When Did I Become An Artifact Dealer?!
Chapter 95 - 96: Fear

Like a lost child sitting on a theme park bench, waiting for his parents or anyone to come pick him up and save him from this situation... a situation that he caused because of his willfulness.

Then the hotel room door burst open.

Same reaction as always. Scaredy-cat Zishi was quick to flinch and back away from the door. To his relief, the people outside were his missing bodyguards.

His eyes watered from fear. "You guys are finally here! Why did you go missing? I was so scared." None of what he said was a lie.

They looked very haggard, but Yesell was the one who looked worse. His lip was busted, and his side was bleeding. It would heal quickly, but the blood loss was still significant.

Lira panted, "We have no idea what happened, but it seems that in this hotel, there are two dimensions. We were dragged away. From our perspective, you just suddenly vanished." Her hair was messed up, and her lipstick was smudged. Her full chest heaved up and down from exhaustion as they rushed to get there.

Zishi’s eyes widened from fear. "How can we be sure that we are now in the right dimension?" he panicked. What if he could no longer go back?

He tossed the small square pillows away. "I don’t want this anymore! I want my mother! I want my brother! Leave me alone! I want them." He was trembling, throwing a tantrum like a child.

Ollen caught the pillow. He gave Yesell and Lira a side-eye, meaning, "Can someone comfort this big baby?"

They had just seen him throw a tantrum two times in the span of a few hours. It wasn’t much, but it was surprising, considering that this man was a full-grown adult.

While their attention was on Zishi, Egin’s concerns were different. He looked around the room and couldn’t help but ask, "This is not your room, right? Why are you in his room?"—referring to the guy with glasses.

Lira finally noticed it. They had been in a rush, so their minds weren’t really clear yet. Hearing Egin, she wondered, "Where is he? Why did you end up here?"

Zishi uncomfortably shifted on the couch, his eyes staring at the white tiles. Why were they asking? It was none of their business. They were just here to protect him. They should focus on doing that instead of asking questions.

Still, he knew that these were not the people his butler had trained. He did feel a bit of annoyance toward his brother now. Why had he given him such clueless bodyguards? Hiding his displeasure, he tried to calm his panic. "He found me wandering around, and he took me to his room. He went out... he never came back."

Ollen paused. That sounded a bit off for some reason. "He never came back? How many minutes has it been?" They were void users, but unlike others, they still didn’t want to involve innocent people in their mess.

Egin gazed at the bed. There was a soda bottle, still fizzing slightly. Beside it: a crumpled chip bag, half-full. A few crumbs were scattered around it.

Zishi bit his lip. "He went away! Why do you guys even care? Focus your attention on getting me out of here! That is your job."

Lira raised her hand in a surrender gesture. "Geez, why are you reacting like that? We’re just asking." Although they thought this guy was a weirdo, he was still their client. They needed to soothe him.

Yesell looked toward the open balcony. The missing railings caught his attention. He glanced at Zishi, and his heart skipped a beat when he realized Zishi was staring at him. His eyes were emotionless but with a hint of inquiry.

"What happened to the railings?" Yesell didn’t flinch because of that look. Aside from a bit of surprise, he wanted to know what happened. While they might still continue their duty to protect him, knowing the personality of the person they were protecting was crucial.

It was for safety. For the person they were protecting and also for themselves, the bodyguards.

Seeing the missing railing, Yesell already had an ominous guess. But why? For self-protection? Or something else?

Egin, after hearing Yesell talking about the railings, followed his gaze. On the balcony, it was just empty... with nothing to barricade people from falling. In what situation would a balcony railing go missing? Either someone took it, or it fell down.

Ollen and Lira were quick to catch up. The three of them went to check the balcony. Zishi unexpectedly didn’t stop them. He was just looking at them, seemingly observing their reactions.

Egin was the first to arrive at the balcony. He felt dizzy at such a height. The sensation... as if he were falling, was intense, and it intensified even more after he looked down.

On the ground was a pool of blood. That was enough to tell them what had happened.

Lira was quick to react. She rushed back inside the room and grabbed Zishi by the collar. "You psycho! What did you do?" It was clear that he was the only one with the man in glasses.

Zishi was shocked. This was the first time someone treated him this roughly. He pushed Lira’s hand away, but it was in vain. Lira looked slender and weak, but her strength was not to be underestimated.

Lira had always been softhearted toward normal people. Her most hated type of scum were those void users who treated ordinary people like they were less than human.

Zishi was not a void user, but his family was. He lived a privileged life, and for him to kill a non-void user was more outrageous to Lira.

Yesell was more clearheaded. He dragged Lira away and asked the stunned Zishi, "What happened? What did you do? You need to tell us what happened."

Zishi broke down. He was crying hard, snot dripping from his nose. "YOU’RE BLAMING ME!"

"YOU’RE BLAMING ME! YOU’RE BLAMING ME! YOU’RE BLAMING ME! YOU’RE BLAMING ME! YOU’RE BLAMING ME!" he screamed again and again while stomping his feet on the cold tiles. Saliva dripped from his mouth as he yelled. His face contorted as he cried. He sounded wronged and filled with grievance.

He really resembled a crying child. A breath-holding spell, as they call it. His mouth hung open, but no cries came out. It was like when a child takes a deep breath while crying but doesn’t breathe out. His face turned red from suffocation.

It is alarming for kids to do that, but for an adult, it was horrifying.

Lira took a step back, her face frozen in an expression of disgust. Even the normally calm Yesell paused. He tried really hard not to show a look of disgust like Lira. Ollen, on the side, felt goosebumps.

Egin, on the other hand, was not in the mood to marvel at the giant baby. He was still on the balcony, staring at the pool of blood. His head was ringing, and his body started to feel weak.

"Where is the body?" he muttered, his voice weak. It was either psychological... or maybe it was real, but he felt as if the entire building had grown eyes and was staring at him.

Blood. Real blood. Still dark, sticky in the corners where it hadn’t dried. What had happened was real...

Something was wrong. So wrong it made Egin feel like his skin didn’t fit right anymore.

Humanity’s oldest fear is the unknown. And the feeling of having a transaction with something unknown always kept Egin awake at night.

And now, standing here, with the man he suspected to be the dealer missing... a man who was supposed to be dead, Egin understood something he hadn’t before:

He was afraid.

Not of death.

But of being hunted... by something he could never understand.

He sold me something perfect, Egin thought.

Nothing perfect comes without a price. The perfect tuning is something that defies common sense. He didn’t believe that what he paid was enough for that.

Maybe he will look for something. Maybe he will come to me and ask me for another payment.

He might be the Devil himself.

The realization hollowed him out.

And the worst part?

A part of him still wanted to see the devil again.

The taste of ambition is humanity’s greatest inspiration, as well as its greatest weakness.