Geon-mu gazed at Kang Ho-seok.
The trait he possessed, <Myriad Phenomena>.
A kind of enlightenment gained as he rose to the seat of the Asura King at the end of a raging storm of madness.
It let him read not only the meaning every object held, but its depth and its intent as well.
Not merely things; the same was true of humans.
In Geon-mu's case, Kang Ho-seok's stat window came into view.
Name: Kang Ho-seok
Level: 21
Patron Constellation: Sword Tiger
Lineage: Human
Titles: None
.
.
.
But even without such an eye, experience alone made Kang Ho-seok's intentions plain.
The reason he stayed quiet anyway was obvious.
'I still don't know this world well.'
It closely resembled the old world he had lived in, but it was not the same.
He had said nothing until now because playing the fool was easier.
People only lowered their guard when they felt superior.
Calling each other elder and younger brother was for the same reason.
Becoming the younger brother carried more advantages than one might think.
"Brother."
"What is the matt...... no, what's up?"
"This younger brother of yours is hungry. Could you feed me? I do not have a single coin."
"......."
Geon-mu offered him a smile.
***
The place Kang Ho-seok took Geon-mu to was an ordinary snack shop.
Only after polishing off three servings of pork cutlet and two bulgogi rice bowls did Geon-mu lean back against his chair.
Kang Ho-seok could not hold back his astonishment at the emptied dishes.
"You certainly eat a lot......."
"I must have gotten some exercise; I was very hungry. Was that too much?"
"No, no. This much is...... fine."
Even eating that much came to about fifty thousand won, well within Kang Ho-seok's means.
'Not even money for a meal.......'
Kang Ho-seok looked at Geon-mu strangely.
With the ability to beat goblins to death bare-handed, he should never go hungry anywhere, so why did he not have a single copper?
'I don't have that much money either. My expenses have been heavy lately.'
He had already spent a great deal to pass the Trial of the Goblin King in first place.
A silver box was about enough to break even, but it was half of what he had expected.
'Would this guy sell it to me?'
He did not even have money for food, so surely a bit of persuasion would do it.
He worked out a plan of persuasion in his head.
"By the way, Brother."
Just then, Geon-mu called out to Kang Ho-seok.
"What is it?"
"Do you know what a Patron Star is?"
"You don't know what a Patron Star is?"
Kang Ho-seok blinked like a crucian carp.
"What star country did you come from? How can you not know Patron Stars?"
"I'm asking because I don't know. Tch."
Geon-mu had intended to hit him if he embarrassed him once more, but it did not come to that.
"A Patron Star is, exactly as the word says, like an elder brother standing behind us. In return for us serving a Patron Star, the Patron Star gives us abilities."
It was exactly what Geon-mu had gathered from his exchange with the Goblin King.
Geon-mu moved on to his next question.
"Is it common for these Patron Stars to make offers?"
"It's common enough, but there are differences. The value changes depending on how famous the Patron Star is."
"So there are grades among them."
"Of course. Which Patron Star singles you out decides how your life goes. It's an important choice that crosses between heaven and hell."
"Hmm. What about one like the Goblin King?"
"That one made you an offer? You refused, right?"
Kang Ho-seok asked carefully, and Geon-mu nodded.
"I have no interest in the king of weaklings."
"Good call. Contracting with those punks gets you an authority that summons goblin bastards, and that's about it. Nice early on, but honestly, who'd want that?"
"I see. Then who do you have as your Patron Star, Brother?"
"I have <Sword Tiger> as my Patron Star."
Kang Ho-seok answered with a proud look on his face.
"And what sort of person is this <Sword Tiger>?"
"He's worthy of the highest seat among Patron Stars. Just about every bastard who holds a sword wants a contract with him."
"Is that so?"
"With him as your Patron Star you can learn a swordsmanship called Sword Tiger Arts. Sword Tiger Arts is tier one, up at the top of the swordsmanship you can get from Patron Stars."
Kang Ho-seok laid out his boasts before Geon-mu.
Since it pleased him, Geon-mu played along and listened to his story.
"It sounds like a formidable swordsmanship."
"Learn it and you can fight evenly with someone two or three levels above you. That's how strong it is. Of course, with my ability it's impossible to make full use of what the Patron Star granted."
Kang Ho-seok trailed off bitterly.
Is that all it does? He wanted to ask, but Geon-mu kept his expression in check.
He let Kang Ho-seok get carried away and keep talking.
"Can a Patron Star have only one contractor?"
"Depends on the Patron Star. Some contract only one-on-one, and some contract enough people to staff our whole Cheonho Guild."
"With many contractors, I doubt the power is handed out equally."
"Of course not. What you get differs by grade. In my case I only got the basic trait."
"He sounds strict."
Kang Ho-seok nodded.
"He's strict and sets great store by dignity. So when he picks contractors from among the Awakened, he always sets trials. At minimum one, and there are people who went through as many as twelve. I only sat five of them."
"Is it better to sit fewer?"
"Of course. It means you're that much more qualified."
Putting his words together, the Patron Star called Sword Tiger was respected, and strict in equal measure.
'So he's that fine a fellow?'
Geon-mu shifted his eyes and glanced at his message window.
[<Sword Tiger> is watching you closely.]
[<Sword Tiger> wants a contract with you.]
[<Sword Tiger> begs you for a contract.]
'Feels closer to a cat than a tiger, this one.'
After all, it was sending love calls through the messages at every hour.
But Geon-mu had no intention of contracting with Sword Tiger.
'It's not as if I'm a master who wields beast-style fist arts. Bowing my head to a mere beast would be laughable.'
Unlike when the Goblin King had proposed a contract, however, he did not insult it.
He simply held to ignoring it.
"I think I've asked plenty. Now let me ask a question."
"What is it? Speak."
The man had bought him a meal and answered faithfully, so he was willing to answer one question in return.
"How is it that you have ability like that and not a single coin?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. I simply have no money."
Geon-mu took out his wallet and showed him.
All he had were his ID and his Awakened certificate.
A thin wallet without even a common debit card.
Kang Ho-seok's eyes fell on the <Goblin King's Golden Box> card Geon-mu had won.
Kang Ho-seok swallowed hard.
"If you're that short on money, how about selling me that box?"
"You mean this card?"
Geon-mu held the card up as he asked.
"I'll give you the silver box I got, plus cash on top. What do you say?"
"Hmm......."
Living in this world required money.
He was well aware of that, but Geon-mu shook his head.
"I do need money, but not that badly."
"Yeah?"
Regret seeped out of Kang Ho-seok's face.
His stomach smarting, he changed the subject.
"Then what did you do with the goblin corpses?"
"Do those have to be dealt with too?"
Kang Ho-seok nodded.
"Of course. That's money too...... Don't tell me you didn't call a single guild or dealer?"
"I don't know anything about that."
"They go for about fifty thousand won a head, and up to a hundred thousand if they're in good condition."
"......."
The concept of money had not yet settled properly for him, so Geon-mu dipped his head and looked at the empty dishes.
"How much did everything I ate come to?"
"Not even fifty thousand won."
"Damn it......."
The number of goblins Geon-mu had killed was eighty.
At the lowest estimate, it had been a chance to earn four million won.
For want of information, he had lost a chance at money.
'I can earn it any time, but it still stings.'
It amounted to doing a favor for total strangers, and there was nothing to be done about it.
Kang Ho-seok turned on his smartphone, looked at his messages, and spoke.
"Looks like our Cheonho Guild collection team picked up yours as well."
"Did they?"
"They must have thought they'd struck it lucky with ownerless corpses. But if Kim Jin-hyeok here—"
"Cha Geon-mu."
"......if Mister Cha Geon-mu claims ownership, we have to hand it over, don't we?"
One slip of the name, and the man glared at him as if to kill.
That lasted only a moment; Geon-mu smiled brightly again and patted Kang Ho-seok's shoulder.
"I am truly grateful you would do that. You are a proper Brother after all."
"Then give me your account number. You do have an account?"
"I don't know."
"......We'll make it a cash handover, then. Your contact number?"
"I don't have a phone either."
"......Let's go get you a line."
Kang Ho-seok's questions about Geon-mu's existence only grew.
'It'll cost me a bit, but this much is worth spending.'
Sparing money on a stroke of fate like this was an extravagance.
Kang Ho-seok bought Geon-mu the newest model of smartphone, one he did not even use himself.
***
With the smartphone activated, Geon-mu picked it up quickly.
He had handled one long ago, so even after centuries his instincts imprinted the functions one by one.
After taking Kang Ho-seok's number, Geon-mu returned to his studio apartment.
He skimmed once more through the copy of the records that held his personal information.
'Looking back, it really is peculiar.'
Every one of his lives had begun as an orphan.
He had lived without knowing a mother or a father, and now he was in his fifth life.
Family was still an unfamiliar concept to Cha Geon-mu.
'No, that's not right. I did put together a family while I lived as the Dragon-Slaying Emperor.'
But even that could not be called a family.
Family in name only; the terms were a contract far removed from romance.
To hunt the last dragon, they had asked him to marry the princess and become emperor of the empire in exchange for the imperial army.
He married without love, fathered children without love, and ended his life that way.
'I don't think I've ever once been happy from human feeling.'
Achievement in the martial way, and the sense of having attained it.
On that he had lived for centuries.
Wealth and honor were incidental, no more.
They fell into his hands as a matter of course because he grew strong, so he had never once rejoiced over them.
"So what? Am I supposed to start a family now and live happily?"
Escape would help nothing.
Especially if there was a clue to escaping this damned karma of reincarnation, this was the time to grow stronger than ever.
"Pull yourself together, Cha Geon-mu."
Geon-mu steadied himself and folded his legs into the lotus position.
He pressed on his trait window.
[Heaven-Breaking Divine Art]
Type: Composite
Grade: EX
A demon that seized the heavens reigned
and the world was stained with chaos,
but above the heavens stood another heaven,
and it shattered the heavens that had been seized.
You may use some of the skills of the Heaven-Breaking Divine Art.
Current Stage: 0
[Nine Dragon Divine Meridians]
Type: Passive
Grade: SSS
Nine dragons that reigned over the continent of Yuresian and ruled it with blood and iron.
The Slayer who defeated all nine of those dragons seized their power completely.
That perfected power crosses time and space and dwells within the Slayer.
Dragons Released: 0
He closed his eyes and shut off his five senses.
He slowly dissolved his mind, as though laying it down upon a great lake.
By the time his mind had melted entirely, Geon-mu had fallen into a trance without even being aware that he was breathing.
With that, he made complete the imperfect first stage of the Heaven-Breaking Divine Art.
[<Heaven-Breaking Divine Art> has reached the first stage.]
[Strength increased by 5 through <Heaven-Breaking Divine Art>.]
[Perception increased by 5 through <Heaven-Breaking Divine Art>.]
The breathing continued while he had no consciousness.
The body, ruled by the mind, followed the breath naturally.
It drew in what was good and expelled what was foul.
The waste built up inside him seeped out little by little, purifying his body.
As the body was purified, the Nine Dragon Divine Meridians regained their vigor.
[Stamina increased by 1 through <Nine Dragon Divine Meridians>.]
[Agility increased by 1 through <Nine Dragon Divine Meridians>.]
As the Nine Dragon Divine Meridians came alive, the stage of the Heaven-Breaking Divine Art rose.
And when the stage of the Heaven-Breaking Divine Art rose, the Nine Dragon Divine Meridians regained their vigor once more.
The two brought about a synergy in the shape of each biting the other's tail.
<Heaven-Breaking Divine Art> and <Nine Dragon Divine Meridians>.
The two threw up messages in turn without pause, but Geon-mu paid them no mind.
Within his scattered mind, only one word shone clearly in his head.
Cha Geon-mu.
His own name.