Ch.4215. New Ancient Gear (2)

“This one has never touched your body in that archive room.”

“Don’t lie! After stealing someone else’s body as you pleased…”

“……”

The Blood Demon didn’t respond further to Soso’s words. And though Soso continued to deny it internally, she actually knew the truth.

The one who had called Minsu to the archive room wasn’t the Blood Demon—it was Soso herself.

It was true that there was a business trip scheduled in the afternoon because of Minsu’s Ancient Gear, but there had been no need to call him to organize the archive room.

The archive room was managed by Executive Director Maria and Team Leader Seo Duho. Soso had simply been anxious.

‘If… I lose Minsu to another woman again this time.’

And since the last intern program business trip, that thought had dominated Soso to an unbearable degree. That night in Hong Kong.

After that night when she stayed with Minsu at Old Man Yeon Munwoo’s hermitage to calm Minsu’s blood channels, Soso had become clearly aware of her feelings.

‘I absolutely don’t want to lose him. To anyone.’

The current Soso was different from who she had been during her gloomy Aince days. Her appearance, her family background. She no longer believed her abilities lagged behind Yuri’s.

But just when she had finally reached equal footing with Yuri, another competitor named Arin had appeared.

So when she saw Minsu kissing that Arin, Soso felt something snap inside her.

It was clearly the same feeling she had when the Blood Demon first awakened.

Just like during that special training in their second year, when she accidentally witnessed Minsu and Yuri holding hands.

‘So… was that why?’

For the past few days, she hadn’t felt like herself. She wanted to make Minsu her man. That thought had made it impossible to focus on anything else.

That’s why Soso had called Minsu to the archive room. At Flame, she was Minsu’s superior. Calling him out like that wasn’t difficult at all.

‘You are truly a frivolous man.’

And among the many things she had wanted to say to Minsu, what actually came out was the most absurd statement.

But it was also the most emotional one. Once she started speaking, she couldn’t stop the rush of emotions.

If Minsu really was dating Seong Arin, she had planned to keep him locked in that archive room and make him her man by any means necessary.

Whether through violence or threats. Whatever method it took. Such thoughts were all that filled Soso’s mind. And she couldn’t believe how different these rough thoughts were from her usual self.

‘It’s all… it’s all the Blood Demon’s doing.’

She desperately blamed the Blood Demon, making excuses that it was the Blood Demon controlling her.

But Soso knew. Threatening him with the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique. Asking about his relationship with Arin. It was all her own will.

So when Minsu said he wasn’t dating anyone, she felt relieved, but also a darker feeling emerged.

‘Minsu… seemed to feel guilty toward me.’

The special training during winter break of their second year. She deliberately mentioned it again. At that moment, the mana flowing through Minsu’s blood channels fluctuated remarkably.

It was evidence that he felt more guilt about that incident than Soso had thought. And Soso exploited that guilt.

To make Minsu kiss her. And in that moment when she became more aware of the Blood Demon’s blood, Soso instinctively understood.

That the demonic energy of the Blood Demon she had unwittingly awakened was a bewitching power that could seduce men to a surprising degree.

Because Minsu’s heart was racing surprisingly fast as he kissed her. It wasn’t a misunderstanding. Since she had been restraining his mana load at that time, she could sense his emotions.

That racing heart was evidence that Minsu saw her as a woman.

‘If… using the Blood Demon’s power is the way I can have Minsu.’

It wasn’t right. Even while constantly repeating that to herself,

Soso couldn’t deny that what had happened with Minsu this morning, that kiss, was the closest she had gotten to him since she began loving him alone.

And now, being with Minsu again,

Soso could feel herself relying more and more on the Blood Demon.

***

After stopping briefly at a rest area, we finally arrived in Pyongyang.

“It’s an enormous city.”

Soso looked around. Her hometown of Hong Kong and the city where Flame’s headquarters was located weren’t small cities either.

But today’s Pyongyang was different. An international city that had grown to become the center of the alliance between the two countries.

The current Pyongyang was like Shanghai from the real world before I was transported into this novel—a massive international metropolis.

“The operations team has already made hotel reservations. Let’s check in and then head to the exchange.”

Soso nodded at my words. Skyscrapers everywhere. We agreed to meet again after dropping off our luggage at the luxurious hotel nestled among them.

Of course, this expensive hotel was one of the benefits provided by the Association to S-rank guilds. Until the time I was supposed to meet Soso again, I had some time to spare.

Sitting on the edge of the luxurious bed, I thought again about what had happened in the archive room this morning.

‘The Blood Demon. It’s definitely a variable. For future events…’

The Blood Demon inside Soso didn’t exist in the original story.

Having such an uncontrollable element in Soso, who should play a major role as Flame’s main dealer, could be a seed of anxiety.

I coldly considered that variable.

‘But, I can control it.’

Since joining Flame, I had checked all of Soso’s combat records, both before and after.

There was no trace of the Blood Demon in those records. Since I hadn’t yet gone on combat missions with Soso. Then the trigger for the Blood Demon’s control over Soso was clearly me.

‘And the Blood Demon is obsessed with me.’

Of course, that obsession of the Blood Demon was also a distortion created by my sin of exploiting Soso’s feelings, but the fact that I was the trigger meant that I could also control Soso.

If Soso, and the Blood Demon, wanted me as a person, I could give them that.

‘Disgusting.’

That was my immediate thought, but I don’t have much time. And considering the Red Lake that would start moving more actively from now on,

It meant I had to be prepared to commit the same sin against Soso again.

Although I had decided not to love anyone, I could pretend to love. And perhaps it would be better to steel my heart that way.

The Blood Demon’s bewitching energy, the Soso I saw in the archive room, was seductive and attractive enough to enchant me in an instant. In that moment, I clearly saw her as a woman.

So to avoid being controlled by those emotions in the future, it was easier for my mind to draw a line by calling it fake love.

‘Enough. Now I need to focus on other urgent matters first.’

To erase those emotions, I deliberately thought of something else.

The Aince Tragedy documents I had read this morning. Through those materials, I recalled what the Doubt Specter had said.

That statement about having two vessels. Since the Doubt Specter was an executive of the Red Lake, that talk of vessels was undoubtedly their motive beyond the Desire Incident.

‘And what I heard from Old Man Yeon Munwoo.’

Not just his homeland of Mu Kingdom, but other otherworld countries summoned to Earth like the Slavic Kingdom. In the otherworld continent of Ailetan where these countries originated, there were similar legends passed down everywhere.

Though the names varied by country and culture, the framework was similar.

Demons who brought destruction to the earth and the ancient empire, their ruler the Demon King, and the legendary hero who brought light back to the continent from that Demon King.

‘Villains and the Desire Incident are similar to the demons or demon tribes described in those legends.’

And the apocalyptic myths or legends that the Demon King would someday revive had been passed down in Ailetan for a long time, as Old Man Yeon Munwoo had told me.

If so, the purpose of the Red Lake, and considering that Siwoo’s actions as described in the original work were close to the achievements of a so-called hero,

‘Is it the revival of the Demon King?’

And the vessel might be something related to that revival. That’s how I organized my thoughts.

And I laughed hollowly at the preposterous scale of it all.

A Demon King who wants the world’s destruction, and a hero trying to prevent that destruction. Either way, it seemed absurd.

But I was transported into a novel, a world where such things were actually possible.

“Sigh. If Siwoo were alive, would the goddess of the White Cross Society have thrown him a holy sword or something?”

Of course, the original work, Aka Hunter, was discontinued before such content appeared.

But if I was really going to substitute for Siwoo’s role with Flame, I honestly felt it would be nice to have a holy sword.

‘Well, if there isn’t one, I’ll have to create something similar myself.’

Even if not a holy sword, very special weapons exist in today’s Earth. Ancient Gears. And those Ancient Gears were the purpose of my visit to Pyongyang.

A+ rank Ancient Gear.

Since I planned to acquire that special gear from the special exchange here, I went down to the hotel lobby when it was time to meet Soso as I had told her earlier.

***

Soso and I headed to Pyongyang’s special exchange. A particularly glamorous building among the many skyscrapers. The special exchange was located in that building.

“So this is where all sorts of items related to monsters and dungeons are traded.”

Soso’s eyes were wide as if this was her first time here. Of course, monster mana stones or carcasses weren’t actually scattered around.

‘It’s like a stock exchange.’

Monitors filled the surroundings. And they displayed real-time price fluctuations of products related to monsters.

Monster acquisitions were used everywhere from cutting-edge industries to civilian daily life, so the items were extremely diverse.

Of course, since Soso and I weren’t from Flame’s operations or finance teams, we passed through that exchange and headed to another floor.

“So this is where Ancient Gear trading takes place.”

As Soso said, the floor they arrived at was full of people who appeared to be hunters.

And unlike the free trade zone in Incheon, the hunters here all had different looks in their eyes. From the beginning, this was a special exchange. It didn’t even handle low-grade Ancient Gears.

So everyone was a hunter belonging to an official guild. Even freelancers were all licensed hunters registered with the Association.

I sat down briefly with Soso. She put down the bag she had been carrying.

“Thank you, Team Leader Yeon.”

“It’s light, so it’s no problem.”

And I had brought the Ancient Gears I had obtained as rewards and from bets during the last intern business trip. Soso helped carry those gears.

As they were rewards directly provided by the Association, they were all high-quality B+ rank items. Four in total.

At Flame, even interns like Mr. Donghyuk and Arin were provided with A-rank Ancient Gears, which were higher grade. But that was a very special case.

‘It’s possible because Yuri doesn’t spare any expense on equipment investment.’

I heard that when Flame’s budget was insufficient, she even used her own private funds. An A-rank Ancient Gear costs at least a billion won.

Of course, Yuri could afford to be so bold because she had signed a huge contract with Pyotr’s Solaris.

Anyway, these Ancient Gears obtained as rewards had served their purpose.

‘With this, I’ve confirmed which Ancient Gear I need to use.’

Although I possess the S-rank Ancient Gear Hong-ok, since Hong-ok was substituting for my mana heart, I couldn’t use it as an Ancient Gear.

So I needed an Ancient Gear for full-fledged missions.

‘With the S-rank dungeon conquest approaching.’

Since I plan to release more seals in the future, gear that stabilizes mana and activates special effects was essential.

And I happened to have Ancient Gears obtained as rewards. But despite all being B+ rank, they failed to contract with me.

‘No, rather than failing, the gears were afraid to contract with me first.’

Ancient Gears are weapons with will. Although B+ rank is considered high-grade, and dual contracts might be possible due to my body’s special condition,

All those gears feared the S-rank gear Hong-ok. All four failed to contract.

‘So I had to come here in the end.’

To find a high-level gear that wouldn’t fear Hong-ok, this place where all gears from around the world are traded was ideal.

After visiting an office in the exchange, I said to Soso,

“I’ve submitted the appraisal request. Shall we go upstairs now?”

With certification from this exchange, I could sell the gears obtained as rewards and from bets at a higher price. After submitting that appraisal request, we headed upstairs.

The VIP exchange on that floor was the destination of this business trip.

But at the entrance, hunters in charge of security blocked our way.

“Stop. Not just anyone can enter here.”