45
045 ― Might as well be used as fertilizer
'This human has something.'
When he first saw Jin-woo, this was the thought that came to Kalesian's mind.
Was it because there were traces of having devoured the souls of his own kind? Of course, that was part of it. But that wasn't the only reason.
From Jin-woo's soul itself, he felt something.
'I don't know what it is, though.'
He watched out of curiosity. And indeed, he achieved a great feat.
The Ireland. A monster that even Earth's S-rank Hunters couldn't catch. He had taken it down single-handedly.
To catch a minion of Erosion. And at that, a minion of that vicious and persistent Lord of Oppression and Ceiling.
'If I'm with this human, stealing the Lord's divine artifact wouldn't be just a dream.'
The medium through which Lords intervene in Gates. A conduit for transmitting will from the 6th floor, the Spirit Realm, to the lower realm.
Conversely, if he could obtain that divine artifact, it would mean he could interfere with the 6th floor from this side.
'I tried to steal it once before.'
Unfortunately, he failed. The Guardian protecting the divine artifact was an existence he couldn't handle in his current state.
If he had molted properly, he would have won easily, but if that had been the case, descending to the 3rd floor would have been impossible in the first place. It was a meaningless hypothesis.
So he waited.
For a human who possessed 'something'.
For a human who harbored some mystery beyond his predictions.
"I'd like to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Do you know about the existence of Lords?"
"......That's surprising. To think Jin-woo knows about Lords."
This person was truly mysterious. How could a human know about the existence of Lords?
'He might have heard about it from an Elf or someone in a Gate.'
He dismissed it as nothing significant, but.
"Do you also know that the one who sent the Ireland to Earth is the Lord of Oppression and Ceiling?"
"......!"
That truly couldn't help but be surprising.
The existence of Lords could be known as knowledge. But the fact that the Ireland was his minion wasn't something that could be known through transmitted knowledge.
Now he was certain.
'This is the one!'
That this human was necessary to obtain the Lord's divine artifact.
***
Returning to his hotel room, Jin-woo took off the gifted coat and roughly hung it on a hanger.
After carelessly throwing it, he remembered it was an extremely expensive luxury coat, but he didn't really care. So what if it gets a bit wrinkled. Whether it's luxury or not, it's ultimately made to be worn comfortably.
―Do you know about the Lords' true identity?
Sitting in his chair, he recalled the conversation they had earlier.
The Lords' true identity? Is there something more beyond them being existences that rule Erosion?
―Lords are beings that belong to the 6th floor, the Spirit Realm.
―Spirit Realm?
―Literally a world where spirits live. Do you understand what this means?
He knew that there was something beyond the 5th floor in Gates. He had heard that there were red portals in the 5th floor too.
But there was no information about the 6th floor. Since not a single Hunter who entered that place had returned alive.
'Spirit.'
Rona said that forging swords was to become a spirit. From what he heard from her, spirits seemed to be existences like gods or immortals.
That Lords belonged to that place meant......
―Are you saying the Lords' true identity is that they're spirits?
―That's right.
Jin-woo recalled the door that the God of Ice Valley, that is, the Lord of Snow and Ice, had opened.
That gate of hell that had taken Johan. An existence that commands such things is a spirit?
―I thought spirits were more mystical and noble existences.
―Spirits vary among spirits. There are such existences, and there are eccentric ones too. However, those called Lords are special among spirits.
―Special?
―Because they harbor the seeds of Erosion.
Kalesian told Jin-woo many things as if speaking the truth behind the world.
―In the beginning, there was one Erosion, and it eventually separated into twelve seeds. The spirits that harbor those separated seeds are the current Lords.
―Wait, twelve? Not thirteen?
―Twelve is correct. The primordial Lord split into twelve seeds, and the current Lords possess those seeds.
―Then who is the thirteenth god in the 2nd floor?
―I don't know. Maybe some bored spirit butted in.
He really seemed not to know. And he didn't seem particularly interested either.
There was only one thing Kalesian was interested in.
―What I want to say is, the Lord's divine artifact in the 3rd floor is a treasure connected to the 6th floor. Lords intervene in the lower realm through it.
―So that's why you want it so much?
―I want to steal it to obtain a clue connected to the 6th floor. The 6th floor is a place that's difficult for even decent Ancient Dragons to ascend to.
He understood why Kalesian's eyes lit up at the Lord's divine artifact.
Kalesian, who said he wanted to see other worlds, was naturally curious about the 6th floor and wanted to see that world someday.
But it was a story unrelated to Jin-woo.
Jin-woo was now a Hunter ascending to the 3rd floor, not at the stage of looking toward the 6th floor.
If he had been an S-rank Hunter stuck at the 5th floor, he might have been interested, but it was too early for him now.
Perhaps reading Jin-woo's reaction shows little interest? Kalesian spoke with a slightly anxious voice.
―If you're not particularly interested in the divine artifact itself, how about this? Let's steal the God of Sky's divine artifact together.
―The God of Sky?
To Jin-woo, who finally seemed to show some interest, Kalesian said.
―That bastard has a particularly shitty personality even among Lords. As Jin-woo knows, he's also the main culprit targeting Earth. Aren't you interested in stealing that bastard's divine artifact?
―If we steal his divine artifact, won't he be unable to intervene on Earth, too?
―That's...... No. Earth and Gates are separate things. Still, the God of Sky himself might be somewhat discouraged.
After pondering briefly, Jin-woo shook his head.
It wasn't a simple matter, and it was dangerous enough that even Dragons called it risky, yet the merits were small compared to that. There was no reason to get involved.
―I'm sorry. I don't think I can join you.
―Is that so?
―I'm sorry for refusing after hearing such valuable information.
―Well, it's fine. It's not something that must be done right away, and I have plenty of time. I'll slowly look for other methods.
They parted with bitter smiles.
He must have told him various things to draw him in, so he felt a bit sorry for refusing.
Still, wouldn't it be strange to readily accept such a dangerous matter just because he heard some information?
"Huuu......"
He loosened his collar comfortably and lay down in the rocking chair.
He briefly had a dream. Not something like a memory, but a simple dream.
He was a gardener tending a small garden, and there were many lives there. Grass, trees, and insects, too. Large and small beasts and chirping birds as well.
Beast corpses rotted to become nourishment for grass and trees, and their leaves became food for insects. Birds ate their fill of insects, and beasts caught birds to fill their hungry bellies.
In that revolving world, everyone could eat their fill. Though there were those who starved due to environmental or individual differences, entire species never died from starvation. That was the gardener's role.
"......"
He opened his eyes. On the table beside the chair were simple snacks like cookies that the hotel had prepared.
The fragrant grain-scented biscuit was impressive. The golden wheat field he had briefly seen in his dream flashed before his eyes.
***
Seoul's mayor, Ma Du-sik, was meeting with Cheon Ju-hyeok. The reason he called him wasn't for anything else.
"Hunter Cheon Ju-hyeok, have you heard the news about Hunter Kang Jin-woo?"
"Of course! I've been watching all the news and commenting on everything. I've watched all the videos too."
Seeing Cheon Ju-hyeok more passionate than expected, Ma Du-sik chuckled, hehe.
Until Jin-woo returned, he had been crying out about Johan's murder like that. Even with the help of his grandfather, the chairman of Cheonok Group, the face and voice that led the charge were his.
At the time, there was much criticism and blame for that claim, but he endured it all alone. To clear Jin-woo's injustice.
'But he was alive! And he even flew straight to New York to achieve such feats!'
Now, all public opinion had flipped.
With it now almost certain that Johan attacked Jin-woo, there were no longer any voices of criticism toward Cheon Ju-hyeok.
Moreover, thanks to Kang Jin-woo decisively resolving New York's crisis of destruction, Jin-woo's stock price was rising endlessly.
'And that video on top of it.'
The finishing touch was that video. The footage of Jin-woo cutting the Ireland's heart, filmed by Kurenai Masato.
Just news saying some Hunter resolved it wouldn't easily spread as an issue. Especially since Jin-woo was E-rank, there could have been conspiracy theories about deliberately promoting him.
But the video was decisive.
Countless sword-wielding Hunters spoke in unison. The single sword strike shown in that short video was absolutely not something an E-rank could do.
Active A-rank swordsmen analyzed and trained endlessly to recreate that sword, but not a single one succeeded.
"As expected, the story about killing Johan was real! It was real!"
A Hunter capable of such swordsmanship, killing an S-rank black mage, must be true. Cheon Ju-hyeok had been unable to contain his excitement for days over the fact that everything he heard from Jin-woo that day was true.
How amazing was the person he met and was saved by.
"Haha, I was also uncertain, but now I definitely believe it. That everything Hunter Cheon Ju-hyeok said was true."
"Right? But why did you want to see me?"
"I wanted to ask about that day in more detail. How was Johan, and how did Hunter Kang Jin-woo fight to defeat him?"
"What I told you before is mostly everything...... Why are you asking about that again?"
"Take a look at this."
Ma Du-sik took out a clipboard and showed it to Cheon Ju-hyeok. There was a document inserted, a document that came up from the Hunter Management Bureau.
「Reconfirmation of Special Implementation Guidelines Regarding S-rank Hunter Promotion System」
"Huh, what's this?"
"Actually, Hunter Kang Jin-woo's promotion to S-rank is being discussed. He's a Hunter the whole world is paying attention to, so we can't just leave him as E-rank."
Promotion was necessary to keep Kang Jin-woo tied to Seoul.
If left like this, whether New York, Hong Kong, or anywhere else could tempt Kang Jin-woo by saying 'If you come to our side, we'll designate you as S-rank and give you all kinds of related benefits'.
"S-rank! Big brother is becoming S-rank!?"
"Since his personal will is important, it would be after he returns from New York. But we need to prepare. Thanks to this, I've been quite busy lately."
Ma Du-sik closed the clipboard with a hehe laugh. Since it was a special case, there were many things to review, so he was personally handling the necessary procedures.
Looking after Hunters' convenience was originally the Management Bureau's job, but for an S-rank, it wouldn't be strange for the mayor to move directly. Especially since he was also an S-rank Hunter.
***
A month passed, and New York began executing compensation payments. Since the scale was enormous, many procedures remained, but decided matters were communicated.
"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand...... Wow, how much is all this?"
It was an unbelievable amount. Unlike Tokyo, which provided national treasure-level swords and such, this was simply an enormous sum.
Even Jin-woo, who had been indifferent to money since becoming well-fed, was dizzy from the violence of the numbers.
"Shartia, did all the other S-ranks receive this much too?"
"Less than that. Anyway, since Jin-woo was the one who killed the Ireland, that merit was recognized."
"But the S-ranks prevented New York's destruction by holding back the Ireland, so wasn't there any backlash?"
"Not at all. Though some complaints came out, not a single country formally protested."
That was truly unexpected. Though Jin-woo's achievements were outstanding, the other S-ranks had accomplished no less. Yet not a single formal protest.
"Everyone's watching Jin-woo's mood."
"My mood? Why?"
"What if they get on your bad side and another guy like the Ireland appears? There's no solution other than Jin-woo. They can't take such risks just to receive a few more bucks."
"I wouldn't resent them over something like this......"
"Those people don't know Jin-woo well."
Anyway, receiving money was good. At this point, he felt he had achieved complete economic freedom. It really might be okay for three generations to live off this.
"Having a lot of money is good, but there are always limits. While it still has sufficient value, convert it to physical assets."
"For example?"
"Well, you know. There's real estate and gems. Either way would be safer than paper money."
"I'll keep that in mind."
As Shartia said, physical goods were safer than money. It might be good to hire a specialist to start managing assets.
'Land or buildings are certain, but if they're wrongly caught in Erosion, they'll drop sharply...... Should I invest by dividing appropriately.'
Putting everything in one thing wouldn't be good. They say diversified investment is basic in investing.
"More than that, I'm thinking of going up to the 3rd floor this time."
"That's a good idea. The 2nd floor is ambiguous profit-wise unless you're aiming for a Magic Item jackpot. For Jin-woo, wouldn't even the 4th or 5th floor be fine? Is the 5th floor still dangerous?"
"I'm thinking of visiting the Temple of Moonlight Forest in the 3rd floor."
"Ah."
Originally, he planned to safely look for altars in the 2nd floor. But going to the temple in the 3rd floor was more certain than rummaging through the underground labyrinth of the 2nd floor.
3rd floor Pandemonium.
A place where there's a single city where the temples of the 13 Gods are gathered, and numerous danger zones surrounding that city exist.
There, Hunters each choose a god to receive trials and raise contribution points. It's a tier where they receive blessings or rewards according to their contribution points.
Unlike the underground labyrinth of the 2nd floor, the temples of the 3rd floor had fixed locations so he could go directly to them.
The danger of encountering other Hunters or different races was correspondingly greater, though.
"Do you really think the God of Moonlight Forest is the World Tree as Jin-woo said?"
"Well. I'm thinking of checking it out once, but I don't know if it'll go well."
As he said, Jin-woo prepared offerings to dedicate to the God of Moonlight Forest until the Gate opened.
The purpose wasn't contribution points themselves, but purely to explore the identity.
So he prepared as diverse items as possible.
'The favorite is said to be Elf corpses, but I can't get those. Things that come from forests, like fruits or mushrooms, are easy to get.'
Just in case, he also packed shaved ice and ice cream that the God of Ice Valley liked, and packed plenty of gardening tools for tending gardens and plant nutrients infused with Shartia's energy.
'I need to draw out as many reactions as possible.'
He didn't know if he could figure out whether the God of Moonlight Forest was the World Tree just by offering some tributes. But he had to try everything he could.
He went around the department store from the basement to the top floor, generously packing all kinds of items. Clothes, bags, and even completely random things like picture books, toys, dolls, and balls.
But he couldn't guess what kind of reaction there would be. He hadn't just packed a bunch of trash that would only be used as fertilizer.
'Come to think of it.'
As he packed like this, a question suddenly arose.
'If all the temples of the 13 Gods have divine artifacts, then the Temple of Moonlight Forest also has a divine artifact. And a Guardian protecting it too.'
He wondered if the divine artifact that Kalesian said he couldn't obtain alone might also be there.