Past Life Returner-Chapter 118

Woo Yeon-Hee was relaxing. She was sitting in front of the window where she could see the nightlife of Las Vegas and drinking a cocktail like the main character in a classic Hollywood film.

“I feel like I’m the protagonist of a movie. I mean, I knew this life existed in the world, but thought this had nothing to do with my life,” she commented.

At this moment, regular civilians would also have no idea and find it absurd that dungeons and monsters actually existed.

“Today was so nice. Thank you for…”

I interrupted her, “Keep that to yourself. We’ll stay here for two more days.”

“Really?”

She stretched her hand to the table while smiling brightly. Then, she picked up the circus performance pamphlet and waved it at me. The show must have left a deep impression on her as she planned to take the pamphlet back to Seoul to commemorate this trip.

However, interacting with Jo Chang-Ho was the most impressive thing that happened to me. It was not because I had earned ten million dollars in the casino due to that idiot. Instead, his arrogant attitude of entitlement had left a big impression on me. He reminded me of the atrocities that the guilds under the Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues had committed. Before they became uncontrollably powerful, dungeon conquests were first come first serve. However, the Eight Evils and Eight Virtues used dungeons as means of governance through their guilds. They were the landlords, the guilds were the supervisors, and those below them became peasants. If there had been at least a fair distribution rate, it would have been understandable. However…

Ah, whatever. It was just the future that would never happen again. I decided to forget about it. This time, the dungeons would be systematically managed under the ‘World Awakened Association,’ and the association would be the strongest group in history and would work as the core for the fight against the Seven Demon Kings.

There were requirements to create this thought into reality. I had to protect my properties all over the world from the governments. My plan was grand, so I needed to earn as much money as possible.

***

I had to place additional funds in the North American real estate account because I recalled over one thousand American F-class dungeons while conquering the ones I had already known. The U.S. was such a gigantic country, so the number of rooms in my Palace of Memories was still increasing. I created lists of dungeons that I newly recalled in my room computer and the locations of them so that I could purchase them soon. I organized the lists and emailed them to myself.

However, I couldn’t move the money from this computer, but the problem was resolved quickly as the hotel we were staying in was one of the best. They offered such services, so I searched for it on the manual placed in the room.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man with a mustache came into the room. He once had a career on Wall Street.

“Congratulations. Did you have fun today?” he asked.

“I guess you already heard that I hit the jackpot. I’m thinking of playing with more money tomorrow. Will the casino blacklist me then?” I questioned.

“I don’t work for the casino, but as long as you enjoy your time legally, there’ll be no problem,” he responded.

“I was just joking. Please have a seat,” I said and brought up the main subject. “I have an account in Panama, and there are funds I need to deal with immediately. That was why I called you here.”

Although the manual simply stated he was an investment advisor for VVIP customers, he did all kinds of work. What kind of billionaire would use him for such purposes when they had their own consultants? Therefore, he mainly handled shadowy deals, especially two specific requests. The first was getting the client’s overseas money into his or her pockets legally. This was probably done in the form of investing in the hotel business. The other was connecting the guests with brokers who would lend money on short notice, using their foreign assets as collateral. Hence, my transaction was actually not that bad.

“Which bank?” he promptly asked.

“Silverman, Panama. The account holder is Gold Wind,” I replied.

He responded after checking his watch, “I’ll bring the authorized employee from Panama by five P.M, tomorrow.”

***

The hotel service team was busy looking for a dress that suited Woo Yeon-Hee’s small body. As always, the best color for her was pure white. She wore an evening dress with jewelry rented from the hotel, then the service team left.

“Come to think of it, I think a skirt would look good,” she said while putting accessories in her handbag. I was confused about what she meant.

She added, “I shouldn’t have just worn wide pants. It’s not even my style. I was just worried that my skin was getting chafed by the dagger. It didn’t matter as it still rubbed my leg through the pants. I was dumb.”

She must have thought of a place to hide her dagger inside her dress.

She had found another dagger in the seventh dungeon that could replace the Dagger of Erosion. It was the D-class ‘Dagger of the Sinner.’ It restricted enemies at a certain percentage and was stronger than her other weapons.

Woo Yeon-Hee put it into action by wrapping the dagger with a handkerchief and tying it high up on the inside of her thigh. While it was a rough strategy, it was the best she could do. The daggers and sheaths used by the agents, military services and soldiers in World War I and II all had metal in their straps. Therefore, she had no choice but to raise the hem of her dress to the point where I could see her underwear so that she could tie the dagger to her thigh. She asked while organizing her dress, “This must be enough, right?”

“As long as it’s comfortable, it’ll be fine,” I answered.

“I still get nervous when I pass metal detectors,” she responded.

No matter how strong the metal detectors were, none of them worked on dungeon items. Anyway, Woo Yeon-Hee had always wanted to have a weapon on her. She was antagonistic of the other pre-Awakened and remained wary of them.

We passed the metal detector again without any issue. She nodded as she received her handbag back, and there were our precious metallic items in the bag.

Today, we were playing with ten million dollars, and I brought the chips I earned last night without exchanging them for money.

“I wish you luck again today.”

I sat in the same spot as I did yesterday, and the same female dealer smiled at me. Woo Yeon-Hee widened her eyes as she became surprised by the number of chips.

“It doesn’t matter if you lose, but I’ll have to try earning more, right?” I asked.

The minimum bet on our table was ten thousand dollars, and Woo Yeon-Hee maintained the minimum. Even that amount made her hands tremble with each chip.

“Are you guys on a honeymoon?” another lady on the table asked.

When Woo Yeon-Hee was about to explain hesitatingly in English, the dealer won.

“Ah…”

She looked at the chip the dealer took sadly. When she lost, she had an expression that her world had collapsed, but when she won, she acted as if she had saved the world. Her various facial expressions lightened the mood, but I could tell that the dealer was nervous under her smile when she saw me win. She must have been scolded by her boss last night.

The dealer gave up after an hour as I had won a few million even without the two million I had given Woo Yeon-Hee. Other guests began to talk to us, and a couple who ran a food company in Boston even invited us to dinner.

When the dealer was replaced, Woo Yeon-Hee looked at me with curiosity. There was a guy who had been watching me for the past thirty minutes, and his gaze was unusual. He must have participated in the game at the table beside ours since ours was full. He would’ve joined us if there was a seat. He was a Caucasian, wearing fancy attire. I wondered if he was a professional gamer that Jo Chang-Ho sent, but I realized he wasn’t after enduring his persistent gaze.

Is he from the White House? How did they know I was here?

“Lose up to five million.”

I got up after handing over all my chips to Woo Yeon-Hee. She quietly nodded as she knew something had happened. I first headed toward the washroom to check if the man was following me. He quickly alternated between looking at Woo Yeon-Hee and me, hurriedly scrambled all his chips, and then followed me.

When I was washing my hands, I heard the door opening. He approached me from the back after peeing, and it was evident that he was an amateur by the way he tried to avoid my eyes. He was definitely not from the U.S. government.

“My luck is not good today,” the man started talking to me.

Then, I was certain that this guy had approached me with a purpose. The reason didn’t seem to be related to the fact that I had hit the jackpot last night. When I made eye contact with him in the mirror, he began washing his hands while pretending that nothing was going on.

“That’s gambling. Good luck,” I said.

I left the washroom first but didn’t return to the table. I went out of the casino and sent Mick a message. The guy was still following me from a distance, and I lured him into an empty alley. The back alley handled the food waste from hotels, so it was filled with disgusting odors, unlike the fancy exterior of Las Vegas. I could interrogate him without civilians bothering me, but one thing lingered in my mind. That was why I called Mick and his subordinates.

I ran into them at the end of the secluded alley, and we glanced at each other. It was time for agents to hunt the guy and trap him there.

“W…who are you guys?!”

I heard the man’s surprised voice across the alley.