Chapter 394
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 394
Chapter Title: Archangel Michael
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NPC has been killed.
Rapha's NPC role has been removed.
Jeong Hoon emerged from the prison, holding Rapha's head.
Ariel stood waiting ahead of him, hands clasped tightly together. Her eyes began to tremble finely upon confirming Rapha's head.
"Is this settled now?"
"Thank you. Now Ross can finally rest in peace."
Irene bowed her head in gratitude.
A exclamation point blinked above her head.
Quest completed.
Acquired ??? Key.
??? Key.
Irene pulled the key from her bosom and held it out.
"This is?"
"I'm sorry. The truth is, the pendant was just the advance payment."
"Advance payment?"
"Yes. The pendant is locked so it won't open without the key. If you try to force it open, it gets destroyed and vanishes."
"I see."
"So please think of this as the final payment."
"Got it."
Jeong Hoon nodded.
Opening the pendant must advance to the next stage.
"Then hand that head over to me."
"What are you planning to do with it?"
"I can't just let it go like that. I'm going to curse it every way I know how and then burn it."
"."
The quest was over.
Jeong Hoon handed Rapha's head over to her without hesitation.
??? Pendant and ??? Key.
Their commonality: no information could be viewed.
Jeong Hoon headed to the chapel.
"What now."
Roel turned her head away with a clearly sulky expression.
"Explain this pendant."
"You only come to me when you need something. That's just too much."
"If you won't talk, I won't open it."
"Hmph, do whatever you want. It's your loss, not mine."
Oh, so she's playing hardball now.
Jeong Hoon scratched his head and set the pendant and key down.
"Then dispose of these for me."
He'd just toss them if he didn't open them.
Better to hurry and find other quests to recover levels and stats.
"U-Um?"
Roel's flustered voice followed as he turned away without regret.
The corner of Jeong Hoon's mouth curved up slightly.
"Why?"
"You're really just going to leave these behind? Do you even know what they are?"
"No clue. How would I know how valuable they are?"
"Wow These are none other than Archangel Michael's!"
Roel hurriedly clamped her mouth shut.
"Michael's?"
Jeong Hoon turned his head.
"Oh, it's nothing."
"Yeah right. You already spilled whose they are."
"I could be lying!"
"If that's acting, you should go pro."
"Acting?"
"It's a thing."
Jeong Hoon picked up the pendant and key again.
If these belonged to an archangel, they'd definitely aid his recovery.
"Ahem, keep it secret that I told you."
"No thanks."
"What?"
"If you don't explain in detail, I'll blab everything."
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"So spill it."
"Promise me. Say you didn't hear it from me, no matter what."
"Promise."
Only after securing the promise did Roel cautiously speak.
First off, the pendant was the Promise Pendant.
An item bestowed by Michael to a servant, guiding the path to acquire one of the Seven Archangels' items.
Archangel Michael had sealed the pendant and kept it in storage until now.
Releasing it was, of course, to capture and imprison demons.
"You have to keep your promise."
"Understood. But why the secrecy?"
"The Seven Archangels mustn't be revealed yet."
"Why?"
"I don't know I only know they exist. We don't know the details."
Roel's eyes didn't waver in the slightest.
At the very least, it wasn't a lie.
"Got it. I'll keep my promise."
"Yes. I trust you. Break it, and you'll face divine punishment down three generations."
"Angels can curse people?"
"Any reason they can't?"
"Fair point."
Jeong Hoon chuckled and left the chapel.
'Master, how about screwing her over just once?'
'She wouldn't have talked without the threat. No need to keep promises like that.'
Mukho and Anima didn't think highly of Roel.
"It's fine. Building trust means more to squeeze out later."
Of course, Jeong Hoon didn't think highly of her either, but there might be more to gain, so he'd keep quiet for now.
'Seven Archangels, huh.'
He had already collected all Seven Deadly Sins once before.
Their identity: Thanatos.
He was confident he could gather them again if asked, but now wasn't the time.
The authority seized from the demon realm only extended to Earth and New World.
Opening the demon realm's gate in this situation would be walking right into their hands.
'Let's see what it is first.'
Jeong Hoon inserted the key into the pendant and turned it sideways.
Unseal the ??? Pendant?
'Unseal.'
The ??? Pendant's seal has been released.
The pendant's seal broke, turning it to powder that vanished.
The glowing particles scattered around before gathering into a portal's shape.
???
A portal with no readable information, just like before.
It wasn't even a portal that existed in New World to begin with.
Jeong Hoon stepped into the portal.
Moving.
It forced relocation without asking.
The portal swallowed Jeong Hoon and vanished, its role complete.
At that moment.
Earth Korea.
"What the fuck do you mean recovery's impossible?"
They still hadn't returned to work.
The reason: the timer etched in the sky had vanished, crippling the system.
The problem was the crippled system showed no signs of recovery.
"Team leader, the game itself is running normally."
"Argh, this is driving me insane."
Earth Korea was completely paralyzed.
That alone wouldn't be so urgent, but countless users were flooding them with complaints.
-Are you kidding? Overhauling quests without any notice?
-Treating users like total shit? I'll kill you bastards for sure.
-You wanna die?
-XX XXX XXXX!
-Fuck, should I go there right now and rip your mouths open?
They spewed curses too vile to repeat.
Earth Korea had no answers.
They hadn't heard a thing about the quest overhaul either.
They felt wronged too.
"Communications with headquarters are completely cut off."
"Argh What the hell is HQ thinking."
If HQ was going to run things their way, why have Earth at all.
"Team leader! Email!"
"Email?"
"Yes! From HQ, but the address is different."
"Hang on."
Oh Jin-su moved the mouse to the inbox.
Headquarters has relocated.
-All employees' employment is hereby forcibly terminated effective immediately.
Forcibly terminated?
What kind of bullshit was this?
Oh Jin-su couldn't comprehend and reread the first line several times.
-Compensation will be provided for termination. Base compensation: 10 billion won. Additional compensation based on tenure and rank, up to 100 billion won maximum.
Even if you have complaints, it's a done deal, so nothing to be done.
We ask for your understanding once more.
The staggering compensation quickly quelled the employees' discontent.
"Base 10 billion? Max 100 billion Not bad at all."
"Yeah. Might as well quit at this rate."
"True When else would we see money like this?"
Earth's benefits were good, sure.
But earning 10 billion took immense time and effort.
They were offering that as base pay, plus extras up to 100 billion based on tenure and rank.
Enough to buy an apartment in Seoul outright.
"Real estate's iffy Maybe park it in the bank for interest?"
"It's already peaked. Bubble bursts, and you're ruined."
"Gonna buy US stocks. Good dividends, and I won't starve for life."
Plenty planned to invest rather than buy property.
"You guys We've been discarded. They're just paying us off to scram."
Oh Jin-su muttered with a hollow expression.
Great benefits aside, it was a company he loved.
He'd poured his youth into it, only to be blatantly thrown away. Bittersweet didn't cover it.
Those who'd joined from the early days felt more emptiness than joy.
Entered ????.
????
Still no information.
Pure white pillars supported the ceiling, walls and floor made of solid goldan exquisite space.
"Where is this?"
Jeong Hoon looked around as he walked.
Then an angel appeared before him.
"You've come."
NPC Information
-Nickname: Michael
-Level: X
-Job: Archangel
It was Michael, the one who'd bestowed the pendant.
An angel bearing the title of Archangel, just like Uriel.
"Were you waiting for me?"
Having made the promise with Roel, Jeong Hoon played dumb.
"Yes. Uriel told me everything. Not only did you defy causality, you even opened the heavenly realm."
"That gave us a shot at capturing the demons."
Jeong Hoon grinned.
Michael let out a chuckle in response.
"You're right. I'm grateful to you."
"So why wait for me."
"Draw the holy sword."
"Don't have it."
"You don't?"
Michael gave him an incredulous look.
"Nope. Never drew it."
"Huh, why?"
"I'll draw it when needed. Not now."
"You don't trust the heavenly realm?"
"To be honest, yeah. Seeing its owner unable to leave even in death, bound to the sword, convinced me. Bearing that weight isn't easy."
He couldn't afford to antagonize the heavenly realm yet.
So he framed the reason as positively as possible.
"You're lying."
Unfortunately, he couldn't fool Michael's eyes.
"Why think that?"
"I can discern truth from lies."
He pulled out a scale, tilted toward falsehood.
"Oh dear Didn't know about that one."
Jeong Hoon pressed his forehead in mock defeat, and Michael put the scale away.
"Eh, no need if you don't want to say."
"Really? Thought you'd be curious."
"I am, but I don't like prying from someone unwilling."
"That I like."
"Heh, so you'll refuse what I offer too?"
"What's on offer?"
Michael snapped his fingers, and a box appeared before them.
A pure white box.
'Is this the box with one of the Seven Archangels Roel mentioned?'
As Jeong Hoon stared at the box, Michael grinned.
"Why? Tempted now?"
"Honestly, a bit."
"Good to be honest. Then take it."
"Just like that?"
Frankly unexpected.
He'd figured there'd be trials or qualifications.
"Opening the heavenly realm's gate means you've passed. Want a test anyway?"
"No way. I'll gladly accept."
Jeong Hoon shrugged once and took the pure white box.