Chapter 56: Faster Than the Eye (2)

“Alright, let’s get started right away,” Kang Yongseok said, nodding with his arms crossed. A confident smirk played on his lips. He was certain Taejun wouldn’t be able to appraise a single item within the allotted time.

Taejun lowered his gaze to the round, metallic orb placed at the front.

Then…

He stood silently, his eyes fixed on the item, motionless.

Hah, it seems he doesn’t even possess an Appraisal Skill to begin with? Kang Yongseok thought, his smirk deepening.

The Hyeon-an Guild Members watching Taejun shared the same amusement. After all, no item could be appraised simply by staring at it.

Remember this well, Kang Yongseok thought.

Vice Guild Leader Hyeon-an picked up a dagger from among the artifacts, its hilt adorned with a serpent motif, and carefully placed it before him.

He then closed his eyes, laying both hands flat on the dagger.

Whoosh.

Soon, a pale blue mana began to seep from his hands, which were superimposed on the item as if he were performing CPR.

Kang Yongseok channeled the mana into the dagger’s interior.

As he did, a structural diagram of the dagger appeared in the pitch-black void behind his closed eyelids.

But this was no mere schematic.

From the hilt to the blade’s tip, intricate circuits branched out like blood vessels, illuminating the dagger’s inner workings.

Items that could be routinely farmed from dungeons were often interwoven with such complex networks of mana-conducting circuits.

Each of these circuits functioned as both an organ and a vessel, responsible for a specific function of the item.

Appraising a Special Sealed Artifact involved directly channeling Mana into its circuits to analyze its inner workings.

It was akin to disassembling an electronic device, examining each component individually to reverse-engineer its operational principles.

Naturally, this required meticulous precision and unwavering concentration.

“Tch, still a damn nuisance,” Kang Yongseok muttered, scrutinizing the exploded diagram floating before him.

The dagger he had chosen as his starting item was composed of hundreds of intricate Magical Circuits.

As expected of a Special Sealed Artifact.

It was on an entirely different level from ordinary items, which typically contained only a few dozen circuits at most.

Well, still nothing compared to what that bastard is handling.

Taejun’s items likely had dozens of times more intricately woven Magical Circuits than this dagger.

And then, finally.

Slurp. The Mana shimmering at Kang Yongseok’s fingertips was completely absorbed into the dagger.

“Wow, look at that! He’s already managed to infuse Mana into the item in less than five minutes!”

“It takes me an hour just to channel Mana through a single Magical Circuit…”

“There’s a reason he’s the S-Rank Appraiser second only to the Guild Leader! Let’s all work harder—someday, we might reach their level too!”

The Guild Members’ exclamations of awe rippled through the air.

Kang Yongseok puffed up with pride, a smug smirk spreading across his face.

See that, brat? This is what true Appraisal looks like.

The blueprint of the dagger shimmered on the inside of his eyelids. The end of the hilt had turned a vibrant blue, indicating the progress of the Appraisal.

Good, at this rate…

The Appraisal should be complete within ten minutes.

Drip.

A thick bead of sweat trickled down his sideburn, but Vice Guild Leader Hyeon-an didn’t bother wiping it away. Instead, he continued to analyze the dagger’s structure, his fingertips glowing with concentrated Mana.

And then, at that very moment…

“Appraisal complete.”

Completely unexpected.

Taejun’s voice pierced Vice Guild Leader Hyeon-an’s ears.

What?

How much time had passed?

Five minutes? Eight?

No way. He finished appraising an entire item in less than ten minutes?

Crack.

Hyeon-an’s concentration shattered.

But the Vice Guild Leader stubbornly steadied his mind.

It’s a lie. He’s trying to disrupt my focus.

Wasn’t it?

How could he have finished appraising the item before even properly beginning the process?

But that hope…

“Hey, it’s true! The information’s confirmed…?”

A Hyeon-an Guild Member’s voice, filled with urgency as he checked the item, shattered the illusion.

Once the appraisal of a Special Sealed Item was complete, anyone could verify its information.

This proved that Taejun had indeed finished appraising the item in such a short time.

Despite his frustration, Kang Yongseok gritted his teeth, forcing himself to focus on analyzing the dagger before him.

This has to be a fluke, he thought. Some easily appraised items must have slipped in due to a guild member’s mistake.

But then…

“Uh, could you appraise the next item, please?”

“There are no more items to appraise.”

“Huh…?”

“I’ve finished appraising them all.”

Kang Yongseok’s eyes widened at the finality in Taejun’s tone.

Whoosh.

The mana he had been channeling into the dagger’s magical circuit dissipated with a deflated sigh. The meticulously constructed tower he had built over ten minutes crumbled like a sandcastle.

“Don’t give me that bullshit!” Kang Yongseok roared, his bloodshot eyes glaring at Taejun. “Where did you pull that sleight of hand from? You’re telling me you appraised over twenty Special Sealed Items in under ten minutes?”

“Yes.”

“Fine, damn it. So that’s how it is. Good. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Taejun’s nonchalant reply further wounded Vice Guild Leader Hyeon-an’s pride.

“Everyone, check it out. See if he’s really finished appraising them all.”

Several Hyeon-an Guild Members approached Taejun, while the rest stared skeptically at him and the mountain of items piled before him.

“R-right, I’ll verify,” Kang Yongseok said, desperately suppressing the rising unease in his chest. How could he appraise dozens of unidentified items in such a short time? It’s impossible, even for Guild Leader Hyeon-an. Even the most skilled Appraiser in the world couldn’t manage this. Absolutely impossible.

“U-um, Vice Guild Leader… I-I’ve confirmed the information.”

”…?”

“A-all the items here, sir. All of them.”

Clatter!

Drawn to Taejun’s table as if hypnotized, Kang Yongseok rushed over and hastily grabbed an item.

He saw:

The information flooded his mind: the item’s name, rank, functions, and stat bonuses. Information that even the most renowned appraisers would struggle for hours to uncover.

“W-what the hell?” Kang Yongseok cursed under his breath.

“Shit! Don’t fuck with me!”

Kang Yongseok, the second-highest-ranked S-Rank appraiser in the country and Vice Guild Leader of HyunAn, the nation’s top non-combat guild, was furious.

It had taken Kang Yongseok a grueling twenty years to reach his current position. His S-Class Appraisal Skill, “Insight of the Core,” combined with a relentless ambition fueled by greed and venomous determination, had made it possible.

How much blood, sweat, and tears had he shed to climb to this pinnacle?

And now, some greenhorn brat with barely dry blood on his hands had appeared out of nowhere and nullified all the effort he’d poured into item appraisal over the past two decades.

It felt as if his entire life’s work had been invalidated.

Kang Yongseok frantically began rummaging through the items, groping for Taejun’s appraisal failures. He was desperate for any excuse to retaliate, no matter how petty.

Despite his hopes, detailed information about each item flooded into his mind like a torrent.

His face contorted in despair as his gaze froze on a particular item.

“This…”

It was the broken, golden-hilted longsword he had dismissed as trash at first glance.

Taejun spoke up. “Ah, before we go any further, I’d like to take that sword.”

He was claiming the sword as his due for winning the bet.

A chill ran down Kang Yongseok’s spine. Among the artifacts he had inspected so far, there were a couple of A-Rank items worth over 3 billion won each—twice the retainer the Hyunahn Guild had received for the contract.

Yet, after rejecting those precious treasures, he wanted this?

His trembling hand reached for the sword’s shattered blade, and the moment he confirmed its information:

”…Fucking shit.”

His face drained of color, he slumped back into his seat, utterly defeated.

An extraordinary artifact beyond standard classification, worth over 8 billion won.

“The deposit has been confirmed. I’ll have the Hyunahn Guild bill you later for the Unique-Grade item my acquaintance will be taking, once its appraised value is precisely determined.”

The appraisal chamber of the Precious Artifact Hall.

The Hyunahn Guild members had all been dismissed, leaving Vice Guild Leader Kang Yongseok alone in the room with Che Yerim. He nodded calmly at her announcement.

“Understood.”

“Should I inform Guild Leader Hyeon’an separately?”

“I’ll handle it when I return,” Kang Yongseok replied evenly.

Just thirty minutes earlier, he had been in shock, repeatedly muttering, “This can’t be happening” with a dazed expression. But now, having reached this point, he seemed to have accepted reality.

No, he had gone even further.

He turned his gaze to me, standing beside Che Yerim, extended his hand, and spoke.

“I apologize.”

Kang Yongseok’s sudden apology made me narrow my eyes in surprise.

Che Yerim, equally astonished and intrigued, alternated her gaze between Kang Yongseok and me.

“It’s presumptuous of me to say this now, but I wasn’t always this blinded by money and pride.”

”…”

“When I was your age—or at least the age you’re pretending to be—I used to appraise items purely out of passion, without taking a single penny.”

Kang Yongseok paused, then sighed and continued, “But somewhere along the way, I became obsessed with wealth and fame, and it started to corrupt me. Yet I never thought it was wrong. I was confident in my abilities, so I believed I was entitled to it.”

In reality, Kang Yongseok was the second-best Item Appraiser in Korea, surpassed only by Guild Leader Hyeon’an. But with Hyeon’an’s departure to the International Federation Headquarters and his subsequent withdrawal from domestic operations, Kang Yongseok had effectively become the nation’s top Appraiser.

This position had allowed him to act with arrogant impunity toward anyone he encountered. After all, no one possessed the Appraisal Skill or knowledge to challenge his authority in the field.

But that was no longer the case.

“To think such an absurd monster was lurking out there,” Kang Yongseok said bitterly, lowering his head. “Seeing you makes me feel like a frog in a well—a bullfrog pretending to be king in a well full of nothing but minnows.”

”…”

Even a frog knows its place.

In terms of power, I was probably on par with an eagle soaring through the sky.

It was just my bad luck to run into a hunter with a gun today.

And no matter how high a creature sits on the food chain, when it encounters a superior predator that can effortlessly end its life, it’s bound to realize its place and become humble.

So, I smiled wryly and said, “I hope the Vice Guild Leader has learned something from today’s events.”

“I certainly have,” he replied. “That even someone with a trivial ability can get utterly crushed if they become arrogant.”

Not only did I get back the advance payment Shinwa had given me, but he also ended up paying at least 8 billion won for the item fees on my behalf.

But I wasn’t finished. I added with a meaningful tone,

“It’s a relief. If the Vice Guild Leader hadn’t come to his senses, I was prepared to establish my own corporation and work as a freelance appraiser.”

His words carried a hidden barb, a sharp edge concealed beneath the casual tone.

“Th-that…”

The color drained from Kang Yongseok’s face. He knew all too well the chaos I would unleash upon the appraisal industry if I entered it.

A monster capable of completing item appraisals that normally took over an hour in mere seconds.

Unlike other appraisers whose Appraisal Skills were limited by Mana consumption and a daily item quota, I could appraise items endlessly, provided I had the time.

It was inevitable that such a freak of nature would shatter the industry’s delicate ecosystem.

It was self-evident that HyunAn, which controlled over 90% of the appraiser market, would suffer the greatest blow.

Yet they still hadn’t identified me.

Knowing my connection to Che Yerim of Shinwa, they wouldn’t dare retaliate.

“P-please accept this, Teacher,” Kang Yongseok stammered, hastily producing something. He finally realized that the fate of the HyunAn Guild rested on my next move.