Chapter 32.2
Dagon, as he called himself, smiled.
Han Min-oh clung to Dagon’s feet in desperation.
“M-Money… I can pay as much as you want. I just need to tell my father. He’s the chairman of Hanyeon Group!”
“Human money? That’s the most worthless thing in the Abyss.”
“T-Then what should I give you…?”
“For starters, all ten of your fingers.”
“…What?”
“Don’t want to? Your body is the only thing of value you can offer right now.”
“N-No! If it will save my life, then… then take my fingers!”
Swoosh!
With the sound of something slicing,
Thud!
All ten of his fingers fell to the ground in a row.
“Arghhhhh!”
Han Min-oh groaned in agony, collapsing to his knees.
Dagon picked up the ten fingers.
“Hm, a value of only 20? That’s far from enough.”
“W-What do you mean…”
“Your body is too weak—it’s hardly worth anything.”
“You… you said you’d save me…”
“I did say ‘for starters’, didn’t I? It looks like I’ll need both your arms to make this a fair trade.”
It was as if he were under a spell.
Without realizing it, Han Min-oh nodded.
“F-Fine… take my arms too. Just save me.”
Rip!
It was an unreal sight.
Dagon grabbed both of Han Min-oh’s arms and tore them off.
“Urghhh!”
The pain was so intense that Han Min-oh’s eyes rolled back.
But Dagon merely shrugged.
“Too bad. The value of your arms only comes up to 50. Maybe if I took your heart, that would be enough?”
Nonsense. It was madness.
A person couldn’t live without a heart.
If he gave it up, all that awaited him was death.
It was just a choice between dying to the demon or dying to the zombies.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? For what you’ve already offered me, I can grant you a painless death.”
“Ah…”
It hurt.
A pain unlike anything he had ever felt.
If it could free him from this agony, he would do anything.
Dying here would be a hundred times better than being devoured by zombies.
“P-Please… just…”
“Just what?”
Dagon flashed a wicked smile, baring his sharp teeth.
Go on, say it. Beg him to kill you, and the demon’s deal would be sealed.
“Please, kill me…”
“Stop.”
At that moment, someone appeared, interrupting Han Min-oh’s words.
As if they had emerged from the ground, they were suddenly there.
“…Hm? Where did you come from? Did you use an invisibility spell?”
Dagon tilted his head, perplexed.
Complete invisibility was a high-level spell.
But invisibility didn’t erase a presence.
This person had appeared without a trace.
Park Chan-woo glanced down at the unconscious Han Min-oh, then looked at Dagon.
“Surely he’s paid enough to escape this situation?”
“Strange thing to say out of nowhere. What do you mean, ‘escape this situation’?”
“You could have built a wall or set up a barrier to keep the zombies from approaching.”
“Look, value is relative. He had nothing worth offering, seeing as he was doomed to die.”
“Doomed to die, huh?”
Kyuuuk!
Radiant Anubis emerged from the cuff of Park Chan-woo’s pants, immediately growing to a larger size and driving away the zombies.
“Well, now he won’t die.”
“……”
Dagon was speechless.
Indeed, the future he had foreseen had just shifted.
And when the future changes, it means—
“Seems I was mistaken… I never anticipated a human like you would appear.”
This meant that even the value of the two arms severed from Han Min-oh had changed.
The transaction itself had become unnecessary.
Park Chan-woo spoke in a calm, measured tone.
“The transaction is nullified, so reattach his severed arms and fingers immediately.”
“……”
Indeed.
To void the transaction, Dagon would have to reattach the arms right away.
And to reattach severed limbs and fingers completely would require at least a high-grade elixir.
However, the cost wasn’t worth it.
Only transactions of equal value were allowed, and even Dagon couldn’t escape that unbreakable rule.
‘To raise their merchant rank, they need to finalize as many transactions as possible.’
Even demon merchants had ranks, and currently, Dagon’s rank was ‘Ancient’.
While it was relatively high among the demon merchants here, he still fell short of being considered a ‘Great Merchant’.
That’s why he was so eager to secure deals, even by forcing humans into transactions.
After all, their rank could only rise by the total ‘value’ of transactions.
‘But if I procure a high-grade elixir, my rank might drop instead.’
To correct his mistake and acquire a high-grade elixir, Dagon would need to pay an equal price.
For merchants, their only value was their rank, and high-grade elixirs were difficult to obtain.
This was why Dagon’s expression was clouded with irritation.
Meanwhile, Park Chan-woo spoke with an unaffected expression.
“Why are you just standing there?”
“……”
“If this man dies, your merchant status will be revoked.”
“……!”
For a brief moment, Dagon’s eyes trembled in shock.
This human seemed to know even the rules of a merchant.
“Who… are you? How does a mere human know the rules of a merchant?”
His voice was laced with fury.
Park Chan-woo gave a faint smile.
‘Just as expected.’
Dagon, along with all the other demon merchants, was scouring the dungeons, trying to extract ‘value’ from as many humans as possible.
Forcing transactions on people to fill their own coffers.
Their goal was to raise their rank to become true ‘Great Merchants’, which would place them on par with the Abyssal Lords.
However, excessive greed often led to ruin.
Dagon’s current situation was the perfect example.
“Curious how I know your rules? This information comes at a high price, though. I’m not sure if you can afford it.”
Park Chan-woo countered with a mock offer.
It was as if he was asking whether Dagon had enough value to buy his knowledge.
He was skillful. He handled a deal with a demon as if it were nothing.
Dagon found himself scrutinizing Park Chan-woo as if facing a fellow demon.
‘He must’ve bought the information from another demon merchant.’
Dagon was certain of it.
This human must have paid another demon merchant for knowledge of their rules.
After all, it would take the value of a unique-grade piece of equipment to learn the basics.
This man must have been lying in wait, hoping Dagon would make a mistake to use this knowledge against him.
‘So he’s leveraging his knowledge of the rules to exploit me in exchange for resolving this situation?’
It was clear that he intended to profit by holding Dagon hostage with his ‘superior’ knowledge.
How infuriatingly clever.
However, Dagon smirked to himself and spoke.
“Fine, I’ll pay for the information. So tell me, who did you learn the merchant rules from?”
He accepted the deal.
Dagon found the human in front of him intriguing enough to take his offer.
If this human possessed enough value to surprise him, he could trade it in for a high-grade elixir and cover his own blunder.
‘The fool probably doesn’t even know about the nondisclosure clause.’
Typically, sensitive information came with a ‘non-disclosure’ clause written in demon language, which humans couldn’t read unless they used a translation spell.
And without a doubt, it would include a clause stating that revealing the source of the information would result in a penalty fee ten times the value.
‘The moment he names his source, he’s done for.’
He’d accepted the deal, but the human was just falling into his trap.
No matter how threatening he thought he was, he was merely a fool ensnared by his own arrogance.
But then…
Park Chan-woo smirked, raising a corner of his mouth.
“‘Sephiro’.”
…Sephiro?
Dagon tilted his head in confusion.
There was no merchant by that name.
And yet, it sounded familiar… a rare name, no doubt.
‘Could it be…?’
For a split second, a certain figure crossed Dagon’s mind.
But that couldn’t be possible.
There was no way a mere human would know that name.
Even if it were true, a being of that stature wouldn’t bother sharing demon merchant rules with a human… would they?
《Information has been verified as true.》
《The transaction is complete.》
《The estimated value of the information exceeds ‘20,000,000’.》
《Dagon shall pay the price.》
