Chapter 39

He was the Absolute One.

Of course, not in the theological sense of the word.

Just someone with infinite wealth and power.

Some might scoff at calling someone an Absolute One just for having wealth and power, but well, while perhaps not as powerful as the gods of mythology, what other word could describe someone who could buy anything they wanted with their wealth and manipulate and change the world according to their will with their power?

He could do anything with that infinite wealth and power.

He could freely indulge in dark desires that must not be known to the world and sacrifice countless people for momentary pleasure.

There was nothing that could be a problem.

After all, wasn’t he the Absolute One?

Not only could there be no error in what the Absolute One does, but even if there were, how dare mere humans question the actions of the Absolute One?

“Huk! Huk! Huk!”

That’s why he couldn’t understand what was happening now.

Why was he, the Absolute One, running away, why was he running with his own legs, why were none of his servants in sight – everything was full of questions.

“Kuheo…. Kehek!”

With every breath in and out, he felt pain as if his heart would burst out of his mouth.

His body, which had never exercised in his entire life, was so weak it couldn’t even handle a few minutes of running.

The thought of collapsing right there pierced his mind, but he couldn’t do that.

“…Uhuhu.”

That sound again.

That cursed laughter that wouldn’t disappear no matter how many security systems in the mansion he activated, how many guards and subordinates he sent, how desperately he ran.

“Uwaaaaah!”

As the sound grew closer, the man lost his mind and pointed his jewel-decorated pistol at the path he had come from and pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each time the muzzle flashed, the deafening sound tore through his ears and the darkness blocking his vision momentarily cleared to reveal an empty corridor.

Click!

With trembling hands, the man finished reloading and focused all his senses on the darkness-filled corridor. If that laughter came again, if he sensed any presence in that darkness, he planned to pull the trigger without hesitation.

However, making such tension meaningless, there was no sound or presence from beyond the corridor.

“…Haa.”

Perhaps the acrid gunpowder smell had released his tension.

The moment the man lowered his gun that had been pointed at the corridor, that sound he thought he’d never hear again came once more.

“Uhuhu.”

‘Above!’

The man immediately pointed his gun toward where the sound came from.

But before he could pull the trigger, something fell from the ceiling and knocked the gun’s direction away by hitting his arm upward.

Crackle!

A purple energy axe appearing suddenly with the sound of crackling electricity.

And when the man confirmed the identity of the person holding the stick creating that axe blade, a roar burst from his mouth.

“Y-you!”

A familiar face.

A beggar from the streets he had picked up on a whim just to relieve some stress.

He thought he was being targeted by an assassin or some supernatural thing like a ghost, but to suffer like this from mere trash.

His vision was blurring from anger and humiliation.

“You ungrateful thing! Despite giving you warm lodging and feeding you well, you dare to…!”

Crack!

“…Huh?”

The left arm he had extended to point accusingly fell to the floor.

His left arm gone from the elbow down, yet not a single drop of blood flowing – facing this surreal sight with a blank expression, the man finally realized his arm had been cut off as the pain belatedly rose and he screamed.

“Uh, uwah, uwaaaaah!”

While screaming with his mouth, he pointed the gun in his remaining hand and kept pulling the trigger.

Even with his mind numbed by anger and fear, he managed a faint smile, perhaps able to imagine that insolent villain dying with holes all over their body.

And his expression froze just like that.

Crackle!

The fired bullets disappeared in a small flash the moment they hit the axe blade.

The man wouldn’t have known, but the high-powered plasma condensate contained enough heat to vaporize light lead bullets in the blink of an eye.

Slash!

“Keughhhk!”

The cutting power that could easily slice through thick alloy was a bonus.

The man who had his gun-holding right arm, left leg, and right leg cut off in order rolled on the floor. Despite suffering severe injuries losing all limbs, not a single drop of blood flowed from the wounds cauterized by heat, and he couldn’t even lose consciousness from the unimaginable pain.

“Pl-please. Money, power, honor! I’ll give you anything you want! Anything! Please just spare me!”

“……”

A moment of silence.

After an eternal instant passed, a carefree voice was heard.

“If you can give anything, can you bring back my sister that you killed… is what she wants me to tell you.”

“Ask for something realistic! How can you bring back someone who’s dead…!”

“That’s what I thought you’d say.”

The purple axe blade falling toward his crown.

Only in the moment before death could the man realize such an obvious fact.

He was no Absolute One.

Just a shabby old…

Crack!

“Done. If you have time to be thankful, worry about how you’ll live from now on. Think you can live properly after causing all this trouble?”

Yuseong, who had muttered words that would seem like mental illness to others, picked up the gun from the fallen right arm after hesitating briefly and put down the plasma axe he was holding in his right hand.

And soon after, familiar messages appeared.

[Initiating Deus Ex Machina Program]

[Ariadne’s Thread tracking complete]

[Initiating spirit particle transfer]

* * *

Momentarily confused by the unfamiliar scenery, Yuseong belatedly remembered this was the panic room in his house and let out a relieved sigh before taking out his smartphone to check the date and coming outside.

It was a place he had prepared not knowing what would happen when returning to Earth after finishing quests, but no matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t get used to this stuffy room devoid of any signs of life.

“Hmm, as expected, though I predicted this.”

Just like before starting the quest, the axe handle was safely tucked at his waist while the gun was nowhere to be found.

Even checking the Karma Shop just in case, there were only skills like begging or pretending to be sick – the gun he had picked up at the end or any other items he had gathered were nowhere to be seen.

“So it’s almost certain that items taken out after paying Karma return to Earth when the quest ends regardless of grade, even if they fall off the body, and the problem is with items originally from other worlds. Is it impossible to bring items from other worlds except for explicitly stated quest rewards?”

While muttering to organize the situation, Yuseong soon made an annoyed expression and rapid-fired words.

“No. Looking at the conversations in the community, it’s certain there’s a way to bring items from other worlds to Earth. Do they need to be put in inventory? But this automatically saves items held during quests, there’s no function to put items in separately? Or is it one of the functions unlocked when grade increases? Why can skills be brought immediately just by paying Karma but not items? Is it the difference in impact on reality?”

After hunting the Orc Warrior, Yuseong had bought a house in Gangnam-gu and completed quite a few quests there.

However, it wasn’t aimed at high-rank clears or rewards.

When he was targeted by monsters and couldn’t even guarantee his life, when he had to worry about his next meal without a single penny, he mindlessly completed necessary quests, but now that he had some leeway, it was different.

He needed to find out exactly how far these goggles’ functions reached and if there were abilities he didn’t know about.

So Yuseong quietly observed the community and conducted various experiments while completing quests, and as a result, he was able to discover several facts.

Things that could be brought from Earth to other worlds were limited to items in definite contact with oneself, or how even taking out the same items resulted in differences in Karma, otherworld skill usage rate, and artifact usage rate depending on the civilization level and differences, or how although the time ratio was random, cases where the ratio difference with Earth exceeded 1:2 were extremely rare.

Some experiments even included deliberately causing trouble to see what the lowest clear rank would be like.

“…But that was truly horrible.”

FFF rank clear.

The specified basic rewards certainly came in, but he received enormous penalties that easily exceeded the rewards.

[Fate Change Rate 57.0%, Otherworld Skill Usage 68.5%, Otherworld Artifact Usage 84%]

[Final Evaluation: FFF Rank]

[Terrible! User Han Yuseong not only failed to properly achieve the objective but changed the client’s fate in a completely wrong direction! Penalties will be applied!]

“No, I didn’t know that would happen. Besides, who makes these judgments of right and wrong in the first place?”

The penalty was the confiscation of 500,000 Karma points.

Fortunately, he had accumulated Karma while experimenting so he could pay the fine without problems, but even now his heart sank thinking about what might have happened if his Karma had fallen into the negative.

Lying down on the living room sofa, Yuseong rubbed his eyes and fell into thought.

‘Is this roughly the end of the experiments.’

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had done all experiments possible within the realm of his imagination and what was realistically feasible.

“The goggles’ functions are limited but when grade increases, functions are unlocked like being able to bring large items or bring items from other worlds to Earth. In the end, what’s needed right now is to complete lots of quests to raise grade. And…”

-Girl Seeking Salvation (146 hours)

Looking at the quest name at the top of the list and the decreasing time beside it, Yuseong bit his lip.

-Hic, hiccup. Thank you, Mr. Yuseong! Thank you!

The last words he heard.

Thinking of Alice who had thanked him believing without a shred of doubt that he would certainly return to help, Yuseong scratched his head vigorously.

It wasn’t that he was swept up by emotions like sympathy or compassion.

He just wanted to gather information about additional quests, and incidentally give some harsh words to the stupid girl who decided things as she liked and believed as she liked.

“Well then, shall we prepare the necessities.”