NoveLight ™
Golden Tower, First Floor.
"Let’s go now."
Click.
Sejun and his companions arrived at the exclusive portal and placed his hand on the golden slot.
[There are currently two destinations available.]
[Please choose your destination.]
“Noil.”
[The number of travelers intending to use the portal is twenty.]
[Do you wish to pay the cost for twenty and proceed to <Noil>?]
“Yeah.”
When Sejun answered, the system began calculating the cost of stay.
The group now totaled twenty due to the addition of Piyot, Yuren, and Poyo.
Piyot…?
[Sejun, can I come along too…?]
Piyot, eager to accompany Theo, timidly asked for Sejun’s permission.
“Sure, let’s go together.”
Since Artemis was footing the bill, Sejun saw no reason to refuse.
“This time, I’ll make an exception and bring you along.”
Piyot! Piyot!
[Thank you, Sejun! You’re the best!]
Feeling generous, Sejun basked in the moment of recognition.
[Calculating the stay cost based on Chairman Park Sejun’s stats and standing.]
While waiting for the calculations to finish…
[Calculating the stay cost based on Yuren Damon, a Black Tower affiliate.]
[<Bloodline: Descendant of the Golden King> confirmed.]
[<Hidden Bloodline: Financier of the Hero’s Party> confirmed.]
[<Hidden Bloodline: The Pig Cursed by the God of Destruction with Misfortune> confirmed.]
[Talent: Unlucky Pig confirmed.]
[Talent: Pig Who Breaks Its Nose Even Falling Backward confirmed.]
[Talent: Pig Who Only Draws Blanks confirmed.]
[Talent: Pig Who Always Chooses the Wrong Answer confirmed.]
[Talent: Pig Who Takes the Worst Path at Every Fork confirmed.]
Sejun’s eyes widened at the system’s endless listing of Yuren’s misfortune-related talents.
“Wow.”
He could only marvel at the absurdity. Even after Theo removed the Talent: Midas’s Hand from Yuren, his bad luck was unparalleled.
At the core of it all was likely the <Hidden Bloodline: The Pig Cursed by the God of Destruction with Misfortune>.
Piecing it together, it seemed Yuren’s ancestor had secretly financed the Hero’s Party that defeated the God of Destruction, who cursed the family line in revenge as it perished.
Why is Yuto unaffected, though?
Pondering this, Sejun realized Yuren’s father, Yuto, lived a perfectly normal life, untouched by the family’s misfortune.
“What’s going on?”
The mystery deepened.
At that moment…
[<Hidden Bloodline: The Pig Cursed by the God of Destruction with Misfortune> has forcibly awakened the Talent: Great Misfortune Pig.]
“Huh?!”
The system forcibly awakened yet another misfortune talent!
Finally, Sejun understood why Yuren possessed so many misfortune-related abilities.
It was the <Hidden Bloodline: The Pig Cursed by the God of Destruction with Misfortune> constantly awakening new talents.
If only it wasn’t all bad luck… that would actually be kind of amazing.
Once Yuren’s cost of stay was calculated, the system displayed a message:
[Due to the presence of a companion with overwhelming misfortune, the total stay cost has been reduced by 15%.]
“Huh?!”
15% off?
Such a discount meant one thing: Yuren was coming on every trip to Earth from now on!
Though Sejun felt uneasy about the constant misfortune, the 15% discount could save him around 100 quintillion gold when traveling to Earth—a discount too massive to ignore.
Moreover, as long as Theo was present, Yuren’s misfortune would only serve as fuel to amplify Theo’s luck.
Hehehe. As long as I stay alert, it’ll be fine.
Feeling elated at the prospect of returning home soon, Sejun turned to the portal.
[Proceeding to <Noil>.]
The group began their transfer to Noil.
[You have arrived at <Noil>.]
“Pigs!”
“It’s meat! We haven’t had meat in ages!”
“Catch them!”
The moment they arrived, Noil’s residents—roughly 300 strong—rushed toward Sejun and his group.
Squeak! Squeak!
[Did you just call the Great Kamangi a pig?! You’re going to regret this!]
Recently sensitive due to its diet, Kamangi bristled with anger at the insult and charged at the villagers.
Thump-thump-thump.
However, the villagers ignored Kamangi completely. Their sole target was Yuren.
I knew it.
Sejun nodded, watching Yuren get surrounded by Noil’s residents.
A short while later…
“Hehe. Stamp it!”
“Yes! Please stamp mine first!”
“No, I was here first!”
“Don’t cut in line!”
The residents of Noil clamored, shoving their hands forward to get a stamp from Theo.
Stamp. Stamp.
Once the villagers received their stamps, they hurried over to Sejun.
“Chairman, I got my stamp here!”
“Good. Verified. Enjoy your meal.”
“Thank you! I’ll eat well!”
The villagers eagerly displayed their stamps to Sejun and received food in exchange. Their desperation for sustenance was so intense it seemed they’d sell their souls for a meal.
Oh. Have they already sold them?
After all, they’d been stamped by Vice President Theo…
“Hehehe.”
Sejun spoke as if he were different from Theo, but among the regular employees, Sejun had already earned notorious titles like "Demon Rancher" or even "Archdemon."
As he distributed food to the villagers, Sejun began gathering information about <Noil>’s situation.
According to the villagers, many villages in <Noil> stored their food in communal warehouses, which were attacked by Blue Fire Moths. The moths burned the warehouses to the ground, leaving them with nothing to eat.
“Blue Fire Moths?”
Could it be that other disasters, like the locusts, were evolving as their numbers grew?
While Sejun was deep in conversation with the villagers, his party was hard at work handling incoming threats.
“By the power of ice, freeze the enemy. Ice Storm!”
Queng!
Piyot!
Quik!
“I summon… Sandstorm!”
Iona, Queng, Piyot, Yuren, and Poyo worked together to eliminate the disasters swarming toward them.
Thanks to Yuren’s misfortune, disasters naturally gravitated toward them even when they stood still. Oddly, the Blue Fire Moths didn’t appear.
And then…
“Hand over your food!”
“Give us your money, too!”
Even bandits, drawn by Yuren’s bad luck, appeared occasionally.
“Hand over everything you’ve got, meow!”
Theo happily reaped profits from the bandits.
“Get stamped, meow!”
And even managed to bolster the ranks of Sejun Company’s regular employees.
Having Yuren around made things much easier and more profitable.
Sejun grinned as he observed the growing company performance.
About six hours later, the situation had stabilized.
“Take care!”
Leaving enough food for the villagers, Sejun and his group set off toward the northwest, where Piyot had detected something unusual during a reconnaissance.
Thanks to the continuous disasters, food supplies in Sejun’s spatial storage remained nearly unchanged from when they’d first arrived in <Noil>.
While traveling…
“Meow?!”
“Queng?!”
Theo and Queng simultaneously pointed their paw and beak toward the same spot.
Queng too, meow?! Big Brother felt it too?!
Both had sensed something at the same time.
An elixir, maybe?
Sejun immediately understood what had caught their attention.
“Hehehe. Then we have to go.”
“Where is it? Let’s head there right now.”
“Chairman Park, I, Vice President Theo, will lead the way, meow! Just trust me!”
Queng! Queng!
[No, no! Queng will guide Dad!]
“I’ll do it, meow!”
Queng!
[Queng will do it!]
Theo and Queng began quarreling over who would guide Sejun.
But then…
“If you fight, I’m not going.”
Sejun’s firm tone caused both to freeze.
Click.
The two put their arms around each other’s shoulders amicably.
“Follow us, meow!”
Queng!
[Follow Big Brother and Queng!]
The duo took the lead.
Hehe. That’s more like it.
Sejun chuckled quietly and followed after them.
Finally, under Theo and Queng’s guidance, they arrived at a sinister-looking black swamp. Everything in the area was dead.
Locusts, leeches, petrified spiders—all lay lifeless in heaps. Even dozens of slimes had perished.
At that moment…
[The Orb of Deception warns of imminent death.]
The Orb of Deception detected danger, flashing a red warning to Sejun.
What’s here?
While scanning his surroundings, Sejun noticed something.
Is that…?
In the center of the swamp, amidst the ominous surroundings, a peculiar herb with two bright green leaves stood out.
[Baby Doll Venom Herb]
Poison!
Sejun quickly pulled out an SS-grade Detoxifying Green Onion from his storage.
“Eat up, everyone!”
He distributed the antidote to his companions.
Crunch. Crunch.
Sejun chewed on some himself, wasting no time.
Shortly after…
[You have inhaled a fatal S+-grade poison.]
[Due to the effects of the SS-grade Detoxifying Green Onion, you have not been poisoned.]
Sejun sighed in relief as the message appeared before him.
Whew. That was close.
“Karur, here.”
Squawk?!
Sejun handed five roasted sweet potato strips to Karur, who had given him the Orb of Deception.
Meanwhile…
Squeak!
[Hey! Give me that!]
Squawk…
“Kamangi, I told you, you need to run ten laps before you can have roasted sweet potato strips.”
Sejun stopped Kamangi from trying to snatch Karur’s snack.
While this was happening, Queng approached the Baby Doll Venom Herb.
Pluck.
As Queng pulled the herb out of the ground, it resisted, releasing a purple mist from its trembling leaves. However, the mist had no effect on Queng.
Queng!
[Stay still, you!]
Queng glared menacingly at the herb. Intimidated, the venom herb trembled and surrendered, its leaves quivering in fear.
Queng! Queng!
[Hehehe. Dad, here you go!]
Queng proudly handed the subdued herb to Sejun.
“Thanks.”
Carefully accepting the venom herb, Sejun smiled.
However, the herb wasn’t done yet.
Who’s this weakling?!
The venom herb began resisting again, trying to assert dominance.
Sejun, yet again, found himself underestimated.
Oh, so you think I’m an easy target, huh?
But Sejun had a secret weapon.
Drop.
Sejun let a single drop of detoxifying green onion juice fall onto one of the herb’s leaves.
Tremble. Tremble.
The venom herb shivered in pain, a tiny white dot appearing where the juice landed—the poison had been neutralized.
“Hehehe. Keep acting up, and I’ll drop more.”
Sejun smirked like a true villain, holding the detoxifying green onion menacingly close to the herb.
The venom herb fell silent, finally submitting.
“Chairman Park! Control your expressions, meow!”
Theo, however, couldn’t stand Sejun’s smug grin and began chastising him.
“What? It’s so much better when it’s behaving.”
Sejun grinned while petting Theo, then carefully planted the Baby Doll Venom Herb in a small pot before storing it in his spatial inventory.
“Let’s go.”
Gathering the corpses of the disasters that could be detoxified and eaten later, the group resumed their journey toward the northwest.
Upon arrival at their destination, they saw…
Whoosh.
Blue Fire Moths were hurling themselves into a massive blue flame.
“What are they doing?”
“No idea, meow!”
Queng! Queng!
[Hehehe. Dad, I think grilling meat over that fire would be delicious!]
“You’re right. It’d cook instantly if we just dunked it in.”
“Then, please use that flame to make grilled fish for me, meow!”
“Hehehe. Should I?”
Squeak!
[Let’s make roasted sweet potatoes there, too!]
“Should I grab the ingredients?”
The disasters were essentially cooking themselves, leaving Sejun and his companions preoccupied with food plans.
But then…
“Quet? Chairman Sejun, the flame’s magic is getting stronger!”
Iona suddenly detected something strange and warned the group.
It was too late.
Boom!
The blue flame exploded, and from it emerged a moth the size of a small car, with black wings encircled by dark flames.
[Black Flame Moth]
The creature had evolved after 1 million Blue Flame Moths sacrificed themselves to create it.
But to Sejun’s group, whether it was a Blue Flame Moth or a Black Flame Moth, it was all just squid to them.
Hehehe. Since it evolved, it must taste better, right?
A more flavorful squid.
“Queng, make a typhoon. Iona, use ice magic.”
Queng!
Queng conjured a fierce typhoon that trapped the Black Flame Moth.
“Quet-quett! By the power of ice…”
Iona’s ice magic combined with the typhoon, quickly extinguishing the dark flames of the Black Flame Moth.
Shortly after…
“Catch the Black Flame Moth!”
Queng!
Squeak!
Sejun, Queng, and Yuren, their eyes alight with determination, scoured <Noil> for the Black Flame Moth. To them, the moth was a delicacy worth hunting.
As the group chased the Black Flame Moth, the sky darkened, and night fell over <Noil>.
(Bet-Bet. Good evening, everyone!)
Bet-Bet had awakened. It was now time for a treasure hunt.