Chapter 27

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 27: Villain’s Battle (1)

As Yeongwoo approved the reward receipt, a dazzling golden light flashed before his eyes.

Paat!

Next, just like the previous reward receipt, a list of obtainable items appeared.

However, the status of the options for these items was unusual.

‘What… is this?’

Regardless of whether the item’s performance was good or bad, it was a tricky type that made it difficult to predict the effects.

「Golden Punishment」 – Legendary Bracelet

【Inflicts pain on enemies.】

【Accumulated Golden Ratio: 2】

*Special reward for ‘Golden Horde.’

「Pumpkin-Colored Whistle」 – Legendary Necklace

【Summons a friend.】

|Yeongtae.

*Special reward for ‘Excellent Social Worker.’

One inflicts pain on enemies, and the other summons a friend.

‘Since they are legendary items, the options must be impressive.’

Around this point, Yeongwoo couldn’t help but be confused.

Still, during the Golden Flash, he could somewhat deduce what the effects might be.

However, these two items had no displayed values, and their effects were exceptional.

It was difficult to pass judgment without trying them out.

‘I can understand what it feels like to inflict pain, but what does it mean to summon a friend?’

Yeongwoo’s gaze fell on the ‘Pumpkin-Colored Whistle.’

「Pumpkin-Colored Whistle」- Legendary Necklace

【Summons a friend.】

|Yeongtae.

The name “Yeongtae” written at the bottom of the tooltip was probably Hong Yeongtae, the mutant Yeongwoo fought in Gimcheon.

‘Does it mean calling him to fight together?’

When Yeongwoo withdrew his gaze from the tooltip, the approval process was completed, and the newly acquired items filled his arms and neck.

Saaat!

With a chilly sensation, the golden bracelet wrapped around his wrist, and then a whistle connected by a thin string hung around his neck.

‘Really… a real whistle.’

A whistle that could call Yeongtae.

It seemed like only the person he summoned during the return could be called.

‘Then, if you have many friends, can you call several people?’

Yeongwoo stopped running for a moment, thinking about this.

Then, carefully, he brought the whistle to his mouth.

“…”

Suddenly, a whistle.

Yeongwoo let out a forced laugh and exhaled deeply.

Then.

Biriririririk!

The distinctive sound of the whistle burst out forcefully, momentarily lowering the saturation of the surrounding scenery.

「Friend, Yeongtae has received your call and is summoned.」

“Crazy, it’s real.”

As Yeongwoo stared at the message in front of him with his mouth agape, a white crack appeared about ten meters above his head.

Crack!

Soon, Hong Yeongtae broke the crack and leaped down.

「Yaaah!.」

His momentum was still strong.

His jaw, which had been smashed by Yeongwoo, was now intact, as if nothing had happened.

Kwaaaah!

Finally, Hong Yeongtae landed in front of Yeongwoo, shattering the asphalt with both feet.

“…!”

In response, Yeongwoo took a step back in surprise.

The thought that he might end up fighting with him again occurred belatedly as the first reason.

The second reason was the name tag attached to his head.

[Jeong Yeon Woo 07 Friend-Hong Yeongtae]

It was completely different from when he was a mutant.

“What happened? You are that Hong Yeongtae I fought back then… is that right?”

As Yeongwoo asked, the guy looked at his own head and then made a nonchalant expression.

「Yeah. How much time has passed since then?.」

Hong Yeongtae immediately asked about the time, disregarding everything else.

A common trait among mutants, whether in the past or now.

“Not much time has passed. It hasn’t even been an hour.”

When Yeongwoo answered like this, the guy widened his eyes and spoke fearfully.

「What…? Only that much time has passed? I thought it would have been at least a few months..」

“Were you waiting blindly in the dark again this time?”

「No. I was lying quietly in the room and came when you called. So, I’ve been waiting for you to call..」

“A room?”

In response to the unexpected answer, Yeongwoo looked at Hong Yeongtae’s eyes.

However, in the eyes of Yeongtae, who had lived in a place with no concept of time, there were no traces of falsehood.

「They give a room to each returning person. But now, there’s only one real room. Can’t go out, nothing to do. Just sitting quietly. It’s better than waiting in the dark, but it’s still like a living hell.」

After saying this, he glanced at the sky, then looked at Yeongwoo again.

「But the voice was like that. If you help and accomplish something, life in the room will gradually improve.」

“…”

Yeongwoo couldn’t speak for a moment.

He couldn’t even organize what he had just heard.

“So, right now, there’s a separate world where returning people are isolated, and if you want to live well there, you have to help me. Is that what you’re saying?”

At this, Hong Yeongtae, who had been silently listening to Yeongwoo’s words, shook his long jaw up and down.

「That’s right. So what should I do now?.」

The guy seemed only interested in establishing a record and returning.

Indeed, if the words just now were all true, Hong Yeongtae’s ‘remaining years’ depended on how much credit he could earn through Yeongwoo.

However, unfortunately,

“Sorry, but there’s nothing for you to do right now.”

「…What? So, should I just go back? You don’t understand. If I go back, there’s really nothing? There….」

Hong Yeongtae, who spat out words like a complaint, suddenly stopped and showed a terrified expression.

“Well, what’s going on?”

「It’s time… I feel it..」

Upon this, Yeongwoo looked at Hong Yeongtae’s name tag.

“Oh.”

Why did he realize it now?

Since some time ago, his name tag had been gradually disappearing from the top.

It was like the sand in the upper part of an hourglass diminishing.

‘So, I can’t summon him unlimitedly.’

「Please call me again. I beg you..」

The melted Hong Yeongtae disappeared into the air with flattened ears.

Suaat.

For some reason, it was an uncomfortable ending.

‘So, is he now trapped in a room, endlessly waiting for a call again?’

Yeongwoo thought about blowing the whistle again but stopped.

There was no need to call right away since there was no opponent to fight, and it would only lead to unnecessary disappointment.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

It might be better for mental health to wait for the right time and then establish credit at once and return.

‘If I can establish credit, that is.’

Yeongwoo tried to imagine fighting with Hong Yeongtae against the Sangju’s Strongest Sword, but the image didn’t come out well.

|The current stay area is ‘Sangju.’

|The Sangju’s Strongest Sword is ‘Dokgo Sehwan01.’ 2nd generation, defense 147 times.

While Yeongwoo was climbing up the road between the mountains, Dokgo Sehwan01 added one more defense count.

‘Crazy guy. He killed someone again…?’

As Yeongwoo thought about it, he suddenly realized.

‘No. That’s the defense count. If it’s a one-sided attack and killing, wouldn’t it be counted separately?’

In fact, most of the killings Yeongwoo had done so far were mostly in self-defense, so he didn’t know exactly how the defense count of Strongest Sword was calculated.

He just thought that if he killed someone, it would go up.

But even if it only reflected the number of times he killed in retaliation, it wasn’t clearly explained.

‘With such a high defense count, there are still people challenging him? That’s strange in itself.’

Anyway, it was certain that the situation in Gimcheon and Sangju was completely different.

Even though he could see a farmhouse on the other side, there was no red light pillar, let alone a blue one.

Clearing mutants and monsters.

This was a first in such a situation.

Blame.

Yeongwoo covered his left chest to hide the title and then moved along the road leading to the farmhouse.

Unlike Gimcheon, where corpses were plentiful on the outskirts of the city, Sangju was relatively clean.

Sometimes there were bodies lying in the middle of a field or a paddock, but their numbers weren’t large. Instead…

‘Huh?’

Already, something in the distance came into view.

About two hundred meters ahead, people were gathered in front of a building that looked like a warehouse.

‘What, there are people in a place like this? Usually, they gather in the city.’

As Yeongwoo walked towards the building, those on the other side also noticed his presence and reacted.

Some who were crouching in place stood up, and others walked towards Yeongwoo as if welcoming him.

Shuffling, shuffling.

The distance between the two sides gradually decreased.

Soon, Yeongwoo could clearly see the other side.

‘Old people.’

The opponent was a white-haired elderly man, around six of them.

Black skin with deep-set wrinkles, but they didn’t look fierce or anything.

They were just ordinary elderly people you could find near a farmhouse, each holding a knife, shield, or spear.

‘These are common things in this world.’

Yeongwoo silently watched as the elderly people subtly set up a surrounding net.

And the red stains on the blades they held were all vividly colored.

They must have killed quite a few people so far.

Shuffling, shuffling.

Yeongwoo nonchalantly walked straight into the midst of the opponents and asked.

“It’s my first visit to Sangju, so could you tell me what happened here?”

In response, an elderly man on the opposite side pointed Yeongwoo’s early bird with the blade of his axe and said.

“Why is someone like you asking about that?”

“No. I really don’t know. Even though you know what I have, why are you risking your life?”

“If you find it pitiful that old men are risking their lives, just give us some money. I’ll send you away if you do. Just pay.”

“Put down that sword too.”

The two elderly men behind were the ones who spat out what Yeongwoo was saying.

They were responsible for Yeongwoo’s back.

You are already surrounded, indicating that you should know it politely.

“Hmm.”

Yeongwoo felt puzzled when he saw that the elderly people didn’t pay attention to the Golden Flash.

Perhaps it was because they were too old.

Maybe they lacked the common sense to be on guard when they saw someone with a unique appearance.

‘Maybe they think that I just picked up some strangely shaped gloves somewhere.’

Before attacking the elderly, Yeongwoo threw one last question.

“Then, where can I meet the Strongest Sword?”

“…What?”

Perhaps it was too absurd a question; some of the elderly burst into laughter.

“A complete lunatic.”

“Strongest Sword? You can meet him if you go to the city.”

“City? Which way is it?”

The last question was from Yeongwoo.

Simultaneously asking the question, Yeongwoo tapped his backpack, making a jingling sound of coins.

The elderly people couldn’t ignore this sound that lit up their eyes.

“City? Just keep going up along the main road. But in my opinion, you probably won’t make it.”

One of the elderly men chuckled and pointed to a road leading to the city.

Confirming this, Yeongwoo put the whistle in his mouth.

He was thinking of leaving the task of dealing with “small fry” to Yeongtae to establish some achievements.

He was curious about what would happen.

Swiftly, the elderly who witnessed this also thought that Youngwoo might have some mental disability.

A young guy wandering around barefoot with a conch shell didn’t seem normal at all.

However, in the end, Youngwoo couldn’t blow the conch shell.

「Today’s friend summoning is left with 1 attempt. Do you want to continue?」

The message appeared when he tried to blow into the conch shell.

‘No, if something like this exists, it should have been mentioned earlier.’

Fortunately in his misfortune, Yeongtae wouldn’t know about this incident.

He had wasted one of his only two chances in a day.

‘Can’t help it. Let’s wrap this up quickly and head towards the city hall.’

The shadows of the elderly were already closing in on Youngwoo.

In response, he immediately threw an early-bird at the elderly in front.

Squeak!

The silver-colored blade flew like an arrow and accurately pierced the forehead of the old man.

Soon after, it returned to its original position as Youngwoo summoned it.

Whizz!

“What?”

“Uh…!”

“What’s going on with this guy?”

Even the elderly who were not familiar with the game were impressed by Youngwoo’s semi-swordsmanship.

Youngwoo, after retrieving the sword, faced their immediate collective attack with all his might.

Swish!

However, the opponent was the 2nd-ranked unified Strongest Sword.

Youngwoo easily nullified the attack by emitting the momentum of Strongest Sword, then swiftly swung the sword like a flash, beheading the elderly.

Squelch!

Due to the higher strength on this side and lower durability on the other side, Youngwoo felt a sensation like squeezing tofu.

Thud, thud.

The elderly bodies rolled on the ground out of sync.

“…”

Youngwoo searched the decapitated bodies for the remaining karma, then walked towards the road leading to the city hall.

He wondered what kind of place Sangju City was.

He had a feeling that he would see a lot in the future.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]