Chapter 32: Nourish Your Mind (1)

“...What do you think?”

The subordinate who had been reading Seo Jun-Ho’s interview asked carefully. Kal Signer remained silent for a while before slowly nodding.

“I’m sure of one thing. This guy’s luck is damningly good.”

Seo Jun-Ho had explained the conquest in great detail in his interview. He said he had been greatly shocked when he first went through the Gate.

‘…Well, it makes sense. No one would have guessed that a Gate with a dragon would be formatted as a maze.’

Generally, Gates with dragons were large, open spaces. But this time, it was a tight, narrow maze. It was something that even Kal Signer himself hadn’t expected.

‘On top of that, it’s the type that separates them from the beginning...the worst.’

But the Gates that separated the teammates from the start often had a pattern.

[I barely managed to escape from the twisting maze…That took me about 5 hours. And when I finally got out, there was an open space. And there were the Shadow Brothers’...c-corpses, and a dying dragon. If I’d only gotten out a little earlier…sniff, it’s all because I wasn’t strong enough.]

Kal Signer’s face contorted even more. As the story became more twisted, the more Seo Jun-Ho’s teary face seemed like a detestable performance.

‘Hu…The most frustrating thing is that it makes sense. Even if he’s strong for barely being over level 10, the Shadow Brothers were stronger and should have come out earlier.’

And this time, the brothers’ superior skill had gotten them killed. They had encountered the Nameless Dragon and fought against it without a moment to prepare.

‘In the end, it was mutual destruction.’

As ridiculous as it was, the weakest one had emerged last and lived to tell the tale.

“He really is lucky.”

“...It’s my first time seeing someone like this.”

“Sir, how shall we deal with the Las Vegas auction? It was originally assigned to the Shadow Brothers.”

“Ugh.”

Talk about adding insult to injury. This year’s auction would feature the top-grade magic core, ‘Heaven’s Breath.’ The Fiend Associations’ executives had directly ordered for it to be retrieved. They had to get it no matter what.

“Fuck. The Shadow Brothers were perfect for the job…..”

Kal Signer looked like he had a headache. If he didn’t figure this out, he would be in danger.

‘I sent the Shadow Brothers to find the Tempest Butterfly…it was my own arbitrary decision.’

When he gave the command, he didn’t expect things to get this complicated. He previously thought that the brothers would be able to kill Seo Jun-Ho easily, but they ended up dying because of the Gate’s unexpected pattern.

‘If I can’t retrieve Heaven’s Breath because of their absence…’

It would become an issue that would even affect his position. Kal Signer seemed to have decided on something as he spoke to his subordinate. “Aren’t the Watchdogs coming to the 2nd floor?”

“Yes, The superior said their skills are wasted on the 1st floor. They were ordered to advance to the 2nd floor.

“...Send them the order to postpone it. I’ll leave the Las Vegas auction to them.”

“Huh? But Signer-nim, their summons…”

The executive who summoned the Watchdogs to the 2nd floor was of higher status than Signer. He was overstepping his authority. In the Fiend Association where the strong ruled, no one would blink an eye even if his head was cut off.

But Kal Signer had no other options.

“Did you forget? The Fiend Association only cares about results and skill. They might beat me up a few times…but that’s better than losing Heaven’s Breath.”

His subordinate gulped.

He made sense. The Watchdogs were the strongest fiends on the 1st floor.

‘But if they fail…’

His boss would definitely die, and he might die too. His shoulders shook as he bowed his head.

“I’ll tell the Watchdogs that they must succeed.”

“They won’t fail. The Watchdogs...It’s a waste for them to be on the 1st floor.”

The average level out of the three of them was 53. Their level and skills didn’t suit the first floor, so Kal Signer was sure that they would succeed.

***

“...What’s all this?” Seo Jun-Ho stared blankly at the mountains of documents on the desk.

Cha Si-Eun poked her head out from behind it. “They’re love calls for Jun-Ho-nim. Personal commission requests.”

“...Why didn’t you sort them this time?” He asked, looking at the enormous pile of documents.

She looked tired as she responded. “...I worked hard to organize them.”

“There’s still this much after?you sorted them?” Seo Jun-Ho was shocked.

Sure, clearing the Eastern Sea Gate was definitely a great achievement. Now, South Korea was the first country in the world without a single Uncleared Gate. The country was even deemed the first Special Safe Zone.

“But still, I didn’t expect this much…I barely even helped in clearing the Gate.”

“But in the end, you’re the only one who survived. Luck is also a skill for Players.”

“...Touche.” ?Slowly nodding, Seo Jun-Ho looked to the mountain of documents in disgust. “So you wanted to show me these because you want me to choose?”

“Yes. I’ve picked out the best ones by taking into consideration the commissioner, compensation, and difficulty.”

“Ugh. I got it.”

“And…” Cha Si-Eun took a step toward Seo Jun-Ho.

“W-what is it?”

She stared closely at him and revealed a look of dissatisfaction. “As I thought, you need to get your hair done. I’ve noticed it for a while, but it’s a lot more obvious in the pictures from yesterday’s press conference. Your hair is too messy right now.”

“...I’m not a celebrity or anything. Is it really necessary?” Seo Jun-Ho replied.

“Yes!” Cha Si-Eun shouted with a determined voice. She tapped on Vita and pulled up a window for reference. It was a list of profiles of the current star Players. Not all of them were as handsome or pretty as celebrities, but it was clear that they were all well-maintained.

“Some of them are even doing worse than you, but at least, they don’t look unstylish in their official photos.” Cha Si-Eun criticized.

“Unstylish…” Seo Jun-Ho muttered sullenly. He picked up the mirror on the desk and looked at his hair.

‘Yeah, it’s gotten a lot longer.’

It had already been a month since he emerged from the ice. His hair had grown however it wanted and now looked quite messy.

“You’re planning to rest today, correct?” Cha Si-Eun asked.

“Well, yeah.” Seo Jun-Ho responded.

“Then please go to the salon on this business card and get a haircut.”

Seo Jun-Ho took the card and sighed. At times like this, he missed being Specter.

‘Now I get why my friends always complained about makeup.’

Whenever the 5 Heroes held a press conference, he always had to listen to their grumblings. Of course, he always wore his mask and had never got his makeup done before.

“Then, you should go home early too.”

“...Really?”

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

“I can’t imagine how much you worked if there’s still so many of them after you sorted them out. Go home for today.” Seo Jun-Ho advised.

Cha Si-Eun looked the happiest he had ever seen her.

“Thank you!” She bowed and quickly dashed out of the room, leaving him alone.

“Wow, she sure is happy.” He reached into a drawer and put on a mask. There were too many people that could recognize him now.

***

Seo Jun-Ho studied his freshly-cut hair in the elevator mirror, looking satisfied.

“You handsome bastard.” If someone heard him, they would definitely call him a narcissist and look at him weirdly, but they wouldn’t be able to deny it. He really did look good with his voluminous ‘spin swallow perm.’

‘Getting a haircut is pretty refreshing.’

In the past, he would go to a nearby hair salon whenever he felt like his hair got too long. The owner was an old lady who was always chewing gum accompanied by a dog that had its tail dyed pink.

“You take some, you lose some.”

When he was Specter, no one would recognize him if he simply took off the mask. But now, it was different. He was Korea’s young hero and a rising Player. He had made the country into a Special Safe Zone, and he was just as good as the other star Players.

‘Well, it’s just annoying for me.’

He grumbled as he sighed and put his mask back on before the elevator opened again. He went out into a crowded street and hailed a taxi to go to a manhwa bang.

“It’s nice to relieve stress like this every once in a while.”

He had done this often when he was Specter. When you lived your whole life training and fighting, you had to breathe every once in a while.

Ring!

Seo Jun-Ho entered the manhwa bang and started to pick out some novels.

‘This place never has any customers. I wonder if they’ll go under.’

This was only his third visit to the place, but it was easy to guess why that was the case.

‘There’s a lot of luxurious book cafes these days.’

Those places were like cafes or restaurants and offered coffee, drinks, and good food. On the other hand, this was a classic manhwa bang that only offered ramen, frozen dumplings, and fish cake bars.

‘Well, it’s better for me if there aren’t any customers.’

He pulled off his mask and found himself a spot in a corner.

“Huh?” He paused. He originally thought that there weren’t any customers, but there was an occupant. It was a woman wearing a sloppy gym suit, and there was a hair roll in her windblown hair. She was blowing on the ramen in one hand, but her focus was on the novel in the other. She displayed finesse different from that of a manhwa bang newbie.

The woman noticed his presence behind her and glanced up. When she saw him, she started coughing as if she were poisoned.

“Urk…cough, cough!”

She placed her chopsticks down at the speed of light and hid her face behind the book.

The book was enough to cover her entire face, but unfortunately. It was too small. In addition, it was too late. The cat was already out of the bag.

“...Secretary Cha?” Seo Jun-Ho asked awkwardly.

1. ‘manhwa room’, you pay to sit in a quiet space and read the manhwa/books that they have. Usually quite cheap and often offers snacks/drinks

2. ?? - Fish cake bars is basically skewered odeng.