CH 271

On the surface, Kim Jin-Woo had always been benefiting. This cunning imp had always emphasized the risks he was taking and how he was putting his life on the line, but Kim Jin-Woo had never believed it. The benefits he had been getting were only on the surface, and Mimir had definitely been hiding his nefarious intentions while secretly getting closer to his own goal, one step at a time.

“I’m not unaware that you’ve been using me all this time. I just pretended not to notice because it’d been advantageous for me thus far. But now, I need to know,” Kim Jin-Woo said in a resolute voice that showed no room for compromise.

Mimir bowed his head in response, but Kim Jin-Woo said, “Raise your head. Look me in the eyes. This is my final warning to you, but don’t try to hide it from me. And don’t lie to me.”

Mimir’s head jolted upward in shock before he replied, “Why are you doing this to me all of a sudden? Don't you know how much I worked tirelessly for you, Milord?”

As if he thought he could still talk his way out of the situation, Mimir complained that Kim Jin-Woo was unaware of the hard work he had been putting in. “If it weren’t for me, would Milord have known about the ancient secret? Who else would have helped you from the shadows?”

Kim Jin-Woo clicked his tongue at Mimir’s attitude, which was now going beyond simple complaining and was starting to reveal resentment.

“Mimir.” He called the little imp’s name. The cold tone in Kim Jin-Woo’s voice was so deathly that it felt as if the temperature around them had dropped.

“Yes? Milord?” Mimir quickly shut his mouth and looked Kim Jin-Woo in the eyes.

“You seem to take me for a fool,” Kim Jin-Woo said. Otherwise, there was no way that, despite the several warnings, Mimir would cast this much doubt onto him.

Mimir belatedly started making excuses, stating that he didn’t understand what Kim Jin-Woo was saying, but by then, it was already too late. Kim Jin-Woo had no further intention of letting Mimir run his tongue any longer, and had no desire to show mercy any more.

“M… Milord! Kurgh!”

Kim Jin-Woo grabbed the imp by the collar and lifted him off his feet with a fearsome grip. The imp, quickly finding himself out of breath, swallowed what he had been trying to say and let out a pained moan instead.

‘Order of Will’ and ‘Eyes of Truth’. Most people would be able to obtain whatever they wanted with just those two abilities alone. However, neither ability worked against Mimir. Kim Jin-Woo was highly suspicious of that. It wasn’t ordinary for a mere treasurer to resist both of those Highlord powers.

“Y… You have to… let go of this… first… kurgh…”

Despite Mimir’s painful appeal, Kim Jin-Woo didn’t even bat an eyelid. Rather, he put even more strength into the hand that was holding the imp by the collar.

“Kuuurgh.”

Mimir must have been completely out of breath by then, as his tongue started to hang out of his mouth while he drooled all over himself. Patches of blood began to form on his unusually large head, and the veins in his eyes were blood-red, as if they might pop any moment.

Fear and pain filled Mimir’s face. The imp’s distinctive black-and-white eyes had faded from the fear of death.

“M… Milord…” The imp was barely able to squeeze out a word as he struggled to breathe, and his attempts to get rid of the clenched hand that was choking him grew all the more desperate and pathetic.

However, Kim Jin-Woo didn’t even raise an eyebrow. For the moment, it seemed as if he didn’t care if this little imp died... No, it wasn’t just a facade. Kim Jin-Woo truly didn’t care if the imp lived or died.

Because it had to be now. A sense of foresight, rather than his instinct, had warned him.

Valhǫll hiding its fangs as it waited for him, as well as the direction the Underworld was heading toward as it slowly returned to its past state, had forced his hand, making him unable to hesitate any longer.

Kim Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed wildly as his gaze fell on the imp’s hazy eyes.

[Mimir is not an ordinary imp, as neither the Lord’s ‘Order of Will’ ability nor the ‘Eyes of Truth’ ability, which you have obtained after sacrificing an eye, work on him.]

[In order to get what you want against a being such as Mimir, you need to showcase your powerful dignity.]

[And fortunately, you have the dignity to oppress this cunning imp.]

[The Source of your existence has revealed itself to the world.]

“Kuuurgh.”

Mimir’s suppressed moan now became an uncomfortable noise as his breath continued to be taken away.

[The Evil Dragon tainted with malice. The savage Greed suffering from hunger. Or the shadows of the many Highlord fragments you have absorbed. No one knows what Mimir witnessed from your Source.]

[But it is clear that it was not a mild and pleasant experience. Mimir now feels fear greater than death itself.]

Soon, the imp whose mind was unreadable would become a handful of dirt that would join the rest of the Underworld, without a chance to reveal what he had been hiding.

“I… I’ll tell you…”

However, it seemed Mimir’s name had yet to be struck off. As he desperately squeezed out one last sentence, the reality where he struggled to breathe disappeared.

Kim Jin-Woo gently released his tight grip on the imp. Mimir fell onto the ground with a thump, coughing dryly before starting to spill the beans.

“I hope that your decision isn’t some temporary measure to get out of this situation,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

It was a long time before Mimir finally spoke. The purple bruises were still on his neck, but he was finally able to recover and return to his usual state.

“I… I’ll tell you everything.” Mimir’s face was as pale as a corpse, and he still shivered in fear as he spoke.

Looking down at the imp’s drooping shoulders, Kim Jin-Woo finally looked slightly satisfied. He remarked, “Tsk, you should have done this from the beginning. You’ve made me out to be some vicious bad guy for no reason.”

Compared to the terribly shameless expression on his face, Kim Jin-Woo’s words didn’t fit, but Mimir didn’t dare to retort. Their relationship that had been on equal footing thus far had collapsed, and the reciprocal working relationship between the two was no longer. This cunning imp could no longer go against the Highlord.

That was because it wasn’t just simply violence that Kim Jin-Woo had inflicted on Mimir. The flame of fear was now engraved into the imp’s soul. Mimir had felt to his bones and soul the overwhelming difference in their power. The Source of the Highlord that had revealed itself to the imp, no matter how brief, was ferocious and ruthless.

Rattle.

Despite Mimir continuing to tremble in fear, he managed to gather himself and finally speak, albeit with a stutter. “W… What is it that Milord wishes to know…”

Had his punishment been excessive? The usually smart Mimir uttered a stupid question.

“Let’s start by hearing the reason for you being so secretive,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

“You mean, why am I here?” Mimir replied.

It appeared Mimir wasn’t at the gates of Valhǫll for a good reason. Seeing that he couldn’t answer easily even after such harsh treatment, he must have had a bad ulterior motive.

“Tsk.”

There was no need for Kim Jin-Woo to push any further. Just showing a sign of disapproval was enough to make the confused Mimir quickly start to talk. “I came here to confirm something.”

“Confirm?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

“I felt Valhǫll’s presence, and I just wanted to know if Milord had fully inherited the One-Eyed Lord’s legacy,” Mimir replied.

“Why are you curious about that?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

Once again, Mimir failed to answer. But the silence didn’t last long. The fear engraved in his soul forced him to speak. “Because I thought Milord would fail.”

Not even Kim Jin-Woo could anticipate Mimir’s honest answer. He suddenly felt a foreshadowing of misfortune. There was no way he could feel good about this. But what gripped him more than that was doubt and confusion.

Mimir, who had supported him wholeheartedly thus far, would have given Kim Jin-Woo the fullest support no matter what his goal was. Hearing that that same Mimir had been anticipating his failure was something he found hard to comprehend.

“I’ll need to hear your reasoning,” Kim Jin-Woo said in an unusually calm voice.

“To be the owner of that terrible monster, which was built up using the despair of the warriors who were frustrated because they couldn’t achieve their dreams in the end... Only after being left broken and frustrated and falling into the abyss could Milord become that,” Mimir said. It was such an ambiguous explanation, but contrary to Kim Jin-Woo’s speculations, Mimir didn’t seem to be wishing for his death. Mimir continued, “I was just trying to see how Milord would change if you fell into the abyss.”

Kim Jin-Woo decided that the secrets of Valhǫll were to be determined later. He first decided to ask the questions that were running through his tangled mind. “What were you planning to do after checking that?”

“It’s not about what I was trying to do. There was simply someone who wanted to know,” Mimir answered.

In the end, Kim Jin-Woo started becoming frustrated by Mimir’s indirect and ambiguous answers and pressed Mimir. “If you’re not planning to piss me off, then explain yourself properly!”

Mimir, startled, fell flat on the floor and exclaimed, “L-let me explain! Please, calm yourself!”

The fear engraved into his soul devoured the small imp with just a slight touch. Seeing Mimir trembling in fear, Kim Jin-Woo lowered his radiating presence.

“Phew.” As Kim Jin-Woo barely calmed down, Mimir hurriedly explained himself. “I may be the Eternal Treasurer, but I’m also a Black Merchant. And merchants never help others for free.”

“Weren’t you, the Eternal Treasurer, following me, the one who inherited the name of the One-Eyed Lord?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

“I supported Milord long before you came into contact with the ancient powers. And honestly, no offense, but Milord at that time wasn’t a being worth investing in,” Mimir said.

Just as Mimir said, Kim Jin-Woo had indeed received the full support of the Black Merchants even before he encountered the fragments of the One-Eyed Lord. Thinking back on his relationship with the Black Merchants, which he had taken for granted, Kim Jin-Woo was left feeling further confused.

“Then the reason why the Black Merchants helped me…” he began.

“That’s correct. The reason I supported Milord was because I was commissioned by someone to do so,” Mimir answered.

Kim Jin-Woo’s guess was correct. But he couldn’t help but feel frustrated, because he didn’t know who the person who had commissioned Mimir was. He asked in a heavy voice, “Who is it? Could it be that all my encounters with the fragments of the Highlords was part of their plan?”

Mimir responded in a low, subdued voice, “Even I know not who they are. I simply got paid for the job, and I followed the orders. After that, when it comes to your ascension to the title of Highlord… I don’t know if that was according to their will and plan.”

Something inside of Kim Jin-Woo snapped, and his feeling of frustration grew. He said, “You shouldn’t be hiding anything from me. If there’s still something you’re hiding, I’m not going to let this matter rest so easily.”

As Kim Jin-Woo's presence, which had barely subsided, grew wild again, Mimir hurriedly reiterated that he would reveal everything he knew. “I… I don’t know who that person is, but perhaps Milord might know them.”