'Why are my ears so itchy?'
Standing in front of the gas stove, Cha Eui-jae scratched his ears irritably as he cooked hangover soup.
Today, for some reason, the hangover soup restaurant was bustling as usual since Bae Won-woo and Lee Sa-young, along with the members of the Pado Guild, hadn't shown up. The hunters even had bright smiles on their faces for a change. Cha Eui-jae, too, had managed to forget the painful failure of Tomato Market and was having a relatively peaceful day. However...
"Did you see the post on HunterNet yesterday?"
A young hunter whispered, starting a buzz in the restaurant.
"Yeah, apparently some lunatic posted an A+ grade magic stone on Tomato Market for 80 million won? The guilds are in an uproar."
The word "lunatic" hit Cha Eui-jae's ears hard.
'Lunatic, huh.'
Cha Eui-jae made a displeased face, but the other hunters, oblivious to his reaction, continued their conversation skillfully, separating meat from bones.
"Isn't it a clickbait post? They could've just posted a picture they found online."
"Hey, Hong Ye-seong even offered a reward for anyone who finds that magic stone, saying he'd make them a weapon for free."
"Really?"
"Yeah, check Hong Ye-seong's InHeart."
"Oh my god, it's true. We need to find it immediately."
Cha Eui-jae's hand, which was holding tongs to adjust the pot, froze. Even though he had recently distanced himself from the hunter world, he knew the name Hong Ye-seong and that he was an S-grade artisan. Most of the hunters who frequented the hangover soup restaurant wanted to buy Hong Ye-seong's equipment.
But Hong Ye-seong put up a reward? ...Why?
Before Cha Eui-jae could sort out his confused thoughts, the hunters' conversation continued.
"Damn it, I should've bought it. Even if I bought it for 80 million won and resold it, I'd make tens of billions. What the hell?"
"I installed Tomato Market as soon as I saw the post."
"Me too."
"I hope EZ posts another one."
"But I heard they deleted their post and deactivated their account."
"Are they messing with us? Give and take away. Tell them to rejoin immediately."
"I'm going to Noryangjin Fish Market today to ask the mackerel."
"Can the mackerel really find it?"
"If not, they better give up their title as Korea's top information dealer."
[Trait: Poker Face (B) activated.]
At this point, his mind was so overwhelmed that his specialty activated automatically. Cha Eui-jae sprinkled a handful of green onions into the boiling pot with a calm face. But his head was still spinning. That magic stone is worth... tens of billions?
'I used to play jacks with magic stones because they were so useless!'
Of course, that was something only J could do, but Cha Eui-jae didn't care.
"Who do you think posted it?"
"Given the price, maybe a regular person who picked up a magic stone on the street?"
