‘How did she know about the auction? And how did she get my number to make such an unfunny joke? I wonder if it was… No, it can’t be. You have to go to the Auction House to check the final auction value.’

Klaus Park did not believe a word Florence Askins said to him over the phone. That was beyond absurd.

Naturally, Klaus returned to help his father put the boxes on the truck rented for the move.

During one of their family conversations in the previous days, they had decided it would be better not to sell all the family furniture, confident that one day they would be able to get the house back. Although the bank had promised that they would put the house up for sale only if within a year the Park’s entire debt was not paid off, they would not allow them to leave anything in the house except the essential appliances, so to store the closets, dining table and sofas it was necessary to rent a storage unit. Luckily, a reasonable storage rental costs an average of $200.

A few minutes after lunch, Michael Park had to go to the harbor to work, so Klaus was finally free.

As soon as he went up to his room, he turned on the old computer and logged on to the World Market. In the list of posted auctions, the Epic Beast mount was floating above the Swift Arrows, and you couldn’t see the result as expected. The final result of the auction was secret to everyone on the platform except those who followed it in real-time to the end. The thousands of comments on the post disappeared with the end of the auction, so it seemed that the auction had been completely normal to someone who did not use social networks like Klaus.

However, Klaus was surprised that the auction had, in fact, already been completed. He had set a deadline of one day, so it wasn’t supposed to end until the next morning.

With his curiosity piqued, he put on the NeuroGear, lay down on his bed, and uttered:

“Start Connection.”

As soon as he opened his eyes in one of the stinking, dead alleys of Holinda’s Start City, he didn’t care about anything else and walked to the Auction House as fast as he could.𝗈𝒱𝒍xt.𝚌𝗈𝐌

The entire city was teeming with people in the middle of the day.

Carriages congested the avenues, the alleys were dominated by trade players and NPCs, and the starting square was the center of this bustle.

‘There are actually more active players during these hours than in the afternoon. Well, if I’m going to consider that there are people from all over the world on these streets, that must be because even on the other side of the world, it’s not even midnight yet…’

Kaizen walked hurriedly until he reached the Auction House. He had even forgotten that the Desert Lions Guild now wanted him.

When he arrived at the Auction House, he realized that this establishment was also crowded, with people leaving and entering all the time. He regained his posture, wiped the sweat on his face, straightened his armor, and entered.

In front of a glass counter, which was displaying some jewelry and necklaces, he uttered:

“Open World Market.”

Then a screen popped up in front of his eyes, exposing the World Market interface that was very similar to the computer app. However, this time by clicking on the auctioned item he could see the final bid.

[Chiron – Epic Rank Druid Beast mount (1x).]

[Bidding price: 30,000 gold coins per piece.]

Somehow, Kaizen managed not to faint just because of his sinister tenacity.

He thought:

‘That’s a dream, isn’t it? It’s definitely a dream.’

Suddenly, he punched himself in the face with as much force as he could use in his right fist.

*Pow*

Damage was not applied, but he still felt the pain and fell backward with the blow, drawing the attention of all the players and NPCs in the establishment.

“What is that idiot doing?”

“Don’t look. He might be a nutcase.”

“Did he really hit himself? Hehe! How weird…”

Fearfully, a female employee approached Kaizen, who was slumped on the ground and with a partially somber face. She was breaking into a cold sweat because although it was her job to check whether the customer had fallen or injured himself, she saw the moment Kaizen struck himself.

“Sir? Are you all right?”

Kaizen looked the employee in the eye, making her feel a terrible chill.

The eyes of this large, black-haired man were like that of a lunatic. She was completely frightened by the man’s face.

Soon, Kaizen realized he was drawing too much attention when he looked around him a bit, so he stood up, wiped the dust on his clothes with two slaps, and replied with a sympathetic smile.

“Yes, I am fine… Can you inform me if the manager is here?”

“He is. Do you want to make an appointment?”

“Yes.”

“If I may ask, at what time and date would you like to have that meeting?”

“Today and now.”

“Sir, that is impossible. The manager must be busy right now.”

Kaizen looked around, and when he noticed that not so many people were looking at him now, he leaned forward and whispered in the attendant’s ear:

“The manager of this place wouldn’t keep a customer waiting who needs to receive thirty thousand gold coins, would he?”

The attendant was surprised by the man’s calm but persuasive voice and words. “K-khum… The manager will attend to you in five minutes. Please wait a moment.”

Kaizen had asked to see the manager because if the transaction were done at the standard Auction House counter, it would draw a lot of attention from all those present.

While he waited for the attendant to return, he pinched his body until blood could be seen. This was, without any mistake, the reality!

After a few minutes, he was called into the manager’s office, who was incredulous when he saw the final auction price for the Druid Beast mount, but not as incredulous as Kaizen was when he discovered that the Auction House’s commission rate was an incredible 20%. So he was left with 6,600 fewer gold coins, and the manager brought the rest of the amount in large, noisy bags of coins.

When Kaizen left the Auction House, looking at his inventory and seeing that the current amount he had was 26,411 gold coins was unbelievable. He immediately wanted to take that money out and swim in a bathtub filled with $100 bills.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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