The entire world was facing a mental breakdown.
Maybe it should have been expected.
Artifacts were keys to control the world.
The amount of attention on the Monarch-Grade (SS-Grade) artifact users was beyond anything someone could imagine.
They were so influential that they could impact the world economy. There was also the support from Pandora, Global corporations and different countries all around the world. The Heirlooms were supposed to be the things that finalized these Monarchs.
Although it had not been confirmed, Pandora had already selected the Monarchs.
That was why those Monarchs had been secretly saying things like, ‘Please take good care of us.’
They had been making secret deals and preparing to benefit but……
"What the hell happened?”
The entire world was in chaos. It was all because of Seo Ju-Heon's actions.
The people who were certain that they would become Monarchs and the corporations that had made the secret deals… Even the countries that had been prepared to recruit the Monarchs over…
[All Heirlooms ended up with Seo Ju-Heon and his team.]
[There are a total of 8 newly cemented Monarchs. The rest of the positions are vacant.]
[All 8 are part of Seo Ju-Heon’s excavation team]
[Seo Ju-Heon: “No intentions of selling Heirlooms.”]
People were crazy. How could Seo Ju-Heon run off with all of the Heirlooms?
Those people all gathered at Pandora.
“We were trusting Pandora to take care of things! How did this happen?!”
"The results are completely different!”
“Will you really not accept us as Monarchs without Heirlooms? Are we unable to use Divine-Grade artifacts?!”
Pandora was put in an extremely awkward position. They never imagined things to go like this.
Pandora members were urgently summoned for an emergency meeting.
They all glared at Rothschild, the only member of the Executive Board at this meeting.
“What happened? Weren’t the Heirlooms supposed to pick the people we chose?”
“I thought that was the deal we made with the artifacts.”
“We hoped it wouldn't be the case but the eight of them went up in the Pandora system artifact.”
“How can the Executive Board approve of that update?!”
“Prometheus, say something!”
Rothschild sighed after being called out.
He was the Giant Supreme Leader. He was an artifact who had taken on the appearance of a human and created Pandora. His true identity was the Prometheus artifact.
He acted differently from the Supreme Leader artifact in China that just shouted for the destruction of humans.
He had snuck into human society to make contact with like-minded humans and created Pandora.
He had been the one to first hand artifacts to humans this time. It was similar to how Prometheus had delivered fire to humans.
Fire had separated humans from the primates and allowed them to become the rulers of nature. Artifacts were doing the same thing now.
A few humans having artifacts separated them from regular humans and gave them the desire to become rulers of humanity.
Of course, Prometheus was an artifact as well. He did not give artifacts to humans for their benefit.
Just look at the name “Pandora", the box from which disaster was released into the world.
That was enough to tell the meaning behind it.
‘Everything is done to torment as many humans as possible.’
It was for the artifacts’ benefits.
The power players worked with the artifacts despite knowing their plan because they smelled money and power; that was how the current Pandora came to be.
However, the situation was a bit different now.
[Hey, Prometheus. I didn't cooperate with you to get the Heirlooms stolen by Seo Ju-Heon.]
Pandora’s supporters were people who greatly influenced the world economy.
[Do you know how much money I spent to raise the Monarchs?]
[I was starting a new business around my Monarch's ability and it’s about to fail!]
The people who were harmed by this development were extremely angry.
It wasn’t just the Executive Board that was angry.
“Looks like Seo Ju-Heon will be immortalized by how much people are cursing him right now. It’s quite amusing.”
Some of the people at the meeting snickered while looking at Rothschild.
“Anyway, the artifacts are unbelievable too. They were so arrogant but ended up losing to Seo Ju-Heon……”
It was at that moment.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Kyaaaa!”
“Aaaaaah!”
They screamed after the lights and different items inside the meeting room suddenly exploded.
That wasn’t all.
Screeeech.
“Kyaaaa!”
Clang! Clang!
“Aaaaaah!”
Even the fortified windows started to shatter. The items inside the meeting room started to chaotically fly around and rampage.
“Know your place, humans.”
The snickering artifact’s eye seemed to loathe humans.
The members who had been speaking gasped after seeing the strong aura looking ready to destroy the meeting room.
“Stop! Okay! We get that you’re extremely angry too, so stop.”
The items fell back down.
‘Seo Ju-Heon, that bastard is the problem. He keeps messing with Pandora’s plans.’
That was the same right now.
Zeus’s Eagle awkwardly whispered on Prometheus’s shoulder.
[This is bad. All of Seo Ju-Heon's excavation team members are Monarchs? We have six more unintended Monarchs.]
Seo Ju-Heon, Yoo Jaeha, Julian, Lee Seol-A, Chloe, Dan, Ilya, and Irene.
The only ones out of the eight of them that Pandora was originally planning to have as Monarchs were Irene and Yoo Jaeha.
Why?
Irene's existence as the Monarch of Destitution was focused on harming humans.
Yoo Jaeha was because they were planning on using his copying abilities for their benefit.
Both of them seemed as if they would be quite useful to Pandora if they could lure them in.
As for the others…
“What are you doing? Contact the Executive Board and have the system artifact remove their names.”
[T, that…… They said they cannot do so because they properly contracted with Heirlooms.]
“What the fuck do you mean by properly?! Get rid of their names now!”
The Giant Supreme Leader started to frown.
“Now our only option is to fight face to face with Seo Ju-Heon or…”
The Eagle who understood the meaning behind those words was placed in an awkward situation.
‘Damn it. Do we really need to remove the seal on those bastards?’
At about the same time… The world was extremely rowdy right now but there were some people who were grinding their teeth the most.
“Is Seo Ju-Heon still not picking up?”
“Umm, that……”
"Tell him that we will give him as much money as he wants! Tell him to sell us a Heirloom!”
“Fuck, it’s not working! Even flattery is not working!”
They were the numerous Monarch candidates who had wanted to become true Monarchs.
The monopolizers threw the newspapers after seeing the list of people who were now officially Monarchs.
“Unbelievable. These chumps are Monarchs……!”
“All power in the world will be gathered around these bastards at this rate.”
Basically, Ju-Heon controlled who became Monarchs since he monopolized all of the Heirlooms.
As for Ju-Heon, he was reading the article and laughing with joy.
Edward, the Monarch of Wealth of the past, Ju-Heon’s current business lackey…… no, Ju-Heon's company’s CEO (only in name), could only awkwardly laugh.
“Excuse me, Director-nim. How can you laugh right now? Huh?!”
"What’s wrong?”
“You guys have turned the entire world against you now.”
“So what? I have all of the Heirlooms.”
“Ho.”
Edward, who was running Ju-Heon's artifact business on his behalf, became angry.
“Ow, do you know how many complaint calls we are receiving at the company?!”
Ju-Heon just snorted.
“Pfft, that’s none of my business. That’s for you to deal with.”
“Even still!”
"What's wrong? I won’t give you a Heirloom if you don’t like it.”
Edward lowered his head right away after seeing Ju-Heon's gaze.
“N, no sir! I will do anything you ask, boss! Complaint calls are just like lullabies! As long as I can become a Monarch, nothing is impossible……”
Even the Monarch of Wealth who had control of the world with Lü Buwei’s artifact and the East India Company artifact in the past could only submit to Ju-Heon.
"Damn it, I'm so jealous, so jealous!”
However, not everybody seemed to be happy to have officially become Monarchs.
Why?
“W, why……”
[Yoo Jaeha, ‘Monarch of Pushoverness.’ Kept his position.]
[Julian Miller, originally the ‘Monarch of Strategies’ is now the ‘Monarch of Pillage.’ Title change.]
Some of them were crying while looking at the newspaper and the news.
"Why am I still the Monarch of Pushoverness?! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! I played a pivotal role so whyyy?!”
“Why am I the Monarch of Pillage?! Why?!”
They were pounding on the ground as they lamented. On the other hand, there was someone who was very satisfied.
[‘Monarch of Devils’ Ilya Volgof.]
“Monarch of Devils sounds a bit 8th grade syndrome-ish but I do like it.”
Yoo Jaeha ripped the newspaper in jealousy.
“The Monarch of Devils my ass! Get lost! You should be the Monarch of Premature Ejaculation! You're just a baby chick!”
"What? You damn Monarch of Pushoverness!”
“Why…… Why am I the Monarch of Pillage……”
Julian was lamenting in despair in a corner of the room.
Irene was patting his back while awkwardly smiling.
“I, I think that your name may have changed because of all the pillaging you did at the Monarch’s Tomb.”
Julian felt wronged.
“Even Seo Ju-Heon isn’t a Monarch of Plunder anymore so why me?!”
There had been some changes to their titles as they officially became Monarchs.
[Monarch of Predation, Seo Ju-Heon]
[Monarch of Destitution, Irene]
[Monarch of Pushoverness, Yoo Jaeha]
[Monarch of Pillage, Julian Miller]
[Monarch of Ghosts, Lee Seol-A] [1]
[Monarch of Devils, Ilya Volgof]
[Monarch of Healing, Chloe Laurent]
[Monarch of Asura, Im Hae Jin]
The other members seemed excited to see their Monarch titles for the first time.
Ju-Heon peeked at all of them. The Crow had not tried to speak to him after they completed their contract. He couldn't even see it.
That was a bit weird.
‘It’s just a damn stalker.’
It wasn’t enough as a replacement, but at least he saw some reward messages.
[You have earned a Monarch’s body after contracting a Heirloom.]
[You have a body that is superior to regular humans. You are able to maintain your superhuman body even without the help of an artifact.]
[You are now qualified to handle Divine-Grade artifacts and higher.]
[You have earned the Heirloom's attribute after the contract.]
[Your contract with the Heirloom has upgraded your basic traits.]
[The basic traits of < Theft > and < Plunder > have upgraded.]
[New Monarch-Grade Attribute: Predation (Level 1)]
You are able to absorb artifacts.
‘I can probably use other skills once the level goes up.’
Ju-Heon had that thought before flicking his finger toward his team members.
“Now then, let’s look at the Heirlooms you guys contracted.”
The team members flinched.
“E, excuse me? Our Heirlooms?”
The entire team was scared.
It was because Ju-Heon had changed after returning from their trip.
‘This bastard even destroyed the island because of his greed for artifacts.’
They could not forget about how Ju-Heon had destroyed the Monarch’s Tomb and the nearby islands.
‘T, there’s no way that his obsession with artifacts has gotten even worse, is there?’
Yoo Jaeha gulped before starting to shake an artifact.
He was shaking it as a person would shake a toy in front of a dog or cat.
Ju-Heon’s gaze surprisingly followed the artifact around.
The team started to shake in fear after seeing this happen.
‘W, we were right!’
‘The artifactphile has evolved into something even worse!’
And then…
“What are you doing? I said, let me see your Heirlooms. Take it out. Let me inspect your attributes and abilities. What Heirlooms did you all get?”
They all started to run in fear.
“No! You're going to take it away!”
They were certain of it. Taking it out would only lead to Ju-Heon gobbling it up.
At the same time…
“Huff, huff.”
A man appeared in the middle of New York City.
People started to whisper while looking at the man who looked like a mess with his clothes all ripped up.
However, the man did not care.
“I finally made it out.”
He stopped a cab and immediately headed for TKBM’s New York branch. He knew that Chairman Kwon would be there.
The staff at the info desk and the guards were shocked as soon as he went in.
“No outsiders are all…… eek!”
“You are…?!”
The man quickly headed for the Chairman’s office.
Chairman Kwon, a Pandora employee, and the former Monarch of Healing, and current Monarch of Drugs (candidate). TKBM's excavation team captains were standing there as well.
The atmosphere was grim.
However…
Bang!
“Why the hell are there so many people here today?”
They all gasped after seeing the person who barged into the Chairman’s room.
“That sir is!”
“You!”
People all gasped while the man smiled brightly.
“Hyung-nim!”
That was right.
This was none other than Kwon Hyuk Soo, one of the Four Emperors who had been sent to hell.
He had killed all the guards of hell and forced open a small gap between hell and Earth to barely make it out.
“You were still alive?”
“Yes! I’m back now hyung-nim! Seo Ju-Heon, that motherfucking bastard! Let’s get revenge together.”
He saw TKBM’s 12 reliable captains and thought this was good.
“Ah, were you having a meeting to capture Seo Ju-Heon or something?”
“What?
“I will help as well. We can't let Seo Ju-Heon get his hands on an Heirloom. How much have you planned? Don't we need to go to the Monarch’s tomb to get Heirlooms?”
Chairman Kwon's expression changed while TKBM’s captains all turned extremely pale.
“U, umm Kwon Hyuk Soo-nim……”
“What’s wrong? Tell me the plan.”
The Captains wanted to cry.
‘Damn it. All of the Heirlooms are gone, you dumbass. We can't even use Divine-Grade artifacts now!’
1. Supposed to be Monarch of Yama but that sounds weird so Monarch of Ghosts it is
