After leaving the alley, Conrad made several turns to be sure no one was following him, then returned to the same small coffee shop he had visited earlier.
He had changed his clothes on the way. It wasn't a dramatic change, just enough to look like a different traveler.
He ordered another black coffee and took the same seat by the window.
At first everything felt normal. He drank slowly, watching people pass outside and letting the tension drain from his shoulders.
The deal was done and the money was already in his account.
Then, out of habit, he tried to review the last few hours in his mind. The alley. The entrance. The black merchant.
That was when he froze.
His fingers tightened slightly around the cup.
…?
He frowned. He could remember going somewhere. He could remember selling the Red Diamond, and the money appearing in his account. But the details weren't there.
He tried again, more deliberately.
The layout of the alley? Blurred.
The gray door? Gone.
The exact location? Missing.
He tried to picture the woman behind the counter and found nothing, only an empty outline where a person should have been. His heartbeat picked up.
"That's unexpected," he muttered.
He leaned back, closed his eyes, and tried to remember the password he had spoken.
He knew he had said something, but the words themselves were gone, as if they had been erased and only the knowledge that they had existed remained.
A chill ran down his spine.
"I can't remember the place," he whispered. "I can't remember the woman. I can't even remember the password."
For a moment, excitement and fear mixed in his chest.
Really…?
Then understanding hit him, and he let out a short, humorless laugh and lowered his head.
"So that's how it is."
This wasn't confusion. It was Nen, and it wasn't his own.
The deal. The rules. The confirmation. I didn't see it, but it was there.
He replayed the encounter in a new light. He had accepted the rules instantly, without questioning them, and those rules had been a condition.
The password. The guard. The merchant. The location. All of it was part of a single ability. A joint-type Nen ability, most likely.
Once every condition was met and the transaction was complete, with payment sent and the item handed over, the memories tied to them were removed.
He exhaled slowly, a cold breath leaving his lungs.
That means they're extremely careful, and extremely experienced.
This was no simple trick of manipulation.
It was a well-built ability with clear activation conditions and a specific effect, and it protected the merchant, the location, and everyone involved at the cost of the client's memory.
It probably comes with heavy limitations too, like no cheating in a trade and no harming customers who've come in.
And Conrad had walked straight into it.
He leaned back and stared at the ceiling.
"In the end," he said quietly, "I'm still an amateur."
He had theory. He understood Nen systems, and he could analyze an ability after the fact. But real experience couldn't be learned from books or discussion.
He hadn't noticed the activation, and he hadn't sensed the condition being applied. He hadn't even taken the possibility seriously enough.
"That could have gone much worse," he admitted to himself.
If the merchant had wanted more than protection, if the ability had included compulsion, delayed effects, or tracking,
Conrad wouldn't have known until it was too late. The fact that it only removed memories told him something.
They're professionals.
That wasn't comforting. It made them more dangerous.
He opened his eyes and looked at his reflection in the window. His face was calm again, but his gaze was sharper than before.
"I need to be more careful," he said softly.
Nen wasn't only about power levels or flashy abilities. It was about rules, contracts, hidden effects, and preparation.
The strongest abilities weren't always visible, and sometimes you only noticed them when something was missing.
Like memories.
He took another sip of coffee to ground himself.
The money was real. He checked his phone again to be sure, and it hadn't been erased.
Only specific memories had been taken, and nothing else.
"Neat work," he admitted.
He finished his drink and stood.
The experience had cost him nothing tangible, but it had taught him something valuable. Power without awareness was a liability.
From now on, he would treat every unknown Nen user as a potential threat, no matter how harmless they looked, and especially the ones who seemed organized.
As he stepped back into the street, his excitement returned, tempered now.
This world isn't forgiving. And Nen is even less so.
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Nen Ability
The Blind Spot Market (Missing Point) is a joint Nen ability coordinated between the Guard and the Black Merchant.
It works through a multi-stage mental contract that begins when a target voluntarily recites a specific keycode to the Guard.
This establishes a manipulative link, allowing the Guard to lead the target to a hidden location that remains undetectable to the uninitiated.
Once the trade begins, the merchant secures verbal consent from the participant to abide by the rules of the house.
That consent is the final condition that locks the ability.
Thirty minutes after the transaction concludes, the Missing Point activates and erases the target's memory of the Guard's identity, the location of the shop, and the specific details of the deal.
The target is left with only the physical item and a vague recollection that a successful trade occurred, which keeps the market an untraceable void in the minds of its customers.