by Yoo Seong
“The land? Then perhaps……”
“It was the real estate in the Taek Mountains.”
Now most of Hyun-woo’s questions could be solved. That’s why she was so interested in talking about the Taek Mountain’s real estate and her dark expression on the way back.
“But why did you send me the letter saying sorry?”
“Didn’t you hear me? The Taek Mountain region……”
“Yes, Cho Min-sun’s father bought the land and sold it. But it’s not like that is my land. No, even if that was the case it doesn’t have anything to do with Min-sun ssi. So why should Min-sun ssi feel sorry? There is no need for you to say sorry.”
“What does that mean?”
“I told you, I’m Ark. You’ve read my autobiography so you know that I pay everything back with interest. I is the same with the Taek Mountain real estate. I have no intention of withdrawing. If you father is the one behind the real estate problem then I will eat him up. So what reason do you have to feel sorry?”
“My father has a lot of money. He can do quite a bit of damage.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with you feeling sorry.”
Hyun-woo said with a smile. And he hesitated before carefully asking.
“In the evening…..can I contact you?”
Cho Min-sun sighed at Hyun-woo’s question and nodded. Then she smiled brightly and replied.
“I’ll be waiting for your call.”
——————————————————
The world was unfair. While someone was in a pink-tinged state of happiness, others were drowning in their sweat and feeling like they were going to die. This was a place where those people were gathered. A dojang (dojo)!
Several prestigious national fencing players had trained in this place. It even had an area for general workers who didn’t train with such intensity. Some people considered martial arts as a hobby. But there were always exceptions from this.
Hwing! Hwing!
One man was wielding his sword alone. The other members started at him while they were resting.
“Who is that friend?”
“Hasn’t he been at it since the time we arrived?”
“His stamina is no joke. And isn’t he unusually skilled in the sword?”
“That’s nothing compared to his old skills.”
A man approached and said.
“Teacher Kim, you know that person?”
“I know. He is my classmate. He was in the kendo club with me in high school and took a bronze medal in the national athletics competition. However he fell into the virtual reality game and started becoming a gamer after he graduated.”
“Game? So he is a pro-gamer?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, we weren’t in contact for a while when he suddenly contacted me about coming to this gym. Since then he comes and crazily wields his sword withou a break for several hours.”
“Why?”
“I don’t understand it but I feel like he is staking his life on the sword. Ha, this really…… I don’t know what his goal is. That guy was rumoured to be quite malicious during his school days.
The instructor stared at the man. That person hadn’t stopped moving for even a moment. He couldn’t stop. Left to right, top the bottom, he moved his sword like he was attacking and blocking attacks from an empty space. A hateful smile was on his face.
‘……Ark!’
Drops of sweat ran down the man’s face. The opponent he was staring at was Ark. And the man was called Valencia in another world.
‘I’m ready!’
A light gleamed in the eyes of the sweaty man.
Space 5
Turan the Hawk
“Heh!”
Ark couldn’t stop laughing. The scene of Irina smiling brightly in his head replayed in an infinite loop.
“I’ll be waiting for your call, waiting for you call……your call……call……
Irina has kept her promise. He talked to her on the phone in the evening. There wasn’t any special talk. Neither Ark nor Irina brought up the subject of the Taek Mountains real estate. They didn’t even talk about Ark’s confession in the morning. Subjects were things like eating well etc. They just talked about the obvious. If it was a conversation with anyone else then he probably would’ve hung up after 5 minutes. However it was different if the person was someone Ark had feelings for. Several hours had passed before he realized.
“Ah, it is already this time?”
–Are you tired?
“That’s not it. I’m just worried there will be a burden on the phone bill.”
–I have an unlimited plan.
Cheers for the carrier! Cheers for the unlimited plan! He rejoiced after hearing the words unlimited plan. There was no special talk. They repeated a lot of subjects. However Ark was able to learn a lot more about her when talking about such obvious subjects.They had ended the call 3 hours ago and Ark connected to Galaxian after 2 hours of sleep. But he didn’t feel tired at all.
‘My energy is overflowing! I have plenty of motivation!’
Adrenaline + dopamine were surging in his brain. A dying person could gain power because of love.
‘Huhuhu! I’m invincible! Now I’m invincible!’
However there were some people who felt threatened by Ark’s new guise.
“H-hey, is that okay?”
“I can’t believe that is Hyung-nim. What happened?”
“He doesn’t look ordinary right now. He is laughing while dripping saliva. Doesn’t it seem like he is going to attack us?”
“D-don’t say that! It is scary!”
Milan and Hegel said while gawking at Ark. They were staring at Ark sitting in the captain’s seat. He was a giant spider monster called the Myutal. Ark would randomly turn into the Myutal as a side effect of the Mix-up. The duration of the Myutal transformation ranged from 10 minutes to 1 hour. Therefore Milan and Hegel kept on tasting death. Milan and Hegel were in charge of the Silver Star while Tori remained in S-20. The captain’s seat was directly behind them so it felt like a monster was threatening them every time Ark changed into a Myutal. The situation this time was much more serious. The warp duration was 15 hours. So the other team members went to the cabins to relax as soon as they left Istana. The only ones on the bridge were Milan, Hegel and the captain Ark. Now Ark had turned into a Myutal and was dripping saliva.
‘Is Hyung-nim sane right now? Is his mind normal when his body is in this state? What if he goes crazy and attacks us?’
‘We can’t be careless!’
Therefore there was an atmosphere of tense suspense in the bridge. But Ark had no interest in that tension. No, he was unaware that he had even turned into a Myutal. Ark only learned about it after 10 minutes had passed.
“Hah, we still haven’t arrived? Space travel is fairly……ack!”
Slayer entered while yawning.
“A-Ark? Sheesh that surprised me.”
“Surprised? Why?”
“You’re currently a monster.”
Slayer replied as he released his hand from the greatsword. Shortly after starting the warp travel, Ark had introduced the team members to each other before they entered sleep mode. The team would be together for the next month. So communication between the users was indispensable! Except for Melina, users like Slayer, Leon, Sadain, Park, Kaya and Kurakan were university students. They were all in their mid-20s like Ark. So they agreed to speak informally with each other to be more comfortable.
“I almost involuntarily attacked you.”
“Having one Ellain is enough.”
“Yes, I don’t want to be like him. By the way, I haven’t seen him since the journey started?”
“He is lying in the infirmary. Because he is weak to ships.”
Ellain automatically swung his sword every time Ark turned into a Myutal. However the Kusan’s strongest warrior started vomiting as soon as the Silver Star started flying. After that he started getting treatment in th
e infirmary. That was actually a good thing. That guy had hit Ark a few times in the head. Thanks to the space motion sickness, Ark couldn’t get hit by him anymore.
“Are we there yet?”
“We’re almost there.”
Ark and Slayer started chatting. Then the team members started gathering on the bridge one by one.
“Good morning! I’m well rested…..oh!”
“Woo! I spend a long time drinking with my friends yesterday…..ack!”
“Eh? Did everybody wake up early? I…..ah!”
They all screamed when they started to greet Ark. Milan who had been looking at the dashboard turned around and shouted.
“We will exit warp space soon!”
“Ohh! At last!”
The 15 hours warp travel had ended. The eyes of the team gathered on the bridge widened with expectation as particles of light swirled and the Silver Star exited the dimensional portal into outer space. A structure with hundreds of lights appeared in front of them. It was a huge metallic structure with multiple layers.
-Turan the Hawk!
The structure was lit up with laser lights that formed words.
‘Turan the Hawk? Then the owner of this hive…..’
Ark was staring blanking at Turan when there was the noise of a communication connection.
-The identification code had been recognized, Captain of the Silver Star Ark who belongs to the galactic federation. Welcome. The Silver Star will be delivered in accordance with the instructions of Sir Hawk. The control code is Turan-10939. Please enter the code and switch your ship to remote control mode. We will control it from here.
“Hyung-nim.”
Milan turned his head. He started busily moving his hands after Ark nodded. The Silver Star starting moving towards Turan like it was attracted by a magnet.
—————————————————————————————-
‘Hah!’
This time a sigh poured out. In fact, Ark was quite excited these days. In the beginning he was just wandering around but then his goal became to form an agent. Then a sector and a ship! Not just anyone could have a sector or a ship. Currently there were only 80 sectors on Istana. However 60% of them were controlled by the 4 large companies. The remaining 40% belonged to users. One of them was S-20. It was Ark’s sector. Of course it was difficult in the beginning due to funding and other problems. But now that he had the support of the Laius company, the sector could reach an intermediate level. Ark had started various profitable businesses so it felt like he was progressing.
‘Now I’m a top ranked user!’
He had no doubt about that when he left S-20. But that belief flew away when he reached Turan. Turan was situation on the outskirts of the Igracia constellation and was similar to the size of the Yeouido area. However it wasn’t a big lump like a galaxy. Turan was a hive, a space station equipped with various state of the art facilities! Ark saw dozens of ships entering and leaving Turan. This huge hive belonged to a user, not a NPC!
‘I heard that Hawk was part of the Seven Swords and one of the strongest users in Galaxian.’
Commoners and tycoons! Commoners and nobles! That was the gap between Ark and Hawk. But Hawk wasn’t the only one who killed Ark’s beliefs.
Ku ku ku ku! Ku ku ku ku!
Shortly after the Silver Star landed. Another ship entered the range of the airfield control tower.
“What? That ship is? Who the hell is riding that ship?”
Ark’s eyes popped out as he witnessed the spaceship. The size of the ship was double the Silver Star! The hull was covered with thick armour like a turtle shell and sharp points attached. To his surprise the man departing from the ship was Mario!
“Mario?”
Mario turned his head after hearing Ark’s voice. He flinched and retreated as he saw Ark who was still in the Myutal state.
“Ah, it’s me Ark. The circumstances……”
“Ark-nim? Aha! This must be a side effect of Mix-up.”
Mario recognized Ark’s state with just a look. Ark scratched his head with his claws and nodded.
“It’s fortunate that you noticed.”
“Wow! As expected of Ark-nim. Few users even know about Mix-up let alone have the facilities and researchers required to use the technique.”
Ark had realized it some time ago.
“Sometimes players would list biological tissues at cheap price at the auction house. Huhuhu! They don’t realize how good biological tissue is for raising a skill rating. The research skill might seem obsolete in the beginning but it is actually a fraudulent skill. Biological tissue can raise research skill so it can be sold at an unbelievably expensive price. It is also possible to get a DNA sample for Mix-up. Yet users are selling it to the stores or on auction houses for just a few coppers.”
Ark had also been the same until a short while ago. He hadn’t known and had sold dozens of biological tissue to stores! He only recently discovered the uses for it
“As expected from Ark-nim who received the Hero title, you are aware of this information even though you are a warrior. You definitely aren’t ordinary.”
This brat, making him sick and then giving him medicine.
“Did you prepare the Mix-up solution yourself? I knew it. Merchants who know about it are monopolizing the information so that the biological tissue prices don’t go up. Therefore the Mix-up solution hasn’t been sold yet. Ark-nim is a warrior yet you directly manufactured the Mix-up yourself. The facilities and researchers required for this is really no joke. Hehehe, please take care of me from now on. By the way, where are Ark-nim’s subordinates?”
“Ah, there.”
Ark pointed towards Slayer. Mario looked at them with confusion.
“Eh? Ah, those people?”
“Yes. 6 of them are more friends than subordinates but……”
“Ah, well, that’s right.”
Mario nodded with a slightly embarrassed expression. While Ark was suspicious of his response, a middle aged man approached from behind Mario.
“Mario-nim, all team members have disembarked.”
Ark’s mouth gaped open. The man with thick scars on his face was obviously a soldier. He seemed to be a veteran with considerable experience. But the reason Ark was impressed was his equipment. He wore incredibly thick armour like a robot and carried high grade energy pulse weapons. The warrior was obviously more than level 100. The middle aged warrior wasn’t the only one. It was like the soldier had been Crtl+C and Crtl+V as 30 similar soldiers lined up. Mario’s team truly had the feel of elite warriors. Ark’s team members compared to that……
“Wow! This place is a hive!”
“It is the first time I’ve seen this.
The space frontier really is different from Istana.”
“Don’t look around restlessly. You’re making me embarrassed.”
“This is also your first time entering the universe. Don’t try to pretend.”
They were looking around like they were from the country. Slayer and Kaya’s party were still okay. They might not have experience in the frontier but they were still users who made a name for themselves on Istana. They might be looking around like a person from the country but their equipment and levels weren’t inferior to Mario’s team. However the Royal Guards were different. Currently the Royal Guards were level 80~90. They weren’t low levelled NPCs. But they embraced their CEO’s motto of being thrifty and only wore level 50 equipment. In the eyes of others they were only level 50 NPCs. In other words, the users were rustic while the NPCs were shabby. That’s why Mario was confused.
“Hahaha, the outward appearance isn’t important. It doesn’t matter how good the equipment if their skills are useless. Ark is a user who received the Hero title. If you brought these warriors then they certainly must have skill. Isn’t that right Turai?”
“Of course.”
The guy called Turai nodded. He stepped towards Ark and said.
“I am Tu
rai. I am in charge of Mario’s security forces. Ark-nim’s reputation is well known. I hope to receive your guidance in this mission.”
His tone was polite but his eyes were laughing when he looked at Ark’s team. There was no respect! No, it was a look that said he was going to ignore them!
‘Damn, if I knew then I would’ve brought a change of clothing……’
Just as Ark was thinking this.
“I heard your name was Mario.”
Two people approached Mario and said. Ark reflexively turned and felt immediately ill. The people approaching Mario were Valencia and Rapid. More spaceships seemed to have arrived while they were talking.
“Am I Mario?”
“You were stuck next to Ark when I saw you at the federation headquarters. I’ll tell you something. He isn’t an excellent guy like you think. He only received the title of Beltana’s Hero because of luck. Don’t expect anything from this guy. If you don’t follow my advice then you might be involved in an unfortunate accident.”
“Huh? No, that…..”
Mario studied his face with a confused expression. Then a monster standing in front of Mario approached Valencia and said.
“Eh? That is different from the words I heard the other day? Ark became Beltana’s Hero because he blew up the Rama’s headquarters with the help of his colleagues. In the process some guy tried to intercept all of Ark’s achievements. I heard the name of that person was Valencia. Oh that reminds me, isn’t your name Valencia? Then aren’t you that person? Why are you wandering around spreading malicious gossip?”
“What?”
Valencia’s face darkened. He stared at the monster in front of him with confusion.
“What? Who are you?”
“Me? I…..”
Then the monster transformed back into Ark. Great timing! Ark sent him a large grin.
“Ark, the one you tried to steal all the achievements from!”
“This bastard!”
Valencia scowled and drew his lightsaber. As expected, Ark reacted badly to Ark! Ark also drew his sword. No, he was about to draw his sword when shadows leaped between them.