âYou want to know why? Itâs because the artifact is dead.â
â!â
Ireneâs brother, George Holten was the one to say that.
The man who became the < Monarch of Torture > after receiving a Heirloom from Ju-Heon threw the fossil artifact to Ju-Heon.
âI analyzed the thing you left with me. Even if you ignore the cockroachâŚâŚ The other one. That one is a part of a godâs body.â
Julian, who had not seen it after Jaeha restored it, gasped in shock.
âWhat the hell is this? It looks like a dried octopus tentacle!â
It wasn't really dried octopus.
[A portion of an outer godâs leg (SS-Grade:Divine-Grade - Fossil Artifact)]
This was definitely an artifact.
However, none of them had ever seen it before. That was why Ju-Heon had used it after restoring it but the tentacle just multiplied. It didn't show the effects of a Divine-Grade artifact.
âItâs not like I can eat this while drinking beer or anything.â
Well, Jaeha did say it tasted great and ate the multiplied tentacles.
Most importantly, it was called an outer godâs leg. That was from the Cthulhu Mythos that focused on alien life forms and was not a very well-known mythology.
Why?
It was not a myth based on ethnic traditions such as Greek, Egyptian, or Norse mythologies.
These were all myths created by humans.
Artifacts were items born from humans of the past. It wasnât weird for an artifact like this to exist since even rumors could cause artifacts to appear.
HoweverâŚ
âItâs a dead artifact?â
âYes. To be more specific, they imprisoned it in a cave and buried it alive.â
ââŚâŚ!â
Ju-Heon peeked toward his ring, watch, and necklace and the doggies whispered to him.
[The Supreme Leaders buried it. They make any artifacts that are too strong to kill but they donât want alive into this weird form.]
[Those tentacle bastards were so weird that they ended up that way.]
[They were getting rid of the âoutsiders.â]
âThese damn racist(?) artifact bastards. Are they discriminating because they were born from myths of this world?â
It didn't matter.
The Cthulhu artifact would only be used for war if humans used it.
"So what does this have to do with the 7 Great Tombs?â
George took something out of his pocket.
Ju-Heon scoffed after seeing another fossil Artifact.
"What is that one? Is it a squid leg now? Should I get you some mayo?â
But the fossil George took out was an unexpected item.
âSquid? No. This is the artifact from one of the 7 Great Tombs that has yet to appear.â
â!â
Ju-Heon's eyes opened wide.
Of the remaining 7 Great TombsâŚ
Ju-Heon was looking forward to the Tomb of Avarice.
âThat tomb is where I got the Archaeologist's artifact.â
He had been looking forward to it to see if that artifact would show up again. But nowâŚ
[The debris of the artifact of avarice from the 7 Great Tombs (Fossil Artifact)]
Special Trait: It is already dead. No warmth can be felt from it.
That artifact of avarice was in front of him.
"We found it while investigating the areas of the precursor. We were investigating because the tomb showed no signs of appearing and found this.â
This wasn't enough to tell whether it was his Archaeologist's Artifact, butâŚâŚ
âHand it over. Hand over the fossil of the artifact of avarice.â
â!â
George was quite shocked.
âHow does this bastard always know which artifact it is without me telling him? This fucking bastard.â
Ju-Heonâs eyes flashed.
âThe fact that it is a fossil means that this bastard was murdered by that Supreme Leader or whatever.â
Why?
âThey took care of it in advance so that all 7 artifacts from the Great Tombs could not be gathered together.â
He was sure of it. The artifacts from the 7 Great Tombs had never been gathered together in the past either. The Tomb of Envy had disappeared without being cleared in the past.
But it was the Tomb of Avarice this time.
âThe artifacts would be put in a terrible situation if the 7 artifacts are gathered together.â
It would also benefit the humans, which was something artifacts hated.
Ju-Heon snickered.
âThere is a high chance that the tomb with the Crow will appear.â
Either that, or it would be a new treasure that appears.
Ju-Heon was very happy.
'Now that I have avarice, only gluttony is left.â
George must have read Ju-Heon's mind as he burst Ju-Heonâs little bubble.
âI donât think you get it. You can't use this like this.â
â!â
"Why are you looking at me like that? You were the one who said that the octopus tentacle could only be used as a snack even after it was restored. This needs to go through a special process to be revived.â
"Revived?â
"According to the research team⌠They said that reviving a fossil artifact using a special process would allow it to create a tomb again in the location it was revived.â
Basically, they needed to do something to create an item that could summon a tomb.
Ju-Heon accepted that response.
âI guess you're right. This fossil Artifact looks to be a C or B-Grade at best right now.â
âIn addition⌠Do you really think I would give this to a thug like yoâŚâŚ ahh!â
âGreat, thanks!â
âHey!â
The rope had grabbed the fossil artifact and its eyes were sparkling.
Ju-Heon took it from the rope while snickering.
âBro, you should always watch out for pickpockets.â
âThis damn thieving bastard!â
âExcuse me? What did you just say?â
âYou didn't hear? Return this to the way it was.â
Jaeha screamed in anger after hearing Ju-Heon's response.
He had stayed up all night to restore the fossil artifact at Ju-Heonâs request but what?!
âI spent so much time restoring it! Why?!â
"Why? We need to turn it over to the Artifact Engineering team in its original state.â
âThe Engineering Team?!â
Yoo Jaeha grabbed the back of his neck.
That was right. Artifact Engineering.
In addition to restorers and appraisers, the engineers were a third artifact-related occupation.
The artifact engineers analyzed an artifactâs ability and its makeup to turn them into industrial products. The products sold by artifact-related businesses such as Grave Company were all the result of their research.
That was how the pills from the Herb of Eternal Youth and the defense-type sweatsuit Ju-Heon's fans gifted him were created as well.
They would be able to turn this fossil artifact into an item to summon a tomb.
âAnyway, break this fossil artifact and return it to normal.â
â#$$#&*!â
âOw, this bastard!â
Well, he was probably joking butâŚâŚ
"Where the hell are you going to find those motherfucking engineers?!â
âWhere else? My company.â
âExcuse me?!â
Ju-Heon was the Director of Grave Company, one of the worldâs top three artifact-related businesses after all.
Although there were many official or freelancer restorers or appraisers, the artifact engineers were mainly associated with countries, university labs, or the R&D team of large corporations.
Ju-Heonâs R&D team had a lot of talented nerâŚâŚ no, individuals.
It would be easy to hand them an artifact to analyze.
Ju-Heon immediately made the call.
HoweverâŚ
[Aigoo, Director-nim. A Fossil Artifact? Thatâs way beyond our level!]
[We canât doâŚ!]
The researchers told him they couldnât do it.
Ju-Heon started to frown.
âI knew it wouldn't be easy, butâŚâ
Ju-Heon was very upset.
Why?
âYou guys told me you could do it not too long ago. Didnât you ask me to just leave it to you guys?â
[Well, thatâŚâŚ]
They hesitated before adding on.
[Actually, we had a new intern who was so skilled that she could even handle fossil artifacts. She might be the only one in the world who could handle it.]
âOh, we had such a talent?â
Ju-Heon became curious.
âSo whatâs the issue when we have that employee?â
âWell, that intern suddenly quit and leftâŚ"
â!â
She submitted her letter of resignation and left?
[We are quite shocked as well. She had been so happy that she was finishing her probation period and was going to become an actual employee, but then she said that you are a shitty personâŚâŚ!]
[She probably went to interview somewhere else. She said anybody would be a million times better than Seo Ju-HeonâŚâŚ]
The muscles on Ju-Heon's face were twitching.
âWho was that terrible intern?â
[Her name is JoyâŚâŚ huh? Now that I think about it, she looked similar to you, Director-nimâŚâŚ]
âThat triceratops-like bitch.â
âExcuse me? Ju-Won submitted her letter of resignation? She went to TKBM to interview?!â
Yoo Jaeha grabbed the back of his neck.
He would have probably ran off after hearing that Ju-Heon was the Director as well, but why TKBM?!
Well, it wasnât that weird if he thought about it.
âTKBM is one of the 3 major artifact companies in the world.â
TKBM, Grave Company, and Gooble.
These three companies had become such prominent artifact-business companies that no other companies could catch up to them.
Well, TKBM might have crumbled lately because of Ju-Heon, but it was still around.
"Aigoo, itâs still TKBM! What if she gets hired there?! Why did it have to be Chairman Kwon's company of all places?â
Ju-Heon didn't seem to care much about it.
âItâs okay. I have a way.â
Ju-Heon sent a message from his phone.
As they were doing thatâŚ
âMy goodness, that Grave Company? Why did you leave without signing with them? That company is really good! I really shouldn't be saying this because I'm here to interview, but TKBMâs stock prices have been falling latelyâŚâ
Joy laughed while chatting with the person next to her as they waited for their interviews.
âI didn't like the Director there.â
It wasnât that she really hated Ju-Heon.
She just didn't want to be paid by her bastard of a brother.
Why?
[A chicken to thank your employer.]
[Why are you messing around with a guy during work hours?]
[Give me a list of how you spent your salary.]
âI'd rather not be paid at all.â
She didn't really need to work at TKBM, but she had originally worked for a NGO.
She knew that TKBM had been the company to financially support that NGO.
She was thankful for their help to prevent the financially strapped NGO from breaking up.
âSo Chairman Kwon should be a really good person.â
Joy, who had no idea that it was actually Ju-Heon who had supported her, wanted to pay back that benevolence(?).
It was at that moment.
âNumber 3, 4, and 5, please come in.â
âYes sirâŚâŚ!â
Joy entered the interview area. Chairman Kwon's son-in-law, Yoon Shi Woo, was the one who was in there.
Why?
âDid she say her name was Joy?â
She was a promising candidate. He had recently learned that she was Ju-Heonâs twin. That was why he had scouted her.
He could have kidnapped her but he didn't want to deal with that shitty bastard Seo Ju-Heon.
That motherfucker shouldn't be able to say anything if his sister walked in on her own accord.
âSheâs talented and sheâs hot.â
He would show her a good time as her boss. But who cared if he had such thoughts?
âHuh? What the hell? Where did number 3 go?!â
Yoon Shi Woo became flustered as Joy disappeared from the interview room.
"Where did that girl Joy go?!â
âUmm! She was outside until just a moment ago but then she saw a message on her phone and ran outâŚâŚ!â
âWhat?!â
Returning back to Ju-Heonâs groupâŚ
âItâs about time she showed up.â
Ju-Heon was leisurely looking at his watch.
And as he had expectedâŚ
Bang!
The door opened.
âHey! Seo Ju-Heon! I'm going to kill you!â
âSee, I knew she would come.â
Ju-Heon smiled mischievously. Joy, who had run like hell to get here, was huffing as she grabbed Ju-Heon.
âMy picture! I'm going to kill you if you spread that picture!â
âPicture?â
âWhy do you even have that picture?!â
"What the hell? Captain-nim, what kind of picture is it?â