Chapter 240: To return his memories or not? (1)

Translator: miraclerifle

Ju-Heon's mocking tone made the team members gasp. They wondered if they had heard wrong but that didn't seem to be the case.

“Big boss, big boss Ilya, you make people work so much. You run us ragged with everything you make us do. I'm going to sue you for labor law violation. That’s okay, right?”

“...Ho!”

Ju-Heon snickered and kicked Ilya.

Both Ilya and the other team members were confused. His memories seemed to be modified since he was calling Ilya big boss, but the way he was acting...

"What the hell, did his memories get modified or not?”

“Hold on, Seo Ju-Heon. How dare you do this to your Captain...ugh!”

Ju-Heon snickered as he kicked Ilya.

“What is it, Captain-nim? I'm just bringing up some concerns to my employer, do you have a problem with that, you son of a bitch?!”

“Ugh!”

Ilya, who was sent flying by Ju-Heon’s kick, started to grind his teeth.

“This son of a bitch......is it possible?!”

Ju-Heon, who supposedly had his memories modified, was laughing loudly.

"What’s wrong? What’s wrong big boss? Who told you to turn that old bastard into my team member? It’s like you want to be killed.”

Ilya started to frown after hearing that.

‘Just as I expected! His memories were not modified!’

Ilya could not believe it.

‘The second level didn't work? Does this bastard not have a subconscious or something?’

That was right.

The artifact Ilya was using to modify people's memories was Freud’s artifact.

Freud was an important figure in the field of psychology and had studied the human subconsciousness. Ilya was modifying a person's subconsciousness to change their memories.

Even Monarchs easily fell victim to him as there was nobody who could control their subconscious. That was why he couldn't help but become anxious after seeing the perfectly fine Ju-Heon.

‘Is he crazy? Level 1 is one thing since it's just like hypnosis, but......!’

Similar to how Freud first used hypnosis to treat a patient, level 1 was just using hypnosis to modify their memories.

But level 2 was completely different. Level 2 modified the subconscious inside the target’s brain.

It was modifying the memories that, although might not be called up, were still stored in the brain.

That was why it was not something a person could defend against using their will.

‘So why......?!’

However, Ju-Heon just smiled viciously.

“Whatever, how about you just take one more hit, you son of a bitch.”

He had tried to peacefully abduct...... No, take Ilya with him since Ilya had once been one of his cute subordinates, unfortunately...

Even in video games, mages had to be destroyed immediately as letting them escape would lead to a lot of trouble down the road.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Ilya seemed to have realized he was unable to do anything as he tried to escape.

Forget modifying Ju-Heon’s memories, he would turn into a pancake if he stayed here.

“Gaap, come out!”

Ilya activated Solomon's artifact.

Solomon's artifact was an artifact that summoned devils. He was trying to summon a devil that was capable of teleportation.

A devil slowly ascended from Ilya's shadow starting with its head.

However...

[%$$&#!]

Where do you think you are crawling out to?! Where?!

The rope started to slap the devil's cheeks as it crawled out.

The devil that had been slapped felt wronged.

[What the hell?! What are you doing to your fellow artifact?!]

Unfortunately, the devil was slapped again.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

[#$&$!]

Go back in! I told you to go back in!

It was slamming down on the devil’s head now to push it back into the ground.

Slap, slap, slap, slap!

It looked as if the rope was playing a game of Whack-a-mole.

[Ow, it hurts! That hurts! Stop it!]

The rope continued to slap away as if the devil was being too loud.

[#$$#&!]

Are you not going back in? Are you not going back in?!

Ilya saw this and started to grind his teeth as he grabbed the rope’s body.

‘A stupid rope like this...’

He would use the modification artifact to change its owner.

As he was about to activate Freud's artifact again...

Thud!

Ilya was ruthlessly kicked by Ju-Heon again.

“What do you think you are trying to do to my artifact?”

He didn't care about the other artifacts but he seemed a bit annoyed that Ilya was trying to mess with the rope.

“Ugh...!”

Ilya clutched his stomach and fell to the ground.

The aftermath clean-up crew was the intelligent types who only knew how to use their heads. Although they were in the occupation of aiming for artifact users similar to the Hunters, they sucked at fighting in comparison.

That might be why when Ju-Heon launched another kick!

Poooooow!

“U, ugh!”

Ilya felt as if he would die even though Ju-Heon’s kick had not been very strong.

This was probably the sorrow of a man who has probably never worked out in his life.

‘Fuck, just use some artifacts!’

He could activate the defense-type artifacts he had set around if Ju-Heon attacked with an artifact.

Ilya continued to get hit before he couldn't take it anymore and started to stare at Ju-Heon.

“You son of a bitch...... I'm going to sue you! I'm going to sue you for assault!”

Ju-Heon laughed as Ilya shouted in Russian.

Ilya usually sneered as if he was better than them and leisurely said whatever was on his mind but there truly seemed to be no solution to violence.

"So who told you to modify my memories like that?”

“What?”

“Why the hell did you have to change my memories of Irene into that old bastard? I almost threw up. Do you want to die?”

Pow pow pow!

“Uuuuugh!”

Ilya was being scolded for not thinking harder about his modification.

That shitty Chairman Kwon had replaced Irene in his memories and Yoon Shi Woo had replaced Seol-A.

It was no wonder he was as angry as possible, given what he had done with the two ladies in the past.

"Well, at least I was able to get information about Kwon Hyuk Soo. Thanks for that.”

‘This bastard.’

Ilya, who ended up only having information taken, continued to grind his teeth in anger.

There was definitely something weird.

‘How was this punk able to dodge something that the other Monarchs are not able to dodge......?!’

Ju-Heon started to laugh while looking at the shaking grey pupils.

“There’s no need for you to know the method.”

Ju-Heon had a scary look in his eyes as he cracked his knuckles.

“Ah, this bastard. What a headache.”

“M, mmmmph!”

Inside a nearby park construction site where the cold breeze of dusk was blowing in...

There was a painful groan echoing through the third floor of this building under construction.

Ilya was the one groaning.

He was buried in cement with only his head sticking out and he was trying to get some help.

“Mmmmph! Mmmmmmph!”

They could take him out since the cement had not hardened yet, however...

‘This bastard will use his spell book to escape if we let him out.’

They had dunked him in cement since he was annoying to deal with.

“To use this or not to use this.”

The item in his hand was the Raven’s Tears artifact. Would this bastard follow him if Ju-Heon restored his memories?

It was at that moment.

“Wow, that’s crazy. Totally cruel.”

“Hey, Seo Ju-Heon! How can you dunk a person into cement?!”

Familiar faces came up to Ju-Heon.

Ju-Heon tilted his head in confusion as he looked toward them.

It was understandable that Chloe and Seol-A were here.

"Why are you guys still here? I thought you guys texted me saying that you quit.”

Julian flinched at Ju-Heon's comment before getting angry.

"Wow, you’re too much. We were worried about you but you still say such things...”

“I don’t need men worrying about me.”

“What?!”

It was at that moment. Yoo Jaeha interjected as if he didn’t care.

"Aww, Captain-nim, you’re acting like this again. I heard about it from Seol-A! She said that you pretended to disband the tomb raiding team on purpose because of Ilya.”

Yoo Jaeha had a stupid looking smile on his face.

“I knew hiring us back was guaranteed. Ahem, of course we are better than the others......”

“What? The two of you can start by submitting your applications again.”

“.............”

‘Why I ought to.’

It had started at interviewing again but now it was all the way down to submitting an application again.

Seol-A asked at that moment.

“Oh right, what are you planning on doing with Ilya?”

She looked at the Raven’s Tears in Ju-Heon’s hand.

Ju-Heon wasn’t sure about what to do.

“I’ve been debating about that.”

“Is it because of the Four Emperors level backer behind him?”

Julian started to frown after hearing that.

“It’s Kwon Hyuk Soo, right?”

Chairman Kwon's sworn brother. That was the reason that man couldn’t help but be Ju-Heon's enemy in this situation.

They couldn't let their guard down because he was at the Four Emperors level.

“I remember hearing in the past that he was your instructor......”

“!”

The members were shocked.

Ju-Heon scoffed after seeing their gazes.

“Instructor my ass. He just taught me the basis during my training.”

Kwon Hyuk Soo must have had an eye for talent as he cherished Ju-Heon quite a bit. In fact, he had chased after Ju-Heon telling him to become his subordinate, no, his number one disciple, instead of being his hyung-nim’s subordinate.

Of course, he probably treats Ju-Heon as if he wasn't anything much right now.

Julian sighed in relief.

“I'm relieved. I was wondering whether you could go up against your instructor.”

Ju-Heon scoffed once again.

“I admit that he is talented. But that bastard is no different from Chairman Kwon.”

In fact, he was the thorn in their eyes that had turned TKBM into an empire. He had no reasons to hesitate.

At the same time...

"We are still unable to locate the Monarch of Fate.”

“This is driving me crazy.”

The people gathered at Pandora truly were going crazy.

The Monarchs’ Heirlooms would soon appear. They needed the Monarch of Fate to know where they would appear.

“There’s less than a week left until the prophesized time.”

“Seo Ju-Heon will really steal all of the Heirlooms if we cannot locate the Monarch of Fate within a week!”

“Seo Ju-Heon, that damn son of a bitch!”

They were certain that Ju-Heon had abducted the Monarch of Fate for this reason. He wanted to monopolize the location of the heirlooms.

Of course, they could not just give up on the Heirlooms.

Why?

“Didn't he say that we need to become Monarchs in order to continue using Divine-Grade artifacts?”

That was right. That was what the prophecy had said.

‘Only those with the Monarchs’ Heirlooms are qualified to use Divine-Grade artifacts.’

That was why the Monarch of Fate had looked into it four times before determining that the Heirlooms were important.

They didn't know whether they would really be unable to use Divine-Grade artifacts any longer, but things would get complicated if the prophecy was true.

They already knew about the strength of the Divine-Grade artifacts.

‘Divine-Grade artifacts are too strong for us to be satisfied with just Legendary Hero-Grade artifacts.’

It was also obvious that the ones with Divine-Grade artifacts would control the world both economically and by force. How could they let the Heirlooms go when they knew that was the case?

“Some bastards we’ve never even heard of will show up and act all cocky if we are unable to secure the Heirlooms for ourselves.”

"As for us, a competitor company is threatening us.”

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“Imagine if an artifact user from China became a Monarch. They will control the international society.”

Basically, the people with money and power did not want it taken away. As for people without money and power, they wanted the Heirloom to gain money and power. These people were aiming to become Monarchs for different reasons.

“Furthermore, we can’t let that damn snake, Seo Ju-Heon, monopolize the Heirlooms......”

It was at that moment.

[It's fine. We will rescue the Monarch of Fate soon.]

“!”

Pandora had received contact from none other than Kwon Hyuk Soo.

"You are.....!”

The monopolizers were shocked after hearing from this unexpected individual.

"Why are you...?!”

Kwon Hyuk Soo calmly laughed.

[Haha, I'm moving around since my hyung-nim is unable to do so right now.]

He told them not to worry about Seo Ju-Heon too much.

[I ordered my subordinate to take care of Seo Ju-Heon.]

The people gathered at Pandora gasped.

“W, will he be okay? That subordinate of yours......?”

“I, is he still alive?”

Kwon Hyuk Soo, who was inside a Benz right now, started to laugh after hearing the rowdiness on the other side.

"Why are you so shocked? Seo Ju-Heon is just a little whippersnapper with decent artifacts. His abilities handling artifacts is just sub par.”

[Then......]

“That kind of punk won’t be able to defeat my disciple no matter how hard he tries.”

Ilya was someone he had groomed.

Kwon Hyuk Soo had a natural eye for figuring out a person's talent as an ability user. Ilya was his subordinate who had received his approval.

“Ilya should have turned Seo Ju-Heon into my subordinate by now.”

He was quite happy.

In the past, Chairman Kwon had used one of his abilities as the Monarch of Conquest, forced domination, to steal individuals. Kwon Hyuk Soo did things a bit differently both in the past and now.

He used memory modification to procure individuals. Although their methods were different, they were both monopolizers of talented individuals.

He would first find out the location of the Monarch of Fate once he met Seo Ju-Heon.

‘I'll thoroughly tame him after that.’

Although he didn’t know how skilled Ju-Heon was when it came to handling artifacts, he found Ju-Heon’s ability to raid tombs to be quite desirable.

‘I will use that bastard to aim for the Heirlooms.’

That bastard already had artifacts from the 7 Great Tombs that were necessary to gain Heirlooms anyway. It was killing two birds with one stone.

He finally managed to locate Ilya and headed toward the construction site.

It was at that moment.

"Chairman-nim, Ilya is over there!

Seo Ju-Heon is with him!”

He could see the two of them standing on the roof with the morning sun falling on them.

“Seo Ju-Heon!”

Ilya flinched after hearing Kwon Hyuk Soo shouting for Ju-Heon and Ju-Heon turned his head.

“Good job! Ilya, you tamed Seo Ju-Heo...... huh?”

But something was weird.