Chapter 175: Seo Ju-Heon’s Curse (1)
Translator: miraclerifle
[Leonardo da Vinci's idea notebook]
Ju-Heon threw the notebook toward Yoo Jaeha with a look of satisfaction.
“Take it, it's yours.”
“Excuse me? Mine? Wow, what got into this greedy miser to give me an artifact?”
“Hand it back if you don’t want it, I'll sell it.”
“Ack! Are you crazy?!”
Yoo Jaeha quickly hugged the old notebook even though he didn’t know what it was. Irene smiled brightly while looking at the interaction while Julian and Seol-A sighed.
Maybe they remembered when Jaeha was the Monarch of Fraud.
‘Yoo Jaeha committed a lot of scams with that item in the past.’
His restoration abilities and copying abilities would both increase quite a bit with this artifact and he would be very helpful to Ju-Heon. But Julian coughed loudly at that moment.
“Alright, now that you found da Vinci's artifact, you'll return the rest to the US troops, right?”
“What?”
“What’s wrong? You signed a contract with the US troops. You said you would find their artifacts and return it to them. Wasn’t your goal to get your hands on da Vinci's artifact? Even if you destroy the dangerous artifacts, you should return the rest......”
Ju-Heon snorted in response.
What the fuck are you talking about?
That was what his gaze seemed to be saying.
“Why should I return the artifacts to those bastards? Why should we? No, why should I?”
Outside the tomb. Ju-Heon was snorting at Julian after making their way out of the tomb. Of course, Julian was in disbelief at how shameless Ju-Heon was being.
“Why else?! You signed a contract with them! You made a deal to return the Pentagon’s artifacts that have been gobbled up!”
Ju-Heon started to sneer at Julian.
“It’s such a waste to return them. Do you still don't know my personality even after dying like that?”
There was no way that Julian did not know. In fact, his body was shaking from the fact that he knew too well. That was why he had gotten into many fights with Ju-Heon in the past.
“Listen carefully. The articles about the crimes you committed would have decreased by half if you didn’t go around acting like a thug.”
“What the hell did I do? Can you at least remember the articles properly? I didn’t do any of those shits. I pretty much lived the life of a saint.”
“Ho! Do you even have a conscience? You don’t even remember how hard I had to work to cover up the issues you caused?”
“Did you do something without me knowing about it?”
“Damn it...... My blood pressure is going up!”
Julian grabbed the back of his neck.
“Ah, whatever! What the hell are you thinking? You never used to scam people when it came to business.”
“Who is that?”
Julian started to whisper after hearing Yoo Jaeha’s voice.
“In fact, the person whose credibility was low because he went around scamming people was Jaeha......”
He peeked toward Yoo Jaeha, who had now become the Monarch of Pushoverness instead, and continued to speak.
“I thought you didn’t go around committing contract fraud because it was dangerous.”
"What bullshit are you talking about? I didn’t do it because all it would do is benefit that old bastard. Why would I do that when my salary was smaller than a rat’s tail?”
“Seo Ju-Heon!”
“You got that? All artifacts I find are mine unless there is a very good reason. Naturally, there is no reason to return these artifacts. And...”
Ju-Heon threw a piece of paper toward Julian.
"This is...”
It was the document with pictures of the artifacts the US troops gave them to help with the search.
Ju-Heon had made many comments about them.
[2030, used in the war in the Middle East.]
[2033, used in the war in the Korean Peninsula.]
Most memos were similar to those. Ju-Heon’s eyes flashed once Julian looked up at him after seeing the memos.
“You remember it now after reading those notes?”
How could he not?
Other people might not be able to tell by just looking at the pictures, but...
‘They’re all artifacts that will be used in the future.’
It might not matter now because Ju-Heon had gotten rid of the Monarch of War, but there was a reason the US had Keira, the Monarch of War in the past.
A lot of these items could be used for positive reasons, but they were simply weapons when used in war.
That was probably why Ju-Heon started to laugh.
“You can deal with the evil ones as you please. But the rest are all items that will be used in wars as well if you return them. If that’s the case, it is a billion times better for me to use them instead. You don’t want people to die in wars either, right? So, cooperate with me.”
He really was good with his words.
“Are you sure it is not just because you are greedy for the artifacts?”
“So what, you don’t want to cooperate?”
‘......Ah, sure. Let’s say I want to cooperate. But what about the contract? You signed a contract with the US troops! How are you going to deal with that?!”
Julian was very sensitive about contracts as someone in the law profession.
Ju-Heon placed his hand on Julian’s shoulder as he responded.
“Of course, I did sign a contract with them. But where do you see their artifacts?”
‘Where else?!’
“What about all of those things over there?!”
Julian pointed to the gourd. This was the Golden Horned King and Silver Horned King’s Purple Gold Red Gourd that had sucked up all of the artifacts inside the tomb.
“The artifacts that were at the Pentagon were all sucked up into the gourd-shaped bottle earlier! I saw it with my own eyes!”
That was right. There were some that Ju-Heon had found after grilling Thoth, but some of the artifacts Yoo Jaeha had stolen from Chairman Kwon's group belonged to the US as well. The TKBM members had come into the tomb earlier and found some of them.
Actually, they found a lot of them. Ju-Heon's group then proceeded to steal them from TKBM.
Ju-Heon feigned ignorance and looked toward Yoo Jaeha.
“Jaeha. Are there any artifacts that belong to the US in this gourd-shaped bottle?”
“No sir. I only stole artifacts from that bastard, Chairman Kwon.”
Julian dropped his jaw.
‘These scammers!’
Ju-Heon patted Julian’s back as he started to speak again.
“Do you understand? There are artifacts in the gourd-shaped bottle that are the same as the ones the US troops asked about, but it is just a coincidence. An extreme coincidence.”
“Hold on...!”
Seol-A nonchalantly added on.
“My goodness, I wonder where the Pentagon artifacts are.”
“Who knows, maybe at the bottom of the ocean.”
Julian couldn't listen anymore and started to shout.
“They'll find out with a little bit of investigation!”
“They won’t find out.”
“What?”
"As long as you keep your mouth shut.”
Ju-Heon started to smile again.
Julian could not speak because he was in disbelief. This wasn’t right.
“I can’t accept scamming people. I will reveal the truth even if you don't want me to do so.”
“How?”
“By investigating that gourd-shaped bottle...”
"Ah right, this gourd-shaped bottle belongs to you, right?”
“......?!”
“You’re a proper guy so you should have properly reported ownership of this artifact to Pandora. It’ll all be revealed if the US investigates it, won't it?”
“......!”
“In that case, it’ll be the criminal turning himself in. Am I wrong?”
Julian’s jaw dropped as if he had been punched.
‘Seo Ju-Heon, you bastard!’
He was a worse person than in the past!
But that wasn’t all!
Ju-Heon had always been greedy about artifacts. It was a natural phenomenon, similar to how humans are greedy for money.
‘But he still wasn't this bad in the past!’
He was like a crow going crazy for a shiny object!
‘This bastard had his abilities upgraded along with weird aspects as well!’
Julian was starting to get a headache. Irene showed him something at that moment.
“Umm, what do you think this Heirloom thing is?”
“!”
Irene seemed to have found a suspicious document inside the tomb.
‘This is?’
It was a top secret document from the CIA. The Monarch of Fate's prophecy was written on it.
There was information about the 15 people who would become Monarchs, as well as the Token of a Monarch. Basically, the method to gain an Heirloom was written on it.
‘The end of the document is missing.’
There was one other thing that caught Ju-Heon’s attention.
[Information about the Crow's Tomb]
He didn't know if it was the same Crow, but the chances were high as the CIA was probably investigating him.
‘It looks like the missing part is the important part.’
He might have to negotiate(?) with the US President later to hand over the end of the document.
Yoo Jaeha looked around before asking a question.
“By the way, I've been curious about this since a long time ago. What about Chairman Kwon? What happened to him?”
“Who the hell cares?”
Ju-Heon didn’t even treat Chairman Kwon as a person so Julian responded in his place.
“He probably ran away. The coffin that Chairman Kwon was imprisoned in is a trap of this tomb. Unfortunately, it should have disappeared once the tomb disappeared.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Now that we came out with the artifact and the tomb disappeared, he is probably withdrawing with the rest of TKBM by now.”
“No, that's what I also thought at first, but...”
Yoo Jaeha continued to look around as he continued to speak.
“This tomb has not disappeared yet.”
Something odd was going on.
At the same time...
The TKBM excavation team felt as if their asses were on fire as they were roaming around the tomb.
“Chairman-niiiiiiiiiiiiim! Sir, where are you?! Chairman-nim!”
“Please respond if you can hear our voices!”
Inside the tomb where Ju-Heon had already raided the pharaohs and Thoth's artifacts...
Something that had never happened before was happening in this tomb.
The tomb was still standing even though all of the artifacts inside the tomb had disappeared. Even the traps were functioning normally.
A normal tomb would have been destroyed the moment Ju-Heon removed all of the artifacts. That was why the TKBM excavation team were desperately looking for Chairman Kwon, thinking that the tomb had yet to be cleared.
“Chairman-niiiiiiiiiiiim!”
“My goodness, where did that heavy golden coffin disappear?!”
“You said it was a pharaoh's coffin! How can you not be able to find it?!”
Yoon Shi Woo pounded his chest in frustration.
The coffin with Chairman Kwon had suddenly disappeared.
They wondered if Chairman Kwon had used a teleportation artifact to escape, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"The search artifact is pointing to this area! I'm certain he is around here...!”
“Damn it, we already looked through this area! Where the hell is he?!”
Where was Chairman Kwon?
Bang bang bang!
“I'm over here you idiots!”
Chairman Kwon was banging on the coffin in frustration.
He had been stuck in this tiny coffin for hours already.
Chairman Kwon was boiling inside.
“Can’t you hear my voice?!”
That was right. Chairman Kwon was near the search team looking for him. In fact, he was right below them!
He had become buried under the ground because of a strong earthquake that had happened once Ju-Heon left with the artifacts. But he was not buried too deep that he couldn't hear the voices of the excavation team members.
However...
“Chairman-niiiiiiiiiiiiim! Sir, where are you?!”
They couldn't hear him at all!
“These damn morons!”
His artifacts were useless against this coffin, his Dominance wasn’t working, and physical strength didn't do anything either!
“Seo Ju-Heon. You’re dead when I get out of here!”
Chairman Kwon's Dominance exploded at that moment.
Ruuuuuuuumble!
Chairman Kwon's Dominance started to shake the tomb.
Boom boom boom!
It still didn’t even leave a scratch on the coffin but a Monarch’s Dominance was enough to get the tomb to react.
Maybe that was the reason.
“Aaah! It’s an earthquake!”
"Damn it, is it a trap of the tomb?!”
The excavation team members gasped and started to leave.
“Run away! Withdraw for now!”
The excavation team members all ran out without being able to find Chairman Kwon who was right under their feet.
After that... There was breaking news in all the newspapers throughout the world.
[TKBM's < Monarch of Conquest > Chairman Kwon Tae Joon has gone missing inside the Valley of the Kings.]
[He has been missing for two weeks.]
[Discussion about Chairman Kwon's successor. Who will gain control of TKBM?]
[At the shareholders’ meeting, Yoon Shi Woo has claimed, “We cannot leave the Chairman position empty any longer.”]
[The candidates for the Chairman position...]
Chairman Kwon was about to be considered dead.
[The excavation team has investigated and determined that “No artifacts are inside the Valley of the Kings.”]
[But the Valley of the Kings has not disappeared.]
[Pandora claims “It is the first time a tomb has only remained with its traps.”]
[Have the artifacts been swiped or is it an abnormal tomb?]
[MI6, the C-R excavation team, and the CIA are cooperating to investigate.]
[Pandora’s internal investigation has revealed the following: “Traces of escaping after destroying the tomb. This is something only Seo Ju-Heon can do.”]
[Another conspiracy theory, “How is he able to swipe the artifacts while leaving the tomb intact? Just who is Seo Ju-Heon?”]
[Odd phenomenon, why is the tomb not disappearing?]
"Wow, this is great, totally great. The feeling of being a villain behind the black curtains is the best.”
Yoo Jaeha was looking at Ju-Heon as if he would fall for him after reading the newspaper and watching the news.
Louie, the little Monarch of Fraud chimed in as well.
“How is the tomb still standing when you came out with the artifacts? Why did the tomb not crumble?”
‘Why else? I restored the tomb.’
Ju-Heon smiled wickedly.
That was the reason for this odd phenomenon. There was only one way for humans to get out of a tomb.
‘We can only get out by clearing the tomb’s test.’
However, the situation in this tomb was completely different.
‘It seems like I've been placed on a blacklist.’
There had still been a precursor. It had happened once the Supreme Leader got involved.
That was why there was only one way for him to get out. He just used < Tomb Destruction > over and over to create a hole and get out.
But he had an idea as he was about to exit.
‘What would happen if this tomb does not disappear?’
That was why he had used the restoration skill toward the tomb that was about to crumble.
Something shocking had happened!
‘The tomb did not disappear even though all of the artifacts were removed.’
Even the traps were working properly!
Basically, the shell was still there even though the contents were removed! This was actually extremely beneficial to Ju-Heon.
Why?
[The Valley of the Kings, excavation teams continue to show up despite the fact that the artifacts were removed.]
[They didn’t know that the artifacts are gone because the tomb is still open.]
[The latecomer, Austin Rockefeller, the Monarch of Surplus. Wasted billions of dollars on an empty tomb.]
After seeing that the tomb was still open, his rivals were continuing to go to the tomb without realizing that it was empty. This was killing two birds with one stone.
Maybe that was the reason.
‘I can use this for my benefit in the future.’
Ju-Heon started to smile like the devil. This was all thanks to this tomb!
A tomb without a test. His thought process had evolved because the artifact bastards had changed their methods as well.
It was at that moment.
The phone started to ring.
[Hello? Mr. Seo?]
The true Tomb Raider had started to move.
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