Tomb Raider King
Chapter 284: The Devil at the Exhibition (3)
Chapter 284: The Devil at the Exhibition (3)
I heard back from the publisher and they updated 279 - 290. They are going to be here because they took out some parts that I want everybody to have a chance to read so once 284 is released to the public, they will all be updated. 279 - 284 are all in this chapter for now so please use a search function to get to 284 if you want to skip but you should probably reread as some things did change.
279
Paat!
‘!’
The attack from the artifact headed for Joy suddenly disappeared.
To be more accurate, the artifact withdrew its attack on its own.
‘What is going on?’
Something was weird. Joy was fine despite not having a single artifact on her!
The Monarch of the Heavens figured something out and started frowning.
‘Did this punk perhaps……?!’
Something came flying toward him before he could finish the thought.
Pow!
It was a fire extinguisher.
“Ah, that damn lunatic. I couldn't grab an artifact in the end.”
“J, Joy!”
“I was sure that he would use a good artifact since he is a Monarch.”
“Joy, are you crazy?!”
All of Harvard was in uproar right now.
It was a big issue that a Monarch had visited the campus but there was a woman who had kicked that Monarch to the curb!
Furthermore, that woman was upset that she did not manage to grab an artifact from the Monarch!
“Joy, are you okay? Isn’t that guy your twin brother you talked about before?”
Joy scoffed in response.
“Who said he was my twin? That’s just a look-alike.”
“What? A look-alike?”
She had last seen Ju-Heon in Korea 17 years ago.
They had not been able to see each other since then. Actually, the truth was that Ju-Heon refused to meet with her.
Maybe he was justified with his actions.
‘Especially after that kind of goodbye.’
Originally, Ju-Heon was supposed to be adopted with her. They were supposed to go together.
However, Ju-Heon stole the to-be foster parents’ wallet on the day of the adoption. Furthermore, he started a fire in the to-be foster parents’ car.
He then held up a can of oil and spewed some nonsense.
‘Get lost. Or you'll be lit on fire next.’
Her adopted parents had said they couldn't handle such a child and left Ju-Heon behind while taking her with them.
She could not even dream of meeting Ju-Heon until she became an adult. She did track Ju-Heon down while she went on a trip to Korea as a middle school student, but… He had left her hanging.
She had somehow managed to get his number and call him, but…
‘Get lost. I don't have a sibling like you.’
He ignored all of her messages and letters.
It had been close to 20 years since she had not seen him.
Forget his face, she didn't even know his voice.
That was why she had been shocked to see the look-alike appear in front of her today.
She really wondered if the guy was Ju-Heon.
Her friend Arthur asked her about it as well. It was because that guy looked identical to Ju-Heon he had seen on TV.
"Are you sure that’s not your twin brother?”
“No. They don’t look alike at all! Their noses are completely different! His nostril is tilted 1 cm in comparison and the shape of their ears is different too. I'm sure of it.”
“…….”
“I now understand why you don’t have a boyf……ugh!”
She ruthlessly pummeled her friend.
“It’s a good thing I remembered that guy's face.”
Although she was saying that, the Youtube video she saw while looking for some research materials had been extremely helpful.
She had stopped tuning into any form of media ever since the artifacts appeared because she hated both artifacts and artifact users, however……
‘I'm sure of it.’
The man in the video had been Ju-Heon.
Joy sighed.
‘That look-alike from earlier and all these artifacts…’
"What the hell is he going around doing?”
She sounded a bit concerned.
Back in New York, Yoo Jaeha was smiling like a buffoon while looking at a picture Ilya had taken.
“Our Ju-Won really is pretty.”
Ilya had visited Harvard under Ju-Heon's orders.
It was easy to teleport stealthily thanks to Seol-A's Heirloom and his spellbook artifact.
He took a picture and brought it back, but this damn bastard……
“Captain-nim, please give me your twin sis…… ugh!”
Yoo Jaeha was hit by a steel mug and beaten to a pulp. Ilya whispered to him after seeing Jaeha in pain.
“Tsk, you get rejected by Seol-A so you go for the Captain-nim’s sister now?”
“W, what?”
Yoo Jaeha became flustered and Ilya wickedly added on.
“What’s wrong? You confessed to Seol-A and she rejected you.”
Yoo Jaeha urgently covered Ilya's mouth.
“Hey, that’s from the past life…… That’s so long ago! We only care about the right now! That's a dark page in history! You deserve a dropkick for that!”
"Well, whatever. Give up on the Captain-nim’s sister.Even that Maitreya was beaten to a pulp.”
Yoo Jaeha's jaw dropped in shock after hearing about that.
"What? Ju-Won beat the hell out of the Maitreya?! That crazy Maitreya?!”
"She even tried to steal his artifact. His son was attacked as well.”
“What? That bastard has a son?”
“His unborn son.”
Yoo Jaeha started to shake in fear after hearing about the attack. Ilya, who had seen it all in person, was also shaking.
However…
“I guess they really are siblings……”
Blood definitely does not lie.
‘They act the same way!’
Ju-Heon was calm. Actually, he complained about what Joy had done.
“Damn, she should have just cut it off while she was at it.”
“It’s hell enough with what she did okay? The Maitreya almost lost his son and went straight to hell. The Monarch of the Heavens almost became the Monarch of Eunuchs.”
“Sounds good. It’s not like a Maitreya needs that.”
They all shook in fear.
‘Well, to be honest, it doesn't seem like the Captain-nim’s sister would be taken down so easily.’
Why?
She was the almighty Seo Ju-Heon's other half!
It was obvious that his sister would also be a fireball.
However…
“Will you be okay? Captain-nim?”
“What?”
“Captain-nim, maybe you’ll get beaten to a pulp too when you get to see Ju-Won.”
“………”
That might actually happen. He had been neglecting her for the past 17 years.
“Well, it’s not like she’ll want to see me anyway.”
There was no need for him to go find her. Even if he did go, he would not let her hit him just because she wanted to do so.
“But Captain, the Monarch of the Heavens's artifact didn't seem to work on Ju-Won. She didn’t seem to have used an artifact, so how……”
Jaeha: “That is a bit odd. Did she have some kind of artifact related ability?”
Ju-Heon: “Ah, she does.”
“Excuse me?”
“Her Affinity level is no joke.”
“………Excuse me?”
Ju-Heon picked his ear with his pinky.
“How do I explain this… You know how I have 100 Dominance and 0 Affinity? She's 0 Dominance 100 Affinity.”
“…….”
“While I find Affinity to be completely useless, her Affinity is so high that the artifacts don't want to attack her.”
Ilya and Jaeha both dropped their jaws at the same time.
‘Something like that is possible?!’
Yoo Jaeha was extremely flabbergasted.
His Affinity was quite high compared to the others on this tomb raiding team but forget not attacking him, the artifacts treated him as a pushover!
He did not have the time to test his sister’s abilities in the past.
Why?
Unfortunately, he had seen his sister again for the first time in his late twenties. He had Inspector Kim help him find his twin sister but she was already suffering from a severe case of tomb syndrome at that point.
She was almost a corpse and all artifact-related abilities had fallen.
She was in the critical care unit so he could not even meet her. All Chairman Kwon told him was that he would give Ju-Heon some healing artifacts if he completed his missions.
But there was also Inspector Kim’s family as well. Ju-Heon had been toiling away as a slave under Chairman Kwon to heal Inspector Kim's family and their tomb syndrome because they had been more like family to him than his real family.
That was why he had been having Edward keep an eye on her after returning to the past. Edward was to let him know if anything happened.
He didn’t want to personally go because it would just be giving Chairman Kwon and his other enemies an extra pawn.
Ilya chimed in.
“Oh, based on what I heard, she seems to be talented enough to be an Artifact Engineer. And if her Affinity is really that high, then what about that Pandora system artifact you got from the Monarch of Detection? Maybe she might be able to activate it?”
Ju-Heon had taken a piece of the Pandora system artifact from the Monarch of Detection in the past.
He had tried to use it but the message had been quite clear.
[Your Affinity is extremely lacking.]
Ju-Heon had then tossed it to Yoo Jaeha who had the highest Affinity level on the team, however…
[You are not qualified. Your Affinity is not high enough. You are unable to use this artifact.]
Ju-Heon didn't think much about his failing because he was pretty much an Affinity eunuch, but it was shocking to see Yoo Jaeha, a person whose Affinity was at the Monarch level, fail like that.
‘This is no normal artifact.’
It seemed as if the artifact had activated for the Monarch of Detection not because of his Affinity but because he was a member of Pandora.
That was why they had kept it stashed away even though it seemed important.
“Mm.”
‘And she manhandled a person who was strengthened with an Heirloom substitute?’
Ju-Heon had to think hard about this.
He had known that his twin sister had extremely high defenses because her Affinity was at max level.
But to handle someone with an Heirloom like that……
‘Apparently Ilya's devil didn't even have time to react……’
Something seemed weird.
‘Unless she has an Heirloom as well……’
Ju-Heon greedily started to smile.
‘Did that punk?’
Returning back to Harvard.
Inside a Harvard University laboratory…
“Joy, this is bad! Someone who looks like you is here again!”
“What?”
“Someone came to look for you again!”
Joy got angry thinking that the crazy bastard from earlier had come back.
But something seemed a bit different this time.
Bang!
A loud noise echoed throughout the university.
There was something different from the earlier situation with the Maitreya……
“H, hey! That is a restricted area!”
“Hey!”
Bang!
Someone kicked the door down as if it was a decoration and not an actual door.
"Call the cops! The cops!”
“What the hell?! Who the hell is this rampaging idiot?!”
Joy's face slowly turned pale inside this pandemonium.
‘N, no way, right?’
And then…
Bang!
The person barged in.
"Ah, I finally found you, you ugly puppy.”
It was the original this time!
Joy screamed internally while looking at the person in front of her.
She was sure of it.
This voice and this face!
‘It really is Ju-Heon……!’
She subconsciously started to smile.
It really was her twin brother.
This was the first time she had seen him in 17 years since the last time she saw him was when they were six years old.
But she could tell by looking at him. He truly did look different from the look-like who was here yesterday.
She wondered why he had such a grumbling expression on his face, but she immediately recalled the child from back then.
He had not changed at all since then.
Joy started to feel emotional.
‘He got so tall.’
He had been shorter than her when they were little but now she needed to lift her head up to look at his face.
Although she had seen him in videos, it was different seeing him in person.
She was happy.
That was probably the reason.
“Ju-Heon op……!”
She was about to happily greet Ju-Heon.
However…
“I got you now, you fat pig.”
“?!”
There was a bright light.
And then…
Bang!
The ground Joy was standing on exploded.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
A hole was instantly created and the white gown hanging next to her burnt to a crisp!
Joy plopped down on the floor in shock.
But Ju-Heon didn’t care about that at all and just seemed quite amused.
“Oh, the artifact really doesn’t want to attack her.”
‘W, what?!’
Artifacts taking on all sorts of appearances such as pencils, necklaces, fountain pens, etc started floating in the air.
They were all Divine-Grade artifacts.
Anubis, Osiris, even Xiang Yu's artifact was there!
Joy turned completely pale after looking at them. Ju-Heon just smiled brightly without caring about her at all.
“Ah, right. I should tell you this in advance.”
“W, what?”
"Don't cry if you get hit.”
‘What?’
"What do you mea…… kyaaaaaa!”
Baaaaaang!
280
There was another explosion inside the laboratory!
The explosions continued one after another.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Ju-Heon was using Divine-Grade artifacts to attack his twin sister as if he was crazy.
It was as if he wasn’t happy to be reunited with his sister!
He even called Osiris to open the Gate to the Afterlife!
[The Gate to the Afterlife has been opened.]
[The Gate to the Afterlife has been opened.]
The others who came with Ju-Heon could only drop their jaws in shock.
‘What the hell is this guy doing?!’
Was this any way to act to a blood sister he had not seen for 17 years?!
The funny thing was that Joy didn't have a scratch on her despite everything Ju-Heon did.
‘She truly has max Affinity.’
He did not know about this in his past life and had not believed it at first when Edward told him about it, but…
‘I guess it is real.’
Both of these siblings were at the Four Emperors level.
‘But she's pretty much a dud at fighting since her Dominance is at zero.’
Ju-Heon smiled as if he was amused after personally analyzing Joy's power.
However, Joy's lab was destroyed and ended up a total mess.
Yoo Jaeha could not hold back anymore and started to shout.
“Captain-nim! You’re going to get arrested for property damage! Are you crazy?!”
“How can you destroy the building……?!”
Ju-Heon kicked a crumpled steel door out of the way and responded to them.
“Why do you think I brought you guys with me?”
“……Excuse me?”
Ju-Heon smiled at Ilya and Yoo Jaeha.
“A restorer and the aftermath clean-up crew. What a perfect combination.”
‘This son of a bitch!’
Baaaaang!
Joy was crying as she ran away from the destroyed lab.
“Wahhh! That stupid bastard, that motherfucker!”
She should not have been happy to see his face after 17 years.
‘Why did he change so much?!’
“I, I have to call the cops first!”
She urgently looked for her phone.
However, she could not find her phone anywhere.
"What the hell? Where’s my phone?! My phone! Where did I drop it?”
“Are you looking for this?”
“?!”
Joy started to foam at the mouth.
Ju-Heon was holding something as he chased after her with a bright smile on his face.
It was her gold and pink colored cell phone!
When had he stolen that from her?!
She shouted with anger.
“Hand it over!”
But forget handing it to her…
"Ah, why did it have to be a TKBM phone of all things?”
Crack.
Ju-Heon broke the phone into two.
Joy screamed.
“What are you doooooooing?! My phoooooooone! I haven't even had it for a month yet!”
“Your older brother will buy you a new one.”
Ju-Heon threw the phone away and continued to chase after her.
“So little puppy, come over here.”
“Waaaaaaaaaah! That son of a bitch!”
Joy ran as if her life was on the line. She felt as if she was being chased by a homicidal maniac.
“Fuck, that look-alike from yesterday was a thousand, no, a million times better!”
Joy was bawling now.
Unfortunately, Ju-Heon seemed angry after hearing her comment.
"What did you just say?!”
Ju-Heon’s expression turned vicious as he chased after her.
“You said that crazy look-alike is a million times better than me?!”
Joy screamed.
“Of course! Is this how you treat your sister after seeing her for the first time in 17 years?! You son of a bitch!”
“What? Son of a bitch! Hey, call me oppa!”
“Oppa my ass! You were born just a few minutes earlier! Biologically, the first born is the younger one! Plus, we’re twins! Who knows if the hospital screwed up the records!”
“Are you crazy? Do you really think a hospital would not be able to tell apart a boy and a girl?”
“Waaaaaaah!Stop chasing me! You big dummy!”
Ju-Heon clicked his tongue.
‘I thought she was a bookworm. Did she run every day or something?How the hell is she so fast?’
Ju-Heon got annoyed with chasing her and activated a long necklace and white gold watch.
Two large animals instantly appeared in front of Joy!
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
They were the large White Dog Set that was taller than most adults and the black doggie Anubis.
The two of them moved toward Joy with vicious expressions on their faces. Joy was completely scared.
Her reaction was understandable. Set was so scary that the part-timers delivering chicken quit after seeing him once.
Anubis looked majestic but his size, charisma, and ferocious gaze was enough to make even trained soldiers shiver in fear.
She couldn't help but be scared since he was drooling and baring his fangs unlike his usual self.
“H, hold on……!”
Set opened his mouth wide. And then he attacked……
“Kyaaaa!”
Nope, he did not attack and just licked Joy's cheek.
“!!”
As for Anubis… He tried to push his head under her skirt as if he was courting her.
Of course, Ju-Heon pummeled him for trying to do that.
"Do you want to get fucked up? Do you?”
A scared Anubis quickly shook his head.
[M, master, this isn't what it looks like! That human bitch has a monstrous Affinity level that I lost my mind…… ahhhh!]
Ju-Heon smiled while stomping on Anubis.
“I'm not certain but it looks like she has something that’s not a Heirloom but is like a Heirloom.”
She was giving off an odd scent.
It was probably a parasitic artifact.
Ju-Heon's eyes flashed as he turned back toward her.
“Hey, stupid idiot. Strip down.”
However, his sister had long since run away.
‘He’s crazy! He’s crazy! He’s fucking crazy!’
Joy was crying internally.
Seo Ju-Heon, that damn bastard had come to look for her after 17 years just to try to kill her!
She only sniffled for a moment before smiling in relief after coming to a busy restaurant.
‘He won't be able to do anything in a place full of people.’
She then asked some students if she could borrow their phone for a moment. She was planning on calling for help.
‘Let’s call the professor first to ask for help……’
However, forget getting help…
[Beeep- beep- beep-]
The phone she borrowed didn't seem to work!
"W, what the hell? What’s wrong with this thing?”
It was at that moment.
“Kya! What the hell? My phone stopped working!”
“A ghost! It says it's because of a ghost!”
“What? Kyaaaaaa! What is that?!”
All devices in the restaurant became useless because of ghosts that had appeared!
Joy decided she had to change plans and tried to personally ask someone for help when……
“Hey! I heard someone say that they saw President John Kennedy over there!”
“Hey! There’s a ghost over there dropping money!”
“What? Really? Really?”
People were focused on finding these ghosts. Nobody seemed to be interested in Joy at all.
“D, damn it.”
She could tell for real now.
This was her brother’s doing!
Joy quickly tried to rush outside.
However…
“Mmph!”
Someone was holding Joy from behind and covered her mouth.
She turned around to see Ju-Heon smiling as if he was a wild beast.
“I found you.”
“Let me go, let me go……! Mmph! Mmmmph!”
“Where do you think you’re running away, you damn pig.”
Joy, who had been instantly captured byJu-Heon, was tied up by the rope.
“Mmmmph!”
He carried Joy over his shoulder like a bag of rice and walked out of the restaurant.
The abduction had happened in an instant.
There was a woman on the roof of the restaurant watching this abduction take place.
“Is it really okay to do this……”
Seol-A sighed while controlling her ghosts.
“Fuck, why the hell do we have to do this?”
Yoo Jaeha and Ilya were currently stuck side by side restoring Joy's public lab that their Captain had destroyed.
“I'm going to kill that Captain of ours.”
“I'm going to make him pay me more for overtime.”
Although they were grumbling, this kind of restoration was nothing to them.
Ilya lightly motioned with his hand and the destroyed lab immediately started to get fixed.
The broken things were getting back together, the crumpled door was opening back up, things seemed as if they were going back in time.
The items that had fallen to the ground returned to their spots as well. Even the particles of dust returned to their original locations.
Everything returned to before Ju-Heon had come here.
It was a time regression spell for a specific area.
Something like this was nothing for Ilya who used spell book artifacts as the aftermath clean-up crew.
Yoo Jaeha's work was quite the spectacle as well.
Ilya was in charge of restoring the area in order for Jaeha to save energy while he took care of the destroyed equipment. His restoration was so great that the old equipment turned into new equipment in the process!
Returning to the present…
"Are you done fixing things?”
Ju-Heon was satisfied with his subordinates’ work after returning to the lab.
He was most satisfied with the old equipment that had turned new.
“Good, she should at least have this much.”
But then he tapped on the door.
“Ilya. The door is squeaking. Tighten the screws properly.”
Ilya and Yoo Jaeha asked as if they realized something.
“I, is that why you destroyed everything?”
“You wanted to remodel your sister’s lab?”
Ju-Heon was silent for a moment before he sneered.
“No? I just thought we could charge the school a remodeling fee like this.”
His subordinates started swearing.
“#$&#$@&#*!”
It didn't sound as if they were speaking a human language though.
Ju-Heon threw his sister who was tightly bound to the couch.
"M, mmph! Mmph!”
Joy flailed around as best as she could while being bound by the rope.
Unlike the rest of the artifacts that could not harm her at all because of her Artifact Affinity, the rope seemed to be an exception.
‘What is going on?’
“Mmmmmmmph!”
Ju-Heon ordered the rope to release Joy's mouth.
He then said the following.
“I’ll get right to the point. Don’t you have a special artifact on you?”
“What?”
“It’d be a parasitic type that is inside your body.”
Joy seemed to become a bit depressed after hearing that. But she answered his question anyway.
“……I don’t have anything like that.”
“Really? You really don’t have anything like that?”
“I really don't.”
Ju-Heon sighed and turned around.
“Alright then, I'm leaving.”
“!”
Joy became flustered and urgently asked.
“Hey Ju-Heon, no, oppa. Did you come all the way here just to ask that question? That’s all you wanted to know after 17 years?”
“Yeah. Why else would I need to come find you? We are strangers at this point.”
“……!”
“What did you expect? Did you want me to cry my eyes out like we were separated by the Korean border for ages? What bullshit.”
He sounded as if he came because of money. Well, technically that wasn’t wrong since he came because of a potential artifact.
Joy bit down on her lips as if she was upset.
They were twins. Even if they were separated because of the adoption, they were the only kins left in this world.
But after ignoring her for 17 years he showed up all of a sudden for this?!
“……You shitty artifactphile.”
Ju-Heon quietly sighed while looking at her with her head down.
It was normal for her to get angry or cry. Even he knew that he did something terrible. He had done something terrible in the past and right now as well.
However, he did not believe that either of his actions were wrong.
But still……
“Fine. What do you need? Money? I can get someone to…”
"Artifact.”
“Okay, artifa…… what?!”
Forget crying, Joy jumped on Ju-Heon.
“Hol……!”
An angry Joy grabbed Ju-Heon’s artifacts as if she had never been crying in the first place.
“My goodness, how the heck are all of your artifacts so good?”
“?!”
She instantly looted Ju-Heon’s artifacts!
281
Ju-Heon was shocked.
It couldn't be helped, since some artifacts really disappeared from his pockets.
‘!’
Ju-Heon’s eyes opened wide at this experience that he had never had before. The rest of the team were shocked as well.
That was to be expected.
‘The Captain-nim had his artifacts looted…?!’
“Wasn’t taking artifacts from the Captain 'Mission Impossible'?!”
“Are you crazy?! The Monarch of Plunder had his artifacts plundered!”
"She really is his sister!”
The team members were shrieking in shock.
That was how unbelievable this was right now.
The biggest shock was that Joy was tied up by the rope right now. Even if she pushed herself onto Ju-Heon, there was no way she could steal things.
Then was it a stealing-type artifact?
No, that was definitely not it either.
Joy did not have a single artifact on her right now.
They would have noticed if she used a stealing-type artifact.
Most importantly…
‘That guy isn't someone who would allow things to be stolen from him!’
‘How did this greedy bastard get plundered?!’
The looted artifacts’ reactions were quite shocking as well……
[$#&#!]
We’re free! We’re free!
[#$&#!]
Evil landlord Seo Ju-Heon should repent!
[$#&$#!]
Huff, huff, please just tell me what to do.
[$#$&#!]
I'll do anything you say!
[$#&#!]
Aaaaaahng, hit me! Please hit me!
Ju-Heon’s artifacts were all floating around Joy.
That wasn’t all.
[I am finally freed from your grasp you damn human!]
Some of the Heirlooms that Ju-Heon had monopolized were by Joy as well!
The team members started to shout.
“Captain-nim! What is going on?”
Even these veterans could not understand what had happened.
Ju-Heon didn't seem shocked at all and just clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, nothing to be shocked about; it’s because of her Affinity.”
“Excuse me?!”
Ju-Heon seemed to have realized what was going on. It was just a hypothesis originally, but something had confirmed his theory.
[The opponent’s overwhelming Affinity made her close to the artifacts.]
[The opponent’s overwhelming Affinity made her close to the artifacts.]
“It is plundering using Affinity.”
Jaeha screamed as if he was the character in Edvard Munch's The Scream.
“Are you crazy? Since when can Affinity be used like that?!”
For Yoo Jaeha, Affinity was something that made artifacts treat him like a pushover no matter how high it was.
Even though his Affinity ranked either one or two on the entire team, the artifacts beat him up or bit him every time he restored them!
That was the norm!
It felt as if he was an animal groomer trying to wash a ferocious and difficult animal or taking care of an animal that didn't want to be there!
But what?!!!!!
“How does that make any sense?!”
“It’s understandable. Her Affinity is so high that she can be friendly with any artifact. That means she can take anybody's artifact regardless of who its master is or what the contract status is.”
‘Basically she can plunder like you do!’
Yoo Jaeha looked as if he was going to die.
“Hey you terrible shits! What the hell is in your blood that crazy mutants like you ap…… ugh!”
Ju-Heon punched Jaeha.
Ju-Heon looked at the artifacts by Joy's side and started to think.
‘I didn't think that even the Heirlooms would go to her.’
Of course, the person who had ended up as a thief instantly…
Joy was gulping in fear.
Why?
‘Shit, why did the Heirlooms come too?’
She was just trying to take a few artifacts so that she could force Ju-Heon to chat with her!
This was the truth. Joy didn't actually plan on stealing any of the artifacts.
She did hate artifacts for a lot of reasons but honestly speaking, she was an artifact geek as well. She did get tempted by Ju-Heon’s overwhelming amount of strong artifacts, but……
‘I, I still don’t enjoy stealing things.’
At least that’s what she thought.
Although she didn't like artifacts, she did enjoy doing research about artifacts.
Someone had just told her something.
‘Mm, you want to know about your brother? He’s an extreme artifactphile. That’s how he ended up as the Monarch of Plunder.’
‘!’
Joy wanted to live as a regular person but had contact with an artifact user.
There was an artifact-related company that had helped her out when she was in trouble.
That company’s President had said the following to Joy.
‘This guy. He is an extreme artifactphile.’
‘J, Ju-Heon is an artifactphile?!’
‘Well, that’s why our Dir… I mean Seo Ju-Heon probably doesn't care about what anybody has to say. He’s been completely brainwashed by artifacts. Hahaha! He’s famous in our world.’
Joy had been shocked to hear that.
That was why she thought that this was the only way to sit Ju-Heon down and chat with him.
He had even said that the reason he showed up today was because of an artifact.
‘But why did the Heirlooms come?!’
She wasn’t planning on doing that!
The Heirlooms who had used Joy's Affinity to their benefit started to laugh without caring about what she was thinking.
[Seo Ju-Heon, you despicable human. I guess we should thank you. You helped us find a strong person who could free us from your grasp!]
[We are not scared of your Dominance when we have this human's Affinity!]
‘No, that’s not what I want! Stop it!’
Although she could not understand the artifacts’ language, Joy could understand them because she could read a bit of their thoughts.
The other artifacts seemed to think this was a great time to revolt as well.
[#$&$!]
That’s right! Go away you tyrant! Go away!
[#$$&!]
We want freedom and peace!
[#$&$#!]
This girl is the only human for us! Nobody else!
Basically, the artifacts that had been suppressed with fear had seen a chance at freedom.
“What bullshit. Artifacts deserve no freedom.”
Boom!
[The Crow's aura is spreading in all directions.]
[The Crow's aura is spreading in all directions.]
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
His overbearing Dominance descended upon Joy and the artifacts.
Ju-Heon was crossing his arms and the aura behind him in the shape of a Crow was calm but chaotic at the same time.
“What the fuck do you think you're doing?!”
His chaotic aura made the artifacts scream in pain. The artifacts foamed at the mouth even though he had only shown a bit of his power.
The Heirlooms were shaking in fear as well.
The Crow's aura's compatibility with Ju-Heon’s Dominance seemed to be amazing as it was growing like crazy.
‘This crazy bastard.’
Ju-Heon then started to laugh.
“What? Please hit me? Do whatever you want? Then I will eat all of you up. You damn artifacts with no principles.”
The artifacts started to scream once Ju-Heon's eyes turned red. He generally just talked about eating artifacts to extort them, but it was different now.
He was a predator who would prey on them and really eat them!
Their bodies would disappear and their souls would be chewed up and end up his blood, skin, and abilities!
They were scared even though it didn't seem as if Ju-Heon could use that ability yet. It was because the artifacts could not forget about the Crow's rampage in the past.
[#$&#&!]
Please forgive us! Please!
[#$&#!]
We apologize! We apologize! Give us one chance! Just oooooone chaaaaaance!
[#$$#*!]
We were swayed by this dream-like freedom!
They had gone blind at this Affinity but Ju-Heon’s Dominance was truly scary.
Furthermore, Ju-Heon’s artifacts had received terrible mental training from Ju-Heon quite frequently. It was difficult to forget about a fear that had been engraved into your mind.
The artifacts were bawling as they returned to Ju-Heon's pocket.
[$#&!]
We've committed a grave sin, sir!
Even the escaped Heirlooms sniffled as they quickly returned to Ju-Heon.
And then…
“Now then, it is time to deal with our ugly pig.”
“?!”
Ju-Heon sat down on Joy as if she was a couch and started to smile.
“I wasn’t planning on being rough with you since you were my sister, but…”
Joy became anxious.
“W, wait……!”
“I heard that you have no intentions of using any artifacts, right? You said you hate artifacts.”
“H, how do you know that?”
"Well that’s fine. I was just planning on watching what happened but I changed my mind.”
‘If she has such a useful ability, might as well use her.’
He would put her to use.
Ju-Heon's eyes shined viciously.
“Alright, come become my subordinate, my little sister.”
Joy screamed after getting scared of his red eyes.
“H, hold on! Don’t use an artifact on me, that sir will come to my rescue if you harm me!”
Ju-Heon started to frown.
“That sir?”
He didn't seem to believe her.
“Y, yeah. He’s someone at a company who helped me out. He’s part of that G, Grave Company that is famous for artifact related things!”
That was right.
Joy had gone to buy an artifact to take care of an evil artifact that had stuck itself to her house. It was normal for disease-causing artifacts to attach themselves to houses like mold after a Tomb Appearance.
People purchased artifacts to take care of these things from TKBM, Grave Company, and other world famous artifact related companies.
C and D-Grade artifacts that were improved or turned into industrial products were being sold. Most people had enough Dominance or Artifact to handle C and D-Grade artifacts and they could even get their abilities tested for free.
“Anyway, I have connections with that Grave Company. I know someone really high up in the company.”
Ju-Heon chuckled.
“Oh, I see, someone in Grave Company?”
Joy continued speaking while shaking in fear.
“Y, yeah. Anyway, that sir said he would come whenever an artifact user was threatening me.”
“Oh, why would he care about an ugly kid like you?”
"Why else?! I'm a secret researcher for Grave Company… shit! Anyway, someone up high in the company is protecting me. So don’t even think about……”
Ju-Heon sneered and showed her his phone.
“Is this old man the one you are talking about?”
“?!”
Ju-Heon showed her a picture of Edward.
Joy was shocked after looking at the picture.
“O, oppa, how do you know about President Edward?”
“Of course I know him. This old guy is my sl… Salaried subordinate, you dumbass.”
“W, what?! Subordinate?”
"And I am the owner of that company.”
“Liar!”
The Crow's aura viciously charged toward Joy who ran away screaming.
“This is a scam.”
Joy, who was once again tied up by the rope, was shaking in fear.
She was currently in her dormitory. Ju-Heon had broken through all the locks and shamelessly entered the women’s dormitory to rummage through Joy's room.
He didn't care whether he was throwing clothes, underwear, accessories etc… as he managed to find fifty artifacts.
“Little sister, you have hidden quite a lot of artifacts.”
Ju-Heon laughed out loud after succeeding in his treasure hunt.
Edward, who was next to Ju-Heon, sighed as he watched.
He had instantly flown over to Harvard thanks to Ilya.
“My goodness, Director-nim. You still can’t rummage through a lady's room like this.”
“Shut up. Old man. Do you want me to lower your salary?”
“…….”
Joy dropped her jaw in shock after seeing Edward shut up.
She could tell for real now.
Ju-Heon really was Edward’s superior.
“O, oppa, you really are the owner of Grave Company?”
“Yes.”
“Then were you the one who told the mister to help me……”
“Well, I told him to keep an eye on you. I never told him to hire you.”
Joy fell backward after hearing that.
Everything had been on the palm of this bastard’s hand.
That was right.
Edward had received Ju-Heon’s orders to approach Joy. He needed to keep an eye on her.
He originally did not plan to actually talk to her in case Chairman Kwon's spies found out, but……
He had no choice because her extremely high Affinity was a problem as it dragged a bunch of artifacts to the company.
He was also shocked by Joy's research abilities!
They say that blood does not lie and it seems to be correct as she was an extreme artifact geek.
She didn't like artifact users or using artifacts herself because of the trouble they caused but she did like researching them.
That was why he had hired her without Ju-Heon knowing about it. She was in their artifact research lab in the R&D team.
Ju-Heon clicked his tongue.
“You should have told me.”
“Aw, I was trying to surprise you, Director-nim. And to be honest with you, there is a Heirloom attached to Joy that even she does not know about…”
“Oh, there is?”
“I was going to take it for myself before telling you about it! If you had just given me a Heirloom early on……”
Ju-Heon’s eyes flashed.
While Ju-Heon was doing that, TKBM and the other Monarchs were busy recruiting Monarch level talents.
They were creating a grand alliance to go up against Seo Ju-Heon.
And then…
“Your exhibition will be quite an important thing. The exhibition is related to the Monarch of Fate’s prophesized third change.
Chairman Kwon threw them a newspaper while saying that.
[Yoo Jaeha, the Monarch of Pushoverness. His first personal art exhibition.]
[Julien, top official restorer. His personal exhibition is on the same day?]
[An exhibition of famous artists from around the world. Are they planning on suppressing the Monarch of Pushoverness after receiving TKBM's sponsorship?]
Chairman Kwon started to laugh.
‘We will gain a lot if we succeed this time. TKBM can be restored to its full glory in an instant.’
“Someone else will help you all with the exhibition. You guys just need to follow that person and proceed with the plan.”
“Yes sir.”
Julien and the other famous artists were confident.
In addition to the evil god artifact, they also had Michelangelo, Rafael, and other famous artists’ artifacts.
Michelangelo's artifact was said to be Jaeha’s Leonardo da Vinci's rival artifact.
“As you should already know, this artifact is the da Vinci's artifact's only weakness.”
Chairman Kwon looked at a little kid standing next to Julien as he said that.
“I have high expectations for you as well. You are our newest Monarch with an evil god artifact.”
“Don’t worry, Chairman-nim. I earned a great artifact.”
The former Monarch of Fraud and Yoo Jaeha’s son(?) Louie Martin smiled wickedly.
282
Joy had instantly been stripped for Seol-A do a body search on her.
They said something about finding an artifact that Edward was trying to take from her.
To be more specific, it was not a Heirloom but one of the evil god artifacts that had suddenly shown up.
It was at that moment.
“You still haven't found the Heirloom?”
Joy jumped in shock while Seol-A sighed after hearing the voice outside.
‘Captain-nim, he really…’
“I haven't found anything. There are no evil god artifacts either.”
They could feel Ju-Heon's rage through the door.
Is it really not there?
Are you sure it’s not there?
That's what the chaotic aura seemed to be saying.
It probably really wasn't there if Seol-A couldn’t find it, but……
"Seol-A, come outside. I'm going to check myself.”
Both Seol-A and the naked Joy gasped at the same time.
“Oppa, are you crazy?!”
“C, Captain-nim!”
Seol-A had been the one to scream and prevent Ju-Heon from stripping Joy in the first place.
Seol-A had said that she would do it and took Joy to the other room.
But what?
“Come out. I'm going to check myself.”
“Captain-nim! Hold……!”
The door was destroyed and Ilya and Yoo Jaeha peeked in before quickly turning their heads away.
They momentarily saw a pair of perky boobs, slim waist and her stomach…
They couldn't see a lot because she quickly covered herself with a blanket but they did see the silhouette of Joy's killer body.
But their Captain would kill them if they said that they saw it.
They heard screams from inside the other room.
“Kyaaaaaa! What the hell are you doing?! What the hell are you looking at?! Where do you think you're touching?! You pervert!”
"Shut up, you fat pig. Who cares about a fat girl like you?!”
They could hear their arguments, no, to be more specific, they could hear Joy's cries.
Ju-Heon had inspected Joy's body quite thoroughly. Of course, he was not just doing it to find an artifact. He seemed to be looking for traces of any illnesses or tomb syndrome.
A few minutes later…
“It really isn't here.”
Ju-Heon clicked his tongue while Joy was crying in Seol-A’s arms.
How can a so-called older brother appear after 17 years to destroy her lab and her phone while stealing all of her artifacts! He was even forcing her into a body search!
He was willing to put her through that for a stupid artifact?!
“Just go die……! You idiot!”
‘I'm the idiot for worrying about this bastard until now!’
Joy was feeling really stupid.
“He could at least ask if I've been doing okay after not seeing each other for 17 years…… sob.”
She was actually dripping tears.
“He should just tell me if he hates me…”
Joy liked Ju-Heon. No matter what, he was her one and only family member left in this world.
She had been nice to him when they were younger so how did he end up growing up into such a terrible person?
Her one and only family member was supposedly the most famous and most terrible criminal in the world.
“Aigoo……”
Seol-A patted her on the back.
“Don’t worry, the Captain-nim might be acting like this but he cherishes you a lot……”
‘How can she say that after everything he just did?!’
"She's right, even when we went into the lab earlier, he grumbled and told us to fix everything because things were old. He destroyed things on purpose after hearing that you don’t get much funding.”
“Tsk tsk, he's a radical tsundere for an older brother. He destroyed his younger sister’s equipment on purpose to turn them new…… ugh!”
Bang!
The door was destroyed again at that moment. It was the same door that Ju-Heon had destroyed earlier.
“Aaaaah! Why did you do that?!”
“We just got it fixed!”
He then nonchalantly commented while looking at Ilya and Yoo Jaeha.
“Fix it properly. It broke when I just touched it. Restore it again.”
“#$$&#!”
It was his way of threatening them to not say useless crap.
The Ilya and Yoo Jaeha restoration combination got back to restore the door again.
Seol-A smiled bitterly while looking at them before whispering to Ju-Heon.
"Captain-nim, actually, Ju-Won’s leg…”
“I know, I saw it.”
Ju-Heon started to frown.
Seol-A looked at Joy's leg with concern.
“I heard that evil god artifacts take something away from you and I guess it is the truth.”
The proof was on her leg where it was quite visible that the evil god artifact had entered her body. It looked as if it had tried to take Joy's leg.
The fact that it hurt when Seol-A put her hand was proof. Her lower body was slowly becoming paralyzed along with the pain.
The reason Ju-Heon wanted to see his sister’s body with his own eyes was because he wanted to see how much damage the evil god artifact had done.
Ju-Heon needed to see it with his own eyes to feel relieved after losing her once.
The reason he wanted to make her work for him…
It was because that was the safest place for her.
Based on his experiences from the past life, Joy's Affinity was the reason tomb syndrome struck her worse than normal people.
She was okay now thanks to the medicine created from the Herb of Eternal Youth that Ju-Heon had Edward give to her.
‘It looks like she was a good girl and ate the medicine properly.’
She didn't seem to show any symptoms even with her unbelievable Affinity.
Even still…
‘I can’t believe she even dragged an evil god artifact to her.’
Affinity was an illness at this point. However, that evil god artifact was not visible right now.
Edward looked at Joy and found this to be odd.
“That’s odd. Where the hell did the evil god artifact go?”
“Where else would it have gone? It obviously ran away after noticing that the Captain was coming.”
Ilya sneered.
“You can tell how rushed it was from the fact that a damn parasite ran away from the host’s body.”
He was saying that it ran away without being able to even feed on Joy's body.
“I don’t know what kind of evil god it is, but it seems like quite the coward.”
Ju-Heon was probably the problem.
That was actually exactly what had happened.
‘Damn it, Seo Ju-Heon, you motherfucking bastard.’
The evil god was shaking in fear while hiding somewhere.
It had been thinking about hiding away to suck the life of its host but Seo Ju-Heon had suddenly appeared!
It had dropped everything and ran away for its life after feeling that dangerous Crow's aura.
‘He shouldn’t know that I am still here.’
However…
“It’s around here somewhere. It didn't go far.”
The evil god artifact that was nearby almost screamed after hearing that.
‘D, did he notice?!’
They quickly kept talking as if they had no idea where it was.
“It might look okay to let it be but it may try to harm Joy and steal a part of her body again. We should find it quickly.”
The evil god artifact smiled after hearing that.
‘There’s no way for a damn human to find me here!’
He could try his best but he would never find it.
‘I'll lay down roots in this bastard's body as well.’
The evil god artifact that had laid down roots in one of Ju-Heon’s team members after leaving Joy's body smiled wickedly.
“Damn, look at that woman. She’s beautiful.”
Inside a New York Art Gallery… Seol-A who was wearing a blue evening dress that came down to her knees was looking around.
Everybody was looking at her and complimenting her by saying that she was like a brightly shining fairy but she didn't care.
What she did care about was……
“Hey Jaeha, where did Louie go? He’s your assistant.”
Her question made Jaeha scream in anger.
“I don't know! Who the hell cares?! He left saying he was going to go buy some pigments and ran away! It’s already been a couple of days!”
Well, Yoo Jaeha didn’t seem to care since Louie tended to run away quite frequently.
"And that bastard isn’t the issue right noooooooow!”
Jaeha, who would usually not be seen wearing a suit like he was right now, was panicking.
“S, Seol-A, do you think that I will succeed? Will people talk shit about it? No, I don't care if they talk shit about me but what if it makes the Captain-nim look bad?!”
Yoo Jaeha was having a mental breakdown while grabbing Seol-A.
That was right.
This was the day of his private exhibition that Ju-Heon had prepared for Jaeha. There was only one hour left until the opening.
“This is a dream. If it is not, today must be the day I die. That must be why such a gift has been given to me.”
“……It really holds no weight when you are the one saying that.”
Ju-Heon had prepared this exhibition to celebrate Jaeha getting rid of the copycat accusations.
It was supposed to be a small exhibition but the gallery Ju-Heon reserved had connections with Chairman Kwon, so……
‘Hold on. That old fart did exhibitions for artists in that gallery?'
‘Ah, yes sir. It’s quite a good gallery…they’ve also sold a lot of paintings. I heard it was the highest amount of sales in history…’
Those words had made Ju-Heon’s eyes flash with a competitive spirit.
‘Call over all curators and art merchants when he is doing his exhibition. Close all other art galleries in New York that day. Make sure all of this bastard’s paintings sell, no matter what. Make them sell out.’
‘……E, excuse me?’
‘Yoo Jaeha. Make sure your personal exhibition is a success. I’ll kill you if you don’t make it a success when I created this opportunity for you.”
As a result…
[Yoo Jaeha, the Monarch of Pushoverness, going to have a fancy debut in New York? This will be his first personal exhibition.]
[Unbelievable publicity and promotion for the past four months.]
[Both experts and laymen have high expectations… Will it lead to the largest number of viewers for a personal exhibition?]
[Professors, appraisers, curators will all show up as Seo Ju-Heon is the sponsor.]
[The personal exhibition of a Monarch. Political leaders, CEOs of global corporations and royalty are all planning on attending.]
[The stage of judgment. What is his true abilities not as an artifact user but as an artist?”]
[According to a famous artist:
“He’s the true creator of Jean Richard's painting"?
Isn't he all talk?]
[Yoo Jaeha is just an unknown and untalented rookie.]
“Aaah! Captain-nim, why did heeeeeee!”
‘He promoted it too muuuuuuch!’
Yoo Jaeha started to cry.
He was so thankful for this opportunity that he could not thank Ju-Heon enough even if he had a hundred mouths.
He would never forget about what Ju-Heon had done for him.
But still!
“This is too biiiiiiiiiig!”
Yoo Jaeha was the Monarch of Fraud who had scammed the entire world but he was just a nameless copycat in the art world. He feared showing his paintings to people because of those false accusations of the past.
The first exhibition would have made him anxious no matter what, however… This became such a huge ordeal now.
There was also a problem.
[Artists sponsored by Chairman Kwon and the new Monarchs will have an exhibition on the same day.]
[The official restorers who are talented artists will all show up.]
[Numerous famous artists from around the world will be there.]
[Which one will more people visit?]
[Who will receive the better evaluation?]
"What the hell is that damn Chairman Kwon thinking?! Why the hell is he doing this?!”
Seol-A clicked her tongue.
‘It must be because of the third change in the prophecy.’
The first change was an incident (The Great Tomb Appearance).
The second change were items (Heirlooms).
The third was a location.
According to the Monarch of Fate’s prophecy, that location was the art gallery where Yoo Jaeha was having his personal exhibition.
That change was supposed to happen around now as well.
That was why the enemies were gathering.
They believed that destroying Yoo Jaeha's personal exhibition was related to the third prophecy.
But Yoo Jaeha, who had no idea about that, was in pain.
“Ah, this is driving me nuts.”
It would have been fine if people talked crap about his work but now they might talk crap about Ju-Heon as well.
“I didn’t know the princesses would sponsor me too!”
They said they were thankful for him always sending them news about Ju-Heon so Ju-Heon's fan club pulled some strings as well.
[Yoo Jaeha is a raw ore.]
They also send some extra messages as well.
[Mr. Jaeha, I look forward to your exhibition!
PS. Please make sure to take a picture of Ju-Heon-nim in a suit at the opening ceremony!♡]
Returning to the present… The critics from around the world had been saying things about him prior to today.
‘He has no talent himself but is being carried by famous people.’
They were talking crap about him.
Those people were going to come and critique his paintings.
“The critics writing terrible reviews is like throwing crap at the sponsor’s face!”
It was at that moment.
“Then you should have painted them well enough to not have any crap thrown in my face. Right?”
“Aaaaaah!”
Yoo Jaeha started shaking while looking at Ju-Heon who was standing behind him.
“I, I need a chung shim hwan. A chung shim hwan.”
Seol-A patted Yoo Jaeha's back as he swallowed the chung shim hwan down.
“It’s okay, you gave it your best. You do have to be careful of a few things though.”
“What?”
“All of the Monarchs are going to show up. There’s been rumors that this exhibition is where the Four Emperors would appear.”
“T, the Four Emperors?!”
“I don’t know if enemies will appear or certain people will become the Four Emperors though. There will also be hyenas looking to cause trouble on purpose as well as old fogies trying to cut you down before you could sprout.”
"What?!”
“But the most important thing is what the Captain-nim did. He put some money down.”
“What?!”
“He made a bet with the enemies about whether your paintings or Julien's would sell better. It was a 1 billion dollar bet.”
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! 1 billion dollars?! That’s 1 trillion won!Does he have that kind of cash?!”
People started to arrive as he asked that question.
There were naturally hyenas mixed in with the crowd.
Yoo Jaeha staggered while looking but Ju-Heon was smiling brightly.
"Well, it’s fine. I won’t be angry even if you lose to their artists.”
‘That’s right! You won’t be angry! But you'll kill me!’
283
"Wait a minute, that person……!”
The critics who had been ripping Jaeha’s work to shreds suddenly became anxious.
Maybe it was to be expected.
‘Why did it have to be this person?’
The person standing in front of Yoo Jaeha was the US president.
Everybody was talking in shock after the president appeared with the secret service.
Yoo Jaeha was in shock as well.
‘W, why would this guy…’
He recalled that the US president had a bad relationship with the Captain.
As a result, he, as Ju-Heon's subordinate, should be on the black list as well.
Ju-Heon’s eyes were open wide in shock as well. However, it was so trivial that only his team members would be able to tell he was shocked.
Seol-A quickly whispered.
“D, do you think he’s here to get revenge?
He wants to do that here?”
“Well, he's someone who might do that.”
They did take down General Keira, a Monarch working for the US and had looted the artifacts belonging to the US government during that incident at the Pentagon.
Although they made it seem as if Chairman Kwon had done it, they were still not cleared of all wrongdoings.
There was also that murder incident with Dan's trial. According to rumors, the true culprit who had falsely accused Dan… He apparently had some connections with the president.
There were many reasons this person would not look kindly upon them.
That wasn’t all.
‘Inaba Taichi, the man that the US president personally sponsors, is on the other side.’
President Grey was, without a doubt, on the other side.
Although he might talk crap about Yoo Jaeha's paintings, he would never praise them at all.
The tomb raiding team members frowned while the critics were smirking.
‘I guess he came to check out what the enemies have going on.’
‘Did he come to talk crap about Yoo Jaeha?’
‘Well, he probably doesn’t want his cherished Inaba to lose.’
Unfortunately for them, President Grey said the following.
“Would you be willing to take me on as a sponsor?”
“E, excuse me?!”
“I like your painting quite a lot. I'm sure that you’ll need a sponsor.”
“No, umm, wait……”
But at that moment…
“There’s no need.”
Ju-Heon appeared with a smile on his face. Murderous intent could be felt even though he was smiling.
He would probably have told the person to get lost if it wasn’t the president; actually, he probably would have said it anyway if other people were not around.
“I am this punk's sponsor. He does not need any more sponsors.”
President Grey smiled brightly and responded.
“That’s not for you to decide, Monarch of Predation.”
“It ain’t your decision either, old man.”
President Grey frowned while looking at Ju-Heon’s gaze.
It was quite threatening. Although Ju-Heon was being gentle with him, the pressure President Grey felt from Ju-Heon's eyes was strong enough to threaten one of the most powerful people in the world.
‘It’s at Keira's level…… No, he’s a bit stronger than her.’
He had confidently tried to start something with Ju-Heon after getting an artifact of his own but it was too much.
‘He definitely is not easy to deal with. He’s grown even stronger in such a short period of time.’
Ju-Heon was much different from how he had been prior to getting the Heirloom. It seemed obvious that Chairman Kwon and Pandora would be wary of him.
He then changed his target.
“Yoo Jaeha, I don’t think that the Monarch of Predation is a good sponsor who would help you succeed in the future. Why don't you switch sponsors?”
Yoo Jaeha's eyes opened wide.
“Of course, I would be honored to be sponsored by the President of the United …… ugh!”
Yoo Jaeha almost suffocated because of Ju-Heon's Dominance. Ju-Heon’s Crow looked ready to rip apart and eat Jaeha's phoenix.
Yoo Jaeha was crying internally as he responded.
“I, I'm sorry, I can't do that but thank you for your kind words……”
President Grey smiled and turned around.
“Feel free to come look for me if you ever change your mind.”
“Why the hell would he change his mind? Get lost.”
Ju-Heon became angry while Yoo Jaeha sniffled once the president was gone.
"Damn it, he would have been my first true sponsor. Why did you stop him…… ugh!”
“You dumbass, do you really think that guy has pure intentions about sponsoring you?
It’s to steal you away!
TO STEAL YOU AWAY!”
“!”
Seol-A smacked Jaeha on the head.
“He’s so excited that he lost his wit.”
Julian chimed in as well.
“Yes. They don’t need the artist Yoo Jaeha, they need the restorer and Monarch Yoo Jaeha.
The US had lost one of the Four Emperors thanks to Ju-Heon. The US also lost the Number 1 title for artifacts in the world.
The current strong faction was the C-R Alliance. China was to be expected a leader thanks to having Zhen Cai Yuan
There were also the European Nations, Middle East, Korean, and Japan using artifacts to quickly become a strong nation.
Most artifact users were associated with a country.
‘If we don’t have any homegrown Monarchs, we can only steal them away from others.’
Ju-Heon’s tomb raiding team was special in that none of them were aligned with a country.
They would probably have been buried or plucked away a long time ago if they didn't have the protection of the Holtens, who had the political and economic power to even destroy the US army.
Their past life was proof of how they would have ended up.
They were an extremely desirable prey in many ways.
Now that the entry restriction artifacts were destroyed, there were quite a lot of hyenas who were salivating to drag Jaeha to their country.
“Nice to meet you. This is who I am.”
“Hello sir!”
They couldn't approach Ju-Heon because he was too scary so they were trying their luck with the others.
“Your painting was magnificent. Please look kindly upon our corporation.”
That kind of conversation happened over and over.
Yoo Jaeha gasped.
“Nobody came to see the paintings.”
He really meant it.
The nicer ones would at least peek at the paintings before trying to chat with him.
Ju-Heon said something as Yoo Jaeha sulked.
“It’s not like you didn't expect this.”
The others whispered to each other after hearing that.
“I think it’s just because the Captain-nim turned it into too big of an issue…”
“It might have been better if it was a small exhibition with no publicity. Then the people who came might have come for the art itself…”
Ju-Heon started to sweat after hearing those comments.
However, Yoo Jaeha shook his head.
“No guys, I'm truly thankful that the Captain-nim even gave me such an opportunity. How else would I get to do a personal exhibition like this?”
He was extremely lucky to have such an amazing opportunity.
Yoo Jaeha started chuckling.
“It’s okay. I really don't mind if I don't sell any of my paintings. I wasn’t expecting to sell any of them anyway.”
He was happy enough having people see his paintings.
Everybody started to sulk. Ju-Heon called out the doggies as if he had made up his mind.
“I'll be back after getting rid of all the useless fools.”
The rest of the team wanted to help as well.
“I'll use my ghosts to kick them out.”
"I can use my thunderbolts.”
“I have my knife.”
“Then I can use my power of destitution!”
Yoo Jaeha gasped and shouted toward them.
“Aigooooooooo!
It’s fine!
It’s fine!
You guys not doing anything is helping me out!
You’re going to make everybody run away!”
The critics were laughing quite hard watching this take place.
They had come after being bribed by Chairman Kwon’s side, however……
“The painting really sucks.”
“Even if selling paintings is important, anybody who buys them is just doing it to earn his favor.”
“There’s nobody buying it because they like the art itself.”
This happened quite frequently in the art world.
People would buy paintings from celebrities or the children of celebrities to network with them.
‘It’s the same for Yoo Jaeha.’
He was one of the many who would disappear without a trace.
Well, he might be able to continue his life as an artist if someone in a position of power or a wealthy sponsor liked his art and told him to continue.
“He should be happy to be a Monarch. He can continue promoting himself as an artist thanks to the attention he gets as a Monarch.”
“Maybe he can restore people's artifacts and force them to buy his paintings in response. Hahaha!”
“Alright, we got our money so let's go write our reviews. Yoo Jaeha's personal exhibition is the focus of the entire world right now.”
“I guess we can title it, ‘Terrible, Horrible.’”
As the critics were about to head out…
“Umm, is it possible to purchase this painting?”
“E, excuse me?”
There was one more viewer standing in front of Yoo Jaeha.
She was an older woman.
“Your paintings were all so great that it took me some time to look at all of them.”
The woman smiled brightly.
“I want to hang them at my school, is it possible to buy them?
Ah, maybe you’re not selling at all?
I'm sorry, I've never bought a painting before……”
Silence filled the room for a moment.
The woman who looked like a professor really seemed to like his painting.
The woman waved her hand after seeing Yoo Jaeha blankly standing there.
“Umm, excuse me……?”
Yoo Jaeha jumped up from the ground.
“T, thank you very much!”
“Can I buy it?”
“Yes, yes, yes yes!
O, of course you can buy it!
U, umm, please put this sticker next to the painting you like to show your intent to purchase and an employee will help you with the process…!”
“Thank you. I’ll make sure to stop by again if you have any more exhibitions.”
"Thank you very much!
Thank you very much!”
Yoo Jaeha bowed to thank her over and over. He looked like he wanted to cry but he couldn't help but smile.
‘I sold one for the first time in my life!’
This was the first time he had ever sold a painting. His own painting and not something he had forged had sold!
He was extremely happy about that fact.
However, it didn't end there. People started to gather around Jaeha one after another.
“Are you the artist?”
“The paintings were so great.”
The people who were true patrons of the art and not here for their own benefits came over to ask about the paintings and wanted to know when he would be having his next exhibition.
The number of people wanting to purchase his paintings grew as well with intent to purchase stickers being placed all around the room.
There was one on every painting now!
The rest of the team was happy to see this happen.
The employees were shocked as well.
“Holy crap, he's already sold that many?!
This is just the first day of the exhibition!”
“All of the brochures have sold as well!
We asked the print shop to print some more.”
The critics dropped their jaws in shock.
They could tell what had happened.
The people who came to look were buying Jaeha's paintings as well as the brochures that had an explanation about each piece.
These people weren’t as crazed as the people in the western hall but people really seemed to like the pieces.
That meant that these were good paintings!
As they were watching with disbelief…
“The pieces that the critics talked so much crap about are selling like wildfire!”
“Hey, this is a major scoop!”
The reporters who had come after sniffing a story rushed over to the critics with excitement.
“The paintings you said were terrible are selling quite well. Could you please make a comment?”
“Why do you think this is happening?”
The critics started to frown.
“It's because the paintings are cheap!
He's selling them for almost no profit.”
“Excuse me? Cheap? Ah… It is cheaper compared to the works of famous people but… They are priced normally for any new artists. To say that he is selling them cheap to sell more is a bit…”
“These prices are nothing to the rich.”
“But a lot of regular people are buying them as well.”
The critics didn't know what to say.
“The popularity of a piece and its quality are separate issues!”
“Just because a piece is popular with the masses doesn't mean that it is a good piece of art.”
They gave excuses while secretly grinding their teeth.
“We weren’t wrong. Those morons who don’t know anything buy his crappy paintings because they think it’ll make them look more cultured!”
“Those dumbasses are buying it with herd mentality because someone bought one! They don’t know anything and just think it’s great!”
It was at that moment.
“Hey, did you hear? Apparently it’s going pretty well for Yoo Jaeha.”
“What?”
The five artists selling paintings on the west side were hearing about Jaeha’s situation.
The patrons who had run away had returned and they were having no trouble selling their paintings.
But what?
“Yoo Jaeha has had so many people wanting to buy the paintings that he had to change it to auction style!”
“He is having trouble because he can't answer when his next exhibition is going to be!”
"What the hell did he draw?”
The five artists looked anxious seeing the curators all heading to the eastern hall.
“Are you sure that the son of a bitch didn’t use da Vinci's artifact?”
Inaba Taichi just started laughing.
“They’re just interested because it is a Monarch's painting. They probably think they could resell it for profit. Damn pigs.”
"But such tricks won't work in front of my master.”
“What? Your master…… Master Andrew ?”
He was a famous artist who was currently serving as a critic as well.
“Master Andrew is here?”
“Yeah. He came to see my paintings. He said he might as well see Yoo Jaeha’s while he’s here.”
All of them started to laugh.
"Wow, he’s screwed. Master Andrew is extremely picky. He’s so blunt with his critiques.”
“He’s also extremely influential. One word from him and a person's image can plummet to the ground.”
“He was also pretty close to Jean Richard, wasn’t he? He was upset that Yoo Jaeha threw Jean Richard in prison.”
"Ah, Yoo Jaeha is done for.”
Andrew and other famous artists from around the world were entering Yoo Jaeha's exhibition hall at that moment.
Critics, curators, reporters… All of them, including the art merchants, turned toward them.
“Master Andrew!”
“Wow, pretty much all of the famous painters are here!”
They went around looking at Yoo Jaeha’s paintings. Even the general public was whispering.
Some of these artists were so famous that even people who knew nothing about art knew who they were.
The critics who had been talking crap about Yoo Jaeha approached them with excitement.
“Masters, what do you think about these paintings?”
“It’s just a copy of Jean Richard's, right?”
Andrew, who had been staring at a painting, frowned as he made a single comment.
“How stupid.”
“Right? That's what we thought.”
“Yes. You guys are extremely stupid.”
‘Excuse me?’
284
Maybe it was to be expected.
‘Why did it have to be this person?’
“Master Andrew!”
This was one of the world’s most famous artists.
It wasn’t just him.
“Wow, pretty much all of the famous artists are here!”
Maybe it was because it was such an eye-catching exhibition, but the famous artists, critics, curators, and reporters were all here. There were loads of art merchants as well.
They went around looking at Yoo Jaeha’s paintings. Even the general public was whispering.
Some of these artists were so famous that even people who knew nothing about art knew who they were.
“Holy shit, I should ask for an autograph…!”
The opposing artists became anxious after seeing them appear.
“That master is really here?”
“Yeah. He’s my master. He said he might as well see Yoo Jaeha’s while he’s here.”
All of them started to laugh.
"Wow, then he’s screwed. Master Andrew is extremely picky. He’s so blunt with his critiques.”
“I’ve never seen him praise anyone.”
“He’s also extremely influential. He’s done for if Master Andrew gives the word.”
“Wasn’t he close to Jean Richard? He was upset that Yoo Jaeha threw Jean Richard in prison.”
"Ah, Yoo Jaeha is done for.”
The critics And then… talking crap about Yoo Jaeha approached them with excitement.
“Masters, what do you think about these paintings?”
“It’s just a copy of Jean Richard's, right?”
Andrew, who had been staring at a painting, frowned as he made a single comment.
“How stupid.”
“Right? That's what we thought.”
“Yes. You guys are extremely stupid.”
‘Excuse me?’
The critics questioned their ears.
Had they heard wrong?
“Master Andrew, what did you…..”
“Are you fucking blind?”
“Excuse me?”
“I asked if you guys were blind.”
“Master Andrew!”
They were shocked. They never expected for Master Andrew to say that to them.
Andrew just snorted at them.
“You guys must be crazy. How can you say such crap in front of this genius talent?”
The critics almost fainted.
"Are you praising Yoo Jaeha's paintings right now?”
“Master Andrew, you are praising someone?”
This was someone who was famous for not even praising his own disciple. This person was praising Yoo Jaeha?
But why?
They became anxious and whispered to him.
“Master Andrew, what are you doing? You need your disciple to win as well…”
That would make Andrew's own fame go up and help him get richer through sponsorship.
“I also heard that you hate Yoo Jaeha…”
Andrew was glaring at the critics as if he loathed them.
“It is true that I hate Yoo Jaeha.”
He had been extremely close to Yoo Jaeha’s instructor, Jean Richard. He had heard that Jean Richard had plagiarized Yoo Jaeha's painting, but…
‘Was that really plagiarism?’
It was quite frequent in their field. People claimed someone else stole their work all the time.
That was why he had looked down on Yoo Jaeha. He believed that a fool with no talent had thrown his own instructor in prison to get famous.
However…
‘It’s obvious who the true artist is.’
Andrew had thought that Richard’s plagiarized painting had been great, but…
‘These paintings made Jean Richard’s plagiarism look terrible.’
That was how scary Jaeha’s talent was.
Quite a lot of different concepts were already in the world but this punk was creating a new concept of art.
There were still flaws and he still had a long way to go, but he had the aura of a master. He had the same aura as the masters who had developed the art world throughout history.
That was probably the reason. He didn't approve of Jean Richard’s actions, but he could understand the reasoning behind it.
‘Even I want to steal it.’
Jaeha’s talent was so great that it was scary. He even thought that Jean Richard had been crazy for trying to bury such a talented person.
“Anyway, critique properly if you guys have eyes that can see. This bastard is someone who will make a mark in this world.”
The critics could only stand there with their jaws down in shock.
The western hall turned into frenzy after they heard what had happened.
“What did you say?! Master Andrew said that?!”
His disciple Inaba looked completely out of it while the other artists couldn't believe what they had just heard.
“He’s never praised me even once…!”
“That son of a bitch, are you sure he didn't use da Vinci's artifact?”
More people rushed into Yoo Jaeha's exhibition.
The critics weren’t laughing anymore.
They had come after being bribed by Chairman Kwon’s side, however…… they had been publicly scolded by Master Andrew.
"Are you sure that Master Andrew wasn't a fake that he created?”
“That's possible.”
As they stood around in disbelief at what had happened…
The exhibition that had caught the attention of the world came to an end.
The rest of the team smiled while watching Jaeha being so happy about a successful exhibition.
As for Ju-Heon’s important bet…
[Eastern Exhibit Hall] - Yoo Jaeha - 47 paintings sold out.
[Western Exhibit Hall] - Inaba and 14 other artists - 62 paintings sold out.
Both sides had sold all of their paintings.
But both selling out didn't matter.
[Eastern Exhibit Hall] - Yoo Jaeha - 10,000 brochures sold (Sold out)
[Western Exhibit Hall] - Inaba and 14 others - 1,970 brochures sold.
The number of brochures sold was so different!
‘It shows how memorable Yoo Jaeha’s paintings were.’
That wasn’t all.
The electronic voting system they had set up outside the exhibit halls was the final blow. People who had visited today were asked to vote on which side’s paintings they liked better.
As a result…
[Yoo Jaeha: 41,580 votes (83%)]
[Inaba and 14 others: 8,420 votes (17%)]
The voting was quite one-sided as well.
The sponsors fell into shock and Jaeha’s opposing artists could not close their mouths.
“W, what the hell?”
They were people who used artifacts belonging to art masters of history. They already had an overwhelming fandom and they had so many different styles between the 15 of them that they had a clear advantage to sell more paintings.
Having more options is always better after all.
"So how the hell did Yoo Jaeha win?!”
“That bastard Yoo Jaeha is capable of defeating the auras of past masters?!”
The people who purchased the brochures and paintings were also the issue.
The prices of the brochures and paintings had been similar to keep things fair, however…
“Almost 90% of Yoo Jaeha’s stuff were bought by laymen.”
“But 90% of ours were purchased by our sponsors.”
They couldn't say anything.
“Are you sure that the son of a bitch didn’t use da Vinci's artifact?”
On the other hand, Yoo Jaeha was shaking with joy as he ran toward Ju-Heon.
“I won! We need to check the voting the next few days but Captain-nim, you won the bet!”
But Ju-Heon didn't praise him. In fact, forget praising him…
“Tsk, I didn't think you would really win.”
“?!”
‘W, what?!’
Ju-Heon started to grumble.
“I thought you might lose so I did some other bets aside from the ones with the Heirloom. Ah, I satisfied the conditions for the Tomb Appearance but I lost a ton of money.”
“What? What do you mean?!”
“What else? There’s no way that there would be no online gambling for such a big issue.”
Yoo Jaeha almost had a mental breakdown.
“Then Captain-nim, you bet that those bastards would win?! How much?!”
“100 million dollars?”
‘Holy shit, he bet so much!’
Ju-Heon wasn’t the only one.
"Ah, I was wrong. There goes 5 million won.”
“Vice Captain, 5 million won is nothing. I lost a 50 million won deposit. Man, why the hell did that pushover have to win…”
"Ah…… I also lost 10,000 won.”
The team members were all ripping up some papers. Yoo Jaeha grabbed the back of his neck in anger.
“You shitheads! You guys should have still bet on me! You traitors!”
“What? The odds have you at an overwhelming loss!”
There were people all around who were saying that they had lost money.
But Ju-Heon turned around as if it was nothing.
"Well, 100 million dollars is fine.”
“Wow, you truly are loaded. You make it sound like it was nothing.”
“No. It’s not my money. It was the money I was going to give Jaeha as salary.”
Yoo Jaeha grabbed Ju-Heon by the collar after hearing that.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?! What the hell did you do with my salary?! Why did you bet on them?!”
“You told me you won't be paid. It’s fine since I just used money I saved by not paying you.”
“Damn it! But still! I thought you said you trusted me! Huh? You guys are all too much!”
Yoo Jaeha was disappointed.
“Ow, I should have bet on myself if I knew it would be like this!”
He could have easily gobbled up a couple billion dollars based on the odds!
Of course, there were some winners as well.
“Umm, uhh…… I got it right.”
“?!”
The team members all gasped while looking at Irene who was waving a piece of paper around.
“You bet on Jaeha?”
“……Uhh, was I not supposed to do that?”
Of course she could do that.
“Why don’t we go eat out with that money? We need to make sure we are well-fed before the Tomb Appearance happens around here. Since our pushover worked so hard…”
Yoo Jaeha snorted at them.
“Whatever. I don’t eat with traitors. I made a ton of money today so I'm going to go enjoy a nice steak on my own. I'm going to spurge properly!”
Seol-A tilted her head in confusion.
“You're going to spurge with the money you made today? Did you forget the contents of the contract you updated yourself?”
“……W, what?"
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