Chapter 50 – Artifacts (2)

Kai An recalled his past wandering around the world looking for a place to settle down.

Since he was still young, he had to choose survival rather than rebuilding his family, so he searched for a stable shelter with Yurhim, and then came over to the Korean Peninsula, where circumstances were better.

It wasn’t that hard to fool the eyes of those around you. Yurhim was strong even then, and the witch Nebla, who used extraordinary magic, was also with him.

‘Well…I’m dead now…’

She didn’t like that idiot-like tendency very much. But even so, thinking of her vassal, torn apart by the catastrophe of Yuchun with her arms folded in front of her eyes, made her feel quite bitter.

‘This isn’t the time to think like this…’

He had to answer the question of the monster in front of him. For Berenduke’s sake…

“Did she be called Hapcheon when she wandered around looking for a suitable hiding place? Anyway, I accidentally found a temple there.”

From the outside, it was just a lonely place covered in dust and ash. But Kai An felt curious about it and went inside her, doubting her eyes.

“The inside of that temple, Haeinsa Temple, looked like an independent world.”

Unlike the appearance of ruins that seemed like ghosts would come out from the outside, when you went inside, the place was neatly maintained and gave off the scent of fragrant grass and the unique scent of a temple.

Even though there is no one to manage it, it was like a Mureungdowon.

“Intrigued by a singularity we’ve never seen before, like being in the same world but in another dimension, we investigated it and found the place that caused it.”

“The Janggyeong Panjeon?”

Yuchun remembered what he said earlier about the Tripitaka Koreana and asked.

“Exactly. A space where the Tripitaka Koreana is kept. That was the center of all singularity.”

“That it has such great power?”

Yoochun tilted his head.

The Tripitaka Koreana, also known as the Tripitaka Koreana, is a collection of 80,000 pages of Tripitaka written by monks from the 23rd to 38th year of King Gojong of the Goryeo Dynasty who received support from all, regardless of the ruling class, in order to prevent the Mongol invasion.

Yuchun doesn’t know more details, but he does know that he is a great national treasure of Korea. However, it was questionable whether it could create an independent dimension by itself.

Isn’t it possible that the Tripitaka Koreana is the only relic with such a story?

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a great artifact or not. In the first place, it is ambiguous to decide what to say.”

“Then?”

“The ceremonial dagger of a warlock or a shaman whose material is life holds deep grudges and sometimes changes its nature. Artifacts are similar. What Mana chooses is something like deep emotion or will, not the historical value or story of an artifact.”

Everything in the world dilutes and flows over time. It is the same with emotion or will.

If an object is imbued with thoughts strong enough to withstand the passage of dozens or hundreds of years, it becomes an artifact when it is connected to the central world and mana flows into the dimension and dwells there. When the durability of the object endured.

That is, there are hardly any. Even treasure hunters who don’t mind all the exploration if it’s worth the money, it’s enough to shake their heads.

“So I was shocked because all the woodblock prints there were artifacts.”

“What…?”

“To be exact, those 80,000 or so artifacts gathered together to form a gigantic and great masterpiece called Haeinsa.”

Yuchun’s eyes widened when he heard that all the things there, if not one or two, had become artifacts.

Besides, they are forming one… Yuchun couldn’t easily guess how great that power would be.

“Why did you leave it alone until now?”

I don’t know what kind of thought the Tripitaka Koreana is, but it must be a power that can’t be easily seen even in the central world.

Still, I couldn’t figure out why Kaian didn’t touch it. Even though it will definitely be of great help in establishing a family.

“It’s not that I didn’t touch it…It wasn’t that I couldn’t touch it…”

Kaian smiled bitterly.

“The Legacy was already working with one goal in mind. If I dared to touch it, it would have killed me and my men.”

“Target?”

“Haeinsa, to be exact, one absolute order was given in common to each woodblock print. It was wrong to say no. It should be called a wish. That.”

The hope contained in it was the noble tenacity to protect the lineage of this land beyond Goryeo, Joseon, and then Han.

The power of the unknown itself was protecting only the Korean Peninsula, not the Earth or humanity.

“Indeed, it has performed unbelievable miracles several times to protect the people of this land.”

“Have you ever been like that?”

If something worthy of being called a miracle had happened, it would have been in Fallen’s information, but Yuchun had never heard of it.

“Exactly. For one example… The Bukhansan dungeon explosion… Do you think that was really lucky?”

“…Then is it not?”

Yoochun narrowed his eyes.

Does that mean that the incident in which 24 dungeons self-destructed and exploded after a simultaneous occurrence was caused by the power of the Tripitaka Koreana?

“Exactly. According to the thesis of Dr. Autz, senior professor of dungeon studies at the Libreath Faculty Association, there is practically no possibility of self-destruction by gathering more than three dungeons together.”

“…”

Yoochun, who was only a player, was an unknown fact.

No matter how much you like the setting of Last Legacy, isn’t it possible to read the papers there?

“The basis…?”

“According to that thesis, conditions are required for dungeons to self-destruct. First, they must be in adjacent spaces, and second, they must have exactly the same mana density.”

“They say that the mana density is completely equal at this time, it should be the same up to two decimal places at the maximum.”

‘Is the maximum one in ten thousand…? That’s ridiculous…’

“For example in that thesis, assuming two dungeons are adjacent, the probability of each destroying the other is one in 100 million at most. But not two, but 24 dungeons with the same density, so they self-destruct each other? Can you count the number of cases?”

‘It’s 10,000 to the power of 24… That’s no longer a probability…’

“…If what you say is true, that’s nonsense…”

“That’s right, it’s no longer luck, it’s inevitable.”

In other words, Kaian’s claim is that the Tripitaka Koreana, which became an artifact, was manipulated to gather dungeons in one place and exploded in order to protect the living on the Korean Peninsula.

‘It’s strange…’

I don’t know what would pop out of those dungeons, but if all 24 dungeons were outbreaking at once, it was clear that we would have to fight for the survival of the Korean Peninsula.

However, considering that they exploded together with Mt. Bukhan and left no sacrifices except property damage, it was not wrong.

“And that’s not all…”

“Stop, I understand why you praise the Tripitaka Koreana.”

It is not a metaphysical phenomenon that can be seen, but the power to twist metaphysical destiny.

I know that the 13th Committee would be horrified if they knew about it, and it would be so great that they would designate the entire earth as a controlled area.

“But what does this have to do with your attempt to shake Korea?”

I know that the Tripitaka Koreana is interesting and great, but Yoochun decided to listen to Kaian’s movement, whose purpose was unknown.

“The power to reverse even the flow of the world and protect the people… We were fascinated by it, and we started our research with our roots in the dawn.”

The reason Kian rooted in the dawn was because Daegu was the closest big city to Haeinsa in Hapcheon.

“And after research, I made an assumption. That temple will be a high-level artificial intelligence ideological information system that accepts information from this land, analyzes it, and comes up with and executes appropriate countermeasures when it is judged to be a crisis.”

Even if it wasn’t a big deal like the explosion of a dungeon in Bukhansan, Kaian was able to find many traces of miracles on the Korean Peninsula, and through that, he could figure out and respond to all the events within the Korean Peninsula.

“There we got a hint.”

“What hint?”

“If we can respond to everything on the Korean Peninsula, why did North Korea perish in the past while South Korea was fine?”

‘Is that so too?’

It was unlikely that Artifact would have made such a judgment that North Koreans were servants of China and therefore no longer one nation.

“Do you know how North Korea was destroyed?”

“They self-destructed.”

North Korea, which was read in the process of collecting Fallen information, was confused when the Awakeners appeared, and in the meantime, the warlord forces killed the leaders.

And after fighting among the centipedes to occupy the vacant seat at the top, they were eventually destroyed by detonating a nuclear bomb.

‘They’re idiots.’

When Yoochun saw the record, he thought it was the words of those who were swallowed up by power, and recalled his memories of being a teacher on the other hand.

“…Yes, they destroyed themselves. And we were able to confirm it. The legacy that protects this land is not flawless… There was a fatal weakness…”

Kaian recalled that memory and opened his mouth about the fatal weakness of that powerful legacy, but then closed his eyes.

‘Should I tell you this…?’

He hesitated Speaking of this, Yuchun would know of actions that Kaian himself would consider evil.

And it was because he didn’t know if he, who was supposed to be a citizen of this country, would let him live.

‘No… Is it the same as dying even if I don’t speak…?’

Lying was useless. After signing a slave contract, if the lies were exposed, Yoochun, who gained justification, could have killed himself.

“What? Why don’t you talk What are your weaknesses?”

Yuchun frowned at Kian, who suddenly stopped talking.

‘I can’t help it…’

In the end, Kai An opened his mouth trembling with the feeling of gambling with his life.

“That is… That’s right… Internal strife among the beings to be protected… The Tripitaka Koreana couldn’t deal with it. It was some sort of error…And if there is an error…Couldn’t we be able to take advantage of it…That’s how we concluded…”

“Me…? Wait… You bastard…!”
“Keugh-!”

Hearing those words, Yuchun’s face turned into an evil spirit, and as the lifeblood exploded in his eyes, Kai An’s body began to tremble.

Ignoring that appearance, Yuchun thought again to see if he had misunderstood.

‘According to that bastard, the role of Haeinsa, which has become an artifact, is the survival of the people living on the Korean Peninsula… And if you substitute the fact that he made a perfect composition to cause a civil war by shaking guilds and associations in Korea…’

“Under…! Didn’t I misunderstand? Aren’t these fucking devils?”

“…I will not deny it…”

Yuchun now fully understood. It is not that Kai An’s actions were without purpose. It just wasn’t revealed.

‘So this idiot tried to take control of the artifact when it caused a conflict between the Koreans and shook the foundation of the artifact’s existence, revealing a gap?’

Yuchun stared at Kai An sweating coldly.

‘Wow…Fuck, he was crazy like a person from the central world, really…’

It drives tens of millions to death for personal purposes. Not all of them were like that, but Yuchun thought that was a choice worthy of a person in power in the central world.

“Yeah, damn you can…”

However, Yoochun laughed. It was a kind of business.

“Oh…! I thought that a strong person like you would understand me.”

When Yoochun let go of his expression and laughed, Kaian let out a sigh of relief.

‘Yes, you must have something to gain from me…’

In the end, he also had something to gain from himself as Berenduk’s heir.

He thought that his gamble that Yoochun, who was close to being a ruler in a world where the strong were treated well, would choose profit rather than emotional choices, he thought.

‘What the fuck can you understand…’

Of course, the business Yoochun thought was different from Kaian’s.

Kaian was right in saying that the reason Yuchun smiled and pretended to be generous was because he had a lot to rip from him, but…

‘Contractor? Is that fucking guy worse than the White Demon King?’

Yoochun had no intention of fulfilling the contract properly. Rather, he intended to destroy the contract holder and end Kai An as well.

Takes everything and gives nothing away. That was the business Yuchun had in mind.

‘I’ll eat everything up to the root and then kill it.’

Yuchun’s smiling eyes shone with a cold light.