Chapter 138

Chapter 138: I Alone Am an EX-Class Summoner

Ugh.

Yu Jia wrinkled her features.

A brutal wave of a hangover rolled right through her.

Her skull throbbed with a heavy, crushing ache, and the morning beams piercing the window panes were so piercingly bright that simply lifting her eyelids felt like an impossible ordeal.

Just how much did I consume last night?

“Ugh, water…”

Croaking the words through a completely dehydrated throat, she shifted her weight to turn her back to the window light.

Right then, her fingers collided with an unfamiliar texture.

Something firm, rippled with ridges like a washboard—why on earth would something like that be sitting on the mattress…?

Oh my god!

Her consciousness jolted awake in a split second.

The memory of exactly who was resting right beside her flooded her mind.

…Baek Jinwoo.

What her fingers had just traced were his abdominal muscles.

The previous evening, the moment her grandfather slipped away using a restroom break as a convenient excuse, she and Jinwoo had continued drinking on their own.

Both of them had gotten quite tipsy, and the night dissolved into an unspoken rivalry—pouring and draining one cup after another.

It was unprecedented.

The very first time she had ever abandoned her walls so completely while drinking…

The events following that point were a blur, but particular images remained sharply etched in her memory like jagged glass fragments.

They had been sharing their innermost thoughts, and perhaps emboldened by the alcohol—

She had been the one to initiate the kiss.

And that single spark set off everything.

If a pair of passionate young adults could have pulled back after that…

They would need to be reclusive monks, ancient Taoist immortals, or disciplined Stoic philosophers from classical Greece.

Honestly—they would have to be literal Buddhas.

AAARRGH!

Yu Jia squeezed her eyelids shut, her entire frame locking up with absolute mortification.

The recollections were rushing back. Piece by piece.

The intense, burning moments from the dark hours.

Assessing the sensations against her bare skin, she didn’t have a single thread of clothing on.

At this very moment, there was only one strategy available to her.

Feign death…

No, feign deep sleep.

In contrast to Yu Jia, Baek Jinwoo recollected every single detail.

Sobriety under pressure was entirely a matter of mental discipline!

The more his proficiency with Geoncheongsimgong advanced, the more impervious he became to the effects of alcohol.

This meant he hadn’t lost track of Stormy either.

Was it around 3 AM?

He had quietly stepped out for a brief window to call her back into existence before slipping back into bed.

In any case.

Whew.

He had listened to Yu Jia’s genuine sentiments during the night.

“Isn’t it strange? On the days I have plans to see you, Jinwoo, my productivity just plummets or rather, shoots through the roof. Take today. I was supposed to remain at the office late to wrap everything up, but I managed to finish it all before three o’clock. Why do you suppose that happens?”

“Oh, by the way—what do you think of this outfit? This is actually the first time I’ve ever worn it out. Does it seem strange on me?”

“Ah, damn it. Why does my chest keep pounding like this? Wow, I’ve truly never experienced a sensation like this before.”

“Oh, and another thing—when are we going to drop the formal speech? I happen to be the elder one between us, you know? Hehe! I’ll be relaxed about it. Just speak comfortably!”

With crimson cheeks and a slurring tongue, she had suddenly lunged forward and pressed her lips tightly against his.

Claiming he hadn’t enjoyed it would be an absolute lie.

Baek Jinwoo had long since concluded that if he were to ever share his life with someone, it could only be Yu Jia.

Her appearance, her competence, her character.

And his own internal feelings.

His priority had consistently been safeguarding Yu Jia.

She was the individual who had validated his capabilities back when he understood nothing of his own worth.

Yu Byeongcheon had already succumbed to the liquor and retired to his room.

Mercifully, the elder gentleman appeared to genuinely approve of him.

So what reason was there to pull back?

They lost themselves in one another, their passion intensifying by the minute.

During those dark hours, Baek Jinwoo truly crossed the threshold into manhood.

“Do you want to head out for some hangover soup?”

The atmosphere carried a hint of friction, but that tension dissolved the instant Baek Jinwoo shattered the quiet.

A sudden twitch.

Yu Jia’s frame shuddered slightly, and then she slowly parted her eyelids.

She had been putting on an act of sleeping, and it was glaringly obvious she had been unmasked.

“You were already awake?”

“Yes.”

“Dropping the polite speech already, I see… which means you recollect every single thing from last night.”

“Naturally I do.”

Baek Jinwoo’s fingers slid gently through Yu Jia’s strands of hair.

“I also recall that we committed to being a couple.”

Why was it—

Those specific words washed over Yu Jia like an overwhelming tide of comfort, and in that solitary, fleeting instant, an endless vista of the future laid itself out before her mind’s eye.

I am absolutely going to extract every single piece of stock from Grandpa.

Those corporate shares would be funneled directly into Yubaek.

Transforming Daesung Group into a mere subsidiary of Yubaek!

And Baek Jinwoo held a 70% stake in Yubaek.

I will ensure it all lands in his hands.

Yu Jia tightened her fist resolutely.

Individuals operate based on their ambitions.

She had already been applying herself relentlessly, but now her drive had multiplied tenfold.

If she ended up marrying Baek Jinwoo?

Then 95% of Yubaek would belong to the two of them—so naturally, anyone would become ravenous for greater scale, wouldn’t they?

“That works for me.”

“Huh?”

As Baek Jinwoo tilted his gaze in curiosity—

“I said that works for me. Let’s go get that hangover soup. Just let me rise and clear my head first.”

And once her mind was sharp?

She would need to transition their bond into something far more official.

Yu Jia offered a grin.

It was a brilliant beam on a completely elevated plane compared to any expression she had ever offered him previously.

After concluding the morning meal alongside Yu Jia and making his way back to Yubaek City, Baek Jinwoo immediately directed his steps toward Stormy.

“Stormy.”

“Right here, Master Jinwoo!”

Pitter-patter!

Stormy had been practicing her skills in a remote section of the grounds and came racing over with a thrilled look across her face.

On account of the drinking bout, he had been away for a substantial duration.

Anxious that her progress might have suffered a total reset, he pulled up her parameters immediately.

[Train the Storm Dragon Sorcerer (EX-rank) beside the Body of Flames for 100 days!]

[If isolated for greater than one hour, the countdown will reset.]

[Current Duration – 98 days, 10:20:00]

“Phew.”

Thank goodness.

Hwang Jiwoo must have been monitoring the clock diligently every single hour.

“Gratefully, only 37 hours and 40 minutes remain. The center of my chest keeps growing warmer and warmer.”

“Is that so?”

The entity locked away within Stormy’s core—the Ancient Burst Dragon (S-rank).

Its latent energy had to be churning, twisting violently in its effort to break free.

Devour.

Among all the abilities Baek Jinwoo commanded, it stood as the most absurdly overpowered Growth-type buff capability in existence.

And now, the countdown to its awakening was minuscule.

There was no guaranteeing the parameters would mirror his past knowledge precisely, though.

If anything changed, it would be far superior—never an inferior version.

With an unexpected variable of this magnitude woven into the process, there was no chance it would fall short of expectations!

“Pant, pant!”

While he was assessing Stormy, Hwang Jiwoo came sprinting over from the far edge of the practice fields.

She was visibly altered from her initial days.

The youthful softness that once rounded her jawline had melted away, and her physical form had shifted into something lean, defined, and powerful.

“Master Jinwoo, you’ve returned? I hurried over to ensure the countdown didn’t lapse—huff, huff!”

“Jiwoo.”

“Yes, sir.”

“For the upcoming 37 hours precisely, I require you to maintain an unwavering vigil. Conduct the entirety of your training sessions directly adjacent to Stormy.”

“Huff, huff! Understood, sir!”

Hwang Jiwoo actually harbored a mountain of inquiries.

Baek Jinwoo, who typically never missed a single evening session, had been completely absent. Not even during the pre-dawn hours. Not even when the sun rose.

The sticking point was that the previous afternoon, he had departed looking incredibly sharp alongside Yu Jia.

However.

“I will take full accountability and guarantee we successfully reach the 100-day milestone!”

She simply could not bring herself to ask the question out loud.

Baek Jinwoo remained a figure she found highly intimidating to approach casually.

And even if she chose to ask?

Prying wouldn’t alter the reality of things.

Hwang Jiwoo was well aware.

She recognized that to Baek Jinwoo, she was merely the companion of his younger sibling, Ajin. Nothing beyond that.

Therefore.

The only path was to train relentlessly. That was the entirety of her role.

Yu Jia plunged directly into the expansion blueprints for Yubaek City the very instant she set foot back in the office.

The financial credit note totaling one trillion won obtained from England’s Bank of England!

In addition to that asset, she had successfully locked down all the adjacent territory encompassing Geomdan Mountain, paired with absolute development rights.

“My objective is to construct an entire master-planned metropolis surrounding and integrating Geomdan Mountain.”

She spoke directly to the highly skilled corporate department leads she had pulled together.

“Capital is of no consequence. The current footprint of Yubaek City will persist as the core hub. Directly behind it, we are going to scale up the training sectors—vastly larger. We will utilize the entirety of the mountain itself as an active training zone. Toward the eastern flank, we will construct additional luxury residential towers. Extending all the way along the banks of the Han River! Do you all comprehend the vision?”

The residential spaces entering Yubaek City needed to be ultra-premium—the sort of property anyone would do anything to possess.

Direct mountain access and unobstructed views of the Han River.

Both features had to be completely non-negotiable.

“I require residential units that command a higher premium than any premier brand currently trading on the market. Furthermore, please design the commercial zones within the central sector to serve as premier, world-class luxury shopping hubs. Inhabitants must be capable of living amidst natural surroundings while having every high-end modern amenity at their fingertips. In fact, should we transition the concept into a massive open mall?”

An open-air mall.

Otherwise recognized as a multi-use lifestyle center—a retail arena seamlessly weaving together commerce, lifestyle culture, and curated pedestrian avenues.

One of the senior department leads voiced a logistical hurdle in response to Yu Jia’s mandate.

“Mm, for an open-air lifestyle complex to remain profitable, you require massive everyday foot traffic. However, this territory isn’t heavily settled yet, nor does it currently function as a major commercial intersection… Furthermore, the regional transit infrastructure isn’t particularly accessible at present.”

“That is irrelevant.”

A completely logical objection!

“That exact reality is why we are establishing an architectural landmark. And it is the reason we are scaling up the residential high-rises. Regarding the consumer base, there is absolutely zero cause for anxiety. We are going to transform this location into a premier hub that attracts not just domestic high-tier players, but the vast majority of international players across the globe.”

“I-Is a feat like that truly feasible?”

Regardless of how brightly Baek Jinwoo blazed as the top-ranked super player across the World Rankings—

Individuals don’t migrate or travel merely to loiter.

Granted, there would be an initial surge of curious sightseers, but that momentum would inevitably dry up.

To lock down genuine, enduring visitor volume, they required a far more irresistible draw…

“Yubaek’s freshly developed premier rune enterprise, 「Rune Éclat」—its flagship corporate headquarters will be anchored right in this spot.”

“…Rune Éclat!”

The assembled department managers gasped in collective awe.

The global community was already well aware.

The fact that Baek Jinwoo commanded an incredibly overpowered summon known as the Rune Dwarf, and that this particular entity could forge all categories of Rare grade runes.

On account of that reality, the official Yubaek digital portal was perpetually crashing under immense traffic.

The volume of customer order inquiries alone from entities desperate to source runes scaled into the millions on a daily basis.

“Furthermore, given that Rare grade runes will be distributed in highly restricted batches, we intend to mandate that they can only be acquired via physical, in-person transactions directly at this flagship corporate headquarters.”

Massive!

This strategy was monumental!

With this single policy, the entire dilemma regarding consumer foot traffic was completely obliterated.

Active players were utterly consumed by the pursuit of high-quality runes.

And there was an equally massive population of ordinary individuals entirely captivated by high-tier players in turn.

Moreover, would the central administration merely sit idly by and observe?

The tax streams generated from international transit and tourism alone would be astronomical!

The moment the foundation stones were laid, public officials would tear through red tape to link up transit routes.

Altering the paths of GTX express lines, extending metropolitan subway terminals…

Good grief, they might even break ground on an additional international airfield nearby.

“Additionally, every single subsidiary operating under the Daesung Group umbrella will be transitioned into this exact sector. And the training sectors as well!”

Yu Jia elevated her tone to drive home the point.

“You are all acutely aware of this, correct? The training grounds represent the single most vital element of Yubaek City.”

The training grounds served as the primary space where Baek Jinwoo logged the vast majority of his hours.

They absolutely had to receive unmatched developmental precedence.

Even at this current stage, with a mere ten guild associates and the entirety of their summons deployed simultaneously, the available square footage was already becoming claustrophobic.

“The Yubaek City training facilities are utilized by the members of the SKY Guild—the true apex tier of our nation. I want you to preserve the raw mountain landscape to the absolute greatest extent possible while outfitting it with state-of-the-art diagnostic and physical facilities. Create a setting so breathtakingly beautiful that individuals will never wish to depart. Make it spectacular.”

Yu Jia unfurled complex architectural blueprints as she detailed her requirements, driving the conversation with high standards and meticulous precision.

The various contracted construction corporations and internal department leads harbored absolutely zero objections.

Ordinarily, financing a project of this staggering scale demanded immense structural capital.

Typically, that funding was stitched together through commercial project financing, heavy construction lines, speculative venture investors, advance unit sales, and similar avenues…

None of those hurdles applied here.

Progress milestones? Deferred balances?

None of that nonsense—she insisted on the most accelerated timeline humanly possible, backed by complete, upfront lump-sum financing.

The contract margins were incredibly lucrative, and the central administration had even appended its official backing to the venture.

Who in their right mind would protest when the compensation was this staggeringly generous?

If anything—

This is a once-in-a-career window. We ABSOLUTELY must execute this flawlessly. Pour every ounce of ingenuity into the build.

She is going to persistently expand this entire region—our work needs to stand out above all else!

Forget pride! I’ll grind myself to the bone like a stray dog! Just keep the invoices clearing!

Every single person present had absolute fire burning in their eyes, completely primed to push their limits to the absolute maximum.

In a market-driven world, there is truly no motivator quite like pure capital to compel individuals to work themselves entirely to exhaustion.

“Very well then, everyone.”

“Thank you all for your dedicated efforts.”