11.Charm (2)
‘I’ll have to test it out.’
Jin-woo headed to the training ground. Out of all the new additions, this was the one he liked the most.
There was a place where he could put dimensional gold coins on one side of the training ground to summon could be summoned, from slimes or skeletons to high-ranking monsters, and high-ranking monsters were randomly summoned according to the number of dimensional gold coins.
Jin-woo first summoned the Death Knight.
‘It looks terrifying.’
It looked like a final boss. At the height of nearly three meters, an aurora of black mana was spewing out, giving off the impression that it was a final boss. Fighting in the training ground would actually give damage, but it wouldn’t be life-threatening. After all, it was a proper training ground that only money could provide. It was a training ground that only high-ranking demons of the Demon Realm or the Demon King level could barely use.
Jin-woo took out one of the swords on display.
Whoosh! Shriiiiek!
A beautiful effect came out of the sword when mana was injected into it. Flares flew splendidly, hovering around Jin-woo. Impressive lights continued to burst out around him as he swung the sword. It was indeed awfully beautiful.
‘This is really…’
He didn’t know what to say.
The battle with the Death Knight began. The Death Knight was very agile despite its large size and excelled in swordsmanship. It was a perfect match for training. Jin-woo was quickly immersed into sparring.
The sparring was fun. Above all, there was a sense of accomplishment. After defeating one Death Knight and getting used to it, he could handle two to three of them easily. It started to make sense why swordsmen were so obsessed with swords. He was badly hurt a few times, but thanks to the potions, he was able to keep going right away.
Jin-woo decided to try summoning a high-ranking monster next.
‘Let’s put a little more this time.’
He put in as many dimensional gold coins as he could. It gave him the feeling of playing the lottery in a mobile game. A dark air came out of the summoning circle, and a knight in heavy armor with a greatsword appeared. She was wearing thick heavy armor that looked like a beetle, but she was similar in height to Jin-woo.
[-A] The Lightsaber Angelica (Fallen Hero)
She was once a hero, but she has fallen and now wanders around the dungeon. She was miraculously summoned through an enormous amount of dimensional gold coins and special luck. She is similar to the Death Knight. Rumor has it that she became a Death Knight because she is obsessed with swordsmanship.
Possessed Technique
*[B] Great Swordsmanship
*[B] Superpower
*[C] Berserk
*[B+] Cleansing of Slaughter
Arina was shocked.
“How many-dimensional gold coins did you put in to get that hero-class monster…it’s quite a Named, too.”
“I put it in as much as I could.”
That meant that he put a lot into it. Angelica raised her sword.
Gooooo!
The dark aurora gushed out, causing the floor to shake a little. Angelica moved first. Afterimages were drawn in the air as she moved, reaching in front of Jin-woo in an instant. It looked as if she had teleported.
Paang!
Jin-woo lightly lifted his sword to block. The sword wind blew his hair back, but the Spirit Magic mixed with the Golden Sword Master kept his hair in good style.
“It’s worth it.”
Angelica’s swordsmanship was quite impressive. It seemed to belong to the highest rank among the knight-level. However, the power of the Golden Sword Master couldn’t be matched. As Jin-woo’s sword began to move more and more splendidly, its power increased.
Kwaaaang!
Mana, like lightning, rushed in all directions to illuminate Jin-woo. It was in contrast to Angelica, who was surrounded by darkness. It was like seeing the collision of the forces of light and darkness.
They swung their swords at each other and brushed past. When Jin-woo lowered his sword, Angelica’s armor exploded, and she fell to the floor.
‘The movement is crazy.’
It was supposed to be like that when taking damage, but the complicated technique was working. When Jin-woo lowered his sword became the starter, and the movement was completed as if watching a movie. Wouldn’t it have been a Rank S+ Swordsmanship if that power was fully demonstrated?
Jin-woo shook his head, thinking so.
Angelica’s movements stopped. She looked like a robot that ran out of battery. Jin-woo tilted his head and checked with the Magic Eye of information.
[Angelica was fascinated by the swordsmanship.]
[Angelica refuses to be reverse-summoned.]
If you summon and deal with low-level monsters, they will die on the spot, but monsters with reason would be reverse-summoned over time. Angelica was also supposed to be reverse-summoned. She momentarily fainted, but she shuddered and refused.
It was a very rare phenomenon.
“Why isn’t she going back?”
“She must be impressed by your beauty, Master!”
The bright red eyes that reflected on the thick helmet were exceptionally bright.
In Jin-woo’s eyes, the light in her eyes looked like they were heart-shaped. Arina thought for a moment and then nodded.
“The gold coins used for summoning are also considerable, so it would be better to vest her to the Sanctuary for now.”
“Um, well…it will be fine, right?”
“Yes, I’ll make sure of it.”
Arina registered Angelica as the property of the Sanctuary. Angelica began to move her massive body.
Creak! Creak! Clank!
The sound of armor colliding with stone was heard.
Pheeeeng!
She began to pick up the pieces of stone that had fallen to the floor at great speed. The training ground was being cleaned up rapidly.
Arina’s hand twitched. Her desire to research was soaring. She looked at Jin-woo with earnest eyes.
“Well…with a little research money, I think I can create something greater for you, Master. And also if there are some research materials…”
That was kind of easy. Arina trembled with emotion when she was allowed to enter the laboratory and storage.
“I will serve you with all my heart!”
Jin-woo simply fulfilled her faithful desire while saying how great her curiosity was. As for the Sanctuary, he left everything to Arina.
‘Well, the swordsmanship isn’t bad. I will have to level up steadily.’
According to the original setting, there were still eleven Emperors left. They weren’t comparable to the Emperor of Greed, but they were still difficult opponents. He just wanted the main character to grow up quickly.
“The Emperor in China…”
The Emperor of Vanity It seemed the main character was caught with a Chinese heroine around that time.
‘What was her name?’
There were so many heroines that he couldn’t remember. It looked like there was no need to worry about it, though. Jin-woo returned home from the Sanctuary.
‘I have a schedule today.’
A rather tight one, at that.
* * *
Kim Young-hoon was always passionate and believed in justice. Justice was what humanity created together. That was his belief.
“I’m sorry.”
Young-hoon bowed his head. The boss of the PC room was looking at Young-hoon with a frown.
“Hey, you’re late again.”
“I was trying to help an old lady that lives next door.”
“You make excuses too. Ah, what time is it already?”
“Helping others is not a bad thing.”
“Hey! Then help me first. If I weren’t nice, you would have been fired already. Late hours will be deducted from your hourly wage.”
“Yes! I’m sorry.”
The boss shook his head and sighed. There was no other pushover like that asshole; he even still believed a friend that had taken his money away. After all, he never refused when he was asked for help.
He couldn’t have been that meddlesome. The boss felt very sorry for him, so he was paying him a high hourly wage, but that guy was always like that, so his frustrations were never-ending. He did a good job once he got to work, so he just watched over him.
The boss just sighed and shook his head. Young-hoon worked hard. He never cheated, and he kept moving without stopping. It was even frustrating to those who watched him.
The evening after Young-hoon finished his part-time job arrived.
He received a chat from his sister.
Big Sis: I sent you some pocket money.
Young-hoon: You don’t have to. I’m working part-time.
Big Sis: You said you were going to retake the exam. What part-time? I’ll support you, so go to the academy. You only worked part-time all day to pay off the loan interest. You don’t even regret it.
It was natural to help a friend. It was such a large amount that he borrowed and lent to a friend, but it had been a few months since he heard from that friend. The interest was snowballing, and he was working part-time, but there was no way to repay the principal. But he believed.
That friendship would never betray him! He hadn’t heard anything from him, but he believed that sooner or later, he would show up with great success.
‘Lee Jin-woo…’
After mentioning that name, his sister, who had never dated or had an interest in any man, suddenly became strange. Lee Jin-woo’s photo was displayed on her tablet PC. She started preparing for early graduation and eventually joined the G&P. It was a company that recently became a great topic on community sites.
Lee Jin-woo was a man everyone knew. He used to be called the roughneck of a conglomerate family or the crown prince. He was recently a man who had splendid modifiers such as unprecedented genius and immeasurable talent. Moreover, experts said the value of the resources he found was astronomical.
Although he announced that he had discovered a lode with a large amount of magic crystals and didn’t elaborate on anything else, that alone surprised the world. As a result of the inspection by the verification agency, they even said that everything was true and that the original announcement was somewhat conservative.
‘People have to be right.’
Lee Jin-woo’s appearance gave a sense of noble dignity. It felt like he had hopped out of a fairy tale. His pictures were being uploaded to the community over and over again these days.
‘Even with all of that, his personality is still rotten.’
Young-hoon shook his head. He didn’t understand why that guy lived like that. He knew that his sister was into him, but he just wanted her to move to another company. Now that she was a competent person, it would be easy. He was able to become independent easily also thanks to his sister becoming a competent person.
On the way to his rented room, he got a phone call from a friend who had borrowed money from him.
‘I said I believed in him!’
Young-hoon laughed. His friend suggested having a drink together in a weak voice. When he checked the balance in his bank account, his salary had just arrived. Young-hoon met his friend without hesitation.
His friend was always reliable.
“I’m sorry. I worked hard to pay your money back, but the company disappeared…please wait a little longer.”
“Is that so? The company? Didn’t you say you worked at a bank?”
“Cough, that…well, it’s in the financial sector. It’s something similar! Ah! Do you know Lee Jin-woo?”
“Lee Jin-woo…of course.”
The friend shook his head and spoke up.
“However, that Lee Jin-woo bought the building on his own and kicked everyone out. I didn’t even get severance pay.”
“Report to the Labor Administration!”
“You didn’t know? They’re all on Lee Jin-woo’s side. But if I post it on the Internet, I’ll probably disappear from the world.”
“Should we protest about it?”
Young-hoon put a very serious expression on his face. The friend got up from his seat while reading Young-hoon’s eyes.
“Come on, that’s okay. Anyway, I’ll pay you back soon, so please wait. I will pay for the drinks.”
“No. I’ll…”
“It’s fine.”
The friend paid 20,000 won and disappeared. As expected, they were still his friend. Young-hoon thought so and hoped that they would do well.
‘Is there any way I can help?’
Kim Young-hoon thought about it for a long time, even after he got to his room. He was boiling with rage at the thought that his close friend had been treated unfairly. People had to do the right thing; they must not turn a blind eye to injustice.
It was the same with Lee Jin-woo. Even such garbage could admit his wrongdoing and become a righteous person. After all, there were no bad people in the world!
Kim Young-hoon’s eyes shone brightly. He nodded and called the PC room boss.
“Boss, I’ll be taking a week off.”
[What? Hey man! If you say that now…]
“I have to do the right thing.”
[You bastard, did you suffer a relapse again? Hey! Don’t say anything weird and…]
Peep!
Kim Young-hoon bought a mask and a recorder. He even grabbed a picket.
“I demand the truth from Lee Jin-woo!”
This little wave would establish great justice. Kim Young-hoon followed Lee Jin-woo around for a week. But he couldn’t even see his toes. He went where the reporters were, but the reporters didn’t even pay attention to him. Not a single line of that common article appeared.
‘Lee Jin-woo…’
Evil had presented itself. He stepped towards the JW Gate, managing to get into the building near the JW Gate. Young-hoon’s will was strong. He survived the cold by eating a few slices of bread and drinking a bottle of milk.
He was passionate and lucky. Otherwise, he couldn’t keep away from the trained guards no matter how desperately he moved. Young-hoon kept an eye on JW Gate like that, his cell phone battery long dead.
Now it was a fight against patience! After a few days like that, something unusual happened.
‘Here he comes!’
Young-hoon looked at the JW Gate with his telescope. There was a commotion. Many people went into the JW Gate building to see if something happened. The area around the JW Gate was tightly controlled, and no one seemed to access it. Young-hoon stood up with his mouth shut tightly.
“Uh, ugh!”
His whole body ached from crouching for a long time. But being healthy was like his specialty, so he didn’t catch a cold or anything. He hadn’t been sick once in his life.
A very large and luxurious car could be seen through the telescope. For some reason, Young-hoon could feel it instinctively: Lee Jin-woo must be in that car.
‘Let’s go!’
He started running towards the JW Gate before the car stopped. Guards and bodyguards appeared and tried to stop him.
Whieek!
Although he wasn’t fast because he was an ordinary person, he was good at digging through the openings. He miraculously managed to reach near the JW Gate. A laser point followed Young-hoon’s body. Young-hoon didn’t care and took out his tape recorder and the picket.
“Don’t shoot! He’s a commoner!”
It was a woman’s voice. With that voice, Young-hoon’s body was briefly lifted off the ground before being slammed down.
“Ugh!”
Young-hoon barely raised his head and looked at the woman who was holding him down.
“Ah….”
She was a very beautiful woman, with neatly tied back hair that suited her well. She was such a beauty that she looked like an elf that had climbed out for a movie. Young-hoon stared blankly at her.
His heart beat fast while she quickly searched his body. He had no weapons, only a wallet with a few thousand won bills. She sighed slightly.
“He’s not a dangerous person. I will take care of him.”
She raised Young-hoon to his feet. She brushed the dust off her clothes and checked the ID in his wallet.
“Your name is Kim Young-hoon?”
“Ah…yes! T-that’s right.”
“You can’t go any further than this. There is a separate place for the demonstration, so go there and do it.”
“I need to meet Lee Jin-woo. It’s for the sake of an unfortunate friend!”
She squinted her eyebrows while looking at Young-hoon. She seemed to be thinking something, sighed, and looked at him. For some reason, Young-hoon felt like his heart was relieved when he was by her side. She was so warm that he wanted to rely on her.
“Oh, I’m going to get scolded by the Chief of Bodyguards…what’s going on?”
Young-hoon began to babble at her question. She thought about something, nodded, then put her hand to her ear. What was in her ear was a micro-radio with Gate technology.
“What’s your friend’s name?”
When he told her his friend’s name, she nodded, and the answer came a moment later.
“Your friend was in the loan business. He was involved in kidnapping and blackmail. He was arrested three days ago.”
“What? He must have been framed. My friend can’t do that.”
“You are free to believe it or not. Anyway, don’t do something reckless like this. One more step would have put your life in danger.”
Young-hoon could even risk his life for his friend. The woman focused for a moment on the sound coming through the radio.
“Yes, his name is Kim Young-hoon. He is twenty-one. What? Me? The CEO’s order? I understand.”
It was also beautiful to see her bewildered figure. Young-hoon’s heart was pounding.
‘Is this love?’
Just then, white snow fell. Young-hoon couldn’t help but stare blankly at her, who looked so beautiful and matched the white snow well.
“Are you Kim Se-yeon’s younger brother?”
“What? How did you know?”
“There is a way to know everything. I am Rachel Lee from JW Silver Arrow.”
Rachel smiled slightly. Her name sounded so clear to Young-hoon’s ears.
“I will guide you to a safe place. Please warm yourself up there.”
“I want to reveal the truth…”
“Let’s go to the rest area first.”
When she grabbed Young-hoon’s arm, he showed a brief sign of rebellion, but…
“You can’t do that.”
“Ah…yes.”
Young-hoon nodded when Rachel smiled and said so. He followed her obediently to the lounge near the JW gate. It was a lounge used by resident security guards, so the facilities were top quality. There was also a communal lounge and private sleeping rooms adjacent to it. Even the smallest sleeping room was much better than Young-hoon’s bedroom.
Hot drinks and food were served. Rachel looked at Young-hoon as he held a spoon. He ate very well even in this situation. As she listened to Young-hoon’s story, Rachel spoke without formality.
“I trust my friends. Even if so…there must be a story behind it.”
“Haa, everyone has a story. I’ll send you the data, so check it out.”
“Yes. Even so, many people whom Lee Jin-woo harassed…”
Rachel listened to him, holding her head together. The Chief of the Bodyguards ordered her to let him go home safely. It wasn’t by order of the Chief of Bodyguard but Lee Jin-woo.
‘Mr. Jin-woo is also really…’
He was so nice. Rachel thought he should have come out a little bit stronger at times like this. Jin-woo was unable to get out of the car because of Kim Young-hoon. In case there might be any further danger, the bodyguards started to search the area. Despite the possibility of damages, he was worried that the commoner might get hurt. There were even additional instructions to take him to the hospital for the best treatment if he was hurt.
‘He is such a kind person…’
What’s with those rumors about him?
Rachel shook her head. The frustration disappeared when she thought of Lee Jin-woo. Given this direct order…
‘He must be trusting me!’
She thought positively.
Rachel glanced at Kim Young-hoon. It was very difficult to infiltrate this far without being noticed by the trained guards. There was a lot of luck involved, but that meant there was a hole in their security. Rachel felt the need to change the subject away from his frustrating story.
“You have talent.”
“What? M-me?”
“So, why don’t you try to develop it to be a competent person instead of doing this?”
Kim Young-hoon’s heart raced and jumped. Her words rang in his ears.
After the area was secured, a huge car stopped in front of JW Gate. Kim Young-hoon could see the scene over the window, but he couldn’t get out. He had to stay still until Lee Jin-woo moved in safely.
Lee Jin-woo’s suit-clad figure was visible to Young-hoon’s widening eyes.
‘He cool…’
He glared at him with a serious expression, trying to erase the thought of getting out. His steps seemed to be measured with a ruler, and even the smallest gestures looked very elegant. It was like watching a scene from a movie. For the first time, Young-hoon understood Lee Jin-woo was different from birth.
Young-hoon turned his head to look at Rachel. She was also looking at Lee Jin-woo, but the vibe itself differed from when she saw him. She wore a lovely smile.
For some reason, he clenched his fists. After Lee Jin-woo entered the building, it felt like a storm had broken out. The silence subsided.
“I’ll take you home.”
“It’s fine. I will go alone.”
“No, I have to make sure.”
Rachel took Young-hoon directly to his rented room.
“Thank you, Rachel.”
“Yes. See you again.”
“Yeah? Yes! See you again!”
Young-hoon bowed his head and went into his room. Rachel even made sure the door was completely closed. Young-hoon seemed to have a good personality and was polite, but there were many frustrating aspects to him as well.
‘Is it a feeling like living in another world alone?’
It was more of a bad meeting than a good one, but Rachel had a strong feeling that somehow she would see him again.
Young-hoon entered his rented room. Their place was a mess, with trash bags in the corner. Maybe it was because he was outside for over a week, but he reeked.
‘Ah….’
Young-hoon took off his clothes and charged his cell phone. A message came immediately when it turned on.
G&P Rescue Team: Greetings, Mr. Kim Young-hoon. The Smile Happy Loan used by Mr. Kim Young-Hoon is by the Association of Competent People.
The message said that the G&P and the Association of Competent People would drastically cut excessive loan interest and reimburse some principal. There was also an apology that the Association’s poor management caused damage.
G&P belonged to Lee Jin-woo.
[It’s fine. I will pay back all of that.]
That’s the message he sent. He didn’t want to get help from Lee Jin-woo but would overcome it with his own strength.
‘Competent person…’
You have talent. Rachel’s words crossed his mind.
He clenched his fist tightly.
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