Chapter 10
After getting the text, Seong-Hwi finished all preparations to be Lost to the Mirror World and left his house. He would never be able to return, but he did not look back exactly because of that. He decided to forget his memories of this place and filled the vacant space in his mind with resolve.
Seong-Hwi wore a backpack large enough to fit his oxygen tank and the objects he had bought at the various markets he visited. He got on the elevator to go down and exited the apartment building through the double doors. Just then, he saw a man in a hazmat suit grumbling.
“Dammit, why is he so late? He always makes me wait. Oh! Excuse me!”
He was Inspector Kim Yun-Seong, Chief Inspector Ma Sang-Sik’s junior. He had been visiting the addresses, by proximity to the crime scene, of the people who were from the Calasanz Home for Children and had arrived at Seong-Hwi’s home.
“Me?” Seong-Hwi asked.
“Yes. Here is my card,” Yun-Seong said as he pulled out his public official ID card from his hazmat suit pocket.
Police? Did they track me down already?
Seong-Hwi’s eyes narrowed. He had not expected them to find him this quickly.
Did they already figure out Kang Hyun-Tae’s suicide was staged and are investigating based on that? I might have to set a rule for my D Weapon right now.
Seong-Hwi answered calmly, “How can I help you?”
“I would just like to ask you some quick questions. Do you happen to know the gentleman who lives in Room 302?”
Room 302 was his apartment suite, but based on the officer’s response, it did not seem like he had come with certainty that Seong-Hwi was the culprit.
Good, he thought.
Seong-Hwi replied concisely, “I don’t. I live on the eighth floor.”
He walked past Yun-Seong, who unconsciously tried to grab him.
“O-oh, if I could have some more of your time—urgh!”
Yun-Seong was shocked after grabbing Seong-Hwi’s backpack. He was dragged along as if holding onto a slowly moving train. He quickly took his hand off the backpack and stared at the man as he rubbed his tingling wrist.
“What in the world? He’s so strong.”
“Hey! Inspector Kim! Did you wait long?” Chief Inspector Ma Sang-Sik approached, waving his hand.
“Sir! I was waiting here for over an hour!”
“Oh, sorry. You know my wife is hospitalized. She couldn’t fall asleep even with her painkillers, so I had to stay beside her until she fell asleep.”
“Haaa, I can’t even complain if that’s your reason.”
“Hahaha! That was the idea! Have you gone inside yet?”
“No. I got permission from the management, so let’s go inside.”
Sang-Sik and Yun-Seong headed toward Room 302. Their destinies had unfortunately failed to intersect with Seong-Hwi’s.
***
Kim Do-Cheol’s motto was simple. If they paid him, he called them boss. If they did not, he called them sir or ma’am. If they failed to pay what they owed him, he called them motherfucker.
“Hehe. Boss, just to confirm... you’ll pay what you promised, right?” Do-Cheol asked the man with a smile.
The man was wearing black combat boots, green cargo pants, an oversized black hoodie, and a large backpack—it was Seong-Hwi.
“As long as you do your job,” Seong-Hwi replied.
“Oh! But of course! That is our specialty!”
“Did you send someone to Cheongsong Prison like I instructed?”
“Yes, I sent someone fast on his feet.”
Seong-Hwi nodded. They were in the National Museum of Korea’s lobby, where the locker room was. Seong-Hwi opened his locker and grabbed a white envelope from his pocket. He placed his finger in the envelope and let Do-Cheol confirm that the money was inside.
Seong-Hwi asked, “Would you like to count it?”
“Hehe, if you wouldn’t mind,” Do-Cheol snickered as he grabbed the pile of bills and counted them thoroughly.
Seong-Hwi smiled as he thought, They’re just useless pieces of paper.
Most people from Earth would be Lost within a year.
“Okay! It’s all here, boss!”
“Then I will leave it to you.” Seong-Hwi took back the money from Do-Cheol and placed it in his locker. He turned the key to lock it and said, “I will give you this key as soon as you fulfill my demands without fault.”
“Hehe. Yes, boss! What should we do now?”
“First, let’s look around the museum. I heard they are having an exhibition called The History of Baekje.”
***
The concept of potential was vague. If taken literally, it was the potential of the stats of skills, items, artifacts, D Weapons, or even the potential of a race. One never knew whether potential would appear, even if the same amount of Karma were invested in different items.
There were instances of potential never appearing. Sometimes, it did not appear as the rank of a skill or item was raised from F to B, but then suddenly appeared at A-rank. Hence, people claimed even an item from an F-rank wood cube could be on par with an item from a cube of a higher rank if enough Karma was invested in it.
A few lucky people opened a C-rank cube and got an item with B or A-rank potential. However, Seong-Hwi had rarely seen anyone with such jackpots.
Information regarding the potential of items or skills was highly valuable in the Mirror World. There were many instances of duplicate items and skills from low-ranking cubes, and just as many instances of people checking their potential by investing stats into them. However, duplicates of items and skills from high-ranking cubes were rare. Hence, information about their potential was just as rare.
On top of that, there were no duplicates for artifacts or anything from S-rank cubes. Hence, one needed to invest in stats to see their potential.
In that sense, I have the upper hand, Seong-Hwi thought as he looked around the National Museum of Korea exhibit.
He knew all of the skills and items used by renowned individuals in the next ten years, meaning he had an idea of their potential, which they needed to invest in stats to find out.
There were only a few artifacts from Earth known for their high potential, even fewer if it’s just Korea.
Korean artifacts known for their high potential were those associated with Admiral Yi Sun-Sin and those excavated from the Tomb of King Muryeong, the Hwangnamdaechong Tomb, and the Cheonmachong Tomb. Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s Dual Dragon Swords was considered the best artifact, but it was already in the Mirror World. It had been breaking news for a while when it disappeared. Hence, Seong-Hwi chose the second-best option.
Here it is.
He read the exhibit’s name on the sign: The History of Baekje.
Seong-Hwi was aiming for an artifact excavated from the Tomb of King Muryeong. The tomb was accidentally discovered during water drainage work in 1971 and was a historical site where around 4,600 artifacts from the era of Baekje were uncovered.
Many of its artifacts were kept at the Gongju National Museum, but Seong-Hwi stayed in Seoul to go to the National Museum of Korea instead of spending hours getting to Gongju for one artifact.
“Wow. Those thick things are apparently all silver, boss. Damn! I’d expect nothing less from Baekje! My patriotism is soaring!” said Do-Cheol, pointing to an artifact protected by tempered glass.
It was a pair of beautiful silver bracelets engraved with two three-legged dragons, the Silver Bracelets of the Queen Consort of King Muryeong. This was the artifact Seong-Hwi was here for. It was borrowed from the Gongju National Museum for this exhibit and was valuable enough to be National Treasure No.160.
They must have made it open to the public since people are less interested in museums. Well, that’s better for me.
Seong-Hwi had his eye on this artifact because he knew its potential. This artifact would be Lost in a few months and acquired by a beastfolk warrior. He was a wolf beastfolk who never tired and gained immense power after acquiring the bracelets, instantly becoming one of the Rankers of the beastfolk.
The Union requested he return it since it was from our dimension, but he refused and killed hundreds of humans.
That was how extraordinary the artifact before him was.
Now, all I have left to do is wait, Seong-Hwi thought and smiled.
He never thought he would desperately wait for the first snow he hated so much. His life on Earth was truly ironic, even on the day he would leave.
***
“Sir, we shouldn’t do this... aren’t we trespassing on private property?” Yun-Seong asked.
The door to Room 302 was opened thanks to help from management. The air purifier automatically ran as soon as the front door closed.
Sang-Sik responded, “Don’t give me that. Don’t you think it’s weird? We’ve waited hours, and there’s no sign of him. He doesn’t even answer his phone.”
“I think trespassing because of that is a bit of a stretch.”
“On top of that, the owner, Cheon Seong-Hwi, borrowed money from three finance companies with his house as collateral. He was caught on CCTV footage carrying it all out in cash.”
Sang-Sik followed his gut, which was tingling from the unsettling feeling.
Even if I’m reprimanded later, I can’t ignore my gut.
The purification was complete, and the interior door opened. Sang-Sik and Yun-Seong removed their hazmat suits and entered the house.
“Excuse me! Anyone home?” Sang-Sik shouted.
“I don’t think anyone’s here,” Yun-Seong remarked. One could easily tell the house was empty because it wasn’t that big. “Sir, let’s just leave. We’ll get in serious trouble for this! We don’t even have a warrant—”
Sang-Sik interjected, “Nothing ever gets done by waiting around for that stuff, pal. If worse comes to worst, I’ll take responsibility and take the fall. Stop worrying and comb the place.”
“Comb the place? God, I became a police officer to catch criminals, not to become one,” Yun-Seong grumbled as he searched near the veranda.
“Hm?” Sang-Sik eyed the objects on the dining table and saw several billing notices. At the top of the pile was a long receipt. “A post office? He sent a package. It’s recent, and sent to... Calasanz Home for Children?”
Sang-Sik neatly folded the receipt and placed it into his pocket, thinking it might be related to the case. He looked around the living room and saw one of the wooden legs of a couch broken, seemingly ripped off by force.
“What’s that? Does he have a pet crocodile or something?” Sang-Sik muttered jokingly.
Just then, Yun-Seong shouted from near the veranda, “Sir! It’s snowing! Man, it’s gonna be a nightmare getting home.”
Sang-Sik looked out the window and saw snowflakes falling from the sky.
Come to think of it, the weather forecasted snow throughout the country.
It was the first snow of 2031.
***
“Boss, it’s snowing,” Do-Cheol notified Seong-Hwi beside him after receiving a text from his subordinate.
The client requested that someone be sent near Cheongsong Prison and let him know once it started to snow. Do-Cheol thought Seong-Hwi was an odd client. He could feel a strange sense of charisma from him despite his young age, and every word he spoke was filled with power.
He must be the heir of a company or something. Well, he pays well, so what’s to complain about?
However, it had been Do-Cheol’s mistake to accept the client’s request without much thought.
“I see,” said Seong-Hwi with a smile.
Do-Cheol’s heart pounded, unsettled by Seong-Hwi’s smile.
What’s going on? he thought.
Do-Cheol could feel something was about to happen. Seong-Hwi threw the locker key at Do-Cheol, who unconsciously caught it.
“Good work,” Seong-Hwi praised.
“Oh... thank you, but what are you about to—”
Seong-Hwi punched the tempered glass protecting the silver bracelets right after throwing the locker key to Do-Cheol.
“Kyaah!”
“W-what the hell?!”
“H-he’s breaking the glass!”
Now that his stats transcended human limits, Seong-Hwi’s fists were more destructive than a sledgehammer. His fists were also enveloped in mana.
“How the fuck is he breaking tempered glass with his bare hands?” mumbled Do-Cheol in shock.
𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Seong-Hwi destroyed the tempered glass case and grabbed the silver bracelets.
“Got them.”
With this, he had completed all of his objectives.
The anti-theft system was activated. The alarm blared, and shutters dropped down every corridor, but Seong-Hwi was as calm as ever. He could hear the museum security guards running from afar.
“Don’t move!”
“Put that down!”
“Fearless son of a bitch! Stealing from a museum in broad daylight?”
The uniformed security guards grabbed their batons and charged at Seong-Hwi.
“Huh?”
“W-what the hell?”
“Where the hell did he go?!”
However, he vanished, leaving only confused people and shattered glass.
***
The crescent moon in the sky looked as if it were looking down at the confused people with a narrowed eye.