Tomb Raider King

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“I can even let you borrow one of my artifacts to make it if you want?”

Joy fell backwards after hearing that.

There was only one reason as to why she was so shocked.

‘Ju-Heon is going to let me borrow an artifact?’

She was thinking about how she hit a jackpot…until she got scared. He was telling her to make an artifact for his enemy?! It was like soldiers at war telling the enemies they would return the weapons they picked up at the last battle!

Joy had an ominous feeling and grabbed Ju-Heon.

“…Umm, bro, you feeling okay? Can I really make a key for her?”

Ju-Heon sneered at her.

“Why not?”

It was pretty much an established fact that Pandora was going to make a copy of the Majesty's Key.

He was the only one who could go into the Great Prison right now.

‘There’s no way those bastards would be okay with that fact.’

That was why trying to create something similar was something he had expected.

“That’s why it doesn’t matter if we make something good and send it to them first.”

"Okay… Then I'm really going to make her one.”

“Yeah. I'll let you borrow my key so that you can touch it all day to reference i……”

Ju-Heon was about to take his ring off but stopped. It was probably because he saw his sister drooling while looking at his ring.

Ju-Heon slowly moved his hand behind his back as if he was disgusted.

“Just use your imagination.”

“What?! Why?!”

‘Why else? I forgot she was my twin sister.’

She would definitely not give it back to him if he let her borrow it.

But at that moment…

Buuzz.

Joy's phone started vibrating. Joy seemed concerned but did not plan on picking up.

The call ended before it went off again as if it was angry!

Buzzzz! Buzzzz!

The vibrations alone seemed to want to rip Joy's head off. Ju-Heon asked after seeing her ignore it again.

“Are you not going to pick it up? It seems like an important call.”

“I, it's not that important. It’s just spam.”

But her phone continued to go off.

As Joy became annoyed and tried to throw her phone against the wall…

“?!”

Ju-Heon, who…when the hell did he even take her phone…answered the call. He heard an unfamiliar woman’s voice.

[Hey, why the hell haven't you been picking up?! I told you that you have to always pick up my calls.]

“………”

[Anyway, why are you ignoring my messages?

I told you I need to make a key right away. I'm in a fucking rush so run your ass over right n…]

“You want me to run my ass over?”

[……?!]

The person on the phone seemed shocked.

How could she not be shocked when she heard a man’s voice instead of Joy's voice?

[W, who the hell are you?!]

“Me? The owner of this cellphone’s owner.”

Joy's jaw dropped at Ju-Heon’s actions. Her eyes seemed to be saying that he can’t do this.

And then… Joy anxiously grabbed Ju-Heon's arm.

“H, hold…Ju-H…mmph!”

Ju-Heon covered Joy's mouth and continued speaking.

"Stop drooling over my subordinate employee. If you really want a key, call back with respect and sincerity.”

Joy started screaming as Ju-Heon then hung up the phone.

“W, what the hell are you doing?!”

Ju-Heon started to frown.

“Spill. Who the fuck is this disrespectful bitch?”

“What?”

“This bitch is the one who told you to make the key. Who is she to you?”

“No, wait……”

Joy debated for a moment before spilling the beans as if she had no choice.

“My stepsister.”

Fire seemed to be bursting out of Ju-Heon's mouth and eyes as soon as he heard that.

“Your stepsister?”

His voice sounded vicious.

“She's just like her fucking parents.”

“Ju, Ju-Heon?”

Ju-Heon started to smile as if he found the situation to be despicable.

A clear memory of the past brushed through his mind.

It was probably when he was in high school.

Joy had tried to come find him when she came on a trip to Korea. Ju-Heon had ignored her completely, saying that they were strangers now.

It might have seemed cold but there was a reason for it.

Ju-Heon had been threatened at that time.

Joy's adopted parents had threatened him.

‘Don’t even think about meeting with our daughter who is living a good life.’

It was understandable why those people had been so combative against him.

There had been a big incident with them in the adoption process.

‘I remember I stole their wallets and even lit their car on fire.’

He had been quite vicious for an eight year old.

That was why he just thought they were still angry even though it was ten years later.

He had left Joy in their care thinking that they were at least cherishing her but what?

‘But they treated her like this?’

The attitude of this so-called stepsister was beyond anything he had expected. She wasn’t just a bitch in her personality, she was pretty much an actual bitch. She didn't deserve to be human.

Nothing much popped up when he had looked into it but living expenses, payment for raising her, and rent?

Going through the messages proved that this was no regular parent-child relationship. She was pretty much being treated like someone who owed a large debt.

‘No wonder she always looked so shabby.’

Ju-Heon peeked toward Joy.

She was extremely beautiful since she looked exactly like Ju-Heon but she did not doll herself up.

Her facial features were on point and her skin was smooth and white. Her short hair that came down to her shoulders looked sleek and her face looked intelligent.

But none of that mattered.

Her red checkered shirt looked shabby and the large round glasses on her small face had some cracks on it as well.

The only new thing she was wearing was the employee ID around her neck.

That was why it was weird.

‘Something is weird. I remember buying her clothes, accessories, and all sorts of things.’

He had bought her a bag and wallet from a fancy brand for Christmas and although she had been shaking saying it was really expensive, she said it was pretty and seemed to like it.

Where did they all go?

None of that mattered right now.

"Do you owe these people money?”

“No! Of course not!”

“Then why the hell are they treating you like this?”

Joy didn’t seem to want to say anything but Ju-Heon pretty much forced it out of her with coercion.

“It’s just the fate of an adopted child. It’s nothing much.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. So please show me that Majesty's Key thing. I'll only look at it for a moment here!”

Joy seemed happy touching the ring on Ju-Heon's hand.

“Anyway, don't worry about what just happened. It’s just that she's a bit cra…sensitive. Really. We actually have a good relationship.”

“Okay, that's good.”

Ju-Heon’s smile seemed to carry a lot of meaning.

At the same time…

“Who the hell was that bastard?!”

Joy's stepsister Michelle was looking at the phone in disbelief.

“He’s that parasite’s owner? Then I guess he’s the CEO of that bitch's company?”

She then scoffed.

A man who was talking to her became interested.

"What is it? The CEO of which company?”

His name was Henry.

He was the Knight of the Round Table who was tasked with creating the Majesty’s Key.

Creating a Majesty's Treasure was an extremely important project.

They needed quite a lot of manpower, but…

‘What we need most is an S-Grade or higher engineer.’

Pandora naturally had their own engineers for creating Un-known and other Treasure substitutes.

But those engineers were all unavailable due to mysterious accidents or illnesses.

Michelle had stepped in when they had all been discussing where they could go get an engineer.

‘Joy does seem to be a S-Grade engineer based on what I heard.’

She could tell based on the things Henry told her.

Well, she was actually a SS-Grade engineer, but there was no way that they would know that.

“A S-Grade engineer will at least be at a mid-sized company. Which company owner was that just now? Is it a place that might work with Pandora?”

Michelle chuckled at Henry's question.

“She doesn't go to a company like that. She said she works for a tiny necessities shop or something. Apparently there are only about 6 employees.”

“What? But she’s a S-Grade engineer? She could become the top engineer at a large company if she wanted to do so.”

“I asked my parents to make her fail all of her interviews. I didn't want to see that bitch doing well.”

Henry clicked his tongue.

“Wow, I don’t know who it is but that’s harsh. But whatever, that’s good for us. That’s why she's available to us at our time of need.”

"Exactly. Anyway, you're going to help me be an official knight if things go well, right?”

“Of course. Hansen's spot happens to be available right now. I'll ask them about giving you Loki’s artifact.”

Michelle was happy that her plan was working. She just sold off a parasite and could end up with such a high position.

“Anyway, do your best to convince that owner. Tell him that we are going to hold onto that engineer for a while. Let him know that Pandora will sponsor him splendidly for it.”

“Sure thing.”

Michelle sneered as she said that.

‘It seemed like a young man based on his voice.’

Maybe this guy was Joy's boyfriend.

‘She did bring those items that aren't suited for a parasite like her lately.’

Joy's salary had suddenly gone up and she brought all sorts of good things home that she wondered if Joy was working as an escort.

But that man must have gifted them to her.

Of course, Michelle had taken away the bag, clothes, and accessories that Joy had received as gifts.

‘Why should a parasite like her have such good things?’

Michelle then looked at the blue bag next to her.

“Like this bag.”

The guy at least seemed decent and had great fashion sense to get her this limited edition Prada bag that was extremely difficult to get.

Even the owner of a hole in the wall company should have some financial pull.

‘I'll steal that guy away too if he seems decent.’

She really hated Joy.

That Asian girl got into Harvard with a scholarship when she got rejected.

‘Adopted daughter my ass. She’s just a parasite that latched onto a good family.’

Her parents were white supremacists who hated everybody other than White people so she didn’t really understand why her father chose to adopt Joy.

That was why she took away all of the money Joy made and the stuff she got. She thought that might at least make Joy suffer.

However…

‘At least you're quite useful this time.’

Michelle started to laugh out loud.

While that was going on…

“Wow, holy shit, this is crazy……!”

Pandora’s engineer team members had their jaws dropped.

“My goodness. How is such configuration possible?”

The engineers researched, disassembled and reassembled artifacts to create industrial products that were suitable for humans.

They were using the same methods to create the Majesty's Treasures.

They were trying to create the Majesty's Key using Prometheus’s power as the base.

Joy had come at Michelle's beckoning and was told to create a blueprint and manufacture the item.

However…

“Wow, holy shit. I didn't know such methods existed……!”

Let alone being praised, she was pretty much being treated as a goddess.

That wasn’t all.

People couldn’t become artifact engineers just because they knew the theory behind it.

They needed to be able to handle special artifacts like the restorers could and Joy was handling artifacts that were clearly S-Grade or higher.

That was why they were shocked.

‘Someone like this works at a small trinket store?’

‘Wasn’t it a necessities store?’

‘Wow, she's good enough to be scouted by Pandora right away.’

Well, it didn’t matter.

“It’s done.”

They gasped as Joy got up.

“What? Already?!”

“Hold on, you’ve only been here for less than a day!”

She couldn't help it that she was done.

“Wow, she finished the blueprints in about an hour too!”

“Did you do it properly?!”

Joy scoffed and grabbed her bag.

“Feel free to test it out yourself if you don’t trust me. Please deposit the money into my bank account by the end of the day.”

The engineers rushed to the item once Joy left.

“It doesn’t seem like she half-assed it!”

“This really seems like it could open any tomb!”

They were so excited that they were spitting after running it through the precision analyzer.

“Henry-nim! That young lady, she’s someone we must have at Pandora!”

“We need to chase after her…!”

Henry laughed.

“Don’t worry. Nobody can get out of this facility without my permission. Michelle, go bring her over so we can chat over dinner.”

Michelle didn't like it but still stood up.

‘I'm sure she’s by the entrance.’

But when she got there…

“Huh?”

Joy was not at the door.

‘I thought she would be pacing by the door wondering why she couldn't get out!’

She wondered if Joy had gone to the restroom but Joy was not anywhere in the building.

Michelle became anxious and checked the CCTV.

Thankfully, there was a record of Joy. But Joy had disappeared around a corner of a corridor.

Michelle hurried over there but it was a dead end.

“Fuck, where the hell did that bitch go…?!”

But at that moment…

“Oh, you're that shitty bitch?”

“!”

She heard an unfamiliar voice. Michelle gasped after turning her head.

‘S, Seo Ju-Heon?!’

It really was Ju-Heon.

Joy, who should have been here, was gone, but Ju-Heon was here!

‘What the hell is going on?!’

This was a Pandora building with tight security.

Even Divine-Grade artifacts could not let people in and out of this place and the alarm should have gone off if he came in through anything but a door!

Ju-Heon walked toward Michelle and smiled without caring whether she was flustered or not.

"But something is odd.”

He pointed to Michelle’s necklace and bag.

“Those are things I gave my sister for her birthday.”

“!”

“Can I ask why you have them instead?”

His smile looked extremely scary.