Chapter 73

“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“Not at all. I should be the one apologizing for coming without an appointment when you must be busy.”

Jin Han-su.

The man who had paid 7 billion won for the gold coins that Yuseong had received as a quest reward in the past.

And now, the man who worked as one of the most capable brokers in the massive enterprise known as the Seoul Auction House, spoke with a friendly smile.

“Speaking of being busy, wouldn’t you be busier than me? After all, you’re the hero who saved not just South Korea, but the world.”

“Let’s stop talking about that.”

Yuseong waved his hand with a tired expression.

While he had been able to somewhat enjoy playing the hero role at first, now he was sick of even hearing the word ‘hero’ after receiving constant attention from people wherever he went, whoever he met, and whenever it was.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I know you don’t like it, but I keep forgetting. Anyway, what brings you here today?”

“I want to purchase more mana stones.”

“You need more even after buying so much?”

It’s taboo for a broker to be interested in a client’s purchases.

However, knowing how many mana stones Yuseong had recently bought, Jin Han-su couldn’t help but make a comment.

30 billion won!

It hadn’t been long since he had swept up an amount that only large companies mass-producing items using mana stones could barely handle, yet here he was wanting to buy more mana stones.

While it wasn’t bad for him since he could make a large profit, he couldn’t help but worry about Yuseong’s financial situation.

“It’s not just for my use, but the guild needs them. Ah, and this time I’d like to purchase other items as well.”

“Other items?”

“Yes.”

Jin Han-su tilted his head as he read the note Yuseong handed over.

“Materials with restoration abilities, materials that maintain a constant temperature, materials that amplify mana?”

“Please find materials with similar properties from monster parts or new materials and prepare them in the quantities listed.”

“Hmm, I think I can get most of them except for a few.”

“Which ones can’t you get?”

“Things like devices that convert electricity to mana or generate it. Ah, you didn’t accidentally write down devices that generate electricity from mana, did you?”

While devices that generate electricity using mana might exist, the opposite hadn’t been created anywhere in the world.

This was because what was needed to maintain modern civilization was electricity, not mana.

“I wrote it correctly. If it’s not available, there’s nothing we can do.”

He had written it down just in case, but as expected, such devices didn’t exist.

‘Though they might exist somewhere in another world…’

Since he couldn’t specifically choose to go to a world where such items existed, it seemed he would have to keep pouring water into a bottomless pit for now.

“How long will it take?”

“About 20% can be prepared within an hour, and the rest will take about a week to match the quantities.”

“Good. Then let’s draw up the contract.”

“Um, but are you sure about this? The price for everything listed here will be quite substantial.”

The items listed were all special materials traded at high prices.

And Yuseong was trying to buy them not in kilograms but in tons.

Though he hadn’t calculated the exact amount, Jin Han-su could guess it would be astronomical, so he carefully phrased his question to avoid causing offense.

However, far from getting angry, Yuseong handed over his card with a bright smile.

“Let’s pay it all at once.”

“A-all at once… Please wait a moment.”

After frantically typing at the computer for a while, Jin Han-su brought the card to the reader with trembling hands, apparently having finished his calculations.

“The payment has been processed.”

“And the mana stones too.”

“How many mana stones are you thinking of purchasing?”

“Unlimited. Keep charging until it shows insufficient balance.”

“Ah, yes.”

Jin Han-su, who had initially been processing payments in thousands thinking there wouldn’t be much balance left, added another zero when the payments kept going through.

But even millions weren’t enough to deplete the balance, and the transactions that kept adding digits finally stopped only after a long time when the insufficient balance message appeared.

“…How would you like to receive the items?”

“Please gather them in the warehouse like last time, and I’ll come pick them up.”

“I’ll prepare them as quickly as possible.”

After seeing off Jin Han-su, who bowed at exactly 90 degrees before leaving the room, Yuseong checked his smartphone that had been ringing constantly.

-Sucker

An expected name.

Yuseong naturally rejected the call.

* * *

Woong!

“Hmm.”

Yuseong shook his head while blinking several times.

Unlike the dimensional transfer that naturally changed his view with a bright light, Dragonia’s return function that suddenly changed his view while his eyes were wide open never felt natural no matter how many times he experienced it.

-Mr. Yuseong! Why did you come so late? Do you know how bored I was being alone in a place with no one around?

Yuseong easily dodged Alice who came flying with a dejected expression, and made a face that said he’d expected this.

“You’re the one who wanted to stay, right? Saying you wanted to learn about this city?”

-That was when I thought I could move around freely! I couldn’t move beyond a certain range from the soul stone, and I couldn’t even move the soul stone itself, so I couldn’t do anything except look down at the city.

“You catch on pretty quick.”

Yuseong tucked away Alice’s Soul Stone and looked around.

Dragonia.

Though it was known to the public as having disappeared due to his destructive actions, in reality, it had merely hidden between dimensional gaps using one of the city’s functions.

“Hmm hmm.”

Looking at the magnificent city spread out below, Yuseong unconsciously hummed a tune.

No matter how many times he saw it, he couldn’t believe this massive city was his possession.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

-Ah! Come to think of it, there’s been this strange sound coming from over there continuously. Is something wrong?

“I have ears too, you know?”

Though of course, the pleasant mood didn’t last long.

When he touched the red-tinted hologram, new messages appeared.

[Main facility no response.]

[Auxiliary facility output decreased.]

[Automatic repair function temporarily suspended due to material shortage.]

[Sectors A5, A22, B8, B13, B17 severely damaged.]

“It’s endless. Just endless.”

Dragonia’s condition was so precarious that it wouldn’t be strange if it collapsed at any moment.

That’s why Yuseong had been pouring his entire fortune into supplying materials to Dragonia over the past few days.

30 billion won worth of mana stones to solve the urgent power problem, hundreds of tons of construction materials, and monster materials with unique properties – while he had managed to put out the immediate fires, the complete restoration of the city remained a distant goal.

Grrrng!

A moment after touching the screen, massive golems of various forms appeared and began moving the items Yuseong had brought.

The numerous statues and sculptures visible throughout the city.

Their true nature wasn’t just decorative art pieces but parts of the system responsible for Dragonia’s defense and maintenance.

They had stopped operating due to power source depletion and the absence of someone with command authority, but since Yuseong supplied mana stones and issued repair orders, they had awakened from their long slumber and were faithfully carrying out their original duties.

“Maybe I should have just left it on Earth?”

After checking the list of newly added materials and the estimated repair progress, Yuseong unconsciously muttered.

The mountain of supplies charged to Kang Changseok’s card didn’t even amount to one-hundredth of what Dragonia needed.

‘I did it thinking “go big or go home,” but no matter how I think about it, this seems insane. This is definitely not a scale that an individual can handle.’

Even calculating conservatively, Dragonia’s restoration would require a budget on par with a decent-sized nation.

But he couldn’t take it back to Earth now, nor could he abandon it.

In the end, he had no choice but to keep pouring water into a bottomless pit.

“Think positive. It’s an amount that can be achieved by charging about 200 Kang Changseok cards.”

-Who is this Kang Changseok person?

“A sucker.”

After casually saying something that would make Kang Changseok spit blood if he heard it, Yuseong started descending via the stairs.

There were no living beings inside the pyramid.

The same was true even if expanded to include all of Dragonia.

This was because he had temporarily suspended all survival-related functions like atmospheric composition, temperature control, and residential zone functions to eliminate the lizardmen before sending it into the dimensional gap.

Initially, he had planned to use the lizardmen through sentences.

However, thinking there might be rebels like Nord, he decided to eliminate the lizardmen, and as a result, Dragonia became a lonely city with only one person.

-So I think following Mr. Yuseong would be better than staying here. Ah, of course, I’m not giving up on the investigation. It’s just that there’s a limit to what I can do in this form, right? Until I get a body or means to interact with the outside…

‘Maybe not just one person.’

Arriving underground while using Alice’s chatter as background noise, Yuseong slowed his pace and started looking around.

-Are you looking for something?

“An intact corpse. You look too. Most seem to have rotted, but there might be some in good condition if we look carefully.”

-…Just in case, why are you looking for an intact corpse?

“I’m thinking of using it as your new body?”

-No way! Not even human but a lizardman! How could you think of such a thing?

“No, I’m not saying it has to be a lizardman, just that it’s one of the candidates. And strictly speaking, these aren’t lizardmen but dragonkin. As you go further in, they become closer to human form, so if we look carefully, maybe we’ll find one that you like…”

-No! Absolutely not! You’re listening to me, right? Look at me, not the glass tube!

At Alice’s desperate opposition, Yuseong sighed and turned away from the glass tubes to walk further inside.

No matter how good the body might be, he couldn’t force it if she was so against it.

“Then what kind of body do you want?”

-Of course it should be human! But not just any human. I’d like one that looks as close to my living self as possible to minimize the sense of dissonance. And, if possible, I’d like to be a bit more mature. A bit taller, slightly bigger eyes, and fingers also…

“It seems to be getting further and further from your living appearance from the middle part.”

-Ahem, that’s just a general idea. Anyway, you understand what I mean, right?

“Roughly. But rather than finding a body that perfectly matches those conditions, wouldn’t it be faster to make a golem with that appearance?”

-You did hear what I said properly, right?

“No, you probably don’t know this, but we can make golems with exteriors so sophisticated they’re indistinguishable from real humans. I’m not sure if it’s possible on Earth, but if we expand our search to other worlds, there should definitely be places where it’s possible.”

With so many other worlds out there, there had to be dimensions capable of creating things like the gynoids seen in SF media.

‘Oh? Come to think of it, isn’t this better? Even in terms of difficulty, it’s much easier to imbue a soul into an object than into a body. Unlike fragile flesh, it would be sturdy and easy to repair even if damaged. Plus, we could add various special functions…’

-Why are you looking at me with those eyes?

At Alice’s gaze filled with faint suspicion, Yuseong cleared his throat and averted his eyes.

Though Alice pressed him about what he was thinking as she felt uneasy, Yuseong pretended not to hear as he jumped down into the cavity at the deepest underground level.

“……”

Aindel.

Except for having its eyes closed, it looked exactly the same as when he last saw it.

Looking up at the majestic form of the dragon, Yuseong pulled out an axe handle from his waist.

Crackle!

“Then shall we begin today as well.”