Chapter 133: Remember the runner-up too! (3)

Translator: miraclerifle

Richard was shocked.

He was certain.

The bright brown hair... The raggedy clothes that were all ripped up... He was certain it was Yoo Jaeha who was on TV right now.

The station turned into pandemonium once he infiltrated.

[What the hell, how did this person get in?!]

[Get lost!]

People who were watching this started to whisper.

[Who is that? Who is that person?]

It would be one thing if it was Ju-Heon who had cleared two of the 7 Great Tombs. But Yoo Jaeha was someone they had not seen or heard about before.

On the other hand, Richard was drenched in sweat.

‘Why is that bastard still alive?’

Richard could not understand this situation at all. He had partnered with Zhen Cai Yuan to send those bastards to hell!

'He made it out alive?’

That idiot Yoo Jaeha had made it out alive?

There was also another problem.

[The artifact Mr. Richard brought out is not one of the artifacts of the 7 Great Tombs?]

[And what do you mean by plagiarism? Please explain!]

Richard jumped up after hearing that.

‘Those bastards!’

They brought this up at Pandora’s party last time and now they’re doing it live on the news?

He was about to eat shit while the whole world watched. It was an extraordinarily stinky shit at that!

Richard urgently sent a text message.

[What are you doing?! Hurry up and stop it! Take it off the air!]

He was obviously texting someone at the station.

The show they were on was actually < Tomb Plus >, the current hit US channel focused on artifacts.

It was not a famous station such as NBC, CBS, or ABC, but it became a hit channel because people found it important to know about artifacts.

This channel was already in Pandora’s hands as Austin Rockefeller was lobbying for them.

‘That’s why we should be able to stop him.’

But the response he received was quite the spectacle.

[The PD is excited!]

[He said don’t stop him because the views are shooting up right now!]

‘What? Did this PD bastard go crazy?!’

Richard’s hand was shaking as if he was going to break his phone.

He was able to prevent anyone from talking about it last time because it had happened at a Pandora event. That was why the reporters had not been able to discuss Richard’s plagiarism or Chairman Kwon's suspicious actions. That was also the reason Zhuge Kongming Julian ended up as the lunatic who threw away his chance to join TKBM for no reason.

But if it is like this!

It was at that moment.

“Huh?! Look! Isn’t that Seo Ju-Heon!”

“You’re right! That is Seo Ju-Heon!”

Ju-Heon's face popped up on the screen.

He was wearing sunglasses and standing there as a spectator, but his model force, no, his loan shark-like force would always be present.

The way he was smiling was extremely annoying for Richard to see. That was why Richard’s eyes flashed at that moment.

‘That bastard...!’

He was certain.

Seo Ju-Heon. That bastard was responsible for putting that damn Yoo Jaeha on there.

He must have rescued Yoo Jaeha from the tomb and put him there to say all this bullshit!

‘It's about time to get started.’

He ended up with a fitting artifact anyway. This was the first scheme to use this bastard as the < Monarch of Fraud >.

‘I can’t let him live in the dark forever.’

It would be beneficial for Ju-Heon to have some Monarchs as his subordinates anyway.

Ju-Heon leisurely walked up to the news desk and started to speak.

“Jean Richard buried the original artist in a tomb to kill him. Not only that, he is scamming the whole world because he realized that people who clear the 7 Great Tombs are being treated as celebrities.”

“......A s, scam?”

Richard started to feel dizzy and grabbed the back of his head that was hurting.

‘Damn it, has Chairman Kwon felt like this all this time?!’

But Ju-Heon just calmly started to speak as if he had no idea what this was doing to Richard.

“People of the world, please don't be fooled. Jean Richard is scamming you with an artifact from the fake Tomb of Envy.”

“Do you have any proof?”

“Of course I do.”

Ju-Heon chuckled and pointed to Yoo Jaeha.

“My subordinate has the artifact from the real Tomb of Envy.”

“W, what?!”

People started to whisper.

"Ah, but I was the one to clear it.”

The reporters who heard this all started to go crazy.

“Seo Ju-Heon apparently cleared one of the 7 Great Tombs again!”

“Wow, who the hell is this bastard?”

“Enough, hurry up and post! Post that the person who cleared the 7 Great Tombs is someone else! Post that a different person has the artifact from the Tomb of Envy!”

“But if it is a lie...!”

“You retard! You just have to phrase it well! This is going to go viral!”

"Someone contact Jean Richard to confirm!”

Yoo Jaeha was wondering if this was okay, but decided he would just go along with it for now since they were already here.

He was a man! A man should do what he can to make sure the show goes on!

“So get your ass out here if you have any complaints, baldie! Let’s get down to the truth!”

‘Good good. Good job.’

Ju-Heon nodded his head, telling himself that it was worth teaching Jaeha. There was definitely a reason Ju-Heon was making Yoo Jaeha provoke Richard like this.

What is it?

‘Trust is a foundational condition for scamming.’

You can only scam people if there is trust. People won't fall for a scam if they don't trust the person.

That's why...

‘I will turn Yoo Jaeha into the victim.’

Well, he actually was the victim.

Either way, the public would have a favorable view of Yoo Jaeha if that happens. And it would be difficult for them to think that a victim was scamming them. That meant that this would create a good environment for Yoo Jaeha to run wild as the Monarch of Fraud in the future!

Ju-Heon viciously smiled knowing that was the case.

‘Alright, hurry up and become one of the 15 Monarchs to help me!’

All artifacts of the world have to become his!

‘So work, Slave number 1!’

It was at that moment. The news anchor was flustered before she started to shout.

“Ah, we have received a call from the field.”

‘A call from the field?’

A familiar face soon appeared on a large screen at the news desk.

Yoo Jaeha turned pale after seeing that face while Ju-Heon smiled as if he had been waiting for this.

‘He’s here.’

[It looks like you are spreading some baseless rumors.]

The person who appeared was Jean Richard himself.

It was easy to get connected as he had been in the middle of an interview.

Richard was grinding his teeth as he started to shout.

[They are currently taking an innocent person and trying to claim I am a plagiarist and a scammer. What? You have the artifact from the real Tomb of Envy?]

“Yeah. I do, you baldie!”

[Ho, then set the date. Let’s compare to see which one is real!]

He had taken the bait!

The world became rowdy once again. The truth between the instructor and the student was about to be revealed.

[Seo Ju-Heon, the man who has swept three of the 7 Great Tombs. What is this man's true identity?]

[Pandora has determined that all three tombs were not cleared normally.]

[Illegal entry, abnormal clearing, his actions are being considered as tomb raiding?]

[Richard vs Yoo Jaeha. Who has the real artifact from the Tomb of Envy?]

“Congratulations. You'll be able to reveal the truth in front of the whole world in a week.”

But Yoo Jaeha was not happy at all.

Of course, Catherine de' Medici's artifact was able to contract with Ju-Heon thanks to Salieri. In return, she set the condition for Ju-Heon to find her rival in love and her husband's artifacts, but that was easy to do.

They must have contracted properly as Ju-Heon was now able to use < Camerata; a sponsoring group > as a buff.

Basically, he was able to maximize the efficiency and output of all work within a set range. Basically, it was an artifact of a boss at a factory or a workplace that would make others do the work.

Yoo Jaeha felt that he would be the one who would end up working there most of the time, but it did not matter. It was fine that he would get to battle it out with Jean Richard to see who was telling the truth.

But he could not be happy at all.

How could he be happy?

[Oh, boy. Cute boy.]

His artifact was this shitty thing!

Its appearance had thankfully returned to the normal Salieri after contracting with Medici, but the problem was the content!

“Do you think people would believe it? Would they believe that this really is Salieri and that this is the artifact from one of the 7 Great Tombs?”

“Mm. I guess even I don't want to believe it.”

‘Aigoo! Just as I expected.’

“Please just tell me the truth! You had me contract with him because you didn't want to deal with him, didn’t you!”

“Did you just figure that out?”

Yoo Jaeha felt as if he would faint.

But Ju-Heon had a different thought even as he said that.

‘This isn't Salieri's original appearance.’

This burdensome gay mode was because it was modified by another artifact. Basically, it was like catching a virus that resulted in an abnormal bug.

[Its personality has been modified by the Supreme Leader.]

This artifact seemed useless right now, but......

‘This bastard was Beethoven and Schubert's instructor.’

He should mesh well with other great artists and be able to draw them toward him.

‘That means it’ll be easier to gather other art-type artifacts.’

That was Ju-Heon’s true goal. Art-type artifacts were very valuable, making Ju-Heon's eyes sparkle.

‘The entertainment business always makes money.’

“Anyway, use this to get rid of that false charge of being a copycat. Your opponent should only be about a C-Grade artifact.”

“But with this Salieri......damn it, the House of Medici should have Michelangelo or da Vinci, why the hell is it Salieri?!”

“Shut up. The playing field has been set. The rest of it is up to you, popular boy.”

“Hold...ahh!”

Ju-Heon ignored Yoo Jaeha who was being ambushed and looked toward Lee Seol-A who was crouched in the corner.

She seemed to be upset at the fact that she had tried to attack Ju-Heon, even if she had not had her past memories at that time.

She had even injured Ju-Heon's body.

That was something she could not accept.

"Seol-A.”

She quickly stood up and walked over after hearing Ju-Heon's voice.

“Y, yes sir! Should I get you some water? Or maybe, should I call a doctor?”

She randomly blabbed like that.

Ju-Heon started to laugh as she looked ready to jump off a five story building if Ju-Heon even faked being in pain.

“What about Zhen Cai Yuan's side?”

“Yes sir. She seems quite angry. It is probably because you destroyed the memory artifact, Captain-nim.”

“Good.”

Ju-Heon smiled as if things were going according to his plan.

‘I can’t leave something that would be beneficial to that woman.’

Ju-Heon then threw a contract toward Lee Seol-A.

“Sign it.”

It was the same contract he had given to Yoo Jaeha.

“You'll have to start being my hands and feet as well.”

“This is......!”

“A contract to join. But you don’t have to sign it if you don't want to do so.”

Yoo Jaeha started to pout.

“Wow, shit, this is discrimination. You told me you would kill me if I didn't sign but you are giving her a choice?”

Ju-Heon chuckled. He had been quite rough(?) when he had dealt with Yoo Jaeha.

But wasn’t that obvious?

“You and her are the difference between heaven and earth.”

“W, what did you say?!”

Yoo Jaeha looked upset after hearing Ju-Heon openly discriminate against him.

Then a message popped up.

[Your subordinate's level of jealousy is going up at his superior's blatant discrimination(?). His Fit with the artifact of envy is going up.]

[Your subordinate's level of jealousy is going up at his superior's blatant discrimination(?). His Fit with the artifact of envy is going up.]

‘Oh, great. Looks like I need to discriminate(?) against him even more.’

Lee Seol-A quietly whispered to Ju-Heon at that moment.

“Captain-nim. Are you not going to use the memory artifact on that bastard?”

She was asking if he was going to restore Jaeha’s past memories as well.

But Ju-Heon’s response was as quick as a sword.

“Nope.”

Lee Seol-A found this to be odd.

“His restoration skill and Dominance would both go up if he gets his memories back.”

That would be the case.

However...

“It’s fine, it’ll be annoying for many reasons.”

Yoo Jaeha did not go to the final tomb with them. He would have to be crazy to return Jaeha’s memories to him to know that everybody else on the team had died except for him.

Even if he was the icon of betrayal, he was still someone who would have been upset about the death of his teammates. He would use it if he found a need to do so, but he didn’t want to return a painful memory to his subordinate.

‘I also can't deal with his twisted personality.’

Lee Seol-A understood in the end.

This pushover was probably more helpful to Ju-Heon. Because of that...

‘I'll save one of the memories for Kwon Tae Joon, that old bastard.’

Ju-Heon started to smile.

He thought it was great. He had been thinking about how to land a strong blow to Kwon Tae Joon at the end.

‘I'll use this at the last moment.’

He would use this artifact to make Chairman Kwon feel the bitter taste of killing a dog after the hunt is over.

Just thinking about how Chairman Kwon would frown was getting Ju-Heon excited.

“Anyway, you are going to work as my spy and spy on the Chinese. Report to China that you are spying on me. You're going to be a double agent.”

Lee Seol-A nodded her head. It was an obvious decision.

‘We need to get revenge on Chairman Kwon who killed us and destroy the other Monarch-Grade users.’

She would give her life to protect Ju-Heon. It was at that moment.

“Oh right, Captain-nim! Irene was really interested to hear that we got a new member on the Tomb raiding team!”

Irene seemed to be asking Yoo Jaeha a lot of questions.

“Well, she's probably curious because I said the new member was a beautiful girl...”

"What?”

“Ah, I am just talking to myself. It’s okay to tell her to come, right?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Well, I guess it is obvious since it is Irene.”

Lee Seol-A tilted her head in confusion.

It didn’t matter that Ju-Heon was talking about another woman.

She wasn't going to throw a fit because they had been close in the past. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t jealous at all, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Ju-Heon had been the one who said that she was a different Lee Seol-A even with her past memories.

But Irene...?

Lee Seol-A's face stiffened up.

‘No way, right...?’

“Umm, Captain-nim. When he says Irene......”

It was at that moment.

Clunk!

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

A familiar woman walked into the room with perfect timing.

“Mr. Ju-Heon, I heard you took in a new member for the Tomb raiding team?”

The two women soon made eye contact.