Chapter 6. Arrogant Bastard (1)
Jooheon was dumbfounded.
Easy, Medium, and Hard?
Just to meet someone?
What kind of bastard does this?
But the explanations attached to each mode were even more ridiculous.
[Easy Mode]
There will be no danger on the way to meet me.
However, you will be forced to sign a contract with me.
[Medium Mode]
There will be moderate danger on the way to meet me.
However, I will take one of your 'most precious memories.'
[Hard Mode]
You will definitely die on the way to meet me.
However, before you die, I will give you the 'answer.'
Jooheon stared at the window for a long moment.
Easy meant a contract.
Medium meant losing a memory.
Hard meant death.
“All three are fucking stupid.”
Then a countdown began.
[If no selection is made, Easy Mode will automatically be selected.]
[10, 9, 8...]
Jooheon’s eyebrow twitched.
Jooheon placed great importance on contracts.
Being forced into one he hadn't agreed to was out of the question.
Medium Mode was equally unacceptable.
His most precious memory would obviously involve Irene, his teammates, or his child.
He didn't want to lose even the tiniest fragment of those memories.
So there was only one option.
“I'll take the most dangerous one.”
His lips curled upward.
“From my perspective, it's the most profitable.”
[Hard Mode selected.]
[Danger Warning.]
[Number of previous Majesties who successfully cleared this mode: 0.]
[Success probability: 0%.]
[To be completely honest, every Majesty who chose Easy Mode survived.]
[Although every one of them became my slave.]
[Hard Mode is the only path that leads to the truth, but every person who walked that path met a horrific end.]
[Even so, will you choose the dangerous Hard Mode in exchange for the answer concerning your daughter's whereabouts?]
Jooheon slammed his feet onto the desk as if telling the System to shut the hell up.
“Zero percent? Bullshit.”
He sneered.
“If I clear it, then for me it's one hundred percent, asshole.”
[...]
“So bring it on.”
His eyes flashed.
“Let's see this Hard Mode of yours.”
Hard Mode began rather quietly.
The first strange phenomenon was an Artifact that appeared before every human on Earth.
It was an Artifact no one remembered acquiring.
“...It looks like a rock. What is this? I've never received anything like it.”
“It was just sitting inside my pocket.”
“Hey! They say you'll hit the jackpot if you own this!”
“I heard it steals someone else's luck!”
“Damn it! The first person to use it becomes rich!”
“If you're late, you'll be the one who ends up broke!”
People immediately went wild.
An international announcement was issued.
[Unidentified Artifact.]
[The Artifact's safety has not been confirmed.]
[Use is prohibited.]
But people ignored the warning.
It spread like a cryptocurrency craze.
Some became rich overnight.
Others lost everything.
And that wasn't the end.
“News articles from the future are appearing!”
“They're reporting future deaths!”
“Even the president's death...”
Someone went pale.
“'Majesty Seo Jooheon dies September 18th'?!'”
Meanwhile, Jooheon tapped his cheek in irritation.
Whoever was responsible was scattering unidentified Artifacts throughout someone else's world.
It was even casually declaring people's deaths.
Jooheon had already figured it out.
“So this is that Hard Mode bullshit.”
Panic was an excellent way to destroy a world.
And every Majesty who had used this route had died?
From this garbage?
Then the entire world suddenly shut down.
Thunk.
Thunk! Thunk!
Millions of lights went out like falling dominoes.
Cars driving through the streets stopped simultaneously.
Screams erupted inside elevators in high-rise buildings.
Hospital ventilators died.
Patients hanging between life and death began collapsing.
“Communications are down!”
Government institutions across every nation failed simultaneously.
Military base security systems unlocked.
Armories opened.
“Why the hell is this happening?!”
They soon learned the reason.
“What?! Zeus attacked power plants all over the world?”
Jooheon's eyebrow rose when the report came in.
“That bastard is sealed inside a power plant as an Artifact. He shouldn't even be able to come out.”
“Artifacts shouldn't have autonomous movement...”
Jooheon's eyes narrowed.
“...Right.”
He paused.
“They didn't.”
Zeus.
The ancient being once known as the Ruler of the Heavens.
Now?
Jooheon used him as the world's largest power generator.
Power Plant Fuel No. 1.
A god of Zeus's level couldn't be contained in some tiny facility.
So Jooheon had sealed him 1,400 meters beneath the Colorado Plateau and built an entire power-generation complex around him.
Its name was:
Core V - Zeus.
In other words, it was both a dumping ground for gods and a maximum-security isolation facility for ultra-high-level Artifacts.
The only reason it had been safe was because Zeus had remained sealed.
If the seal broke and Zeus returned to his divine form...
That would be a problem.
Which was why the moment they entered the power plant, they couldn't believe their eyes.
Crackle!
The operating consoles melted.
Lightning spiraled through the facility.
[To think... I would be subjected to such treatment...]
Electricity roared around Zeus's entire body.
His eyes burned like bolts of lightning.
[MAJESTY!]
[WHERE ARE YOU?!]
“Argh! The seal's broken! Run!”
“Too late— Gack!”
A massive bolt of lightning tore through the ceiling with the roar of thunder.
Then...
“That's enough.”
A cold voice echoed through the facility.
Zeus's body froze instinctively.
