Chapter 44
The Korean-Japanese Ryu Daisuke, an overweight Asian man in charge of the conjuration class, waved his magical wand and passionately explained, “There are many ways you can earn Karma. The most basic way is to kill Chaos monsters. You all know this, right?”
The students, Seong-Tae included, nodded.
“Another way is by clearing quests. All of you got a thousand Karma by clearing the quest, The Path to the Mirror World.”
“A thousand Karma is a thousand Coins. If I think of it like the dollar, it’s about... a million won. Only a million won after all that shit? Are there no labor rights here?” Seong-Tae complained.
Daisuke shrugged and replied, “Calculating it into money on Earth is nice and intuitive, but I suggest you don’t mix them up since Karma and Coins are fundamentally different from the dollar.”
“Different, my ass. Even on Earth, you’re disrespected or could even die if you’re poor. It’s no different here. You’re disrespected if you have no Karma or Coins, and could turn into Chaos in the worst-case scenario. What’s different about it?”
Daisuke nodded and said, “That’s all true, but Karma represents one’s feats. They can only be obtained through hunting or clearing quests. Not Coins, since they can be exchanged via common quests.”
“Common quests, huh?”
“As I’ve explained, transactions can be performed through Coins using common quests.”
Daisuke drew two people on the blackboard. One held a sword and the other a coin labeled C, with a double arrow between them.
“Let’s say this person wants to buy this sword for a thousand Coins. The seller needs to touch the buyer with the thought of giving the buyer a quest. Humans mainly use a handshake or a fist bump.”
“Fist bump?”
“The act of touching fists. It’s a western thing.” Daisuke brought his fists together and said, “The way of making contact differs between races, but we can go through them later. Anyway, a penalty can be applied when issuing quests.”
“Penalty?”
“Yup. It’s set in case the individual infringes the quest. People usually omit them.”
“Why? Wouldn’t it be necessary for a credible transaction?” Seong-Tae asked incomprehensibly.
Daisuke answered, “Because the commission goes up the stronger the penalty is. In the sword example, if the penalty is the buyer being injured if they pay the thousand Coins but don’t receive the sword, the commission alone will probably be more than the thousand Coins.”
“Talk about the tail wagging the dog.”
“Then it’s useless!”
“Hah, I guess taxes and commissions exist wherever you are. Do they think they’re gods or something?”
Daisuke shrugged as people complained and continued, “At least it lets us exchange Coins. It allows people with abilities unsuitable for combat to make a living, too.”
Manufacturers and laborers could at least earn enough Coins to survive.
“Some of you might have things you could sell. Take a good look at what you have,” Daisuke remarked.
“We do?”
The students tilted their heads in confusion. There was no way they would have things to sell in the Mirror World when they had only just gotten here.
Daisuke smiled and said, “It’s exactly because you all just got here that you’d have stuff to sell. You guys said you were Lost in 2031, right? That means your possessions are fascinating to people in the Mirror World.”
“Huh?”
“Wait a second!”
People frantically rummaged through their pockets, checking which objects had crossed over to the Mirror World with them.
Daisuke added, “On top of that, objects from Earth stimulate memories of Earth in humans who’ve spent a long time in the Mirror World. We call such objects nostalgia. The harder they are to get, the more expensive.”
Seong-Tae thought about what he had left in his room.
My dress shoes, suit, belt, fountain pen, and...
His mouth widened once he recalled something. He asked Daisuke, “Would something like... a luxury brand watch be expensive?”
“Of course. It would be useless since it’s not an item, but it’s good nostalgia for people swimming in Coins. Some establishments specialize in buying such objects.”
Card’s words echoed in Seong-Tae’s head.
“Oh, a luxury item.”
“Well, I’ll gladly take it.”
“AHHH! MY LIMITED-EDITION ROLEX SUBMARINER!!!”
***
“Hyung-nim, why did something like that cost twenty thousand Coins?” Chaya asked.
“It just does,” Seong-Hwi answered as he and Chaya walked out of a store called Pori’s Pawn Shop.
Seong-Hwi recovered from the aftereffects of using the White Snake of Equivalent Exchange after three days of rest, which he used to teach Chaya basic knowledge about the Mirror World.
As I thought, hyung-nim is a great man!
Chaya’s eyes sparkled. Just seconds ago, Seong-Hwi entered a store without hesitation and pulled out a gold and blue watch from his pocket. The owner called a price at which he would buy the watch, but it went up to twenty thousand Coins after two rounds of bargaining.
“Are you going Chaos hunting now?” Chaya asked energetically as he grabbed his kukri knife, waiting for the chance to shine as a mercenary.
Seong-Hwi smirked as Chaya’s thoughts were blatantly visible from his expression and replied, “No, I have to meet someone first.”
“Pardon? Who?”
“Let’s go to the southern Capital,” Seong-Hwi remarked, happy to reunite with an old comrade.
“I was at South Earth while you were learning in Edu. I wouldn’t be so regretful if I had made the right choice back then.”
Though she wouldn’t know me, Seong-Hwi thought.
***
The Capital was divided into East, West, South, North, and Middle Earths. South Earth was where the Union’s influence was the faintest. Seong-Hwi and Chaya walked down the streets of South Earth.
“Hmm... This place feels sketchy, hyung-nim. Should I use my skill?” Chaya asked as he noticed the change in scenery compared to Middle Earth.
The windows of most buildings were broken. Some buildings were burnt to ash, some looked as if they had been crushed by something massive, and the asphalt roads had cracks. If following the broken windows theory, this place would be considered a slum. Those with a high Sense stat could easily detect the gazes of people from everywhere around them.
“No, forget it. You’ll get even more attention if you do that. Besides, your skill is still F-rank,” Seong-Hwi answered firmly as he continued walking.
Although South Earth was dangerous, they were still very close to Middle Earth. No one would be stupid enough to cause trouble.
Even if there are, they’d be small fry. They’re more than welcome to challenge me. I’m running low on Karma, after all.
Seong-Hwi had invested 17,700 Karma into his new skill, Rust of Ruin, to raise its rank to D(13). It was only natural since the skill had S-rank potential. As a result, he only had around four thousand Karma left.
I have to earn Karma, but more importantly, heighten my stat caliber.
One wasn’t necessarily strong just because their stat numbers were high. One needed to raise quality over quantity.
With my current caliber, I will never have more mana than dragons, be stronger than giants, or be faster than elves, no matter how many cubes I open.
Each race was born with a certain stat of a high caliber, but not humans. One needed to achieve feats to heighten their caliber. Seong-Hwi thought about various feats that raised the caliber of his stats in his past life, but shook his head.
They’ll undoubtedly rise if I challenge those feats, but it wasn’t enough to catch up to the superior races.
Seong-Hwi needed another way to catch up to the superior races, but the only known way to heighten stat caliber was to achieve feats.
Is it possible? he wondered.
Seong-Hwi considered an expedient method to heighten stat caliber. It was only an idea since he had not attempted it in his past life, but if he succeeded, he would quickly catch up to the superior races. He also needed the help of two of his past-life comrades to do it, and he was about to meet one of them now.
Seong-Hwi arrived at a small red brick building with a sign reading Vivienne Information Center. It looked like a residential home remodeled into a coffee shop.
A bell chimed as Seong-Hwi opened the door, and he heard a cheerful voice, “Welcome to Vivienne Information Center!”
Seong-Hwi turned to the source of the voice and saw a smiling blonde woman with blue eyes, her chin resting on the counter.
Jurie, Seong-Hwi thought.
She looked much younger than what she would look like in ten years, but was undoubtedly Jurie, Seong-Hwi’s comrade from Clan Calasanz.
“My, dear customer! I know I’m beautiful, but you shouldn’t stare so intently at me... If you must, it’ll be five hundred Coins per second!”
Jurie pretended to be embarrassed by Seong-Hwi’s gaze and playfully stretched out her hand.
She hasn’t changed a bit.
“That’s enough jokes. Up to what class of Network information can you provide?”
Jurie shrugged at Seong-Hwi’s uninteresting response and answered, “Seventh-class.”
“Then, please recommend some good hunting grounds near the Capital. First-class information.”
“Okay, I underst—” Jurie frowned as she was about to respond. She glared at Seong-Hwi and continued, “I’m sorry, dear customer. I believe I told you we can only provide up to seventh-class information.”
“Did you? I had a feeling you could give me something higher,” Seong-Hwi replied as he shrugged.
Jurie stared at him in silence and summoned a smartphone. She tapped on it rapidly and mumbled, “There’s... no information.”
Seong-Hwi scoffed after noticing Jurie had browsed through the Union wanted list. “Hah, did you just treat a customer like a criminal?”
“Oh! Did you notice? Please understand. All kinds of weird people flock here since a beautiful woman like me runs a business alone,” Jurie said with a smile.
Seong-Hwi glanced at a wooden door behind the counter and remarked, “It doesn’t look like you’re alone.”
“Hah?!” Jurie’s smile disappeared. She stared at Seong-Hwi as she swept back her blonde hair and sighed. “Huuu... Look, newbie. Since you’re carrying around a Shaco Knife, I’d bet you’re about a Single-E. I don’t know what you’ve heard, but why don’t you stop taunting me? I don’t mind disposing of a corpse, but how are you going to take responsibility if the floor starts reeking of your blood?”
Chaya pulled out his kukri and stood between Seong-Hwi and Jurie.
“What’s this? Are you bringing around an F-rank meat shield? You have terrible tastes.”
Jurie emitted a powerful aura that tightened one’s heart and made it difficult to move—it was bloodlust.
“Kurgh! Stay back, hyung-nim!”
Chaya was about to charge at Jurie after activating his skill like a beast whose life was threatened.
However, Seong-Hwi grabbed his shoulder and ordered, “Stay back, Chaya.”
“But that woman is—huh?”
Chaya noticed the overpowering aura emitting from the woman disappeared once Seong-Hwi grabbed his shoulder.
Jurie muttered in shock, “You negated my bloodlust? You have the Hundred-Man Killer trait! Are you a contract killer?!”
She rapidly tapped on her smartphone to activate a skill, but Seong-Hwi acted one step quicker.
“Whoa. There seems to be a misunderstanding,” he said as he raised his hands to surrender.
Jurie, with her finger over a button that would activate her skill, asked, “A misunderstanding?”
“Yes, a misunderstanding. I haven’t received any information about you, and I’m certainly not a contract killer. I’m here because today’s reading told me I would meet a benefactor if I visited this place,” Seong-Hwi said as he summoned the Tarot Deck of Destiny.
Tarot cards? Reading? Benefactor? Jurie connected the fragmented information in her head.
Seong-Hwi stared at her and thought, You’re too smart. Sometimes for your own good.
Hiding one’s abilities wasn’t the best option. Instead, it was best to show it off to an extent to let others misunderstand. People like Chaya, who followed their gut, were hard to fool, but guiding those who trusted too much in their analytical and information-gathering skills to misread others was rather simple.
This can only be done because I know her and she doesn’t know me, Seong-Hwi thought.
As Seong-Hwi expected, Jurie thought, Could those tarot cards be a prophecy D Weapon? There’s no way. That would mean it’s a specialization D Weapon. How could a newbie already establish a rule for a specialization D Weapon? And a prophecy rule, at that?
There were fewer than ten humans with a prophecy D Weapon. Even among them, only the Black Saintess Negrita could use it viably because of the immense restrictions that came with a prophecy rule.
But that bloodlust earlier was too thick for a newbie. Has he already killed a hundred people? No, he could have killed even more.
Anyone would think Seong-Hwi was a newbie from his gear, but his aura said otherwise. On top of that, his D Weapon and the words he mentioned made it seem like he could see the future.
I can’t get a read on him at all. Come to think of it, I’ve heard those with prophecy D Weapons have a screw loose. They see what others can’t, after all. Then could he be one as well?
Just then, Seong-Hwi remarked as if clearing her confusion, “Don’t you have something on your mind lately? You’re conflicted between two answers to an important problem.”
“What?”
“The time to make the choice is quickly approaching. You’ve already chosen in a corner of your mind, but are endlessly doubting whether that is the right choice.”
“How did you know that?” Jurie’s expression changed from surprise to curiosity.
Seong-Hwi smiled and answered, “I have my ways.”
Though it’s a load of bullshit. Everyone has at least something on their mind and usually has to choose one or the other. Besides, I already know what’s on your mind, Seong-Hwi thought.
He sounded like a cultist recruiting people in front of a train station—like someone who knew everything, as if they could see the future. Chaya could only stare blankly at Seong-Hwi.
Seong-Hwi asked, “Are you interested in a card reading? It might change your destiny.”
Jurie thought, If this man’s D Weapon truly has a prophecy ability... I need him, no matter what!
She was certain the man could tell the future, but confirming it came first.
“What if I am?” she asked.
“A three-card reading costs thirty thousand Coins. A five-card reading costs fifty thousand.”
“You’re charging me? And why is it so expensive?”
“Of course, I am. Do you think I do this for free? Besides, my readings are proportional to the price paid.”
Jurie’s eyes shone, thinking, So, that’s your restriction! People who don’t know about prophecy D Weapons would probably think he’s a fraud.
Jurie nodded and asked, “Can I pay with information? I have a heap of points in the Network. I guarantee the information will be worth at least fifty thousand Coins.”
Seong-Hwi smiled and replied, “Sounds good.”