Chapter 10
Masangdo pleaded with Sihoon.
He looked ready to even lick the soles of his shoes.
“E… Employee Sihoon.”
“That title is a bit disappointing, isn’t it? You should call me the Warehouse Director.”
“I can’t believe I’m just a regular employee! I’ve worked here for decades!”
“Oh, I see. I’ll call Seochanil, the heir. You can settle this directly with him.”
Masangdo shut his mouth.
No way.
If Seochanil hit him, he would surely die.
“Masangdo, from now on, you’re a regular employee? Hey, you lot too. Why are you exempt? You’re all demoted to regular employees as well.”
The three of them had their ranks removed and were demoted to regular employees. Even in children’s pretend play, this wouldn’t happen.
But this was Cheonyul, and the heirs were like gods.
“Team members, as you know, aggressive behavior is prohibited on the 41st floor. Maintain the usual atmosphere.”
“Yes!”
Clang-clang!
The sound of metal boots echoed loudly.
So all we need is to keep the usual atmosphere? The interpreters decided to “act it out.”
“Stop! Don’t come any closer!”
Masangdo and his aides screamed. There were no CCTV cameras in the warehouse. Masangdo had already removed them to hide evidence of assault.
This warehouse was a sealed room.
Through the glass, Seoul stretched out below.
It was Seochanil’s office.
“Those three are resigning, apparently.”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous.”
Seochanil cut off the conversation sharply.
“Do you think you can leave this company on your own terms? Even as interpreters? If you want to keep working in the warehouse, you’d better shut up properly.”
“Of course. The gag is well in place. They won’t be able to resign.”
It had been a while since Sihoon joined.
During that time, the warehouse had been running smoothly. Sihoon’s approval rating had surpassed 120%.
“How are your eyes?”
“They’re a bit prickly.”
Sihoon was wearing an eye mask. His eyes were overloaded from interpreting five A-rank items…
—at least, that was the excuse.
In reality, he could handle 100 A-rank items with ease, but revealing all his skill wasn’t wise.
“So why did you come today?”
“I have a report. Our cute Cerberus has lost its owner.”
“The owner is still alive, though?”
“Well… it’s complicated.”
Masangdo was dying. Every single day.
The idle healers were busy keeping him alive.
Hmm. Cerberus, huh.
Seochanil tapped his chin with a finger.
“Abandon it.”
“There’s no zoo to take it… We took it to a shelter, but the staff screamed nonstop. Can’t we keep it here?”
“Fine, whatever.”
“Thank you. Come in.”
Squeak, woof.
The Cerberus entered, tail tucked tightly. It was still afraid of Sihoon.
“From today, Heir Seochanil is your new master. Treat him well.”
“Wait, what are you doing?”
“You said we could raise it here.”
Slap!
Seochanil suddenly smacked Sihoon on the back of the head. He was furious but hit lightly, fearing he might kill him.
“Has it gone completely mad? Why is this ‘here’ actually here?”
“Hng! You said it was okay…”
“Do you have no common sense? Of course it’s the warehouse! Warehouse! Warehouse, you idiot with interpretation powers.”
Pant, pant.
Even as he scolded, the Cerberus hid behind Seochanil. Sihoon was far scarier.
“You ugly dog, get lost.”
“Why not use it as a pet assistant? It understands human speech perfectly. If its IQ is 50 per head… that’s 180, right?”
“Your math is wrong.”
The throw-up failed.
Sihoon moved to the next strategy: a gift assault. Special items from the warehouse were presented.
Item: Boomerang of the Sun God
⌜Only the sun is the true god!⌟
Followers of the Sun God –
A weapon favored by the Sun God’s followers.
It stores sunlight to release flames.
<Grade: B>
Item: Shield of the Sun God
⌜The Sun God’s technology is the world’s best!⌟
Followers of the Sun God –
A shield infused with lava’s power.
Actually unrelated to the Sun God, but the followers praise it as if it were.
<Grade: B>
Item: Ash Boots
⌜Good enough to use as a campfire.⌟
Adventurer Vector –
Boots that emit heat.
Somewhere in a remote part of the universe, they’re allegedly used for “shin-melting” torture.
<Grade: B>
Seochanil’s lips curved. He was pleased with the interpretation items.
Seochanil handled fire well, so he especially loved fire-related items.
“Comparable to some S-rank items, I suppose.”
Sihoon had assisted 12 heirs in his previous life. It was unpleasant, but it allowed him to know their tastes inside out.
An offer you can’t refuse. Favorite gifts. He knew everything.
“Do you like these interpretation items? Then our cute Cerberus…”
“That’s not it. Interpreting is your job. Who puts their main work on the negotiation table? And I don’t know how to raise animals.”
Seochanil was indeed formidable!
But Sihoon didn’t give up.
“Did you know our cute Cerberus likes fire?”
“-What?”
True. Cerberus was created through biological experiments, gaining strong fire resistance.
Seochanil tossed a spark. Cerberus ran and swallowed it.
Pant, pant!
The Cerberus was delighted.
“That spark was over 600 degrees.”
“Do you think I would lie? See how obedient it is, and it eats fire so well…”
Sit. Stand.
Seochanil was already training Cerberus. It seemed they would raise it in the office. Things were going smoothly.
“Oh, heir, there are ugly pillars in the warehouse.”
“Why? Should I remove them? I paid a billion per pillar, but they’re useless.”
Seochanil—truly a genius investor. Bought at 100x cheaper!
Five years later, the <Otherworldly Temple Pillars> would be worth 100 billion.
“Interpreter, want a secret? There’s no tracking magic inscribed on those pillars.”
“What!? Why?”
“Try stealing them if you can.”
“They’re a bit big for my pocket.”
As Sihoon prepared to leave the office, Seochanil’s capsule caught his eye. Its design radiated money.
“Wow, that’s a stylish capsule.”
“A custom-ordered stream capsule just for me. Isn’t it gorgeous?”
“What’s special about it?”
“It mirrors 99.999% of my movements. Totally different from the commoners’ capsules.”
Stream Capsule!
A device for connecting to the stream on Earth.
It was a new service offered by the Stream to Earth—to make combat feel like a game.
Its main features: pain and fatigue reduction, injury prevention, and even death cancellation.
Yet it had a flaw. Getting too used to it would make real-game adaptation difficult.
“Want to try it?”
“What? Get killed by the heir? No thanks.”
“You’re perceptive.”
“And what interpreter uses capsules anyway? I’ll never use one.”
“Fair enough.”
No capsule needed. There was a better method.
“Oh, heir, raise my salary. I am the warehouse manager, after all.”
“Depending on your behavior.”
“No, raise it immediately. If Masangdo gets a newbie salary, there’s no financial loss.”
“Not wrong. Secretary Kim! Are you outside?”
Sihoon’s salary increased sevenfold.
Someone else’s dropped to 1/7th.
Back at the warehouse, Masangdo and his aides were being carried out on stretchers. They routinely got beaten, fainted, and were sent to the infirmary.
Hierarchy and retaliation. Order and counterattack.
That was Cheonyul.
“Director Sihoon, welcome.”
A female employee greeted him. The same one who had kicked Masangdo’s shin. Her cheek still had traces of blood—she was now a proper Cheonyul member.
“How’s it working with Masangdo as a regular employee?”
“Every day is new. It’s the best. Thrilling.”
“I see. Let’s keep up the good work.”
“Yes!”
The woman smiled brightly, holding a crude hex wrench.
As long as Masangdo remained, Sihoon’s leadership would stay intact.
“Employees, proceed with your work autonomously today. Don’t come looking for me. I’ll get angry if you do.”
Sihoon had secured loyalty in the warehouse.
And he even planted a spy for Seochanil.
Ziiiiing!
The spy contacted him immediately—the Morse code receiver worked.
The spy was Cerberus.
Sihoon had modified Cerberus’ food bowl into a Morse code transmitter. He could contact Cerberus anytime.
From now on, all information reaching Seochanil would go to Sihoon via the bowl.
This absurd intelligence plan worked because Cerberus was extremely cooperative.
If separated from Sihoon, it would do anything.
“Am I really that scary?”
Beep-beep-beep. Morse code formed a sentence. Sihoon imagined Cerberus pressing the bowl diligently.
[Worldwide. Blacksmith. Missing. Culprit. Unknown.]
“An IQ 180 genius dog! Already producing results?”
The missing promising blacksmiths!
A famous rumor in the previous life—genius blacksmiths disappearing worldwide.
“Even with clear victims, it was classified as a rumor because the culprit couldn’t be identified.”
They simply vanished. From workshops, from labs. One moment there, the next, gone.
Even UFO abduction theories have context. This is just straight-up disappearance. Sometimes, there may not even be a culprit.
‘Could this be considered a trigger for disaster?’
Yes. The missing blacksmiths were promising talents, a major loss for humanity.
And it wasn’t just other people.
The Soulless Creator refined monsters’ souls.
“In a sense, I’m also a potential target. If I’m lucky, it can be solved easily.”
To find an unknown kidnapper? The fastest way is to get kidnapped.
For normal people, abduction is terrifying. For a black company, it’s just petty crime.
Sihoon approached the warehouse’s monstrosity.
The grotesquely twisted Otherworldly pillars looked like melted, warped octopus tentacles.
“Looks like something that could summon Cthulhu.”
Hence the cheap price.
Current cost per unit: 1 billion.
Five years later: 100 billion per unit.
Sihoon started embezzling again.
Scrape, scrape. After three hours of scraping the pillars in a specific way, a change occurred: light beams flowed out of the pillars.
Item: Moonlight
⌜Followers of the Sun God advance. The Moon Temple falls. Moonlight, stay hidden.⌟
Moon Saint –
Hidden lunar power in the pillars.
Raises magic stat by 0.5.
Helps the owner recover energy.
<Grade: S>
Moonlight gleamed in Sihoon’s hands.
One item increased magic by 0.5.
A modest performance. For an S-rank item, a bit disappointing.
“If it were just one…”
Moonlight’s effect stacks.
Each pillar contained one Moonlight. The warehouse had 14 pillars.
Sihoon had laboriously harvested all 14, increasing magic by 7. Compared to zero, it was like building a power plant inside.
“No wonder the rich go crazy.”
Infinite stacked magic items with no side effects!
Revealing Moonlight instantly made the pillars worth 100 billion.
Secret Insight!
Collecting rare items related to the Moon Temple strengthens Moonlight.
Even info not revealed in the previous life. Strengthening all 14 Moonlights simultaneously would give enormous growth potential.
“I’ll put you to good use.”
Sihoon looked at the hideous pillars.
They were remnants of the Moon Temple.
“Old records say it was beautiful once.”
Defeated by the Sun God, the Moon Temple burned into its current form, yet Moonlight remained intact.
“I won’t waste Moonlight. I’ll even strike the Sun God, so look forward to it.”
The Sun God was evil—a public enemy.
It had to be defeated anyway.
Buzz-buzz!
The 14 pillars seemed to respond joyfully.
Notification: Status Window Update
Magic: 3 → 10
Stats had risen dramatically.
Starting at Level 1 with magic 10—a luxurious start. Magic was like the player’s basic stamina, so prolonged fights wouldn’t easily tire him.
Cheonyul’s security team suddenly visited Sihoon.
A routine check.
“We’ll scan your capsule records.”
All employees were checked daily. The heirs didn’t trust them.
Capsules were that significant.
“0 connections. Confirmed.”
“Good work.”
Having secured an alibi, Sihoon prepared for stream connection. He would use a more irrational method than the capsule.
“Connect.”
A portal appeared on command.
Direct connection: allows stream access anytime, anywhere. No capsule needed.
Direct Connection Mode
Fatigue and pain remain at 100%.
Injuries do not heal.
Causes injury, disability, death.
Growth is accelerated.
A terrifying message.
Death in direct connection… means death.
Urkan died that way. Berg too.
Death was frightening. Hence, capsules must be discarded. One must face fear and risk life.
One must fight in reality first. Adapting late to the main game is too late.
Sihoon jumped through the portal.
Why was sneaking around during work so enjoyable?
Flash!
He was summoned to a subway station.
The battlefield is randomly selected in reality.
This battlefield was a place Sihoon knew well.
“Of all places, we start the game here. Maybe fate really exists.”
A very suitable debut battlefield.
