Side Story 4
Kalzenia was a world made up of three continents.
The labyrinth hub city of Mezpol was the largest and wealthiest city across all the continents.
Originally, it had been nothing more than a desolate mountainous region where no one lived.
But everything changed when, by chance, a labyrinth was discovered by an adventurer.
The development of the labyrinth began.
Merchant guilds from across the continents gathered in Mezpol.
Numerous mercenary guilds and adventurer clans sprang up in chaos.
Veteran adventurers, battle-hardened mercenaries, merchants hoping to strike it rich, drifters chasing a sudden fortune…
A base was established, and its scale continued to expand.
That was when a problem arose.
The labyrinth region was land without an owner.
It did not fall within the borders of any empire or kingdom.
For that reason, whoever seized the labyrinth first could reap enormous benefits.
Conflicts between nations intensified over control of the labyrinth.
Countries expanded their military budgets, enforced conscription, and eventually even dispatched armies to the labyrinth.
The labyrinth region suddenly became the world's powder keg.
A hair-trigger crisis.
If war were to break out,
the entire continent would be dragged into it.
In the end, Cargyo stepped in.
The Pope of Cargyo declared that the Grand Temple would relocate to Mezpol.
Thus, Mezpol became a holy land.
Anyone who attacked or invaded this place would be no different from a heretic defying the will of the holy chief god, Kar.
Mezpol became a free city belonging to no nation on the continent.
But did that mean the Pope monopolized power over Mezpol?
No.
The Pope's authority was not one of direct rule, but of supremacy—a mediator's role.
Unless a grave issue such as war arose, he rarely intervened.
There was another force that exercised real governing power.
Five great merchant conglomerates that divided up Mezpol City's interests among themselves.
Behind those merchant groups stood the national powers of the continent.
However, Mezpol also had people of a peculiar status.
They were dimensional travelers who had crossed over from other worlds.
Dimensional travel.
An utterly unbelievable claim.
Were they lunatics?
People spouting nonsense to deceive others?
Yet it was true.
The Grand Temple acknowledged it.
They declared that the chief god Kar had permitted the coming and going of dimensional travelers.
Their purpose was one and only one:
top-grade mana crystals.
At first, they were a headache.
They were foreign species that disrupted the dimensional laws of Kalzenia.
Practically invaders.
Conflicts broke out frequently.
There was even an incident where Mezpol City descended into chaos because of a single dimensional traveler.
Travelers wielding overwhelming power.
Each individual could easily bring down an average kingdom.
They needed surveillance and management.
The Grand Temple took on that role.
As time passed, the relationship between the Grand Temple and the dimensional travelers became more amicable.
There were a few unmanageable individuals, but at most they acted alone, without factions.
And sooner or later, they would leave this place anyway.
Today as well, Pope Kalios was checking the dimensional traveler status board in the Grand Temple office.
"Let's see, the dimensional travelers currently staying in Kalzenia are…"
Three.
"No, one more just arrived, so that makes four."
Day by day, the number of travelers visiting this place was steadily increasing.
"We can't stop them from coming."
This was something even the god Kar could not prevent.
The best they could do was register them into the Kar System and keep them under surveillance.
But today's visitor was a bit unusual.
A being who already possessed a system from another world.
"By principle, we should delete the existing system and implant the Kar System, but…"
That dimensional traveler alone was granted an exception.
He had offered a price that could not possibly be refused.
Thus, the Pope was extremely curious about the dimensional traveler named Bong Juhyeok.
He was a type of traveler unlike any seen before.
"What exactly is his background?"
First, his origin.
He came from a dimension called Earth, based on scientific civilization.
In other words, a world without gods.
Compared to martial arts realms or magic realms, Earth natives were pathetically weak.
Their only means of force were gunpowder weapons.
At first, the rattling barrage of bullets fired from afar was threatening, but once understood, it was nothing special.
"Neutralizing them is simple."
Just deploy a control field that prevents gunpowder reactions.
Even bombs would not explode.
Then why had he been so shocked earlier?
That footage of terrifyingly powerful bombs detonating with deafening blasts.
The bombs themselves were impressive, but what truly shocked him was something else.
The method used to detonate them.
A dragon was transporting the bombs.
And with humans riding on its back.
"Is Traveler Bong Juhyeok controlling a dragon?"
How in the world?
Even if he possessed summoning magic.
Dragons were infamous for their overwhelming pride and strong self-awareness.
The fact that a dragon would respond to a human's summons was itself a mystery.
Bong Juhyeok's summoning magic was likely a soul-contract summoning.
An ability that called the dead back into reality.
One only had to look at the native Kalzenia beastman seen earlier.
The beastman Rajiks possessed the soul of the dead.
Summoning magic that calls forth souls was nothing particularly special.
There were descent arts, spirit arts, and liches' undead summoning as well.
But Bong Juhyeok's summoning magic was on a different level.
It summoned intelligent souls with free will.
"If he were to deliberately cause trouble… could we stop him?"
The Pope pondered carefully.
The conclusion?
"Perfectly possible."
The power of the Grand Temple was formidable.
The chief god Kar had bestowed upon them the power to deal with wayward dimensional travelers.
For instance, master-grade holy knights, archmage-level holy spellcasters, and holy dragons whose power vastly surpassed that of ancient dragons.
They could also request troops from the nations of the Kalzenia continent.
Furthermore, summoning abilities had a major weakness.
Deal with the summoner, and it's easy.
No matter how powerful the contracted souls were, without the summoner they were useless.
Even so, there was no doubt that Bong Juhyeok was someone who warranted caution.
"Where is he right now?"
There was a way to find out.
Even systems from other worlds were registered within the Kalzenia dimension.
Pope Kalios waved his hand through the air.
A map of Mezpol City appeared.
A single blinking point on the map.
Bong Juhyeok's location was inside the Mezpol City sewers.
"…The sewers?"
A space as vast as the city itself.
Usually a place where fugitives hid.
"Why is he there?"
He's not planning to cause trouble, is he?
Menochong.
The Mezpol Workers' Liberation General Federation.
The struggle declaration of the dimensional labor movement Rajiks.
The sewer-dwelling beastmen responding to it.
Of course.
That was only natural.
If their own kind were suffering, they couldn't just stand by.
But exactly how were they being exploited?
Were they being worked to the bone without even minimum wage?
After a small protest inside the sewers ended,
Menochong chairman Enix calmly explained their situation.
"So you're saying you signed an unfair lifetime contract?"
"Yes, this."
Enix held out a single sheet of paper.
Something about Party A, something about Party B.
And at the bottom, stamped boldly, was the red front-paw seal of a beastman.
"But you didn't have to stamp it."
"We refused, but they forced us…"
"Who did you sign the contract with?"
"Th-that would be the Mezpol merchant groups…"
"Slowly. Let's hear it from the beginning."
"Y-yes."
As Mezpol grew in scale, the number of adventurers and mercenaries seeking the labyrinth increased explosively.
The popularity of beastman laborers soared day by day as well.
Thanks to their subspace ability.
Even if that ability only applied to labyrinth resources.
Of course, subspace items existed here too.
But their capacity was small, and they were extremely expensive.
On the other hand, if you hired beastman laborers?
You could use far larger capacity at a much cheaper cost than subspace items.
For that reason, beastman laborers became essential for labyrinth exploration.
Explorers wouldn't even enter the labyrinth without hiring them.
It was only natural that their value skyrocketed.
"Right! Without laborers, you can't do anything."
"Anyone who's seen our dimensional farmhands knows that."
"If we didn't have Rajiks, clearing the Black Tower would've been impossible."
"We'd have been stuck at the immortal phoenix on the 86th floor."
"There's no need to explain Lord Rajiks's achievements."
"Isn't he the undisputed number one among summoned beings?"
Then came the explanation about the merchant groups that had forced the unfair contracts.
Belmorin Trading Company, Spire Trading Company, Luna Trading Company, Elderoll Trading Company, and Noct Trading Company.
Five in total.
"We started with Belmorin Trading Company. They said they'd improve the treatment of our beastmen and let us work in the labyrinth under better conditions…"
A kind of management contract, then?
I get it.
There must have been adventurers trying to fleece naive laborers, after all.
"The other merchant groups also competitively joined the beastman recruitment war. Almost all beastmen ended up working as official laborers under merchant groups."
They lured them in gently with good conditions like that—
"But as time went on, the contract terms kept getting worse…"
At some point, they must have shown their true colors.
"We couldn't refuse. We were forced to stamp it. Lifetime contracts, confinement in lodgings, unpaid labor, night work with no extra pay—absurd conditions like those."
Ha!
That's a slave contract.
Those bastards.
They don't even know how precious laborers are.
Instead of giving them the best treatment, they dared to exploit them—and even imprison them?
"How many laborers are being confined by each merchant group?"
"Um… probably over 600 in total…"
That's a very small number for an entire race.
There must have been more originally.
Many must have died during labyrinth expeditions.
Rajiks alone had gone through that, hadn't he?
"What about the Grand Temple? Didn't they help?"
"…There are many priests inside the temple who colluded with the merchant groups."
I knew it.
In the end, there was no one to help them.
They couldn't manage it with their own strength.
They were weak.
They probably couldn't even dare to resist.
So the merchant groups clutched the laborers in their grasp and wielded outrageous tyranny during labyrinth development.
Fuck!
The curse slipped out on its own.
"They're all dead."
Yeah.
I decided.
"Mr. Kosak?"
"Yes, boss?"
"From this moment, I'll activate Lee Bongkkaeng."
"Chuuuuung!!!"
Juhyeok's declaration of Lee Bongkkaeng.
The other summoned beings reacted as well.
"That's right! This is what real travel is!"
"I was disappointed there was nothing left to smash after clearing the Black Tower."
"How big should the mess be…?"
"Nuclear?"
"Nukes would be too big of a mess."
"How about we start by crushing the five merchant groups first?"
Should we?
But before that, there was something that had to be done.
We had to rescue Rajiks's kin living in these filthy sewers.
How?
By defecting and recruiting them.
As Juhyeok looked at Enix and thought of defection—
Ding!
[[Beastman Enix is not a valid defection target.]]
So it won't work.
In a way, that made sense.
They weren't collaborators of the Black Tower, and Kalzenia wasn't an enemy dimension either.
There was one more method.
Send them to the White Tower, which had a comfortable environment.
"Mr. Rajiks."
"Hoheng?"
"Take out one permanent residence permit."
"Hohe!"
Sssht!
A White Tower permanent residence permit emerged from subspace.
"Mr. Enix?"
"H-ho… yes?"
"Please take this."
"H-ho… ah, um, yes."
Enix took the residence permit.
At that moment—
Ding!
"Soul transfer cannot be permitted."
Huh?
"Forcefully abducting native souls of the Kalzenia dimension is a strictly prohibited act."
Oh, come on!
How is this abduction?
It keeps nitpicking.
You really want to fight me, huh?
Either way, we can't stay in the sewers forever.
"Mr. Enix, we need a clean and spacious place, not here. Is there somewhere else?"
"There is."
"Then let's go there."
"Hoheng!"
What was that?
Why suddenly "hoheng"?
Did he catch it from Rajiks?
The great city Mezpol had walls.
To defend against external enemies and mark the city's boundaries.
Mezpol's walls were quite tall.
But no matter how tall they were, so what?
They leapt over easily and escaped the city.
The place Enix guided Juhyeok to was a grassland far from the city walls.
A wide expanse of green grass.
Fresh air, pleasant surroundings.
"Why live in the sewers when there's a place like this?"
"Our friends are captured. To save them, we have to stay inside the city."
"Ah!"
They really were good people.
Caring more about their friends than themselves.
And you force unfair contracts on such kind laborers?
"The more I think about it, the angrier I get."
Anyway—
"Mr. Rajiks."
"Hohe?"
"Take out the food. Set up the prefabricated houses too."
"Hoheng!"
Sssht!
A large table and chairs came out of subspace.
On top of them was a lavish feast.
Jeju-grown organic carrots, alpine napa cabbage, walnuts, peanuts, macadamias, almonds, assorted nuts, and more.
"Hoa?"
"Hua?"
"Hoheet?"
"Hoa?"
The sewer beastmen drooled.
How hungry must they have been?
They were skin and bones.
Sssht!
At the same time, prefabricated houses snapped into place—clack, clack, clack!
"Ho…?"
"Hoing?"
"Hee?"
"Huiii…?"
Enix and the other Menochong members couldn't help but be shocked.
They also had subspace abilities.
But subspace had limits.
Items other than labyrinth resources couldn't be stored.
Then what was that?
Food coming out of subspace?
How?
And even more astonishing—
Houses.
Three massive houses came out?
Unbelievable!
Had there ever been a beastman like this?
Well.
He'd known from the moment he first saw him.
"Hohe?"
Fluffy, glossy fur. A dignified belly. Agile movements. A golden safety helmet, a splendid subspace backpack, a thunderous roar.
"So he was a king."
Rajiks, the Beastman King.
A hero of his race.
A messiah.
Heads lowered on their own.
Then what was that human the king was bowing to?
An emperor? Or a god?
Probably one of the two.
Enix was overwhelmed with emotion.
We're saved.
Enix prostrated himself on the ground.
The other beastmen did the same.
"Your Majesty!"
"Ho-King!"
"Hoo-King!"
Rajiks didn't seem to dislike it.
He puffed out his chest and snorted proudly.
"Hoaaaat!"
Meanwhile,
Juhyeok was discussing the operation with his summoned beings.
They had to rescue Rajiks's suffering kin.
"Right hand of Summoner Bong, dimensional travel guide, minister of the people's armed forces, master of operations, hostage rescue expert—this Kosak submits a proposal."
Alright.
"Go ahead."
"Now is the time for a full summoning. You should show them what a real mess looks like."
"That is correct. Summon them all."
"Let's overwhelm them with numbers too."
Juhyeok agreed.
With 355 summoned beings, conquering a dimension would be a joke.
But one thing bothered him.
Smashing things was easy, but first they had to rescue Rajiks's kin.
"Don't worry, sir. This is an operation involving 355 summoned beings. Each has different abilities. And the minimum is SSSR, with over half being LSSSR."
Hmm.
"What's difficult about running an operation with them? Rescue or execution—just say the word."
Is that so?
"Even that blockhead Gobang could plan this easily."
Right.
What couldn't they do?
His chest swelled with pride.
Lee Bongkkaeng—Bong Juhyeok was going to raise absolute hell in another world.
Call them all.
Blood Wolf, Farmer Do-woo.
No exceptions—every last one.
"Catalog: designate all for summoning."
Summoning begins.