Chapter 135: Cheongpyeong
Chapter 135: Cheongpyeong
#
'The first strike decides the fight!'
Shwooosh—Whing—
The stone I hurled with all my strength cut harmlessly through empty air.
Despite his massive, fur-covered appearance, the giant moved with astonishing agility.
'An ability?'
I threw the other two pieces of gravel I'd gathered, but he zigzagged around both.
The enormous figure continued charging while evading my projectiles.
He exerted the same oppressive pressure as a fat Mutated Zombie rushing toward me.
Whoosh—
The axe passed close enough to brush my hair.
Still crouched from ducking beneath the swing, I threw myself sideways.
"Whew... You're fast. Is that your ability?"
"..."
The shaggy stranger remained silent.
He had tied his long, tangled hair roughly atop his head, and a dense beard covered even his cheeks and concealed his jaw.
That made his age impossible to estimate.
'Then again... Did age matter anymore?'
He resembled a Joseon-era butcher from a television drama.
The murderous gleam in his eyes taught me what genuine bloodlust looked like.
'I had never lost to anyone in sheer size before...'
He seemed slightly shorter than me, but his body carried even more mass.
The forearms exposed between his overall straps were as thick as an average woman’s waist.
Enormous muscles probably lay beneath that heavy layer of fat.
Combined with his clothing, his build evoked a serial killer from somewhere in rural Texas.
In short, he looked terrifying.
"Someone built like you could only move that quickly with an ability."
"Khaak—ptooey. Watch your mouth, brat."
The bastard finally spoke.
My mention of his ability had apparently struck a nerve.
His voice resembled an animal’s growl.
'An ability similar to mine?'
Body Enhancement had pushed my reflexes beyond ordinary human limits.
Yet he moved at roughly the same speed.
The bastard gripped the axe handle with both hands and prepared to charge again.
"Uaaaat!"
The stranger roared and lunged toward me.
The distance vanished in an instant.
While speaking, I'd been scraping one foot through the gravel. Now I kicked upward.
Charrarak—
Several stones sprayed toward his face, forcing him to cover it instinctively.
I charged into the opening created by his blocked vision and swung my Favorite Baseball Bat.
Boo-woong—Pang—
Thwack—
My bat struck something transparent that materialized between us.
'A Shield?'
A slightly opaque barrier hovered in the air.
It resembled the Shield I had once seen Assistant Manager Choi create.
Although it shattered almost immediately, it still reduced the impact.
The stranger scrambled backward.
I pursued him and raised the bat again.
Thwip—
'Son of a bitch...'
As I rushed forward, something suddenly caught my ankle.
While pitching off balance, I saw a Shield positioned at ankle height.
It swept my footing away and sent my body airborne.
The stranger’s eyes flashed, and he immediately swung his axe at me.
Whoo-ooong—Clang—
I blocked the axe with my baseball bat while still in the air.
As though he had expected the block, he closed in and drove his shoulder into me.
Crash—Bang—Thud—
His takedown sent us tumbling across the gravel in a tangled heap.
His hands and legs moved with the practiced complexity of someone trained in jiu-jitsu.
"Hrraaap!"
His enormous hands locked around my wrist and pulled with all their strength.
At the same time, a leg as thick as a timber pressed across my face, neck, and chest.
He leaned his entire body backward while wrenching my wrist.
'Kkgh... At this rate, my arm will break...'
"Huh?"
The properly executed armbar startled me, but I soon realized that the force behind it wasn't especially great.
When I flexed my arm, his entire body shook.
Even the leg across my face exerted little pressure.
"So all that bulk is only for show?"
Meeting his bewildered eyes, I pulled my trapped arm inward.
I twisted sideways, braced one hand against the ground, and lifted the arm from which he still hung straight into the air.
Thud—
His enormous body traced a semicircle before slamming into the ground.
#
"I surrender! We surrender!"
A delicate voice rang from the campground entrance.
I had just used my captured arm to slam the dangling stranger into the ground and was preparing to strike his head.
His speed rivaled mine, but our strength differed enormously.
The difference was not marginal; it was overwhelming.
That confirmed that his ability wasn't truly similar to mine.
I had intended to hit him several times and incapacitate him.
At that precise moment, an unfamiliar woman spoke.
"Please... Release him. I'll take his place, so..."
"No! Run, honey. I'll hold this bastard here somehow, so..."
Left alone, the two of them would have filmed an entire melodrama.
I gathered the struggling man’s wrists and pinned both beneath one hand.
He writhed in pain.
Then I planted one knee against his neck.
"You two are putting on quite a performance. You—stay still. One wrong move and you die."
"..."
Only then could I examine the newly arrived woman.
She wore a flowing white dress and a broad-brimmed straw hat.
"What's with that outfit...?"
"Please spare us. I'll become your prisoner instead. Please... Hic..."
"Ah... Stop crying. Are you the one creating the Shields?"
"Hmph... Sniff. Yes. The Shield is mine."
"And this bastard has a Body Enhancement-type ability?"
"Yes..."
The woman answered obediently.
She appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties, wore clothing completely unsuited to the apocalypse, and had tears streaming down her face.
She clearly shared a close relationship with the enormous, hairy man.
"Eun-ah, tie up that woman."
"Okay."
As though she'd been waiting for the order, Eun-ah emerged holding rope.
The woman readily entrusted herself to Eun-ah.
"Krrrraaaak! Fuck! You son of a bitch! What are you planning to do to her?"
The bastard kicked and thrashed wildly.
"Haa... This won't work. You should sleep for a while."
Thwack—
"Kyaaaak!"
He seemed likely to remain loud and troublesome, so I drove my fist into his skull.
The woman responded with a bloodcurdling scream.
Loud noises could draw Aggro, which made the situation especially troublesome.
Their incessant melodrama was also infuriating me.
"God, you're loud. Eun-ah."
"Okay."
I called Eun-ah and gestured for her to cover the woman’s mouth.
Thwack—
Instead, Eun-ah formed a knife-hand and struck the back of the woman’s neck.
The man and the woman alike...
Both fell unconscious from a single blow.
"No, why would you do that?"
"Oong?"
"Don't “mm?” me. What did you just do?"
"Uh... Yes?"
Eun-ah and I stared blankly at each other.
#
Tadat—Tadak—
I tossed a thick log into the crackling campfire.
It came from a mountain-like stack of firewood in one corner of the campground.
We'd tied the unconscious couple to chairs and now sat around the fire.
Before long, both regained consciousness.
"Aaaah... Ah! Hot!"
The woman screamed again the moment she awakened.
"Please be quiet. What's so hot?"
"Haah... We're too close to the fire."
She looked around at those of us seated opposite her, then sighed in apparent resignation.
The man had opened his eyes and was glaring at me with murderous hatred.
When I returned his stare, though, he lowered his gaze and began to cry.
It made us seem like the true villains.
Scrrrape—
Flinch—
When I pushed back my chair and rose, both captives flinched violently.
I quietly walked behind them and pulled their chairs farther from the fire.
"There. Now, Speed and Shield—have you calmed down?"
"Yes. Please spare us. No, I don't matter, but at least let my husband..."
"Sigh... I'll ask the questions. You only need to answer."
The woman closed her mouth when I spoke while gripping my Favorite Baseball Bat.
Their apparent assumption that we were cannibals had already soured my mood.
"The man has a Body Enhancement-type ability that increases his speed, and the woman creates Shields. Correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
The huge man remained silent and tearful, leaving the woman to answer.
Contrary to their appearances, she seemed to possess more composure.
"Then why did you attack us?"
"Huh?"
"Why did you ambush us? Do you travel around killing people, or did you want our supplies?"
"No... Wait. You believe we attacked you?"
The woman stared at me in disbelief.
Had I not heard the strange sound in advance, the three of us might have been unable to avoid the pair’s ambush.
"Don't pretend ignorance. Answer the question."
"Why would we attack you? We've never harmed another person."
She looked genuinely aggrieved.
Despite the large man having approached quietly and then charged me, she behaved as though they were the victims.
Nothing about her reaction seemed acted.
That was when I began to suspect that something had gone wrong.
"Um... Sir? May I explain one thing?"
"..."
"My name is Eun-byeol—Lee Eun-byeol. This campground was named after me. Inside the house on the left, there's a black long wallet in the top drawer of the three-drawer dresser. Please check my identification."
'Two Silver Star... Lee Eun-byeol...'
Just as my suspicions arose, the woman poured out information in a rush.
Her explanation made the back of my head throb.
Hye-ji quickly ran into the house.
"My husband and I lived at this campground. We settled here five years ago... Sniff... We didn't ambush you. We saw unfamiliar wheel tracks leading toward our home, so my husband came ahead to investigate... Hic..."
Large tears rolled down her cheeks again.
The man closed his eyes and bit his lip.
"Mister, here is the wallet..."
Hye-ji emerged carrying the black wallet.
I didn't need to open it.
The moment the woman provided such precise details, I knew she was telling the truth.
We had been the attackers.
'Fuck... No wonder the house was clean.'
I'd thought we had walked into a trap, but the entire confrontation appeared to be a misunderstanding.
The couple had merely tried to protect their home.
Now that matters had reached this point, only one course remained.
Having made my decision, I kicked back my chair and stood.
Scrrrape—Clatter—
The plastic chair toppled noisily behind me.
"Hic... I'm sorry. I'll stop crying. Please forgive me."
The woman flinched and begged, while the man tensed as though preparing to tear free of his restraints.
Before the situation worsened, I acted quickly.