Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: 13. Opening of the Ports (4)
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Opening of the Ports.
The dictionary definition of this term has two meanings.
First, opening one's own market to allow other countries to engage freely in trade or economic activities.
Second, leaving the doors open without restrictions on entry or exit, allowing anyone to come and go.
And judging by the current situation, the meaning of the Opening of the Ports applied to this world encompassed both.
Just look—monsters were barging in claiming to be settlers, and these alien merchants had suddenly shown up to do business.
And none of this had been approved by humanity.
The majority of humanity had reluctantly agreed only because the world had gone wrong and something needed to be done about it.
‘But how the hell did it come to this?’
Young-woo blankly stared at the approaching stone box, scraping the ground noisily with his feet.
Scraaape, scraaape.
Once the box reached his feet, it stayed still for a moment.
Then—
Boom!
It suddenly let out a loud bang and its lid flew open.
Screeech!
Startled, Young-woo drew his black sword like lightning, and the trio watching from afar flinched into combat stances.
But what emerged from the box was—
-Kruk.
A small goblin about the size of its own sack, slung over its shoulder. And its skin was even golden.
“Uh, this is…….”
As Young-woo unconsciously pointed at the goblin, it looked up at him.
-Keruk?
Then, an item tooltip appeared in Young-woo’s vision.
Pop!
「Golden Goblin」 - Relic Slave
【Stores items in sub-space.】
【Picks up valuable items.】
With that single eye contact, the Golden Goblin had become Young-woo’s property.
A relic-grade slave.
‘Is this really an item? No matter how I look at it, it’s just a living creature……?’
Meanwhile, the Golden Goblin was sweeping its tiny hand over the shattered remnants of the stone box’s bottom.
Then—
Flick.
It picked something up and held it out.
It was none other than—
「Kekidite」 - Hero Gem
【Slot: Ability Resistance 10%】
The slot-specific gem that Young-woo had bought together with the goblin.
A small black gem the size of a thumbnail.
-Kit!
Confirming the Kekidite had transferred to Young-woo’s possession, the Golden Goblin opened the mouth of the sack on its shoulder.
It held the Kekidite near the sack’s opening and looked back at Young-woo.
-Kit?
A gesture asking if it could store the item inside.
‘Ah, it’s checking with the owner before putting it away. So that sack is like a sub-space pouch?’
Curious to see how the sub-space worked, Young-woo nodded at the goblin.
The goblin tossed the Kekidite into the sack, and at that moment—
Whoooosh!
The sack’s interior, glimpsed through the opening, transformed into something like outer space.
“……!”
Young-woo, who had been peeking, felt a dizzying sense of space and staggered back.
‘What was that just now?’
Young-woo blinked and looked at the sack again, but the goblin had already tied it shut tight.
-Kakak!
The goblin looked up at Young-woo and let out a sharp cry.
“…….”
No translator appeared, but Young-woo instinctively knew it was a warning.
A warning not to peek inside when the sub-space opened.
-Kit!
Next, the goblin dug out Young-woo’s last purchase, the ancient certificate, and held it up.
This massive item, large enough that the goblin had to set down its sack and lift it with both hands, was a gray stone slab despite its name ‘certificate.’
「Morning Star」 - Ancient Certificate
【Activates in Port Opening state.】
It was the size of an open large encyclopedia, so Young-woo had to receive it with both hands too.
Thud.
“What is this……?”
The slab was deeply engraved with what looked like hieroglyphs, which of course he couldn’t read.
And no explanatory text appeared just because it was now in the hands of its owner, Young-woo.
To the eye, it was just an unnecessarily large rock.
But the Voltak merchants had priced it at a whopping 80,000 karma, and even the serpentine compass of greed had called it a rare item.
The tooltip only said it activated in Port Opening state, so Young-woo had no idea what the ‘Morning Star’ even was, let alone how to use it.
Crunch.
Just in case, he secretly bit the corner of the slab, but no reaction.
‘Or does it activate on its own in a specific situation?’
In the end, Young-woo still hadn’t figured it out by the time the Jeong family’s SUV appeared from the road ahead.
Vroooom……!
The SUV approached with a fairly loud engine roar at first, but soon the sound quieted dramatically.
They had belatedly spotted something inside the black pillar of light.
“Y-Young-woo?”
As always, Myung-ho parked at a distance, sticking only his head out to call Young-woo.
“Is it safe?”
This was his usual way of asking if he and his mother would be okay.
Young-woo glanced at the trio still rooted in place, then walked toward the Jeong family.
At that—
-Kikkit!
The Golden Goblin, which had been stepping on the box debris, swiftly slung its sack over its shoulder and chased after Young-woo.
And all of this—
“…….”
Looked like a revelation to the trio’s eyes.
“J-Jeong Young-woo!”
It even made them rush toward him, shoving commemorative coins stamped with his face and name.
“……?”
Turning at the call, Young-woo saw the people who had been ready to fight him just ten minutes ago now lined up in polite stances.
“What are you doing?”
As Young-woo tilted his head and asked, the tall man who seemed to be their leader bowed deeply.
“Please take us in!”
“…What?”
He’d often gotten requests to help out or let them tag along temporarily, but ‘take us in’ was a first.
“I don’t take on companions or subordinates.”
As he said this, Young-woo’s mind flashed to his parting with Ye-chan, which now felt like ages ago.
As Ye-chan had judged back then, parties didn’t work for Young-woo.
For ordinary people, you couldn’t even fight monsters without numbers, but Young-woo, who had become the Supreme Sword early on, was different.
His main opponents were mutants far stronger than monsters, and the Supreme Swords from other regions.
So unless they were strong enough to help in those fights, party members would just be baggage… no, liabilities.
“Don’t talk nonsense. Figure out how to survive on your own. That’ll give you better odds than following me.”
Young-woo cut them off, but the tall man didn’t seem convinced.
“No! We’re stronger than we look! We can’t compare to you, Young-woo, but we could at least follow and learn……!”
“No learning needed. You’ll die today or tomorrow.”
It was like a fresh tutorial player wanting to tag along in a high-level hunting ground in a game.
Swoosh.
As Young-woo finished and turned to walk toward the Jeong family, the man behind him, still bowing, snapped his head up and pointed at the SUV.
“Then what about those people? Are you saying they’ll all die tomorrow because of you too?”
“…….”
It was a point he couldn’t ignore.
Young-woo slowly turned back.
Then he muttered softly.
“Yes. One’s already dead. So we’ll split up soon.”
“……!”
As expected, the three pairs of eyes widened in shock.
But the tall man was unusually persistent.
“Then let us travel with you until you part with them.”
For the first time, dissent arose within the trio.
“Why go that far?”
“We’re already at risk just tagging along. Let’s call it here.”
The other two weren’t just scared by Young-woo’s words—they didn’t want to grovel and cling to someone.
And rightly so. The three of them had done pretty well so far.
Not strong enough to hunt mutants, but enough to take down monsters, so sticking to this path should ensure survival for the foreseeable future.
That was also why Young-woo had refused their joining.
But the tall man was looking much farther ahead.
“You think we’ll ever get another chance to see what someone like that does and where he goes? We need to know how the world works to find our own path to survival.”
He pointed at the Jeong family’s SUV again.
“And it’s not like we get nothing out of it. Joining that vehicle gives us mobility. No downside at all.”
“What if those people don’t want us along? That’s not guaranteed.”
Another member countered immediately, but the man gestured that it’d be fine.
“Who wouldn’t want to survive……? One’s already dead, and soon you’ll be gone too, Young-woo. They won’t refuse.”
The constant ‘sir’ was a bit burdensome, but the man’s final point piqued Young-woo’s interest.
As promised, once they reached Chungju, they’d part ways, and without combat personnel, the Jeong family would essentially be dead meat.
It was selfish, but this was a chance to lighten his mental load.
“Fine. I’ll allow you to tag along until we part with them, on the condition you join them then.”
Young-woo, who had been so firm, suddenly changed his stance, and the tall man’s face lit up.
The other two, however, scowled in disapproval.
“…I’m not into it. It’s basically cleaning up after him.”
“We get he’s amazing, but if he won’t guarantee our lives, there’s no reason to follow.”
Tsk.
The atmosphere, even the formation, had shifted.
The two stepping way back made them look less like a trio now.
Yet the tall man clung to Young-woo with odd determination.
“I want to know how he fights and what he’s thinking while roaming. If you’re staying here, I’ll go alone.”
“What?”
“Then we’re down to two.”
Seeing him declare his departure so casually, they clearly weren’t family.
At this point, Young-woo grew curious about the man too, but he couldn’t waste time, so he interjected in their conversation.
“I’m leaving now. If you’re really coming, decide right this second.”
With that, Young-woo resumed walking toward the vehicle, and the tall man adjusted his backpack and followed.
The former companions bid him farewell with harsh words.
“Crazy bastard.”
“Don’t regret it when you’re dying.”
Meanwhile, Young-woo reached the SUV and opened the rear door, looking at the wide-eyed Myung-ho.
Click.
“We can fit one more, right? Shotgun it is.”
“Y-Yeah… sure…….”
But Myung-ho’s gaze wasn’t on the new member, the tall man—it was on the Golden Goblin that had hopped onto the rear seat following Young-woo.
“Uh, Young-woo… if I may ask, what’s that?”
Myung-ho cautiously asked via the rearview mirror.
At the same time, Myung-ae jolted in surprise and pressed herself against the opposite window.
“W-What monster is that?”
Young-woo handed the certificate ‘Morning Star’ he’d been holding to the goblin as he replied.
“My slave. Guess we can have it hold our luggage from now on.”
But—
-Kikkit!
For some reason, the goblin refused the certificate Young-woo offered.
“…What’s wrong?”
Young-woo offered it again, but the goblin didn’t react, just like before. The reason revealed itself only when the tall man climbed into the passenger seat.
Shaaa……
The certificate—the gray stone slab—suddenly emitted white smoke and began to crack.
Crack!
‘No way.’
Realizing something, Young-woo grabbed the slab disintegrating into powder in his hand and stepped out of the vehicle.
Then, the slab, which had still held its shape until then, shattered into fine pieces and scattered into the air.
“Wha-what?”
Myung-ho, peering out the driver’s window; the tall man straining to see Young-woo from the passenger seat; and Myung-ae, still finding it all horrifying.
Under their collective stares, new text appeared in Young-woo’s vision.
[Achievement Unlocked: Advertising Model]
|Achievement Grade: Relic
|Achievement Rank: First
‘Advertising Model……?’
Young-woo gazed at the stone slab particles soaring toward the distant sky.
‘What did I advertise?’
No sooner had the question arisen than a black timer plastered itself across the top of his vision.
|Advertiser Arrival: 04:30:00
Then—
Tick.
|Advertiser Arrival: 04:29:59
The timer began counting down.