"I'll check out the others first. Haven't seen this one yet."
"I might come back later if no one else buys it."
The middle-aged man nodded calmly.
"Sure."
Kaizen walked off, pretending to leave casually.
Once he was out of the man's line of sight, Kaizen quickly pulled out his laptop and entered the URL that Menchi had given him. In the search bar, he typed:
"Silver Coin Shell."
Enter.
Nothing came up.
"...No results?"
Kaizen frowned and dialed Menchi's number.
This time, she picked up immediately.
"Kaizen."
"I need to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
Kaizen explained the situation.
"The guy who was trying to hire people to catch Love Sardines—I ran into him again today. Only this time, he's changed. He's not a regular civilian anymore—he's awakened aura."
"He's changed his appearance too, disguised himself. He's at one of the stalls in the ingredients section now."
"He's selling something called silver coin shells. I tried searching for it on the site you gave me, but nothing came up."
Menchi's expression tightened.
"Silver coin shells...? Never heard of them."
"He claimed that if you're lucky, the shell will produce a silver coin. He said if you get one, it means you'll have good luck."
"What do they look like?"
Kaizen sent her a photo via MMS.
The picture showed a plain-looking shell sitting in the vendor's basket.
"...Just an ordinary shell," Menchi muttered. "This isn't anything I've seen before. I can say with certainty—there's no such thing as a silver coin shell."
...
Just then, someone approached the stall.
They seemed interested in the silver coin shell. The middle-aged vendor gave a brief explanation, and the customer's eyes lit up. Without hesitation, they bought one.
The vendor handed them a tool. The buyer used it to pry open the shell—
A look of surprise instantly crossed their face.
The vendor made a hush gesture, lowering his voice.
Even so, the customer couldn't hide their delight.
Kaizen narrowed his eyes. He quietly followed behind the man.
"Hang on—someone just opened one..."
As Kaizen caught up, he bumped into the man—intentionally.
Bam!
The man stumbled, and his grip loosened.
The shell dropped to the ground.
Clink!
A silver coin rolled out.
The man snapped, cursing loudly and frantically searching the ground.
Kaizen, meanwhile, had already committed the coin's appearance to memory before quietly slipping away.
By the time the man looked up again, Kaizen was gone.
"Tch. What a pain."
"At least I didn't lose it. My lucky silver coin's still with me... It's proof of my fortune."
Kaizen returned to a secluded corner and described the silver coin's appearance to Menchi over the phone.
As she listened, her expression turned grave.
"That's not some charm of luck..."
"...That coin is called a Cursed Silver Coin."
Kaizen's eyes narrowed.
Menchi continued, voice cold.
"I can't believe someone's spreading that thing here... Where are you right now? I'm coming over."
Kaizen shared his location.
...
Ring ring.
Just as he ended the call with Menchi, another call came in.
"Where are you? Food's almost ready."
"You guys go ahead and eat without me. Something's come up."
He didn't elaborate.
Not long after, Menchi arrived, slightly out of breath. Her clothes carried the scent of spices—she'd clearly dropped everything mid-cooking to rush over.
She didn't want to waste a second.
"Kaizen—where's that guy?"
Kaizen pointed toward the middle-aged vendor.
People were still coming and buying the shells one after another.
Kaizen noticed something odd.
The vendor had claimed the silver coin drop rate was low, but almost everyone who bought a shell got a coin. The true drop rate? 100%.
And every single one of those buyers seemed... different after getting the coin.
Menchi's eyes darkened as she stared at the vendor.
"Kaizen, leave this to me."
"Got it."
...
She walked up to the stall.
"Hello there, customer!" the vendor greeted.
Menchi stared silently, then, without warning, grabbed the kitchen knife strapped to her waist and slashed straight at him.
Swish!
The man's pupils shrank. He leapt back in a flash.
A translucent aura shield shimmered around him—he'd used Nen to block the blow.
Taking advantage of the moment, he dove into the panicking crowd.
Menchi pursued immediately.
But there were too many people.
Her sudden attack had thrown the market into chaos. Stalls were overturned, people were screaming and running in all directions.
In the confusion, she lost sight of him.
Her jaw clenched.
She wasn't weak.
But that guy wasn't ordinary either.
...
Meanwhile, the man was panting heavily in a quiet alley, checking over his shoulder.
Menchi hadn't caught up.
He slapped his chest, a shadow flickering across his face.
"...She's insane!"
"Good thing I've been blessed with strength and power by the Evil God..."
He pulled out a small mirror and checked his reflection.
His current appearance looked completely different from when he'd been selling at the stall.
Like two separate people.
But what he didn't realize... was that someone had been silently watching him for a while now.
Kaizen was using In.
This man had obtained temporary strength through unnatural means.
But that power was shallow. A shortcut. It only looked impressive on the surface.
He didn't even notice Kaizen approaching from behind.
A metal baseball bat gleamed in Kaizen's hand.
WHACK!
The bat slammed into the back of the man's head.
His body froze instantly.
Eyes rolled up.
Thud.
He crumpled to the ground.
He never even saw it coming.
Kaizen pulled out his phone.
"Got him. He's with me."
Menchi paused for a second, then her voice lit up with surprise.
"Nice work! Where are you now? I'm heading over!"
Kaizen sent his location.
...
Not long after, Menchi arrived.
She pulled out a rope—one imbued with aura, clearly a high-quality Nen tool.
As she tied the man up, his body twitched slightly—forced into a sealed state, not unlike Kurapika's Chain Jail.
This man wouldn't be causing any more trouble anytime soon.
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (1047 chapters in total)