Chapter 49: A New Eder

Chuseok weekend was over.

First, Jae Woo went to the bank.

He had a considerable sum of money within his bank account from playing Arth and his TV appearances.

"I've come to pay my debt."

"I see. And how much would you like to pay back?" the bank worker smiled professionally and said.

"All of it!"

Jae Woo paid back all of his family's debt, as well as the interest.

Now they were no longer in debt!

"Thank you very much."

"Of course. Take care."

Jae Woo left the bank.

He had about 2 million won ($2,000 USD) left in his bank account.

'And there's more money that's coming in soon...'

If he sold the footage of him defeating Caraco and Arumode to Jin Cheol and sells Caracuni's Golden Spear as well, then that money would come right back.

'With that much...'

Next, Jae Woo went to a real estate broker near his house.

"What is such a young man like you coming to place like this?" a middle-aged real estate broker said, offering him a cup of coffee.

"I'd like some information on a lease."

"Leases are expensive nowadays."

"I'm not going to buy one right away, but I'd like to know how much one costs."

He'd paid back his family's debt, so the next step was to get his family out of that underground house of theirs.

'To a place that's suitable for people to live in.'

They didn't have a choice right now, but there were absolutely no aspects of his current residence that he actually liked.

Lately, if he just tapped the boiler, it would break and it didn't heat up the water properly.

It would be winter soon, so Jae Woo wanted them to move somewhere better before then.

However, he couldn't buy a house straight up, so he wanted to pay a lease instead.

"I see. Do you have a style of house you want?"

"I want three or four rooms. I'd like for it to be big and clean. A place with lots of sunshine; a detached house would be nice as well. And if it was built recently, that's a plus too."

"Please wait just a moment."

The broker looked at his tablet, perusing all of the houses on sale.

"I have one right here that fits what you're looking for."

The broker passed him the tablet.

Jae Woo picked up the tablet and examined the information regarding the house, as well as the picture.

'There's three rooms, and it was built recently.'

It was an apartment, not a detached house, but it was close to his sisters' school and it seemed convenient for transportation.

He was also pleased that there was a police station nearby as well.

Since he had two young sisters to take care of, he had to worry about public safety.

"How much is this?"

"The lease is 300 million won ($300,000 USD). The security deposit is 50 million won ($50,000 USD) and the monthly rent is 3 million won ($3,000 USD)."

Kang Oh noted the house's information and market price on his phone.

"Do you have any other houses to offer?"

"None of the others fit your description. I'll show you a few others that might interest you."

The broker showed him a few other houses and if Kang Oh was interested, he'd write down the information on his phone.

"Thank you very much."

Since he didn't have any other business here, he stood up.

"Take care."

Jae Woo left the real estate agency and went around to a few others as well, learning more about houses and their market price.

'I should go look for houses in my spare time while I'm making money.'

He had a few houses he was interested in.

However, he hadn't seen them up close; he'd just seen an image of them and their info on a tablet.

Obviously, he needed to go to the houses and see them in person.

"I have to hurry up and buy a house for us."

He had paid off their debt.

Now, his next goal was to buy a house so that his family could live comfortably and safely.

'And one day a building too!'

Perhaps his obsession with owning a building came from his losing his father at such a young age.

Because he'd grown up losing his father, which subsequently threw his family into chaos, he yearned for a safe place where he could protect his family.

His comatose state from getting hit by a truck contributed to that decision as well.

Jae Woo wanted his family to live comfortably just in case something happened to him.

Thus, he wanted a house and a building.

"I need to make a ton of money quickly."

Jae Woo put his goggles on as soon as he got home.

Arth!

The goose that laid golden eggs.

A dream-like world that would enable skilled people like him to turn their lives around!

* * *

Kang Oh searched for dungeons by himself until Grano contacted him.

'The Bariton Desert's not the only place with hidden dungeons.'

He had to use his time to find any means of making even a little bit more money.

Although he'd gone through all sorts of dungeons for a week, he hadn't found any new hidden dungeons.

"Shall we go to the abandoned mine today?"

Kang Oh used the gate to go to the mining town, Mountgale, which was located in the Grana Mountains.

A large quantity of steel was buried within the Grana Mountains.

That's why there were so many mines, as well as abandoned mines here.

If these abandoned mines were neglected for a long period of time, then they would naturally become habitats for monsters and transform into dungeons.

Abandoned mines were so vast and complex that they were perfect hiding places for people like Eder.

If not, then there was a chance that the boss monster dug up a new hidden dungeon.

If that's the case, then there was a chance that there'd be a hidden dungeon down there, or a hidden area like Bercy's residence.

In any case, there were five abandoned mines in the Grana Mountains that had become dungeons, and were labeled as Abandoned Mine 1, 2, 3, etc.

Kang Oh entered Abandoned Mine 1 first.

He saw several yellow eyes light up within the dark mine.

Kya.

Sha.

Monster cats, or Kuroneas, rushed towards him.

They had red fur and black stripes, and wore shackles on each hand; each shackle had three sharp blades attached to them.

They were only level 100.

"Get out of my way."

Kang Oh rushed into the middle of them and rampaged like a wild beast.

Swish.

Two Kuroneas fell with one swing of his blade.

Boom!

Darkness Strike activated and the Kuroneas were swept up by the black wave.

At that moment, Kunta's Ring shined.

[Kunta's Golden Talent Ring has activated.]

[A spontaneous quest for Darkness Strike has appeared.]

[Darkness Strike 1]

Kunta's talent dwells within you. If you activate Darkness Strike 100 times, then you will receive more proficiency.

Darkness Strike: 0/100

Difficulty: Spontaneous

Reward: 10% increase in Darkness Strike proficiency

'If I complete this quest, it'll reach the intermediate level.'

Darkness Strike's proficiency was at around 91%.

If its proficiency went up by 10%, then he'll be able to use an intermediate level Darkness Strike.

Kang Oh continued to cut down the Kuroneas.

Once they realized that the battle wasn't in their favor, the beastial cats began to run.

It wasn't strange; after all, these monsters had a natural tendency to run away.

Kang Oh didn't chase the retreating Kuroneas on purpose.

Instead, he would thoroughly inspect every nook and cranny of the abandoned mine and see if there were any secret devices or areas.

After that, the Kuroneas continued to appear and annoy him, but Kang Oh just took it as a cool-down exercise and easily killed them.

Soon, he'd finished going through the entire abandoned mine.

"Nothing."

He looked through every nook and cranny, but Hyper Intuition never pointed out anything to him.

"Next."

Kang Oh headed for Abandoned Mine 2 immediately.

Monsters called Gubaras showed up in this area.

To put it simply, Gubaras were giant pill bugs.

Their shells were quite tough, but their attacks were weak and they moved slowly, so they were extremely easy to hunt.

Kang Oh swung his magic sword.

Slash!

Befitting a roly-poly, the Gubara curled into a ball.

Thump!

The white line ripped through the Gubara's shell.

Shards of light burst from its body!

Kang Oh's attack power was so high that the Gubara's shell couldn't defend against it.

He repeatedly swung his sword and killed the Gubara in front of him.

Roll.

The Gubaras, scrunched up into a ball, rolled towards him.

They slid down a slope and fell, resembling gray snowballs.

"Out of my way."

Rather than avoid them, Kang Oh chose to attack every one that rolled his way.

Boom!

Bang!

The Gubaras flew through the air.

Kang Oh moved forward, slashing them with his blade, bashing them with the side, and stomping them.

The path he'd just passed through was now thickly carpeted with countless Gubara corpses.

Of course, Kang Oh didn't forget to meticulously examine the abandoned mine during all of this.

In fact, Kang Oh focused more on that than on fighting the Gubaras.

Despite that, when he was at the end of the Abandoned Mine 2, he realized that there was nothing to be gained here either.

"Nothing here either."

Kang Oh returned back the way he came to head to the next abandoned mine.

However, there was someone making a beeline towards him, even though the mine was so vast.

The man's skin was gray, but he couldn't see his complexion; he got this really familiar feeling from him.

'I've seen this guy somewhere before.'

He'd definitely seen that face somewhere before. Kang Oh searched through his memories.

'Yeah, he was frozen in a glass tube...'

"That face... Eder?"

The name Eder just automatically came out.

His face was the same as Eder's original curse-ridden and frozen body's face.

"You really do recognize me."

Eder, who'd obtained a new body, smiled.

"You! Did you get your body back?" Kang Oh asked.

Was this the return of the legendary level 429 Healer?

"No."

Eder shook his head.

"What happened?"

"Didn't I tell you that I was going to remodel Arumode's body?"

"Yeah, you did say that."

"I remodeled Arumode's body to look exactly like mine."

"That's possible?"

First off, Arumode was more than 2 meters tall, yet Eder seemed like he was in the low 170s (centimeters).

"Haha. Who do you think I am? I'm a legendary Healer and Necromancer! I'm an expert when it comes to the living and dead," Eder said, his voice filled with pride.

Kang Oh scowled.

"Hey, who told you to get plastic surgery? I told you to get stronger!"

Was this the feeling that a parent got when they registered their kid into a private school, paid the tuition fee, yet their kid got a haircut, dyed their hair, and came back after buying clothes?

"Hoo, hoo. Please don't worry. The cosmetic remodeling is just extra."

"Extra? Then how much stronger have you gotten?"

Kang Oh looked at him with a bit of anticipation.

"Aside from Total Annihilation, I can use the two Cursed Ground's Domains that Arumode used."

Cursed Ground's Domain was Arumode's specialty, yet Eder could use it now too.

"They were Ruined Ramparts and Rusty Sword, right?"

Ruined Ramparts lowered one's defense and Rusty Sword lowered one's attack power.

"Yes."

"Why can't you use Total Annihilation?"

"I believe it's because the black sun tattoo was destroyed. There's traces of the curse, but I cannot use it."

"What else?"

Kang Oh stared at him, seemingly saying, 'That can't be it, right?'.

"I have become much stronger physically."

"But you're a Necromancer."

Which was a class that didn't rely on one's body.

"It's different now. Since I've become a Curse Knight."

"A Curse Knight?"

"They call a knight who can use magic a Magic Knight. So using that logic, I can use curses, so I'm a Curse Knight."

"When he was alive, Arumode was a Paladin, and in undeath, he was a Cursed Knight. Have you adopted that trait of his?"

"That's correct. By obtaining this body, I can use not only my curses but also the skills of a knight."

"Oh, really? Then go fight those guys and show me what you got."

Kang Oh pointed towards five Gubaras that were crawling around inside the abandoned mine.

"Understood."

Once Eder approached them, the Gubaras rolled up into a ball and attacked him.

A Star of David formed underneath him and he stomped onto the floor.

Thud.

The magic circle transformed into dozens of black lines and spread everywhere.

Ruined Ramparts!

Once the Gubaras were affected by the curse, their defense went down by about half!

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The Gubaras attacked him. Eder began his counterattack.

However!

Kang Oh went blank for a moment.

Eder was fighting them...

"Bare-handed?"

Eder was struggling to rip off their outer shells with just his bare hands.