Paradise I

The day after the Seoul Station incident.

Ohjin finished his early training and headed towards the Association.

Knock, knock—

"Yes, come in."

Entering Team Leader Han's office, he could see that there were several times the normal amount of documents piled up.

"This is…?"

"Haha! Wasn't there a massive upheaval yesterday?"

Despite the apparent signs of fatigue, a bright smile was placed on Team Leader Han's face.

'Well.'

Ohjin being revealed as being affiliated with the Association would have been quite the hot topic.

"Seriously… the internet has gone crazy with all sorts of stories about you. Have you seen it?"

"I didn't take time to look into it myself," Ohjin sat on his usual spot with a smile.

Team Leader Han grinned in high spirits while placing two cups of coffee on the table.

"I have received contact from sixteen guilds from just this morning alone; eight guilds amongst them have even sent donations to the Association."

"Wow… in one day?"

"Haha! The ones that are quick on their feet survive in this industry, after all."

Team Leader Han exploded out in hearty laughter and took a sip of coffee.

"…But."

His voice slightly settled down.

"From this matter… the fact that you are a North Star's apostle has also spread."

Indeed.

No matter how much effort was put into regulating the mass media, there was no way rumors wouldn't spread when he had defeated an enormous monster in front of that many people.

"Well, I expected that much."

"I apologize. Our side tried to at least prevent the fact that you're a North Star's apostle from being discovered, but…"

"Huhu. It's alright."

Hiding the fact that he was a North Star's apostle was nothing but a temporary measure to buy time until he accumulated strength anyways.

'5-Star, no, it would have been better if It was hidden until I at least achieved 4-Star, but…'

It was already spilled milk.

Star of the Weaver Girl, Vega's one and only apostle.

With that title, there was no need to yield to anyone.

"By the way… uh… looking at the articles, I heard that you demanded money from the people you saved…" said Team Leader Han cautiously.

"Ah. T-That…"

There was nothing he could say.

Although the one who demanded it was not him but Vega, in the eyes of other people, it would most likely look like he ordered his summoned guardian spirit or something along those lines to request for money.

'I'm probably getting shit on, right?'

The reason why he intentionally didn't look up the news previously was for that same reason.

"—That was seriously a stroke of genius."

"Huh?"

'What nonsense is that?'

"Somewhat like a tsundere? Well, your popularity has skyrocketed from that sort of thing."

"What?"

'A fucking dere?'

"Hm? Have you not seen the article Chollian News published yesterday as well?"

"I haven't…"

"Here, take a look at this."

Team Leader Han held out a tablet and clicked on the article.

The entire front page of the article was a photo of him dramatically saving a child that had fallen on the ground in amazing composition.

'Just when did they take this?'

Ohjin's eyes opened wide.

It was an image of him landing in front of the fallen child while the hem of his clothes fluttered with his blue lightning-encompassed body.

It wasn't an understatement in the least to say that it looked like a scene taken out of a movie.

"The words you said while saving this child have become such a hot topic."

"What words?"

'I only said to hurry up and escape.'

"Hm? After saving the child, didn't you say 'I wasn't really trying to save you or anything'?"

'No I didn't?'

"And then bam! You covered the fallen child with your coat!"

'How do I cover the child when I have no coat? What the hell? You should be able to tell from the photo anyway.'

"Even turning your body around and saying, 'hurry up… and escape' with a low voice at the end!!!"

'Please write articles, not novels.'

"Anyways, you demanding money at the end has become all the rage because of that.

"It feels kind of like you're saying 'The reason I saved you all was for the money anyways' or something like that…"

"Ah, yes. I completely understand."

'Wow, what in the world? So this is what it feels like to be the victim.'

As the one who went around scamming every day, he felt light-headed, thinking if that was what all the people victimized by him would have felt.

'Well, in this case.'

Even though he was scammed, it was applied in a way favorable to him anyways.

"…What's the name of the one who published that article?"

"It is Reporter Go Kwanghyun."

'It was that bastard? Come to think of it; there could be no one other than him, after all.'

'…I'll have to pay him a visit soon.'

It was a bit embarrassing, but he was able to overcome the crisis of having an unlikable image set in stone thanks to it.

'It'll be useful in the future if I use this to my advantage.'

Forming at least one connection with the press would make things comfortable in many ways.

Voluntary or not, the title of North Star's apostle would inevitably receive the attention of the masses.

"By the way, an uproar has arisen in 'Paradise' recently because of this incident as well. Well, monsters appeared under the heart of the city all of a sudden, after all…"

Paradise.

Hearing that word reminded Ohjin of his original objective in coming to the Association.

Clunk—

He placed down the starstone he had harvested from the flesh giant, along with all the mutant's starstones he had gathered until then.

"This is…"

"These are the starstones I earned from killing the flesh giant and Reptilians."

"There's quite a lot of them."

Team Leader Han observed the black starstones that were piled up on the table.

Excluding the starstone harvested from the flesh giant, the starstones were only sized around a coin, but there were a substantial amount of them.

"I want these off my hands."

"Hmm."

Team Leader Han narrowed his eyes and spread out the black starstones piled up on the table.

"Excluding these two, their quality isn't all that good."

One of them was the starstone he earned from killing the flesh giant, and the other was from the mucus giant he had dealt with inside the Mok-dong dungeon.

Naturally, the starstone harvested from the flesh giant was overwhelmingly larger.

"How much do you think they will total?"

"Hm…"

Team Leader Han continued speaking while holding up one of the black starstones.

"To tell you the truth, the price of mutant starstones has gone down a lot lately."

"They've gone down a lot?"

"Yes. The supply has increased by a large amount as the number of mutant appearances have shot up recently."

It was news Ohjin had never heard of.

"As our side is still in the middle of investigating, we haven't made a public announcement yet… but the rumors say that supplies have increased by nearly tenfold."

The question 'Is it connected to the Black Star's celestials?' flashed across his mind, but he didn't say it out loud.

"Still… since there's a large amount of them, and because the size and quality of these two are especially outstanding… Hm. $4,000,000 at least? You could potentially receive more."

"I see."

That was enough.

He could reach the amount he aimed for and still have leftovers.

"I want to sell these in a hurry."

"In a hurry?"

"Yes. Within a few days if possible."

"Hm… I believe that it'll be difficult to sell this amount of starstones in a few days. The trade for mutant starstones has especially gone down as the market price is unstable."

"Then how is it if the Association gives me $3,000,000 in advance and takes the remaining profit?"

"Huh?" Team Leader Han's eyes opened wide.

No matter how urgent he was in need of money, to think he was willing to give a minimum of $1,000,000 to the Association?

'Awakener Ohjin… isn't this type of person.'

It hadn't been long since he had met him, but judging from how he acted during the Association contract and receiving requests, it wasn't hard to tell how fanatically obsessed Ohjin was about money.

"Could you do that for me?"

"Ah, yes… of course. With those conditions, the one who's doing the requesting should be us."

"Then please do so."

There were mountains of questions he wanted to ask, but he decided not to press on.

"We'll transfer $3,000,000 to your account around tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you," Ohjin nodded his head with a slight smile.

"Ah, right. Could I get this repaired as well?"

Ohjin took out the wire shooter and placed it on the table.

"Please don't tell me it's inoperationable."

"No. One of the wires was cut off."

"Ah. Then that won't take too long to fix."

"Hehe. I'm sorry I have to request a repair the day after receiving it after you went through all that trouble to make it for me."

"Hahaha! No, it's okay. A lot of things happened yesterday, after all."

Shaking his head, Team Leader Han took the wire shooter.

"Is there nothing else you wish to ask?"

"Yes. There is none."

Ohjin got up from his spot while nodding his head.

"Ah, wait a minute. There's something I have for you."

"Hm?"

"What you requested before."

"Ah."

Come to think of it; there was one other thing requested along with the production of his equipment.

"We have prepared it in the highest quality."

Clunk—

Team Leader Han placed a luxurious black case around a meter long on top of the table.

"How much is it?"

"The total is around $170,000."

"Wait a minute."

Ohjin took out his phone in order to send the money.

"No. We'll take this amount out of the profit that we'll receive this time."

"Hm…"

Ohjin thought for a moment and soon slightly nodded his head.

"Alright. Let's do so."

As the money from the profit would end up being taken from the same place that was already going to profit from him, it was more or less the same as purchasing it with his own money.

Ohjin took the black case Team Leader Han held out with care.

"Then…"

"Ah, right. There's still one more thing I have to give you."

"Another?"

Ohjin tilted his head and looked at Team Leader Han.

Team Leader Han handed him a card that had the Association's emblem embedded in. On the card was a photo of Ohjin—along with simple personal information.

"This is…"

"This is an Association Special Officer license."

"Huh? Special Officer?"

Association Special Officer.

A simple comparison would be a special agent affiliated with the Association.

'Holy shit. He's giving this to me?'

Even though the Association was disrespected here and there, Special Officers were an exception. It was because they would only issue the license to Awakeners that have been proven to be skilled amongst the Association.

Moreover, powerful authority for investigation would be granted to Special Officers. To put in bluntly, even detaining a random person passing down the street and performing a stop-and-search was possible.

'Though doing shit like that will naturally leave you discharged from the office the very same day.'

Anyways, it meant that the authority they possessed was that powerful.

"This is… very unexpected."

"Haha. It is a bit early, but we were able to issue it so early because the Association's chairman enthusiastically pushed the matter."

It seemed like the chairman had made preparations in case Ohjin left for some major guild as his popularity had risen all of a sudden from the incident.

'Still, they're issuing a Special Officer License when I've been in the Association for how long?'

'Just how desperate are they?'

"Well… I'll take it for now."

There was no reason to refuse when the other side was willing.

"Then, I'll take my leave."

"Yes. Have a safe trip."

After sharing simple goodbyes, he exited the Association.

The fresh sunlight was gleaming down.

"Haa."

Letting out a deep breath, he raised his smartphone.

Opening the bank app, he confirmed his balance.

'$7,000,000.'

As $3,000,000 would come in the next day, he had saved up a total of $10,000,000.

"I've… saved it all."

His voice shook.

He turned around and started to move his feet.

He had achieved the amount he aimed for.

There was now only one step left,

'Towards Paradise.'