Chapter 48

Chapter 48.

‘Where had I seen this before?’

It felt familiar, but she could not remember clearly.

It was blurry, as though paint had been spilled over it.

However, she had the intuition that she must not refuse.

Han Seol-ah immediately touched [Yes].

At that moment...

FLASH!

Something like a warm and yet cool breeze brushed through her head.

A status window she had never seen before appeared in the corner of Han Seol-ah’s vision.

[Party] (2/5)

[Me]

[Han Seol-ah]

[Empty]

[Empty]

[Empty]

[Leave Party]

‘Party?’

Han Seol-ah was not someone who played games, but she was not completely ignorant of the concept.

This Party window looked like something one might see inside a game.

‘Who is the “Me” already joined here?’

It seemed that ‘Me’ was the existence that had invited Han Seol-ah to this ‘Party.’

‘Lord Apostle?’

When she thought of someone who possessed such unheard-of, mysterious abilities, only the Apostle came to mind.

If it was the Apostle, nothing he did would surprise her.

‘He does sometimes do strange things... Still, he would not do anything that harms me. He... would not, right?’

Han Seol-ah had been startled enough for her hair to stand on end, but once she figured out who had committed this eccentric act, her mind calmed.

‘A Party...’

Han Seol-ah carefully examined the Party window and confirmed that two lines, a red bar and a blue bar, were drawn beside each name.

‘Is the red one Vitality, and the blue one Mana?’

As a test, she cast one Ice Arrow.

“Ah. It went down.”

The blue bar decreased slightly.

When she canceled the Ice Arrow and caught her breath for a moment, the blue bar that had decreased filled back up again.

‘How fascinating...’

She wanted to check the red bar as well, but she could not very well injure herself.

‘When we meet next, he will explain it in detail.’

Just as she sorted it out that way and was about to look away...

One of the [Empty] slots inside the [Party] status window was filled by a new person.

[Lee A-un]

‘Who is this... huh?’

Before she could even wonder who it was, Han Seol-ah jumped in surprise and sprang to her feet.

It was because the red bar beside the newly added ‘party member’ was so short that it looked as if it might disappear at any moment.

‘Is the red one not related to life and Vitality? If he is in that state...!’

Did that not mean he was on the verge of death?

***

“Mmmph.”

“He is sleeping well.”

[Vital signs are stable.]

At my feet.

On a shabby mattress, Lee A-un was sleeping soundly.

I had nearly jumped out of my skin when Snowy said [Vital signs are abnormal!] after Lee A-un returned to reality.

“You startled me.”

[I apologize again...]

“No, it was not your fault.”

I immediately flew to where Lee A-un was and found him sleeping amid a pitch-black, tar-like liquid.

At that horrific sight, I thought something terrible had happened to Lee A-un, but...

Lee A-un was fine... No, he was actually incredibly healthy.

In martial arts novels, when someone undergoes something like shedding their bones and remolding their body, impurities supposedly pour out of them.

What Lee A-un experienced was similar to that.

The Outer God’s residue, or impurities.

And the various drugs Lee A-un had swallowed to survive.

Those things had been tangled together and gnawing away at Lee A-un from the inside, but when Lee A-un was reborn in Lost Honor as ‘New A-un’ and returned, they were pushed outside.

When I roughly drew some water and poured it over him, they vanished cleanly.

‘Even when I had him join the Party and checked, his HP was at rock bottom. That said it all.’

When Lee A-un woke up as I was pouring water over him, I had him join the Party and checked him. I could not even describe how startled I was when his HP bar was at rock bottom.

A guy who had 1/10 HP had become someone with 10/10,000 HP, so the bar displaying the ratio naturally had no choice but to hit the bottom.

Still, the scare had not been entirely fruitless, so I did not feel wronged.

Around the time the situation was roughly settled and I could catch my breath...

A cautious voice came from outside the door.

“Is there anything else you would have me do, Special One?”

It was this man.

Because I had been able to meet Lee Hyeong-je, the ‘Golden Mine.’

“Thank you for your hard work.”

This man had handled all the work of washing, drying, and dressing Lee A-un.

Even when I offered to help, he firmly refused, saying he could not allow his benefactor’s hands to be dirtied.

‘You are my benefactor too, though.’

Although I could not show it.

“Shall we walk for a moment?”

“Yes.”

After telling Snowy to monitor Lee A-un’s condition, I led the man on a walk around the area.

After we had moved some distance away from Lee A-un’s house... Hmm, his rag heap? His hideout? Anyway. That place.

“So, what did you want to say?”

It was because Lee Hyeong-je looked as if there was something he wanted to tell me.

“It is... an old story. May I tell it?”

“Keep it short. And not boring.”

“There was once a time when I had quite a lot of Points.”

I knew that well.

Ten years ago, when the Tower first appeared.

I knew that the Black Market had also formed around then.

He was the man who had converted all the wealth he possessed into capital by pouring it into the Black Market, then used his Awakening Ability, ‘Appraiser,’ to begin trading against that very strict Black Market and earned an enormous amount of Points.

And was he not the saint of the Hunter era, who poured all those Points into relief work?

When I implied as much, Lee Hyeong-je laughed as if amused.

“It was not as if I wanted to be a good person from the beginning.”

***

“...That is how it happened.”

So that was how it was.

Lee Hyeong-je was truly eloquent.

Waves of emotion were surging through my chest.

But... it was long.

In the end, it was a story that could be summarized as follows: Lee Hyeong-je was the reason Lee A-un’s younger sister had died, and because of that guilt, he had dedicated himself to relief work and had been taking care of Lee A-un.

“I apologize. It was boring, was it not?”

“It is fine.”

‘Because I summarized it myself.’

Lee Hyeong-je smiled awkwardly, then took a card from his breast pocket and held it out to me.

“What is this?”

“It is a Numbers Card containing my account.”

“I know.”

It was exactly the same as the one I had.

The only difference was that if mine was 1, Lee Hyeong-je’s was 100.

“I will give it to you.”

“...”

“I understand you spent quite a lot of Points this time purchasing a massive amount of supplies to save people.”

“I have a lot of Points, though.”

“I likely have more.”

“...”

For the moment, that was true.

Who knew how many Points Lee Hyeong-je had?

Apparently, no one on Earth except Lee Hyeong-je himself.

“Aside from the legendary VIP, ‘Alchemist,’ I am the person with the most Points on Earth.”

Alchemist?

That was me.

“This VIP... Alchemist must have a lot of Points, then?”

“They say there is no end to them.”

I knew, though.

That amount would be gone if I bought some chicken and pizza...

‘There are assets piled up in my warehouse that can be converted into Points, but those are the bare minimum survival funds I need to survive in this harsh world. They are not money I can spend lavishly.’

It was a mindset in which the accounts in my head were thoroughly separated.

“If I earn Points from the Market, I have heard that the Alchemist produces Points.”

No, I do not.

I earn them through honest labor in Lost Honor...

‘...If I set my mind to it and emptied out the whole warehouse, I could earn an enormous amount of Points.’

There had simply been no need to do that yet.

“So why are you giving this to me?”

“My vessel is small, so even with an enormous amount of Points, my limit was keeping people from starving.”

“I think that alone is an incredible accomplishment.”

Lee Hyeong-je shook his head firmly.

“But I thought that if Special One had Points, you would save the Republic of Korea.”

“...”

“If it is difficult for you to accept, please consider it a reward for saving A-un and for saving me as well, who had been bound to the distant past.”

Having forced the card into my hands in the end, Lee Hyeong-je’s face cleared with relief, and he shuffled into the dark back alley.

As if this was where he belonged.

***

There were probably things Lee Hyeong-je had not said.

If he deliberately chose not to say them, I had no intention of pressing him to hear them.

After all, there could be no grave in this world without a story.

If the story just now had helped him sort out his feelings, that was enough.

‘How much is in here?’

And what should I do with it?

...My mind was in turmoil.

I could not make a decision easily.

Too much money.

Too heavy a weight.

And too many things to do.

In the end, unable to reach a conclusion, I went to find Kang Hyo-jun.

“You have arrived, Special One.”

Kang Hyo-jun’s eyes were still sparkling.

Something... something like enormous anticipation was pouring out of him.

“...Did something good happen?”

“Of course.”

Kang Hyo-jun opened the door with a flourish and guided me.

“I will escort you this way.”

The place I arrived at under Kang Hyo-jun’s guidance was a wide vacant lot.

That place was filled with the Republic of Korea’s main Hunter force: sweat-drenched Tankers.

The Artifacts the Tankers were wearing...

Those were definitely the items I had ordered Kang Hyo-jun to “secure by tomorrow.”

‘...He really obtained that enormous quantity in a single day?’

On top of that.

He had transported all of them from the Market to this vacant lot.

He had summoned the Hunters and sorted them.

And he had even distributed the Artifacts?

It was incredibly flawless execution.

“Would you please check this?”

Kang Hyo-jun held out a tablet.

When I checked, it was a document organizing which Artifact and Consumable Item had been issued to each Hunter.

[Agent. This is...]

It was astonishing.

Kang Hyo-jun’s work exceeded my imagination.

Every combination of Artifacts and Consumable Items was perfect.

[Selsword Armor, a specialty of the German Tower, has an Agility penalty. He offset that with Ogre Skin Potions. On top of that, he distributed Knockoff Elixirs to the Tankers issued British-made chain mail, which has weak magic resistance.]

That was not all.

It was not the sort of work process that went, ‘He is an A-rank Tanker, so give him the best Artifact!’

Instead, the items had been distributed in the optimal way by considering each Tanker’s Awakening Ability and traits.

‘C-rank Tanker Kim So-and-so. Awakening Ability: Thorn Armor. Weakness: the main body’s Vitality is low, so there is a high risk of death before reflection. Solution: issued a Vampire Ring that forcibly restores Vitality when hit... Here too, he erased the weakness and maximized only the strength.’

My eyes busily read through the other entries.

‘On the neck of an A-rank Tanker whose physical defense is an impregnable fortress, but whose weak mentality makes him collapse all the time, he hung a “Necklace of Courage.” As for an evasion Tanker... Wow. He did it properly. Impressive...’

If he had gone only in the direction of maximizing strengths, he would have issued evasion-rate correction Artifacts to evasion-type Tankers.

But the concept had clearly been built toward increasing defense.

‘He avoided the trap issue well too.’

It meant that he had clearly grasped my instructions and my intent.

He had identified the specs and fatal weaknesses of hundreds of people one by one, then refined their builds so that the Artifacts would display 200% or 300% efficiency.

In a single day!

‘You crazy workaholic bastard...’

Although I was giving him a standing ovation internally, I turned to Kang Hyo-jun with an indifferent expression.

“Well, not bad. You pass.”

“Th-thank you...!”

Kang Hyo-jun’s voice trembled faintly.

‘Wait.’

All at once, my thoughts went to the Golden Mine’s Numbers Card in my pocket.

‘Why am I the one agonizing over how to use this?’

When there was such a capable worker.

Someone sharp.

Such an excellent talent in the Republic of Korea.

“People who work well should be entrusted with greater work.”

I took out Lee Hyeong-je’s card and pressed it against Kang Hyo-jun’s chest.

“...This is the Golden Mine’s?”

“Let us make a foundation.”

“...Special One? The Market’s administrator is not a secretary...”

“The capital will be this card. Golden Mine’s entire fortune.”

“Gasp. H-his entire fortune!”

“The purpose of its establishment will be...”

“...”

“The salvation of the Republic of Korea, something like that.”

‘We do not handle that sort of work.’

‘Please reconsider.’

‘I will bring in another expert.’

Kang Hyo-jun’s noisy cries, as if he might grab my trouser legs at any moment, did not reach my ears.

Someone who works well.

Someone easy to handle.

That is you.

Kang Hyo-jun.

‘From today onward, you are my slave for life.’

“Do it if I tell you to.”

I will work you until your bones and flesh are ground down.