Chapter 100
Chapter 100 . The beginning and end, and the beginning .
The Ishtar Region .
This region was where Kang Chul-In’s Valhalla territory, Hecate’s Temeraire, and Aleister’s Undeadia territory were located . The name of the Ishtar Coalition that Kang Chul-In ruled came from this region .
As it was the first real step and memory he had when he first began as a Lord, it was a home of sorts to Kang Chul-In . This was also the place that Kang Chul-In had decided to visit later .
There’s an Epic Dungeon in Ishtar?
Kang Chul-In felt very suspicious about Dorian’s words .
As far as he knew, there was no Epic Dungeon within Ishtar .
Of course, he couldn’t say that his knowledge was 100% accurate . If you were not a G.o.d, you couldn’t know everything after all .
But if it was about dungeons, the story was different .
In his past life, Kang Chul-In and Dorian had gone around the Ishtar region searching and beating each and every dungeon that was for Level 40 and above . Long story short, it didn’t make sense that there was an Epic Dungeon within Ishtar . There must have been a mistake .
“Stop lying to me,” Kang Chul-In said to Dorian across the phone .
“Your words have to make sense for me to believe you . ”
This came from the fact that Kang Chul-In determined that there was no Epic Dungeon within the Ishtar Region .
-Wow… Kang Chul-In…
Dorian seemed upset at this .
-How could you not believe my words…? I thought you were my friend… sigh… to think you saw me as a liar and a fraud…”
-Fine, listen to this then . Okay?
-So basically, I went traveling to the Ishtar Region, and well… I got there by going from the Western Mountain Range and going straight down from there . And there, there was some gigantic sailboat-looking thing in the sky . As I continued down, there was this sort of really long yet narrow gorge I saw . Well, I guess it was still fun because there was a lake I saw in the middle of the trip that was as big as a sea, and I had fun catching fish there .
Dorian spoke facts about the Ishtar Region’s geography .
For the “giant sailboat”, there was a high chance that he was referring to Hecate’s Temeraire, and the “really long yet narrow gorge” was the Carmel Gorge, which was also near the Valhalla territory .
Well, I do know for a fact that he’s definitely been there before .
Kang Chul-In could tell that Dorian had personally been there by just hearing the description .
-Anyway, as I got across that gorge, I saw this gigantic green castle-like structure, and though I did think for a while about going in that direction, I didn’t like the ominous feeling, so I changed directions and went south .
For the “gigantic green-castle”, it was obvious that it was the Overlord Aleister’s Emerald Castle of the Undeadia territory . Kang Chul-In was now convinced that Dorian knew the Ishtar region well .
“Wait . ”
But Kang Chul-In still interrupted Dorian .
“Did you say south?”
If it was south from there… that meant the Valhalla territory .
-Yeah, South .
Dorian replied .
“Well, did you find anything?”
-No, there was just a bunch of hills there . Of course, there wasn’t absolutely nothing .
Listening to Dorian’s following words, Kang Chul-In’s facial expression turned even more ominous .
-There was a really large hill there, actually more of a mountain than a hill because it was like 400-500 meters above sea level… But anyway, I was going to sleep one night at the peak of the tallest hill when I turned around and saw this huge door in front of me .
When Dorian said that there was a huge door there, Kang Chul-In nearly dropped his phone .
How does this make any sense?
Though Kang Chul-In could not believe what Dorian was saying…
“Continue?”
He decided to listen in a bit more .
-It wasn’t really special, just a door that was made of black-colored steel . It was like… Uhh… 10m wide and 20m tall, I think .
“So?”
-I knocked, but there was no answer . I knocked there for almost an hour, and since there was no response, I thought it was an abandoned ruin . So…
“You went and tried for another entrance . ”
Because Kang Chul-In was well aware of Dorian’s behavior pattern, it was easy to guess what would happen next .
-H-How did you know that?
“Looking inside your head is even easier than looking inside an aquarium, so just continue on with the story . ”
“O-Okay, fine . ”
After that, Dorian continued to speak as if he was a little bit upset .
To say the conclusion first, Kang Chul-In was extremely shocked .
For the first time, he was extremely startled .
“I’m going, right now . ”
… was what Kang Chul-In answered before crus.h.i.+ng his mobile phone by accidentally pressing on it too hard .
BANG!
The Lithium-Ion battery exploded .
“S-Son?”
Park Sun-Ja, who was playing with Arsh.e.l.ly, looked at Kang Chul-In, startled .
“Dad!”
Arsh.e.l.ly was also surprised .
“Sigh… Mother . I’ll be back soon,” Kang Chul-In said, looking at Park Sun-Ja .
Then, he looked at Arsh.e.l.ly .
“You listen to your grandmother well . ”
“Yes, dad!”
The smart Arsh.e.l.ly figured out that Kang Chul-In would be heading back to Pangaea and nodded .
------
Teheran-ro . Kang Chul-In was able to find an adventurer that Billy Halford had negotiated beforehand . It was an adventurer with a warp gate that led to the Ishtar region .
“Oh, I remember you!”
The adventurer that was going along with Kang Chul-In spoke informally to him as if they were superior .
“You’re Director Kang from the Galaxy Corporation company, right? The subordinate of Old Man Kwon that came from G.o.d knows where . ”
If someone who knew Kang Chul-In well saw this sight, they would have closed their eyes tightly . Why? Because the mouth of that adventurer would be absolutely crushed by the hands of Kang Chul-In until not even the teeth remained .
“What are you doing, not driving?”
The adventurer got onto the pa.s.senger seat of the Bugatti Veyron as if it was natural and demanded that Kang Chul-In drive .
“You ride a good car, huh . This one, it’s the one that we drive too . There aren’t a lot of these in Korea . You earn a lot of money, huh?”
The adventurer, heir of the colossus that was the Gusung Electronic Company, spoke to Kang Chul-In as if he were her driver .
Kim Sung-Hee .
As the youngest daughter of Gusung’s president Kim Hyun-seung, she was notorious within the “n.o.bles” of Korea as a villain of a woman . This woman was the one that Billy had contacted to go to Ishtar with .
“Hey, why aren’t you going?”
Kim Sung-Hee once again reminded Kang Chul-In .
“I’m not going here just because I have some leftover… ACK!”
Kim Sung-Hee screamed painfully .
“H . . . Huk…”
It was because Kang Chul-In’s hand had latched onto her shoulders with a strong grip . She couldn’t move either as Kang Chul-In’s mana prevented her from doing so .
“Hey, idiotic woman,” Kang Chul-In said .
“If you keep on talking to me like that…”
Kang Chul-In’s voice seemed like the voice of the grim reaper to Kim Sung-Hee at this point, frightening her .
“I will break one body part of yours . ”
“Got it?”
As Kang Chul-In was speaking, dense mana filled the air, making it difficult to even breathe .
“Y-Yes . ”
Kim Sung-Hee agreed, frightened .
Very good .
But meanwhile, Kim Sung-Hee…
W-What the h.e.l.l? How did I get suppressed by him?
She was surprised .
Because it hurt?
Of course, her body hurt, but the real reason why she was surprised was something else entirely .
She was strong .
For someone like her who was powerful and took pride in being powerful to be restrained by a mere director of the Galaxy Corporation, it hurt her pride .
W-What should I do…? Should I fight back? Should I… launch a sneak attack?
Kim Sung-Hee looked at Kang Chul-In, who was driving soundlessly .
He was completely exposed .
If she used her hands and smacked Kang Chul-In’s throat, she was confident that she would succeed . Even though there could be an accident because Kang Chul-In was the one driving right now, there was no real possibility that it would lead to a major accident as the road was very much blocked and unmoving due to traffic .
As she got ready to attack…
“Do you want your arm broken?”
Somehow, Kang Chul-In had noticed and warned her . Startlingly, his eyes were still on the road .
-----
“What the h.e.l.l is that car?”
“Is that a Bugatti?”
Not caring about the gazes of others, Kang Chul-In looked at Kim Sung-Hee when they arrived .
“Is this place alright?”
“ . . . It’s fine . ”
“Then open the gate . ”
Saying this, Kang Chul-In grabbed onto Kim Sung-Hee’s wrist lightly . This was because this process was required in order to share the gate .
Just you wait . I’ll show you my skill!
Was what Kim Sung-Hee thought as she entered the gate .
-----
“Yo! Chul-In!”
Woof! Woof!
On the other side of the gate was Dorian Explorer and his pet dog Jackpot .
“Oh? Who’s that girl?”
Dorian looked at Kim Sung-Hee and tilted his head in confusion .
“Is it your new girlfriend?”
At this, Kang Chul-In’s face stiffened .
“ . . . What?”
“I mean, you have a lot of beautiful women by your side . You have Lucia, Lee Chae-Rin, and now you have another woman? Wow… as expected of my friend . Man! Oh wait, they said not to talk about these things…”
Dorian covered his mouth with an expression that said “oops” . He thought that his mistake was talking about Kang Chul-In’s “ex-girlfriends” in front of his current girlfriend .
Of course, it was a mistake .
“Kuk!”
Dorian grabbed his abdomen and moaned in pain .
“If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll give you some mental training . ”
“ . . . Huk…”
Since Dorian was close to Kang Chul-In’s subordinates, he had been pestered often with the talk of “mental training” and realized how terrifying it was .
“Is it maybe 3, 4 days’ travel from here?”
While shaking off the hand that Kang Chul-In had punched Dorian’s midsection with, he looked far to the south .
Sadly for them, Kim Sung-Hee’s “waypoint” was different for each and every adventurer . They were around 200km away from the Valhalla territory, so they had to travel there by foot .
“We’ll get there in two days,” Kang Chul-In said .
He was saying that they would travel 100km a day, something that sounded crazy .
“T-Two days? That far? Hey, Chul-In, you do know how far it is to the dungeon, right…?”
Dorian was startled .
“What, you can’t do it? Then don’t come . ”
“No, I can . ”
At Kang Chul-In’s taunting, Dorian’s expression changed into an excited one .
“Of course I can do it . ”
“Well then, let’s go . ”
Traveling over 100km by foot was something that Kang Chul-In didn’t like either as it required both great mental and physical endurance . Rather than being tiring though, it was monotonous and boring . They had to get going as soon as possible .
Because…
Valhalla… to think that it’s become a dungeon…
It was because of the information from Dorian that Valhalla had become an Epic Dungeon .
It was at that moment .
“You . ”
Kang Chul-In felt cold metal touching his neck .
“Let’s fight . ”
Dorian’s mouth gaped open in surprise and shock .
T-That woman… why would she want to commit suicide…?
It was Kim Sung-Hee who had put her sword to Kang Chul-In’s throat .