Chapter 269

"Spirit Armament!"

Whirl—!

They were now working together seamlessly. The forest of the high elves, disguised as a beautiful and peaceful place, was burning intensely. And beyond that, Suho and his shadow soldiers began their battle. It was Sirka's role to control the spirits that poured out from the high elves' wounds.

Crackle—!

The spirits Sirka grasped immediately froze, becoming armor and weapons for her. Confidently charging forward with that power as her foothold, she looked quite dependable. But despite that, the spirits didn't flee far away and lingered around her, waiting for an opportunity.

It was only natural. How could they give up?! A fresh young elf had come to them on her own two feet! For the starving spirits, Sirka was incomparably more tempting than the old high elves whose bodies they devoured, leaving only empty shells. A sudden invasion from the outside wasn't a problem either. As always, they believed in Elvenwood.

Rumble—!

'It's starting.'

Finally, sensing the crisis, Elvenwood rose on its own. The ground shook violently with an ominous earthquake. The roots and vines, once buried deep underground, intertwined. The giant tree gradually transformed into the shape of an elf. It was a sight that made it seem like it should be called Woodelf, not Elvenwood. The monster swung its thick branches like a whip, sweeping away the pesky shadow soldiers in one blow.

Crack Crack Crack—!

With that overwhelming power. The entire ground was overturned in that one blow, and the shadow soldiers were helplessly torn apart.

[Don't back down!]

But the immortal army didn't stop its advance. Thanks to the immense mana flowing from Suho. The hot flames emanating from the Dragon King's heart.

Flare—!

The soldiers' torn bodies were reconnected with black-red steam. Those hot flames were a natural enemy to Elvenwood. Whether it attacked or was attacked, Its fate was already decided.

Graaaaaaaaaaa—!

It was to scream in the scorching flames. And only after seeing that sight did the spirits and high elves realize the crisis. But regret was always late. Their mistake was opening the barrier out of greed in the first place.

'Blessing: 'Blessing of Gluttony' amplifies experience points.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level of Skill: 'Storm of Black Flames' has increased.]

"Rescue the survivors!"

[Yes!]

It was now a familiar order. Once the battle subsided, the shadow soldiers immediately began rescuing the people buried underground in Elvenwood. According to the information Sillad obtained by squeezing Forest's soul, these people were intended fertilizer. They were buried alive in the ground, having their life force sucked out by the tree roots. There were both non-Awakened and Awakened among them. They were all living sacrifices that the high elves and spirits hunted outside and offered to Elvenwood.

[Master! They're all still alive!]

It was fortunate. Although they were unconscious from having their life force sucked out, they could be saved if they were still alive. Of course, it wasn't possible with healing potions. Those were only effective for external injuries sustained in battle; they couldn't heal internal wounds. Let alone restore life force, they couldn't even cure a cold. In this case, they had to use the orthodox method. Highly advanced modern medicine.

[Using Item: 'Shadow Key'.]

Suho immediately inserted the key into his shadow. And…

[Using Skill: 'Shadow Exchange'.]

Whoosh—!

This was a method of using the shadow power that Beru recently taught him. If he used the Shadow Key and Shadow Exchange together like this, a Gate would open in Suho's shadow. And that portal directly connected to the shadow soldier Suho designated. It bypassed the process of going through the shadow dungeon.

[The Shadow Key is an item the King personally made for you, Young Master, so this much is nothing.] With Beru's explanation, a Gate opened before Suho's eyes.

There was a large building visible on the other side. 'Ahjin Hospital'. It was a facility run by Suho's aunt. And Cha Hae-In, who had already crossed over, was waiting there with Sung Jinah. They had already caught up with each other. When they rescued the survivors from the first Elvenwood, Cha Hae-In immediately thought of Ahjin Hospital after checking their condition. Built with the support of Yoo Jinho's Ahjin Soft, it was probably the best-equipped hospital in Korea. The reason why such a great clinic was built in Yangpyeong, not Seoul, was simple. Because Suho's grandparents lived there. In short, Ahjin Hospital was practically a specialized nursing home with the best facilities in Korea.

"Hurry!"

"I've emptied an entire ward, so bring them straight to this building!"

At the urgent shouts of Cha Hae-In and Sung Jinah, who checked the survivors' conditions, the shadow soldiers hurriedly carried them and crossed through the Gate. Suho's aunt, having heard the general situation from Cha Hae-In, guided them to the empty area. They took the first survivors to the emergency room, but the test results showed that what they urgently needed wasn't treatment, but IV drips. Suho's mother returned to his side and relayed the test results.

"Suho, the test results for those people are out. Their condition is similar to those with Eternal Sleep Disease."

"Eternal Sleep Disease?"

"Yes. So according to your aunt, we need to use magic-powered life support devices to help their bodies recover, just like with Eternal Sleep Disease patients." Suho's expression turned serious at those words.

If it was Eternal Sleep Disease, didn't that mean the survivors' souls were already wandering the Sea of The Afterlife? Recovering their bodies that had life force sucked out was the immediate priority, but hoping that their souls would return to those was wishful thinking.

"This is a big problem."

"But it's still fortunate. Some of the people we rescued from the first elvenwood were already dead, but this time, thankfully, they're all alive." Cha Hae-In let out a sigh of relief and looked at the survivors with a pitying expression. Then she gazed at Suho's face again and asked,

"There will be… more places like this, right?"

"Yes."

Cha Hae-In bit her lip with regret and muttered. "Hurry before there are more victims. Those who have had too much of their life force sucked out can't be saved even with life support devices." 

But finding Elvenwood was much more difficult than she expected. According to Harmakan's analysis, if they hadn't flown in on Kaisel, no one would have noticed it and just passed by. Perception impairment and space distortion. That was the type of the barrier and magic surrounding Elvenwood that he found. But knowing about it, didn't mean they could find other hidden Elvenwoods. They needed a different method. And fortunately, Suho had Sirka.

"Spirit Cavalry!"

Crackle—!

Sirka, who awakened to 'Spirit Armor' skill thanks to Suho, unleashed a new ability that applied that power. If Spirit Armor was the ability to freeze spirits and create armor, Spirit Cavalry was the ability to make that armor move on its own without her. In other words, 'Ice Golem' Sirka could finally create the ice army that Sillad led when he invaded Earth in the lost timeline. Of course, with her current skill level, she couldn't create an army as large as Sillad's. But she could create a few, and that was enough to be helpful now. Sirka looked at the Ice Golem that appeared before her and asked,

"Forest, which way is the nearest Elvenwood from here?"

Graaaa—!

The Ice Golem created from the spirits that were in Forest's body, roared as if answering Sirka's question while staring in a specific direction. Perception impairment and space distortion didn't apply to the spirits that lived in Elvenwood.

"Then I'll move to the next place right away. Mother, would you like to come with me?" Suho asked Cha Hae-In.

It was only natural that the speed of conquering Elvenwood would be faster if Cha Hae-In helped. Not to mention Kaisel's mobility. But the shadow wyvern didn't listen to Suho's orders. Perhaps because of Sung Jinwoo's order to protect Cha Hae-In, it stuck to her side. His mother shook her head.

"I'd like to join, but I think I'll have to stay here for a few more days."

Suho already guessed the reason. Were there any secrets in this day and age? Cha Hae-In, who went to North Korea in such a flashy way on a black dragon, suddenly appeared in Yangpyeong with numerous survivors. Since the patients at Ahjin Hospital witnessed that, the news spread to the Hunter Association and the government in an instant, not to mention the reporters. Hospitalizing the dying survivors was Sung Jinah's decision, but they were North Koreans. To bring so many foreigners to South Korea and provide them with expensive medical equipment required a lot of cumbersome legal procedures. Even giving up a ward for them was a great sacrifice for the citizens of Yangpyeong. So for various reasons, Cha Hae-In was stuck in South Korea. A press conference was scheduled in an hour…

"I don't know how much my name value will help, but once I do the press conference today, I should be able to get cooperation from nearby hospitals. The problem is tomorrow."

She had urged Suho, but as the number of survivors rescued from Elvenwood increased, Ahjin Hospital was running out of beds.

"At this rate, we'll be short on beds starting tomorrow. That's when the real problem arises."

And they couldn't discharge existing patients, so there was a mountain of problems to solve, including various political and legal issues. But just then…

Screech—!

"Sister-in-law—!" Yoo Jinho jumped out of the sedan that arrived in front of Ahjin Hospital and ran towards them without any pretense. Although he met her on the Island of Facade last time, he was worried about leaving her alone in that cold land. He rushed to Yangpyeong as soon as he received her call, putting aside all his other plans. And while on the move, he had already resolved all the issues Cha Hae-In was worried about.

"You said you were short on beds? So I brought more!"

"Huh? Brought? What?" Cha Hae-In tilted her head in confusion at Yoo Jinho's words. He winked at his wife, Sung Jinah, who was urgently entering the ward with the patients, and confidently answered,

"If the patients only need life support devices, wouldn't it be enough to just have more buildings?"

"Well, that's… Wait, don't tell me?" Cha Hae-In's eyes widened at the sudden thought,

"Here, see." Yoo Jinho pointed towards all the buildings surrounding Ahjin Hospital. Naturally, Cha Hae-In and Suho's gazes followed his and looked around.

The vast site of Ahjin Hospital. Despite its state-of-the-art facilities, it wasn't particularly large. The site was spacious, but the parking lot was rather overbuilt. And outside the hospital grounds, ordinary commercial buildings, officetels, and apartment complexes were scattered around. Before Ahjin Hospital was built here, this area was just empty land. So Yoo Jinho bought the land first before building the hospital. All the land he could see… Since the prices were quite low compared to Seoul, it wasn't really a big investment. He only bought the land; buildings were the part that required enormous capital. But Yoo Jinho didn't bother explaining to Cha Hae-In in detail how much his company had grown and how much wealthier he had become during the five years she was missing. He just stated the conclusion.

"Yes. All the buildings you see now are ours."

"…!" Cha Hae-In and Sung Suho's eyes widened at those words.

"Well, to be precise, they were my father's buildings."

Yes. To be exact, they weren't 'Ahjin Soft's' buildings. Ahjin Soft was the result of Yoo Jinho, a second-generation chaebol, leaving his family and building a company from scratch. Conversely, this meant that there was a family that he left. And that was the largest construction company in Korea, led by Yoo Jinho's father, CEO 'Yoo Myunghan.'

'Yoojin Construction'

That's right. This city, built around Ahjin Hospital, was part of a new development plan directly invested in by Yoojin Construction. When Yoo Jinho said he would build a hospital in Yangpyeong for Sung Jinwoo's parents, his father, Yoo Myunghan, signed the investment plan with his usual blunt expression and said, 

– Well, I guess I can live there after I retire. All of us together.

'…?'

He felt a strange tinge of jealousy in those last words, but Yoo Jinho quickly forgot about it, thinking that his father wasn't that kind of person. But in any case, the result of that urban development project was this place, Yangpyeong.

"Since the city development is still in progress, there are many vacant houses. And many unsold units. So I contacted my father to say hello and bought them all through our company."

"Wait, this isn't Monopoly…" Cha Hae-In opened her mouth with a dumbfounded expression at the absurd scale.

Was it because she had been away from home for too long? Yoo Jinho's wealth was already considerable five years ago, but the company that developed the world's first virtual reality game seemed to have achieved tremendous growth in the past five years.