The Novel’s Villain

7. The Big Picture of Young Master (4)

“Let me try to interpret it.”

As Rachel said so, she walked closer to the wall. Surprisingly, she was a talented person who graduated from a prestigious Korean university with a Gate-related major. She had expert-level knowledge about Gate characters and arithmetic interpretation, to the point she had won prizes in world competitions.

“Sun and sky… thunder and moonlight, um… intersecting moonlight… door open… warning… explosion?”

“That’s awesome. How can you interpret the gate characters to this extent?”

So said Moo-jin, admiring Rachel’s interpretation. Yoo-na looked at Rachel as if slightly surprised. It was because Rachel, from her first impression, looked far from being knowledgeable. Yoo-na thought of her as an idiot smiling like a fool. When Rachel looked at Yoo-na as if asking about what she thought about it, she nodded with a trembling expression on her face.

She had no choice but to acknowledge her talent.

“It’s more useful than your bow skills. I’m glad it’s not just a flower bed in your head.”

“Fufu, this is the basics.”

Rachel felt good even with the back-handed compliment from Yoo-na. She then glanced at Jin-woo and lowered her voice. She wanted to appeal that she was a dependable older sister, no, a competent person.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to enter unless we know exactly what it means. It’s dangerous. Even if the professors come, it’ll take a while to interpret it. I’ll try to interpret it as much as I can.”

The Gate characters were letters holding unknown powers, serving as the power source of the wizard class. There was a system from 1st to 9th circle with common settings, but there was no known person with ability beyond the 5th circle. The competent person from the U.S who achieved the 5th circle was praised with titles like Archmage and the Great Sage. The 5th circle wizard had tremendous strategic value because their power was to the extent it could manipulate the climate or cause earthquakes.

‘Is it a riddle?’

Jin-woo was lost in thought as the people around him chattered. He had already read the Gate characters with the Magic Eye of Information and was now contemplating what it meant. No matter how many times he read it, it seemed like a futile riddle. He read it a few times aloud.

“The sun covers the sky, and thunder shines the moonlight. When all things cross under the moonlight, a strong seal shall be opened. I warn you that the invaders will not escape disaster. Only those who prove it will be qualified.”

What kind of bullshit was this? It just seemed to have cryptic words pasted here and there. It didn’t even feel mysterious, but more like a cringe bluff.

‘Hmm?’

When there was no sound around him, Jin-woo took his eyes off the wall and looked around. Rachel’s eyes were wide open as if she were incredibly surprised, and Moo-jin was in a similar state.

“I-I think that’s right. The interpretation is the same in the text and pattern! What a neat and perfect interpretation!”

“I think you need to study a little more, Miss Rachel.”

“I-it’s not something that can be achieved just by studying…”

Rachel frowned as Yoo-na spoke with a proud look on her face. Then Rachel looked at Jin-woo with a sparkle in her eyes.

“That’s amazing. How could you do that so quickly…?”

“I studied a little before.”

Jin-woo avoided her gaze and answered so briefly. Rachel was still amazed. Only the maids were taking it for granted. This was because ‘The Biography of Great Lee Jin-woo’ said he had lectures to professors about Gate characters when he was eleven. As expected, everything was true!

The maids’ faith became stronger as Rachel again put on a confident look.

“Then shall we crack the code? I specialize in this! There have been quite a few times when I was subcontracted to participate in decryption. You can’t learn this from books.”

After all, this field was her specialty. She was confident in it as much as her bow skills. Several of her guild members approached. Admiring Jin-woo’s interpretation, they grabbed their heads and began to find the password hidden in the sentence.

“If the pattern representing the sun is moved toward the lightning…”

“No. This terrain is perfectly composed of one picture. If you do that, there are too many cases.”

“No, I mean….”

The way Rachel and the female Mercenaries were discussing it was quite a picture. It was nice to see them because they were all beautiful. Jin-woo was also a man, after all. It felt like his heart was warming up. Could this be true healing?

‘The main character is very blessed.’

What kind of charm did he have that it was possible to set up a so-called harem? It didn’t quite make sense with a modern way of thinking. The main heroine and a lot of women who weren’t mentioned individually fell in love with him as soon as they met. Perhaps it was because of the power of the main character.

‘I envy him.’

The corners of his lips rose slightly at the delightful sight. Then, his eyes met Yoo-na’s. Jin-woo quickly erased his smile.

“You already know the answer, right?”

“Uum?”

“You will reveal the answer in a little while, won’t you? That would be effective.”

Yoo-na just smiled as if she knew everything. Jin-woo couldn’t say it was for another reason, so he just stayed still.

‘Anyway, I’ll have to solve it…’

It had to be solved before the Emperor of Greed was released. Jin-woo looked at the wall. He had no idea what it meant. It didn’t seem likely to give hints like in the game. He glanced to his side and saw Rachel, who was carving various mathematical symbols in the ground.

‘Shall I take a look?’

He never expected that it would be easy to solve. Jin-woo wasn’t smart enough to solve this easily. It was even more so because he had to approach it with a mathematical sense. He was more into liberal arts study and didn’t perform well with mathematics. The same situation as in the original might happen if he forcibly dug into it, so it had to be solved accurately.

‘Should we go back? Well, this also can be counted as the desired results…’

With that thought in mind, he first looked at the wall closely with the Magic Eye. The Magic Eye had never let him down so far, so he thought it would help him this time too.

‘Oh…’

After all, it was fraudulent. When he looked through the Magic Eye, he could see a flow of mana crossing through the wall. As his level went up, its ability also grew so that he could see even the minor flows. Jin-woo tilted his head while looking at the wall.

‘Is this like a pipe game?’

There was a mobile phone game where you connect a pipe to let water flow through. It had to be done quickly within the time limit, presenting its attractiveness due was the only free mobile game Jin-woo played recently. The flow of mana was interrupted in the middle, but it seemed like it could be connected.

Rachel, Moo-jin, and the Mercenaries were busy moving while looking at the floor. They looked up at the the puzzle. They repeated this repeatedly, writing several complex formulas on the floor and trying to solve them. As a result, the outline began to be revealed. But even if the answer were found through complicated calculations, it couldn’t keep up with the changing formula.

Furthermore, computers and calculators couldn’t be brought here, so they all had to be done by mental calculation. It wasn’t a concept that could be solved just by studying for a long time.

Moo-jin and the Mercenaries, who heard Rachel’s words, looked perplexed. Rachel approached Yoo-na. She hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

“There, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid it’s going to be difficult…”

Ssttt!

As Yoo-na raised her hand and told them to be quiet, Rachel blinked her eyes in confusion. Everyone else stopped what they were doing.

It was then that Jin-woo moved. He was thinking of solving it for now. He couldn’t go back like this.

Rachel and the Mercenaries with expertise in this field shook their heads. After all, it seemed impossible no matter how great Jin-woo was. However, Jin-woo began to move his hand without any hesitation. He placed his hand on the wall and filled it with mana, and the mini-patterns began to move in It was split into dozens, but it appeared as a completely new pattern along with Jin-woo’s hand. Those watching did so with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

However, Jin-woo was only looking at the flow of mana with an expression of cold calm, so such a sight didn’t catch his eye.

‘It’s fun. It’s worth it.’

It was a little more difficult than the pipe game, but it was interesting because it felt like playing a VR game. He was so into the puzzle that he forgot others were waiting behind him. It was a pleasure to put things together one by one. Rachel and the Mercenaries’ mouths slowly opened in astonishment as they observed.

“No, that’s impossible!”

“Ah…”

Moo-jin and the other Mercenaries didn’t know it well due to their poor understanding, but everyone who knew even a little was astonished. Yoo-na smiled slightly at their reaction. They couldn’t get away from Jin-woo. It didn’t matter if they were willing to or not. The one they were serving now was Lee Jin-woo, an existence beyond common sense.

Drrrrrrng! Click!

There was a sound of something falling into place.

‘Oh, it’s working.’

It was easier than he thought. Jin-woo thought so and nodded. It was a little hard to fine-tune all eight parts at once, but he managed to figure it out in the end. Things worked out so well that an unbidden smile came to his lips.

‘Is this?’

Something from the wall popped out into Jin-woo’s hand. It was an unusually shaped key with shimmering blue light. It looked like it was made of mana, without any weight at all. Looking around, everyone was just staring blankly at him to show they couldn’t see the key. It looked like something was lost.

[Success in Obtaining Qualification!]

[Discover Magical Treasure Mine!]

Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The wall began to open with vibrations ringing through the floor. The wall folded down like a puzzle was being put together and became a huge door to get inside. The mine and seal were separate places. The entirety of the massive mountain was the mine.

“…”

“…”

Everyone had their mouth half-opened as they stared blankly. There was only stillness and silence. Jin-woo, who did this kind of thing casually, didn’t seem like a human at all.

“It’s open.”

As Jin-woo spoke lightly, everyone began to accept this new reality.

“Oh, ooh!”

“It’s open!”

“Awesome!”

The excitement was palpable. Very strong mana was wafting from the entrance, strong enough that even the Mercenaries could feel it. A truly incredible jackpot was waiting for everyone.

They decided to enter the mine. An advance team consisting of Moo-jin, Rachel, the elite Mercenaries, Yoo-na, and the maids for Jin-woo’s escort was quickly formed. Inside, the atmosphere was completely different from that of a normal mine. There was a neat corridor and a lot of shiny minerals filling it. Rachel looked at the minerals in surprise.

“I-it’s a magic crystal!”

Their eyes were filled with ecstasy. Moo-jin couldn’t even touch the magic crystal for fear of damaging it. It was the magic crystal that came from the captured monsters, but an innumerable amount of such magic crystals were embedded along the walls.

Yoo-na was also quite surprised. In addition to magic crystals, there were also gold mines within.

‘At this rate…’

Yoo-na’s mind quickly turned. It was a discovery that could turn the global Gate industry upside down. Yoo-na felt goosebumps when she saw Jin-woo looked calm even after making this discovery. He had an expression as if he knew it beforehand and had planned for it. What the hell was the Young Master planning?

Yoo-na managed to calm her trembling hands.

“It’s a treasure trove here!”

“Stop! Don’t touch it!”

“There’s something here too!”

“Leave it alone! Do not touch anything!”

When the Mercenaries shouted, Moo-jin joined them urgently. The more they explored inside, the more wild and unusual places they discovered. It didn’t seem to be naturally formed, though that wasn’t much of a surprise. The original novel was a mass-produced fantasy novel in which everything was mixed. Elves, dwarves, demons, and dragons all appeared as typical characters.

Yoo-na took a deep breath and looked at Jin-woo.

“Young Master.”

“Huh?”

“I think we should call Professor Kim Dae-jin’s research and excavation team.”

He could feel the excitement in Yoo-na’s words. Jin-woo looked around. Moo-jin, Rachel, and the Mercenaries were looking at him with incredibly hot gazes. Rachel somehow looked as if she was holding back tears.

‘It sure seems safe…’

No one could break into the seal without the key. Luckily, only he had the key. He had three days left to activate it, so he planned to use it as a knife right after that. He didn’t mean to waste any time.

‘Things are going very smoothly.’

A sweet life without a hitch. The rosy life he dreamed of seemed to be right before him.

Jin-woo found peace of mind. When he nodded, everyone started to move busily.

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