Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Unintended Summons
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# Chapter 115.
Seo Woo-jin’s gaze dropped to the ground.
The boys were honestly beneath his notice, so he hadn’t even bothered to stay on guard.
‘Luckily, everything’s still here.’
The gold, the train ticket, and the scroll.
All safe and sound.
*Crack.*
Seo Woo-jin rolled his neck threateningly as he approached the boys.
But they just snickered, not showing the slightest hint of fear.
‘Well, yeah, figures.’
Wasn’t it the same back in Korea?
Try scolding kids smoking in back alleys, and all you’d get is mockery and attitude.
Mess with them, and if you didn’t end up getting jumped or sued for assault, you’d count yourself lucky.
These punks were even rougher and nastier than those delinquents.
They’d actually been trying to kill without a second thought.
But Seo Woo-jin was no different.
He wasn’t your average adult, either.
“Get ready to have a bone or two broken.”
“Just get lost already.”
Was he bluffing, they thought?
The biggest of the bunch stepped forward, jabbing Seo Woo-jin’s chest with his finger.
“You’re gonna regret— Aaaargh!”
A crunch echoed from his finger.
The burly boy screamed as he stared at his finger bent into a grotesque ‘ㄱ’ shape.
He’d never imagined someone would snap it outright like that. Eyes bulging, he collapsed to his knees.
“Told you. Get ready to break.”
He hadn’t been kidding.
For trying to kill him, this was practically lenient.
He’d wanted to smash their faces like he did Rashid’s, but since they were kids, he went easy.
He kicked the writhing screamer into a corner.
“Don’t even think about running.”
Had they finally grasped the situation?
Their faces hardened.
“Rush him all at once!”
Ashad shouted.
The weakest-looking one seemed to be their leader.
The boys roared and charged as one.
Their only weapons were wooden clubs, but they looked plenty vicious.
Of course, they posed zero threat to Seo Woo-jin.
“Aaagh, my arm!”
“My leg—my leg’s broken!”
The fight was over in seconds.
It wasn’t even a fight.
Just Seo Woo-jin’s one-sided beatdown.
Even a thousand ordinary brats like these would be a joke to him.
Seo Woo-jin carefully controlled his strength, breaking arms and legs as punishment and nothing more.
Less than a minute later, most of the boys were rolling on the ground.
The only ones still standing were Ashad, who hadn’t rushed in, and Rinar, who stared at Seo Woo-jin in a daze.
“Hey, thief. Rinar, right?”
When Seo Woo-jin called his name, Rinar flinched.
“Y-Yes...”
The cheerfulness from the inn was gone, replaced by raw fear.
“We’ll deal with you later. First, let’s finish this guy.”
“Eek!”
Ashad’s innocent face twisted, radiating killing intent.
‘Knew it was him.’
The others had given off faint killing intent, but his was exceptionally sharp.
What the hell had this kid been through at his age...?
Seo Woo-jin frowned at the venomous glare.
“You need extra punishment.”
Otherwise, he’d just be a menace to the world.
Seo Woo-jin slowly stepped toward Ashad.
As the distance closed, Ashad’s face grew paler.
The others had dropped in the blink of an eye.
There was no way Ashad could stand against him.
“Damn it, fuck!”
A crude curse burst out.
But his actions said otherwise.
Far from charging, he bolted for the dropped money.
Even now, thinking of grabbing it and running...
Seo Woo-jin couldn’t help but scoff.
“Hey, you think you’re getting away with that?”
Seo Woo-jin called out in disbelief, but Ashad ignored him, scooping up the scattered items and fleeing.
“Huh?”
Seo Woo-jin’s brow furrowed.
The money? Fine, whatever.
There was no chance he’d actually escape.
But of all things, the scroll was clutched in his hand.
That thing couldn’t tear here, not by accident.
Not unless it was at the prepared time and place.
Exactly as planned.
Seo Woo-jin clicked his tongue and stomped.
He appeared in front of Ashad in an instant.
He reached out, but Ashad twisted away.
Not that he’d seen it coming.
Pure instinct, perfectly timed by chance.
Bad luck for Seo Woo-jin.
The scroll caught in Ashad’s grasp.
And Ashad’s pivot created tension.
Resulting in...
*Riiip.*
Seo Woo-jin yanked his hand back in shock, but once started, the torn scroll activated its magic anyway.
Ruuuuumble—!!
Demonic energy erupted.
The kind that screamed of the Demon King’s presence.
‘Decoy’ was made for exactly that purpose.
Seo Woo-jin felt the demonic waves ripple out in expanding circles.
He raised a hand to shield his face.
“Ah, shit.”
* * *
A scent of demonic energy blanketed the city and beyond, into the entire territory.
Ordinary folk didn’t notice.
Even sensitive types or knights might feel unease, but they’d never pinpoint it.
But one group reacted fiercely to the magic.
“This is...”
The Dark Elf living alone in a forest cabin.
The night noble lurking among villagers, craving blood.
The wyrm lost in deep slumber, blind to time’s flow.
Even a speck of demonic energy drew their keen interest.
“Demonic energy. Their trace.”
They uncoiled and stirred.
Toward the source.
* * *
Seo Woo-jin shattered Ashad’s arms and legs.
Screams rang out, but he didn’t care.
Considering what this punk had done, he’d have snapped his neck instead.
‘Hold back.’
He couldn’t kill a kid not even in his teens.
So he settled for a thorough lesson.
One etched into the bone.
“Now, what to do with you?”
Ashad bore the worst blame, but Rinar had started it all.
Nearly dying to his friends’ betrayal didn’t excuse stealing from him.
The audacity was absurd.
“P-Please, spare me.”
Rinar dropped to his knees, pale as a ghost, begging.
Did he know his fault? His face looked desperate.
Seo Woo-jin looked down at him silently.
Unlike Ashad, who cursed to the end, Rinar was terrified.
It softened his resolve a bit.
“Haah—”
He sighed.
Did Rinar see hope in that?
His face brightened slightly.
*Smack!*
“Gaaah!”
A massive impact sent Rinar clutching his head and tumbling.
The skull-rattling pain was no less than the broken-limbed boys’.
“This is your punishment for now. But we’re not done.”
Truth be told, he wanted to torment him for days, but handling the mess took priority.
“Quit whining and pick up the money.”
A nudge from his foot, and Rinar groaned to his feet, gathering Seo Woo-jin’s gold.
He feared enraging Seo Woo-jin more than his splitting headache.
“H-Here...”
He handed over the carefully collected pile.
“Ah, damn it.”
The torn scroll soured his mood again.
He needed a plan, fast.
“Follow me.”
Seo Woo-jin dragged Rinar back to the inn.
‘By now, every Demon King follower in the area must’ve sensed it.’
Demonic energy mistaken for the Demon King’s trace...
‘They’ll swarm soon.’
To them, the Demon King was godlike.
Great or small, they revered objects bearing his demonic energy as holy relics.
They’d move for it, no doubt.
Usually, just ragtag weaklings would show.
Monsters like Gerald or Reina had heavy hips.
That’s why Seo Woo-jin had to play bait.
Spread rumors of a hero, mix in Demon King traces, and those beasts would bite.
From here to Rimartan, he’d stir up noise to amplify the buzz.
‘Then, after preps, trigger ‘Decoy’ in Rimartan.’
Evacuate civilians, let Sword Sage, Shadow Duke, and the Empire’s hidden forces hunt the lured monsters.
Their power could handle them.
But it’d gone wrong before takeoff.
Picked off by a pickpocket, of all things.
How the hell had the kid dodged his senses and swiped the pouch?
“Rinar.”
Seo Woo-jin called from ahead, startling the boy.
“How’d you do it?”
“Do... what?”
Rinar tilted his head at the sudden question.
“How’d you steal my pouch?”
With his evolved body, Seo Woo-jin’s senses far outstripped human limits.
No way a brat like Rinar could fool them.
Yet he had.
Rinar hesitated at the question.
He looked like he was hiding something.
“Speak.”
Seo Woo-jin scowled, and Rinar jumped to answer.
“Since I was little. If I focus, no one notices me. Never got caught stealing.”
Was that possible?
If true, it was an impressive talent.
Fooling not just normals, but Seo Woo-jin’s senses.
‘Like a Perception Impairment skill?’
He’d heard of heroes with such skills.
He’d half-overheard from Iji-a’s chatter, so not certain...
‘Assassin-type hero, probably?’
But Rinar’s was innate, not a skill.
“Hmm.”
Useful?
Too soon to tell.
An idea flickered, but not immediately applicable.
‘Hold off for now.’
Handle the crisis first, think later.
If worthwhile, he could take the kid to the capital.
“Got it.”
Seo Woo-jin shrugged it off and quickened his pace.
They emerged from the maze of alleys to the inn called Sand Hill.
But the front was chaos.
“Drag that bastard out! He dared touch Lord Rashid?”
“Have some mercy. He did this to me...”
Unfamiliar soldiers and the sleazy innkeeper.
They’d set up camp out front, calling for Seo Woo-jin.
“Haah—”
Annoying.
Head already pounding from the mess, now these idiots scratched at his nerves.
Seo Woo-jin walked toward the inn with cold, sunken eyes.