abcnovels
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
Chapter 18
?Aringen's Crystal Coat (Masterpiece) has been dropped.?
?This coat, where blue crystals grow between the black wool fabric and the leather belt, provides the wearer with sturdy protection and a stylish fashion.?
?Health +250?
I was speechless when I saw the artifact that appeared with a bright light.
The 'Hardening' skill I just got was pretty good too.
Just having it gave me +100 Health and +75 Strength.
Although I haven't checked yet, if I expand my status window, my rank might have gone up from 'C-' to 'C.'
But this coat gives a whopping 250 Health.
When I ate the 'Fallen Dragon's Heart' and became D+, my Health was around 200, and it only recently reached 220 when I became C-Rank.
But just by wearing this coat, I get 250 Health.
It means that even a non-Awakened person could gain the stamina, detoxification ability, and defense of a C-Rank Awakened.
I picked up the coat and muttered.
"I've rarely thought of myself as lucky..."
The Constellation's voice echoed in my head.
?"Isn't there a tendency for the artifact drop rate to increase the fewer hits you land?"?
?"Except for a few sword swings, you practically smashed it in one hit, so it's reasonable for it to drop. Others would have had to hit it thousands of times more than you."?
The executive with the severed arm, the middle-aged man named Hwang, muttered in a daze.
"That thing actually dropped?"
The other executives also mumbled incoherently.
"I've never seen that happen in years of working here."
"Didn't he practically kill the Rock Golem in one hit? Was there a hit count limit on the drop condition?"
"We attacked that guy... no, that person?"
They all seemed bewildered.
I knew from my long experience in the field.
People tend to feel like they're dreaming when they witness something like this.
It would be surprising enough that I defeated the Rock Golem, but the fact that it was done by an F-Rank who was mining Mana Stones here until a month ago...
It was abnormal to accept it immediately.
?"Haven't you gotten everything you need? Let's go."?
?Your constellation 'Sunny' points towards the exit.?
I hesitated for a moment.
I got 'Hardening' and the 'Crystal Coat' in one go, so if I catch a few more, wouldn't I be able to raise my specs much higher?
I couldn't help but have expectations.
"Yes, let's go."
But I neatly put aside my greed.
I might feel like I'm on cloud nine, but I used up all my Mana with that one Radiant Wave.
Also, due to the nature of my fire abilities, I wasn't a good match against rock or earth types.
Even among B-Rankes, there's a big difference between a 'Ghost' and a 'Rock Golem.'
Until I could erase everything in front of me with Law of Light like before, it was better to be mindful of elemental matchups.
I gestured to the executives sprawled around.
"What are you doing? Get up."
"Yes, yes?"
"Aren't you leaving? You need to get my and Wolha's signatures. We said we're quitting."
"...?"
Executive Hwang and the other executives exchanged glances.
"You're... not going to kill us?"
"Why would I?"
"We, uh..."
I know everything.
These guys committed fraud, probably even killed some people, and just now, they tried to kill me too.
But wasn't cutting off one arm enough?
I have no intention of overlooking the injustice I witnessed, but a high and mighty person like me can't personally punish every single wrongdoer.
Instead, I've tried to create a system that maintains order even without me.
"Do you think I'm a psychopath? Awakened can fight each other too."
So I'm going to report them.
The police and prosecutors will handle the punishment.
"Let's get out of here quickly. Another Golem might appear."
All I want is to quit the porter job that Ilha used to do.
?Would you like to exit the cleared Gate 'Aringen's Open-Pit Mine'??
?Y/N?
I exited the Gate and returned to the 'Woori Mining' office.
Unlike when I left, the executives around me were very polite.
"It's lunchtime, shall we order some food for you?"
"What kind of drink would you like?"
"May I ask if I can go to the hospital to treat my arm?"
And Wolha and the other executives who remained in the office...
"You damn shrimp, just do as he says! Stop talking back!"
"Hey, you honestly want to keep working here, right? Right? Say it, you damn bastard."
"You're not actually trusting that hyung of yours, are you? He's probably half-dead by now, you know?"
"Hurry up and sign here. 'I will work for the next 5 years at minimum wage.'"
"If you don't sign, your brother's as good as dead, you know? Even after a Gate's been cleared, F-Rank and E-Rank monsters keep popping up, right? They'll pick his bones clean in 20 minutes flat."
They still hadn't come to their senses.
The company employees and executives surrounded Wolha, who was sitting on the sofa— their eyes darting around frantically.
"!"
I heard the sharp intake of breath from the executives who had entered the Gate with me.
I put on a bright smile and said.
"Wolha, I've said goodbye to everyone. If you're done with the paperwork, let's go home."
One of the company employees, with an irezumi tattoo outlining his arm, pointed at me.
[TL/NL: Irezumi is a traditional style of Japanese tattoo art that has a rich history and cultural significance.]
"Who said you can go home? Hey, you come sit here too. Hurry up and get over here!"
I didn't answer and just glanced to the side.
Executive Hwang, now one-armed, was turning pale.
Tsk.
To have such clueless subordinates...
* * *
"Pull yourself..."
"Pull yourself..."
"Together."
"Together!"
The executives and employees of Woori Mining were all bowing their heads on the ground in unison.
One young executive, unable to give up until the very end, tried to take Wolha hostage.
"Don't move!"
He flinched as the sashimi knife he had pressed against Wolha's neck pierced through his own hand.
"Yeah, don't move."
"Aaaaagh!"
The sashimi knife, impaled through his hand and into the table, quivered.
"Sorry. I lost my temper for a moment there."
Pull.
Baekya apologized as he pulled out the sashimi knife.
The apology might have been insincere, but the part about losing his temper was genuine.
'Why?'
He wasn't even his real brother.
He was just sticking around because he had nowhere else to go and wanted to repay the body's owner for keeping him alive.
'Could I have gotten attached?'
But seeing a knife at his throat made his blood boil.
Baekya decided not to dwell on the question.
There were many questions in the world that were better left unanswered.
Instead of seeking an answer, he heated his finger like a branding iron and cauterized the wound on the young executive's hand, which was gushing blood.
Sizzle!
"Aaaaagh!"
The man let out a high-pitched scream and wet his pants.
The 1st generation old-timer's eyes narrowed at the fact that an Awakened couldn't even withstand this much pain.
"How weak."
"You, you, you'll pay for this."
"Sure, give it your best shot."
"Do you know who my brother is?"
"How would I know?"
"He's a member of the ‘Sun and Moon Divine Guild!’"
Sun and Moon Divine Guild.
[TL/N: The name is subjected to change in the future as I get more context about it.]
It was a large guild where Awakened with 'martial arts' related traits, titles, and classes gathered.
Although they had fewer members than Lee Eunwoo's 'Iron Blood Legion,' their average quality was higher.
If he was a regular guild member there, he was a Hunter with enough influence in this Awakened society that worshipped power.
"Really? Give me your business card."
"What?"
"I said, give me your business card. I'll pay him a visit."
But Baekya was the supreme ruler who had reigned at the top of that Awakened society for 15 years.
He, whom even the Sun and Moon Divine Guild Master would greet barefoot, wouldn't be intimidated by a mere guild member.
"If I tell them his brother is going around threatening porters, they'll probably give me some hush money."
"You crazy bastard!"
At that moment, another conversation was taking place in Baekya's mind.
?"Are you really going to demand a reward?"?
'No. I intend to postpone revealing myself to the Awakened society as long as possible.'
?"Just bluffing then?"?
'Not that either.'
?"Then what is it?"?
?Your constellation 'Sunny' expresses curiosity.?
'I'm going to launder the money I took from the warehouse as a reward.'
I needed money anyway, and this seemed like a good opportunity.
'I'll squeeze some money out of them this time, help him focus on the civil service exam. If I have enough, I'll get him a couple more elixirs and raise him to C-Rank. That should be enough to repay him for keeping this body alive.'
?Your constellation 'Sunny' is impressed by your profound thoughts.?
?3 Mana stat points are sponsored.?
'Thank you!'
Baekya received the sponsorship for the day and focused back on the people in front of him.
"Hand over the business card, and bring the documents."
His voice, firm as a thousand-year-old glacier, made the young executive flinch.
He ran out of the office and returned with the documents that had been carelessly stored in a hallway cabinet.
Porter Kim, Porter Park, and Porter Choi, who had finished their morning shift and came out for lunch, witnessed the scene.
"Oh my god."
"That's Ilha and Wolha, right?"
The once-intimidating executives and employees were bowing their heads before the two.
* * *
The three of them wrote posts on the 'Porter Bulletin Board' of the Awakened community 'Star Chatter' while eating lunch that day.
[It seems like a colleague I worked with Reawakened~]
[I think I saw a Reawakening today. Mwahaha!]
[That's one lucky junior.]
The content of their posts followed a common pattern on that bulletin board.
A hardworking porter junior, who was diligently working to pay for his younger brother's medicine, recently fell victim to an artifact scam and ended up in massive debt.
Somehow, he managed to pay off the debt and didn't show up for work for a while.
Then today, he came back saying he wanted to quit and completely turned the company upside down.
The comments were polarized.
[If all the Reawakened people in these stories were real, Korea would have over 100 S-Rankers by now.]
[Wow! You guys had quite the show. I'm envious.]
[I hope that friend does well. Hehehe~]
[I hope the same luck comes to you hyungs~]
[Did you think saying it's too cliche would make us believe it?]
[This is why the New Year's Literary Contest is failing.]
About half of the comments were telling them not to make things up, and the other half were congratulatory.
Certainly, this kind of story appeared quite frequently on the Porter Bulletin Board.
Reawakening was something that all porters, at the bottom of the Awakened society, dreamed of.
That's why neither those who said not to make things up nor those who congratulated them wrote their comments very seriously.
Even Mr. Kim, Mr. Choi, and Mr. Park, who had posted the stories, felt the same way.
They occasionally chuckled or got annoyed while looking at the comment notifications, then headed back into the Gate with the other porters.
However, the story was different for the executives of Woori Mining.
"I took Executive Hwang to the hospital and came back."
"What happened to those guys talking about the police earlier?"
"I checked on my way back, and they said we have to show up at the station starting tomorrow. They warned us that if any of us try to skip town, we'll be arrested on the spot, so don't even think about it."
"Ah, they're trying to quell the chaos caused by Baekya's death by cracking down on us."
They were all 'Hunters' with at least a D+ or C- Rank, so they could somewhat grasp the strength they had witnessed.
"It's like... I had a nightmare. I don't know what I saw."
Everyone nodded at one executive's words.
"Hyungnim, are you saying he really took down that Aringen Rock Golem in one hit?"
"You think it's a lie? Didn't you see Executive Hwang lose his arm?"
"That level of strength... he's at least B+ Rank, isn't he?"
"Jinyoung was taken out instantly earlier. And you're C-Rank, aren't you?"
"Honestly... it felt like sparring with my hyungnim."
"It's a Reawakening. A genuine Reawakening."
"We're lucky to be alive."
"Hey, when we go for the police investigation, spill everything. If we try to get clever and that bastard comes back, we're dead meat. Even if we rot in jail for a few years, it's safer there. Got it?"
"Yes."
One executive looked at the young executive who had his hand stabbed earlier.
"Hey, do you think he'll actually go after your brother?"
The young executive hesitated for a moment before answering.
"I hope he does. Then he'll die."
The executives and employees nodded one by one.
"He probably will."
They knew how arrogant real Hunters could be.
The only ones they respected were the High Rankers who raided the Tower alongside Baekya.
They barely even acknowledged the government Awakened who fought against Gates.
No matter if he had Reawakened, he was just a porter until a few days ago.
Beep
A familiar disaster alert broke the brief silence.
[Emergency Gate Disaster Alert]
[Gyeonggi-do, Seoul, Highway 100, Goryeo Overpass. Grade 5 Gate occurrence. Coordinates...]
One of the executives muttered.
"Isn't that on the way to that Ilha kid's house?"
[Translator - Hestia
[Proofreader - Kaya]