Chapter 62

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 62: The Pestilent Sword (3)

“What… is? What?”

How many people could instantly connect this situation with the word ‘advertiser’?

Byungcheol, who didn’t immediately understand Yeongwoo’s words, mumbled with his gun tightened even more.

“What are you saying now? Explain properly!”

“That’s an advertiser. They came to visit me to make an advertising contract.”

Yeongwoo slightly moved his chin to indicate the extraterrestrial being on the other side.

Of course, that was an advertiser who came from outer space.

And the other party was likely well aware of it without needing an explanation.

“An advertisement…?”

Byungcheol, who finally clearly understood Yeongwoo’s line, made a more complicated expression.

―Huh…!

Meanwhile, the ‘advertiser’ who had almost completely wrapped around the pillar of light and descended began to make noise.

―U…!

The first few times, it was a sound at the level of an unintelligible roar.

―Yeong…!

As time passed, it became inevitable to think that it was trying hard to pronounce something.

At least as much as Yeongwoo.

“…Could this be.”

Chills ran down Byungcheol’s spine along his spine.

And by this time, the advertiser had completed the problem sentence and spoke.

―Yeongwoo…!

Yeongwoo!

The pronunciation was clear enough to evoke the letters ‘Yeongwoo’ in the mind, even for someone who didn’t know the name Jeong Yeongwoo.

The monster had been practicing human speech.

“What?”

Realizing this fact belatedly, Byungcheol turned around as if possessed.

Then.

―Yeongwoo…!

He shouted the word ‘Yeongwoo’ again, as if confirming that he pronounced it correctly.

“…Damn it.”

Finally, cold sweat began to form on Byungcheol’s forehead.

It was due to the uncomfortable fear of the fact that the monster with dozens of heads entwined like a rosary had learned human speech.

However, the unpleasant experience did not end here.

―Jeong… Yeongwoo!

The advertiser, who perfectly learned the two letters ‘Yeongwoo,’ pronounced the last letter ‘Jeong’ in one go.

―Jeong Yeongwoo!

Perhaps he had grasped how to make human sounds.

The radio that had only made noise had finally found the correct frequency.

“Jeong Yeongwoo…?”

Byungcheol, sensing that the sound the monster had been practicing was a person’s name, turned his gaze back to the golden foreigner.

“Didn’t that thing say it came to meet you earlier? Then that must be…”

As much as Byungcheol’s trembling voice, the muzzle of the gun was also shaking.

Yeongwoo, in response, stared at the muzzle and slowly moved his lips.

“Yes. I am Jeong Yeongwoo.”

Finally, the name of the foreigner was revealed.

And simultaneously, the advertiser thundered with a voice like thunder.

―Jeong Yeongwoo…! Contract! For… us… came!

Although the intonation was a mess, the sentence he pronounced was quite intact.

It had been only a few minutes since he arrived on Earth, and he had already learned the language here.

‘Come to think of it, without an intermediary….’

Yeongwoo realized that the being in front of him was something different from the extraterrestrial beings he had encountered so far.

Even just looking at the beings who came to Earth as traders, communication was possible only through intermediaries.

They could only convey heat, noise, and breathing directly, without the need for an intermediary.

On the other hand, this advertiser.

―Jeong Yeongwoo! For the contract! We came!

Not only did he facilitate this meeting without the intervention of an intermediary, but he was also self-correcting awkward intonations.

“We…?”

Byungcheol, who had been listening to the monster’s sounds, turned around with a face of realization.

Then, he aimed his gun at the extraterrestrial being entwined in the pillar of light.

He judged that the monster descending from the sky was more dangerous than Jeong Yeongwoo, who was from the same species but had come alone.

‘Right. He didn’t come alone.’

Yeongwoo also carefully observed the being’s appearance at the word ‘we’ pronounced by the advertiser.

Thud.

The giant organism firmly wrapped around the glowing pillar was a form with dozens of heads adorned with iridescent light.

Each head looked so different that one might think they belonged to different species, not to mention different planets.

Some heads resembled rocks with undulating membranes on the surface, reminiscent of fish, while others looked strangely eerie with numerous eyes, resembling Earth’s animals but without eyes.

“What on earth is that…?”

Byungcheol, who found a head similar to a human among the colorful heads, made a sound as if he were about to cry immediately.

The head with strong cheekbones, a large nose, and a sharp bandit beard was rolling its protruding eyeballs, looking down below.

‘There was another species similar to humans.’

Yeongwoo also quickly found the bandit head but was not as shocked as Byungcheol.

It was because he had already met a trader similar to humans before.

During the bidding for the trade, the wandering traders Volthak, who had revealed the ‘breathing’ sound, had talked about it.

‘Then are dozens of advertisers gathered here?’

As Yeongwoo approached to get a closer look at the advertiser, Byungcheol shouted, aiming the gun at the extraterrestrial being entwined in the pillar of light.

“Wh-what’s going on now?”

“We need to send that thing back quickly.”

To do that, they had to proceed with the advertising contract first.

“….”

Yeongwoo, glancing at the young policeman still struggling on the ground, passed by Byungcheol and headed towards the advertiser.

Clank, clink.

As Yeongwoo made a metallic sound and approached the pillar of light, the dozens of heads, each looking elsewhere, all turned their gaze towards him.

Then.

―Ah…!

They all exclaimed at once.

As if they were saying He was suitable for the model they desired.

―Jeong Yeongwoo!

The advertisers shouted Yeongwoo’s name once again.

It seemed as if they were confirming whether the person standing in front of them was indeed Jeong Yeongwoo.

So, Yeongwoo said/

“Yes. I am Jeong Yeongwoo 07, the strongest in Gyeongbuk, the human of Earth.”

He recited the lines that the intermediary Kubu had mentioned to him sometime, a phrase that was likely the ‘Universal Greeting’ at that time.

The probability was high because Kubu had done something called the ‘Universal Greeting’ back then.

Then, to prove his identity, he tapped his left chest and displayed his title.

Paat!

『Gyeongbuk’s Best Sword』

A title interface bestowed by some kind of system overseeing the reset.

I don’t know, but wouldn’t advertisers from outer space also trust the reset system?

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

‘Now, what’s next?’

As Yeongwoo waited for reactions while scanning through dozens of heads one by one, heads with eyes soon rolled their eyeballs.

―Nice to meet you. Jeong Yeongwoo 07, the human of Earth and the strongest in Gyeongbuk!

Their intonation had become much more natural by now.

―We are “Dogo”…! We heard the call of “Morning Star” first.

When Dogo and Morning Star were pronounced, waves of intangible vibrations could be felt in the air, and each time, Yeongwoo could clearly understand the meaning of those words.

Dogo….

Although it was a proper noun he heard for the first time in his life, Yeongwoo could grasp the meaning as if he had known it for a long time.

‘It wasn’t just a name for one person; it was Dogo.’

Dogo.

A galactic weapons brand and a joint-stock company with multiple shareholders.

In other words, Yeongwoo was now standing in front of the shareholders of a galactic weapons company.

‘So, am I supposed to become the advertising model for a weapons company?’

Yeongwoo was taken aback by the unexpected identity of the advertiser.

But why…?

Why would a galactic weapons company advertise on Earth, overlooking other planets?

Just as Yeongwoo’s skepticism began to rise, ‘Dogo’ started uttering strange lines.

―Confusion! Civil war on Earth!

―Will “Dogo” be destructive even on this world?

“What…?”

―We will investigate the outskirts of Earth, together with Jeong Yeongwoo 07!

“Oh my goodness.”

Yeongwoo unknowingly touched his forehead.

Considering the sequence of lines, this seemed to be…

“…An advertising concept.”

* * *

Promoting “Dogo,” a galactic military company that supports the outskirts of a planet where civil war has erupted…

Understanding this far, Yeongwoo had another question.

Anyway, if it’s an advertising contract, there must be conditions, right?

Like using only weapons supported by Dogo or exposing the brand name at specific moments.

“Uh… for now, I understand that this is a brand advertisement. So, what exactly am I supposed to do?”

When Yeongwoo asked this, the shareholders of Dogo instantly straightened up.

Paat!

Then, simultaneously, a system message appeared in Yeongwoo’s view.

“Dogo requests access to data for Jeong Yeongwoo 07. Will you approve?”

[Requested Data]

– Unique code

– Language used

– Quest slots

“Ah.”

It was a situation similar to when Yeongwoo first dealt with the intermediary Kubu.

The only difference was that Kubu had requested only unique code and language data, while Dogo added quest slots to the request.

“…”

After a moment of contemplation, Yeongwoo approved the data access.

With that, Dogo’s contract proposal was conveyed through the system message.

「Contract: Dogo-49523-IIIII_II-2nd Tier」

(Required) [Utilization of Grade 2 advertising space]

– The logo of the headquarters will be printed on the trajectory of the weapons.

– Before major battles, you must publicly announce that you fought with Dogo’s support.

(Required) [Grade 3 Exclusive Quest]

– Receive bonuses for achieving exclusive quests.

(Optional) [Grade 2 Exclusive Quest]

– Receive ad fees only through achieving exclusive quests.

– The total ad fee executed will increase approximately 40 times.

#Basic ad fee: Estimated 10 million Karma per week.

#Basic contract period: 4 weeks.

“…Crazy.”

This was truly an interstellar advertising contract.

While the utilization of advertising space seemed reasonable from an Earthling’s perspective, the crucial parts, such as the payment method for advertising fees and the scale of additional executions, were beyond expectations.

‘The basic ad fee is estimated to be 10 million Karma per week, and they even offer up to 40 times…?’

Of course, in this case, Yeongwoo had to perform the quests designed by Dogo to receive the ad fees, so it might be a tricky clause.

But still, 40 times.

In simple Karma conversion, it was 4 billion.

And that was a weekly payment of 4 billion.

‘If the quests are too difficult, and I can only do one out of ten, it’s still four times the ad fee. This is worth a try.’

And from Dogo’s perspective, wouldn’t they want the model to survive as long as possible for promotion?

Therefore, Yeongwoo didn’t think of it as an impossible clause that would stab him in the back.

‘Let’s give it a try. It’s worth a shot. I will make the most out of it’

In the worst-case scenario, he would simply go around announcing the support from Dogo for free for about a month.

Yeongwoo blinked his eyes a couple of times, then shouted loudly towards Dogo’s shareholders.

“I’ll accept the contract! Including the Grade 2 quest…!”

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]