Past Life Returner - Chapter 121

A total of more than twenty external personnel were gathered in the room. There was an investment advisor of the hotel, employees of Silverman from Panama, and people from two accounting and legal teams that Leon and I had hired on an urgent basis. 

“What the hell are you doing? Are you high on drugs?” Leon’s business partner was pissed.

 Leon answered somewhat dejectedly “Don’t ask me anything. My brain is already overloaded.”

His partner snarled “How are you going to manage when you give them all your shares?” 

“The management remains the same” Leon replied vaguely.

“That’s fucking bullshit you piece of crap. What kind of dangerous gambling have you done to make things this bad?” The business partner raised his voice.

“…”

He continued “Whatever. Private gambling is illegal anyway so we don’t have to carry out this deal in the first place. Why are you so scared of that Asian jerk? Leave it to me. I’ll handle it.”

“No never. Don’t meddle. Who are you calling?”

“LYMPD(Las Vegas Police Department)” the partner answered.

“I told you not to butt in!” Leon shouted and took away his partner’s phone.

“Give it back to me right now.”

“Just go back if you’re going to act like this” Leon said.

“Ah fuck…Okay fine. It’s your life so live however you want” his partner replied.

Leon was arguing with the biggest shareholder of his firm in the living room and he was crying. Although he didn’t wail out loud his sobbing was obvious enough for everyone in the room to notice his despair. 

However no one had time to consider his hopelessness as the room had turned into a battlefield where papers constantly flew between the two accounting and legal teams as they went back and forth haggling to make the deal happen. There were issues that needed to be approved by the governments even after signing the contracts. That was why the two teams were constantly holding their phones. After several calls to the governmental institutions I heard a lawyer speak up.

“Could the owners of Gold Wind and Kripp Burgers come over here please?”

It was the moment to sign the contract. Leon read through the contract half-heartedly while glancing at Woo Yeon-Hee more than four times. 

***

“You asked for this. Get in” I said.

When I opened the van the bulky agents stared at Leon. 

“Where…are we heading to?” Leon asked.

“The training center” I answered.

“Is it where the group members are?” he questioned.

I replied apathetically “You’ll find out. From now on keep in mind that you have to watch your mouth.”

Leon got on the vehicle helplessly like a prisoner getting on a convoy and I motioned to Mick.

“Since he’s not a dangerous cat you don’t need to treat him harshly. But if he shows signs of resistance he needs to learn discipline” I said.

“To what extent?” Mick asked.

“Just until the point where he wouldn’t lose his life” I responded.

“Okay.”

I ordered “Always keep a close eye on him including his calls health condition mindset friends books he reads and what he eats.”

“Should I report to you when he poops…I’m sorry. I won’t miss anything” Mick replied.

“Then go ahead.”

The pre-Awakened were like dungeon boxes. Woo Yeon-Hee had exceeded my expectations for her but I didn’t expect a continuous series of nice surprises from her. I had to see if Leon would be a blessing or curse and if he was the latter I didn’t even need to bloody my own hands. I would make him self-destruct in a dungeon.

I returned to my room. Although Woo Yeon-Hee had upgraded her Sense to E-class she didn’t sense my presence as she was lost in thought. There seemed to be dark clouds above her head.

“Don’t mind him” I said.

She replied “No it’s not that.”

“Ah the murder quest? It’s very rare so don’t worry about it” I responded.

“Why didn’t you tell me about it? Why does the System give us such a quest? Why…Is it a devil?” Her thoughts were all over the place.A quick look at daotranslate dot com will leave you more fulfilled.

I answered bluntly “It’s neither the devil nor god. I believe the System is programmed for one purpose only so it doesn’t care about the methods it needs to use.”

“So it’ll make us kill each other but such a thing shouldn’t exist…” She spoke like the Eight Evils did in the past.

“Maybe it is encouraging us to be more intense.” This was what Eight Virtues claimed.

I continued “Don’t place any meaning in the System Woo Yeon-Hee. We’re just using it to be stronger and prepare for the Day of Advent. That’s it.”

“But…”

Snap!

I snapped my fingers in front of her eyes.

“Stop there. Let’s get ready to head out. We’ll make it on time if we hurry” I said.

“Where?” she questioned.

“We should watch the play ‘Cats’ since we’re in Las Vegas. There’s a show being performed by an authentic theater company” I replied.

It was time to go see real ‘Cats.’

“Cats!”

For a moment her eyes brightened like a child’s.

***

“The market is in shock again as Nano Soft’s stock prices have plunged from 45.84 to 39.1 dollars APE from 23.22 to 15.01 dollars and Nois Moore Electronics from 70.12 to 40.95 dollars. The stockholders consider this the end of the dotcom bubble as…”

The IT boom was falling and the stock market was plummeting. Even though sixty percent of the market had disappeared already the bubbles that had accumulated so far had been so massive that the prices would drop even more. Most of the firms had gone down by ninety percent and were going bankrupt. This was expected from the moment the dotcom companies in Silicon Valley began to create their own Oval Offices by imitating the U.S. president’s office. 

I turned off the television after checking the market and Woo Yeon-Hee had once again brought back her show pamphlets.

“It’ll take a few more days for the agents to return” I said.

It was pleasant news for her.

“As you have probably felt we’re becoming the focus of attention” I continued.

The number of people greeting us had increased as even the acquaintances of the people I played games with came by to greet me. There must have been rumors about the Asian couple staying in the Wilson Hotel’s penthouse and making big bets in the casinos. 

“They were all nice and wonderful Woo Yeon-Hee answered as she was talking about the wealthy crowd who had been sitting next to us. They tried to invite us to their party.

I said “Starting from tomorrow we’ll just stay in our room.”

She smiled. “That’s good too. I’ve enjoyed enough of the city by now.” 

She didn’t know why Las Vegas was called ‘the city of delights’ since she had only experienced the tip of the iceberg. She would become startled if she realized what happened under the surface especially in parties loaded with money. They were primitive and wild to the extreme. However we had a more enjoyable event planned out.

“Huh?”

Woo Yeon-Hee looked at me after sensing my excitement. 

“Finally?”

She got up in a hurry.

“I’ll go wash up” she said.

The results of the boxes we obtained from the dungeon so far were as followed:

! Silver box (30): 8 stat increases 6 skill point increases 4 trait point increases 3 items 3 insignias 6 skills.

! Gold box (30): 8 stat increases 5 skill point increases 9 trait point increases 5 items 3 insignias.

I had removed Earthquake and didn’t include the six skills I got from silver boxes in my repertoire as any points that went into those skills would be wasted in the future. I felt my skill set was enough for the moment. I wanted the points to be allotted to skills with the highest potential from now on.

“Status window.”

Overall all my stats were nearing D-class and it was time to party.

Let’s do this!

[You have opened a silver box.]

[Interdiction has increased by 2.]

[Interdiction has been upgraded. Change: F → E]

[Interdiction (trait)

Effect: The user gains an accomplishment reward when conditions are fulfilled to destroy dungeons and gates.

Class: E(0)

Accomplishment Reward: 0]

I had received this as an accomplishment reward for destroying a dungeon for the first time as an Awakened. It looked useless in F-class but I kept it due to its potential and because I had not known anything about accomplishment rewards in my past life. I waited until I activated the Man Who Overcomes Adversity to check the Interdiction’s new effects. 

I had no recollection of the ‘accomplishment reward’ as I had never heard of it but it was clear that I was taking another step closer to discovering the secrets of the System. I continued to open more silver boxes. 

[You have obtained the insignia ‘Plunderer.’]

[Would you like to remove ‘Plunderer?’]

[Your Health has increased by 2.]

[Forerunner has increased by 29.]

[Forerunner has been upgraded. Change: F → E]

[Forerunner (trait)

Effect: When the user exerts damage to the target his/her Agility can get upgraded at a low probability. It cannot be used at the same time with another trait.

Class: E(0)]

[Your Health has increased by 2.]

[Night Eyes has increased by 4.]

[Gaia’s Will has increased by 18.]

[You have obtained the item ‘Clean Medal.’]

[You have exceeded the maximum items you can keep.]

[You won’t be able to apply the effect of the Clean Medal.]

[Collector has increased by 14.]

[Collector has been upgraded. Change F → E]

[Collector (trait)

Effect: The probability of the item disappearing is significantly reduced when the user fails at reinforcing said item.

Class: E(0)]

[Sensitive has increased by 1.]

[Odin’s Wrath has increased by 8.]

[Devi’s Sword has increased by 2.]

[Gaia’s Will has increased by 24.]

[Your Strength has increased by 1.]

[Your Strength has been upgraded. Change: E→ D]

I stopped opening silver boxes and decided to use my remaining points on gold boxes!

[You have opened a gold box.]

[Night Eyes has increased by 29.]

[Your Health has increased by 15.]

[You have obtained the item ‘Shrewd Trap Hammer.’]

[Night Eyes has increased by 31.]

[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity has increased by 11.]

[Gaia’s Will has increased by 39.]

[Gaia’s Will has been upgraded. Change: F → E]

[Gaia’s Will (skill)

Effect: Focuses monsters’ attention on oneself. Significantly absorbs physical and mana damage.

Class: E(0)

Duration: 5 minutes

Cooldown time: 12 hours]

[You have obtained the insignia ‘Assassin.’]

[Your Agility has increased by 31.]

[Your Agility has been upgraded. Change: E → D]

[Your Sense has increased by 30.]

[Your Sense has been upgraded. Change: E → D]

All of my stats would be D-class if I upgraded Health next.

[You have obtained the skill ‘Determination.’]

[You have removed the skill ‘Determination.’]

[Devi’s Sword has been increased by 12.]

[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity has been increased by 39.]

[Night Eyes has been increased by 11.]

[Your Health has increased by 11.]

Last box!

[Night Eyes has been increased by 21.]

[Night Eyes has been upgraded. Change: E → D]

[Night Eyes (skill)

Effect: Significantly increases the range of visibility in dungeons. Effects will now be graded by points and the user can now see these points in detail.]

[New stats have been added in the System due to Night Eyes reaching D-class.]

[Subject: Physical Attack Power Magic Attack Power Physical Damage Absorption Magic Damage Absorption.]

“Status window.”

[Name: Na Seon-Hu

Health: E (85) Strength: D (0) Agility: D (0) Sense: D (0)

Total points: 100

Trait(8) Skill(4) Insignia(8) Item(8)]

[Trait – Man Who Overcomes Adversity: E (92) Sensitive: E (17) Collector: E (0) Interdiction: E (0) Strongman: F (66) Forerunner: E (0) Explorer: F(66) Gifted: F (52)]

[Skill – Night Eyes: D (0) Devi’s Sword: E (14) Odin’s Wrath: E (8) Gaia’s Will: E (0)]

I had gotten this far by only going through F-class dungeons. Monopoly was…

“Amazing.” I sighed in wonderment.

Things were even more fantastic as it was just beginning for me.