Chapter 134
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: Yeouido's Puppet Mayor
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Finding Park Seokgyu wasn't all that difficult.
I headed to the place where he'd been staying originally, and there he was, sitting at his desk with a grim expression on his face.
The moment I spotted Park Seokgyu, the door swung open and Joo Jae-geun strode inside.
"Greetings! Mayor of our Paradise~"
His words were so blatantly mocking as he spread his arms wide in mock welcome that even a stranger would have picked up on it right away.
"Joo Jae-geun..."
Park Seokgyu shot him a resentful glare.
"Hey, hey, we agreed not to call each other like that. I'll leave you right there as mayor of Paradise, and you'll recognize me as the Paradise Defense Captain. We respect each other—forgot about that?"
"Don't make me laugh! Who do you take me for, an idiot? You think I don't know you're propping me up as a figurehead while you swallow Yeouido whole?!"
Park Seokgyu snatched a plastic object off the desk and hurled it at Joo Jae-geun in a burst of fury.
But Joo Jae-geun caught the flying projectile effortlessly with one hand, then chuckled like it was the funniest thing.
"So?"
"What?"
"So what can you do about it? Besides yelling at me when you know damn well you can't touch me—what?"
Park Seokgyu clenched his fists at those words, his mouth opening as if to retort, but nothing came out.
"Kuhaha! Pointless chatter from a powerless fool. Got it? In this world, what matters is power—power!"
Joo Jae-geun squeezed his hand, shattering the object Park had thrown into pieces with a single grip.
"You need power like this to survive these days. You're safe in here, so you just don't get it, huh?"
"...That's not true. I got chased by zombies back in the day too."
"Hah, don't make a big deal out of regular zombies! We're out there risking our necks against mutants—you think you've seen anything like that...?"
Joo Jae-geun's point wasn't entirely wrong.
Mutant Zombies were far more dangerous than the standard kind, after all.
"The soldiers handle everything outside, so you wouldn't know. Well, that guy trusted you to guard Paradise and ended up dying tragically~"
The soldier Joo Jae-geun was talking about must have been the one who'd defended the place alongside his men when I led the raiders into Yeouido.
At those words, Park Seokgyu flew into another rage.
"Captain Ki was killed by you! Think I don't know that?! With his skills, he wouldn't have lost to trash like that."
"Then why'd he die right there?"
"You shot him in the back or something. Otherwise, Captain Ki wouldn't go down easy to bullets."
Just as Park Seokgyu suspected, it was Joo Jae-geun who'd killed the military leader known as Captain Ki.
I'd seen it with my own two eyes.
Joo Jae-geun didn't even blink at the accusation, keeping his smile plastered on.
"Whether that Captain Ki guy got taken out by the invaders or by my hand—it doesn't matter. Dead is dead, and the living keep on living. Now it's just us two. Time to cooperate and run Paradise right, yeah?"
"Cooperate? You just want to use me as a tool to duplicate supplies with my Double Skill. You take me for a fool?"
Joo Jae-geun burst into loud laughter at Park Seokgyu's words.
"Puhaha! If you know that, why fight it? No power? Bow your head and grovel. You know exactly why I'm letting you live."
Just as he'd killed Captain Ki to fully seize Yeouido, offing the original ruler Park Seokgyu would be a piece of cake.
But the reason he hadn't was obviously Park's Double Skill.
With that, supplies could keep doubling indefinitely—killing him to take Yeouido outright would be downright stupid.
Park Seokgyu probably mouthed off knowing that to some extent.
Joo Jae-geun, who'd been laughing nonstop until then, sharpened his gaze and stared daggers at Park Seokgyu.
"Or should I chop off your son's head and bring it here?"
"Th-that..."
"Your boy's under my good care right now, so quit the backtalk. Got it?"
Park Seokgyu's son, the one who'd been caught by Joo Hyeri, was apparently being held hostage.
At that, Park Seokgyu had no choice but to hang his head.
Just from this scene, the whole situation was crystal clear.
Joo Jae-geun had fully occupied Yeouido, just as I'd nudged him to.
Thanks to that, Joo Hyeri was rampaging without a care in the world.
Once Seo Yoon could wield black magic to a decent level, it was time to tear Yeouido down.
I could snag the Double Skill then anyway, so I decided to head back to base.
Using the extra zone I'd set up in Yeouido, I instant-transported back and ran into Sohee and Ha Dongseok, who'd been diligently farming coins by slaying zombies today as usual.
I filled them in on what I'd been up to.
"As expected from Jaehwan."
"Cleared a difficulty 4 dungeon? Solo? You monster... I tried a diff 3 and bailed—it was too tough."
When I'd sent Sohee and Ha Dongseok to scout dungeon locations, they'd apparently challenged a difficulty 3 themselves.
Even that had been too much for them to clear, so hearing I'd soloed one a whole level higher? No wonder they were stunned.
"And the reward was stealing other people's skills? You're already OP—how much stronger you gonna get?"
"Not about getting stronger. Just collecting skills to make life easier."
The Silence skill I'd picked up today wouldn't do much for raw power.
But it had its uses in other ways.
"More importantly, named zombies? What even are those?"
"No clue. First time I saw one today. I'll describe 'em—if you run into any while out scavenging, don't look back. Just bolt. Don't be dumb and try fighting—you're all too weak for that."
Based on how it felt tangling with one today, Sohee and Ha Dongseok's current level was still way too low to handle them.
"We've gotten stronger though—still not enough?"
"Sohee's right. We've been improving bit by bit."
Stung by being called weaklings, the two shot back confidently.
"From where I'm standing, you two are about the same. No real difference from your underlings who need guns to fight."
I couldn't tell exactly how much they'd leveled up without seeing it, but the odds of them reaching a level that threatened me? Close to zero.
No, honestly, I hoped they'd surprised me with massive gains.
That'd mean way more coins raked in, and I'd reward them accordingly.
At my words, Sohee grabbed the greatsword she'd set aside, assumed a stance, and pointed it at me.
"Then let's test it. Fight me yourself—you'll see."
"Oh? That confident?"
"You don't know till you try, right?"
Some things you could tell without fighting, but whatever.
Ha Dongseok, who'd been watching Sohee, lifted his own greatsword.
"Count me in too. I know your strength well enough, Jaehwan, but I want to show you our progress."
I'd planned to wrap up sharing today's events, then head to my room to tumble around with Yejin or mess around with Silence for fun.
But seeing their eager eyes, humoring them for a bit didn't sound bad.
"Alright then. Let's see what you've got."
Even if they couldn't clear a diff 3 dungeon, gauging their actual skill level was important.
"Fine. Both of you come at me together."
I beckoned them forward with a hand gesture.
"Both of us?"
"Yeah. Otherwise, it won't even be a decent matchup."
They both scowled a little at my words, which felt like a dismissal—it was kinda funny.
Compared to the other Awakeners excluding me, they figured they had decent skills, so my attitude was bruising their egos.
"And if you do well, there's a reward. Beating me's impossible, obviously, but... land even a graze on me, and I'll grant you one wish."
"A wish?"
"Yeah. Handing out coins is too basic. Pulling off a solid hit on me with your skills? That's worth a wish. Anything you want."
At the promise of a genuine wish, both their faces turned dead serious.
"Anything at all?"
"Yup. No take-backs—whatever I can manage, consider it done."
With that, the spar to test Sohee and Ha Dongseok's strength began.