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That would make sense, since Myung-yul is supposed to die soon.
「𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩.」
Anyway, that’s for later. I focused on Myung-yul in front of me again and continued the conversation.
“Actually, I’ve wanted to ask you for help with something.”
“. . . That’s good. It’ll make things easier.”
Myung-yul’s request was simple: he wanted to support my research on barrier techniques and share the results.
I had expected that from the beginning, so there was nothing to worry about. And then I told Myung-yul the conditions I had in mind.
“Please let me meet the prophet Unyeon.”
“. . . . . . .”
Prophet Unyeon. A character who becomes a major turning point for Yoo Ha-on and his party in the main story.
I figured I would meet her naturally as the story progressed, but I wanted to meet her a little sooner.
For some reason, I felt like I had to.
“Unyeon, you say. . . . . . .”
At that, Myung-yul’s expression changed for a moment. Unyeon’s existence was not known to many people, and the fact that she was close to Myung-yul was even more so.
“I won’t ask how you know about that.”
“. . . . . . .”
“First of all, let me tell you this. That old woman is just a fortune teller, not some great being. Plus, she’s eccentric. Even if you do meet her, it’ll be hard to get what you want.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“If that’s the case, then fine. It’s something I should normally be careful about, but for some reason, I don’t feel like refusing.”
Myung-yul relaxed his hardened expression and quietly offered me a handshake.
“I’ll be counting on you. I’ll contact you separately about Unyeon soon.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
As Myung-yul left, Arietta, who had been watching from the side, put a new chocolate in her mouth and said to me.
“If you needed Master, you could have asked me to arrange it.”
“. . . You didn’t tell me.”
“You didn’t ask.”
She really is a self-centered person. I smiled wryly at Arietta. Then, for some reason, I felt like she smiled back at me for a moment.
“Still, thank you.”
“Huh?”
“Master is old and stubborn about his research, so it’s good if he has less to worry about.”
Well, it was natural for a disciple to think that way.
I nodded slightly and looked around at the sparsely populated surroundings.
「𝙄𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙃𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝙅𝙞𝙣-𝙘𝙝𝙪𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜?」
I thought he would definitely be interested in the portable boundary stone, but it was strange.
「𝙄𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙨 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬.」
To compete with Dae-jin Industries, the leader in the exorcism industry, he would grab onto anything that had even the slightest potential.
It was hard to imagine that he wouldn’t be interested in this tempting bait.
As I was thinking that, a middle-aged man approached me with a leisurely gait.
It was Hwang Jin-chul, the big shot in the exorcism industry.
“I wonder if I’m too late.”
He pretended to be calm, but Hwang Jin-chul must have been keeping an eye on me for a while now.
And he showed up at the very end. As expected, he was someone I couldn’t let my guard down around.
“So, did you make any progress?”
“I learned a lot in many ways.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Whether he liked me or not, he was basically being very friendly. I didn’t plan on trying to out-talk this big shot merchant, so I got straight to the point.
“Do you want the portable boundary stone?”
“If I said no, it would be a pretty obvious lie.”
“All right.”
He seemed a little flustered by my words, even though he was a famous businessman.
“. . . Can I take that as a yes?”
“Yes. I’ll give you the finished product, the blueprints, and even the research log with all the trial and error. Of course, you’ll also have the rights to it in the future.”
“This is moving a little too fast. This is a matter that’s worth much more than you think.”
To Hwang Jin-chul, who was looking at me with a troubled expression, I answered without hesitation.
“I know. But I’m still offering it to you.”
“. . . I guess you’re serious. In that case, you must have something you want from me.”
“Yes. I have two things I want.”
Hwang Jin-chul nodded as if to tell me to go ahead, and I first mentioned the first condition.
“I’d like you to do your best to distribute the portable boundary stone to a wider range of people as soon as possible.”
“To a wider range of people, you say?”
It was probably something far from what Hwang Jin-chul had expected. That’s why he had a puzzled expression on his face.
“What do you gain from doing that?”
I had my answer to that.
“Because it’s something that will be necessary for the future.”
In the not-so-distant future, humanity will be thrown into great chaos by the aftermath of the second Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
At that time, this future technology, the portable boundary stone, will serve as a bit of insurance.
“. . . . . . .”
For a moment, Hwang Jin-chul’s eyes gleamed. He seemed to be partly impressed and partly swallowing his bitterness.
Eventually, Hwang Jin-chul, with a changed expression, stared deeply into my eyes. He must have started probing again, surprised by my unexpected response.
“That’s a rather puzzling condition. But it’s not bad for me. All right. Then what’s the second condition?”
In fact, if all I wanted was to spread the portable boundary stone, I could have done it through Seo Ji-an. However, the reason I specifically targeted Hwang Jin-chul was because he had something I wanted.
An item that I definitely needed to defeat the warlock Hektel, whom I would face again someday, and for my own growth.
It was a cursed stone that would surely lead its owner to death.
“I want the Death-Black Stone.”