“Hey Ju-Heon, what are you doing?”

“Research.”

Ju-Heon casually responded back but his roommate who was cleaning up the mess inside the house could not hide his shock.

It could not be helped.

‘………It was English earlier, then Arabic……F, French this time?’

Dong Hyun could not close his dropped jaw at Ju-Heon’s weird actions. Ju-Heon who was doing research on his laptop was reading news articles in five different languages.

At first, Dong Hyun scoffed, thinking, ‘why is he reading like he understand it?’ He sat down next to Ju-Heon with plans to mock him. However, he gave up after getting a headache after looking at the article in English.

In addition to the news, Ju-Heon was reading articles from foreign technical magazines and dissertations, all things that would make people groan. The way he was scrolling would make people think he was reading some gossip news in Korean.

That was why his roommate who liked to be nosy was so shocked he said the following.

“Hey, punk. Can you even read that?”

Ju-Heon casually started to read out loud after hearing his friend's question.

“……Dans l'affaire qui l'oppose au FBI (In the incident against the FBI)……”

Hearing Ju-Heon fluently speaking foreign languages made Dong Hyun stand there with a blank expression.

‘Wait, I knew he was smart but when did he learn five languages?’

However, Ju-Heon didn't care whether his friend was shocked or not as he calmly bookmarked different articles.

Honestly speaking, languages were no issue to Ju-Heon. He needed to know languages that no longer existed in the world so these existing languages were nothing!

“Anyway, Dong Hyun. I will be out of the house a lot for a while so don’t get worried if I don't respond.”

“Ho, did you seduce a rich noonim with that handsome face of yours? [1] Huh? Is she pretty?”

Ju-Heon just laughed instead of responding. It would be nice if those artifact bastards were voluptuous noonims with long legs.

Anyway, no big issues should happen while he collected artifacts for the time being.

However.

‘Chairman Kwon is the issue.’

Forget the fact that Chairman Kwon was his bitter enemy, he would be the greatest obstacle in Ju-Heon’s rise to the top. That bastard had one of the strongest factions among the monopolizers in the past.

It would be easy to get in Chairman Kwon's way if he knew the identity of Chairman Kwon's artifacts, unfortunately, Ju-Heon only had ideas about their abilities.

‘All monopolizers hid the identities of their artifacts.’

The that gathered artifacts and artifact users under them all had kept their own artifacts a secret.

It was obvious as to why they would do that. The majority of the monopolizers were Divine-Grade(SS-Grade) artifact users. Many Divine-Grade artifacts were based on famous mythologies, which meant that their abilities and their weaknesses were well-known.

‘I'm certain this was about the time Chairman Kwon got his artifact……’

He could have already gotten it or he could be right about to get it.

It would be great if he could figure out Chairman Kwon’s current situation, but he had no way of approaching him at this time. What similarities would an intern at a small business have with the boss of a Global corporation?

However, Ju-Heon’s eyes opened wide as if he suddenly realized something.

‘Wait, hold on?’

There was something.

There was a way for him to figure out Chairman Kwon’s situation.

‘You son of a bitch. I won’t suffer in your hands this time.’

Ju-Heon immediately called someone after having that thought.

“Haa, damn it, I'm about to go crazy.”

Oh Seung Woo let out a deep sigh. He was one of the subordinates who had worked for Park Kyung Joo and Park Kyung Tae, the art broker siblings.

He was one of the lackeys who was beaten up by Ju-Heon when they went to find him to take care of the Buddha statue.

They had lost their jobs after Park Kyung Joo and Park Kyung Tae were arrested for smuggling and dealing drugs.

“Hyung, how are your injuries? Should we report that bastard?”

“That’s right! We need to get revenge for noonim and the big hyung-nim who went to jail!”

Oh Seung Woo clicked his tongue after hearing his dongsaengs’ comments. People might look down on him if he didn't do anything about this situation.

‘Seo Ju-Heon that bastard, what the hell was up with him?’

“Should we hire some people to teach him a lesson?”

“That's more like it! Now you sound like our hyung-nim!”

It happened as they chuckled and started to talk about how to trample over Ju-Heon.

Brrrrr.

Someone was calling.

“Damn it, who is calling us when we are busy chatting………gasp!”

Oh Seung Woo almost chucked his phone against the wall after seeing the number that popped up.

[Underling Seo Ju-Heon]

“Aaah!”

Oh Seung Woo subconsciously plopped down on the ground. He was thinking about getting revenge on Ju-Heon but unfortunately, the fear seemed to be cemented in his body.

Just seeing the Seo in Ju-Heon’s name was giving him trauma after being beaten up like that.

“Hyu, hyung? What’s wrong?”

“Who is calling you?”

His dongsaengs started to wonder while seeing the cold sweat on Oh Seung Woo’s forehead before looking at the screen and starting to curse.

“F, fuck! Why is this bastard calling you? Did he call the wrong number?”

They were talking like they wanted to pick up some bats and go fight him, but their bodies was responding differently than their mouths. It was one thing if they were the ones going after him, but seeing him call them first made them scared.

“A, are you going to pick up?”

“Damn it, I don't know! Should we tell this bastard to come here to fuck him up?”

“Ah, at least pick up first!”

Oh Seung Woo hesitated before connecting the call at his dongsaengs’ insistence. He didn't forget to put it on speaker phone so that all of them could hear.

“H, hello?”

However, the voice on the other side of the call was extremely vicious.

[What the hell were you doing that it took you so long to pick up?]

Oh Seung Woo’s group started to shiver as it sounded like he would have killed them if they took even one second longer to pick up.

‘What does he mean by so long? It has been less than 30 seconds!’

Oh Seung Woo started to shout as if to hide the fact that he was scared.

“You bastard who doesn’t know anything about grace! You dare to send hyung-nim and noonim to prison? You just wait and see if we let you li……”

[Ah, enough. You guys are still in business, right?]

Oh Seung Woo's side started to grind their teeth at Ju-Heon who cut him off as if his business was more important.

‘This bastard!

What did he say? Still in business?

Is that something this bastard should be saying?!’

“Hey! You put hyung-nim and noonim behind bars and dare to ask if we are still in business?!”

“They confiscated all of our artwork because of you! You bastard!”

They huffed and puffed but Ju-Heon just said what he needed to say without caring.

[I don't give a shit about that. You didn't file for closure because your representative was arrested, right?]

“What? Why are you suddenly asking about that?!”

[I will give you 5 seconds. Hurry up and tell me.]

“Damn it! We haven't closed yet……so what the fuck do you want?!”

It sounded as if they could hear Ju-Heon laughing. Ju-Heon was indeed laughing.

[Good, how wonderful. You still have the qualifications to enter the World Auction.]

Oh Seung Woo was shocked after hearing something completely unexpected.

“What? The World Auction? Are you talking about, ‘Midas?’”

It was true that they had participated in the world’s greatest Las Vegas underground auction nicknamed Midas as art brokers.

There were many goods, national treasures and cultural assets stolen from many nations in the auction, and even some royalties and leaders of nations participated in the auction. It was an exclusive auction you needed to pay over 100 million won just to get a ticket.

As for them, they were able to get connected with the auction thanks to Park Kyung Joo’s abilities.

‘But why does he suddenly want to know this?’

Ju-Heon started to speak as they were getting more confused.

[I will keep this short. Go to the auction this month and acquire some specific items and find a person who goes by JK. Jack Kayman. Also figure out what that person is buying.]

“……Jack Kayman. Who is th……”

Ju-Heon cut him off before he could fully ask the question.

[If you don’t see him then make sure to tell me that. However, if he was there and you lie to me, I will kill you.]

“So tell me who Jack Kayman is……”

[If you understood what you need to do, come to the Moonbucks Cafe in front of Yeongdeungpo station. I will give you more information on the list of items you need to find.]

“Damn it! Hey! Who the hell is Jack Kayman?!”

[No need for you to know.]

“Hey!”

[Of course, it is business from here on so I will pay you according to the quality of your information.]

Oh Seung Woo started to grind his teeth as if he could not hold it in any longer.

“You bastard, the more I hear you talk……!”

Oh Seung Woo was not going to let a child treat him, a thirty years old man, like this.

It already felt unfair that they had to be used by a bastard who beat them up without them being able to land a single punch!

“You bastard. You think we would work for you for money?”

“That’s right! Hyung! We don't need to listen to him! Hey! Seo Ju-Heon, you wait right there! We are going to come kill you!”

Ju-Heon’s ridiculing laugh could be heard from the other side.

[Really? You don't want money? I was trying to create a mutually beneficial situation but it's fine if you don’t want to do it.]

Ju-Heon was not planning on letting these bastards be.

Why would he let useful bastards sit around doing nothing?

Ju-Heon continued to speak in an annoyed voice.

[If you don't want business then I will use a different method.]

“A d, different method?”

[It looks like you've already forgotten about what happened a few days ago.]

The color disappeared from Oh Seung Woo’s group after hearing that one sentence. They would never forget how Ju-Heon had beaten them up until their bones were broken and swung a knife at them.

In the end, they responded this way in shock.

“Aigoo! It’s not that we don't want business! Ah……shouldn’t you at least give us something to put up for auction or some money……!”

[You should figure that out on your own.]

Click.

The call ended abruptly.

Oh Seung Woo stared at his phone’s screen while clicking his tongue.

Why did he have this feeling that he was caught up in something he couldn't escape from?

Ju-Heon snorted after ending the call. He was at the nearby station to take care of some things.

‘Who is Jack Kayman?’

Who else would it be? JK was one of Chairman Kwon’s fake identities. There was no way Ju-Heon would not remember that this was the name Chairman Kwon used since he was young whenever there was something he couldn't use his real name.

He was certain that this was around when Chairman Kwon earned his artifacts. The chances of him getting these artifacts in tombs was the highest, however, aside from that, there were things like auction houses and museums.

He could personally check on tombs but he planned on leaving the other routes to these slackers. He needed to figure out how much power Chairman Kwon had right now.

‘Good. This takes care of the Chairman Kwon business for now.’

He just needed to wait for news now.

Ju-Heon checked the portal news on his cellphone before going into a convenience store inside Yeongdeungpo station.

It was currently 8pm.

It was fine that he came to Yeongdeungpo station after seeing the emergency news, but he was hungry because he didn’t get to finish his dinner.

[Approximately 7pm today, 40 years old Mr. Jo Mo failed in his attempt to commit suicide by burning himself in the Yeongdeungpo station time square……]

Live news was coming out of the station's news channel. The reason Ju-Heon came to this place was because of that news.

There are precursors of Tomb Appearances before any tomb is created. He had come here knowing that these type of unusual incidents usually served as precursors to Tomb Appearances. It was great that it was a nearby station as well.

‘Well, it could be completely unrelated to tombs as well.’

Either that or this tomb was cleared extremely quickly that it was not in Ju-Heon’s memories.

Which would it be?

It happened as Ju-Heon was about to take a bottle of water out of the store’s fridge.

“Hey! Baka-chon! Did you pay rent for that spot? How long are you going to take to pick a drink?”

He heard someone behind him talking shit in Japanese.

However, Ju-Heon started to smirk as he turned around after hearing the familiar voice.

The person standing behind him with an angry expression was Abe Kyoshi of the JSDF. It was the same idiot he met in the tomb earlier.

“What did you say, you damn Nippo bastard?” [1]

He was here while thankfully giving off the scent of artifacts.

1. Nippo is a derogatory term Koreans use for the Japanese

1. Noonim is noona (way for younger male to address older female) with nim (which is a respectful suffix in Korean.