“Hyung, we got out, but where are we going?”
“Where to, Benefactor?”
Naturally, everyone’s gaze turned to Baek Arin.
“Oh, come on. Let’s go to my place first.”
“Nice.”
She looked around, waiting for someone.
“Then should we take the bus to the city for now?”
“Mister. I called a car. I mentioned it in advance, so it should be here soon……”
As she was looking around, the car she had mentioned was approaching.
“That one?”
Her expression stiffened as she saw the car drawing closer.
“Wow! I’ve never seen a Rolls-Royce limousine before!”
Lee Chan brimmed with anticipation, his face excited.
Father Aizar observed the long car with curious eyes.
“Hehe, Brother, what is that? It is very long.”
“Arin, you’re really a chaebol heiress. You called a car like that just to go home?”
What was even more shocking was that right behind the leading Rolls-Royce limousine came a Bugatti in second place and a Lamborghini in third, rolling up one after another.
“Wow, this is what you call burning money.”
Lee Chan exclaimed, unable to close his mouth.
Baek Arin squeezed her eyes shut and turned around.
“Mister. Let’s just take the bus.”
Sin Hyeok refused with an excited expression.
“No. Benefactor! I’m taking the Rolls-Royce.”
“I want the Lamborghini!”
“Hehe, might I also be able to ride in that long car?”
Hong Juyeon was laughing.
“Shut up! We’re taking the bus!”
The three cars stopped, and an elderly middle-aged man got out from the driver’s seat of the limousine.
“My lady. Have you been waiting long?”
Baek Arin turned around at the all-too-familiar voice, looking at him with a disgusted expression.
“Director, are you trying to kill me from embarrassment?”
“Ahem. Of course not. I decided to flex a little for the first time in a while. You said you had to give your friends a ride, so I prepared them according to taste.”
“…….”
Arin glared at the director.
“Liar. The corner of your mouth is twitching right now.”
At those words, the director hurriedly maintained a blank expression.
“Ahem. Please get in quickly. You said you have a lot to do.”
Lee Chan tried to run toward the Lamborghini with an excited face but was caught by Arin’s hand.
“Why!”
“Shut up! Everyone just take the Rolls!”
“Ahhh, whyyy!”
“Shut it! That’s the cheapest one!”
Everyone boarded the limousine following behind Arin.
Riding in her car, they moved toward Seoul.
“My lady, I heard you might need more things. Have you decided?”
The director, who was driving, looked at her through the rearview mirror and asked.
“Well. Mister, so what are we doing?”
“Uh, we need to discuss it first. Hey, everyone focus.”
Sin Hyeok gathered everyone’s attention and spoke.
“You all heard the news, right?”
Father Aizar made an expression filled with doubt, then nodded at the explanation from Hong Juyeon, who was in the passenger seat.
“Father, it’s the announcement they made today. The nonsense about forming an alliance with the Demon Realm.”
“Ahhh. So it was that nonsense.”
After confirming that everyone definitely understood, Sin Hyeok spoke.
“We must punish that nonsense. No, we must thoroughly crush it.”
“I agree, Brother. Such nonsense must be trampled upon and stuffed back into their mouths.”
Watching the priest burn with equal passion, Sin Hyeok explained his plan.
“That nonsense about awakening the entire nation’s people with demonic power. We plan to clash against it with Father’s divine power.”
At those words, everyone except Sin Hyeok looked at the priest.
“Is it possible?”
“Father, is it possible?”
Father Aizar pondered for a moment.
“It is possible. But I have to touch them one by one for it to work.”
Though he had received much upgrading thanks to the System’s help, true miracles on the level of a real god were still lacking.
“Father, if I provide the potion I made for you before, would it help?”
At those words, the priest’s expression brightened.
“Oh! Then that’s a different story! Of course it’s possible! I am listening to every voice that calls out to me, after all.”
At the word that it was possible, everyone’s expressions brightened for a moment before they looked at Sin Hyeok again.
“Hyung, you’re going to make all of it?”
“Mister, can you really make them all?”
Even Hong Juyeon looked at him curiously.
“You’re saying you’ll make potions for fifty million people?”
Receiving everyone’s gaze, Sin Hyeok nodded.
“Yeah, what can’t I do? I’m a bulk specialist.”
At Sin Hyeok’s absurdly confident appearance, everyone was speechless.
“Hyung, you’re human. Not a god.”
“Mister. Are you feeling unwell?”
“Ugh! I said I can do it! It’s not like we’re releasing all that quantity at once, and we can dilute it.”
“What…….”
Sin Hyeok spoke firmly regarding the potion quantity issue.
“I’ll handle the potions myself. We need to worry about other things.”
“Hm?”
Everyone looked puzzled.
“If we start this as a church or religion, there will definitely be backlash. There have been several cases.”
“Ah. That’s true.”
Hong Juyeon raised her hand and added.
“It won’t work. Proposing a new god or religion related to Awakening currently requires the consent of the existing religious world.”
“We need to solve this.”
Sin Hyeok looked intently at Arin.
“That’s why I want to distribute this, but I want to sell it for money.”
Then he looked at Father Aizar.
“Hm? Brother, do you mean to disguise the grace as commerce or a product to distribute it?”
Sin Hyeok nodded.
“That’s right.”
Sin Hyeok faced a hurdle that might perhaps be the biggest crisis.
Everyone tensed at his continued silence.
When he broke the silence and opened his mouth, everyone focused.
“It is not bad.”
Hong Juyeon couldn’t understand the priest’s words saying it wasn’t bad and asked again.
“Why?”
“To understand this, you must understand the process of the power called divine power.”
Everyone looked puzzled.
“The three of you here must have seen me performing the collection.”
The three nodded.
“Collection is the process of gathering and collecting the hearts of those who believe in me. This becomes great power for one who possesses divinity. The purer, hotter, and more passionate it is, the greater the power becomes.”
Because she was puzzled, Hong Juyeon asked.
“The very thought itself?”
“Yes. To a god, that is the greatest power. Even the mana in the atmosphere cannot compare to even one percent of my power. But will, faith, and the yearning that desires me are different. Especially if connected by my power, it becomes even stronger.”
At his explanation, everyone nodded as if they understood.
“Then what do you think is the best way to confirm and receive the greatest faith?”
To the priest’s question, Lee Chan raised his hand and answered.
“Prayer!”
“Bzzt.”
Arin answered slyly.
“Something like defeating the Demon King?”
“That’s a good one, but bzzt.”
Sin Hyeok rolled his eyes and then jokingly mentioned money.
“An offering?”
The priest smiled and made circles with his fingers.
“Ding-dong-dang.”
At the words that it was the correct answer, everyone looked at the priest strangely.
“W-why?”
Hong Juyeon, who was most bewildered, turned her body from the passenger seat and asked.
“By nature, whether one has little or much, their heart is drawn to the wealth they possess. Thus it is fair to anyone. While the amount of half one’s possessions may differ, the heart is the same.”
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
The priest smiled and spoke comfortably.
“So it is fine. Rather, it is efficient. However, I will decide how much to charge. Is that alright?”
Everyone nodded.
They decided to finish the additional discussion after arriving at Arin’s house, and everyone enjoyed the rest of the ride in their own way.
Hong Juyeon, who was in the passenger seat, looked at the driving director and spoke cautiously.
“But why is Chairman Gim Cheoljung of Hanha Group driving himself?”
The man they had called “Director” smiled while driving.
“Because she is my lady. Hanha Group has always belonged to Baek Arin. I am merely her employee.”
She glanced back at Arin at this loyalty rarely seen in this era.
“You are truly blessed to have someone like her by your side.”
“I was the one who received the blessing first. I am merely repaying what I have received. For my lady.”
Baek Arin spoke gruffly.
“Director, I’m quite old now. Being called ‘lady’ is a bit……”
“Hehe. What can I do? In my eyes, you are still young, still the same person who shed many tears.”
“Hmph.”
As talk of her childhood threatened to surface, she quickly clamped her mouth shut.
“Now. We have arrived.”
Sin Hyeok looked around and clicked his tongue.
“There’s a piece of land like this in Seoul?”
Baek Arin looked out the window and grimaced.
“Director, you still haven’t sold this?”
“My lady, who would buy this?”
Seeing the grand mansion built in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, everyone was speechless.
Sin Hyeok passed through the front gate where security was stationed and said.
“I’ve seen this in movies. A fountain in front of the gate, like some totally noble castle.”
Arin denied it with a disgusted expression.
“It’s not. It’s quite cramped. It’s not that grand.”
Yet the car was passing through the gate and driving for quite a long time.
Everyone’s mouths closed upon seeing the mansion.
“It’s not.”
Hong Juyeon let out a hollow laugh.
A very spacious two-story hanok was spread out.
“It’s a palace. Does a king live there?”
Chairman Gim Cheoljung joked.
“One did, once. Not anymore.”
“Director.”
At someone’s desperate cry coming from behind, Chairman Gim Cheoljung closed his mouth.
“Shall we get out?”
He got out as well and opened the door for them.
As they got out, the mansion staff were already waiting.
“It has been a while, my lady.”
“Wow. Amazing, I saw this in a drama!”
This time, Lee Chan made a fuss in surprise.
“Tsk! I told you all not to do this!”
At Baek Arin’s wail, everyone laughed and enjoyed themselves.
“Please come in. I have prepared rooms in advance. Take a brief rest and then discuss matters in earnest.”
Sin Hyeok smiled and followed the guide.
* * *
As soon as Sin Hyeok entered the room, he used the remaining items of Ariel in his inventory to create the same top-grade sacred water as before.
“The effects are the same.”
He shook the liquid contained in a water bottle.
For now, he packed it up and headed to the mansion’s reception room.
“Mister, then what do we do?”
The gathered people looked at Sin Hyeok.
“Arin, talk with Father and devise a product or service framework that can distribute the Awakening to as many people as possible.”
“Yeah, that’s easy.”
Lee Chan looked at Sin Hyeok with a blank expression.
It was an expression that seemed to expect a different role.
“You’re the mascot. Arin, film an interview video with him and write a script.”
“Ugh!”
Lee Chan’s expression soured.
“Hyung. Go die.”
With a fully pouting face, he got up and trudged over to stick beside Arin.
Hong Juyeon naturally got up to head to the priest’s side but stopped.
“Um, Agent?”
At Sin Hyeok’s call, Hong Juyeon looked back.
“Me?”
“Yes. I need your help for that.”
“My help?”
Sin Hyeok thought about the quantity he would have to make going forward and asked an important question.
“Is there no way to raise mental strength in a short period of time?”
“Ah, I suppose there isn’t any special method.”
Sin Hyeok smiled broadly and said.
“I tend to have important thoughts later.”
She responded with a bright smile.
“I’ve tried that too, and it was quite bad. I always ended up getting beaten several times over.”
“Hahaha.”
“Ohoho.”
Laughter passed back and forth before cutting off abruptly.
“Please really help me.”
“Goodness. I thought you brought me here because you had some idea. It’s a letdown at the end. I thought I was witnessing a hero of legend.”
“It’s because I tend to put off trivial things.”
She offered serious advice.
“Well, if I tell you what just came to mind, frequent repeated practice is best.”
“I do a lot of that even now. Thanks to that, my mental strength went up by about two?”
“When did you obtain it?”
“A few days ago.”
At the words that it had been only a few days, she made a genuinely surprised expression.
“That’s insane at that level. How much more insanity are you hoping for?”
Sin Hyeok pondered and blurted out.
“Enough that others would call it a miracle?”
“Hoho. I suddenly have bad luck. You’re trying to get something for nothing.”
She told him everything she knew regarding his serious concern.
“If you want a sharp rise in your stats, aim for something like enlightenment or a state of egolessness. One hit of this will raise your stats by at least fifty. I guarantee it.”
“Oh.”
At those words, Sin Hyeok’s eyes changed.
But then she spoke of the downside.
“But you never know when it will come. Even though I’ve trained this ability for ten years, it only came for a very brief moment.”
“Wow.”
This was just a trick.
Anyway, since tricks wouldn’t work, it was her way of pressuring him to do things properly.
“Are you telling me to just do things properly?”
She smiled and nodded.
“You seem like you’ll solve it well enough even without such tricks, so what are you worried about?”
“I asked just in case.”
‘I should ask Father how much I can dilute it.’
He was about to go ask the priest when she spoke of a new concept as if she had just thought of something.
“There is one thing.”
“Mm?”
“My chief and I call it Link.”
At this new concept, he turned his attention to her.
“If I compare it to martial arts, it is like a combined attack or Qi Flow Resonance. You exchange mental strength with each other. Abilities of the same type are surprisingly compatible.”
“Oh.”
“I’m not sure if this will help. That’s all I know for now.”
“Thank you.”
Sin Hyeok conveyed his sincere gratitude to her.
And he approached the priest and checked how much it could be diluted.
“With this much power, from what I can see, I believe it would be possible to produce enough water to fill this entire space. As long as there is even a trace of my power, it will be detected.”
“Yes.”
Sin Hyeok roughly grasped the amount.
‘Now I just need to make it. And as fast as possible.’
“Now, let’s go grind.”