The Emperor's Robe and the Weight of Responsibility

Kim Hwang-je had been unconscious for a full half-day. When he finally came to, the sun was slowly sinking beyond the conference room's glass windows.

A breathtaking sunset bathed the piles of gold, silver, and bronze coins scattered across the conference room in a brilliant glow.

What the hell is this? Some kind of treasure goblin's lair?

And floating in his status window was a warning that refused to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠disappear.

119? What the hell is that supposed to imply?

The doctor's calm face as he delivered the news that the bullet had grazed a very unfortunate spot flashed through his mind.

Kim Hwang-je narrowed his eyes.

For some reason, he could vividly picture himself being carried away with his lower body drenched in blood.

If nothing was done within a week, that might actually happen.

"Gemini..."

I really want to smack that archmage upside the head...

It was a moment when he found himself genuinely envious of the king.

Honestly, if that Scarab Champion had hit the castle gate instead of the wall, he would've prepared ten times harder...

Kim Hwang-je barely managed to push himself up.

Coins that had stuck to every inch of his body clattered to the floor.

He grabbed the last silver coin clinging to his face and hurled it away.

A massive imprint remained behind.

Gurgle—

Alright, my stomach buddy.

You stay put for now.

This is a serious matter.

He stood by the window and checked on his precious asset under the dazzling sunset.

It was strange.

As majestic as the sunset itself...

Wait, is this from the ogre?

No, this is way too...!

Oh man...!

Fortunately, his thoughts were cut short there.

While he was inspecting his equipment(?), Poyu—who had just woken up—leaped into his arms.

Startled, Kim Hwang-je quickly pulled up his pants.

"Emperor Uncle. You okay? I thought you got cursed. You kept hitting your own belly so scary..."

It seemed Poyu had been frightened by the Emperor's iron-fisted dignity.

Those big, round eyes were glistening with tears.

"Ah... sorry for scaring you. But your dad would've understood."

"Really? Even my dad would do that?"

"Of course. It's something every brave man must do."

Look at those dignified eyes of the Emperor.

For some reason, his confidence had swelled dramatically.

If he couldn't understand that, he never would've been able to have you.

Swallowing the rest of that thought, Kim Hwang-je ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lifted his shirt.

His stomach was swollen bright red from all the punching.

"Wow! You're as brave as my dad! I'll blow on it—wait, I can't use healing spells..."

Kim Hwang-je pulled the pouting Poyu—who was about to blow on his stomach—into a tight hug.

"Kyuu..."

"There, there..."

After sufficiently pampering the little dragon and setting it down, Kim Hwang-je opened World Observation.

He selected a priest wandering around the infirmary.

A flash of light burst forth, and the bruised stomach healed completely. It looked perfectly normal again.

Kim Hwang-je kept World Observation open.

Gemini... Gemini, where are you?

But while searching for Gemini, his heart grew bitter.

The streets were filled with orphans and widows, and injured soldiers twitching with severed limbs lay everywhere.

Soldiers rushed about collecting the casualties while priests hurried around casting emergency healing spells.

"Sigh..."

I need to take care of them somehow. His heart ached sharply.

Forcing his gaze away, he looked toward the castle walls. Mounds made from "ogre corpses" were piled up everywhere.

The Triple Head Ogre whose guts had burst open had already been moved to the royal vault, but they clearly hadn't managed to scrape up every single ogre corpse.

Well, there had simply been too many ogres.

The walls, now covered in cement, had taken on a bizarre, lumpy appearance, but they had somehow managed to withstand the enemy's assault.

A chill ran down his spine.

Kim Hwang-je knew exactly what would happen if rebar wasn't embedded in the cement.

Ah, if I leave that like this, the weight of the cement might cause it to collapse on its own. I need to send the foreman in right away.

Left alone, that thing would bring the walls down under the cement's own load.

As he was thinking that, a thunderous Korean voice suddenly rang out from the sky above.

"Aaaargh!"

"Sob... how long do we have to keep doing this?"

It was Baekju.

"Speak! Who were you thinking about!"

The overseer.

"His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!"

That was Sirius.

His mind must have gone completely blank from all the beatings, because he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠answered instantly with glazed eyes.

"One!"

"Your Majesty!"

"Two!"

"Long live the Emperor!"

On top of that, their backs looked like shredded rags.

"Ugh, these guys are still throwing rocks?"

Indeed. They had been whipped and forced to throw stones for the entire half-day.

Since the tower had been built in the sky rather than on the walls, the wall guards could only stare blankly.

There weren't any ogres left, but the overseer was making them hurl stones at a distant forest with hawk-like eyes.

If they were lucky and a monster wandering the forest died from the catapult stones, they would gain both money and experience.

"Ah, so that's why..."

Only then did Kim Hwang-je understand why the conference room looked like a dragon's lair.

Even while he was unconscious, the labor reform exploitation system(?) had continued running.

At some point Poyu had dived into the pile of coins, rolling around and crunching on both silver and bronze coins. It looked exactly like a rabbit eating cabbage.

"That's enough... go get some rest."

Kim Hwang-je turned his head and sent Baekju and Sirius back to prison.

Even the foul-tempered Sirius had completely glazed eyes. Any more and he really would die.

"I should give them something at least."

They said the thing soldiers missed most was sweets.

Kim Hwang-je swept a pile of silver coins onto the floor beside a box of cookies prepared in the conference room, then Bestowed the entire box of cookies inside it.

When those unconscious guys woke up, they would probably cry tears of joy.

The things he was doing somehow made him feel like a mafia boss. Beat your subordinates half to death, then comfort them, and they fall into Stockholm syndrome, right?

"Ahem..."

Now it was time to face the great evil.

Kim Hwang-je turned his gaze toward the castle.

King Dave was praising the soldiers and his subordinates.

Beside him, Gemini stood with a pale face.

Kim Hwang-je pressed down hard on Gemini's head through the video feed.

Thud. Thud.

Gemini immediately dropped to her knees, raised both hands, and squeezed her eyes shut.

Her pink lips trembled violently.

Dave also squeezed his eyes shut.

The ministers began murmuring at the archmage's bizarre behavior.

But Kim Hwang-je felt strangely satisfied.

What is this automatic knee-drop reaction?

Did the king teach her that?

"Ugh, haa, haaa."

How am I even supposed to get angry about this?

He couldn't exactly tell a sky-haired fantasy beauty with a bright red nose to take responsibility for his precious asset, could he?

He had even gained the ogre's potency...

No. It wasn't just because of that that his anger was fading.

Ahem.

At that moment, the king picked up a box he had prepared nearby.

Kim Hwang-je lost his mind for a moment and shoved the message aside.

Possible? You damn eunuch bastard...

This guy really was a eunuch. He shouldn't be speaking about this topic so casually.

Anyway, he opened the tribute box.

"Please quell your anger. Gemini only used ancient magic. She did not know the exact principles." — Duke Dave

"Don't do things if you don't understand them properly!"

Kim Hwang-je read up to that point and shouted.

Of course, the same went for Dave.

The hallucination of "Hold on tight!" was still echoing in Dave's head as well.

But separate from that, the robe's performance itself was excellent.

The description continued:

The ancient mysterious garment has been restored by Gemini and offered to the Emperor.

Traditionally, this was a magical garment the Emperor would wear in daily life. Its beauty will be recorded in history.

'This eunuch bastard again...'

Anyway, putting the text aside, it was a robe beautiful enough to make one's eyes go wide.

The red silk with gold thread embroidery gave off a clear sense of dignity along every fold.

Kim Hwang-je took off his stretched T-shirt and immediately changed into the new clothes.

Ah, so that's why they say when reconciling with someone, you should give a gift at the beginning and another at the end.

The effect was tremendous.

Though still a bit sour, Kim Hwang-je nodded.

Once he put it on, it felt cool yet warm, and even carried a pleasant scent that melted his heart.

But he couldn't hide his dignity. Kim Hwang-je wrote back:

The king nodded heavily.

Then he said something.

Poyu translated.

"Hehe, Uncle. Dave says that at this rate the kingdom will go bankrupt... He says ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they need to turn those corpses into goods or the castle won't function. He's asking if you could show mercy?"

"No."

"Huh?"

Poyu tilted its head.

Kim Hwang-je said,

"If I don't take my share, I won't be able to keep sending food and daily necessities. Tell them to live frugally if supplies are short, and to catch anyone embezzling money. What the hell is this internal affairs score?"

"Got it!"

Although the king possessed strong personal martial prowess, his political ability seemed lacking. For some reason, neither the kingdom's internal affairs nor treasury scores showed any sign of improving.

They would need to find some solution for this as well.

Poyu relayed the message.

Upon hearing Poyu's words, tears suddenly welled up in Dave's eyes.

He must have been moved by the promise to continue taking responsibility for their food supplies.

Anyway, that was that.

Soon, the Triple Head Ogre's corpse appeared in the Trade Window.

Whew.

Kim Hwang-je looked at the sunset and raised both arms high.

"I'm alive! I'm alive, damn it!"

You three-headed ogre bastard! You won't get to see this!

Because you're dead!

"Kwa ha ha ha ha!"

Kim Hwang-je laughed thunderously.

After laughing his fill, tears were about to well up.

Wiping his face with the Emperor's robe, he left the conference room.

The sight of gold and silver coins piled up inside the glass door was truly bizarre.

Anyway, he carefully closed the door. The coins looked ready to spill out.

When he went downstairs, Park Jo-woon was at a complete loss.

"Ah, Hwang-je. You okay? You were screaming all night, then went completely silent all morning."

Thanks to that, Park Jo-woon hadn't slept a wink.

But the Kim Hwang-je who appeared was radiating a halo like a white Gandalf.

When he rubbed his eyes, the halo turned out to be an illusion.

However, the clothes he was wearing had the presence of wings—jet engine level ones at that—so the atmosphere was completely different from yesterday.

"If you're sick, you should go to the hospital. How foolish to lock yourself in your room and suffer alone?"

Park Jo-woon said.

Kim Hwang-je shook his head.

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Aaaah—!

It was something Spider-Man would say, yet the Emperor's brilliant light shone from behind him.

Park Jo-woon unconsciously nodded.

"I see!"

See what, exactly.

Anyway, there was no point explaining further.

If he said that a kingdom had entered his stomach, and during every wave a calamity-grade monster popped out and hitting the walls made his organs hurt while hitting the gate made his precious asset hurt, but amazingly hitting his own stomach let him kill monsters, so he spent all night screaming, rolling on the floor, punching his own belly until he passed out... there was no way he could say that.

No. He'd rather die than say it.

"Oppa, you're awake? Thank goodness. I don't know how hard I had to stop Dad from calling an ambulance..."

Su-ah also rubbed her eyes after seeing the halo shining behind Kim Hwang-je.

"Whoa."

"Whew, what a relief. Things like this will probably happen often from now on, but you must never tell anyone else. Understood, sir?"

"That's right, Dad. In the hunters' world, things like this happen all the time. Don't worry too much. Oppa's strong. And he has a wide network too."

Su-ah provided supportive fire with her words.

Anyway, it was truly fortunate.

If Su-ah hadn't been there, an ambulance might have smashed through the door.

It probably would've gone to the urology emergency room.

Tap.

Su-ah set down three glasses of honey water on the table, cutting off Kim Hwang-je's wild imagination.

"Sir, let's drink this quickly."

Kim Hwang-je said.

"Ah, right. I couldn't sleep all night because of the screaming. I prepared all this while listening to those screams. These are the items we need to prepare for defense right away."

Kim Hwang-je accepted the paper along with Park Jo-woon's sparkling eyes.

It was packed with a massive list of necessary supplies.

Naturally, cement, rebar, various heavy equipment, and all kinds of tools were densely written down.

Since the castle gate might collapse under the weight of the poorly poured cement, he had to send Park Jo-woon immediately.

"And Hwang-je. Su-ah wants to go with him too."

"Su-ah? But what about her college entrance exam?"

Kim Hwang-je looked at Su-ah.

"Yeah, I explained the gate situation to her. Su-ah can operate heavy machinery, so sending her will greatly reduce the time needed to teach people. She can study using the online lectures I put on her laptop."

That's right. She could operate heavy equipment.

Staying in a place with fresh air would be good for her health too.

Kim Hwang-je jerked his head around.

"These days, going to college doesn't guarantee a job. I'll get you employed. Monthly salary of 5 million won."

"Deal!"

Su-ah accepted immediately.

For the sake of his precious asset, he could do at least this much.

Kim Hwang-je downed the honey water in one gulp and stood up.

"Good. Let's go secure the heavy equipment right away."

"Heavy equipment? Do you have some ready?"

"They're selling it in this building. You two go in first."

Kim Hwang-je sent the pair into the castle using Personnel Deployment.

Then he got up from his seat.

These days shopping malls were selling 2.5-ton heavy equipment, so he planned to send those first since time was short.

He wanted to show the next wave of those damn things the taste of a bulldozer.