Episode 30
#30
After that, I went to the Yua Guild with Gim Jinsu.
Sin Yua, who was in the guild master’s office, could only gape at my unexpected proposal.
“So you’re telling me to become the King of Gimhae?”
“No. Not a king, but to become Gimhae’s Representative, like me.”
“Uh… isn’t that the same thing?”
Sin Yua, who had been making a bewildered expression at my words, let out a sigh and opened her mouth the next moment.
“How did my fate become so spectacular?”
“You don’t like it?”
“No. I should be happy about it, rather.”
With those words, Sin Yua put on a confident grin.
I also smiled and introduced Gim Jinsu, who was sitting beside me.
“Miss Yua, take this person with you when you go to settle Gimhae.”
“Uh… you definitely said he was the King of Gimhae, right?”
“Haha, not anymore. My name is Gim Jinsu.”
“Ah, yes. I’m Sin Yua.”
After confirming that they had politely shaken hands and greeted each other, I spoke to Sin Yua.
“He was the King of Gimhae. He’ll probably be a great help when settling Gimhae.”
“Ah, I see. Since he was indeed a king, he must be quite strong.”
“Yes, if you entrust me with this, I will do my best. However… Representative.”
He asked as if something was on his mind, and since I knew what he was going to request, I nodded and answered.
“Bring your daughter here. I will provide lodging.”
“Ah… thank you very much.”
“Not at all. You showed me trust, so this much is only natural.”
He had voluntarily stepped down from the position of king before me and shattered the King’s Gem.
That action alone was enough to trust him.
Now it was time to show the results of that trust.
But before that.
I spoke to him with a serious face.
“I’m just saying this in case, but don’t think of overdoing it and dying. I need people with power, even one more person.”
Gim Jinsu looked at me with a slightly surprised face at my words.
Soon, he gave a bitter smile and opened his mouth.
“This is really… I can’t win against the Representative. Honestly, if I leave my daughter with you, I thought I could work my body to the bone with a light heart.”
“Your daughter won’t be happy. So don’t think about dying. Instead, stay alive and help me.”
At those words, Gim Jinsu put on a pleasant smile.
He slowly turned his head toward me, nodded, and opened his mouth.
“Yes, I will trust the Representative.”
* * *
Five days later, the Gangin Guild and the Yua Guild prepared to leave Ulsan to subjugate the demonic beasts in their respective assigned areas.
“You’ve all stored my robots in your inventories, right?”
“Yes, we’ve kept them stored.”
“But this inventory thing is really amazing. Even those huge robots all fit inside.”
I had also found it a bit amazing when I learned of that fact a month ago.
No, rather, I was simply foolish for not having thought of it.
Robots were, in a way, items created in the workshop—or to be exact, items that could only be made on the Sky Island—so it was only natural that non-human things like them could be put into an inventory.
Thanks to that, I could now manage all twenty thousand robots.
Honestly, because there were so many, I had suffered headaches over charging issues.
“Representative, then we’ll be off.”
“We’ll clear things up and be right back!”
I didn’t know when they’d return, but it wouldn’t take too long.
The number of robots lent to them was large, and their strength had grown to a degree incomparable to before.
Moreover, upon reaching level 70, the robots’ operating time had also increased.
Previously it had been three days, but now it was seven days, meaning they could operate for a week without recharging.
Wishing for their success, I opened my mouth.
“Yes, take care and come back safely.”
* * *
Not even a few minutes after the party left for their respective areas, an incident occurred.
I had known it would open around this time, but who knew it would open the moment they left…
Anyway, I headed to the place where the Gate had opened.
The place where the Gate opened was the center of the street, so I had to stop it before massive damage occurred.
“Ah! Representative.”
“You’ve come, Representative.”
However, fortunately, in front of the newly formed Gate, guild members of the Gangin Guild and the Yua Guild were already controlling people and responding quickly.
As expected of guild members in charge of Gates, they seemed to be skillfully preparing to clear it.
However, they must not enter.
I urgently opened my mouth toward them.
“Has anyone entered the Gate?”
“No one has entered yet. The guild is currently selecting raiding personnel as well, so you don’t need to worry too much, Representative. The Gate is also a bit… quite small.”
Just as he said, the Gate’s size was unbelievably small compared to any I had seen so far. It was a Gate with a diameter of barely around two meters.
Gate size immediately indicated rank, so one could say a Gate of this size was of the lowest grade even among low-rank Gates, but…
Even so, knowing the danger of this Gate, I shook my head and spoke.
“I will clear this Gate.”
“Yes? You, Representative?”
“Yes. Pass this on to all the guild members as well. If you find a Gate with numbers floating above it, contain it. Absolutely do not let anyone inside.”
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
When I opened my mouth with a grave expression, he too noticed something unusual and nodded.
I stood before the Gate and looked at the numbers floating above it.
[0/1]
The number floating blatantly above the Gate.
Unlike other Gates, this Gate had no value in being used.
Rather, it was dangerous due to its troublesome uniqueness.
Gate entry limit.
It was a Gate where only one person could enter, exactly as the number written.
It was better to clear and eliminate such Gates immediately.
Without hesitation, I entered the Gate immediately.
* * *
There is a loophole in the numbered Gates.
A loophole that only I can use.
I had entered the newly formed Gate to verify it.
Namely, the robots inside the inventory were not affected by the entry limit.
‘So this actually works?’
Honestly, I had been skeptical until I checked, but fortunately, it was possible.
Thanks to that, the clearing of the newly appeared entry-limit Gates in Ulsan proceeded smoothly.
As I had said, whenever guild members discovered Gates, they controlled them to prevent people from approaching, and I too was able to clear the Gates smoothly.
In just one day, the number of Gates that appeared all over Ulsan was eight in total.
At least, since it was still early on, only low-rank Gates appeared, so I could clear all of them without difficulty, but the problem was Gimhae and Yangsan.
I conveyed the current situation to Gang Inhan and Sin Yua through the robots.
“Deliver my words through the robots near Miss Yua and Mister Inhan. If you discover a Gate with numbers, control it so that survivors cannot enter.”
[[Yes, understood.]]
For now, it was best to control the Gates themselves.
I didn’t know how many Gates had formed including in Gimhae and Yangsan, but no matter how low-ranked a Gate was, if it had an entry limit of one like before, its danger would rival that of a large-scale Gate.
Moreover, the uniqueness of these Gates wasn’t limited to the personnel limit.
Unlike the super-large Gate currently in Ulsan, you couldn’t come and go freely; only when the survivor who entered first cleared the Gate or died could the next survivor enter.
It was better to eliminate such Gates early.
To check if any Gates remained, I traveled all over Ulsan through the Sky Island, and I was able to find more entry-limit Gates.
Gates had formed in secluded places—specifically mountains, forests, and nearby rivers—and their number was fifteen in total. Since I found and cleared the Gates that very day, I could prevent damage beforehand.
A few hours after clearing the Gates like that.
I Sina, who had left for Busan early this morning with Eria, returned.
“Good work, Miss Sina.”
“No, um… I’m sorry, Mr. Hancheol. I couldn’t get permission.”
“Did they refuse the proposal?”
“Uh… they said they’d think about it for now.”
“That’s probably not a refusal. They’re really thinking about it. They’re a very cautious person.”
Well, the King of Busan’s judgment was understandable.
Clearing the demonic beasts from the streets and opening a shop with cheaper prices than the shop system run by Constellations wasn’t something readily believable.
“And they said they want to meet you in person, Mr. Hancheol.”
“The King of Busan?”
“Yes, they said they’d come here in person… Ah! They said they’d come if you signed this contract.”
With those words, I Sina took out the Chain Contract from her inventory.
Ah… glancing at the contract clauses, I could guess the situation.
The King of Busan was cautious to the point of being tiresome.
He seemed to like my proposal but found it too suspicious to believe outright, and since it was too good to refuse, he was trying to use the contract to verify things.
Honestly, it was an understandable action, but there was no need for me to be so careful as to sign the contract.
I took the contract from I Sina and simply tore it up on the spot.
Riiiip.
“Huh? Are you… refusing?”
“No. I checked the clauses and there were unnecessary ones.”
Including clauses for his own safety, there were clauses sneakily written to favor him.
Seeing this, it seemed he still thought he held the upper hand…
“I’ll just go meet him personally.”
Honestly, I was a bit annoyed.
* * *
Inside an office in a high-rise building in Haeundae, Busan.
A man with slightly tanned skin and a clean sports haircut—precisely the King of Busan, Choe Sihun—sat on a sofa, deep in thought about something.
Soon, he raised his head and opened his mouth toward the woman sitting across from him.
“Miss Jihyeong, they haven’t arrived yet?”
“You mean Miss Sina who came from Ulsan?”
“Yes.”
“No, it seems she hasn’t arrived yet. But was it really necessary to go that far? In a way, it’s a good proposal for us.”
“Yes, it is certainly a good proposal, but it’s too good for us. So verification is necessary.”
“So you want to meet them in person?”
“Yes, we’ll know once we talk. What their intention was in making such a proposal. Or who’s more desperate.”
The ability Choe Sihun received from the Constellation he contracted with was an eye that could discern truth and lies.
Of course, the words of the woman who had come here were all true, but the intentions of the King of Ulsan could be different.
Honestly, Choe Sihun thought he knew what type of skill line the so-called King of Ulsan possessed.
Having become the King of Busan and checked, he learned that there were various types of skills.
Skills to make weapons, buff skills, or alchemy-related skills.
Judging from the robots that came with the woman, it was clear that the one who became the King of Ulsan also possessed support skills related to this.
‘Then his own strength must be weak.’
Most survivors with support skills were, of course, weaker than survivors with combat skills.
Because their skills weren’t very useful in combat, they had no opportunities to raise their stats.
Then which side was actually desperate?
There was no way they’d provide shops or facilities with purely good intentions, so they had to have a separate purpose.
He didn’t know what their intention was, but if he could seize the upper hand in the deal itself, it was best to do so. He didn’t know the exact situation in Ulsan, but considering the King’s power, it was highly likely that the King of Ulsan was the desperate one. Perhaps asking him to clear a Gate they couldn’t handle.
It was then.
Fwoom!!
“!?”
“Huk!?”
At the sudden situation, Choe Sihun and Gim Jihyeong couldn’t help but spring up from the sofa with shocked faces.
The two faced each other with stiff faces for a moment before opening their mouths.
“Sihun, this mana.”
“Ha… gather everyone capable of combat right now.”
Their faces couldn’t help but harden at the enormous mana that enveloped the office—no, the entire building—in an instant.
The mana was so dense it was hard to breathe, so viscous it was immeasurable.
Cold sweat trickled down both their faces from tension.
Given the situation, he had told them to gather combatants, but could they really oppose the owner of this mana?
He couldn’t even dare guess what kind of monster they were dealing with.
Then.
Knock, knock.
Choe Sihun opened his mouth at the sound of knocking on the office door.
“Yes, come in.”
With his permission, the office door opened, and the man who opened the door also seemed to be struggling under the mana covering the entire building.
Barely enduring the mana, he opened his mouth with a pale face and trembling voice.
“I… C-Chief.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Th-that is, someone called the King of Ulsan has come.”
At those words, Choe Sihun’s face hardened in confusion.
‘Could it be!?’
At the news that the King of Ulsan had come personally, he immediately went down to the first floor and came out of the building.
The moment he saw the sight, his mouth gaped wide.
A number of robots incomparable to what he had seen before covered the sky.
One thousand? No, there were probably even more.
What was even more surprising was the man who discovered him, approached with a gentle smile, and extended his hand.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Gim Hancheol, the Representative of Ulsan.”
Choe Sihun could tell.
That the owner of this enormous mana was the man before his eyes.