It might have been the fact that he had heard news of So-Hee, whom he’d thought he would never see again, that caused Kim Jin-Woo to be overly emotional. But that, too, soon subsided.

The Underworld was once again headed in an unpredictable direction, as usual. He had barely defended against the Moai, and he’d thought he could finally take a breather after weeding out the traitors; but all of a sudden, another silent danger was coming for his throat.

He had barely gotten powerful enough to look down on the Counts with his awakened Highlord powers. He wondered how powerful the Highlords that had awakened long before himself were. How tenacious and threatening were their tests?

If the power of the Highlords grew stronger over time, he would no match for them. Heck, he probably couldn’t even defeat the Wailing Lord who was fooling around right in front of his eyes.

But instead of shuddering with fear and concern, he laughed. Just when he’d thought he could take a breather, the noose around his neck had tightened once again. As always, this monster that was the Underworld seemed to be struggling in its attempt to survive and outlast him.

“I’ll do as they wish,” Kim Jin-Woo said to himself.

“Are you ready to undergo the test already?” The Wailing Lord intervened with a groan, misinterpreting Kim Jin-Woo’s words.

Kim Jin-Woo looked back at her and said, “You seem to be misunderstanding something.”

This time, it was the Wailing Lord that looked puzzled upon seeing Kim Jin-Woo’s sudden change in expression and presence.

“If you’re weak, you’ll be eaten. And every single bone of the loser, down to the last drop of blood, belongs to the winner,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

Awakening first, awakening later… Why did that matter? All that mattered in the Underworld was survival of the strongest.

“The Underworld that I know is that kind of place. It’s not a place for you pretentious guys to be roleplaying kings.” With that, Kim Jin-Woo growled wildly. “And if they want to test me, I’ll be testing them back.”

If they came at him, he would destroy them. It was how Kim Jin-Woo had faced his opponents, and it was how he had survived until today. Even if his opponents’ ranks had been higher than his in the past, he had always been stronger than them.

The Wailing Lord showed a somewhat admiring expression toward Kim Jin-Woo’s unwavering attitude. She said, “This is different from what I heard from So-Hee, but I’m liking it.”

But her gaze was still arrogant as ever, as if she were looking down on him. She remarked, “I’ve fooled around a bit, but I hope you don’t take it to heart.”

Kim Jin-Woo had no reason to resent her in the first place. If not for her, he would have been tested by the other Highlords before he even realized it. Seeing as the other Highlords had existed before him, it wasn’t a complete loss for him.

The Wailing Lord remarked, “Truth is, even if I didn’t specifically come looking for you, they would have found you eventually.”

While looking at Kim Jin-Woo, she said something incomprehensible again. “You are a little special, after all…” She smirked at Kim Jin-Woo, who responded with a frown. She finished, “...because you’re the only Highlord among us who received a new name.”

***

The auction that had been put on hold resumed the very next day.

The Black Merchants seemed to have pulled some strings, as the completely destroyed stage was restored in a single day. On top of that, they apologized profusely for the unfortunate situation the day before, and promised compensation for each participant.

Judging from how the participants were completely ignoring the Wailing Lord when they had seemed ready to charge at her just the day before, the promised compensation must have been rather formidable.

Unlike before, the Wailing Lord was on the stage from the start. With the imp host by her side, she looked down on the others with an arrogant expression that was befitting of her Highlord status.

The Black Merchants must have reprimanded her somehow, as this time, the Wailing Lord didn’t bother to argue with the VIPs who were still looking down on her from their rooms. However, there was a look of dissatisfaction on her face, and the imp host looked at her and started to sweat.

“I’m repeating myself, but I’m not here looking for a fight,” the Wailing Lord said. It was too blatant a statement, considering what she had done the day before, but none of the participants argued back.

But that was all. The participants looked at her with contempt, ignoring what she was saying.

Even in the face of such animosity, the Wailing Lord was as calm as ever. She said, “I don’t know how to bring back the ghosts that invaded your home. To be honest, whether or not you're torn to shreds by those ghosts is your problem, not mine.”

The looks of the participants turned harsh, and the imp host’s face turned pale. But the Wailing Lord ignored them as she continued to say her piece. “But I don’t want to see the Terrans running rampant across the Underworld just because you’ve gotten weak. Thus, I’ll be merciful to you guys.” Despite being a Terran herself, she spoke naturally against them.

However, her words didn’t seem to be empty statements. She added, “Labyrinth masters of the Underworld, beware the calamities that will come after the war.” When she brought up an impending calamity, the participants’ anger quickly subsided into silent terror. She continued, “Your lives will soon be exhausted and you’ll have no place to set foot in. And eventually, you’ll find yourselves no different from the hideous ghosts that have invaded your homes.”

However, Kim Jin-Woo shook his head as he watched her ramble on from his VIP room.

She talked about calamities and whatnot, but in the end, the Moai were the result of a Highlord awakening and the creation of a Grand Labyrinth depriving them of their source of life, ultimately allowing them to be contaminated by the malice of the Underworld. In hindsight, it was the Wailing Lord, himself, and the other Highlords who were the culprits behind all of this.

From his point of view, after he had already heard the mysteries related to the birth of the Moai the day before, the Wailing Lord’s babbling was so brazen that it was almost worthy of respect. But for the labyrinth masters who didn’t know the truth, they listened to the shocking revelation with pale faces.

“If you’re not one to admire its ugliness, prepare vessels to contain your sources of life. That’s the only way you won’t be tainted by the malice of the Underworld.”

When the Wailing Lord finished speaking, she gestured toward the rest of the hooded women with her and they removed their hoods.

Giants, insects, centaurs. The only thing they had in common was that they all had a dazzling jewel on their foreheads. Perhaps the vessel of life that the Wailing Lord spoke of was that very jewel embedded in their foreheads.

Seeing the buzzing participants, the imp host, who had only been watching until then, took a step forward and started speaking. “We, the Black Merchants, have secured more than enough Lifestones to pass around to all our participants, through the secrets that the Wailing Lord shared with us. We promise that we’ll give these Lifestones free of charge to anyone who wants them without asking for anything in return.”

The labyrinth masters, who looked pale and tired from the news of the impending calamity upon the Underworld, looked at the colored jewels of various sizes that the imp held out.

“Oh!”

“You were preparing something like this!?”

When the participants, who had been complaining about the Black Merchants and the Wailing Lord with dissatisfied looks until just recently, changed their attitudes as easily as flipping their palms, Kim Jin-Woo, who had been watching the whole scene play out, couldn't stand it any longer and laughed out loud.

The Wailing Lord, who was creating an atmosphere of fear by talking about impending calamities of the Underworld, or the Black Merchants who intervened at the perfect time to hand out the Lifestones… They were no different from drug dealers selling cheap drugs on the black market.

It was rather surprising that the labyrinth masters, who were insidious and highly suspicious of others, had been so quickly swayed by an obvious play. It was a daily occurrence for labyrinths on the same floor to get into conflict with one another frequently. Thus, for them to easily believe the words of the Wailing Lord, who was not only not from the same floor but from a totally different Underworld, was very strange.

But then again, it wasn’t implausible. Every word the Wailing Lord uttered without hesitation contained a Highlord's unique prestige. Overwhelmed by the Highlord’s majesty without their knowledge, the labyrinth masters were so captivated by her hypnotic presence that they didn’t even entertain any doubts.

“All the other Highlords stood at the apex of their respective Underworlds. If you want to stand side by side with the other Highlords, you, too, have to keep all the insignificant Underworld Nobles under your feet. I’ll help you achieve that.”

Kim Jin-Woo remembered the words of the Wailing Lord and grinned.

Come to think of it, the color of the Lifestones that the Black Merchant was offering was different from the Lifestones that were embedded in the foreheads of the Wailing Lord’s followers.

***

There was little enthusiasm in the special auction that the Black Merchants had ambitiously prepared. Was it because so many things had happened?

It was the first day of the auction, which could be a reason why there were no products worthy of attention. But even considering the various circumstances, the atmosphere at the auction house wasn’t very lively.

“6,300 gems! We have a bid for 6,300 gems! If there are no further bids, we’ll close the auction for this product at this bid!”

The bids were also incomparable to the regular auctions that had been held before.

However, the Black Merchants, the organizers of the event, didn’t seem to mind the low bid price and enthusiasm. Perhaps they were confident that the other products they still had yet to put up would liven up the atmosphere, or they might have had other ideas. One thing for certain was that they seemed to have anticipated such a response.

“Now, there are only two items left until today’s auction closes!”

The atmosphere of the auction house, which had been lukewarm at best thus far, started to heat up a bit toward the end. It was partly because the product that was chained to the stage was something completely unexpected.

“He once roamed the Underworld proudly, holding the title of ‘Undefeated’, but with one loss, this unfortunate giant has lost everything! Although his ‘Undefeated’ reputation is a thing of the past, his innate power and valor is still a force to be reckoned with!”

“Oh! That guy is!?”

“Why is that guy here!?”

The auction participants’ responses had been lukewarm thus far, but they now trembled with excitement.

After a long time, the atmosphere finally heated up, and the excited host shouted loudly, “Introducing! The mercenary leader who led the Undefeated Mercenaries into the Deep Floors! The legend of the Two-Headed Giants! Krasto!”

With the host’s introduction, the two-headed giant with a young and old head, Krasto, helplessly stepped onto the stage.

Kim Jin-Woo, who had been immersed in his own thoughts thus far, raised his head and looked at the giant through the window. “I thought he’d been caught up in the chaos and died, but to think I’d see him here again.”

Considering the plight of the giant who had suffered defeat in his hands and had his Seal taken away from him, it was a tragic sight to see. Seeing the gloomy-eyed giant drenched in a sense of defeat, who could ever imagine that his name had once been synonymous with the ‘Undefeated’ title?

“As the value of this product speaks for itself, we’re going to start the bid at a relatively high 5,000 gems.”

Down gems had become incomparably more valuable than before because of the war that had raged all over the Underworld. Nevertheless, the auction participants were frantic to buy Krasto and recklessly raised his bidding price. Thanks to that, a satisfied smile finally appeared on the host’s face after a long time.

However, Kim Jin-Woo continued to look at the giant on the stage with little interest. After all, the value of the Krasto he’d thought of was already gone. A giant who had lost his ‘Undefeated’ title and his Seal was of no interest to him.

“Krasto, the former Undefeated Mercenary! Sold for the price of 19,300 gems!”

Krasto was sold at a relatively high price of 19,300 down gems to someone in one of the VIP rooms. The host, who had been happily chattering away, got serious as he started the final auction of the day.

“And, today’s highlight!”

Judging from the voice of the host, who had already been energetic before the auction had even started, it seemed that the final product for the day had been ambitiously prepared by the Black Merchants.

In tandem with the excited host’s exaggerated gestures, the orchestra beat their drums and the lights on stage shone brightly.

“I guarantee that this product has never been auctioned before!” the host exclaimed with excitement as he introduced the product amid the sound of drums.