Resurrection Chapter 89 - See You Again Then

I passed through the gaudy holograms and entered Hyeopjukdo-gil. The district, dark day and night, was magnificent in its own way.

Under a brilliant night sky where auroras rippled, people dressed in all sorts of finery milled about as if a festival were underway. At every street corner, fountains overflowing with champagne sparkled, and sweet things like chocolates, marshmallows, and candies were scattered everywhere like stones.

Passing through the dazzling street, I reached an area decorated just like a dungeon. In the place that recreated the unique scenery of a dungeon, there were countless bars lined up. As soon as I chose one and entered, the bartender who was wiping a glass at the counter greeted me familiarly.

“Well, well, who do we have here? Isn’t it the jack-of-all-trades, Kim Yitae? What brings the man who’s become an A-rank magic swordsman to a place like this?”

At those words, the surrounding gazes all focused on me. I raised my middle finger to tell him to shut up, approached the bar, and said.

“I have something I want to find out.”

“It’ll be a problem if you try to get a discount citing our old friendship.”

“I won’t. I won’t, so where is Park Gyu?”

At my question, the bartender looked over at me with a strange expression. He knew that I was reluctant to face Park Gyu. My wanting to see him despite that meant I wanted expensive information that could only be obtained by meeting him.

The bartender sighed and then lifted a section of the bar. I went through there and followed the bartender who was heading to the back of the establishment.

Passing through a narrow alley stacked with food ingredients and going inside, a container office emerged that was a perfect fit for the expression ‘shabby.’

Like most entertainment districts, the back alleys of Hyeopjukdo-gil’s magnificent main street were filthy. It was understandable, since it had been built where slums had sprung up like mushrooms as refugees flocked in.

Inside the office sat a man with a scar on his face, giving him a rather fierce impression. The guy, with his unshaven, messy face, smiled brightly upon seeing me.

“Heh heh. Long time no see, kiddo! What brings you here?”

“Park Gyu.”

The man with a name that could easily sound like a curse word was my employer from my younger days. He was a guy who remembered my dark past in its entirety, so it was awkward to face him, but I had no choice if I wanted information. Because even though Park Gyu looked like a beggar on the outside, he was South Korea’s biggest information broker and one of the real powers of the Hyeopjukdo-hoe.

I frowned at the yellowish-gold tooth he had implanted in his front teeth.

“Why a gold tooth instead of an implant?”

“So I can pull it out and use it if I ever run into an Otherworldly Store, why?”

The guy, smiling slyly, gestured with his chin at a sofa with all its stuffing coming out, as if telling me to sit. As I perched on it, the sofa screamed as if in pain.

“Isn’t this the same sofa you’ve had since I was here? Get a new one. What do you spend your money on?”

“You try being an information broker. There’s no profit in it.”

The bartender went outside, and Park Gyu came around from behind his desk. He chattered about whether he should make me a cup of instant coffee or what, and then asked about my business.

“Seeing you come all the way here, you must be in a hurry.”

“Yeah, I am. I want to know where Yaksha is right now.”

Park Gyu shrugged his shoulders and played dumb.

“Aren’t you the one who knows Yaksha’s whereabouts? Weren’t you the last one to see Yaksha in Dungeon 77?”

At his casual-sounding question, I held out my palm.

“If you want to hear it, pay up.”

Park Gyu clicked his tongue as he made his own cup of instant coffee.

“This is why I say there’s no profit in being an information broker.”

“Or, trade it for information on Min Gongchan. Where did that guy go?”

Since Min Gongchan was tracking Yaksha, finding his whereabouts was the same as finding Yaksha’s. Still, I thought he might know Min Gongchan’s movements since he’d be easier to track, so I asked, but Park Gyu made an annoying expression.

The expression of someone who alone knows something others don’t. Park Gyu spoke with his characteristic mischievous expression.

“Min Gongchan, you say. Do you even know who Min Gongchan is?”

It was hard to believe that a person of Park Gyu’s stature wouldn’t know that Min Gongchan was a regressor. It didn’t seem like the guy had been particularly hiding that fact, so he might have even known before me.

I nodded casually.

“I know.”

Park Gyu’s eyes widened as if in surprise.

“You’re saying you know that Min Gongchan is the young master of the Hyeopjukdo-hoe here?”

“What?”

A completely unexpected story came out, and I was extremely surprised. He was said to have put a hit out on Heesoo hyung all over the place, so I wouldn’t have been too surprised if he was just said to be related to the Hyeopjukdo-hoe.

But ‘young master’? What’s with the word choice? I was thinking it might be some kind of metaphor when Park Gyu saw my surprised look and explained with a chuckle.

“He is the only son and illegitimate child of the Hyeopjukdo-hoe’s chairman, Seol Woochan.”

An event from the past Sejong City mayoral election flashed through my mind. Awakened ones didn’t have the right to vote, so it was none of my business, but I did know that Seol Woochan had lost the election back then due to an illegitimate child scandal.

To think that child back then was Min Gongchan.

“Seol Woochan denied the existence of his illegitimate child during the past mayoral election, but now that he’s lost the election and even his legal wife has died, there’s nothing holding him back. He’s acknowledged Min Gongchan as his son and brought him to his side. Which means he’s now the undisputed young master of this Hyeopjukdo-hoe.”

A subtle hint of sarcasm was mixed in at the end of Park Gyu’s words. It was understandable.

Seol Woochan may have gone around with the face of a saint during the mayoral election, but his true nature was that of a gangster. That nature hadn’t gone anywhere, so even while the world was on the brink of ruin due to monsters, he committed all sorts of crimes and became the undisputed ruler of the criminal underworld.

What was surprising was the fact that no one knew what god Seol Woochan served or what abilities he possessed. As you could tell from his running for mayor, he thoroughly pretended to be a civilian. I didn’t know how that was possible, but many people firmly believed he was a civilian.

However, seeing that all the powerful figures in the Hyeopjukdo-hoe were awakened, there was no way he could be a civilian. In a world where survival of the fittest was everything, he couldn’t have built this kingdom called the Hyeopjukdo-hoe if he hadn’t been awakened.

For such a person to acknowledge a child he had denied with his own mouth. It was a comedy in itself. And ‘young master’ on top of that. It was a ridiculous story.

It wasn’t hard to guess that there would be a bloody competition to see who would become Seol Woochan’s successor. It was impossible for Min Gongchan, who was a civilian and young to boot, to become the successor through bloodline alone, beating out the fearsome second-in-commands. If Seol Woochan had even mentioned such a thing out of his own greed, Min Gongchan would have been a dead man that day.

“He surely didn’t bring Min Gongchan in to make him his successor. Is it for his retirement or to prepare for the afterlife?”

“Whether he’s a pleasure-bringer or whatever, it’s true that Min Gongchan is playing the role of an immature young master to the hilt. He’s engrossed in playing hunter, freely drawing on vast sums of money.”

I recalled the mithril armor Min Gongchan had been wearing. An item whose price was beyond imagination. No matter how well he knew the location of the Otherworldly Store, it was impossible to purchase such an item without funds. I had been wondering where all that money came from, and it was from the Hyeopjukdo-hoe?

Park Gyu scratched his messy chin and continued.

“The amount is too excessive to be simply pocket money. And the things he does with that money are also strange. At this rate, we’ll have no choice but to request the chairman to restrain him, which is a very awkward situation for us merchant guild leaders.”

I recalled the tiger-like appearance of Seol Woochan that I had seen from a distance. The man was quite different when he was acting like a good person running for mayor and when he was reigning as the head of the Hyeopjukdo-hoe here. It was to the point where I wondered if it was the same person, so I could understand why a sly character like Park Gyu was concerned.

“It seems that young master of the Hyeopjukdo-hoe has taken an interest in you. You must have gotten pretty close, to the point of going into a dungeon together?”

“Yeah. We’re dating.”

I said it as a joke, but Park Gyu’s face crumpled. I realized he had taken my joke seriously and was about to correct myself, when a sudden chilly feeling hit the back of my head.

I realized that I was facing an absurd situation and glared at Park Gyu. Park Gyu was still frowning and asking about the truth of what I had said, asking “Really? You’re dating?”, but this was no time to be leisurely answering that.

South Korea’s top information broker, Park Gyu. He never gives out information for free. There’s only one reason why he would spill Min Gongchan’s personal information, which I hadn’t even asked for.

He was stalling for time.

I sharpened my senses and felt the presence of people who had now surrounded the office. The shabby container building was completely surrounded.

I frowned and said.

“Do you have to go this far?”

Park Gyu shrugged.

“Sorry, kiddo, but I’m not stupid enough to kick away a pumpkin that rolled into my lap.”

“And do you know what kind of pumpkin that is?”

“Since I don’t know, I have to put it in a basket and wipe off the dirt first.”

I concentrated my mind and tried to count how many guys were outside the container. There seemed to be about a dozen or so, but if I stalled, their numbers would multiply like mushrooms. They were probably forming a perimeter to prevent me from leaving Hyeopjukdo-gil, but I was no longer Park Gyu’s kiddo. If I wasn’t confident in handling those small fries, I wouldn’t have come to a place like this alone.

However, I thought I should definitely smash that damned sofa this time. That way, Park Gyu, that stingy Mister, would buy a new one.

I uttered the activation word.

“Blowing Up.”