Chapter 177 – New Partner (2)
Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
The best sus.h.i.+ restaurant in j.a.pan had a price of 50,000 yen per person for a normal meal and at least 100,000 for an expensive one.
Nevertheless, this place where reservations were always filled and one had to make one at least half a year in advance, was now completely silent.
It wasn’t closed.
Instead, there were three guests sitting in a private room, and the owner of the restaurant, called a craftsman, was making sus.h.i.+ with all his heart in the kitchen.
This proved that these three people had booked the entire venue.
“It’s an honor to finally meet you.”
It was also evidence that the influence of the Sword Saint, who had chosen this place, exceeded common sense.
“Miyazaki Sakura.”
Miyazaki Sakura, who came to meet them on behalf of the Sword Saint, greeted him in English while looking at the front.
“Isaac Ivanov.”
Isaac Ivanov and his teammate were the other two.
“I’m sorry about the incident with Kim Woo-jin.”
Miyazaki Sakura then bowed toward them, and Kim Woo-jin, who was dressed as Isaac Ivanov, simply nodded.
“I’m truly sorry for your loss.”
After her repeated consolation, Kim Woo-jin finally spoke.
“It is a big loss. But bigger than that is the fact that someone, who no one else can replace, is now gone.”
“His poison was indeed special…”
“And that means we will need to make big changes to our future plans.”
Miyazaki Sakura narrowed her eyes a bit at Kim Woo-jin who kept talking without caring about cutting off her words.
“What are your future plans?”
She directly asked this question without trying to mask it.
“It has always been my goal to clear dungeons that no one else has been able to.”
It was a pretty stereotypical goal that one could hear from any hot blooded male.
However, the words seemed to carry more weight when they were said by Isaac Ivanov.
‘He’s insane.’
Miyazaki Sakura was also able to catch a glimpse of madness that could not be easily interpreted, from Isaac Ivanov.
Faced with that madness, she said.
“How fortunate. I think this meeting was truly worthwhile.”
“Worthwhile?”
“Isaac Ivanov, we would like to help you achieve that goal.”
When he heard the proposal, Kim Woo-jin asked.
“Like Park Yong-wan?”
Miyazaki Sakura laughed at the question.
“Park Yong-wan is the Phoenix Guild’s greatest player. But he still cannot hope to compare to the Sword Saint.”
It was a straightforward statement.
In normal situations, such straightforwardness might be considered offensive, or lead to problems.
But at that moment, Miyazaki Sakura was sure.
‘Isaac Ivanov is the type who is only interested in attacking dungeons. I’m sure he will choose whatever is most advantageous to clear a dungeon.’
She knew that against types like Isaac Ivanov, this kind of straightforwardness was the best strategy.
“Pardon my intrusion.”
Then the door opened and the food was brought out.
A huge amount of sus.h.i.+ was artfully lined on a large platter.
It was a sight that was almost impossible to see in such an upscale sus.h.i.+ restaurant which served more for the taste.
Of course, it wasn’t because the chef decided to make so much sus.h.i.+ on their own.
“You said your teammate is a big eater, so I ordered a lot.”
It was only made after forcing the sus.h.i.+ chef to put aside his pride in an effort to fill a large stomach.
It was a result that could never be bought with money.
“I can proudly say that this is the best sus.h.i.+ that you would ever taste in this world.”
As the meal was brought to the table, Miyazaki Sakura proudly began to introduce the dishes.
“It’s not something that Korea could ever hope to compare to.”
It was at that moment.
Bang!
Lee Jin-ah, who was beside Kim Woo-jin, struck the sus.h.i.+ platter with his fist. (TL: I bet he was crying inside as he did that)
The sus.h.i.+ as well as the table were shattered.
At the same time, Lee Jin-ah shouted loudly to Kim Woo-jin in Russian.
“Ivanov! Woo-jin didn’t die for this! If this is what you want to do, I’d rather go to the Messiah Guild!”
After saying that, Lee Jin-ah walked out of the wrecked room.
Miyazaki Sakura’s expression froze a bit.
On the other side, Kim Woo-jin spoke.
“He feels that Kim Woo-jin’s death was his fault. At the same time, he still has some hostility towards j.a.pan. That’s why I can’t accept your offer.”
As he said those words, Kim Woo-jin stood up.
“I apologize for the inconvenience.”
A sound came from the earphone in Miyazaki Sakura’s ear as he bowed his head slightly and left the room.
– I heard everything.
It was the voice of the Sword Saint who had been listening to the conversation through eavesdropping equipment.
“Yes.”
– I think it’s better to recruit the teammate first and then Isaac Ivanov.
“Yes.”
– Is it possible?
“We’ll have to figure it out. But do you really want to recruit them?”
– What do you think?
Miyazaki Sakura answered this question without hesitation.
“There are people who are willing to attack dungeons that no one managed to clear before. I think their utility value is endless. That must be why a person like Park Yong-wan was willing to invest so much in them.”
There was a moment of silence.
– What do you need?
After the silence, the Sword Saint’s voice was heard once again.
“I think I’ll need at least a legendary item to win them over. However, they are already among the best when it comes to items. It is believed that they have at least four legendary items. Their armor is made from Hatchling leather. The only thing that we could use to negotiate with them is…”
– Is the Nemean Lion’s leather, that’s what you want to say, right?
After a moment of hesitation, Miyazaki Sakura replied.
“Yes.”
– The conditions are too expensive to consider.
It was impossible.
With that statement, the conversation with the Sword Saint ended.
After the conversation, Miyazaki Sakura also came back to her senses. The messy scene appeared in her eyes once again.
‘If it’s left as it is, Isaac Ivanov and his party will become hostile toward j.a.pan. And if he continues growing at this rate…it will surely become a headache.’
As she looked at the messy floor, one thought remained in her head.
‘We have to get them to join us somehow. Or kill them now, while we still can.’
…
An abandoned house outside of Tokyo.
Vroom!
A small light car drove into the garage of this abandoned house with a small hum.
After a while, the humming of the car stopped.
“f.u.c.k.”
And a curse sounded out instead.
The voice behind the curse was none other than Lee Jin-ah.
“f.u.c.k!”
Now disguised as a third person, he stepped out of the car and walked into the abandoned house, unable to hold back his anger.
Kim Woo-jin, who was dressed as a middle-aged man, couldn’t help but laugh at his appearance.
“It’s pretty unfortunate that you didn’t get to eat any sus.h.i.+.”
Lee Jin-ah’s expression crumpled when he heard that.
“What do you think I am? Do you think I am someone who just gets made because of something like sus.h.i.+?”
“Aren’t you?”
At Kim Woo-jin’s question, Lee Jin-ah crumpled even more.
“No, I’m not…it’s not just that.”
Kim Woo-jin nodded at that.
‘Even if it was planned, it wasn’t a pleasant situation.’
Of course, Lee Jin-ah’s angry outburst was planned in advance.
However, even though he was just supposed to be acting, Lee Jin-ah was in a situation where he really became upset.
Wasn’t it still a situation where he was cozying up to the ones who tried to kill him before?
It would be strange if he hadn’t been upset.
“I understand.”
Because of that, Kim Woo-jin was able to understand Lee Jin-ah’s words.
“You see? Isn’t it too bad that we didn’t even have appetizers? Dammit, the tofu they served as an appetizer looked really good…”
When he heard that, Kim Woo-jin finally shot a ridiculous gaze at Lee Jin-ah.
However, Lee Jin-ah, who was completely unaware of this, spoke with a calmer expression.
“Everything went according to play, but will they still try to get us? Don’t you think their pride will stop them? This is the Sword Saint and his people after all.”
At Lee Jin-ah’s question, Kim Woo-jin explained briefly.
“If it was just the Sword Saint, then it would be impossible.”
Inside the abandoned house, there was some food and communication equipment.
Kim Woo-jin stood in front of a radio after checking the time.
‘There are four minutes left.’
As he thought this, Kim Woo-jin threw a bag of bread and what appeared to be disaster relief food at Lee Jin-ah.
“But the story is different because of the Miyazaki Sakura that we met today.”
“Do you know each other? Was all of that an act?”
“We were in a dungeon together, but the situation that time was different.”
Miyazaki Sakura.
Naturally, Kim Woo-jin, who killed the Sword Saint, had fought with Miyazaki Sakura.
And since he might have had to fight her, Kim Woo-jin made sure to get detailed information.
Thanks to this, Kim Woo-jin knew the woman named Miyazaki Sakura.
“Because her role is to clean up the area to ensure that the Sword Saint’s actions are uninhibited.”
She was basically the Sword Saint’s janitor.
A very good janitor who moved to clean up an area before the Sword Saint could even point it out.
“So she’ll clean us up? Won’t she just cut us off?”
“She can’t do that.”
Therefore, Kim Woo-jin could already estimate the moves that Miyazaki Sakura would make.
“If the Sword Saint’s side decides to not take us in, then there’s only one other place we would go.”
“Park Yong-wan?”
“That’s right.”
If j.a.pan was to let Isaac Ivanov slip through their fingers at this point, the next person that Isaac Ivanov would partner with was without a doubt, Park Yong-wan.
Kim Woo-jin had died, but that didn’t mean that Park Yong-wan’s reason for supporting Isaac Ivanov had disappeared.
Instead, since Kim Woo-jin was no longer in the picture, it was highly likely that Park Yong-wan would support him even more.
“It’s obvious how Park Yong-wan, who lost a good card like Kim Woo-jin, would view j.a.pan.”
Moreover, it was a foregone conclusion that Park Yong-wan would hold very high hostility to j.a.pan for Kim Woo-jin’s death.
To be precise, it would be hostility toward a group trying to lay their hands on his interests.
Wasn’t Isaac Ivanov one of Park Yong-wan’s greatest cards?
So what would happen when he already didn’t have good feelings toward j.a.pan?
“There’s no way the janitor would leave a situation that would only become worse if it was left alone.”
From Miyazaki Sakura’s perspective, she could not leave this situation to progress as it was.
“And if the situation goes south, she will be the one who will get blamed and take responsibility. The Sword Saint would not have to bear any responsibility.”
“Then what will she do? Will she call us to the restaurant for sus.h.i.+ again?”
Kim Woo-jin didn’t answer Lee Jin-ah who was practically br.i.m.m.i.n.g with antic.i.p.ation, instead, he simply checked his watch and spoke while looking at the radio.
“It’s one of two things.”
“Two things?”
“Either they’ll try to win you over. Or they’ll offer me a card that’s even more attractive than you.”
“What?”
Kim Woo-jin put his index finger to his lips before picking up the radio in front of him.
Immediately after.
“Oh Se-chan, find a bar for me. A good place for a big guy who likes to drink. And don’t forget to pa.s.s it on to the Sword Saint’s side.”