Chapter 175. Return (3)
Incheon, South Korea.
Three men talked inside a car heading toward the harbor.
“Kang Yujin’s coming back today, right?”
“That’s what they said.”
“If nothing goes wrong, he should arrive sometime this morning.”
Seok Taejun and Joo Minha answered Lee Jukheon’s question.
“So if something happens, he could be late.”
“Then why don’t you just wait in Seoul, Mr. Lee Jukheon? Why did you come with us?”
“Because... I’m bored! What else am I supposed to do?”
“Seriously.”
“Grrr!”
At Lee Jukheon’s grumpy voice, Seok Taejun smiled, and the Chimera beside him let out a growl.
“Still, it’s not a bad idea for all of us to welcome him back together.”
Joo Minha, who was behind the wheel, spoke calmly.
“He conquered China and is returning in glory. Someone should be there to welcome him.”
“Conquered China...”
Lee Jukheon frowned at the phrase.
“We worked pretty hard in Korea too, but that bastard went to China and did something even bigger.”
“Mr. Lee Jukheon, we accomplished plenty in Korea too.”
“Compared to what Kang Yujin did, ours wasn’t much.”
Lee Jukheon complained, but he didn’t actually look upset.
“Whatever. When he gets back, I’m going to ask him for a spar.”
“I need to see how much stronger he’s gotten.”
“You’ve become much stronger too, Lord Lee Jukheon. It should be an interesting match.”
“Interesting, my ass. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get beaten one-sidedly.”
“Your enhancement ranks are all S-rank now, your equipment is better, and most importantly, you obtained a new Skill.”
Joo Minha spoke matter-of-factly.
“Lord Lee Jukheon, you are now an SS-rank Contractor.”
“Have some confidence.”
“I don’t think I’m on the same level as Lee Hyeonje or Shin Minyu.”
“Have you forgotten?”
“It was you who defeated Yoon Miho, the SS-rank Contractor once famous as the best swordswoman in the Capital Region.”
“That was an ambush...”
“I still remember it clearly.”
Joo Minha continued in the same calm tone.
“You proudly declared, ‘From now on, I’m the best swordsman in the Capital Region.’”
“Forget that already!”
Lee Jukheon’s face reddened, and he kicked the back of the driver’s seat.
Seok Taejun burst out laughing.
“Anyway, Mr. Lee Jukheon has gotten much stronger.”
“So have I, and so has Ms. Joo Minha.”
“We’ve all grown a lot.”
“Kang Yujin has gotten stronger too, but so have we. Let’s welcome him back with our heads held high.”
“The gap might have gotten bigger instead of smaller, though...”
Lee Jukheon grumbled with a frown.
“We’re almost there anyway. Looks like we’ll arrive a little early, so let’s wait.”
“Ms. Joo Minha, then while we’re waiting, maybe we should have a quick meeting... huh?”
At that moment...
something strange caught their eyes.
“What’s going on over there?”
“What?”
Everyone raised their heads.
Until a moment ago, the sky had been perfectly clear.
But now...
dark clouds were gathering over the sea.
“Why did the weather change so suddenly?”
“No idea. Maybe a sudden shower?”
“Something feels wrong.”
Joo Minha pressed down harder on the accelerator.
The engine roared, and the car sped up.
“Just in case, let’s hurry.”
“Yes. That would be better.”
Seok Taejun muttered uneasily.
“Things seemed fine when he left for China, so I thought that jinx was gone...”
Whenever Kang Yujin traveled a long distance using some kind of vehicle...
something major tended to happen.
There had been the time he boarded the wrong ghost train.
And the time Wyverns attacked, the Mountain-Breaking Sword exploded, and they eventually had to abandon the train.
Seok Taejun was suddenly overwhelmed by the ominous feeling that Kang Yujin’s jinx had activated again.
RUMBLE!
The submarine shook violently with a deafening roar.
What’s going on?
I had finished talking with Ha Mina and was sitting alone, lost in thought.
We would arrive in Korea soon.
Ha Mina would be handed over to the Eight Guardians.
Then I would have nothing left to do, so I could quietly disappear and return to the Spirit Realm.
That was what I had been thinking while relaxing.
Don’t tell me something happened to the submarine...
I tensed slightly.
Don’t tell me Kang Yujin’s jinx activated again.
For some reason, every time Kang Yujin traveled a long distance on a vehicle, a major disaster happened.
He had boarded the wrong ghost train once.
Another time, Wyverns attacked and the Mountain-Breaking Sword exploded, forcing everyone off the train.
No.
Surely not.
An airplane would be one thing.
But this was a submarine.
If it sank, that would be a serious problem.
I might have become a transcendent being called a Constellation, but I seriously doubted I could survive perfectly fine at the bottom of the ocean.
If I deactivated [Avatar Descent] while flailing around in the depths of the sea...
would I safely return to the Spirit Realm?
I had never tried it.
And I had absolutely no desire to test it.
It’ll be fine.
It’ll be fine... right?
Consumed by anxiety, I stepped into the corridor.
Crew members were running around frantically.
“What happened?”
“We don’t know either! But...”
“There’s something outside!”
This didn’t look like an ordinary problem.
This is actually kind of terrifying.
I couldn’t remember feeling this afraid since becoming a Constellation.
“Kim Nameless.”
“Kang Yujin...”
I ran into Kang Yujin walking down the corridor.
“What the hell is happening?”
“How would I know...?”
“You usually act like you know everything.”
“Why are you picking a fight with me out of nowhere?”
I stared at Kang Yujin in disbelief.
But he maintained his curt attitude.
“We should ask the captain.”
“Yeah.”
We went to find Captain Zhang Qinghe.
The Nautilus was the Constellation Armament of the S-rank Constellation ‘Captain Nobody,’ Nemo, whom Zhang Qinghe was contracted with.
If something had happened...
Zhang Qinghe should have sensed it.
“Everyone calm down and listen!”
After walking through the corridor for some time, we found Zhang Qinghe surrounded by other crew members.
She raised her voice.
“There appears to be a monster outside.”
"...!"
Normally, the Nautilus traveled through waters with relatively few sea monsters.
And even if it encountered one, the Nautilus’s size and defenses were usually enough to ignore it and keep going.
But judging from the current situation...
“I’m not certain yet, but... it appears to be extremely large!”
Zhang Qinghe shouted tensely.
“The Nautilus will begin an emergency ascent!”
“Everyone prepare for the worst!”
The worst.
That meant the Nautilus sinking before reaching the surface...
and everyone inside being thrown into the sea.
“What do we do?”
