Late night, Friday.
"hmm...I never would've predicted finding myself in such a place only a week after reincarnating into this world"
The black market.
The place that resembled the demon world the most in the human domain.
A world separate from where laws and morals exist, and the only place where Villains and Heroes could co-exist.
That was where I was currently at.
Taking the air train all the way to the outer edge of Ashon city, I quickly dropped off on the second last stop and headed towards an obscure location.
Making sure the mask I was wearing was tightly secured, I found myself in front of a large metal door.
When entering the black market, wearing a mask was compulsory so that each guest could keep their identity hidden.
On the off-chance that government agents managed to infiltrate the black market, they wouldn't be able to track you down.
-Bam! -Bam! -Bam!
Knocking on the door three times, I patiently waited.
-Klang!
Shortly after, two burly individuals wearing neat suits emerged from behind the door and scanned my body a couple of times. Feeling their gaze on me, my back started to drench in a cold sweat.
'Their individual rank is definitely C or higher'
I thought as I felt the immense pressure oozing out from their body.
Turning his head towards the individual to the left, the burly individual on the right nodded and spoke with a deep voice.
"What might you be here for?"
"I heard from a passing bird that you were looking for volunteers"
"We are indeed looking for a volunteer, which job are you looking to volunteer for?"
"I heard that you guys needed someone to paint your walls"
"We only have four paints, blue, black, pink and white. Which one do you think would be the most adequate for our walls?"
"Although I may have not seen what you needed to paint, I believe blue would look best in anything."
Turning their faces to face each other, the two burly individuals nodded to each other and signaled for me to enter.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I followed the two of them along a dark and narrow passage.
There were two ways for an individual to enter the black market.
One was through a recommendation letter given by a higher-up in the black market, or two by knowing the secret code.
The secret code was split into three different segments. Where each new segment was a continuation of the previous one.
In my case, the first segment was "What might you be here for?" for which the word "volunteer" was used to gain access to the next segment. This pattern repeats three times until the guards could confirm the authenticity of the guest who was trying to come in.
In this way, the chances of inspectors infiltrating into the black market diminished by a large margin.
Actually, this wasn't really necessary as inspectors were not actually against the idea of a black market.
Just as things have their disadvantages they also had their advantages.
Being the central hub for both Heroes and Villains, vital information could be gathered from information brokers which could, in turn, help government agents pry into some of the villain's plans.
Information brokers were essentially individuals or an organization which specialized in sharing information for a price.
Depending on the type of information, the higher the price for the information.
Fortunately in my case, as I was the author, I basically knew most of the things the information brokers knew.
If I wanted to, I could disclose some important information and make some serious cash, but that would probably be a stupid idea as it could lead to me getting attention and also potentially changing the plotline of the story.
...and with the information that I knew, I was easily able to gain access to the black market, since I was the one who created the password.
But I do have to say.
This experience was extremely nerve-wracking.
If this had not been the only method I could have used to gain access to dungeons, I would've never have come here.
Actually, finding a dungeon wasn't the only reason why I headed to the black market.
There was another reason.
I was in urgent need of a broker.
Do you think I would stupidly short C.B. and buy a bunch of W.V. stock without hiding my identity?
Once Thobias dies a month from now, the prime suspect would be the one guy who days before his death bets on C.B's crash and W.V's rise.
Tell me if that's not suspicious?
Although Silent creeper was officially identified as the killer, the main culprit could be someone else, as at the end of the day silent creeper could've just been hired to do the job.
The man behind the attack was the true mastermind behind this, not Silent creeper, and the police already knew this.
Stupidly investing in C.B and W.V. could result in my own demise.
Hence why I needed a broker.
A broker was an intermediary who would anonymously deal with my investments without asking any questions regarding who I was and why I was doing this.
Since the black market was filled with both villains and heroes, the brokers were used to situations like mine.
Which was exactly what I wanted since I didn't want to gather unnecessary attention towards myself.
Fortunately for me, as I once again boast about the fact that I was the author of the novel, know the right person for the job.
"We're here"
-Klang!
Opening a similarly large metal door to the one at the entrance, the two burly men stepped aside and allowed me to get a clear view of what was behind the door.
How should I describe this?
It was a completely different scene than what someone would've expected when hearing the word 'black market'
When you imaged how a black market would be, you would instantly think of words like 'filthy', 'dangerous', 'dirty', or anything that was synonymous with 'unpleasant'.
However, expectations and reality often do mix up, and this black market looked exactly like a night market.
Vendors who were selling their goods in their respective stalls were neatly lined up in rows that I could see no end of.
If not for the fact that all the customers were wearing masks to hide their identities, someone could've easily mistaken this as your regular night market.
A huge opening appeared on the ceiling allowing the moonlight to penetrate the market, enveloping the market with a sense of tranquility.
The lights from the lamps brightly illuminated to roads, allowing for a clearer view of the goods in the market.
It was probably the best-looking black market you could find out there.
Actually, I designed the black market to be like this since I wanted to spice things up a bit.
But even then, this was incredible.
"I guess words weren't enough to describe this place..."
Walking along the road and passing by the numerous stalls, I could see a wide variety of products being sold.
From potions to artifacts, all sorts of products that I urgently needed were being displayed right before me.
It took me a great deal of willpower to stop myself from purchasing any of them.
Right now I had a goal to accomplish.
Making my way towards a secluded spot in the black market, I quickly went towards a rather inconspicuous-looking wooden bench and sat down.
Sitting there with my head down, I patiently waited for five minutes.
Precisely after five minutes had passed, a black hooded individual sat next to me, to which I nodded my head without turning it.
"How may we the [Lost Reapers] be of service to you?"
"I need a broker"
"What type?"
"codename smallSnake"
"..."
There was a slight pause in our conversation after I directly mentioned the name of the broker that I wanted.
Although the hood covered the features of the individual who I was talking to, I could vaguely feel that underneath the hood his brows were tightly knit in a frown.
It wasn't because I requested a big individual, but rather, an almost unknown one.
Because there were so many employees working in [Lost Reapers] it was hard to keep track of who was who.
Smallsnake was what you called a 'hidden treasure'
Someone that was capable yet unknown.
Well, that was until now...
It was very understandable for the hooded figure to have trouble remembering who smallsnake was.
He was an unknown character until the later half of the novel.
In the novel, codename smallsnake interacts with Kevin a couple of times before forming some sort of business relationship with him.
From there, Kevin was able to quickly see how capable of an individual 'codename smallsnake' was.
Not only was he great at hiding his traces when carrying a transaction, but he also had many connections with certain suppliers that could provide smallsnake with quality ingredients such as luxotin, an incredibly rare flower that grows in the depth of the elven territory, for below market prices.
His connection later proved to be extremely useful to Kevin who was in dire need of certain rare ingredients.
"Are you sure about your request?"
"Certain"
Surprised by my firm response, the hooded figure let out a small sigh and stood up.
"codename smallsnake shall be here shortly. May we hope our services satisfy your need"
"Thank you"
And just like that, the hooded figure disappeared just as fast as he had appeared.
Twenty minutes after the hooded figure departed, I heard light footsteps approaching my location.
Sitting down next to me like the hooded figure had previously done, a lanky-looking youth that had his features hidden beneath a white mask sat next to me.
"codename smallsnake at your service, how may a help you"
Contrary to his appearance, smallsnake's voice was quite deep, which slightly surprised me, but not for long, as I managed to quickly regain my composure.
"I want you to be my broker"
"My commission is 5% on all profits, and my payment is 10% of the investment."
Without skipping a beat, smallsnake told me his terms.
"Also, depending on how much you wish to invest, the terms of the deal may change"
"Okay"
Taking out my hand I extended it to him gesturing to him that I had agreed with his terms.
My straightforwardness caused smallsnake to be slightly taken back.
He had originally expected the person before him to complain and grumble at the unreasonable demands.
But contrary to his expectations he agreed immediately. Moreover, he seemed rather confident in his abilities, like he was sure that he would be able to carry out his request.
Smallsnake was a capable individual.
In fact, he could've been considered a top-class broker.
However because his demands were so high, he had never had a customer before.
When he first joined the [Lost Reapers] he had expected requests to flood in nonstop and that he would constantly be busy with demands. But contrary to his expectations, two months after entering the [Lost Reapers] he still had not served a single customer.
Not only that, all the customers that he managed to talk to always grumbled about his insanely high rates or preferred to go towards more senior colleagues who were more reputable than himself.
This resulted in his talent being stagnant and hidden until Kevin finally found him.
Well, I guess I was the one who found him this time.
In order for me not to mess too much with the storyline, I'll build a solid relationship with smallsnake and make him interact with Kevin when the time was right.
Staring at the figure before him whose features were covered by a mask, smallsnake fell into deep thought.
This could potentially be his big break.
If he were to successfully complete this deal and show off his capabilities, he could finally attract more customers to him.
Although his rates were high, there was a specific reason for this.
His connections and skills were top-notch!
Not only was he capable of making it almost impossible for inspectors or individuals to trace his movements, but his connections were also some of the best in the world.
If not for the fact that he was currently being hunted by certain individuals, he would've never have come to work for [Lost Reapers].
In the end, after hesitating a little bit, smallsnake finally stretched his hand out and firmly shook mine.
Feeling the large hand which marked the first deal he had ever agreed on, smallsnake decided there and then that he will do his absolute best to accomplish whatever his first customer desired.