Translator: miraclerifle
“Haha! Look who it is, our Director Seo Ju-Heon whom I could never repay for his grace and the goddess of the Holten family.”
Pandora's international party hall.
Edward, who was wearing a white suit, started to laugh out loud as soon as he saw Ju-Heon there.
He was most likely the person who benefited most from Keira’s disappearance.
The CIA had loosened their chase once Keira disappeared.
Honestly speaking, Keira had become quite the wanted fugitive in the US.
The White Supremacists were talking about supporting Keira, but the US probably wanted to take care of this quickly as they were being scrutinized by the rest of the world.
This was the result of that situation.
[The US will take proper responsibility for the artifact-related issues.]
[Order given to disband the TSOF.]
Edward's situation was one that Keira had asked the president’s help for as well, so the CIA dropped the issue.
The US President had given orders to drop everything related to Keira.
Of course, the Holten family played a big role in things going so smoothly like that.
There were many people connected to the Holtens who were part of the US political system.
Thanks to that, Edward who did not have to be a homeless person anymore couldn't help but be happy.
"This is all thanks to you!”
Ju-Heon chuckled while looking at Edward who was flattering him without any malice.
“I can’t let you continue to be on the run when you have a business to run.”
Ju-Heon smiled brightly but Yoo Jaeha was shaking as if he was scared of Ju-Heon.
Why?
It was because he was able to tell something due to the fact that he had been by Ju-Heon’s side.
Although it seemed as if Edward was swept up in Keira’s scheme and Ju-Heon had saved him, but was that really the case?
‘Old man...you've been fooled by the Captain-nim’s act......’
Yoo Jaeha held back tears at the appearance of a new slave.
They were the ones who had created a fake artifact and put Edward in this trap in the first place.
And everything had worked out.
Gaining the Holtens, getting rid of the TSOF who was in their way, and Edward’s loyalty.
Ju-Heon who had plotted this whole thing and gotten rid of Keira for these three things laughed like the devil as if things had gone according to plan.
‘There’s nobody who can sell artifacts better than Edward can.’
Ju-Heon who now had Edward in his hands had made a business contract (written that way but read as a back door contract through the Code of Hammurabi) to create a company.
This company would be created with the Holten family's significant investment and Edward’s business skills.
It was starting as a medical company with the Herb of Eternal Youth as the foundation, but ultimately, it would become a global corporation that would take care of all artifact distribution.
‘The distribution of artifacts is extremely important in the Era of Artifacts.’
It was not just an issue of money.
Artifacts were useful tools but also a method of dominance.
Artifacts would become competitive goods for numerous companies and even influence medicines and daily necessities.
The monopolizers had completely controlled the artifact market and did as they pleased in the past.
He was trying to be a major player in the market early on because he did not want to see that happen again.
‘So put your talents to use, Monarch of Wealth.
I'll make sure to throw you a bone every so often if you do a good job.’
Ju-Heon's name was listed as part of the executive team, but he was leaving most of the business aspects to Edward.
Everything had a right man and the right place for it.
And as Ju-Heon who now had the future Monarch of Destitution, Monarch of Fraud, and Monarch of Wealth in his hands was licking his lips...
“Our Director-nim truly gets a lot of attention.”
“Of course! He caused a ruckus in the Caucasian section earlier!”
He had confidently gone to the VVIP section but Ju-Heon had made them eat shit when they tried to give him a corner seat instead of his original seat.
He brought up regulation after regulation and claimed he would sue them, which made the hosts raise their hands and feet in defeat.
Edward started to laugh after hearing the story.
“But even without that, the Director-nim catches a lot of attention.
He’s handsome.”
“Ho, only the Captain-nim? What about me? I’m pretty good looking too.”
“What?
You're so buried nobody can see you.
You look like a squid in comparison, a squid.”
"What did you say?!”
It was true.
The women in dresses were all interested in Ju-Heon while the men were jealous of the fact that he was with Irene.
Irene, who had no idea about any of this, was looking at Ju-Heon.
He was over 180cm tall in height, had a muscular body, a face that caught your attention, and an adult-like feel and experience that was rare for someone in their early twenties.
Ju-Heon had enough things going for him to catch the attention of the women in the party hall.
Maybe that was the reason.
[The artifact of destitution is responding to its master's subconscious change in emotion.]
“Hmm?”
A message had suddenly popped up.
And at that moment! “Oh no! My dress!”
“Kyaaaa! My stocking!”
No major accidents happened, but there were many small incidents such as spilling wine on an expensive dress and the like.
Everybody else just thought they were minor accidents but Ju-Heon knew the truth.
The artifact of destitution had subconsciously been activated.
Of course, Ju-Heon didn't care whether dresses, bags, or stockings were ripped nearby, but he tilted his head as he found it to be a bit odd.
‘Why?’
It was at that moment.
“You must be the Seo Ju-Heon who said he was going to sue the hosts.”
The person making the remarks approached Ju-Heon.
Ju-Heon turned his head after hearing the sudden voice.
A handsome young man was standing there.
“My name is Austin Rockefeller.
You're Seo Ju-Heon who went up against TKBM’s Chairman and Keira, right? Nice to meet you.
I came to apologize for our hosts’ rudeness.
We didn't recognize who you were.”
Austin reached his hand out in a friendly manner but he was boiling on the inside.
‘We lost a woman who could become a monarch among monarchs because of you.’
He was talking about Keira, one of the future Four Emperors.
He had secretly made a deal with the US to push Keira.
‘Well, it’s fine, I just need to create a new candidate.’
He laughed as he touched his artifact.
Ju-Heon was also quite skilled if he managed to defeat Chairman Kwon and Keira but for a monarch, he wasn't sure.
‘Who would be crazy enough to sponsor and grow a lunatic like this?’
As a strong artifact user, he was feeling a sense of rivalry with Ju-Heon.
‘I'll let him be my driver if he’s useful.
He should be honored.’
On the other hand, other people were starting to whisper at Austin Rockefeller’s appearance.
"Ah, I know that person.
He's handsome and an extreme golden spoon. I've seen him on TV!”
“He even had that hit movie this time.
He also has a bestseller album and book.”
“My goodness, I never thought I’d see him in person!”
People recognized Austin Rockefeller too much.
Even Edward and Yoo Jaeha who were next to Ju-Heon recognized him.
“Wow, I really like the book he wrote!”
The people then started to become interested in Ju-Heon who was talking to Austin.
“But who is Austin chatting with?”
“He extended his hand first!”
Yoo Jaeha who was next to Ju-Heon was getting excited as well.
“Wow, I'm so jealous you get to shake hands with him! Captain-nim! Please get me a signature!”
“Mr. Jaeha, one for me too.”
Ju-Heon shook his head at them once Irene joined in as well.
"Who is this punk?”
“Excuse me? Captain-nim, you really don't know who this is?”
“Not at all.”
Austin seemed extremely embarrassed at that.
Ju-Heon really did not seem to know about him.
“Well, sure, that’s fine.
You might not recognize me because you’ve never seen me in person before.”
Austin smiled and took out a fountain pen.
It was an artifact.
The effects were simple.
This artifact made the other person respect him and become his fan.
Rockefeller then smiled in an evil way.
‘You guys can become my prisoners first.’
There were already quite a lot of economic, political and law enforcement connections that came to him because of this.
Furthermore, the artifact users of Pandora were his fans as well.
He peeked toward Irene and Yoo Jaeha.
“You asked for a signature right? Your name is...”
“You're going to give me one? It’s Yoo Jaeha.”
“Yes, here you g...”
But it was at that moment.
Riiiip! Yoo Jaeha ripped the signature he received.
Austin’s fans who were watching gasped in shock.
“Kyaaaa! Is he crazy? What the hell is he doing?!”
Even Edward who was in line to get a signature gasped in astonishment.
“Jaeha, do you know how much that is worth......! Even people in Pandora can't easily get his signature! It’s a free pass ticket! Are you crazy?”
But Yoo Jaeha who had ripped the paper was completely pale.
“No! No! I didn’t rip......”
He urgently turned toward Ju-Heon.
And as expected!
‘This person!’
Ju-Heon was leisurely typing something on his phone.
Well, it looked like a phone but this was just Shakespeare’s pen that was camouflaged.
[Stupid idiot Yoo Jaeha (26) who can’t come to his senses will rip the other fans’ signatures as well.]
“Aaah!”
Yoo Jaeha soon started to rip all of Austin’s signatures like a crazy person.
Although he was a Monarch-level artifact user in the future, he was just a pushover to Ju-Heon right now who only had high Affinity.
“Damn it, whatever, if you came for a signature just get our Captain-nim’s signature, you bastards!”
Austin looked toward Ju-Heon in shock.
However, Ju-Heon just scoffed and walked over to Austin.
And then...
Crack!
“Kyaaaa!”
Ju-Heon broke Austin’s fountain pen without any hesitation! The people gasped.
“I, is he crazy?!”
“I remember seeing that fountain pen in a magazine ...it said it was worth close to a billion dollars!”
Austin's eyes opened wide as he glared at Ju-Heon.
However, Ju-Heon threw the fountain pen that was crying in pain and viciously started to smile.
“I will kill you if you try to do anything funny with an artifact.”
‘This bastard!’ Ju-Heon must have realized the effects of the signatures created with this fountain pen.
The people in the crowd started to whisper.
“What? It’s an artifact?”
“I didn’t feel an artifact’s aura at all!”
Even Edward seemed shocked.
Of course, Ju-Heon didn't feel the artifact's aura right away either.
However...
“Sob.
You picked the wrong opponent! Our Captain-nim is an artifact maniac who would focus on an artifact even when there are big boobs in front of his face.......!”
Even Ju-Heon did not manage to feel the aura but it could be called his intuition.
He felt that the weight was maybe 0.0000001g off.
And Austin just happened to meet a cruel person who would destroy someone else’s item for that trivial reason.
Ju-Heon started to smile as if he got him.
He didn’t know who Austin was, but the name Rockefeller was enough.
‘He's that slacker from the Rockefeller family who created the artificial Four Emperors and Monarch-grade users.’
He seemed to be right as he could smell a Divine-Grade artifact on him right now.
However, this made him question something.
‘Something is weird.
I don’t remember his face at all.’
Honestly speaking, Ju-Heon was familiar with most of the people here.
There were some bitter enemies among the Monarch-grade users who made him want to grind his teeth, some people he was happy to see, and even women he had slept with in the past.
But Austin Rockefeller?
‘I don't remember that snooty Rockefeller family having a male artifact user.’
There was a female artifact user he was slightly familiar with but he just wondered what was going on for a moment before moving on.
‘The future could have changed.’
The important thing was the artifact this bastard had on him.
Why?
‘If it is the Rockefeller family who could create Monarch-grade users, they might have that buff-type artifact that could increase Dominance or Fit.’
There was a reason the Rockefeller family's excavation team had a lot of high-grade excavation teams.
They had created a few of the monarchs as well.
It was no coincidence that they had created the < Monarch of War > who was one of the Four Emperors.
Maybe that was the reason.
“Come at me.
I’ll teach you how to properly use an artifact until 2pm to help me digest.”
“What?!”
Ju-Heon disgustingly smiled while looking at Austin who was in disbelief.
‘I’ll take care of him before he turns those unqualified bastards into Monarch-grade users again.’
Well, he didn't even know if this bastard had the important Rokefeller’s family artifact on him.
As Ju-Heon was about to take out an artifact...
“You're doing something amazing by supporting an orphanage.”
“Haha, it is nothing.”
‘Huh?’
Ju-Heon’s face stiffened after hearing a loud voice.
He could hear it from nearby even though people were chatting loudly around him.
‘Hold on.
This voice is!’
Ju-Heon urgently turned around.
He was right.
“I enjoyed your briefing, Mr. Richard.
It was very memorable.”
“Not at all. It was nothing compared to yours, Mr. Miller. And we’ve met before, right?”
Chairman Kwon and Jean Richard were there.
Yoo Jaeha, who followed Ju-Heon's gaze and saw the two of them, started to frown.
It was an obvious reaction since Yoo Jaeha probably hated those two so much he wanted to kill them.
“Why are those sons of bitches here......!”
But it made sense the two of them were here.
Chairman Kwon had been discharged from the hospital so the fact that two well-recognized artifact users like them would be here.
The problem was the person they were chatting with.
"Thank you for the exaggerated compliment,
I'm honored that you looked so favorably at it.”
The German person shaking hands with Chairman Kwon was...
‘Yulian Miller!’
He had not seen the name wrong on the schedule on the invitation.
[15:30 Philanthropic Organization focused on saving people from being harmed by artifacts - Briefing: Yulian Miller]
‘It really was this bastard.’
Ju-Heon had come here because of this guy.
Why?
If he was Chairman Kwon’s right hand man, this bastard who had Zhuge Kongming's artifact was Chairman Kwon's left hand man.
Ju-Heon had played a big role in helping to raise Chairman Kwon to the position of being one of the Four Emperors, but this bastard had played a big role as well.
Of course, he had not been interested in what this bastard had been up to at this point, but...
‘It'd be a major headache if that iron wall ended up with another Monarch-grade user.’
He was one of the few people that Ju-Heon rated highly.
It was just that their personalities were like fire and ice.
Ju-Heon became anxious after seeing them chatting.
‘I need to prevent them from getting friendly with each other.’
Chairman Kwon would end up with wings that would be difficult for even him to take down if this bastard ended up working with Chairman Kwon.
Maybe that was the reason.
Ju-Heon had a rare stiff expression as he tried to walk toward them.
However...
“Hey, where are you going after saying some bullshit about how you'll show me how to use artifacts?”
Austin, who had been provoked, was blocking Ju-Heon’s way.
Either that, or he was trying to prevent Ju-Heon from interrupting Chairman Kwon as he chatted with Yulian.
“I know you have a bad relationship with Chairman Kwon.
I don’t know what you are thinking, but...”
Ju-Heon who was annoyed quickly called Yoo Jaeha over.
“Hurry up and block this guy.”
‘I'm definitely tempted by this bastard’s artifact, but...’
The priority was obvious when comparing it with Yulian Miller.
He was that important of a person.
Yoo Jaeha became anxious after hearing the order.
"Wait, how am I supposed to stop a celebrity like this on my own even if you tell me to stop him...?!”
“I don’t care how you do it!”
“Excuse me? I'm saying it’s not that easy......”
“Please leave it to me.”
Austin scoffed after seeing Irene, the Monarch of Destitution stepping in.
He had already heard about this woman’s weird abilities.
“Using your destitution ability here will be bad for you. But if you still want to fight it out, I’ll happily be your opp...”
“Kyaaaa! There’s a molester here!”
“What?!”
The Holten family guards urgently ran over and grabbed Austin.
“Hold on, let go of me!”
Austin became anxious but the smiling Ju-Heon ignored him and turned around.
“Hey! You son of a bitch, where are you going?!”
“Get lost! You molester. I don’t have time to deal with the likes of you right now.”
“What did you say?! Seo Ju-Heon!”
Ju-Heon's footsteps quickened.
