Chapter 23

Money?

10 million? 15 million?

It was nothing to Jinbum.

He could just give out money to the rulers.

The real problem was the way Sangki Beak collected money from him.

‘The deposit’ Sangki Beak talked about was different from ‘the normal deposit’.

‘Why is God leaving that kind of guy alone…’

***

The skill users’ appearance was shocking, but society accepted them sooner than people thought.

No, it was better to say that society didn’t accept the skill users. The skill users tried to be absorbed by society.

Why did they try to do that?

They could just hunt monsters with their skills and make society get on their knees in front of them. 

Probably, some could do that.

However, not all the skill users had fighting skills that were strong enough to hunt monsters. 

Also, there were not many skill users who preferred to fight that could be a matter of life and death.

If they were not going to use their skills to fight monsters,

If their skills were not complete alone,

Weren’t their skills useless to society?

If a fire comes out of a person’s hand without the highest temperature, where can it be used?

What about flying in the air but not able to fly high enough? Isn’t it going to be a miracle if he doesn’t die by hanging on an electricity wire?

It wasn’t like that.

Even if the skills seemed useless, there must be somewhere it could be used if you changed your point of view or your thoughts.

The skill users figured out their roles and created their jobs.

The person who could make a 5cm fire from his hand became a chef.

He received three Michelin stars with praise ‘The best fire-grill’.

The person who could fly became the best administrator of skyscraper buildings.

He managed special buildings such as the antenna towers which were over 500m without any safety equipment.

‘We don’t rely on our skills.’

They found the answer.

The saying ‘If you have skills, you can be at least average.’ was created as the answer.

Also, everyone agreed that there was one thing that let them be a part of society without a problem.

It was a gun.

A bullet was the equalizer to the ordinary and skill users.

They got shot and bled and then died.

Once people found out they could control the skill users with arms they had, the skill users were not fearful of them anymore.

They were just threats that had something unfamiliar.

However, there were skill users who were beyond imagination.

The irregulars.

The rulers, the masters, the absolutes, etc. The irregulars had various names.

They had the power to ignore the arms and even other skill user’s skills. 

Some people had enough power to look down on the world and rebuild the public order again.

They had a common thought that they couldn’t ingratiate people with money. So, their lives varied.

Some chose to lower themselves and live peacefully.

They lived with public order while being respected by the ordinary.

Some chose to rule the public order above it.

They knew they could overpower people with their skills but they didn’t want society to collapse by their overpowered skills.

They just built their own firm castle and enjoyed looking down on people who moved like ants.

Some chose to seclude themselves or roam about the world.

They considered everything as vain and they roamed around the world on their own. They lived like no one knew they even existed.

Some chose martial arts and others chose weariness…

The others.

The worst of the irregulars was looking at Jinbum through the monitor.

“Oh… Sorry. I haven’t visited you because I had things to do.”

– So come now.

“Pardon?”

– Come. Now.

“Are you talking about right now, sir?”

– Why? You don’t want to?

“Wel… No. I will go there…”

Jinbum disconnected the monitor and grabbed his face.

His breath was rough with anger and became calm slowly.

‘By the way, I think I saw his wrinkles… Did he age since I saw him last time?’

*

Sangki Beak was humming while sitting in the VIP meeting room.

Mr. Kwan who was jittering next to him ran outside quickly when he got a phone call.

Someone came in with Mr. Kwan.

As Mr. Kwan closed the door and locked it, the person took off something from his face.

He approached Sangki Beak and bowed deeply.

“Long time no see, Mr. Beak.”

“Jinbum.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do I have to come to find you?”

“No, sir.”

“How dare you try to trick me while using the body double. Did you think I wouldn’t know that?”

Jinbum’s lips were drying out.

“No, sir. How on earth can I try to do that to you?”

“Then, who did you try to trick?”

“… Let me give you the money first and explain.”

“Hm.”

Jinbum turned around and gnashed his teeth.

“Get out.”

After his subordinates left, Jinbum got on his knees and bowed towards the man who was sitting on a desk.

It looked like he was prostrating himself.

Jinbum picked up a check above his head while remaining in the posture.

“Mr. Beak, this is our offering. Please take it.”

“Um.”

Jinbum felt the check on his hand was taken quickly and bit his lips.

This feeling of insult… He thought it already became like a callus on his skin. 

Just because he didn’t meet Sangki Beak for two months, he totally forgot about it.

When someone gets money offered, mostly, the person offers something that befits the money.

Gangsters offer protection, politicians offer power and policy convenience, and judges offer unfair judgement.

However, Sangki Beak didn’t offer anything.

He would ask back.

‘If ants give pieces of a snack to humans, do humans have to be thankful?’

The worst irregulars.

They considered themselves as gods.

They got what they wanted to have, made what they wanted to make, and break what they wanted to break.

They thought the world had to exist for them.

The others? They were just useless toys for them.

That was why they got power like that.

So Sangki Beak liked exerting his influence.

Where Sangki Beak appointed a place, the leading members of the large companies put their hands up to offer checks.

Existence like ants offered a tributary payment to beg for not breaking their ant houses and not stepping on them.

He didn’t care about the check. He cared about ‘the performance’.

Jinbum gnashed his teeth in front of someone like that.

‘How unlucky I am…’

Jinbum normally attended this event.

After Daehong Park was decapacitated, Jinbum represented Ohsung and always attended the event.

However, the problem was that Dongsoo Choi was the one who always scheduled the event.

He suddenly died without handing over his duties and also his father had the incident…

He didn’t mean to skip it twice.

However, he didn’t know that Sangki Beak would come in person just because he forgot about it twice.

“Um. Get up.”

“Thank you.”

Jinbum stumbled while getting up.

“So, why did you hide?”

“I have to hide.”

“You? Was it so serious that you had to use a body double?”

 Jinbum seemed preoccupied.

He finally made a decision and opened his mouth in front of Sangki Beak who was watching him interestingly.

“He is still alive.”

“He?”

“Last year… When the rulers stopped by our company once.”

“Did we? Wait a second.”

“I heard Mr. Saehun Choi…”

Sangki Beak suddenly opened his eyes widely.

“Why are you calling him Mr.?”

“So… Sorry. I heard Saehun Choi… opened the portal at the end and put him inside…”

Sangki Beak hit his fist on his hand.

He seemed to remember him.

“Oh! Him! You are saying he is still alive?”

“Yes.”

Sangki Beak tilted his head with a puzzled face.

“Didn’t he do something to the portal…? There is no way he can survive…”

“We don’t know what happened, by the way… all the circumstances are proving that he survived and came back.”

“So what about him? He was just for one-time use.”

“That is…”

Jinbum let Sangki Beak know all the incidents that had happened including his skills.

“It wasn’t illness absorption, but it was abnormal status absorption?”

“That’s right, sir.”

‘Sera Lee… You lied to me.’

‘Well, I can just take him by myself. I’m thankful to her as a result. Or… Did she already?’

‘I need to find out from her…’

Sangki Beak narrowed his eyes.

He mumbled quietly and then continued his question.

“What did you say about the reason why Daehong caught him?”

“I think my father was thinking about absorbing not only his illness but also his age.”

“Age. What do you think?”

“I’m not sure if aging is also abnormal status… but it can be possible. That was why my father tried it.”

“I see.”

Sangki Beak thought about something and smiled.

“Have you talked about this to anyone?”

‘With this question and that glitter of his eyes…!’

Jinbum Park suddenly got nervous.

He had predicted, but he had to answer carefully because that guy was unpredictable.

“…Some of my subordinates know about it and also our secret cloud network is managing the information.”

“Is that so…?”

Sangki Beak looked at Jinbum with weird eyes.

Jinbum was certain.

‘It’s now. If I lose this timing, he is going to kill me.’

“The cloud network will be shared with all of the rulers if I die.”

“Huh? Look at this bitch. Did I say I was going to kill you? What a funny guy. Do you really want me to kill you?”

“No, sir.”

“Asshole… You are quick-witted.”

“…”

“Anyway, what you are saying is that he is coming to kill you and Hayeong Choi or whoever, right?”

“Yes. He will have to come.”

“Ok, just watch your mouth. If the others find out about him… You know what’s going to happen?”

Sangki Beak ordered Jinbum to keep it a secret to the other rulers and then left through the door.

***

At that time.

Kimin was talking at Saehyun Jae’s store.

“Thank you for yesterday.”

“You are welcome. I just went there with you.”

“I could go in thanks to you. I really wanted to feel the atmosphere in that kind of place. I could only see it through TV. I didn’t know that was going to happen though…”

Sera Lee looked at Kimin who couldn’t finish talking and smiled brightly.

“Actually, it was so hard for me to hold my laughter.”

“Honestly, I was like that, too.”

“Oh, you guys are talking about the chairman at Ohsung. He must be crazy.”

While Saehyun, Kimin, and Sera was laughing, Sera’s phone on the table started to ring.

There was a name on the screen.

Sangki Beak.

Kimin accidentally turned his head and saw the name and then instantly hardened his face.

★Important Notice★

I’m going to put a hold on translation since I’m not getting paid or getting donations.

The next chapter will be posted after the payment problem gets solved.

Thank you for reading and sorry for the delay.

Leave a Reply

close