Saudi Arabia (2)

They had barely entered the palace with the guards when the king spoke.

"We have important matters to discuss. You may withdraw."

"Your Majesty, the danger..."

"Enough. I trust Awakener Kim Minwoo."

At the king's stern command, the guards reluctantly filed out, leaving the two of them alone in the room.

Abdullah wet his lips anxiously before speaking.

"... Can you truly make me awaken?"

"Of course. Would I have flown all this way just to spout nonsense?"

The king nodded. It was hard to believe, but he had little reason not to. If this were a scam, Minwoo would have had no reason to come here in the first place.

"Let's speak frankly. Awakening would mean a great deal to you, wouldn't it, Your Majesty?"

"... Indeed."

Was it better to be awakened or unawakened? In Saudi Arabia today, the awakened held the advantage. It wasn't as though the unawakened were persecuted, but naturally, those blessed by Allah took greater pride in themselves, and their words carried more weight.

A king had no need to fight in person, so a class like priest would be perfect. A single brilliant display of light could bolster his people's loyalty. It offered the possibility of subtle deification and idolization—very tempting prospects for a man on the throne.

"I happen to need quite a lot of money."

"Money? For skill books?"

"That too. I also need to attend the Sky Auction House."

The king's eyes widened slightly.

"... You've already received an invitation?"

"Yes. My attendance is confirmed."

"Impressive. Then again, your fame and financial resources would certainly qualify you for an invitation. So, how much do you need?"

"One hundred trillion won. That's how much I'll need."

"... Are you joking?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

They stared straight at each other. The king narrowed his eyes, visibly displeased.

"Ha. You're serious."

"I don't think it's all that expensive."

The exact extent of his wealth was unknown, since Saudi law prohibited disclosure of the royal family's assets. In this world, however, the Saudi royal family's total fortune was understood to be roughly three quadrillion won.

A hundred trillion won was expensive, sure.

'But it's not an amount he can't come up with.'

As long as he could awaken, the king would find the money himself. He would stop at nothing.

"Do you smoke?"

"Go ahead. I don't mind."

"Whew."

The king picked up a cigar and lit it.

"... If the people find out, there will be an uproar."

"Will there?"

Well, that was possible. Who would welcome a king blowing a hundred trillion won just to awaken? Even if it came from his personal fortune, the issue remained the same. If this ever became public, the repercussions could be considerable.

But...

"Then wouldn't it be enough to keep it well hidden?"

There were more than enough ways to conclude the deal quietly.

"Good grief."

"I had occasion to visit the Blue House."

"...?"

"I met the President there. He's in his seventies, yet he's remarkably fit. I'd say he looks about fifty."

I continued as the king remained silent.

"I hear you've been pouring money into biotech lately. Was it three trillion won a year? Well, aging certainly is frightening."

"... Do you have two hearts or something?"

I simply smiled instead of answering.

Saudi Arabia? It wasn't rated particularly highly as an awakener nation. Unfortunately, it was regarded as even weaker than Korea, which was itself considered an awakener lightweight. With so little combat strength, the king might call off negotiations, but he would find it difficult to contemplate harming me.

'He doesn't intend to call them off anyway.'

He was just making a show of complaining. If he genuinely thought the price was outrageous, he would have stormed out already.

After a long deliberation, he spoke.

"... Just out of curiosity. Could you help other members of the royal family awaken as well?"

"Who do you mean?"

Abdullah named dozens of royals. Fortunately, I knew their awakening conditions inside out too, thanks to players throwing themselves into the task of discovering them. Every name belonged to a rich person I remembered fondly.

"I think so. Of course, I can't guarantee their Achievement grades. The same goes for you, Your Majesty."

Abdullah and the other royals ranked near the bottom in terms of talent. They would have to be satisfied with awakening at all.

'Even that's a fucking sweet deal.'

There were plenty of wealthy people crying over their inability to do even that.

"... It's truly possible? Then... could my wife and children also...?"

"Yes."

Abdullah brightened. If not only he himself, but the royals loyal to him and his family could all awaken, a hundred trillion won wasn't so expensive after all. It would mean contributing the royal family's private funds not merely for his own advancement, but for the welfare of the entire royal family. Naturally, that eased the burden considerably—enough that he could somehow weather the storm even if it became public.

"Your Majesty, aren't you trying to get a little too much for your hundred trillion won?"

"... It would be difficult to release any more private funds. Instead, how about this? You have close ties to Ilseong, don't you?"

"You're offering business rights?"

"New construction projects spring up every day here in Saudi Arabia," the king said with a smile.

Not bad. Saudi Arabia's construction market was quite substantial. Ilseong could reap handsome profits by getting involved. That oil money would be pretty sweet.

"Naturally, we won't be expected to pay any commissions?"

What would be left after handing out kickbacks everywhere? Having benefited from awakening, the royal family would naturally have to clamp down on that.

"Well, if you awaken everyone you've promised to... no one will bring that matter up."

Done. That gave me connections to the royal family. In Saudi Arabia, there was nothing their influence couldn't accomplish.

"Very well. We have a deal. But again, I can't guarantee Achievement grades. You'll have to accept it even if the royals or your family members receive low grades."

"It doesn't matter. Receiving Allah's blessing is already a miracle in itself. May I verify this first?"

"Certainly. I'll write down the others' conditions, so you can try following those instructions."

There were far more than one or two of them. Personally guiding each one through awakening would eat up all my time. Those small fry could more or less handle their awakenings themselves.

"... But do you truly know all of them?"

"I do."

"How?"

"Isn't it rude to ask someone outright for their trade secrets?"

The king smacked his lips at that.

A little later, I handed him a document with the details written down.

"Just follow this."

"Good heavens..."

Abdullah let out an exclamation as he read the awakening conditions for the royals and his family.

He couldn't speak for anything else, but he understood at least one thing. If these truly were their conditions, there was a reason they hadn't awakened yet. All manner of outlandish methods were listed. One royal even had to eat cow dung to awaken.

"... Stay here for today and get some rest."

"All right."

He probably wanted to check whether those really were their awakening conditions. I was happy to wait as long as necessary.

Some time later, Abdullah summoned me urgently. He stared at me with utter astonishment in his eyes.

"How in the world...!"

"I told you not to ask. More importantly, did this help your standing?"

Abdullah nodded. He had selected a few royals with relatively easy conditions and tested them. And they had actually awakened! As a bonus, those royals had gone beyond thanking him and now looked at him with respect.

*'Impossible...'

*Not one or two, but five had awakened. That meant the contents of the document were genuine.

*'Then I can also...'

*Could he truly awaken?

Abdullah swallowed hard.

*'Just who is this man...?'

*He had thought Kim Minwoo was simply an awakener skilled at fighting, but that was far from all. He could discover awakening conditions. In the global age of awakeners, the greatness of that ability went without saying.

'What a truly terrifying ability.'

Even now, there was no telling where his ceiling lay, and that would only become more true in the future. It was difficult even to imagine how high Kim Minwoo might rise. Their eyes met.

"As for your awakening condition, Your Majesty..."

"What is it? Don't tell me I have to eat excrement like that fellow?"

"Nothing like that."

I glanced at him and spoke.

"You just need to get shot in the thigh."

"... What?"

"You'll awaken if you get shot in the thigh."

Players had volunteered to serve as Abdullah's bodyguards. They discovered this when he awakened after a terrorist attack. A bullet to the thigh would awaken him.

It was a ridiculous condition, but was it difficult?

'Not particularly.'

It wasn't a shot to the heart or head, just the thigh. Besides, there were workarounds, such as using a less-lethal round.

If the condition had instead required a genuinely dangerous gunshot wound, the Park Siwoo overseas route would have been shut down long ago. No matter how desperate the king was to awaken, he wouldn't risk his life on the word of a complete stranger. To get his attention, the condition had to be something he could grit his teeth and try once, however suspicious it sounded.

When I explained that, the king sighed in apparent relief.

"... It's not as difficult as I expected."

"Awakening is easy once you know the condition."

Finding the condition was the hard part. They varied so much from person to person that even awakening assistants could only do so much, no matter how hard they tried. Seriously, who would think to experiment by shooting the king? It wasn't as though this sort of condition was common.

"... Then would being shot with a low-powered gun mean a lower Achievement grade?"

"Well, probably. But that isn't important."

"True."

Whether his Achievement was F-grade or B-grade made little difference to the king. S-grade might be another matter, but those two were much the same to him.

"You're not thinking of trying for S-grade, are you?"

"Wouldn't that require taking dozens of live rounds? I imagine I'd have to be at death's door..."

"Getting shot alone won't take you to that level. Just take one less-lethal round and awaken."

Then get healed up, and the awakening was complete. Easy.

"I'll give it a try."

Abdullah headed out at once, evidently impatient. I imagined he would secretly entrust the task to a reliable guard.

'He'll figure it out.'

After a short wait, he walked back in, beaming.

"Haha! To think something that troubled me my entire life could be resolved so easily! I never imagined it!"

"Congratulations on your awakening."

"Thank you, thank you! You're a hero of Saudi Arabia!"

The king patted my shoulder, his eyes overflowing with affection.

"All according to Allah's will."

"According to Allah's will. I'll have the promised sum transferred to you shortly."

"Thank you."

My available funds had increased spectacularly. Add Park Siwoo's and Seo Yerim's savings to that, and...

'Game over.'

I could almost hear the wails of the other awakeners attending the auction already.