Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Long Time No See?
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The gold and jewels embedded in the walls and floor, which hadn't budged no matter how hard we hit them, began to tear away and clump together in mid-air.
“Everyone, use your Escape Crystals!”
Mi-jeong shouted urgently. The mass was forming very slowly, so we had some time, but…
“P-Party Leader, the Escape Crystal isn’t working!”
Of course.
Did they really think it would work when a boss appeared?
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault for saying something unnecessary…”
Ju Ha-min, who had suggested prying the jewels from the walls and floor, apologized with a downcast expression.
“No, we got a lot of good items, we should have just left. Ha-min, you really…”
Kim Young-cheol shook his head and chided him, while another newcomer, Yoon Min-seo, also glared resentfully at Ju Ha-min.
Ha-young wasn't glaring, but her face was filled with worry.
“Mr. Ju Ha-min?”
“…Yes.”
“You did a great job.”
“What?”
“Brother?”
“I think you’ve all forgotten who you’re with right now.”
We’d spent hours of hard work just to get the crystal to enter this secret dungeon. It would have been a shame for it to end just like that.
But a hidden boss?
Even better.
I said it with a grin, but the reactions were a little different from what I’d expected.
‘Wow, my brother is so cool.’
‘That’s right. We have Hyeon-ung with us.’
‘I’ll just trust in Hyeon-ung.’
I’d expected something along those lines, accompanied by looks of admiration…
But aside from Ju Ha-min, everyone else’s expression was…
“Brother, you’re being a little cocky… no, never mind.”
Seeing their faces, it seemed they all felt the same way as Ha-young, even if they didn’t say it out loud.
“Haha, I’m just saying not to worry. And while Mr. Ha-min suggested prying them off, nothing happened when you all tried, right?”
“I… suppose so?”
“That’s right. Why is everyone blaming Ha-min? Honestly, you all wanted to take some, didn’t you?”
Exactly.
My sister Ha-young knows what to say.
“Yeah, it’s not Ha-min’s fault.”
With Mi-jeong also defending him, Ha-min’s dispirited expression returned to normal.
“Everyone, don’t worry too much. Stay back with the others in case you get caught up in the fight. Rina?”
I entrusted the new guild members to Rina and walked toward the mass of gold and jewels, which was still absorbing gems and growing in size.
Mi-jeong said she wanted to fight with me, but I declined, suggesting the boss might summon minions.
Truthfully, I just wanted to monopolize the kill.
If I finished it off myself, I’d get the effect of Miter’s Blessing.
“Hyeon-ung, may I step forward this time?”
Hanna drew her sword and approached my side.
“Me! My Mana Heart has been itching for a while now. Let me handle it.”
Not to be outdone, Timi immediately got behind me.
Even Milli, who had been quiet, was fiddling with her bow. It seemed everyone was quite bored.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll take care of it quickly and be back. Just watch over the others.”
Hidden boss or not, this was just a secret dungeon on the 9th floor.
It would be a real problem if my companions went all out and left not even a corpse behind.
Up close, it was huge.
If the Emperor Mimic I met before was the size of a three or four-story villa, this thing was easily as big as a ten-story building.
It had to be well over 40 meters tall, an enormous size, but fights aren’t won by size alone.
Apep, the creature I defeated for the Pharaoh’s quest, was much larger than this.
“Tsk, tsk. I provided a clear path for you to leave, yet you succumbed to greed. Foolish humans.”
Oh, its transformation must be complete, as it was finally speaking. But wait a minute, that voice is awfully familiar.
It could just be because it’s another mimic, but…
“Hey, you don’t know me, do you?”
“Some lowly human… Y-You…!”
Seeing it stutter in surprise, I think my guess was right.
“Oh, so you do know me. It’s been a while, huh?”
It seemed to be the Emperor Mimic I met on the 9th floor last time.
Anyway, I gave it a friendly greeting, but there was no response.
“Are you ignoring me? Answer.”
The Chaos Emperor Mimic’s body trembled.
“N-No, sir. Have you been well? But why are you here again…?”
“Just passing through. You’ve gotten a lot bigger, haven’t you?”
“I… I’m sorry.”
“Suddenly? Sorry for what?”
“N-No… It’s nothing.”
It had actually grown a lot since the last time I saw it, from the size of a three or four-story villa, so I just commented on its growth. But it seems the creature took it as a threat.
“What have you been eating to get this big?”
“W-Well, with the money and items you gave me last time, I gathered some more and ranked up…”
“Oh, is that so? Good for you.”
To grow to this size, it must have consumed not only a lot of money but also many good items.
I was in a bind after losing so much equipment, so this was a relief.
“Thank you. I have absolutely no intention of fighting you, so if you’ll excuse me… What, why is it not dispelling…?”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
It’s a bit sad that it’s trying to leave right after we’ve been reunited.
“No, I just… Did you perhaps receive an Escape Crystal? You should be able to use it now.”
“I’ll handle that myself. For now, let’s make a deal like last time.”
“A d-deal? No, that’s…”
“You don’t want to? Rina! Hanna! Come here.”
I shouted for Rina and Hanna, and they both rushed over.
“Hyeon-ung, what’s wrong?”
“Mister?”
“You remember when we went to the secret dungeon on the 9th floor?”
“Yes, of course I remember.”
“This is that guy.”
Both of them tilted their heads as they looked at the Chaos Emperor Mimic.
“This is that guy?”
“It’s gotten huge.”
“But it seems like it doesn’t want to make a deal like last time.”
“No…”
The Chaos Emperor Mimic seemed quite flustered, stumbling backward.
“*Cough*. Hey, you’re kicking up dust! You wanna die?”
“I… I’m sorry.”
“If it doesn’t want to make a deal, can’t we just kill it? If it’s that big, it must have a lot of good equipment and money. I’ll take care of it.”
Hanna drew her sword, which glinted with a golden light.
“As expected of you, Mister. You had a plan all along. You let it go last time, thinking it would grow this big, right?”
That wasn’t exactly my plan, but…
At Rina and Hanna’s words, the Chaos Emperor Mimic’s body trembled violently.
“Hey, stop moving! You’re kicking up dust!”
“I-I’ll make a deal. No, I want to make a deal. Please, allow me to.”
It should have just said so from the start.
“What a shame. I was hoping to warm up a bit.”
Hanna sheathed her sword with a genuinely disappointed expression.
“Now we’re talking.”
“W-Well then, if you return the equipment you took last time, I’ll exchange it for something better…”
Can you believe this guy?
He wants me to return what I took before.
This isn’t like trading in an old phone for a new one.
“That’s going to be a problem.”
There was Ashtar’s Cloak, which I got from it, and other items I’d gifted to my companions.
“No, I’ll give you something better…”
“Mister, let’s just kill it.”
“…I will show you the new items.”
It seems Rina is the perfect counter to mimics.
The Emperor Mimic trembled violently, then shrank to a quarter of its size with a flash of white light.
Just like last time, black shapes detached from its body and fell to the ground. After a moment, colorful pieces of equipment appeared.
“Kyu!”
Geumyong, who had been sitting on Hanna’s shoulder, quickly flew up and swallowed a red item nearby.
“Get that thing!”
Fortunately, it only managed to swallow one before being caught by Nyx’s claws.
“Poyo!”
“Kyuuuuing!”
“Good job, Nyx. Geumyong, I’ll give you something special later. Alpen, hold onto Geumyong tightly.”
“Kyuuing!!”
This is what happens when I let my guard down for even a second.
“Alpen, hold onto Geumyong tightly.”
“Yes, sir!”
Anyway, there were far more items than last time. It seems this guy forgot our previous arrangement.
“I thought I told you to get rid of the green ones and the ones that don’t glow.”
“Ah, I forgot… Understood.”
The non-glowing common items and the green-glowing advanced items were reabsorbed into its body.
There were still three or four hundred items left.
It looked like this would take a while, so I told the Chaos Emperor Mimic to wait and went over to where Mi-jeong and Ha-young were.
“Brother, are you okay?”
“Hyeon-ung?”
“Hyeon-ung, what are you doing?”
“The boss monster that appeared this time is an old acquaintance.”
“What?”
“You’re acquainted with a boss monster?”
They all looked completely shocked.
“Yeah, I spared its life a while back. It says the Escape Crystals work now, so you should use them. I’m going to talk with it for a bit and then follow you.”
“No, how can we leave you here alone, brother?”
“It’s fine. We’re not going to fight. He’s a friend I know well, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Hyeon-ung, are you really sure you’re okay?”
“Of course. He’s a friend I haven’t seen in a while, so I just want to catch up before I go.”
After sending Ha-young and the new guild members out, I returned to the Chaos Emperor Mimic.
“Alright, shall we take a look at the items now?”
It took over an hour to finish checking all the items.
I chose a total of thirty pieces.
Nine unique and twenty-one rare.
I picked out equipment that my companions were interested in, as well as some things that would be useful for the new guild members, so the count was a bit higher than last time.
“S-So… many…”
“Mister, pick some more. There are still a lot left.”
“That’s right, Hyeon-ung. There are so many.”
“Should I?”
“N-No, that’s not necessary. If you’re done choosing, may I retrieve the rest?”
With Hanna and Rina setting the mood, its attitude changed again.
I scanned through the items one more time, but I really didn’t need anything more than what I’d already picked.
“That’s it. This is enough.”
“Of course. The items you’re taking now are worth at least several hundred thousand gold.”
“Hey, are you trying to guilt-trip my mister right now?”
“N-No, not at all. I just thought you might be curious about the price…”
Tsk, tsk. If it had just stayed quiet, it would’ve been fine.
“Rina, that’s enough.”
“Okay.”
“…Well then, may I retrieve the rest?”
I nodded, and the equipment was sucked back into the Chaos Mimic’s body with a flash of light.
“Now that our business is concluded, I’ll be on my…”
“You’re in a hurry. The deal is over when I say it’s over.”
“But you’ve already taken everything…”
The items I took were all useful, but there was still something left.
“Didn’t we have a separate deal at the end last time?”
If there had been a legendary item among the ones it displayed this time, I wouldn’t have said anything, but since there wasn’t, I had no choice.
“No, that time…”
“Tsk, don’t be like that. Do you think I’m asking for a handout?”
“W-Well… I do have something, but it’s really expensive…”
“I have more money than I did back then.”
“R-Really? But still…”
“Are you looking down on my mister?”
A mace glowing with white light appeared in Rina’s hand as she glared at the Chaos Emperor Mimic.
“I-I’ll bring it out. But you’ll have to give me 600,000 gold first. Do you really have that much money?”
600,000 gold?
Last time, I paid 20,000 gold for the legendary equipment, Ashtar’s Cloak. 600,000 is thirty times that amount.
Could it be…
“Wait a moment.”
“Wait, Mister, do you have 600,000 gold?”
Hanna and Rina both stared at me with wide eyes at the enormous sum.
“I should.”
When the Failed Game Master trait was upgraded, the daily login rewards increased as well.
With the SVIP benefits, I could get a total of 150,000 gold every ten days.
And I sometimes got gold from the prize wheel tickets.
I opened my inventory to check my balance, and… huh?
Unfortunately, I was short by about 5,000 gold.
Did I spend too much buying clothes for the kids and going out?
Then again, I did stock up on a lot of modern goods using Elsia-Punk.
And it hadn’t been that long since the benefits were upgraded.
“I’m a little short. This isn’t our first time doing business. Can’t you give me a 5,000 gold discount?”
Honestly, I could just wait a day, but I didn’t want to waste time.
“No…”
“Can’t we just get it by killing it?”
Bio, who had been silent until now, spoke up, causing the Chaos Emperor Mimic to tremble again.
“I-I’ll give you the discount.”
“See? He said he’ll give a discount. Killing it would be a bit much.”
“Mimics grow stronger by eating money. What if it just takes your money and attacks?”
Bio was worried about the same thing I was last time.
“T-That won’t happen. I keep my promises.”
“See? We made a deal just fine last time, too.”
“I still think it would be better to just kill it.”
Milli chimed in as well. While killing it meant getting the item for free, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that it might not drop.
“I-I know I can’t beat you all even if I eat that money. P-Please, just give it to me.”
It seemed terrified.
“Alright.”
I took out 595,000 gold from my inventory.
Since they were 10-gold coins, the volume wasn’t that large.
Each one was only slightly larger than a 500-won coin, so there were only 59,500 of them.
The gold was instantly sucked toward the Chaos Emperor Mimic.
A golden light erupted, and the creature’s size nearly doubled—no, it expanded sideways as well, making it about four times bigger.
“Payment received.”
Its voice sounded much deeper and more resonant.
“Hurry up and give me the item.”
“O-Of course.”
Before the mimic finished speaking, its size began to shrink again.
Just as I thought it had returned to its original size… no, it seemed even smaller… a white light burst forth, and a small earring appeared.
Nice!
My guess was right.
The small box, about the size of my fist, was emitting the brilliant purple light of a mythic item… wait a minute.
“Ouch!”
With Alpen’s pained cry, a small shadow fell over the purple-glowing earring.
“Everyone, get it! No. Bio, stop time right…”
“You want me to stop time? I can’t use that right…”
Everyone lunged forward, and even Nyx took to the air, but that damn Geumyong swallowed the earring whole.
“*Burp!*”