Ubermensch – Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Mason’s silence was deep and complex. Ignoring the heavy silence in the car, Seo Yeonhee gave a simple briefing.

“There are five Elder Worm cores. If we put them on the market, we could get 10 billion won each, but the Holy Knights handed them over to the government for 2 billion won each. To build core power plants.”

“And including other minor cores and monster resources, we made a profit of about 7 billion won.”

“How much will I receive?”

“It depends on the Holy Knights’ settlement ratio. But basically… I think it will be around 400 to 500 million won.”

“That’s a lot of money.”

“For others, it’ll barely be enough to break even. And considering Mason’s food and equipment expenses… It may not be enough for Mason either.”

Seo Yeonhee spoke calmly.

“Sung Kijun made a trade. Gaining fame in exchange for giving up wealth. I believe Mason will agree with that policy too…”

“Believe?”

“Don’t despise money too much. Because money can despise Mason too…”

Seo Yeonhee’s words had a deep resonance. It carried a weight that could not be easily ignored.

Mason nodded.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The place where Seo Yeonhee stopped her monstrous car was a large hotel owned by the Osung Group. She left the car with the valet and led Mason to the Chinese restaurant.

Two people were sitting in the VIP room, waiting.

A haggard beauty in a lab coat with luxurious blonde hair flowing down. And a young man with a smart impression.

“Let me introduce you. This is Alexandra, the director of Osung Group’s Core Research Laboratory. And this is CEO Lee Seonho of Osung Group’s Core Business Division.”

Lee Seonho looked at Mason with interest.

“Is it a human or a monster?”

“Both.”

Mason answered roughly and sat down.

His eyes were fixed on Alexandra, the haggard blonde beauty.

It wasn’t just because of her appearance.

“Your nose is bleeding.”

“Hmm…”

As if she was used to it, Alexandra wiped her nose with a tissue and took a pill from a medicine bottle. Blood was splattered all over her pure white lab coat, making her look like a butcher in a slaughterhouse.

“Are you sick?”

“My core is cracked…”

“Are you a player?”

“I used to be. Now I’m retired.”

Alexandra looked at Mason.

“Now… I’m a researcher studying monsters.”

Monsters were, in many ways, beyond the scope of modern science. Since they had to start from scratch anyway, there weren’t any real experts.

Even a former player like Alexandra was able to get a job as a research director at a large company.

That meant that humanity knew nothing about monsters.

“I see…”

And the fact that the research laboratory and its director had come meant…

“Are you here to take my knowledge?”

“Anything will do. Any information that could be helpful.”

“Information that will make money, right?”

“It’s the same thing.”

Seo Yeonhee said.

“Who would they use the product they developed on?”

“On monsters.”

As Seo Yeonhee said.

There was no reason to refuse.

“But I’m not a scholar. I’m just an explorer.”

It was just… It wouldn’t be of much help.

“Even a fragment of knowledge is good. Just telling us something that could be a clue would be enough.”

Black powder was made of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur.

But even if you had saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur, a layman couldn’t make gunpowder. Because they didn’t know the proper mixing ratio and the techniques involved in handling it.

But even knowing that it was made of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur could drastically shorten the development process of gunpowder.

Mason didn’t know the intermediate process. He couldn’t develop anything with the information he had alone.

But Mason knew the ‘answer’.

Information about things that were successfully developed and operated.

Reverse engineering based on the knowledge he had.

It was no different than looking at the answer sheet and guessing the problem…

‘If my uncle was here, things would have been faster…’

Mason made a bitter expression.

But that was only for a moment.

“Okay, then… Let’s order food first.”

Mason said with a cheerful expression.

“It’s going to be a long story.”

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The knowledge that Mason possessed was fragmented, and most of it was trivial.

They were literally the kind of trivial common sense that a young man who had fallen into another world would have.

However, Mason was interested in the cultural artifacts of the past, and had a fair amount of knowledge about the genealogy of the development of those artifacts.

Alexandra asked, Mason answered, and they soon began to ask and answer each other. The conversation, which had been ignited by arguments and counterarguments, was turning into contemplation and Zen riddles.

It was a conversation topic that seemed like it would be long, but it was getting longer than expected.

Seo Yeonhee and Lee Seonho left them alone and walked out to the balcony.

Lee Seonho lit a cigarette.

“Do you think that big guy will be useful?”

“Yes.”

Seo Yeonhee said with a calm expression.

“It depends on how you use him.”

“Yes, that’s right…”

Among the third-generation chaebols, Lee Seonho was one of the ambitious and successful ones. He was also a capable man who was making achievements that no one could ignore in the Core Business Division, which he had been assigned to half-voluntarily and half-forcibly.

“Do you think you can use him?”

That was because he had learned how to ‘use’ people.

Management, leadership, the art of employing people… It didn’t matter what you called it. The essence was handling people, and Lee Seonho had that kind of talent.

And Seo Yeonhee was… even more talented than Lee Seonho.

“It won’t be easy, but yes, I think so.”

Cigarette smoke drifted through the gentle breeze.

Lee Seonho looked at the horizon, as if chasing the smoke.

“…Are they still fighting?”

Even though the pronoun was omitted, Seo Yeonhee could understand it immediately.

“He hasn’t lost yet.”

“Humph…”

Lee Seonho and Seo Yeonhee had been engaged since childhood. Until Seo Yeonhee fell in love with the son of the Italian ambassador to Korea.

It was a strategic engagement between prestigious families. As it had been during their engagement, there was no particular feeling when they broke up.

But that old relationship made Lee Seonho feel compelled to make a comment.

“Do you have any thoughts of… stopping this now?”

“No.”

Seo Yeonhee said, looking at the horizon.

“Never.”

“I see, that’s right…”

A woman living for a dead man.

She was too young to make a decision that would affect her whole life.

Lee Seonho exaggeratedly put his hand on his chest.

“What is love, that it weighs life and death?”

“…Macbeth?”

“The Return of the Condor Heroes.”

Lee Seonho chuckled.

“I’m going in first. I’ve booked a room, so tell him to stay the night.”

“Oppa.”

“Why?”

“Thank you.”

Lee Seonho put out his cigarette on the wall and said.

“Don’t destroy my hotel.”

Lee Seonho moved his steps.

After watching his back for a while, Seo Yeonhee returned to the table where Mason and Alexandra were.

The two were huddled together.

“No, what are you going to do if you deny quantum mechanics?”

“Ah, I don’t know. My uncle said it was wrong.”

“Tell me why it’s wrong!”

“How would I know? He said it was wrong, so it’s wrong!”

Seo Yeonhee chuckled.

It seemed like Mason was being quite helpful.

He wasn’t the god of science, but he was looking over the god of science’s shoulder.

“Why don’t you move to a room? It’s almost closing time for the restaurant.”

Alexandra and Mason looked at each other.

The two, who had been burning with a thirst for knowledge, seemed to have finally decided to take a break.

“I’ll go wash up and change my clothes first.”

“Then I’ll have a drink and come up.”

Seo Yeonhee smiled and greeted the two.

“Call me when you’re done. I’ll come pick you up.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Seo Yeonhee headed to the basement parking lot.

Her Humvee was in its place. With familiar gestures, Seo Yeonhee scanned the underside of the car with a mirror.

It was a habit to prepare for bomb attacks.

“Phew.”

She opened the car door and sat in the driver’s seat.

At that moment.

“…!”

Seo Yeonhee took out two daggers and held one in each hand.

But before she could turn around, she felt something poking her from behind the seat.

It was a threat that he could pierce through the seat if necessary.

“…Who is it?”

Seo Yeonhee broke out in a cold sweat and looked in the rearview mirror.

There, she saw a familiar face that she never wanted to see.

“Your enemy.”

“Red Knight…”

It was Red Knight, the man clad in dark red heavy armor.

Red Knight smiled coldly.

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The restaurant closing meant it was time for the hotel bar to be in full swing.

Mason looked around with wonder in his eyes.

‘So this is alcohol.’

It was a barbaric drink from a primitive time when mankind still got drunk on alcohol.

But in other words, it was also a drink that had been with mankind since mankind was still primitive.

He had occasionally secretly synthesized and drank it, but to be able to drink alcohol made directly by a local.

It was truly a rare experience.

‘I shouldn’t make it obvious that I’ve never ordered alcohol before.’

Mason sat in front of the bartender with a relaxed posture.

“What can I get for you?”

Mason recited the most famous cocktail in history.

“Molotov Cocktail. Straight.”

“…Excuse me?”

The bartender’s bewildered expression was mixed with a look of ‘What kind of crazy guy is this?’.

“Um… Are you perhaps talking about beer?”

“No, not that. The one that the Finnish people are good at making…”

“…?!”

The bartender was flustered. When he was flustered, Mason became even more flustered.

‘Did I order something wrong?’

Someone sat next to Mason.

“Vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred.”

“I’ll prepare a Bond martini for you.”

“Give this gentleman the same.”

Mason breathed a sigh of relief.

A strange woman was sitting next to him.

The profile of her face as she looked straight ahead was as clean as a painting, and the loose-fitting clothes she wore looked like a queen’s ceremonial robe.

The necklace hanging from her long neck was a blue sapphire, and her graceful body line below it also radiated a mystical beauty.

If Seo Yeonhee had a friendly but difficult-to-approach impression, this Western beauty was the opposite. It felt like a majestic empress reigning over a frozen land was treating the other person kindly.

Perhaps sensing Mason’s gaze, she smiled.

“I’m sorry if it was unnecessary interference.”

“No, you saved my life. It’s not like I know much about alcohol.”

Mason scratched the back of his head.

The woman chuckled at him as if he was cute.

“As a reward, I’ll buy you a drink.”

Mason smiled and said.

“Why don’t we invite the two in the back to join us?”

The woman smiled with interest.

As she gestured, the two who had been pretending not to know them in the corner approached and stood there.

A platinum blonde beauty in a women’s suit with a calm impression, and a white man with a scruffy beard dressed in American biker gang style.

“Let’s see. One is a stranger… and the other is an acquaintance?”

The man grinned.

“Did you recognize me?”

Instead of answering, Mason tapped his nose.

“Well, sorry about last time. It was the situation.”

“Well, a man can’t be friends with a man he hasn’t fought with. Let’s call it a drink owed.”

It was Andrei, the werewolf who had been beaten up by Mason.

And if he was guarding someone…

Mason looked to the side.

“So, I was in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen?”

Heavenly King Yekaterina smiled.