Chapter 167
“First of all, don’t you have Pandemonium and Eden on your side?”
Yu-hyun was quite disappointed when he didn’t get the answer he expected.
“Yes, I do.”
Satan and Michael, who represented the two great armies, were his regular visitors in his library.
They were interested in the history of Earth, so it was natural that the movements of the two great armies were also focused on Earth.
“But that’s not the answer you’re looking for, is it?”
Yu-hyun gave a bitter smile as he read Galiaz’s smile.
‘As expected, he knows that I have something.’
It was no wonder that he was the guardian of the Dragon King.
He had raised a chief-level teller, and he was a legend among the tellers.
Galiaz’s insight was not easy to deal with.
Yu-hyun nodded his head, as he had nothing to hide.
“Yeah, well.”
“Hmm. I’ve heard something that might interest you. Recently, some of the great armies have taken an interest in the environment of Earth.”
“Recently?”
That was it.
Yu-hyun was almost certain. The interest that had not been there until now, but suddenly increased recently. Some of it might have been caused by Yu-hyun himself, but there was no doubt that someone else had a different idea.
“Where are they?”
“There are three places. One of them is Hwaninje (桓因帝). You’ve heard of it, right?”
“Yes.”
There was no way Yu-hyun didn’t know about Hwaninje. Especially if he lived in Korea.
Hwaninje was the great army that provided the seed of mythology to the Korean peninsula.
This place, which was relatively small among the great armies, was the army where Hwanung, who could be called the protagonist of the Dangun myth, belonged.
Yu-hyun nodded his head in agreement. It made sense that Korea’s situation was unusually hot lately.
“The second one is Sukhavati (極樂淨土).”
Sukhavati.
Another name was Sukhāvatī.
Sukhavati was the great army that provided the seed of mythology to Earth’s ‘Buddhism’.
It was one of the most famous places among the great armies. In a way, it was the second largest place in Earth’s mythology after ‘Eden’.
‘The spirits there are interested too? That’s surprising. They seem to be the least likely.’
Galiaz uttered the next one.
“The third one is Cheongyesamsipsancheon (天界三十六天).”
“I see.”
Yu-hyun also knew Cheongyesamsipsancheon well.
It was where Oh Heum, who had caused trouble in Yu-hyun’s previous library and was forcibly kicked out, belonged.
Cheongyesamsipsancheon was the great army that provided the seed of mythology to Earth’s ‘Taoism’. And it was also a place that had a close relationship with Sukhavati in some ways.
‘Hwaninje, Sukhavati, Cheongyesamsipsancheon. They’re all similar places.’
It seemed obvious why they were interested in Earth when he thought about where Yu-hyun was active.
‘Is there someone among these three that I should be wary of?’
Yu-hyun felt a bit puzzled.
It would have been easier if it were Olympus or Asgard, which had bad reputations, but the three examples he gave were hard to pinpoint no matter how he thought about it.
They were all places that had good images as great armies, so it was difficult to identify who exactly they were.
‘I narrowed down the choices, but I’m getting deeper into the maze. They’re all formidable places.’
Yu-hyun checked Laplace’s fragment out of curiosity.
[Information collection rate: 21%]
Considering that it was 9% last time, it had increased considerably.
There was definitely a culprit among them. Someone who had been targeting Seosumin since his previous life, and who made her wary in this life as well.
“Are there any other places?”
“Why not? But apart from those three places I just mentioned, they’re still showing a bit of lukewarm movement. The great armies are usually hard to move.”
“ ‘Chuckle’. That’s true.”
“More importantly, you know what? I heard another story recently.”
Galiaz’s eyes changed.
His expression became heavier than before when he was talking lightly.
Yu-hyun also became serious along with him.
“Recently, you’ve had a bad relationship with one department.”
“…”
Yu-hyun had an idea of where it was.
There was no point in hiding it at this point, so he nodded his head.
“Yes. I didn’t intend to, but I had a little friction with the Pentagram department.”
“Is that so? It’s not my place to say this since I’m retired now, but you should be careful with the Pentagram department. It’s not a place with a good reputation.”
Yu-hyun knew that too.
If you asked anyone to name the worst place among the eight departments of history, they would all mention the Pentagram department.
Their infamy was so great that you could tell by the fact that they left behind chief-level and deputy-level staff in Earth, which had received a disqualification sticker, and continued their history.
They must have some ulterior motive.
Yu-hyun was about to say that it was nothing to worry about, but he realized that Galiaz’s eyes were sincere.
“Yes. I have ears too, you know. I’m trying to be careful.”
“Good. I know you would be cautious even without me telling you. But I’m saying this out of concern, because the other side is so bad. I hope you understand that.”
“I do. Thank you for worrying about me.”
Yu-hyun said that sincerely.
In this fierce Celestial Corporation where competition was done with stories, most of the Tellers were always wary and jealous of him.
Among them, the only one who genuinely cared and advised him was Galiaz.
When Yu-hyun accepted it seriously, Galiaz finally relaxed and smiled again.
“That makes me feel better. Maybe it’s because I’m old, but I have more worries and troubles. Hahaha.”
“Nothing to worry about will happen.”
Yu-hyun said that and his eyes sparkled.
‘Yes. Nothing to worry about will ever happen.’
***
“I’ll be going then.”
“Alright. I hope you bring some good news next time.”
“I’ll try.”
After Yu-hyun left, Galiaz was alone again and recalled the conversation he had with him.
Among them, what kept stimulating his worry was the department called Pentagram.
‘This is not good.’
Even though he had retired from the front line, he knew well how the departments were going.
Especially the movements of the Pentagram department among the eight departments in the stock room.
‘What are they trying to do there?’
Galiaz shook his head.
‘Pentagram is one of the departments. It’s not easy to maintain a department in this Celestial Corporation. One of the chosen eight departments does such a strange thing? Of course they must have something up their sleeve.’
Most of them ignored it because they didn’t know the real intention.
More than anything, as time passed, the interest of the spirits toward Earth gradually decreased, so naturally the antics of Pentagram were also forgotten.
But, Earth changed recently.
The stock of a Teller attracted the expectations of the spirits toward Earth again.
‘If it was before, I would have just ignored it and moved on, but now that I know someone there, it bothers me a bit.’
Galiaz thought he didn’t have to worry about anything related to field work anymore.
He had decided that before. He thought that living peacefully in the back room would be an opportunity to brighten his remaining life after feeling disillusioned.
‘He’s a strange kid.’
He thought of Yu-hyun, who he had just talked to.
Not only his experience and ability that didn’t match a rookie Teller, but also a strange charm that kept pulling him in.
If he had a family in the lower world, would it feel like having a grandson?
He felt happy when Yu-hyun succeeded as if it was his own business, and he felt anxious when he thought he was in danger.
Galiaz had felt this feeling only once a long time ago.
‘I miss it.’
The days when he was full of dreams and passion
When he challenged stories that others thought were impossible with his pride and spirit
And the fact that his hot desire that he thought had disappeared was wriggling somewhere in his chest again.
It dyed Galiaz’s dry emotions back to those days.
‘I said I would trust and leave it to him, but I’m still worried. But I can’t help him directly either.’
As Galiaz was wondering what to do,
“Master! I came to visit!”
The door opened and Celestina came in.
Galiaz’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, really. Celestina. You came at a good time.”
“Huh? What’s wrong with you, master? You’re welcoming me like this.”
“You, let’s do something with me.”
***
[Your request for library expansion has been completed.]
[Your library will be expanded.]
[Sub-mission accomplished!]
[Maximum capacity 10,000 -> 20,000]
Yu-hyun nodded his head in satisfaction as he checked the notification window that popped up on his way back.
His request to expand his library was successfully accepted, and with this, the number of spirits that his library could accommodate increased to the maximum.
‘Now I don’t have to worry about my library exploding even if I have more than 10,000 viewers.’
It would only make Celine busier, but Yu-hyun was not worried.
Her skills and will were genuine.
She would probably burn with enthusiasm in this situation, as if to show off.
‘With a poker face, of course.’
Yu-hyun chuckled inwardly and recalled the information that Galiaz had told him.
‘Three great armies. One of them is related to Seo Sumin, the transcendent.’
Seo Sumin also knew that she was in conflict with someone.
She was wary of Yu-hyun when they first met, thinking that he might be a spy sent by the great army.
‘She knows that she is involved with someone. Even though it’s a matter of her previous life and she reincarnated, the fact that she reacted like that means that she also knows that her opponent is not an ordinary being.’
And a great army could make that possible.
Yu-hyun wondered which of the three great armies that Galiaz had told him was the most likely candidate to be related to Seo Sumin.
The answer did not come easily.
Hwaninje, Sukhavati, and 36 Thousand Heaven Realms were all great armies with impressive presence and similar tendencies.
36 Thousand Heaven Realms was relatively more free and diverse than the others.
Baekryeon asked him, noticing that he was silent and still.
[What are you thinking about so hard since a while ago?]
‘Just. About the great armies.’
[Great armies? Why all of a sudden?]
‘Just. I thought I might get involved with one of them soon.’
[Ah. The one you talked about with that dragon earlier? Cheongye something or what was it?]
‘Close enough. I think it might be there.’
[Is it famous?]
‘It’s famous alright. It has its good sides, but also a lot of bad sides. It’s also the place where the most incidents and accidents happened. It’s the place that produced the famous Demon King Alliance, after all.’
[What’s the Demon King Alliance?]
Baekryeon was intrigued by the unexpected name.
As far as she knew, the only thing that came to mind when she heard the word demon king was the clichéd genre of heroes and demon kings.
But, a Taoist place that had a rigid image produced a demon king? What could be more interesting than this story?
‘They’re not really demon kings. Well, they are very dangerous places in their own way.’
[What are they then?]
‘The Demon King Alliance (魔王聯合). A great army that rivals Pandemonium in terms of presence.’
It was a place where all kinds of monsters who had turned their backs on the heavenly realm of Taoism existed as divine spirits, and just like Pandemonium had seven lords, this place also had seven demon kings.
The seven first-generation divine spirits who stood at the peak of all monsters.
Among them, the most dangerous and also the most powerful one was.
‘The stone monkey. The place where Jecheon Daeseong resides.’