The warehouse was silent—on the outside.
Inside, it buzzed with veiled whispers, coded phrases, and velvet-gloved deals.
Power didn't always wear a crown. Sometimes it wore perfume, or silence, or a clerk's pin.
Tonight, power was for sale.
Jungho moved through the shadows above the beams, watching the auction below.
The parchment glowed with a faint pulse—names spelled in forbidden ink, each name a secret the crown shouldn't know.
And the parchment's last line read:
Asset X—The Fool.
He didn't flinch.
Instead, he descended.
The auctioneer was mid-chant. "—and the next bid begins at two hundred sovereigns."
Then came the sound of bells.
Not ceremonial.
Not clumsy.
Mocking.
Every head turned as Jungho walked into the open, mask in hand.
"Apologies. I thought this was a costume party."
Half the crowd recoiled. The other half reached for blades.
Jungho grinned.
"Please. Don't get up."
The auctioneer tried to signal the guards, but they were already unconscious. Neatly laid by the entrance like folded cloaks.
One noble—clever, young—ran.
Jungho snapped a paper coin into the air.
It flew like a dart.
The runner dropped, face first, sleeping.
[New Skill Activated: Fool's Lullaby – Target sedated with magical laughter for 5 minutes.]
Jungho picked up the fallen noble's wine glass and drank.
"Now then. Who'd like to explain why I'm on that list?"
The silence turned into panic.
One of the cloaked guests drew a wand and hissed a spell—but it fizzled.
Jungho tilted his head.
"You thought I was just a jester."
He didn't kill anyone this time.
Not directly.
He just walked forward—and let the fear speak for him.
"You sold the names of nobles. You sold the name of the Queen's personal courtier. You sold me."
He reached the pedestal and tapped the glass case.
It melted into smoke.
[Skill Triggered: Fool's Gold – All items marked 'fake' or 'false' are absorbed.]
Jungho held the parchment in his hands. The runes tried to burn him. He didn't flinch.
"This is mine now."
A slow clap echoed through the rafters.
A figure stepped forward, their face hidden beneath a paper mask.
It was her—the Watcher from the Fool's Guild.
"Well played, Ghostblade. You really do know how to steal a scene."
Jungho didn't smile.
"I wasn't performing."
The Watcher tilted her head.
"Oh, but you were. Everyone here just didn't know they bought a ticket."
She vanished.
Jungho sighed.
Then burned the parchment.
"If I'm on the list, the list dies."
The parchment burned like oil-drenched silk—too fast for something so old. The names vanished into flame, and with them, the auction house fell into disarray.
By dawn, the nobles who attended pretended they hadn't.
Jungho didn't bother chasing the others. Let them wonder if he would. Uncertainty was more useful than fear.
He returned to the palace before sunrise.
The guards bowed, none the wiser. The Fool, after all, never truly left.
In the throne chamber, Queen Theodora read the report with one raised brow.
"Auction facility destroyed. No bodies found. Witnesses contradict each other."
"Glowing parchment last seen with the Fool."
She closed the scroll with delicate fingers.
"Summon the knight commander. And the high priest."
The steward swallowed. "Together, Your Majesty?"
She smiled coldly.
"I'm through watching him dance. Let's see how he walks under pressure."
Meanwhile, in Jungho's chamber, the system returned.
[System Stabilization: 83%]
[Pending Evolution Path: ???]
[Status Effect: 'Watched' – Royal Attention + Inquisitor Surveillance Active]
He stared at the word "Watched."
"They're starting to play the game too."
A paper coin lay on his table. The one the Watcher left. This time, Jungho flipped it.
Heads.
That night, in the ruined auction house, three figures returned.
Masked. Silent.
They found no traces.
Except one.
A rune, half-burned into the floorboards.
"Laugh louder, or die silent."
He spent the next day in full costume.
Bells polished, mask freshly painted, sleeves stitched with hidden thread. Not for show. For control.
The court expected a fool, and so he gave them one—loud, theatrical, irreverent.
But beneath it, Jungho was thinking.
Planning.
Watching who wasn't watching him anymore.
He juggled in the outer courtyard, balancing wine glasses on his head while reciting verses about royal bowel movements.
It earned laughter.
But not from the Queen.
And not from Arin.
She wasn't at court that day.
Which meant one of two things.
Either she was preparing something…
Or someone was preparing something for her.
The system chimed softly.
[Passive Surveillance: Spiked]
[Palace Interest Level: Elevated – Tier 3]
[Advice: Perform Convincingly. No Lethal Actions.]
Jungho smiled through gritted teeth.
"I wasn't planning on murder. Today."
He leapt onto a column, then backflipped into the reflecting pool.
A perfect splash.
Cheers followed. A few nobles tossed coin.
But one did not clap.
A woman in silver armor.
The new Knight Commander.
Their eyes met.
No challenge. No recognition. Just calculation.
He bowed with an exaggerated flourish, water dripping down his nose.
The woman nodded once and walked away.
That night, back in his room, Jungho received a sealed envelope tucked inside a hollow jug.
No stamp. No crest.
Just a white ribbon tied at the neck.
Inside was a single phrase, handwritten:
"The Queen plays long games. You've already stepped on the board."
Below it, another message—less elegant, more like graffiti:
"Tick-tock, Fool. The audit comes."
Jungho set it down beside the coin and exhaled.
The system finally blinked again.
[New Skill: Stillpoint Masquerade – All status effects suspended for 60 seconds when remaining motionless and smiling.]
He stared at it.
Then laughed.
"That's your idea of help?"
He practiced the smile in the mirror.
One that looked harmless.
Forgettable.
And deadly still.