Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: 38. Hot Night (1)
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Thud!
As Youngwoo took off the golden breastplate that had been covering his upper body along with his cloak, Jeong-gu looked shocked.
“Huh...?”
It was because a spiral flame tattoo was etched onto the chest of the dreadful son candidate, Jeong Youngwoo.
And that wasn't all.
“Huh... Why is your shoulder like that...?”
Youngwoo's right upper arm was currently flickering with gray noise, as if there was a graphical glitch.
Glancing at his shoulder, Youngwoo fiddled with the black metal card in his hand and said,
“Looks like they're adjusting the screen since an ad is about to go up soon. I just got the ad payment.”
#Base Ad Fee: 10 million karma per week.
#Base Contract Period: 4 weeks.
The base ad fee of 10 million karma that the chairman had promised along with two special clauses.
It was now in Youngwoo's hand.
* Available Karma: 14,214,000
Thanks to that, Youngwoo's total karma had swelled to a whopping 14 million.
'The timing is perfect. I was planning to visit the merchants one by one after arriving in Gangnam.'
With this much, entry into tonight's nighttime dungeon was practically guaranteed.
“......”
Youngwoo finished removing his top and looked up at the sky, at which point a system message appeared in his view.
「Starting now, a composite ad from the weapon brand ‘Dogo’ will be broadcast on your ad tattoo ‘Blank Space.’」
「The broadcast ad content will change periodically, and the contract period is 4 weeks.」
'It's finally starting.'
As Youngwoo read all the messages, Dogo's wedge pattern appeared large in front of his eyes.
Ssshh!
And right away.
-Diiiing......
A vibration sound came from the ‘Blank Space’ covering his right upper arm, then the screen adjustment stopped as it turned pitch black.
Swoosh.
Just like a theater right before a movie starts.
“Oh.”
Youngwoo looked around for something he could use as a mirror, then stood in front of the large two-handed sword ‘Golden Trajectory’ that was floating behind him.
He could see the ad space covering his shoulder to elbow reflected on the broad blade.
“T-That's the ad from space?”
Even Choi Jong-sun, the Joseon First Sword, couldn't help but take interest in the ad broadcasting from a First Sword's body, and the same went for Youngwoo's potential birth father, Kim Jeong-gu.
Gulp.
As Jeong-gu swallowed heavily and subtly shifted his gaze toward Youngwoo's shoulder, the ad started right on cue.
―∠∨≪
The first tattoo ad on Youngwoo's body began with alien characters meaning "Produced by Dogo."
At this, all three people, including Youngwoo, had their pupils dilate.
“Huh?”
“I can read it just fine?”
It was clearly bizarre-looking characters to the eyes, but their meaning was understood by the brain.
Meanwhile, inside the ‘Blank Space,’ the red atmosphere of a barren planet came into view.
Then.
Flash!
The camera angle plunged toward the ground, showing a desert scattered with large rocks here and there.
It depicted short alien beings with reddish-brown skin diligently striking the rocks with their tiny fists.
Soon, cracks formed in the rock, and from the gaps, thick dark blue liquid began pouring out.
―°∨⌒∧∠·。
(The boy Gepi of the Monoo tribe on Planet Zarugal had to strike rocks until his hands bled every day to obtain the sap.)
The camera zoomed in on one alien in front of the rock.
Probably the Monoo tribe boy ‘Gepi.’
Gepi looked sadly at the rock, then slowly raised his hands covered in scabs and spread his fingers.
Swipe.
Between his adorably spread fingers, far in the distance, a large anchor dropped and embedded into the ground.
'Ah, the chairman's ship.'
It seemed like staging symbolizing the encounter between the poor boy Gepi from a remote planet and 「Dogo」.
―∩⌒×。
(But not anymore.)
Along with the alien language, the screen faded to black.
Then suddenly, the screen brightened, showing Gepi standing tall on a completely different planet from before.
His small body was laden with equipment that looked extraordinary at a glance.
―≪⌒°∨∠⊇∴∴∈。
(With Dogo's support, Gepi became a space pirate commanding six planets.)
“Huh......?”
“...Ah?”
While Youngwoo and the two First Swords wore dazed expressions, Gepi in the ad was kicking residents from other planets into the spaceship he had brought.
―∠·∧°￢
(And now, Gepi has 70,000 slaves striking rocks for him.)
Gepi had returned to his own planet, wearing a happy expression.
At his feet was a slave prostrated on the ground, holding a cup filled with sap.
Snatch!
Gepi grabbed the cup and downed the sap in one gulp.
―≪⌒∋∠≤。
(Dogo supports your dreams.)
But at this point, the camera was close-up on the slave lying on the ground.
The ‘you’ that Dogo referred to meant both Gepi and his slaves.
Crunch.
The slave gripped the sand on the ground with his hand, and at that moment, fingers left a wedge pattern on the ground as the ad ended.
“......”
“W-What the hell is this...?”
Choi Jong-sun alternated between looking at Youngwoo and the ‘Blank Space’ with a blank face.
Now, on Youngwoo's shoulder, an alien with over a dozen tentacle arms was explaining how to use the ‘Subspace Bomb.’
It was the dodecahedral bomb he had received as sponsorship in the dungeon last night.
“What else? It's one of the ways I make a living.”
Youngwoo said this, then paused while trying to put his armor back on.
'Hang on, can I go around with my top on? It'll cover the whole ad.'
Since he'd received the money, he had to act professionally.
If he were the advertiser, he'd never let the ad model wear a top.
'Of course, the contract didn't specify to keep the ad space exposed continuously......'
But common sense-wise, does it make sense to cover up an ad you've been paid to display?
'And it's also a matter of sincerity.'
However, there was another problem.
The effect of the armor he was currently wearing was just too good to take off and walk around shirtless right now.
「Golden Oath」 - Legendary Breastplate
【Reduces enemy attack power by 50%.】
'Guess you'll have to wait a bit until I get the armor catalog.'
Youngwoo glanced warily at Dogo, then stealthily picked up the armor he'd thrown on the ground and put it on.
Clank.
Nothing happened.
“I-Is it... okay?”
As Youngwoo muttered while looking at the sky, Jong-sun tilted his head.
“What?”
“The clothes. Wondering if it's okay to cover the ad completely like this.”
“Ah.”
Choi Jong-sun, understanding Youngwoo's meaning, furrowed his brow.
So he had been planning to go around without a shirt on as long as he was alive.
“Anyway, shall we get going again? We need to finish up our tasks before it gets too dark.”
Current time: 7:10 PM.
Summer days were long, but it was already getting quite dim around them.
The overnight stay notice would appear in 50 minutes, so time wasn't exactly plentiful.
“...What tasks are left?”
Kim Jeong-gu, preparing to chase the Iron Horse again, tossed out the question.
Youngwoo pointed south and replied,
“First, drop off Jong-sun and the baby in Gangnam, then check all the merchants in order.”
“Merchants...? At this hour, other people would've already taken all the goods.”
Jeong-gu raised a reasonable doubt.
But not for Seoul, and especially not for Youngwoo.
“The merchant I left in Paju is a bit worrying, but the ones in Seoul won't be touched by anyone. They know I'll come back for them.”
Such confidence.
Jeong-gu, unaware of Youngwoo's status among Seoul's First Swords, could only tilt his head.
* * *
《We now present Choi Jong-sun, the Yangju First Sword, who will be in charge of Gwangjin-gu starting tomorrow.》
7:42 PM.
Youngwoo notified Seoul's First Swords via ‘Wave’ about the new First Sword recruitment and entered Gangnam-gu.
Perhaps because the overnight stay notice was imminent, there weren't many people in the outer areas of the city.
8:00 PM: Overnight stay notice.
9:00 PM: Overnight stay service begins.
Everyone was waiting in front of their chosen residences.
To claim their preferred spots as soon as 9:00 PM hit.
“Gangnam... barely shows any signs of the reset.”
Kim Jeong-gu gaped at Gangnam's pristine buildings.
Dobong-gu had suffered heavy damage on the first day of the reset, so most low-rise buildings had some kind of defect.
“Yeah. The previous holder was a Gangnam conglomerate heir, so order was established early on.”
“Gangnam conglomerate...? You mean the previous Gangnam First Sword?”
“Yes. The Gangnam First Sword.”
“......”
At Youngwoo's words, Kim Jeong-gu glanced at the ‘Joseon First Sword’ title on Youngwoo.
Well, First Sword titles could be stolen.
“What happened to the previous one?”
“Obviously dead. I'm the Gangnam First Sword now too.”
Of course, he didn't mention swinging his elbow to sever the previous Gangnam First Sword's neck.
Or that the previous one's son's corpse was there at the scene.
“The people who helped the previous one run Gangnam-gu are now helping me. Weird world, huh.”
“The area south of Seoul really has been spinning out of control.”
Jeong-gu finally realized that the armored rider from the ‘Wave’ notice before was the Jeong Youngwoo in front of him.
He hadn't paid attention back then since he wasn't interested in southern Seoul, but now he saw that was Seoul's period of upheaval.
Boom! Boom!
Amid their back-and-forth, the three entered central Gangnam-gu, and they could feel the number of citizens along the roadside increasing.
Because the people trailing behind them had been multiplying exponentially.
“Huh...?”
“First Sword-nim?”
“His title changed again?”
The rumor that the Gangnam First Sword rode an Iron Horse had already spread throughout Gangnam-gu, and even without that, every Gangnam resident knew Jeong Youngwoo's face thanks to the gold coins scattered today.
But they hadn't heard about the greatsword flying through the sky, so no one dared approach the First Sword directly and just followed from afar.
“Good thing. Last time the roads were so blocked it was hard to move.”
As Youngwoo glanced back and said this, Kim Jeong-gu wore an incredulous expression.
“Why do the people here like you so much...?”
And understandably so, since all Jeong-gu had seen of Jeong Youngwoo was him suddenly appearing, splitting the Uijeongbu First Sword in half, and pointing a sword at him too.
“Who knows. Blood is thicker than water... Maybe because I'm their local representative?”
Youngwoo said this while looking toward the Coex building and Paranas Hotel visible ahead.
Taewon Group's reception team was already lined up there.
They had probably been standing for hours waiting for the First Sword who might return anytime.
“...And what's that?”
Dobong First Sword Kim Jeong-gu's eyes widened once more at the culture shock of a major corporation's protocol, and right on cue, someone from Taewon who recognized Youngwoo came running over.
None other than Secretary Im Seon-ah.
“Youngwoo-nim!”
Im Seon-ah's expression hardened in real time as she ran toward the Gangnam First Sword.
She had belatedly noticed this troublemaker had brought two more First Swords from other regions.
And on top of that, what the hell had he done—his title had changed to Joseon First Sword.
At this point, the golden greatsword flying solo through the air wasn't even surprising.
“L-Looks like a lot has happened.”
“Yeah. Nothing happen while I was gone?”
When Youngwoo asked, Im Seon-ah glanced behind her and cautiously opened her mouth.
“While you were away, Representative Kim Tae-jun's family requested a meeting.”
“They want to see me?”
“They seem to want to see Representative Kim Tae-jun one more time.”
“Ah, yeah, makes sense.”
Youngwoo gave an awkward smile.
But it was tricky.
He had one whistle use left, but he planned to save it for inside the dungeon opening at 11 PM tonight.
“Uh... the representative has to go to the dungeon tonight, so he can't come out. What to do.”
Youngwoo fiddled with the whistle, then his eyes lit up as if struck by a good idea.
“Tell the family: if it's okay with them, how about they stay at my residence tonight.”
“Yes...?”
Im Seon-ah made a face asking for more explanation, not fully grasping Youngwoo's words.
So Youngwoo formed a rectangle with his index fingers and thumbs.
“Representative Kim Tae-jun will be on TV tonight. This time in human form, so it'll be even better to watch.”
After saying this, Youngwoo made one request.
“Oh, but after 11 PM, keep the kids from seeing.”
“Yes? Why is that...?”
“He might be doing some rough stuff then.”