Kim Jaehyun wandered the streets of The Black Market for a good 5 minutes as he searched for a guard.
Soon enough, he came upon a man clad in a black suit, adorned with a white moon as its crest. The man wore a mask eerily similar to Kim Jaehyun's, and a police cap seated on his head. On his side lay a long sword wrapped in a black scabbard.
'They really like black.' He commented, walking up to the man.
"Sir, I need your help."
"Of course, dear customer. Please guide me to the problem." The man spoke calmly.
Kim Jaehyun nodded, gesturing to the man to follow.
"I'll explain on the way... It's a small matter, so I'm sorry to have wasted your time."
"Don't worry. My jobs are both to protect the people here and solve problems, so I'm happy to help." The man replied.
"Thanks." Kim Jaehyun said.
---
"I see," The guard said. "Yup, he's always like that. I'll speak to him."
"Thank you, sir."
The guard stepped into the store first and was greeted by a smile from the old man. Kim Jaehyun entered second, being given a look of scorn by the old man.
'Yeah, well I don't like you either, you senile oldie.'
"Hello, John. How are you? I came because I heard that there's been a dispute. May I hear your side of the story?" The guard spoke with a calming voice.
"Of course, Gustav, I'm doing great by the way. Or I was." The old man began. "This young'un here came to my shop, asked for a Truthteller, and then had the gall to tell me that it only costs 4k Arks outside."
"Good to know, thanks John."
"Anytime."
"So, your stories match. Give me a second please." He said, putting a finger up, to which both the old and young man nodded.
'Alright. Outside, a Truthteller will cost you 4,000 Arks with good connections, and 5,000 without. John is in the wrong, but I know him, he won't go down too much... I guess that settles it.'
"John, a Truthteller is worth 4,000 outside, but since this is The Black Market, the markup puts you at about 8,000, as the boy said. However, I know you, so let's compromise. 10,000 Arks for the Truthteller." Gustav turned to Kim Jaehyun. "Sound good?"
"Yeah, sure." Kim Jaehyun agreed with a sigh, scratching the back of his neck.
Gustav turned to look at John.
"No... Argh! Fine! He can have it for 10K." John relented, ruffling up his side hair.
"Well then, I'm glad to be of service. Goodbye." Gustav said, leaving quickly.
Kim Jaehyun walked up to John, bringing out his phone. 'They ask less questions this way.'
Had he used his bracelet, he would have been surrounded by many people.
"Fine, brat. Drop me 10,000 and it's yours." The old man waved around the Truthteller.
"Deal." Kim Jaehyun wired him the money, and at the sound of confirmation, snatched away the Truthteller.
He walked out of the building, looking behind and yelling, "Pleasure doing business with you."
'Not.'
---
Kim Jaehyun walked through the streets, heading toward the meeting point that Grey had chosen. The grey-haired boy had asked to meet, much to the delight and annoyance of the author.
On the one hand, it was good that they were going to meet. They could talk it out and find out several details about each other, but on the other hand, Kim Jaehyun would have preferred if Grey had agreed without the condition, as the earlier he left for the Elven Domain, the better.
'Of course, I didn't expect him to do it for free or anything, it's just annoying.'
As he walked, Kim Jaeyhun thought back to the morning, when he had been visited by teachers.
---
Kim Jaehyun heard a knock on his door, and figuring out who it was, rushed to greet them.
"Hello, Instructors. How may I help you?" Kim Jaehyun asked to 3 tired looking people.
Instructors Drakell, Emmeric, and Erth had bags under their eyes, something Kim Jaehyun attributed to both running around instead of sleeping and using a bunch of Mana to look for the intruder.
'They must have found that I left my room around the time of the crime. However, they won't have anything else. I'll have to play this smart.'
"Well, we're not sure if you've heard, but someone on The Island broke into The Teacher's Lounge." Mila Erth said.
"And your logs say you left your room around the time of the break-in. Care to explain?" Drakell said crudely. He was too tired for any more shenanigans.
"First of all, that's terrible news, and no it hadn't reached me. Secondly, I couldn't sleep at night after a good bit of training, so I decided to enjoy some fresh air." He began to explain.
"However, I did see something. It was too fast for me to catch, but there was a black blur that ran past me."
"I see," Konnor Emmeric nodded. "Do you know anything else? Perhaps, do you know the time that they ran past?"
"No sir, I apologize. I know nothing else. Is there a problem with the cameras? Can you not check them?"
"No. The cameras were shut off for some reason." Erth added.
'That would be me.' Last night, before committing the crime, he had used the last thing that he had bought from The Black Market. A jammer. A rather high-class one that couldn't be traced in any way. It had only cost him almost all the money he gained from stocks.
"I see then, thank you for your time." Emmeric nodded, walking away.
The others followed, and Kim Jaehyun shut the door.
'They're still suspicious, but they don't have any proof. I have to be careful.'
---
Grey sat in front of a boy with black hair and black eyes, who stared him down as if trying to peek inside his soul.
"Hello, Kim Jaehyun." Grey spoke, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Hello Grey," Kim Jaehyum mimicked, taking a sip of his bubble tea. "Shall we get down to business?"
"Indeed. My condition is that you answer a few questions."
"Sounds good, except, make it two ways." Kim Jaehyun added.
"Deal."
Kim Jaehyun took out the Truthteller from his pocket, laying it on the table between the two.
He looked at Grey, and seeing an eyebrow raised, explained.
"This is a Truthteller, it will show us if we lie." The machine dinged, proof that it was working just fine.
"I know, I was just surprised that you have one." Again, the machine dinged.
"I'll go first then." Kim Jaehyun said, looking Grey in the eyes for confirmation.
Upon receiving a nod, he asked his first question.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Grey Heart, 17 almost 18, I have the Light and Poison Elements. My father is Lucas Heart and my mother is Samantha Heart, formerly Samantha Wulf. I am just a regular boy who is also a Hunter."
DING!
"That makes it my turn, right?" Grey said.
"Why have you been spying on me and my friends?"
"Well, I can't tell you too much, but I want to continue this, so I'll leave it at this. Your friends are crucial to save the world."
His response left Grey with more questions than answers, but he knew that asking them would lead nowhere, so he stuck to his original ones.
"I see," He said. "Your turn then."
"Yes. Where does your allegiance lie? Humans, or Vampires?"
"My allegiance lies with myself, however, as long as my family is alive and well, and I've been given no reason to do otherwise, I will be on the side of humanity."
Kim Jaehyun smiled at this, noting that it would have been the answer he would give.
"How did you get strong so fast?" Grey asked, getting to what he wanted from the boy.
'Ahh, that's what he's after.' Kim Jaehyun realized.
"Ok, I'll tell you. I see no reason not to." He began.
"You know how it works regularly right? Activate Mana Breathing, then breathe in Mana, suffusing yourself with it."
Grey nodded hearing the words, for it was just that simple.
"Yes, well, the efficiency of that is terrible. You're getting almost no Mana when you're breathing in whole globules of it. What you have to do is do the same steps but add another couple of actions. You need to trap the Mana in your body using your own, and then force the Mana to become yours. However, it does have the side effect of being painful. Other than that, you're fine, there are no bad side effects." He informed.
'Fascinating. No one would think of that simply because pain is often an indicator that you're going too far. Although, I can't help but doubt the 'no side effects' part. Fallen Star?'
- It sounds like it could work. I can simulate it if needs be. Also, I think we can build on this. But later, of course. Get back to the conversation. -
'Right.'
________
I made a mistake, in saying that Grey's mana is x100, I've made Grey seem bad at gathering mana. He doesn't have 120 mana (according to the last check) which is x100 to make 12,000, he has 12,000 that he has gathered. He's not bad at gathering mana.
I hope this explanation makes sense.
- forener :)