Chapter 140

—Are you crazy!

‘I just thought I should get a feel for what it’s like.’

Despite Ray’s dissuasion, I didn’t mind and firmly gripped the sword handle.

This is an opponent that even Ray, who can analyze most artifacts just by looking at them, couldn’t grasp at all. There probably isn’t a faster way to check than this.

And my impression after grabbing the sword…

“What, this kind of sword exists?”

It’s incredibly fierce.

I had to let out a groan at the fierce magic power that rushed to suck up all the magic power in my body as soon as I grabbed the sword. Though I quickly let go of the sword, it was a sensation I never want to experience again.

—You’re out of your mind.

“I did it because I have something I trust.”

Don’t I have a passive that’s completely immune to mental skills?

I just thought it would be effective not only in blocking Seol Rok-jin’s brainwashing, but also against artifacts like this.

Certainly, I didn’t suddenly develop an obsession with that sword or have thoughts of wanting to slash and kill other people, but I almost died becoming a mummy from having my magic power sucked dry.

It was especially bad compatibility for me who doesn’t have much magic power to begin with. Though I thought maybe it would be different since I can use 3 strokes now, it’s still impossible to use this sword.

“It seems I can’t use that as it is.”

If I could understand this artifact’s mana circuit, I might be able to erase this bad nature and keep the good points, but the situation is that the mana circuit can’t be understood at all.

Then, there’s only one answer, isn’t there?

“Let’s melt it?”

—Hmm?

“It’ll lose its function as an artifact, but well, that’s what I want. Rather than not being able to use it properly, it’s better to melt it and make something else.”

Look at that blade still shining without even a hint of rust despite not even being properly wiped of blood.

“At that level, even if we just recycle the metal after melting it, we could probably make quite a decent sword.”

—You’re just going to melt it? What about the feeling you said you got last time?

“This is the feeling I got. If we can’t use it, isn’t it better to melt it and make a new sword rather than just leaving it?”

At my words, Ray fell silent as if at a loss for words.

As they say strike while the iron is hot, I picked up the magic sword and put it into the furnace.

I felt like I heard a scream that shouldn’t be audible. No, someone really screamed.

—Aaaargh!

“Why are you screaming?”

—J-just looking at that somehow doesn’t feel like someone else’s business.

Maybe because he’s from artifacts, his empathy was unnecessarily good. I ignored Ray’s groans.

Unfortunately, the sword thrown into the furnace didn’t melt easily. Even in the high heat approaching 1,000°C, the sword still maintained its shape. Looking at the sword that showed no signs of heating up, I shrugged.

“Still, if we leave it like that, it’ll melt someday.”

—Urghh.

“When that melts completely, we should get a new weapon fitted for our Jae-ho.”

He keeps hinting by looking at Han Seo-hyeon’s staff lately, even though he pretends not to.

—By the way, didn’t you say you’d quit production work from now on?

“Still, it’s a bit much to entrust a magic sword like that to Professor Geum.”

This kind of artifact isn’t Professor Geum’s specialty. Didn’t he refuse when I tried to entrust it to him before? In the first place, there are limits to making artifacts unless you’re an awakener.

“It’s true that Professor Geum is weak with orthodox artifacts like that.”

It’s true that my handwork is a bit lacking, but I might be better at making artifacts. If I somehow use Ray to engrave mana circuits, it’ll at least function properly.

“Until we find a proper master craftsman, I have no choice but to do it myself.”

It’s not that I don’t know any master craftsmen at all, but it’s very difficult to pull out a craftsman belonging to a workshop. I don’t want to forcibly hold them and make them work either.

‘Hmm, is there really no one?’

If there was some poor human slave being overworked in the black market, I mean some poor craftsman being rolled as a workshop’s livestock, I’d snatch them up. Isn’t there someone like that somewhere? Someone who would bow to me in gratitude for saving them even if I worked them like a dog…

—Why are you making such a vile expression?

“Vile?”

I just had a slightly happy imagination, yet he condemns me like that.

“What? It’s not like I was born wanting to be born with this face! I wanted to be born with a face that suits expressions like ‘bright smile’ like someone else! I’ve had such a hard time because of this face all this time!”

That day, Ray tried hard to soothe me who was upset.

* * *

The land prices in Seoul, Korea, which succeeded in controlling Gates, are beyond imagination. The department store built on the most expensive land in Seoul attracted the attention of many people. But it wasn’t just because it was built on expensive land that this department store received people’s attention.

This department store was built by none other than Sirius, considered Korea’s top guild.

Sirius had dabbled in many businesses, but this was the first time they built a department store like this.

It was an ambition to extend their reach not only to hunter affairs but to other areas as well.

Jin Yeon-seok had been expanding the business since Sirius was the North Star Guild, but what he dabbled in was only things related to hunters.

They had never done business like this putting their name in the middle of Seoul.

That guild, which used to only pick up crumbs while watching the eyes of the wealthy, has now jumped into their arena directly. Jin Yeon-hwa’s ambition to not end as just a hunter guild was visible.

The ‘Cheongseong Department Store’ opened splendidly, enough to make recent failures not even come to mind.

On opening day, it was said that hunters including Jin Yeon-hwa packed this place.

They say the crowd that day was no joke.

Even now, two weeks after opening, the department store was still packed with countless customers with no room to step.

Han Yul-hee looked around every corner of the department store while being pushed by people.

They said it was built with materials directly mined from Gates, and even the stone floor Han Yul-hee was standing on now looked extraordinary.

“Why are you acting like a country bumpkin? It’s not like it’s your first time in a department store.”

Her friend with an unusually dry personality had a bored face, but Han Yul-hee couldn’t hide her excitement.

“Well, when else would I be able to see so many Gate-related things?”

Though the perception of awakeners is not good currently, Han Yul-hee admired awakeners. Awakening special powers and conquering Gates that threaten humanity. Isn’t it like a story you’d only see in old hero movies?

“Really, your taste is so unique.”

“Even if it’s not that, it’s true that the facilities here are good.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The two, who were about to enter university soon, planned to do some serious shopping here today.

“They say there’s even a restaurant that sells monster meat among the restaurants on the 10th floor food court.”

“No way, are you going?”

“We came all this way, we should at least go once. I wonder if there’ll be a long wait even though it’s a weekday afternoon?”

“Look how crowded it is. How could there not be?”

Despite her friend’s grumpy-sounding words, Han Yul-hee’s face was full of smiles.

“Wow, from the 2nd to 5th floors is a hunter-exclusive area. There’s even a custom workshop in the basement.”

“What are you going to do there? You’re not even an awakener.”

“Ah, still! When else would I get to see things like this?”

Maybe because it was built by Sirius, there were many stores handling hunter-exclusive artifacts that ordinary people can’t easily see. Han Yul-hee’s eyes spun around every time she saw those stores.

“Wow, I wonder how much artifacts like that cost?”

“Stop it, we couldn’t buy one of those even if we worked our whole lives.”

It had been a long time since the location of the luxury goods section in the past changed to the hunter armory. Since they not only had high brand value like luxury goods but also actually included various functions, even those paying money had no complaints.

Things like bulletproof suits that block bullets were no longer dreams but reality now. These days, rich people wore products from the hunter armory, not luxury goods.

But the hunter armory was completely inaccessible unless you were a hunter.

The shoppers waiting in front of the store thoroughly blocked ordinary people’s entry.

Han Yul-hee, who lined up thinking she could at least look around the store, was rejected right in front of her nose.

“I can’t even look around?”

“We’re sorry. Due to limited space, we’re only guiding actual purchasing customers.”

In the end, Han Yul-hee failed to even look around the store.

“Ah, how embarrassing. I wanted to at least look around.”

At Han Yul-hee’s words, her friend nudged her side and said:

“Hey, it’s fine, it’s fine. We may not have money, but don’t we have pride?”

“Don’t we have even less pride?”

At those words, her friend hit Han Yul-hee’s back and said:

“Fact attacks are violence too, you know?”

“You’re just plain violent, you know?”

As the two were bickering and moving along, it happened.

Someone bumped into her friend’s shoulder.

“Ah, sorry…”

Her friend’s apology was cut off midway. The corners of the person who bumped into her turned up.

Whoosh—

Han Yul-hee’s vision turned red.

“W-what…”

Han Yul-hee blinked at the sight of her friend whose inside and outside had been reversed.

And soon, the leisurely shopping mall was filled with nothing but screams and screams.

* * *

“Those crazy bastards.”

I thought they would do something big around this time, but to think they’d target the department store Sirius just opened.

Because it was built by the large guild Sirius, this department store was full of tenant companies selling hunter armories that are hard to see elsewhere and processed products using various Gate by-products.

Naturally, the probability of awakeners or hunters being there was high.

“And yet they targeted that place.”

No, that seems to have stimulated the villains of the Top even more.

Because they were guys with bad feelings towards hunters.

The problem is that the shoppers using that place were taken hostage as is. It could be over five hundred, maybe even over a thousand people.

Thanks to that, hunters who rushed in from the surroundings couldn’t rashly enter the department store.

We arrived at the scene 30 minutes after the incident occurred. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the villains were still inside the department store with the hostages.

The villains who blocked off the department store and restrained the hostages made their demands clear.

Do not cross the ‘line’.

And that line was the entire inside of the department store.

A security guard who ignored that warning and stepped in ran around screaming and then jumped into the fire himself, turning to ashes.

It was a collaboration between Trickster and Gemini.

I explained the situation to Kim Jae-ho and Han Seo-hyeon.

“Trickster has put up an illusion barrier inside there now. The moment you enter there, you’ll be played by him.”

Like at Serena’s Ice Palace, Trickster created an illusion that could easily deceive even awakeners.

It’s probably thanks to that that they can control over hundreds of hostages.

Because of the illusion barrier, hunters and anti-terror agents couldn’t even enter there.

“By the way, they’re dragging out time to an unusual degree on that side.”

I looked around standing on a rooftop with a good view of the department store.

From the moment I heard that the first place the terrorism occurred was inside the department store and the perpetrators were the villains of the Top, I gave up on the idea of facing the villains of the Top head-on.

There was only one thing I was aiming for.

The villains’ escape route that would be inside that building.

My goal was to snatch that guy away.

With the personnel here, it wouldn’t be difficult to subdue the villains once their ‘escape route’ disappears.

“The problem is that the probability of the villains and that guy being together is high.”

Well, didn’t they say if you want to catch a tiger, you have to enter the tiger’s den?