122.
“Thank you for your effort.”
As I went up the road again, Yuna Jin, who was watching me, said so.
No matter how bad things were, Choi Jeong-sook must have been an exorcist belonging to the Hwarang.
Yuna Jin reacted as if nothing had happened to her death.
Of course, I was the one who informed the gallery of the circumstances and asked them to bring Choi Jeong-suk here.
However, I did not expect that Hwarang would move so actively.
Because I thought Choi Jeong-sook’s death would be connected to the loss of Hwarang.
“Is the Hwarang okay?”
So I asked.
“of course.”
Then Yuna Jin nodded with a calm face.
“If her past crimes are true, she is a prisoner. Also, convicts are not allowed to join the company.”
It was.
The HR system of foreign institutions belonging to large conglomerates is as complicated as that of regular institutions.
That is why they do not accept heinous criminals who commit murder intentionally, belonging to class C, unless there is a special reason.
In a way, it was like being scammed for a job at an art gallery.
“But as long as the prisoner has already been accepted, it cannot be undone. So, the executive judged that if this person really hid his crime, it would cause great damage to the company. That is why he instructed me to prove the crime and dispose of it.”
be a disposition
It was not wrong.
The moment Choi Jeong-suk was demoted to the status of a prisoner.
Her life-and-death rights belong to the head of the institution that accepted her, that is, the executive director.
In other words, the gallery set an example for job fraud.
“okay.”
I just answered that and looked at Na Ha-jung.
I wondered if it would be a story that would upset Na Ha-jeong, who is also a prisoner.
Rather, her expression looked slightly brighter than usual.
Well, the only thing that matters to Na Ha-jeong is that the person who committed the murder is dead.
“Then I’m done.”
After finishing her business, Jin Yuna leisurely got back in her car.
We also had no reason to stay any longer, so we withdrew that day.
The navigation case was thus closed.
* * *
A few weeks after that, Friday evening.
“It’s getting hotter.”
After sorting out an incident, I immediately left work and sat down on the bed.
The time is 7pm.
Fortunately, the work was done early.
So it wasn’t too late at night, and it was just a leisurely time, so I summoned Keng Keng.
It was for feeding.
“Keng!”
“I think we are almost done… ”
He muttered that as he took out the spirit he had obtained while dealing with the demons today.
After the sub-quest to collect the tails of the nine-tailed fox was created.
A new bar graph appeared in Kenkengi’s status window.
Seeing that it fills up little by little every time you feed it, it seems that it is displaying experience points.
And the graph was now almost full.
That’s because after the quest was created, every time I dealt with demons, I was steadily extracting the spirits and feeding them.
Is it because of that?
“Keng!”
Finally today, the EXP graph is filled up and Keng Keng has a third tail.
Another tail stretched with a bright light.
Along with that, the quest button also flashed, notifying the renewal of the quest.
＜Sub Quest – Gathering Nine Tails＞
– Gather the tails of the auspicious white foxes of the Holy Mother of God and bring them to the top line.
– Additional abilities unlocked every time you collect 3 tails
– The current Yomulization is open. Humanization in progress… (3/6)
Is humanization next?
It is said that if you collect all 9 of them, you will become a Taoist, so you must first become a human.
But then, what is yoghurt?
With that thought in mind, I checked Keng Keng’s status window.
Then, as expected, there was something written about the transformation into a monster.
＜Yelization＞
It reproduces the transmission of the nine-tailed fox as a monster.
Controls flames and temporarily becomes gigantic to strengthen all physical abilities.
However, in the form of a monster, he is dominated by his strange instincts and loses his reason.
In order to strengthen and control it, the power of the mountain god is required.
“… It’s a skill like berserk.”
It seemed that Keng-Keng-i would go beyond the ability to track location and acquire combat capabilities.
The tail stretched, and the level went up to 30 before I knew it.
That’s not a bad thing, since you’ll be able to clean up the junk spirits on your own.
It seemed to require the power of the mountain god to use it properly.
But the power of the mountain god?
Where do you suddenly get something like that?
At that time, I was thinking about where to find and catch the spirit of the mountain.
From nob le mt l. com
Just then, another quest in the quest window caught my eye.
＜Sub Quest – Succession of the Four Guardian Gods (White Tiger)＞
The Four Guardian Gods quest that I haven’t been paying attention to for a while because I’ve been busy with various things.
Among them, it was a quest about the white tiger.
“Baekhora… ”
Tigers are originally called Sangun, and in legends, they often have the appearance of mountain gods.
And the white tiger is the highest level of deity among such tigers.
So, it seemed possible to obtain the power of a mountain god if one could obtain the division spirit of this white tiger.
but.
“… Immunity is ambiguous.”
From nob le mt l. com
Jujak, Blue Dragon, and Hyeonmu use fire, electricity, and ice attributes, respectively.
So, if you have the skill, so-called attribute immunity is possible, but this was not the case with Baekho.
Baekho belonged to the perfect martial arts group because he had the most aggressive and strong body among the gods of all four directions.
Also, in Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, he is the one who governs steel.
Because of that, Baekho couldn’t get the help of the attribute immunity skill, and he had no choice but to press down with thorough force.
however… Would that be possible for me now?
“… … ”
I took a close look at my skills.
and concluded
“This should be enough.”
– Monster Hunter: 100% additional damage to beast-type monsters
In fact, except for this skill obtained from hunting the lycanthrope, there was no skill that could be said to snipe the white tiger.
But this skill was enough.
If it was a melee fight with each other directly armed, whether the opponent was a human or a beast, he was confident.
“then… I have to go tomorrow.”
Having something to do on my holiday unintentionally, I let out a small sigh.
Seeing me like that, Keng-Keng who was next to me cried Keng-Keng.
next day.
I moved the car following the arrow of the backhoe quest.
Was Jujak on Jeju Island and Cheongryong on Ulleungdo?
So, I was thinking of going far away, but unexpectedly, the place where Baekho’s priest was located was quite close.
“… Were you here?”
The arrow was pointing at Inwangsan Mountain in Seoul.
Looking at the sign at the bottom of the mountain, it says that the mountain corresponds to the Right Baek Lake among the Left Blue Dragons and the Right Baek Lake that surround Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Although the Jwacheongryong is located in Ulleungdo.
Thankfully, Baekho seemed to be staying in Seoul.
It was fortunate for me.
Being in charge of the west side, it was better to be on Mt. Inwang than to be on an unknown island at the far west end.
“hmm… ”
I climbed the mountain right away.
Perhaps because it is a mountain in the middle of Seoul, there were quite a few hikers on holiday.
It’s the time when it’s just getting warmer in earnest.
It was good weather to go out.
Passing by such hikers, I quickly reached my destination.
It was near Beombawi Rock of Inwangsan Mountain that the direction of the arrow was greatly bent.
From its name, Tiger Rock.
However, when I looked closely at Beombawi, I couldn’t tell where it actually resembled a tiger.
Anyway, there is a priest of Baekho in this area.
“… Is it down?”
I followed the arrow and left the trail.
A little further down the mountain road, a small stone statue of a tiger stood in the forest out of nowhere.
Its height is around 1 meter.
In front of the tiger stone statue made of gray stone, there is a round and flat plate made of the same material.
This… is it a bowl?
However, no matter where I looked, I couldn’t see the entrance to the new station.
At that time, the quest was renewed.
＜Sacrifice an animal to enter the sanctuary of the White Tiger.＞
beast?
It seemed that they had to offer sacrifices to this bowl.
Because the opponent is Baekho… Do you want meat too?
“Where are you bringing the beast all of a sudden? Should I go to the mart?”
I clicked my tongue a little.
Korean beef… You don’t need to, and Australian-made ones will suffice.
But at that moment, something crazy came to my mind.
That was Keng Keng.
I used my spiritual power to summon Keng-Kengi, who now has three tails.
“Keng!”
Then Keng Keng showed up crying happily.
Of course, I didn’t intend to sacrifice it.
It’s true that I’ve been thinking about that possibility for a while.
Come to think of it, it could have been better.
“Hunt only one animal nearby.”
Even if it was Mt. Inwang in the middle of Seoul, since it is a mountain, there must have been animals.
I’ve seen the news about wild boars before.
Of course, I don’t expect Keng-Keng to catch the wild boar.
Seeing that there were no special conditions attached to the sacrifice, it would have been enough to bring just one sparrow.
“Keng!”
At my words, Keng Keng quickly disappeared into the mountains.
Soon after, he reappeared with something in his mouth.
That… is it a squirrel?
No, looking closely, it was a squirrel hat.
“good job.”
I stroked Keng Keng a few times and placed the squirrel on a stone bowl.
Then, the space next to the stone statue shook, and soon the entrance to the new station appeared.
Beyond that a dry wind blew.
“Ken… ”
At this, Keng-Kengi trembled as if he had lost his temper.
It wasn’t strange.
Since the white tiger is the king of beasts, Keng-keng, the fox, must also be affected by the power of the divine.
I canceled Keng Keng’s summons and stepped into the sacred area.
At the same time,
“——!!”
The loud cry of the tiger hit my ears.
Baekho’s new role was, of course, a mountain.
And now that sound, as if threatening me, came from the top of a high mountain.
That means… Are you asking me to come up there?
“Whoa… ”
I roughly checked the route with my eyes and let out a sigh.
Baekho’s sacred area looked extremely steep with rocks, cliffs, and forests exquisitely harmonized.
It’s a good thing if you don’t fall off a cliff, let alone a proper hiking trail.
Moreover, its height seemed to exceed hundreds of meters.
“Tsk… ”
But I couldn’t back down from here, so I started climbing the mountain.
The first was a steep course where rocks sparsely blocked the road ahead.
If it was a normal mountaineering, it would be quite dangerous, but for me, it was neither too difficult nor too dangerous.
After climbing the mountain for a while, a wide plain suddenly appeared.
A land where brown reeds spread out like rice fields.
on it,
“Kyaaang!”
A large lynx was waiting for me.
Its size is almost as big as a bull.
Absolutely not a normal-sized lynx, he was showing his hostility to me with his fur erect.
Level 37.
weird… Rather, it’s like a food soul created by Baekho.
“hmm… ”
In response, I drew my sword and nodded.
This was a test given to me by the priesthood of the White Tiger, just like the priesthood of Suzaku and Blue Dragon before.
climb the mountain
And when you meet an enemy, take it down.
A much more intuitive and simple test than other tests.
I liked this better than solving strange puzzles like the Blue Dragon’s Trial.
“Okay, let’s begin.”
“Kyaaa!”
At the same time as I said, the lynx moved.
Despite its gigantic size, it attacked me with feline speed.
It’s pretty fast, though.
It was never to the point where I couldn’t react.
Chow!
I dodged the guy’s forepaws that were the size of a pot lid, and immediately after that, I cut my belly skin with a sword.
If it were just a normal lynx, it would have collapsed with its intestines spilling out.
“Kyaa!”
Perhaps because he is a food soul, he attacked again with his stomach skin cracked.
Hard jaws studded with sharp teeth aim at my neck.
But I rather aimed my sword at that chin.
And the sword light flashed once.
The food body of the lynx, whose body was split vertically from the gaping mouth, collapsed to the ground.
The food soul’s body, without a single drop of blood, disappeared into the air like smoke.
“… … ”
I looked at it for a while and then headed back up the mountain.
After passing the flat land where the reeds were spreading, this time I saw a narrow road leading to a steep cliff.
After that, the same test was repeated.
When I passed a rough mountain road, climbed a sheer cliff, or passed a snow-covered rock, it always came out flat.
All kinds of beasts stood there, one by one, like gatekeepers.
The gatekeepers were of various kinds.
Starting with the first lynx, wild boars, wolves, leopards, and bears appeared.
Besides, of course, the higher you go up, the bigger the size of the beast and the higher the level.
The sixth gatekeeper, the black bear, reached level 70.
“Whoa… ”
I let out a short sigh after defeating the level 70 black bear.
Not to mention its strength, and its leather was as hard as steel.
Literally the same fatigue as hunting a single upper-middle monster.
It was fortunate that he had the skill of being a monster hunter.
“Is this the end?”
I said, looking at the stairs behind the dispersing half-moon bear figure.
The top of the mountain was just around the corner.
And unlike the rough mountain roads up until now, the pure white stairs led straight to the top of the mountain.
The sun was setting and the moon was rising in the sky.
And in the light of the moon, I stepped on the white steps on the black rock and went up.
“… … ”
The top of the mountain reached like that.
What was there was an altar made of white stone.
It is built on a well-polished circular foundation with four pillars.
A stone statue of a tiger, which had been erected at the entrance of the sanctuary, was carved on the pillar.
And in the center of that altar,
“——!”
I saw the white tiger’s division howling bravely.
Over 80 levels.
There was no need for even a short word between the white tiger and me.
Although it is doubtful whether the words will work.
I just raised my sword and ran towards him.