When she was very young, Mi-Na had seen Yu-Seong’s mother before. Yu-Seong’s mother was a woman with shoulder-length black hair and a fairly gentle look like a puppy, but Mi-Na did not have any special memory about her. She wasn’t from a great family and her academic background wasn’t significant. She was a normal woman except for her beautiful appearance, which was obvious since she was Yu-Seong’s mother.

Everything about Yu-Seong’s mother was too ordinary, which made her rather strange. How on earth could she become a woman after Choi Woo-Jae’s heart?

Mi-Na narrowed her eyes and slightly bit her lower lip.

‘It was so natural that people didn't even bother.’ 

Some might think that Woo-Jae was not picky about women since he had a lot of children, but that couldn’t be further away from the truth. Woo-Jae thoroughly chose and selected his women. Whether it was because of political position, economic ideal, or future investments, since it was ultimately the process of creating another successor of his, he had never chosen his wife easily. So, how did an ordinary woman, who had no other special factor but beauty, become Choi Woo-Jae’s wife?

Everyone didn’t even care about the sudden death of Yu-Seong’s mother, Baek Yu-Ri. She had died at a fairly young age, so obviously something strange had happened.

‘Something’s definitely fishy.’ 

Now that Mi-Na thought about it, Yu-Seong was the only one who had noticed this throughout the family. That was absurd, but interesting and surprising as well.

‘He’s the only person who felt suspicious about it, while no one in the family or the entire country cared about it.’

Since the matter involved his own mother, this might not be considered a strange thing. However, it was an unspoken rule within the entire Comet Group’s founding family that no one should doubt an incident that Choi Woo-Jae tried to keep the lid on for himself. But Choi-Yu-Seong, that timid ninth child of the family, was paying attention to that matter. Then, wouldn’t Choi Woo-Jae know that?

‘Nevertheless, father’s not hiding his favoritism toward that small brat.’ 

This was actually because Yu-Seong had not even tried to investigate his mother Baek Yu-Ri, but Choi Mi-Na–not knowing the truth–thought completely differently.

Things were changing within the family. Perhaps the ninth kid, who no one cared about, had become a big variable but the majority had yet to notice him. However, it was only a matter of time.

‘Like awl in the pocket. [1] In the end, it’s bound to stand out.’

The moment the awl popped out of the pocket, the other siblings would press on it to prevent it from coming out ever again. Or, the awl itself would be broken or thrown away by a resentful someone who got stabbed by its protrusion.

Now Mi-Na could understand why Ji-Ho asked to take care of Yu-Seong.

‘This kid is neither a fool nor a coward.’ 

Rather, Yu-Seong was courageous enough to break the family’s unwritten rules. He was also a sensible person who had been hiding his true purpose for a while to only reveal it at the proper time.

Woo-Jae was watching the ninth kid–which may be somewhat cheeky–and regarding him as cute. Mi-Na couldn’t even understand how Yu-Seong had gently softened that iron-clad stubbornness, which could never be broken stubbornly.

‘To think that he’s a stiff geezer that doesn’t give a single reaction to my aegyo[2].’ 

Mi-Na smiled as she lightly tapped the bus window with her index finger.

‘Very well.’ 

Before, there was no kid Mi-Na liked among her stupid siblings, who were always just conscious of Choi Woo-Jae. For the first time, her ninth sibling had caught her eye.

Mi-Na was uninterested not only in the chairman’s position but also in the family’s affairs. However, after Ji-Ho was eliminated from being a candidate for the next chairman because of the unexpected accident, everyone else had naturally expected her to be the most likely candidate.

Even though she was annoyed and had tried to hand the position over to the other siblings, Choi Woo-Jae had blocked her from doing so. As a result, as time passed, the people in the group collectively expected Mi-Na as the next chairman.

‘It’s a shitty situation.’ 

For Mi-Na, Yu-Seong was a light that suddenly appeared in her annoying and displeased situation.

Of course, it could just be the empathy that arose from their similarity of losing their mother at a young age. She couldn’t deny that Yu-Seong–who she once had poor judgment of–may have entered a corner of her heart because of that. It was not that she completely trusted him, but she was more willing to actively help him after things got resolved. Because of this, she even unexpectedly handed over items to Yu-Seong out of goodwill.

It was an ancient relic called ‘the Fragments of Destruction God’. Choi Mi-Na had never used it herself, so she didn’t know the exact effect. However, as could be guessed from its name, it was clearly an ancient relic with considerable power.

‘It’s a bit of a pity since I gave it away according to my sudden mood, but anyways, it’s something that I can’t use…’

Unfortunately, most of Choi Mi-Na’s abilities had the opposite property of power compared to the ones of gods, so she couldn’t use the ‘Fragments of Destruction God’ at all. She had kept it, initially thinking that it would be a waste to just hand it over to someone else. Though she did decide to hand it to Yu-Seong after her sudden change of heart.

Mi-Na looked out the window, with her index finger lightly twisting a lock of her hair.

‘When will that kid discover the bracelet’s purpose?’

Thinking Yu-Seong would have to come and say thank you more than a thousand times once he figured it out, Choi Mi-Na was already looking forward to that day.

***

Yu-Seong was only able to be discharged fifteen days after Mi-Na had visited.

The doctor greatly praised Yu-Seong’s resilience; he was a player indeed. Though for him, it was full of frustration because he didn’t want to waste his time in the hospital.

After spending half a month stuck in the hospital, he headed back to the dungeon and got into the car that Do-Yoon was driving. He felt that it was time to give an answer about concerns he had put off.

‘This meets my initial expectation exactly.’

This was a pretty exciting moment.

- [Private] A Joke-loving Prankster marvels at you. 200 Karma Points are sponsored. He says he has a skill that really suits you. Will you learn the skill? Y/N

- The Oldest Hunter is really fond of player Choi Yu-Seong. 300 Karma Points are sponsored. He says he very much wants to give you a skill. Will you learn the skill? Y/N

- The Silky Beard pays tribute to player Choi Yu-Seong. 250 Karma Points are sponsored. He wants to transfer a very strong skill. Will you learn the skill? Y/N

- The Emperor of Great China refers to player Choi Yu-Seong as the most excellent man she has recently seen. 300 Karma Points are sponsored. She wants to give you a skill that suits you. Y/N

- The Red Fang of the Dark Night feels a strong longing when seeing player Choi Yu-Seong. 100 Karma Points are sponsored. He threatens that you will regret it if you don’t receive the skill. Y/N

- The Culann’s Hound judges that player Choi Yu-Seong’s spearmanship has a very high potential. 500 Karma Points are sponsored. He promises that if you learn the skill, you will be able to become the strongest spearman. Will you learn the skill? Y/N

After the incident of Demon King Worshiper along with Rachel, all the gods who were watching Yu-Seong sent messages about passing on their skills. Most of these messages would have been sent at the end of the fierce battle with Rachel.

‘At the time, I was so out of it that I couldn’t even think of checking the messages.’ 

If he could afford to be laid-back then, Yu-Seong would have recognized Choi Mi-Na at a glance. He properly checked and looked through the messages while he was hospitalized… Since then, Choi Yu-Seong had fallen into deep thought.

As mentioned, the reason why the lofty gods gave Karma Points and skills was that the achievements made by their sponsored humans were returned to their Karma figures and then copied to help raise their dignity.

Obviously, god’s stake in a human increased more when they passed on skills that were equivalent to their ability than when sharing some of the karma points they had. Also, if it was possible, the first god to transfer the skill to the human would gain an advantage in the battle for shares among the other gods. That was why, from the very beginning, Loki had begged Yu-Seong to learn his skill.

Yu-Seong had been ignoring Loki’s messages for a while. But now that all six gods had put up their skills, he could no longer continue to ignore this request anymore. Even for those who were waiting, he eventually had to make a definite choice. Now that Yu-Seong had taken the best route for his growth after much consideration, he finally decided to announce his decision.

“I have no bad intentions,” Yu-Seong spoke to himself and smiled somewhat apologetically, and replied to the six gods’ skill transfer messages.

There were two things Yu-Seong had worried about for fifteen days before he decided his current answer. First, he had to be sure of the sponsoring gods’ true names. Second, he had to guess the skills that the gods would give through their true names.

The first one was relatively easy. Except for only one god with a rather difficult and unknown nickname, all the others were using nicknames that had been mentioned at least once in the original novel or had nicknames that were easy to guess.

Except for Loki, Guan-Yu, and Culann, all of whom with already clear identities, there were three remaining gods left. Among them, the first god that Yu-Seong found the answer to was the Emperor of Great China.

‘This one never came out in the original novel, but it’s actually easy to guess.’ 

Since the nickname was ‘the Emperor of Great China’, Yu-Seong could guess that it was the name of a country’s monarch during her lifetime. In the end, it was inevitably easy to know who she was after a little research about the rulers’ titles.

‘Sacred Divine Golden Empress Zetian.’

The nickname being used was only an abbreviation of this, and the part that Yu-Seong had to pay attention to was the last word.

‘Zetian, Wu Zetian.’ 

Better known by the name of Ze Tian Wu Hou, she was China’s first female emperor to ascend to the throne at a late age and had held power for a long time. It was true that she had great achievements and had a reputation enough to reach Divinity, but unfortunately, Yu-Seong was not going to choose her skill.

‘There are some of her skills that I can roughly guess, but it’s not the kind that I want.’ 

What had come to mind when thinking of Wu Zetian was the strong power and dignity that held people down so that no one could surpass her. It was certain that her intangible power would be formidable since she had ascended to the throne at a late age and had remained in emperor position for a very long time. Perhaps Yu-Seong might have as much pressure and vibe as Choi Woo-Jae with the power of her skill. In other words, however, Yu-Seong could have such an ability without using this skill when the time came.

‘I’m sure there are a few other great abilities since she has risen to Divinity, but…’ 

Anyway, she was removed from Yu-Seong’s options. The Emperor of Great China was one of the candidates that he had decided to reject at the time her true name was revealed.

Recalling the memories of that time, Yu-Seong sent the very first refusal to the Emperor of Great China’s message.

1. It means that a person with great talent will stand out even if they are hidden. ☜

2. Denoting a Korean cultural style that emphasizes the quality of cuteness though cute voice or actions ☜