Chapter 37
The auction was scheduled for 9 o’clock today. Not wanting to be even a little late, Kwon-ju contacted Ji-won as soon as it turned 8:30 to get the OTP authentication number and logged in precisely on time. “Hyung is really dedicated.” Unlike himself who was busy just leveling up one main character, Ji-won had alt characters with various job classes all neatly arranged. …Meanwhile, the Holy Knight character was abandoned after hitting level 20.
After scanning through the carelessly created alt character names, Kwon-ju reminded himself of his main purpose and selected the main character to connect. As soon as the character that screamed Spirit Master with its entire being appeared in the center of the screen, guild chat messages started scrolling up.
[Guild][Chelling: Hello Guild Master]
[Guild][Ppojjo: Hiyo]
[Guild][Watermelon Doctor: 30 minutes until the auction staaaarts]
[Guild][Hando: Hey hey]
Unable to ignore their greetings, Kwon-ju responded casually and immediately opened the storage. In the inventory was 380,000 gold, and in the storage, 1,500,000 gold. It was a considerable amount. Larger than what Ji-won had told him. It seemed like he had hurriedly earned more.
According to Chelling, since mounts were merely luxury items that could only be summoned in towns, even rare ones rarely exceeded 800,000 gold. However, Kwon-ju was still concerned about the reportedly brutal drop rate, the fact that it was discontinued, that this was the first one released in years, and that there were users willing to take out loans to get it.
…Will this be enough? Kwon-ju took out all the gold from the storage and checked the exact amount combined in his inventory: 1,882,475 gold. To his eyes, always accustomed to having full stacks, it wasn’t a particularly large sum, but it was quite substantial for targeting just one mount.
[Guild][Chelling: Guild Master, how many bullets you got?]
[Guild][Chelling: I’m not a spy so don’t worry]
[Guild][Hando: 1.88 million]
[Guild][Ppojjo: With that money I’d just buy Toben Armor lolololol T_T]
[Guild][Chelling: wow…..]
The guild members sent messages of encouragement, saying he would definitely get it with this amount. Being in the awkward position of not being the actual account owner, Kwon-ju just kept repeating “thank you” like a parrot.
Just then, he noticed this auction’s rival, whom he’d heard about several times from guild members, posting in the server chat.
[Server][Boarelly: Buying all items, rare items at 80%~90% price >>WhiteHeart<< whisper me]
[Server][Cheong Ji-in: I won’t let it go, Silver Wolf]
[Server][Cheong Ji-in: I spit on it ptui ptui ptui ptui]
[Server][Cheong Ji-in: No one wants to buy something covered in spit, right? I’ll take it]
With the auction right around the corner, perhaps out of anxiety, Cheong Ji-in kept declaring that he would get the Silver Wolf no matter what. How much preparation had he done? Kwon-ju’s fingers were itching to respond to his constant proclamations, but he remained still, feeling it would be inappropriate to misuse Ji-won’s ID. However, the guild members weren’t about to let that declaration go unchallenged.
[Server][Chelling: Ji-in-kun, didn’t you miss your rent this month? Your landlord is suffering T_T]
[Server][Ddaji: There are many competitors, shouldn’t you be a bit nervous??6^^6]
[Server][Watermelon Doctor: Aren’t you wasting server chat money? What if you lose the Silver Wolf??]
[Server][Cheong Ji-in: Not behind;;; I’ll just skip meals]
[Server][Cheong Ji-in: But why are Plum guys ganging up on me?? Don’t tell me your Guild Master is in the auction?]
Cheong Ji-in’s spot-on guess suddenly brought the server chat to a halt. It seemed like he’d made a reasonable guess, since the Silver Wolf’s design made it look perfectly fitting for a Spirit Master.
[Guild][Chelling: Ah we’re busted lolololololololololololol]
[Guild][Ddaji: lololololololololololol]
[Guild][Chelling: wait lemme send a msg]
As if something had occurred to him, Chelling paused briefly before appearing in server chat.
[Server][Chelling: No, I’m the one buying it]
[Server][Cheong Ji-in: ???? Why you;;;;;;;;;]
[Server][Chelling: I’m planning to job change into a Demon Contractor riding a wolf lolololol]
[Server][Chelling: I’ve loaded 1 million gold^~^]
[Server][Cheong Ji-in: lololololol ah yeah]
Watching Cheong Ji-in laugh off the large sum of 1 million gold, Kwon-ju tapped his desk with his fingernails. It seemed like he was planning to be more aggressive than expected.
[Guild][Chelling: This crazy guy has prepared over 1 million gold lol]
[Guild][Ddaji: Judging by his reaction, definitely..]
[Guild][Kkangki: Arc Serenity is such a dangerous game;T;;;;]
While Kwon-ju had experience buying items through internet auctions, he always prepared well beyond the expected amount and waited, so this kind of sizing-up battle was a first for him. Not being able to freely bid high amounts with someone else’s money and account made him even more nervous.
[Guild][Chelling: Let’s head to Toben Castle, go go, channel 13]
Kwon-ju used a premium item to move directly to Toben Castle and went over the auction system he had learned when visiting with Ji-won. When the hour strikes, the auction will start with the item appearing, and all he needs to do is talk to the NPC with the mustache next to it and place a bid. It was so simple, yet he had pretended not to understand, even making Ji-won turn on voice chat – he’d been a fool not to know.
Since the auction was being held simultaneously across all channels, there weren’t that many people gathered to watch. A few unfamiliar users tried to talk to him, but since they didn’t seem to be acquaintances, he just ignored them.
[The auction is starting!]
With the announcement of the auction’s start, today’s star item appeared: the Silver Wolf Mount Permanent Voucher. So that’s the item hyung wants so badly. The mount, still just a small icon before use, didn’t look particularly impressive. But the fact that Ji-won coveted it was reason enough for Kwon-ju to fight for it.
Looking around briefly, Cheong Ji-in wasn’t visible, probably in a different channel. Guild members who came to cheer surrounded Ji-won’s character in a circle, sending non-stop chat messages saying “let’s go,” and Kwon-ju responded with various emoticons while focusing on the display board in front of him.
[500,000 gold]
A substantial amount appeared from the start. About 250,000 won in real money. Since this wasn’t an auction with just Ji-won and Cheong Ji-in participating, the first bid came from another user. The username appearing next to the amount kept changing. Now it seemed there wasn’t just one person to watch out for.
[Chelling: Wow, it’s hot]
[Ddaji: Already hit 1 million]
The price reached 1 million gold in less than 10 minutes after the auction started. Kwon-ju frowned at the changing digits. He had been planning to wait and observe, but clearly not many users wanted to spend such a large amount on a simple mount, as the bidding stopped at 1.2 million gold, which Cheong Ji-in had placed. The price remained unchanged for 5 minutes, suggesting all other competitors had been eliminated.
[Ppojjo: Guild Master, I think you can go in now]
[1,300,000 gold]
[1,310,000 gold]
As soon as Kwon-ju bid 1.3 million gold, Cheong Ji-in immediately raised it by 10,000 gold. While he had been quite aggressive earlier, as the price increased, he seemed to be trying to balance things, significantly reducing the increments.
[1,400,000 gold]
[1,410,000 gold]
Seeing him raise in such small amounts, it was clear that Cheong Ji-in’s prepared funds weren’t that substantial either. But since Kwon-ju wasn’t exactly flush with cash either, he could only respond conservatively. If it were his own personality, he would have just bid the maximum possible amount and been done with it.
Despite all that math studying, the digits were still hard to read, so he had to count from the back – one, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… which made his bidding somewhat slow. By the time he carefully pressed the numbers to enter an amount, the other bidder would immediately raise it, making the process increasingly exhausting as time went on.
The guild members, bored from just sitting and watching numbers, had long stopped chatting. It would be fine to do something else while bidding since not responding immediately wouldn’t mean losing the item, but Kwon-ju continued staring at the monitor screen. Whenever he got bored, he would scan Ji-won’s character from head to toe, and the thought that his hyung looked at this screen every time while playing would instantly dispel his boredom.
Fifty minutes passed, and with exactly 10 minutes left in the auction, a whisper suddenly arrived from Cheong Ji-in, who must have been in another channel.
[Cheong Ji-in>>Hando: Hey]
[Cheong Ji-in>>Hando: How much?]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
