NOVEL NEXT Chapter 53 – Topic
(TLN: This is a sponsored chapter. Thank you for the donation John. Please turn off the adblockers if you are able to. Thanks and enjoy~)
Jookjun Station’s 3rd exit.
“Doesn’t this mean it’s safe if the barrier is gone? We received an official request to come help here. The Alandal guild members have the right to pass through. Please let us in.”
“B…but.”
Jung-michan pushed past the flustered soldier, and he walked forward by force. Sunggoo and Haemin used this opportunity to jump after Minchan, and Woo-soonhoon also followed after them.
“Get out of my way.”
Lee-sahngho ordered the soldiers in anger, and they unconsciously stepped back. Jiwon also used this opportunity to head past the first line.
“Ah ah….”
Tears were streaming down Jiwon’s face. Her eyes picked up Woojin figure. Blood was staining various parts of his body. Moreover, there was a deep sword wound on his face…
Jiwon ran forward as tears fell down her face.
“President!”
Kahng-woojin blinked his eyes when he saw Jung-minchan, Hong-sunggoo, Kim-haemin and Woo-soonghoon run towards him.
“Uh? When did you guys get here?”
“We came here as soon as we saw the news.”
“Ah, is that so? I dropped my hand phone somewhere around here. Help me look for it..”
Ah. Currently, the whole nation was in a state of unrest because of president yet…
Before the slack-jawed group could respond, Jiwon ran forward to hug Woojin. Woojin was pushed back a step when she jumped into him.
“Hoo-hook. Woojin.”
“Jiwon?”
“Hoo-uh-uhng. I worried so much about you.”
Jiwon looked up at him with face covered in tears, and she had a runny nose. Woojin grinned. The medicine absorbed well into her.
“You’ve gotten pretty..”
“Hoo-ooh-oong, hoo-ook.”
She was shedding tears uncontrollably. Yes, she became prettier.
She wan thankful. She was so thankful that she couldn’t hold herself back.
She had been shocked when he entered the 6 star Dungeon… Her heart became nervous when she thought about what could go wrong… She would be able to thank him, and she wouldn’t be able to give him an answer.
“What happened to your face? Hoo-hook. You idiot. Why did you get hurt like this?”
Jiwon caressed Woojin’s face.
Uh. If she touched it like that, the medicine will come off. It was going to disappear tomorrow….
“Hoo-hook. What are you going to do being hurt like this?”
Jiwon cried in sorrow. She had regained her face. However, Woojin’s face….
No. It didn’t matter to her.
Even if Woojin became a monster, she wouldn’t care.
She was just thankful he came back alive.
When she received the ring as present, Jiwon had chosen her answer.
She was infinitely lacking compared to Woojin, but….
If he was ok with her…
Jiwon grabbed Woojin around the neck, then she stole his lips.
“Oop.”
Woojin’s eyes turned round from surprise. Why was she acting this way?
“What?”
“Hoo-ook. This is my answer.”
Uh? He had never asked her a question, So what answer?
When Woojin became confused, Jiwon pushed her finger forward.
“You gave me a ring. I also like you.”
“…….”
Woojin didn’t know what was going on, so he started to look around his surrounding. He caught sight of Woo-soonghoon standing next to Jung-minchan with both his thumbs in the air.
Ah, it was that bastard. It was that bastard again.
‘Hweeeek. President is so cool.’
He said it in a low voice, but everyone could hear him… That guy was so tactless. What should he do about that whistling bastard?
Jiwon was holding Woojin tightly. He pushed her away with a thumb on her forehead.
“I guess you aren’t afraid of anything. Who are you pushing your mouth towards to?”
“Uh?”
“A ghost is going to latch on to you. Get off me.”
“Peee. What….”
Jiwon was about to give a sullen answer when she realized where she was. She quickly separated from him. Woojin was someone the entire population of Korea was paying attention to.
He was a famous person….
‘I was thoughtless….’
Even at that moment, the cameras of the reporters were tirelessly recording this scene.
She hadn’t been able to control her emotions, and her eyes didn’t see anything except Woojin. Now that she came to her senses she really regretted her action. Did she cause more harm than good…
Jiwon was thinking to herself, when Lee-sahngho grabbed Woojin’s shoulder.
“Hey.”
“…….”
Woojin wordlessly turned his head around to look behind him.
Lee-sahngo’s angry face came into view.
“Why isn’t my dongsaeng coming out?”
Dongsaeng? He was the oppa of the noisy woman, who had followed after him?
“Whether it is the oppa or the dongsaeng, it seems both of you have a bad habit of rudely touching other’s body without consent.”
Woojin glared at Lee-sahngho. Lee-sahngho flinched as he took his hand off of Woojin and he took a step back.
‘Shit. What kind of eyes is that?’
Swear words were about to automatically come out of his mouth, but there were too many people watching them.
“What happened to my dongsaeng? Maybe….”
“Ah, she’s dead.”
“How can this be…. Her corpse? Why didn’t you bring out her corpse? Isn’t it reasonable to treat the dead with respect?”
One had to treat a teammate, who had cleared the Dungeon with one, with respect. Obviously, this was a rule that had to be kept. If he hadn’t fared well in the there, then his actions could be exscused. However, Woojin had come out after clearing the Dungeon.
“The corpse….”
Woojin looked around his surrounding. His guild family, soldiers, reporters, Lee-sahngho and the Hwarang’s family were all here.
‘Well, this place isn’t Alphen.’
He didn’t need to make a big deal out of this.
“She was a brave woman.”
“……?”
“She attacked an enemy she shouldn’t have provoked. She died bravely.”
“W..who did it? Which monster killed my dongsaeng?”
A monster….
“Immortal.”
“Immortal….”
Woojin patted the shoulder of Lee-sahngho, who was quietly repeating the word like a mantra. Woojin headed back towards his Guild family.
“Did you find my phone?”
“… the army should be holding it for you.”
Woojin and the Alandal guild members headed towards the command center located within the hotel.
Lee-sahngho’s clenched fists shook.
“P…please calm down. There are a lot of people watching us.”
“Gather the reporters.”
“What?”
“Mother fucker. Do you think I’ll stay put sucking my thumb?”
The Dungeon Break didn’t happen. Lee-yunhwee was dead.
Worst.
This was the worst of the worst case scenario.
Lee-sahngo calculated inside his head. His gaze headed towards the disappearing Woojin.
“That mother f….”
Now that he thought about it ever since that bastard appeared, it felt like Woojin was always blocking his path. He stole a 5 star Dungeon not too long ago, and now he stole the 6 star Dungeon.
Lee-sahngho was barely able to hold back his anger. He got in the car to avoid the eyes of other people.
Ddi-ri-di-ri-dingdong. Ddi-ri-di-ri-dingdong.
Lee-sahngho saw the name that accompanied the ring tone, and his stress level shot up a notch. He had to pick up the call from this number.
“Uh-hooh. Fuck.”
Accompanying a cuss words, he pressed the answer button on his hand phone.
“Yes, chairman. Yes… Yes. I will take those steps. Yes. I’ll minimize the damage as much….”
After awhile, Lee-sahngho ended his phone call, and he tried to calm his insides, which was seething with anger.
“Hooh-ooh. That fucker Kahng-woojin. ”
The crazy Roused had come out of nowhere. Rank A? That rank might be a joke now. The media was already labeling him as a Rank AA Roused.
Yunhwee probably helped him. However, two people had cleared a 6 star Dungeon….
“He probably thinks he made it out well by himself?”
Lee-sahngho chewed on his lips. Even if Woojin was some outstanding high ranked Roused, he didn’t care. The society was organic and everything was intricately intertwined.
Kim-gangchul was the number 1 Ranked Roused in Korea, but Lee-sahngho wasn’t afraid of him. Kim-gangchul was powerless.
If one insisted on being principled when everyone was bending the rules, then it was the end of that person.
On the other hand, Lee-sahngho was influential.
Hwarang was one of the 3 great guilds of Korea. He had personal connections with politicians, and people from the financial world.
His dongsaeng Yunhwee hadn’t like it, but Hwarang was able to grow so large, because he learned how to get on in the world. Moreover, the connections with these people had a large role in the growth.
He hadn’t been wrong.
“I can’t stand it when someone steals something from me.”
Woojin dared to get in the way of his ambition?
Lee-sahngho’s eyes narrowed.
“Life is a battlefield. Jot-mahn-ah.” (TLN: He quoted a 2009 Korean meme)
He’ll teach Woojin a stern lesson.
*
“I just cleared one Dungeon, so why do I have to do an interview?”
“Then I’ll decline the interview. I’ll send out a press release to the media with the information you have given me.”
“You do that.”
“What are you going to do about finding the Artifacts?”
“I guess I’ll return home after I find them all.”
“I’ll make it so that you will be able to use this hotel for a month. Director Hong, and Haemin will stay to help.”
“I guess one porter and an errand boy is enough.”
Sunggoo and Haemin puffed out their cheeks.
“Oh yeah. What did my mother say?”
Woojin had been secretly worried about his mother. Every time he went into the Dungeon, he was always put on tv…
“Well… Please listen to my words without being too shocked, president.”
“What? What happened?”
It was news about his family, so Woojin was nervous. At Woojin’s query, Jung-minchan spoke with a straight face.
“She doesn’t know about it yet.”
“What?”
“I contacted her, and she hasn’t watch the tv yet. So she doesn’t know about this.”
“…….”
Woojin’s forehead furrowed. He guessed it would be better than her finding out and being worried about him. Still, somehow it gave him a odd feeling…
“She said she couldn’t reach president by phone. I took the liberty to tell her that you had left your hand phone in your office, and you were away on a business trip..”
“…….”
“A…are you okay with that?”
“Haha. Of course… So, I’m guessing this incident hasn’t come up continuously on the news?”
“After the breaking news came out, the news channels have been showing this location on a live feed.”
“…….”
“This is the first time a 2 man team attempted a 6 star Dungeon, so even the foreign presses are treating this incident as newsworthy.”
“…….”
It still felt odd….
“What was my mother doing?”
“The moving date was approaching, so she was going around shopping for furniture…”
“…….”
His mother must be really excited…. She didn’t have any time to watch tv….
Maybe this was for the best?
He didn’t want his family to worry about useless things.
“If I head back after picking up all the Artifacts, then wouldn’t it be past the moving date?”
“Mr. Soonghoon and I will take care of it. President should just focus on clearing the Dungeon.”
“Uh, ok. Thank….”
“No. This is naturally the job of the the Support Division. Then we’ll leave you to it.”
Jung-minchan got up. Kim-haemin and Woo-soonghoon also got up.
“Please carry on with your conversation.”
Kim-haemin was pushing in his chair, when he grabbed Hong-sunggoo’s arm. He was sitting there being tactless.
“Director Hong. We still haven’t finished the conversation from earlier.”
“Yes? What conversation?”
Kim-hamein’s eyes kept moving trying to give Sunggoo a hint. However, Sunggoo obliviously looked back at him, while he drank his Cafe Mocha.
“Ha ha ha. Let’s go first. Let’s go talk over there.”
“What?”
Sunggoo still hadn’t picked up what Kim-haemin was trying to imply. He eventually just took Sunggoo away from the table. Woojin and Jiwon was the only one left.
Jiwon’s cheeks turned red for no reason at all.
“What happened to your work? How were you able to come here?”
“Uh? That is….”
She had come here without any plan. This was the first time she had been absent without notice during the past 4 years she worked at the company.
No. She had to miss work yesterday, because of Woojin. So was this her second time doing this? She would have never done such a thing before she had met Woojin.
Woojin grinned as he looked at Jiwon.
“You are more hopeless than you look.”
He was probably more hopeless than her.
“You like me?”
“Uh? The ring you gave… I thought about it for a long time and my heart…”
That was the result of Woo-soonghoon overdoing it. Still, that wasn’t important right now.
“This woman is asking for big trouble.”
“Uh?”
“You like to live dangerously liking a guy like me. ”
“…….”
Jiwon wordlessly lowered her gaze. Her eyes immediately welled up, and tears started to drip down.
So that’s how it was. Woojin considered her a burden.
Woojin was too important for a mere factory worker to covet him.
Woojin looked at Jiwon, who was crying wordlessly.
Her soul was clean without a speck on her soul. It was a pure soul.
How much would the evil spirits like her? How much will they torment and wound her?
He should keep her far away and protect her, but Woojin’s heart was…
Woojin grabbed Jiwon’s chin, and he forcefully lifted her gaze.
“Do you like ghosts?”
“……?”
“If you aren’t afraid of them, then give it a try.”
“…?”
The confused Jiwon stopped her tears when Woojin laughed.
“I’ll let you live a spooktacular life.” (TLN: If the readers want it, I listen. ^_^)
“…….”
This scene was being photographed from afar with a telephoto lens. The person looked too dubious to be called a reporter.