Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: 29. In the Pitch-Black Night (5)
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Parnassus Hotel, Room 3233.
An ultra-luxury suite that cost a whopping 62,000 karma for just one night.
As Young-woo stepped into the room, Im Sun-ah bowed at the waist behind him.
“Then we’ll be off. Rest well.”
“Yes. Thank you as always.”
Young-woo bowed his head to see off the Taewon Group staff, then immediately shed his gear the moment the door closed.
Clank, thud!
From now until 10 a.m., this space was under the protection of the day-use system.
In other words, unless he let someone in himself, there was no way he’d be in danger inside this room.
Of course, he’d have to head out once the obsidian rain started at 11 p.m., but until then, he wanted some proper rest.
“Good lord.”
Young-woo dumped his three weapons and belt on the floor, savoring the safety.
Then he bolted to the bedroom.
Thud-thud-thud!
To check if there really was a TV there.
And in the bedroom he reached like a shot.
“Oh…….”
Just as he’d hoped, there was a television.
Right in a spot where he could watch it lying in bed, no less.
“It’s huge.”
The screen was so big it almost looked like a window.
Young-woo snatched the remote and hit the power button.
Click.
And then.
Zzt……!
For a split second, it felt like the remote turned holographic, and the TV screen flickered.
Then.
Pew!
With an alien effect sound, the screen lit up.
“Huh, it actually works?”
Young-woo’s eyes widened at the unexpected turn.
The screen, which had just been reflecting his image, was now rippling with gray noise.
Then suddenly.
Pip!
The noise froze for a moment before starting to flow in one direction.
‘…Ah.’
To the right.
As if entranced, Young-woo pressed the right arrow on the remote.
Click.
This time, the screen blazed with blinding brightness.
“Ugh.”
Young-woo’s brow furrowed instantly.
But he relaxed as a voice emanated from the TV.
―How long do we have to keep doing this?
―Until we’re summoned again.
―And when’s that?
―No idea.
“What…….”
The sound quality was muffled, like eavesdropping through a wall, but it was unmistakable.
That voice.
“President?”
It was Businessman-Kim Tae-jun, the mutant—no, now a ‘friend’—and Hong Young-tae.
Which meant what Young-woo was watching right now was.
“N-No way.”
The so-called ‘Returnee’s Room,’ where the mutants who’d shaken hands with him were confined.
A sealed space with no sense of time, no communication with the outside.
“…Young-tae!”
Young-woo rushed to the TV and shouted, but the two on screen didn’t budge.
They just crouched in the endless white void, staring blankly at the white sand hourglass.
Young-woo could see and hear them through the TV, but they had no clue anyone was watching.
“Ha.”
It was just like Young-tae had once said.
Once back in the room, there was literally nothing to do—it was so boring you’d go mad.
At least they’d earned enough merits from summons to buy a sand hourglass; otherwise, it would’ve just been blank white walls before.
―If we stay like this, I’ll really lose it.
Finally, CEO Kim Tae-jun in his white pajamas shot to his feet.
He glared up at the indistinguishable ceiling—or sky—all whiteness above.
―Should we just buy a chess set? At least that’d make it bearable.
Hong Young-tae, who’d been fixated on the hourglass, grabbed Kim Tae-jun’s pajama leg.
―No, President! We agreed to tough it out and save for a TV first.
“Huh……?”
At that, Young-woo’s ears perked up.
“You can buy a TV? From there?”
If he’d heard right, it was clear.
Among the items available in the Returnee’s Room was a television, no less.
So what would their TV screen show?
‘Probably this world, right? Just like I’m seeing theirs now.’
Through this bizarre TV, Young-woo finally understood why the day-use system charged so much for this room.
The 62,000 karma fee was for this irreplaceable feature.
Spacious rooms and comfy beds were just bonuses.
‘Then what did Jeong Hyun-sik see here…? He didn’t have a whistle or anything.’
Young-woo’s gaze drifted back to the remote’s arrow buttons.
The two ‘friends’ on screen had resolved to endure a bit longer and slumped back down.
―Mm.
―…….
Back to silently watching the hourglass.
With nothing happening for a while, Young-woo cautiously pressed the right arrow again.
Click.
Would there be another channel?
Chit!
The screen shifted somewhere else, and his eyes felt much easier now.
No wonder—the second channel was broadcasting natural Earth light.
Specifically, the morning sunlight on a motel in Cheoin-gu, Yongin City.
“Aaah…….”
Realizing what was playing, Young-woo clapped a hand over his mouth without thinking.
―Th-This battle is sponsored by the pan-galactic weapons brand DoGo.
―…What?
―I’m Jeong Young-woo07, Earth’s human, the strongest in Gyeongbuk.
―What the hell? You crazy bastard.
There was the late Gyeongbuk’s Greatest Swordsman (real), reacting with the exact same shock as back then.
Then another familiar scene followed.
―…No choice, then. This battle is sponsored by the pan-galactic weapons brand DoGo.
This was the moment Young-woo had informed CEO Kim Tae-jun about DoGo’s sponsorship.
“My god.”
In short, this channel was a horrific compilation of every moment Young-woo had fulfilled his ad model duties.
“…….”
Sure enough, the next would be him flying a knee into honest boxer Cha Du-seong, so Young-woo quickly hit the arrow.
Click-click!
For the first time, a dark screen appeared.
“Huh……?”
Thinking the noise had started again, Young-woo squinted, but soon realized it hadn’t.
―Huuu…….
He could hear breathing from the pitch-black screen.
And peering closely, a shape was faintly visible in the gloom.
“P-People.”
A person.
What he was seeing was someone asleep with all the room lights off.
“What is this? Actual people?”
The background looked like some motel.
‘If that’s a real person… is it showing somewhere in this world right now?’
If so, it was probably live footage.
Whoever it was had rented a room the moment day-use started and crashed.
‘Must’ve had an exhausting day.’
Too dark to make out the face, so Young-woo had no choice but to change channels.
Click.
The screen brightened instantly.
Shaaaah……!
Along with the sudden sound of water.
“……?”
Before Young-woo’s widening eyes, a foreigner covered in wounds was washing up, filling the view.
And the title above his head.
“Whoa!”
Young-woo let out a near-scream.
『Swordmaster, London』
“No……!”
It was so alien, yet paradoxically familiar, churning his mind.
What he was seeing was unmistakably.
‘A foreign Greatest Swordsman?’
No, more precisely, a ‘Swordmaster.’
It seemed they didn’t use ‘Greatest Swordsman’ there.
‘What is this? Why show me this?’
In a panic, Young-woo mashed the arrow button, and different races appeared one by one.
Each with unique titles overhead.
Guardian Sword, Sword Emperor… and one bore ‘Shaanxi’s Five Heroes,’ which Young-woo pegged as China’s Greatest Swordsman system.
‘Is all this real?’
The ‘World’s Strongest’ channel Young-woo could access had 6 in total.
Channeling through them all brought him back to the initial noise screen.
He’d experienced every bit of content this bizarre TV offered.
Then.
―Tax collection will begin at 10 p.m. shortly.
―Base tax is 1,000 karma. Non-payers will be instantly erased at collection time.
The tax notice popped into Young-woo’s vision, signaling it was now 10 p.m.
“Gasp, already?”
He’d been so absorbed in the TV he hadn’t noticed time flying.
Beep.
His wristwatch alarm rang for 10 p.m.
And simultaneously.
―Tax collection commencing now.
|Base Tax: 1,000
|Deduction: Single Household
|Final Tax: 500
A chill ran through his body, and 500 karma was auto-deducted.
* Available Karma: 996,000
Tax payment complete.
“…….”
Having survived another day, Young-woo stared blankly at the fading tax details in his vision, then turned back to the bizarre TV.
This time, with a calmer mind, he cycled through the channels.
Watching the world’s strongest spend their night in their own ways.
‘But why show this? To tell me I’ll be heading overseas soon?’
Maybe these were the leads for the new achievement ‘Ending Maker.’
Or candidates, at least.
One thing seemed certain.
‘Jeong Hyun-sik must’ve seen something totally different. Looks like it shows different channels per user.’
So what had Jeong Hyun-sik, the original owner of the Dragon’s Legacy, seen?
Lost in vague imaginings, Young-woo shook his head and got to what he needed to do.
He started memorizing the foreign powerhouses’ titles and faces from the TV.
All but the one too dark to see clearly—the other five channels’ owners were plainly visible with their titles.
「00:58:14」
About 58 minutes until the obsidian rain.
‘But memorizing five takes 20 minutes tops. Shaanxi’s Five Heroes, Shaanxi’s Five Heroes, Shaanxi’s Five Heroes……!’