Chapter 23: Episode 23 – The Second Relic, Part III

Chapter 8. The Second Relic, Part III

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

5.

The Bucheon European Pottery Museum…

Uninvited guests were swinging cameras around at pricey European art on display and taking pictures without permission.

“Oh, it’s Meissen.”

At that moment, words of admiration came from Jang Sung-hoon, the most dangerous uninvited guest.

As Ahn Sun-mi could not bear the boredom of silence, she immediately asked, “Meissen? What is that?”

“It’s the best of the European luxury potteries. Should I say Benz by car?”

“Is it expensive?”

“It’s expensive, and I would have to pay five thousand dollars for that set right now.”

“That little tea set costs over five thousand dollars?”

“It’s cheap, I suppose. One of the Meissen vases is over eight thousand euros.”

At such a ridiculous price, Ahn Sun-mi opened her mouth without saying anything for a moment.

“…that’s ridiculously expensive.”

“Well, and so there’s a thief.”

“But I’m curious, can you tell where the product is from looking at that pottery?”

Jang Sung-hoon laughed lightly at her question.

“I can do it, so I could become a criminal at this age… but I’m not a criminal, because I haven’t been caught yet.”

Jang Sung-hoon was young.

He was not only a young man but also a young boy who had not yet received a diploma from a university.

It is because he had a discerning eye and ability that did not fit his age, of course, that he was able to commit crimes such as forgery, stealing goods, and art smuggling.

Was it possible for a blind person to forge artworks, a blind person to fake the authenticity of the goods in the stolen goods trade, or to smuggle?

“But is there really Napoleon’s champagne glass in this place?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t have asked you to come here without confidence, and a guy I knew once gave me a quote to steal it …”

Jang Sung-hoon would not have remembered Napoleon’s champagne glass if he was not a criminal.

“… if you search the online, you can find a related article. Ah, the smartphones don’t work now.”

“Why would such a great thing be in this place …?”

“It’s not that great, because people are not really interested in Napoleon’s champagne glass.”

Jang Sung-hoon glanced at her after she went silent.

He saw the expression of Ahn Sun-mi, who had a serious look in her eyes. She must have felt something.

“This way.”

Jang Sung-hoon and Kim Tae-hoon moved along with her, and soon they saw it; a glass of champagne that gave off a delicate golden light in a glass case.

“… worth coming.” The champagne glass, made of crystal and decorated with gold, seemed expensive in itself, but it did not look so special.

But the letter “N,” a symbol of the person who was prominent in the history of mankind, made the value of the champagne glass special.

Napoleon, there was a trace of a legendary existence that changed the flow of human history.

“It is a good thing we are here.”

It glowed on its own. Beyond simple traces, it was a relic that could not be valued.

“This is because of me, don’t forget!”

At Jang Sung-hoon’s words, Kim Tae-hoon turned on his smartphone instead of answering, activated the camera function, and immediately touched the liquid crystal.

As soon as the sound of the photo faded, Kim Tae-hoon’s gaze turned to the smartphone. Ahn Sun-mi and Jang Sung-hoon stuck to his left and right, crowding in to look.

——

[The Golden Glass of Napoleon No.3]

– Relic Grade: Grade 3

– Relic Value: Special

– Relic effect: One of the six golden glasses Napoleon used. When a crisis comes, it creates a champagne that makes you dream of a solution.]

——

A great tactician! The secret of Emperor Napoleon, who could read the right way in an unpredictable era of war!

6.

Wharuru!

Mac Clan’s soldiers were gathering in front of the burning fire, warming themselves.

It was because the fear of the Werewolf in their body had not gone away. And even if not, the cold weather did not allow them to leave the fire easily.

Of course, there was only one person who would leave such a fire.

Bang Hyun-wook, was swinging like taking batting practice with a steel stick cut like a baseball bat in his hand, was free from the fear and cold, knowing how to handle his Energy properly.

In addition, the sound of his swing, which was channeling Energy, was eerie.

‘That’s great.’ Bang Hyun-wook was surprised by his own power.

“If I had had this bat speed before the draft, I could have gotten a blank check from the Major League scouts”

Of course, Bang Hyun-wook imagined all this.

If he had had this power in high school, what kind of interest and attention would he have received?

But the end of the dream was more bitter than anything else, rather than sweet. After he stopped daydreaming, a long misty breath poured out of his mouth.

“Fuck.” The long sigh was a bitter sound that ended his happy thoughts.

His worries and concerns were catching up with him.

His parents’ faces came to his mind first, then his friends’ faces. He remembered the face of his classmate who he had been in love with all during high school, and the black smoke rose from a distance from a burning apartment.

That’s why Bang Hyun-wook practiced swinging in this cold weather.

There were not many ways to spend time in a world where there was nothing to eat up time, like a TV or smartphone game.

For him, a time of silence was a time of agony. So he moved and somehow tried to talk about another topic.

“Ah, Lieutenant! Can I ask you a question?”

Kim Soo-ji, who was on the other side of the fire from Bang Hyun-wook, was a prey to catch somehow.

Now that she had stopped shaking, she nodded her head at Bang Hyun-wook’s question.

“You are an acquaintance with big brother, aren’t you?” Kim Soo-ji nodded silently again.

Bang Hyun-wook quickly said with a little finger swinging, “So you two are…?”

Kim Soo-ji looked at Bang Hyun-wook’s little finger, seemingly not understanding the meaning straight away.

For her, Bang Hyun-wook was willing to give a kind explanation. “Are you and big brother lovers?”

“What nonsense!” Kim Soo-ji was frightened, her face paled, and she refuted it quickly. “In the old days, I met him just once!”

“In the old days, in the army?”

“I saw him at the Army Headquarters for a moment. That’s all I’ve ever had to do with him.”

“He’s a soldier, too, right? Good. I thought he was some kind of hitman. Killer’s better, but a soldier is better than a killer. He is from the special forces, isn’t he?”

“That’s …” Kim Soo-ji was silent at his questions, which came without a break.

‘It’s not something I can tell you.’ She did not have the right to answer Bang Hyun-wook’s question.

Kim Tae-hoon was the only person who could reveal that he belongs to a secret special unit that was not officially recorded in the history of the Republic of Korea.

Of course, Bang Hyun-wook was not really curious about such things, and he did not say that to make Kim Su-ji embarrassed. He just needed to spend time ignoring his own worries.

Therefore, Bang Hyun-wook did not stop talking, and nobody seemed to be able to stop him.

“Where can you get a tank or a rocket gun or something?”

—

At some point, Bang Hyun-wook stopped talking.

He looked at the road with a hard expression, the road that he and the Mac Clan had worked hard on for a long time… and a group of people now walking down the road.

Kim Soo-ji looked at them, too.

“Alert!” she shouted as loud as she could.

“Alert!” she yelled again. “Alert! Alert!”

The soldiers leaped up at her cry and began to move in a flurry with the guns they had kept at hand

The driver got into the driver’s seat quickly and started the engine.

“Get on!”

“Come up quickly!”

The soldiers climbed into the dump truck and got ready, with only eyes and muzzles visible in the back.

Kim Soo-ji also climbed up onto the back at once.

Bang Hyun-wook was the only one who stayed on the ground and didn’t get on the loading dock. After all, the captain of the assault squad could not just rush up there.

“Hoo!”

‘Don’t hesitate, Bang Hyun-wook. You should not hesitate just because they are human. If it’s dangerous, you have to deal with it. You have to do it.’

They were not a monster who he did not need to feel remorse about, even if he smashed its head at once.

“Hoo!” Therefore, Bang Hyun-wook, who was preparing for the battle, was pouring out a white breath like a steam locomotive.

It was evidence of tension.

As time went by, the distance between them became closer, and soon they confirmed each other’s identities.

‘Civilians, I’m sure they are survivors.’

‘What the hell do we do?’

The soldiers bit their lips, confirming that they were survivors, not monsters.

“Soldiers, soldiers!”

“Soldiers?”

“They are soldiers!”

The moment they saw that the men in the dump truck were soldiers, the faces of the crowd approaching the dump truck seemed to bend enough to express joy.

“We are saved! We are saved!”

“Ung-ung!”

“We’re saved! A rescue team is here!”

The screams that could not control the joy, the crying that could not bear the joy.

They made all kinds of noises and did not stop walking toward the dump truck, as if they were possessed by something, like zombies in movies.

The soldiers were embarrassed.

‘What? Why are they coming? Why are they coming?’

‘Do we have to shoot them? Damn it, do we have to shoot or not?’

If they were monsters, they would aim and fire at everyone approaching before the shooting order was issued.

But they were human beings, civilians who were not armed.

Just by imagining that they were aiming guns at humans, their hearts were starting to pound.

“No access!” It was the same for Kim Soo-ji.

She would easily give a firing order to a monster, but it was not easy to take action in a cool manner, even if she had assumed this situation to the civilians.

“No access! We will fire if you approach any closer!” she shouted again, warning them.

But the people who were converging on the dump truck did not think to stop.

“We are saved! We are saved!”

“Help us! Seoul is now …”

“Uh-ung, uh-ung!”

There was no room for Kim Soo-ji’s voice in the midst of the endless praise for saving them, desperation, and crying that burst out endlessly.

Kim Soo-ji’s expression hardened. ‘What should I do?’

Her mind was hardened, too. ‘They are defenseless civilians.’

There was only one thing that soldiers learned about civilians during military training: Don’t even sneeze against civilians!

It was impossible for Kim Soo-ji and the soldiers to have any experience in dealing with this situation.

Bang Hyun-wook, who was not a soldier, was also embarrassed.

‘Oh, my God, Joo Ha-yeon?’

There was a girl with a familiar face among the crowd, a girl’s face he could not forget.

‘Why is she here?’

While everyone was so embarrassed that they could not do anything, the distance between civilians and the dump truck narrowed.

It was not a good picture. A picture that was not good even if something big happened.

Awwwoooo!

The painting was painted with a new color called howling, a dark color…

It was not a simple sound. It had a clear power and hostility.

“Huck!”

The people who approached the dump truck stopped when they heard the howling. The shots that followed the howling made the civilians’ stopped legs shake.

“I warned you.” The shots were a warning.

“From now on, those who approach will be killed instantly without warning. I say again, whoever approaches the dump truck without permission, I will fire without warning. Everybody, sit down or lie down.”

So everyone stopped acting and looked at the issuer of the warning, Kim Tae-hoon!