Chapter 185
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: Lesson 36. What Are You Feeling Right Now? - 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There was no need to wait until evening.
Ban Yu-won emerged from the bath with Lucelle, sprawling languidly on the living room sofa. The sounds drifting from the kitchen—the rhythmic chop of a knife slicing ingredients, the bubbling of stew, interspersed with Lucelle and his mother's chatter—served as the perfect backdrop for some long-overdue zoning out.
Then the front door burst open, and his older sister came home.
"Ban Yu-won! Hey, Ban Yu-won!"
She bellowed loud enough to shake the whole house, making sure no one could possibly miss her arrival. Ban Yu-won let out a sigh at the sight.
"Why not just bring the house down instead of bothering to open the door like that?"
"Argh!"
"Oof!"
Ban Yu-mi spotted him lying there without even lifting his head to respond. Getting mad, she launched herself at him, flattening him completely.
His sister was still as beautiful as ever, but just as noisy and violent.
And to top it off, she was decked out in combat gear, making her filthy and heavy.
"Ow, come on!"
Not wanting to take another bath, Ban Yu-won extracted and erased every concept related to the dirt now smeared on both of them. He shoved her off, but astonishingly, she held her ground without budging.
Considering he had trained in martial arts and strengthened himself in various ways, this was utterly ridiculous.
"Ban Yu-won, is that how you treat your sister after not seeing her for months? Huh?"
"You were gone for months during the Olympics too, and it was no big deal back then. What's with the fuss now? Ah, stop pulling!"
Ban Yu-mi pinched and tugged at him all over, verifying if he was real.
The methods were violent, but she was probably just happy to see him. He had to think of it that way, or he'd lose his mind. As he looked at her, something made him freeze.
"What, did I stun you with how pretty I am?"
"Save that taunting for monsters... No, sis, you."
Ban Yu-won rubbed his eyes, but the info from his All-Reading Eyes didn't change.
Unsure what to say, he hesitated before smacking his lips and reciting the most innocuous bit of info he'd gleaned.
"How many monsters have you massacred to hit level 50 already?"
From comparing concepts he'd eyed with his All-Reading Eyes and his friends' status windows, he'd confirmed that Life 10 equated to level 1.
Ban Yu-mi's Life was at 500, so level 50 it was.
She panicked at his words.
"Wha—how do you know that...? It's not even public."
Ban Yu-won tapped around his eyes smugly.
"I've got something better than a status window. So what's with the unquenchable flame?"
"No way, you're insane. Hardly anyone knows my Authority's name..."
"Ah, a secret, got it."
About then, Kang Eun-young rushed out from the kitchen.
"Yu-mi, you're home? No matter how excited you are to see your brother, you should at least tell Mom when you get here."
"What's there to be excited about? Ah..."
She spotted Lucelle peeking out from behind Kang Eun-young, and her face stiffened for a moment.
Ban Yu-won observed coolly.
Q: What's an older sister's reaction upon first seeing her little brother's girlfriend?
A: Witnessing the unbelievable reality, she screams in horror and passes out.
"Skipping the SAN check and straight to panic, huh..."
"Hello. I'm Lucelle."
Ignoring Ban Yu-won's nonsense, Lucelle bowed politely to Ban Yu-mi.
And Ban Yu-mi... surprisingly returned the bow with equal courtesy.
"Hello. I'm Ban Yu-won's older sister, Ban Yu-mi. You're his girlfriend, right? I've seen you on the Rebellion channel."
Ban Yu-won witnessed the unbelievable reality, felt horror wash over him, and frantically checked his SAN.
Thankfully, he resisted and kept his sanity... but.
No way—why was his sister acting like that?!
She used to despise any girl he was seen with, cursing that he'd regret dating a slacker like that!
"Please, make yourself comfortable. And I'm not the Master's girlfriend—I'm his slave..."
"Stop!"
Stunned by his sister's unexpected reaction, Ban Yu-won snapped to attention as Lucelle uttered the problematic phrase.
"Lucelle, please, no using that term on Earth."
"But I am the Master's slave."
"I want to nitpick that too, but... anyway, it's a no. Just like at Union Academy—'Master' only when we're alone."
"Ugh... fine."
At this point, with Earthlings knowing about the Rebellion channel, it might already be too late—but he'd ignore that for now.
Ban Yu-mi and Kang Eun-young watched the exchange intently.
Ban Yu-mi signaled her mother with her eyes to do something, but Kang Eun-young shook her head, indicating she'd tried and gotten nowhere.
Clicking her tongue, Ban Yu-mi addressed Lucelle reluctantly.
"Can I call you Lucelle?"
"Of course, sis."
"S-Sis."
She nearly crumbled at the title but held on with all her might and continued.
"Your relationship with Yu-won seems... unique. You don't have to indulge his greed and selfishness that much, you know? Treating his girlfriend like a slave? Ridiculous. And allowing other women? If he's got some leverage over you..."
"Hehe."
Lucelle laughed.
"Wh-Why are you laughing?"
"No, it's just... siblings really do take after each other."
"What?"
"See."
Unable to hold back her laughter, Lucelle explained.
"The Master... er, Yu-won hates master-servant dynamics too. You're reacting the same way, sis, so I found it funny..."
Ban Yu-mi's expression twisted into something indescribable.
"...A master who hates master-servant relationships? What the hell?"
"See? This is what I deal with."
Ban Yu-won sighed as he spoke.
Beside the now-silent Ban Yu-mi, Kang Eun-young spoke up with uncharacteristic seriousness.
"Is Mira like this too?"
"She's even worse."
"Son, what the heck have you been doing at school?"
Ban Yu-won desperately wanted to protest, but recalling the first semester's events, he wisely shut his mouth.
With Ban Yu-won's return came a daughter-in-law candidate, filling the house with lively energy.
The Ban family was already a mix of genes from wandering the world across nations, so whether Lucelle was an alien or had dog ears hardly fazed them.
They were thrilled that such a pretty, kind, and strong girl had come all the way to Earth with their son, sharing a deep bond.
...Or maybe they just didn't know how to process her existence and chose not to dwell.
Either way, that evening, the whole family gathered for a party.
"So Grandpa's totally fine now?"
"Damn right. All thanks to our Yu-won."
"No, it's all thanks to the genes you passed down, Grandpa...!"
Ban Yu-won, who revered his grandfather, teared up with joy hearing how Ban Ji-won had fully overcome dementia and even awakened his unique Authority.
That said, the nature of that Authority worried him.
"Word Spirit?"
"It imbues power into words you speak yourself. Strong shamanistic vibe, but could be seen as a superpower too. Like this: 'Float.'"
A pair of chopsticks before Ban Ji-won rose into the air at his words.
Ban Yu-won could do the same by infusing the concept of levitation, but... without the Origin Sword and Yu-won Arts, he couldn't have wielded power so swiftly.
In short, Ban Ji-won's Word Spirit was like a specialized offshoot of Ban Yu-won's Authority—akin to telekinesis.
"Grandpa, that's amazing! Yu-won handles something similar too. Bloodline powers really do pass down..."
Lucelle clapped in admiration after seeing it.
Ban Ji-won beamed at his grandson-in-law's flattery.
"Similar, sure, but Yu-won wields far greater power. Mine only dominates what I know, while his assimilates and commands all things under heaven and earth. What makes Yu-won truly remarkable is erasing the divide between the known and unknown."
"Ahem."
Ban Juseok cleared his throat to assert his presence, craving praise from the cute daughter-in-law.
Thankfully, Ban Yu-won noticed and turned to his father.
"Oh, right. You awakened your unique Authority too, Dad?"
"Brace yourself, son. Your dad can now interpret every language in existence!"
"Oh, cool."
He'd known already.
From the moment he scanned his returned father with All-Reading Eyes.
Ban Yu-won signaled Lucelle, who beamed and clapped again.
"Dad, that's incredible too!"
"Haha, well, he is my son, so..."
"Yu-won could do that since birth."
"Urk."
Ban Juseok basked in the desired reaction, only for Ban Yu-mi to swiftly undercut him.
As his energy deflated, Kang Eun-young gave a wry smile and defended her husband.
"Still, it's an impressive ability. Your guild asks Dad to decipher dungeon finds all the time—don't say it's not useful."
"Who said it's not? I just mean Yu-won... Never mind."
Ban Yu-mi giggled but suddenly clammed up.
Ban Yu-won eyed his sister curiously before looking away.
"But seriously, do unique Authorities just pop up like a bargain sale on Earth? Sis has one too, so our whole family... minus Mom... has awakened?"
"No exact stats, but it's less than 1 in a million."
"Wait, that means only like 50 in all of Korea! And four are us? That's OP as hell!"
"This is the power of bloodline!"
Ban Yu-won incredulously pressed, and Ban Ji-won snorted proudly in response.
Ban Yu-won couldn't help but nod.
Fair enough—in games or comics, by the endgame, it's all about bloodline advantages!
"Power of bloodline, huh..."
Something nagged at him.
He hesitated, then swallowed it down.
"Yu-won, tell us about Babel Tower. Isn't it the one you'll inherit?"
"Most of it's on the Rebellion channel... Oh, but Earth's myths and religions subtly influence the tower's interior. The better you know them, the more advantage inside... Right!"
Mid-sentence, Ban Yu-won remembered what he'd planned for break and shot to his feet.
"That's why I meant to thoroughly analyze all myths upon returning to Earth and put them to use...!"
"Ah—yeah."
"I see, so that's how it was."
His family nodded with subtle expressions.
But he had no time for that.
"Didn't someone on Earth contract with a Constellation? We're screwed—if they grasp Earth's myths first and tamper with the tower—"
"No worries there, Yu-won."
"Huh?"
Ban Ji-won exchanged glances with the family, then fetched an ancient Bible.
A Latin Bible from over a millennium ago, treated as a holy relic itself.
He personally disliked its portrayal of Babel Tower as a symbol of human ambition but carried it to explain the tower properly.
"Isn't this your prized possession, Grandpa...? For me?"
"Go ahead and open it."
The dutiful grandson opened it.
His eyes fell on Psalm 137:8, coincidentally perfect for Babel Tower's future master.
"Daughter Babylon, destroyer, blessed is the one who repays you according to what you have done us..."
"Heh, you can read it after all."
"...What the hell."
Of course he could read it.
Ban Yu-won could read every language flawlessly, even ones he'd never encountered.
"This isn't Latin...?"
"It changed the moment dimensional evolution hit."
Ban Ji-won said with a wry smile.
"Not just the Bible—Quran, Buddhist sutras, Vedas... every scripture on Earth, plus all myth-related documents—including digital ones—transformed into an unreadable language. No need to worry about shady Constellations reading our myths."
"That's... completely."
Just like what happened when Babel Tower collapsed.
"Wait, then Dad? You said you can interpret all languages."
"Can't read this."
"He bragged you couldn't either, Yu-won."
"Urgh."
Ban Yu-mi whispered another jab at her dad, but that wasn't important now.
'I just wanted to relax thoughtlessly...'
Looks like rest was off the table.
Ban Yu-won sighed and sat back down.
Might as well enjoy food and drink while he could—things were about to get busy.