Even a Third-Generation Chaebol Can't Stand This (4)
Lee Hyeon-seo was a blessed human being. Most people thought so. After all, she had been born with a diamond spoon in her mouth instead of a mere gold one. On top of that, she basked in the devoted love of her grandfather, the chairman of the Cheonghwa Group. With the entire group’s favor wrapped around her like a warm blanket, she had no choice but to feel blessed.
That conviction only grew stronger after her awakening.
“Uncle! I-I awakened!”
“Really? Congratulations…”
“And I got two Legendary-grade traits!”
“You what?!”
Two Legendary traits the moment she awakened. It was enough to make even Hwang Hee-chan leap out of his seat in shock. To Hyeon-seo, it felt as if she had become the protagonist of the world.
That same feeling stayed with her as she climbed the tower.
“First floor? That was easy.”
“The second floor wasn’t hard? Hmm, well…”
“Third floor cleared too! It took a while, but I managed it!”
The first floor of the Tower of Pilgrims had a mere one-percent clear rate. She passed it without breaking a sweat. The second floor, which filtered out half of those who cleared the first, posed no real challenge either. She even conquered the third floor—the one that no one in the entire country except Hwang Hee-chan had ever beaten. Deciding to tackle the fourth floor felt completely natural.
…Realizing she should never have done that came far too late.
Why did I do that?
Looking back, the previous floors had not been nearly as smooth as her memory painted them. They had been dangerous. Without the recovery potions the Cheonghwa Guild poured out in full support, she would have died several times over. Still, she told herself she would be fine. More potions had been restocked, and she was wrapped in top-tier weapons, armor, and artifacts. So she would push through to the fourth floor. Blinded by vague confidence, it was only natural that her potions eventually ran dry.
No more potions…?
She had brought a hundred recovery potions. Every last one was gone by the time she reached the thirty-ninth floor. And even after that, the wounds that remained forced her to use the clear reward potion for the thirty-ninth floor as well. That was the moment Awakener Lee Hyeon-seo’s tower climb came to an end.
What waited for her afterward was hell.
The emergency rations are almost gone too…
The generous supply of emergency food had run out. The bread and jerky she once found repulsive could only be swallowed without vomiting after she had starved for two full days. She could not wash properly. She could not do laundry. She spent most of her time naked inside the narrow cave, too ashamed to even wear underwear while relieving herself in such a filthy state. Months of that broke her pride into pieces.
Hope was still nowhere in sight.
Maybe I should just…
Challenge the boss and die. Extreme thoughts surged through her mind several times a day. But then—
— Excuse meeee!!!
— Hweh?!
One day, a miracle occurred. A ray of salvation shone upon her faded hopes.
The first hot meal in who knew how long. It was so delicious she nearly cried.
And then the hidden piece he handed over.
It was no different from a lifeline. Then came the final sparring match.
After watching it, Hyeon-seo instinctively understood. The being called Baekri-hyang possessed not only incredible stats but combat ability that far surpassed them. Just as he had claimed, clearing the fourth-floor boss would be simple for her. No—more than that.
She’s completely overwhelming him.
The trait that raised swordsmanship proficiency, Sword Flower. Even with it, she could not understand even ten percent of Hwimin’s sword. His skill had truly reached the mythic realm.
So that’s what a truly blessed person looks like.
She accepted it without resistance. That was what it meant to be the protagonist of this world. Her pride had already been shattered long ago, so admitting it did not even hurt.
“Walking around smelling like human waste…”
[……!!!?]
Human waste? N-no way!?
She had not quite abandoned her last shred of human dignity, so Baekri-hyang’s final verbal blow shook her mentality. Still, the twenty-minute possession finally came to an end. Hyeon-seo regained control of her body, and Baekri-hyang returned to her soul.
“And so it has come to this. From now on, you too shall devote yourself to serving our lord. Simply witnessing that sword is an unparalleled stroke of fortune in this world.”
It had been slightly embarrassing, but also a rather fascinating experience.
So possession doesn’t happen when I want it. It happens when she wants it…
Hyeon-seo glanced up. There stood Hwimin, hood pulled low over a masked face. She drank in the sight of the man who had become her white knight on a white horse. The thought that he might use Baekri-hyang to control her never even crossed her mind.
When I get out of here alive, I must repay him. I’ll do anything he asks. I’ll stake the entire Cheonghwa Guild on it!
She vowed to uphold the contract two hundred percent. However, Hyeon-seo’s expectations were spectacularly shattered.
“Lady Hyeon-seo. You must have realized by now that I am Cheol-gang-min.”
The sudden confession made Hyeon-seo’s eyes bulge.
“……Hup!!!!?”
He’s actually saying it?!
In truth, she had suspected. The mysterious Korean who could slice through space itself to rescue someone trapped in a safe zone—there was only one person it could be. Of course the Cheonghwa Guild had reached the same conclusion after reading the post she left behind. The username “GateFarmer” had actually been “CheolGangMinAwakenerAnalysis2.”
Even so, she had pretended not to know because she roughly understood his personality.
I heard he’s extremely wary of standing out.
Just looking at the trade conditions he proposed—proxy purchasing of goods—made it obvious. He was not without material desires, but he shunned fame. A man who loved peaceful daily life, almost like an ordinary citizen. Yet he still possessed a sense of noblesse oblige, using his power for good… a hero.
That was why even the guilds and the administration had been half-hearted in their search for Cheol-gang-min. If they offended him and he decided to disappear to “Arirang,” the losses would be catastrophic. Worse, if he emigrated, the country might earn a lifetime’s worth of curses in a single hour. So both Hyeon-seo and the Cheonghwa Guild had planned to keep pretending they did not know.
But he revealed it? Why?
Hyeon-seo could not fathom it. It had not been part of Hwimin’s original plan either.
Well, he would have noticed anyway.
The moment he crossed dimensions to save her, “GateFarmer” being Cheol-gang-min became certain. Anyone but an idiot would realize it. Still, what could he do? If he slapped on a thick iron plate and denied it, the other party would have no choice but to accept the denial. And as long as his real identity and connection to Ryu Hwimin remained hidden, it would be fine.
That was what Hwimin had thought when he came here. But now the situation had changed.
After confirming it with Dragon Eyes, he learned that Baekri-hyang could seize Hyeon-seo’s body at will once per day for twenty minutes. Moreover, Baekri-hyang obeyed his commands with absolute loyalty. In effect, he held the future strongest Awakener in Korea as a hostage.
The moment he saw that, the professional freeloader decided to insert his straw.
“I request that Cheonghwa cooperate with me unofficially from now on.”
“…Are you saying you want to become a guild member?”
“Not quite. Let’s call it a partnership.”
Hwimin’s eyes gleamed. He was trying to look charismatic. Unfortunately, the nasal voice he used to disguise himself made it rather unseemly, but to Hyeon-seo he still looked incredibly cool.
“Ah, a partnership…!”
Now that her hair is back to blonde, she really does look similar to Baekri-hyang. Her hair’s longer, though.
Hyeon-seo’s sparkling eyes made Hwimin feel an inexplicable sense of unease, but he let it pass.
“I plan to clear gates from time to time. But gates can’t be entered by individuals.”
Hwimin’s request was simple. Secret gate rental. Officially, Cheonghwa would record the clears as their own. In reality, he would slip in, sweep everything, and leave. He intended to use the Seed of Transcendence trait to level up whenever he had spare time.
“That would be a great help to us, but…”
“You must keep it absolutely secret. If this is exposed due to Cheonghwa’s mistake, you understand the consequences, yes?”
“I’ll need to consult the guild, but if you do this for us, we will definitely keep it secret.”
Hyeon-seo accepted without resistance. Clearing gates on their behalf was practically volunteer work.
“Then how would you like the gate-clear reward? Cryptocurrency?”
“Can’t that be traced?”
“…If you cash it out, the bank and the National Tax Service…”
“I’m not interested.”
Hwimin even refused compensation. It sounded as if he would clear gates that received massive state subsidies for free. Since he could raise his level inside gates, it was by no means a loss for him, but—
“Wouldn’t that be too much of an advantage for Cheonghwa? I’d like to receive some help as well.”
Hwimin’s gaze swept over Hyeon-seo. The choker covering her neck. The slender frame. It was easy to mistake her gender, but after seeing the real Baekri-hyang, he could only see her as male.
“First, there’s the military issue.”
“…Yes?”
“Could you look into ways for me to serve as an active-duty or public-service soldier? Legally, of course.”
The words about the military were so abrupt they seemed to come out of nowhere. To Hwimin, however, it was a serious matter.
Even after obtaining the stigmata and returning, I’ll probably need to manage it periodically.
Although they shared no blood, he cherished his little sister, Ryu Serin, more than anything. The cure for her Hyper-mana Syndrome was going to be him. But if he enlisted as an active soldier? He could not even imagine how severely her condition might worsen while he was stuck without leave. No, from the beginning, he had never intended to leave her alone and enlist. Solving the military problem was, after obtaining the stigmata, Hwimin’s greatest concern.
Since information-type traits can be countered, the Awakener alternative service… No, I can’t claim to be from the normal tower at this point.
The Awakener alternative service that was essentially for civilians was now impossible. It was a type of military exemption available only to those who had climbed the Tower of Challengers. For Hwimin, who publicly appeared to be from the Tower of Beginners, it was out of reach. That was why he had specifically asked Hyeon-seo.
“I’m not asking for a full exemption like you received. Just something like active-duty service would be nice. Hehe. As fellow men, you understand, right?”
“……Pardon?”
Hyeon-seo’s mouth fell open in a daze. She looked at Hwimin once, then lowered her gaze to her own flat chest, then back at him. They blinked at each other.
“Haa?”
What is he talking about? I’m a woman.
Well, her chest was rather small. Her name was gender-neutral, her voice was low for a woman, and her clothes were baggy, so the misunderstanding was understandable. But the other party was Hwimin. Her white knight was looking at her and seeing a man. For some reason, it made her incredibly angry.
“Kyahahahat!!! Hey girl, did you hear that!? Our lord thinks you are a man!!”
“…Baekri-hyang, could you please be quiet!!”
“Is it not because you walk around smelling of human waste? Besides, what kind of woman does not even wear underwear…”
“Waaaaah!!!! Be quiet!!!!”
On top of everything, Baekri-hyang was attacking her inside her head with “you smell like poop.” Hyeon-seo’s face flushed bright red. She wanted to crawl into a mouse hole and disappear.
“……?”
What is she chatting with Baekri-hyang about?
Hwimin had no idea why she was panicking.
* * *
Hyeon-seo had made a fuss about the military talk for a moment, but anyway.
“I’ll look into that for you.”
“I’ll be counting on you. Oh, I might ask you to run various other errands too, so shall we consider the gate rewards covered by that?”
“Understood.”
In the end, he secured the promise from her. Her attitude had grown a little cold after realizing she was essentially a hostage, but—
I trust she won’t forget the grace of the braised short ribs.
That braised short rib kimchi stew had cost forty thousand won, after all. If she did not deliver results worthy of the price, he could always make her scream “Dog poop splash, oh my god” in the middle of Gwanghwamun Square.
Behave yourself.
“Then I’ll be going. Possession has a twenty-four-hour cooldown, so rest well today, warm up, and challenge the boss tomorrow.”
He rose to his feet. The deal was done, and he had essentially turned Cheonghwa into his underlings. Now he just needed to break through the fourth floor and go home.
“W-wait!”
“…Hm? What is it?”
But for some reason, Hyeon-seo suddenly grabbed him. The reason was absurd.
“I’m actually not exempt…!!”
“Eh? Then you have to serve?”
“N-no, I don’t serve, but…”
“Dual citizenship?”
“Well… I do have dual citizenship…”
“……”
This guy was going to keep being difficult until the end. The heavenly orphan start was crying.
“I’m jealous. I have a family I need to support, so I really want to get out of it.”
He gave a vague reply and turned away. Then—slash—!! He sliced open the dimensional wall again.
Doing the boss together… might cause problems with the clear rewards. I’ll just leave her to clear it with Baekri-hyang.
“Since it looks like we can’t challenge the boss together, I’ll take my leave. Do your best!”
With a quick leap, he dove straight into the hole. Not toward that stinky safe zone, but toward his own clean and comfortable one.
“W-wait! That’s not—”
Hyeon-seo called out from behind, but—
-Slam.
It closes really fast.
The door to anywhere that he had created closed before she could finish speaking. Silence welcomed him.
“Huuu~.”
Now that the contract is finished, I just need to obtain the stigmata and I’m done.
He lightly stretched his body, then gripped his sword tightly. Before his eyes, a portal flickered ominously.
“Well then, shall we go fetch it?”
The fourth-floor hard boss summon.