Chapter 23: Home Sweet Home (3)
We got out of the car and, guided belatedly by the staff who had followed, arrived in front of a door surrounded by thick iron walls.
And there was a familiar face waiting, having arrived ahead of us.
“It’s funny how I ended up visiting the National Intelligence Service in my life.”
“I apologize. These are classified documents, so they cannot be taken outside the building.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m grateful just to see what you can show us like this.”
“Well then, shall we go in.”
In the kind of advanced locking system you’d only see in a movie, the director and one agent fiddled with something for quite a while.
– Click.
At last the door as thick as an adult’s torso swung open.
“We have sorted the information that can be disclosed into files on the desk. Feel free to look through them and come out when you’re done.”
“Thank you.”
Inside that iron door, security seemed laughably useless—it was empty. The only furniture was rough desks and chairs that looked straight out of an 80s film, and even the chairs were far fewer than the number of people.
“But why did you say you wanted me to see this? If there was something you were curious about, I could have told you.”
“If you’d known how to create a soul for Ria’s body, you would have told me already without pestering me like this.”
Ahem, when have I ever pestered you?
“Have you forgotten? Yesterday you almost went to Egypt to search for the beetle talisman. Even if you found it, bringing it back would cause a diplomatic dispute.”
“As a rule, if nobody makes an issue of it, then it isn’t a problem. Do you think this body couldn’t steal something as small as a fist‑sized stone?”
“Yes indeed, a true righteous thief.”
Leaving Elder’s grumbling behind, I skimmed through the files piled on the desk one by one.
“If you flip so fast, does any of it even make any sense?”
“Of course not. I’m just finding the parts I need to check.”
“Check? You, so you already found a way, right?”
I had found it.
A way to give Ria a soul so that Elder Gumiho wouldn’t have to resort to thievery.
But I needed stronger certainty.
A vague guess and a lighthearted effort won’t let me gauge the aftermath accurately.
And thanks to the NIS’s consideration, I was finally able to get information solid enough to give me confidence.
[Case of a Fiery Tornado arising in a stable atmosphere layer]
“Elder, there’s a yokai we need to find.”
At a construction site where a small one‑room building was being erected.
– Bang bang. Drdrdrdr.
Amid the loud clamor of heavy machinery echoing in all directions, a small commotion occurred.
“Hey, kid, who took that charger? Damn it, I gotta charge. Who the hell was it? You came up carrying a Makisen so fast.”
“No message came either, what kind of charging is it. Choi‑pro, just come up!”
“No, I said I put it here! Didn’t you see it too?”
“Where would it be, just come on.”
The worker who had been complaining vociferously, maybe because of the noise, finally moved when another shoved him from behind.
Behind the opposite wall, the worker called Choi‑pro was giggling while plugging the sought‑after outlet with a cellphone charger.
“Heh heh, these lowlifes. Look at what’s been posted today.”
The youth, who looked barely twenty, seemed to find great amusement in viewing an old phone screen cracked all around with peeling coating, tapping busily.
Above the rapidly updating screen, suddenly a dark shadow fell.
“Hey, Gombang.”
“What is it?”
“Did you take this charger?”
“No, it was just lying here.”
“What? You little punk, where’s your blood? Just lying here? Are you crazy?”
“Choi‑pro, just come up. Don’t drain your energy from morning already.”
“Let me see it. Hey! You planning to keep using this? Even if it’s damn hard to get a charger these days, you still act like this—always coming and tapping on your phone, dropping mortar on it and breaking it, huh!”
Choi‑pro, despite the foreman’s intervention, seemed to have bottled up frustration and shouted loudly.
“I’ll talk to him, so come up. There’s soondae and soju up there. Go ahead and eat first. Ah, you don’t want today’s wage?”
“Alright, thanks. This time I’ll let it slide since I know your face. You behave. Got it?”
The foreman waved Choi‑pro away and, with a friendly smile, placated Yongman.
“Aye, Yongman, you too, okay. Even if this work has no up or down, if you keep talking back… oy, I haven’t even finished speaking yet.”
But Yongman ignored the middle‑aged man and stalked off toward the stacked cement sacks, slinging a bag on his back.
Damn it, which worm thinks he can talk big. If I ascend, he won’t even dare meet my gaze… sigh.
Yongman’s job was simple.
From early dawn, carry the heavy cement sacks, dirt, and tiles up to the building—that so‑called “gombang” work.
To Yongman, whose background was unclear, this gombang work with no documents required and paid daily wage was the best and final job he had.
Yet apart from that, his terrible personality made him the target of sharp glances like now.
And his work always ended just after the scheduled deadline.
“If you’d just rush a little, it would be fine, but you're always this late.”
Yongman stuffed the fifty‑thousand‑won bill the foreman complained with into his pocket carelessly.
This is annoying, really. Couldn’t even check the bulletin board properly.
Yongman headed toward a deserted bench away from the exit path and turned on his phone. On the screen was a crudely designed web forum.
[Mobile Game Hero’s Way Freeboard]
– Weekly cheat codes, automated farming programs.
– 100% trusted refund private gambling.
– Daily work‑from‑home part‑time job. If you have a computer, guarantee 400,000 won per day!
– Just enter and get cruise tickets and funeral service discounts at once?
…Scrolling past the titles, Yongman vaguely guessed what had happened in his absence.
Ha, looks like some worthless guy came and went again.
After deleting advertisement posts mixed with special characters, Yongman pressed the “new post” button.
– Tap tap. Tap‑tap‑tap.
『Title: I’m exhausted today, so I’m skipping the raid.
Author: (Admin) zLordMir z
Content:
These days the workload at the company is a bit high.
It’s not to the extent of overnight tasks, but since I’m the only person on the team who can handle this, it all falls on me.
It’s really a humiliating thing.
If I quit, several big projects might collapse and I don’t know if the company can hold up.
My senior knows that too, so they’re watching my manner a lot.
But if by any chance I skip the raid today and we’re short on damage, whisper to me.
I’ll do my best to get in.』
“Are you going to complete writing the post?”
At the moment I was about to press the finish button,
“Long time no see.”
“You, you are! How did you come here?”
“Heh heh, glad to see you? You have no idea how much trouble I went through looking for you. You sure know how to hide. Didn’t train, just honed your hiding skills? Ouch, my old bones.”
The person who stood up, patting my shoulder under the streetlamp, was none other than the Gumiho.
“I won’t say much. I have important business, so hand over a Dragon Pearl.”
“You crazy bastard. Why would I give that to you...”
– Ssaaaak. Crack.
I couldn’t finish speaking as the Gumiho’s hand grabbed the back of my neck so fast I heard a tearing sound.
“Guh.”
“I did not ask permission.”
The Gumiho’s tone changed. The mischievous eyes turned cold.
“Guh, first put this down and let’s talk...”
‘It’s real. This crazy bastard really intends to kill me and take my Dragon Pearl. Why all of a sudden?!’
I struggled to hold onto consciousness, but my vision darkened.
After I collapsed on the bench, the Gumiho carefully laid me down, pulled a gom-bangdae from her robe, and plunged it into my chest.
– Thud. Whoosh.
The old gom‑bangdae pierced my body and exuded divine power bright enough to illuminate the surroundings.
“Arghhh!”
Within the beam of divine power, my body swelled, emitting black smoke and shapes resembling a giant snake covered in black scales.
[Growlll.]
The snake, easily over three meters long, was not in a state to respond to the Gumiho’s question.
“You’ve become this clouded? Whatever dirt you’ve accumulated, tch.”
“You’re engaging in a silly granddaughter play and even helping a mortal ascend. There's no time—attack!”
At the wave of her hand, enormous fangs instantly lunged at the Gumiho.
But my attack was pathetically blocked.
Then the Gumiho pummeled my massive body with merciless blows for a long time.
“Ahhh! Stop! Stop! I give up. So take it, just take it!”
With my pathetic screams, the Gumiho finally stopped her fist.
Once the assault ended, the great snake gradually lost its form and barely returned to being a normal person.
“It would be better for you to meekly hand over the Dragon Pearl. Originally there aren’t two Dragon Pearl, right? One is used to ascend to the Heavenly Realm and the other is discarded so one doesn’t cling to this world.”
“You expect me not to know that?”
“Even though you know, you clung to it foolishly, so I'm here to help. And pick up the Dragon Pearl too, heh heh.”
The Gumiho replied nonchalantly, as if it were obvious.
“You crazy bastard...”
“I went to the trouble to give you ascendancy, but your attitude... tch.”
She tapped my furious forehead with the gom‑bangdae with a sharp tock.
“Now then, hand over the Dragon Pearl. When you go to the Heavenly Realm, fix that rotten mindset of yours.”
But I didn’t budge an inch despite her urging.
“Are you deaf too? Hurry and give me the Dragon Pearl and go to the Heavenly Realm.”
“It’s gone...”
“Huh? Gone?”
“I only had one!”
My trembling hand indeed held only one Dragon Pearl.
“You—did you really use it? You spent your whole life dreaming of ascension and used it for what?”
Is there a more fitting moment than this for “the one who farted gets angry”?
Here was the Gumiho, who came to take the sacred object kept a lifetime, scolding me loudly instead.
But despite her scolding, I just stared blankly at the fallen phone.
On the screen, the nickname ‘zLordMirz’ was enlarged in bold, with the adjacent label “Admin.”
It took quite some time for the Gumiho to understand where the Dragon Pearl, perfected over a millennium of waiting, had been used.
“Get up.”
Even though the Gumiho said to get up, I who was slumped to the ground showed no signs of moving.
“Oh wow. Even when told to get up. I summoned someone—soon a car will arrive.”
“You could just take that and piss off.”
“Planning to drag me through another ceremony so you’ll ‘snap out of it’? Tch, I have a place to take you.”
Only then did I slowly raise my head.
My face had been beaten so much it was hard to find any unhurt part among eyes, nose, and mouth.
Ahem, “Don’t argue—just follow me. Maybe there’s a way to go to the Heavenly Realm.”
“They say I can go to the Heavenly Realm?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said there was!”
“Maybe there is! Just get in. You don’t have any sharp options either, do you? That one will help you somehow. He flits in and out of the Heavenly Realm like it’s his home.”
The mention that Jinseong travels between realms was brought up to get me into the car.
‘Now that I’ve come this far, what choice do I have? Heh heh, he’s clever—no doubt he’ll handle it well again.’
In any case, since the Dragon Pearl would be brought to the café, the goal was accomplished.
Only, the extra Dragon Pearl I thought I had left was only one, and an additional byproduct(?) came along.
To Jinseong, problems like these were trivial.
Departing Divine Eye, living thousands of years, his wisdom and brilliance were the basis of that certainty.