The Author's POV
chapter-22

"Everything is starting to make sense now..."

Hearing Ren's investment plan, smallsnake's face couldn't help but scrunch up in frustration.

It was nothing short of idiotic.

He was also beginning to doubt the reason as to why he was chosen.

At first, he thought it may have been because he had somehow heard about his outstanding talent, but now he was starting to believe it was because no other broker wanted to work with him!

Shorting C.B pharmaceuticals, a behemoth in the pharmaceutical industry, and investing in W.V stock?

From a sane person's point of view, this was an investment that had no basis to back up its claim.

With C.B.'s current performance, the stock was expected to rise even further.

Moreover, with his connections, he could tell beforehand if something was going on within the company.

But there were no signs of abnormality within C.B., suggesting that this was an investment that had no foundation behind it.

What was even more confusing was the fact that he needed to employ the service of a black market broker for this kind of deal.

Black market brokers were hired when one wanted to hide their identity from the prying eyes of the world when making an investment.

This was usually done so that the client could avoid government agents' pursuit.

But that was only applicable to criminals.

'Is he perhaps going to kill someone important?'

Smallsnake thought as he stared at his employer up and down.

He firmly doubted it.

Judging from his demeanor and strength, he was in no way a rich second-generation kid, plus he roughly estimated that his contractor's strength was around G-F rank.

There was simply no way he could kill anyone important enough to warner a stock fluctuation. Not with his meager amount of strength.

'Was he perhaps trying to hide his identity because he's too embarrassed to publicly go through with his own deal?'

Smallsnake thought as he bitterly shook his head.

From what he could tell, this was probably the most plausible hypothesis he could come up with.

I mean, no matter how smallsnake looked at it, his client was neither some bigshot nor someone strong enough to assassinate an important figure.

What irked him the most about this deal was how confident his employer was. His demeanor was like that of someone who was sure to make money out of this nonsensical deal.

Was he delusional?

No matter how smallsnake looked at it, this deal was simply stupid.

Yet, deep within his heart, maybe just maybe, he hoped for his client to be right.

'Well, who knows, maybe he'll really be right...'

Smallsnake thought as he couldn't help but lightly chuckle at the almost impossible scenario.

Rather than just question, it was better to just perform as the client wished.

Sometimes you just might be in for a surprise.

Moreover, the main policies employed by all [Lost Reapers] employees were:

- Never ask questions about client identity

- Never ask questions about client action

Therefore, even if he wanted to convince his client against doing such investment, he couldn't as it was [Lost Reapers] policy to not question the client's decision.

Letting out a sigh underneath his mask, smallsnake quickly went through his terms and signed it.

At least he was getting paid for his work.

It was just a bummer to see his first client lose so much money.

Seeing smallsnake's subtle actions, I couldn't help but laugh.

Although he was wearing a mask, his expressions could be read like an open book.

Just the way he flinched when he heard about the deal, and how his shoulders dropped at the realization that he was dealing with a stupid client was so easy to read.

'I'll let him be for now, he'll eventually thank me later.'

I thought to myself as I enjoyed watching his crestfallen expression.

"So how much are you planning on investing?"

"hmm...for now I have about 10,000 U I can invest, but I'm planning on investing at least five times that. So around 50,000 U? Maybe less? Who knows, around that range though."

"..."

Smallsnake was already starting to shed tears beneath his mask.

What kind of small-time investment was this?

10,000 U? 50,000U?

With this, smallsnake could confirm that he wasn't some second-generation rich kid that loved throwing away money.

With such a meager amount, even if you somehow predicted correctly, the amount you would make would at most be in the triple digits.

What was the point of commissioning him if you were only planning on investing so little?

Reminding himself of the [Lost Reapers] rules, smallsnake resigned himself to the harsh reality.

"Ok-ay, so do you have the money with you now?"

"No, I only have about 10,000 U with me"

"Okay, so when will you invest?"

"Hmm...once I make enough I guess"

"Pardon?"

"Once I make more money"

"..."

From this point on, smallsnake was able to deduce one thing about the identity of his employer.

He was a villain.

A black-hearted villain that loved to make hard-working employees like him suffer.

Seeing smallsnake's drooping figure, I barely managed to hold back my laughter.

I may have gone a bit overboard, but I really enjoyed teasing him.

Weakly walking towards his chair, smallsnake sat down while holding his head in despair.

"H-ow a-re you plann-ing on mak-ing the mone-y?"

He weakly said as he tried his best to regain his composure.

"Oh, I'm gonna go to a dungeon and...huh?"

-Klang!

Falling down from his chair, smallsnake could vividly see his life flash before his eyes.

"What have I done to deserve this..."

Turning my body around, I could barely keep my laughter in check.

My whole body started shaking uncontrollably as a consequence of me trying to hold back my laughter.

This was probably the funniest reaction I had ever seen in my life!

It took a solid hour for smallsnake to regain his composure, but his current demeanor was a far cry from when I had just met him.

He resembled a black company employee who had resigned himself to his fate.

Staring at his lifeless expression, I slightly smiled.

Although smallsnake was very competent, the main reason that propelled me into contacting him was not his outstanding set of skills, but rather his devotion to the job.

He was the type of person that took every job seriously.

Therefore, no matter how absurd the request was, once accepted, he would always try to accomplish it the best way he possibly could.

Moreover, he was someone that could keep his mouth shut.

Even if he was tied down to a chair and endlessly tortured, his mouth would never waver.

That was how reliable of a person he was.

"Alright, let's not dwell on the specifics of the deal. You just have to trust me"

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, smallsnake sighed and finally came to terms with my absurd financial plan.

"Fine, I'm in no position to talk anyways..."

"Actually, I still need your help"

Warily glancing at me, smallsnake switched back into his business demeanor.

"What other service do you require from me."

"I need a monster corpse broker"

"Haaa...so I guess you weren't joking when you mentioned the word dungeon previously"

Nodding my head, I continued explaining my plan.

"Don't worry, I'll probably be safe. Moreover, I'm only going to go to an F rank dungeon which shouldn't be too difficult. What I need your help with is with handling the corpses which I will bring back from the dungeon"

Nodding his head smallsnake took out a piece of paper, and started scribbling on it.

"F-rank dungeon...hmm, the current market rate is around 1,000 U per normal monster corpse, and 5,000 U for boss monsters."

"If you consider the conditions at which the corpse is presented the payment can increase..."

"Moreover, if by some crazy chance you managed to acquire an F rank monster core, you can very easily sell that for 100,000 U depending on its size."

Turning his head towards where I was standing, smallsnake mind quickly raced as he slowly formulated a plan for me. "From what you've told me, you wanted to at least invest 50,000U."

"Considering that you have 10,000 of the 50,000 U you are planning to invest, you would approximately need 40,000 U"

"If you want to earn that much in an F rank dungeon then you must either kill 40 F-rank monsters, 8 bosses, or find an F rank core, which would leave plenty left to spare."

Furrowing his brows underneath his mask, smallsnake handed me the paper in which he had calculated the possible things I needed to do in order to raise 40,000U.

"This is a simple layout of the things you need to do to raise that much money."

"Moreover, that is if we are excluding dungeon entrance fees, commissions, and the cost of paying for your equipment"

Staring deeply at me, smallsnake asked

"Are you sure about this?"

Grinning, I sat in front of him and said

"If I wasn't sure about this I wouldn't have come here"

"..."

"..."

After staring at me for a solid minute, smallsnake nodded his head and stood up.

"I don't know where your confidence comes from, but since you're my first and only client I will help you the best that I possibly can"

"Couldn't ask for more."

Similarly standing up, I shook his hand.

"Alright, I guess we have a deal"

...

Soon after parting ways with smallsnake, I made my way towards the black market stalls.

Now that I had some time for myself, I could take a proper look at the things available for sale in the black market.

Taking out a small black card that smallsnake gave me after we finalized our deal, I quickly went towards the entrance of the black market where a large metal door stood. Quickly taking out 8000 U from my pocket, I headed in the direction of where the door was.

Besides the large metal door, stood a neat black stall that had a relatively long queue.

Arriving at the stall I patiently waited in line for approximately fifteen minutes before a sales employee quickly went to greet me at the register.

Taking the black card out, I handed the card plus 8,000 U to the employee.

The black card I was currently holding was an exclusive card that could only be used in the black market and was the main payment method used when purchasing things on the black market.

What the employee was doing was converting the cash I gave to him into a cryptocurrency specifically made only for the black market.

Although transactions through cash were generally safe, it was not very efficient when dealing with transactions that dealt with large figures.

By creating a cryptocurrency, the black market was able to swiftly deal with several problems at the same time.

One, since crypto was untraceable, it ensured safe transactions.

Two and most importantly, allowed the black market to act as an intermediary during the transactions.

People tended to forget this when entering the black market. But this place was flooded with villains.

Villains were essentially scums of society that held no regard for rules or morality.

If there was no one to keep them in check, they could've probably forced someone to make a deal or even worse given them fake money.

Therefore, with the black card system, it became much easier to trade and check if there was any fraud taking place in the transaction.

Because they were using the black market cryptocurrency, fake money could not be used as the black market currency was only available here.

This way, when doing transactions here, people didn't need to be wary of potential scams.

And if by any chance someone was indeed trying to commit a scam, the black market forces would swiftly deal with them.

"How much would you like to recharge?"

"8,000 U please"

"Alright, please wait a moment"

Placing my money inside of a black box, the sales employee pressed a button and patiently waited a couple of seconds.

-Ding!

After the black box ringed, signaling that it was done with whatever it was doing, the employee took my card and placed it on top of the box.

"Okay everything is ready, please enjoy yourself"

Handing me my card back, the sales employee smiled and started serving the next client.

Taking my card, I quickly went to look at the never-ending rows of stalls.

"It's time to go shopping!"