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Chapter 376: The Host (2)
“What… A wreath has arrived?”
Yeongwoo instinctively checked the current time.
The numbers 10:39 glowed brightly on his wristwatch.
10:39 a.m.
Thankfully, it was almost in line with his desired wake-up time.
“Who sent the wreath?”
Yeongwoo asked again, this time with a hint of irritation.
Jeonggu scratched his forehead.
“How would I know? The host needs to sign for it before it can be taken away.”
“Excuse me? Who exactly?”
“It looked like a delivery person.”
Now Jeonggu was scratching his neck.
He seemed as perplexed by the situation as Yeongwoo.
“Anyway, hurry down. It’s a mess outside.”
“...”
The situation sounded ominous.
Yeongwoo quickly geared up and dashed out of the room.
As he stepped into the hotel corridor, he noticed Lim Suna from Taewon Group waiting for him.
“Mayor.”
“Oh, Suna.”
The title "Mayor" made Yeongwoo flinch momentarily, but Suna ignored it and proceeded with what she needed to say.
“A congratulatory item has arrived at the hotel entrance.”
“A congratulatory item… Are you talking about the wreath? I was just coming down after hearing about it from my father.”
“A wreath… I suppose it could be called that.”
Suna tilted her head slightly.
It seemed like calling it a wreath was purely her father's assumption.
‘What exactly is waiting down there…?’
The "wreath" was becoming increasingly mysterious.
“But why did you personally come all the way here for this? You could have passed the message to my parents and gone about your business.”
Yeongwoo tried to be considerate, but Suna wore an awkward expression.
“Well…”
She glanced toward the emergency stairs, confirming that the elevator was out of service due to overdue maintenance.
“The congratulatory item occupies an enormous space. According to the delivery company, the host must approve before it can be relocated.”
It was clear that Suna’s explanation was much more precise than his father’s vague account.
“So it’s a complicated issue. But in any case, it sounds like I need to go down and resolve it myself.”
“Yes. I apologize for interrupting your rest…”
“We’ll have to take the stairs, right? If you don’t mind, I’ll go ahead.”
When Yeongwoo offered, Suna bowed slightly in gratitude.
“I’ll follow shortly.”
* * *
Taewon Group.
Before the reset, it ranked third in the domestic corporate hierarchy.
Now, it functioned as an administrative unit managing Gangnam, the heart of Metal Seoul.
For such a corporation to send someone expressing “concern” was unusual.
They claimed that the congratulatory item addressed to Yeongwoo was causing problems in Gangnam.
What on earth could it be?
‘Surely they didn’t send something like a giant bomb?’
Given the diverse and utterly unpredictable affiliations of the guests, Yeongwoo couldn’t even hazard a guess about the nature of the “congratulatory item.”
Finally.
Tap tap!
As Yeongwoo descended the seemingly endless emergency stairs, he arrived at the hotel lobby.
‘Let’s see what this is about.’
The moment Yeongwoo stepped into the lobby, he sensed an unusual commotion outside.
“Wow…”
“What is that?”
“Isn’t it going to collapse…?”
A crowd had gathered in front of the hotel’s main entrance, murmuring in awe.
When a few people spotted Yeongwoo inside the lobby, they shouted out:
“Oh! It’s the Strongest Sword!”
“The Mayor’s here!”
“Yeongwoo! Over here!”
With the inconsistent ways people addressed him, Yeongwoo couldn’t help but notice how disorganized everything was.
Amidst the chaos, Yeongwoo stepped toward the bizarre structure towering at the front of the crowd.
‘What the hell is that?’
Standing at the front was a rectangular stone tower that resembled an ancient monument.
Even as Yeongwoo approached the main entrance, the top of the stone tower remained out of sight.
Finally.
Thud.
When Yeongwoo stepped outside, the crowd parted, creating a path for him to approach the tower.
And as he got closer, the upper portion of the tower began to change.
Crack, crack, crack!
Initially a perfect rectangle, the upper section of the stone tower split apart, transforming into a shape resembling a flower bud.
In other words.
‘Did someone actually send me a stone flower? Who the hell would do this?’
It turned out to be a “wreath,” just as Jeonggu had said.
Then, someone standing at the base of the tower noticed Yeongwoo and ran toward him.
-Oh, are you Mr. Jeong Yeongwoo-07?
The figure was a Ratman clad in mechanical armor—a humanoid rat with a long, thin mustache on either side of its snout.
Standing about 1.5 meters tall, the Ratman didn’t seem particularly intimidating, which was probably why Gangnam’s residents dared to crowd around the tower.
‘The world really has changed. People don’t even flinch at the sight of a Ratman anymore.’
Yeongwoo mused that this might be the right time to proceed with integrating Guro-gu’s Red Foot Orcs.
Truly, the era of multiculturalism had arrived.
After all, these people had been witnessing monsters falling from the sky almost daily for over a week now and surviving to tell the tale.
It was no wonder a mere Ratman didn’t scare them.
“Yes, I’m Jeong Yeongwoo07. Are you the one who delivered this?”
Yeongwoo extended his hand for a handshake, and the Ratman reciprocated without hesitation.
Clap.
-Yes, sir. I am York, a courier for the transport company Kario.
“Nice to meet you.”
York the Courier.
Yeongwoo noticed that York’s strength was impressive, enough to deduce that if York wanted to, he could easily overpower everyone present—except for Yeongwoo himself.
Of course, York had no reason to do so.
Still, it was clear that Gangnam’s citizens were unknowingly standing before a formidable being.
“Courier work must be tough. Your strength is remarkable.”
Yeongwoo tightened his grip slightly as he spoke, and York twitched his whiskers in a smile.
-Thank you for noticing. In space, many things can happen. At the very least, one must be able to safeguard the cargo and escape.
That wasn’t all.
As an intergalactic courier, York must have encountered countless aliens and dealt with planetary peculiarities that Yeongwoo couldn’t even imagine.
“Do you think you might accept a commission from me someday?”
In the universe, connections were power.
As Yeongwoo carefully released the handshake and asked, York pulled out a thin piece of metal about the length of a middle finger from his waist.
Swipe.
「Rat-colored pager」 - General tool
【Diligent, Prompt. Kario Transport.】
|Sub-Universe Manager, Chief York.
In other words, it was a kind of business card-cum-pager.
-As long as the price is right... we can transport almost anything.
"Then, would you happen to transport living beings too?"
-Pardon? Th-that depends... if my safety is assured...
"I'm kidding."
When Yeongwoo burst into hearty laughter, York finally relaxed his tense expression.
He'd only now realized that this was no ordinary customer.
Afterward, York glanced around as if suddenly curious and muttered,
-Where on Earth is this?
It sounded like he was talking to himself.
Then, he manipulated a device attached to the chest of his mechanical armor, bringing up the current location.
Beep!
[|l||I-Earth]
But who was this opposite him?
Yeongwoo, the king of curiosity, wouldn't miss such an odd statement.
He immediately asked,
"What do you mean by 'which Earth'? What are you talking about?"
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-Excuse me?
"Are you saying there are other Earths?"
-It's only natural for planets with the same name to exist across the universe. That's why we have unique coordinates, isn't it?
York, as if stating the obvious, fiddled with the device that had just displayed the coordinates.
Yeongwoo, on the other hand, was dumbfounded.
"No, no! Hold on a second! Multiple Earths exist?"
Even the usually composed Yeongwoo grabbed York, looking visibly flustered.
York glanced at Yeongwoo’s hands gripping him, then subtly leaned back.
-Earth has always been one of many. So is my home planet.
"That… that makes no sense."
Of course, having multiple planets named Earth might not be all that strange.
After all, a name is just a name.
But in the universe Yeongwoo had experienced, no letter was used frivolously.
Even in item tooltips, a single modifier could change the meaning entirely.
So, for the universe to give multiple planets the same name…
"Mr. York, have you ever visited another planet named Earth?"
When Yeongwoo asked this to glean more details about the other Earths, York stared blankly at the air for a moment before shaking his head.
-No. This is my first time on any Earth. If it weren't for a delivery job, I wouldn't have come here either.
"I see..."
Yeongwoo sighed, sounding almost disappointed.
But then, York said something that made Yeongwoo's ears perk up.
-However, I’ve heard the name before. Earth, I mean.
"What…? You've heard of another Earth?"
Yeongwoo unknowingly frowned in irritation.
Why?
Because the thought of a space-traveling deliveryman hearing about another Earth before this one felt slightly bruising to his ego.
Did that mean there was a more famous Earth than this one?
"Why… why is that Earth famous?"
-It's not so much famous as... infamous among deliverymen.
"Infamous?"
-"here's someone patrolling the boundaries between lower and upper universes. If you fail to answer their questions, they'll rob you of everything you're carrying. That person is said to hail from Earth.
"Wait, what? You're saying there's an Earthling robbing people at the edge of the universe?"
When Yeongwoo pointed to himself while saying "Earthling," York stared at him intently.
-As I said earlier, I’ve never seen that person myself. Thankfully, I’m only a lower-universe manager and don’t frequent the boundary. And the boundary is so vast that only a handful have encountered them directly.
York’s claim was that it was more of a ghost story circulating among deliverymen than a verified fact.
-When a deliveryman loses their cargo, the transport company naturally holds them accountable. So, many companies have sent teams to recover the stolen goods from the boundary.
This was the reasoning behind why the boundary ghost story had some factual basis.
"And?"
-But as far as I know, no company or client has ever caught the person at the boundary. Even now, rumors occasionally circulate about goods disappearing there.
"...It’s truly a ghost story."
Yeongwoo felt a strange mix of emotions.
The idea that someone from a planet named Earth was robbing people at the treacherous boundary of the universe—and surviving—was both absurd and fascinating.
"Who the hell is this guy?"
As Yeongwoo muttered this to himself, York checked his coordinate device again and handed something over.
Swish.
-Please sign here. I need to head to my next delivery soon.
It was a large metal plate with a spacious blank area for a signature.
When Yeongwoo placed his palm over the plate, York nodded.
-Thank you. The delivery today is a ceremonial gift. The sender is…
York studied the unfamiliar script written at the bottom of the plate, then looked back at Yeongwoo.
-It says, 'From Kwaya’s Hammer Team.'
"Kwaya?"
That Kwaya.
The prison design company scheduled to set up the wedding venue today.
-Yes. Let me briefly explain how it works...
"That thing works?"
-Of course. It has a criminal detection function.
"What?"
Yeongwoo facepalmed.
Leave it to a prison design company to send a wreath matching their theme.
-If you look at the top, you’ll see a bud forming.
"Yes, I see it."
-That reacts to cosmic sins and interstellar criminal records. When a particularly notorious guest visits, the bud will fully bloom.
"I see..."
It was an unwelcome gift.
But it was already delivered, so sending it back wasn’t an option.
It seemed they’d have to place it near the venue.
"By the way, the wedding is scheduled for a different region. Why did it arrive here?"
-The sender requested delivery to the host’s location.
"Sigh."
-If you'd like, I can change the installation site. Should I?
"Of course. This is practically my front yard."
As Yeongwoo sighed and replied, the sky above Metal Seoul flashed for a moment.
Fwoosh!
Then, with a deafening sonic boom, an obviously massive object shot down at incredible speed.
BOOM!
"Ah, crap. What now?"
As Yeongwoo stared at the sky in exasperation, York took a step back, his voice trembling.
-It's... an express cargo.
"What? Express? How can you tell?"
York stiffened his whiskers and replied.
-I can see the ‘handle with care’ mark.
"Handle with care?"
-Yes… Do you happen to have any guests arriving from the Void?
"Ah."
Yeongwoo blinked.
It seemed Mara, the Master of the Void, was indeed attending the wedding today.
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