Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Blackmailing the Sun Guild
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Having leveled up quickly in Utopia, I returned home.
"Home is still the best."
I flopped straight onto the bed upon arrival.
Thanks to Burning Vitality, my body wasn't tired, but the mental fatigue from perceiving the world in slow motion was unavoidable.
I hadn't passed out, but the throbbing headache lingered quite a bit.
I pressed my temples and opened my status window.
Level 20.
"I've got one more skeleton slot now. Preparations are complete."
For now, I'd achieved my goal.
If needed, I could now turn Jeong Sia into a skeleton.
"Tomorrow's her birthday, right?"
That didn't mean I planned to kill her myself. Jeong Sia wasn't someone who needed to die; she was just someone who could die.
I took some time to rest and pulled out my phone to check on the world's happenings.
To be honest, I hadn't expected to regress anyway.
"Maybe something will come back to me as I browse."
I didn't remember every single detail.
"This guy's already famous from now on? Huh? That skill came out now? Already level 40? Fast."
As I was checking various pieces of information, something caught my eye.
"Huh?"
I spotted an unexpected article.
[Sun Group's youngest among three sons and three daughters, Cha Jin-hyuk, becomes master of Sun Guild.]
"Cha Jin-hyuk?"
The Sun Guild, which I thought wouldn't form without Cha Mu-hyuk's death.
It was established with this man named Cha Jin-hyuk taking the master's seat.
"Sun Group's youngest son..."
He must have some real ability.
Three sons and three daughters. No, now it's two sons and three daughters.
For the youngest among those siblings to become the Sun Guild's master.
'Whatever. It doesn't really matter.'
I was just purely surprised; it wasn't something to worry about. I'd never even heard the name Cha Jin-hyuk in my previous life.
Meaning he was no different from Cha Mu-hyuk.
'He won't block my path.'
Like in Cha Mu-hyuk's time, the Sun Guild wouldn't last long and would disappear.
I turned off my interest in the Sun Guild and browsed the internet again.
Then I jumped up from the bed in shock, shouting.
"This item comes out now?"
A necklace embedded with a blood-red gem.
An item called Phoenix's Tear, which possessed a skill that boosted flame resistance.
"I need this one."
As I'd seen with the Goblin King and Orc Shaman, it was necessary for hunting, but more importantly, for the war against the Demon Realm.
It was the best item for dealing with the demonic beasts that mostly used powerful flame attacks.
"It's just a B-rank item now, but if it comes to me, I can make it S-rank."
Additionally, the Phoenix's Tear had one hidden piece of information.
"Auction in three days, minimum bid 300 million?"
The money I'd made from selling all the magic stones from hunting so far was barely 10 million won.
It's not like I could acquire every item and skill I needed by hunting them down myself.
"How do I make money?"
My thinking had been too short-sighted.
"A loan?"
No way they'd give me one.
"Borrow from someone?"
Honestly, I had no one to borrow from.
As I kept pondering.
"In the end, is that the only way? I hope my guess is right."
Three days to at least 300 million. Honestly, to comfortably secure the Phoenix's Tear, I'd need a billion won.
At that moment, only one method came to mind.
I hurriedly prepared and headed outside.
"To Gwanghwamun, please."
I took a taxi to Gwanghwamun.
Crossing the portal, I arrived in Utopia.
I ran straight to the infinite respawn spot where I'd hunted the Orc Shaman before.
The Orc Shaman was still standing there.
Like last time, I quietly slipped into the water.
I considered using Kkaebi to draw its attention and kill it, but.
'Just in case.'
I didn't want to take unnecessary risks on something I could handle easily.
Kkaebi had become that important to me now.
After another game of tug-of-war with the Orc Shaman.
I came out of the water and thrust my sword into its neck, killing it.
"Wait a sec?"
As I looked at the limply fallen Orc Shaman, I remembered something I'd overlooked.
"I can destroy skeletons to adjust the number I have, right?"
Skeleton destruction.
There was no need to keep a slot empty until I turned Jeong Sia into a skeleton.
I used the skill on the Orc Shaman's corpse.
Just like with Kkaebi, its soul slipped out naturally, revealing the Orc Shaman's skeleton.
As expected, this one was made of black bones too.
A guy I'd soon part with anyway.
"Hwayeom."
I named it roughly.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Skeleton 'Hwayeom' is pleased to receive a name from its master. I felt unnecessarily sorry.
I immediately summoned Kkaebi. He had something important to do right now.
"Kkaebi. See that lake over there? Go in and bring out Cha Mu-hyuk's corpse."
Kkaebi nodded right away and walked into the lake.
A moment later.
Kkaebi emerged from the water, dragging Cha Mu-hyuk's leg.
"Put it here."
I approached Cha Mu-hyuk's corpse that Kkaebi had placed on the ground. A week had passed, and decay had set in here and there.
If not for my improved physical abilities, I wouldn't have even recognized the body.
"Where is it?"
I rummaged through his body.
"Found it."
The phone in his pocket.
"The world has gotten so convenient."
Despite being underwater for so long, the waterproofing was excellent; it was intact.
However, the screen was locked, so I couldn't access the information inside.
"Hmm... will this work?"
I pressed Cha Mu-hyuk's relatively intact fingertip to the phone.
Failure.
The skin had swollen from being underwater too long; fingerprint recognition didn't work.
"Can't wait for it to dry either."
That would waste time and feel stupid.
"Ah? Hwayeom?"
I immediately called Hwayeom.
"Can you use a small fireball by any chance?"
Hwayeom nodded at my question and displayed a message.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Hwayeom says it needs a staff. A staff?
I'd been too indifferent, thinking of it only as a slot-filler.
I picked up the staff that had fallen beside the Orc Shaman's corpse and handed it to Hwayeom.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Hwayeom is happy. Happy over something like this?
"Try using it right here beside this."
At my command, Hwayeom fired a small fireball next to Cha Mu-hyuk's corpse.
Boom!
It was small, but the heat was intense enough to ignite the grassy ground, flames flickering up.
I held Cha Mu-hyuk's hand near the heat of the flames.
His fingertips dried quickly.
'Making money is hard.'
Once it seemed dry enough, I kept pressing the fingertip to the screen to unlock the phone.
About a dozen times like that.
"Got it."
The screen lock finally unlocked.
I spent a long time examining the contents of the phone.
"This is more useful than I thought?"
There was more interesting stuff than I'd expected.
After that, I changed the lock to a password.
1234.
The simplest is the hardest to guess.
"Both of you, go back in."
I sent Kkaebi and Hwayeom back, then tossed Cha Mu-hyuk's corpse back into the lake.
"Now, time to make some money."
I pocketed Cha Mu-hyuk's phone and headed straight out through the portal city to Earth.
Late at night.
The quiet streets of Gwanghwamun.
Amid the sparse people, I took out my phone.
Of course, it was Cha Mu-hyuk's, not mine.
I opened the screen, found a name in the contacts, and hit call.
Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring!
The call tone started.
A man answered.
"Big Brother?"
It was Cha Mu-hyuk's younger brother and Sun Guild's master, Cha Jin-hyuk.
"Hello? You're Cha Jin-hyuk, right?"
I greeted him first.
Maybe because it wasn't the Cha Mu-hyuk voice he expected?
"Yes, that's me, but... who is this?"
Cha Jin-hyuk asked suspiciously.
"Do you have Mu-hyuk hyung-nim's phone?"
A week since contact with Cha Mu-hyuk was lost.
Sun Guild master position given not to the assigned Cha Mu-hyuk, but to Cha Jin-hyuk.
The Sun Group probably considered Cha Mu-hyuk's death all but confirmed.
Though not entirely sure.
"I found it in Utopia."
So the story was simple.
"It was next to some corpses."
"Corpses..."
Cha Jin-hyuk paused as if at a loss for words, then asked me again.
"Is that corpse the owner of this phone you're holding?"
"It came from his pocket, so yeah?"
"Meaning you searched the body."
It felt like I was being grilled for looting, but.
"Yes. He had top-grade items wrapped around him, so I thought there might be something valuable."
I said it confidently.
Recovering items from corpses in Utopia was common sense.
"Top-grade items too... definitely sounds like my brother."
Only then did Cha Jin-hyuk confirm Cha Mu-hyuk's death.
"How did that happen..."
His voice trembled with what seemed like regret.
I knew it wasn't sincere, so it was amusing.
"Seemed like he messed with the Orc Shaman. Most of the people who looked like his team were charred black and dead."
I hid my involvement and explained calmly.
"I see. But they shouldn't have lost to an Orc Shaman."
"You never know with people. The shaman and other orcs might have ganged up."
I'd joined in to kill them, not orcs, but I felt no guilt.
I'd killed someone who needed killing.
'Time to get to the point.'
I continued right away.
"By the way, you're the one becoming Sun Guild's master this time, right, Cha Jin-hyuk?"
"Yes, but how did you know? Could be a coincidence with the name."
"Found his business card in Cha Mu-hyuk's pocket. And this phone has a lot of interesting stuff related to you."
After my words, only Cha Jin-hyuk's breathing came through the phone for a moment.
"Interesting stuff on the phone..."
His words sounded like a monologue.
"What do you want from me?"
As expected of someone who rose to Sun Guild master from the disadvantaged youngest position; quick on the uptake.
"Your response tells me this will speed things up."
I got straight to what I wanted.
The reason I'd suddenly left home to retrieve Cha Mu-hyuk's corpse and phone.
"One billion. Give me one billion won, and I'll hand over this phone."
I was about to become a blackmailer.
Simply put, extort money.
From his perspective, it wouldn't be unfair. If he couldn't stop Solomon, money would be worthless paper anyway.
'Lucky the phone's intact.'
These days, people keep all their secrets on their phones.
Gossip, personal scandals, private info, secrets only they know about others.
So I figured Cha Mu-hyuk had secrets about himself or Sun Group on his phone.
The results were beyond satisfying.
"Your future's at stake, and one billion is cheap, right?"
Most of those secrets were interestingly related to Cha Jin-hyuk, and quite severe ones at that.
"One billion?"
Cha Jin-hyuk asked in a sunken voice.
"Yes. You have that kind of capability."
"What secrets did you see that make me pay one billion?"
He's testing me.
Whether I really knew secrets about him.
"You really need to hear it from my mouth?"
"I think that's necessary for the deal."
If he insists, I'd have to tell him directly.
"Cha Jin-hyuk."
"You're not the son of Sun Group's head, Chairman Cha Jin-su."
Surprisingly, Cha Jin-hyuk was the child of his mother's affair.
And somehow knowing that, Cha Mu-hyuk had been blackmailing him.
To always side with him in the group.
There were tons of conversations like raising an obedient dog.
"Honestly, you must've been thrilled when Cha Mu-hyuk died? Must've been hard acting sad."
So hearing Cha Jin-hyuk's regretful tone about his death was laughable.
"Who else knows this?"
Cha Jin-hyuk didn't deny it.
"You, me, and your mother? But if you don't pay the billion, the world will know."
"Is that all the secrets?"
"Want me to say more?"
By now, Cha Jin-hyuk's eyes were probably blazing with murderous intent, but I had reasons for spilling so easily.
Shocking that he wasn't of Sun blood.
'This shows Cha Mu-hyuk was dead set on ruining Sun.'
There was one more secret that dwarfed this one.