Tomb Raider King

Chapter 26: Oh, this punk is pretty useful? (2)

Translator: miraclerifle

The tolerance skill’s level has increased. Maybe that was the reason, but Ju-Heon's stomach pain had subsided as well.

‘The durability is decreasing slower now too.’

The durability was still going down, but it seemed to be going down slower than before. That was why Ju-Heon looked toward Irene as if he had decided on something.

‘Good, let’s keep sticking to her like this to raise my tolerance more.’

However, there was something Ju-Heon did not understand as well.

Although he didn't know the identity of the Monarch of Destitution’s artifact, he knew that it was an artifact related to disasters. That was why it would make sense to cause worse disasters based on negative emotions.

‘But the strength of the disasters went up when she was happy?’

But it was understandable.

The woman in Ju-Heon’s memories was someone who laughed as she took people to bankruptcy and destroyed nations.

That was why the Monarch of Destitution's power of misfortune became stronger the happier this woman became.

This thought was the reason Ju-Heon was looking at her with a mean gaze.

‘I guess this woman was a total psychopath who could not be changed.’

It was at that moment.

Irene's emotions seemed to have changed as he received a different message.

[The other party’s emotions have changed and her artifact’s attack strength has returned to normal.]

She must have calmed down. Either way, the scary attack had instantly disappeared once her feeling of joy subsided. Irene then asked with sparkling eyes.

“Umm, if you truly are that person, I have a request for you.”

“What is it?”

“Please sell me that luck.”

Ju-Heon started to frown at the same time. It fit her name of Monarch of Destitution who enjoyed other people's misfortunes to not be able to stand someone being lucky.

However, Irene said the following that destroyed Ju-Heon's hypothesis.

“You might not believe me, but anybody around me becomes unlucky.”

“Excuse me?”

“That is why I want to buy strong luck like the one you have. Then the people around me might be able to be happy as well.”

Irene looked desperate. However, Ju-Heon tilted his head in confusion.

How could he not?

According to his memories, she was the goddess of disaster who enjoyed bringing misfortune to others. The proof of that was that she would happily take jobs to bring misfortune to people and even caused multiple nation's economies to crumble.

Maybe that was the reason. Ju-Heon could not understand this situation at all.

‘Is this woman putting on a despicable act right now?’

Of course, Ju-Heon would have continued to believe that. At least he would have if Irene’s had not frantically grabbed his arm.

“Please sell me your luck! I know it might be important to you, but I beg you. Please...! I’ll give you as much money as you want!”

Ju-Heon scrunched his eyes.

‘Does this woman not know about artifacts yet?’

That was indeed possible.

Chairman Kwon seemed to know about artifacts already somehow, however, most of the world did not know about artifacts yet.

It was possible that Irene was using an artifact without knowing she was using an artifact. Divine-Grade artifacts were bastards who could easily use their masters for their benefits.

That was why Ju-Heon started to smile in an evil way.

‘A Monopolizer doesn’t know about artifacts, eh......

I might be able to use this to my benefit.

Then first......’

The auctioneer's voice filled the auction house at that moment.

“There seemed to have been an earthquake but everything seems fine. Then, the 1907 Heidsieck! We were currently at $707,000 (830 million won). Does anybody have any other bids?”

The surrounding area became quiet.

“Are there really no more bids?”

The auctioneer smiled and picked up his auction gavel.

Ju-Heon looked back and forth at Irene and the people inside the auction house at that moment. Then Ju-Heon, for some reason, quickly said the following to Irene.

“My luck. Well, I suppose there’s nothing preventing me from selling it to you.”

Irene smiled brightly as if she was genuinely happy.

“Will you really sell it to me?”

Then a message popped up.

[The strength of the other party's artifact is increasing based on her emotions.]

[The other party's artifact's strength is increasing at an explosive rate.]

[Your tolerance is increasing at an abnormal rate.]

Irene’s innocent smile and Ju-Heon’s evil smile were exchanged along with the message.

Things started to happen as Ju-Heon expected at that moment.

“Then the first item, the 1907 Heidsieck......will be sold at $707,000 (830 million won)......!”

“10 million dollars! (10 billion won!)”

Someone shouted out loud.

Of course, it was normal for a new bid to come in before the item was sold. However, the auctioneer could not help but be shocked.

‘It suddenly jumped from the hundred thousands to ten millions?’

That was why the quiet auctioneer cautiously asked.

“Uhh......did you really mean $10 million (10 billion won)?”

The auctioneer soon looked at the bidder’s face and nodded his head.

“T, then, the 1907 Heidsieck will be sold at $10 million.......”

However, the auction house turned into chaos at that moment as if a dam had broken.

“12 million dollars!”

“13 million dollars!”

“15 million dollars!”

“20 million dollars!

“E, excuse me?”

The auctioneer became anxious after suddenly hearing voices around him. However, Ju-Heon didn't care whether the auctioneer was flustered as he continued to egg Irene on.

“I'm certain that terrible things would stop happening behind you if I gave you the item in my possession.”

“Then...!”

“That’s right. After hearing your situation, I suppose I could sell it.”

Irene smiled brightly at this and her artifact started to become stronger as Ju-Heon planned.

This made the people go crazy for a simple bottle of wine.

“Damn it, 30 million dollars!”

“W, wait!”

“Aaah! Whatever! Get rid of my stocks! Pull money from the company funds! 35 million dollars!”

“36 million!”

The auctioneer shouted with anxiety after seeing it going so crazy like this.

“P, patrons! P. please calm down!”

The auctioneer tried to push the brakes but the colossus looked ready to pay whatever was necessary even if it meant going into debt.

And then...

“50 million dollars!”

Even Yoon Shi Woo who was standing next to Chairman Kwon jumped up and shouted. The way his eyes looked made it obvious that he was under the Monarch of Destitution's area of influence as well.

“Fifty milliiiiiiiiion! Don’t worry, Chairman-nim! I will definitely win that precious wine even if I need to sell TKBM to do it!”

Chairman Kwon had no choice but to look at this potential son-in-law as if he was crazy.

Who was this fool to sell his company as he pleased?

Thanks to that, Ju-Heon who was watching was almost dying from holding back his laughter. He would have laughed out loud if nobody was around him.

The auction house turned into chaos as Ju-Heon expected.

‘As expected of the Monarch of Destitution. Everybody is starting to go crazy for the item.’

Honestly speaking, they were excessively excited rather than being mind controlled.

Their brains were getting excited to the point they became dumb. It was similar to becoming drunk. The people whose dominance was weaker than the Monarch of Destitution's ended up being easily influenced by the artifact’s power and ended up in this state.

“Aaah! Hand over my money! I'm going to buy that!”

“You let go of my money, you bastard!”

“Swipe my card! Whatever! Swipe everything!”

The wine ended up being sold at a historic price while Ju-Heon who created this situation was the only one who was laughing.

He had riled up the Monarch of Destitution on purpose to cause chaos in the auction house.

Why?

He needed to get rid of the useless competition in order to make sure he won the artifacts that would show up later in the auction.

The method was simple. The Monarch of Destitution's artifact released an exponentially stronger power when she became happy.

So Ju-Heon just needed to play with this pure woman’s emotions. Something like that was not difficult for Ju-Heon to do.

‘It’s still a long way until the artifacts show up.’

So he would send the others out of the competition before that point.

Unfortunately, Irene who had no idea about this scam was shaking Ju-Heon in desperation.

“E, excuse me? We were in the middle of our discus......”

“Ah, we were talking about selling my luck, right?”

Ju-Heon smiled warmly for Irene to become happy. There were still tens of thorns to get rid of standing in front of him.

The 1907 Heidsieck is sold!!”

“Yes sir! The 2003 limited edition Prada UOZ Sapphire Blue handbag has been sold!”

“The ancient Egyptian wall art has been sold!”

“The rare Beatles t-shirt has been sold!”

“CEO Bill Gates’ idea doll has been sold!”

“Oprah Winfrey's homemade candy has been sold!”

Sold, sold, sold!

Tens of colossus started to buy items at excessive costs without thinking about the items that would show up later in the auction.

It was to the point many of them would not be able to do anything about the artifacts that showed up.

‘The Monarch of Destitution's abilities truly are amazing.’

Ju-Heon started to chuckle. Most of the strong competitors were now gone. The only ones remaining were the ones who failed to win any of the items.

There was also Chairman Kwon.

‘Tsk, that old man sure is lucky.’

However, it didn't matter. He had already achieved his goal for coming to this auction house.

That was the case.

The artifacts Ju-Heon had been waiting for started to appear near the second half of the auction.

Ju-Heon had managed to win every item he wanted to win, while he unnecessarily raised the price for the useless ones before purposely losing the bids to Chairman Kwon.

One such item was the Butcher’s Knife.

‘Idiot. You bought a C-Grade trash that curses the user for two million dollars.’

Ju-Heon was chuckling.

Ju-Heon had won a total of three artifacts.

The Code of Hammurabi, Shakespeare’s pen, and Marie Antoinette’s Necklace.

Chairman Kwon thought these were junk like an idiot, but they were all A-Grade(Treasure-Grade) artifacts that he would be able to use effectively.

He now had about 50 billion won of the original 70 billion won remaining.

‘I got almost all the artifacts I needed.’

Thanks to Irene taking out most of the competition, he had more money left than expected as well.

Ju-Heon prepared to leave now that he won all the items he had aimed to win.

However, Irene's face next to him was not very good.

“Umm......”

It was an obvious reaction. Ju-Heon made it sound like he would sell her his luck before ignoring her over and over; how would anyone feel good after being jerked around like that?

Of course, it was true that Ju-Heon had used Irene. There was only one final thing he needed from her now.

‘Everything would be perfect if I could steal the Monarch of Destitution’s artifact.’

“Let’s move to a quiet location because our conversation might be long.”

“Ah, yes!”

Irene quickly started to pick up her bag. Ju-Heon chuckled while looking at Irene hurry.

‘I think I have a good idea on how to control the Monarch of Destitution now.’

However, there was something that concerned him.

‘The Divine-Grade artifact in the prophecy ended up not being one of the auction items.

He was thinking about the Divine-Grade artifact mentioned in the Future Diary.

The prophecy made it sound as if it would appear in the auction house and fall into Chairman Kwon's hands.

‘Will Divine-Grade artifacts only show up after the Tomb Appearance?’

It happened at that moment.

“Alright! Then I will show you our surprise event auction item of the day!”

Ju-Heon turned his head with a confused gaze.

‘A surprise event auction item?

It’s probably something useless......’

However, Ju-Heon’s face instantly stiffened after seeing the item that appeared on the stage.

He was certain.

That was an artifact.

Furthermore, it was no general-grade artifact.

‘SS-Grade(Divine-Grade)!

The auctioneer soon started to explain about the item.

“Alright, the last item of the day. This item is......!”

However, both Ju-Heon and Chairman Kwon raised their hands at the same time before the explanation even ended.