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Chapter 453: Lord Jeong Yeongwoo07 (6)
Shwaaa!
A strange, unfamiliar sensation wrapped around his entire body.
“……!”
It was the same feeling as when entering a portal.
The dungeon really was closing.
‘N-no way! Am I seriously losing a whole hundred million like this?!’
But his vision had already gone pitch-black, and his body had entered another realm, unable to move an inch.
‘Those damn lizard bastards……!’
Just like that, Yeongwoo was expelled from the dungeon in an instant.
After a brief moment of blankness, when he opened his eyes again, a pillar of crimson fire was soaring right in front of him.
BOOOOM!
Lava was erupting in the middle of the night in Gwangjin-gu.
As Yeongwoo stood there in disbelief, staring at the red-hot lava column, the golden goblin guarding the place tilted its head.
–Kiit?
It was asking why he had returned so early.
It was much faster than usual.
Yeongwoo gave a hollow chuckle as he looked at the goblin.
“The universe really is vast, huh.”
At that, the goblin, not understanding, looked up into the sky toward the universe.
–Kit!
The universe.
A vast world scattered with self-aware planets and stars, where great beings engage in power struggles within their own hierarchy of order.
And somewhere in that massive universe, those damn lizard mercenaries who scammed Yeongwoo out of 100 million were probably still breathing.
“Sons of bitches.”
As Yeongwoo’s golden eyes glinted, still holding the sword he never got to swing, Negwig approached and lightly shook its head.
–Kkiik.
As if saying, “If you’re done with work, let’s go home.”
“Yeah, time to go.”
After staring up at the sky for a moment, Yeongwoo shut his eyes tightly.
“Well, at least I get some early rest thanks to this.”
Then he sheathed his sword at his waist and climbed onto Negwig’s back.
Tap!
“Now all I can do is hope those bastards talk nicely with the Ship Management Bureau.”
The 100 million was already gone, and Yeongwoo still hadn’t submitted the shipowner data.
In other words, the Bureau would either have to personally visit Earth with the gift Yeongwoo requested, or appoint another proxy.
‘Though, what they bring might not be a gift at all……’
Still, at most, it would just be a bit of military pressure.
Even in this universe, there weren’t many things that could actually scare Yeongwoo.
‘It’s not like I’ve committed a crime, right? I didn’t kill a government official, and all the proxies came back alive.’
Feeling proudly innocent before the law, Yeongwoo puffed out his chest and looked southward.
Swish.
It was finally time for a proper long rest.
* * *
12:00 a.m. sharp.
Arriving at the Parnas Hotel, Yeongwoo immediately opened the door to his personal suite, Room 3233.
Click.
Suddenly, a startled voice rang out from within the dimly lit room.
“Wh-who is it?”
It was none other than Jeonggu.
Not expecting anyone at this hour, he had been lying on the couch and jumped up when the door opened.
Then, from the direction of the bedrooms across the living room, Jiseon strolled out calmly.
–Who the hell is it? At this hour?
She didn’t know who the visitor was either, but her martial prowess made her far more composed than Jeonggu.
Standing at the doorway, Yeongwoo looked back and forth between his father and mother, then shrugged.
“C’mon, who else just walks in like this besides me?”
“Oh, well, true enough.”
Jeonggu, who had drawn a sword at some point, scratched his cheek as he sheathed it.
Meanwhile, Jiseon glanced at the clock in the living room and scanned Yeongwoo from head to toe.
–What, you didn’t go to the dungeon today?
She was puzzled by how early he had returned compared to usual, and also by the fact that his armor didn’t have a single drop of blood on it.
Yeongwoo closed the door behind him, entered the living room, and began taking off his gear piece by piece, tossing it onto the floor.
“Of course I went.”
–You went? Then what’s with the time?
Jiseon pointed directly at the clock.
Yeongwoo shook his head as if to say it wasn’t worth worrying about.
“There wasn’t much going on today.”
As Yeongwoo said this and sank into the sofa, Jeonggu suddenly widened his eyes.
“…Don’t tell me.”
“What?”
“Don’t tell me… you lost this time? You’re acting way too different.”
He was judging based on Yeongwoo’s early return and his current emotional state.
After all, Jeonggu had once gone into a dungeon with Yeongwoo.
So he could read him better than Jiseon could.
“You didn’t get your ass kicked or something, did you?”
At this daring question to the family head, Yeongwoo’s brow instantly furrowed.
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“Then what happened? You’ve got a family now. Shouldn’t you at least share the basics?”
Feeling something was off, Jeonggu clung to the subject like a hunting dog.
Jiseon tilted her head and, for once, sided with her husband.
–Yeah, something is weird. Did you get your ass handed to you by some alien punk? Whatever you’re doing out there, you’re doing it in our family’s name.
“What’s with all this ‘getting beat up’ talk today?”
Of course, even as he responded, Yeongwoo felt a chill run through his chest.
Weren’t his parents unusually sharp today?
He hadn’t been physically hit in the dungeon, but in truth, he had come back with the same sense of humiliation Jiseon had described.
So, Yeongwoo finally told them the truth.
“…I met with some government proxies.”
—Government proxies? From where?
“They said they were from the Ship Administration Bureau.”
—Is it because of the planetary ship?
“Right. But the Bureau already knew about our situation, so instead of officials, they sent some weird guys.”
As Yeongwoo spoke and looked up at the ceiling, Jiseon spat out a sharp remark.
—So things didn’t go well with them?
“…No, the conversation actually went fine.”
Yeongwoo tried to change his words but ended up speaking honestly.
“Somehow, I got swindled out of a hundred million karma.”
“…What?”
—Idiot.
Jeonggu and Jiseon's reactions split in two directions.
—Hey, you punk. A hundred million karma isn’t pocket change! How do you just ‘somehow’ get swindled? Does that even make sense?
“No, I’m telling you, their tactics were cosmic.”
—You moron, aren’t you technically a spaceman now too? It was basically scum fighting scum, and you lost.
As a former corporate mogul, Jiseon cut straight to the essence.
Yeongwoo had nothing to say in response.
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Whether it was him swinging a sword at first sight or those lizards pretending to be corpses and taking off with a hundred million — from the outside, they were probably all the same kind of people.
“Anyway… isn’t it lucky he came back alive? People usually die when they lose in a dungeon.”
Jeonggu tried to soothe the two of them, but it wasn’t very effective.
“I didn’t lose. I didn’t even make it to the regular dungeon today.”
—If you got scammed out of a hundred million by some proxy and not even an official, that’s a loss, plain and simple.
“……”
Under his mother’s cutting scolding, Yeongwoo bared his teeth and pointed Bastard.
Shhhk!
“That’s enough. The engagement meeting is tomorrow—are you not planning to attend?”
—What did you just say?
“And it’s not like that hundred million vanished into thin air.”
—What’s that supposed to mean?
“I said they were proxies from the Bureau. They came to get ship ownership data, but I sent them back empty-handed. So next time, actual officials will come.”
—…Is that supposed to be a good thing?
“Don’t you get it from the fact that they sent proxies? The Ship Administration Bureau is wary of us. If we play our cards right, we might be able to get something out of them.”
—You’re the guy who tried to bribe the tax office, and now you want to extort the Ship Administration Bureau?
Jiseon shook her head in disbelief.
Yeongwoo chimed in with more madness.
“This is called flexible thinking. Who says you can only bribe the government?”
—Bribes are illegal in the first place.
Jiseon sighed unintentionally.
To think that this is the heir she has to lead into the vast unknown of space… a place teeming with powerful beings the likes of which they’ve never seen.
—This reckless attitude only worked because you were on Earth. If you try this in space, it’ll blow up in your face. Aren’t you making too many enemies?
“What, Mother, do you know space?”
—What?
“In space, showing weakness only invites more enemies. So first, you act strong.”
Whoosh!
Then Yeongwoo straightened his back and pointed Bastard at the sky.
“Then, you become truly strong. That’s our way.”
—‘Our’ way? Who’s ‘we’?
“Me and all of you. In other words, Renaissance.”
Of course, no one other than the heir himself had ever agreed to this method.
“Anyway, since a grand task lies ahead, I’m going to get some good rest today. If you have more to say, leave it in a letter.”
As Yeongwoo stood up after saying this, Jiseon suddenly remembered something and asked:
—Wait, aren’t the Stars coming at 2 PM? Shouldn’t we at least discuss the basics before that?
“What kind of discussion?”
—What attitude we’ll take with them, what level of formality to show at the very least… we need to talk about those things.
Yeongwoo rolled his eyes, then looked back at his mother.
“I already said it.”
—…Said what?
“Our way. Even in front of the Stars, let’s pretend to be strong.”
—What?
“Come on, marriage is supposed to be mutual. Just because they’re stellar beings, doesn’t mean we need to feel inferior.”
Technically not wrong.
Although, Princess Parina didn’t exactly welcome this marriage.
“Besides, if you think about it, Earth isn’t even classified as a planet anymore. So who are we?”
—The family of the planetary ship…?
Jiseon tilted her head and answered, and Yeongwoo shook his sword left and right.
“Nope. Do you know what the proxies from the Ship Bureau called me?”
—What?
“Shipmaster.”
—Shipmaster?
“It means the owner of the ship. We are the masters of the planetary ship. So who cares if our in-laws are Stars or whatever?”
—But your father-in-law is meeting you for the first time, right? And from what I’ve seen, his brothers aren’t exactly normal either. Don’t mess things up with your antics.
Yeongwoo’s father-in-law, Proxima.
And his brothers were said to be so fearsome that even the Sun found them overwhelming.
That’s why Jiseon couldn’t help but worry.
Yeongwoo’s bluffing might have worked until now, but facing the real deal could be a different story.
—When rocks clash, the weaker one always shatters. Be careful not to split our family in two.
“It’s fine. We have more than just the planetary ship.”
—…Huh? What else do we have?
“The Destroyer King.”
—……?
“If Father-in-law has the Centauri brothers at his back, we have the Chairman.”
—Are you seriously thinking of name-dropping the Chairman at the engagement meeting?
“Well, I’m the one going through with this political marriage. Why wouldn’t I use his name?”
Then Yeongwoo looked up at the sky and spoke in a low voice.
“Why do you think the term ‘reputation’ even exists? In the end, every famous name is meant to be used.”
—That’s not what it means…
“The Chairman built up his reputation for a day like this. I’ll make sure to put it to good use.”
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