Chapter 214: The person aiming for the crown (1)
Translator: miraclerifle
“T, the Chairman-nim will be okay, right?”
There was an odd silence flowing through the TKBM excavation team right now.
It was great that they had returned to the company and offered up Ramesses's artifact.
Julian's offer was quite smart as well.
‘It's a hundred thousand times better than coming back empty-handed.’
They had invested 20 billion dollars in this Tomb of Pride if they included the cost for the Excavation Rights. They had also received billions of dollars worth of damage because of Seo Ju-Heon.
That was why it would mean that they would have lost all of that money for nothing if they returned without a single artifact.
That wasn't all.
‘We’re really done for if it was revealed that Seo Ju-Heon pretty much killed us.’
That was one of the reasons they debated not taking the item, but the captains chose to take it in the end. They didn't want to be cut from the excavation team. The Chairman's sons were very happy to receive the artifact from them as well.
However...
“D, do you think it was a good idea to offer an artifact Seo Ju-Heon gave us to the Chairman-nim?”
“We were able to get a decent idea of its abilities.”
“That’s right. Its abilities are focused on prosperity and idolization, similar to how Ramesses idolized himself.”
“A prosperity artifact is exactly what the chaotic TKBM needs right now.”
"But we didn't look into the risk......”
Someone started to shout at the person who said that.
“No. The Chairman-nim is said to be dealing with a serious illness right now!”
“When you say serious illness......”
“Well his...... ‘son’ is dead.’
They became quiet.
“Something like Ramesses's artifact might help the Chairman-nim become ‘strong’ again.”
“That makes sense, Ramesses is said to be the king of virility who had 130 children.”
“It should be beneficial for the Chairman-nim.”
Would that really be the case?
“F, f, father?!”
Chairman Kwon's children gasped once they entered the room.
His youngest daughter, who was still in high school, freaked out the most.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
The youngest daughter covered her eyes after seeing something.
It was as if she saw something she never wanted to see.
“Father, please cover yourself!”
Her frantic brothers sent their youngest sister outside.
It was because Chairman Kwon had used Ramesses's artifact. The appraisers had said the artifact would be beneficial for Chairman Kwon as well.
However...
“F, fuck, it won’t go down. This bastard won't go down!”
Chairman Kwon was about to die from pain.
His sons became extremely anxious.
‘The artifact's ability should be for prosperity and idolization.’
Ramesses was someone who spent a lot of efforts to idolize himself and leave his traces behind. It’s abilities were the same.
But why was there such a side effect...?!
‘Does it include this when it talks about prosperity?’
Chairman Kwon started to scream.
"Doctor Kim, please do something about this. Please! Please make this go doooooown!”
This ‘thing’ which could not be named had not only become healthy, it had become rock hard.
Chairman Kwon's sons gasped after looking at it.
‘Wait, he wants it to go down?!’
"W, why do you want us to make it go down? What a waste!”
“Why else?! This bastard won't go down at all!”
“......I, isn’t that a good thing?”
Veins were starting to become visible on Chairman Kwon's neck.
“Why would it be good?! You damn bastards! It hurts so much!”
The doctor who was examining Chairman Kwon started to speak in a serious tone.
“My goodness, based on the protrusion of the blood vessels and its size...... it is similar to the effects of abusing viagra. Congratulations.”
“What the hell did you just say?!”
Chairman Kwon was about to go crazy from anger.
It was good that his condition was fixed, but...
‘They said they brought Ramesses II's artifact from the Tomb of Pride...’
"What kind of artifact did they bring me?!”
It was at that moment.
“Are you that curious?”
“?!”
The doctor who was examining Chairman Kwon started to say something weird.
“D, Doctor Kim?”
“It seemed as if my damn subordinate did something terrible to your ‘son.’ I gave the artifact as a special token of my apology.”
“You bastard, what......!”
One of Chairman Kwon’s sons grabbed the doctor’s collar.
But at that moment...
Crack! They heard a weird noise.
Then they were shocked.
Doctor Kim’s face started to crumble after he was manhandled by the man.
They started to see some sculpture dust. This was clearly Yoo Jaeha’s work.
Chairman Kwon started to grind his teeth.
‘That bastard Seo Ju-Heon is responsible for this!’
The fake doctor started to speak.
“You got that? Old bastard, you are my toy. So hold yourself together until I rip off your armor and cut off your head. Don’t let anybody else kill you until then.”
“......!”
“I’ll continue to give you pain that would make you wish that you were dead until that day comes. It’ll be the same thing you did to me in the past.”
‘This son of a bitch.’
“Anyway, the majority shares for most of TKBM's subsidiaries ended up in my name but it looks like you just barely managed to maintain control of the artifact business.”
“......!”
“Don't worry, I’ll slowly take that away from you. Anyway, see you later at the Shareholders’ Meeting. Make sure to be respectful to the major shareholder.”
‘This bastard is asking for death.’
As Chairman Kwon was about to destroy the sculpture doctor...
“Oh right, be careful with how you use the present I gave you. Those bastards are said to have done some special rituals.”
“What the hell did you just say?”
“The pharaoh represented masculinity, the Nile River represented femininity. Apparently they had to masturbate in public or something to calm the roaring Nile River.”
“In p, public?!”
The fake doctor started to smile.
“You should know what the risk is after hearing that part, right?”
‘Holy shit!’
The sculpture doctor completely crumbled while Chairman Kwon turned pale.
‘What the hell is he talking about?!’
The risk was one thing, however...
"What the hell is he talking about?! What does he mean he gave the artifact to us?!”
The excavation team members who had come into the room with the sons lowered their heads.
“Umm, Chairman-nim, to be honest...!”
“Did you dumbasses take an artifact that Seo Ju-Heon offered you?! What about the appraisers’ inspection?!”
“That, you see...... Going through the appraisers would have revealed that Seo Ju-Heon gave it to us...”
“We just had the abilities appraised...”
‘What the hell did he just say?!’
As Chairman Kwon, who looked ready to cough up blood in anger, was about to speak...
Jump!
"Father?!”
Chairman Kwon suddenly jumped up from the bed and was about to run out of the hospital room.
The risk had activated.
He started to shout as his eyes flashed.
“Gather people right away. No, I'm going to the Nile River right now!”
“Father, what did you say?!”
His subordinates and his children all gasped in shock.
Where was he trying to go while looking like this?
“Father, no!”
All of them did their best to grab Chairman Kwon and stop him from leaving.
"Aigoo, father! You can't do that!”
“Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Hurry up and call more people!”
They truly seemed desperate. They could not turn their father into a spectacle like this.
But regardless of what they were doing...
Bang!
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
“Ahhh!”
He deserved to be a Monarch as Chairman Kwon used his ability to push aside his children and subordinates before running out of the room.
“Get my plane ready!”
There was something else that was quite 'active’ as well.
“I'm going to die in shame!”
Joshua, the Monarch of Fate who uses Nostradamus’s artifact. He threw a newspaper to the floor and was huffing and puffing in anger while in his completely protected Room of Oracle that he secluded himself inside.
There was news about Chairman Kwon inside the newspaper.
[TKBM’s CEO, who still looks half-dead like a mummy, committed some shameful conduct by a nearby river.]
[Beaten up by nearby resident fishermen.]
[TKBM's image is damaged, employees are panicking.]
The Monarch of Fate laid down on the couch as he started to swear at the guest who came to visit him.
“It’s fucking shameful to be working with Chairman Kwon.”
“I don’t know what to say, sir.”
Yang Chen, the Vice Captain of TKBM's excavation teams, had a hand on his forehead as if he was tired.
Not only that, he was also grinding his teeth.
He had not gone to the Tomb of Pride this time. It was because he had cleared a different important tomb. He had been so angry after hearing that they were not only toyed with by Seo Ju-Heon but that the excavation teams had plotted together to receive an artifact from Seo Ju-Heon.
Of course, they felt as if they had been wronged.
‘We didn't make a deal with Seo Ju-Heon, we made a deal with Julian Miller!’
‘Who knew Julian Miller would pull off such a scam?!’
Seo Ju-Heon was someone who could easily commit some terrible deeds, but they never expected Julian Miller, the symbol of goodness, to do such a thing.
But that was all spilled milk now.
“Anyway, the Chairman-nim’s condition is an issue, but... I came to see if we could get some useful information for the future.”
The Monarch of Fate clicked his tongue.
“I'll tell you since I got the money.”
“Yes sir.”
“You guys are all going to die in Seo Ju-Heon's hands. Especially you.”
Yang Chen was shocked at the Monarch of Fate pointing him out.
“Me?”
“Did you ever do anything to make Seo Ju-Heon hate you? Did you kill his family members or something?”
Yang Chen couldn't believe it.
“We’ve ran into each other a few times because of work-related issues, but I never......”
The Monarch of Fate started to frown.
“I don't know the reason for it, but I think you'll die a terrible death.”
“What did you say?”
“No, I saw it in my dream. Seo Ju-Heon said this to you. He called you a traitor? He said he would make you pay the price for killing 7 of his family members.”
“Ho.”
Yang Chen was in disbelief.
Yang Chen had no way of knowing that the 7 family members Ju-Heon was talking about were the members of his tomb raiding team.
“I have no idea.”
“You really don't know?”
“There’s no way I would know about such a thing.”
Yang Chen tried not to think much about it.
But why was he feeling like this?
‘Why do I have such an ominous feeling?’
He kept having these ominous feelings every time he saw Seo Ju-Heon. It felt as if he had done something wrong to him in the past.
Yang Chen gulped before asking another question.
"When is it going to happen?”
“I don’t know. I can't tell that much detail.”
Yang Chen quickly handed him a bag of money.
That wasn't all.
Boom!
Yang Chen pulled a pin off his tie and handed that over as well.
It was an S-Grade artifact.
“Do you need anything else, sir?”
The Monarch of Fate smiled, calling him someone who knew how to act.
“I will give you two solutions.”
“!”
“First. I don't know much about it, but a Crow-like artifact will appear in a tomb in the near future.”
“A crow?”
“It seems to be an extremely strong Evil Divine-Grade artifact.”
“Evil Divine-Grade?”
“I don't know the identity of it, but I do know that it was extremely strong. Seo Ju-Heon won't be able to do jack shit if you managed to get that artifact.”
“......”
“Second. There seems to be three more people Seo Ju-Heon really wants to find. Maybe they are his team members? Anyway, I'll tell you their names and describe their appearances, so you should look for them.”
Yang Chen was smiling even as he gulped.
There was no way that he would be killed by Seo Ju-Heon.
“Please don’t worry. I will take care of Seo Ju-Heon properly. I happened to get my hands on an army artifact that is greater in number than Seo Ju-Heon's Army of the Dead.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes sir. I was also able to get my name in as the Monarch of Natural Resources this time...”
“Then please do something about that damn thorn in our eyes! There’s only a week left until the < Monarchs’ Heirlooms > show up. Seo Ju-Heon, Julian Miller, and Yoo Jaeha. Do you plan on giving them to those bastards?!”
The Monarch of Fate continued to shout as he kicked the table.
"We need to hurry up and get rid of those bastards to put our clients up as Monarchs!”
Yang Chen seemed to be running away from Joshua’s hysteria as he exited the room.
“Your highness, I'm sorry to keep you waiting!”
“Mr. Jaeha! Welcome.”
Around the same time...
Yoo Jaeha was smiling as he entered a palace in England.
‘She’s a total beauty, a total babe. She seems to have a nice personality as well.’
In addition, she was a high-grade artifact user.
Now that they got closer to each other because of the restoration this time, maybe......
‘I might be able to escape my single life.’
Maybe that was the reason. He wickedly smiled as he approached the princess.
“Excuse me, princess, I've actually been studying palm reading......”
But at that moment...
“Your highness, Mr. Seo Ju-Heon is waiting for you.”
The princess’s smile became even brighter after hearing her subordinate’s report.
“Mr. Seo Ju-Heon came with you too!”
“Nice to meet you, your highness. My name is Seo Ju-Heon.”
The princess seemed to have been looking forward to meeting with Ju-Heon quite a bit as she was extremely happy. The princess’s eyes were sparkling incomparably to when she had met with Yoo Jaeha.
Yoo Jaeha, who was awkwardly standing there with his hand still out, glared at his captain.
“Damn it, I hate you, Captain-nim!”
Ju-Heon was shocked.
“What did I do?”
The princess looked quite embarrassed while looking at Ju-Heon, as if she was his fan.
She then quickly ran outside before crouching down and covering her face.
‘My goodness, I saw him in person, I saw him with my own two eyes!’
The princess took out her phone and started to send a message in a group chat.
[I saw him, I really met with Mr. Seo Ju-Heon!]
The name of that group chat was < Gathering of people who want to meet with Seo Ju-Heon in person - Executives Chat (7 people) >
This was a group chat with princesses from around the world, wealthy heiresses, and famous celebrities.
The princess's message caused an explosive reaction in the chatroom.
[Really? You really met with Ju-Heon-nim?!]
[Picture, picture! Picture!!!!!!!]
[I've already invested in Ju-Heon-nim’s company.]
[Should we sponsor his team members too?]
[Can we give him some artifacts?]
[I've already bought some Excavation Rights. I'm personally going to excavate some artifacts. I plan on meeting Ju-Heon-nim to hand over the artifact I find.]
[Gasp, I want to do that too.]
[Me too!]
[Pictuuuuuuuuuuuure!!]
The princess took a quick picture of Ju-Heon as her heart beat wildly and posted it to the chatroom.
The chatroom was about to explode.
[Kyaaaa! It’s real! It’s real!]
[Oppa, you’re so cool! Look at that slight smile on his face!]
[I want to meet him too!]
[Ah, the guard is covering his body!]
[Princess, can you broadcast this live? We should show it to the believers around the world!]
[No! We can't do that without permission. That’s not right.]
[That’s true. Let’s first inform Commissioner Sasaki about this.]
That was right.
They were all here because of Sasaki Yuka. To explain further, they were Ju-Heon's believers(?). That the gyaru girl whom Ju-Heon had left in charge of publicity for his Avesta Sacred Text had gathered.
As the former president of an idol fan club, Sasaki was quite talented in this business.
She had used her unofficial (but official in her mind) experiences to enhance her business skills and gather royalty, wealthy heiresses, celebrities, and even teachers and students to Ju-Heon's fan group.
But all of these people were not regular people. She had only selected talented artifact users on purpose.
‘Ju-Heon oppa’s excavation team's only weaknesses are a lack of numbers and power.’
The other top-ranked excavation teams had a lot of people and manpower to gather information and collect artifacts.
That was how an amazing network of people who were gathering for Ju-Heon was being created without Ju-Heon’s knowledge.
It happened at that moment.