Chapter 122: Affection is thicker than blood (3)

Translator: miraclerifle

Yoo Jaeha looked toward Ju-Heon with disgust.

He was certain.

This person was probably a tyrant in his past life.

He was probably a tyrant who threw even the nobles into the fiery depths of hell.

But what could he do? He just needed to get things ready if his Captain-nim told him to do so.

‘Although that Nero bastard is still depressed over the Captain-nim’s barrage of facts...’

Would the restoration be easier if he gave it some praises even if he didn't mean it?

Yoo Jaeha asked once Ju-Heon hung up the phone.

“Captain-nim, will it be okay? You seem to be thinking of doing something big, will you be able to handle the risk of greed or whatever it's called?”

Ju-Heon flinched after hearing that. It wasn’t that he had forgotten about the risk...

However...

‘The risk from using her power in the Tomb of Lust hasn’t activated yet either.’

It wouldn't come together, would it?

That was why he was concerned about it.

In the past, potentially because Irene had lost her parents, there was even an incident where a large number of middle-aged individuals who were about her parents age went missing.

It was the result of her risk of greed for her parents.

‘But something like that won't happen this time.’

Irene's risks that Ju-Heon had confirmed so far were his scent, drinking, and... kissing him.

‘Why can't risks just show up at good times?’

The problem was that an artifact’s risk showed up whenever it felt like showing up.

The artifacts probably didn't want to make it easy for the humans.

It would be no fun like that.

“Captain-nim?”

“Ah, it’s fine. I just have to be next to her. Then I can stop it no matter what it is.”

“Oh, you think you can stop it?”

Ju-Heon looked serious.

“It’s just a twenty years old girl's greed. It won't be something like wanting power, or a country or something like that.”

“You're right, it’s not like she’s you, Captain-nim. She won't aim for World Domination or anything like that.”

‘This little punk.’

“Anyway, I'm really calling Irene. Don't regret it.”

“Sure. Just figure out the things that a girl in her twenties would like. One of those should hit the target.”

Yoo Jaeha's eyes opened wide.

‘Wow, our Captain-nim's surprisingly innocent.’

Yoo Jaeha started to chuckle without any malice.

“Yes sir. I will call the farmers and get everything ready.”

‘Damn it, whatever. I'm not the one who's going to be jumped anyway.’

And on a random day in 2025...

Pandora’s Korean branch was quite elated due to the artifact related laws.

“Haha, this law definitely seems to have been effective.”

“We are getting a lot of reports and there are plenty of people voluntarily turning in their artifacts.”

“Fining a lot of money solves all issues as we expected.”

“Thanks to that, it has been very easy to locate artifacts as well.”

“Pandora HQ has shown a very positive response as well. They said they would support the Korean branch with more money and artifacts!”

“My goodness, we didn’t even do much.”

“Apparently this law will be passed world-wide probably because we showed such great results.”

Pandora’s Korean branch employees were laughing with each other. However, their expressions changed the moment they came out of the meeting room.

“My goodness, this should get rid of any potential for serious danger from lay-people using artifacts.”

"We should have done this from the beginning. We can’t let any random dog or cow use artifacts. We need to draw the line.”

“But we still need to put some good people into Pandora’s excavation team. We need to take those artifacts that fall our way.”

“Ah right, what did Secretary General Richard have to say? How will we deal with the money we brought in?”

“Do you even need to ask?" The money brought into Pandora will be used for each country’s restoration business.”

“Ah, the restoration business. Of course, we need to do our best to help the victims. The company designated for the restoration is my brother-in-law's company, so please take good care of them.”

They then started to laugh.

They knew that close to 80% of the money would come in through companies related to them.

"And did they say his name was Seo Ju-Heon?”

They laughed despicably.

"Why is a Korean person like him not giving up his artifacts to the Korean branch?”

“We will make him offer it to us with his own hands.”

“Good.”

But at that moment...

“Sir! You need to escape!”

“W, what?”

Pandora’s Korean branch suddenly became a mess.

“It's blown up, the delivery incident from last time! The story about it is blowing up right now!”

“Sir! The 10 billion won incident was discovered as well!”

“W, what?!”

“The police are here so we might lose everything if things go wro......!”

“Your brother-in-law’s villa has already been seiz...!”

“Damn it, what the hell?!”

Why did those things suddenly get revealed?

“Are you crazy? We gave them a ton of money! How can you let them keep investigating it?!”

“No, you see, the files that were not revealed somehow ended up being publicized to the news companies...!”

“Fuck, plane! Get me a plane ticket now! We just need to leave the country until it settles down!”

He had gotten a lot of money coming into this Pandora branch already.

He could use the rest of the money once things settled down.

Korean were like pots anyway. They'll quickly forget about it.

However...

“That... something happened to the land you invested in and the price has fallen to the ground......!”

“And there was a large sinkhole in the building you were building...!”

“The building you own!”

“There was a burglar at your residence!”

The Pandora members were at a loss after seeing their wealth being destroyed like a strong gust of wind, no, like a tornado charging through them.

These were some monstrous disasters that did not seem real.

“Holy shit, what the hell is going on?”

‘What else would it be?'

[The strange power of destitution is calling forth disasters!]

[The strange power of destitution is calling forth disasters!]

[The power of destitution is going berserk!]

[This is not a power that can be stopped by regular means!]

The power of the Monarch of Destitution had just descended.

However, these people, who had no way of knowing that was the case, started to swear.

They just knew that they needed to escape from the investigation.

“Fuck! The airport! Let’s first head to the airport!”

It was at that moment.

A large spark appeared in the air as if it wouldn't let them run.

And then, BOOM! A strong earthquake shook the Pandora branch.

“Ahhhhh!”

“What the hell?!”

[A strange golden palace is shooting up.]

[It has declared the Pandora branch area as its territory.]

[Everybody inside will be imprisoned within the golden palace.]

Boom!

A strong spark and earthquake!

Golden pillars cut through the ground and valiantly shot up.

A luxurious wall started to appear around the golden pillars as if they were muscles and flesh surrounding the bones.

Although it seemed familiar, this palace was now more luxurious than the former golden palace that resembled the Colosseum.

It looked more like the Sydney Opera House this time!

But that wasn’t all.

Boom boom boom!

“Aaaaaah!”

Roman sculptures that were over 3m tall fell from the sky to surround the circular palace.

However, they did not look like Nero this time.

They were sculptures of Ju-Heon.

Laughing Ju-Heon, angry Ju-Heon, solemn Ju-Heon, Ju-Heon making lo... Anyway, the jaw dropping sculptures and the faces on the walls were all of Ju-Heon.

It must have been modified to suit Ju-Heon’s tastes.

But that wasn't all.

"All of you, gather in front of me.”

They heard Ju-Heon's voice in the air.

The Pandora members suddenly felt dizzy and started to scream.

“Aaaaaah!”

They were then shocked by what appeared in front of them.

“W, what the? The Opera House?”

“Is it a Tomb Appearance?”

It was just that the size was not the size of a regular Opera House. It was almost as large as a large baseball stadium.

The funny thing was that they were not the only ones to be captured in this palace.

“Oh! You guys are!”

There were foreigners who walked out of the other doors in the Opera House.

However, the Korean branch members gasped after seeing their faces.

“P, Pandora HQ members!”

They weren’t the only ones.

Members from different countries were all summoned to this Opera House.

To be more specific, he had summoned a portion of this golden palace in each country first before summoning the people captured inside to this central portion.

And then... There was a smiling young man who seemed very different than these people who were in a state of chaos on top of the dark stage.

“Jamie Cruger. Lee Hyung Shik. Julia Albagene. Chu Yeh-Rhim. Jean Richard. A total of 268 people. Are all my invited guests here?”

“!”

The voice had come from the stage steps.

The young man who was sitting with his legs crossed on top of the steps was flipping a document over page by page as he called out names.

This was the hit list he had received from Edward.

Secretary General Jean Richard, Chairman Kwon's restorer and Yoo Jaeha’s bitter enemy, had an awkward expression on his face after suddenly being summoned here.

‘What the hell is going on?’

He had been restoring Chairman Kwon's artifact.

But then, his stocks suddenly shot down and his house blew up and all sorts of things happened to make him shocked.

“Hey! Who the hell are you?!”

More lights turned on above them at that moment.

Some of the members’ eyes opened wide as the young man's face was revealed.

“T, that bastard is!”

“Seo Ju-Heon!”

Was this bastard the one who summoned this weird palace and summoned them?

But there was more.

Irene was next to Ju-Heon.

Richard started to grind his teeth while looking at them.

He was wondering why such crazy things were happening to Pandora members.

"Was this all the result of those two working together?!”

He got the chills. But he quickly snapped out of it and his veins started to appear.

“You arrogant bastard, do you know who all these esteemed people are?!”

But as he tried to use an artifact...

Bang! Bang!

The artifacts in his possession were ruthlessly destroyed.

The one to destroy them was a grumbling man standing behind Ju-Heon.

[You invited such fools who do not know the value of art to this Emperor’s palace.]

This man was none other than Nero, the artifact whose face was as handsome as Dicaprio but had a beer belly.

He was grumbling to Ju-Heon with a gaze that was boiling with anger.

[You and your woman is one issue. But to invite those shitty... Those shitty low-grade trash to this Emperor's palace......!]

“Shut up.”

[But!]

“Where else would I call those humans than to the castle of a talented artist like yourself?”

Those words made Nero gasp.

After having only heard terrible remarks from Ju-Heon until now, Ju-Heon's words sounded like sweet whispers to Nero.

[My goodness, this Emperor is starting to like you a little more.]

As a result...

[His level of interest in you is increasing.]

Ju-Heon started to frown.

‘I don’t need something like that.’

“Hurry up and activate it.”

All doors in the palace slammed shut as soon as he said that.

The people gasped and started to whisper.

"What the, what the hell is this?!”

What else would it be?

Ju-Heon stood up and channeled his Dominance.

Boom!

The golden palace immediately responded.

[The law of the golden palace has become even stronger.]

[The surrounding area has completely become Seo Ju-Heon's area.]

[The rule, < Do as I say > has been activated.]

The Pandora members started to foam at the mouth.

"Aigoo, this crazy bastard, I should have realized how crazy he was at the party hall!”

“You’ll be hit with a hefty fine from illegal artifact usage!”

“The Pandora members will charge in here at any moment!”

Ju-Heon started to laugh at that threat.

“Oh really, extra tourists? Thank you for considering the encore presentation as well.”

“What? E, encore?”

It was at that moment.

[The interior of the golden palace is changing based on the user’s request.]

The golden palace soon turned into a maze garden shape.

[They have been given the title of < The crime of messing with my people >.]

[They have been given the title of < The crime of taking things that should have been mine before I could take them >.]

[The maze has been completed.]

[It is turning into a maze of disasters after fusing with the power of destitution.]

[Just walking through it might make a person face terrible bad luck and die of destitution.]

The people gasped after looking at this gloomy maze that felt as zombies might pop out.

“Holy shit......! The bottom of the river is hydrochloric acid!”

"What is that monster!”

On the other hand, Ju-Heon started to laugh.

“Time for you guys to pay up.”

“What?”

“The fine for entering someone else’s tomb without notice. Or maybe I should call it a usage fee? Anyway, we will start it at 100 million dollars.”

“W, what did you say?”

Their screams soon echoed through the maze.

[Anything of value on the humans is being given to you.]

[The remaining amounts will be automatically paid from each individual person's wealth.]

The maze turned into pandemonium after their phones went off to let them know that money was being transferred.

“I, it really is being transferred! What the hell is this?!”

But Ju-Heon just continued to laugh.

"Ah, by the way, the usage fee of 100 million dollars is only for the first person to arrive at the exit. It will go up exponentially by the second after that.”

"What did you say?!”

“Ah, by the way, I'm also accepting information in place of money.”

“!”

“You can run to the exit over there. Or you can sell me information about Pandora.”

They really only had one choice.