Chapter 87

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 87: Wave (1)

What is a mutant?

Superficially, it was obviously a monster.

Because it had the power to crush any human being with just one finger.

Moreover, it generally harbors hostility towards the world.

Why?

Because the masses that make up this world killed them.

An anonymous unilateral attack carried out under the guise of annihilation voting.

So Hyunsik didn’t think the return of the mutants was an attack on this world.

If you really had to define it.

‘…it’s more like a counterattack.’

Those killed by the masses come back and kill the masses.

It was truly a terrible world, but Hyunsik could accept it.

‘We brought this upon ourselves. Did we think we could get away with killing people like that?’

And above all.

Ku-woong!

Hyunsik was strong.

To the point where nothing in this world felt like a threat.

In fact, this was the decisive reason why Hyunsik was persuaded to accept the “reset”.

At least he was still the protagonist of this world.

Just like before the reset happened.

“Tsk.”

Hyunsik clicked his tongue and looked down at the huge creature beneath him.

About 3.5 meters tall.

Thick arms and legs reminiscent of logs, covered with sharp scales.

What Hyunsik was looking down at now was Pastor Kim Wongil, who had manifested himself as Lizard Man in Gangnam-gu.

“Pastor, since we’re here, let me ask you something. Is there really a God?”

As Hyunsik kicked Kim Wongil’s neck with his foot, Wongil’s long snout, which stretched far away, weakly opened.

「…Now that I think about it, this is hell. Just stop it.」

Although Kim Wongil spat out a seemingly desperate line, Hyunsik paid no attention and stepped on the opponent’s forehead.

Squelch.

「Ugh, aah!」

“I asked you, do you think there’s a real God? Do you still believe that?”

Hyunsik growled as he exposed it.

Jeong Hyunsik, 52 years old.

Currently the Strongest Sword in Gangnam.

At the same time, he was also a former second-generation chaebol.

He was the youngest son of the founder of Taewon Group, the third largest conglomerate in Korea.

The reason Hyunsik didn’t run for the extinction vote after the reset was purely because he had no external exposure.

While his older brother and sister each managed the group and its flagship subsidiaries, Hyunsik was merely a director at Taewon’s smallest subsidiary.

Thanks to this, he was able to avoid trouble just by blocking a dozen or so lives in “individual filtration”.

“My brother and sister, who were big shots, became dragons. But what about you, huh? You’re just a lizard. What happened to you?”

Pwack!

As Hyunsik kicked Kim Wongil’s waist hard, there was no response this time.

“Oh, is he already dead?”

It was natural for his death to be formalized after completely overpowering his opponent and beating him for a long time.

Shwaaat!

Finally, as Kim Wongil’s body disappeared cleanly, his death was formalized.

Pastor Kim Wongil of Gangnam’s large church “Purem” has passed away.

“……”

Of course, Hyunsik didn’t have any strong emotions towards Kim Wongil, or anything like that.

No, it was rather the opposite.

Whenever Purem Church conducted large projects, Taewon Group had been allocating huge advertising expenses under the guise of donations and offerings.

In other words, the two “organizations” had a business relationship.

But still, since the other party was fundamentally a religious figure, Hyunsik had expected at least something.

“It’s all nonsense.”

Thinking about how Kim Wongil, as soon as he arrived on this land, had sought out people to tear apart, Hyunsik spat on the spot where he had been.

Pfft!

Suddenly, a golden sphere appeared there.

「You have defeated the mutant.」

「Please select your reward to complete the procedure.」

“Hmm.”

Without hesitation, it’s the 3 million monopoly.

As Hyunsik chose to receive the payment, the golden sphere disappeared into thin air.

And around that time.

Vroommmm…!

The sound of a vehicle engine could be heard from afar.

‘What’s this?’

The current time, 1:14 PM.

Just a moment ago, as this place was being illuminated by the mutant marker, so any sane Gangnam resident couldn’t be here.

Ordinary people would be scared of mutants, and if they were armed thugs, they would be scared of the Strongest Sword.

That is to say.

‘Is it an outsider?’

Sometimes there were inspectors from rural areas who entered through strange roads without going through checkpoints.

Vroommmm…

Eventually, the problematic vehicle entered Hyunsik’s field of view and began to slow down.

They had also spotted Gangnam’s Strongest Sword.

A gray Avante.

It seemed like a modest car compared to the cars driven by experts from other regions, so Hyunsik chuckled.

Thunk.

The driver’s seat door of the Avante, which had completely slowed down, opened.

And what came out of it was…

‘Huh? Where have I seen this face before?’

It was a face even Hyunsik knew.

Of course, by Hyunsik’s standards, he was a minor character, so he didn’t know his name or status.

“Um… Director.”

Suddenly, the man who came out of the car cautiously walked about 10 meters towards them.

“……”

He looked to be in his mid-thirties.

Seeing his hand trembling slightly, Hyunsik was suddenly engulfed by a ominous premonition.

Referring to this side as Director instead of the Strongest Sword meant that he was either an employee of Taewon Group or one of the people who had bid for the Gangnam-gu monster business rights.

But if he was the one who won the Gangnam-gu monster business rights, he should have been more familiar than this.

‘If he’s neither someone who catches monsters in Gangnam nor our employee…’

In that case, the remaining possibility is that he belongs to Gangnam-gu but hasn’t secured the monster business rights.

In other words, he’s likely a thug who goes down to Gyeonggi Province to make money.

And among them, there’s also Jeong Gyusang, who has proclaimed his independence while maintaining his family’s dignity.

“How did you come here?”

As Hyunsik was about to step forward to greet him, the man was startled and waved his hands.

“Oh, no! Um, I mean…”

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

The man stopped about 5 meters away from Hyunsik.

Then.

*Thud!*

Suddenly, he fell flat on the ground, banging his forehead against the floor.

‘Oh, no way.’

Seeing the man’s behavior, Hyunsik unconsciously clenched his teeth.

He expected what the man would say next.

Did his son challenge the mutants to a fight?

If not, the monster might have been particularly strong that day.

Due to his stubborn personality, he might have clashed with outsiders and gotten into a fight.

Of course, all of this could just be speculation.

But if it wasn’t any of these, why would an unknown extra suddenly appear and bang his head on the ground without even being prompted?

“I asked how you got here?”

Hyunsik’s voice trembled slightly this time.

Still lying on the ground with his forehead pressed against it, Lee Jangho73, replied to Gangnam’s Strongest Sword.

“Your son’s gone. And I… am the only witness.”

Jangho, who feared the wrath of Executive Director Jeong, or rather the Strongest sword of Gangnam, stated as clearly as possible that he was the ‘only’ witness.

He thought the enraged Strongest Sword could kill a person with just his breath.

However, contrary to Jang Ho’s expectations, the Strongest Sword didn’t go mad.

Instead, he immediately asked about his son’s whereabouts.

“Where is my son now?”

* * *

1:31 PM, Gwanak-gu.

Yeongwoo was staring at the air beyond the intersection.

It was because a black light pillar representing the location of the merchant had finally been shot down.

Since it would be after 8 PM, when lodging services and abnormal weather notices appeared, it was essentially the end of the main event.

“Now, would you like to meet the merchant?”

Jo Sangik asked as he followed Yeongwoo, looking at the merchant’s mark.

In response, Yeongwoo shifted his gaze to Jo Sangik.

“Since you are the Strongest Sword in this area… the merchant’s priority is with the you. Of course, if you permit, I would like to meet him.”

In fact, this was also a statement made because the new equipment wasn’t urgent.

Since he had obtained armor that could tear apart the opponent’s attack power, for a while, the efficiency of pure power would be much higher.

“Well, I’m not rich right now, so I don’t think meeting the merchant right away would be meaningful.”

Jo Sangik joked half-seriously.

It was a reminder of how his 3 million, which he thought he would get because of Yeongwoo’s golden rain in the area, had evaporated.

“If you go back to school and explain the situation, they’ll probably gather karma and give it to you. Anyway, if Gwanak-gu is going to voice its opinion at the meeting and continue to deal with mutants, they need a strong Strongest Sword.”

Then Jo Sangik’s eyes fell on the magnificent armor Yeongwoo was wearing.

“By the way, what are you going to do in the future, Mr. Yeongwoo? Are you going to roam around Seoul and sprinkle golden rain?”

Jeong Yeongwoo is a very noticeable figure.

And there will definitely be a request for clarification on the ‘Golden Rain Witness’ during the meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. today.

So, Jo Sangik wanted to bring Yeongwoo to the meeting as much as possible.

That way, they wouldn’t get caught up in any future disputes that might arise.

“…”

On the other hand, Yeongwoo couldn’t easily speak up.

He knew that Jo Sangik wasn’t a bad person, but he didn’t trust him enough to confide in him. And above all else…

[Golden Journey]

| Call for Golden Rain in the next area.

| Domestic (0/3) | Foreign (0/2)

Because of the fourth Golden Rain achievement, his mind was in turmoil.

‘Foreign area… Does that mean places like China or Japan? If North Korea counts as foreign, I could give it a try.’

Regardless of whether it was a foreign judgement or not, the important thing was that the achievement system was considering mutant elimination in foreign areas.

The existence of such achievements meant that the country’s Strongest Swords could also fight overseas.

‘What does this mean…’

Yeongwoo blinked, then decided to stop dwelling on meaningless thoughts.

After all, there was still work to be done in Seoul.

“If you allow me, I should meet the merchant here first. And as agreed, we should also look for Kim Taejoon’s family.”

And he also had to find his own father, although he didn’t mention it explicitly.

“Oh, right. That’s a good idea.”

Sangik nodded approvingly at Yeongwoo’s suggestion.

“To find Kim Taejoon’s family, it would be best to seek assistance from the government.”

This was essentially a suggestion for them to attend the meeting.

“That’s…”

As Yeongwoo was about to cautiously bring up the issue with Gangnam’s Strongest Sword, Sangik’s expression suddenly changed.

“Um?”

Sangik, who had been smiling comfortably, glanced into the air for a moment before his expression hardened.

Then, with surprised eyes, he looked at Yeongwoo and said in a trembling voice.

“Are, are you…?”

“What’s that about…”

Yeongwoo wondered as he asked, but he somehow knew why.

Even though he didn’t know the exact form it took, Sangik had received some kind of intelligence.

For example…

“It’s been reported that the son of Gangnam’s Strongest Sword was found decapitated. Near the expressway in Bundang.”

“I see.”

Seeing no signs of surprise from Yeongwoo about the decapitation news, Sangik shut his mouth.

“Tha no way….”

“Like you said, some gangsters stopped us near Bundang, so I killed them.”

“You mean all 14 people?”

“I think that’s about it.”

“Then, what about the body? It must have been lying there with its head cut off. Could it be that you left it there?”

“After killing the monster, do you hold the funeral?”

This meant that Yeongwoo had left the bodies of 14 people, including the decapitated son of Gangnam’s Strongest Sword, on the roadside.

“Crazy…”

Sangik paused for a moment, unable to utter the word ‘bastard’ before taking a breath.

Because now he had to say something really important.

“We’re screwed. Gangnam’s Strongest Sword is running wild right now. Since he said he saw his son’s body… there’s nothing we can do.”

“But why ‘we’? It’s strictly my affair.”

As Yeongwoo questioned, Sangik almost got angry, but managed to calm himself down.

“A little while ago, you sprayed Golden Rain in Gwanak-gu. Fuck, everyone must have seen it.”

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]