“...!”

That was when it dawned on Woo Tae-Jin that the man in front of him was no ordinary person. His face flushed in anger from the humiliation and embarrassment that he received. However, he knew that his pride would continue to be trampled on if he stayed in this place longer. So, he quickly tucked his tail and rushed away in shame.

Hyo-Jin saw the man’s cold and stern face slowly turn soft and amiable the moment Woo Tae-Jin left.

“This is my first time here… can you suggest business suits that would suit a man in his early fifties?”

“Ah, ah… With pleasure!! Are you going to give it as a gift?”

“That’s right. I’m going to give it to my father as a present.”

“Wow. You, you’re definitely a good son.”

Hyo-Jin suggested the suits that she thought would suit the man’s preferences. However, she was surprised that the man in front of him chose to buy this brand. After all, this was a fairly expensive brand.

“I earned some money so I wanted to personally buy him some gifts.”

“That’s very nice.”

Hyo-Jin felt strange the more she talked with the man. The man obviously looked rugged, huge and scary, but his face looked completely gentle and amiable. Even his voice sounded soft and kind. In fact, what surprised her the most was his calm, cool demeanor. Even right now, the man looked so dearly foolish, while trying his best to choose a gift for his father. He looked just like one of those ordinary students who got their first pay in a part-time job and wanted to give their parents a gift.

“I’ll go with this.”

“Alright! Ah. I will give you these socks for free.”

“Ah! Thank you very much!”

The young man bowed politely and turned around to leave. Just before he stepped out of the store, he looked at her and said, “The chairman of Ilhwa Group really hates it when his employees get beaten and scolded, so if this happens again, make sure that you tell them this…”

“Huh? What?”

“I will tell this to the Chairman. Like that.”

“Pffft.”

Hyo-Jin felt lighter at the man’s wit and humor. She felt like working here was not that bad. It was true that there were many kinds of customers in this department store, but it was also a place that was visited by a lot of good people.

Hyo-Jin clocked out and got ready to get off work after a short while.

‘I wonder if that man is a college student?’

From what she saw, the man seemed to be around her age. If that was the case, then the man was truly a college student. After she finished changing into her own clothes, Hyo-Jin went out just in time to witness a jaw-dropping scene.

“Young master! How can you leave me when you went out to shop for the first time? I’m very sad!”

“...?”

Hyo-Jin felt both shocked and flustered. The man groveling a bit further away from her was none other than the chairman of Royal Department Store, Park Munsoo. From what she heard, the man was also Ilhwa Group’s chairman’s personal secretary. And this same man was calling the huge, young man ‘young master’.

‘Don’t… Don’t tell me…!’

Hyo-Jin’s eyes made eye contact with the young man from earlier. The young man, Minhyuk, smiled softly at her, before getting inside the car that sped away from her sight.

For some reason, Chairman Kang Minhoo’s son personally went out to buy gifts using the money that he earned himself, even though he could just get something under his name. However, Hyo-Jin felt that he had his own reason. So, she decided to not tell anyone, despite the wild and restless thumping of her heart.

‘Is, is this what a true wealthy person is like…?’

She felt like the man was truly rich in every sense of the word. His way of speaking, his care for others, everything. He was different from the kind of wealthy person like Woo Tae-Jin.

***

Meanwhile, Minhyuk was smiling happily as he sat in the car. His mouth almost reached his ears at the thought of the shopping bags and items that were carefully sitting inside the trunk.

So, what was it that Minhyuk wanted to do the most the moment he lost weight? Was it dancing and having fun with women in clubs? Perhaps, going to an amusement park? Or maybe walking around Hongdae, the streets of the youth? The answer was none of the above.

What he wanted to do the most was to personally buy gifts for the people that fought together with him. Minhyuk even sold his gold coins in Athenae and changed them into cash, just so he could buy those gifts with the money that he earned himself.

As soon as he got home, Minhyuk handed the gifts to everyone. He gave his health trainer, Oh Changwook, who accompanied him during his shopping spree, a complete set of training suits and sneakers. For his dietitian, Hyejin, he gave her the padded jacket that she kept on looking at and drooling on her cellphone everyday. For Munsoo, he gave him a high quality fountain pen. And for his father, he gave him a luxurious and high quality suit.

“Hohohohoho,” Kang Minhoo burst into a chuckle.

This happened whenever he caught sight of the suit hanging properly on the wall. He would chuckle even if he was drinking tea or when he was talking on the phone.

“Hohohoho!”

He laughed like that, even patting his suit gently whenever he went out to have a meeting with other chairmen, as he said, “Ah. This? My son bought this for me!! Hahahaha! Doesn’t he have such a nice taste in fashion?”

“Oh. He really has a great sense.”

This was the very same Kang Minhoo that had enough money to buy tens of thousands of business suits. However, even when he had that much money, no other luxurious suit would be able to compare to the suit that his son personally chose and bought with his own hard-earned money.

“If I had known that he had such a discerning taste in fashion, then I would have made him into a fashion designer…!”

“Ha, hahahahahaha, haha!!”

Among the chairmen and representatives, they had established the fact that Kang Minhoo was a fool for his son. After all, whenever they met with Chairman Kang Minhoo they would always hear things like… ‘This? My son bought this for me!!!’ or something along those lines.

***

The company that Woo Tae-Jin had founded seemed to be on the rise. However, in secret, their finances were already becoming difficult recently. That was why he wanted to get an investment. Fortunately, Ilhwa Group had once reached out their hands to him and told him that they were interested in investing in his company.

‘That little punk…’

He had hired people to look for the brat that humiliated him in the department store from before, but no one could find him. However, the moment there was news, Woo Tae-Jin swore that he would definitely show him what fear was like by flaunting his money at him.

Woo Tae-Jin fixed a friendly smile on his face, greeting the employees that he met along the way amicably as he walked towards the meeting place. Then, talks about the investment began.

‘That’s right. Invest your money in me, you bastards!’

If Ilhwa Group decided to carry him and his collapsing company on their back, they would definitely be able to stage a comeback. Just when their conversation was leaning towards a good outcome, a man arrived at their meeting place.

“Huh? Director, what brings you here?”

“Ah. I think you should be going back to the company, right?”

Woo Tae-Jin was shocked. The real and legitimate right hand man of the Ilhwa Group Chairman Kang Minhoo, Secretary Park Munsoo, had arrived at their meeting place! Some might just see him as a secretary, but he was someone who aided and worked alongside Kang Minhoo for decades. He had grown to be very successful in his own right, to the point that he held a significant amount of shares in the company. He was also the one in charge of the department store and several other subsidiaries under the Ilhwa Group. In other words, he was an extremely important figure that Woo Tae-Jin could not carelessly get close to, or make eye contact with.

“It’s an honor to meet you,” Woo Tae-Jin politely greeted the man as sweat dripped down his back.

Just then, Park Munsoo looked down at him as he opened his mouth and said, “Do you remember the incident in the Royal Department Store not too long ago?”

In fact, the incident was something that Park Munsoo had learnt from his employees and not from Minhyuk himself. It seemed like the boy did not put it to mind, but it was something that he could not let pass him.

“De…department store? I don’t reme…” Woo Tae-Jin said, pretending to be innocent after recalling the incident from a few days ago. However, Park Munsoo just smiled softly as he sat down and lifted the teacup in front of him.

“I can remember it well since I saw it clearly from the CCTV.”

“...!”

Woo Tae-Jin’s eyes widened in both shock and terror as he watched Park Munsoo grab the contract in front of him before tearing it in half.

Rip!

“N…No… I know that I made a mistake back then… but are you going to break the contract that could benefit Ilhwa Group immensely… just because of a single employee?”

If they went with Woo Tae-Jin’s common sense, then his rhetoric would be totally understandable. With plenty of subsidiaries all over the world, Ilhwa Group alone housed hundreds of thousands, maybe even tens of millions of employees. There were as many of them as the leaves in the park. However, would they willingly decline a beneficial contract just because of one young employee, just one among the many employees of the company?

“It’s not just because,” Park Munsoo said, tightening his necktie and straightening his suit.

“It’s because that employee is a member of our family. Besides, it’s because this company is supported by those employees that we have become like this.”

Park Munsoo slowly stood up as he continued to speak, “In addition, will a chairman who acts like you and treats people that way be truly beneficial to Ilhwa Group? I doubt that. Well then, farewell.”

“...No, no! Pl…please…!”

Alas, Park Munsoo coldly ignored his pleas. He resolutely left the room without even turning back.

Woo Tae-Jin was left in the room, frustrated and in despair. Just as he was going to wallow in his own frustration, he received a phone call. It was a call from the mercantile agency[1].

[I’m sorry, but I can’t find the person no matter how many times I ask. There’s not even a single clue. In this case, it can either be one of the two. The person is either dead or…]

Woo Tae-Jin listened intently as he waited for the end of his words.

[He’s a bigwig and is someone that shouldn’t be touched.]

Woo Tae-Jin’s forehead creased. Nothing was working well for him right now. In other words, everything that he had was ruined.

***

Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant watched the foreigner that would challenge the trials of Atlas territory disappear to return to his world, before reappearing right in front of him again. The foreigner named Minhyuk had received and accepted the quest that Eden, the Mother of Life, had sent.

[Territory Quest: Remove the crops that gnaw on the roots of the World tree.]

Rank: SS

Requirements: The person who received the hint about Atlas territory.

Rewards: A Small World Tree will be planted in Atlas territory. You will also acquire the World Tree’s Mysterious Fruit (1).

Description : Surprisingly enough, a Small World Tree, the reduced form of the World Tree, was growing in Atlas territory. But one day, crops such as ‘Withering Watermelon’ and ‘Withering Melon’ suddenly appeared and gnawed on the roots of the Small World Tree. Remove at least 20% of those pesky crops within two weeks to become the owner of the Atlas Territory.

‘Withering Fruits!!!’

The moment the owner of the territory changed from the Food God to the Maestro of Destruction, the withering fruits cropped up. These crops began to chew and gnaw on the roots of the Small World Tree, making it wither and hold on for dear life.

In fact, this trial was not even a quest to save the Small World Tree. After all, they were only tasked to remove twenty percent of these crops to help Bran and Eden, the Mother of Life, in order to succeed. However, even if saving the Small World Tree was not the task, there was still a problem.

‘It will be hard to reach the target number, especially if you start late in the day.’

Just like in the world of the foreigners, farming in Athenae also required a variety of factors. Even the legendary farmer Bran had a hard time picking and removing thirty of these crops in a single day.

At that moment, the foreigner Minhyuk asked Bran, “Do the withering fruits all taste bad? Is it poisoned?”

“Not at all. In fact, the withering fruits are much more delicious than ordinary fruits. It’s just that their effects on the Small World Tree are extremely bad.”

After hearing the answer, Minhyuk quickly approached Lant and said, “I saw the people of the territory awakened earlier.”

“That’s right.”

The Atlas territory also housed a large number of people from the past that slumbered in its confines. If the trial was completed, most of the people in the territory would disappear so that the new owner would be able to fill in the territory with new people.

“Can I get help from the people of the territory?”

“I can’t guarantee something like that.” Lant answered with a grin. These people all lived in the legendary Atlas territory. They had experienced the splendor and grandeur of Atlas territory in the past. Could people who lived lavishly and abundantly before be willing to help a foreigner that was trying to become their new owner and lord? It seemed like Minhyuk was unaware of this fact.

Lant turned around and left for somewhere after seeing the smile on the boy’s face. It seemed like he could not bear to break his heart.

‘Digging up twenty percent of the withering crops is completely impossible.’ 

Lant continued to walk until he was greeted with a ridiculously wide and vast field. The size of the field proved that the boy would not be able to get twenty percent of the crops alone! Of course, there was still a chance. It would all depend on how the challenger took on the trial. However, the fact that it was a difficult trial still remained.

Lant firmly believed that Minhyuk would most definitely fail, not because he underestimated the skills of the boy, but just because of the sheer amount of crops that he needed to remove. Legendary Farmer Bran was a prime example. He was already a legendary figure, but he still had a hard time harvesting thirty of these crops per day. He could barely harvest enough to fill ten percent in about two weeks.

Then, Lant went somewhere else. The place that he went to housed a statue. It was none other than the Food God’s statue. Lant sat in front of the statue, laughing wryly and cursing the figure of the man in front of him loudly.

“You damn bastard! You asked me to make you a tool that can help you make vegetable pancakes well, but you ended up dying alone!”

The King of the Dwarves brought out alcohol and drank in front of the statue. It seemed like he was trying to drown himself in alcohol to forget the pain and sorrow of losing a friend.

“I miss seeing you drink alcohol from the small crock.”

Suddenly, Lant remembered about the Small World Tree’s tree trials.

‘Perhaps it’s possible if he was the Food God.’

It might be possible if he had high dexterity, a dexterity that exceeded a thousand. However, even if he reached that level, he would only be able to barely make it.

‘I wonder if that bastard’s descendant has already appeared in the world?’

Lant took a swig of his alcohol and continued to drink for three days straight, as he wondered about the descendant of the Food God. After the three days, he went outside to check the progress of the trial, and was greeted by a strange scene.

Thud, thud, thud, thud―

Eden, the Mother of Life, had red eyes as she worked hard on digging up the withering fruits. She was normally a taciturn and prideful woman, but she was now covered in dirt and digging wildly.

Then, he heard her mumble, “I’m going to drink… fresh watermelon fruit juice!”

Thud―

“I’m going to drink the watermelon punch!!!”

Thud―

It was not just her. Even Crusoe, the Sword and the Shield, the person hailed as the best teacher in the continent, was gripping a hoe and digging with all his might!

[Connecting Swordsmanship.]

[Rapidly attack the enemies.]

He even overturned the ground by digging with his skills.

“Eh?”

And that was not the end of it either. Even Louis, the person hailed as the greatest priest and someone who created the cure for a pandemic that hit the continent, had his hands together to pray on the field!

“Please! Let this be the day Minhyuk gives me my daily bread, the melon juice!!! Amen!”

“Wh…what the hell is happening?!”

The surprises just kept on coming.

The hundreds of people of the territory were all grabbing hoes in their hands, as they dug the ground like clockwork. They looked like they had been possessed and controlled by some sort of black magic.

However, the most shocking thing that he witnessed was when the foreigner appeared. All of the people digging on the ground immediately turned towards the foreigner and watched him as he raised his hand above his head. Every single resident of Atlas looked like they had become believers of a pseudo-religion that were devoted to their newfound Lord.

“Please hang in there a bit more, everyone!!! Today!!! We’re going to have all of the watermelon juice and melon juice that we want!!!”

“Uwooooooooo!”

“Kyaaack! I’m so happy!”

“I have to do my best!”

“Minhyuk-llujah!”

Lant was left in shock.

‘How can the three legendary people in the continent willingly become farmers?! And, and just for some sort of juice?!’

They were the three legendary figures in the continent, but Minhyuk was treating them as if they were his employees. However, the most shameful fact was that they willingly agreed to work just for a cheap labor cost of ‘juice’.

‘What in the world happened while I was away?!!’ 

Just like an illiterate man that was asked to read, Lant could not understand what was happening at all.

1. An agency that investigates information such as careers and assets upon request. Can be used interchangeably with detective/investigators ☜