Chapter 17
Living water
Location: Seoul, Koya
Day: 26th of Jan 5027
the trio arrives in front of a large hotel
the hotel looked less like a hotel and more like an ancient traditional koyean palace.
the palace is surrounded by holograms of numerous pink sakura leaves dancing in the wind.
the flow of the endlessly falling leaves is occasionally interrupted by the hologram of a massive flying wingless reptile with blue crystal like scales and golden talons on its hands and feet, a pair of white horns that give off an ethereal glow crown its head.
the flying serpent known as an imugi releases a gentle breath of fire out of its mouth that trails behind it drawing gorgeous glowing arcs as it dances in the wind before the imugi finally lands on the roof of the hotel to rest for a few moments before repeating its trip in the sky.
Saiko looks at Ken with a questioning look
_ I thought you said we are going to the black market this is a hotel in the middle of the rich part of the city _
~ indeed, in our age where the government has the strongest surveillance system in history you have to get a little more creative where you hide your underworld ~
Ken responds with a smile as he walks toward the entrance of the hotel.
the two girls and the ancient jinn follow behind him.
they make their way to the receptionist. a beautiful young gumiho in her early twenties with sky blue hair and five fluffy tails.
the gumiho is a Therian fox tribe with multiple tails that are native to Koya. they are distant relatives of the kitsune tribe from the land of the rising sun.
Ken glances at the gumiho's chest and notices she is wearing a pin with a small painting on it.
the painting was of a black imugi flying over some fruit bearing trees.
the receptionist bows to the trio
- Welcome to the Gangcheori Hotel where spring never ends even if it is fall. how may I help you -
Ken smiles at the receptionist and responds.
- we would like to reserve a room for one night we would also like to request to have room service bring us some seafood for dinner, oh, and some blackberries and other fruits -
the receptionist bows - with pleasure sir -
she then takes out a key to a room and gives it to Ken then gestures to one of the servants to lead them to their room.
the trio is led through the back door of the reception area which takes them to a large massive garden with multiple traditional homes along the way.
_ This looks like a small village rather than a hotel _
Saiko looks around enjoying the scenery.
- the goal of our hotel is to replicate an authentic version of how the life of the people was in the 21st century-
the servant explains then leads the trio to a house at the edge of the garden.
Saiko walks into the house and her nose is gently tickled with a sweet and relaxing scent. she follows the sent with her eyes to a small ceramic incense burner in the shape of a lotus flower, that's emitting the sweetly scented fumes; she would later know this incense burner is called a Caledon.
The caledon was placed on a small wooden counter in the middle of what seemed to be a living area.
beyond it is an open door that leads to a balcony that overlooks a small private garden with a hot spring.
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her eyes wander around the room taking in the elaborate decorations on the walls.
the walls of the room were decorated with multiple pieces of mosaic art depicting flying imugis dancing around each other cleverly placed to guide the viewer's eyes toward multiple traditional paintings.
a sliding door to the right of the Caledon opens into a long hallway that connects to multiple bedrooms a kitchen and a bathroom.
the room lacked any electronics seeming to try and mimic the living conditions of the far ancient past.
' it would be nice if I could live here and forget about all of this '
Saiko sighs as she wonders to herself
the servant leaves then Daxia looks at Ken.
- what was the code I missed it ?-
~ it was the black imugi in the painting on her pin. you needed to order something with the color black in it hence me asking for blackberries ~
Saiko looks at the two bounty hunters confused
- I am not following what are you talking about -
Ken shrugs before throwing his body backward onto a comfy chair.
~well you know that the government watches everything right? if there is a camera or a microphone, they can spy on you through it.
meaning that for the black market to form it can only exist in places with almost zero electronics while not being suspicious.
that leaves only a few places as options places like warehouses for flammable materials in which electricity is a safety hazard or places where there are no cameras for privacy like a brothel or like a hotel room.
some hotel rooms may have cameras but this being a traditional hotel also helps as a reason why they wouldn't have them ~
Daxia leans against a wall while facing Saiko and adds.
- then after you have your place for the black market. you need a way to differentiate between normal people who would use it normally and people who are here for the black market.
to do that you set a changing code. for this hotel, the code is a color. every now and then they change the reception area but regardless it will always have an imugi somewhere a painting, a small statue, or the dress of the receptionist doesn't matter what matters is the color of the imugi and its surroundings -
Ken continues ~ this was a black imugi flying over fruit bearing trees so I ordered blackberries ~
a knocking on the door interrupts the trio.
Daxia goes to the door and opens it letting the room service employee in.
the room service employee, a well built human with an olive skin tone, black wavy hair, and a bright smile, walks in pushing a food tray in front of him.
Daxia closes the door behind him and smiles at the employee.
- business must be really bad for you to come this quickly -
the room service employee drops his smile and leaves the food tray
- no, but I rather the world's most wanted criminals leave my hotel as quickly as possible -
Ken chuckles and crosses his legs
~ chill boss we have a very good deal for you. it will be worth your time and worth the risk ~
- it better be - the room service employee. No, the black market manager responds
Ken looks at Saiko and smiles.
_haaaa_
she sighs and slumps her shoulders for a moment then raises her hand.
water begins to crawl out of the hot spring like a loyal servant answering its master's call.
the water enters the room through the balcony then starts to collect and coalesce in front of the manager taking a vaguely humanoid female form with flowing hair and a blank face with no facial features, eyes, nose, or mouth.
the humanoid form faces the manager while giving off an odd sense of majesty and calmness that fills the room.
the manager feels a chill run down his spine as the water stares at him with non-existent eyes.
his mind tries to convince him that it must be a trick of some sort but something else, something deeper more primal than his mind tells him he is in the presence of a living entity and an extremely old one.
Ken's lips curl up into a smug smile as he watches the manager's reaction
~ I like to call this living water magic ~
Three employees rush into the room; one enters through the balcony, one through a hidden door in the floor, and the third falls from the ceiling landing between the water humanoid figure and the manager.
the first two take out spell guns and aim at the humanoid figure, while the third deploys an aether shield around himself and the manager.
Whistle
Ken whistles as he watches the worried employees with amusement.
~ you have an aether shield as expected of the Gangcheori black market, I knew this was the right place to come ~
Daxia looks at the employees with sympathy.
- don't worry it's not hostile but if it was, how exactly were you planning to kill water -
the manager calms himself down and adjusts his shirt then signals to his employees to lower their weapons.
- so, I take it you came to sell me a weapon -
before Ken can answer Saiko immediately responds.
_ No, you can't use it as a weapon even if you want to, I won't allow it_
Ken quickly interjects to protect the deal.
~ although you can't use it as a weapon, you can still use it for many other things. for example, you no longer need to transport water since water would move by itself. you could also sell it to the Amazon desert. the possibilities of this magic are endless ~
the manager pauses for a moment to contemplate the uses of such magic.
although the nature of the spell would prevent him from using it as a weapon even if he wanted to due to its intelligence, there are still plenty of other uses and even if those were to be ignored the spell would still strike a high value in an auction based on its rarity alone.
the manager nods at Ken.
-indeed, it's definitely valuable no matter how you look at it. how about 100,000 aether coins per spell -
Ken's lips curl up at the immediate generous offer.
~ I am glad you won't make me waste my time haggling ~
the manager responds with a smile.
- we are all busy people here and the faster you leave my hotel the better-
~well that's good and all but we need a few things in addition to money if anything money is almost useless to us right now I am sure you know that.~
the manager's expression turns sour and he sighs.
-haaaa, what do you want? -
~ oh nothing much just some food and water, a car oh, and just a few things from the warehouse of Gangcheori ~
Ken's smile grows wider as he thinks of the numerous treasures in the warehouse of Gangcheori.