Chapter 67 – Hero’s Mentality
(TLN: Hey guys. This is the regular chapter for next week. I had a lot of spare time today, so I decided to translate this chapter early. Please turn off adblockers if you are able to. Thanks and enjoy~)
It was late in the day, so most of the newly hired employees had clocked out. The several employees that were still in the office was told leave for the day. It had been very busy recently, so they hadn’t had the chance to go out for a company dinner yet. The founding members decided to go out for dinner, which would also serve as a drinking party.
“Granny!”
“Aikoo. My baby is here?”
The congenial grandmother from the shanty town was still there, and Sunggoo helped her as if this was his own store. He started placing the basic side dishes on the table. They were the only customers in this old restaurant, so the atmosphere was chilly.
Jung-minchan was the first to open his mouth.
“President. Are you sure you don’t have to go?”
“I’m not going, so why do you keep asking me?”
He asked since his phone’s inbox was burning up.
Jung-minchan took care of most of the external business of the guild, so his hand phone was continuously vibrating.
“Isn’t it an appointment with the President?”
“I never promised I will go. They just decided on their own that I needed to go. Do I have to accept their invitation?”
“Aren’t they giving you some award?”
“I don’t want to receive an award, so tell them not to call me any more.”
“Still….”
Woojin frowned.
“Ah, I’ll go there. I’ll go there then I’ll come back. If they are going to give me a d.a.m.n award, I’ll…”
“N…no. I’ll respectfully decline the offer.”
Jun-minchan looked at his silenced hand phone.
[27 Unanswered Calls, 128 Unread Messages]
Uh-ooh. It would be better to not send Woojin. He might unnecessarily cause trouble. Minchan briefly vacated his seat to make a phone call. Woo-soonghoon laughed as he tried to lift the slightly heavy atmosphere.
“Hahaha., Please tell us about your work in Pyongyang. I’m talking about your tale of heroism. Tale of heroism.”
“Nothing much happened.”
“Eh-ee. Stop being like that. Please tell us about it.”
Tale of heroism…
“I have no tales of heroism to tell. I just went around the Dungeon for awhile, then I punished those who needed it. Then I came back.”
“Hahaha. We were nervous at the prospect of president killing Kim-jungun. ”
“Ah. I was going to, but I decided to spare him.”
“He said he was my fan.”
He was going to… Also, Kim-jungun was his fan… Soonghoon and Haemin’s face turned rigid.
Then Sunggoo brought over the beef entrails, and Minchan returned to his seat after finis.h.i.+ng his call.
“I was able to come to a resolution with them. You will have to accept an invitation from the Cheongwadae after you come back from your trip to the US.”
“Well, I guess that’ll be fine.”
Woojin gave a half-a.s.sed reply, then he focused his attention on the beef entrails that was placed on top of the hot skillet.
Chi-jiji-jeek.
“Hey. This place’s beef entrails are fantastic. It goes well with the the soju. It’s perfect.”
As they watched Woojin smacking his lips from the tasty fare, Haemin and Soonghoon exchanged glances. Haemin’s signaled with his eyes gesture. Soonghoon took a shallow breath then he spoke.
“So… Why were you trying to kill Kim-jungun?”
“Ah. Some b.a.s.t.a.r.d snuck inside the Dungeon with a bomb. I thought Kim-jungun ordered it, so I was going to punish him.”
He came back alive after someone detonated a suicide bomb?
Woojin talked about it nonchalantly. Sunggoo stopped flipping the beef entrails with the tongs, so Woojin started flipping the meat with his chopsticks.
“Hey, Sunggo. It’s burning.”
“What? Yes, yes.”
Sunggoo, who was s.p.a.ced out, started to pick up the beef entrails to cut it.
Chi-jiji-jeek.
“Ee-yah. It looks delicious.”
Woojin opened a bottle of soju as he watched the grilled beef entrails grilled turn brown. When the bottle of soju was pushed forward, Minchan raised his cup.
“Did someone die? Why is the mood like this. This is our first company dinner.”
“It…it’s nothing.”
Maybe it was because Woojin had indifferently talked about killing people.
They had no idea what kind of person the president was. They tried to reconcile the man in front of him, and the man they had imagine him to be. If one discounted such thoughts, the company dinner was going quite well.
Above all, this was Guild Alandal’s first company dinner.
Woojin poured alcohol into all the founding member’s cups, then he filled his own cup.
“You guys had endured a lot of hards.h.i.+p up until now. I wish you guys would endure more hards.h.i.+p in the future.”
What kind of toast was that… Soonghoon took the cue, and he yelled out.
“Thanks for everyone’s efforts.”
Zzhang.
After downing the refres.h.i.+ng soju, Woojin dipped a piece of beef entrail in the sauce, then he placed it inside his mouth.
Kyahh. This was the taste.
Woojin was getting ready to dig into his food. He readied a perilla leaves for ssam. Everyone else looked around awkwardly, and they gave Woo-soonghoon a signal with their eyes. Woo-soonghoon let out an exaggerated laugh.
“Hahaha. do you know who is more famous than you, president?”
Woojin was almost always the most searched name in Korea. However, if one looked world-wide, there was another person who was more famous than him.
Woo-soonghoon showed Woojin a picture. Soonghoon had made the picture his wall paper on his phone.
“This woman is named Melody. She is the Holy Maiden of the Aria Church. I’m not sure if this is a scam or not, but the video is quite miraculous. I’m not sure if her G.o.ddess really exists…”
“It isn’t a hoax. It’s real.”
“What? How would president know if it isn’t a scam?”
“Huh? It’s someone I know from before.”
“What?”
Unlike the surprised Woo-soonghoon, Jung-minchan put on a more serious expression on his face. Melody was none other than the first person to come out of a Dungeon.
“She was the first human to be found inside a Dungeon. She is said to be a S Rank Roused at the minimum… You actually know this person?”
“Uh. I know her. Why do you think I’m going to the US? I have some questions for her.”
They hadn’t know that fact. They had thought he was going to the US to take part in the consortium hosted by the t.i.tan Guild. Now they found out he was acquainted with the Holy Maiden Melody…
“What kind of relations.h.i.+p did you have with her?”
Woojin emptied another cup of refres.h.i.+ng soju, then he shoved a large ssam (TLN: google it-food related) into his mouth. Everyone was waiting for Woojin to answer the question. Everyone waited for his answer, but Woojin continued to savor the taste of the food in a relaxed manner.
Woojin chewed for a long time. When he swallowed, he drank some cider.
“There is a planet called Alphen.”
Is the president interested in astronomy? Everyone stayed silent as they listed to him. Woojin opened his mouth.
“I went missing 5 years ago. At that time, I was summoned to Planet Alphen.”
Everyone was silent after they heard Woojin’s shocking words. Woo-soonghoon gauged the mood then he let out a small laugh.
“Hahaha. President’s sense of humor is too complicated. It took me a long time to understand it.”
“I’m not telling a joke, so stay still.”
“Yes, sir….”
Soonghoon’s shoulders shrank, and everyone focused on Woojin with grave expressions on their faces.
“I don’t know why I was summoned there. I struggled to live in that place for 20 years. I survived, and I was able to return to earth. However, only 5 years had pa.s.sed over here.”
“It is quite similar to the time flow within the Dungeons….”
“Yes. When I returned, Earth had changed in a strange way, and Dungeons had formed here.”
Everyone was swept up in confusion at Woojin’s earnest words. Should they trust or distrust his words? Should they take his words at face value?
Was this the secret to Woojin’s incredible abilities?
“I don’t how she did it, but Melody probably came over using a similar method. No, I have no idea how she did it. This is why I want to go ask her some questions.”
Was it because they had heard an incredible story? No one dared to open their mouth. Sunggoo carefully asked a question.
“Hyung-nim. A…are you sure you should be telling us such tales?”
The Roused Kahng-woojin had appeared like a comet, and his backstory was being endlessly speculated. Moreover, everyone was curious as to his whereabouts when he was missing for 5 years. No on knew where he had been.
“What? Why do I have to hide it?”
Dungeons had formed, and monsters were crawling out everywhere. On top of that, the Holy Maiden had appeared. Is there a reason why he should keep his story a secret? Woojin didn’t think too hard on it. His story would eventually become known sooner or later.
He was preemptively telling his Alandal family the information, since he wanted them to get ready for what was to come.
“What kind of relations.h.i.+p did you have with the Holy Maiden on the planet?”
“With Melody?”
Woojin grinned when he thought about his old memories. It was complicated. Really complicated.
“I guess she is something like a friend. A friend.”
t.i.tan Head-quarter’s Aria Church.
Holy Maiden Melody borrowed her G.o.ddess’ power to communicate with others.
She had only been able to communicate with the believers until not too long ago. However, the Holy Maiden’s capacity to learn a language was almost supernatural. Now she was able to competently carry on a conversation in English.
Everyone had thought she was a mute. They were once again surprise when they heard the Holy Maiden’s beautiful voice.
“W…what is this?”
“Yes? What’s wrong, Holy Maiden?”
The Holy Maiden was always graceful, and sometime she looked to have an arrogant air around her. However, this was the first time Hamilton had seen the Holy Maiden express any expression on her face. This was how much the Holy Maiden had been taken aback.
Recently, the Holy Maiden started learning how to operate a computer. Mrs. Hamilton walked over to look at the screen. The monitor held a picture of a Roused from Korea named Kahng-Woojin.
“This is Mister Kahng.”
“Mister Kahng? Could you find more information on this man?”
“Of course.”
Hamilton was adept at using the computer. She used Kahg-woojin’s name as the key word to look up several things. She brought up several columns with fairly detailed information on Kahng-woojin, and she showed it to Melody.
Melody slowly read the columns, and the light in her eyes shook. Hamilton, who was next to her, could feel her shake. Melody had always been unflappable, so much so that Hamilton wondered if she was really human. However, she was shaken up right now.
“Holy Maiden. Are you ok?”
“How can this be…. It…it is him….”
“What? Do you know this person?”
Melody’s white face turned paler.
She knew him. How could she not know him? He was the most famous person on Alphen.
“Necromancer of Ma.s.sacre… Why is he here….”
Melody’s body shook as if she had seen some horror movie.
“H…Holy Maiden. Please calm down.”
Hamilton calmed Melody. She hurried turned off the monitor showing Woojin’s picture. After 10 minutes, Melody was barely calm enough to make a request towards Hamilton.
“Could you conduct a more thorough investigation on this person??”
“Of course.”
While Hamilton was sifting through the information, Melody looked out the window to calm her heart. The Aria church was located on a high-rise building.
The Manhattan city could be seen at a glance. As she saw the panoramic view of Manhattan, her body shook.
‘I would have never guessed Immortal would be in this place.’
When he disappeared, the situation Alphen changed drastically. When the Undead Army in his control disappeared, Trahnet had taken over all the territory that used to owned by the Immortal. This quickly broke the balance of power.
Everyone had a.s.sumed the Immortal was dead. How else could they explain his sudden disappearance?
Earth was an amazing place.
The supply of mana was low, so there weren’t a lot of Roused here. Moreover, the quality of the Roused couldn’t be compared to those in Alphen, but there were much more soldiers here with chemically powered weapons.
It took them less than two hours to kill all the monsters that came out of the Dungeon Break. They had great fire power.
Moreover, information could be spread at an incredible speed. Her words couldn’t do it justice. She was too astonished.
There were many more countries on earth compared to Alphen. It was counter-intuitive, but the people of this world was more together than her own lands. It was because of the smooth communication method.
It could be attributed to the existence of the internet. The internet allowed one to find out what the other nation was doing even if they were very far apart.
“N…no way!”
“What is it?”
Melody looked towards Hamilton as she asked a question.
“Do you think my existence was reported in South Korea?”
“Of course. You are the most famous person on the world right now.”
The Holy Maiden’s face paled.
What should she do? Should she just run away? Should she abandon all her plans? If the Immortal hears of this… Maybe he still didn’t know she was here?
“Ah, I found it. He is Guild Alandal’s master. He’ll be attending the upcoming consortium.”
Alandal. Alandal… She never expected hear the cursed name of the Undead Kingdom again on Earth.
‘This is the end.’
Holy Maiden Melody fell into despair.
She was sure the Immortal knew about her existence. She didn’t have anywhere to run, and she didn’t’ have anywhere to hide.