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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Side Story 19
Sub Quest: Search for The Witch of The Void.
To complete this, Seong Jihan decided to meet the 'person in question' and temporarily logged out.
When he returned to the real Sword Palace.
"……."
In the usual spot, next to the sofa.
Yoon Sejin was kneeling with a serious expression on his face.
"……Why are you kneeling?"
Swoosh.
Seong Jihan raised his hand, and Yoon Sejin's body floated up.
"No, Jihan! I need to kneel longer…!"
He struggled in the air, pleading to be put down.
Seong Jihan tilted his head and lowered his hand.
Yoon Sejin returned to his original position.
Why was he doing that?
As Seong Jihan struggled to understand the situation.
"Dad! I told you to go home for today. Mom's sleeping!"
Yoon Seah emerged from her room and shouted at Yoon Sejin.
"……Alright. I'll come again tomorrow."
"Okay. Bye, Dad."
With slumped shoulders, Yoon Sejin left the house.
Yoon Seah sighed at the sight, then turned to Seong Jihan and smiled brightly.
"Uncle! It's been a while!"
"Has it been that long?"
Since they were always together in the mission world.
Seong Jihan didn't realize it had been that long.
"Yeah! Last time you came out, you didn't even see me! Are you only taking care of that Seah? Raise me too!"
"Hey. You're doing great. Number 1 in the rankings, what more do you need?"
"Well, that's true but… I just feel like I'm losing my uncle."
"Once the mission is cleared……."
It would be over, so what was the point?
Seong Jihan was about to say that, but for some reason.
The word 'over' didn't come out easily.
'Hmm. Am I too emotionally invested……?'
This is reality.
He had entered the mission world solely to fix the error in the Tower of Martial Gods.
But he felt a lingering attachment to that world.
Was it because he felt a stronger sense of reality there?
"More importantly, why was Sejin hyung kneeling?"
Seong Jihan dropped the topic of it being over and changed the subject.
"Ah…… Dad and Mom. Their relationship was pretty good lately."
"Their relationship was good?"
"Yeah. It felt like… they might get back together."
"Really?"
Seong Jihan's eyes widened in surprise.
When did that happen?
"Dad kept apologizing and begging, saying he only has her…… and the Shizuru thing was mostly because of the charm. Plus, it's spring, so it felt like they might reconcile, but……."
Yoon Seah shook her head and looked at Seong Jihan.
"Thanks to Uncle, things are back to how they were."
"Why me?"
"In Uncle's mission, Dad acted so disgracefully……."
Was she referring to the last words about loving Shizuru?
"That was the Sword King in the mission."
"Still. It brought back old memories. Especially since Mom said she saw many 'illusions' during The Witch of The Void incident, and she remembered all of them."
"Hmm……."
"So she gets angry just looking at Dad's face, and they decided not to see each other for a while."
Well, this is unexpected.
An unintended butterfly effect occurred here.
As Seong Jihan tilted his head.
Creak…….
The bedroom door opened, and Seong Jiah came out to the living room.
"Seah. I told you, no reconciliation, right?"
"Really? You always put on perfume when you go see Dad."
"I put it on whenever I go out. It's just basic manners."
"I don't think so~"
"Hey!"
Seong Jiah glared at Yoon Seah's teasing.
Seong Jihan chuckled.
Then.
"Huh? Uncle's laughing?"
Yoon Seah caught it and pointed at his mouth in surprise.
"Oh my. He really is laughing."
"Did your senses come back a bit?"
"I had senses. I just couldn't feel the stimulation."
Even when he ate sugar, he only felt 'oh, it's sweet.'
But without any stimulation, he had lost all motivation.
Seong Jihan went to the kitchen, took out some sugar, and put it in his mouth.
Then.
'Huh…… there's some stimulation?'
He had to put a lot of sugar in his mouth to feel a slight sweetness.
But compared to before when it was 0, this was a significant change.
"How is it? Can you taste the sweetness?"
"Yeah. It seems to be related to the mission world."
"The fact that your stimulation is returning is related to that……? That's strange."
"I have another reason to clear the mission."
Seong Jihan looked at Seong Jiah.
"Noona. Do you remember anything from The Witch of The Void incident?"
"Memories from then…… they're incomplete. They're fading."
"How can I find The Witch of The Void in that world?"
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Just a moment…… let me think."
Seong Jiah began to recall her memories of The Witch of The Void at Seong Jihan's question.
Yoon Seah looked at them and spoke.
"Are you going to find Mom for that Seah?"
"It's a sub-quest objective."
"Ah…… I see. Can you save Mom too?"
"Well, I should."
Yoon Seah nodded at Seong Jihan's answer.
"I grew up without much difficulty thanks to Uncle…… but if I were in her shoes, it would have been really tough. She's completely cut off from Dad…… and since Uncle became the Martial God, she's basically without family, right?"
"Well, that's true."
"Yeah…… so if she has even one person to rely on, it'll be much easier for her after the mission is cleared, right?"
After the mission is cleared.
'I don't think that world will still be maintained then…….'
Seong Jihan had that thought, but he decided to do his best until the end.
"I'll try my best."
"Okay. Then Mom's memory is crucial now."
"……Hey. Don't rush me."
As she said that, Seong Jiah delved deeper into her memories.
"Ah. Right. I think back then……"
She provided Seong Jihan with a clue.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!w
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* * *
In the mission world, at the BattleNet Center's VIP room.
Lee Hayeon was being more polite than before.
And it was understandable.
"Seong Jihan-nim…… Ah, should I call you Martial God-nim now?"
"Call me whatever you're comfortable with."
The man in front of her had been revealed as the Martial God.
'Seriously…… how did he know about my Gift? He was the Martial God?'
He knew about her Gift, which was almost unknown to the world.
He even knew about her betting addiction at a glance, was it because he was a god?
Lee Hayeon accepted that Seong Jihan knew so much about her.
"Yes. Martial God-nim. About the offer you made last time……."
"Right. You agree to it, right? Guild Master and secretary."
"Yes, yes! Of course! I even created the guild!"
She nodded vigorously at Seong Jihan's question.
The other party was the Martial God, who might do anything if displeased.
'Thanks to him, my fiancé broke it off on his own……'
The ex-husband who had been obsessed with Lee Hayeon.
After Seong Jihan pulled out all the facial hair of the 1st ranker and broke the Sword King's dual swords in half.
He stopped bothering her.
The fear of what might happen if he touched the woman chosen by the Martial God.
It brought him back to his senses.
"Then add Seah to the guild and focus on her growth."
"Yes. I'll do that right away."
"Oh, and. Do you know Christopher?"
"Commentator Christopher? Yes. The one you mentioned as an example of the Exploration Gift, Martial God-nim."
Commentator Christopher, who became one of yesterday's main characters thanks to his Exploration Gift, after just watching from the front row.
"I need to use his ability."
"Gift Exploration……?"
"Yes."
"But. Can't Martial God-nim destroy dungeon portals from the outside? Why do you need him……."
"What I'm going to attack this time is an Abyss."
An Abyss.
Lee Hayeon's mouth fell open at Seong Jihan's words.
"Wh. What, an Abyss…… are you talking about the one in North Korea?"
An Abyss.
A higher-level dungeon formed by the merging of multiple dungeon portals.
It existed within a dark red crack in the earth.
"Yes. To attack an Abyss, exploration ability is needed."
There were giant dungeon portals to the east, west, south, and north of the Abyss.
These were the energy sources that supplied power to the Abyss.
So, before entering the Abyss, the giant dungeon portals had to be demolished first.
'The surrounding dungeon portals mentioned in the sub-quest must be these.'
And if the only goal was to destroy the portals.
As Lee Hayeon said, Christopher wouldn't be necessary.
No matter how big the dungeon portals were.
With Seong Jihan's power, he could just destroy the portals from the outside.
But.
'If I have to find Noona inside, it's a different story.'
During her time as The Witch of The Void, Seong Jiah saw numerous illusions and visions.
She said she saw herself working inside a giant dungeon portal during that time.
So, if he destroyed the giant dungeon portal from the outside, he might accidentally harm The Witch of The Void inside.
'She said she doesn't know which one of the four directions she's in…… but I can just check all four.'
He just needed to clear the monsters inside and find The Witch of The Void, so not knowing the location wasn't a big problem.
But there might be hidden spaces when searching for The Witch of The Void.
For this, the Gift 'Exploration' was necessary.
"The Abyss is no longer just Korea's problem, so they might show interest…… Christopher might ask for something in return for his exploration."
"Compensation…… all I have is power?"
"In today's world, that's the best thing."
Humanity was starting to show signs of decline as they entered the Space League.
From Lee Hayeon's perspective, living in the current era, it was natural to say that power was the best.
Seong Jihan chuckled at her answer and gave her a guideline.
"Okay. Tell him I can destroy 100 dungeon portals if he helps with the exploration."
"100……?"
"Yeah. But Lee Hayeon, you negotiate."
"Ah. Yes! I'll negotiate with a maximum of 100 in mind."
Lee Hayeon quickly completed Yoon Seah's guild registration.
And rushed to contact Christopher.
"The Martial God said she's a gambling addict…… but she seems to work really hard. That person."
"She's the type to work hard when given the opportunity."
"Aha…… when you reach the pinnacle of martial arts, can you know things like that?"
"Well, something like that."
He couldn't say she was proven to be a workaholic in reality.
Seong Jihan decided to just say he knew everything because he was the Martial God.
"Anyway, did you get the growth buff from joining the guild?"
"Yes…… the effect is really amazing. Can I go test it out?"
"You don't need my permission for that. Go whenever you want. Reaching Diamond is your first goal."
"Diamond……."
She was currently in the Bronze League, so reaching Diamond seemed so far away.
Yoon Seah felt it was an incredibly distant goal, but.
"Don't you want to learn more martial arts?"
"Ah…… I'll go right away!"
When Seong Jihan dangled the carrot of martial arts, she immediately became motivated to level up.
And a few hours later.
"Martial God-nim. Christopher hasn't left the country yet, so I got a reply right away."
Lee Hayeon came back to him with a bright expression.
"He wants exclusive live streaming rights for the Abyss raid on BattleTube and an interview with the Martial God in exchange for his cooperation."
"I see. He didn't ask for dungeon portal removal?"
"Yes. The US is doing well, so……."
Even though humanity was struggling these days.
The US was ranked 1st in the world, so the dungeon portal problem wasn't a big issue.
"Alright. Accept all his demands."
"Yes. And…… some players asked if they could come along, what should I say?"
Players who want to follow Christopher.
'I think I know who they are.'
Seong Jihan smiled slightly and nodded.
"Sure. Tell them they can come along."
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!w
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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