Chapter 594

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 594: The Great Exploration (2)

“What? A Mythical Map? Something like that exists?”

And judging from what Kejen had just said, this was a map for locating “myths.”

Meaning—it wasn’t on the level of something like Serpent of Greed, which only pointed toward one specific target.

“What even is it? Hurry up and take it out.”

When the excited Yeongwoo urged him, Jeonggu, who was standing next to them, very cautiously raised a question.

“Um, Kejen-nim.”

—Why? You curious too?

“You said the most expensive item was something else… then why isn’t the Mythical Map the most expensive?”

—Ah.

It was a very reasonable question.

But also a question one could only ask if they didn't understand the universe.

—You’re asking because you don’t know.

“Excuse me?”

—I don’t know how much it costs. Because it’s something that can’t be sold to begin with.

“What do you mean…? Are you saying it’s so valuable that you can’t put a price on it?”

—That’s one reason, but no—it's literally something you cannot sell. Think about it. Even if you knew where the myths were, what could you do?

Jeonggu scratched his cheek.

“Well… um. I’m not sure.”

—Exactly. You can't do anything. Most myths already have owners—and those guys are all complete lunatics.

A statement clearly aimed at Yeongwoo.

—So even if you had a Mythical Map, you couldn’t go around visiting them. What would you even do when you met them?

Yeongwoo placed his hand on Bastard and murmured.

“But if the person searching for myths is himself the owner of myths, that changes the story.”

—Right. In this universe, there are lunatics who already have myths but still crave more. Those are the ones who’d desperately hunt for this thing.

“So the reason your most precious item is the Mythical Map is because of that.”

—Just the fact that you have this is dangerous. That itself proves how valuable it is.

“Well then, I’ll take that danger now. Hand over the map.”

When Yeongwoo reached out his hand, Kejen scrunched his nose.

—I don’t know what kind of ‘map’ you’re imagining, but it won’t be that easy.

Then Kejen began pressing various spots on the vault’s surface.

“Isn’t that password way too complicated? How do you even memorize all that?”

—At least we’ve confirmed one thing—you’ll never be a great thief.

Once he finished entering all the codes, the vault plating slid open, revealing the inside.

And what was inside was…

“…That’s the map?”

A pitch-black orb, smaller than a palm.

Seeing the Mythical Map with his own eyes, Yeongwoo looked blankly at it as Kejen lifted the sphere out.

—You greenhorn. Never seen a map like this? Anything ‘myth-class’ has to be at least this much.

“This much… what?”

Before Yeongwoo could even tilt his head, Kejen activated the map.

Click.

When he pressed both sides of the sphere with his fingers—

Suddenly the air filled with a projection of the cosmos, embroidered with constellations and stars.

Fwooosh!

A universe full of brilliant, multicolored lights.

“What is all this? Stars…?”

Kejen chuckled.

—They’re myths.

“…What?”

—Everything you’re looking at is a myth. All the myths scattered throughout the universe.

“No way. There are this many myths?”

Well, the universe was unimaginably vast.

It was natural that countless myths would be scattered throughout it.

It only looked excessive now because they were all gathered in one display.

“These are… the locations of all myths in the universe?”

While Yeongwoo stared at the myriad sparkling points of light and asked, Kejen shrugged.

—I don’t know that much.

“What?”

—I can confirm that each of those lights represents a myth. And you can more or less infer the distance between them.

Indeed, the myth-lights weren’t arranged evenly—they were clumped or spread out like natural celestial bodies.

Their colors and brightness varied as well.

“If they’re all myths, then what do the colors mean? And the brightness is totally different too.”

—From what I know, the color hints at each myth’s unique characteristics. But I have no idea what color corresponds to what.

Then Kejen continued.

—Brightness is easy. It represents fame.

“Fame?”

—How exposed it is to the universe. Myths that are widely known shine more brightly.

Yeongwoo pointed at the faint, barely glowing dots forming a dark background.

“Then those are…?”

—Myths that do exist, but are barely known. Or maybe forgotten or buried somewhere.

“So it’s just a possibility?”

—Yep. I’ve never actually used this map properly, so I can only guess.

Kejen’s expression dimmed, as if disappointed.

—But you won’t be able to use it properly anyway.

“And why’s that?”

—Because the map has no reference point. It shows the positions of myths, but doesn’t tell you which myth is which.

“So I can’t see my own location on this map?”

—Right. Basically, it’s a map made entirely from inter-myth distances.

In other words—it was literally a Mythical Map.

But without a reference point or self-location, there was no way to know where in the universe this particular projection corresponded to.

—It seems to show almost every part of the universe. Because this thing…

As he spoke, Kejen swiped his hand through the hologram, and like sliding a tablet screen, the map moved, revealing an entirely different cosmic sector.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“Holy crap. That’s another region of the universe… So this map basically extends infinitely?”

—That’s the idea. So how could you possibly pinpoint your position in this enormous map? I’ve lost track of the starting point long ago.

Then Amana pointed at some dark, non-glowing spots.

—What’s that…? They aren’t shining at all.

—Ah, those are probably black holes.

—Black holes appear on the map? Even though no other stars are shown? Why?

—Who knows. Maybe they’re minimum landmarks or something.

While they conversed, Yeongwoo cut in again.

“Wait, those are black holes? Then couldn’t we use the distances between black holes to triangulate where this sector of the map is?”

Kejen shook his head.

—You’re underestimating the size of the universe. Unless someone has a full map of the entire cosmos, that’s impossible.

“Then why show black holes at all?”

Yeongwoo had reached the same question as Amana.

So Kejen gave the same answer.

—A hint? A different function? …Who knows.

“Damn it. I found the map, but I can’t even use it? Is that supposed to make sense?”

Yeongwoo swore out of frustration—

Because he had the Myth Catalog.

[Myth Catalog]

〔3〕

[Collection Effect: 3]

|Courtesy Resistance 20% obtained.

“So all this time I thought the story was telling me to fill the Myth Catalog. Guess not?”

—…You think the universe is your personal board game? You really think everything revolves around you? It doesn’t.

“But I—we….”

Yeongwoo07 and the celestial body once called the Solar System were officially recognized by the universe as protagonists.

Even if there could be multiple protagonists in such a universe, it was true that Yeongwoo and the Earth-System had surpassed the usual limits, becoming beings the universe treated as special.

Maybe the universe really was giving him special treatment.

—Dream on. Myths are called myths for a reason. Each one is greatness incarnate. The fact that you can even look at their positions might itself be a privilege.

“……”

Yeongwoo felt hollow.

Because that might not be wrong.

In this vast and mysterious universe, a map existing solely for aesthetic observation wouldn’t be strange at all.

“A Mythical Map… Maybe its purpose is simply to let you behold something great?”

Was that truly its meaning?

His head drooped, and naturally his eyes fell to the Emblem of Relief in his hand, the Bastard at his waist, and the Aratubank on his left hand.

His three current myths.

And then a thought struck him.

“Wait.”

—What now?

“I’m a myth.”

—Stop rambling nonsense.

“No. I am a myth. Look—those three clustered lights.”

—……!

Kejen’s eyes widened briefly, then returned to normal.

—Nice idea, but with a map this big, you’ll never find it. Places with three myths clustered together aren’t that rare…

While he pessimistically rambled, Yeongwoo snatched the map out of his hands.

FWIP!

“The universe is huge, sure. But this map is scaled by myth-density. It’s been heavily compressed. Finding my location isn’t impossible.”

Then a tooltip flashed before Yeongwoo’s eyes.

「The Great Exploration」 – Legendary Universe Artifact

【Myth Tracking】

【Explorer】

【Myth Tracking】

|Shows the location of all existing myths through various methods. Can be used to find forgotten myths.

【Explorer】

|Many paths will open for you.

“What the hell…?”

All the descriptions were vague, unlike the tooltips of ordinary equipment.

—See? Told you it was useless.

Right then—

The projected Mythical Map started rotating rapidly.

—Huh?

Like a timelapse of stars streaking across the night sky, the myth-lights turned into curved trajectories, sliding aside, widening, aligning.

And Yeongwoo realized it first.

“…It’s searching.”

—W-What is?

“The map’s new owner.”

—What?

“I think… this map finally gained a reference point.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]