Chapter 145 – Doctor Toppler
“Ah. It is an abbreviation for the ‘Saviour of Eyes and Ears’.”
“Saviour of Eyes and Ears?”
“Yes. It is a group that follows Kahng-woojin-nim. All the reporters you saved last time have gathered…”
“…….”
Woojin looked at the reporter with a dumbfounded expression on his face. The reporter responded with a proud expression on his face.
“If you need something, we’ll act swiftly to help you. You just have to ask.”
“Hmmm.”
It was a party of reporters.
If an organization decided to follow you, how was one suppose to react to it?
One might feel uncomfortable by the invasion of one’s privacy, or one might feel flattered by the overwhelming interest.
In this case, Woojin was indifferent.
‘What a strange thing to form.’
Woojin smirked as he brought the reporter closer by putting his arm around the reporter’s shoulders. Then he make a V sign.
“So you are saying it’s something like a fan club?”
“It is similar.”
“I’ll use you guys sometimes.”
“It is an honor to be able to repay your favor.”
Click, click.
Several dozen cameras let out flashes.
After the brief meeting, Woojin and the Holy Maiden left on the helicopter. The reporter quickly ran to his car, and he opened up his laptop.
– This is an announcement to all the members. The savior’s first order has been given. He wants us to find and set up a meeting with the Dungeon expert, Doctor Toppler.
The reporter performed the most urgent task of delivering Woojin’s words. Then he uploaded the pictures he took.
– This will be kept as a family treasure. I never expected to be able to take a picture with him….
He was still moved with emotions, and he looked at the uploaded bulletin with a rapturous expression on his face. His satisfaction multiplied when he saw it quickly being shared with other people.
***
Woojin had reached level 81. He opened his Status Window, then he put all his Bonus Stats into Control.
“You guys take care of it.”
[We do as the lord wants.]
The Undead army started to kill the remaining monsters.
The London’s clock tower was almost unrecognizable. The destruction was so bad that it made one wonder if the city could recover again.
The evacuation of the civilians had been slow. Moreover, they had military forces with powerful weapons, yet they had hesitated in attacking the colony. This had resulted in a catastrophe.
“I found one.”
Woojin put away the Dimensional Fragment that had appeared. At that moment, the president of England’s Roused organization approached Woojin. His name was Tom Clarkson.
“Hoo. You are as I have heard. The British Armed Forces has taken a lot of damage, but the casualty would have been larger if Mr. Kahng-woojin hadn’t stepped in.”
“Well, this is to our mutual benefit.”
They received his help, and Woojin gained EXP and two Dimensional Fragments.
He got one in Rome, and he gained another one in London. If he added it to the ones earned in Korea, he had a total of five.
If he included the one he earned from clearing Dread’s Dungeon, he had six.
He’ll be able to buy a Dungeon with six. He could also combine the three Fragments to create Dimensional Seals.
“So this is why I’m offering this proposal. The spoils of war from this hunt…”
“I don’t need the corpses or Artifacts. You guys can keep it all.”
He had no reasons to sift through all the monster corpses littering the city to excavate the Bloodstones.
He was already overflowing with money. Moreover, Alandal’s earnings wasn’t going to dry up any time soon.
There was no reason why he should covet the Bloodstones or money.
Tom’s eyes shone as he asked a question.
“Would you like to sell the crystal you earned to England?”
“What? Are you talking about the Dimensional Fragment?”
“Oh! So it is called a Dimensional Fragment.”
Woojin took out the gem that was letting out a purple light. Even if one didn’t have a detection related Roused ability, one could clearly feel the incredible amount of magical energy it was emitting. It was most definitely an incredible treasure.
This was the gem that had come out from the bizarre structures created by the Monster lords.
US, Japan, China and Germany had already acquired this luminous crystal named the Dimensional Fragment.
It was probably an epic Item like the Return Marble that allowed one to escape the Dungeon. He had to find a way to obtain it, so the scientists could carry out research on it. He had to have it at all cost.
Woojin smirked as he saw Tom’s fiery eyes.
“How much do you want to buy it for?”
“Y…you really are going to sell it to me?”
“I’ll hear you out.”
“…….”
He never expected Woojin to surrender the gem. For a moment, words failed Tom.
“What? You don’t even have your ducks in order to give me an offer right now?”
“N…no. If it is within my authority, it wouldn’t be a problem… Would you like to go in front of the Parliament?”
Woojin furrowed his brows.
He was asking Woojin to go into a boring negotiation? If he knew this would happen, he would have brought either Woo-soonghoon or Jung-minchan.
“I’ll give it to you if you guys hand over an aircraft carrier to me.”
“…what?”
“If you don’t want to than forget about it.”
“P…please wait a moment.”
Woojin’s offer was so sudden and out of left field that Tom couldn’t even think through the cost involved.
“Can you give us an opportunity to negotiate the price?”
“I’m busy.”
“Please….”
Tom’s imploring face was a piteous sight.
It made one wonder what orders he had received from the British Parliament…. Woojin spoke as if he was being magnanimous. He was good at pushing and pulling deals, but it wasn’t as if he cared for it. For the past 20 years, he had taken what he wanted, and he destroyed anything he didn’t need. Didn’t he make Alandal, so he didn’t have to deal with annoying deals that required a deft touch?
“Go to Alandal and negotiate for it. I’ll leave one behind.”
“……!”
Tom’s eyes shone. This meant Woojin had more than one? It was best to have as many samples as possible for research. If they could negotiate well…
“I understand. Thank you for giving us the opportunity.”
“Go about your business.”
“Would you like to go to the palace? There is a standing invitation for you.”
“If anyone wants to see me, they can come to me.”
“It is an invitation from the Queen.”
“Why would that matter?”
“…….”
“…….”
Woojin smirked as he turned around.
“The people who are thirsty should be the one coming to me. I have someone else I have to see.”
Woojin turned around coolly, and Tom didn’t even think about stopping him.
“Whew. I guess this problem is out of my hands.”
He requested an aircraft carrier.. Tom was only the president of England’s Roused Association. This problem exceeded his authority.
Since every country was eyeing that Item, they would have to quickly dispatch their best professional negotiator.
When Woojin couldn’t sense Tom’s presence, he returned all of his Undead Army back to his Dimensional domain.
Woojin rode his Phantom Steed awhile before he finally arrived at the edge of the demolished city.
“Thank you for your hard work, monarch.”
“Are you busy?”
Of course, she was busy. A lot of patients had been created from this chaos.
“Since it seems like this might be something important, I’ll accompany you.”
“Whatever.”
The Holy Maiden left behind the patients moaning from pain as she followed after Woojin. This was too important to her. It was for Alphen’s salvation…
They were going to meet with a scholar, who had accumulated the most knowledge of the Dungeons on earth.
“What about the reporter from before?”
“She went to get her car.”
“Is that so?”
After a brief moment, Jonie pulled up in her old SUV. She exited from the driver’s seat, and she bowed deeply towards Woojin.
“I’m sorry for such a shabby accommodation.”
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t live the high life.”
He had spent a lot of time on the battlefield, so his lifestyle had been far from being luxurious. Of course, when he consolidated Alandal, he had been treated in a manner akin to an emperor.
When Woojin sat on the hard seat, the car started to move.
After arriving at a location far away from London, the car arrived at a site packed with 4 story buildings.
“This was a city that had been formed after the Dungeon Shock.”
If a country had subway stations, something similar to this had occurred.
Subway station sphere.
One’s safety increased as one got farther away from the Dungeon.
It was good to live near a Dungeon only if you are part of a guild or you worked for a company with ties to the Dungeon businesses.
Civilians were safer as they got further away from the subway stations.
The road narrowed as they traveled between the buildings, and they came to a stop.
“It’s that building.”
“That doesn’t look anything like a research center.”
“The research center was destroyed in the most recent incident. This place is Doctor Toppler’s residence.”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
Jonie guided Woojin towards Dr. Toppler’s house. It took a long time for the doctor to answer the doorbell.
[Who is it?]
It was a familiar voice. He had heard it on the tv.
“It’s Kahng-woojin.”
[……please enter.]
Beeeeeee!
The door unlocked, and the inside of the house was revealed. The house was so dirty that it made one wonder if the Doctor ever cleaned it before. Woojin turned around to look at Jonie.
“You can go now.”
“Excuse….”
“What? Just speak.”
Jonie, who had been hesitating, mustered her courage, and she spoke.
“Do you mind if I take a selfie with you?”
“All right.”
When Woojin agreed to it without hesitation, Jonie let out a laugh of joy, and she took out her handphone.
“You get in here too.”
“…….”
The Holy Maiden, who had been standing to the side, joined in as the picture was taken.
Click!
“Thank you.”
“It is nothing. I’ll call on you again.”
“Well, how about making an SNS account? It’ll be a good line to contact the S.E.E.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Thank you.”
She was saying ‘thank you’ to every word he said. Wasn’t he used to this?
It was like the organizations in Alphen, who had revered the Immortal.
Woojin and the Holy Maiden entered into the messy house. The house wasn’t that large. There was a kitchen leading into living room, and there was a single bedroom that one could see through the door.
Professor Toppler was in the kitchen. He was boiling water in a kettle.
“Please sit.”
“You are quite fluent in Korean.”
When Woojin sat, Toppler poured hot water into the tea cup. He spoke to the Holy Maiden, who was just standing there.
[Holy Maiden should sit, too.]
“…….”
“…….”
Woojin’s face hardened, and the Holy Maiden was surprised. Woojin was the first one to react. In the blink of an eye, a summoned short knife was aimed at Toppler’s neck.
[How do you know how to speak the language of Alphen?]
[I learned it.]
He learned it? He probably had never been to the Planet Alphen, yet he spoke their language?
[Are you a Dimensional lord?]
[No.]
[Then what are you?]
“You can speak in Korean now.”
“Huh.”
Woojin was dumbfounded as he glared at Toppler. Their two gazes interlocked for a long time.
‘This bastard isn’t afraid of death.’
It seems threats wouldn’t work on him. What was this leery feeling he felt?
Woojin suddenly got up from his seat.
As he stared at Toppler, he took two steps backwards. Then he changed his Warrior’s Weapon into a spear. The atmosphere was tense like a drawn bow.
Woojin’s face hardened as he asked a question.
“What are you?”
His Korean was almost as good as a native. He also knew the language of Alphen, which a very select few on earth knew. However, this was insignificant compared to the other thing.
Something else made Woojin’s thoughts race.
“How come you don’t have a soul?”
Doctor Toppler.
Woojin couldn’t feel his soul.
Every person, animal, monster and even insects had a soul. It ranged between the blackest of black to the clearest of clear color. This didn’t change even if one was a Dimensional lord.
Basically, he had never seen a human without a soul before.
When one is confronted with an unknown being, how much fear does the absence of knowledge actually cause? Woojin had serious expression on his face as sweat beaded on his forehead.
On the other hand, Toppler was letting out a generous laugh.
“You don’t have to be so defensive. My goals are the same as Kahng-woojin-nim.”
“I asked you a question! What are you!!”
“…I am a human from a different Dimension.”
Different Dimension? Was he from the same Dimension as Alphen?
Then why couldn’t Woojin feel his soul? The sense of danger felt by Woojin didn’t lessen at all.
“I don’t care if you kill me. However, don’t you have questions for me?”
“…….”
Woojin narrowed his eyes.
Doctor Toppler.
He knew much more than Woojin had expected.
When he came out on the tv program to talk about his research, Toppler had been playing a character. He knew much more secrets about the Dimensions than he had revealed in the media.
Woojin unsummoned his Warrior’s Weapon, and he sat back in his seat.
He didn’t care if this person was soulless. He didn’t even care if he wasn’t a human.
Woojjin could kill him anytime he wanted to.
“Tell me everything you know.”
Woojin’s menacing gaze fixed itself on Doctor Toppler.
