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Chapter 390: Side Story 4 - Like a nose ring on a cow




“Fuck, where the hell did that son of a bitch go?”
Julian was looking for someone right now.
It is pretty obvious who it is though, isn’t it?
“Ahhhhhh!”
“Over there!”
Julian ruthlessly launched thunderbolts toward the direction of the scream.
Crack!
He then heard another scream from the corner of the room.
“Ahhhhhhhhh! I'm dying! I'm dyyyyyyying!”
The person screaming, as expected, was Jaeha. Julian then started running toward the direction of the scream.
However…
“!”
Jaeha was not the only one who was there.
“Nina!”
Nina was standing in front of Jaeha, blocking Julian's thunderbolts.
The lightning rod in her hand was probably given to her by Ju-Heon. Ju-Heon would be put in a difficult position if the pushover went into a coma or anything.
But that was not important right now.
“Nina, move! I need to chat with that son of a bitch!”
Nina pulled out a dagger and got in her brother’s way even more.
“Bro, don’t harm this person anymore! I care about him a lot!”
“?!”
Julian almost fainted.
‘What the hell did she just say?’
“You care about him a lot?! Are you telling me that he’s your husband?! Is that it?”
“Wait, excuse me. Mr. Julian… That’s not what she said. Please don’t filter it as you please.”
Jaeha gasped in disbelief. Julian didn’t even hear him as his pupils were shaking as if there was an earthquake.
He could not maintain his rationality anymore.
‘Holy shit…how could Nina do this?’
Nina was like a daughter to him. He had raised her after they lost their parents at a young age.
He would be angry if any guy said that they were going to marry her but what? Yoo Jaeha?
‘Why the hell did she have to pick a stupid bastard like this?!’
Julian somehow prevented himself from fainting and did his best to smile gently.
“Hey Nina? You might not know this because you haven’t known that son of a…no, this friend of mine for that long, but…”
He had known Jaeha for 10 years.
This punk was a scammer. He lied like it was nothing and he was the king of crime who had committed all sorts of crimes!
If he thought about all of the times he had been harmed because of this bastard…!
“Listen carefully. Your brother has known this guy for a very long time, so I know…!”
Nina used an artifact as if to tell Julian that there was nothing to listen to.
Crackle!
“Eek!”
Julian became anxious after seeing her shoot out fire. This vicious fire seemed extremely dangerous.
“H, hold on!”
This fire was a SS-Grade (Divine-Grade) artifact!
‘This is Hephaestus’s fire!’
Nina was willing to use a Divine-Grade artifact against her older brother to protect her man!
She was about to use an apocalypse artifact next. Even the mighty Kongming couldn't help but become anxious!
“H, hold on! Nina! This is not right! Aaah!”
Julian didn't know what to do as he became surrounded by a deadly wall of fire. He did manage to put the fire out eventually, but Nina and Jaeha had already run off by then.
Julian could only sigh after losing them.
“Ow! They do mean it when they say that you raise a daughter for nothing!”
‘Her man is more important than her brother?!’
Jaeha was also the problem. It seemed like just yesterday that he was throwing a fit about how Nina was terrorizing him but now the two of them were being affectionate whenever they had the chance.
‘When and how the hell did they get so close?’
Relationships were said to be mysterious, but Jaeha had hated Nina until not too long ago.
‘What the hell happened…?!’
That wasn't important right now.
An angry Julian was about to use Kongming’s artifact to chase after them, when…
“You should probably give up. Did you forget that Nina spent quite a long time as Jack the Ripper?”
“?!”
There was a man mockingly sneering at Julian. It was Ju-Heon.
Juilan exploded after seeing Ju-Heon's annoying face.
“It was you, wasn’t it?! You gave Nina that dangerous artifact!”
The corners of Ju-Heon’s lips twitched.
“Of course. She’s such a good girl trying to protect her boyfriend.”
Julian felt his blood pressure rising.
“You motherfucking Majesty!”
Julian angrily shouted as he grabbed Ju-Heon by the collar.
‘Good girl my ass! This son of a bitch is just enjoying this!’
Ju-Heon clicked his tongue and told Julian to stop being so angry.
"I know a man of justice like you is not satisfied with our pushover, but don’t be such a mess.”
“What? A mess?!”
“Yes, you dimwit. You’re supposed to let your children go when they grow up. Why are you going so overboard with something so trivial?”
Julian groaned.
Now that he thought about it, this son of a bitch was always like this.
He would cause accidents as if it was nothing and then scolded him if he tried to say anything about it.
You nag too much, you're so old-fashioned, you're not flexible enough, you're going overboard, you act so constipated, etc…
It’s not like he wanted to nag while hearing all those things.
However…
‘Who does he think covered his ass after all of the accidents he caused?!’
Julian felt so wronged.
How the hell did he end up meeting a bastard like this?
So, how did the two of them meet?
“This person stole my wallet.”
“I don’t know what the hell you are talking about.”
They had met as a pickpocket and a victim.
It was probably a few months after Ju-Heon officially accepted Seol-A as a team member.
They had met at the subway with Ju-Heon being a suspect and Julian a victim.
It was busy because it was rush hour.
Julian, who was an employee at TKBM as well at the time, was nodding off inside the cramped train.
‘The Zhuge Kongming artifact makes me so tired.’
It was useful but it took too much stamina to use multiple times a day and his eyes became really tired.
Even without that, being TKBM’s corporate lawyer and dealing with tombs was difficult.
As he had that thought…
“!”
He felt something. It was as if something had gone into his bag for a moment.
Others might not be able to notice it, but Julian was different.
Kongming's artifact had made his senses much more alert than others.
And then….
‘!’
A man’s hand was inside his bag!
Julian immediately frowned.
He couldn't see the person's face, but he could see a young man’s hand sticking out between people's shoulders.
‘A pickpocket!’
The man's hand that had a watch on it openly pulled his wallet out from his bag.
It had really happened in an instant.
‘Shit!’
Julian urgently tried to grab the man’s hand, but…
[The door is opening.]
The train stopped and the door opened. It just happened to be a major station where a lot of people got off. The people inside the train started rushing out.
The man who looted Julian’s bag was part of that group!
“…Wait!”
That green jacket leisurely disappeared into the masses, moving slow enough as to mock him.
Julian urgently rushed after the man.
“Hold on! I'm getting off! I said I'm getting off!”
His tie was fluttering as he ran after the culprit.
And then…
Grab!
“Hey!”
He managed to catch the culprit. However, the thief who was caught by Julian opened his eyes wide.
“Can I help you?”
Green jacket, black hat worn very low so that the face was not very visible…
This was Ju-Heon.
Ju-Heon looked at Julian as if he had no idea what was going on, but he ended up being dragged to the police station.
Well, he of course claimed that he never stole anything.
“Like I said, you got the wrong person.”
“No, it definitely is this person. I saw him.”
“Wow, unbelievable.”
Ju-Heon glared at Julian in disbelief.
“I'm already busy enough as is but I have to deal with being framed for a thief? What the hell are you playing at? Huh?!”
“Team leader-nim… please calm down!”
Seol-A, who had come after being contacted by Ju-Heon, was next to him.
Seol-A addressed the officer.
“I'm sure this sir must have seen wrong. Our team leader-nim is not the type of person who would pickpocket someone in the middle of the day…”
“Yes, this damn yankee bastard saw incorrectly. He probably thinks that all of us Asians look the same.”
Julian scoffed in disbelief.
‘Like hell I can’t tell him apart.’
“Okay then, let’s see how long you can put up this act.”
A different officer came over at that moment.
“We have gone through his belongings.”
“It was there, wasn’t it?”
The officer said something unexpected.
“No sir. We did not find the wallet you described among Mr. Seo Ju-Heon's belongings.
“Excuse me?”
“We searched his body as well but it was not there. There was nothing suspicious in the CCTV either.”
“?!”
Ju-Heon and Julian’s expressions were the complete opposite.
That wasn’t all.
“We also contacted the train station and they said that there was another person dressed similarly to Mr. Seo Ju-Heon. Are you sure that wasn’t the man you saw, Mr. Miller? He seemed to be doing something suspicious.”
“E, excuse me?”
Julian was flabbergasted while Ju-Heon became angry.
“You should have paid more attention. I just wasted a ton of time.”
“……!”
Juilan couldn't believe it. There was no way that he got the wrong person.
Ju-Heon continued to be angry as he started walking out of the police station with Seol-A.
“How unlucky. Are you sure he didn't cause a fuss because he was sexually harassing someone and thought he was about to get caught?”
"W, what did you say?! Sexual harassment?!”
The officers patted Ju-Heon’s back and apologized. They sighed and then looked toward Julian.
Their gazes seemed to be saying that he should have looked more carefully.
“But it’s understandable.”
“Anyway, we will look into the suspect caught on the CCTV. Mr. Seo Ju-Heon, you are free to go back.”
“We will contact you again once we catch the culp… Mr. Miller?”
Julian frowned as if he was deep in thought.
It truly was weird.
There was no way that he saw incorrectly.
It was because the wallet Ju-Heon stole was not a regular wallet.
‘That was an artifact wallet.’
He had felt the artifact’s aura coming from Ju-Heon.
As he wondered that…
“You deserve some praise. You were the first to notice me.”
Julian's eyes opened wide after hearing the voice whisper in his ear.
He turned in shock to see Ju-Heon leisurely walking out of the police station.
Maybe that was the reason.
“H, hold on!”
Julian urgently rushed after Ju-Heon and caught up to him outside.
“You really were the culprit!”
Ju-Heon smiled mischievously.
"Correct.”
Julian could not believe it.
“I knew it…! Then tell me! Where the hell did you throw away that artifact wallet?! Hurry up and take me there!”
“I didn’t throw it away.”
“What?”
Ju-Heon nonchalantly put his hand into his pocket.
He then pulled out a wallet! This was definitely Julian's wallet.
Julian couldn’t help but gasp.
"What the hell? Why is that coming out of your pocket?!”
‘The officers should have thoroughly searched him!’
Seol-A couldn't believe it either.
She had been defending Ju-Heon this whole time saying that he wouldn’t have stolen it, but what?!
“T, team leader-nim! You really did steal it?! Then what about the other suspect caught on CCTV?”
“Who knows? They must have worn something similar by coincidence.”
“Team leader-nim!”
Ju-Heon just shamelessly laughed.
“Anyway, I'm taking this.”
Julian could not believe it.
‘Like hell you’re taking it!’
“Hand it over! That’s mine! Why would you take it with you?!”
"Why else? The police couldn’t find it so it’s mine.”
"What the hell did you just say?!”
‘How can there be such a bastard like this?!’
“Cut the bullshit and hand it over…! You belong in jail!”
“Who the hell do you think you are? Call the cops if you feel wronged!”
Julian headed back toward the station that was right next to them.
“Hurry! That bastard had my wallet the whole time! Hurry…huh?”
Julian screamed.
Ju-Heon must have caught a cab as he had disappeared!
Julian gasped and ran out to search but…
“Hey! Hey! Stop right there! Hand it over!”
Ju-Heon just waved the wallet out the window as the car drove off.
He probably thought that he would never see this guy ever again.
“It’s your fault for being pickpocketed! You stupid idiot!”
“T, team leader-ni…mmph!”
That was how Julian's first meeting with Ju-Heon ended. Of course, they met again in an unexpected fashion not too long later.
“Ah, Team leader Seo. I told you about it already, right? I told you that your department is getting a new person.”
“Uhh……yes you did. I guess you did tell me.”
TKBM's Unsanctioned Excavation Team.
There was an awkward silence in the office right now.
“This guy is Julian Miller and he is the newest member on your Unsanctioned Excavation Team.”
Ju-Heon’s face twitched.
"And Miller… This is the Captain of the Unsanctioned Excavation Department, Team leader Seo Ju-Heon.”
Julian’s face twitched as well.
“You are both extremely talented people so do get along. Why don’t you two shake hands?”
Neither of them had any intentions of shaking hands with the other.
“Give me back my wallet, you damn thieving bastard!”
The employee introducing them became anxious as Julian grabbed Ju-Heon’s collar.
“What? Thief? What is he talking about?”
A guilty Ju-Heon quickly shook his head.
“It’s nothing. Just bullshit…”
“Nothing my ass! Hand it over, you unscrupulous thieving bastard!”
“A dumbass like you would have died quickly because of the risk if you used it! You should be thanking me!”
“What the hell did you just say?!”
Seol-A slowly avoided their gazes.
Even thinking back on it now, Julian truly felt that their first meeting was the worst.
Well, something even worse happened later when this bastard stole(?) his fiancĂŠe.