Cheonmok
The gun he'd handed over to Hye-ji was an ability derived from the Trailer.
Which meant it was tied into the Blessing of Machine Civilization Gift.
Because of that, it had a whole range of functions that synced with the Trailer itself.
Even the fact that its default form was a shotgun was simply because that shape suited Won-goo best.
In truth, since the weapon drew on a civilization-linked power from outer space, it could transform into far more than that. But Won-goo had never bothered to invest in those possibilities. He'd poured his resources into things that could take care of his people instead.
"So I can use it too?"
Jeon Hye-ji asked from the passenger seat. Won-goo was driving the Trailer toward the Shelter.
"No."
"I can't?"
"Probably not. And don't lean on it too hard anyway. You'll need to find a weapon of your own."
At that, Jeon Hye-ji went quiet.
"This is for later. As time passes, you start running into things bullets don't work on. And when that happens? You just get eaten."
"So that's……"
"Nothing lasts forever. Especially not in this world. Anything can shatter at any moment, and friends turn into enemies all the time. Just look at Poke right now. He was one of ours, and look what happened."
"I'd never do that."
"I'm not saying you would. I'm saying you never know how a situation will turn. You could end up completely alone someday. That's why you prepare."
"Still, I like it here."
Jeon Hye-ji said it while looking straight at him, her bright, sharp eyes gleaming. Won-goo snorted a small laugh and gave her his answer.
"You're going to live a long time."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Of course it is."
Back at the Shelter, they went over the loot they'd acquired first.
"Ttugi! Jo Mu-sa! Su-won! Get over here!"
"Yes, Hyeong-nim!"
When Won-goo called out of nowhere, everyone came over wearing tense expressions. They'd assumed something had gone wrong.
"You bastards did good. How the hell did you manage to pick out nothing but pretty things no matter what you grabbed?"
Won-goo gestured at the treasures they'd stolen from the Dwarf Elf territory.
"They're good? We just grabbed whatever we could carry."
"They're all solid. They'll fetch a tidy sum. Well done. Let's keep this kind of performance coming from here on out."
"Director Gong. Stop stalling. That book. You owe us an explanation of what it actually is. That dangerous grunt work we ran — wasn't it all for that thing?"
Mu Beob-sa said.
"That's what I was about to explain. You old-timers are so impatient."
"What in the world is that thing?"
It was a book with a coarse, grainy texture. Fairly thick, its pages packed dense with characters no one could read.
"Shall we call it the Dwarf Elf Bible?"
"A Bible?"
"What would we use that for, if I may ask?"
"Sell it, obviously."
"Sell it to whom?"
"To the Dwarf Elves."
"You're telling me we steal it from the Dwarf Elves and sell it right back to the Dwarf Elves?"
The crew stared at him in disbelief. Won-goo remained perfectly calm.
"Is there a problem? We sell to whoever pays the most."
"Um, Director? I heard Dwarf Elves have good memories too. Won't they try to kill us on sight?"
"Oh, they probably will. But would you just leave your own race's holy book lying around?"
"I wouldn't, no."
"Exactly. Neither would they."
"It's possible, if they treasure it that much. But were the Dwarf Elves ever that kind of race?"
Mu Beob-sa raised the question.
"They're hardly devout enough for that…… but the moment we walk up to the Elves with that book, they'll buy it. Guaranteed."
"Hm?"
"You know what the Dwarf Elves hate nearly as much as humans? Elves. They despise every elf in the world except themselves. Hatred might be the more accurate word."
"You're really going to play it that way?"
"Anyway, have you ever seen me take a loss? Leave it be. Everything gets its full price. And Kkakdugi."
"Yes, Hyeong-nim."
"Go have a few drinks and unwind. Look after the crew."
With that, Won-goo pulled out a card and handed it over.
It was a card registered to the Shelter, linked to the Won-goo's Labor Services account. Think corporate card.
"Thank you, Hyeong-nim."
"Stay together. Don't pick fights, and don't get roped into one either. Understood?"
"Understood, Hyeong-nim."
"Go on. Shelter time is short."
"Yes sir!"
Won-goo ran his operation like a dictatorship, but there was a reason the crew followed him without complaint.
He was that capable, and he compensated them properly for it.
"Then I should follow along too……"
When Jeon Hye-ji moved to tag along, Won-goo caught her by the back of the neck and stopped her.
"You've got work. Stand by."
"And me? Do I get nothing?"
Mu Beob-sa asked.
"Then go along with the youngsters."
"Honestly……"
"You'll be moving separately, won't you?"
"By when should I return?"
"Faster if I find you, or faster if the crew finds me?"
"Faster if you find them, surely."
"I'll report in, so rest easy."
They went to find Sanghae. Unlike before, the man broke into a grin the moment he saw Won-goo.
"Well, if it isn't Director Gong."
"Judging by that face, the market's been good to you."
"Heh heh……"
Sanghae beamed.
"Where's the crew?"
"They've been nothing but work lately. Sent them off to rest."
"I see. So you're here to take on a job?"
"There might be one?"
"If you look, won't there be? And if there isn't, I'll have to make one for you."
"Planning to skim a fat margin off me this time, I see."
"A little?"
Sanghae just kept smiling.
That was the nature of arbitrage. The bigger the volume you handled, the more you could skim off the top.
A contract broker of Sanghae's caliber had to manage connections as a matter of course, and he could pull together considerable capital when needed.
"So our Director Gong came here hungry for something?"
"Never mind that — teach her how to read a contract."
"For you?"
"Not me. This one. She'll be handling all the paperwork from now on."
"Is her Gift the analytical type?"
"No. But she needs the fundamentals anyway."
"Ah……"
"Can you do it?"
"You know I'm expensive. But fine, I'll do it."
"You don't even have anything else to do."
"You always do have to get the last barb in."
"Jeon Hye-ji."
"Yes?"
"If there's anything you want to eat, make this man get it for you."
"Anything at all?"
"Anything. Right?"
Won-goo asked, looking at Sanghae.
"Then, anything."
"Then I'd like bread."
"Bread?"
"Yes. Red bean bread."
"……Granted?"
"Aigoo……"
Sanghae wore a look of utter helplessness.
"No cursing."
"The bread I can manage. The red beans, though…… where am I supposed to source red beans?"
"Put in a request at the market. Anyway, think it over. Hye-ji, learn this thoroughly. It might end up feeding you someday."
They moved to look into the Seal. This was, in fact, the biggest reason they'd come to the Shelter this time.
With even Cheol-soo, their weather handler, pulling his weight now, there was little need to visit the Shelter often.
Fuel was the same. The Trailer ran on fuel, yes, but it also came equipped with a charging function.
It was no accident that Won-goo carried a very large hoard of coins.
Simple as it looked, the Trailer housed a great many built-in features.
Inside the Shelter, they entered the exchange.
To have the Seal examined.
The Seal engraved on Won-goo's back was absolutely no ordinary thing.
Won-goo moved alone from the center of the Shelter toward its remote edges.
He slipped into a back alley, entered a shabby old building, and there found a hunched owl beastman.
The moment the beastman saw Won-goo, he gave a slight nod.
"What brings you?"
"Let's use the machine."
"Which option?"
"I came to have information put into my head."
"A book?"
"That's right."
"Follow me."
Following the owl beastman, they went deeper inside.
In a space barely larger than a square meter sat a single table, and on it a stone slab sized to hold a book.
"You know how it works?"
"Book on the slab. Hand on top. Eyes closed. Concentrate."
"Good."
The owl beastman drew a screen across the alcove and left.
Won-goo placed the Dwarf Elf scripture on the slab, then laid his hand over it.
The reason Won-goo had hunted Dwarf Elves in the first place was this book.
Because this book held information about the cosmic species.
When the Apocalypse opened, countless species appeared on Earth.
Among them, quite a few carried information related to the Apocalypse itself, or to the cosmos beyond.
An Easter egg of sorts, if you will.
He concentrated, combing through the information bound into the seals remaining within the book.
But the Dwarf Elf tome held nothing about the Seal he had acquired.
Nothing…… Just how extraordinary is this Seal, anyway?
Won-goo's thoughts grew heavier.
The reason was simple: a Seal could only be used properly once you knew what it was.
Only by recognizing a Seal could you wield it correctly.
That was the Seal's single greatest weakness.
Which meant that unless Won-goo obtained information about the Seal carved into his back, the thing was utterly useless.
Now and then, a Seal would awaken on its own and manifest its power even without the bearer ever learning its name — but such cases were vanishingly rare.
So a Seal's bearer had to know information about the Seal as well.
Most Seals revealed their information upon acquisition, but once they rose past a certain grade, that information was withheld.
For some Seals, the information alone was worth a fortune.
Chances were high that the Seal Won-goo had acquired was exactly that kind.
He gathered up the book and left the owl's shop.
It was a general store dealing in rare items, but Won-goo used the place only as a source of information.
The reason was simple. Their goods were far too expensive.
Once their errands were done, the whole crew gathered. After a final round of checks, they assembled one last time in front of the Trainer's shop. They were there to collect the goblin they'd left in his care.
But something was off.
The crew walking into the shop all grimaced.
The reason: the Trainer, who should have been minding the store, lay in three precisely cut pieces, rolling across the floor.
"Haah……"
"What the hell is this?"
"No wonder things have been going too well lately."
"Hyeong-nim. This……"
"No need to overthink it, any of you. Someone raided the Trainer's shop. They were after our Golden Goblin, most likely."
"How do you know that part, if I may ask?"
"The pets he was watching are all still right there. Use your head."
Won-goo said it with a jerk of his chin. Hyeon-sung had already produced a cigarette and brought it to Won-goo's lips, even lighting it for him.
Won-goo took a long drag and stared down at the blood-soaked locker keys scattered across the floor. Then he drew his own key from inside his coat.
"Is that even possible in the Shelter? The Shelter is……"
Jo Mu-sa's face had gone pale with shock.
"There's exactly one way it could happen. Who manages the Shelter?"
"The beastmen? You're saying the beastmen did this?"
"No. If the beastmen running the Shelter got caught pulling something like this, it could go all the way to the Shelter being shut down. That's a scandal far too big."
"Then……"
"It means someone looked the other way. For a very large sum of money."
"A bribe big enough for a beastman to turn a blind eye……"
"Is a Goblin Hexer worth that much, exactly?"
"Not quite that much. It's rare, but still."
"Then why in the world would anyone go this far?"
Mu Beob-sa frowned.
"There are bastards out there who've lost their minds over curses, no? If it's them, they'd gladly do something this brazen over a Goblin Hexer."
"Cheonmokgyo?"
"That's right. Cheonmokgyo would do this and worse without blinking."
"But Cheonmokgyo is barred from the Shelter. They aren't even based around here, so……"
"Which is exactly why we dig into the details. However you look at it, this has Cheonmokgyo's fingerprints all over it — and they can't set foot in the Shelter. Hyeon-sung!"
"Yes, Hyeong-nim!"
"Bring me that bastard Dinosaur's face."
"Understood, Hyeong-nim!"
And Lee Hyeon-sung bolted out at full speed.