It had been a week since I went to the Gourmet Association. During this week, I was very busy. There were only four days left until the Demon King Selection. Until then, I had to complete all of my preparations.
Apart from the Black Demon Sword in Yoo Jonghyuk’s hands, there were some usable hidden pieces in Murim. I opened the first revision of Ways of Survival in order to find the sub scenarios that would let me get the hidden pieces. During this time, I read the revised text and reviewed the important parts but there were still many missing pieces.
“You’re busy as soon as you come here. I’ve barely seen your face.” Jang Hayoung, who was wearing large sleeveless clothes that didn’t fit him, followed after me for 30 minutes.
I stared at him with a frown and asked, “Shouldn’t you be training?”
Jang Hayoung stretched out his lips and replied, “…Haven’t I been working hard?”
“What is hard? You were eating dumplings.”
“Can’t I do closed door training while eating dumplings?”
I wondered why he was bothering me when something came to mind. “Oh, I heard you finished third in the competition? It is a big deal.”
Jang Hayoung shrugged and pretended to look elsewhere. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
However, the curve of his mouth showed that he felt pretty great. I knew why he was chasing after me like this… dishonest guy.
“Did you get it? The Demon Spirit Bead?”
“Yes.
“Give it to me.”
“Why?” Jang Hayoung stepped back with a suspicious look.
I sighed and told him, “I’m not going to take it away. You can’t eat it like this anyway.”
Based on his dark expression, he had already heard about it from Yoo Jonghyuk. I’m sure he told the story while picking out the Black Demon Sword.
「 If you eat it, you will experience a qi deviation and all the blood vessels in your body will explode, killing you. There is only one person here who can safely absorb the Demon Spirit Bead. 」
…I thought this and understood why Jang Hayoung was acting like this. “You don’t have to give it to me if you don’t want to. You are the one who earned it yourself.”
It couldn’t be helped if Jang Hayoung didn’t believe me since not enough trust had been built up yet. At this moment, Jang Hayoung extended a small hand. “…It isn’t like that. In the first place, I wouldn’t have gained this if it wasn’t for you.”
A small pill fell into my hand with a thud. This was one of the three major drugs of First Murim, the Demon Spirit Bead. I spoke with a smile, “Wait and see.”
It was a drug that a terrible person from the Blood Demon School made in the past by refining the blood of 1,000 people. It was a cursed pill that could gain the best power out of the Conception Vessel but turned the person who took it crazy due to the curse of the souls. (TL: Meridians are a network of vessels/channels in the body where Qi flowed. There are Eight Extraordinary Meridians and one of them is the Conception Vessel. Wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_%28Chinese_medicine%29#Eight_extraordinary_meridians)
In the original novel, Yoo Jonghyuk always found it delicious but Jang Hayoung would surely die if he took it.
“Let’s see…”
However, as with any scenario, it wasn’t impossible to use a cursed item. In fact, I clearly remembered a scene from Ways of Survival where the Flying Fox absorbed this tribulation.
「 All I need is three Great Return Pills. After all, everything is about balance and harmony. If demonic energy is a problem, we can supply it regularly. 」
The curse could be avoided if three Great Return Pills were ground together with the Demon Spirit Bead.
It was easier said than done. The problem was how to get the Demon Spirit Bead, one of the top three drugs, along with three Great Return Pills. However, this wasn’t a big problem for me.
“Biyoo.”
I called Biyoo and opened the Dokkaebi Bag. The Great Return Pill was already on the ‘Recommended Goods List.’ The dokkaebis’ big data was scary.
[Recommended Products List]
* Great Return Pill―200,000 C
Stock: 5
200,000 coins. I normally would’ve been distressed by the price but not anymore. I deliberately switched the screen to public and purchased the goods.
[600,000 coins have been consumed.]
[You have purchased three Great Return Pills.]
Then channel messages kept appearing.
[Some constellations envy your overspending.]
[A few constellations are curious about the performance of the Great Return Pill.]
[Some constellations say they will sponsor 500 coins if you tell them the performance of the Great Return Pill.]
“6-600,000 coins?!” The passing Han Myungoh shook while holding a bowl of dog food. He was probably preparing a meal for the Breaking the Sky Master. “That… I heard you were rich.”
“Things turned out well. Please take this and grind it together.”
“W-What is this? Is it a panacea?”
“Don’t be curious. If you eat it wrong, you will be cursed by a demon king.”
Han Myungoh paled after hearing about the demon king’s curse and acted quickly after taking the pills from me. The four pills were turned into a fine powder. I held out the bowl towards Jang Hayoung who told me, “I can’t eat powder.”
“Endure it this time. Block your nose and swallow it with water.”
“By the way… can I really eat this?”
“it won’t be much help to Yoo Jonghyuk or I if we eat it. You’re different.”
Yoo Jonghyuk already had enough of a magic power system in place even if he didn’t eat the Demon Spirit Bead. Meanwhile, I had the Broken Heart of a Young Gold Dragon. However, Jang Hayoung was suffering from a lack of magic power.
Jang Hayoung kept hesitating so I told him, “If you don’t want to eat it, give it to me. Anyhow, you have no courage.”
“I’ll eat it!” Jang Hayoung poured the powdered medicine into his mouth and swallowed the bitter taste with water. The moment Jang Hayoung put down the bowl, the Breaking the Sky Master who had been waiting for the opportunity rushed over and eagerly licked the bowl.
Jang Hayoung looked at his condition and cocked his head with a slight smile. “…I don’t feel anything special?”
“The efficacy should appear by tomorrow. It will take time for the pills to mix with the body’s energy.”
Jang Hayoung nodded like he understood. Then Han Myungoh stepped in again from where he was listening. “Look, Dokjssi.”
I glanced back and something I expected had showed up.
“This car… it is from the Gourmet Association?”
The car he mentioned was the X-grade Ferrarigini left in one corner of the yard. I stared at the sleek black body that could even cross the fault lines of the Dark Dimension and the words of the Mass Production Maker suddenly came to mind.
-Don’t make too many enemies.
He was definitely a different type from the constellations I knew. I would’ve had a better memory of him if he had given me this car for free.
“Is the Gourmet Association a charitable organization? I bought it with a lease.”
“Lease? H-How much…”
“It is 50,000 coins a month.”
“5-50,000 coins? How many coins did you earn?”
“Roughly 4.8 million coins.”
Jang Hayoung and Han Myungoh’s mouths dropped open as they heard ‘4.8 million coins.’
Jang Hayoung asked, “Excuse me… do you have an incarnation?”
“Why? Do you want to be my incarnation?”
I smiled at him and Jang Hayoung shouted, “I was just wondering! In addition, I’ve already decided on a constellation.”
“Constellation? Who?”
I asked with slight nervousness. I didn’t want Jang Hayoung as an incarnation but things would become complicated if Jang Hayoung picked the wrong constellation. Then Jang Hayoung unexpectedly replied, “The Demon King of Salvation.”
“What?”
“I want to be his incarnation.”
I wanted to make a joke when I saw Jang Hayoung’s intense eyes. Then I thought about it and realized that he still hadn’t heard my modifier. In the original, he was a person with great senses…
No, there was no reason for him to think I was the Demon King of Salvation in the first place. I suddenly wanted to tease this person. “Will he accept you? Have you contacted him?”
“Not yet…”
I saw Jang Hayoung’s blushing face and realized he really didn’t know who I was. It was a complicated feeling.
Then the watching Han Myungoh interrupted. “You still don’t know his modifier?”
“I don’t know it. Should I know?”
Before I could stop him, Han Myungoh pointed at me. “That friend is the Demon King of Salvation.”
For the next two days, Jang Hayoung avoided me. The usually lazy person suddenly never emerged from his training. Thus, I was stressed because I was left alone with Yoo Jonghyuk in the training field.
“You must’ve done something useless again, Kim Dokja.”
“…It’s nothing.”
Yoo Jonghyuk scratched the ground with the Black Demon Sword and left. It was an action that appeared when he was in a good mood… this jerk, he seemed excited about his new sword. In the training field, the sound of Jang Hayoung punching a pile was heard repeatedly. It sounded similar to when I kicked my futon every night.
“You didn’t seem like a constellation but you have their habit of peeking.”
I turned around and saw a super tall woman. I was about to open my mouth when the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint spoke, “If you don’t add ‘nim’, I will hit your arse.”
“…Breaking the Sky Sword Saint-nim.”
I couldn’t be like Yoo Jonghyuk just because of a single syllable. “Have you gone to Tartarus?”
“Not yet. However, I got an appointment with the ‘Queen of the Underworld’ thanks to you.”
“I’m glad.”
Perhaps it was due to the anticipation that she would meet her kin but a mild shadow passed over the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint’s face. The harvest of this journey was that I obtained her.
The Breaking the Sky Sword Saint was one of the strongest transcendents in Ways of Survival. Her presence alone might we might be able to somehow get through the Demon King Selection.
I opened my mouth, “I have a question. Can I ask it?”
“I’ll allow it.”
“Why did you teach Jang Hayoung your martial arts?”
“That person has talent. It is possible to achieve a new type of transcendence if I polish him well.”
I knew what she meant. Perhaps the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint felt the ‘wall’ that was inside Jang Hayoung. However, that shouldn’t be the reason.
“You know that he is a man.”
Originally, the Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship was only for women. Yoo Jonghyuk might be the exception but this school had never accepted many disciples.
“You’re still young. There isn’t only one interpretation of a story.”
The words were cryptic. Maybe the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint noticed that Jang Hayoung was a woman in his previous life. Then the story of the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint began. “I remember a man I knew before.”
“A man?”
“Yes, a man.”
At this moment, I fully understood the meaning of ‘there isn’t only one interpretation of a story’ spoken by the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint. The word she chose was confusing because it could be a man or her man, i.e. a lover… no, the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint shouldn’t have a lover.
“He was very handsome.”
In the original novel, the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint never mentioned a man so I felt something strange.
“You aren’t trying to say that… Jang Hayoung is like your former lover, right?”
I was joking but unexpectedly, the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint answered seriously. “His handsome looks are a resemblance.”
At this point, I wondered if she accepted Yoo Jonghyuk just because he was handsome. The Breaking the Sky Sword Saint didn’t care about my disappointment and continued, “He was very handsome but a poor person because of his small size.”
“…Small?”
I was thinking about her ex-boyfriend when something flashed through my mind, causing me to feel astonishment. A person who had a connection with the Breaking the Sky Sword Saint in Ways of Survival. In addition, ‘small’ was the most appropriate word for him.
No, wait a minute. I thought their relationship wasn’t good…
At this moment, a loud sound was heard from outside. An unimaginable aura dominated the area of the Blue Dragon Castle, including this estate. The Breaking the Sky Sword Saint and I ran outside at the same time and Yoo Jonghyuk looked my way.
“Kim Dokja.”
In the sky, a vortex was appearing. It was a vortex I knew very well. It was a cursed outlet that only opened when a ‘disaster’ appeared in the scenario.
Yoo Jonghyuk spoke in a low tone, “…The Great Hall.”
The ‘disaster scenarios’ were originally only seen in the early scenario areas. There was no ‘disaster’ in the First Murim. There were no disasters in scenario areas that had passed the 20th scenario.
In such an area, there was only one really why the ‘hall’ would open.
“…Run away.”
The ‘Great Disaster’ scenario of the First Murim was going to begin.
TL: Rainbow Turtle