Chapter 4

Dream (2)

[A fourth option? There is no such th—]

Then, as if it had suddenly remembered something, the red message spoke.

[Ah, do you know about the hidden option? As expected of the Majesty of this world.]

[Negotiation]You will be granted the qualification of one of the Twelve Executors.Take your place among the Twelve Executors, who oversee the artifacts across all worldlines.Negotiate with the artifacts and trade in wealth and value. You will no longer be attacked by artifacts and will reign under the protection of the System.You and your family will enjoy prosperity for generations within an eternal sanctuary, forever safe from harm.

The crimson message glowed even brighter.

[A special route available only to the 187,487th Majesty.]

The red message window was absolutely convinced.

It believed this was an offer no human could ever refuse.

Who would reject the chance to live like a king under the System's protection?

But instead, a crooked smile spread across Ju-Heon's lips.

'Negotiation? One of the Twelve Executors?'

'Do I look like the kind of guy who'd work under someone else as their damn caretaker?'

It was a title he had heard before.

He wasn't entirely sure, but hadn't the Fang of Isis artifact mentioned it once?

To Ju-Heon, this wasn't an offer to become a king.

It looked more like a recruitment notice for the System's subcontractors.

So he answered,

[The Twelve Executors will evaluate your worth...!]

"I'll think about it a little more."

[You require more time. Understood.]

Ju-Heon let out a snort of disbelief.

The message window disappeared, and he picked up his phone.

"These bastards..."

"Thirty minutes will be enough."

So this is the so-called hidden route? That's all you've got? Pathetic.

Thirty minutes later, Ju-Heon was sitting in his office with his fingers interlocked.

On the desk lay an adorable children's pillow.

"I saw the child."

"Yeah. I can see a complete lunatic."

"What the hell is this now?!"

Ju-Heon's eyes flashed.

In the end, Yoo Jaeha took another punch from Ju-Heon and clutched his head.

Dragged here without warning, Jaeha looked utterly wronged.

"What do you mean, 'what'? You're my restoration expert. Did you already forget? Were you sleeping? Need me to wake you up?"

"N-No! You bastard! Do you even know what time it is? It's three in the morning! Three in the—"

"My child has been kidnapped."

"Your kid hasn't even been born yet! What kind of kidnapping are you talking abou—"

Thud!

Damn that temper.

"I know they're Greek artifacts, but why are these things all of a sudden—"

"Someone challenged me."

Cutting him off, Ju-Heon tossed something onto Jaeha's forehead.

Someone actually dared provoke the Captain?

Without batting an eye, Ju-Heon continued.

"So we're dragging that bastard out."

Seeing the dangerous look in Ju-Heon's eyes, Jaeha cautiously asked,

"Since this is an emergency... I'll do it for a ten-won late-night surcharge."

"Hah! Ten won? Are you kidding me? Be reasonable! At least make it twenty! This is an insult to skilled labor!"

"Captain..."

"Don't worry. I'm not crazy."

"...That's not it. These artifacts are smashed to pieces."

The team members stared at Jaeha in disbelief.

...That was enough to convince him?

Ju-Heon glared at his exclusive restoration specialist as if to say, That's exactly why I called you.

He's become a complete slave.

Yet Ju-Heon himself stared at the artifacts with tense eyes.

"Fix them. You've got one minute."

Jaeha cried out in despair.

The artifacts were <Morpheus's Pillow> and the .

I'm certain... that dream will lead me to my daughter.

Morpheus—the origin of the word morphine—was the god of dreams in ancient Greek mythology.

At that moment—

Using the pillow allows you to replay any dream you've had.

"I'm done restoring them!"

Then there was the miniature book.

It was based on the Oneirocritica, considered the oldest surviving treatise on dream interpretation.

Although the modern psychologist Freud revolutionized academia with his theory of dream interpretation, its roots had already existed in ancient times.

In any case, the artifact derived from it possessed the ability to interpret dreams.

Ju-Heon narrowed his eyes.

With that, he collapsed face-first onto the pillow.

A radiant silhouette shimmered above his head, allowing everyone else to witness the dream as well.

At the same time, Ju-Heon shoved the mini notebook into Julian's hands.

"You're the smartest one here. You interpret it."

The next instant—

Their vision twisted.

"...Ugh."

[The artifacts... they're saying... I must never be born...!]

The child was with Ju-Heon. And then—

"!"

"Daddy!"

[Please remember... I have to be born... so I can protect you, Daddy....]

Just as the child ran toward him, trying to say something—

Her body gradually became transparent.

Her voice faded.

Her face blurred away—

Crackle!

A golden thread was pulled from the child's hand.

It looked so fragile that even the slightest tug seemed enough to snap it.

It was the only thread connecting the child to this world.

At last, even the words Ju-Heon had been unable to hear before became perfectly clear.

[Interpretation impossible: Rank exceeds permissible limits.]

"Urgh!"

Crash!

At the same moment, both Zhuge Kongming's Glasses, which Julian was wearing, and the pillow beneath Ju-Heon's head shattered.

Panting heavily, Julian took off the broken glasses.

"So... someone is preventing our child from being born?"

"Are you okay?"

As Irene's power of Ruin flared with rage, Yoo Jaeha screamed.

Julian looked down at the notebook.

"Yes. But thanks to that, I figured out why your child disappeared."

"What?!"

"Someone displaced the fetus."

"What are you talking about?"

"In other words... your child is unable to be born."

"L-Lady Irene! Please, calm down! We just finished restoring those artifacts!"

Ju-Heon's eyes widened dangerously as he turned to Julian.

"So you're saying someone stole our child before she was even born?"

"Who?"

At Ju-Heon's terrifying voice, Julian bit his lip before continuing.

A shocked Irene gasped.

"...A Divine-Grade Artifact took your child."

"It judged the child's power to be extraordinary."

"What?!"

"...No."

Silence fell over the room.

As Irene's Ruin Authority began activating again, Yoo Jaeha nearly burst a blood vessel.

"Hey! Quit saying things like that!"

"The explanation only fits... if we're talking about a Greek Divine Artifact at the very least."

"...!!"

Yet even after learning the truth, the team couldn't hide their doubts.

It was only natural.

"A Divine-Grade Artifact? But Captain already made all of them submit!"

"When he became Majesty, artifacts all over the world obeyed him!"

The ones Ju-Heon had subdued were mostly Divine-Grade Artifacts originating from Greek mythology.

He had also brought under his command Osiris, Set, Anubis, Horus, Odin, and Odin's followers.

However...

There were beings that had never appeared in the first place.

They should have emerged—but never did.

The most prominent among them...

The Artifacts of the Four Great Civilizations.

[Have you finished thinking? It is now time to choose.]

They were so dangerous that he had even deployed tracking artifacts to search for them.

Yet he couldn't obtain so much as a coordinate.

It was as though they didn't exist anywhere in this world.

That was why Ju-Heon had never stopped raiding tombs, even now.

The crimson message window appeared once again.

[Please choose your path.]

[Submission] [Massacre] [Ignore] [Negotiation]

As long as those bastards remain outside my control... this world will never be safe.

The red message announced that the final decision had arrived.

Among all artifacts, Divine-Grade Artifacts were the worst of the worst.

They arrogantly looked down on humans despite being nothing more than tools, constantly whispering temptations to exploit mankind's violence.

Just then—

[Losing your child must have been painful, wasn't it? But everything you've experienced so far is merely a preview of what's to come.]

[An even greater catastrophe is approaching, and humanity will inevitably perish.]

[So join forces with the artifacts and rule over mankind.]

Ju-Heon laughed.

Heh.

Now that I'm going to be a father, I was planning to watch my language and become a kind, well-behaved dad...

Looks like that's not happening.

"You bastards..."

"You've picked the wrong target."

His eyes gleamed coldly as Ju-Heon made his choice.