WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: WeTried

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◈ I Made a Tier List the Transcendents Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 13: Simp Management

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At 1:40 p.m., a little after lunch, I headed for the street market in northern Hyeondeok City.

Crack!

Not on foot, of course. I used Spatial Teleportation.

A few people stared at me as I appeared out of thin air, then quickly looked away.

Short-range Spatial Teleportation was not particularly unusual, even in Hyeondeok City.

"...Nice."

Still, I could not help staring oddly at the ring on my hand.

The distance from my lodging to this market was considerable. I could not cross that much space on my own.

Which meant all of this was thanks to this little thing.

Even if one's spatial authority had not reached its peak, it was an item that let its user wield that power according to their own ability.

In other words, I had effectively reached the peak of spatial magic attainable at five stars.

Even now, there was up to an eightfold difference in efficiency between the magic of the Glass Star School and magic from other systems.

In short, it was a completely broken item.

...The only uncomfortable part was that I had obtained this broken item by romance-scamming an old bachelor Transcendent.

"No, fuck, did I even ask for it?"

He was the one who suddenly threw it at me because he wanted to win me over.

Of course, I conveniently left out the part where I could have told him the truth or refused it.

He was the one at fault for provoking a person's greed...

Anyway.

I walked into the street market.

Perhaps because they had seen me earlier, most merchants did not bother speaking to me.

If anything, they seemed to avoid me.

Naturally.

A mage capable of teleportation would have no reason to visit a market full of junk.

So I reached the deepest part of the market without interruption.

It was an alley where every trace of an ordinary street market had long vanished.

"Open up already. I'm busy."

I called out from the middle of the alley.

Anyone watching would have thought I was insane, but an answer came before long.

───Please verify your identity.

"Winter Tree Mage Tower. You already know that."

───Please wait a moment.

Bzzzt.

Silence followed the static.

Grrrrrk!

Soon after, a scraping sound came from one corner of the alley.

...If they were going to open it anyway, could they not have done so sooner?

Grumbling to myself, I stepped inside.

"What brings you here?"

A clear voice sounded in the darkness, where I could not see an inch ahead.

"I'm here to sell."

"Continue straight ahead and enter the room with the blue sign."

"...Thanks for the directions."

Without hesitation, I stepped into the darkness.

I could not see anything inside with my eyes, but any reasonably capable person could sense its layout through spiritual perception.

If they could not even manage that, they were expected to turn back.

"Hmm."

Several rooms came into view.

Blue signs and red signs.

The blue signs were for sellers, while the red signs were for buyers.

There were three rooms on each side.

The reason there were three rooms was simple.

They were the second filter.

Customers were ranked according to which room they could perceive.

If I had come here before advancing my realm, I might have barely noticed the second room.

Those of lower realms could not see all three rooms.

Knock, knock, knock.

So when I knocked on the third room's door, it was hardly surprising that the rabbitfolk attendant in charge of guiding visitors widened their eyes.

Their fluffy rabbit ears twitched.

They immediately sent a message somewhere.

It was surely about me, but there was no need to care.

The true owner of this suspicious place was aloof. As long as I did not cause trouble, they would not try to harm me.

Unlike outside, the room greeted me with excessively bright lighting.

Of course, dark adaptation was not an issue, but what a ridiculous design.

"Welcome. It has been a long time since we had a first-time guest."

"Maybe that's why you made the whole process such a hassle."

"It's procedure. Of course, everyone is irritated by the time they reach this point. I am the one who suffers for it."

The man who chuckled and offered me a seat was half machine.

Two sofas faced each other across a table.

Once I sat down, he took the opposite seat.

"So, what item have you come to sell?"

Rather than wasting time on anything else, he went straight to the point. I liked that.

I pulled a glass bottle from my spatial pouch. Showing him would be faster than explaining.

"An elixir? It does not seem to be a natural substance."

"It has undergone considerable processing. I do not know the details, though. I did not make it."

The lie came out without changing my expression. I seemed to have become a proper mage.

"Oh... Would you wait a moment?"

With an interested expression, he extended a metal hand.

Blue light soon radiated from it.

"Well, hmm... Ha."

As time passed, surprise gradually filled his face.

His brow twitched with astonishing drama.

"...This is remarkable. This may be an impolite question, but do you have any more of this?"

"There are three bottles in total. I am willing to sell up to two. There is almost no difference in purity between them."

"Up to two bottles. Would you wait a moment?"

When I nodded, his movements stopped for a while.

He looked as though he were simply staring blankly into space, but he was likely contacting a superior.

...After roughly two minutes, he spoke again.

"Thank you for waiting. We can purchase two bottles. How would you like to receive payment?"

"Intermediate demon beast stones. And five billion hwan per bottle."

"Thirty intermediate demon beast stones and five billion hwan per bottle. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes. Can I receive it immediately?"

"Of course."

His eyes gleamed as he nodded.

Thirty demon beast stones and five billion hwan.

It was slightly below a fair price, but there were few places in Hyeondeok City where I could receive this much money securely.

"I have transferred ten billion hwan first. Please confirm it."

"...Confirmed."

[ 10,000,385,420 ]

I could only laugh hollowly as I looked at my absurdly large balance.

That Team Leader Lee, Lee Yeonghyeon, had earned around one million hwan a month by sucking people dry.

It was natural that I could not easily adjust to the vast gap between poverty and wealth.

* * *

There were supposedly rules for what to do after winning the lottery's first prize.

They were divided into all sorts of categories, but in summary, they said, "Don't let others notice, and don't spend recklessly."

"Oh my, it looks so good on youuu!"

"Does it?"

But those rules only existed for something as trivial as winning the lottery.

"Black Quail confit and Heavenly Thunder Ox liver. The garnish is moonlight mushroom purée, while the sauce is made by reducing Galain red wine."

"Mm."

Ten billion hwan would not even be scratched by this.

After leaving Underveil, the black market hidden in that street market, I indulged in a brief round of nouveau riche play.

"...This isn't very fun."

Anyone hearing that would think I had enjoyed myself quite a bit.

Designer goods from head to toe, and a high-end cigarette worth seventy thousand hwan per pack between my lips.

I was drowning in every kind of luxury.

Still, I sincerely was not having fun.

There was no way to find value in this kind of thing.

Call it an outlet for pent-up resentment.

I had always wanted to see what it would be like to look like a nouveau riche, at least once.

"Well, that's enough."

I crushed the cigarette butt under my shoe and let out a sigh.

It was time to deal with the reasons I had come to Hyeondeok City before anywhere else.

There were two main reasons.

One concerned that Winter Tree at the Mage Tower, and the other concerned the original protagonist.

...It probably hasn't hatched yet.

The protagonist would not become active until much later than this point.

But they were definitely somewhere in Haedong.

It was a hidden fact only revealed much later in the original work, but I already knew it.

The protagonist was not some ordinary orphan kid.

...For the record, I had been a little annoyed when that was revealed.

Part of why I had been so invested in the protagonist was because we shared something in common: being dirt-poor and without parents.

Anyway.

"I can raise my realm soon enough."

Naturally, I had built up some resistance to the elixir made from Jade Dew Fruit, so it would not help me advance unless I drastically raised its purity.

And if I raised its purity, my body would not be able to handle it yet.

Still, there was no reason to obsess over Jade Dew Fruit.

I would soon be able to acquire elixirs or other means of raising my realm.

After all, in the gallery, I had countless...

[ Yes, was the matter handled well? Do not fault me for contacting you so often. Just this once... ]

Me > [It was handled well.]

[ That is fortunate. Oz, I shall preserve my devoted heart until the day our feelings meet. When I can no longer endure it, I will contact you... ]

Hopeless romantics.

No... I had the Transcendents.

Ghk...

I could only cover my mouth as I looked at the karma standing so vividly before me.

The sender of that sudden message was naturally the Transcendent who had gifted me this ring.

I ignored all the others' direct messages.

But since I had accepted something from this one, I had to reply to their occasional messages at least. You could call it simp management.

...It was the last scrap of conscience I had.

"Next time, earn it honestly."

Whenever possible, I should acquire what I needed with points earned by honestly stirring up tier list bait.

That was the one thing I learned from this disaster.

Footnotes:

"Simp management" translates a Korean internet term that literally means "managing broth." It refers to maintaining the attention and spending of infatuated male admirers.

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