Chapter 200: It is always darkest underneath the lamp 2
âThis bastard!â
He truly deserved the title of Monarch of Plunder.
Julian was starting to get a headache.
It couldnât be helped.
âThat bastard always had a bad habit of using his hands like this. We used them quite effectively for each mission. Was it the Archaeologist's Artifact? That artifact should have given an ability related to < Dexterity >.â
Ju-Heon had always done bad things with his hands but getting that ability had turned him to a master.
âHe used that ability to steal things, pick locks, it was quite useful.â
But Ju-Heon had not enjoyed stealing things; he only used the ability when he needed it.
But nowâŠâŠ
âAaah! Where did my artifact go?!â
âHey. Look for it again!â
âAigoo, I'm going crazy.â
Should he be praising this ghost-like ability?
Julian couldnât help but sigh.
Even if they seem to be declining, TKBM was still one of the largest excavation teams. Their members should have a lot of rare and unique artifacts compared to the small excavation teams.
âNo wonder heâs excited.â
Julian quickly headed over to Ju-Heon.
âHeyâŠSeo!â
Julian was about to call out âSeo Ju-Heon,â before looking around and touching one of the buttons on his jacket.
[The Assistant for Chivalrous Fighter's to hide their conversation from others (C-Grade:General-Grade - Consumable Artifact)]Remaining Uses: 986/1000
It was a C-Grade artifact, but it was quite useful when around enemies.
AndâŠ
[Seo Ju-Heon, what the hell are you doing?!]
He started to scream at Ju-Heon.
It was a sound of the mind so others couldn't hear it, but Ju-Heon put his hand to his ear as if he was hearing a speaker screech.
He then responded while frowning.
[What the hell, you son of a bitch. I was having so much fun.]
âFun my ass.â
[We can't go into the tomb if you're caught here! Youâll be fucked! You know that!]
[I won't get caught. I really won't get caught.]
âWon't get caught my ass!'
âTeam leader-nim! Something bad has happened!â
âWhat the hell? What is it?â
âPeopleâs artifacts are starting to disappear. Do you think it is a result of the Tomb Appearance, or if not that, maybeâŠâŠâŠâ
Julian became urgent after seeing the TKBM employee's gazes turn sharp.
[You idiot. I know your dexterity is amazing, but you'll still get caught if you cause this mess! How many did you steal in that short time? Huh?]
[Whatâs wrong with you? âŠâŠI only stole 100 of them.]
[âŠâŠWhat, 100?!]
[And only about two of them are useful.]
Julian couldn't believe Ju-Heon's grumbling.
âWhether it is two or 20âŠâ
[Are you out of your mind? Youâre going to get caught if you have 100 of them on you!]
[What do you take me for?]
Ju-Heon started to smile instead of responding.
Ju-Heon then pointed at Yoon Shi Woo, one of TKBMâs captains.
He was tilting his head in confusion in this chaotic situation.
âWhat the hell? What is it?â
âAh Captain Yoon Shi Woo. Other teams seem to have lost their artifacts. They seem to be looking for themâŠâŠwill things be okay?â
âDonât pay them any attention. Itâs fine as long as it doesnât happen to our team.â
But at that momentâŠ
âAh! I found one! Isn't this one of the artifacts that disappeared?â
âWhat?â
Julian freaked out after hearing that shout. It was because Ju-Heon had been the one to shout.
âCaptain-nim! I found the missing artifacts in team 3's bag!â
âWhat?!â
The members of team 4, the team Ju-Heon was on, rushed over. They foamed at the mouth after seeing the bag that Ju-Heon handed them.
âHey, Team 3! What the fuck, man?! Do you guys want to die?!â
"What, what happened?â
The other employees, as well as Chairman Kwon's eldest son and second son, rushed over at this sudden chaos.
Yang Chen, the captain of TKBM's Team 1 and the Vice Captain of all teams, was there as well.
Julian screamed internally as more people rushed over.
âSeo Ju-Heon, you motherfuckeeeeeeeeeeeer! Why do you keep causing issues?!â
Ju-Heon feigned ignorance and started to shout, probably without any knowledge of the concerns going through his Vice Captain's mind.
âThey really are the items that disappeared from our team! I believe Team Leader Yoon Shi Woo's Team 3 is the culprit!â
Yoon Shi Woo, who had instantly been cast as the culprit, dropped his jaw in shock.
âHold⊠hey! Who the hell are you?! I've never seen your face beforeâŠâ
Yoon Shi Woo tried to grab Ju-Heon's collar but Chairman Kwonâs eldest son, Kwon Seung Woo, grabbed his collar first.
âYou bastard, I knew you would do something like this!â
âDirector-nim!â
âI thought that your gaze changed ever since my father disappeared! How dare you try to steal your fellow teammatesâ artifacts like this?!â
âNo sir! This is all just a misunderstanding!â
"Then what are all these things in your subordinatesâ bags?!â
âWhat else? Itâs all the artifacts you guys lost!â
A frustrated Yoon Shi Woo started to shout.
âPlease hold on a minute. Director-nim. There really must be a misunderstandingâŠ!â
âDirector-nim! We found some with the other teams as well!â
âAccording to our investigation, it seems that all members of the Yoon Shi Woo faction were involved!â
Yoon Shi Woo grabbed the back of his neck.
However, it didn't end there.
âHold on! Isn't this the Chairman-nim's artifact?!â
â!â
Ju-Heon was the one who shouted again. Ju-Heon took something out of Yoon Shi Woo's bag and showed it to everyone.
âI remember seeing this on TV. Is this the Chairman-nim's?â
The eldest son's eyes opened wide.
âThat! That's the artifact I brought!â
Yoon Shi Woo was instantly beaten up by the eldest son.
âYou damn trash who is trying to steal my fatherâs inheritance!â
âNo, itâs not true!â
But Yoon Shi Woo's faction had no chance to say anything.
Yang Chenâs subordinates, who had a bad relationship with people from Yoon Shi Woo's faction, rushed in as well.
âI got you now. You guys have always been annoying me anyway!â
âHow dare you take our artifacts!â
Pow, pow! Poooooow!
TKBM's base camp ended up turning into the Colosseum with a fight between factions.
Julian showed a look of disbelief as he watched.
He didnât know whether to say it looked familiar or if it felt new.
Similar to how there were internal conflicts in any company, TKBM had its factions as well. The different teams did not have good relationships with each other.
Ju-Heon had used that to his advantage. He knew exactly which teams didnât like each other.
âHeâs a fish in water, a fish in water indeed.â
These people were not regular people; they were people who had received training for fighting and freely using artifacts.
The scale of this conflict was beyond what anybody could imagine.
As a resultâŠ
Bang! Babababang!
The materials they brought were destroyed, the durability of artifacts went down⊠They were losing supplies and strength before they even entered the tomb.
But Julian was thinking that this was good.
âItâs better for us if there are a lot of internal conflicts.â
Why?
TKBM had lost a lot of personnel, but their core personnel was still intact.
TKBMâs excavation team had a total of ten teams but each of those teams were strong enough to go up against an Expert-Grade artifact user's excavation team.
As for their tomb raiding team, they were an 11th team separate from those officially recognized 10 teams.
They were the hidden 11th team.
In addition, they only had 10 members unlike the official teams that had hundreds or even thousands of members.
âEither way, each teamâs captain is the problem.â
The captains of each team⊠These captains were the core members of TKBM's excavation team.
âThose bastards are all Expert-Grade artifacts users who could become Monarchs at any moment.â
It was beneficial to create internal conflict and make them fight against each other.
Of course, Ju-Heonâs abilities at that time were the greatest even compared to the other ten teams.
They talked shit about him and pulled some crap because of his superiority quite often.
âWell, Seo Ju-Heon was treated like a hunting dog and couldn't spread his wings back then because Chairman Kwon had his weakness in his hands, butâŠâŠâ
It was different now that there were no restrictions whatsoever.
âHe will push aside all Monarchs and become one of the Four Emperors.â
Once that happened, he would be able to get rid of all of those monopolizer bastards who tried to hoard the artifacts for themselves.
Julian was looking forward to it quite a bit.
âI can't let Seo Ju-Heonâs talents go to waste.â
Of courseâŠâŠâŠ
âAaah! I really didn't do it!â
âFuck, you motherfucking bitch!â
âHaha. Those retards.â
Ju-Heon was just chuckling while watching them fight each other to the point they were bleeding without knowing what was going through Julian's mind.
It was at that moment.
Yoon Shi Woo glared at Ju-Heon.
âThat bastard really is suspicious.â
He was quite sharp and felt that something was off with this situation.
Yoon Shi Woo grabbed Ju-Heon by the collar.
âHey you. Look at me. Youâve been quite suspicious since earlierâŠâŠâŠ!â
âExcuse me? M, my apologies! I'm sorry team leader-nim!â
Someone rushed over after Ju-Heon quickly shouted, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
âHey, are you crazy? Heâs a part of my team!â
It was the team leader for the team Ju-Heon was on.
âStop provoking him and get lost!â
âHo, hey! You damn arrogant son of a bitch!â
Ju-Heon swung his leg and tripped Yoon Shi Woo who was trying to charge toward his team leader.
Boom!
âUgh!â
Yoon Shi Woo glared at Ju-Heon after falling down.
âHey, look where you're going!â
But that innocent face this man had until just now had disappeared as Ju-Heon quietly whispered in Yoon Shi Woo's ear.
âYou look where you're going, you retard.â
He quickly released his overbearing Dominance.
Yoon Shi Woo started to shake in fear at that overbearing Dominance.
âThis feelingâŠâŠ.!â
ââŠâŠYou, are you?!â
He quickly started to shout.
âSeo Ju-Heon. Youâre Seo Ju-Heon!â
That made everybody stop what they were doing and look toward them, but they just looked at Yoon Shi Woo as if he was crazy.
It made sense sinceâŠâŠ
âSeo Ju-Heon? Are your eyes just for show?â
âYou think this kid is giving off the Dominance of a Monarch?â
"Seo Ju-Heon might not look like it, but heâs still a Monarch. You'd be able to tell if you saw him. Fuck.â
âNo, just nowâŠâŠ!â
âShut up! Youâll be sent to a hearing! You damn artifact thief!â
Yoon Shi Woo felt wronged while Ju-Heon, who had hidden his aura back as quickly as a ghost, wanted to roll on the ground laughing.
Julian put a hand against his forehead.
âPlease stop wasting your talents in such weird ways.â
His heart was beating crazily in fear of getting caught.
At the same timeâŠ
âSomething seems weird.â
âIs there no chance that Seo Ju-Heon is hiding here?â
A weird rumor started to come out of TKBM.
âYou think that Seo Ju-Heon might have infiltrated into our teams? Really?â
âYes. Artifacts suddenly disappearingâŠâŠheâs the only bastard who could have such ghost-like skills.â
âButâŠâŠâŠ!â
Artifacts suddenly disappearingâŠ
That could be brushed off as something that happened because they are in a Tomb Appearance area.
But Seo Ju-Heon was known for being a thief.
And now that there were rumors about how he might have infiltrated into a TKBM teamâŠ
It was only right to be suspicious.
The TKBM team leaders started to get riled up after hearing these rumors.
"Seo Ju-Heon is hiding in here? That dog-like son of a bitch is here?!â
âFind him! Do whatever it takes to find him! Find him and kill him!â
Julian gulped after hearing the shouts around him.
âIt makes sense, TKBM people aren't dumb.â
It was normal for them to be suspicious.
âItâs dangerous like this.â
It would become complicated if they caused any more ruckus.
HoweverâŠâŠâŠ.
âMr. Han Ji-Sang. Weâre told to report up if we see any suspicious individuals. Pandora has provided some information, so please use it as reference. Youâll be able to spot him immediately because his Dominance is high.â
âYes sir, I understand.â
None of the employees recognized that this was Ju-Heon.
Was it that Yoo Jaeha's skin was superb or that Ju-Heon was such a genius that he could even trick these elite artifact users?
âAnyway, this is a relief.â
The people who had been fighting started to move.
They could now see the tomb entrance. All that was left was for them to go into the tomb.
Julian and Seol-A started to smile while looking at the tomb entrance.
âNow that we have excavation rights, we can easily loot the tomb if we go in with this group.â
But at that momentâŠ
Whisper whisper.
The teams up front had stopped and were talking.
âWhat the hell? Why is that person over here?â
"We never heard anything about him being here.â
Ju-Heon also started to frown as he looked forward.
Standing up there wasâŠâŠ.
âI'm sorry, but I'm here because I want to search through TKBM.â