At this rate, she could easily earn over 3,000 chips. It was just a bit tiring. Looking at the time, it was already indicating 3 PM. She hadn’t even had lunch, and the chip earning spree made her lose track of time.

It was a moment when she was about to tidy up the stall briefly and take a break.

“Excuse me. I heard about the story of 15 Black Tiger’s Leather for 1 chip.”

A young hunter extended his head discreetly. Green hair. Similarly, green eyes. Light freckles, a large nose, and thick eyebrows. He was a foreigner.

Was there not a single foreigner among the many customers she greeted yesterday? She now knew that badges had an automatic translation function attached to them.

Without being flustered, Eun-ha calmly welcomed the last customer before the break.

“Take your time.”

“There are quite a few items other than leather. Oh, this is…”

The man’s gaze abruptly stopped.

‘Coagulated Monster Blood.’ It was an item Eun-ha had just put up to fill the gap left by the many leather sales. It was one of the few rare-grade items displayed on Eun-ha’s stall.
“How much can I exchange this for in chips?”

The hunter showed interest, and before Eun-ha could answer, she hesitated for a moment. In fact, Eun-ha was a newcomer not only to the auction but also to item transactions. She didn’t even properly know the basic fare of modern taxis, so there was no way she would be knowledgeable about item prices.

The man smiled slightly as he noticed Eun-ha lost in thought.

“What about 100 chips?”

100 chips. Even for a rare-grade item, it was just monster blood. Would 100 chips be reasonable? It was still an incredibly expensive price compared to the leather and fangs she had mainly sold so far.

As Eun-ha didn’t answer immediately, the man spoke up again.

“If you agree to trade right now, I’m willing to pay up to 150 chips.”

150 chips. To earn such an amount, she would have to sell over 2,200 pieces of leather.

However, seeing that he easily raised the price like this, Eun-ha thought that this ‘Coagulated Monster Blood’ might be a more valuable item than it seemed.

But asking Eun-ha if this item was useful to her was another matter.

“Sure.”

Having made up her mind, Eun-ha nodded and extended her badge. It was advantageous for Eun-ha to sell it quickly and exchange it for chips at this opportunity.

With badges touching and the trade being approved, the chips would move from that side to this side. At the same time, the man also presented his badge.

“Stowop.”

Suddenly, someone intervened.

“No way, mister. You got money but no conscience?”

Wearing a pink baseball cap, it was Ah-yeon who had unexpectedly appeared.

Tsk tsk, Ah-yeon, with her tongue clicked, ran up to Eun-ha and whispered.

“Sis, this guy’s a scammer.”

“…What?”

“He’s Verde, an A-rank hunter from Scotland.”

Having only chosen poorly performing hunters last year and recognized them like ghosts, Ah-yeon seemed to have recognized him again this year.

Ah, I knew it would be like this. Ah-yeon sighed heavily and glared at the sly foreign hunter.

“Trying to swindle from here, huh, jerk? Stay still. Leave it to me here.”

Ah-yeon prided herself on being honest in her business dealings. At least, she wouldn’t do something like snatch up a piece of rice cake with her nose dirty.

Ah-yeon approached him confidently and opened her hands, as if to say, ‘Ta-da!’

“1,000.”

“…What?”

“Won, my friend. This mister here.”

Ah-yeon smirked.

“Dislike it or take it.”

Beep.

「Current remaining chips: 10,515 ⓒ」

Checking the number that appeared on the screen, Eun-ha took back the badge again. In the end, she succeeded in earning 10,000 chips in just two days.

Due to being an F-rank hunter, the maximum chips that could be exchanged for cash were only 1,500. Besides, there were no valuable items taking up inventory space, so there had been concerns.

Eun-ha, holding the badge, quickly scanned her surroundings.

‘I didn’t even get a chance to say thank you.’

After the wrestling match with the foreign hunter, Ah-yeon ended up withdrawing 1,000 chips from him in the end.
However, after successfully exchanging the badge for chips, when Eun-ha turned around to express her thanks, Ah-yeon had already disappeared.

“I wanted to return this too.”

Eun-ha stared at the pamphlet she was holding in her hand. She had confirmed all the necessary information, so she no longer needed it.

Although it had become a bit tattered, if it wasn’t too late, she wanted to return it to Ah-yeon before the value of the pamphlet dropped.

“Should I look for her?”

She might still be nearby. Before returning to the guesthouse where she was staying, Eun-ha decided to take a quick look around the auction headquarters.

“What? You didn’t harvest anything?”

“I couldn’t help it. Do you know how loud that guy’s voice was? If we had continued the scuffle, all the attention would have been on us.”

Pause.

Eun-ha turned around.

Verde, an A-rank hunter from Scotland, was talking with other hunters who seemed to be his colleagues, including the hunter with green hair from earlier.

It seemed like they were discussing Ah-yeon. Eun-ha, hiding behind a tree, unintentionally made a reflexive move.

“What about ‘Hannya’s Mask’? The high-grade item that the D-rank Japanese hunter offered for 150 chips.”

“That got snatched too. By the same guy.”

“What? Then who is that guy? Is he a Taster too?”

Taster.

In hunter jargon, it referred to those who participated in various hunter auctions worldwide, skipped the final day’s auction, and targeted those who were rarely seen in flea markets.

Their purpose was not expensive items auctioned off; instead, they focused on various rare items sold cheaply by naive hunters ignorant of item values.

Verde and his colleagues were also Tasters.

“What if ‘Hannya’s Mask’ gets taken too? It was one of the purposes of visiting the auction. I have nothing to say to the Master.”

“Well then? Follow me all the way and interfere with each item I want to exchange. What will you do when I call 3,000 chips for each item? You’ll have to let go.”

“3, 3,000?! Not even at the auction, but calling that many chips at once in the flea market?”

“That’s right.”

Verde’s gaze changed. After thinking for a moment, he closed his mouth, checked his surroundings, and whispered quietly.

“Not a Taster. That guy.”

“…”

His colleagues closed their mouths with the same expression on their faces. It seemed like they all had the same thoughts.

Verde spoke again.

“But don’t worry. I’ve brought all the other items. Surely here…”

Touching the air lightly, as if checking his inventory.

“Here… should… be…”

But… Verde stiffened in place.

Nothing. The high-grade, rare items that were neatly stacked in the inventory were undoubtedly gone.

“…There’s none. They’re all gone.”

“What? Look carefully. Did you press the sort button?”

“Whether it’s sorting or whatever, the inventory is completely empty. Even the ones that were originally there, all of them.”

“We didn’t secretly sell them off, did we?”
“There’s no way. Damn it. What the hell happened…”

At that moment.

A memory brushed through his mind like lightning.

‘You’re going to get into trouble by swallowing up others like that. Take good care of your pocket, sir.’

Tap, tap. The one who laughed while tapping his shoulder…

The pink baseball cap.

“Damn it, could it be that brat!”

Verde swiftly turned his head.

Could she really steal items from the inventory? I don’t know. But, apart from that audacious girl, there was no other plausible guess.

Thud!

Verde rushed urgently in some direction. His colleagues, wearing puzzled expressions, slowly began to move in the same direction.

“…”

Eun-ha, who had been hiding behind the trees, slowly revealed herself.

Thud.

The sound of black shoes chased after them from somewhere.