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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Favor and an Ominous Prophecy
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Even after quitting her job at the furniture factory, Lee Su-bin’s days were still a whirlwind of activity, so busy and hectic she could barely catch her breath.
“Phew, where would be a good place….”
Ever since collecting the first-place prize from the lottery, she had been completely absorbed in finding a new home for her family.
“I think it’s really time to decide where we should move….”
She had to decide on a house and find a daycare for Seol-i soon if she wanted her to start at the beginning of the new semester.
“I heard it can be hard for kids to adjust if they transfer in the middle of a semester….”
Unable to shake her anxiety, Su-bin was chewing on the end of her pen while scrolling through real estate listings on her smartphone.
“What’s wrong?”
Kang-jun, who had come for a drink of water and noticed her, tilted his head curiously as he asked.
“Oh, it’s about the move….”
“What about it?”
“It’s just… everything feels a bit uncertain.”
After a brief pause, Su-bin shared what was on her mind.
“If we move to a safe area with a low frequency of Gate occurrences, the places feel too small for the price….”
“And?”
“But if I just look at the size, the Gate frequency seems high, which feels really dangerous and unsettling….”
Her voice trailed off as she added self-deprecatingly.
“They say human greed knows no bounds, and that seems to be me right now. To think I have a billion won in hand and still feel like my options are limited….”
Kang-jun replied easily, as if it were no big deal.
“Well, that can happen.”
Then he asked another question.
“Can’t you take some time and look around more slowly?”
If she had more time, he thought, he could just buy a house and rent it to her for cheap.
“I could, if it weren’t for Seol-i’s daycare….”
“Daycare?”
“It’s the start of the year, so the new semester will be starting soon, right?”
Su-bin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and added in a serious tone.
“If I want her to start right when the new semester begins, I need to sort out the housing issue as quickly as possible.”
At that, Kang-jun scratched his head.
“I see….”
Then, as if remembering something, he suddenly asked.
“Then how about getting a loan from the bank?”
The words unconsciously brought back memories of being repeatedly denied loans when she was struggling financially. Su-bin frowned and muttered under her breath.
“The bank….”
If she could just get a loan from the bank, she could move to a safe area and still have plenty of money left over for living expenses.
“Right, what have I got to lose? I should at least look into it….”
Besides, unlike before, she was now applying for a rental deposit loan, which was secured by collateral. It might go more smoothly than she expected.
“Okay, I’ll go to the bank first thing tomorrow morning.”
Kang-jun, who had been standing by silently, chimed in as if he had been waiting for this.
“Nuna, should I ask Bong-gu for a favor?”
“A favor for what?”
“He told me before that he knows a banker well.”
He then rubbed the bridge of his nose and added.
“He insisted that if I ever needed help with anything, I should let him know.”
“Oh my, really?” Su-bin asked, then nodded several times as she continued.
“If you could ask him, I’d be really grateful. To be honest, I’m a little scared of going to the bank….”
In truth, he was thinking of Kajan, the goblin general manager of the Secretive Financiers’ Club.
Since he couldn’t exactly say he knew the goblin well, he had unintentionally told a lie….
“Scared of going to the bank?”
“Yeah,” Su-bin replied briefly, then continued in a quiet voice.
“A while back, when I was struggling, I went to the bank a few times to ask about loans and get consultations.”
“And?”
“Since I didn’t have a proper job, I was always getting rejected. The way they all spoke so coldly just made me feel so small, you know?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Su-bin continued in a bitter tone.
“They would pry with all sorts of questions, and in the end, they’d just say it would be difficult and turn me away. It made me feel like such a ‘loser’.”
An awkward silence fell, and Su-bin forced a smile as she added.
“I understand they have their positions and couldn’t help it, but because of those memories, I’m still a little scared of going to the bank….”
Kang-jun replied in the most nonchalant tone he could muster.
“It’s all in the past.”
He quickly added.
“Anyway, I’ll ask him for you, so for today, why don’t you stop worrying and get some rest?”
“I’m not sleepy….”
“Then while you’re at it, why not just pick a house you want to move into without worrying about the price?”
At her brother’s composed words, Su-bin broke into a wide grin and replied.
“Wow, you’re so reliable.”
From Kang-jun’s perspective, it was a simple matter that could be resolved with a single phone call to Kajan.
‘I just have to tell Kajan to loan my sister the money I deposited….’
He planned to set the loan limit to unlimited, the repayment period to flexible, and finally, the interest to the lowest possible rate.
However.
His sister’s words about being scared of the bank and her ‘unpleasant experience’ were nagging at him.
* * *
Stepping into the private bank, the ‘Secretive Financiers’ Club,’ located deep within the market, Su-bin felt her confidence shrink.
“One moment….”
The stern-looking goblin banker in front of her kept his eyes fixed on the monitor, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
Behind him, other goblin bankers scurried about, clutching thick stacks of documents, while incomprehensible conversations filled the air.
Moreover, every other customer looked like the wife of a wealthy chairman or a company president, dripping with elegance.
‘They said this was a bank for the upper class. I feel like a commoner who’s stumbled into a place I don’t belong….’
Su-bin began to look around.
‘By the way, where on earth did Kang-jun go….’
She had been in the middle of her consultation with the goblin banker when she turned around to find that her brother, who had been holding Seol-i, was gone.
“To get straight to the point….”
As the goblin banker began to speak, Su-bin wiped her sweaty palms on her pants a few times.
“A loan is certainly possible.”
“R-R-Really?”
“Could you please wait a moment?”
“Yes, I’ll wait!”
Just then, a goblin in a perfectly tailored tailcoat hurried out from the back and greeted Su-bin.
“Are you Ms. Lee Su-bin?”
“Yes, that’s me….”
“I am Kajan, the general manager.”
As Kajan bowed deeply, almost at a right angle, a ripple of murmurs, both high and low, spread through the bank.
“Wow, who is that person? The general manager himself came out to greet her.”
“She looks so modest, but she must be incredibly wealthy.”
“I know, right? For the notoriously proud general manager to personally serve her, she must be….”
Noticing that all eyes were on her, Su-bin fidgeted with her fingers, unsure of what to do.
“First, I would like to escort you to the ‘Exclusive WIP Reception Room’ and proceed with the loan application there, if that is acceptable to you.”
“M-Me?”
“With such a reliable guarantor, you, our client, are also considered a WIP client of our bank.”
As the goblin finished speaking, he clapped his hands—*Clap!*—and a younger-looking goblin approached to take her handbag.
“Unless you are requesting a loan of an astronomical sum, the process should proceed without any issues.”
“Excuse me?”
“The repayment period can be set flexibly, and the interest rate will be set at ‘0.5%’ annually….”
Hearing this, Su-bin did a quick mental calculation and instinctively covered her mouth with her hand.
“If it’s ‘0.5%’ annually, does that mean if I borrow a billion won, I only have to pay four hundred thousand won a month?”
“That is correct. To be more precise, you would be paying approximately 466,000 won in interest each month.”
Considering that most bank rental deposit loans had interest rates in the 2% range, these were unbelievably favorable terms.
“Excuse me, but isn’t that interest rate excessively low?”
“It is because a WIP client has vouched as your guarantor.”
“Wow,” Su-bin breathed, thinking to herself.
‘Mr. Bong-gu has really made it big….’
Su-bin was under the mistaken impression that all the perks she was receiving were because she was an acquaintance of Bong-gu, who had recently become a B-rank Hunter.
Just then.
Su-bin’s gaze unknowingly fell upon the document in Kajan’s hand as they walked side by side.
- Agenda for Establishing a Foundation to Support Underfed Children.
Su-bin tilted her head slightly and asked.
“General Manager, I didn’t mean to pry, but….”
“Yes?”
“It looks like you’re preparing to do something wonderful.”
At her words, Kajan murmured, “Ah,” and replied.
“The establishment of this foundation for underfed children is not a bank initiative, but rather a project that one of our VVIP clients wishes to pursue independently.”
“I see….”
“This particular request was quite surprising, but our bank assists our clients with any request, no matter what it is.”
Su-bin nodded and replied.
“Wow, they must be a very kind-hearted person.”
After a moment of thought, Kajan answered in a meaningful tone.
“Hmm, I wonder.”
He then added.
“Perhaps, to someone, they are remembered just like that. As a warm, virtuous, and affectionate person.”
“Pardon?”
“However, to someone else, they may be remembered as a being more terrifying than any nightmare.”
The old goblin finished his sentence with a sly smile, continuing the thought he’d been holding back.
“The truly wealthy are often like that. It is a great relief that, to me, they are remembered as the former.”
Just then, Su-bin exclaimed, “Ah!” and glanced back down the long corridor she had just walked through with Kajan, her words tumbling out in a rush.
“Oh, but my brother….”
Distracted by the loan conditions and Kajan’s smooth talk, she hadn’t even realized her brother had disappeared.
Kajan, who had unconsciously started to say, “The great…,” turned pale and quickly clamped his mouth shut.
“Ahem, hem.”
He cleared his throat a couple of times and said in a low voice.
“Your companion is currently with your daughter, having a wonderful time at the play facility provided within the VVIP reception room.”
“Oh, I see,” Su-bin replied, and began to follow Kajan, humming a little tune.
‘Anyway, what a relief.’
Now that she could get a loan on such good terms, it was as if all her worries had melted away.
‘Lately, it feels like everything is going so smoothly….’
She was happy.
Just as Kajan had said, Kang-jun was settled on a sofa in the VVIP reception room, his eyes fixed on Seol-i as she came down the slide.
“Dada, lookie this!”
“Okay, I’m watching.”
“Whoooooosh!”
Seol-i, seemingly tireless, was already on her dozenth trip, climbing to the top of the slide and coming back down.
“Is it really that fun….”
Kang-jun stood up.
“It must have been hundreds of years since I’ve been on a slide….”
Seeing how much fun Seol-i was having, he felt a sudden urge to try the slide himself after such a long time.
It was then.
Sensing something, Kang-jun’s brow furrowed. He looked up sharply, his gaze intense enough to pierce through the solid gold-finished ceiling of the reception room.
“What is this?”
Something unsettling was happening nearby.
Crisis, confusion, chaos—a flood of negative words came to mind….
And he had a bad feeling, one that was rarely wrong.
* * *
At that very moment.
Inside an underground research facility in a restricted civilian area in Nevada, USA, commonly known as ‘Area 51,’ there was an unusual commotion.
“D-Doctor!”
The Saintess of Premonition, who had been unconscious and motionless since her prophecy months ago, was showing signs of waking up.
*Beebeebeebeebeep—!*
On the screen of the machine displaying her vital signs, all sorts of graphs drew frantic, jagged lines for a moment.
“Hah, hah….”
She opened her eyes again and spoke with great difficulty.
“There has been… a divine revelation….”
Before she could finish, the doctor rushed to her side and said urgently.
“Mercy, your last prophecy was wrong.”
“That can’t be….”
“The calamity known as Immortal never appeared.”
At his words, her eyes trembled violently for a moment.
“But I saw him clearly last time, and this time as well… the existence of Immortal….”
The futures she saw were but fragmentary glimpses, yet they were accurate.
Mercy licked her parched lips and added.
“The Immortal I saw in the future was wholeheartedly caring for a young human girl, who looked to be about three or four years old….”
A question mark floated above every researcher’s head.
Hadn’t the last prophecy called him a disaster feared even by the gods?
Why would such a heinous being be caring for a young girl?
“Furthermore, though he had already attained divinity and a divine throne, for some reason….”
As she spoke, she coughed up a spray of blood.
“He coveted nothing, and seemed only to be trying to protect something.”
“Protect what, from what?”
“As if… as if trying to protect this dimension from a calamity soon to befall Earth….”
Just then, Mercy coughed up another gush of dark red blood and, mustering her last bit of strength, continued to speak with difficulty.
“Soon… an unprecedented disaster will befall Earth….”
“A disaster?”
“The Gates… will open, and I saw a scene of giants pouring out….”
In the fragmented future she had witnessed, Immortal was fighting with all his might against the ‘giant whose mouth was sewn shut’ from the Asgard cluster.
“Immortal….”
Mercy said in a rasping voice.
“Having become a god…”
Once more.
“Only he can… the disaster….”
With those few short words, the Saintess of Premonition, ‘Mercy,’ lost consciousness and fainted once again.
Just then.
A red dot suddenly appeared on the radar installed on the lab wall, and a loud alarm began to blare repeatedly.
*Wee-woo! Wee-woo!*
It was the alarm signaling the imminent manifestation of an ‘Annihilation-Grade Gate.’
In the last three years, an Annihilation-Grade Gate had appeared on Earth only once.
That gate, which had opened in New Delhi, India, had turned the entire region of Southeast Asia into a monster-infested wasteland, uninhabitable by humans.
“Predicted location of occurrence?”
When the doctor asked, his face pale with fear, a researcher swallowed dryly and answered.
“It’s predicted to be Seoul….”
“Seoul?”
“The capital of South Korea….”
If this happened….
“It will be the end for the Republic of Korea, as well as the neighboring countries….”
The doctor clutched his throbbing head and gave an order in a weak voice.
“Without a moment’s delay, relay this information to the World Awakener Association….”
