Tomb Raider King

Chapter 278: Scouting War (2)

"What am I doing? You should be thanking me for what I did. I took care of a bug for you.”

“What?

“My eyes can see the truth! That man was going to betray you!”

“Where the hell did this crazy bastard……!”

Something terrible happened again once a different subordinate tried to make a comment.

Pow!

“Kyaaaa!”

“Fuck, it was the body that blew up this time!”

The man started to laugh out loud.

“My eyes can see everything! All of you bastards here are bugs who just care about their own self-interest!”

Kwon Hyuk Soo started to laugh out loud like a maniac while watching what was going on. It was to the point that Chairman Kwon had to glare at him to stop laughing.

“This is no laughing matter.”

“No, but hyung-nim. Look at that complete lunatic. He’s the same as Seo Ju-Heon in that regard. I like him. Who is he?”

Prometheus sighed and answered that question.

“He is a politician who has accepted an evil god artifact.”

“Ho.”

"What?”

These people were currently gathered at Pandora.

The group consisted of approximately 8 Monarchs. TKBM's Chairman Kwon and Kwon Hyuk Soo were here as well.

They had already contracted with the artifacts Prometheus had sent them and had become superhuman like Ju-Heon and his team. They had the body required to continue using Divine-Grade artifacts.

However…

“The artifacts I sent you are all evil god artifacts. They are not Heirlooms.”

The evil god artifacts were artifacts that had committed such cruel deeds in the past that they had turned completely evil. Some of them were born evil as well.

These evil god artifacts consisted of artifacts born evil, devils from ancient times, as well as evil tyrants from history.

“Those artifacts are the complete opposite of Heirlooms. The evil gods will be parasites in your body that turn your body into the body of an evil god. Although you will have a superhuman body…”

“We’re going to end up having shorter lives or lose our senses one by one or something like that?”

“That is correct. There should be some people who have already lost body parts as well. Those bastards are quite wicked that they will continue to ask for more as time goes on. They’ll ask for other body parts or organs, things and people you cherish, and eventually, your life and your soul.”

The people standing in this room were all those who were skilled enough to survive the invasion of the evil god artifacts into their bodies.

The other candidates had died without being able to handle the impact.

‘That’s why the Monarch among Monarchs will appear from this group.’

“We accepted the evil god artifacts knowing the conditions, but they truly are the worst.”

The reason they were willing to accept such risks to get these artifacts was because there were quite a lot of things they could achieve by using artifacts.

Economy, science, military, art, medicine, artifacts allowed countries and individuals to grow and profit in numerous fields.

They had no intentions of giving up on this pot of honey after all this time. They didn't care if it would mean that a lot of people would end up dying in the process.

‘But Seo Ju-Heon just says some weird nonsense.’

He had told them that he would sell them the Heirlooms but told them not to use them.

He had snickered and said the following as well.

‘I won't use them if you guys don’t use them. This is an amazing chance to suppress me.’

But it was all bullshit. How could it be possible not to use the artifacts?

'Why the hell would we buy them to leave them around to collect dust?!’

‘There’s no way that bastard meant what he said.’

The people who had thrown away this chance Ju-Heon had given them without even knowing what they had done started to speak.

“The Monarch of Healing can help us with losing body parts and it's not like we will die right away.”

“Yes, it should be fine. The problem will be resolved if you quickly steal Seo Ju-Heon's extra Heirlooms or earn the Majesty's Treasure.”

“!”

"What is this Majesty's Treasure?”

Prometheus was silent for a moment.

The Majesty's Treasure consisted of multiple items used by the Ruler of the Artifacts. They were able to make all other artifacts submit and brought a revolution to the world.

"Anyway, one of them is an artifact that allows you to change the risk of an artifact. You just need to use that.”

“It might be smart to gather talented individuals to join you as Monarchs to take down Seo Ju-Heon together as well.”

“Then leave the Tomb Excavation to us. But we are still lacking in healing artifacts and defense-type artifacts.”

“Fine. It might not be a bad idea to figure out what artifacts Seo Ju-Heon has so that we only clear the tombs that might give us artifacts that might be his weakness.”

“That is true but we also need to consider scouting new individuals.”

“Look for talented individuals who will be able to survive an evil god artifact entering their body!”

“Ask the different countries for their cooperation and keep up the business end as well.”

“Yes sir!”

The now busy Pandora employees started to mumble.

“Ah, is there nobody as talented as Seo Ju-Heon anywhere…”

“What? A lunatic who looks like me is aiming for our lives?”

Irene’s brother George Holten was on the line.

[Yes. That bastard was quite the headache. Don’t you think it would be smart to lend out your Heirlooms to increase your fire power? Each person can only use one Heirloom after all.]

Ju-Heon responded as if he had been waiting for this.

“You're going to join my side and work for me, right?”

[Do you think that I am crazy?]

"What's wrong? They’re going to try to scout you as well.”

[Yes. Those bastards keep bugging me to join them but I'm definitely not going to work for you. I don't even want to think about the type of contract you're going to force me to sign. Anyway, that side is fervently scouting Monarch-Grade candidates. Be careful so that they don’t beat you to it.]

Ju-Heon chuckled. It wasn't as if Monarchs would just fall from the sky.

But at that moment… George asked an unexpected question.

[Do your team members not have any talented family members?]

“What?

[I was thinking about it because of the Jack the Ripper incident, but do you think that it was a coincidence that the Nina girl went missing?]

“…….”

[What if Chairman Kwon abducted her on purpose from the beginning? What if he knew about her talents and wanted to put it to use?]

“What the hell are you trying to say?”

[This is a rumor that floated around Pandora. They're calling it Heritability and believe genetics might play a role when it comes to talent with handling artifacts……]

He was basically saying that because Julian was a Monarch, Nina should be just as talented based on their shared genetics.

In fact, Nina did have the talent to be a Monarch.

‘That old bastard's subordinates did do a lot of investigation into our families.’

But Seol-A who was listening next to Ju-Heon started to pout.

“That doesn't make any sense. The rest of my family members can’t use artifacts at all.”

That was right. If what George was saying was true, Seol-A's family members should at least be Expert-Grade artifact users.

They were the reason that although Ju-Heon had suspected genetics playing a role in the past but believed that he was wrong.

"Well, I'll look into it.”

[Okay. Check it out thoroughly if you have any family members as well. There might be some hidden potential Monarchs. Anybody related to you would be a monster as well.]

Irene’s eyes opened wide after hearing her brother’s comment.

“Huh? Then shouldn't you go meet your twin sister, Mr. Ju-Heon?”

Ju-Heon was hesitant about what to do.

Not too far away in Cambridge, Massachusetts…

Inside a laboratory located within Harvard University.

“My goodness, a Monarch, it's a Monarch.”

The research students were amazed while hearing about the Monarchs on the news.

“Joy, look at this. This person looks like you.”

A male student called out to someone in the lab and a female student next to him shook her head.

“Joy doesn’t like things like that. She doesn't seem to pay any attention to it at all. She didn’t even know who was on the Monarchs list. She’s a complete research nerd, a research geek.”

"She’s always in that room doing research. She’s a total babe but she just wastes her beautiful looks.”

“Tell me about it. She’s so pretty she could be on Harvard’s brochures but hasn't even gone on a single date…… ahh!”

“How about you not call me a geek?”

“Joy!”

Joy, well, Ju-Heon’s twin sister Seo Ju-Won, sighed.

As that happened…

“Joy! There’s someone looking for you!”

“Me?”

“I saw him on TV before! But he looks exactly like you!”

“?”

She walked out to see an extremely familiar looking person.

“Long time no see. Hello my other half.”

It was someone wearing an eye patch who looked exactly like her.

Joy's eyes opened wide while looking at the man talking to her.

The man was smiling brightly.

He looked so handsome smiling that both men and women were stopping to take a look.

They couldn't help but be swayed by his looks.

“My goodness, what the hell? Is he… No way, right?”

“Seo Ju-Heon? Is he Seo Ju-Heon?”

“No, isn’t he the Monarch of the Heavens? He has an eye patch.”

Many of the people walking by recognized him. The man must have heard them as he took off his eye patch.

"What is it? It’s me. Did you already forget who I am?”

Everybody was shocked once he took the eye patch off. He looked exactly the same as Seo Ju-Heon once he took the eye patch off.

"What? He really is Seo Ju-Heon?”

“What? The Monarch of Predation is here?”

“Holy shit, I'm his fan.”

This definitely caught their attention.

The Monarch of the Heavens smiled toward Joy.

‘This girl is Seo Ju-Heon's twin sister.’

He had put in so much effort to locate her.

Why?

‘This girl might actually be Seo Ju-Heon's weakness.’

A chaotic aura started to gather in his eye.

However, nobody noticed it happening. Even Joy, who was making eye contact with him, did not notice it.

That made the Monarch of the Heavens smile.

“This is disappointing. You really don’t recognize me.”

‘Ju-Heon’ slowly walked closer to Joy.

Joy’s eyes were shaking as she started to speak.

She was certain now.

This face, this voice…

“Holy crap, are you really……”

“Yes, it’s me. Did you forget what I look like after such a long time apart?”

“……!”

Joy smiled brightly and hugged the Monarch of the Heavens.

“Oppa, how many years has it been?”

“Ju-Won, I missed you.”

It was an emotional reunion.

Well, it seemed like an emotional reunion.

However…

“!”

The Monarch of the Heavens flinched after feeling something down at his belt.

He couldn't help it because Joy's hand was aiming for the artifact on his belt!

‘How dare this thief try to go for my artifact!’

The Monarch of the Heavens quickly twisted her skinny arm.

Joy clicked her tongue once her arm was grabbed and ruthlessly launched a knee.

And then…

Crack!

“?!”

A sharp noise echoed through the area. The Monarch of the Heavens clenched his teeth after being kicked in a sensitive spot.

His Dominance shook for a moment as well.

The others who had no idea about what was going on started to panic.

“Joooooooooooy! What the hell are you doing?!”

“Kyaaaa! Are you crazy?! What the hell did you just do to the Monarch of Predation?!”

They couldn't believe it.

They didn't know whether this man was the Monarch of the Heavens or the Monarch of Predation, but what they knew for sure was that he was a Monarch either way!

He was also a superhuman who had transcended the limits of ordinary humans!

“You're going to end up dead!”

Joy didn't care and smiled brightly while putting her hands into the pockets of her white lab coat.

"Aha. I guess even superhumans can't train their crotch.”

“……!”

"And what did you say? Long time no see, my other half?”

“……!”

“Are you crazy? That guy wouldn't say something so creepy like that!”

She threw a book at him after saying that.

The corner of the book was flying toward the Monarch of the Heavens.

The Monarch of the Heavens cried internally after getting hit directly on the head.

He felt as if blood would spurt out of his head.