Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 57

Episode 57

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The three days until the black market opened passed by in a flash.

It was no different from the calm before the storm, but I stayed cooped up in the corner of my hotel room like a slacker.

There was no point in wandering around unnecessarily, as it would do no good to get spotted by the Black Syndicate.

"Noona! Teacher Apothecary-noona! Are you not in there? Teacher Apothecary-noona!"

Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong...

But, as if he'd get an itch if he stayed still for even a day, a certain crazy bastard was pounding furiously on my door.

I, who had just been about to become one with the bed, suppressed my rising irritation at the incessantly ringing bell and got up.

I yanked open the door, and a familiar face shamelessly pushed his way in.

"Why'd it take you so long to open, Noona!"

"Why are you back so early?"

"It's the first order you gave me as my boss. I put some muscle into it."

He replied slyly and took off the black robe he was wearing.

I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at him.

Unlike my wish to enjoy a quiet rest until the quest.

For the past three days, I'd felt like I was going to lose my mind because of the bastard who would knock on my door and visit whenever he was bored.

Wanting to be alone for at least the last day, I had even made up an errand for him to run today.

And the bastard, who had run off excitedly, returned in less than half a day.

'Just like a thief...'

It was truly a marvelous speed.

While I was marveling, Elaine opened the bag he was wearing at his waist.

And from inside it, he took out items much larger than the bag itself and spread them on the bed.

It seemed he hadn't just been stealing aimlessly; he had a pretty high-performance subspace magic bag.

"By the way, this stuff isn't worth much money, so why'd you ask me to steal it?"

A long evening dress was the last item to be pulled out by the hand of Elaine, who asked with a disdainful expression.

The bed I had been lying on just moments before was now covered with the stolen goods—a dress, shoes, gloves, and simple accessories like earrings—leaving no room to step.

I was inwardly surprised at his meticulousness in bringing every single thing I'd asked for.

Just then, I noticed a common theme among them and frowned.

"Why are they all this color?"

It's not like we're cosplaying as crows.

Except for a small pair of ruby earrings, everything was a drab black.

The dress, shoes, gloves, all of it.

Undeterred by my displeased tone, the bastard replied innocently.

"I picked them out while thinking of you this morning, Noona."

"This morning?"

I tilted my head, trying to recall this morning.

"If you're so bored, go out and do that thievery you're so good at! Why do you keep hanging out here when you have your own room!"

"Can I really?"

"Do you think you can?"

"Tch. So mean. You said you'd tell me the plan and what to do, but you haven't told me anything..."

"Get lost."

"Noona, are you really helping me? If this is a fraudulent contract, I'll just kill you now and go kill your employer, too. The Crown Prince."

"Hey!"

To the bastard who'd shown up at dawn, pounding on the door asking me to play, and spouting nothing but blood-pressure-raising nonsense.

All I could remember was myself, screaming at him to go do it right now if he loved thievery so much.

It wasn't a great memory, so I asked in a sulky voice.

"What did I look like this morning, that you were thinking of?"

"Hmm... a fire-breathing crow monster? This is the fireball."

He spouted that nonsense and pointed to the ruby earrings.

"I may not be able to burn you to death, but I can fry you with poison."

I took three bright red potions, similar in color to the rubies, from my pocket and shook them.

Getting hit by a [Red Cap Poison Mushroom Potion] leaves a scar similar to a burn, and it was one of the more common potions because it was cost-effective.

"Keep talking if you want to die."

"...Please spare me. It's not like you're going to wear it, Teacher Apothecary-noona."

As I muttered darkly while shaking them, the bastard finally became subdued.

It was ridiculous to get into a childish argument with a kid, so I put the potions back and replied indifferently.

"I told you to steal it, so I'm wearing it. Who else would?"

"You... Noona?"

"Is there any other woman here who would wear it?"

As I looked around and asked back, the bastard's expression turned unreadable for a moment, and he stared at me.

I cleanly ignored his unreadable gaze and looked down at the dress he had stolen.

The reason was infuriating, but black was a better choice than a flashy color, as it would be less conspicuous.

I had originally planned to pay full price for a dress before going to the black market today, but I had no choice since he was raising such a fuss about being bored.

I had ordered him to do it, so now I was no different from an accomplice to a thief, but...

'It's actually better this way.'

Even at a humble shop, a dress in the capital wouldn't be cheap, so I'd saved money, which was a plus.

I looked away from the dress and asked, just to be polite.

"Whatever. You didn't get caught and cause a commotion, did you? You weren't even wearing your mask."

"Aww, of course. I have my pride. I'd never get caught by a shop owner."

Elaine said, puffing his chest out with a proud face.

Because the Black Syndicate was after him, 'Green Mask' had to be put aside for a while.

I was a little worried about him stealing with only a robe's hood to cover his face, but even if he had been spotted by the Black Syndicate, he was back now, so it didn't really matter.

Because tonight, we were going to walk right into the Black Syndicate's den.

"Here."

I handed him a high-grade artifact.

"Is the 'Green-Black Slave Liberation Squad' finally moving out?"

He was returning to the place he'd escaped from, but he didn't seem nervous at all; Elaine attached the artifact to his inner pocket, giggling.

Immediately, his appearance changed.

His fresh green hair slowly turned brown, and fur sprouted on his chin, the back of his hands, and his exposed skin.

His pointed ears rounded out.

His wheat-colored eyes turned black and grew large, and before me stood a perfect raccoon beastkin.

"No, Brown-Black... Ah, what is this!"

Elaine, who had been watching his transformation in the mirror, suddenly screamed and glared at me.

"I'm ugly!"

As he huffed, the white whiskers next to his nose twitched.

"From now on, you're a raccoon beastkin. Add 'guri' to the end of your sentences."

Barely suppressing my laughter, I said seriously.

I wasn't kidding; the raccoon-kin really were one of the non-human races in this game.

Of course, it was an illusion created by the disguise magic on the artifact.

"You said we're using an invitation to get into the auction house."

"Guri. And you'll see when we get there. Go to your room and put on the clothes and accessories I gave you."

"Ah, Noona!"

"I told you not to call me Noona. I'm not your noona."

"Ah, Teacher Apothecary-noona!"

A moment later, Elaine, who had turned into a raccoon, returned to his room.

I also changed into the dress he had brought.

"Thankfully, it fits well."

Not just the dress, but the heels Elaine had stolen to size were also quite comfortable.

Standing in front of the mirror, I loosely put up my hair, finally finishing my rough preparations.

"Oh..."

And I admired my reflection in the mirror.

It had been so long since I'd worn new clothes that weren't a baggy robe or my custom costume, so it felt new.

It was an ordinary, unremarkable evening dress, but perhaps because the hanger was good, I looked just like a noble lady.

Besides, I hadn't noticed earlier, but the bottom of the skirt was studded with fine diamond dust, making it glitter.

It seemed that bastard Elaine had stolen something quite expensive.

'As expected, I'm perfect.'

The outfit went perfectly with my loosely-pinned, cherry-blossom-colored hair, and I smiled, thoroughly pleased.

A pretty woman was smiling primly in the mirror.

But that was brief; I immediately put on a black half-mask over it.

It was a shame to cover up my first dress-up in a while, but hiding one's identity was the basic rule of the black market.

Next, I opened my inventory to take out a teleport scroll and was horrified.

[Black Women's Dress Storage Capacity: 5]

"What. Only five?!"

When I took off the shabby robe, which had unlimited capacity, my inventory space shrank to almost nothing.

I had expected it, but I hadn't thought it would be this bad.

I stared at the inventory with a serious face, then had no choice but to pack only the essentials.

Two emergency potions, and the rest I filled with teleport scrolls.

If things went wrong, running was the best option, rather than fighting.

"If I just do as that bastard Elaine said, nothing will happen..."

I tucked the items I'd packed, one by one, into the storage compartments of the garter belt strapped to my thigh.

After filling it and lowering my skirt, I felt like some spy hiding a gun, which made me laugh a little.

Elaine was due to arrive soon, so I hurriedly opened the chat window.

Me: Invitation, please.

Normally, the 'Free the Black Market Slaves' quest automatically gives the user an invitation as soon as the quest opens.

But that didn't apply to me, so it was only natural to squeeze one out of the developers.

GM Sera: Hoobae. Seeing you like that, you look every bit the ★ Sexy Cutie Beauty Hero ☆.

Now, how about you stop wearing that drab robe?

Me: Invitation.

GM Sera: Tsk, how rude.

GM Ari: Shari-nim! Can't you tell us just a little bit about what exciting adventure plans you've made this time?

GM Jinu: What are you buying at the auction?

Share the item info.

I frowned at the chat windows popping up one after another.

'Here I am, about to charge into enemy territory with a bomb strapped to my side.'

These bastards, talking as if they were watching a live game broadcast, were absurd.

[GM Sera has provided a Black Market Invitation as compensation.]

With the system window announcing the invitation had been provided, I heartlessly closed the chat window.

"Why are you asking when you're just going to keep spying on me anyway?"

I muttered indifferently and picked up the small ruby earrings.

Leaning close to the mirror, I put on the earrings and went over the black market quest plan one more time.

'This time, I'm finishing it fast, no matter what.'

Unlike the Hailey scenario, which required staying up for three whole days, the black market, thankfully, would be over after just one hard day.

Besides, if it weren't for the bomb, no, for Elaine, it would have been even easier.

Buy a disguise artifact from a general store, disguise myself as a non-human, and then, while the auction is in full swing, infiltrate the slave prison.

And then free the trapped non-human races, and that's it.

Will the Black Syndicate bastards just stand by?

No.

Of course, I'd have to deal with the bastards pouring in, but right on cue, a monster stampede breaks out where the auction is, and they all scatter and flee.

It would be great to catch that monster as a sub-quest, but failing to catch it wouldn't lead to quest failure.

As long as the number of freed slaves was over 100, it was a success.

That's why most users finish this quest quickly, but behind the slave liberation, there was a tragedy.

Namely, the elves who are all fitted with restraints and either massacred or sold off, for the crime of providing information to the escaped slave.

And Elaine Griselda is that escaped slave.

Fortunately, he survives that tragedy, but while the user is freeing the slaves, he gets sold at auction to a psycho noble who enjoys sadistic acts.

'Haaa... was it really a good idea to drag Elaine into this?'

I was planning on using Elaine to free the elves who were destined to be massacred.

Honestly, I'd saved him and brought him here to make things easier, but the more I dealt with Elaine, the less confident I became.

It was my failure to analyze his character, my failure to predict that the bastard wasn't sane.

'No! The Black Syndicate Leader... as long as I avoid his route, the rest are pushovers.'

I suppressed the sudden sense of foreboding and also thought of countermeasures for any variables that might arise.

It was then.

Thud, thud, thud!

"Teacher Apothecary-noona!"

Right on cue, the bomb that might just cause the worst variable of all arrived.