Max obviously looked nervous and I could tell the misunderstanding he was having from the expression he was wearing. His eyebrows were shaking and he was having all kinds of negative thoughts. I guess he thought I was going to break that control device because he was desperately trying to block it as if it was something precious. He made the right decision. Right now, I wanted that seal to be maintained, but if something went wrong, I could end up breaking that device. Still, the person who had something to protect was weak. I wasn’t sure whether it was right to call him a person or not, but I was satisfied by the fact that he was nervous.

‘How interesting.’

It wasn’t just him. This entire room was filled with interesting things and to be honest, the moment I entered this room, my interest in Max had significantly decreased.

‘This is a treasure.’

The hologram made out of mana was the most impressive. Naturally, I was impressed by it because this world had neither videos nor recorders. When I looked at the shining magic circles all over the room, I understood roughly how they worked.

‘I probably can’t make the same ones if someone asked…’

But I could use what was here at the least.

‘Will I need authority for it?’

When I checked with Mind’s Eye, I could see information regarding it.

[Rift Museum Control System - Legendary Rank]

[Requires administrator rights.]

‘I knew it…’

It was a bit unfortunate, but other than that, there were interesting artifacts. Naturally, I looked around because the technology to control this museum was here and I guess Max was threatened by my actions.

- I’m not… I’m not going to let it go your way no matter what.

‘It’s…’

It was how he was still misunderstanding us, but his appearance was actually cute. I thought I had a good idea of what the Rift Guardians liked. The blond boy looked like he would easily break and honestly, the power I felt from him wasn’t that great. The expedition party did prepare for battle, but that was only in case of an emergency. To be honest, there wasn’t a need for us to put up our guards like this. Unlike the party who thought there could be potential threats here, I didn’t see any threats. The golems outside were the only monsters protecting this management room and Max was probably, at most, an epic-ranked monster. Basically, he wasn’t a threat, and even though I didn’t have this thought when I saw the dummy, I sensed that he was a pushover after seeing his main body.

Naturally, I walked through the expedition party and spoke to Max with a smile.

“Wow, look who it is. It’s the successor Max, who manages and guards the Rift Museum.”

- You… you!

“I’ll be sad if you get mad at me like that, Manager. It does feel kind of different talking to you face to face like this. So, you’re a kid in real life, too. If you’re not busy, how about we chat?” I suggested.

- You… piece of shit! Piece of shit! You bastard!

“I don’t understand why you’re so angry.”

- You’re just the dirty Ancient God’s pawn! I-I won’t let you have your way!

“I’m not sure why you think we’re the Ancient God’s pawn, but… ahem. I’d like to apologize for further complicating the situation, but we had no choice. You’re the one who rigged the wheel and although I don’t know much about the museum exploration, we had no choice but to do that to survive,” I explained.

- S-Shut that dirty mouth of yours! I have never rigged the rat[1]—

“I have a few questions for you…” I interrupted.

- You dirty humans! I shouldn’t have accepted you as guests.

“Why are you being difficult when all I want to do is have a chat with you?” I asked.

- G-Get out this instant! Right now! W-Where are the g-golem guards…

“We already took care of the useless rocks. Calm down and let’s just talk…”

- Eeeeek!

If there was one problem, it was the fact that I was having a hard time talking to him. If I could, I would have transformed that manager into the hidden boss and started the Max raid, but it was better not to fight.

‘We shouldn’t fight… nothing good will come out of it.’

Obviously, no one wanted the treasures in front of us to go to waste and the value of the various devices included in the museum control system was astronomical. Depending on how we used it, we may acquire something even more valuable than Kim Hyun-Sung’s mythic-ranked sword. Actually, the museum control system would be even more valuable than Durandal. I didn’t think the expedition members had considered that just yet, as there were too many things going on, but if they saw what I had seen through Mind’s Eye, I was sure they would think the same way.

‘At least to me, that system is a treasure.’

It was to the point that I started thinking about if there was something I desperately wanted even more than the museum’s control system after arriving here.

In the end, I had no choice but to talk to Kim Hyun-Sung and Park Yeon-Joo.

“I’m sorry to ask this, but I’d like to negotiate with the museum manager… Could you leave that to me?”

As soon as I spoke, I heard Max blabbering on about something, but I ignored him and continued talking, “I think it’ll be more effective if it’s just the two of us instead of the whole party. Please let me do it.”

“You don’t think it’ll be dangerous?” Kim Hyun-Sung asked.

“Ah! I think it’ll be fine if Dialugia comes with me and I believe I’ll be able to get a satisfactory result. It’ll be good for both the Blue and Black Swan Guild as long as the Black Swan gives me the permission…” I answered.

“I’m fine with that.”

I expected Kim Hyun-Sung to give that kind of answer from the start, so the problem was with Park Yeon-Joo.

‘I think she caught on…’

“I’ll be sure to tell you the location of the trapped members within 10 minutes,” I added.

I was sure Park Yeon-Joo was thinking carefully about this. I wasn’t sure what kind of conclusion she had arrived at, but I guess she had decided to leave it to me because she nodded in response. She may have come to this decision, as she didn’t have anything up her sleeve, but I was happy that she was trusting me.

“I’ll leave it up to you,” she said.

‘This is why a person’s usual behavior is important.’

It didn’t really fit me, but publicly, Lee Ki-Young had a well-built image and I was able to confirm that once again.

Everyone slowly started to leave the management room and the uncomfortable Dialugia sat next to me. Finally, we now had a place where we could talk comfortably.

- Negotiate? Negotiate? Do you really think I’ll do something like that with you? G-Go away this instant!

I expected Max to make a fuss, but I didn’t really care.

When I spoke after taking a deep breath, he looked anxious. I guess he didn’t know how to react to my sudden change in attitude.

“Look…” I started.

- Huh?

“You really have no idea what’s going on?” I asked.

- What…

“It seems that the Rift Guardians have planted a sense of responsibility in you, but they must have forgotten to make you quick-witted,” I added.

- I don’t understand what you’re saying…

“Please shut up and listen to me, Manager. You’ve been blabbering about protecting the continent and whatnot, but I’m sure you don’t want that seal to shatter, right?” I asked.

- What?

“Ah, how about you push your strange misunderstandings into one side of your brain that’s made out of mana because I’m not the Ancient’s God pawn or whatever you think I am. The only reason we broke the seal was that it was the only way we could survive. There’s no other reason behind it, but I’m happy because it turned out well,” I explained.

- Stop talking nonsense… right now!

Max was trying to say something, but I obviously didn’t want to hear him scream again, so I continued.

“If that breaks free… I heard the continent is going to be destroyed.”

Max remained quiet.

“I heard it from my wife. Isn’t that right, Dialugia? That monster is going to slowly absorb the life of this continent and get stronger… and that’ll probably take about… 30,000 years, right?” I asked.

- It’s actually a bit shor—

“You seem to feel a great sense of responsibility for this continent, but that’s not the case for me. Whether the world ends or not in 30,000 years, it has nothing to do with me. The future generation will create their own future, and I’m sure they’ll fix all this,” I interrupted.

- H-How dare you say that?

“Is this a hologram made of mana? The great and dignified Fragment of the Ancient God being displayed in the hologram right now is, pfft! I think it’s trying its best to shake off the backup program or whatever… Huh? Unless my eyes are deceiving me, the balance of power seems pretty tight…” I pointed out.

- Uh…

“You’ve seen this before, right? What do you think will happen if this potion blows up in this place? What will happen if one of those control panels breaks and the mana feeding the backup program is disconnected?” I asked.

- D-Do you think I’ll let you do—

“Hey, don’t get all worked up, Max. Dialugia, subdue him,” I ordered.

Max was definitely surprised because he hurriedly ran toward me with his hand out. However, Dialugia grabbed his hand, and I saw him struggling while being suppressed.

- Ee… eeeek! Let go of me! Let go!

“I-I’m sorry…” Dialugia apologized.

- I don’t know about the other humans, but you shouldn’t be doing this! As the one that protects the balance of this continent, you shouldn’t participate in something like this! You! You’re a dragon! Do you have any idea what you’re doing?!

“I-I’m sorry…” she apologized again.

- We need to protect the continent! If you’re part of the proud dragon race, then that piece of shit… You should do it for the continent!

“I’m sorry…” she repeated.

- N-No way… it can’t end like this! Not like this!

Guilt was written all over Dialugia’s face and for some reason, it seemed like she was blaming herself a little too much.

Of course, I didn’t want that monster to break free and as I mentioned before, it didn’t matter to me if it broke free or became active, but it would make me feel more comfortable if it remained quiet. But right now, I had to maintain this attitude.

‘It’s great.’

I hadn’t even thought about using the continent as bait, but his reaction was so good that I started to get a bit excited.

“I’m sure it’ll be worth watching. Indeed! I’m sure the Rift Guardians will jump out of their graves! Now, let’s use the bomb,” I said.

- Stop! S-Stop it!

“It looks pretty sturdy so I should probably use more than one… Once I insert my mana into it, it’ll go boom! in two seconds. The continent will be destroyed!” I shouted.

- Stop! Stop it!

“Hey! You need to speak respectfully to your elders!” I ordered.

- Please stop it!

“Actually, it’s better to break it with my hands than with a bomb. Is there a decent stick around here?” I asked.

- Kggggggh…

When I started swinging a stick in the air after grabbing it, Max started to look even more anxious. To be honest, it was impossible to break a control panel with this stick, but there wasn’t anything that could make him feel more anxious than an armed protest. It was funny how his eyes quivered every time I swung the stick toward the control panels and naturally, I swung the stick even higher to create an even more dramatic situation.

“Now, the continent will be destroyed in five seconds. Clap, clap, clap!” I announced.

- N-No!

“Five!”

- Please don’t do this!

“Four!”

At this point, Dialugia had to be nervous because she spoke urgently.

“Are you really going to do that? Really?!”

- Proud dragon! Hurry!!!

“Three!”

- N-No!

“Two!”

- Ugggh!

“Here we go!”

- Wh-What do you want?!

When I was about to start beating a control panel, Max quickly started talking. I guess he recalled the word—negotiation—I had mentioned earlier and luckily, I was looking for an answer. Naturally, I smiled and when I spoke quietly, I saw how his eyes quivered.

“The museum,” I replied.

Even I thought I sounded pretty determined.

- What?

1. Rates, not an actual rat xD ☜