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chapter 280
That evening, during dinner.
As always, Yeon Mirae and Sophia had dinner at our house.
As far as I knew, it wasn’t that Yeon Mirae and Sophia couldn’t cook. But my mother wanted to make food for them, so whenever possible, they ate at our house.
“Mother? Are you perhaps interested in real estate?”
While eating, Yeon Mirae said this to my mother.
…Seeing that, I recalled how firmly I had said earlier that I had no intention of making money through real estate.
It seemed Yeon Mirae’s plan was to use my mother to make me get involved in real estate.
‘Go ahead and try… my mother will fall for that…’
“Real estate…”
‘…No way…’
I looked at Yeon Mirae with silent contempt, but when I saw my mother paying attention to her words, I stopped.
Mother…?
“I’ve actually been studying hard recently with the intention of buying land…”
“Really? Is that so?”
Yeon Mirae’s expression was one of surprise, as if she hadn’t expected that answer at all.
Buying land… That meant my mother had been considering it even before Yeon Mirae brought it up.
“Um? Oh, it’s not like I’m trying to make money through real estate speculation… Or maybe it is speculation? Since I’m trying to buy land that has dropped in price…”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…”
My mother glanced at us briefly and then spoke frankly.
“The Shinse-gyo’s income has been cut off. With the remaining money, we could run Shinse-gyo for about 20 more years without issue, but I wanted to create a new source of income before it got too late.”
“A new source of income… land?”
“Specifically, I plan to buy land around Shinse-gyo and start a business there.”
Shinse-gyo.
The religious organization that had been run by my uncle… and later operated by a doppelgänger pretending to be my uncle after his murder.
Shinse-gyo had been funded by money laundered from a subcontracting group on Mars. Now that that money flow had completely stopped, finding a new source of income made sense.
“Because of the incident at Shinse-gyo, the land value of the site where the building stands, as well as nearby land, has dropped significantly. I plan to buy that land and start a business.”
“Even if it’s a business… what kind of business?”
Buying land itself wouldn’t be difficult. Depending on the price, even if Shinse-gyo’s income was cut off, the remaining funds could likely buy the land and build a structure.
The real question was what kind of business would take place there.
“Herb cultivation.”
“Herbs?”
Herbs are generally divided into two types:
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Herbs originally existing on Earth.
-
Special herbs from dungeons.
“Which type do you mean, Mom?”
“Of course the latter. From dungeons.”
At those words, my face twisted.
The first type, native Earth herbs, could be relatively easy to cultivate depending on the species. But the latter is different. Herbs grown in dungeons require specialized environments, making their maintenance on Earth tricky. Some need expertise, while others require meticulous care.
‘Still, the demand is high.’
Few Awakened can identify and properly harvest dungeon herbs, so supply cannot meet demand, allowing them to be sold at a high price. My mother probably considered this in choosing dungeon herbs.
‘…Sure, selling them at high prices is possible, but the cost of maintaining the right environment will leave almost no net profit.’
If the maintenance cost could somehow be minimized, it would be very profitable—but my mother wouldn’t know how to do that. To me, this seemed like a doomed business.
“Do you think Mom’s business will fail, Geonwoo?”
“…Yeah.”
Even without saying a word, my mother seemed to read my thoughts. I didn’t deny it. Even experts in herb cultivation would find success difficult, and my mother wasn’t one of them.
“Do you think I’d come up with a business plan without thinking?”
“……”
No, that wasn’t it. My mother had been running Shinse-gyo reluctantly, yet it operated normally despite the exposure of the original leader being a doppelgänger and attacks on the building by other doppelgängers. The organization functioning smoothly spoke to her managerial skill.
‘Management and business planning are different, but surely she didn’t come up with this business blindly.’
Then what could it be?
“Actually, a package arrived at Shinse-gyo not long ago.”
“A package?”
“Yes. It contained various materials, including instructions on how to cultivate different herbs and how to create environments suitable for herb cultivation with minimal maintenance costs.”
At that, Yeon Mirae and I looked at my mother in disbelief. Really? She was trying a business just based on that?
“I see…”
Sophia, listening quietly, nodded as if she understood my mother’s plan.
“Why…?”
‘It was probably material sent by the organization. People who mistakenly thought Shinse-gyo was still aligned with the organization must have sent them.’
I was about to scold her for being ridiculous, but Sophia explained through her comm system.
‘The subcontractors on Earth are being taken down by Chairman Richard, right? Desperate, they probably sent the materials without confirming that Shinse-gyo was no longer an ally.’
‘…Still, could they really be that incompetent?’
‘Don’t you remember the Chinese visitors who came to Shinse-gyo before?’
I had to admit Sophia had a point. Those Chinese visitors had come blindly, not knowing the doppelgänger leader was gone. It was possible that accurate information about the Shinse-gyo incidents hadn’t reached the organization. So sending important materials to Shinse-gyo wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
‘Could it be a trap?’
‘I’d need to verify the materials myself, but it’s unlikely. Shinse-gyo isn’t that important to them.’
In other words, the materials my mother received weren’t false. Considering the organization’s technology, cultivating herbs with minimal maintenance was indeed possible.
“…Um, Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Were the materials in Korean? How did you read them?”
It was unlikely the organization would send materials in Korean. How did my mother figure them out?
“The materials were in English, but I could read everything with a translator.”
“Oh…”
Of course, these days translation tools were very advanced. I had heard that Awakened people could quickly learn foreign languages, and this was adapted into translation tools.
That weekend.
Yeon Mirae, Sophia, and I followed my mother to Shinse-gyo. We needed to verify the contents of the package and check the surrounding land to see if the dungeon herb business could succeed.
“Hmm… The maintenance cost will be low, but we’ll need skilled sorcerers and mages to set up the initial system.”
“And that’s not a problem for Mom.”
First, I checked the materials my mother had received. True to being created by a group with many affiliated sorcerers, it contained much information about sorcery. Some parts were advanced enough that I couldn’t grasp them immediately, though reading carefully, I understood how to maintain optimal herb cultivation environments.
‘This is good learning for me too.’
Anyway. I could handle the sorcery myself and could call Lee Ha-eun for magic support, so I nodded at Yeon Mirae.
And…
“Huh…? They even sent instruction manuals for martial arts, automatic asteroid intercept systems, small-scale terraforming devices, forced dungeon monster transformation devices… and even engine designs used in the organization’s spacecraft?”
Sophia was amazed as she looked through the other materials. Although she had been trying to reproduce the organization’s technology, there had been little progress, so obtaining the technology itself was shocking.
‘Sending engine designs to Shinse-gyo… if those are real, they’re tightening their own noose.’
The organization had survived only because we had no way to reach Mars or the Moon. If these designs allowed someone to do that, the organization would collapse quickly despite their technological prowess.
“Ah… I see…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think we can build this engine.”
I looked at the engine plans she was examining and understood why.
“…It needs a small but stable power source with energy output equivalent to a nuclear plant?”
If that power source existed, we could just build the engine ourselves.
‘On the other hand, the organization can make such a small, stable, high-output power source.’
Knowing their technology already surpassed Earth’s, I wasn’t surprised.
“Son? Finished checking the materials? I think it’s time to look at the land.”
“Yes, let’s go.”
For now, we focused on finding land for my mother’s business, putting thoughts of the organization aside. This business itself was only possible thanks to the materials sent by them.
“(Heh….)”
“(…Why are you laughing?)”
Oracle, who was training, asked the laughing Grand Sorcerer.
“(It seems the Artist liked the gift you sent.)”
The Grand Sorcerer said. The package received by Han Jae-hee, Geonwoo’s mother, had been sent by Oracle.
“(Heh… My sorcery seems to have worked.)”
The package contained faint magic that prevented suspicion. Weakly applied so Geonwoo wouldn’t notice, it didn’t affect Awakened people, but Han Jae-hee believed in the contents and planned her business based on them.
“(Tsk… The Artist must treat me well. It’s because of the Artist I’m in this mess, and yet I sent a gift to the Artist….)”
If the sorcery had been malicious, it would have been detected by the barriers Geonwoo had set, but it was intended to help him and his mother, so he didn’t detect it.
“(Heh… Actually, maybe the Artist wanted you to destroy the organization instead of just receiving this gift?)”
“(Sending only this wouldn’t allow the Artist to reach the Moon or Mars, so it’s a pure gift.)”
“(Heh… Fine then….)”
The Grand Sorcerer quietly left, and Oracle tried to resume training.
“(Ugh…! Again…!)”
But sudden pain prevented him from continuing.
[Without suspicion, Oracle picked up the cube and began solving it.]
[As soon as Oracle completed the cube…]
[The magic inside the cube erupted.]
[Magic more dangerous than most poisons or curses, except for Yeon Mirae, who had mastered magic.]
It was due to the recent magical incident caused by Han Geonwoo. The wounds from that magic had not yet healed.
“(Ugh… Just wait, Artist… Next time, instead of a gift, I’ll give you something more painful than what you gave me….)”
Of course, at that moment, I had no intention of facing Geonwoo and seeking revenge. I wasn’t ready to handle the aftermath.
