Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: 42. Seoul's Flute-Playing Powerhouse (2)
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《Joseon First Sword ‘Jeong Yeongwoo07’ has given up his exclusive claim to 3 million karma and gifted 30,000 karma to all Dobong residents.》
3:14 p.m.
At long last, golden rain fell upon Dobong as well.
Ruuuush…!
Jeong Gu stared blankly at the golden lights raining down from the sky, then snapped to his senses and turned his gaze to Yeongwoo.
“Is the Seoul schedule all wrapped up now?”
“Dad, you have to stay here and collect the money.”
“…And you?”
“While everyone’s gathering funds, I’m going to swing by Yangju and Uijeongbu.”
It was to deal with any mutants that might still be lurking.
And if the mutants had already been taken out early, then he could meet the merchant instead.
A plan with no downside either way.
“Then I can just collect the cash and head straight to Gangnam?”
“That’s right. Be careful not to get robbed on the way.”
Yeongwoo left behind words that were ambiguous as to whether they were a joke or serious, then grabbed the reins of Neugig.
At that, Jeong Gu silently looked down at the legs of his adopted son.
Jeong Yeongwoo’s legs, still not reattached.
He knew better than anyone that the guy could fly around like a monster even without feet, but for some reason, his heart still ached.
‘Idiot.’
Jeong Gu sniffed unnecessarily.
And by then, Yeongwoo had already turned Neugig’s head toward Uijeongbu.
“I’m off. See you later.”
“Yeah, alright. Then Gangnam…”
Boom!
Before Jeong Gu could finish his sentence, Neugig kicked off the ground and carried Yeongwoo northward.
Kaaaa-boom!
Of course, Yeongwoo had caught that Jeong Gu was trying to say more, but he knew it wasn’t important enough to stop Neugig.
More importantly, for him right now…
* Available Karma: 5,214,500
Current balance: 5.21 million karma.
‘Even if only half the collections come in this afternoon, today’s earnings will hit 30 million.’
So if he ran into a merchant in Uijeongbu or Yangju, he could blow through all 5 million he had without worry.
Boom, boom!
As he sped through central Dobong, Dobong Mountain soon came into view on the left.
And shortly after…
|You are currently in ‘Uijeongbu’.
|This region has no First Sword.
Uijeongbu’s regional status appeared.
He had left Dobong behind and set foot in Uijeongbu territory.
‘No First Sword here either, so the odds of mutants still hanging around are pretty high.’
Unfortunately, Yeongwoo was the one who had made this region’s First Sword disappear too.
Former Uijeongbu First Sword Kwak Seongwon04.
The guy whose body had been cleaved in two by Yeongwoo’s Sasaenga.
But since he was the mastermind behind the Uijeongbu prison incident, Yeongwoo felt no guilt.
‘If he’d gotten just a bit more famous, he would’ve ended up meeting as a mutant.’
Boom!
As he continued north along the road, corpses finally started appearing.
Judging by the blood that hadn’t even dried yet, they were probably killed fighting day-5 mutants.
‘The First Sword’s dead, and they still stuck around… gutsy bunch.’
Of course, they might not have been the prison folks who controlled Uijeongbu, but inspectors from the Gangbuk Alliance.
They had been there when the Uijeongbu First Sword died, after all.
So it wouldn’t be strange if they’d come all the way here hunting Uijeongbu mutants…
“Huh?”
Yeongwoo slowed Neugig and scanned the corpses around, then yanked the reins upon spotting something.
“These are slash wounds…?”
What Yeongwoo found was a deep slash on one of the corpses.
Clearly inflicted by a human swinging a blade.
Mutants were generally huge, so even if they wielded swords, the wounds they left were bound to look different from a human’s.
‘No way they came all the way down from Yeoncheon.’
Yeoncheon, where the army’s provisional HQ was.
They might have come to Uijeongbu for karma too.
If not, maybe a First Sword from some other region had dropped by.
Either way, too many possibilities, so Yeongwoo had no choice but to press on.
Boom!
Then…
‘Whoa, that’s unexpected.’
Not much farther, and he spotted a black pillar of light descending ahead.
Uijeongbu’s day-5 merchant.
Someone had already taken out the mutant here.
Even with competitors like monster hunters or First Swords from other areas present.
‘Killed everyone waiting around when the mutant showed up, then took its head too.’
Whoever it was, if that was right, they were one aggressive bastard.
“…”
Just in case the guy was still nearby, Yeongwoo pulled out ‘Scaredy Cat’ and scanned the surroundings.
But the cat had its eyes peacefully closed.
‘Guess they already left. Maybe they moved on to the next area.’
The next area would probably be Yangju.
Dobong, the opposite side, had its mutant dragged off to Gwangjin-gu early on.
So even if they’d set foot in Seoul, odds were they hadn’t gotten much out of it.
‘Let’s check out the merchant here first.’
Snap!
Yeongwoo snapped the reins and turned Neugig toward the merchant, and even more corpses plus wrecked buildings came into view.
And finally…
Shiiiine…!
A black pillar radiating an extraordinary aura stood in the middle of the intersection ahead.
Boom!
Still unable to walk, he approached the pillar mounted on Neugig, and the space in midair split open to reveal Kubu.
Sluuurp.
—It is an honor to meet you again, Master of Sasaenga, Dragon Slayer, Jeong Yeongwoo07!
“Huh…?”
In the meantime, Kubu’s greeting had changed.
Gone were all the phrases about Earth human, strongest in Gyeongbuk and north of the peninsula.
Probably because, from a cosmic perspective, owning Sasaenga and slaying a dragon outshone being the strongest north of the peninsula.
However.
“You’re not calling me ‘Earth human’ anymore?”
Kubu, who had been reciting its usual self-introduction, blinked.
—I am Kubu, owner of the Tenta clan appointed to mediate this transaction, and Da…
—Yes! That’s right.
“It’s not because I’m no longer an Earthling, is it?”
—Jeong Yeongwoo07 is still registered as a human from Earth. However.
Kubu blinked once more.
Then continued.
—The majority of the assets you’ve accumulated so far originate outside Earth, rendering mention of your planet of origin meaningless.
“Ahh.”
Yeongwoo half-understood Kubu’s explanation but nodded anyway.
“But does that intro phrase work outside Earth? I mean, is it like my official business card?”
Kubu glanced at some point in the air, then answered immediately.
—Yes. The moment you defeated Seoul’s first dragon, your profile on the Ledger was updated and publicized.
In simple terms, that intro was now officially for use going forward.
“Ledger? What’s the Ledger?”
—The Ledger is the lifetime record of all beings, managed by cosmic law.
“…Ah.”
This time he barely got half of it, but he had a rough idea.
“Like official chronicles… no, more like a cosmic ledger of fate, updated in real time.”
The difference being that this Ledger was published somewhere in the universe.
Like a company’s financial statements.
‘Every being’s past and present recorded, and intros based on that…? Mind-blowing.’
That also meant the process influenced a being’s value.
At least cosmically speaking.
“Then I’d like ‘Earth’ to stay in my profile forever. Any way to make that happen? Origin planet’s gotta matter, right?”
No matter who in the universe he met from now on, if he had to use that intro, he wanted his homeworld and species in there.
A planet was like a country on Earth, in cosmic terms.
So if he had to introduce himself as ‘Dragon Slayer,’ he wanted it as Earth’s human who slew the dragon.
But no positive answer came.
—Official profile details follow the Ledger, so edits are impossible at present.
What he’d achieved so far was worth far more than some ‘Earth human’ tag, so he couldn’t tweak the intro at will.
“What, I can’t even decide my own intro?”
But there was always a way. Nothing was absolutely impossible in this world. Especially not in a universe run by transcendent beings.
“So if I pull off something so huge it has to mention Earth, then they’d add it back to the intro? Right?”
As Yeongwoo asked with his trademark bullheaded glint in his eye, Kubu’s eyelids quivered.
—In theory, yes.
Of course, neither Kubu nor Yeongwoo knew what that ‘huge thing’ might be.
—Have you prepared the acquisition tax? If seized even slightly short, death is hard to avoid.
Perhaps spooked by the Ledger talk dragging on, Kubu shifted to taxes.
Yeongwoo shrugged and glanced south.
“That money’s being made right now. It’ll all be ready before dinner. And anyway, acquisition tax is due tomorrow, right? Today’s just lumped taxes on business income.”
—Correct.
“So I have to sit on tens of millions for a full 24 hours, huh.”
—…
For some reason, Kubu didn’t respond.
So Yeongwoo continued his line.
“That’s why I’m asking: can I do moneylending like Osaek Credit?”
Kubu’s huge eyes widened even further.
In all its time as a cosmic trader mediator, meeting countless clients from myriad planets, it had never seen someone’s brain grow this fast.
—The first issue in starting a lending business is loan recovery.
“Yeah, makes sense…? Gotta collect what you lend, and if they default, somehow recover it.”
—Exactly. Typically, one borrows cosmic law’s enforcement power, but the conditions and procedures are…
Kubu started explaining, but perhaps fed up, blinked rapidly twice and skipped ahead.
—Legal moneylending is currently impossible for you, as is illegal moneylending.
“So illegal loan sharking exists in the universe too, huh.”
Yeongwoo didn’t feel like probing further, so he wrapped it up there.
His top priority right now was getting a coordinate scanner.
“Alright, let’s do the merchant trade first.”
As Yeongwoo checked his karma balance again and eyed the black pillar, Kubu delivered the most welcome news of the day.
—First, there’s a reward you must receive.
“Oh, a reward? What…?”
Color bloomed on Yeongwoo’s face.
Kubu’s pupils flashed, summoning a green laser guide beam from the sky.
Piiiing!
—Reset System dragon-subdual reward delivered. As your tax agent, I deliver it on their behalf.
“Oh, right. It popped up about the first dragon or whatever, but nothing actually came.”
Yeongwoo stomped his missing foot in excitement.
At least, to him, it was Christmas right now.
“What’s the reward?”
As Joseon First Sword Jeong Yeongwoo strained to see the end of the green beam, Kubu elaborated.
—Prepare yourself. ‘Dragon’s Heart’ will now be disbursed.
And then it shared news that couldn’t help but thrill Yeongwoo.
—The Dragon’s Heart is tax-exempt.