Chapter 9
Seong-Hwi purchased every old-looking object he saw around the flea market to obtain artifacts.
When people were Lost and sent to the Mirror World, everything on them was Lost with them. People were normally Lost with their clothes, hazmat suits, oxygen tanks, goggles, smartphones, and other necessities. They would likely not have body armor and a knife like Seong-Hwi.
However, no matter how high-quality his knife and body armor were, they would not be turned into items in the Mirror World. Since they were not classified as items, they did not have potential, nor could stats be invested into them to grow. F-rank items from item cubes were far more useful.
That did not mean everything on Earth was useless. The Mirror World could copy almost everything in every dimension, but forcibly brought anything it couldn’t—this was the phenomenon known as Lost.
Humans were the main targets of the Lost phenomenon on Earth because they couldn’t be copied into the Mirror World. Another thing that couldn’t be copied was artifacts, items of various dimensions infused with that world’s history and heritage.
The longer an item existed, the more it was filled with history, souls, and memories to become an irreplaceable object. Hence, they could not be copied into the Mirror World and were forcibly Lost, only making it seem like there was an infamous ghostlike artifact thief.
The Lost artifacts turned into items unlike regular objects, meaning they were given potential and could grow. Moreover, the potential of artifacts was C-rank at the least. Compared to opening a C-rank item cube, he would save at least 300,000 Karma.
The stronger the history, souls, and memories contained in the artifacts were, the higher their potential was. Hence, every inhabitant of the Mirror World searched for artifacts. There were countless artifact types if artifacts from other dimensions were accounted for. Most were discovered in dungeons, so various factions and races competed for unexplored dungeons.
Nothing I bought today could be artifacts, but it’s worth a shot.
Seong-Hwi returned home and fell into thought as he stared at the large bag filled with objects. They would not be artifacts if they could be found anywhere. He had bought the oldest objects, but they might not contain enough history, souls, or memories—or they might simply be replicas.
Seong-Hwi planned on visiting more traditional markets, but did not have his hopes up. He was simply buying as many as he could, treating them like lottery tickets. He was fine, even if only one was a jackpot.
But I need at least one to be an artifact.
His growth speed would be several times faster if he had an artifact with at least C-rank potential, and it just so happened that he already had a plan for getting one that was guaranteed to be an artifact.
***
“Mmm...”
The sound of the lid of a cheap Zippo lighter opening and closing echoed throughout the room. A tough-looking, well-built man wearing a navy suit was deep in his thoughts, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Chief Inspector Ma Sang-Sik was written on the man’s public official identification card around his neck.
“It’s strange, no matter how hard I think about it,” Sang-Sik remarked.
“What is?” asked Inspector Kim Yun-Seong, Sang-Sik’s subordinate.
Sang-Sik pointed at the couch with his chin and asked, “What was the name of the guy who died over there again?”
“Kang Hyun-Tae.”
“Yeah, him. Why would he kill himself after paying a fortune for a good lawyer to cover up his crimes?”
“The human mind is a mystery. Some just can’t live with their crimes. He must have been tortured by it all this time.”
Sang-Sik laughed at the innocence of the inspector who had just graduated from the police academy.
“Can’t live with their crimes? Hah. You’ll come to see sinners live far longer and better than the innocent throughout your policing life.”
Sang-Sik was about to light his cigarette habitually, but Yun-Seong stopped him.
“Sir! We’re at a crime scene!”
“Oh, right. My mistake.” Sang-Sik closed his Zippo lighter and smiled after coming up with a good joke. “Hey pal, how about steak for lunch?”
“Pardon me?” Yun-Seong stared at his senior in confusion.
“Ahaha! It’s a joke! You know dad jokes, right? This is part of my Chief Inspector joke series! Mistake and steak!”
“Oh... I see,” Yun-Seong replied apathetically, his expression crumpling as his senior explained the joke.
Sang-Sik looked around the crime scene with a smile, but his eyes were not smiling.
It doesn’t add up. He has a home surveillance camera, but its memory is empty. Most of all, Kang Hyun-Tae doesn’t seem like the type to kill himself. Even if he did kill himself, would he open his doors leading outside to do it? If it were me, I would’ve gone out painlessly by overdosing on pills. He would have suffered excruciating pain for at least ten hours before he died.
Those who wished to kill themselves usually picked quick and painless options. However, Hyun-Tae had subjected himself to excruciating pain like a masochist, with the remote controller that could close the doors and his prescription packets next to him.
There’s no way. I’m sure there’s something else to this. His death was either disguised as a suicide, or... he was driven to the point of suicide.
Only then would the lack of home security camera footage make sense. Even if a culprit was caught on CCTV footage outside, it would be difficult to discern their identity because everyone wore hazmat suits. However, the home security camera would have captured the culprit for sure, hence why the culprit would delete or take the memory, if there was one. Although there was a will and a cause, Sang-Sik did not believe Hyun-Tae killed himself.
Should I pry into Seo Dong-Hyun some more?
Seo Dong-Hyun was the husband of Shin So-Eun, whom Hyun-Tae killed. He was the strongest suspect, but he had an alibi at the estimated time of Hyun-Tae’s death. There was CCTV footage of him clinging to a lawyer in their office in tears, so there was no way he was the killer.
Could he have had an accomplice? Maybe he hired someone? But he didn’t seem to have enough money to do that or know anyone in that field of expertise.
Sang-Sik repeatedly opened and closed his Zippo lighter lid by habit.
His subordinate said, “That aside, it sure is unfortunate what happened to that lady.”
“Hm? Who?”
“Shin So-Eun. She was pregnant... and was raised in an orphanage, wasn’t she?”
“A children’s home, pal. Not an orphanage. Be careful of your word choice.”
“Oh, yes. A children’s home. Her husband was from there, too. What a tragedy. In a way, I’m glad that son of a bitch Kang Hyun-Tae killed himself.”
Sang-Sik shook his head and remarked, “He’s already dead. What’s the point of insulting him?”
“You saw the will, too, sir. How could a human being do such things? On top of that, the bastard thought of it like a game of Go-Stop.”
“There are plenty of crazy bastards like that in the world.”
“And the will said he kept her hairband like a trophy, but we couldn’t find it anywhere. He was full of shit even in his death.”
Sang-Sik’s eyes lit up from Yun-Seong’s statement.
Seo Dong-Hyun was the first to discover and report the crime scene. He didn’t enter the house, and he said he called the police as soon as he saw a body through the living room window. Why did Seo Dong-Hyun go to see Kang Hyun-Tae? Did he know something had happened to him?
At first, Sang-Sik had simply thought Dong-Hyun had recklessly gone to see his mortal enemy, driven by the frustration of being unable to get a lawyer. He had also said so in his statement.
But what if he was lying? Yeah, the hairband. Since it’s not here, a third party must have taken it with them, knowing it belonged to Shin So-Eun. In other words, the culprit killed Kang-Hyun-Tae to avenge Shin So-Eun. They must have been close enough to Seo Dong-Hyun or Shin So-Eun to take revenge, but everyone who matched that description had already been investigated. Colleagues, school friends, everyone. No one else could have—
“Ah!” Sang-Sik exclaimed.
The children’s home! If the culprit had known them since the children’s home, they must have a deep emotional tie to them! They likely grew apart after blending into society as adults, and the culprit must have seen the news about the crime!
Sang-Sik turned to Yun-Seong beside him and asked, “What was the children’s home where Shin So-Eun and Seo Dong-Hyun grew up called?”
“Huh? Oh, I believe it was... Calasanz Home for Children. Why do you ask?”
“Get me a list of people who grew up in that home right now.”
***
All Seong-Hwi did was exercise, go to the library, and visit traditional markets. He exercised whenever he had time and read books at the library until closing, even taking pictures of pages with his smartphone. He spent the remaining time he had visiting traditional markets. Six days passed, and the morning of his seventh day arrived.
Today, I will be Lost.
Seong-Hwi sat on his living room floor and began his final preparations—buying cubes.
“Status window.”
[Cheon Seong-Hwi
Health: F(13) Strength: F(13)
Dexterity: F(11) Sense: F(10)
Magic: F(1)
Karma: 1,000
Destiny Weapon: Old Tarot Deck F(0)
Skills (0) Traits (0) Items (0) Cubes (0)]
He had raised his stats as much as he could in the short time he had.
No matter how little talent humans have for magic, I can’t believe it didn’t rise even one point.
Seong-Hwi had tried his best to gather mana, but all he could feel was a slight tingling; his efforts had been wasted. It might have been a pointless effort to try and feel mana on Earth instead of the Mirror World. Regardless, since he had raised his stats as much as possible through effort, he now needed to open cubes before being Lost to the Mirror World.
“Purchase stat cubes,” he said.
The Akasha Message appeared immediately.
[List of stat cubes available for use after purchase.]
[Health stat cube (F)]
[Strength stat cube (F)]
...
Six stat cubes appeared on the list—the five basic stats and the D Weapon stat cube. There were no stat cubes for items and skills because he did not have items or skills. Seong-Hwi naturally chose the D Weapon stat cube.
[Destiny Weapon stat cube
Rank: F
Description: A 2x2 wooden cube made up of 8 small cubes. The user’s Destiny Weapon stat will rise randomly between F(10~20).]
F-rank stat cubes raised a stat by a random number between 10 and 20, and the higher the cube’s rank, the lower the number range. For example, an S-rank cube raised a stat randomly between zero and five. If one were unlucky, they might get zero stats from an S-rank cube, wasting a hundred million Karma.
Cubes were heavily dependent on chance. It was true not just for stat cubes but also for skill and item cubes. No one knew what would come out of them until they were opened. No one knew why the Cube System was so random. There were only theories of why it was so, such as boosting enthusiasm, testing one’s innate potential, or maintaining balance among the races.
Some collect Karma because they’re addicted to opening cubes.
Seong-Hwi couldn’t disagree with some calling the Mirror World a pay-to-win gacha game. Because of this, some people created various funny routines before opening cubes, such as performing virtuous acts, fasting, or bowing a thousand times. However, Seong-Hwi did not believe in such rituals—he simply left it to his destiny.
“Purchase.”
[Destiny Weapon stat cube (F) obtained.]
[Open now?]
“Yes.”
A wooden cube, approximately one meter in each dimension, appeared before him. Each side had four squares, making it look like eight small cubes stuck together to make one large cube. Because of its shape and material, people called it a wood cube.
The wood cube was shuffled like a Rubik’s cube, making clacking sounds close to that of children’s toy blocks. The eight small cubes simultaneously spread out in every direction, revealing a white light inside that entered Seong-Hwi’s head.
[Old Tarot Deck F(13) obtained.]
[Old Tarot Deck F(0) → Old Tarot Deck F(13)]
“Purchase.”
[Old Tarot Deck F(14) obtained.]
[Old Tarot Deck F(13) → Old Tarot Deck F(27)]
...
Seong-Hwi purchased two more wood cubes. One gave F(17) points, and the other gave F(12) points.
[Old Tarot Deck (Destiny Weapon)
Rank: F(56)
Description: A deck of 78 tarot cards. (Rule available.)
Unique Skills: None.]
Seong-Hwi decided to stop after using 400 Karma to raise his Destiny Weapon stat over F(50).
I’ve reached the minimum requirement to set a rule. Next.
[Magic stat cube
Rank: F
Description: A 2x2 wooden cube made up of 8 small cubes. The user’s Magic stat will rise randomly between F(10~20).]
“Purchase.”
The wood cube was shuffled as it made clacking sounds again, and the white light from inside it entered through his solar plexus this time.
[Magic F(15) obtained.]
[Magic F(1) → Magic F(16)]
[Magic F(13) obtained.]
[Magic F(13) → Magic F(29)]
...
He opened two Magic wood cubes, so he had 400 Karma remaining.
“Use the Karma I have left to purchase one of Health, Strength, Dexterity, and Sense stat cubes.”
[Health F(11) obtained.]
[Health F(13) → Health F(24)]
[Strength F(19) obtained.]
[Strength F(13) → Strength F(32)]
[Dexterity F(14) obtained.]
[Dexterity F(11) → Dexterity F(25)]
[Sense F(13) obtained.]
[Sense F(10) → Sense F(23)]
Seong-Hwi had used all of his Karma. He had raised his stats with cubes, which he had been putting off until now. As a result—
[Cheon Seong-Hwi
Health: F(24) Strength: F(32)
Dexterity: F(25) Sense: F(23)
Magic: F(29)
Karma: 0
Destiny Weapon: Old Tarot Deck F(56)
Skills (0) Traits (0) Items (0) Cubes (0)]
“Fuuu, haaa,” Seong-Hwi took deep breaths and felt the changes to his body.
—Honey, I’ll be...
—Mom! Look at this! I’m...
—Just GG, dammit! I don’t have the patience to game with you guys...
Thanks to his Sense stat, which had increased more than double, he could hear his neighbors’ voices through the walls. Normal people would have had difficulty adapting to the sudden, drastic improvement in their senses, but Seong-Hwi finally felt less stifled.
He clenched his fist and felt his dramatically stronger grip strength. He was lucky on his Strength stat pull, so it was at F(32) right now. F(17) was the natural limit of an elite athlete. Since his Strength stat was almost double that, he could no longer be considered human.
Purchasing cubes with Karma granted powers that transcended an individual’s racial limits. Despite that, humans were an inferior race in the Mirror World because of the massive difference in the starting line—the difference in stat caliber—between them and other races.
My starting line has changed, too.
He was given a head start in a race between humans. Since he started the race early, he needed to close the gap with those whose starting lines were far ahead.
The superior races are ahead of me!
Seong-Hwi, having obtained strength and mana transcending human limits, grabbed the wooden leg of his couch and easily broke it.
Just you wait, damn bastards. This time, I will—
Just then, Seong-Hwi got a text that interrupted his thoughts.
Boss.
I’m at the National Museum of Korea as you’ve instructed.
Where are you?