Chapter 181

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 181: Everyone’s Strongest Sword (1)

High-risk mutant.

And a recommended formation of one group with two people, directly appointed by the council.

“What… What’s this? Even as the Strongest Sword, it’s asking to not to be alone?”

As Jeonggu, reading the warning, scratched his chin, Yeongwoo, who had put on his shoes, nodded.

“Yes. From today on, it means that those who are difficult to handle alone as the Strongest Sword are coming back.”

Yeongwoo thought that maybe it wasn’t just a simple dream.

It was the dragon dream he saw just before waking up.

‘Of course, it’s absurd to think that my mother really gave a prophecy.’

If his mother was really a mutant, she would have been waiting in the darkness like Kim Jong-un for the day to return.

Rather than giving a prophecy to an unnamed son, it’s a story of not even being able to look ahead to her own future.

Then what was that dream earlier?

‘If my uncle really returns as a lightning-spewing dragon, then I should seriously consider it.’

Ring!

The morning call continued to ring loudly.

Yeongwoo moved to the bedroom and picked up the communicator with the problem.

Thunk.

Then, as usual, a strange voice informed him of the checkout time.

《There is 1 hour and 56 minutes left until check-out.》

And then.

《There is one unconfirmed message. Press 5 to receive.》

For the first time, a dialogue other than the checkout notification flowed.

“Huh?”

It seemed there was some kind of voicemail function.

But why would someone leave a message at this point?

Yeongwoo pressed 5 on the phone just as he heard, and the strange voice read out the message stored in Yeongwoo’s mailbox.

《Hello, Mr. Jeong Yeongwoo07. This is Prism Credit contacting you.》

“Prism Credit…?”

For some reason, he felt he knew what business they had.

And indeed.

《Our Prism Credit is based on cheaper rates and thorough credit loans than death…》

‘Of course. Various parasites come running when they find out I’m in trouble with taxes.’

Prism Credit.

An intergalactic loan company.

To summarize the message they left, it was that they knew he was in trouble because of the acquisition tax and would lend him money.

《If you want a consultation, press 403 0909# on the communicator. We will send a pager. Consultation and paging fees are free.》

‘What’s this about?’

Yeongwoo hesitated to hang up the communicator at the content that seemed like spam mail.

‘Wait a moment.’

Because he really needed money.

And not just a small amount.

‘The acquisition tax on ‘Bastard’ isn’t the end. When you receive the weapon encyclopaedia, acquisition tax will occur again.’

Although this is a one-time payment separate from the basic tax, it was a problem that could not be overlooked considering that the price of non-payment is death.

‘So should I consider loans as an option?’

Yeongwoo has been scammed by the dungeon system as well.

Of course, he didn’t think he would be caught naïvely.

“Golden.”

Calling out to the golden goblin while holding the communicator, Yeongwoo, who was sitting in the star room, rushed over.

-Keet!

“Do you still have it? That check.”

At Yeongwoo’s words, the goblin, realizing what he was looking for, opened the pocket of the spatial pouch.

-Keekit!

Swish.

What the goblin handed over was none other than a white coin.

「Blank check」 – Unique Currency

【Only once, it changes into the currency you touch.】

‘If the money lent by the loan company is also provided in the form of currency, then I can copy it with this.’

And if it was really possible, it would be advantageous to borrow as much money as possible.

Of course, it was still just one of the options.

‘For now, let’s keep the pager. I have nothing to lose.’

Deciding, Yeongwoo immediately pressed the call number of Prism Credit, and suddenly a part of the empty space split open quietly.

Swish.

Then, from inside, someone slid in a small device.

It was as if secretly putting in a snack.

“Hey, what’s this?”

Yeongwoo hastily called out to the other party, but the problem space was already closed.

It was a contact method that was quite different from Dogo, who openly shot beams of light from the sky.

“Is this the pager?”

Yeongwoo could only pick up the dropped pager from the floor.

Swish.

「Prism Pager」 – General Tool

【ICheaper rates than death! Prism Credit.】

“Hah.”

Seeing the tooltip on the communicator, Yeongwoo chuckled at the characteristic cheapness of Prism Credit.

Perhaps the reason why the communicator’s grade was ‘general’ was also due to cost-saving measures?

Since it was probably made to be scattered around for free.

‘Cheaper rates than death… Looking at the copy, it seems that there are quite a few people dying because of taxes.’

Anyway, since he had already started receiving spam mails, it seemed certain that he was experiencing quite rapid growth cosmically.

‘If I press this, is it an immediate call?’

As Yeongwoo fiddled with the communicator, which seemed like he had just removed one button from a keyboard, Seok, who had been standing in the corner of the bedroom, spoke up.

“…Are you done with everything?”

To this, Yeongwoo nodded with a cool smile.

“Ah, I didn’t even say hello… Sorry. Did you sleep well?”

At this greeting, Yeongwoo realized.

That he had been undressed since last night.

But Seok was not an ordinary person, so she didn’t make a fuss about Yeongwoo’s actions.

Instead.

“Sleep? I almost couldn’t sleep. How could I sleep when the kids’ dad is up all night.”

“Huh?”

Yeongwoo, belatedly shifting his gaze to the television in the room, saw Kim Taejoon, the CEO, and the other two inmates buried in parts just like yesterday.

[PR/N: Changing chairman taejoon to ceo taejoon bc its confusing bw chairman dogo]

And.

“Huh?”

Yeongwoo could also see the progress of the work to the extent that it was surprising.

“No, were you really working all night?”

In fact, the results on the screen were so obvious that there was no need to hear the answer.

― F-634, General!

― Wait. Where did you put all the Fs?

― They’re at the back.

The three of them had arranged the parts according to the assembly numbers to the extent that they had established their own system.

And even the giant barrel was nearly half finished.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

‘Even if the concept of time disappears in there, it seems there’s no limit to stamina.’

However, the television in the returnee’s room was currently off.

It was probably because the generator had run out of power at some point.

‘Even if the laser cannon is completed and the coordinate locator is found, if there’s no generator over there, it’s impossible to request artillery support. I have to earn merit points today to buy a generator.’

Having grasped the situation to some extent, Yeongwoo asked Seok to get ready to go out.

“Will you stay here a little longer? You can watch TV until 10 a.m.”

“Yes. We’ll be here until ten. But where will you go, Mr. Yeongwoo? Don’t you need more rest?”

“Ah, I think I…”

Yeongwoo glanced at his watch.

The current time was 8:12 a.m.

Although there was still quite some time left until the appearance of the mutant, it was a time to do what needed to be done.

‘We might need to move up the Strongest Swords’ meeting time and discuss the high-risk mutant countermeasures that were issued today.’

If possible, it’s best to do it during the morning when the Strongest Swords are least busy.

“You’ve probably seen it too, but the mutant coming today seems quite strong. So I think we should have a strategy meeting of our own.”

At this, Seok looked at her husband on the screen with a worried look.

“Then my husband will have to fight hard today.”

Of course, it was a natural thing to say.

But Yeongwoo took it to heart.

“I’ll do my best to make sure nothing like that happens. Today’s battle won’t be easy, but it will accumulate a lot of merit points, so we should be able to buy a generator.”

The generator was also welfare equipment for the inmates before the laser cannon was ready to operate.

“Please don’t worry too much, and if you stay here until ten, I’ll leave the guards and Jongsu here.”

“Yes, thank you as always.”

As Seok bowed her head in thanks to Yeongwoo, Moses and Leehyun, who had been standing behind her as if hiding, also bowed their heads carefully.

“Th… Thank you, sir.”

Although he thought the kids had no experience at all, they remembered what Yeongwoo had said last night.

-From now on, I’m your guardian.

“Well… Yes. Listen to your mother.”

After forcing an awkward smile to the children, Yeongwoo quickly left the room.

Then Jeonggu, who was standing in the living room, quickly approached him.

“Hey.”

“…?”

“The two-person, one-group formation. Of course, you’re in the same group as me, right?”

It seemed that Jeonggu was also concerned about the council’s warning.

“Right. Doesn’t my father have his own constituency too? He’s the Strongest Sword of Dobong, isn’t he?”

“Do you know how many people live in Dobong? The lives of all those people are in my hands…”

While Jeonggu was ranting, someone knocked on the door to the guest room.

Thump, thump.

“What’s this in the morning?”

“It could be Suna.”

However, both of their expectations were completely wrong.

Creak.

When Yeongwoo opened the door, wondering who it could be, there was a woman standing outside the room still protected by the blue barrier.

“Oh? Mam.”

Commonly known as Mam, Choi Jongseon02.

She was the Strongest Sword of Yangju, which had become a ruin, and a new mother who was scheduled to work as the dedicated agent of Gwangjin District from today.

As usual, she wrapped the baby in a carrier and strapped it to her body, already holding a weapon in her hand.

“They said a very strong mutant is coming?”

“Yes. Even without that news, I…”

Yeongwoo tried to explain that he had plans for follow-up measures, but Jongseon interrupted.

“Yeongwoo, of course, you’re in the same group as me, right?”

“…Yes?”

“If it’s a two-person, one-group formation. Since you brought me here, you should naturally take responsibility, shouldn’t you?”

“Well, yes, but…”

It was not logically or morally incorrect.

When Yeongwoo looked embarrassedly behind him, Jeonggu added as if he had been waiting.

“Hey, let’s just go with a three-person, one-group formation. We just need to work harder, right?”

“No… It doesn’t matter if we move between regions.”

The problem was the distance between regions.

Although Gangnam and Gwangjin were relatively close, so they could deal with the mutant quickly… Dobong was quite far north.

‘They were all scared by the council’s warning. Even Mam is trying to form a group with me…’

[TL/N: For some reason author is using “mom” for choi jongeon 💀idk that sounds weird as fuck so im going with mam, if more context is provided, for why is yeongwoo calling jongseon as mom i’ll change it.]

Until yesterday, he was called the crazy orphan here.

But in battle, that crazy orphan was the most reliable ally.

And that was true even from the perspective of Jeonggu, who was Yeongwoo’s very capable father.

‘A high-risk mutant…? It’s safer to stick by this guy’s side no matter what.’

While thinking this, Jeonggu glanced provocatively at Choi Jongseon, who seemed to be the competitor for this group assignment.

If Yeongwoo tried to stick to a two-person group, it was a nuance of telling him to get lost.

But Jeonggu’s competitors were not only Jongseon.

Ding!

This time, the sound of arrival came from the direction of the elevator on the other side of the corridor, and an unusual atmosphere swept in.

“Huh, who’s already here?”

“Oh, Yeongwoo!”

“Yeongwoo! Good morning!”

An impressive array of titles gathered densely on the 32nd floor corridor of Parnassus Hotel.

『Songpa’s Strongest Sword』

『Seocho’s Strongest Sword』

『Yongsan’s Strongest Sword』

And then.

Tap!

Even Dokjang Strongest Sword Lee Hanwook, who had jumped up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

“Wow, you’re all here already.”

At Lee Hanwook’s words, Jeonggu sensed that those kids had all come here for the sake of asking him to be their group leader.

All the Strongest Swords of the Seoul Federation wanted to be in the same group as Yeongwoo.

“This fucking…”

Having quickly grasped the situation, Jeonggu narrowed his eyes.

But at this point, physically and relationally, Kim Jeonggu himself was closest to Yeongwoo.

Thump!

So he confidently put his hand on Yeongwoo’s shoulder and boldly said, as if to make everyone hear.

“Son! Good morning!”

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]