Chapter 523: Not Unfortunate Enough to Use It?
TL: Hanguk
A little while ago.
Sejun and his party raided Uren's fourth treasure vault.
"Puhuhut. Now, it's the last vault, meow!"
"Alright. Let’s finish this quickly!"
Kueng!
Piyo!
With great enthusiasm, they headed toward the last remaining treasure vault.
And then,
"For now, take everything!"
"Puhuhut. Got it, meow!"
Kueng!
Piyo!
By now, Sejun, Theo, Cuengi, and Piyot had become complete experts at raiding treasure vaults, quickly emptying out Uren's fifth treasure vault.
"......"
Uren was still in a state of depression.
While Uren remained downcast, the treasure vault raiding crew diligently swept the treasures into their bags.
"Meow?"
What’s this unpleasant item, meow?
Theo carefully inspected a square black wooden piece that he felt reluctant to touch with his paw.
[Misfortune-Swallowing Amulet]
The entire front of the palm-sized amulet had the character '厄' deeply engraved on it. (TL: 厄 means Misfortune in this case)
Sssss.
Sssss.
The amulet seemed to want to avoid Theo's paw, shifting slightly to the opposite side of where Theo's paw approached.
A mismatch of affinities between the two.
But,
Thwap.
Where do you think you're running, meow?!
It was impossible to escape from Theo's paw.
"Chairman Park, I found something strange, meow!"
Theo picked up the amulet and brought it over to Sejun.
"Something strange?"
Sejun took the amulet and examined it.
[Misfortune-Swallowing Amulet]
→ A divine relic crafted by Misfortune, the God of Misfortune, after striking a branch of a 10,000-year-old jujube World Tree with lightning and imbuing it with divine power. (TL: The name "Misfortune" is in English, while "God of Misfortune" is in Korean in the original raw.)
→ By absorbing a small misfortune that befalls the wearer, it can prevent a large misfortune within the next 24 hours. (It cannot block massive misfortunes.)
→ Activates once per day.
→ The more misfortunes it swallows, the more the relic's power grows.
→ Usage Restriction: Only those recognized as unfortunate by Misfortune, the God of Misfortune.
→ Creator: Misfortune, the God of Misfortune
→ Grade: ★★
"Oh! This is a divine relic?"
Since it was a gift sent to Uren, it even came with an appraisal.
It can prevent a big misfortune by swallowing a small one?!
‘Then it’s perfect for me!’
For a sunfish like him, a single big misfortune meant losing one of his lives.
While Sejun was happily holding the amulet,
[Misfortune, the God of Misfortune, does not recognize you as unfortunate enough to use this relic.]
"What?!"
Misfortune, the God of Misfortune, rejected Sejun. Not realizing what a great opportunity he was missing. (TL: Opportunity for God of Misfortune)
After being rejected by Misfortune like that, Sejun-
"Not unfortunate enough to use it? Then…"
That guy is 100% qualified.
He naturally looked at Uren, who was making a sad face in front of the treasure vault.
"Vice Chairman Theo, give this to Uren."
"Understood, meow!"
Following Sejun’s instructions, Theo handed the Misfortune-Swallowing Amulet to Uren.
[Misfortune, the God of Misfortune, shudders, saying he's never seen someone as unfortunate as you.]
[Misfortune, the God of Misfortune, cries out, asking where you’ve been all this time and begs to stay with you forever.]
Uren became the owner of the divine relic amid Misfortune's intense welcome.
And then,
[The Misfortune-Swallowing Amulet swallows one small misfortune.]
[The Misfortune-Swallowing Amulet grows slightly.]
[It will prevent one large misfortune within the next 24 hours.]
[One large misfortune has been prevented.]
The relic immediately swallowed a small misfortune of Uren’s and blocked a large misfortune that was going to happen to him today.
Of course, waves of misfortune were still relentlessly looming behind that blocked one.
"Mom, Dad, it seems I have to leave again."
If I just keep strengthening this relic…
And so, Uren left the Daemon family with hope of controlling his misfortune.
This time, he was leaving by choice, not like ten years ago when he was chased out.
However,
"That's right. As a man should! You must see the wider world! Don't worry about us and stay out as long as you want."
"Uren, make sure to eat well. And if you need money, don’t struggle to come all the way back. Just! Call us. We’ll send it right away."
For some reason, Uren felt like he was being chased out again, just like ten years ago.
***
In a secluded corner of the Combat Shop headquarters.
"Ahahaha! Finally, my divine relic has found an owner! I've never seen anyone this unfortunate before!"
Those who avoided me, saying they'd be cursed with misfortune if they stayed with me… I'll make them pay!
Misfortune, the Goddess of Misfortune, cheered as she lay on the street in rags, her ashen hair disheveled and homeless.
Like the way darkness is deepest where the light is brightest, the Combat Shop headquarters housed a few combat gods who were even poorer than the non-combat gods.
Misfortune, the Goddess of Misfortune, was one of them.
At that moment,
[The Misfortune-Swallowing Amulet has absorbed a small misfortune and gained 0.01 Divine Power.]
[The Misfortune-Swallowing Amulet has prevented a major misfortune and gained 0.5 Divine Power.]
“Yes! I got Divine Power!”
Misfortune cheered, reading the messages.
Not realizing that if she had recognized Sejun as the owner of the divine relic, she could have received a achievement monument for eliminating his misfortune and earned dozens of times more Divine Power.
How fitting for the Goddess of Misfortune.
***
[You have arrived on the 99th floor of the Black Tower.]
After registering the waypoint on the 86th floor of the Golden Tower, Sejun returned via the waypoint to the 99th floor of the Golden Tower.
It’s already night.
"Everyone, good work today. Sleep well."
As soon as he arrived at the farm, he went straight to his house and fell asleep.
Snore.
Gororong.
…
..
.
As Sejun and his companions slept,
(Pip-pip. Goodnight, everyone.)
Paespaes woke up.
And,
Kihihit. Kking.
[Hehe. It’s time.]
When Paespaes went outside, Blackie ran out as well and brought back his 1% core fragment, which he had hidden in his treasure trove.
It was a core made from combining purified fragments cleansed by the Destruction Devourers long ago, and it was the essential material for the great method Blackie had been preparing.
Since long ago, Blackie family had occasionally gathered in the mental world to hold meetings.
Their main agenda was:
How can we make the butler stronger?
How can we live without worrying about the butler?
How can we prevent the butler from becoming envious of us?
Naturally, everything was about Sejun.
And,
If the butler is strong, everything will be solved!
All the answers led to one conclusion.
Thus, the Blackie Family joined the trend of making Sejun stronger, along with Theo, Cuengi, the dragons of the Four Dragons Council, Aileen, and even the Creator God.
By now, it seemed like the entire universe was trying to help Sejun, but he still remained a fragile speck in the universe, unable to shake his sunfish status.
There were countless ways to make Sejun stronger, but he was too weak to handle any of that power.
Yet, Blackie family didn't give up. After long, intense deliberation, they finally found a very safe way to strengthen Sejun.
Let's give the butler a core too!
Cores were organs exclusive to divine beasts, known for their exceptional stability.
The only issue was that Sejun wasn’t a divine beast.
But,
Hehe. Let’s forcefully create one!
With eight excellent divine beasts here, there was no reason it couldn’t be done.
Blackie family planned to create a core in Sejun's lower abdomen.
Alright, let's begin!
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Butler, swallow this!]
Blackie forcefully pushed the core fragment into Sejun's mouth.
Tap tap tap.
Then he scurried down to Sejun’s lower abdomen.
“Melt!”
Kkiruk!
Sharalang!
"Break down!"
Kkak!
Ppiyak!
Mumu!
The other seven subordinates, who had already positioned themselves around Sejun, began channeling their power to assist Blackie in breaking down the 1% power-contained core.
They had practiced this extensively in the mental world, so their actions were precise and flawless.
After the core was broken down-
Kking!
[Gather!]
Blackie concentrated the energy of his dismantled core fragment back into Sejun's lower abdomen.
Kking!
[Here we go!]
He created an invisible, tiny mass of energy, which he began to roll and gradually absorb energy to grow in size.
And then,
Compression.
As the mass grew slightly larger, Blackie consumed some stats to stabilize it by pressing it from all sides.
This was why Blackie had distributed his stats to his subordinates.
After rolling the energy mass to make it smaller, then compressing it again by expending more stats every time it grew, they repeated the process dozens of times.
Kking!
[It’s complete!]
At last, the energy stabilized completely and settled in Sejun's lower abdomen.
Thud.
Kkirorong.
Eomrorong.
Kirurung.
...
..
.
The exhausted Blackie family fell into a deep sleep, as if they had passed out.
***
"Alright!"
Sejun woke up energetically, as usual.
...?!
But today, something felt different.
His stomach felt heavy.
It's not like I need to go to the bathroom...
As Sejun rubbed his heavy belly and looked ahead, he saw,
[<Power: Sunfish Core> has been acquired.]
A message appeared before him.
"Sunfish Core?"
Who named this power like that?! Whoever it is, if I find them, I won't let them get away with it.
Determined to punish whoever dared to name the power 'Sunfish Core', Sejun checked the details of the power.
<Power: Sunfish Core>
→ A core designed and created by Blackie and his seven subordinates, created after long planning for the Black Tower's Tower Farmer, Park Sejun.
→ Butler! Get stronger!
→ All Stat Potential +3000
→ Every day, All Stat Potential +30 (up to a maximum of 50,000)
→ Butler! Don’t die!
→ Vitality +500%
→ Butler! Absolutely do not die!
→ For 1 minute, all stats can be converted to Stamina.
The power was amazing.
It immediately boosted all stat potentials by 3000, and would continue to increase by 30 every day. Although there was a cap of 50,000, that number was still far off for Sejun.
On top of that, there was a +500% increase in vitality and even an ability to convert all stats to Stamina for one minute.
"So Blackie was the culprit, huh."
To think that a baby sunfish dared to think of me as a sunfish?!
Sejun felt a mix of emotions after checking the power.
He should punish Blackie for calling him a sunfish, but...
Reading the description made his heart soft as he realized how much Blackie cared about him.
Maybe I’ll let it slide this time?
Kkirorong.
Sejun reached out and patted Blackie, who was sprawled on his belly, sleeping in “大” position.
At that,
Kihihit.
Blackie let out a happy giggle, enjoying Sejun's touch.
Hehehe. How cute.
Without realizing it, a smile appeared on Sejun’s face, and he forgot what he was even thinking about.
But then,
Kihihit. Kking?! Kking?!
[Hehe. Butler! How’s the Sunfish Core I made for you?! It’s good, right?!]
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. With the Sunfish Core, you can get stronger too, butler!]
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. I’ll make your Sunfish Core even better later!]
Blackie, who had woken up, ran frantically around Sejun while enthusiastically explaining about the sunfish core.
This super sunfish! Are you still calling me a sunfish?!
"That’s it! I can’t take it anymore! Bwoop bwoop bwoop!"
Kking?! Kihihit.
In the end, the “Sunfish” Sejun snapped and punished Blackie with belly farts.
And then,
"Puhuhut. Great Hybrid Chairman Park, do it to me too, meow!"
Kueng!
Beside him, Theo and Cuengi presented their bellies, waiting their turn.
"Bwoop bwoop bwoop!"
"Puhuhut."
"Bwoop bwoop bwoop!"
Kuehehehe.
"Bwoop bwoop bwoop!"
Kkihihit.
Sejun went on giving belly farts to all three of them in turn until he was dizzy. Only then could he go have breakfast.
After breakfast.
-Huh?! Sejun, what did you pick up this time?
-Looks like a divine beast's core this time?
-Huh?! There’s another energy mixed in? Isn’t this the battle aura that ogres use?!
-Hahaha. Our Sejun is becoming more of a hybrid by the day. (TL: Hybrid here is in Korean)
The dragons of the Four Dragons Council started teasing Sejun, who now had not only dragon bones and divine blood but also a divine beast’s core mixed into him.
"I'm not a hybrid, but hybrid! And you know, hybrids are actually healthier!" (TL: Just like last time, the dragons are calling Sejun a 'hybrid' in Korean, and Sejun is saying 'hybrid' in English.)
Sejun earnestly preached the virtues of hybrids to the dragons. For the sake of the future Park Sejun II. (TL: Damn, Sejun is already thinking about his future child.)
*****
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