Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

In Gangnam, there are private spaces everywhere that only VIPs can use.

Queen Bee.

Queen Bee room salon was one of them.
Among them, Queen Bee was a little special.
It was for hunters only.
In other words, it was a unique establishment that only accepted customers that had awakened.
Since the price range of liquor was so high, only upper-middle class hunters with good income visited there.
The first time Vice President Lee Minseong discovered Queen Bee was only a few months ago.
Before he knew it, he became a regular.
‘… Since when was it?‘
Even in the midst of confusion, Lee Minseong noticed that he was currently trapped in something like golden jelly.
‘Sweet.‘
A familiar taste on the tongue.
It was honey.
He soon realized what this familiar taste was.
‘Royal Jelly.‘
It has the scent of the high-quality liquor he used to enjoy in Queen Bee.
A conversation he had with the Lady the other day flashed through his mind.

-Lady, what the hell is this drink? I looked it up somewhere else, but they didn‘t sell it anywhere.
-Whoops. It‘s a trade secret.

Translator: Anom

Although he had asked several times, the Lady always turned around with only a dubious smile.
Normally, he would have forced her to let him know, but he let it go thinking the Lady was nothing to worry about going against him, an A-Class hunter.
Now that he thought about it, he might have been hypnotized or something back then.
Lee Minseong looked helplessly at the Lady through the sticky golden jelly.
Lady was still smiling at him.
Anger welled up in his head at that smile, but something was strange.
As time passed, his anger gradually dissipated, and started moving into a void of emotion…
‘What is this feeling? What the hell?!‘
Lee Minseong gritted his teeth and tried to reject that emotional feeling.
However, the Lady muttered as if she thought that even his appearance was cute.
“There is no point in refusing. You‘ve already consumed too much royal jelly, so stop…“
The lady‘s slender hands touched her necklace, which she had always worn around her neck.
The green jewel embedded in the necklace shone brilliantly.

[Be faithful, my worker bee.]

“…!“
The moment when her whispers hit his brain, Lee Minseong‘s eyes opened and he trembled.
An unwilling response that he didn‘t expect sprouted in his head.
‘… You are my queen.‘

* * *
Once there was a Monarch.
Queen of Insects, Monarch of Plagues, Querehsha.
The dimension Querehsha was in was a world infested with hundreds of millions of poisonous insects.
In that world, Querehsha was originally a bug.
A bug that was the weakest and smallest among anyone else.
She was a weak creature that should normally have been eaten by a bigger enemy or rotted away by the poison of a stronger poisonous insect.
However, Querehsha survived in that terrible place.
She didn‘t just run away and hide, but grew little by little by eating the corpses of insects that were bigger and stronger than herself.
Absorbing the abilities of those bugs.
Accumulating that terrible poison in the body.
Querehsha got stronger and stronger.
When the poison accumulated in the body became stronger and more vicious than any other bug.
Querehsha became the queen of that world.
And…
The queen bee ‘Arsha‘ was a resident of that world.
‘… I was really shocked when the great and strong Querehsha died.‘
The presence of the Ruler of one dimension is important.
The world of bugs, a hotbed of fighting, existed as a solid community centered on Querehsha.
However, the moment Querehsha died, the remaining bugs began to show their ambition to take the vacant place.
‘They don‘t even know anything, how dare they…‘
In that chaos, Arsha realized the fate she had to go through.
Queen.
Born as a queen bee, Arsha thought she was perfect as the next monarch.
If there was anyone who could succeed Querehsha, there was no doubt that she was the only one.
However, the world that had already lost its Ruler was torn into pieces and scattered into dimensional rifts.
It was very coincidental that Arsha, who was wandering through the cracks of that dimension, was able to reach Earth.
‘No, it was destiny.‘
As soon as Arsha arrived on Earth, she transformed herself as a human.
More than anyone else, she naturally blended into Earth with a more human appearance.
Unlike the monsters of another dimension who died trying to take over the earth by ignorant power, Arsha chose to adapt just like a bug.
No, rather than adaptation, it was a parasitism.
‘To think that I, the queen, would end up like this…‘
Arsha felt ashamed.
She had no worker bees.
A queen bee without worker bees was like a nameless existence.
In the dimension she was originally in, Arsha had numerous worker bees under her command. However, among the many bees, she was the only one who escaped from the dimensional rift.
‘I have to increase the number of my worker bees.‘
If it were the other monsters who died trying to occupy Earth, they would not have been able to withstand such a situation and acted hastily… because they were ignorant.
‘Simply putting strength first will inevitably lead to death.‘
Arsha was able to learn that painful lesson through Querehsha‘s death.
‘Even the strong and great Querehsha died because of it.‘
The war of the monarchs seen from afar was a clash between gigantic and mighty beings.
Arsha knew her place.
‘I, who couldn‘t even become a monarch, and I, who didn‘t even have worker bees, can‘t make hasty moves.‘
That kind of patience was Arsha‘s true strength.
As she persevered and persevered, Arsha penetrated deeply into the society of Korea and tried to understand human nature.
‘It‘s nothing special.‘
Arsha realized that human society is not much different from bugs than she thought.
‘This is also a world where the more vicious will win in the end.‘
However, the power was not through ‘poison‘ but ‘money‘.
It was for this reason that Arsha did not immediately turn Lee Minseong into a worker bee.
In order to turn an A-Class hunter into a worker bee, she had to constantly poison him with royal jelly.
‘It won‘t be too late to use him for other purposes first and then turn him into a worker bee.‘
If it was another human, she would have immediately reaped him as a worker bee, but Arsha‘s patience made this choice possible.
In fact, thanks to that choice, Lee Minseong brought more hunters to Room Salon Queenbee.
His social position and fame were indeed useful.
‘Especially when he brought stardust, I was really surprised.‘
The moment Arsha saw the stardust, she realized the fact that the demons made it.
Along with its use…
‘Demons also sneaked into this world like me.‘
However, the demons seemed to have adapted to that place in a different way than she did.
As a queen bee, she secretly hid and increased her number of worker bees.
Demons made stardust from humans to amplify their powers.
‘… This could be useful.‘
What if humans who were strengthened with stardust turned into worker bees?
Stronger soldiers will be born.
However, the amplification effect of the existing stardust was too weak, so she waited again.
May the demons improve the performance of stardust through more experiments.
The person who distributed the stardust the most was Lee Minseong.
An unfortunate conglomerate whose inferiority complex exploded after his driver awakened to S-Class.
Arsha clicked her tongue as she looked at Lee Minseong, who was being transformed into a worker bee while trapped in her royal jelly.
“… It‘s really worth it. I was looking forward to you becoming S-Class someday.“
If so, Lee Minseong would become a more famous figure in the Korean hunter world.
Then, behind him, her position of controlling him would also rise.
More hunters.
More power.
More strength.
In the end…
“I would be able to command a worker bee with the power of an S-Class hunter.“
Such results weren‘t bad either.
In fact, it was also the first time that she had been able to reap an A-Class worker bee.
If an A-Class hunter suddenly goes missing, it would draw attention, so Lee Minseong has not been made into a worker bee until that time.
“Argh…“
Inside the golden royal jelly, Lee Minseong gritted his teeth with a painful expression.
His eyes were shining golden.
“Acckk…!“
“Hmm?“
What?
A puzzled expression appeared on Arsha‘s face.
That was a completely different reaction from the worker bees she made so far.
Was it because he was A-Class?
Lee Minseong was forcibly moving his body in the royal jelly.
“Are you refusing to mutate?“
“Kheuuuuuuu! Aaah!“
He was already insane.
However, even in such a situation, his body moved instinctively.
‘I-I… I am…‘
As he gritted his teeth, a vein popped out on his neck.
“… Lee Minseong!“
Swoosh!
Lee Minseong got out of Royal Jelly with all his might.
His body was already in the process of becoming a bug, but it was running out of control without listening to Queen Arsha‘s orders.
“Ahhh!“
He was constantly hearing an order to obey the queen in his head, but he refused to follow the order while rolling on the floor in agony.
‘H-How dare you give me orders…!‘
Two pairs of wings spread out from his back as he stood up.
Swish-!
“Wait! Where are you going?!“
Arsha looked at the back of Lee Minseong flying through the wall.

* * *
Ring!

[You have completed ‘Daily Quest: SBM Training‘.]
100 Push-ups: Completed (100/100)
100 Sit-ups: Completed (100/100)
100 Squats: Completed (100/100)
Run 10km: Completed (10/10)
※However, you must carry Ammut on your back.

[The completion reward has arrived.]
[Do you want to check the reward?]
( Y / N )
“Haaa… It was painful today.“
[Heheheuk! Young Master, you have suffered so much!… You will become strong as much as you‘ve worked hard though, so today is a worthwhile day…]
“Shut up.“
After going to Ammut for a daily quest, Suho collapsed on the bed.
Although he recovered instantly as a reward for completing it, the mental aftereffects of finishing high-intensity exercise to the point of breaking bones and tearing muscles did not easily disappear.
Bzzt!
His cell phone continued to vibrate by his bedside as he was lying on the bed.
“… What are you so noisy about?“
Suho frowned and picked up his phone.
An emergency disaster text message was shown on his cell phone.

Emergency Disaster Message
[Hunter Association] A-Class villain Lee Minseong appeared in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul. Evacuate and watch out for future attacks.

“What?“
Suho opened his eyes wide and got up.

[Breaking News! Class A Villain Lee Minseong, Attacks Other Hunters!]
[Appearance of A-Class villain attacking hunters!]
“The situation where a wanted A-Class villain gives up on escaping and attacks other hunters is unprecedented in Korea. “ – Expert A

The internet was on fire because of the sudden incident.
Suho was surprised and was checking the articles, but suddenly his phone rang.
-Hello, this is the Baekho Guild. You are Hunter Sung Suho, right? We were worried because you didn‘t answer the phone.
“What?“
-Vice President Baek Miho is looking for you.