abcnovels
Chapter 503
Chapter 503
Chapter 503
[The ‘Crown of the Arrogant’ amplifies all your abilities.]
‘That’s a great power!’
Choi Yeonseung was genuinely impressed. The power of the Noble Crown Collector was greater than expected.
‘I have to make sure I don’t forget it and implement it as a martial art.’
Bang!
The King of Brambles roared and shook. He was hit with the same Origin of the Celestial Fist as before, but its power was on a different level.
With various constellation powers coursing through Choi Yeonseung, his Origin of the Celestial Fist left a hole in the gigantic King of Brambles and shook him to his core.
It was as though each of his attacks distorted the atmosphere.
The Noble Crown Collector couldn’t help closing his eyes, and at the same time, the King of Brambles fell.
***
[The ‘Monk Pursuing Glory’ expresses his gratitude.]
[...]
The monk constellation and the other mortals who had participated in the fight at the Temple of Glory expressed their gratitude to Choi Yeonseung.
[The ‘Chef of Endless Gluttony’ says that things had occurred a bit differently from his expectations, but everything ended well regardless.]
“...”
Choi Yeonseung looked at the chef constellation with a dumbfounded expression. Indeed, it had worked out well, but hadn’t things deviated too much from the chef constellation’s original plan?
The household members of the Explorer of the Stars, who had been hiding in the Temple of Glory and trying to corrupt other mortals, hadn’t actually schemed that much. Instead, they had mostly focused on their own trials.
Meanwhile, the unexpected household members of the Noble Crown Collector had plotted to destroy the Temple of Glory instead of corrupting mortals...
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ criticizes the other constellation for being unexpectedly sloppy.]
[The ‘Chef of Endless Gluttony’ says he might not meet the standards of a goddess who can predict the future, but he did his best.]
“?”
-?
Choi Yeonseung and the goddess of sloth were confused.
What...?
‘This is a truly rare sight.’
It was very unexpected for the goddess of balance to accuse someone of being sloppy...
-The Chef of Endless Gluttony seems to have no idea of what type of constellation the goddess of balance is
-Uh, maybe I should just keep it a secret.
Some facts were best left buried.
From a distance, the goddess of balance seemed like a fairly charismatic and mysterious constellation...
-Eh... I guess?
-Shut up.
***
The Greedy Owner of the Treasure House was being diligent.
There was the Undefeated Incarnation of Training, who had recently grown stronger, and the Chef of Endless Gluttony, who held grudges against various evil god constellations. The rumors of their alliance frightened the treasure house constellation...
...Not really.
Surprisingly, the treasure house constellation wasn’t interested in those two.
It didn’t matter that the incarnation of training had conducted an Abyss raid and broken through to the next realm or that the chef constellation held grudges...
The only thing that mattered to the treasure house constellation was the profit of the day. He was a crooked constellation that didn’t care about events in the Abyss or what the future held. He was only concerned about his treasures, to which he clung tightly.
That was why the treasure house constellation, although not great at combat, was one of the strongest constellations in the Abyss.
Recruit useful humans!
-Yes, Master. But humans tend to not believe in anything.
The ogres weren’t trying to make an excuse to their master. It really was difficult to tempt humans to believe in a constellation. The ones that were more trustworthy were too stupid to make money, and those that had the brains to make money were evil enough to stab a constellation in the back.
The Greedy Owner of the Treasure House was aware of that and smacked his lips with desire.
Humans are perfect for collecting treasures... What a shame.
In the eyes of the treasure constellation, humans were more adept at making money than any other Abyssal race. Not even the goblins were that good.
The treasure house constellation felt uplifted whenever he observed Earth’s highly complex and developed financial market. How happy he would be if he could start such financial endeavors in the Abyss and scrape away at the fortunes of other constellations...
...However, recruiting humans into his household wasn’t easy.
First of all, the abilities of the treasure house constellation were a bit vague. Most powerful hunters were after combat-related powers, so they wouldn’t even bother considering the treasure constellation.
In addition, the Greedy Owner of the Treasure House was an evil god constellation, and humans could have their lives ruined if they made a contract with an evil god constellation and were exposed.
Thus, making such a dangerous agreement with a constellation that didn’t even have much combat power was simply not worth it for humans.
As for non-hunter humans, the trustworthy and loyal ones wouldn’t associate themselves with the treasure house constellation either. Much like hunters, they had no reason to serve an evil god constellation.
In conclusion, most of the people who were willing to make a deal with the treasure house constellations were shady crooks who were desperate. They were those who wanted to rise up instantly!
At first, the treasure house constellation accepted such humans, thinking to himself, ‘Well, I’m a constellation. I can obviously control such mortals.’ However, he realized something after a few bad experiences.
There were some humans out there who could leave ugly scars on a constellation despite not having awakened as hunters.
One human had made investments, which were essentially gambles, with the assets of the treasure house constellation and lost a lot of money; one had tried to short sell the constellation’s stocks and ended up losing all of them; one had applied for a subsidy from the government using artifacts as collateral and was caught trying to embezzle it all...
Those experiences had made even the treasure house constellation, the greediest constellation out there, to be distrustful of humanity.
That household member of the Undefeated Incarnation of Training doesn’t look like it, but he’s good at investments. Try to coax businessmen like him.
-I understand! I shall mainly target businessmen.
Choi Yeonseung’s recent successes had truly been captivating to the treasure house constellation. It was the typical prosperous cycle in which new products from several companies in the group succeeded, and new investments were made.
Seeing that, the treasure house constellation realized that humans who were involved in business had to be useful!
[The ‘Greedy Owner of the Treasure House’ extends a hand to you.]
[The ‘Greedy Owner of the Treasure House’ extends a hand to you.]
[The ‘Greedy Owner of the Treasure House’ extends a hand to you.]
He took the general chaos on Earth as an opportunity to actively reach out to various businessmen. He tried to tempt those who were pushed into a corner, those who were in desperate need of money, those who seemed to have quite a few assets, and so on.
The Greedy Owner of the Treasure House had changed his strategy. If before he would approach humans with money, now he was approaching those who seemed to have potential even if they didn’t have money!
-Greedy Owner of the Treasure House! Please listen to my business proposal! I have an exciting product that sticks a needle into your arm and draws blood if you lose a match!
-Ohhhh, Master! I think it’s a great idea!
...
But the question was whether he and his household members could tell which items were decent. Being a constellation, the Greedy Owner of the Treasure House naturally couldn’t think like a mortal. As for the ogres serving him...
They were loyal, but they lacked intelligence... It was his fault for picking an Abyssal race that lacked the ability to bring him treasures!
In any case, dubious products were better in a way, as he didn’t have to give the humans money for them.
-I’ve prepared a parking item, Greedy Owner of the Treasure House! With the power of magic, the car can find a parking spot and park itself without the driver’s involvement.
-Ohhhh. Human, how amazing! Did you develop that type of magic?
-No? I need money to develop that type of magic. If you invest in me...
...
After several more experiences like that, the treasure house constellation was seriously considering cutting off humans entirely.
However, failure was the mother of success. After countless attempts, he finally found a useful businessman.
Jacob Parker—the eldest son of the Parker Group from the United States.
[The ‘Greedy Owner of the Treasure House’ compliments you!]
[He says it is an excellent choice.]
The treasure house constellation quivered with delight. He had found a businessman from one of the leading groups from the richest country on Earth!
No matter how he thought about it, this human had to be competent to some degree. This household member would make him several times more wealthy!
“Thank you, Master.”
[The ‘Greedy Owner of the Treasure House’ asks what you want.]
“Well... If you can invest in me...” Jacob Parker said cautiously.
To someone like Choi Yeonseung, constellations merely seemed like a bunch of hooligans, but to normal people, they were terrifying beings. However, the treasure house constellation was in a very good mood.
[The ‘Greedy Owner of the Treasure House’ opens the door to the warehouse!]
He made a surprisingly generous investment, to the point that the ogres were taken aback!
-Master, isn’t it dangerous? Humans are...
This is what investing is like. For a capable mortal, you have to invest accordingly before they can achieve results.
The treasure house constellation was confident.
At last, he had found a capable household member!
***
“Parker Group is being suspicious? Weren’t they always like that?”
Choi Yeonseung was confused by the report.
Famous companies collected nasty allegations like they were medals.
-I heard they set up a factory in China where they force their employees to work twenty-five hours a day.
-There’s a rumor that they disregard toxic substances within production...
Because of such allegations, Parker Group took a massive hit, along with other similarly shady companies, after the new president was elected.
The frustrated executives, convinced that they had been wronged, urged people to investigate Dragon Industry as well, hoping to drown the company like sea ghosts, but...
‘I run an undead factory, so I’m untouchable.’
Nobody managed to damage Dragon Industry, which took advantage of the worldwide chaos to run the undead factory in Choi Yeonseung’s realm.
“It’s not the group that’s suspicious. It’s Jacob Parker in particular.”
As the oldest son of the Parker family, Jacob Parker held many positions and possessed remarkable power. However, his business failures from recent years had restrained him.
Suddenly, Jacob Parker received money from an unknown source and was traveling back and forth between the Abyss and Earth to prepare for a new business.
“Didn’t his father give it to him? The property must not be ordinary.”
“It’s possible, but there's a suspicious report...”
“What?”
“There is a rumor that he has signed a contract with a constellation. Jacob Parker was drunk at a party and said something like that. He said something about a constellation of infinite treasures...?”
“!”
There weren’t many constellations who signed contracts with ordinary people. Constellations liked humans who were capable. However, the Greedy Owner of the Treasure House was different. Given his nature, it wouldn’t be strange at all if he signed a contract with a normal person.
[The ‘Chef of Endless Gluttony’ is shocked and says it is a big deal!]
[He warns that this is a ploy by the ‘Greedy Owner of the Treasure House’ to increase his wealth and increase his power.]
[He predicts that a mighty storm will occur if he recruits a powerful household member.]
‘Certainly, that’s true.’
Choi Yeonseung’s expression was also serious.
The treasure house constellation had to plan something big, otherwise he wouldn’t have recruited someone like Jacob Parker.
As a constellation, Choi Yeonseung’s duties weren’t limited to killing monsters and preventing other constellations from invading Earth. Sometimes, it was more difficult to protect the company and its businesses.
“This is a big problem. If they actually signed a contract... We can’t just rush at them. Should we go on the defensive for the time being?”
“...Um?”
Aine tilted her head. Choi Yeonseung seemed to be overly worried.
“I don’t think it’s that bad though? Jacob Parker isn’t that capable.”
“You don’t need to reassure me.”
“No, really... He really isn’t that great...”