Return of the Irregular Appraiser
Chapter 9

[Translator – Angel Dust]

[Proofreader – ChiSync]

Chapter 9: Revenge (1)

I went to the bastard’s office after a morning of thorough preparations.

‘Has it been nearly three weeks?’

Even though it had been a long time, it felt as vivid as if it were just yesterday.

Kiiik.

Along with the creaking sound of rusty hinges, the door opened, revealing the asshole, several employees, and a man wearing glasses whom I had never seen before.

‘It seems like the guy with glasses is the person that asshole brought as an appraiser.’

Unless it’s a Salvation-affiliated appraiser, the standard of private appraisers in Korea these days is obvious. Especially if it’s someone brought by the head of such a small office.

“Please, please, sir!”

“This punk! Where do you think you’re grabbing the boss’s pants?!”

A burly, raven-haired man grabbed the man by the collar and kicked him.

‘What’s going on?’

There’s no way the son of a bitch would want to be seen like this on a day like today when he has an important appointment.

‘So, did he come here on his own accord?’

The guy he kicked was Hwang Myeongsu, another employee in the same office.

Poor guy, just like me, he’s stuck here with an unfair contract.

He came to Seoul full of dreams as an adult, but unfortunately, the guy he met was that asshole. Like Cerberus, the gatekeeper of hell.

“My mother is sick. Just once! Can’t you give an advance just once? I’ll work harder from now on! Please?”

As Hwang Myeongsu poured out tears and snot, he approached the CEO once again, but this time the raven-haired man grabbed his hair and raised his fist.

“Wait, what’s this about?”

Seeing my distorted expression, the asshole approached Hwang Myeongsu with a fake smile.

“Oh, Woogil is here? Wait a moment, would you like to sit?”

“Ah, yes.”

I glanced at Hwang Myeongsu and sat on the sofa. He looked at me with surprised eyes.

He probably thought, why is that asshole treating me so gently? After all, I had been treated just as badly as he was.

“Myeongsu, Myeongsu.”

That asshole grabbed Hwang Myeongsu by his shoulder and chuckled.

“Yeah, do you know how much you’re asking for? Five hundred. Is that a small amount? Do you know how many times you have to work on-site to get it?”

“Sob! Just deducting the fee here, it’s already over 500, isn’t it?”

“That’s the money you naturally get for supporting, nurturing, and finding jobs for you in our office, mate. Maybe you don’t know because you’re young, but that’s how it is in this field.”

“I heard from people in other teams! There, it’s like thi– cough…!!”

Unable to control his anger, that asshole suddenly punched Hwang Myeongsu in the abdomen.

“Myeongsu, Myeongsu…..”

“Sob! Yes, yes!”

Hwang Myeongsu braced himself for another blow, and replied politely.

“Then go on to another job. I’ll give you five hundred!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, if you lure monsters in Sector C, you’ll make 500 in no time. You know?”

“What? That’s not something a normal person like me can do.”

“Why? Other people just don’t do it because they don’t have the ability. If you have the ability, you can do anything. Don’t you have that level of earnestness? Your Mother’s sick, right?”

“Ugh.”

“Exactly. Your mother is sick, but you’re not afraid to risk your life?”

“Well, well, your life is the most precious.”

At the mockery of that asshole, even his subordinates sneered.

‘…They don’t know when to stop. These trash-like guys.’

If it weren’t for the plans I had laid out, I would have overturned this place immediately. Whenever I see people playing with human lives, it ignites a fire within me.

‘Let it go.’

It wasn’t anything particularly special. I had already experienced countless incidents like this. Those thugs should only pull off stunts like this once or twice.

However, Hwang Myeongsu had just become an adult. It was unsettling to see him crying and begging for money because his parents were sick.

Whether I gave it or not, I couldn’t stand to see people being mocked. And it was ultimately because of those bastards that he couldn’t afford the hospital bills.

“Hey, can we hurry up? I don’t have much time.”

Despite the abrupt interruption from me, the surrounding henchmen chuckled and frowned, but the asshole intervened.

“Yeah, Woogil is here. Since Myeongsu’s story isn’t over yet, just sit there for a moment.”

“…Yes.”

Hwang Myeongsu stepped back, and the asshole sat across me, glaring at me with a burdened expression.

The appraiser also sat beside him. The henchmen stood around the sofa, seemingly to prevent me from escaping.

“What’s with this atmosphere? Am I going to get hit too?”

“Hahaha! Why would I hit you? You’re my valuable employee.”

“Isn’t Myeongsu also a valuable employee?”

Pointing at Hwang Myeongsu, that asshole twisted his lips and said.

“You bring me money, you’re a valuable employee, and he’s just a guy asking for money, right?”

Perhaps changing the strategy to be brazenly aggressive, even the fake smiles were gone now.

“…Honestly, if Myeongsu were paid for what he’s done, he would have earned more than 500 by now.”

“Now you’re lecturing me as you leave? You’re really going too far.”

“Is it going too far to speak the truth?”

In a moment of irritation, the old way of speaking surfaced.

“Let’s calm down, let’s calm down.”

“Was that A grade artifact supposed to change people’s personalities? What happened to you?”

“It was always like this, I just had to live with it.”

“Handling Myeongsu’s affairs is our business. Let’s deal with our matters first.”

The asshole backed down first.

Indeed, people have their limits. Even this disgraceful bastard would back down when pushed.

“Shall we check the contract first?”

The asshole’s expression wrinkled once again. But with an annoyed look, he gestured to the raven-haired man with his chin to show the contract.

“Here it is.”

Handing over the contract, he showed the termination clause.

This bastard had a reason to be so confident. It was because of the cunningly worded poison clauses in the contract.

One of them stated that everything they had provided to support me in the early days of my office entry was actually an investment, and if I didn’t work off the debt, interest would accrue, ballooning the debt.

I probably wouldn’t have known about the existence of this poison clause.

In fact, it was all thanks to the inheritance from my grandmother in my past life that I had learned about this poison clause.

At that time, I had been robbed of my B-grade artifact by this asshole in such a manner.

I had no debts, but before I knew it, the debt had piled up like a mountain of snow, uncontrollably increasing.

And that led to the deprivation of ownership of artifacts, leading to the absurd loss of artifacts.

The price of the artifact was arbitrarily set and sold, and the contract couldn’t be terminated as stipulated.

At that time, I had almost reached the point of really giving up on life.

Now, I might not know, but at that time, I had no money, no connections, no experience, no confidence.

All of that must have been part of the asshole’s plan. Disgusting piece of shit.

Come to think of it, what did this bastard believe in to do such risky things? It was a prank that could easily get him caught by Salvation.

“Look. If you pay the contract termination fee, you can terminate the contract anytime.”

“How much is that termination fee?”

“I’ll have to calculate that to know, man. Do I really have to do that right now?”

He slips away cunningly. Well, if I wanted to, I could expose all his lies right here, but let’s leave it at that for now.

After all, the goal was to feed him false hope.

“Okay, I understand. This should be enough to pay off the debt.” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ N0vᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Saying so, I carefully took out a small box from my bag.

“It’s a necklace made by Ellaris.”

As I opened the lid, a beautiful figure emerged.

The jewels, finely crafted like sculptures, bore Ellaris’s unique characteristics.

They were the works of Ellaris, a craftsman from the B.CD 1000s known for making necklaces and earrings.

Her accessories were known to exhibit healing abilities.

“E-Ellaris? An artifact of Ellaris!”

The appraiser rudely took off his glasses and approached the necklace as if to sniff it, admiring its beautiful design.

Not only him, but the face of that asshole next to him was also worth seeing.

With bulging eyes, he stared at the necklace with trembling pupils.

“Is this the artifact you mentioned before?”

“No, actually, that’s something else. This belonged to my grandmother. According to her will, my grandfather, who was apparently quite wealthy, bought it for millions and gave it to my grandmother as a gift. But it turned out to be an artifact.”

In the past, artifacts from other dimensions were traded cheaply because their value wasn’t recognized. Of course, at that time, hundreds would be worth thousands today.

“What? So there are two artifacts?”

“It turned out that way by chance. I only brought this one today.”

My words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the appraiser busied himself with examining the necklace, and the asshole stared at me blankly.

‘I can hear the gears turning.’

If the artifact Woogil brought was made by Ellaris, what about the one he didn’t bring?

There’s no way that greedy bastard would leave it behind.

“Why didn’t you bring them both?”

“Ah… I didn’t think much of the other one, so I only brought this one. What do you think?”

That asshole gave me a suspicious look.

But I pretended not to notice and looked at the appraiser.

‘I’ve thrown the bait, now… Even the appraiser hired by Kim Junghyun fell for the necklace. There’s no way he can tell it’s not Ellaris’s work.’

At first glance, it was so perfect that it was hard not to believe it was made by Ellaris.

Reducing fatigue in the whole body and boosting recovery from wounds through wearing the necklace also resembled Ellaris’s style.

‘But it’s too perfect to be Ellaris’s work.’

I remembered my past life as a tomb raider..

– Isn’t this Elaris’s earring? Crazy, this is here.

– Is it really Ellaris’s earring? Wow… the craftsmanship is brilliant.

– No, they weren’t made by Elaris.

– What? What do you mean, Director?

The director showed Ellaris’s earring through a magnifying glass and said.

– Some people believe that Ellaris is a master of meticulous craftsmanship, but that’s not true. Rather, Ellaris simply has exceptional intuition; she isn’t that meticulous of a person. Look here, the jewels are in perfect balance. Even under a magnifying glass, you can’t find a flaw. Do you think this level of skill was possible in the 1st millennium? If she had such exceptional skills, the B.CD 2000s would have been the golden of the ancient magical civilization.

That was what the chief said.

All the artifacts of the ancient civilization were made by a race called ‘Elanoi.’

Ellaris was also a member of the ‘Elanoi’ race, and the reason why ancient civilizations could develop to such an extreme degree was all because of them.’

The owner of insight, ‘Teraunus,’ was also an Elanoi.

‘This is the work of the Templar.’

Templar, an artisan who was active in the late B.CD. 4000s. He was not an Elanoi but an ordinary human.

He became fascinated by the beauty of Ellaris’s works from the B.CD. 1000s and began to imitate her.

Although he almost perfectly replicated her works, the one difference was that he erased the raw beauty and pursued perfection.

‘Would there be an appraiser in this era who can distinguish between Ellaris and Templar?’

There are so many eccentrics in the world that it’s possible.

But what’s important now is that this appraiser can’t distinguish between them.

“It’s perfect! This beautiful figure… It’s as if it’s alive, shaping the waves! This is definitely Ellaris’s necklace!”

I looked slightly surprised as I watched the man in front of him.

He seemed to have studied Ellaris quite a bit. He knew her characteristics quite accurately.

In fact, Templar’s works were of very high quality as well, but most people didn’t like forgeries because they were mostly from the mid-B.CD 4000s onwards.

From the B.CD. 4000s, ancient civilizations gradually declined. The works created during that time were very unstable and dangerous.

They were like time bombs waiting to explode at any moment. That’s why, no matter how high-quality the forgeries were, Templar’s works couldn’t match those of Ellaris from the B.C. 1000s.

“Cough!”

The asshole coughed loudly, and the appraiser hastily put down the necklace as if he had regained his senses.

“Is it really Ellaris’s? Take a closer look!”

“Uh… Well…”

“Yes, it is. When I was in China, I had it appraised there. They said it would fetch at least 100 million.”

“100 million?”

The appraiser stuttered in surprise, then urgently whispered something to the asshole.

‘Even without hearing it, it was obvious.’

He must be urgently saying that if it’s worth 100 million, he should buy it quickly.

If it was really a necklace of this quality by Ellaris, I’d pay a billion for it.

I pretended not to know and asked.

“Why…? Is it too expensive?”

“Ahem! It seems like that appraiser was a bit generous in his valuation. Although it’s Ellaris’s work, its efficacy isn’t that great, and it’s a work from the B.CD. 1000s, so realistically, around 80 million would be more appropriate.”

I inwardly chuckled.

Even calling 100 million exorbitant, now he’s trying to haggle more.

“Well, 20 million is a lot of money for me, so… I’ll have to wait until someone offers 100 million.”

“Wait a moment, Woogil. Since we’re friends, I’ll buy it for 100 million.”

He took the bait. No, he had no choice but to take it. He could easily pocket at least 900 million here, would that greedy bastard really let it slip by?

“What? Really?”

“Yes. Since you need the money quickly for the contract termination fee, we’ll give it to you.”

“Does the CEO really have 100 million?”

“Oh! You don’t need to worry about that. Are you going to sell it or not?”

“I’ll sell it!”

“Great. Let’s draw up the artifact transfer certificate. The deposit will be made by the end of this month-.”

“No, please give it to me by tomorrow. I also have places to spend money.”

“What? How can I give 100 million in just one day?”

“Then don’t. Actually, I got a call from China. I’ll talk to them first.”

“What? From China? Hey! Don’t contact them!”

“Why not?”

As soon as the word China was mentioned, the asshole jumped up in a fit, trembling.

Worried about losing it to the other side.

“No…”

“Are you going to give it to me by tomorrow or not?”

“I’ll give it to you! Tomorrow? Okay. Go fuck yourself.”

“Okay. Stamp it?”

I laughed and stamped the artifact’s power of attorney.

“Oh, and what about the contract termination?”

“Why are you in such a hurry? Let’s talk about it again after you receive the money.”

With a gentle smile at that remark, I nodded my head.

“Sure.”

[Translator – Angel Dust]

[Proofreader – ChiSync]

Sᴇarch the ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.