A Secret Deal (3)
It was almost absurd, the way peaceful days had settled over Gangnam after the Monster Wave had ripped through the district like a storm.
A few minor Gates opened after that, but most of them passed without much fuss. As always, life moved on.
I kept to my routine like a pendulum that never wavered. Up before dawn, out to the park, then I’d stand in the open lot where the cold wind cut through me and work up a sweat like a monk on a path of penance.
Judgment of the Superhuman.
Stripped to the waist, I threw that strike a thousand times.
Funneling mana into one place and repeating the same motion over and over demanded brutal concentration and stamina. At first, it had been a vicious, agonizing process, but once I got used to it, the useless thoughts fell away and my mind grew strangely calm. By the time I passed eight hundred repetitions, I’d forgotten I was even training; my body just moved on its own.
Working in a factory, I’d seen that kind of thing before. There were always a few workers who were freakishly good at what they did. They could spot a defective Bronze Knight product without a microscope, or weigh the powdered stone used in a dwarf’s special formula more accurately than a scale, or cut the tip of a Dark Elf bow with perfect precision, never missing by even a hair.
They were all veterans with more than fifteen years on the job.
That was how it worked. If you kept grinding away at one thing, you naturally became a master at it.
And me? The most important thing for a hero was overwhelming power. As someone once said, justice without power was incompetence, and power without justice was violence.
What I truly wanted was simple.
I wanted to stand at the summit of heroes. No— I would stand there.
997, 998, 999……
I gritted my teeth and forced out the final repetition.
My breath came rough and my legs nearly gave out. I wanted nothing more than to collapse on the spot, but I dragged myself upright and forced my body to stand straight.
A square Burn Light panel sat in front of me. It was a special tool I’d made myself. If I set the panel in place and locked it down, it worked like a board-breaking rig.
I curled my fingers carefully, made a fist, then drove my knuckles into the center of the Burn Light panel in a flash.
The glossy center split with a sharp crack and broke cleanly into two pieces.
There.
This new material, infused with wyvern scales, was light as air but tougher than steel. I’d smashed the Burn Light panel entirely with my own strength, without relying on Judgment of the Superhuman.
The reason I’d gotten stronger so quickly was the Magical Circle I’d picked up in a dungeon not long ago. The one I’d obtained was called the Blessing of Effort.
It was a strange artifact that multiplied the results of training by dozens, even hundreds of times. I still wasn’t used to it, so it probably wasn’t reaching the full hundreds-fold effect yet.
At the very least, it’s working dozens of times over.
The number of times I moved my body each day, like shadowboxing, was a thousand. With the Blessing of Effort layered on top, that practically meant…….
I was getting the equivalent of ten thousand, maybe even tens of thousands of training sessions.
The me who couldn’t even take down Big Lava without hero skills was steadily growing stronger.
Next.
I swapped in another Burn Light panel on the board-breaking rig.
“Hah.”
This time I curled every finger except my index finger.
I concentrated mana into the finger.
Here we go.
Like a spear thrust, I shot the finger forward. In an instant, a hole the size of my fingertip punched straight through the Burn Light panel.
…….
A thrill ran all the way up my spine and into the tips of my hair.
This time, I still hadn’t used Judgment of the Superhuman.
That meant, in theory, I could destroy a Burn Light helmet with nothing but my finger.
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
An enemy in a real fight wouldn’t stand still like this, and high-grade Burn Light material would be much thicker than this panel. Even so, it was an astonishing leap forward.
If I kept training like this, endlessly, from now on…….
I could get stronger without relying on hero skills!
Feeling bold, I pushed myself one step further.
I replaced the panel with Bronze Light.
The state-of-the-art material, made from the hide of a copper-colored dragon, flashed under the light.
“Hup!”
I brought my hand down in a knife strike.
Clang.
The metallic ring echoed out.
For a while, silence hung there.
Then—
“Tch.”
I winced and clutched my hand.
My ring finger swelled up so much my eyes prickled with tears. The Bronze Light had dented, but it hadn’t split neatly in two like the Burn Light had.
Still too much for me, huh.
I didn’t feel discouraged.
Even if I was lacking right now…….
Someday, I’ll surpass Judgment of the Superhuman.
Until that day came, I’d keep tempering myself brutally, over and over.
Today was a day I had to go to the factory.
I’d been away a lot because of the hunter internship, but I hadn’t neglected my real job either. Karki’s relentless text messages also did their part to steer my feet toward the factory.
After showering, I shook out my wet hair and stepped outside. Grandmother was sitting in a chair, staring blankly out into the distance.
The cars crossing the bridge over the Han River looked like miniature toys from here.
“Haaah.”
When had it started?
Grandmother had begun sighing the kind of deep, sinking sigh that made it feel like the ground was dropping out from under her. Deep worry had settled into her wrinkled face.
My little brother had gone to school, and the housekeeper had gone shopping. If I left for work too, Grandmother would be alone.
Loneliness? Or maybe emptiness……?
I looked around slowly.
The premium apartment was filled with the latest appliances and imported furniture. On the wall hung a television bigger than the one I’d seen in my childhood friend’s house.
I’d thought I’d given her everything she could possibly need for a comfortable life.
So why doesn’t it feel satisfying?
Grandmother no longer picked up scrap paper on the street. I gave her more than enough pocket money every month—so much she could spend lavishly and still have plenty left over. She didn’t have to scrape and claw just to survive anymore.
And yet, in this life that was perfect on paper, Grandmother looked strangely depressed.
Just then, the front door opened and the housekeeper came in carrying bags full of groceries. She walked over to me.
“Are you leaving now?”
“Yeah.”
I kept my eyes fixed on Grandmother.
“Do you know why she’s been like this lately?”
“Hmm. Not really.”
The housekeeper scratched her head.
“The madam stays home all day. I even took her to the senior center in the apartment complex, but I guess it wasn’t very fun. She said all they talked about was money, golf, and real estate, so it was boring.”
I didn’t want to cage Grandmother up like a bird.
I’d even suggested she travel overseas if she wanted to live freely, but she’d refused that too.
What did she truly want?
Just as I wanted to become the strongest hero…… Grandmother must have had her own dream too.
I checked the time. If I didn’t hurry, I’d be late.
Doesn’t matter.
My life was no longer about mechanically clocking in at the factory. Money wasn’t the highest value anymore, either.
What mattered most to me was this.
I walked over to Grandmother and lowered myself to one knee beside her. “Grandma.”
I laid both hands over the back of her hand.
Her skin was rough, like the hide of some small animal, yet warm to the touch. Grandmother turned her head.
“What’s this? You ain’t gone to work yet? You’re late! Get going already!”
“It’s fine. Talk to me for a bit.”
“About what?”
I looked into the soft brown light of her eyes.
“Is there anything you want to do?”
Move to a house in the country.
Go on luxury shopping sprees.
I could give her anything she wanted.
“I’ve got enough money to last a dozen lifetimes, so just tell me what you want.”
After becoming a man worth around ten billion won, had I been ten times happier than when I only had one billion?
No.
The best thing about being able to spend money freely wasn’t the spending itself.
It was being able to protect the people I loved with money, and having the power to make their wishes come true.
That was the value that mattered more to me than money ever could.
Grandmother’s hand twitched.
If it had been the old her, she would’ve barked, “You damn brat! Stop spouting nonsense and get your ass to work!”
But this time, she hesitated.
“Well…… if I had to say.”
She fidgeted awkwardly.
“Could you set me up with a gukbap place or somethin’?”
For a second, my mind went blank.
A gukbap place?
Come to think of it, she’d always had a strange fixation on soup dishes—beef radish soup, galbitang, that sort of thing. Maybe because of the resentment she’d carried from her poor childhood, she’d always loved broth with meat in it.
Though in reality, it had mostly been grease soup.
Grandmother spoke haltingly.
“I always wanted to live quietly, you know, with your grandfather, run a little gukbap place together…… But he passed away before me, and then I had to raise you two, so I never even got to dream about it……”
Before I realized it, her eyes were wet.
It felt like someone had hit me in the back of the head with a hammer.
This was the first time she’d ever spoken about Grandfather.
I’d never even heard it in my previous life.
She must have kept quiet because she was worried I’d be upset.
The second good thing about escaping poverty was this: because we weren’t busy just trying to survive, we could finally let out the feelings we’d buried for years.
“When I see somebody eating rice mixed into a steaming bowl of broth, I feel full myself, you know. Yongki, Sungmin. Just like you two used to. Don’t the other people wanna eat like that too?”
Grandmother called my brother’s and my names one after the other.
Then she glanced at me cautiously.
“……Would that cost a lot of money?”
Opening one shop wasn’t anything difficult for me anymore.
“I could set up a hundred gukbap places if you wanted.”
“What the hell. One would be enough, but you’re always overdoing things. You damn rascal.”
She slapped my back lightly.
Her words were sharp, but her yellowed teeth showed as she smiled.
She’s smiling now.
In comic books, heroes returned home after fierce battles. There, they rested and recovered their strength.
I, too, had finished dealing with the multi-Gate incident and headed home instead of to the hospital.
There was nothing in the world as peaceful and warm as family.
So what if it cost a little money?
As long as Grandmother found her energy again…….
I didn’t care how much it cost.
I stood up.
“I’m heading out, Grandma.”
“Yeah. Go on, you brat. Get moving.”
A smile spread across the old woman’s wrinkled face.
* * *
With a loud, throaty roar from the engine, a foreign car pulled up in front of Dio Guild headquarters.
Its futuristic design and gleaming exterior seemed to brag all by themselves about how expensive it was.
The door opened and someone stepped out.
It was Lee Ji-jun, a pale man with hair white as snow.
He’d bought the sports car with the reward money from the multi-Gate incident.
Immediately, everyone’s attention was drawn to him.
“Whoa. That’s the latest Lamborghini model.”
“Who is he?”
“Looks like a hunter.”
Lee Ji-jun lifted the corner of his mouth and looked down at his prize.
Hah. It feels good every time I see it. I really did the right thing buying it.
Just then, someone else approached from the other side.
He was a black-haired man with sharp, slitted eyes. He glided forward on an electric bicycle, pedaling along at an easy pace.
Lee Ji-jun raised one hand in greeting.
“Yo. Hero of Gangnam.”
Choi Yongki got off the e-bike and pointed at the sports car.
“Hey. Parking’s not allowed here. Move the car.”
Lee Ji-jun clicked his tongue.
“Tch. I know. I’m putting it in the underground lot.”
He’d done it on purpose just to enjoy the satisfaction of getting out of the car, so his face flushed red with embarrassment.
Still, he didn’t resent Choi Yongki. If it hadn’t been for him, he never would’ve dreamed of owning a sports car in the first place.
Choi Yongki silently locked the e-bike in place.
“Try stealing it if you want. I’ll chase you to the end of the earth and kill you.”
That mutter reached his ears.
Watching him, Lee Ji-jun felt a small surge of superiority.
“So what do you spend your money on?”
Rumor had it he was incredibly wealthy.
For a guy with hundreds of billions in assets, he’s awfully frugal.
Choi Yongki said nothing. He simply pointed across the street.
“I bought that.”
“Huh?”
There stood a small office building, looming over the street.
“You bought a building?”
Choi Yongki nodded.
“…….”
For some reason, Lee Ji-jun felt like he’d lost.
“How much was it?”
“About 12 billion won.”
“…….”
Lee Ji-jun’s face twisted awkwardly.
“W-well, real estate is good for wealth building, so, yeah?”
“Dunno. I bought it to open a gukbap place.”
“What?”
The first floor of the building was already under renovation.
He’d bought a building in Gangnam just to run a gukbap restaurant.
The tail wagging the dog…… no, wait. Isn’t this guy just insane?
Choi Yongki gave Lee Ji-jun’s shoulder a light tap.
“We’re opening soon. Come by and eat.”
He pushed through the revolving door of the Dio Guild and went inside.
As if he had just witnessed an unapproachable being of impossible scale, Lee Ji-jun swallowed hard and raised his voice.
“Hey. Choi Yongki. Wait up. I’m coming with you!”