Arena Chapter 68:
Chapter 68 – The Results of the Fourth Exam (Part 2)
Chapter 68 – The results of the fourth exam (Part 1)
“Bastard! Why are you so late? You want to be fired?”
“Thank you for everything thus far . ”
“Ha, on whose authority?”
Chairman Park Jin-seong gave me a hug as I got out of the Porsche cayenne .
It was a sign of how desperately he yearned for my return .
I’m sure some of it was for the cure to his disease but treating me this way, doesn’t make me feel bad .
Am I to cure for free? I am getting a lot of money and aid .
“You’re here, give me one . ”
“Hmm…”
“What, kid?”
“That is… hmm…”
“Oh what is it! You want more money?”
“Yes . ”
“Kid, sure I am a billionaire but is this some highway robbery? Have I given you too little so far?”
“No, the thing is . I’ve raised my flame of life to intermediate level 1 . It explained it definitely works to cure terminal illness . ”
“Is that true?”
“If you don’t believe it, then fine . ”
“You bastard!”
I slightly dodged chairman Park Jin-seong’s attempt to flick my forehead .
“Oh? Catch him!”
Chairman Park Jin-seong shouted to his guards .
‘Crap . ’
I leapt from my position and landed to the side on top of an old pine tree .
Currently, my physique has surpassed human limits and doing something like this was nothing .
The guards stared at me blankly not knowing how to proceed and scratched their heads while as they laughed
From atop the tree I shouted out to chairman Park Jin-seong .
“How much are you going to give me? This time, you’ll see a marked difference . ”
“We can fix the price after I eat it and get an examination and see how effective it is . I received an exam yesterday too so I can clearly mark the difference . ”
‘Well, chairman Park Jin-seong isn’t one to be stingy with his money . ’
I nodded my head .
“Okay . ”
“Then come down, **** . ”
I jumped down from the old pine tree and handed over a flame .
Hwaruk!
The flame that appears from my palm . It’s no longer a marble sized flame, but a fist sized flame .
“Oh my, it’s big . ”
The color returned to chairman Park Jin-seong’s face .
“I’ve thought about it, but is there a need for you to eat it?”
“Then what?”
“Couldn’t I just push it into your body?”
I spoke from experience from having blown the flame into the tree of life every day .
At my words, chairman Park Jin-seong hesitated for a moment then moved the flame to his lower chest .
‘Is it lung cancer?’
Seeing him put the flame of life into where his lungs are, I presumed that’s the case .
The ball of flame seeped into chairman Park Jin-seong’s body .
“Huh, this was all that needed to be done . I’ve been eating it all this time for no reason . ”
“That’s an elderly person’s specialty . Putting everything good for you in your mouth . ”
“Shut up . ”
“How do you feel?”
“Haha, how do I say this? I feel really good, very good but I can’t express it in words . ”
Chairman Park Jin-seong inspected his own body and was amazed .
His eyes would probably flip if I told him I could make two of these a day .
“It’s been a while, would you like to go for a hunt?”
“Sure . ”
We packed out things and headed out to hunt . Particularly today, chairman Park Jin-seong was full of energy and he walked ahead .
“This, I feel better than I did when I was healthy . How very interesting . ”
But after about an hour, we decided to take a short break .
Chairman Park Jin-seong sat on a boulder and asked .
“How did the exam go?”
“I cleared it . ”
“Woah, good job . So, there was a point to getting the aid from the Nordic exam group?”
“Yes, well, I suppose so . ”
Even though honestly for the fourth exam I spent my days doing nothing related to fighting .
I hadn’t verified if Odin was able to use his army to obliterate the Silver clan .
Now that I think of it, Odin won’t know that my exam is over . Should I give him a call?
“How do you think the next exam will be?”
“I don’t think the next one will be very difficult either . ”
“Really? That’s good . ”
If it flows according to my thinking, in the following fifth exam, I will be much stronger .
Through the tree of life, the spirit summons grew stronger, and with the karma I received from clearing the exam, I’m going to increase my skill level .
The sun is about to go down and we haven’t’ found any prey .
“Shall I summon Sylph?”
“That’s alright . ”
Chairman Park Jin-seong shook his head .
“It must be hard and at times, one must fail in order for hunting to be fun . ”
That sounded like chairman Park Jin-seong’s life philosophy .
“Is that your businessman philosophy?”
“Huh? What **** is that? If you fail in business, that’s not fun . ”
“…”
“You have any idea how many execs and staff I have to feed, how could failing be fun? Are your exams fun? You’re a funny lad . ”
It was useless that I said anything at all .
Chairman Park Jin-seong left urgently for the hospital to get re-examined .
I thought of testing out my skills and training, but today it was already too late so I decided to head home .
I miss Min-jeong so much . From my position, I haven’t seen her in 30 days .
I took out my smartphone and gave Min-jeong a call . At this time, she is probably at home .
-Hello?
Min-jeong ’s voice sounded happy . But along with her voice, I hear loud music .
With a fast tempo and strong beat, music that makes you want to dance…
“Mi-Min-jeong , where are you?”
I thought ‘no way’ and asked in a shaky voice .
-Where do you think I am?
“Um, perhaps, a club?”
As I said so, Min-jeong exploded in laughter .
The loud music suddenly disappeared .
-I’m at home .
Huh?
“Then what was that music?
-I got the music to use when I got your call .
She teased me!
“Min-jeong , oppa has a weak heart . Don’t do that anymore, please?”
-Hmph, says you, you just left after taking care of yourself .
I suddenly recall the events from a month ago .
“It’s not like that . ”
-Hmph, I don’t know .
“Anyway, I’ll be there soon . ”
-Do what you like .
And then Min-jeong just hung up the phone . Pretending to be sullen when she’s not even angry . She’s telling me to make her happy somehow .
‘I should buy a present . ’
I haven’t seen her in a month and I want to get her a gift .
***
Ding dong-
-I don’t take the newspaper .
Said Min-jeong through the interphone .
“I know you can see my face through the interphone . ”
-I said I don’t take the newspaper .
“Is the interphone broken? Even so, you can hear my voice . ”
-Wow, so persistent . I said, I don’t take the paper .
“I brought a present . ”
-Oppa~!
The door opened immediately and Min-jeong rushed out and hugged me .
I smiled and hugged her and lifted her up with one hand .
Min-jeong screamed .
With the other hand, I closed the door and went inside .
Min-jeong is excited in my embrace and when I laid her down on the bed, her expression became sour .
“What is this?”
“Huh? What is what?”
“Why the bed again? You want to be in trouble?”
“Ah, I didn’t realize . ”
Gah, it’s been 30 days since I’ve seen you! Even though you saw my yesterday .
“Give me the present, the present . ”
I took out a box full of macarons from my cross bag .
“Gyak, they look so tasty!”
Min-jeong gave me a peck on the cheek with her lips and rans into the kitchen saying she wants some coffee to go with them .
She delivered up two espressos and we have tea time with the macarons .
“You have better judgment than I thought . ”
“Thank you . ”
“It would have been funny if you brought a really expensive present haha . ”
“Ha, haha…”
“Huh? Why that expression, oppa?”
“No, it’s nothing . ”
“…”
“…”
“… take it out . ”
“Ok…”
Obligingly I answer as I put my hand in the cross body bag .
‘My hands! Don’t fail me now!’
With my hands in the bag, I remove the wrapping so the brand logo on the box is evident . Then I show her the necklace inside .
“Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful!”
It was a beautiful black stone necklace . A woman from the shop picked it up for me but I bought it because I thought it was pretty too .
Min-jeong was closely looking at the necklace in admiration when she stared at me .
“How much was this?”
“Uh, 40 bucks . ”
“This? No way!”
“They were selling it on the street so I bought it . ”
“Really? Then it’s an imitation . Wow, it looks so much like the real thing . ”
“Oh, really? I don’t really know that stuff . ”
I don’t know but the internet search engines sure did .
And the GPS app sure knew where the store was located .
“Hehe, an unni I know has this . It looks just like the real thing . It looks like a real Marni necklace . ”
“Well, good, I’m glad you like it . ”
I can never get caught that that is a luxury item worth over $1000 . A Marni store wouldn’t sell a knock-off .
“Put it on me, oppa . ”
“Mm . ”
I took the necklace with two hands and went behind Min-jeong . But that was a trick . As if she’d been waiting for it, Min-jeong headed straight for my cross-body bag .
“Ah, no!”
“Hah!”
Min-jeong takes out the box with the Marni logo and wrapper .
“Oh lookie here? In that time, you managed to put your hand in the bag and removed the wrapping and opened the box? What good hand skills you have . ”
I raised my physical strength buff to entry level 3 and it improved my hand dexterity too .
“Spill it . How much was it?”
“… it was slightly over $1000 . ”
“Crazy, that’s insane!”
Min-jeong slapped me **** the shoulder .
“Are you trying to prove you’re soft? This is why Hyun-ji is so worried about you!”
“Uh, I just feel falsely accused right now…”
“About what!”
I haven’t seen you in 30 days and I was just happy so I bought you a present!
… from Min-jeong ’s point of view, we’ve seen each other every day and I randomly bought a really expensive present so I see why it looks bad .
“Return it . ”
“I don’t want to . ”
“Return it quick . We haven’t been dating that long, I can’t accept something so expensive . ”
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I can’t return it . I won’t . ”
I crushed and ripped apart the necklace box .
“Gyak! Now you can’t return this!”
“I won’t . Just have it . I just wanted to buy it for you . ”
Min-jeong stared at me .
“This won’t do . Oppa, you need to be punished . ”
“Punished?”
Min-jeong took out her smartphone .
“Uh, why are you taking out your phone?”
She put the necklace on her neck and suddenly made a “v” with her hand and took a selfie .
Then she sent a picture message but the person receiving it is…
“No, don’t!”
I despaired but it is already too late .
[I got this from oppa^^ Marni <3]
After that, somebody’s message arrives to my smartphone .
[Hyun-ji: Hey, you crazy pushover! You got lots of money???]
“Kuk……!”
I despaired in an OTL position . At this, Min-jeong shook her finger .
“Hehe, oppa, anyway, thanks for the present . It’s really pretty . ”
“That’s okay…”
“Oppa, are you sulking?”
“…”
“Come here, oppa . ”
I flinched at her strong seduction but I resisted . I was sulking . How could she actually tattle to Hyun-ji!
‘I am not a sucker, I’m rich . I have no need to be stingy with a piece of gum!’
How could it be difficult when I have $19 million (USD) just sitting in my bank?
“You won’t come, even if I do this?”
Min-jeong started to take off her clothes one by one .
Delicately, every time a piece of clothing fell to the floor, I flinched .
Finally, when the necklace I gave her is all that remained on her body, I lost my endurance .
When the heat died down, Min-jeong stayed cuddled in my arms and whispered .
“You don’t have to give me things like this . Just stay by me . That’s really all I need . ”
… that is the very thing I cannot promise you .
Thus, I kept Min-jeong, who I have reunited with in a very long time, in my arms, and fell asleep .
At that time, I didn’t realize that I should have kept my smartphone turned off .