Seoul Station’s Necromancer Chapter 69:
Chapter 69 – To the US
“Ooh-ahk!
Sunggoo opened the back seat door of his beloved steed, and he let out a scream .
“Ooh-ook . It stinks… What happened?”
Woojin pinched his nose then he took a step back .
“Uh-whew . He made a mess . ”
After Haemin looked into the back seat of the car, he shook his head .
Soonghoon was still asleep, but the smoothie inside his intestines was warming up inside of Sunggoo’s car .
“I’ve called for a chauffeur service, president . Let’s go to the main road . ” (TLN: can hire someone to drive your car for $$)
Jung-minchan was always quick to act . He looked at Woojin after he finished making a call for a car .
“All right . Everyone won’t be able to fit inside the car… I’ll just take a taxi . I’ll see you tomorrow, Sunggoo . ”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, director Hong . ”
“Please take good care of Mr . Soonghoon . ”
Woojin, Minchan and Haemin left side by side . Sunggoo looked at the back seat with tears in his eyes .
“Hoo-hook . I’m sorry… Hoo-hook . . ”
He didn’t know if Soonghoon was in a drunken stupor or he was talking in his sleep . Sunggoo felt sorry for him, and he also felt annoyed… .
“My Boongboong… Boongboong… . ” (TLN: nickname for car)
It hadn’t been too long since he took out this car yet it was already in this state .
Sunggoo held back his tears as he waited for the chauffeur to come .
*
Woojin got off on the main road in front of his house .
“I’ll see you tomorrow . ”
“Yes, president . Please head on in . ”
Woojin waved his hand then he walked into an alley . When he checked there weren’t any people around, he called out Bibi . The black smoke coalesced, and a figure of a cat solidified on top of Woojin’s shoulder .
“Nyahng . We are already home-nahong?”
When Woojin’s familiar was inside the Summoning room, they shared his sight and senses . From Bibi’s perspective, it was better for her to stay inside the Summoning room instead of the house . She didn’t like being separated from Woojin .
“Why? Are you worried?”
“Ha . I am worried-ahong . ”
Woojin laughed as he picked up Bibi from his shoulder, then he held her against his chest .
“Sooah should be close to the dog now . ”
Originally, Sooah had wanted a dog . She might leave Bibi alone now .
“The secret code this time is…”
Woojin found the memo inside his hand phone, then he pressed the secret password to the front door .
Ddi ddi ddi, ddi-ri-reek!
After returning home, the first one to greet Woojin was the dog . He came running towards Woojiin .
“Wal, wal! Koo-rooh-roong . ” (TLN: bark bark growl)
“Uh?”
He had been only gone for several days, but the dog had grown a lot . Woojin flicked his finger on the dog’s forehead .
“He’s showing teeth after not seeing me for only several days . ”
Woojin lifted the fairly large dog, then he looked into the dog’s eyes . He glared into the dog’s eyes, and his eyes shook . The dog couldn’t maintain eye contact, so he turned his gaze away .
“Ggoo-oohng, ggoo-oohng . ”
Sooah was the one to rescue the whining dog .
“Mom! Oppa is here . ”
Sooah bounded towards him . Woojin let go of the dog, and he opened both his arms wide .
“Aigo . My Sooah missed oppa?”
“Yeah . ”
After she gave a brief hug, she immediately went towards Bibi . She quickly grabbed Bibi into her grasp .
“Hey, Bibi . Didn’t you miss unni?”
“…… . ”
“Nyahng?”
Instead of forgetting Bibi, her absence must have fostered Sooah’s yearning for Bibi .
Woojin let out a bitter laugh . Bibi sent a gaze asking for salvation towards Woojin .
“You don’t like playing with the dog?”
“I play with Bokhwee, but I like Bibi better . ”
“…Bokhwee is his name?”
“Oohng!”
After she spoke in a bright manner, she ran into the living room, while she hugged Bibi . Then she searched for her laser pointer . His mother showed up around that time .
“You are here, Woojin?”
“Yes, mother . ”
“Let’s talk for a little bit . ”
Woojin followed his mother into the kitchen . After he sat near the small dining table, his mother took out some water from the fridge . She placed the water in font of Woojin .
“Did you drink alcohol?”
“Yes . ”
“Ok . Did you meet the president?”
“No . I was at a company dinner . ”
It seemed the news said he was heading towards the Cheongwadae immediately after he returned from North Korea . Woojin felt a bit awkward, so he changed the topic .
“I’ll meet the president soon . So why isn’t Sooah asleep yet?”
The company dinner wrapped up early, but it was already 11 pm .
“It’s Saturday tomorrow . She said she’ll sleep after seeing her oppa . ”
“Mmmm . ”
If that was true, then why was she playing only with Bibi?
“Sooah still feels very awkward around you . You should be mindful of that . ”
“…… . ”
While she played with Bibi, Sooah kept sneaking glances towards the kitchen .
Now that he thought about it he had memories of Sooah when she was a baby . However, Sooah didn’t have any memories of him . She had suddenly gained an oppa, but the oppa didn’t come home regularly…
“Mmm . Should we go on a family trip?”
“I’m not saying this to steal time away from my busy son . ”
Woojin suddenly felt embarrassed at his mother’s words .
“Sooah’s been sick a lot in the past . The hospital says she is doing fine, but she occasionally develops the same symptoms as before . ”
Even though Woojin and his father had disappeared, Soohah’s hospital fees were a big reason why their household’s wealth had diminished so quickly .
When Woojin started raiding the Dungeons, she had the money to purchase almost everything she wanted .
This was why Lee-soogyung went back to the hospital to treat her daughter’s ailments . In the past, she couldn’t afford to treat Sooah . However, contrary to her expectation, the hospital test result gave Sooah a clean bill of health .
“She is so young, and when she occasionally has a seizure, mother’s heart is… . ”
When his mother’s eyes started to become moist, Woojin’s heart became heavy .
“The child is sick, but the hospital keeps saying nothing is wrong with her . I was so frustrated that I even visited a shaman not too long ago . The shaman said she was inhabited by ghosts . ”
“Eh-ee . She doesn’t have any ghosts sticking to her . ”
The one with ghosts was Woojin . There weren’t any evil spirits within the vicinity of Sooah .
Moreover, he had been very careful since he worried about his evil spirits sticking to his family . Even when they lived in a single room, Woojin tried to minimize the time he spent with them .
“How would you know about such things?”
How should he answer the question when she asked how he knew this… Mother . Your son is an expert about ghosts .
“Even though I knew the shaman was trying to bewitch me, her words still made me wonder . ”
“Eh-ee . The shaman sounds like a fraud… . ”
“I’m saying this, because I’m upset . I can’t even support my son who is doing big things . Please look in on your only sibling once in awhile . ”
Lee-soogyung saw Kahng-woojin appear daily on the television, so she knew he was busy .
Didn’t he succeed in pulling off some big job in North Korea?
She didn’t want Woojin to worry about the problems within the household . She wanted him to focus on his outside work, but this was about Sooah . Sooah’s illness was beyond her power .
The child was hurting yet there weren’t any solutions . She was barely able to put the issue out in the open as she had continued to internalize the pain she had felt .
“I’ll pay a little more attention to her . . I’m sorry, mother . ”
Woojin tightly hugged the sniffling Lee-soohgyung .
Woojin went towards the living room, and he spent some time with Sooah . The cat acted as a bridge as he played with Sooah . There weren’t any awkwardness as they played, and they had a fun time .
It was getting late, so his mother took Sooah, who had wanted to play more . Only Woojin, Bibi and Bokhwee was left in the living room .
“Koon koong, koong . ”
Bohkhwee was having a hard time calming himself after running and playing around . His nose twitched, and he rubbed his head on Bibi .
“Nyahng! Go away-ahong . ”
Puhk .
“Ggeeeng . ”
Bibi swung her front paw . Bokhwee ran away after he was hit on the head .
“Nyahng . Let’s go bring a new cat-ahong . I’d rather kill monsters . This is too hard-ahong . ”
“You just have to play with her for a brief amount of time . What’s so bad about it?”
“Nyahng . It’s more about me pretending to be a cat . It’s very taxing-ahong . ”
…so, that’s what stressed her out . Woojin also put on a serious expression .
“Please endure it for a little bit more . ”
“Nyahng . I understand-ahong . ”
“Then stay a home for a while . You should keep a close watch on Sooah to see if any evil spirits approach her . ”
He didn’t think Sooah was being tormented by an evil spirit, but since his mother had said it, he was leery of dismissing her claim . He thought about attaching Ggaebi on Sooah, but he was still a low level Shadow . He could have a bad influence on the host .
As of right now, Bibi was the best option .
“The child’s soul is strong-ahong . A mere evil spirit won’t be able to latch on to her-ahong . ”
“You should stay with her just in case . ”
“Understood-ahong . ”
Bibi was his familiar, so she could feel Woojin’s emotions . She knew how precious his family was to Woojin .
Bibi followed Woojin into his room .
“Ggeeng . Ggeeng . ”
Bokhwee was the only one left in the hall way, and he looked around nervously at the dark corridor . After a moment, the door to Woojin’s room opened slightly, and Bibi walked out into the hallway .
“Nyahng . You may come in here-ahong . ”
Bokhwee wagged his tail as he followed Bibi into Woojin’s room, and he laid down at the foot of the bed .
*
It was Saturday, but Woojin came early to the office .
His mother was curious about Do-jiwon, so they had made an appointment for lunch . In the evening, they had promised to meet the high school friends they were able to contact . Before all of this, he had some work he had to finish at the office .
Since it was Saturday, the new employees didn’t come to the office . The founding members had come to work at an earlier time, and they were waiting for Woojin .
“You are here?”
“Where’s Haemin?”
“He’s inside the storage room . ”
“Let’s head over there . ”
Minchan received an order from Woojin to buyout the floor . Minchan paid a premium to clear out the other offices on the floor, and he made contracts for the other office spaces . The current office they had was getting too cramped, and this also resolved the problem of security .
They decided to use a roughly 1800 square feet space as the office for housing the sales department, and a storage room for the Artifacts .
The storage room held a small amount of Artifacts that wouldn’t even fill up a 1 ton truck . Moreover, the normal items and large ingredients made up most of the pile .
In the first place, Alandal had only two Roused, Woojin and Sunggoo . It was inevitable for the collection to be small .
The drop rate for Artifacts were high only for the first clear of a Dungeon, so even if they had a low number of Roused, the guild possessed a relatively numerous amount of Artifacts .
“Are you a bit sober now?”
“…I’m deeply ashamed . ”
Woo-soonghoon was still hungover . He lowered his head .
It seemed Minchan and Haemin had been hardened by company life . Their faces were fine . Sunggoo’s body couldn’t’ be compared to before, so he looked fresh .
“I guess I’ll take it out now?”
“Yes, sir . ”
Everyone looked at Woojin with anticipation in their eyes . Woojin opened his inventory, and he started taking out Kim-jungun’s collection .
Kim-jungun wasn’t a Roused, but he had gathered a lot of Artifacts and Skill books . Woojin had run out of Inventory space, so he had to waste a lot of Achievement Points to add additional slots .
It was as if Woojin was snatching items out of empty air . The items started pouring on to the floor like piles of clothes one saw in the market .
“…… . ”
The amount of items far outstripped what one could earn clearing a Dungeon several times . Everyone’s mouth fell open in shock .
“What are you guys doing? Start sorting it out . ”
“What?”
“Sort out the item we’ll be able to sell on the market . Then sort out the stolen goods we’ll have to fence . ”
…president actually acknowledged these were stolen goods .
He would have been put in an awkward situation if Woojin unreasonably demanded him to sell all these items on the market for money . Minchan was thankful towards Woojin .
Woojin poured out a lot of Artifacts, and it filled up an entire section of the storage room . They would need three 1 ton trucks to move it .
At Minchan’s direction, everyone started sorting the Artifacts .
The basic ingredients and Skill books that existed in high quantity wasn’t of much interest . They looked for items with unique shapes and unique abilities .
Basically, they made a separate pile for items people would recognize where it came from just by looking at it .
There were some unique items with low value, but most of the times were high performance Artifacts . There were 10 Artifacts that would conservatively sell for 10 to 20 million dollars .
“I guess I’ll use these . ”
He took a pair of earrings . It wouldn’t be very noticeable even if he wore it . Then he put the rest of the Artifacts into his inventory .
He opened his Advanced Skill, then he put all the Artifacts into the [Combination Box] . At the bottom, there were two options . The [Combine] button was off, and the [Extract] button started blinking brightly .
Woojin didn’t hesitate to press the [Extract] button .