TINL Ch 16

Wol tilted her head, looking questioningly at the man who hadn’t touched his chopsticks to the chicken, glaring at her with displeasure.

She added,

“If we propose guidelines like that, other branches will be able to withdraw in a similar manner. Each branch sacrifices exactly two people as representatives, and the remaining Sun Gods survive until the next gate opens…. It’ll be settled without much complaint.”

Wol drew X’s over the words <Sun God Negotiation> written on the screen and lifted the corners of her mouth into a smile.

“Mago is probably grinding her teeth right now, going through the procedures to add Mr. Sunwoo’s name to the divine registry.”

“Wait a minute, you’re saying his name will be added to the registry in a few days? Not a year later?”

Wol calmly nodded at him, his voice rising, forgetting his resolve not to be swayed by her pace any longer.

“That’s why Mago came to vent her anger at me earlier. She realized Mr. Sunwoo’s rapid promotion was my plan. She’s furious, but there’s no better solution than putting Mr. Sunwoo forward as the new Sun God representative.”

Unlike someone making the most absurd claims in the world, she smiled brightly and ticked off points on her fingers.

“For enduring a little bit of pain, he gains the first myth of the new gate, the position of the new Sun God representative, and resolution of old grudges… Three birds with one stone in a day. It’s a jackpot.”

“…Was that the real reason you deliberately sent me out of the room?”

“Exactly. If I give up one thing and gain three, it’s a windfall, but if Mago had also harmed Mr. Sunwoo, giving up two to gain three wouldn’t have been such a profitable deal.”

Sunwoo pressed his throbbing temples with his fingers and glared at her.

“You know I’m hired as your bodyguard, right? Knowing that, you deliberately put me in a situation where I could get seriously injured? Are you out of your mind?”

“Even if I look like this, I’m still a fairy whose name remains in the divine registry, so I don’t die easily. Knowing Mago’s personality, I knew she would take out her anger drastically at least once…. Since I was going to get hit anyway, I thought it was better to get it over with quickly and harshly.”

Sunwoo shook his head. Wol’s body wasn’t the only thing broken; her way of thinking was also seriously flawed. He could fix her body, but he couldn’t purify or regenerate the crazy thoughts inside that small head of hers. That fact drove Sunwoo crazy.

Running his hands through his hair, Sunwoo stared at Wol. He couldn’t even begin to figure out how to explain the simple fact that “the idea and the process were both wrong.” Wol blinked, her expression genuinely clueless.

“Is there any part of what I said that you don’t understand? I don’t know why you’re making that face, Mr. Sunwoo.”

“The fact that you don’t know is proof that you are seriously wrong, senior.”

“Weren’t you hired as my bodyguard to get your name in the divine registry? Why do you hate getting the reward now instead of a year later?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

As if telling him to just eat, she offered him a piece of chicken. He reluctantly took it and brought it to his mouth, only to grimace as the spiciness hit his lips.

“You ate this spicy stuff so casually?”

Wol’s eyes widened and she giggled like a girl, then pushed the salad toward Sunwoo.

“You’re such a baby with your eating habits, despite your size.”

“Don’t be ridiculous….”

He grumbled, picking at the salad. Sunwoo was five years older than her. As soon as he heard from his grandfather that the baby in her belly would be his bride someday, he asked them to name the child Wol. Because her round belly looked just like the moon over her white skirt.

Wol’s lips curved downwards for a moment, then she looked at the man reminiscing about the distant past with a wistful expression, as if trying to memorize his face. She continued speaking, “Putting Mr. Sunwoo as a symbol of the new gate is not a loss, but a gain, even for Mago. Do you remember the people protesting in front of Mago’s office building?”

Sunwoo nodded in response, expressing his discontent with a nod instead of words. It was his way of protesting his discomfort, but unlike Jacheongbi, who would have yelled at him for nodding his head instead of using his perfectly good mouth, Wol continued speaking without a word of reproach.

“Those people are the Current Human Preservation Association. The real reason they’re protesting in front of the headquarters is to extort technology transfer fees.”

“What are technology transfer fees…?”

“Do people these days not know about Noah’s Ark? That’s the Current Human Preservation Association’s patented technology. They also own the copyrights to myths related to biological preservation.”

Wol found and touched the index labeled <Biological Preservation Plan> among the files saved in her memo app.

“If we entrust the Current Human Preservation Association with securing samples of plants and animals, the diversity of species in the next gate will be secured stably, but the expenses will be quite high. We have to pay not only the costs related to the ark, but also the cost of purchasing existing myth copyrights.”

“So, by getting rid of the protesters in front of Mago’s office, you can reduce the budget and dismiss protests from other branches?”

“Yes. From the Korean Peninsula branch’s point of view, it’s much more profitable to get rid of two rotten gods and install Mr. Sunwoo than to put that money in someone else’s pocket. If we create a new creation myth, we don’t have to pay them royalties related to biological preservation.”

“True. Most things are entangled in royalty issues….”

Sunwoo also received a considerable amount of patent royalties in his account every quarter. He sighed, recalling the time about a hundred years ago when Hallasan Mountain almost erupted. It was all Jacheongbi’s fault. Jacheongbi, as her hobby, would catch evil spirits and bury them in Hallasan Mountain. These evil spirits conspired to escape, causing the ground to boil and rocks to melt, leading to a serious situation.

If the volcano erupted, the aftermath would obviously fall on Sunwoo’s shoulders. At the time, he was already overwhelmed with managing the inn, so he started to devise ways to use the evil spirits’ heat to prevent the volcanic eruption. After months of relentless effort, without eating or sleeping, he devised a technology to use the heat of evil spirits as geothermal energy for natural hot springs and heating. Since dealing with evil spirits was a problem all over the world, Sunwoo’s technology was sold to every corner of the human world. Thanks to this, Tamra Inn expanded into Tamra Resort and then into the Tamra Resort Valley brand.

‘Even my patent, which most people who aren’t interested wouldn’t even know exists, brings in a lot of money…Famous technologies like ‘Noah’s Ark’ must have different royalty figures. If she’s created the possibility of reducing that cost, it’s definitely not a small achievement.’

Recalling past events that began as a disaster but resulted in enormous profits, he nodded slightly.

‘Hmm… This heat energy conversion technology could also be useful in handling the expelled gods.’

Watching him narrow his eyes, Wol smiled more clearly.

“Mago won’t come looking for trouble anymore either. You patiently endured her unusually harsh outburst, and even created a good excuse to make a new myth, so Ms. Mago’s twisted insides should be somewhat soothed.”

Sunwoo, who was about to agree absentmindedly, quietly covered his mouth as he remembered the mixed coffee he had given Mago.

‘Soothed? More like her stomach will be increasingly uncomfortable…. I set a fire in Mago’s belly.’

As he stiffened and averted his gaze, Wol furrowed her brows and questioned him.

“Why are you making that face again? Shouldn’t you be happier that the start of paying off Mr. Sunwoo’s life debt has been so successful?”

“Well… I mixed something I shouldn’t have into Ms. Mago’s coffee while serving her….”

“Did you spit in her coffee or something? Everyone does that, you know?”

Sunwoo cleared his throat, finished the rest of his salad, and shrugged.

“It’s similar. Strength or saliva, it’s all the same.”

“…What does that even mean?”

“I put a little bit of my power into the coffee. A small fireball will take root in Ms. Mago’s body, burning and regenerating an amount equal to a cup of coffee.”

“…….”

“It’s a method I used very occasionally on difficult customers…Usually they just think they have a very bad stomach ache; they don’t suspect me.”

Although he was convinced he would be scolded for playing a pointless prank and upsetting Mago, Sunwoo smiled at Wol without a hint of remorse, the same smile he had shown her when he offered his hand for a handshake this morning.

Wol’s expression hardened as the thought struck her that this sly smile, and not the flustered look he wore while struggling with unfamiliar tasks and her way of working, was his true face.

“How could you do something like that as an intern? Mago is the representative of the Korean Peninsula branch of the Celestial Realm! Are you insane?”

“I did it because I wasn’t in my right mind. It was a side effect of pushing my powers to the limit after seeing you get hurt.”

“What kind of side effect makes you set fire to an old woman’s coffee? That’s attempted murder, murder!”

“Seolmundae Halmang said my symbol is ‘stability,’ so that’s why. I’m a unique case where my symbol was determined even though my name isn’t in the divine registry, so that’s why I have these side effects.”

“Why would someone whose symbol is stability put fire in the highest authority’s stomach? Is it like, ‘Let’s kill her calmly and stably’ or something?”

“Uh… yes. You’re exactly right.”

Both Wol, flustered by the straightforward agreement to her sarcastic remark, and Sunwoo, surprised by her accurate diagnosis of his symptoms, blinked at each other in silence. Sunwoo, genuinely impressed by Wol’s insight, explained the side effects in more detail.

“I think very egocentrically and act immediately in a very calm and quiet state. Normally, no matter how angry I was, I would have held back because Halmang is an incredibly high-ranking god, but….”

“But because of this side effect or whatever, you didn’t hold back this time?”

Sunwoo nodded, adding a shy expression to his innocent face.