God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 103: Episode 20 _ The Sin of Loving More(6)

10.

This went back to when Han Simin, having obtained Kang Yeseul’s hidden video and logged into the game with a joyful heart, discovered the nobles gathering one by one.

"...Mr. aide, I guess it’s best to take care of one’s own business, right?"

"Pardon?"

Leaving the uncomprehending aide behind, Han Simin hurriedly took the rabbits and headed for the forest.

He immediately grabbed the sparrow acting cute on his shoulder, threw it to transform it into a hawk, headed quickly to the Gloomy Forest, and ran to a familiar spot.

Lightly passing by the users who were hunting day and night as always, the place he arrived at was where the moles, who had become wanderers after losing their boss, resided!

He waved his hand first at the welcome faces.

"Hi!"

The moles stared blankly.

Naturally, the moles hid.

But since they had already been spotted by Han Simin, there was no hole to escape into.

"Squeaker! Get him!"

"Screech!"

Squeaker, whose morale had been boosted by Han Simin’s grand promise to feed him until full and let him walk only on paths of gold, dragged a mole that was trying to hide deep underground out to the surface.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

The mole struggled, scanning its surroundings with anxious eyes. Its previous vigor became infinitely powerless before the strong enemy it had encountered once before.

It was a natural routine for the strong—and especially for monsters surviving in the Gloomy Forest—to be wary of those stronger than themselves!

"Hey now. Relax, friend."

Han Simin, with Squeaker on his back, approached the mole.

’Who is this bastard?’

The mole sent a contemptuous look, but would that faze him?

He scanned the muscular body up and down and nodded with satisfaction.

"Good. This is perfect for a performance."

The mole looked confused.

Naturally, the mole didn’t understand. Its massive muscles didn’t match its timid behavior as it glanced sneakily at Squeaker.

"Screech!"

FLINCH!

It quickly abandoned the thought of running away.

In fact, Squeaker’s combat power alone wasn’t that strong. Catching the named mole was only possible thanks to Han Simin’s support and the power of the rabbit army; what could Squeaker, who was still only level 33, do?

Although its stats had risen significantly thanks to eating a lot of money, it still lacked the ability to fight and win one-on-one against the mole in front of it in the Gloomy Forest.

Nevertheless, the reason the mole was wary was that this place was not a simple game.

Just as players couldn’t know a monster’s level, disposition, attack power, defense, skills, and patterns at a glance and had to learn them directly, monsters also had no choice but to experience the strength of an approaching enemy firsthand.

It was a trauma for them.

So, surrounded by rabbits, how could it think of escaping!

Thus, it couldn’t move even at the insult of the human who looked the weakest.

Noticing this, Han Simin smiled even more wickedly.

"Yeah, yeah. If you behave, I won’t kill you."

The mole remained silent.

Hoping the meaning would be conveyed, he continued speaking.

"Actually, I have an important auction this time. I need to sell something very expensively to raise Squeaker."

"Screech!"

"But there’s a bit of a problem. Since it’s a low-level item, the enhancement level is sufficient, but the defense doesn’t come out as high as the nobles want, you see?"

This was the reason Han Simin came to the Gloomy Forest before the auction started!

"Naturally, those quick-witted noble bastards will use that as an excuse to set the price roughly. But that won’t do. I need to raise it at least ten times higher than the value those noble bastards are thinking."

The mole blinked.

He spoke with sincerity.

Of course, the words didn’t get through, but the sincerity contained in the words must have been conveyed. Han Simin wanted to sell the Leather Armor Set expensively enough to talk sincerely to a monster.

Above all, it was the first +15 Armor Set.

As with all luxury goods, the first one is important.

Image making!

Depending on how expensively the first item is sold, the brand’s value is determined, and the price of the next item is also decided.

People judge whether a luxury item is worth wearing based on how much it sold for, and the more expensive it is, the more they perceive it as a luxury item that raises their own value.

Even if it’s just a leather scrap bag with no defensive effect, it’s like that, so how much more so for armor!

There’s a reason terms like the Continent’s Three Great Swords and Five Great Armors exist. Those things can’t be bought even with money.

There was no law saying Han Simin’s items couldn’t become like that!

’Those things aren’t even +15.’

He had the ability to make it happen.

With that determination, he patted the mole’s shoulder.

"You understand, right?"

The mole stared.

"So you just have to follow quietly and act. After the auction starts, I’ll lay it on thick, and when people are watching, and I enter the cage, I’ll pretend to be enraged and strike my solar plexus. Very hard. As if you’re going to pierce the leather armor and crush my heart."

The mole looked puzzled.

"Ah! Of course, I mean pretend to do that, not actually do it. If you actually hit me hard and even a scratch appears on the leather armor..."

Han Simin frowned as he imagined such a worst-case scenario.

That absolutely cannot happen. Indeed.

Let’s not even imagine it.

Thinking only happy thoughts, he patted its shoulder.

"Got it?"

The mole stood still.

Even though the long speech ended, the mole was just trying to read the room.

Before the dignity of life, who would listen attentively to useless words they couldn’t even understand! It was busy enough worrying about how to survive.

The mole’s honest confusion touched a nerve.

"Ahem. It seems you haven’t understood yet."

Well. He understood.

The Gold Dragon and the rabbits only understood Han Simin’s words thanks to the Legendary Tamer ability; conversely, conveying his intent to a wild monster was impossible.

Would a completely unrelated mole wandering the streets be any different?

For a moment, he thought about taming this guy, but he soon shook his head. That would mean he had to release one of the currently tamed rabbits, and there was no reason to do that.

At all. Why? Me?

To recoup the cost of the armor invested in one rabbit, he would have to keep it for another ten years, and even that wouldn’t be enough.

Therefore, he chose another method.

A bit troublesome and difficult, but a method that could still lead to Seoul.

"Kids, grab your tools."

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak!"

Slither, slither.

They tightened around the mole from all sides.

The immutable law that appears at times like this!

"You’ll understand once you get hit."

The mole nodded its head furiously.

It had a very ominous feeling that it should do so.

But it was already too late.

And it was far from over.

Thus, the mole named Diglet came to enter the cage at the auction house.

* * *

"Now! Everyone! Look! I will withstand the attack of a monster estimated to be Level 90, equivalent to a First-Class Knight of the Kingdom!"

Han Simin shouted heroically and stood with his arms spread wide, a posture optimized for taking a hit.

It was a posture the mole had seen dozens, hundreds of times.

"Hit me."

And Han Simin always said this.

Then the mole had to throw a punch.

Very hard. With all its might.

Of course, if it really hit with all its might, Han Simin couldn’t withstand it.

No matter how high his stats were, he wasn’t strong enough to be fine after having his weakness exploited by a monster in the 90s, especially one focused on physical stats.

The armor was just a Leather Armor Set worn at low levels, too.

So it had to reduce its power just before impact.

Naturally, this was not an easy task.

It failed repeatedly, and in the process, the mole understood the meaning of the phrase "it would be better to die."

It got beaten as much as it failed.

It got beaten again until it understood.

Then, even after succeeding, it got beaten.

’This is what happens if you betray me.’

Back then, mistakes were tolerated because he was wearing inner armor, but if a mistake occurred in the real performance, not only would the preparation effort be wasted, but the value of the Leather Armor Set would fall far short of the expected price, and even below the value the nobles had originally prepared.

The mole, unaware of that fact, fell into contemplation while swinging its fist.

In a way, this was a golden opportunity.

Although it would die, what was the point of living like this! Wouldn’t it be good to land one solid hit and end its life!

Hesitation increased the speed of the fist even more.

This was an instinctive movement.

Noticing this, urgency filled Han Simin’s eyes.

"You crazy bastard."

Dying was secondary; if the item was damaged in a place he had gone to such lengths to gather people for, there would be no greater disgrace and loss.

But he couldn’t dodge here either.

He could only appeal strongly with his eyes.

’You son of a bitch. If you don’t do this properly, I won’t even let you die; I’ll torture you and then feed you alive to the dragon in thirty daily installments.’

The mole flinched.

Fortunately, the will seemed to have been conveyed.

No, perhaps it was the mole’s final instinct to avoid death.

WHOOSH.

The speed decreased.

It was true that it was a little later than the point it should have reduced speed.

THWACK!

A fist with its power not fully retracted slammed into Han Simin’s chest.

The impact was immense.

His breath was choked off by a shock that exceeded his imagination.

"K-kegh!"

Originally, it should have been a groan let out as acting.

But it popped out instinctively.

The nobles buzzed.

"W-What?"

"Did he really get hit?"

"If he dies?"

It was that realistic.

To the point where they rubbed their own solar plexus as if they were the ones hit.

SLAM!

On top of that, Han Simin’s flying back crashed into the iron cage.

With damage coming from both front and back, worry for the armor came before fear of death.

’Please don’t tear.’

He had never once thought the Leather Armor’s defense was insufficient until now.

After lying down for a long while, he caught his breath and slowly stood up. The highest-grade potion he had secretly hidden helped him recover quickly.

"Phew."

Pretending to be calm, he dusted himself off, and his gaze fixed on his chest.

Please.

Please!

He checked the armor.

A smile formed on Han Simin’s lips after checking.

’It worked.’

Fortunately, it was fine.

An impact beyond imagination had come in, but it seemed to have endured. It was also highly likely because most of the incoming damage was impact-type.

Anyway, the important thing was that the performance was a success.

He glared fiercely at the mole once, then turned around.

"How is it? Everyone! I am fine!"

The crowd was stunned.

Gasps erupted.

The nobles’ eyes wavered.

They had waited without expecting much, but the result was beyond their thoughts.

They were not unaware of the status of the monsters residing around the Rich Territory. Monsters of the forest that even the Empire’s knights were reluctant to enter.

He took that attack head-on and was unharmed?

"As you know, I am not a knight but an enhancement master. I am also a Tamer. Physical training? I have nothing of the sort. Yet, I withstood a monster’s attack solely with the defense of the pure Leather Armor. Is my armor set still worthless? A knight’s attack? Of course, it would be good to block it all. But if it were such an invincible armor set, would I sell it? I would wear it right now and storm into a Dragon Lair."

The audience listened intently.

It wasn’t difficult to bewitch the nobles who were already captivated.

"After all, you don’t have occasions to fight one-on-one with nobles, do you? You walk around with knights surrounding you, so considering you might get hit by a stray arrow or, at most, get stabbed a few times by guys rushing in as a suicide squad, wouldn’t this Leather Armor Set be the absolute best armor?"

The nobles adjusted their posture.

Han Simin exited to the back of the stage and took off the armor.

"Now. Shall we begin the auction?" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

An auction starting from 1,000 gold!

He let out a secret sigh and touched Squeaker, clinging to his left shoulder.

’Shit.’

It’s my sin for loving you more. To think I have to feed and raise a guy like this.

Regret washed over him, but it was a race he couldn’t give up.

The price began to shoot up.

* * *