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Chapter 142:
Chapter 142:
Chapter 142:
Chapter 142
As the news of the third expedition team spread, people’s attention was drawn to them.
The first and second expeditions had failed.
It was unacceptable to have two failures that risked the lives of collectors.
Naturally, the third expedition team was prepared lavishly, as if to make up for the previous mistakes.
The total number of explorers was 30.
The team included clans, associations, various managements, mercenaries, and even overseas clans that were hired with money.
Even more, most of the members were mid-level collectors ranging from rank 4 to rank 6.
The people’s reaction was naturally explosive.
[With this, they should be able to beat them all and come back, right?]
[Honestly, if they had done this from the start, how great would it have been? They are just rushing after the incident happened]
[It’s good that they are doing it properly now. There’s no way they will fail after doing this much, right?]
However, not everyone was confident.
If the third expedition also failed, the world of thought would be declared as unexplorable.
The area within 2km radius would be closed off and left alone.
That would cause immense damage.
The government also wanted to prevent that, and chose the most luxurious personnel for the third expedition team.
The reason why they formed the team with mostly well-known mid-level collectors was because of that.
The most famous mid-level collector among them, who could be confidently called the Sword Master Kang Hye-rim.
Along with her, the eccentric teller Kang Yu-hyun who raised her as a sword master and fought himself.
And the rookie Kwon Jia who was recently recruited and trained by Kang Yu-hyun.
These three alone were impressive enough, but the other clans were not easy either.
Hanul sent two rising stars that Shin Dong-chul clenched his teeth and let go, and the association also sent five collectors from the special task force team.
Even more, the mercenary they hired with money was a famous person from Australia.
And there were also collectors from overseas clans and some mid-level managements that had started to make a name for themselves.
“This is no joke.”
Near the entrance of the world of thought, Kang Yu-hyun whistled as he looked at the gathered people.
They were qualitatively different from the low-level collectors he had seen so far. That seemed to make Kwon Jia and Kang Hye-rim slightly nervous as well.
“I thought we were getting pretty good too. But looking at these people’s faces, I feel a bit overwhelmed.”
Kang Hye-rim whispered softly to Kang Yu-hyun so that only he could hear.
She seemed to feel the surrounding eyes on her, and maintained a blank expression with a slight tension.
Kang Yu-hyun agreed with her words.
The people who gathered this time were few who could stand proudly in front of the name Sword Master.
‘But there are some unexpected figures among them.’
What caught Kang Yu-hyun’s interest the most was the collector who came from overseas to support them.
‘Flame Knight Kwon In-beom. I didn’t expect him to come here.’
Kwon In-beom was one of the rising stars who was called along with Sword Master Kang Hye-rim in his previous life.
He was someone who went to study in America at a young age.
There he awakened as a collector and worked for an American clan under a temporary contract.
Originally, Kwon In-beom should have come to Korea a few months later and started his activities.
But because of this world of thought incident, he came to Korea much earlier than expected.
‘And besides him, there’s another one.’
Kang Yu-hyun’s eyes looked at a collector who was sitting in a corner with a robe on.
He wore a mask on his face and showed no interest in the people around him. He just stared blankly at the air, which looked quite strange.
‘I didn’t expect Mr. Bangsang to appear here.’
Mysterious Mr. Bangsang.
Flame Knight Kwon In-beom, Sword Master Kang Hye-rim and him were the three rising stars who emerged at that time.
His name was not known. He always hid his appearance and wore a Mr. Bangsang mask on his face, so people just called him Mr. Bangsang.
Kang Yu-hyun checked his book and exclaimed inwardly.
‘He was so strange that I wondered who he was, but he turned out to be a woman.’
The mask that Mr. Bangsang wore had some magical treatment that prevented anyone from guessing his identity, but Kang Yu-hyun was different. His ability to read books was not hindered by such things.
‘Her name is Son Seo-young. She is twenty-four years old? She is younger than I thought. The light that her book emits is a faint gold color, so… Her potential is not as good as our Hye-rim, but she still deserves to be one of the three rising stars?’
As Yu-hyun made that judgment in his mind, Bangsang, who had been staring blankly at the air, suddenly shivered and turned his head toward Yu-hyun.
The four eye holes of Bangsang’s mask were pitch black, like bowls filled with darkness. Yu-hyun looked at them without any surprise and casually averted his gaze.
Hoot!
However, Baekhyo, who was sitting on Yu-hyun’s shoulder, was startled by Bangsang’s gaze and flapped his wings.
‘Ah. Is it because of that?’
Yu-hyun guessed why Baekhyo was scared. Bangsang was a mask used to chase away evil spirits, but it also had a ‘history’ of scaring owls.
It was because of an anecdote from the Joseon Dynasty, when King Taejong Lee Bangwon was afraid of the sound of owls and made his guards wear Bangsang masks at night to keep watch.
“Baekhyo, it’s okay. Don’t be afraid.”
Yu-hyun stroked Baekhyo’s head. Baekhyo closed his eyes and enjoyed Yu-hyun’s touch.
Yu-hyun belatedly realized that Bangsang’s gaze was not directed at him, but at the owl on his shoulder.
‘What? Is he interested in Baekhyo?’
Worried that he might take him away, Yu-hyun covered Baekhyo with his hand more tightly.
He was so small that he could hide more than half of his body with one hand.
Yu-hyun also glanced at the other people.
‘The mid-level collectors sent by the other clans are all familiar names. The most famous one among them is probably Hwang Junwoo, the White Spear from Hanul. He was a promising talent who would become a high-level collector in the future.’
He didn’t expect Hanul to send such a collector. It was clear that Hanul wanted this mission to succeed.
‘But on the other hand, Twilight Veil…’
Through Yu-hyun’s narrowed eyes, three collectors came into view.
A short man with a hood pulled over his head, a mixed-race black man with an unusually tall height, and a middle-aged man with a long beard.
They didn’t look much different from the other collectors with their distinctive appearances, but Yu-hyun looked beyond their outward appearance and into their inner nature.
‘They sent dangerous ones.’
They might try to hide it, but they couldn’t escape Yu-hyun’s eyes, who had survived for ten years after the apocalypse.
They were dangerous types.
The kind that smelled of blood even when they were still.
Like Jack the Ripper Kim Hanjung.
Why did Twilight Veil send those guys?
Yu-hyun pondered for a moment and quickly came to a conclusion.
‘Of course. That’s what it was.’
Twilight Veil never intended to succeed in this exploration.
Rather, they would ruin it if they could.
‘The clan leader of Twilight Veil wouldn’t have made this decision. Rather, someone behind the scenes manipulated the situation. I have a rough idea of who it is.’
Twilight Veil had a contract with the Pentagram Department.
Surely, a teller from Pentagram had interfered with this selection.
The face that came to mind was a small fairy who smiled innocently.
She was the one who blew up people’s heads along with the start of the apocalypse.
‘She figured out that I was behind this. Well, I thought she would find out sooner or later if she wasn’t stupid.’
Those three were Agaeri’s warning and revenge.
She sent three mid-level collectors who he had secretly raised like Kim Hanjung.
It showed that he was willing to sacrifice some losses to stop this mission at all costs.
‘They must know that they are being used as disposable cards, but did they come anyway? They are like puppets who have been brainwashed.’
Kim Hanjung was at least a case who didn’t hide his personal desires, but those three looked like emotionless dolls no matter how he looked at them.
They were inferior to Kim Hanjung, but much more dangerous.
They would surely try to ruin this exploration even if they had to throw away their lives.
‘I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t know, but now that I know, the story changes.’
“What are you looking at so intently?”
As Yu-hyun’s gaze stayed in one place for a while, Kwon Jia asked.
“Those three from Twilight Veil. Do you see them?”
“Yeah. They look dangerous just by looking at them.”
“Yes. And they will try to ruin this exploration. Because they were raised for that purpose.”
“…Are we their target?”
Kwon Jia didn’t ask for the reason in detail.
She just naturally accepted the fact that Yu-hyun told her and tried to find the reason herself.
“They must hate that teller over there.”
“I already have enough to worry about with the world of thoughs, and now I have more things to deal with.”
I finished checking the faces of the people gathered here.
None of them wanted to be friendly with each other. All the other collectors here were potential competitors.
The only good thing was that the world of thoughs we were about to enter was so dangerous that there was no room for hostility or fighting among us.
The collectors knew that they had to cooperate with each other in this situation, whether they liked it or not.
“Ah, attention everyone.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to where the sound came from.
There was a middle-aged man with a square face holding a megaphone.
“I am Park Cheol-oh, the deputy leader of the special unit 2 of the association. And I’m in charge of the command of the third expedition team.”
He glanced at the audience.
His dignified and concise actions were like those of a soldier who had been in an organization for a long time.
In fact, Park Cheol-oh was a former non-commissioned officer who awakened as a collector after the change.
“I know that you are all amazing people who can stand out anywhere. But the place we are going to now is an unknown world that has not been revealed yet. I believe you all know how dangerous it is. So I hope you follow my instructions as much as possible. I understand your position, so I don’t ask for unconditional obedience. I just hope you keep the minimum line.”
Some of the collectors nodded their heads, saying ‘that’s reasonable, what’.
Park Cheol-oh wanted to prevent any possible conflicts that could arise from clashing egos among different groups of mid-level collectors.
He nodded at the friendly response.
“Before we go in, let me give you some information. Of course, those who received the data in advance must have read it. And we had a briefing, so you can’t not know. The place we’re going to is very dangerous. You all know that, right? The sea. And a giant monster.”
“Huh. Of course we know.”
“The sea… This time the setting is not very favorable.”
“What kind of combination is the sea and a monster?”
Some of the collectors who already knew from the previous mention complained.
They thought it was quite overwhelming to face the white monster, that is, the giant fantasy creature.
To make matters worse, the background was the vast sea.
The information given by the survivor was very scarce, but it was enough to make the collectors sick.
“Don’t worry. We’ve prepared well for that.”
Park Cheol-oh showed them the items lined up behind him and said that.
“What are those… They’re weapons for giant monsters, aren’t they?”
“They brought something that big. The third expedition really prepared well. It wasn’t a rumor.”
Some of the collectors’ faces relaxed when they saw the specially made items. Yu-hyun had to admit the association’s readiness.
‘The cannon [Thousand Characters] that contains a huge explosion story. The [Thousand Nets] that swallow and capture anything over 10m in size. They brought some pretty important things to deal with giant fantasy creatures.’
The collectors who saw the weapons that could destroy or capture any fantasy creature in one shot felt quite relieved.