Hwanung's Sky Garden
When the high-mana device Dong Sa-Seong had loaded activated, a thin membrane formed around the helicopter and let it slip gently through the turbulent mana swirling around Hwanung's sky garden.
Before the hole could seal itself, the helicopter carrying Si-Eun darted through after them. The moment both craft fully entered Hwanung's sky garden, Jeong-Hoon's eyes fell upon a colossal castle that still wore the exact face it had possessed four thousand three hundred years ago.
Massive walls of piled stone, the gaps packed with earth, encircled the place. Stairs climbed those walls, and inside them rose a vast nine-story palace. Water continuously circled and flowed around the castle, while countless flowers bloomed toward its heart.
"This is quite the spectacle, but where are we supposed to land?"
There were two helicopters and not a single proper landing site in sight. Jeong-Hoon grumbled; Butler Ju merely shook his head.
"We have no choice. We'll climb down the helicopter ladders, pull the craft out, and when we leave we'll have to dive with parachutes."
"Then our identities will be blown, won't they?"
Parachuting into a place already under every watching eye would naturally draw every gaze. Jeong-Hoon objected, yet the other vassals only looked as if they wondered what the problem could possibly be.
"Gaju, it seems you've forgotten because you haven't used it in so long, but that suit of yours has a cloaking function. It can cloak the parachute as well."
When Butler Ju reminded him of the feature they had used upon entering the Orc Lord's dungeon, Jeong-Hoon simply nodded.
Jeong-Hoon, Si-Eun, and the 12 Vassals set down at what appeared to be the entrance to the sky garden—right in front of the stairway that led over the wall. Even with ladders, this was the only place the helicopters could hold altitude long enough for a safe descent.
Having strapped on his emergency parachute and stepped onto the sky garden, Jeong-Hoon glanced back at the pack he wore. Using the suit's compression ability, the enormous rucksack had been reduced to little more than an inverted-triangle ornament on his back.
"Chairman, when are you going to commercialize this and start selling it?"
Si-Eun, already wearing her own suit, approached him with open eagerness. Jeong-Hoon shook his head.
"The suits and helmets will eventually be issued to the PS Association, but unit cost will force us to lock out a lot of the functions."
"What?! If even you say the unit cost is a problem, just how expensive is this thing?"
A suit that compressed small enough to carry, then deployed at the press of a button and fitted the body perfectly. The helmet that came with it analyzed everything around the wearer the moment it was put on and displayed the results before the eyes. Compression for portability normally gutted defensive power, yet Si-Eun could feel it: this suit was more durable than any model on the market.
So when Jeong-Hoon spoke of unit cost, she did not doubt him for a second. She simply reeled at the astronomical figure she could barely imagine.
In truth, unit cost was never the issue. For a family whose capital approached infinity, unit cost did not exist. What Si-Eun wore right now was a special model built exclusively for the vassals. If something like that ever leaked onto the open market—PS Association or otherwise—the family's advantage would vanish overnight. That was why, even after the PS Association was founded, they planned to issue only heavily restricted versions.
"…If I joined under you, Chairman, would I get one of these suits?"
Even as a friend she could not quite bring herself to say "give me one," so she asked carefully. Jeong-Hoon nodded. If she entered the family, her talent was the kind that would make Head Maid Lee Yeong salivate; she would receive not a standard vassal suit but one tuned for the 12 Vassals themselves.
"Ah, but then I'd worry about my guild. Could you take the whole guild under you?"
"I could accept it, but then the core of a guild—dungeon raiding—would become impossible. Even if the laws are revised, that part never will be. Aurora Group is still, at the end of the day, a corporation."
"Mmm, that is a problem. If I, an SS-class, drop out of dungeon raiding, a huge hole opens up."
The suit was tempting enough that she had briefly considered strong-arming FC Guild into joining Aurora Group, but she could not abandon the greater cause of dungeon raids. Si-Eun shook her head. Watching her, Jeong-Hoon thought that once they finished cleaning up Hwanung's sky garden, he might seriously propose she become a formal collaborator of the family.
Because no one knew what might happen, they formed a column: Butler Ju at the front, Jeong Si-Min bringing up the rear, Jeong-Hoon and Si-Eun in the center. Together they began climbing the stairs.
Not a single trace of the ruins that had existed before the dungeon collapsed could be found, no matter how hard one looked. With every step the abundant mana rose through their feet, giving the sensation of walking on clouds.
"Huh?"
"Is something wrong?"
Butler Ju, leading the way, turned with a smile when Jeong-Hoon suddenly faltered. He assumed Jeong-Hoon, unable to sense mana, had simply been startled by the blessing of such dense power.
"Every time I step on the stairs I feel this unpleasant sensation… and I don't think it's just my imagination."
At the word "unpleasant," everyone except Jeong-Hoon shook their heads. How could anyone find this abundant mana unpleasant?
"You must have misspoken 'refreshing' for—forgive me. I dared to doubt you, Chairman."
As an excellent mage and therefore more sensitive to mana, Lee Yeong had begun to voice her bewilderment, then hastily bowed her head in apology. Putting her own feelings first and questioning the Gaju was not the act of a member of the 12 Vassals.
"No, it's fine. I'm a Non-Awakened, so of course I feel it differently from the rest of you. It's like ants crawling up my legs. Is that what mana feels like?"
"Hmm. That kind of unpleasantness… I think I understand. I'm specialized in superpowers rather than martial arts or magic, so I sometimes feel mana's rejection. It's exactly that feeling."
When Jeong-Hoon described the sensation, Si-Min nodded and explained. At the same time a question formed in his mind. The only reason he ever felt mana's rejection was because his power manipulated space itself. When he pushed his ability to the extreme and interfered with dimensions, mana pushed back and gave him that same unpleasantness. Right now he felt none of it—only the refreshing sensation Lee Yeong had mentioned.
"That's probably backlash from the sealing power the… Chairman possesses."
While everyone was lost in thought over why Jeong-Hoon alone felt discomfort, Dong Sa-Seong suddenly raised his hand and spoke. The answer had flashed so instantly that he nearly called him Gaju by reflex.
"Dr. Dong? Explain in more detail."
"This place regained its original form when the dungeon collapsed, right? But the seal didn't fully collapse—it's still holding. Because of that residual force, mana keeps pouring out… and what the Chairman is feeling isn't the mana itself. I suspect it's the sealing power trying to return everything to the way it was."
Dong Sa-Seong was so excited he almost slipped again, but the explanation satisfied everyone. If that were not the case, Jeong-Hoon would have no reason to feel discomfort. If vast mana itself were unpleasant to him, he would find the 12 Vassals unpleasant as well.
"You know, Dr. Dong Sa-Seong, and all of you… you look a little uncomfortable every time you call him Chairman. Why not just call him what you normally do?"
Everyone had been nodding along until Si-Eun suddenly spoke. All eyes locked on her. Even as a half-collaborator, how did she know that?
"I missed the timing to say it earlier, but during Nova's hotel attack I heard Director Ju call the Chairman 'Gaju' over the radio, and President Jeon Mun-Jae of Apollon shout 'Gaju' as well…"
In those final moments when escape time was almost gone, Butler Ju and Jeon Mun-Jae had, in their urgency, let the word slip. Si-Eun had heard it clearly and now admitted it without hesitation. Everyone's faces turned awkward. All the careful "Chairman" they had used in front of her suddenly looked ridiculous.
"…Since Hunter Han Si-Eun has said so, everyone go back to the usual form of address. And don't go shouting it by accident the next time things get urgent."
"““We receive your command, Gaju.”””
Realizing that hiding it any longer was pure folly, Jeong-Hoon gave the order at once. The five vassals dropped to one knee in perfect unison—even though they were still on the stairs. Watching them, Si-Eun felt she had just glimpsed one fragment of Jeong-Hoon's truly enormous hidden identity.
Once inside the walls and into the palace, Jeong-Hoon could see the countless murals carved into the vast, smooth stone.
The first showed a winged giant wearing a crown presenting three jewels to a man who stood before a multitude of people. The next mural depicted the man who had received the jewels leading his host down from the clouds to conquer the land. Three figures among them were especially emphasized: one commanding the wind, one summoning clouds, one calling rain. Against the host that had descended from the clouds, people led by a giant bear and a giant tiger waged war. The final mural showed the giant bear standing with those who had come from the clouds, hunting the giant tiger.
"If we summarize everything up to this point, it matches Chairman Kim Sang-Myeong's reconstruction of the early Dangun myth almost exactly."
"'Almost' is generous—it's a carbon copy. The myths that survived look like nothing more than records someone left after seeing the real thing."
Jeong-Hoon shook his head at Si-Min's explanation, and Si-Eun nodded in agreement. The winged giant was Hwanin; the man leading the host was Hwanung. The three jewels were the three Cheonbuin. The ones who controlled wind, clouds, and rain were Pungbaek, Unsa, and Usa. With the bear and tiger appearing as well, this was the Dangun myth every Korean knew, pure and simple.
"That's because the Dangun myth—no, every myth that exists in the world—is something that actually happened."
Jeong Si-Min's statement was shocking, yet Jeong-Hoon was not especially shaken. Hints had been scattered everywhere. Anyone who saw magic and martial arts and used even a little imagination could have reached the same conclusion. That was true for Jeong-Hoon, who knew the seal in precise detail. Si-Eun, who had only known that the seal prevented monsters from pouring into this world and that Jeong-Hoon and his organization protected it, was far more stunned.
"Um, Professor Jeong Si-Min! Th-then… does that mean the bear really turning into a human is also true?"
Startled, she voiced the first question that came to mind. Si-Min merely shrugged.
"Our family wasn't in Korea at the time, so there are no records either way. Rough guess? There were two powers that served a bear and a tiger of enormous strength and intelligence, and both powers were conquered by a force led by a half-blood of the Heavenly Race."
Now that they were openly calling Jeong-Hoon Gaju in front of Si-Eun, Si-Min treated her as a collaborator of the family and explained frankly. Stripped of the mythical flourishes, it was the same historical interpretation usually taught about the Dangun myth, so Si-Eun could follow it—yet another question remained.
"You just said 'Heavenly Race'?"
"When the seal was created, the age of humans began. Before that, other races besides humans were common enough."
Jeong Si-Min explained as if the whole matter were a bother and shook his head, but Si-Eun was hit by an even greater shock. She finally understood what the seal she had only vaguely known about truly was. And having heard this much, she also realized she could never walk away from the family.