Chapter 53
The hug was not long.
As soon as my mother let go of my hand, I unknowingly let out a sigh and craved for her warmth.
I felt embarrassed by that fact and tried to smile awkwardly.
My mother just nodded at me as if she was proud of me.
“Thank you… No, thank you.”
My mother did not ask me what had happened to me.
I did not bother to answer either.
No more words were needed.
I thought it was enough to express my gratitude.
Rather, thanks to that, I felt a surge of joy in my heart.
I finally got rid of the lingering attachment that I had been hiding.
The path that I had walked, and the path that I had to walk.
I realized that I was not wrong.
“I’m rooting for you. Always.”
With those words, my mother waved her hand and left me.
I had felt it before, but my mother was a cool and dignified person.
She turned her back on me and left without looking back.
Towards where her family was now.
“Thank you.”
I muttered softly, knowing that she would not hear me.
‘And, I hope you have a peaceful life in this life.’
My parents passed away at the same time as the beginning of the end.
They were not the only ones.
Many people lost their lives then.
But not anymore.
My parents will not die.
The end will not come either.
Because I will not let it happen.
***
“What the hell! How, how did this happen!”
Jinpung trembled with unbearable rage in his study.
He had bribed some collectors who he thought could be used, and tried to kill Yu-hyun and Kang Hye-rim a while ago.
But he did not hear the news he expected even after time passed, and when he checked, Yu-hyun was still alive.
‘I thought they ran away at first…!’
He tried to find the collector he had bribed to confirm that, but he could not.
They no longer existed in this world.
They did not run away.
They were dead.
‘What do I do? If I order someone else here…’
He would only expose himself.
If he went any further, Jinpung would reveal that he had bribed someone to kill Yu-hyun.
Already, the spirits knew that something like this had happened.
The rumor that someone among the tellers tried to kill Yu-hyun and Kang Hye-rim had already spread.
‘I can’t do anything more…!’
He was so frustrated that he wanted to die.
He had touched them lightly with the thought of ‘this should be enough’.
That was the root of the problem.
There was no longer a way for Jinpung to keep Kang Yu-hyun in check.
No, there was one way.
‘But, that’s…!’
If he did that, he would prove his incompetence in his department.
Then his position would plummet to the bottom.
“No! Never!”
How could I have come this far!
How fiercely I lived, stepping on others and getting here!
“I’m about to get promoted and because of that bastard…”
“Hmm. What can’t you do?”
“…!”
Jinpung felt goosebumps all over his body at the sudden voice.
A familiar voice.
Jinpung barely fixed his expression of being lost in thought and bowed his head to the being who visited his study.
“Oh, Agael!”
She was a teller with the appearance of a small fairy.
Her cute appearance and shining wings looked like nothing more than a playful fairy.
But Jinpung knew her true nature and could not help but tremble in fear.
“Se, senior! Wha, what brings you to my study…”
“Hmm. I was curious if our Jinpung was doing well with his work, so I came to see him. So, our Employee Jinpung . How did it go with the work I gave you?”
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“Tha, that… It’s going well.”
“Really? Wow! That’s good. As expected, Employee Jinpung is a reliable junior who I can trust and entrust with work!”
“Tha, that’s right.”
Jinpung sweated coldly and nodded desperately.
He needed to somehow get through this moment…
“But why were you angry earlier and saying you can’t do it?”
“…!”
At Agael’s suddenly cold voice, Jinpung sensed that things had gone terribly wrong.
A powerful aura began to flow out from the tiny fairy woman who overwhelmed him.
“Tha, that’s not it! Agael! Please listen to me for a moment!”
“Hmm. Our Employee Jinpung . I’m very disappointed in you. I trusted Employee Jinpung . We’ve been doing well so far, right? Right?”
“Yes, yes! I’ve never failed in my work…”
“But you failed this time, didn’t you? Right? Wow, really.”
Jinpung realized at that moment how absurd his vain hope was.
Agael, his senior in the department, had already seen through his situation.
“Employee Jinpung . I’m very sad. Our Employee Jinpung tried to kill a precious colleague of the same company.”
“No, that’s not true. Agael! How could I!”
“Aha! Are you saying that I’m lying?”
Agael’s face, which had been smiling brightly, darkened.
Kwoong!
“Khek!”
Jinpung’s body was crushed to the floor by a huge pressure.
He looked up at Agael with a disbelief expression, barely lifting his head.
He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t use his power in his own study.
“Why? Are you curious?”
Agael asked with a smile.
“Kkukkkuk!”
“Well, I guess you are. Employee Jinpung . Why are you being so humiliated by another teller in your own personal study! Wow, really. Our Employee Jinpung ’s curiosity is unstoppable. Okay. I’m a kind senior, so I’ll explain it to you for our cute junior.”
Agael, who had not been asked by anyone, kept babbling on.
“When Jinpung Library made a contract with our department, they handed over the control of the library, right? They only agreed to give back some of the library’s authority if they did their assigned tasks properly. Do you remember?”
“Cr-crack. Crrr.”
As Jinpung tried to swallow even the foam in his mouth, Agael slapped his small hand.
The pressure that was crushing Jinpung’s body disappeared in an instant.
“But, Jinpung Library needs to pass the proxy test in order to get back the full authority of the library. So until then, even if Jinpung Library regains some of the library’s authority, it’s not all of it! Do you know what that means?”
How could Jinpung not understand the intention behind that question?
Even though he was in pain and could barely keep his sanity, he instinctively nodded his head.
Agael smiled and laughed.
“Jinpung Library is ultimately, even in his own personal library that he thought was the safest in the world! If I just snap my finger, I can make him explode and die! Oh my, what a world!”
There was no exaggeration in that statement, which made Jinpung even more afraid.
“But, don’t worry! I, Agael, am a very generous senior! Even though I’m small in size, I have more empathy than anyone else. So I’m going to give Jinpung Library another chance!”
“A-a chance? What do you mean?”
Jinpung felt something in Agael’s words and his eyes began to sparkle.
His cunning mind started to calculate quickly what he could do at this moment and the pros and cons of Agael’s offer.𝖓𝑜ν𝙚𝘭𝘣Ꭵ𝒏.𝒏𝙚𝒕
Agael, who had read Jinpung’s mind like an open book, continued.
“Surely, that Kang Yu-hyun Library must have rejected our offer. That’s why you’re doing this. His talent is a pity, but we can’t just leave him alone since he refused our proposal! So we’re going to give Jinpung Library another opportunity to deal with Kang Yu-hyun Library. And this time, it’s a super special service! We’re going to support you with some points!”
“P-points? You don’t mean… you want me to do that?”
“Yes, that’s right! It’s the Story War!”
Story War.
As soon as he heard that word, Jinpung’s eyes widened as if they were about to tear apart.
Story War was a term that referred to the act of collectors betting on each other’s libraries and control rights.
Whose collector was better, whose Story was more amazing.
This was a legal war that could be waged among tellers, and of course, the loser had to be prepared to lose everything.
“W-wait a minute. Agael! I’m sure there’s no other way to turn him upside down, but still… I…”
“Hmm. What are you dissatisfied with?”
“I-it’s not dissatisfaction. It’s just that the collector who made a contract with him, the one called Geomhu, is too excellent…”
“Oh yeah.She’s a famous collector these days.”
Jinpung was no fool.
He realized that Yu-hyun and Kang Hye-rim’s level was beyond his imagination as soon as his scheme failed.
He thought he had to avoid a direct confrontation at all costs.
But Agael didn’t intend to let him go.
“Hehe. This is funny. Jinpung Library is so shy. You don’t have to worry. Because we’re going to provide you with a decent collector from our Pentagram department!”
“A collector…?”
Jinpung thought it might be worth a try.
Agael said he would personally provide a collector from his department.
And if Agael was confident enough to say he was decent, it meant that the collector’s level was high.
“Of course, this one is not yet known to the public, and it’s a collector that we secretly raised in our department. He’s strong but violent, and quite tricky to handle.”
“You don’t mean… Scavenger?”
“Nah. Not that much. He hasn’t even done scavenger stuff yet? He’s literally brand new! But don’t worry too much. He’s someone we’ve invested in and raised. He can easily wipe out a mid-level collector!”
Jinpung finally realized what was going on.
The Pentagram department had developed and raised a collector on their own.
Now she wanted to use that hidden joker.
“R-really. If he can defeat the rising star Geomhu…”
“Surely, the Holy Spirits will be very very! Happy!”
Jinpung felt a chill without knowing it.
Agael was not simply trying to get rid of Yu-hyun, but also to use him as a sacrifice to boost the recognition of the collector she had raised in her department.
A scheme that he could hardly think of himself.
Jinpung realized that no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t even reach Agael’s toes.
But.
‘If I can… get rid of him…!’
He could handle this much, surely.
Jinpung’s eyes glowed coldly.
***
“Hmm. Who’s talking about me?”
I felt a tickle in my ears and sat in my office, polishing the Sario sword.
Thanks to Kang Hye-rim’s long care, it had already absorbed enough current.
It was safe to say that the first stage of awakening was over.
‘But it’s still not enough.’
The Sario sword was no longer the rusty relic it used to be, but a clean sword that looked like it was newly made.
But this was only the appearance, the real performance of this sword was still hidden.
‘It’s just turning on the power. The important thing is that the essence of magic engineering embedded in this sword is still asleep.’
Even after a long time had passed, the fact that the essence remained without disappearing showed how valuable this sword was.
I immediately took out the [Blood of Entropy] that I bought from the ‘Dimensional Shop’.
It was called blood, but it was not red like human blood, but a translucent and viscous liquid.
‘The blood of a fish that floats between dark matter has a higher conductivity of magic than any other material. It’s not well known now, but later it will be so precious that you can’t get it even with a lot of points.’
I bought everything I could use, as well as the few remaining items.
Using this blood of entropy, I planned to restore the magic circuit along the path of the current.
‘You can’t just put it in. You have to add other materials to engrave the eroded circuit again.’
I held up a [Horn Fragment of Gundarak].
A horn that was too big and sharp to fit in one hand.
This was an essential material for engraving a magic circuit on the Sario sword with the blood of entropy.
I carefully moved the sharp tip of the horn and started to engrave a new magic circuit following the traces of the current.
A process that required extreme concentration, as everything would be wasted if I made a slight mistake.
But for me, who had heightened senses, it was annoying rather than difficult.
About three hours passed?
[The Sario Ancient Relic Sword has changed into the Sario Empire Magic Engineering Sword.]
[You have discovered an Untold Story!]
[You have discovered an Unrecorded Story!]
[The system calculates your achievements.]
[You have obtained 100,000TP as a reward.]
[You have succeeded in engraving a magic circuit.]
[You have obtained the Story of an Engraver.]
A huge amount of points poured out.
Considering that I also got the achievements of Unrecorded Story and Untold Story, it was more than enough.
But that was not the important thing.
“I’ve completed it.”
The best sword that couldn’t be bought with millions of gold.
The true face of the weapon that contained the essence of ancient magic engineering was revealed before me.
“Let’s check the status of the sword.”
I immediately opened the information of the sword through the system.
And as soon as I checked the information, I couldn’t help but open my eyes wide.
