Chapter 131: Remember the runner-up too! (1)
Chapter 131: Remember the runner-up too! (1)
Translator: miraclerifle
‘What is this thing?’
Even Ju-Heon, who had faced all sorts of hardships in his life, could not help but flinch.
Long hair, long inner lashes, white cheeks, fancy dress......
All of that was great. But Ju-Heon froze while looking at this person's face.
She’s ugly? She was a monster?
No, it wasn’t that kind of issue.
The issue was...
"Damn it, this fucker is a guy!”
Ju-Heon swore as he kept his distance.
He was right.
The person who had appeared was a man dressed as a woman! It was a beefy man wearing extremely feminine(?) makeup that was giving him the chills...!
It was no wonder he couldn't help but swear.
‘Holy crap, now I get it!’
The rope had sent a message that said, ‘this unni is too scary.’
He understood why Jaeha had said that! He understood why he had said that his chastity was in danger!
It really was scary! What crazy shit would this guy do with his fully bearded face?!
[Ho ho ho, everybody other than me must die!]
“You crazy bastard! You should have at least shaved!”
The way this man was charging toward him with his fake boobs bopping up and down was impossible to describe.
The beautiful(?) woman wearing a dress threatened Ju-Heon with a knife.
Actually, it was a violin bow and not a knife!
That bow was so sharp that it could slash an opponent by just touching them.
Swish! Swish! Ju-Heon started to think as he used swift movements to dodge.
‘He seems to be someone from the 18th century? Maybe from Austria?’
Ju-Heon's eyes quickly observed the bastard's clothing and the style of the buildings.
‘There has to be someone. There has to be an artifact from that era who liked to dress like a woman......’
[Ho ho ho ho! Hurry up and die!]
Grind.
Which artifact could it be?
He had no idea.
‘This damn artifact!’
Ju-Heon quickly shouted toward Yoo Jaeha.
“Yoo Jaeha! You weren’t just fooling around, right? Tell me about this crazy artifact in 10 words or less!”
"That one is a fake! This bastard should only be one of the lackeys of the original boss!”
“What? Then is the boss Arachne because of the spiderwebs?”
“No! I thought that was the case too, but the boss isn’t from Greek mythology... mmph!”
Yoo Jaeha's mouth was covered by spiderwebs again. The monstrous man was huffing and puffing as he charged toward Ju-Heon again.
[Who are you calling crazy?!]
The furiously charging man changed appearance as well. A black fog surrounded him before he turned into a creature.
The artifact had transformed.
[The boss is sponsoring his talent.]
[The boss has changed his talent to an appearance of his choice.]
[The sponsored talent is starting to run wild.]
[It is not in a normal state.]
[You must clear this tomb to return it to normal.]
‘Damn it, did it say sponsor?’
The boss of this tomb seemed to be similar to Cao Cao's artifact or Chairman Kwon's artifact and focused on gathering talent. And that boss had changed it into this weird shape.
It was at that moment. The artifact that finished its transformation into a spider attacked Ju-Heon. It looked big enough to easily gobble up a person.
The spider’s legs were stomping away as it furiously charged. Ju-Heon felt threatened and urgently called out an artifact.
“Come out!”
The S-Grade sword artifact he gained through the gatcha should be able to cut this spider’s legs off!
He couldn’t summon his artifacts out of this tomb because of its attributes, but he should even be able to summon his possession-type artifacts since he was inside the tomb.
He was right. An artifact was summoned as he had expected.
Flash!
However, what appeared in his hand was not a sword but a...
[#$#*(!]
Did you call me? Did you call me?
It was the rope that's eyes were sparkling.
“......”
[#$(#!]
What do you need me to do? What do you need me to do?
Ju-Heon was at a loss for words.
‘No... I didn't summon you...’
The S-Grade sword artifact that had been beaten by the rope was blankly standing to the side.
But it didn't matter.
‘I just need to be able to attack!’
Ju-Heon tightly clenched the rope and started to whip with it.
“Get lost! You damn perverted artifact! I have no business with you!”
Slap, slap!
It was surprisingly effective! The spider was instantly whipped by the rope and started to chuckle. The rope became excited and started to strike the spider harder as well.
[#$&#!]
You messed with us so much earlier! You messed with us!
Slap, slap! Slaaaaaaaap!
The whipping noise echoed through the large mansion. The spider must not be used to getting hit as it was groaning in pain.
The rope was quite strong for just being a B-Grade artifact!
[You bastard!]
Lee Seol-A used the opening to swing her dagger at Yoo Jaeha.
The thick spider web covering Yoo Jaeha's mouth was quickly removed.
Of course, he was still hanging upside down.
“Don't move. I might end up cutting somewhere else.”
Yoo Jaeha scoffed at Lee Seol-A.
“What, did you decide to stick with the Captain-nim because of your debt? You latched onto the Captain-nim because he’s rich?”
Lee Seol-A started to frown.
This bastard’s way of talking was the same as in the past.
“But there’s no point in trying to seduce him with your beauty. Our Captain-nim won't fall for something like that.”
‘Mm, he seems like a pushover right now for some reason.’
Yoo Jaeha. He was their restorer and one of the 15 great monarchs who had influenced the world as the < Monarch of Fraud >.
Well, he was just a scammer that scammed the entire world in Lee Seol-A's eyes despite the fact that he was a Monarch-Grade user.
He admitted that he was talented, but his personality was so wicked and dirty. It was to the point that she found it difficult to be around him.
He did listen a bit to Ju-Heon as the captain, but he was just an icon of betrayal for Lee Seol-A and the others.
“I'll forgive you since you're not as bad as Chairman Kwon or Yang Chen.”
She called him the icon of betrayal, but he was just an annoying scammer. It was not at the level to compare him to that bastard who had sold his teammates off.
That was why Lee Seol-A completely freed Yoo Jaeha.
Plop!
Yoo Jaeha's jaw dropped in shock after seeing Lee Seol-A free him without any issues.
"Wow, what changed? You were trying to kill me until not too long ago.”
“I wouldn't rescue you if it wasn’t for the Captain-nim’s orders.”
“Huh?”
Her mind was still chaotic as her memories of the past and present were mixed together, but she was certain about something.
‘The Captain-nim came to the past right before he died.’
The rest of their team must have died in that final tomb.
Ju-Heon had not said that to her, but the smart Lee Seol-A was able to quickly figure it out.
Ju-Heon had said the following after that.
‘I don’t plan on forcing you to be loyal to me in this life.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Whether you have those memories or not, you are a different Lee Seol-A. But remember this. I will ignore our past relationship if you become my enemy.’
He had nonchalantly said it, but Lee Seol-A understood.
How could she not know that he meant that he would get rid of her if she became his enemy? Ju-Heon was such a person.
That was why she had smiled. Ju-Heon had said, ‘you can choose to follow someone else if you want to do so.’
But who else would she follow other than Ju-Heon?
China? That damn country with Zhen Cai Yuan?
Pandora? Stick with those annoying monopolizers who turned the world into a mess?
TKBM's Kwon Tae Joon? He wasn’t even worth talking about at all.
Even if it wasn’t them, she knew that there was only one choice for her from the beginning.
“Enough, just tell him about this tomb. Be useful to the Captain-nim.”
Lee Seol-A pointed her knife at Yoo Jaeha's neck. Yoo Jaeha started to sniffle as if he knew it would end up like this.
“Captain-nim! That weird man is a composer that even you should know about! You can clear it with one of your artifacts!”
“What? A composer? Who is it?!”
“It’s Salieri!”
“What?!”
"Antonio Salieri! The guy who was said to be jealous of Mozart!”
Ju-Heon scoffed after hearing that.
Antonio Salieri.
He was an Italian composer who wasn’t that famous in the modern world, but he was Beethoven and Schubert’s teacher. He was said to be comparable to the genius, Mozart.
There were many stories about how this great musician had poisoned Mozart to death out of jealousy because of Mozart's extremely rare genius-level talent.
That was why his name was used in the modern syndrome for a jealous person. This syndrome became known as the < Salieri syndrome > but this was different from what actually happened.
That was why it was weird.
[Die! All the talented people except me should die! I'll kill them all!]
‘This is Salieri?’ Ju-Heon was thinking about which story this artifact must have been based on before he realized it.
‘Pushkin's play!’
Pushkin, one of Russia’s great writers, had an opera play called < Mozart and Salieri >.
It was a play about one person's jealousy for another person's genius talent.
‘This artifact must have been based on that play.’
Ju-Heon seemed to have figured it out.
Either way, Salieri should be an S-Grade artist-type artifact similar to Michelangelo or Mozart.
‘So, I need to get rid of the Tomb's owner first to return this bastard to normal.’
Yoo Jaeha urgently shouted at that moment.
“Anyway, you should be able to take care of him with one of your artifacts!”
Ju-Heon started to laugh.
‘I guess I luckily have the necessary artifact. At least that punk seems to have worked hard to analyze the tomb.’
Ju-Heon was thinking that Jaeha had done a good job as he started to shout.
“What is it? Which artifact will work?!”
Yoo Jaeha shouted back with confidence.
“The harem artifact!”
Ju-Heon questioned his ears for a moment.
“......What?”
But Yoo Jaeha shouted again in a serious tone.
“You can seduce it with the harem artifact and take it out with you!”
“......Hey Seol-A.”
“Yes sir.”
“Kill. Him.”
Bang!
Lee Seol-A stabbed Yoo Jaeha with her dagger as if she had been waiting for this. Yoo Jaeha barely managed to dodge as he shouted again.
“I'm serious! I'm not lying! It will work!”
“Thanks for everything until now, I will look for a new restorer.”
Bang!
“Ahhh! I said I’m serious! Just try it out.”
Yoo Jaeha must have figured something out while being on the run.
“If you drag him out with the harem artifact, even the boss that is sponsoring him will come out of the tomb. It’s the type that will try to keep their talents forever!”
“Who is that boss?”
"The House of Medici!”
“!”
This was another unexpected artifact.
The House of Medici was a famous family in Florence, Italy that had been the patron for numerous genius artists. Painters like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, musicians, writers, numerous key figures in the Renaissance were sponsored by them.
A message popped up to prove that was the case.
[The artifact is trying to add you to its collection for artistic talent.]
[The artifact changed its mind after seeing that you have no artistic talent at all.]
‘This little punk.’ Anyway, that was probably why an art-type artifact like Salieri was under this boss’s control. It probably went around collecting all sorts of related artifacts.
“Okay, so hurry up and use the harem artifact on it and drag it out! Hurry! Do it before other Renaissance artists show up too!”
“Then you do it.”
“......Excuse me?”
“I'll let you borrow the artifact. You do it.”
Yoo Jaeha turned pale.
He then peeked toward Salieri.
He would have done it without any question when it was Daji, but......
‘Not that.’
A stiff Yoo Jaeha tried to run away.
“Farewell. It’s been fun. The two of you can stay here.”
Lee Seol-A clicked her tongue and grabbed Yoo Jaeha.
“You should do it since that bastard seems to like you.”
She then calmly placed the perfume bottle in Yoo Jaeha’s hand.
Yoo Jaeha gasped.
“H, hold on! What are you doing?!”
"What’s wrong? I thought you said it’ll work?”
Lee Seol-A grabbed Yoo Jaeha's fingers and made him use the harem artifact.
Yoo Jaeha started to fake a fuss about the pain.
“Aigoo! It hurts, it hurts! This woman is so damn strong!”
Lee Seol-A knew the correct way to use the harem artifact.
Maybe that was the reason. The harem artifact that Yoo Jaeha activated brought great results. The purple perfume bottle flashed before a strong pheromone was released throughout the entire mansion.
Salieri's body started to shake as it looked toward Yoo Jaeha.
That gaze was quite burdensome and Yoo Jaeha screamed as if it was disgusting.
[My goodness, what a genius. Hey boy, I think I'm falling for you.]
“Ahhhhh! No! Don't come near me!”
[The artifact has fallen for another artifact user.
The tomb’s owner is becoming anxious.]
Changes started to appear to the tomb along with that message. A suspicious woman appeared at the same time.
[The tomb's owner has appeared.]
Ju-Heon laughed after figuring out her identity.
‘I guess it really is that artifact.’
Catherine de' Medici.
She was a queen consort of France who was known as a wicked woman for the massacre of 90,000 Protestants. It was an incident that the Vatican was still keeping its mouth shut about.
She was said to be extremely jealous at the fact that her husband took in the beautiful Diane as his mistress.
She was a talented political figure who was able to turn all her sons into kings. There were stories about her believing in witchcraft and superstition as well as rumors about how she used a poisonous perfume.
Of course, it could have been a different artifact like Hera in the past. He believed it had changed based on the fact that it was a tomb where nobody could survive in the past but they were fine in here right now.
But at least it was beneficial to Ju-Heon this time.
‘Having the House of Medici artifact should make it easier to gain the Leonardo da Vinci artifact as well.’
That had been Yoo Jaeha’s main artifact when he was a Monarch. It was an important artifact for Ju-Heon to rise to the number one position.
And...
‘Catherine de' Medici is connected to Nostradamus as well.’
It would be beneficial when he went up against the Monarch of Fate as well. That was why Ju-Heon used Salieri as bait.
“Hey, I'm going to swipe this bastard you are protecting. Catch me if you can!”
The Medici artifact started to chase Ju-Heon who tried to use Tomb Destruction to escape.
‘Good.’
It was at that moment.
Boom!
The tomb started to shake violently. Something unbelievable started to happen.
[The Supreme Leader, the artifact of gluttony, is getting angry.]
Ju-Heon was shocked to see that message.
‘The Supreme Leader?’
Was this the leader of the artifacts that the crow had warned him about on the Holten ship?
More warning messages started to pop up.
[You are unable to take this artifact out of the tomb with you.]
[The artifact of gluttony is getting in your way.]
[You are being imprisoned here.]
[The traps are being reactivated by the Supreme Leader artifact.]
‘That shitty artifact!’