95 - 104

Chapter 95. Kang Chul-In vs Titan

Bang! Bang!

The ground trembled from the force of Titan merely walking.

"Huhu…"

From inside Titan, Franz laughed crazily.

If an Atlas was to be measured in "tens of tons", then Titan was a giant that weighed over 100. Riding in this final weapon of his, Franz wanted to crush Kang Chul-In and see the faces of his subordinates after his death.

"Oh?"

Kang Chul-In looked at the trump card that Franz had prepared and nodded.

Though Franz's Titan could not be compared to the Titans that had fought during Ragnarok, it was extremely impressive considering the fact that it had only been a year since the Great Summoning.

- Kang Chul-In, was it?

Franz's voice echoed through the battlefield with the help of a large speaker inside his control seat.

- Kneel down now and beg for mercy.

He suggested that Kang Chul-In should surrender.

- If you do that, I'll spare at least your life. Huhuhu...

Riding on Titan, Franz's confidence skyrocketed. It was obvious that he thought of himself as the predator here and Kang Chul-In as the prey.

Kang Chul-In's reaction to that was...

"Sigh…"

"Oi, you dog."

Kang Chul-In looked at Franz who was sitting inside Titan, 20 meters away, and spoke.

"If you keep speaking nonsense, I will go and personally cripple the legs and arms of that trash robot. Okay?"

It was as if Kang Chul-In was really talking to a dog that didn't know its place.

- Nonsense?

Franz laughed as if he had heard something crazy.

- No matter how strong you are, do you really think that you'll be able to stand back up after fighting against my Titan? In front of this ridiculously powerful Magic Weapon?

Franz's words somewhat made sense.

Would a person, even if that person was a powerful Lord, truly be able to stand up against Titan with his bare body?

Standing tall at 7 meters and weighing in at 115 tons, equipped with and powered by 3 Magic Crystals. There was no sane person that would fight against Titan and yet still be so confident and shameless.

- Seems like you need a beating.

- What's the point of acting so powerful and posing so much? Is it to show off to that woman standing behind you? Or is it really because you believe in yourself? You… No matter how much I think about it… you're crazy.

This was how Franz saw Kang Chul-In.

"Lucia."

Kang Chul-In called Lucia.

"Yes, milord."

"Just in case, standby behind me."

"Standby…? Don't tell me…"

Rather than responding to Lucia's words, Kang Chul-In just jumped off the Altaica and started slowly heading towards Titan.

"M-Milord!"

Lucia frantically called Kang Chul-In.

"Y-You're going to fight against Titan alone?"

"Exactly."

Kang Chul-In didn't turn around while answering.

"T-That can't be! No matter how powerful my Lord may be, fighting against Titan alone is…"

"Lucia."

Kang Chul-In interrupted her words.

"I will win."

At these words, Lucia could not stop Kang Chul-In anymore or try to persuade him. The only thing she could do now was to believe in him.

"Come."

Kang Chul-In signaled at Franz to come, speaking arrogantly.

"I'll destroy you."

- Destroy? Who, me?

"Is your mouth the only thing that's alive?"

Saying this, Kang Chul-In's eyes showed killing intent. It meant that he wouldn't let Franz go anymore.

"If you don't come, then I'll go."

Shing!

Kaiforce suddenly turned into the shape of a snake before wrapping around Kang Chul-In's right hand. It was known as a Soft Sword, but it had even changed shape into a Gauntlet to fit Kang Chul-In's hands.

- I'll crush you!

Seeing Kang Chul-In's confidence, Franz was annoyed. Once Kang Chul-In was in the attack range of Titan, he was the first one to attack.

Titan's joints started moving at once.

With a "kachink", the heavy and metallic arm of Titan started to swing down towards Kang Chul-In.

Franz didn't expect this attack to succeed.

He wasn't stupid.

Although Kang Chul-In was walking towards him like an idiot, he thought that Kang Chul-In would still dodge the first attack before trying to counterattack afterwards. Due to this, he slightly lowered and tilted Titan's back in preparation to launch a 2nd attack immediately. He had tried to look a step forward.

But Kang Chul-In's reaction to the attack was something that Franz hadn't anticipated at all…

BANG!

With an extremely large explosion…

A shockwave spread to the surroundings of where the collision happened.

CRASH!

Titan fell to the ground, landing on its butt.

"W-Wh...M-Milord…"

Lucia was so startled that she couldn't speak properly.

What she saw right now was so unbelievable that even after witnessing it with her own two eyes, she could still not process it.

Kang Chul-In and Titan.

The fists of a human that was 183cm tall and the fist of a 7-meter-tall Metal Giant collided. Yet, the one that had lost the exchange was not Kang Chul-In but Titan.

It wasn't even Titan being slightly pushed back.

Titan, which had clashed fists

with Kang Chul-In, fell before rolling 4 or 5 times backwards on the frozen ground.

And that wasn't all.

The right fist of Titan that had clashed with Kang Chul-In had been completely distorted in shape, and it seemed like it lost its capability to function.

The two miniature Magic Cannons loaded on Titan's shoulders were also broken due to the shock taken from rolling backwards.

The right arm and two Magic Cannons.

Titan had already lost over 30% of its entire strength in one collision.

"Huu…"

Yet, Kang Chul-In, who had just done that, started stretching as if what he had just done didn't even qualify as a warm-up. What seemed impossible for others to do became something easy in the hands of Kang Chul-In.

Pzzt, Pzzzt!

Sparks formed around Kang Chul-In, making him look stronger than he had ever been before.

"Milord…"

Lucia really couldn't understand this man standing in front of her and how strong he actually was. Was this man actually a reincarnation of an undefeated war god?

Kang Chul-In, who had activated the second phase of Overdrive, was incredibly powerful.

If phase 1 Overdrive gave a 40% increase in overall strength, phase 2 would give a 60% increase in strength. At this point, it wasn't enough to merely say that someone had gotten stronger. It was a strength that was on another level.

"I'll finish this quickly."

Saying this, Kang Chul-In shortened the distance between him and Titan at a speed that couldn't be properly seen.

Thinking of the aftereffects that would come after activating the second phase of Overdrive, it made sense that he would have to wrap up the fight as quickly as possible. After all, this special move of his was a double-edged sword, and it would end up hurting him more if used incorrectly.

BANG!

Kang Chul-In's right fist, which had the Kaiforce Gauntlet wrapped around it, smashed into the abdomen of Titan.

Crash!

The tough steel that protected Titan's midsection was pushed back 30cm, making it look like there was a giant hole in the middle. If someone saw this, they might misunderstand that Titan was made out of Aluminium and not steel.

This was the difference in hardness.

Although it was unknown what sort of metal that Kaiforce was made of, the durability of it was unchanging, which meant that it was infinite. It was impossible for an ordinary metal to stand up to it.

"Well then, let's see how you look."

Kang Chul-In smiled evilly, and…

BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Smashing and raining his fists down like crazy, Kang Chul-In crushed the metal that protected Titan into nothingness.

Franz, who was hidden behind 60cm of pure steel, shouted in panic as Kang Chul-In started walking closer.

What kind of fist was able to break through 60cm of steel so easily? To Franz, it seemed like Kang Chul-In's fist would be able to tear down even the entirety of his territory.

"B-Booster!"

Franz hurriedly tried to turn on the booster and show Kang Chul-In the true power that Titan had. It was only a minute since the battle had started, and the real start of the fight would begin now.

However…

Franz's hopes were soon dashed.

Cr-Crack!

As the heavy steel plating started to get pummeled by the raw force of Kang Chul-In's fists, the big plate that covered the front section of Titan was ripped away before the booster was even pressed. The first thing he saw after Titan was ripped apart was…

"Did you really think you'd be safe if you hid inside here?"

Devil, no. It was Kang Chul-In's face that seemed like the devil's to him.

'Q-Quick!'

Franz didn't give up and tried to use the Soul Core to control Titan, but…

Kuk!

His neck was grabbed by Kang Chul-In and was being clamped down.

Since Franz was running out of breath so quickly, he could not control his own body, much less control Titan or activate the booster.

"Kukkk...Kukkk!!"

While his neck was still grabbed, Franz's body was dragged out of the control seat by Kang Chul-In.

"You."

Kang Chul-In spoke to Franz, now grabbing onto his hair.

"Y...Y-Yes?"

"You remember what I said before, right?"

Of course he remembered.

I'll make you like this.

Franz still couldn't forget the scene in which Kang Chul-In had broken the boulder in front of him with his bare fists. It still gave him chills when he thought about that.

"P-Please… Just once…"

Franz begged for his life.

"I-If you just save me once…"

"If you decided to fight me, you should have been prepared for your skull to be crushed. Am I wrong?"

Kang Chul-In spoke fiercely.

Krrr…

The Altaica circled around Franz while occasionally roaring, creating a terrifying atmosphere. It was like Franz was a caged beast, waiting to be devoured at any moment.

"Kuhuk… Sob…"

Finally, tears started to pour out of Franz's eyes.

To Franz, who knew how to make and control Golems and knew nothing about fighting, the best he could do was stay quiet and cry.

"Trash."

Kang Chul-In stared at Franz in disgust.

It made him extremely angry that a coward like this spoke to him about "being a real man".

To Kang Chul-In, it would have been better if Franz had said "just kill me, you son of a b*tch!" and showed his determination. Of course… the end result of death wouldn't change.

"Please, if I have a wish…"

Kang Chul-In spoke as if he was tired.

"It's that I don't want to see any more trash like you."

It meant that Kang Chul-In didn't want to see any more people that were cowardly and had to cry and beg in the face of death.

"Please… spare at least my life…"

Franz begged.

But… the action of him begging was actually what hastened his death.

POW!

Franz's skull exploded like a watermelon.

"I…"

Kang Chul-In spoke, turning around.

"Always keep my word."

He had kept his word that he would really make Franz like the boulder he had shattered.

Because Kang Chul-In was a "real man" who did what he said he would.

----

2 days later.

Kang Chul-In could only truly take in how much they had gained once he read the report written by Lucia. The contents were as follows:

- Mecha Dome territory (fortress) / 300 citizens living inside

- 342 Gold

- 6 Atlases (Exterior damaged, out of battery, 20% damage for inside, 1 completely destroyed)

- Titan (Exterior 35% damaged)

- 10 Magic Technicians

- 50 Magic Engineers

- +1 Level

- +75P (Lord Points)

What made Kang Chul-In the most excited was gaining the 10 Magic Technicians and 50 Magic engineers.

Besides that, the Mecha Dome territory was a circular shaped building and was the best territory from which to defend and watch over the Eastern Plains as a fortress and a watchtower.

Due to this, Kang Chul-In became the Lord who had taken over 80% of the territory in the Eastern Plains and could gain massive harvests from each territory he had conquered.

With this, I'll finally be able to move.

Riding on the back of the Altaica and returning to the Laputa territory, Kang Chul-In decided inwardly that he would move back to the old Valhalla territory that he resided in previously.

The conquest to conquer the entirety of Pangaea would begin from then onwards.

Hecate, who had kept her integrity to the end, and the traitor, the Necromancer Aleister, who had betrayed him. Finally, Kang Chul-In. He would go back to where the heart of the old Ishtar alliance.

It was at that moment.

Dding!

Suddenly, Kang Chul-In's Status Window opened, and an announcement could be seen there.

[Notification!] The Lord Rankings will be announced! (All Lords)

Finally, the Lord Rankings that were based on the Lord Points would be presented!

Chapter 96. Lord Rankings, Revealed!

"Ahh…"

Kang Chul-In now recalled that it was around this time period that the overall Lord Rankings were first revealed. The rankings were…

- 1st Place: Kang Chul-In 667P (Extremely likely to become Overlord!)

- 2nd Place: Baruk Al Yusuf 559P (Likely to become Overlord!)

- 3rd Place: Albrecht Vilhelm 551P (Likely to become Overlord!)

- 4th Place: Skadi Andevari 498P

- 5th Place: Alex Rothschild 495P

- The position of Overlord will be granted to the Top 10 Lords as a reward once every year at the yearly Lord meetings.

- When granted the position of Overlord, a special "authority" for each Lord will be granted.

- The Lord who is ranked first at each yearly Lord meeting will be granted 1 random Epic Item.

Of course, Kang Chul-In was proudly ranked 1st.

He had even outranked by a large margin Baruk Al Yusuf who, at the first Lord meetings sat at the very highest seat and bragged about himself.

Other than that, Albrecht Vilhelm, the future leader of the Gulveig Alliance, and Rothschild, his archenemy, also ranked respectively at 3rd and 5th place.

He also saw two people that would die.

The other two Lords that ranked within the top 5, Skadi Andevari and Baruk Al Yusuf… They did not show up at the Second Lord meeting.

For the case of Baruk Al Yusuf, though he was an extremely powerful Lord that even Kang Chul-In acknowledged, he had tried to set up an Islamic empire in Pangaea and acted as a tyrant before being slowly pulled down by the other Lords that had allied against him.

Skadi, on the other hand, died 3 days after she became an Overlord. She had lost her life to an assassin that someone had sent after her.

It was nothing surprising.

Since people in high positions got constantly got picked off due to jealousy, it was regular for Overlords and Lords at high rankings to die.

But what was really interesting was something else.

To Kang Chul-In, the rankings between 6th~10th place surprised him more.

-6th Place: Hecate 392P

-7th Place: Ao Xin 380P

-8th Place: Aleister 373P

-9th Place: Dorian Explorer 361P

-10th Place: Lee Chae-Rin 355P

It wasn't weird or strange at all to see Hecate and Aleister so high up on the list as they were also Overlords when Ragnarok first started.

As for Ao Xin, it made sense that he was also this high up as he was also one of the future pillars for the Gulveig Union, known as the "leader of a million men".

Finally, it also made sense for Dorian to be placed 9th. Though it was different from the past, he was personally tutored and taught by Kang Chul-In.

The fact that Lee Chae-Rin had ranked in the top 10 was extremely surprising.

Even though it was true that Kang Chul-In had saved Lee Chae-Rin from a crisis, but 10th place? For someone like Lee Chae-Rin with an extremely weak military to be ranked in the Top 10, something had probably happened.

Did she find an extra gold mine or something?

Kang Chul-In thought that Lee Chae-Rin's special ability Abundance might have been activated, allowing her to be extremely lucky and finding an extra gold mine. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for her to rank this high so quickly.

But even though it was surprising, it was nothing bad for Kang Chul-In.

If Lee Chae-Rin had found an extra gold mine, then it was also beneficial for Kang Chul-In.

After all, Kang Chul-In and Lee Chae-Rin's previous agreement was that he would gain 40% of the profits from the mines in Nidavellir. The more gold and precious gemstones she mined, the more it would benefit him!

Lee Chae-Rin. Maybe she's actually a woman who will last longer than I had expected.

Kang Chul-In thought that maybe, just maybe, he would ally with her in this life to fight against the other alliances that had appeared during Ragnarok.

If Kang Chul-In was to be the one fighting in the front lines, Lee Chae-Rin would back him up from behind, using the astronomical sum of money she gained from her gold mines. The combination of wealth and military strength. This was his wish that had been ungranted in his past life.

It's changed.

Looking at the Lords ranked in the top 10, Kang Chul-In realized that the future had been changed due to his actions.

Previously, the Overlords in the 1st Lord Meeting would only have a survival rate of 50%. 5 of the 10 had been eliminated from the competition due to the fierce ganging up that occurred afterward.

But it was different now.

Kang Chul-In, who had previously ranked out of the top 10 at 13th Place, was now ranked 1st, and Dorian, as well as Lee Chae-Rin, had been added to the top 10 as well as a result of his help. This would change the fates of the 3 Lords that had died in his previous life as they were now ranked out of the Top 10.

Of course, there was no real need to worry.

There wasn't a saying, "the ones who will fall will fall", for nothing.

The ones who would survive would survive until the end, and the ones who would be eliminated would be eliminated sooner or later. Just because there was a change in the Rankings didn't mean that the future would change completely. After all, the only thing that made a difference was Kang Chul-In himself.

"Milord, what are you looking at so carefully?"

As Kang Chul-In was thinking deeply, Lucia, who had stood in front of him for quite a while, interrupted him.

"I've just looked at the announcement for the Total Lord Rankings," Kang Chul-In said.

"The Total Lord Rankings? Then… milord…"

As the Secretary of Kang Chul-In, it was natural that she was curious about his rank.

"1st."

Kang Chul-In spoke as if it didn't really matter.

"1st place!!"

Yet, to Lucia, it seemed like she cared about it a lot.

"As expected of milord! Congratulations!"

"It's nothing much."

Kang Chul-In, who was ranked 1st, really didn't care much about it.

"There are still around 5 months before the First

Lord Meetings. There's no real guarantee that I will stay in 1st Place until then. There's no point if I'm 1st right now. What matters is that I stay 1st."

Kang Chul-In was calm.

If this announcement was revealing the scores of a mock-exam before the real test, then the First Lord Meeting would be the revealing of the SAT scores.

Kang Chul-In didn't really care about his rank of 1st place either. For the rank of 1st, he had kept it up after the 3rd Lord Meeting after all.

"Milord."

Lucia spoke again.

"Why don't we hold a festival when we get back to the Laputa Territory?"

"A festival?"

Kang Chul-In tilted his head, confused by the sudden suggestion made by Lucia.

"Because we've been so busy going around conquering other territories, our citizens didn't really have time to celebrate our harvest this year. And not only that, didn't milord successfully become the ruler of the Eastern Plains due to our successful war campaign? Since the Laputa Territory hasn't had a festival since milord has been appointed, we should hold a festival at this opportunity to celebrate milord's great achievements, mourn the deceased, and celebrate the harvest. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?"

Listening to Lucia, Kang Chul-In felt that she had a point.

"And if milord also reveals the rewards to our citizens using this opportunity, not only can we save time, but we can also create an advertising effect."

Holding a festival was actually more important than it seemed.

There was no better method of raising the happiness of the citizens than holding a festival in the territory. The citizens of the territory would praise Kang Chul-In even more after this.

"Very well."

Kang Chul-In nodded.

"We will hold the festival as soon as we get back."

Since Kang Chul-In's Lord Points would also rise along with the happiness of the citizens, there was no reason for Kang Chul-In to refuse.

"Give an invitation to Lord Lee Chae-Rin of the Dorado territory and also call Drakan."

"...The Lord of the Dorado Territory?"

As soon as Lee Chae-Rin's name came out, Lucia's face stiffened.

"It's the first festival. Rather than inviting some outsiders and foreigners, wouldn't it be better if we held it just by ourselves?"

"That is also a good idea, but Lee Chae-Rin is a very important Lord to us and our alliance. It is better to create a stronger bond with her. And not only that…"

Kang Chul-In paused for a second.

"She has placed 10th in the Total Rankings."

As soon as Kang Chul-In said that, Lucia's eyes filled with disbelief and shock.

"I-Is that so…?"

"Lord Points don't lie… I'm guessing that the Nidavellir dwarves have found another gold mine or something."

Although Kang Chul-In couldn't see because Lucia had turned around, she was cringing.

'T-This… stupid woman with nothing but money!'

Lucia couldn't stand that Lee Chae-Rin was becoming an important person to Kang Chul-In. They had even had a small invisible clash.

Training, the only answer to this is training!

Lucia swore to herself that she would start an intense training programme during winter. The only thing a Secretary like her could do was to beat Lee Chae-Rin in strength.

--------

A huge festival was held.

Kang Chul-In walked up to a stage where he could see all of the gathered citizens of the Laputa territory at once.

The 50 Specter Knights that were standing behind Kang Chul-In added to his majestic demeanor.

Furthermore, that wasn't all.

The 6 Atlases that Kang Chul-In had taken as spoils of war during the battle against Franz were standing to his left and right.

The White Lion Knights also stood diagonally away from Kang Chul-In, making way for him to look at the citizens and giving the citizens a view of their ruler.

Finally…

Krrr!

In front of the throne, the godbeast Altaica knelt down and roared. This added even more to Kang Chul-In's imposing manner.

"First of all, I would like to thank our brave soldiers and warriors for fighting for us."

After the mourning of the dead was finished, the festival started honoring the ones that had done especially well in the war campaign.

Then, the fireworks began.

Nilus, as well as Princess Arshelly, showed fantastic collaboration as they created artificial fireworks with their magic.

Boom!

Boom! Boom!

With the colorful and fancy fireworks being the signal that started the festival, all of the citizens of Laputa had a great time, laughing and eating. It was also good for the lucky travelers and adventurers from Earth visiting the Laputa territory as they were also able to participate. Thanks to this, Kang Chul-In gained an extra 50 Lord Points.

Within the Castle of Laputa, a meeting for the high-ranked officials of the Laputa territory was held.

"Mr. Chul-In?"

Lee Chae-Rin, who had brought over 5000 gold in a wagon all the way to Laputa, approached Kang Chul-In slowly holding a bottle of whiskey.

"Hmm.?"

Kang Chul-In was startled as he looked at Lee Chae-Rin's appearance. She had… changed.

"Have you done plastic surgery or something?" Kang Chul-In asked.

"Huh?"

Lee Chae-Rin's face stiffened.

Was I wrong?

Kang Chul-In was confused.

After all, Lee Chae-Rin had become much more beautiful since the last time they had met. She was almost a different person now. Even her body had become more glamorous and more voluptuous, so it made sense for Kang Chul-In to become confused. At this point, Lee Chae-Rin was pretty enough to shame most of the celebrities on Earth.

"Sigh… that's not it, Mr. Chul-In."

Lee Chae-Rin explained.

"I've hit the jackpot in the Nidavellir mines."

"Yes, I know that. Oh, did you go to a famous plastic surgeon since you got a lot of…?"

"No!" Lee Chae-Rin said with a slightly upset face.

"O-Of course, I didn't have an extremely beautiful and pretty face… But to say it was plastic surgery… you're too mean, Mr. Chul-In."

"Hmm? There's no way for a person to change with just make-up though."

But rather than understanding Lee Chae-Rin's feelings, Kang Chul-In just continued to ask about how she changed.

"Huu..."

Lee Chae-Rin sighed deeply.

"You don't have even a little bit of interest to women, do you Mr. Chul-In?"

To be precise, she didn't mean "women" but "me".

"It's because of a 'transcendence stone'."

Lee Chae-Rin finally told him the truth.

"Is it really… the transcendence stone that I know?"

"Yes, that's right. This time I was lucky enough to find a bunch of C-rank Transcendence stones. The one I used personally, though, was a B-rank one."

A transcendence stone as the name suggested, was a stone that allowed someone to "transcend" the limits of a human. Though it wasn't as great of a treasure as a dragon heart, it was still extremely valuable. It made sense that Lee Chae-Rin had suddenly gotten more beautiful and gained a lot of stats if she had used the stone.

"I also plan to send you 30 transcendence stones by next week too, Mr. Chul-In."

Out of Lee Chae-Rin's mouth came something that Kang Chul-In had hoped for.

"You need it, right?"

"Of course. I will use it very well," Kang Chul-In answered, laughing in satisfaction.

Nice!

Thinking that she had finally captured Kang Chul-In's interest, Lee Chae-Rin celebrated inwardly. If she used this to continue and ask Kang Chul-In to dance with her…

"Father~ Oh? Is Lord Chae-Rin was also here?"

But suddenly, Arshelly appeared and grabbed Kang Chul-In's hands.

....Sigh….

Thanks to this, her plan to dance with Kang Chul-In fell to pieces.

"What is it?"

Kang Chul-In looked at Arshelly with his "nice face".

Arshelly's eyes twinkled.

"Milord, I also…"

From somewhere, Lucia also appeared and tried to grab Kang Chul-In's attention.

T-T-That woman!

Lee Chae-Rin clenched her fists and tried her best to restrain her anger. It was because Lucia's provocative gaze towards her was telling her "why don't you go somewhere else?"

Her guess was accurate.

Hmph, why don't you go somewhere else? How dare you try to hit on milord!?

Lucia's eyes clearly held that nuance.

'I've become pretty too!'

Though Lee Chae-Rin tried to stare back at Lucia…

Pft, with just that?

Lucia didn't seem to feel any sort of threat from Lee Chae-Rin.

You're still not even close. Not with that immature body of yours.

Lucia slightly posed her body.

To Lee Chae-Rin, Lucia was a western lady with a perfect body. After all, Lucia was 170cm tall, so she had an unfair disadvantage from the beginning.

"Mr. Chul-In!"

But Lee Chae-Rin didn't give up.

"What is it?"

"C-Can I also go inside as well?"

However, Lucia stood in front of Lee Chae-Rin, blocking her.

"No, you cannot. This is a meeting about the inner workings of the Laputa territory. It is not a place for a foreign Lord, even an allied one, to come in."

Though Lucia's words seemed impossible to argue against…

"No, it doesn't matter. Actually, it might be better if she joins us."

Kang Chul-In thought differently.

"Milord! How can another territory's Lord…?"

"I thought we were going to speak about Arshelly's desire of wanting to go to school, was I wrong?"

"B-But…"

"For something like this, asking Lee Chae-Rin would be a good decision. I don't have any idea whatsoever of what to do about this issue right now after all."

Kang Chul-In's decision made sense.

As a workaholic that didn't care much about any other issues than Pangaea, Lee Chae-Rin would be much better at these sorts of issues than Kang Chul-In.

T-This… woman without any sort of common sense!

With this, Lee Chae-Rin and Lucia had given a blow to each other.

It was an invisible battle, a dirty battle between two beautiful women.

However…

The man that was the reason this fight broke out…

The reward of Overlord… I wonder what Epic item will be given to the 1st-ranked Lord…?

He was busy thinking of other, more "important" matters.

Chapter 97. That son with that mother

"D-Daughter?"

Park Sun-Ja was completely shocked at this unbelievable event.

On a hot summer day, as Park Sun-Ja was relaxedly tending to the garden that Kang Chul-In had bought for her, she let go of the water bucket she was holding.

"Son? How can this be…? Explain it to me."

Suddenly becoming a widower, Kang Chul-In couldn't lift his face to look at his mother due to his embarrassment.

Dammit!

Since he had fully accepted Arshelly as a daughter now, he wasn't going to hide her existence from his mother. The method he chose to do this was through "frontal collision".

"W-When was this, son?"

Park Sun-Ja's face darkened.

"It was when I was 20."

Kang Chul-In lied to her.

"H-How about the mother?"

"She's dead."

Well, technically, this wasn't really a lie. Arshelly's parents had really died, just that it was around a thousand years ago.

"Stop lying…"

Park Sun-Ja thought of this as a joke.

How could this make any sense?

Kang Chul-In had never even brought his girlfriend to his house, and there was no way that he could suddenly bring his "daughter".

Well, let's take a look.

Full of suspicion, Park Sun-Ja carefully looked over Arshelly.

Jet black hair, big eyes without a double eyelid, a sharp nose, high cheekbones, and whitish skin, etc… Other than the fact that she looked somewhat non-Korean, she looked absolutely similar to Kang Chul-In. No matter who looked at it, they would think that the two were related.

"...Son. Was the mother…?"

"She was a westerner."

"Sigh…"

At that moment, Park Sun-Ja nearly tripped over due to the sudden dizziness she felt.

"M-My son… with a western girl… Sigh…"

"Mother."

Kang Chul-In quickly helped Park Sun-Ja up.

"... I'm sorry."

Since this was something that had to happen at some point, Kang Chul-In decided to accept it as well as possible.

"Grandma~"

But the one that really allowed Park Sun-Ja to calm down was Arshelly. Due to Kang Chul-In's special training and the help of the Talking Tree Saps, she was able to fluently speak Korean now.

"Are you okay?"

Thankfully, Arshelly seemed to have the ability of "healing" someone just by talking to them.

"H-Huh?"

"Grandma~"

Arshelly suddenly bowed to her grandma, Park Sun-Ja.

"Uh… yeah."

But Park Sun-Ja couldn't really get used to having Arshelly around.

There was a saying that you should "be careful what you wish for" as that wish could come true at any time. This was a great example of this as Park Sun-Ja had kept on bugging him about having a granddaughter, and she suddenly received one, without any forewarning.

"I've wanted to meet you for so long~"

"I-Is that so?"

Though Park Sun-Ja was taken aback, there was no way that she could hate this girl that was so similar to her son, Kang Chul-In.

"I will speak to you about the specifics later, mother," Kang Chul-In said.

"I'm sorry."

There was no parent in the world that would be happy if their only son became a widower. Due to this, Kang Chul-In felt his conscience being hurt as he continued to lie.

"N-No. It happens when you're young, son."

"...."

"Taking responsibility like this isn't a bad thing. You said that you found out just recently too, right? I can't say that this was purely your fault. But let me just ask you one thing."

"What is it?"

"Will you take responsibility for her and raise her well?"

"Of course."

"Very well. Your father would have done the same."

"We can talk about what happened in detail later. It doesn't matter if it's not today. We can take our time on this."

Though she did seem shocked, looking at Park Sun-Ja who accepted reality so quickly, Lee Chae-Rin was surprised. It was as expected for the mother of Kang Chul-In to be so strong. It seemed like it was passed down through genetics.

"Ms. Chae-Rin, you come in too. You've become a lot prettier over the time I haven't seen you! I almost couldn't recognize you."

"Haha~ No, that's not true~."

Lee Chae-Rin spoke to Park Sun-Ja while smiling radiantly.

Sigh…

Thinking that he had passed

through a great disaster, Kang Chul-In let out a sigh of relief. He was mentally damaged by this more than if he had fought a million men.

----

Sadly, Lucia couldn't come to Earth.

As the Secretary of the territory, she had to keep her place when Kang Chul-In was away, and she also had to do her own "training".

And thanks to this, the honor of taking care of Arshelly naturally went over to Lee Chae-Rin.

While Kang Chul-In had left the house temporarily to visit Old Man Kwon, Lee Chae-Rin tried her best to conquer Park Sun-Ja's heart.

"How could someone be perfect~?"

Lee Chae-Rin fiercely defended Kang Chul-In's "mistakes".

Realizing that Arshelly was actually an adopted daughter and that Kang Chul-In was still unmarried, Lee Chae-Rin tried to score a free kick towards the goal that was left open.

"Although it is true that he has made a mistake, isn't someone who doesn't take responsibility completely different than someone who does? If you look at it in this way, Mr. Chul-In is actually a man that is very responsible."

"I-Is that so?"

Though Park Sun-Ja didn't openly act happy about it, there was no sign of her being unhappy with what Lee Chae-Rin said.

"No, it's true. And also, please speak to me informally~"

Lee Chae-Rin attempted to slowly break down Park Sun-Ja's defenses.

"No, no. It's not right if I do that to some other house's precious daughter."

Saying that, Park Sun-Ja's gaze landed on Arshelly, who couldn't keep her eyes off the animation playing on the TV.

"Ms. Chae-Rin."

"Yes?"

"I realized that you like my son, Ms. Chae-Rin."

"W-What…?"

As it came all of a sudden, Lee Chae-Rin's face turned bright red.

"Thank you, thank you… But it isn't really an easy thing to meet a man who already has a daughter."

"Honestly, I want someone as kind as you, Ms. Chae-Rin, to become my son's girlfriend or even wife. Of course… I'm not sure if you can handle my son's personality though."

At this point, Park Sun-Ja was speaking to Lee Chae-Rin informally.

"So, why don't you try and get him? Although it isn't going to be easy, I'm happy if both of you like each other. The problem isn't me here. It's getting into my son's heart."

"Ms. Sun-Ja…"

Lee Chae-Rin's eyes turned moist at Park Sun-Ja's words.

"And as for that 'daughter' of his… Although I don't know where in the world he found her, she sure does really look similar to and related to my son."

Park Sun-Ja looked upset.

"My son is really great, huh? To think that he would lie so easily to his mother."

"Huk!"

Lee Chae-Rin gasped.

"When you become a mother, you know at least half of the things that your child means just by looking at his expression."

"T-That…"

Though Lee Chae-Rin was extremely taken aback…

"I mean, that's what my son does."

"Although I'm not exactly sure what he does in that other world, I'm guessing that he's doing a very big thing. I mean, he is my son after all. Haha. When a man is doing something big like this, it isn't really up to the mother to say something or go and ask about each and every thing. I mean, I even got such a pretty granddaughter."

Park Sun-Ja's eyes were still on Arshelly whose eyes were glued to the TV.

"My granddaughter, I'm going to make a lot of delicious things for her. And when can I send her to school, I can't wait~"

What in the…? That mother with that son… It seems like this is the power of genetics…

Lee Chae-Rin could tell where Kang Chul-In got his temperament from.

--------

After hearing that Old Man Kwon was at the very top floor of Galaxy Corporation's new building, Kang Chul-In immediately headed there.

"Hup… Huuu… Hup… Hu!!"

Old Man Kwon was busy working out in a training room that he specifically built for himself to exercise in.

Watching an old man at the age of 80 exercising while listening to songs from musicians like Daft Punk or Kanye West, Kang Chul-In had to laugh involuntarily.

"Hup...Huu…"

The sounds of exercise were also pretty loud.

"Oi, old man."

Walking towards Old Man Kwon who was bench pressing, Kang Chul-In spoke.

"Hup… Huu… Huh?"

Finally noticing Kang Chul-In, Old Man Kwon immediately stood up.

"Oh~ you came! Kukuku."

"It seems like you're enjoying life."

"Of course! Because of that meat of the Peacock Dragon you gave me, I can't restrain myself from exercising anymore."

Despite being at the age of 80, Old Man Kwon seemed full of strength.

No, he actually was full of strength.

Although it was unknown exactly how much time Old Man Kwon had spent on working out, it was enough to bulk him up to the point where he was almost unrecognizable.

"How is it, do you want to also come here sometimes and work out?"

Old Man Kwon flexed his muscles to Kang Chul-In, showing off…

"Exercise."

Smirking, Kang Chul-In used only his Index finger and lifted up the whole machine that was used for Old Man Kwon's exercise.

"W-What?"

Even the trainer that was looking behind him gasped in shock.

"If I become as weak as you, I might consider it."

Sadly for Old Man Kwon, Kang Chul-In was a man that could easily hold up a few hundreds of kilograms.

"Ehem… Hmm… Seems like being young truly is good… Well, I guess you die when you're old. Sigh, I can't catch up to someone young no matter how much I try…"

"This."

Suddenly, Kang Chul-In interrupted Old Man Kwon's words, putting a thick bag of documents onto a table.

"I want some new ID cards."

"Hmm… That isn't very difficult. Who is it for?"

"Adventurers. Around 30 that are all under me. Make sure they have a somewhat clean background and double citizenship."

"Hmmm… Wait. Is this…?"

Old Man Kwon's eyes gleamed as he thought of another business opportunity.

"Yes, it is an adventurer management business."

Kang Chul-In nodded.

"Well, that's good timing."

Old Man Kwon made a somewhat troubled expression.

"Huh?"

"Well… there are some 'things' that are stopping our business from truly taking off."

At this, Kang Chul-In's veins nearly popped out from anger.

Who dared to challenge his business and source of money?!

Chapter 98. Real man Kang Chul-In

"I'm guessing it's those adventurers that came back from Pangaea," Kang Chul-In mused.

"How'd you know?"

"Well, it's obvious."

Though Old Man Kwon was already 80 years old and liked to ride supercars and had a secret romance with a famous old actress…

He was still a terrifying man.

If there was someone that dared to fight back against someone like Old Man Kwon?

It would have to be adventurers.

To adventurers that had superhuman strength, law and order didn't matter to them as they could just run away after breaking and destroying everything.

"Well, I guess you're right. There are clans that are trying to disrupt our business. Just this week, 7 of my bodyguards have gone missing. I think it might be a warning of sorts."

It was a warning.

This was clearly a warning message, threatening that they would do something like a terror attack against the Galaxy Corporation if they dared to continue and expand their business.

"The Unique Clan and the Omega Clan."

Kang Chul-In knew what groups and clans were bothering Old Man Kwon.

"The Unique Clan's headquarters are located in Mapo-gu, around Hongdae. Look for a club/lounge that goes by the name of 'Insane' and look at the VIP rooms there."

Kang Chul-In knew a lot about the Unique Clan, too much in fact. After all, it was a clan that he had smashed in his past life.

"As for the Omega Clan… I'm not entirely sure. Those people are quite secretive and mysterious."

"To deal with them, I will lend you the 30 Adventurers that I mentioned to you. Then, you can try to use them and take care of the Omega Clan."

Kang Chul-In knew that Billy Halford and the other adventurers were quite skilled as they survived during the hunt of the Peacock Dragon. With adventurers like them, it wouldn't big a big problem to take down the Omega Clan.

"What…?"

Old Man Kwon was startled.

"I thought you were running a territory in the Pangaean continent… How do you know so much about this? Huhu… Oh, do you have some sort of informant that you use?"

"Don't ask me."

"Haha, come on. Why don't you introduce me to that informant of yours too? What do you want as payment? Ferrari? Or a Porsche?"

Out of Old Man Kwon's mouth came some car brands that would make one's jaw open in awe.

"Oh! Thinking about it now, even though you do have a Mustang, a Lamborghini, and a Jaguar… You don't have a Ferrari! If you're a real man, don't you think you need to drive a Ferrari at least once?"

Using a Ferrari as bait, Old Man Kwon looked at Kang Chul-In as if to say "How's that? You have to tell now, don't you?"

But…

"If you know, you'll get hurt."

Kang Chul-In still didn't tell him.

"Sigh… You're too resilient."

Due to this, Old Man Kwon had to lick his lips in disappointment. If he

asked, he would get hurt, and no sane man would ask knowing this.

"A Bugatti Veyron."

"Huh?" Old Man Kwon's eyes turned bigger at the sudden request.

"What, so you are going to tell me the informant?"

"Of course not."

Kang Chul-In himself was the informant that Old Man Kwon really wanted to meet, and Kang Chul-In had no intention of introducing Old Man Kwon to his past memories.

"Just tell me."

Kang Chul-In suddenly turned into a thief.

"What…?"

"To be precise, a Bugatti Veyron Super…"

"Don't tell me… a Supersport?"

"Haha, you know me well."

The price of this car was incredible.

A Bugatti Veyron Supersport was one of the derivatives of the Bugatti Veyron and was incredibly expensive, pricing out at over 2 million dollars.

"P-Please, give me mercy… It's too expensive…"

"The hair growth serum is still selling right now, I know that you don't have problems with money."

"Fine! Fine. Just give me 3 days."

"Hmm… Actually, just give me a list of all the supercars you want. I think that'd be better, for the future."

Old Man Kwon spoke as if he was pained.

"Around how many more are you aiming to collect?"

"Hmm... maybe 10?"

"Oh, also… can you make me another ID card for someone the age of 9?"

"9 years old?"

"It's for my daughter. It would be even better if it was double-nationality, for Korea and the U.S. Her surname, of course, has to be Kang."

It was for Arshelly.

"D-Daughter? Y-You were a father?"

"Don't ask."

Kang Chul-In turned his head around.

"Haha, I thought you were still unmarried, but… Ha… Well then, what about your wife…?"

As Old Man Kwon was going to ask about Kang Chul-In's non-existent wife, Old Man Kwon suddenly lost his balance.

BANG!

With an extremely large noise, Galaxy Corporation's building shook.

Cr-Crack!

The windows cracked…

"Old man, duck!"

Kang Chul-In ran like lightning towards Old Man Kwon to protect him. As he arrived next to Old Man Kwon, a bunch of the chandeliers and other things hanging on the ceiling fell down.

"W-What the hell?"

"Is it an earthquake?"

"No, it's not."

Kang Chul-In shook his head and cleaned up all the shattered glass on the floor.

"It's a terrorist attack."

"A terrorist attack?"

"Some crazy people are threatening us right now."

But Kang Chul-In remained calm even when this happened.

It's probably the Omega Clan.

Though the Unique Clan did disrupt a lot of things even in Kang Chul-In's past life, they did not do terrorism on such a big scale.

Meanwhile, the Omega Clan was different.

They did not care about the method and just got things done.

"I'm guessing that they used some kind of explosives to do that," Kang Chul-In explained.

"No, it can't be. That kind of terrorism hasn't occurred in Korea before. There's no way that…"

But before Old Man Kwon could even finish his words…

"President!"

"President, we have a report!"

A bunch of bodyguards came to Old Man Kwon and surrounded him.

"There's trouble! Apparently, according to security, there were shots from an RPG-7 from the top of the building next to us."

This was when Kang Chul-In's words turned out to be true.

-----

Kang Chul-In didn't need to do anything.

T-These… I'll do this with my own strength. Don't worry.

Becoming extremely angry, Old Man Kwon reverted to "Kwon Hyung-woo", the absolute head of the dark Korean underworld.

Agreeing to this, Kang Chul-In gave Old Man Kwon the right to command Billy Halford and the other adventurers until the case was finished.

It was at that moment, when Kang Chul-In was driving his Jaguar V-8 while thinking about his future plans.

- Mr. Chul-In~

A message from Lee Chae-Rin came.

- We're at B.I Spa-Land right now. Do you want to come?

- No.

Kang Chul-In answered lazily. He didn't really like answering in long texts while driving.

- (sad face)

Lee Chae-Rin sent a sad face emoji to him.

Spa? I have no time, or need for that.

Kang Chul-In had already set up an extremely luxurious Hinoki Bath in his new house and could relax in there. There was no real reason for him to waste his money and…

- Son!

A message from his mother also came.

- Come quickly~ I'm waiting ^^

And finally…

- Dad~~

Arshelly sent him a selfie of her wearing a Korean-style Sheep-head using the towel, asking him to come. It seemed like the 3 of them had all went to "B.I Spa-Land" together.

Chapter 99. To the Ishtar region

"Dad~"

Arshelly, who was wearing a towel on her small head in the traditional Korean Sheep-head style, welcomed him.

"Hehe…"

Unlike Pangaea where she had to be formal, Arshelly clung onto Kang Chul-In's arm, acting cute.

"Are you listening to your grandmother well?" Kang Chul-In asked her.

"Yes! Grandma has bought me Sikhye and also some boiled eggs to eat! How about you, dad? Did you eat dinner yet?"

Though the word "dad" seemed to be an extremely foreign concept to Kang Chul-In, he let Arshelly go as he thought it was cute.

"Son, you've come?"

"Hi, Mr. Chul-In~"

Park Sun-Ja and Lee Chae-Rin also welcomed Kang Chul-In.

'I wonder, is this how normal people live?'

While Kang Chul-In was wondering about the life of a "normal being", he was interrupted. It was because his daughter Arshelly had pulled his hand.

"Dad~ Uh… I…"

She started twisting her body and fretting.

"Just say it."

"Uhh… C-Can you buy me…?"

Using her delicate hands and fingers, Arshelly pointed towards a Cup Ramen that was on display.

"I want to eat that…"

"Of course."

Kang Chul-In nodded. That kind of ramen, he could buy it any time she wanted.

"Thank you, dad!"

Arshelly politely thanked him.

"Well then, son, you eat the ramen. Chae-Rin and I will go get a massage."

"We'll be back, Mr. Chul-In~"

Soon after, Park Sun-Ja and Lee Chae-Rin went to go get their sports massage. Due to this, Kang Chul-In was left to eat the ramen with just Arshelly.

"Daughter."

For the first time, Kang Chul-In spoke first to Arshelly.

"Yes, dad?"

"Tell me about what you thought about visiting my hometown. It could have been a little bit unsettling because it was your first time, but I was surprised at how well you fit in."

At that, Arshelly…

"It's no problem because you're here with me!~"

She only knew how to speak nicely.

"I want to learn more! There are a lot of cool things here. I want to learn this and that … and especially something called science. And the TV is also very cool too!"

Arshelly was not ordinary. If an ordinary Pangaean visited Earth, they would have fainted over 100 times due to shock.

"Well, let's eat now. The noodles are all cooked."

"Hooo...Hooo…"

Using her delicate hands to "wield" the chopsticks gracefully, Arshelly placed the noodles in her mouth. And…

"D-Dad?"

Arshelly looked as if she was going to cry.

"T-This is too spicy… Sob."

The ramen that Kang Chul-In had picked was the spiciest one.

-----

The Unique Clan was taken out not even a week after Billy Halford and the other adventurers arrived in Korea.

But Old Man Kwon seemed to struggle.

Although he had taken a look at all of the CCTVs and cameras that were within a 10km-range of the Galaxy Corporation's building during the attack, he still could not find a trace of the Omega Clan.

But what they did didn't matter to Kang Chul-In.

Kang Chul-In was busy playing with his daughter Arshelly and taking

care of his mother.

He was doing his role as the "leader" of the family in this life, something that he couldn't do in his previous one.

While Arshelly was busy playing with his mother…

His phone rang.

- Yo, Chul-In!

It was Dorian Explorer.

"What is it?"

- Do you have any spare time?

"No, I don't."

Kang Chul-In answered coolly. He had to return to the Ishtar region soon and take a look at his previous territory, Valhalla, so he really had no time.

- Ahh… that's depressing.

Dorian seemed disappointed.

"Well, I'm not disappointed. I'm going to hang up now."

It was obvious what Dorian was going to say.

It was probably that he had either found a mysterious and cool animal or that he had found a dungeon. Dorian was like that, going around and saying that Pangaea was just too small for him.

- W-Wait!

On the other side of the line came Dorian's panicked voice.

- It-It's an Epic Dungeon!

At those words, Kang Chul-In didn't press down on the "End Call" button that he was about to press.

Oh?

If it was a regular dungeon, Kang Chul-In would have no doubt ended the call there.

But if it was an Epic Dungeon, it was different.

Although it was obvious, the rewards that were given when an Epic Dungeon was cleared could not be compared to the rewards of a regular Dungeon. If you hit the jackpot in an Epic Dungeon, you could turn your whole life around.

But…

"Epic… Epic, huh…? Go look somewhere else."

Kang Chul-In didn't get hooked in by Dorian's bait.

- Dammit, you still don't have time?

On the other side of the line, he could almost see Dorian's disappointed face.

It's unlucky, but… I just have no time.

"Why don't you wait then?" Kang Chul-In asked.

"Just wait a month. I might have time in a month."

One month would be enough to look around the Ishtar region. Then, he might have the time to follow Dorian around and go into the Epic Dungeon.

"After all, with your skill level and strength alone, you'd be lucky if you even made it out alive."

- Well… that's true…

"Don't ask any random nobodies or strangers to join you. Just wait for me. I'll give you a call when I have time."

Kang Chul-In showed how relaxed he was.

- Hmm… It seems like you really are busy. I thought you just told your subordinates to work and that you were playing around.

"What?"

- W-Well… I went to your territory and heard that you and Arshelly went back to Earth…

At that moment, Kang Chul-In's veins throbbed.

This bastard...

Since his reincarnation, Kang Chul-In had absolutely no time to have a breather. It was no wonder why he was ranked so much higher above all the other Lords in the Lord Rankings with 5 months remaining till the first Lord meeting.

"It seems like you want to get beaten up."

- N-No… That's not true.

It seemed like he had gotten frightened.

- W-Well, anyway… Since you don't have time, there's no choice. I'll go contact Alex instead.

"What?"

At that moment, Kang Chul-In just hoped that the Alex that Dorian referred to was not Alex Rothschild.

- Don't you know as well? Alex Rothschild, the guy that comes out on TV every so often.

Kang Chul-In nearly threw the phone in his rage.

Dorian and Alex Rothschild were two people that were absolutely not allowed to get closer to each other.

Because if that happened…

He was ready to kill Dorian too.

"S-So… do you meet Rothschild often nowadays?"

Kang Chul-In asked stiffly.

- N-No.

Dorian answered.

- Was it about a month ago? He sent me a message on the World Community. He said that he wanted to meet me. So I just got his contact information.

It was a relief. To both Kang Chul-In, and Dorian.

- Well, since you say you're busy… I was going to go with this Rothschild. Why? Do you have problems with this Rothschild?

"No, I don't really know him. I just didn't like him when I saw him on TV."

- Really? I mean, he is quite handsome.

"I don't care about that."

- Hmm… Anyway, there's no choice since you said you're busy. Oh, then do you know any adventurers in the Ishtar region?

Dorian asked him a weird question.

"Ishtar?" Kang Chul-In answered back, confused.

- Oh yeah. The dungeon that I was talking about is in Ishtar.

At those words, Kang Chul-In's eyes turned cold.

Chapter 100. The beginning and end, and the beginning.

The Ishtar Region.

This region was where Kang Chul-In's Valhalla territory, Hecate's Temeraire, and Aleister's Undeadia territory were located. The name of the Ishtar Coalition that Kang Chul-In ruled came from this region.

As it was the first real step and memory he had when he first began as a Lord, it was a home of sorts to Kang Chul-In. This was also the place that Kang Chul-In had decided to visit later.

There's an Epic Dungeon in Ishtar?

Kang Chul-In felt very suspicious about Dorian's words.

As far as he knew, there was no Epic Dungeon within Ishtar.

Of course, he couldn't say that his knowledge was 100% accurate. If you were not a god, you couldn't know everything after all.

But if it was about dungeons, the story was different.

In his past life, Kang Chul-In and Dorian had gone around the Ishtar region searching and beating each and every dungeon that was for Level 40 and above. Long story short, it didn't make sense that there was an Epic Dungeon within Ishtar. There must have been a mistake.

"Stop lying to me," Kang Chul-In said to Dorian across the phone.

"Your words have to make sense for me to believe you."

This came from the fact that Kang Chul-In determined that there was no Epic Dungeon within the Ishtar Region.

-Wow… Kang Chul-In…

Dorian seemed upset at this.

-How could you not believe my words…? I thought you were my friend… sigh… to think you saw me as a liar and a fraud…"

-Fine, listen to this then. Okay?

-So basically, I went traveling to the Ishtar Region, and well… I got there by going from the Western Mountain Range and going straight down from there. And there, there was some gigantic sailboat-looking thing in the sky. As I continued down, there was this sort of really long yet narrow gorge I saw. Well, I guess it was still fun because there was a lake I saw in the middle of the trip that was as big as a sea, and I had fun catching fish there.

Dorian spoke facts about the Ishtar Region's geography.

For the "giant sailboat", there was a high chance that he was referring to Hecate's Temeraire, and the "really long yet narrow gorge" was the Carmel Gorge, which was also near the Valhalla territory.

Well, I do know for a fact that he's definitely been there before.

Kang Chul-In could tell that Dorian had personally been there by just hearing the description.

-Anyway, as I got across that gorge, I saw this gigantic green castle-like structure, and though I did think for a while about going in that direction, I didn't like the ominous feeling, so I changed directions and went south.

For the "gigantic green-castle", it was obvious that it was the Overlord Aleister's Emerald Castle of the Undeadia territory. Kang Chul-In was now convinced that Dorian knew the Ishtar region well.

"Wait."

But Kang Chul-In still interrupted Dorian.

"Did you say south?"

If it was south from there… that meant the Valhalla territory.

-Yeah, South.

Dorian replied.

"Well, did you find anything?"

-No, there was just a bunch of hills there. Of course, there wasn't absolutely nothing.

Listening to Dorian's following words, Kang Chul-In's facial expression turned even more ominous.

-There was a really large hill there, actually more of a mountain than a hill because it was like 400-500 meters above sea level… But anyway, I was going to sleep one night at the peak of the tallest hill when I turned around and saw this huge door in front of me.

When Dorian said that there was a huge door there, Kang Chul-In nearly dropped his phone.

How does this make any sense?

Though Kang Chul-In could not believe what Dorian was saying…

"Continue?"

He decided to listen in a bit more.

-It wasn't really special, just a door that was made of black-colored steel. It was like… Uhh… 10m wide and 20m tall, I think.

"So?"

-I knocked, but there was no answer. I knocked there for almost an hour, and since there was no response, I thought it was an abandoned ruin. So…

"You went and tried for another entrance."

Because Kang Chul-In was well aware of Dorian's behavior pattern, it was easy to guess what would happen next.

-H-How did you know that?

"Looking inside your head is even easier than looking inside an aquarium, so just

continue on with the story."

"O-Okay, fine."

After that, Dorian continued to speak as if he was a little bit upset.

To say the conclusion first, Kang Chul-In was extremely shocked.

For the first time, he was extremely startled.

"I'm going, right now."

… was what Kang Chul-In answered before crushing his mobile phone by accidentally pressing on it too hard.

BANG!

The Lithium-Ion battery exploded.

"S-Son?"

Park Sun-Ja, who was playing with Arshelly, looked at Kang Chul-In, startled.

"Dad!"

Arshelly was also surprised.

"Sigh… Mother. I'll be back soon," Kang Chul-In said, looking at Park Sun-Ja.

Then, he looked at Arshelly.

"You listen to your grandmother well."

"Yes, dad!"

The smart Arshelly figured out that Kang Chul-In would be heading back to Pangaea and nodded.

------

Teheran-ro. Kang Chul-In was able to find an adventurer that Billy Halford had negotiated beforehand. It was an adventurer with a warp gate that led to the Ishtar region.

"Oh, I remember you!"

The adventurer that was going along with Kang Chul-In spoke informally to him as if they were superior.

"You're Director Kang from the Galaxy Corporation company, right? The subordinate of Old Man Kwon that came from god knows where."

If someone who knew Kang Chul-In well saw this sight, they would have closed their eyes tightly. Why? Because the mouth of that adventurer would be absolutely crushed by the hands of Kang Chul-In until not even the teeth remained.

"What are you doing, not driving?"

The adventurer got onto the passenger seat of the Bugatti Veyron as if it was natural and demanded that Kang Chul-In drive.

"You ride a good car, huh. This one, it's the one that we drive too. There aren't a lot of these in Korea. You earn a lot of money, huh?"

The adventurer, heir of the colossus that was the Gusung Electronic Company, spoke to Kang Chul-In as if he were her driver.

Kim Sung-Hee.

As the youngest daughter of Gusung's president Kim Hyun-seung, she was notorious within the "nobles" of Korea as a villain of a woman. This woman was the one that Billy had contacted to go to Ishtar with.

"Hey, why aren't you going?"

Kim Sung-Hee once again reminded Kang Chul-In.

"I'm not going here just because I have some leftover… ACK!"

Kim Sung-Hee screamed painfully.

"H...Huk…"

It was because Kang Chul-In's hand had latched onto her shoulders with a strong grip. She couldn't move either as Kang Chul-In's mana prevented her from doing so.

"Hey, idiotic woman," Kang Chul-In said.

"If you keep on talking to me like that…"

Kang Chul-In's voice seemed like the voice of the grim reaper to Kim Sung-Hee at this point, frightening her.

"I will break one body part of yours."

"Got it?"

As Kang Chul-In was speaking, dense mana filled the air, making it difficult to even breathe.

"Y-Yes."

Kim Sung-Hee agreed, frightened.

Very good.

But meanwhile, Kim Sung-Hee…

W-What the hell? How did I get suppressed by him?

She was surprised.

Because it hurt?

Of course, her body hurt, but the real reason why she was surprised was something else entirely.

She was strong.

For someone like her who was powerful and took pride in being powerful to be restrained by a mere director of the Galaxy Corporation, it hurt her pride.

W-What should I do…? Should I fight back? Should I… launch a sneak attack?

Kim Sung-Hee looked at Kang Chul-In, who was driving soundlessly.

He was completely exposed.

If she used her hands and smacked Kang Chul-In's throat, she was confident that she would succeed. Even though there could be an accident because Kang Chul-In was the one driving right now, there was no real possibility that it would lead to a major accident as the road was very much blocked and unmoving due to traffic.

As she got ready to attack…

"Do you want your arm broken?"

Somehow, Kang Chul-In had noticed and warned her. Startlingly, his eyes were still on the road.

-----

"What the hell is that car?"

"Is that a Bugatti?"

Not caring about the gazes of others, Kang Chul-In looked at Kim Sung-Hee when they arrived.

"Is this place alright?"

"...It's fine."

"Then open the gate."

Saying this, Kang Chul-In grabbed onto Kim Sung-Hee's wrist lightly. This was because this process was required in order to share the gate.

Just you wait. I'll show you my skill!

Was what Kim Sung-Hee thought as she entered the gate.

-----

"Yo! Chul-In!"

Woof! Woof!

On the other side of the gate was Dorian Explorer and his pet dog Jackpot.

"Oh? Who's that girl?"

Dorian looked at Kim Sung-Hee and tilted his head in confusion.

"Is it your new girlfriend?"

At this, Kang Chul-In's face stiffened.

"...What?"

"I mean, you have a lot of beautiful women by your side. You have Lucia, Lee Chae-Rin, and now you have another woman? Wow… as expected of my friend. Man! Oh wait, they said not to talk about these things…"

Dorian covered his mouth with an expression that said "oops". He thought that his mistake was talking about Kang Chul-In's "ex-girlfriends" in front of his current girlfriend.

Of course, it was a mistake.

"Kuk!"

Dorian grabbed his abdomen and moaned in pain.

"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll give you some mental training."

"...Huk…"

Since Dorian was close to Kang Chul-In's subordinates, he had been pestered often with the talk of "mental training" and realized how terrifying it was.

"Is it maybe 3, 4 days' travel from here?"

While shaking off the hand that Kang Chul-In had punched Dorian's midsection with, he looked far to the south.

Sadly for them, Kim Sung-Hee's "waypoint" was different for each and every adventurer. They were around 200km away from the Valhalla territory, so they had to travel there by foot.

"We'll get there in two days," Kang Chul-In said.

He was saying that they would travel 100km a day, something that sounded crazy.

"T-Two days? That far? Hey, Chul-In, you do know how far it is to the dungeon, right…?"

Dorian was startled.

"What, you can't do it? Then don't come."

"No, I can."

At Kang Chul-In's taunting, Dorian's expression changed into an excited one.

"Of course I can do it."

"Well then, let's go."

Traveling over 100km by foot was something that Kang Chul-In didn't like either as it required both great mental and physical endurance. Rather than being tiring though, it was monotonous and boring. They had to get going as soon as possible.

Because…

Valhalla… to think that it's become a dungeon…

It was because of the information from Dorian that Valhalla had become an Epic Dungeon.

It was at that moment.

"You."

Kang Chul-In felt cold metal touching his neck.

"Let's fight."

Dorian's mouth gaped open in surprise and shock.

T-That woman… why would she want to commit suicide…?

It was Kim Sung-Hee who had put her sword to Kang Chul-In's throat.

Chapter 101. The beginning and end, and the beginning (2)

"U-Uhh…"

Dorian stared at Kim Sung-hee as if he were looking at a dead person, and then tried to stop her.

"Sorry, but, if you're going to die, I'd suggest doing it in a less painful way. Uhm… Maybe going inside of a high level dungeon will be better. Yeah, it definitely will be. So, if you, my lady, value your life, then I'd advise taking that knife off of… Ack!!"

Suddenly, Dorian let out a yelp, and backflipped to dodge Kim Sung-hee's sudden attack.

Pow!

Pow! Pow! Pow!

Behind Dorian, a tree that had taken damage instead of him fell, revealing a few spots that had shurikens buried inside.

"What the hell was that for?"

Looking at the shurikens buried inside the tree, Dorian's face stiffened.

Shurikens were weapons.

They were made of metal, and had sharp edges around them.

Though it could vary with the material used, a shuriken's weight was normally between 150~200g, which is heavier than a baseball.

And even with a baseball, someone's bones could break and in serious cases their skull could shatter too. So, what would happen if someone was struck by a shuriken that was even heavier than a baseball that had sharp edges of at least 3cm?

...That person could die.

It is possible that if someone were trained, they could accurately hit an opponent's vulnerable spot like their eyes, throat, or heart, causing heavy injury or death.

A great example of this is a professional pitcher. Professional pitchers in baseball have throwing speeds of around 140 to 150km/h; and for an adventurer like Kim Sung-hee, it was even faster than that. Looking at it this way, it was obvious that Dorian's stance towards Kim Sung-hee would change.

If not for the fact that he was the former secret weapon of a special force, there was a high chance for him to be struck by the attack.

"This crazy woman…"

Clenching his fists together, Dorian slowly walked towards Kim Sung-hee, determined to teach her a lesson, but he was stopped midway by Kang Chul-In's arms blocking him.

"Let her be, Dorian."

Kang Chul-In spoke, comforting Dorian.

"Now… what did you say to me again?"

Questioned Kang Chul-In, as he looked back at Kim Sung-hee with cold eyes.

"Hmph. Let's fight."

Kim Sung-hee had already fully armed herself using her inventory slot while Kang Chul-In was talking to Dorian.

Her appearance was quite unique.

The weapon that she had touched Kang Chul-In's throat with was a hooked scimitar, and she was holding it with a reverse grip. It was the typical fighting stance for a thief or an assassin.

But that was not the only unique feature about her.

She was wearing a tight black suit that showed off the curves of her body, and the only sort of 'defense' she had was a red scarf that she wore around her neck. Just from her equipment, Kang Chul-In could tell that she didn't care about her defense.

She also had daggers, short swords and large needles strapped onto her waist. To top it all off, she also had a large katana and sword that she kept on her back.

'It looks like she doesn't care about what method of fighting she uses… and it's a style that uses various different weapons…'

Just by scanning her briefly, Kang Chul-In could guess her fighting style.

'Ah, Desperado.'

Kang Chul-In recalled Kim Sung-hee's identity.

'Desperado Kim Sung-hee'.

She was a woman that would become famous in the future, becoming a 'named adventurer.'

Kang Chul-In could guess why her nickname was 'Desperado'.

Like the traditional korean saying, "a bucket that leaks water out from the inside also leaks water in from the outside,'' Kim Sung-hee had a personality that made her 'leak' on both Earth, and Pangaea.

"Are you really that strong?"

Kim Sung-hee opened

her mouth.

"You sure do talk a lot, for someone who is going to be a corpse soon."

Kang Chul-In spoke as if he was enjoying this.

"What?"

Kim Sung-hee uttered as she frowned.

"No, it's nothing."

Kim Sung-hee didn't know about her future.

Well, who would know?

There was no one that could guess that after being caught by the evil necromancer Overlord Aleister, she would be sexually harassed and tortured before being turned into an Undead 'magic-knight' - a Banshee.

"I thought I warned you."

With saying that, Kang Chul-In…

BANG!

Lightly attacked Kim Sung-hee's blade, but with just a flick of his fingers.

"What?"

Kim Sung-hee lost her balance, only regaining her composure after she had been spun around at least 2 times.

'How…'

Feeling her hands that were numb from the pain, she gasped in shock.

Though Kang Chul-In had only flicked back with his fingers, the strength that she felt made her feel as if she were hitting against a rock.

And…

BANG!

Kim Sung-hee's head suddenly turned 45 degrees sideways.

'I… can see stars…'

This was because she had felt Kang Chul-In's 'nuclear finger-flick'.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The terrifying fingers of Kang Chul-In descended down upon Kim Sung-hee's head 3 more times before she finally fell down, unconscious.

"Let's go."

Kim Sung-hee had fallen. Though she was the one that challenged Kang Chul-In to a fight, she had lost after being flicked on her head just 4 times.

"W-What, you're just going to leave her here?"

Dorian hurriedly followed Kang Chul-In.

"Who cares? For someone who's going to die anyway, it doesn't matter if she dies a little bit earlier."

"...Huh?"

Ignoring anything else Dorian said, Kang Chul-In quickly ran.

"Even still… HEY! Wait for me!"

"Catch up quickly."

Kang Chul-In didn't stop.

"Dammit!"

Woof, woof!

Dorian and Jackpot also began to chase after Kang Chul-In.

'Hmph. I don't care about what happens to someone that tried to throw a shuriken at my head. It's not my fault.'

Comforting himself, Dorian and Kang Chul-In ran, and ran towards the dungeon.

'Since the main door wouldn't open, I looked around the mountain I was on, and found something like a secret passage. I started walking inside from there, and…'

While running, Kang Chul-In recalled the conversation he had with Dorian. How could he not remember?

'Valhalla's Secret Passway.'

While running, Kang Chul-In speculated about what had really happened to Valhalla, that had become an Epic Dungeon.

After his reincarnation, the territory that he had chosen was the Laputa territory, not the Valhalla territory.

But instead of the territory disappearing, it had changed to become an Epic Dungeon.

...It was hard to believe.

Was it a system failure or mistake that had occurred due to him reincarnating, by using his 'Soul Backup'?

'Maybe.'

"Rothschild. Is he going to come too?"

Kang Chul-In said to Dorian after they had decided to take a 30 minute rest on the way.

"Oh, Alex?"

This was something that was almost as important as going to check over the Valhalla Dungeon.

Kang Chul-In wasn't a fool.

He tried to use Dorian who was in contact with Rothschild in order to bait him in. Through Dorian, he was going to set up a trap for that damned bastard, and maybe even kill him.

"Well, I'm not that sure. He didn't give a real answer to me. I think he was kind of wary of going to a dungeon with someone that he had never met before. Well, I guess it's understandable if you've heard about all the incidents that occur in the 'World Community'. Oh, why'd you ask me? I thought you didn't like him."

"Oh, there's something that I'd like to ask him."

Kang Chul-In dodged the question…

'This slippery bastard.'

And cursed Rothschild inwardly.

Similarly to the past, Alex Rothschild was extremely cautious in his moves.

'I guess today isn't the day, then.'

Though Kang Chul-In highly doubted that Rothschild would actually show up, he was satisfied that he still had a chance to see him, thanks to Dorian.

If Dorian and Alex grew close enough to the point that Dorian was able to get Alex to come without hesitation, then Kang Chul-In was prepared to use that opportunity to kill Alex.

Although, there was a chance that Dorian might turn away from him due to his 'evil' actions…

'I guess I'll just have to kill them both, then…'

Kang Chul-In's mind was crueler and colder than most people's.

"... Kang Chul-In?"

Suddenly, Dorian's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey? Oi? Kang Chul-In!"

"Oh, did you call me?"

"What are you thinking about so deeply there?"

"No, it's nothing."

"Hmph, stop acting like an intellectual."

"Shut up."

"Haha~! Anyway, try this. It tastes pretty good."

Handing Kang Chul-In some mushrooms that he had taken from the ground, Dorian smiled.

And looking at this, Kang Chul-In involuntarily smirked.

'This pushover.'

There was no way that Dorian could guess that Kang Chul-In was thinking of possibly killing him. All Dorian was thinking of now was what to cook his friend.

----

Running the whole day, Kang Chul-In and Dorian quickly made their way towards the Valhalla Dungeon.

"How… How dare they leave me!"

Kim Sung-hee's eyes gleamed crazily.

"Just you wait. I'll make you beg in front of me!"

Kim Sung-hee swore as she called upon her pet and rode on it. It was a 'dark leopard', around level 30.

"Let's go."

Krrr…

The leopard growled.

Kim Sung-hee ran.

And she ran.

And after what felt like an eternity, she could finally see the broad back and shoulders of Kang Chul-In.

"HEY!"

Staring at him, Kim Sung-hee shouted.

But…

Kang Chul-In was ignoring her; instead he was shaking hands with an incredibly handsome young white man. If you could represent Kang Chul-In's interest towards her in numbers, it would be recorded as 0.

"Very nice to meet you too, Alex... Rothschild."

Chapter 102. Hating the Same Type of Person As Oneself

"Very nice to meet you too, Alex... Rothschild."

It was at that moment,

"Hey!!!"

From afar, a loud voice interrupted them.

"And so, here I see you again."

But, Kang Chul-In just ignored her.

"Is she with you?"

"No, she's just some mosquito following me."

Replied Kang Chul-In to Rothchild's question. After shaking hands with him, Kang Chul-In stepped back from where he was.

"I think you're too harsh, just like the first day we met."

"Not as much as you, I'd bet."

"...Huh?"

"To me, it seems like your plan is even more harsh. Am I wrong?"

Hearing that, Rothschild's face turned frosty.

"I thought maybe not, but no matter how much I rejected the idea, it was much too obvious that that was your plan."

Kang Chul-In looked at Rothschild as if he had guessed what Rothschild was thinking.

To be accurate, Kang Chul-In did guess correctly.

While Dorian and Alex Rothschild were shaking hands and introducing themselves, Kang Chul-In completely figured out why Alex Rothschild came here.

"As expected, you didn't disappoint me."

After saying this, Kang Chul-In started walking around Rothschild in circles, looking at him like a predator would look at its prey.

"Huh? Why are you guys like this all of a sudden?'

Dorian cocked his head in confusion, bewildered by the sudden tense atmosphere.

"Before you ask me why…"

Kang Chul-In warned.

"If you don't want to die, stand back."

"Huh?"

Dorian questioned, clearly confused.

"Your head might get chopped off."

"What do you mea- ACK!"

At that moment, Dorian used his beast-like instincts and saved himself by rolling backwards rapidly.

"Blood?"

After that, Dorian touched his bleeding neck and looked at the fresh blood dripping down with disbelieving eyes.

"I… nearly died…"

Thankfully the cut wasn't too deep. If he had dodged even half a second later, his head would have been chopped off for sure.

"W-Why?"

With eyes blazing in anger, Dorian turned to look at Alex Rothschild.

"Why did you try to kill me?"

"Hah… I didn't think you'd dodge that. You have amazing reflexes, Mr. Dorian."

But the only response Dorian got was Rothschild smiling at him.

"Shut up and tell me already! What the hell are you doing?"

"Well, I think that you'd be better off asking your friend over there. It seems like he's figured out what's happening."

Rothschild pointed at Kang Chul-In with his chin.

"I guess I can explain it, then?"

Kang Chul-In spoke quickly.

"I think you're just too embarrassed and ashamed to say it yourself. Well, I guess I'll just say it for you then. Hey, Dorian."

Smirking coldly, Kang Chul-In turned towards Dorian.

"Let's just say that Rothschild over there is an ambitious and greedy Lord that has not the slightest bit of integrity; he can't

wait to kill two Lords that are ranked as 1st and 9th in the Lord rankings."

"... Is that really true?"

"Well, it makes sense for someone that pretends to be 'oh so holy and noble', yet is actually devious and evil inwardly."

"So he came to get rid of us? That Rothschild?"

Finally, Dorian seemed to have understood the situation.

"Although we've only met twice including before today, you're the only one that has ever made me so angry."

Rothschild said, revealing his 'true-self'.

"I feel the same."

Replied Kang Chul-In.

"Your current confidence, or rather arrogance you have... Let's see whether or not you'll still have that same level of self-belief once your head is on the ground."

"Is that so?"

Smirking once more, Kang Chul-In drew Kaiforce.

With that…

BANG!

Kang Chul-In rushed towards where Alex Rothschild was standing.

It was like the fight of Black and White.

Including Kaiforce, if Kang Chul-In who was wearing armor that was purely black was considered Black…

Rothschild was White, as he not only was fully armed in snow-white clothing, but his personal guards that had followed him all the way here were also wearing white.

However, while White usually had the upper hand due to its image of 'righteousness' and 'good', this was the opposite.

Though Alex Rothschild and his guards was strong, he was unable to withstand the onslaught of Kang Chul-In's full power.

It was as if a Demon Lord had descended onto Earth.

"Kuk…"

After a while, Kaiforce had finally penetrated through the defenses of Rothschild's personal guards, landing a blow onto his shoulders.

Rothschild's shoulders were cut, revealing fresh blood.

"Hmph. There's no difference or use in standing behind those weaklings."

Kang Chul-In spoke, smiling.

"Hmm? Were you waiting for this?"

With asking Rothschild that vague question, Kang Chul-In suddenly struck at the ground, using Kaiforce.

Puk!

Blood spurted into the air from the ground.

"...!"

Though Rothschild didn't say anything, his expression was priceless.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

Kang Chul-In continued to stab Kaiforce towards the ground, and blood continued to splurt into the sky every time he did so. It was a sight that reminded one of playing 'Whac-a-mole'.

"The ambush of these things… Did you think that I would be afraid of that?"

Kang Chul-In who had just killed over 10 mole-assassins in the blink of an eye looked at Rothschild with teasing eyes.

"Or perhaps… were you waiting for this?"

Kang Chul-In willed Kaiforce to turn into the 'light attribute', and then swung behind him.

Kyakkk!!!

And with that, a Wraith that had been aiming to ambush Kang Chul-In's back dissolved into thin air, as if it had never been there at all.

"Or maybe even… the 500 soldiers that are lying down on the ground like mice?"

With the tips of his fingers, Kang Chul-In pointed accurately to where Alex Rothschild had placed his troops, startling him.

"This is the power of the one in 1st place, huh…"

Smiling evilly, Rothschild ordered his soldiers.

"All men, attack!"

But although the 500 troops started rushing towards Kang Chul-In, he wasn't afraid at all.

"I'm here too, you damned bastards!"

Dorian who had equipped his Gauntlet in preparation of battle started firing terrifying blasts of fire at the opposing soldiers, using the 'mana fire' that he had learnt from Kang Chul-In.

POW!

Unable to withstand the strength of Dorian's fists, the head of an enemy soldier exploded like a watermelon.

"How… How dare you think of me as a fool! Take this, you rotten bastards!"

Dorian who had nearly been killed by Rothschild's betrayal was extremely furious, and the fury was used as fuel for his strength.

"Chul-In, there!"

While Dorian was fighting the soldiers, Kang Chul-In had his eyes fixed on Alex Rothschild.

"This cockroach. You're not getting away this time."

Looking at Alex Rothschild that was trying to run away by sacrificing his subordinates, Kang Chul-In's eyes were full of disgust.

'Where are you going?'

Kang Chul-In had no intentions of letting Rothschild go this time.

'I'll pierce you.'

And with a 'kachink!', Kaiforce changed shapes and became a hunting spear, perfect for throwing.

SWOOSH!

Kaiforce flew towards Alex Rothschild like a hurricane, and impaled his back accurately.

Chapter 103. Finally Discovering the Truth

"M-Milord!"

Looking at Rothschild who had his back impaled, the face of his personal guards paled.

The death of their Lord.

It was the thought of this that made fear and despair creep up on the guards.

"Dorian."

With a determined expression, Kang Chul-In called Dorian.

"Kill them all. Don't let anyone out of here alive."

"Yeah."

And what followed Dorian's agreement was a slaughter.

Showing movement that made one think of a killing-machine, Kang Chul-In with the help of Dorian killed all of the soldiers that Alex Rothschild had brought with him.

'Drink it.'

With a complicated gaze, Kang Chul-In looked at the ground.

'This is my apology to you.'

He prayed for the dead soldiers and civilians that had once been part of his territory--- the proud and powerful people of Valhalla.

As Kang Chul-In had commanded, not a single one of the 500 soldiers could leave alive. Of course, that included Rothschild's powerful personal guards.

Though they tried to approach Rothschild who was slowly bleeding out, stabbed by Kaiforce…

"Agh!!"

It was nothing more than a last ditch effort against Kang Chul-In that went all-out.

If this was still in the past, they would have been able to 'somewhat' stop him.

But not anymore.

Even looking at all of the adventurers and Lords that had come over through the portal, there was not a single person that could withstand the strength of Kang Chul-In.

"Get out of my way."

Chopping the heads off of all the personal guards that stood in his way, Kang Chul-In walked towards Rothschild without any hesitation.

Human heads started falling onto the ground, almost like dominoes.

One, two, three, four… The ones that had stood up to protect Rothschild were all butchered mercilessly.

After a bit, Kang Chul-In was finally able to get to where Rothschild was.

"Kuk… Cough!"

Thankfully, Rothschild wasn't dead just yet.

"Huk...Huk…"

At the sight of Rothschild gasping for breath, reminding him of a cockroach struggling to live, Kang Chul-In smirked.

"You're going to kill him?"

Dorian asked from behind.

"Of course I am."

Kang Chul-In answered.

"Kuhuk!"

Kang Chul-In stretched out his arms and began to choke Rothschild.

There weren't any words. There was no interrogation. Kang Chul-In just picked up scraps of metal that had fallen down during the fight, and then proceeded to slowly cut through Alex Rothschild's neck, almost like he was slicing a cake.

"Kuk… Cough! Ugh…"

And as blood started to gurgle and splurt out of Rothschild's neck…

Roll…

Rothschild's head started to roll on the ground, away from his body.

"Wow… that's violent…"

Dorian shook his head, quite startled by Kang Chul-In's viciousness.

"Is that so?"

But Kang Chul-In didn't agree with what Dorian said.

"Look. This bastard... he's still not dead."

"Huh?! What are you talking about? Look, he's dead. He's not even a zombie or anything. What, do rich people not die when their heads are chopped off? Ha! That's not even a funny joke."

Though Dorian crinkled his face in disbelief…

'Something is off.'

Kang Chul-In didn't believe that Rothschild died.

Though he had killed his old archenemy, he didn't feel any emotion or 'achievement' in his heart. Though it was just his intuition, Kang Chul-In felt that Rothschild hadn't died from that.

Though he was Kang Chul-In's enemy...

...There was no way that Alex Rothschild would die such a vain death.

'Hmm… Maybe?!'

Kang Chul-In thought of

what had happened between him and Alex Rothschild in the past.

Rothschild had lost to Kang Chul-In more than just a few times, and had to face the humiliation of having his territory being completely destroyed by Kang Chul-In 4 times. There were also times when Kang Chul-In had thrown Alex Rothschild into deadly places with no chance of survival.

Though it was true that Kang Chul-In hadn't 'killed' Rothschild with his own hands, it'd be normal for Rothschild to have died at least 2 or 3 times.

But he had somehow survived and rebuilt his territory time and time again, no matter how much damage was dealt to him. This was the reason why Kang Chul-In had kept on calling Rothschild an 'undying cockroach'.

There had to be a secret.

In the 'past', and in the 'present'. There had to be a reason that Rothschild hadn't died.

"Dorian."

Kang Chul-In called Dorian.

"Yeah?"

"Look at the rankings."

A Lord's death would immediately change the Lord rankings, so to check for a Lord's death, there was nothing more accurate than looking at this.

"He's not there."

Dorian tilted his head.

"He's dead. Rothschild is no longer in 5th place and I'm in 8th place too."

"Keep scrolling down. Look through the entire list and you'll find his name."

"Huh?"

Dorian questioned.

"Maybe around…"

Kang Chul-In tried his best to recall the past.

"100th place."

"100th Place? Ha, no way. He's dead, so he's definitely off this list. I doubt that it's just his ranking that…"

And suddenly, Dorian's face turned frosty.

"...He's there."

Dorian's face was the epitome of shock.

"105th place. He's alive. That Rothschild."

It finally proved Kang Chul-In's suspicions.

-----

At the same time.

Within the hidden chambers deep inside the Cyamodus territory.

A man that seemed to be sleeping was sitting down on what looked like a throne.

No, he was sleeping.

".....!"

And then that man… suddenly woke up.

"Cough!"

And he started coughing up blood.

"Kuk… Cough… Cough….!"

Fresh red blood started to come out from that man's mouth. Looking at how severe it was, it seemed that the man could die from excessive bleeding.

"Huk… Huk… Dammit… Huk…"

Alex Rothschild started gritting his teeth in frustration.

His condition wasn't looking good right now. He had pitch black dark circles hanging over his eyes, and his lips were black from all the blood.

"Huk… Huk… You… One day, I'll definitely kill you."

Though Rothschild was weakened, the madness in his eyes seemed stronger than ever.

"How dare he... humiliate me like this…"

After muttering this, Rothschild touched the part of his neck that was sliced through by Kang Chul-In.

It was a terrible, terrifying experience.

Who could have experience getting their head chopped off alive? What he had experienced just now was a nightmare… a nightmare that he never wanted to experience again.

"Hu…"

Inhaling deeply, Rothschild opened his Status Page.

[As penalty for the destruction of your clone, your stats will decrease by 70%. (0 clones left)]

[Lord Points will decrease by 300P, due to the sickness of the Lord.]

[Your ranking has fallen from 5th → 105th place.]

They were terrible losses.

Though it was thankful that Rothschild himself hadn't died, but 10 mole assassins, 20 wraiths, and 500 soldiers had all died, not to mention his personal guards. Rothschild had just lost 20% of his territory's entire strength with that fight.

This is significant, but… Rothschild had lost something even more important than that.

His secret, that he had tried to protect from the world forever, had been revealed.

His death, or rather his clone's death, needed to be a hidden card left until the very end. But now that his secret had been discovered, he couldn't stay hidden here forever.

-------

'Cockroach-like bastard.'

Finally realizing the unknown 'specialty' and secret of Rothschild, Kang Chul-In grit his teeth.

'You were able to survive because you were probably hidden away somewhere, controlling your 'puppets', weren't you? Even though I had destroyed you countless times.'

"How is he still alive? Is he unkillable or something?"

Still unable to figure out how Rothschild was still alive, Dorian muttered, very confused.

"No, that's not true."

Kang Chul-In shook his head.

"Then how is this possible?"

"There's no way that he would go down 100 places in the Lord rankings just by losing 500 men or so. I'm guessing that it's a penalty on his real body that was placed due to the destruction of his 'puppet'. For this kind of ridiculously powerful and useful ability, there has to be risks."

Kang Chul-In could perfectly tell how Rothschild had survived now.

"Aha! So Rothschild's real body is somewhere else, and we just killed his 'puppet'?"

"Exactly."

"Sigh… This Rothschild, he's a cockroach, isn't he? He won't die no matter how much times you kill him."

"Pft. I like how you described him."

Kang Chul-In smirked.

"Yeah, but anyway…"

Dorian suddenly pointed at a hill.

"What do we do with that woman?"

Kim Sung-hee was still standing there, watching dazedly.

"... That mosquito, she's still here?"

Kang Chul-In muttered, as if he were startled.

Chapter 104. Entering the Valhalla Dungeon

Translator: Leyy3

Kim Sung-hee couldn't believe her eyes.

'W-With just the two of them...!'

The sight of Kang Chul-In and Dorian combining forces to fight off the 500+ men of Alex Rothschild was much too shocking for her.

Not only that, but...

'I tried to fight against that man...?'

Now realizing that she had severely and incredibly underestimated Kang Chul-In's strength, she couldn't lift her head.

'Hah... how stupid and arrogant must I have seemed to him? I must have been crazy.'

She wasn't an idiot.

Though she was known as the daughter to a major conglomerate in Korea and was born with a gold spoon in her mouth, she wasn't someone that couldn't think for herself.

"Hey, eyewitness!"

Kang Chul-In called her from afar.

"...Yes?"

At the word 'eyewitness', Kim Sung-hee's face stiffened.

"W-Wait a minute!"

Almost wetting her pants out of fear, Kim Sung-hee started to take slow steps backwards.

"P-Please...! Can you spare me just this one time?"

Kim Sung-hee realized that in Pangaea, her status as the daughter of a big, powerful company was of no use whatsoever.

She knew that her life was in the hands of Kang Chul-In.

Pft---

Kang Chul-In smirked.

"...!"

Kim Sung-hee froze in place, scared of what would come next.

"I like the fact that you aren't too stupid and dull. At least you don't want to die, huh?"

Kang Chul-In said.

"T-Then...!"

"Hey, you fly."

Kang Chul-in once again called out.

"Fly?"

"Yeah, you. I called you a fly because you keep buzzing around us like a mosquito or a fly would. If you don't like it, then..."

'He called me a fly... But, I'm still a girl, you know? How can he be so mean...'

Although Kim Sung-hee's pride was deflated...

"N-No, it's alright. You might not know my name, right?"

She could still endure it. At least she could keep her precious life.

"Kim Sung-hee, right?"

"Yes..."

"I know your name."

Hearing this, Kim Sung-hee tried her best to suppress her anger, and looked at Kang Chul-In's face, speechless.

'How can someone

be so frustrating and annoying?!'

Looking at Kang Chul-In's slight smile, Kim Sung-hee tried her best to calm herself down.

Kang Chul-In then continued with,

"Hey, I need you to complete a task for me."

Kang Chul-In wanted to use Kim Sung-hee.

He would try and use her to put Aleister into a trap.

-----

"This is a chance for you, fly."

Kang Chul-In wanted to make a deal with her.

"This task... this task is an opportunity?"

"Yeah."

"I don't understand? How will a task you give me be an opportunity?"

As the words 'opportunity' and 'chance' piqued her interest, Kim Sung-hee futhered inquired.

"I'll give you strength."

"...!"

"It seems like you want to get stronger, no? Of course, it will be nigh impossible for you to become as powerful as me, or even this pushover over here."

Kang Chul-In stared at Dorian and spoke.

"I already told you, I'm not a pushover...!"

"Whatever you say, pushover."

Kang Chul-In didn't care whether Dorian got upset or not.

"I'll make you two to three times stronger than you are now."

"...Really?"

"Of course."

"If that's the case, it must be a very difficult 'task'."

"Of course it is. This is a task where you need to put your life on the line. If you are able to complete it successfully, I'll make you stronger. But if you fail..."

"I would die?"

"No."

"No?"

"You would suffer a fate even worse than dying."

Kim Sung-hee couldn't understand what kind of task required her to take a risk that was 'worse than dying'.

'This is madness!'

Although she wanted to reject this offer right now...

'...He might kill me if I reject this proposal. I'm an eyewitness, after all.'

"Are you scared?"

"Yes... of course I am."

"Then don't do it."

"But if I reject it..."

"I won't kill you."

"Of course you won't... Huh?!"

Kim Sung-hee was startled.

"Really? You won't kill me?"

Kim Sung-hee then realized how insignificant she was in the eyes of Kang Chul-In, and how she was just a small, passing existence.

"Then, can I hear the contents of the task first?"

"Don't ask me. My thoughts are that if you truly wanted to become powerful, you wouldn't care about the methods. So, I'll ask you one last time. Will you do it?"

Kang Chul-In had a tendency to look at people who stayed true to their desires on a high pedestal, and Kim Sung-hee was someone who fit that criteria well.

"...Yes, I think I will."

-------

After washing their bloodied bodies in a nearby stream, Kang Chul-In and Dorian immediately headed into the underground passage that leads to the Valhalla dungeon.

'It's been a while'.

Kang Chul-In reminisced of the past, remembering 'the old days' before he had reincarnated.

But...

This sensation didn't last for too long.

Because suddenly, a message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Can you handle 'their' rage and hatred?]

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