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Chapter 30
I Came Back And Conquered It All
Foreign Race
When I hurried to the place where the rest of the party was, the first thing that caught my eye was Secretary Kim's blood-stained and torn combat suit and two relatively fine D-class guild members.
"Oh, Team Leader!"
Right after he made a happy expression, he was surprised to see that Park Chang-hee wasn't with me.
"What about the Expedition Leader?"
I had confirmed that his injuries have already been neatly healed with potions.
There was just a battle here, and Secretary Kim had gotten injured quite a bit, so the red stone reacted, but it looked like he won, anyway. The next thing that caught my eye was the opponent who had died while fighting against him.
"Is that…?"
"As the system message saying that the boundary had collapsed sounded, it suddenly appeared and rushed toward us. From now on, all of us must quickly retreat out of the gate according to the government-mandated protocol. You know that, right? However, the Expedition Leader…"
He spoke with a curious expression, but instead of answering Secretary Kim, I approached the fallen creature and looked at it.
Blue scales covered its skin. The overall shape of the body resembled a dog. There were six shiny eyeballs on the front of the head, without even an eyelid.
It looked slightly different from any creature I knew, because this was a creature that had already been modified so much that it was difficult to find traces of the original being.
"···Fuck!"
Another profanity came out of my mouth.
This was because I found a symbol that I could read on the corpse's forehead. The non-earth text was similar to an autograph left on the work by a craftsman who had completed a classy product.
In other words, what I was seeing was what was engraved by a person who modified this beast. And the name of the races that used these letters was…
"Ersmann, those fucking pricks!"
Ersmann was the one who always stayed at the bottom when ranking the races that we wanted to encounter in the dungeon.
There were many reasons, but to pick three things off the list:
Firstly, when encountering other beings from other dimensions during exploration, they attacked and plundered first if they seemed weak. They had such a unique moral notion.
Secondly, they did not feel appalled at eating the meat of a civilized race, and they possessed a liberal food culture that digested anything well without being picky about race.
Lastly, if the meat did not suit their taste, they had a nasty habit of killing them after harassing them for a long time, instead of eating it quickly and cleanly.
'There's nothing good that comes out by facing them. No, we will be 100% attacked at this party level.'
Ersmann's notoriety was exceptionally high in the dimension that humans were the main population. This was because the meat of most mammals, including humans, were awful to their taste.
"The Team Leader Park Chang-hee decided to move separately. He should have heard the system message, too. We should move quickly. I will explain the details on the move."
Secretary Kim nodded without saying something, as if he had foreseen something. Even if he didn't think I had killed him, he would have expected there was a good reason for this.
The other two guild members also stiffly moved. Rather than being convinced of me, who wasn't the expedition leader, we had to stop all work according to the protocol anyway and withdraw as soon as possible.
We were also on the way back to Earth when…
'Damn, it's too late!'
Mana chunks that gleam from a distance approached us at high speed.
Unfortunately, those who crossed the border were the strongest among Ersmann's Awakened.
Piii! Piiiii!
With no time to run away further, we were surrounded by a group of foreign races that appeared with the wind in an instant.
The number of opponents in total was sixteen. I clenched my jaw at the misfortune that had befallen us.
'It's the worst!'
The Dungeon Gate connected to the Earth was an E-class, and was limited to the number of five, but as it expanded from the other side, the rank and the number of people that could enter increased slowly. It seemed that the ones who corresponded to the rank had all gotten dispatched.
Even if I estimated this with what I could see, no one had an active Mana of below 20,000. When it was measured to the scale of the Earth, everyone was rated S-class. Sixteen guys were all one level stronger than Park Chang-hee.
On the other hand, I…
-Active Mana: 14,500 (+9,700) / 4,800
-Potential Mana: 81,000
It was only this much, thanks to absorbing all the remaining active Mana in Park Chang-hee's body.
'There is no chance to win with a head-on match.'
Secretary Kim and other guild members were also nervous and prepared for battle. Holding a weapon, they wrapped the entire body with a Mana shield. It was a natural stance that came up from training.
Ersmann, who I encountered after a long time, was still bizarre and disgusting. A mixed face of cockroaches and stag beetles, and brown skin was covering their entire body. The arms, covered with small sharp thorns, pointed to us. They exchanged their language at high speed while keeping us surrounded.
Piiiiii!
Among them, the biggest Ersmann came forward. Its gaze touched the corpse of the modified life form.
He screamed.
Piiiiiiii!
That, in our language, meant this:
"My baby! Who killed my baby?!"
It didn't exactly mean that it bore that animal, but that it had lost a loved and endeared modified beast. It seemed that he was the owner of the pattern.
Piiiiiiiiiii!
They looked at us and went wild.
"A monkey? Such a livestock feed dares to do this to my baby?"
Just as the future earthlings would call them cockroaches, Ersmann called humans in a similar manner.
"I will kill you!"
A green bubble swelled in its mouth, expressing feelings of rabidness.
'It is pissed off. In this way, instead of cruelly playing with us, they will instantly…'
As soon as I said that, mana quickly concentrated in the Ersmann's chest. I knew what it was about to do, but the time to respond was tight. I began to shout.
"Everyone! Immediately, let disable the Mana shield!"
It was the same as saying to disarm in front of a foreign race.
However, there was not enough time to explain the reasons in detail as much as I could compress it, as short as possible! At that moment, I tried to spit out the next word.
Weeing!
In a short period of less than a second, Secretary Kim's expression had changed from light of suspicion to a face that was determined to do something, then clenched his teeth and disabled the shield. The Mana that had been released to the outside was collected and stored in the core. He believed in me.
However…
The remaining two guild members did not listen to me. Following the E-class hunter's instructions who came to the dungeon for the first time today, it would not be easy to discard the protective equipment in front of the enemy.
I yelled.
"If you release Mana, it will at…!"
He didn't wait for me to complete my sentence.
Booooooooooooo!
His chest swelled, and a black mist emanated from his mouth. It turned out to be a swarm of insects the size of a fly, about thousands or tens of thousands in number.
All of those objects covered the inside of the large cave, with blue Mana enveloping their bodies.
Then…
"Ahhhhhhhhh! Hel…!"
"Ahhhhhh!"
The scream did not even last a few seconds.
The black insect swarm ran toward the two guild members who had not disarmed the Mana shield. It broke through the barrier, tore and dug into the flesh, and ate their blood and meat.
There was no time for Secretary Kim and me to run over and help.
After a brief moment…
Boooooooooooong!
The worms returned to Ersmann's mouth, and the torn bodies of two guild members remained on the floor.
Secretary Kim turned to look at me with a disturbed expression. Meanwhile, I gave all my attention to Ersmann.
·····Piiii?
"How did it know?"
This all felt puzzling.
What Ersmann just unfolded was an intricate technique that grafted enchant-based skills and manipulation-based skills into a modified creature. Those insects, whose vision had been deteriorated, detected, and attacked creatures that emitted Mana to the outside, all while excluding the Ersmanns.
Most of the dungeon monsters and Awakened surrounded their body with Mana to protect them, so this was obviously a method they often used.
"Secretary Kim, do not attack. We can't win."
He looked like he wanted to ask a lot of questions, but he followed my instructions.
I looked around them. There was sixteen with more than 20,000 Mana. What skill could I use to finish them all at once?
The list began to spread in my head. I could see many possible skills. There were many ways. However, the problem was…
'None of these can be activated with my Mana right now.'
While contemplating, it prepared for the next attack. If the bug refused to work, it would eventually plan to rip us apart themselves. There was no more time.
At that moment…
I saw a backpack thrown to the floor—a backpack with Mana cores collected from here.
'This is it!'
[Body Transformation (Rank: E)!]
Ersmann guys didn't waste limited skill slots with translation magic.
Anyway, the races they encountered in the dungeon were targets to attack and kill, or targets to avoid and escape in advance. It was between those two.
In an instant, my vocal cords changed shape. Since the human body could not correctly pronounce their language, the structure had been changed a little.
In that state, I began to shout.
Piiiiii! Piiii!
"You, children of 'Leah'! Do you interact with the children of 'Geruit'? If so, you've probably heard the rumors. The story of the human race that they met in a dungeon with acid rain."
Those who were trying to attack stopped, taken aback by my words.
Secretary Kim looked at me with an indescribable expression. It was full of feelings of wanting to ask what the hell I was doing now. At this critical moment, I found myself suddenly beeping and screaming strangely.
But then…
Piiii! Piiiii!
Ersmann thusly replied. "What are you? How do you know our language?"
When the cockroach-like guy responded to me, and it seemed that the appearance that we were able to converse to each other took place, Secretary Kim's expression changed as if he himself felt more shocked.
I kept shouting.
"Have you heard the rumors? I am a resident of the world where the children of 'Geruit' attacked and were retaliated against!"
For Ersmann, there was no concept of a state, and blood relation replaced it. Looking at the guys' appearances in front of me right now, they must be all born from eggs laid by an entity named 'Leah.'
This fact was unknown to Korea, but several months ago, an American guild met the Ersmann in a vast dungeon where more than 100 people could enter, and was thusly annihilated.
The US government's response to the situation was reliable. They put a tactical nuclear bomb in the gate and exploded it. No matter how much Mana shield protected the Ersmann, they could not overcome the high heat and shock waves. Critically, as they could not overcome the radiation, it ended up annihilating them.
Now he looked at me as if baffled.
I picked up a backpack with Mana cores and threw it at them.
Piiiiii!
"Your purpose is Mana core anyway, right? In exchange for taking it, let us go. Killing the remaining two will lead to dire retaliation, just as the last time the children of 'Geruit' were wiped out!"
Of course, it was unlikely that the US government would retaliate for us, but I was screaming now and thinking about it later because they still lacked information about the Earth.
Piiii!
"I'll take this first."
The Ersmann, who were looking from behind, came forward and smelled the backpack, then turned it over to open. It revealed the core in it to everyone.
Piii!
"What? There aren't that many."
As if it was a given, he put down the lump of slime he was holding and removed its snout. Inside, it contained many Mana cores that they had collected so far, incomparable to what we collected.
While one packed the core from behind, the guy who confronted me moved forward.
Pii!
"You know our language, but don't know how we function, huh?"
No, I knew.
I quickly changed my vocal cords back to human ones. I then began to whisper.
"Secretary Kim, when I signal, stick close to me."
He nodded quietly.
I saw the movement of the being that was collecting Mana cores from behind. They turned our backpacks over and tried to pour the contents into a slime mass that served as their bag.
Piii!
He spoke as if mocking us. "Retribution? That's funny. We, in the first place…"
Those guys didn't care about those.
Clink!
From behind, the Mana core in the backpack poured down. I did not miss the opportunity when they were exposed to the environment.
Piiii!
"…We don't worry about retaliation!"
At that moment…
I took an Iponia crystal from my arms and threw it with all my might! It hit one of the Mana cores that had fallen into Ersmann's slime bag accurately.
The Iponia crystal was broken, and the Mana in it began to leak out.
Initially, the skill in it only affected the 'caster' himself. Still, if it was activated from outside the body like that, the first to contact was recognized as the caster—an anomaly, only possible with Iponia's crystals.
I then shouted.
"Now!"
Secretary Kim stuck to me. Ersmann pulled out a thorn and ran.
I then triggered an item.
[Mirage's Shield]
-Item Description: Creates a powerful shield surrounding the caster for 3 minutes after activation. As long as the shield is maintained, the user is also limited in movement.
※ Please note that it cannot be reused once activated.
The colors around us fluctuated, creating a blurry shield. It completely wrapped up Secretary Kim and me.
Shortly after the shield was completely formed, I saw the Mana crystals that fell into the pockets of the Ersmanns swayed. The crystal of Iponia that was broken in contact with it, the skill in it was…
[Deep Sea Swimming (Rank: D, Active)]
You can swim in the deep sea by stably maintaining the caster's internal pressure above 7,183psi.
This was when an intense pressure over 500 times the normal atmospheric pressure was applied to the inside of the Mana core.
Boosh!
The blue light swallowed everything up.
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Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 31
           
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Chapter 31
I Came Back And Conquered It All
Clean Up
Boosh!
As Park Chang-hee installed the Mana core bombs, he spoke up.
'A single bomb contains only a few grams of the core, but it is difficult to manufacture, so it's quite expensive.'
By blowing up the bomb containing a few grams of it, several goblins had their bodies torn apart. In addition to this, the Iponia's crystal that was thrown blew up a whole Mana core with an intense pressure had erupted from the inside!
Bo-boom!
A blue energy storm rushed in the Mana core. The other cores around it also exploded as a chain reaction.
The blast seemingly tore my ears and vibrated my bones. A mountain of blue flame covered the surrounding. Even with [Mirage Shield], we felt the pressure, heat, and vibration following the explosion.
This alone was not enough.
"This explosion can't be held by only one item!" I shouted to Secretary Kim.
"Create a Mana shield around the whole body! At full power!"
"Yeah!"
As Secretary Kim clenched his jaw, he concentrated all of the Mana in him to the barrier. I did the same.
Crack! Crrrack!
[Mirage Shield] began to crack. As the cracks increased, the colored barrier made by the item leaked the external shock towards the inside, rather than blocking 100% of the impact.
We then blocked the leaked impact and heat using the Mana barrier.
"Ugh!"
Secretary Kim stumbled. Seeing this, I wrapped my Mana barrier over his.
"…"
Secretary Kim's eyes widened. It was the first time that he was able to see such use of Mana. He couldn't feel my Mana. He must have felt his Mana rearrange by responding to something. I supported his shield as if one placed a wooden log to support a structure on the verge of destruction.
Like that, the 10 seconds that passed felt like ten years.
"Ugh!"
The Mana storm that was caused by consecutive explosions of cores finally disappeared.
Blue burning debris rolled around everywhere, and the survivors were only the two of us.
Secretary Kim knelt as if he was deeply fatigued. We were still in the barrier that was created by [Mirage Shield]. Initially, it should be maintained for 3 minutes, so we still had to wait for more than 2 minutes here.
But then…
Flick!
I concentrated Mana in hand and lightly flicked the shield. Then…
Shatter!
The color barrier that protected us shattered, much like a window that had been struck by a metal bullet. It must have reached its limit.
"Should I ask the store for a refund?"
Secretary Kim murmured while bitterly smiling, as he was the one that strongly suggested buying this item. As he said those words, his eyes flipped over, and he fainted.
'Mana exhaustion.'
It was the side effect of using up all of his active Mana on the Mana shield.
I took out the Mana potion that I carried in my bag. The active Mana that was available for more than 10,000 was already almost emptied, and as I drank the potion, it returned to about the figure of 5,000.
I approached Secretary Kim as I tried to give him the other bottle of potion. At the same time, I snuck a look at his chest.
The Mana that should be covering my sight while emanating like a fountain was almost invisible. Like the surface of a calm sea, the potential Mana silently settled in the core, and I could observe it inwardly as if I was seeing through him.
When I woke up as Seo Jin-wook, I couldn't see the inside of the potential Mana in this body. It was like how one would not be able to see the deep ocean floor from outside the water. However, Secretary Kim's potential Mana was visible, like seeing the shallow water along the shore.
'There are none.'
The tension dissipated from me.
As the worst-case scenario that I had to be suspicious of Secretary Kim was avoided, I could relax a bit.
'There is no curse on Secretary Kim's core.'
Originally, on his list of tasks, there was no obligation to go to the dungeon with me. However, he voluntarily came along.
I had lived 80 years in the past life, and I still didn't have the answer to such a tremendous question if a man was originally good or evil. The helping hand that approached with goodwill would come back to stab you in your back, and sometimes, the infertile garbage field would bloom a flower.
There was no way to be able to look into what Secretary Kim was thinking about.
However, what I was sure of was that he was the one who stood up for me.
Groan!
As I dropped the Mana potion around Secretary Kim's mouth, he opened his eyes as he escaped from exhaustion.
Like a person who woke up from a dream, he began to look around, muttering in a dispirited manner.
"So, it wasn't a dream."
"I am not sure if it's a shame or fortunate. Everything is real."
He stood up with his posture upright. And then he spoke, staring at me.
"Putting everything aside… I should tell you this first."
What was this, all of a sudden?
Secretary Kim then spoke with a serious gaze.
"Thank you. Thank you for sparing my life. I will repay this grace."
He then looked around. The bodies of the other two guild members did not even leave a trace. It was comparable to the Ersmann, in which they left a few identifiable body parts.
"What is this, all of a sudden?"
"Because anyone can see it. It is because of the grace of the Team Leader that I was able to live."
Indeed, it would have been difficult for Secretary Kim to survive had he not interfered with my actions and trusted and followed all my instructions.
"Thank you."
"You are welcome."
Secretary Kim, who had thanked me several times that way, suddenly had a change of expression.
"I'm aware that the situation is not the best, but may I ask a few questions before we move along?"
I focused my senses. There was no sign that the latecomers of Ersmann were rushing.
"Carry on."
Staring at me, Secretary Kim asked once more.
"Who are you, really?"
*
Inside the cave, where the last screams of blue flames echo everywhere, an awkward silence flowed between Secretary Kim and me.
"Who am I?"
Secretary Kim spoke calmly. His pupils held no excitement, nor did they hold fear.
"I could accept that you did not get angry as before after the accident. The guild members around murmured that beyond the level of having a changed personality, it seemed like another person was wearing the cover of the person but…"
My heart dropped.
"I, for the longest amongst the secretaries, served Team Leader Seo Jin-wook. You asked me the secret of long-term service before, right?"
After jokingly saying 'life struggles,' he added.
'I told you. There are times that it comes back intermittently? Your sanity.'
He then continued.
"Team Leader Seo Jin-wook's 364 days among the 365 days in a year was filled with instability and anger, but there are times that he kept his sanity. The actions and personality that Team Leader showed then… is very similar to 'you' right now. Almost to the point of not being able to understand the scolding of the Guild Master, blaming the weak mental state, in those times, the Team Leader instead showed a strong heart and sound mind."
He frowned as if he was reminiscing the past, and then continued. "So, I was happy. Finally, the illness that interfered with his sound mind had been cured. It didn't matter if the reason was the impact on the brain or the aftermath of amnesia. Now, 365 days a year, you can keep a clear mind; I was glad."
"···"
"However, this isn't it. The Team Leader Seo Jin-wook of my memories does not have this ability. Finding the bracelet's function that nobody was aware of could be reasoned with genius Mana control. However, no genius could realize the attack methods of a foreign race they encountered for the first time. Team Leader Seo Jin-wook, who I had been serving for three years, had no such opportunity to acquire that knowledge."
His voice deepened.
"Among the unique skills and items, there are kinds that can indefinitely maintain the 'polymorph' magic beyond the Mask Slime function. If so, where is the real Team Leader? "
I was able to read the determined light from his gaze, realizing that he was risking his life by talking about this, not being able to predict what kind of reaction I'd show.
"···"
I looked at him and spoke.
"Who am I? That is such a weird question. I am Seo Jin-wook."
When I realized that Choi Seung-hyun's traces had been entirely erased from this world, I made a decision.
Now I was Seo Jin-wook. I had no choice but to live as Seo Jin-wook.
"But…!"
I intercepted his words.
"And you don't have to thank me. You don't even have to swear solemnly to repay the favor. Secretary Kim had already saved my life twice. This is me paying it back."
One occasion was when he protected me from Gangdong Revival Alliance's attack before I Awakened, and the other one was…
Secretary Kim, as if he understood what I referred to, loosened his face.
"No way!"
"2035. You saved me then, too."
It was a thing of the past that only Seo Jin-wook and Secretary Kim were aware of.
[The Successor's Eyes] was still slowly but steadily gathering and arranging the original memories together. Now, I could see a lot of videos as well.
Three years ago, 17-year-old Seo Jin-wook, tired of the whispers of the curse, made a radical choice and put it into action. Having sensed a strange atmosphere that day, Secretary Kim deliberately did not leave work but stayed by the company house, and found the blood-smothered Seo Jin-wook.
Secretary Kim saved his life with the potion he kept around, and by Seo Jin-wook's request, who did not want that to be known to Seo Gyu-cheol, the tale of that day had remained between the two.
Secretary Kim's confused gaze subsided a little.
However, it seemed that he had not wholly cleared his doubts.
"Let's talk again once we are out of this place. I can't tell you everything right now."
I had no choice but to do this now.
"As the number of persons entered in the system message had decreased to two, the rescue team must be dispatched soon. Let's quickly clean up first. Change your terminal. We don't have to reveal what happened here as it is."
He expressed a complicated emotion, but he must have decided to follow my instructions for now. He began to ask as he stood up.
"···Could the Team Leader have killed Park Chang-hee?"
There was a need to match our words anyway.
"Today, we all moved together and encountered those foreign races, and Team Leader Park Chang-hee passed away with them. And we couldn't save those two guild members in the process."
He nodded and collected the debris of dead Ersmann that would serve as the evidence. And he moved along with me to take care of Park Chang-hee's corpse and the evidence of our battle. Secretary Kim could not close his mouth as he saw our battleground.
When we finished cleaning up, I could feel that the rescue teams were fast approaching.
"Team Leader, can I ask something for the last time?"
I nodded. I guessed his next question as probably, how I managed to grow this fast, and how I could kill Park Chang-hee.
However, what came up was none of those.
"I mean, how the hell do you know to speak cockroach?"
*
As only 2 out of 5 people barely came out alive, the Celestial Dragon Guild and Constitutional Department flipped.
After we had been rescued, they dispatched another expedition team. Still, there was a danger of the 'foreign race' to send another expedition team as well, and as the evidence was clear, the expedition team returned and closed the gate.
It was a big accident for the Celestial Dragon Guild that Park Chang-hee died. It covered the headline of the media and conflicting interpretations against the action of saving the life of the successor by sacrificing his own life followed.
Some unique media blamed the incompetent Seo Gyu-cheol for being greedy that got Park Chang-hee killed by assigning weak Seo Jin-wook to a dungeon that he couldn't handle.
There was a good reason to interpret it that way, yet Secretary Kim explained that to write that way without watching out for Celestial Dragon Guild was because other guilds protect them.
We went through the Constitutional Department's investigation and internal investigations as well, and the case closed as Secretary Kim and I received a stamp of 'no charges.'
Sure enough, this must have had quite an impact on Seo Gyu-cheol that he did not nag me on going to another mission, nor did he assign a trainer for me. Thanks to this, I leisurely explored the undisclosed dungeons and continued to absorb Mana cores.
Then one day, Secretary Kim approached me with a serious expression.
"···Assistant Guild Master Han-seol is here."
She returned to work after having a leave of absence following Park Chang-hee's death, and she dropped by the company house as she was leaving work.
"Please tell her to come in."
*
Han-seol tightly hugged me as soon as the door room opened. As I sat down, she asked my regards with words of comfort.
"Losing a colleague is what we have to go through once we have become a hunter. But isn't it strange? It doesn't get dull even after repeating it many times. It's always equally hard and sad."
Han-seol, saying so, had swollen eyes that were bloodshot. I continued the awkward conversation with complicated thoughts swirling in my head.
She then suddenly asked.
"Jin-wook, I'm sorry to ask this in this situation, but…"
Her face lingered with a light of hesitation. But soon, she opened her mouth with an expression as if she had made a big decision.
Was that all just an act? It almost made me doubt if there was a skill card that enabled such things.
"I'm sorry. But I couldn't get it out of my mind as it keeps on lingering."
She spoke.
"Jin-wook, the unique skill that you taught us at that time. Is the effect the same as how you described it to us?"
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Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 32
           
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Chapter 32
I Came Back And Conquered It All
The Unique Skill of the Two
I barely suppressed the rising suspicion in my eyes towards her. Instead, I just shuddered while still wearing a smiling face.
"Of course, it is. Why would I lie with such a thing?"
I lied.
About a month ago, I was asked about my unique skill where both Seo Gyu-cheol and Han-seol were around. I briefly worried about how I should answer them.
'First, it is impossible to expose [Mana Drain]!'
Telling the enemies that I could grow limitlessly only gave them another reason to kill me as soon as possible. Indeed, the time that Seo Jin-wook died was within that short time, only a year from the point that he had awakened.
'But all the more, I shouldn't reveal [The Successor's Eyes]'
The effect was maximized when the opponent was unaware of the state. In the previous life, Choi Seung-hyun's true abilities were only known by a handful. Thanks to that, the competitors were always defenselessly attempting a surprise attack.
'They will not believe me if I don't have a unique skill altogether, they will catch me if I state a normal skill, and I will be caught right away if I state a unique skill that I cannot perform!'
After such a short deliberation period, I decided on what skill I would state to Seo Gyu-cheol and Han-seol.
"Jin-wook."
Han-seol spoke.
"The unique skill is called [Replica]."
[Replica] was a unique skill that a hunter named Roadman possessed in the previous life.
He kept his secret tightly, yet as he had to face us off due to a conflict against my guild, his skill was revealed to me. As he performed a mediocre sword dance in front of Randy, he lost his head by the swung magical sword.
The overview of the ability was… To put it, a lower-end version of the analysis of skill and reproduction by [The Successor's Eyes].
When [Replica] was activated, even if the skill card wasn't equipped in the slot, it saved the skill used by another hunter in a certain distance for a limited number of times.
I chose it, considering that there would be many occurrences that I would be working along with other hunters from now on. If I used only four officially declared skills, my active skills would be too narrow.
From the enemy's perspective, they would lower their guards, thinking that the skills that an E-Class hunter could copy would be limited due to the Mana capacity.
"You said that copying the unique skills of another Awakened is impossible?"
"Yeah."
"If your mastery of the skill gets higher, wouldn't it be possible to copy the unique skills as well?"
"Hmm? I'm not sure about that. System messages did not explain that far."
"Is that so?"
"Why do you ask such a thing all of a sudden?"
She made a look that revealed the fact that she was contemplating for a good moment, then barely opened her lips.
"Keep this as a secret from the Guild Master that I'm telling you about this, okay?"
What was she going to talk about? I nodded my head silently.
"Jin-wook, have you guessed what my unique skill is?"
It was an unexpected question. My heart beat faster, but I tried to pay attention to my expression in order to calm down.
As I would expect, her unique skill would be something related to the curse. It was about the red seed that was hidden in Park Chang-hee's body as well as mine.
I responded calmly.
"Of course, I don't know. That's only known between my father and the Assistant Guild Master."
"Yes, only the two of us know."
With an awkward silence, she continued.
"You know that Guild Master trusts me wholeheartedly, right?"
"I know that well."
An absolute trust enabled her to stay grounded that, even if anyone said anything about Han-seol, he would support everything she did. Seo Gyu-cheol trusted Han-seol that much.
"How do you think that happened?"
"I heard you were his lifesaver…"
"That's right."
Before coming into Celestial Dragon, it was said that Han-seol saved Seo Gyu-cheol's life.
Everybody thought that Seo Gyu-cheol's trust began from that incident.
"The fact is, there is one more reason why that man trusts me."
She stared at me with calm eyes.
"You should be aware of this since you are well aware of the guild's history. After absorbing the guild that I was in, the Celestial Dragon Guild started to grow exponentially."
That was the truth.
Seo Gyu-cheol carried the symbol of the first S-rank hunter in Korea with fitting physical strength. However, the capability to run a guild was indeed a different story.
When he was still building up his guild, nobody commented that Seo Gyu-cheol was the best hunter in Korea, but when it was said that the Celestial Dragon Guild he led was the best in Korea, there were a lot of doubts.
However, all of this changed as Han-seol and the hunters she led joined the Celestial Dragon Guild.
"What do you think is the most crucial element of the Celestial Dragon's growth?"
"…Well, the fact that the Assistant Guild Master joined?"
She laughed in reply.
"No, not that."
I thought hard about this.
"Well, they had good luck."
It wasn't always lucky, but there were few crucial events right after Han-seol joined.
They voluntarily got the right to explore a dungeon, which others were not interested in, and got expensive items close to a jackpot. They did not know about the changes in hunter-related laws in advance, but they 'accidentally' benefited from preparing due to internal circumstances. The financial benefits from that event were then used to scout high battle-rating hunters.
Considering the performance, there were few failed attempts to clear. Celestial Dragon Guild's Dungeons rarely had unexpected anomalies during clearing that caused hunters to die or the dungeon to collapse. The Okcheon Dungeon was an exceptional case, which made it even more news-worthy.
Han-seol, who listened to me quietly, nodded.
"Yeah, the Celestial Dragon was lucky. Coincidentally, right after I joined in."
"···"
The calm gaze stared at me, almost as if to see through me.
"The examples of luck that you shared… And the choices made to make that luck into a reality. What if I were actually behind all those choices? What if I gave the Guild Master all the pieces of advice?"
"But those things···"
Without being able to continue my words, a storm rushed in my head.
"But such advice can't be… Without knowing the future…"
No way.
No way?
My speech slowed down without me realizing it. My mind was in a perplexed state.
"Assistant Guild Master, are you…"
My heart beat even faster, and the veins around my whole body were about to explode.
"Now, what you're saying is, is that what I'm guessing it is?"
"Yes."
Han-seol quietly continued.
"It was possible thanks to my unique skills. All wise choices… A choice that was followed by luck. I could know it before anything happened."
She briefly stalled, then she finally spat out the words that I had guessed.
"Jin-wook, my unique skill is called [Prophecy]."
*
It felt like blood was flowing out of my face. I was genuinely surprised and didn't even have to act out the feeling.
Han-seol just said that her unique skill was foretelling the future. In addition to that, I knew someone who had made the same statement in the future.
'Angelica Heard.'
"···"
Han-seol continued to explain in a calm tone.
She couldn't fully control this skill yet, and she didn't know if she would get better at handling it with mastery in the future, but for now, she said there were limits to the time zone and place she wanted to see.
Telling the future was said to come in a random moment, much like an oracle. Moreover, all the detailed information wasn't clearly visible yet vague, like a watercolor painting with the smeared paint. She said she could understand part of the context if she were able to see the scene.
I asked while listening to the explanation.
"…So why are you suddenly telling me those today?"
"Jin-wook, I just thought your unique skill [Replica] might have copied my [Prophecy] and activated it. Have you ever had a similar experience?"
"Why did you think so?"
Han-seol took a deep breath and spoke.
" Sometimes, there are times that the scene I saw changes. After I activate [Prophecy] and put into action after determining to do so, the consequences are implied."
"···Yes?"
"But then, I recently saw the reality being played out completely different from the future that I have seen."
Her expression darkened.
"Because Chang-hee died."
"···"
"From the future that I've seen, Chang-hee is alive until at least five years. At a point later than that, Chang-hee did not appear, so I can't be sure of the far future, but he should have been alive for at least five more years."
Heavy silence passed after these words.
"But then, that suddenly changed."
"···"
"The future changed because someone saw the future. I cannot analyze the butterfly effect, but at least I haven't made any determination or put something into action that would change Chang-hee's life. I couldn't explain it in detail, but at least I have evidence that it's not because of my prophecy. So… I just thought that someone other than me had seen the future."
In the end, it was a hypothesis that my imaginary [Replica] was activated by copying her [Prophecy]. As a result, it was an assumption that Park Chang-hee had died because of the butterfly effect from my actions.
I shook my head.
"No, at least I've never had such a strange scene in my head as Assistant Guild Master said."
"…Okay, I see."
She nodded.
"It seems like I've only let out disturbing words. Come to think of it. It could have sounded like I was blaming you. I'm sorry, but my chest felt so heavy that I couldn't stand it. And··· I wanted to tell you something to be careful about if you have copied [Prophecy]. Knowing the future sometimes puts unbearable pressure on you. Even if it's a vague, faint scene."
"Thank you for your concern, but I'm really not the one."
"Okay, I see."
Han-seol made a look as if she was convinced and stood up.
"I'm sorry if you felt bad."
"No, it's not bad at all? It's okay."
"···Yes. Please keep the secret that I've told you today. Okay?"
"Of course."
I looked at her, purposely with a peaceful smile on my lips, and then spoke.
"I was stunned. [Prophecy]… Thank you for talking to me about it."
"No, thank you for understanding."
As she was about to turn around, I spoke in an almost joking tone.
"Since you said that you could see the future… I have to ask this. What happens to me in the future? Do I live well for a long time?"
The end of the original Seo Jin-wook came to mind. I waited for her answer with a bright smile.
Han-seol, who showed her back for a moment, slowly turned around and looked into my eyes. After a moment, she answered.
"Yes, of course. The farthest future I've ever seen is 40 years from now. I can see you, Jin-wook, in that scene."
40 years later.
It was when the Tower of Choice would rise, and Choi Seung-hyun of the previous life… would face death.
"40 years later? Then how old am I… Wow, how do I look? "
Just for a moment, a stiff look passed over her face.
Then she replied right away, recovering.
"I won't tell you. If I'm going to say good things, you're not going to put effort into it, and if I tell you harshly, you will feel bad. So train hard!"
As soon as she closed the door of my room as she left, there was a chill on my face. I muttered inwardly.
Han-seol.
Angelica Heard.
What they had in common was that they claimed to have the skills to predict the future.
In Angelica's case, the words were half-right and half-false. She really predicted the future, but she didn't have that skill.
What about Han-seol? What kind of case would she belong to?
I floated a hologram using my terminal. It was the final report of Secretary Kim's request to an outside company a few days ago.
There was a survey on an ordinary civilian, called Angelica Heard, who was a non-Awakened at this point.
The summary of the report was as follows.
'A person who meets the conditions suggested by the client cannot be found at present.'
The fact that they avoided the expression 'non-existent' but failed to find it after this much investigation meant that at least none of the people registered by the census normally existed with that background.
I thought of the past memories once again—memories of my past life.
As for the past of Angelica Heard, almost strangely, nothing was known.
'What if the identity itself was created suddenly?'
There was one more thing that got on my nerves.
It would be announced that Han-seol and Seo Jin-wook were dead in about ten months, and it was only about a month after the tragic accident that a hunter named Angelica Heard appeared in the world.
I thought hard before I sent a message to Secretary Kim through the terminal. I wrote down the names of three people there and asked him to investigate them.
The names were as follows.
Nathan Drake
Randy Samuel Hickerson
Amano Hibiki
Excluding Angelica, these were the names of my future teammates.
"···"
The more the evening progressed, the more my thoughts deepened.Novels online
Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 33
           
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Chapter 33
I Came Back And Conquered It All
Change of Plan
"Meow!"
What woke me up early in the morning was the cry of a cat-like creature, otherwise known as the 'cat.'
The sound came from under the bed, and I just sat there, yet did not react.
Thump!
He jumped up onto the bed, and the sound of four feet walking on the mattress resonated in the room. It came up and sat down with a plump hip next to my pillow.
In that state, it cried loudly again and reclined its neck in protest.
"Meeow!"
I then spoke in a morning voice.
"Wait."
It cried louder as if responding to me.
"Meoooooow!"
"···Okay."
He was such a brat.
I got up. I could feel him staring at my back. As I put on my slippers, the cat also leaped out of bed. From then, I pulled out a handful of skill cards from the drawer.
Sitting on the floor, the cat was raising its neck while attentively staring at my hand movements, almost making me worry that its chin would flip to the back. I wouldn't have had a bone left if it could eat off something with its gaze.
I looked at him again while I was turning over the cards.
"Meoooow!"
The little guy came up to me and brushed its furry body on me as if to tell me not to make him wait. Afterward, it sat down and cried again.
'Making me hurry, huh.'
I wasn't taking time for it to be desperate. Beyond it having gained some weight, I was comparing him to his previous state as he had definitely gotten bigger.
"You're surely larger."
Perhaps its growth had stopped, since there was no food in the black market. The records then said that it would remain in that size for a few months.
This would be good enough.
I took two of the cards at the bottom of the deck.
[Sword Mastery (Rank: C)]
[Mana Barrier (Rank: C)]
I received the cards before I entered the Okcheon Dungeon.
Even though I had [Replica], it was only right that I should be equipped with basic skills, so the supply team prepared it.
All four skill slots were not filled all at once, because the items that expanded or overwrote the slots were expensive. If one got too high-ranked skills from the start, it would be exhausting to keep up with the Mana usage, and if one were to get too low of a rank, you had to replace it quickly, so they had prepared only two cards of a reasonable level.
However, I didn't mean to fill in the slot with these.
When I received the card, I had this thought in my mind.
'That's great. I'll use them to feed the cat later.'
I thought it would have to wait a bit more to digest this card's level but seeing it now; I could at least feed him a C-ranked one.
Having made up my mind, I activated the [Mana Barrier (Rank: C)] card first. The card had become a powder of light and disappeared, and only the crystallized Mana remained on the spot.
At that moment…
"···"
The eyes of the cat widened to a circle. His nostrils twitched, then his reactions that followed were very intense.
"Meooooow! Meooooooooow!"
As if it was telling me to give it to him right away, he rubbed his body on my calves and covered my ankles with his tail.
"You do know what's good for you. Did you call dibs on it?"
I reached out to lay down the Mana crystal in front of the cat. I thought that it would eat it if I put it in his feeding bowl as usual.
But then…
Ra-ta-ta!
He must have been in a rush; he did not wait for me to put it down, but instead placed its mouth in my hands to eat hurriedly.
It was his first time eating something directly in my hand. After he finished his meal quickly…
"Grrrr!"
The cat opened its eyes slightly as if he was satisfied. He lay on the bottom of the carpet with a throbbing sound, showing his belly before beginning to roll.
Compared to how he was wary of me at first, he had undergone a considerable change of attitude.
"There's no business in front of food."
Whether it was a snake or a cat.
"But, I think you still need to grow up."
The ability of Iponia was not limited to eating the skills just drawn from the skill card and making crystals out of it. They also consumed already activated skills that had been maintained for a long time.
I had no choice but to rely on the cat unless I had my own skill that could invalidate all other skills.
"Do you want to test the waters? If you can eat it?"
The curse's energy that was once wholly asleep would reappear following my lead after the Okcheon dungeon incident.
However, each time it surfaced, it was beaten hard by [The Successor's Eyes] and hid back into the core.
I tried moving the Mana quietly. I reproduced the wave that occurred when the thing in my core penetrated the curse of Park Chang-hee.
What I saw then was a red Mana, and what I was moving now was a blue Mana. Therefore, even if I were to move it like this, there was no activation of new curses or creation of new tentacles.
However, the guy in the core had reacted to this. Like a squid that mistook the light for a full moon, it was attracted to it, rising up to the shallow water.
'Geeeeek!'
Red energy began to spread out of my heart.
"····"
The cat, who lay around in satisfaction, suddenly got on his feet.
"How is it? Do you want to taste a…"
Ra-ta-ta!
I couldn't finish my sentence.
I apologized to the cat, who immediately went under the bed after a long time, staring at my chest with a wary eye.
"Okay, I'm sorry. We still have a long way to go."
As I felt the red tentacles exploring outside the core hide again as [The Successor's Eyes] suppressed it, I sighed.
I then sat on the chair, recalling the thoughts I arranged in my mind until I fell asleep last night. I couldn't fall asleep easily after Han-seol dropped by yesterday. Her words lingered around my ears.
'Jin-wook, my unique skill is called [Prophecy].'
She gave a strange answer to my question about my future 40 years later, saying Seo Jin-wook was alive until then.
'Maybe it's a lie, and maybe it's because the future hasn't changed yet. Anyway, it's clear that Han-seol has a way to get information about the future.'
Otherwise, she couldn't immediately conclude that 'someone who knows the future has intervened' in Park Chang-hee's incident.
Of course, that wasn't because of [Prophecy] but me intentionally changing the history.
Seo Jin-wook might have held out in his previous life by being against going to the dungeon with Park Chang-hee. Perhaps that was why he lived for another year.
'It can't be a coincidence that she mentioned the name of the skill [Prophecy].'
What was the relationship between Han-seol and Angelica Heard? The more I thought about it, the more I narrowed it down to two things.
Hypothesis 1. The two were the same person.
Hypothesis 2. The two were independent characters, but were related. Angelica Heard had colluded with Han-seol or had used Han-seol.
'Whatever the truth of the two is, the curse remains questioned. It may not be moving alone. No, I'm almost sure.'
A person must be a regressor like me to have more than one unique skill.
I thought about the hypothesis, that there were no traces of Angelica because it evaporated like that of Choi Seung-hyun, and that Han-seol in this life was indeed a regressionist. I soon erased it from my head.
If Angelica had returned to this era, she would have made many more changes than I, thanks to her unique skills. If the goal was still to 'secure the egg of Dimensional Bird,' there was still too much room to reach out with her past life memories. In other words, there should be a change in history that was not registered in me, but I hadn't seen any so far.
'Whatever the hypothesis is, I need to speed up the execution of the plan.'
The situation had become urgent because, contrary to my first guess, I was not the only victim who was cursed.
I had no idea how far the curse had spread in the guild, and if I were to leave it as is, the number of hosts would increase, possibly strangling my neck.
For me, who knew the future, my previous life's death wouldn't be repeated the same, but the possibility of threatening me in a different method was indeed high.
Now that it had come to this point, should I abandon the Celestial Dragon whose existence value was uncertain, as protection?
It was enough to leave it as my last move. To prevent the collapse of SSS-rated dungeons, it was better to have a foothold called Celestial Dragon.
'To put it into action faster, I have to get stronger even faster.'
Unlike the external data that Han-seol was an A-Class hunter, She was someone much stronger than Seo Gyu-cheol in reality.
So far, I worked hard on the undisclosed dungeon to absorb Mana cores, but it was still not enough. In fact, there were other ways to reinforce the power other than Mana Drain.
'One is to increase the number of trusted colleagues.'
The prodigies and the members of my past life. I could not stick to the original plan to prepare for the price they would want and scout at the best timing to bring them in.
I would advance the timing, even if it was too much.
'And the other one.'
Through collecting legendary items that had shocked the future Hunter society, surpassing what had been known so far. Faster than planned, and taking the risk.
However, it was not as simple as it sounded. This was because both methods were…
'Not possible by being only in South Korea.'
First of all, I needed to travel to another country.
*
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long. I am Director Oh Jin-hwa. I'll take you inside."
I headed to the black market in Incheon after a long time.
I was wearing a mask slime that depicted a different face than before. The one that welcomed me this time was a woman Hunter named Oh Jin-hwa again.
'I guess the last time she said about us being a special guest wasn't because she recognized me but rather just a formality.'
I rejected her offer to be guided to an internal warehouse.
Last time, I pretended to look around to get items at low prices that were not properly valued, but I didn't need to do that today.
"I hope to both sell and buy. There is a list of items I want to buy. I don't think I'll have to look around paying my deposit several times."
Deposits paid in stages were the same as paying the price to open the Black Market inventory. When I said that I would skip it, Director Oh Jin-hwa gladly nodded.
"Would you like to sell first?"
"Buy first."
"I see."
I didn't have to sell my stuff first and raise the available budget expectable on their end. Instead, I said the first thing I needed.
"I need an Awakening stone. Do you have it?"
The sale of an Awakening Stone was only possible through government intervention.
However, the state didn't apply the margin or set the value, but it was just an expression of the state's determination to thoroughly identify sellers and buyers.
They intended to minimize the creation of hunters outside the country's control by letting the Awakening Stone flow to the wrong places.
However, not everything in the world could be controlled within the boundaries of the law.
"Yes, there is."
I received an immediate reply with a calm smile.
Here it was, an Awakening Stone sold outside the country's surveillance network.
"How much are the ones from an F-level dungeon?"
Director Oh Jin-hwa spoke politely yet persuasively. "Many hunters have told us from their experience that using the Awakening Stone from a high-grade dungeon will increase the potential Mana and the chances of becoming a Hunter with excellent specifications. In fact, many customers prefer items from high-end dungeons. Pardon me, but if you tell me your budget, I'll recommend the appropriate Awakening Stone…"
The willingness to shake off more money was fantastic, but I was not gullible.
"Is it scientifically proven?"
"Unfortunately, that's…"
"That's enough. Just give me an F-grade."
It was one of the superstitions of this age. Just as there was a higher chance that useful items would come out from high-grade dungeons, the Awakening stones' quality would change.
Of course, it was not true. The only factor that influenced a hunter's specifications was his potential Mana and talent. The Awakening Stone was only the key to give such opportunities, and the effects were practically the same as those from any other dungeon.
Director Oh Jin-hwa did not cheat. Nothing had been proven yet. I was just explaining that conventional ideas were indeed like that. Psychologically, it made people become all ears.
"The price is···"
What she offered was a total of 10.1 billion won.
It reminded me of a thesis that I had read in my previous life. The page went over in my head: article 7, Graph 15. Awakening Stone price trend graph according to the period. A picture appeared in my head – 2035-2040, F-level dungeon source, average market price: 62.7 billion.
'What an expensive time.'
The price given by Director Oh Jin-hwa had added a premium that it was out of government surveillance.
"Did you purposely call on 10.1 billion to give a discount of 0.1 billion?"
"No, it's because I'm discounting 0.9 billion from 11 billion won."
What the heck!
Director Oh Jin-hwa spoke without even changing a facial muscle as she flicked off my words.
Either way, it was an item that I couldn't get unless it was the black market, and the opponent knew so, and the value of the item was certain.
And with this, I gave up the bargain.
"I'll buy it. The deposit can wait until my sale is completed, right?
"Of course, sir."
I told the next item immediately. "Next, do you have Pezzotto's coffin?"
"Of course. If you buy a single coffin, you buy for 7.2 billion won, and if you buy the package with the 'identity,' you can get it for 7.5 billion won."
"The package, please."
"Yes, I'll get it ready."
And then…
"And, by any chance, are Mana cores available?"
"···"
When asked if I could buy a Mana core, Director Oh Jin-hwa gave a brief silence.
Then, she spoke, all without removing the gentle smile from her mouth.
"I'm sorry. We don't handle those."
Of course, I had no business buying a core with my money. I was just testing the water for now.
There was a black market side that handled a Mana core, and one which didn't. Here was the latter.
That meant there was a 99% chance that they were connected to someone I knew. At least, now in 2038.
Even if I remembered all sorts of things through [The Successor's Eyes], I had no choice but to face things myself to check the information that was not passed onto the future.
Fortunately, Oh Jin-hwa's answer met my expectations.
"Well… that's it for the items."
"Do you want to go to the sale?"
"No, that's not what I meant. You do sell information other than goods here, right? Information-wise, they say this place is better than Tokyo."
It was a few years ago that Tokyo and Incheon turned their ranks around in the information market. I knew because I had already talked to someone from the market in Tokyo in the future.
Director Oh Jin-hwa's eyes painted two pairs of crescent moons that went beyond the glasses.
"…There aren't many customers that know those. It seems like I have a very special guest today."
The way she talked was still calm, but I could still read a little agitation from her eyes.
I asked a question right away.
"I'd like to know how to contact the Black Market in the U.S."
The light of tension disappeared from her eyes once more.
"You've bought a lot today, so I'll give you this much information for free. As you know, there isn't only one American market. If you would please specify to me which one you need, Cupertino or Jersey City or Chicago…"
"I need a contact in the D.C. area."
The moment my words came out…
For the first time, the smile disappeared from Director Oh Jin-hwa's mouth.Novels online
Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 34
           
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Chapter 34
I Came Back And Conquered It All
Long Outing
She spoke, almost as if testing me.
"When you're referring to the D.C. contacts…"
"I need a connection with the Washington D.C. market."
People thought that black markets operated independently, but that was only half-true. Some of them exchanged information and products in conjunction with each other, and also shared profits.
At the heart of the alliance was the Black Market in Washington, D.C. At this point, ordinary people and many guilds did not know their existence, since it was a place where black markets dealt with each other.
To achieve my goal, I had to face the owner there.
"I want to meet with the owner of the D.C. Black Market, in other words, the Senator."
Oh Jin-hwa did not smile anymore.
"How did you get to know him? The presence of the fourth market in the United States…"
She was still testing me.
"Isn't D.C. the first market? Considering America, even all over the world?"
It was only then that Oh Jin-hwa stopped pretending.
"I'm sorry, but I can't give you this information for free."
"I guessed so."
"I can't get paid for it."
"···Then?"
"If you give us a 'safe' route we can reach you with, we'll tell you within three days, whether or not we'll be able to provide information, and how much it costs."
I informed her of a burner account.
"Do you have anything else to buy?"
I bought some things that I had left later on. They were small items, but would be tagged if I purchased them from a standard Hunter store.
"Let's move on to the sell-off now."
I turned to look at the trunk—a huge suitcase with rolling wheels that followed me automatically in this building without a touch. When the device was operated remotely, the fuselage was laid to the side, and the lock was, in turn, opened.
Tick!
The top shelf of the bag, from which it was divided into several layers, was opened.
"The item is Lorto's Dagger."
"If you don't mind···"
"Go ahead."
One of the staff came in and tore up the analysis scroll.
'You've been a very useful, dagger.'
I obtained artifacts to be used as weapons from the dungeon in the meantime.
It was not for nothing that the item description explained to replenish the poison diligently, but this sword's poison gland was an object that needed to be charged when it was consumed. When paralyzing poison was needed, the Five Snakes could be used, so I thought of selling the dagger.
Oh Jin-hwa, who finished the analysis, spoke up.
"We offer you 2.2 billion won."
"All right."
It was a little cheap, but I still gave way for the next deal.
Rattle!
When Oh Jin-hwa took the dagger, the trunk shelves went over, and the next frame came up.
"It's a skill card."
There were ten skill cards, all ranging from A-Class to C-Class, and all were goods sold at high prices in this era.
After attacking the dungeon, I always picked a skill card if there wasn't a useful item for me to use. Skill followed the flow of the time, so I picked the time-limited one for present times. It was not hard work to choose the reward, as it was apparent through [The Successor's Eyes].
If I released these cards on the Hunter Store in Yangji, I would be tagged, and investigations about the source would be pursued. The black market was perfect for shaking off this much at once.
"You have only good ones. You have a good eye. I'm amazed."
She said that she was amazed in words, but her voice was calm. However, I didn't miss her gaze, staying a little longer on one card.
[Fire Mastery (Rank: A)]
A-rank, the highest level of magic skill cards available in a normal dungeon.
However, that was not the only reason Oh Jin-hwa was attracted to it.
Right now, the KH Guild had won the bid and had now been targeting the gate in Dunchon-dong, Daejeon, and although the stability status is 'normal,' the attack had been dragging for four months. It was unknown to other guilds, but they were having a hard time dealing with the boss monster, 'Blizzard Ant.'
According to KH Guild's simulation results, 'Lava Field,' which could only be used by learning Fire Mastery above A-Class, must be cast by at least two people to destroy ice burrows that the boss was hiding in, but··· The problem was that there was only one such hunter in the guild.
Although it was not a dungeon in danger of immediate collapse, the fact that it would take a long time to attack could have caused concern among the residents around, and KH Guild began secretly searching for skill cards, aware that the right to clear could be transferred to other guilds depending on the government's influence. Unfortunately, however, there were no supplies not only in Korea but also in the world.
Oh Jin-hwa's eyes glow quietly. I would be thinking about how expensive I could sell it back. I was sure there must have been KH guild contact in the black market.
"We offer 38 billion for all ten cards."
3.8 billion won each.
"Is that the best?"
"It's at the best price, considering that you trusted today's purchase transaction through us, also that the cards you are selling are all valuable, and you are trading ten cards at once."
I spilled it as a passing word.
"I heard it's very chilly in Daejeon these days."
"···"
Oh Jin-hwa only had a little silence, but she did not seem baffled and immediately responded.
"I learned many times from your wisdom today. I offer 43 billion."
She had undergone a quick change of tone, understanding my implication that I knew about the KH Guild.
Thanks to this, it jumped by 5 billion won in an instant. This was less than half the premium that they would receive from the KH Guild.
I thought this was enough since I was not going to deal directly with the KH kids.
"All right."
Unlike the past life, the Dunchon-dong dungeon would likely be cleared by KH Guild this time.
After that, I sold a few more things that I had prepared, and I settled the money that I spent and earned that day and returned home, having made more than 30 billion won in cash.
*
Seo Gyu-cheol called me back that day almost a month after the Okcheon dungeon incident.
"I've prepared your next mission."
Since the day I was known to barely have managed to survive the Okcheon dungeon, I had only encountered Seo Gyu-cheol in a series of reporting occasions.
This was the first time I had been with him alone since then.
'What a great daddy. That's a great daddy.'
"The exploration is next week. The dungeon grade is E."
It had been a while since the media beat him up for sending a novice hunter to an unsuitable dungeon, and yet again, he had chosen another dungeon that was too much for a novice.
He floated the hologram, like the last time, and gave me a brief explanation. His tone made it clear that he found nothing wrong with this at all.
It was as if he didn't know about the accident that had recently happened. He didn't even ask his son for consolation or regards.
The reason why the most intense emotion of the original Seo Jin-wook in response to [Mercadius' Seed] was 'Anger' was in front of my eyes. The reason why he had such deep anger since he was young.
"Do you have anything to say?"
When I stood still without a reply, Seo Gyu-cheol asked in a cold tone. And so, I replied in a tone that was similarly cold to him.
"Yes."
"Say it."
I said it.
"Well, I can't go to a dungeon."
There was a chill of silence in the office.
"What does that mean? Are you disobeying my orders?"
"No, it's not disobedience. It's requesting, my superior."
"What's the appropriate reason?"
Now, Seo Gyu-cheol looked at me with eyes that seemed to kill.
Wow. Are those eyes one could give their kid?
"What part of this dungeon do you not like?"
"It's not just this specific dungeon; it's about dungeons overall. I don't think I can go to a dungeon for a while. I don't want to go."
There was no dungeon exploration with Celestial Dragon for the time being.
We didn't know how many Park Chang-hee could be hiding within this guild. I wanted to wait until Iponia grew up.
"… Are you kidding me?"
"It's not a joke."
I spoke with a stiff look on my face.
"I've had nightmares since the last dungeon exploration. I can see Team Leader Park Chang-hee's last appearance. It's not that I won't go to dungeons forever. I don't mean to quit as a Hunter. I need time to get back into the dungeon—a time to relax. I can't talk to anyone else, but I'm telling you because you're my father. Please understand this."
The moment I said that, something flew into my sight. I let myself get hit on purpose.
Puck!
Shatter!
Now, would one look at this?
I barely held in my desire to raise the ends of my lips.
"What?! What did you just say? Talk to me again!"
Seo Gyu-cheol's roar resonated within the entire room.
He, who had never made a loud noise so far, keeping his cold atmosphere, was venting his anger for the first time. His eyes were burning.
As he was shouting, I glanced at Seo Gyu-cheol's crystal glass broken and rolling on the floor. It just hit my forehead and shattered to pieces. If I were a non-Awakened, my forehead would have been torn with it.
'What a mess, huh?'
Seo Gyu-cheol kept shouting.
"What? Having nightmares? You're so spectacular in many ways! For a Hunter, fighting and accidents are routine. What are you going to do with such a weak mind? That's amazing. Incredible! I don't know from whom you have inherited the fragile mind that could shatter with a puff!"
I simply listened, all without moving.
This was a bit more intense of a reaction than I had initially expected, but the way I intended for it was about right.
"What? You can see Park Chang-hee? Are you going to turn Park Chang-hee's death in vain? He wouldn't be able to close his eyes if he knew he died because of an idiot like you. I don't care, get ready on your own. If you can't make it, I will hang a leash on you like a dog and drag you there!"
It was not just the curse that made Seo Jin-wook's sanity often blew away in front of Seo Gyu-cheol in his previous life. Seo Gyu-cheol also worked hard to add to it.
'I have to make sure if there are seeds in the core once he charged up enough of Mana.'
When I was silent, Seo Gyu-cheol reached out his hand as if he was about to throw a coaster this time.
All right, that was it.
Whip!
I gently caught the crystal coaster that he threw. Seo Gyu-cheol's eyes widened.
"Put a leash and drag me? Is that… something you would say to a son that is suffering?"
It had only been two months, so it was just about time to relapse.
Not to the point of disrespecting the parents··· Should I start flipping things over?
I fumbled the memory of how Seo Jin-wook expressed his anger against Seo Gyu-cheol. As soon as I revived the closest memory, I thought about how I could express it with my Awakened body.
Right after I had thought it through…
"How?! Can you, to your father!"
"This bastard?"
I shivered as if I couldn't contain my rising anger, and with the glass coater in my hand…
Whip!
Clang!
I threw it right in front of where Seo Gyu-cheol was looking.
The expensive pottery that had been placed all over the room was broken continuously.
Seo Gyu-cheol shouted.
"Somebody outside! Get him out of here!"
I played the original Seo Jin-wook with the textbook example of anger management disorder, who kept breaking things in the room and left himself to explode in anger.
My riot with force continued until the hunters rushed into the office and dragged me out.
*
The next day after a ruckus between Seo Gyu-cheol and Seo Jin-wook took place, Secretary Kim Byeong-ho headed to Seo Jin-wook's bedroom.
The quiet gaze of the company's employees followed his path. Rumors had already spread about what happened between the father Seo Gyu-cheol and his son, Seo Jin-wook, yesterday. There was also a murmur that Seo Jin-wook's mental illness had finally recurred.
He knocked on the door with curious eyes in the background.
Knock, knock!
"Team Leader?"
After a five-second wait, he knocked again.
"Team Leader? Team Leader Seo Jin-wook?"
After two mechanical repetitions, Secretary Kim took the key out of his arms and opened the door. Something he would never do in ordinary times.
He entered the room.
And inside was···
"···Hmm."
There was no one in Seo Jin-wook's room. Not only himself but also no 'cat'… that resembled a cat that he raised.
What was left inside was all the shambles of furniture and utensils. Some were broken, torn, shredded, and slightly tanned.
'He outdid himself. The housekeeping team will have a hard time.'
Secretary Kim was not at all shaken. He calmly straightened up the fallen chair, sat down, and made a call.
"···Yes, this is Kim Byeong-ho. Team Leader Seo Jin-wook, I think he left home. He left a note."
The paper he was holding was in rough handwriting, with all kinds of profanities scribbled on it, saying that he would leave the house, and that nobody should come after him.
After putting down the note back, Secretary Kim waited for someone to come.
As he turned his eyes out of the window, the sky was unusually blue. He muttered something that no one could hear.
"···I don't know what you're thinking, but please come back safely."
*
"Welcome to Chicago."
Chicago O'Hare Airport, immigration checkpoint.
After I got my passport back from an immigration officer, I came out of the immigration office and saw myself reflected on the window.
"···It's comfortable. No Mana consumption, too."
The reflection of me was the face of 'Kang Min-Guk,' a businessman who perfectly matched the picture of his passport.
What had changed was not just appearance. Now, if someone pulled out my hair and did a DNA analysis, the result would be consistent with the present Kang Min-Guk, and not of Seo Jin-wook. Thus was the power of the item purchased on the black market.
In fact, this kind of preparation was not necessary to avoid airport inspections. A few days later, I needed this item to participate in exploring the Chicago Gate dungeon as a hunter of another status.
"Chicago···"
I had only been here once in my previous life. I had no chance to visit twice, since the city itself was annihilated entirely afterward.
Beep!
As I operated the terminal, a self-driving car came with an empty driver's seat. I opened the door and registered the user, and it drove downtown.
I came here today to get my hands first on the items that one of my former colleagues would use. Not long ago, I discovered that Randy, Nate, and Hibiki all existed in this period.
'I think I'm the only one who was reincarnated among the four dead in Angelica's hands.'
The three of them and I had something in common – that we died at the Tower of Choice.
It would be highly beneficial if I could meet my former colleagues in this life.
In such a situation, if I stoke the items they would use, I would feel guilty, but this would be done for a reason. I came to Chicago to get the sword that Randy had used in his previous life.
Would I take it and guide it to Randy? Of course, I had the intention to. However, it was still going to be a long time from now.
Randy, of a calm and fair nature, often acted as a mediator between us, and someone might have mistaken him for the eldest, but in fact, he was the youngest of the last five.
To estimate how young he was…
Randy Samuel Hickerson, his birth date was December 3, 2033.
In other words, the sword king, Randy, who was the strongest hunter in the previous life, was just currently a four-year-old child.
I Came Back And Conquered It All
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Seven
Seven21 Jul 2021, 22:28
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What the hell? If hes only 4 just kidnap him and raise him as your son 🥱 I mean uh- find him when he has noone and raise him like a good person.
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kardus315
kardus3154 Jun 2021, 07:28
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lol he is still a baby
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Natsu-gildarts
Natsu-gildarts18 Apr 2021, 15:10
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Damn! He just ran away huh.
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
I Came Back And Conquered It All
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Natsu-gildarts
Natsu-gildarts18 Apr 2021, 15:03
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DC black market is probably the most unknown/secretive of the lot since you know, it's US.
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels
I Came Back And Conquered It All
100
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Natsu-gildarts
Natsu-gildarts18 Apr 2021, 13:16
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Another thot with the Prophecy skill? Does she even really have it?
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kardus315
kardus3154 Jun 2021, 07:13 ➥ Natsu-gildarts
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many secrets waiting to be solved
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels
I Came Back And Conquered It All
100
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2
3
4
5
BOOKMARK
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739
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CHAPTERS LIST
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Natsu-gildarts
Natsu-gildarts18 Apr 2021, 13:09
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What unique skill? Does anyone remember?
That cockroach line was nice.
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hub_yan
hub_yan2 May 2021, 19:40 ➥ Natsu-gildarts
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The author didn't tell us
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels
I Came Back And Conquered It All
86
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Natsu-gildarts
Natsu-gildarts18 Apr 2021, 12:54
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Nice, using high pressure to create a mana core bomb.
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels