The Emperor Absorbs the Gold Crown
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tang!
Bullets tore through the sky, pouring down in a relentless storm.
Yet not a single one came close to touching him.
The barrier forged from the power of the Gaya Gold Crown swallowed every round whole and evaporated them on the spot.
A breath attack erupted from above Kim Hwang-je’s head.
“Pooooowaaaang!”
But the white-haired, golden-eyed witch merely frowned in irritation and swatted the blast away with her open palm.
“Huh?”
Poyu was stunned.
That breath had been strong enough to shake even Manta’s body, yet she had simply slapped it aside like an annoying fly?
“Look, Ahjussi! That witch is super strong!”
The witch who had deflected Poyu’s breath with her bare hand scowled as she scanned her surroundings.
“A mage who modified his own body and keeps a fairy dragon as a pet… Do you know anything about this one, Catiyu?”
“Sister Katima… that human is a perverted monster…! Scary! It’s scary!”
“Hmm. His head seems too damaged to give us any useful high-level information.”
Catiyu’s skull had a massive dent in the back, the result of taking several thousand tons of seawater directly to the head.
The white-haired, golden-eyed witch called Katima clicked her tongue.
“Are you two the same model?”
Kim Hwang-je looked up at them.
Both had white hair and golden eyes, their features so perfectly refined they looked like they had been sculpted by a master plastic surgeon.
“You have no need to know, human.”
The woman called Katima appeared to have poor eyesight.
She glared down at Kim Hwang-je with a deeply furrowed brow.
“Admirable effort, but you’re already too late.”
The red aura swirling around Katima poured over the Gold Crown and covered it completely.
She threw her head back and laughed.
“Behold! A rift shall now open upon this world. Witness the infinite power that will rage until everything is annihilated!”
The Gold Crown blazed bright crimson!
Barrier integrity compromised. Communications restored.
Lee Min-ah shouted into her comms.
“Barrier’s down and we have a signal! Give me an immediate situation report!”
“Signal restored! This is Squad 32, positioned in front of the pillar. Most personnel appear contaminated…!”
Their reinforced suits were equipped with cameras, so once the line was open the outside team would be seeing everything.
Lee Min-ah turned to Kim Hwang-je.
“The Gaya Gold Crown is an artifact created by the first shamanic ritual on the Korean peninsula! If it’s offered as a sacrifice, the gate that opens could spread as far as the entire Gyeonggi region!”
The storm blasting out of the crimson crown made it difficult to even stay on their feet.
Kim Hwang-je stared at the Gold Crown spewing red beams into the sky.
Just imagining it sent a chill down his spine.
A gate covering the entire capital sky?
If something like that opened…
Sssssss—
A reply crackled through the walkie-talkie, the voice broken by static.
“…Target area… tactical nuclear strike in preparation… fighter jets… standing by… suppress the situation…”
“Are you insane?! This is Seoul!”
Kim Hwang-je roared.
Whether it was megatons or whatever, the claim that they could block it only applied when the Gold Crown was functioning normally!
If a hydrogen bomb dropped over the city, it would be a massacre!
Goosebumps erupted across Kim Hwang-je’s entire body.
“If you bastards actually do it, I will find you. I will find every last one of you and make you pay!”
Boom!
Despite his shout, the walkie-talkie exploded with a sharp pop.
Katima had twisted it apart with nothing but her gaze.
“Excellent. The flame of reason will make for a fine firework. Suffer in the knowledge that your salvation arrived too late and burn alive.”
“Why are you doing this? You must have a goal!”
“…You have no need to know.”
Of course Kim Hwang-je had never expected her to answer nicely.
He instantly linked a portal to the ocean at Sinal Port.
Whoosh! Crash!
The heavy waves of Sinal Port surged forward and slammed into the Gold Crown’s pillar.
Crackle—!
Ssssssssssssssh!
But the waves met the same fate as the bullets.
Thanks to the red lightning coiling around the crown, every drop of seawater instantly boiled into steam.
Crash!
The pressure from the seawater, expanded hundreds of times over, shattered walls and ceilings while every window in the building exploded.
And that wasn’t all—the hot mist filled the entire space, blinding everyone.
“Cough… cough…!”
Do dolls even have lungs?
From within the fog came Katima’s sharp, ringing voice.
“How hot and irritating… But this barrier cannot be suppressed by mere numbers. Isn’t that why you erected one around your pathetic little city?”
Soaked from the waves and moisture, she swept back her dripping white hair.
Then she raised both hands.
Her silk dress, wet and clinging to her body, fluttered violently in the pressure of the red wind.
Following her gesture, a dark crimson whirlwind rose, wrapping around the Gold Crown’s pillar and tearing black cracks across the sky.
“Use high explosives! Disrupt her concentration at all costs!”
Lee Min-ah shouted.
Soldiers immediately opened fire, pouring bullets into the red glow hidden inside the mist.
Explosions bloomed and the heat rose even higher, yet neither Catiyu nor Katima seemed bothered in the slightest.
“I will cast a powerful spell using the crown’s power. Hold them off until I finish, brother.”
“Should I transform?”
“Don’t be stupid. As long as Seoul’s other barriers remain, a half-assed transformation will get you killed. Just block them.”
“…Understood.”
Catiyu’s eyes flashed as he unleashed telekinetic force in every direction.
Incoming bullets twisted mid-air and smashed the guns that had fired them.
Crack!
Security team firearms shattered. Reinforced suits crumpled.
Many screamed as they fought just to breathe.
“Huk… It’s so hot…!”
“Haaak!”
The air was scorching.
Anyone without a protective barrier like Kim Hwang-je would have their lungs cooked after ten seconds of breathing.
“Get inside!”
Kim Hwang-je purchased a magic barrier from the mages atop the castle wall and spread it wide.
The team members with broken suits were dragged inside by their comrades.
“Door of the abandoned, open!”
Catiyu chanted, tearing open a massive space behind himself.
A black circle expanded, sucking the scalding steam inside.
It looked like a swirling sewer drain. Inside the vapor, glowing red eyes flickered.
“Kill every last human.”
“Kyaaaaaaaak!”
Broken dolls with multiple limbs attached poured out endlessly.
They clawed at the ground with their grotesque limbs and charged while shrieking. The sight was hideous.
“They’re dolls! Fire!”
Bullets shredded the falling dolls, but more kept pouring out as if the supply were infinite.
With their current weapons, victory seemed impossible.
Kim Hwang-je clicked his tongue.
“Everyone retreat outside. We can’t win like this.”
“But…!”
“There’s no time to argue! I’m sending you back!”
“What?”
Kim Hwang-je used Labor Deployment (Lv. 3) to fling them all away.
He didn’t send them to the royal castle, but to the forest near Sinal Port.
Once every last one of them vanished, only Catiyu and Katima remained.
“You put them in your pocket again…”
Catiyu muttered.
“Human. Honestly, I have no desire to fight you… but…”
Catiyu glanced at his sister, then swung his arm in a wide arc.
An enormous swarm of dolls around him rained down toward Kim Hwang-je.
“Waves!”
Kim Hwang-je opened the sea portal again and smashed every doll straight into the barrier.
The barrier shredded both dolls and seawater, boiling the interior of the building.
The reaction between dolls, seawater, and barrier triggered a massive explosion.
All the seawater turned into hot mist once more.
Dolls swarmed in from every direction, kicking off the damp floor.
“Eunuch! You said you’d help!”
Your Majesty!
Your courage is always exceptional.
Especially the dignity with which you care for your people is beyond words.
Therefore I will not waste time with long speeches.
Please make contact with the Gold Crown by any means necessary.
I will handle the rest.
“…Normal this time?”
Well, at least he hadn’t told him to thrust his groin forward. That alone was something to be grateful for.
Kim Hwang-je calmly activated auto-combat.
Auto Combat
Projected Military Funds: 418 billion won
It was the highest expenditure in history.
But if he managed things well, he might not have to spend the entire amount.
He always returned whatever was left over!
Even though his mind understood that, Kim Hwang-je’s lips still trembled.
Military funds payment completed.
The effect of the payment was outstanding.
Catapults, arrows, and waves exploded outward from Kim Hwang-je’s entire body like a storm.
He had become a living, charging citadel of fury.
“Those monsters…!”
Catiyu screamed.
The castle’s full combat power had been condensed into a single person.
Lee Min-ah’s words had come true in the most literal, pun-like way.
He was now a castle saint!
Rumble!
Dave’s flat strikes erupted from Kim Hwang-je’s right shoulder, smashing the ground and bisecting the swarm of dolls while slicing through the mist.
From his left shin came Gemini and the mages’ ultimate blizzard, freezing the floor, the air, the mist, and the dolls solid.
Holy flames poured from his stomach, incinerating entire groups of dolls in front of him.
Arrows flew from his eyes. Catapult stones launched from his hands.
The sight of thousands of troops unleashing every technique from inside Kim Hwang-je’s body was unbelievable even as he watched it happen.
“Uwaah, Ahjussi! The building’s shaking!”
The sudden temperature shifts caused all the moisture inside the structure to freeze instantly.
The resulting frost quake shook the top of the building violently.
When the catapult stones fell and Dave’s sword came crashing down, the uppermost floors finally began to collapse!
Kim Hwang-je barely managed to cling to a wall.
“Human… how can you be this strong?”
Catiyu was dripping with sweat, exhausted from the constant summoning.
But the damage from taking a wave to the head had been too great.
Overwhelmed by the onslaught, he lost control of his defensive barrier and fell.
“Ah… no… to a mere human…!”
“Pay it back with labor!”
Labor Deployment (Lv. 3) — Labor Correction
“Uwaaaak!”
Kim Hwang-je’s shadow stretched long.
Shadows surged from every direction like black smoke and wrapped around Catiyu.
“Ah… no! Not to a human with such perverted tastes…! Sister! Sister!”
Catiyu screamed and thrashed.
But he was helplessly dragged into Kim Hwang-je’s body.
At that exact moment, Katima, who had been chanting, moved her hand.
Slice!
Catiyu’s head was severed and flew straight into her grasp!
Unlike human blood, only white mucus poured out.
Only Catiyu’s doll body was sucked into Kim Hwang-je.
“Thanks, sister!”
“Don’t talk. You’re dripping.”
Katima still wore a thoroughly displeased expression.
Catiyu shut his mouth.
“Ah, I almost had him!”
Kim Hwang-je lamented.
Even now, the castle walls continued their merciless barrage—swords, magic, lightning, hail, boulders—pounding against the barrier.
The noise was indistinguishable from a battlefield.
Yet raw power alone could not destroy the barrier itself.
Even after Dave’s flat strikes landed multiple times, slicing the mist and leaving clear marks, the result was the same.
“Brute force is useless…”
The corrupted barrier accepted the powerful attacks, gently wrapped around them, and flung them into the sky.
In the clear blue heavens, rainbows of every color mixed together, painting a perfect apocalyptic scene.
That damned barrier. The moment it fell into enemy hands, it became this troublesome!
Seeing Kim Hwang-je’s flustered face, Katima spoke.
“Didn’t I tell you? Mere numbers will never be enough. Feel the difference in authority with your own body.”
The powerful spell she had prepared was finally complete.
It was a spell fueled by the power of the Gold Crown.
“Marvel at it. It has been a very long time since this spell was used in the mortal realm.”
Behind her, lights of many colors flickered in the sky and merged into one.
Sunlight vanished. Stars appeared.
The stars drew clear lines like an astronomical photograph as they spun, soon forming thousands of overlapping circles.
At the center, a white star twinkled.
“Higher Meteor Strike.”
The moment he heard the name, Kim Hwang-je’s eyes widened.
A colossal fireball appeared among the thousands of circles.
As it drew closer, its shadow grew darker and darker.
“Oh, shit!”
Kwaaaaaaaaaaa!
Your Majesty.
Do you trust me?
Thrust your groin forward.
I knew that eunuch bastard would pull something like this!
No way in hell.
Kim Hwang-je looked at the meteor filling his entire field of vision and tried to use Tribute Trade.
If he tossed it into the distant sea off Sinal Port…
Target is not eligible for trade.
Trade has been canceled.
Of course it wouldn’t work!
In his desperation, Kim Hwang-je searched for Dave’s ultimate technique on the castle wall.
Dave — Heaven Splitter
Military Funds Required: 200 billion won
Should he use it anyway?
But at that moment, terror gripped him.
This was a super-tall skyscraper in Seoul overlooking the Han River.
If the meteor was cut in half, what would happen?
Even half of it would kill an uncountable number of people.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!”
Kim Hwang-je stepped forward, spread his cloak, and opened both arms wide.
If he died, he died. He could not let innocent people die!
“Eunuch baaaaastard! I’m trusting youuuuuuu!”
“What are you—wait?!”
Katima’s hazy eyes flew open wide.
Though her vision was poor, her magic power and senses were screaming.
This enormous summoning spell… was being sucked away somewhere!
Crack. Crack. Craaaaaack!
The massive space twisted violently.
The meteor that had been blotting out the sky split, shattered, and spun in mid-air.
Then it was sucked straight into Kim Hwang-je’s groin.
An overwhelming surge of heat and light burst forth, forcing even Katima to close her eyes.
Kukukukung!
As the meteor shattered and twisted, a colossal shockwave erupted above the hotel.
The clouds over Seoul were swept away in a perfect circle as if a giant hand had brushed them aside.
Every window in the surrounding buildings shattered from the shockwave.
And that wasn’t enough—the storm of gravity split the Gaya Hotel in two.
Craaaack… cra-cra-crack!
Ruuuuuumble!
The building was splitting apart!
Thanks to its special design it avoided total collapse, but the upper half split open like a tree struck by lightning.
“What are you doing?! What the hell are you doing?!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Kim Hwang-je had no strength left to answer.
He shuddered from the searing heat.
It was burning! His whole body was on fire!
Except for the Emperor’s robes, his clothes had burned away in an instant. The unbearable heat made him want to scream. His intestines felt like they were being wrung out. The burning pain in his groin. And the colossal meteor still being sucked inside.
For a brief moment he wondered which one should shock him the most.
Then he realized.
He didn’t have any energy left to be shocked.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaah it’s hooooooooot!”
He screamed with everything he had, yet Kim Hwang-je never moved from that spot.
He endured. He held on.
Before long every scrap of clothing had burned away, leaving him naked.
Only the Emperor’s Robes covered his bare body.
Poyu screamed and flapped her wings frantically.
“Ahjussi! Is Ahjussi okay?! Ahjussi! Sob…! Don’t die, Ahjussi! Waaaaah…! I knew it would be like this! Ahjussi! Ahjussi!”
Poyu clung to the crown of his head, chewing on his forehead while crying her eyes out.
Saliva and tears poured down his face.
The coolness of those tears made the pain feel slightly more bearable.
How much time passed? Finally the meteor disappeared completely between his legs.
Kim Hwang-je felt as if he had died while standing.
He saw a completely empty red sky he had never witnessed once in his entire life.
The meteor was gone, but the barrier’s magic power still covered the heavens.
He slowly drew in a breath.
“In… and out…”
“Ahjussi…? Did Ahjussi disappear?!”
“N-no. Poyu. Wait a second. If I don’t say this now I’ll forget… In… and out…”
Watching him, Katima bit her lip.
“…Maintaining a large-scale outer-space transfer spell permanently, storing it in his genitals, and protecting his life with the tears of a fairy dragon—the ultimate potion?”
“See, sister? I told you he’s a real crazy pervert…!”
Katima clenched both fists and trembled.
“Aaaak!”
Catiyu, trapped in her grip, groaned in sudden pain.
But a moment later he forgot what he was going to say at his sister’s next words.
“How wonderful…”
“…Huh?”
“How wonderful. How cool. This is the tenacity of a mage, the pinnacle of a mage! Yes! The genitals are nothing but a mere weakness!”
At her resounding maniacal laughter, Catiyu—who was now only a head—gaped.
“I have lived for many years as a doll, honing my magic. But I never possessed the resolve you have!”
She closed her eyes.
Of course, Kim Hwang-je had never possessed any such resolve.
“Catiyu. You were right for once. To think a monster like this existed in the mortal world… To erase his own genitals and turn them into a path to the universe while leaving only the pain… Indeed, no succubus could ever seduce him… A great archmage mad with power! I respect you! You are truly a magnificent mage! If only you were not our enemy…!”
That’s not what this is!
That’s not it at all!
Kim Hwang-je stood with perfect dignity, yet only painful groans escaped his throat.
Right now he had to focus entirely on breathing exercises.
“I offer my respect. It was a good match. However, the Gold Crown remains under my control… and now the rift shall open…!”
The sky was still red and slowly beginning to crack.
Damn it. Was he going to die twice?
It was either die or faint. Since he was already on the verge of fainting, there was nothing left to fear.
Eunuch, I’ll trust you one more time…!
“Come out! Thief! Throw me at the Gold Crown!”
He couldn’t move a single step.
Help this naked king!
Resident Summon (Lv. 2)
Thick-fingered Thief
“A-aaaah! Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
“Shut up! Stop crying and throw me!”
“Sniffle… Your Majesty!”
The thief saw the soot-covered Kim Hwang-je and wailed, but eventually lifted him up and hurled him forward.
Kim Hwang-je flew in a pathetic arc and slammed straight into the pillar of the Gold Crown.
The barrier scorched his body. Pain shot all the way to the top of his skull.
“Gwaaaaaaaaaah!”
While the world spun, he hallucinated the chubby-cheeked eunuch smiling brightly.
Your Majesty!
To sacrifice yourself this much for your people.
The Gold Crown has found someone more fitting to carry the fate of a monarch.
Therefore, accept your destiny…
Protect this world!
The entire rooftop was swallowed by a storm of light.
It was as if rays of light were raining down from the sky.
Every ounce of the barrier’s power rushed into Kim Hwang-je’s head.
The light slowly transformed into the shape of a crown.
The spirits of the Gold Crown are in awe of the Emperor’s sacrifice.
Job [Emperor] absorbs the Gaya Gold Crown…
You have acquired the Emperor’s Crown!
Everything before his eyes was dyed in pure gold.
***