"Boss, how much are these items?" Chrollo asked.
"Huh? Are your eyes bad or your brain? Isn't the price right in front of each item? Oh, I forgot to label them." The boss glanced down at the goods. [That one's 1500, this one's 1300, that one's 1600... The market price for the lucky grass and the bomb is 100.]
"I'll sell each one to you for 1000!" the boss said carelessly.
Hey, that's a bit too sloppy.
"Does whoever buys it get the effect?"
"You two share all the items! How do you not know anything and still play the game!"
Ugh... what a mean boss.
Chrollo calmly gathered the info and scanned all the items: [The lucky grass seems good. The others have too much uncertainty, especially that product's description.]
Chrollo looked at the quiet lady next to him. She had just put in the effort to pay, and now she had the most gold. He needed her advice on what to buy.
"Ms. Gotoh..."
[Don't buy the lucky grass.]
"Huh? Oh, okay. Does Ms. Gotoh like anything else?"
[Negotiation expert, then speed.]
"Is it okay to buy so much? If it costs this much, I'm more for the lucky grass plus one other. After all, it's random, right?"
[No lucky grass.] How much luck can a 100-gold item boost?
Chrollo stared at Gotoh for a moment: "Um... alright. Can you buy them?"
Are you not trusting your own luck since then?
"I didn't mean to spend your coins on purpose. It's just about luck... For later buys that aren't luck-related, I'll pay myself."
[Don't worry about it.]
Saiki Kusuo bought the negotiation expert and speed upgrade right away.
"Clink!"
The sound of money disappearing.
The boss took the money and instantly became kind and gentle: "Good, I'll teach you some negotiation expert tips first. What are your names?"
"She's Gotoh, I'm Chrollo."
"Gotoh? That's not what your player names say above your heads! Tell me your real names!"
Huh? Chrollo was surprised. He recalled that when Gotoh became leader, the announcement used the name Saiki Kusuo.
"Her name is Saiki Kusuo."
"Tch, you don't even know your companion's real name and you're out here playing games with a girl."
Chrollo: ^^... Where did they find this boss.
Saiki Kusuo: So the boss knew the names but still asked.
The boss pulled out a phone and dialed a number smoothly: "Hello? Is this the coin collector? Get your manager on the line. What, the manager's in the bathroom? Fine, listen up. I have two young players here, one Saiki Kusuo, one Chrollo. Take care of them, got it? Yeah, yeah, they just earned money and threw it right into my pocket. You can give a little extra, no problem. Heh, don't act like I don't know your margins... "
Is this the negotiation expert? This is just pulling strings.
After a bit, the boss slammed the phone down hard.
"Deal's done. Get out."
What kind of deal is that.
"Time's up by over two minutes," Chrollo said.
Ah, in that time I could have grabbed another gold nugget.
Next level.
Saiki Kusuo and Chrollo returned to the machine and saw a dwarf hammering Chrollo's side hard with a big hammer.
"Bang!!"
It won't really break, will it?
The dwarf quickly hid the big hammer and switched to a small fancy one, tapping around: "Oh, you're back. If you didn't come, I was just fixing it a bit more. You need to earn money, go ahead, go ahead."
Saiki Kusuo & Chrollo: ...
"Don't trust that shop boss, right?"
[Yeah, just here to scam money.]
The two sat down, and the new level started.
Surprisingly, the gold they got did increase a tiny bit.
"Ding! 1206 gold."
"Ding! 603 gold."
...
The level ended, and their earnings had a little extra. Saiki Kusuo couldn't feel the speed boost much, but he knew Chrollo's gold-grabbing speed went up about 3.2%.
Well, a psychic's calculating power is like a machine when needed.
The two soon saw the boss again.
Bomb 80 gold: Make things you grab explode for fun.
Bomb pack 160 gold: Blow it up! Destroy the grabbed thing and everything around it!
Rock collector 200 gold: Help you sell broken rocks for some price.
Pig farmer 200 gold: If you don't buy, your pork will sell for nothing.
Strength upgrade 100 gold special: Buy it or not, I'll burn this tomorrow.
Chrollo: "Will we really grab pigs? Isn't this a mine?"
Saiki Kusuo: [Well, the game actually has pigs.]
Since their money did go up after the first buy, Chrollo got the strength upgrade. They also bought the rock collector and pig farmer.
[Didn't you have the念 fish eat the rocks?]
"With our current sales, and each level having clear goals, maybe one level we'll need rocks to get by."
There really is a level full of rocks. This guy thinks ahead.
They bought the stuff and left right away. Before going, Saiki Kusuo glanced extra at the shop boss.
Is the boss's mental state really okay? The wall behind him has words like a curse. It used to say welcome.
The boss was like a porcupine ready to explode: "Hey, what are you looking at... Get going."
Of course we're going. I can feel your gloom, boss. I'm not here to take your bad mood.
But for the third level, they had to see the boss again.
The boss sells items that clearly help them earn money faster.
Chrollo calculated: "Like you said, diamonds will show up later. We have no problem grabbing them accurately. The shop should sell diamond holders or something to boost diamond value. These buys are long-term gains. If we aim for 400,000, counting later income boosts, we should finish each round in about eight minutes..."
Yeah, if I don't hold back, I could end it in one second. Saiki Kusuo listened flatly to this guy's careful planning.
"I saw the boss's mental state was off earlier. Hope he holds it together until we get diamonds."
They walked into the shop.
A row of items, all bombs.
The back wall was full of writing too. In the middle, big letters: Art is explosion!
Below, hidden small words: Screw his shitty love!
The rest was sloppy bomb writing all over the wall.
Saiki Kusuo: These look like curses. I can barely recognize the word bomb anymore.
The boss was very gloomy. Saiki Kusuo glanced once and turned to leave.
Chrollo grabbed her.
"With the boss like this, will he sell us stuff later?"
Saiki Kusuo knew what he meant: [The intro said not to ask about his wife, right?]
"Can't be worse than only selling bombs."
Is this some side quest?
"Boss, can we ask why you're upset?" Chrollo stepped forward.
The boss, head down in the dark, lifted it: "...Huh? What do you want to buy?"
"Sorry, nothing to buy. We just want to check on you. Why so down?" [Who would buy only bombs?]
Boss: "Get out, get out. You need to earn money, right? Money's hard to make, so hurry up and earn! I'm fine! Where's the down?"
It's written everywhere you're down.
Chrollo looked around but saw no other clues: "Did something happen with your wife?"
The boss's eyes widened. He slammed the table, reached over, and grabbed Chrollo's collar: "You said my wife? What do you know about my wife!! Are you sent by her?!"
The boss was super fast—even Saiki Kusuo was surprised. Chrollo couldn't dodge.
But Chrollo's mind worked quick. He followed up: "No, I just cared. When we entered the game, there was an intro mentioning a boss lady. I was curious, that's all."
Saiki Kusuo: He mentioned the boss lady directly. Why do I think their marriage is bad, and you're making it worse?
"...Is that so," the boss said, lost and letting go. "So everyone still knows she's my wife. My wife, she... she's so beautiful."
Chrollo fixed his clothes, trying to relax.
He hadn't been wrong. When the boss got excited and pulled him up, he saw black tentacles under the counter instead of feet.
This boss isn't human. Though it's the Dark Continent now, and in a game setting, he almost slipped up.
This game setting is probably a real place, not some fantasy.
But if so... who made this? The early people who reached the Dark Continent? Why these games?
Meanwhile, the boss mumbled about his wife for a while. Saiki Kusuo checked the time—over 5 minutes gone.
Is this worth it?
The boss suddenly grilled: "Hey, you're Chrollo, right? How old?"
Chrollo snapped back: "28."
"28!! Married? Girlfriend? Or wife... With your young face, kid, you haven't even held a girl's hand, have you!"
Chrollo: ??? What's the connection?
Everything's connected. Your face gets comments on being harmless, though I've seen more bones since we met.
But Saiki Kusuo didn't want to join this talk. She stepped back quietly, away from the crazy boss and the grabbed Chrollo.
"Don't believe that crap about a man in his thirties being like a flower. Kid, a man at thirty should marry and have kids. At worst, get married off. A thirty-year-old without a girlfriend is just trash everywhere! In my other areas, I met a 29-year-old redhead guy... Never mind that one."
What's wrong with the redhead? There's only one 29-year-old redhead on Greed Island. Don't skip it.
Chrollo sensed it too: Hisoka? Met in other areas? Can these things move between areas? Or are the areas linked by info.
"I don't know why you're anxious about age. I talk to women often—not just holding hands, I've done a lot more." Chrollo wanted the info and rallied to connect. "Need me as your love coach?"
So confident.
The boss sighed: "The feelings between us... you kids wouldn't get it. Sigh."
"I believe all feeling creatures have common ground. Even if we differ, I can learn yours first and judge new. I have experience. Want to win back your wife?"
"It's complicated. I don't even know if I want to..."
...
The two started a long talk. No chairs outside, so Chrollo had to look up at the boss. Maybe from looking up too long, or on purpose, during the chat he sat on the goods table.
The boss didn't mind. While talking, Chrollo's eyes scanned all the counter items fully now and then.
Saiki Kusuo stood far off.
Ears perked.
...
Ten minutes later.
"Thanks, kid. I'll give you a deal: ten percent off all intangible culture tech buys from now on!"
Saiki Kusuo: He means the negotiation expert skill books and such.
As the two left the shop, Saiki Kusuo heard the boss's thoughts about calling again.
He planned to call the manager again, pull strings for prices.
"Time-wise, it's a bit of a loss. I tried speeding up the chat. But from the counter, I saw what he'll sell later. Good call."
[Very good call.] Our income's going up.
"Why? You like gossip plots too? Or want the love to work out."
[Neither.] Saiki Kusuo started mining on his own and hoped the guy next to him stayed quiet.
"Hmm—actually, Gotoh's from Meteor City too, right."
[No.] Though Gotoh is, but him? No.
"Huh? I heard one-third of Zoldyck's new staff are from Meteor City. From this time together..."
This is absolutely, one hundred percent, not. Don't lump me with trash.
Saiki Kusuo pulled the device's rope.
[Grab time to fish gold.]
Chrollo, rarely shut down, scratched his hair and swung the rope faster than Saiki Kusuo.
Tch, nimble fingers.
In later mining, they got smoother. The boss gave them top perks right away, greatly boosting their speed. The shop sometimes sold expensive, low-benefit items. But Chrollo had seen all, knew better ones coming.
He'd go up and negotiate with the boss.
And buy the better ones.
This is too free. Other players sure don't play like this.
---------------------------------------
You can read 15 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi