It might be stating the obvious, but Valhalla possessed a very vast campus.
Therefore, within that vast campus, there were incredibly many facilities, and among those, there were quite a few created for the convenience of students and instructors.
And naturally, those convenience facilities included restaurants, not just the standard student or instructor cafeterias.
"...There was a place like this?"
"Don't tell me you didn't know?"
As Kim Joohyuk muttered while eating the pasta placed in front of him, Liliya, tilting her head and letting her white bob cut flow to the side, asked.
"I wasn't particularly interested."
If he had been in a state where he had nothing to do, he might have been interested in such places.
But the current Kim Joohyuk, while not insanely busy, had a lot to do.
Well, the food is tasty though.
Thinking this, Kim Joohyuk scraped up the pasta and spoke.
"So, what are the good benefits of becoming an assistant?"
The reason Kim Joohyuk followed Liliya to the southern grounds where these convenience facilities were gathered.
It was precisely to listen to Liliya's proposal.
...Well, it was also time for lunch, so I came to grab a meal too.
Additionally, thanks to Liliya persistently sticking to him and tirelessly persuading him regardless of whether he was exercising or not, he also came to at least pretend to listen.
Since he had to eat anyway, listening to her talk while doing so was fine.
"First, there are various benefits!"
"What are they?"
"First, a scholarship comes out! And quite a lot of it!"
"Next?"
"Second, you can go out more than twice a week, instead of just once a month! I have to pull some strings for this, but I can do this much without difficulty!"
"Next?"
"Ne... Next?"
"Yes, is there nothing else?"
"N-No, there's more...! You can gain honor by writing a paper! With your knowledge, putting your name on the World Monster Research Association would be a piece of cake! On top of that, a huge prize money too...!"
"Ah, I see. So next?"
"N-Next...?"
At Kim Joohyuk's prodding, Liliya rolled her eyes around for a moment as if thinking, then, as if something came to mind, floated a '!' and spoke.
"Being able to work with me?"
Looking at Liliya pointing at herself as she spoke, Kim Joohyuk spoke with an expression void of any emotion.
"Your self-consciousness is excessive."
At Kim Joohyuk's words, Liliya, who momentarily wore a flustered expression, opened her mouth.
"Why! I'm decent enough!"
"Yes, you are decent."
"Then will you be my assistant?"
"No."
"No, whyyyy~"
Liliya instantly clung to his side and began whining.
The sight of her grabbing his sleeve with small hands and tugging up and down entered Kim Joohyuk's eyes, but regrettably, he had absolutely no intention of taking the assistant role.
If there was something slightly useful among the benefits, I might have considered it.
Truly regrettably, among Liliya's proposals, there were no benefits that immediately appealed to Kim Joohyuk.
Money?
There was already a tremendous amount of money in Kim Joohyuk's Market-exclusive account, and on top of that, he had relics that could earn him enough money to live an incredibly affluent life just by selling one or two more.
Outings?
If Kim Joohyuk had intended to consistently participate in auctions at the Market or frequently go out to sell this and that, it might have been an interesting proposal, but he didn't particularly want to do that.
Even if I do, I need to build this body up to a level where I won't be pushed around anywhere first.
Furthermore, being able to go out for about 1 night and 2 days a month was sufficient for the things he planned to do in the future, so frequently going out wasn't particularly appealing either.
Then the last thing remaining was honor.
I don't need this either.
In the past, honor followed as a result of struggling to survive by any means, so it was just decent, but honestly, for Kim Joohyuk, honor was something that didn't matter whether he had it or not.
In short, Liliya's proposals were all useless from Kim Joohyuk's perspective.
If she could let me enter the Eye of the Great Forest, maybe.
As far as Kim Joohyuk knew, the Eye of the Great Forest was a place designed strictly for the 1st-year performance evaluation, so even an instructor like Liliya probably couldn't let him in.
Tsk, if it were the old days, I could just sneak in and out without anyone knowing.
Kim Joohyuk inwardly smacked his lips missing his body from 300 years ago, but soon shook his head.
He had reincarnated into a new body, and missing the body from 300 years ago wouldn't suddenly bring it back.
"Anyway. I have absolutely no intention of becoming your assistant and writing a monster paper, Instructor."
"Don't be like that, just once!"
"I don't want to."
At Kim Joohyuk's firm refusal, Liliya made a small hing sound as if discouraged, but soon opened her mouth.
"Then how about a deal!"
"...A deal?"
"Yes! I obtained some good information!"
"What information?"
"Information about Student Choi Ah-rin, who hangs out with you!"
At Liliya's words, Kim Joohyuk smirked and shook his head.
After all, information about Choi Ah-rin was something he wasn't curious about nor wanted to know.
However, Liliya spoke like rapid-fire before Kim Joohyuk could even open his mouth.
"I heard that Choi Ah-rin might be expelled from her family after taking the Choijin Family's selection test coming up soon!"
"Ah, okay."
"Wait! Why are you trying to get up!"
Seeing Kim Joohyuk getting up, Liliya spoke as if flustered.
"I never said I wanted to hear it in the first place."
"But you heard it!"
"It just entered my ears?"
"Still, you heard it in the end!!"
"...Are you really a kindergartner?"
At Kim Joohyuk's question, Liliya seemed to pause for a moment, then spoke in a strangely cautious tone.
"...If I'm a kindergartner, will you be my assistant?"
"...What is the reason you act so crazy to me while treating other students so sharply?"
When Kim Joohyuk spoke as if he couldn't understand at all, Liliya spoke as if it was obvious.
"That's obviously to raise the students' survival rate! Especially since the more you know about monsters, the higher the survival rate goes, but the kids don't memorize it properly, so I have to make them memorize it even if forced!"
"In short, it's a concept act?"
"It's not a concept act, it's fulfilling my duty as a teacher."
Watching Liliya wear a bold expression that seemed to say, How about it, aren't I amazing?, Kim Joohyuk unwittingly nodded at her surprisingly upright conviction and stood up.
"Then, fighting."
"Wait! Why are you trying to get up again!?"
"Because the conversation is all over."
"Then at least pay for the information before you go!"
"Nope, I don't want to~"
❋ ❋ ❋
Inside the shop Morris operated in District 3 of the Market.
Until just moments ago, Morris was in an incredibly good mood.
After all, just a day ago, thanks to a mysterious customer, he had seen tremendous profit.
To buy a relic of destruction that cheaply.
Of course, the price Morris paid was a large sum that would make others gasp if they heard it, but the relic of destruction he bought with that money was worth far more.
Of course, even if this was stolen property taken or stolen from someone else, that didn't matter to Morris anyway.
After all, such items were what this place handled, and in this Market, unless you ripped off a customer, the 'Market' itself protected merchants to a certain extent.
However, that good mood was shattered by a person who entered the shop just moments ago.
"..."
Morris unwittingly broke into a cold sweat seeing the immense bigshot who had visited his shop after a very long time and asked.
"...What brings you here?"
"Hmm, were we that awkward with each other?"
A voice heard along with a playful laugh.
However, Morris couldn't verify the owner of that voice.
Because the face of the person standing in the shop right now was covered by an inky-black cat mask.
A cat mask that seemed like no light could pass through.
Below that, Morris knew very well the person with an androgynous appearance wearing a black leather coat and punk-style clothes that seemed to fit the scenery of the Market.
"...No matter how many times we've met, a mere merchant cannot speak lightly to the Owner of the Market."
That was right.
The unidentified cat mask standing in front of Morris right now was none other than the Owner of the Market, called 'Black Cat' by the employees.
[Tap—]
Black Cat, sitting on the chair in front of the counter, continued the conversation.
"Well, I do like you in that regard, Mr. Morris."
"...So, what brings you here this time?"
"You keep trying to move to the main point? Well, actually, it doesn't matter if we go straight to the main point, so I'll talk."
She said that and then spoke.
"Well, actually, it's nothing special. You applied for an auction anonymously after a long time, and when I looked, it was a relic from the Era of Destruction?"
"...The anonymity processing doesn't work at all."
"Well, strictly speaking, the owner of this Market isn't me, but my Constellation-nim. They can obtain everything they wish to obtain."
Black Cat spoke with a smile.
"...So, don't tell me you're saying to hand over the relic?"
"Of course not. Would the owner of the Market take an item like a thug without paying a fair price? I merely came to take a look once."
"Look at the relic...?"
Morris frowned as if it was strange.
Certainly, a relic from the Era of Destruction was rare.
However, even so, Black Cat, the owner of this Market, wouldn't have come to see a relic from the Era of Destruction just out of curiosity.
...There's something.
Thus, Morris instinctively had that thought flash through his mind, but he couldn't bring that story out.
Either way, she was the owner of this Market, and nothing good would come from a mere merchant defying the Market Owner.
Therefore, he chose to show her the relic without offering any particular resistance.
"This is it."
"Oh."
When Morris took out the ring he received yesterday from the locked drawer, Black Cat soon picked it up to admire it with an intrigued expression.
Pause.
Momentarily, her body froze.
"...Are you done checking?"
Morris, who was staring blankly at Black Cat who had frozen at that, spoke with a bewildered expression when he saw her silently putting down the ring not long after.
"That, I think it will sell incredibly expensively?"
"...Why are you suddenly saying that?"
Black Cat...
"Because well."
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side wears a shocked expression!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
[The Ruler of the Reverse Side desires the ring in front of their eyes!]
...
..
.
"It seems my Constellation-nim desires this ring."
...said that, sweating cold sweat as she looked at the notification windows in front of her eyes.
(End of Chapter 18)
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