‘Then can’t I just re-contract with him?’
Of course, I aim for my own unshakable tower.
I will also choose my contractors carefully.
But there are things in the world that can’t be helped.
‘Like my 50 billion won, for example.’
For that, I could even make a contract with someone I don’t like.
‘I can just break it later.’
The authority to break a contract belongs solely to the Constellation.
There were often cases where a contract was broken right after being made.
That friend was just a bit unlucky.
I immediately generated a scenario.

[NO.4 Find the Appraiser!]
The items that Pion worked so hard to choose are about to become junk. This can’t happen. The Silent Calamity wants these items to be returned to you.
Tell Pion the location of the appraiser whose contract was broken.
Success: 1000 Coins
Failure: The Silent Calamity’s Disappointment
The two were startled.
“A scenario?”
“At this timing?”
The two, who had been blinking for a moment, had a change in their eyes.
Han Sion even grabbed me from his head and rubbed his face against me.
“As expected! Pion, you really are a monster favored by the Calamity!”
-Piiiiiieaaak!
“I’m so jealous that you’re so favored! Can you talk too? I want to be loved like this too-“
“Oppa! Pion is dying!”
“Huk.”
My soul flew far away from the too-intense rubbing.
The words I heard in the meantime were also extremely confusing.
What? You want to be loved? Favored?
‘I should pretend I didn’t hear that.’
I already favored them.
Both of you.
After a struggle among the boxes piled up in front of the auction house, Baek Jiye called the association president to ask for the whereabouts of the appraiser whose contract had been broken.
Even though the contract was broken, an Awakener is an Awakener.
Their physical abilities do not return to those of an ordinary person.
Since a body of about the upper F-rank was always maintained, they were under the management of the association.
Therefore, we were able to find out his location very easily.
Appraise and resell.
Our project to make our contractors rich.
First, to get an appraisal, I had to…
Make one more contractor.
“Constellatiooooooooooooooooooooooon-nim─!”
For having spent 50 billion won when told to spend under 50 billion, I had to be held and shaken in the hands of the sobbing Hong Yuon for a while, but if it was a 50 billion won shake, I couldn’t not do it.
Hmm. It feels like riding an amusement park ride.

The next day.
First, I body-slammed Baek Jiye, who was about to go out with me.
PAAAAAAAAK!
“Kyaaaak!”
“Pion! What’s wrong?!”
-Piiiiiiik!
“Did I do something wrong?!”
You didn’t do anything wrong, but there was something you had to do.
‘The Hexagram is not something that can be solved by appraisal.’
The reason that thing was unappraisable was because it was sealed.
To appraise it, you have to break the seal first, and this was only possible for a skilled magician.
‘It’s perfect for Baek Jiye’s magic practice.’
Baek Jiye was well-versed in theory, but she had never actually used magic before.
That was also the reason why I chose a general-purpose magician item instead of an item specialized in one attribute.
She would say she’s fine because she’s a genius, but every genius has a first time.
“Pippippippik! Pippiuk! Piaak!”
“Uh… she says you should stay here and break the brooch’s seal.”
“Seal? Is this sealed?”
“Pippippiuk!”
“That’s what she says.”
“That translator is really amazing.”
Fortunately, the translator we bought at the pet monster supply shop was all-purpose.
I wondered how such a high-level translation was possible, but good is good!
Baek Jiye thus confined herself to her room, and I lay down on Han Sion’s head and left the association.
Perhaps because we had been staying at the association for a while, rumors that we would join the association had become widespread, and we no longer saw any guild scouts trying to stop us.
Occasionally, there were still people who didn’t give up, but Han Sion completely ignored them and got into a taxi.
“Oh my, isn’t it the S-rank-nim! I’ve been a taxi driver all my life, and now I’m even giving a ride to an S-rank. Where to?”
“Please go here.”
With a rather noisy taxi driver, we arrived at a moon village in a corner of Seoul.
There were no people walking around, as if redevelopment was scheduled, and only a banner congratulating the construction of an apartment fluttered in the wind.
“Pion, is he really here?”
“-Pikkuk.”
How would I know?
But the possibility was high.
The life of an Awakener whose contract has been broken is quite miserable.
It means they have lost the trust of their Constellation, so they can’t even dream of re-contracting, and their physical abilities drop sharply to a level slightly stronger than that of an ordinary person.
The moment the contract is broken, they become a reject.
They can’t get support from any guild, not even the association.
Because support is given to those who show potential.
The golden age of their glorious life disappears in an instant.
‘So there’s a high probability he lives in a place like this.’
Most importantly, it was the address the association president had found out.
We found a shabby basement room in the highest and most remote part of the moon village.
“I told you I can fix it.”
“I-if that’s really true…”
But there was a prior guest there.