Chapter 56
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MJK
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Forbidden City, Dragon's Garden
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Valhalla Guild R&D Center, Simulation Room 3.
"Danger! Mana backlash levels have broken past 150%!"
"It's out of control! Shut down the core power right now!"
"No way! Cutting it off now will fry the entire prototype circuit!"
Behind the reinforced glass, at the center of the simulation room.
The prototype of their ambitiously developed artifact, the Titan Gauntlet, was rampaging wildly.
Two B-Rank Hunters were clinging to it desperately, but they couldn't control the berserk gauntlet's power and were getting dragged around helplessly.
"At this rate, the test pilots are going to get hurt too."
At that moment, the control room door opened, and Yu Seo-jin walked in.
"What's going on? Why all the commotion?"
"Team Leader! The gauntlet prototype is going haywire! We need to get the test pilots out—emergency evac!"
As Yu Seo-jin watched the situation with a hardened expression...
"Mind if I take a look?"
Before they knew it, Old Man No—no, Director No Tae-seop—in his work overalls was standing right beside her.
The frail figure from his Management Bureau days was gone.
All that remained was a veteran with steel-hard muscles honed by steady training and care.
"Director, it's dangerous. Even Hunter researchers can't withstand that mana storm."
"Just one minute. I think I can pinpoint the cause in one minute."
Yu Seo-jin hesitated for a moment before nodding.
No Tae-seop strode boldly into the simulation room.
The rampaging gauntlet's mana winds whipped at his overalls, but he didn't flinch.
He gave the thrashing gauntlet a quick once-over in just a few seconds, then shouted toward the control room.
"You on the left—get that guy to let go of the gauntlet! Right now!"
"Pardon? If he lets go now, we'll lose control completely...!"
The test pilot shouted in panic.
"Your mana is fighting the gauntlet! Stop forcing it— just let it flow!"
At No Tae-seop's firm command, the researchers hesitated until Yu Seo-jin gave the order.
"Do what the director says."
The moment the left pilot reluctantly released the gauntlet and stopped injecting mana...
The wildly flailing gauntlet began to move smoothly, as if by magic.
"No way... How did you do that, Director?"
Yu Seo-jin asked in astonishment, and No Tae-seop replied matter-of-factly.
"Simple principle. The gauntlet itself is perfect. The problem was the person using it. The guy on the left was unconsciously injecting his own unique mana, forcing a tug-of-war with the gauntlet's control system. You can't shove human stubbornness into a machine and expect it not to break."
At that explanation, Yu Seo-jin immediately headed to the main console in the control room and pulled up the test logs from moments ago.
She scanned through tens of thousands of data streams with her eyes and finally found the point No Tae-seop had indicated.
A faint noise graph from the collision between the left pilot's bio-mana wavelength and the gauntlet's control mana wavelength.
It was the crucial clue even she had missed.
Only after verifying all the data did she break into a satisfied smile.
'As expected of Old Man No.'
No Tae-seop.
It had been a month since he joined Valhalla.
Alone, he was handling the workload of three or four A-Rank researchers.
His insight that pierced beyond paper data, his problem-solving skills born from decades of field experience.
While the researchers relied solely on head data and simulations, No Tae-seop cut straight to the core with instincts forged over twenty years on the front lines.
Overwhelming ability proven in real combat.
Thanks to him, projects that had dragged on for months were resolving in a single day left and right.
'The Bureau let a guy like this rot for twenty years...'
Yu Seo-jin solidified her conviction about No Tae-seop once more.
And at the same time, she grew intensely curious about what price the Management Bureau would pay for discarding such a gem.
In the yard of Jang Kang-hyun's house, in front of the barn, a new family member had settled in.
Its left wing was wrapped in a white cloth that Kang-hyun had carefully bandaged.
Waddle, waddle.
As if bothered by the injured wing, the chicken tilted its head, stepping forward cautiously one foot at a time.
It flapped its good wing to keep balance and sturdily patrolled the yard.
"Cluck, cluck-cluck."
After diligently waddling to its destination...
It dashed to its feed bowl by the barn and pecked busily at the grains.
The world's most delicious feed, made by Kang-hyun himself from his garden crops.
Today, it was mixed with kernels of Golden Corn and a special variety from the garden, Life Rice.
"Cluuuck!"
Every time the chicken ate this feed, it tasted like heaven.
Not just tasty—it felt like its broken wing bone was mending stronger, and its dull feathers were regaining their luster.
Flap-flap! Flaaap-flap!
Feeling great, the chicken vigorously flapped its wings in place.
What could it do to repay this kindness?
By laying the cleanest, freshest egg it could produce each morning, placing it like a treasure on the soft straw pile in the center of the barn.
It was an unfertilized egg that wouldn't hatch, but if its owner and the household enjoyed the eggs it laid, that alone would make it overjoyed.
"Alright, breakfast time."
A little later, a savory aroma wafted from the kitchen.
Kang-hyun was frying the chicken's egg sunny-side up.
He cut the prettiest one into small pieces and placed them in Muryong's and Hasuo's bowls.
The largest piece he tossed with a plop into Gorani's bowl, where it was wagging its tail in front of the barn.
"Kiryut!"
Even the massive Gorani seemed to love fried eggs.
The chicken perched on the barn roof, watching the peaceful scene with contentment.
It still felt a bit awkward joining that group, but someday it too would share breakfast by its owner's side like them.
With that pleasant imagining, the chicken's day began.
Okinawa, near the Yanbaru National Park coastline.
Thanks to the small dimensional gate left open by the Disaster Flower, this place was now essentially his secret personal domain.
The air was still heavy.
The rift had closed, but the forest and sea turned black by its aftermath weren't purifying easily.
"Not your average land, that's for sure."
I scooped up a handful of the black soil from the coast.
It was contaminated with chaotic mana, but at its core, a powerful life force that had endured the disaster writhed.
"This would make perfect compost..."
I filled the sack I'd brought with the tainted soil and ashen wood.
My herb garden could surely turn even this aura of death into top-tier nutrients.
Then, something huge stirred in the sea.
Splash!
As I approached the nearby water, massive shadows below the surface wagged their tails playfully.
"Hydra and Kraken?"
Both were top-tier disaster-grade sea monsters ruling the ocean.
Fearsome beasts no single guild could guarantee victory against, even throwing their whole force at them.
Looks like these former minions of the Disaster Flower had recognized me—the one who took the flower—as their new master.
Splash-splash-splash—
Beneath the surface.
The nine-headed Hydra and the multi-tentacled Kraken thrashed their tails and tentacles like excited puppies greeting their owner, kicking up sprays of water.
"Hungry?"
I tossed a few Life Carrots from the garden into the sea.
The shadows snatched them up gleefully and vanished into the depths in an instant.
"Gotta bring more next time."
Back at the garden...
"Poeng?"
Hasuo was diligently tending the spot where the Seed of Wishing Fleeceflower was planted.
Every morning, it picked out surrounding pebbles with its tiny root hands and dusted the leaves with its foliage.
One of Hasuo's most important daily tasks.
Crunch, crunch.
I sprinkled the black soil from Okinawa evenly over the entire garden like fertilizer.
Finally, I approached the Heart Seedling of the Sun Bird.
"It's changed a bit."
The seedling was still ashen, but a faint reddish glow was stronger than before.
I gently dug around the soil at its base and carefully covered the roots with Okinawa's earth.
Hoping the resilient power of this disaster-surviving land would help awaken the dormant heart.
"Should be soon."
The farmer's intuition told me this hunch wouldn't be wrong.
Phantom Guild Asia Branch, Seoul Sky Palace top floor.
Phantom Guild had shot up like a comet, seizing the number two spot in Korea in one go.
Backed by massive foreign capital, they were infamous for solving everything with money.
They scouted talented Hunters with bonuses on top, and snatched needed artifacts at auction for top dollar.
Nothing was impossible for them—a grounded confidence permeated the entire guild.
"So, the ownership of that Disaster Flower has gone to some guy called Gorani-man12?"
"Yes, Branch Chief. Official announcement from the Japanese government."
"Hmm. Perfect timing—we need that flower’s Chaos Spores for our next-gen artifact development."
Asia Branch Chief Jayden flashed a greedy smile.
"This Gorani-man guy... he's just some young punk, right?"
"Yes, from eyewitness accounts."
"Then it'll be easy to deal with. Naive kid who doesn't know the world. Suddenly hailed as a hero, he'll think he's the center of the universe, strutting around all proud. Sucking up to types like that? That's our specialty."
Jayden was already humming a tune, tilting his champagne flute as if the item was already in hand.
"Sweet-talk him nicely and snag it for cheap. He'll be drunk on his lucky power, so the negotiation won't be hard. Just like always."
Backed by vast foreign capital, Phantom had been aggressively shaking up the Korean market with M&As and scouts in recent months.
Their way was to poach valuable talent from other guilds, paying their penalties and offering double or triple the salary.
And for Jayden himself, he had his own skill: seeing through anyone's desires and stoking them with words.
With that ability, he'd brought countless rankers to kneel under Phantom's banner.
One novice Gorani-man would be a piece of cake.
China, Beijing, near the Forbidden City—S-Rank Hunter exclusive residential area, Dragon's Garden.
On a luxurious silk bed lay a woman in a coma for three years.
She too was a victim of the Dragon King's curse, just like Yu Jin-hyuk.
"Lin, just give up already."
Mei-ling, Xiao Lin's longtime colleague and the only daughter of a power player in China's elite princeling faction, grabbed her shoulder and said.
"No. There's hope now."
Xiao Lin was staring at her phone screen, at the review board for crops sold by Gorani-man12.
"This person's crops... they could save her too, like Yu Jin-hyuk."
"Foolish hope. The doctors have all given up. You saying some grass scraps from Korea beat our continent's elixirs? The Kunlun Mountains' millennial snow ginseng, the Yellow River's dragonfish—none of it worked. Give it up!"
"......"
As Mei-ling said, they'd tried everything possible.
Liu, lying on the bed.
Once China's top prospect, destined to lead the future alongside Lin.
Right after awakening as S-Rank and breaking through Tower Floor 70.
At the peak, most brilliant moment of her life, she fell to the Dragon King's curse.
Xiao Lin clenched her fist instead of replying.
What offer could move the heart of that veiled hermit master?
Lin’s anguish only deepened.