Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Way of the Sovereign (1)

The next day at noon .

There was a large and luxurious bed .

A man and two women were sleeping . All of them were naked . The room was littered with bottles and underwear . It was easy to guess what happened here last night .

“Um!”

The man opened his eyes . He was a handsome man in his 30s .

“Euh! My head hurts . I drank too much last night . ”

He got up and staggered around to get water .

Snap! Snap!

The cold water refreshed his spirit . At the same time, the messy room caught his eyes . The two women were still asleep .

The man woke the two women up .

"He woke up already?"

"Yawn! I want to sleep . This bed is too soft . ”

The man stuck a cigarette in his mouth and exclaimed .

"Get up and leave . ”

“What?”

"Oppa! What did you say just now?”

"Shut up and get lost! Haven’t you heard things about me? I am just a bad man . ”

The women were furious . The man from last night seemed completely different to the person in front of them now . Of course, the girls didn’t follow him because of kindness . They came because he paid one million per person .

“Fuck!”

"I have the worst luck!”

The women grumbled as they clothed themselves and left .

The man didn’t show any interest as he smoked a cigarette on the sofa in his living room .

After a while . The man got up and looked out the window .

Noon . The streets were crowded with people . It was lunchtime so workers were looking for restaurants .

But the man’s eyes were on the surrounding buildings, not the people . The reason was his recent mission .

Mission 5- Scout the neighbourhood to find a nearby, hostile sovereign .

-Compensation: Experience, 1000 nodes

That’s right . He was Jung Kwang-hyeon, a sovereign in the world of Hwanmong .

'I thought the whole dream and reality thing was ridiculous at first . I became a sovereign in a place called Hwanmong . ’

There was a meaningful smile on Jung Kwang-hyeon’s face . He was a power runner and had rugged muscles .

'Huhu, these muscles! I didn’t even exercise to gain these muscles!’

A perfect, muscular body that ordinary people would find hard to reach! Even his energy increased .

This was all due to the power of Hwanmong .

After passing the first mission of gathering 100 black magic energy, he had gone through the flesh construction process .

The second mission required constructing a barrack . The compensation for this was 500 nodes and inferior knowledge about goblins and orcs .

Thanks to the barrack, he could summon the goblins and orcs . They were disgusting monsters that normally only appeared in fantasy books . He honestly found them so disgusting that he didn’t even want to look at them . However, strong troops would make the sovereign more powerful .

So he had two barracks and he upgraded them to stage three . The stage three barracks could accommodate 30 monsters each . It was also the third mission .

The problem was the cost to summon the monsters . Fortunately, this could be covered by his taxes .

Every time he entered Hwanmong, he would be paid 1,000 nodes as taxes for his territories . Thanks to that, Jung Kwang-hyeon managed to summon 30 goblins and orcs in each barrack . That was mission 4 .

He got the title of Sovereign Herod as a reward . A sovereign with a total of 60 creatures!

He also received the Wyvern Ring that made the wearer immune to fear and confusion .

[Wyvern Ring]

-Rating: Only one

-A sign that you are a sovereign in Hwanmong .

-Strength +5 when worn .

-Immune to fear and confusion when worn .

-Sovereign Title: Herod

His power rose tremendously thanks to the power of the ring .

Furthermore, his level rose! He had never done a combat mission, yet he was still Lv6 .

He had no intention of fighting directly with monsters in the future . He had no reason to risk death in fights when he could just raise his level through the missions . He would leave the fighting to his subordinates! A sovereign was meant to give commands .

He thought about it .

'This time, I will add one more barrack after entering Hwanmong . I’m not sure how strong the sovereign in the area is, but it will be game over with my forces . Huhuhu!’

It would be enough with the tax money . Complete victory! Once he found the location of the hostile sovereign, his troops would sweep through in minutes!

So he had to make a plan .

Susuk .

A man wearing a black hood appeared in front of him . The man lay down and cried out .

"I seek an audience with Lord!”

Jung Kwang-hyeon glanced at him and asked .

“Colt, do you know where the hostile sovereign is?”

Colt could exist in both reality and Hwanmong . He was an intermediate ghost that immediately swore his loyalty after Jung Kwang-hyeon became a sovereign .

"I didn't find them yet . The wandering ghosts in the area don’t know . ”

"Look for any even slightly suspicious buildings . We have to find that person first . ”

“Yes, Lord . ”

Colt disappeared somewhere .

That evening .

Kang-jun came back from selling socks to find Hayun waiting in Room 406 .

"Today a subordinate of Herod was asking the ghosts about you . ”

“Herod has started to act . Sooner or later, he will start attacking . ”

"He hasn’t found this place yet . Like I said, I have a hold on all the ghosts . They won’t say anything . ”

Kang-jun was delighted .

“Okay . Well done Hayun . ”

"I did great, right?”

"Of course . Well done . ”

Kang-jun stroked Hayun’s head . Hayun’s eyes started sparkling .

"Then buy me something delicious . ”

"Tell me what you want . ”

"Jajangmyeon, jjampong, sweet and sour pork!”

“I understand . ”

Kang-jun happily called a Chinese delivery restaurant .

Today he would eat a delicious meal with a ghost . Hayun had done something big for him, so it was worth spending money .

In this world, the ghosts were a source of information . All of them were controlled by Hayun, so the information belonged to Kang-jun .

Herod didn’t know anything, but Kang-jun knew about him . This alone would create an opportunity to reverse the situation .

The next evening .

Kang-jun signed an additional contract for Room 401 . Kim Yong-jae who originally lived in Room 401 was moved to another room, so the problem was easily solved .

It was necessary to spend money on Room 401 in order to build a research institute in Hwanmong . His subordinates would become much stronger if he built a research institute .

11 p . m .

It was finally time to enter the world of Hwanmong .

Kang-jun lay down on the bed and said to Hayun .

"I might call you later . ”

"I’ll be waiting . ”

"Then please sing a lullaby . ”

"Good night our baby . . . ”

Kang-jun’s eyes closed as he heard the lullaby . It was like Hayun was singing a sleeping spell as he quickly fell asleep .

[The door to Hwanmong is open . ]

[You have entered the world of Hwanmong . ]

His base located in Room 406 .

Unlike earlier, there was another person standing next to Kang-jun .

A youth with neat blue hair down to his waist . Pale skin that couldn’t be seen on a human . Sharply glittering grey eyes . Eyeshadow seemed to be used to paint dark circles around his eyes . A gloomy but fascinating appearance!

What was the identity of this youth? It was hard to know who he was . At that moment, he saw Kang-jun and bowed down .

"Keriun, seeking an audience with Lord!”

“Keirun? You are Keirun?”

Keirun was a rotting, elderly corpse with black hair . But this change! He looked good for a corpse .

“Kuhuk! I’ve regained my real face now that I am part of your household instead of a shadow sovereign . ”

"I’m glad to hear that . Then your abilities have become stronger?”

Keirun scratched his head and said .

"My capabilities are currently at level 1 . However, my level will slowly rise in the future . ”

"Slowly?"

“Yes . The amount of experience I get compared to Lord Sovereign is small, so my levelling speed will be slow . This is a rule in Hwanmong . ”

According to Keirun, the only ones with the right to level up quickly in Hwanmong were the sovereigns .

"Then those guys can also raise their level?”

Kang-jun pointed to the ratians that were waiting in front of the base .

"Yes, of course . They will become stronger in battles . Increasing their level and skills will be very useful to Lord . ”

Kang-jun was surprised . Even the monsters summoned to the barrack could level up?

Keirun’s eyes flashed as he continued speaking .

“But the most important thing is the level of the sovereign . One of the fastest ways to grow stronger is for the level of the sovereign itself to rise! This is the best way to survive in Hwanmong . ”

Kang-jun laughed . Keirun didn’t need to tell him this .

"That’s natural . Why else would there be sovereigns?”

"That's right, Lord . Most sovereigns, especially those with a lot of resources in the beginning, won’t risk their lives fighting monsters to level up . It is dangerous so they would rather rely on strong subordinates . For example, they only raise their level through missions . ”

“Missions? I’ve only received fighting missions . There are missions that don’t involve fighting?”

Keirun grinned .

“The missions given to each sovereign are different . In particular, it depends on what the sovereign wants! This is why Lord has only been given fighting missions . ”

“Then I would be given simple missions if I wanted it?”

"Of course . But that is a ridiculous choice . Those type of sovereigns will never last long . Let alone reaching the 100th mission, they normally have their necks cut by other sovereigns . ”

"Hrmm . "

"Sovereigns should only roll in the blood and sweat of monsters! They will feel the crisis of death but will become frighteningly strong with each survival . In the end, the sovereigns that start off with a lot of resources will be trampled on by others . ”

"Is that right?”

Kang-jun’s eyes were burning