Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: John Wick
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John Wick.
Jin had a movie he absolutely loved.
It was about a former hitman avenging his dog, and if you added a little exaggeration, he spent the entire 100-minute runtime just killing people.
Stabbing them, shooting them, beating them to death.
Word had it that 83 souls went to the afterlife by the protagonist's hand.
Almost one per minute. And the enemies who dropped like flies had a stock dying line—
"What the hell's so special about that damn mutt?!"
But that was an ignorant remark from fools who didn't grasp the meaning behind the dog.
To the protagonist, that little pup was the last gift from his late wife.
In other words, what might seem worthless to others could be an irreplaceable treasure to the person it belongs to.
And right now...
Jin fully understood Teacher John's rage.
My money!
My gun!
To Jin, they were his dog and his lover.
Money earned through blood and sweat.
The first weapon he'd ever bought with it.
Things that couldn't be measured by face value alone.
Jin clenched his fist tight.
Touching my stuff?
Pretending to be nice guys, babbling about mercy, but that backstab wasn't enough for you?
"...You're all fucked."
As Jin wrinkled his nose and took a heavy step forward—
"You just gonna leave?"
A voice at his back made him freeze. Oh, right.
"Yeah, almost forgot."
Jin whipped around and headed toward the middle-aged man watching him.
He grabbed the chain and yanked hard—
Crack—boom!
The chain couldn't withstand the force and ripped free from the ceiling stake.
The middle-aged man, now on the floor, rubbed his loosened wrists and shook off the chains while Jin watched.
"One favor."
"What?"
"Look after these people here."
Jin jerked his chin toward the human butcher shop.
"They'll freak when they come to. So you—no, Senior—handle it like a proper senior, right? Explain the situation, calm them down. Got it?"
"What am I supposed to explain or calm them about?"
"Tell 'em they were kidnapped, yeah. But no worries—the future Solo king went to sort it out. Something like that?"
Not entirely trusting the guy, Jin repeated it two or three times and got confirmation before turning away.
Ah, momentum killed.
This was supposed to flow straight from peak rage.
Anyway, refocus.
...My precious gun, the day I first bought you, all of Downtown whispered your name.
Gravis.
Yeah. That's the vibe.
Fueled by pure fury, Jin scooped up the fallen chain, wrapped it around both forearms, and stormed out the open door.
"......"
The middle-aged man silently watched his back, a glint in his eyes.
Jin wasn't born a psycho.
Even in this mad world, he'd never crossed his own line—the bare minimum of being human.
Take murder, for instance.
Now so routine he could do it a dozen times a day without batting an eye, yet Jin never saw it as a tool for his growth.
He knew.
Every death by his hand turned into daily XP grist.
But knowing and exploiting that were worlds apart.
Hmm, XP a bit short for the next star... Guess I'll just kill ten gangbangers.
That mindset was a one-way ticket to insanity.
For Jin's already shaky mental state, it was unbearable.
Of course, not always.
There were exceptions.
When the target was unambiguously evil.
These aren't even animals wearing human skin—they're worse.
Then treating them as XP did zero mental damage.
Hell, it was welcome.
Cleaning up trash that served no purpose, and gaining XP? Win-win. Pheasant, egg, swept yard, and pocket change.
This case was perfect for it.
Not long after scouting the factory, Jin found massive test tubes bubbling with grotesque liquid and monks chanting over skinned corpses.
Over ten monks, easy. Corpses? At least double that.
Borrowing the late priest's words,
they were definitely brewing mutants or whatever.
Even Jin, who'd seen all kinds of filth, couldn't help grimacing at the horrific scene—too gruesome for words.
What the hell is that? Ruining my appetite.
Key point: why they were doing it didn't matter to Jin.
Just one more reason to kill them.
And without a shred of guilt.
Whirr—
He spun the chains—still long enough to drag the floor after wrapping his arms—viciously in each hand.
Menacing wind whipped around him.
Jin's eyes locked on the monks, oblivious to him.
He found the perfect spot, focused—
Mana evaporated. Vision warped. Blink.
Four heads burst like overripe tomatoes.
Splat splat splat!!
No screams.
They never knew what hit them.
"What the—?!"
A guy injecting something into a corpse's nose farther off whipped his head around.
The moment his shocked eyes caught his comrades collapsing in sprays of blood...
Jin was behind him.
Shwick!
Like lassoing a bucking bronco, Jin whipped the chain around the monk's neck with flawless wrist control and stomped his exposed ankle.
As the guy crumpled, Jin braced his waist with a foot and yanked both arms hard—
His spine bent like a bow, then snapped in half. The monk's occiput met his heel.
Bonus: the crunch crunch crunch of herniated discs fleeing en masse.
"Intruder!"
"A lone City Hall operative?!"
"Block him! Now!"
The enemies finally clocked him.
Hoods back, lower faces twisted in shock as they launched counterattacks.
Chanting spells, slashing forearms to spill blood,
one drawing a gun...
Gravis! No, baby! Why're you there?!
Worth more than his right eye, but...
Seeing his baby in enemy hands, Jin's eyes bulged.
He charged—
"...Vile beast of the subterranean depths!"
Someone finished a mumbling chant in a booming roar.
Jin's gaze snapped there.
And he saw it.
A four-legged beast stretching amid the boiling blood.
Like a pit bull marinated three days in gore.
Musclebound red body, only teeth gleaming white, jaws snapping.
Three of them.
Matching the monks who'd slashed their arms and dripped blood.
Huff!
The blood-contracted beasts kicked off the ground.
Ferocity that'd drop a normal person flat.
But Jin didn't flinch.
Just don't fight them.
Best way to handle summons? Kill the summoner.
Proven by decades of big data from comics, movies, games, novels.
How could cultured gamer Jin not know?
He whirled the chains like a storm,
Blink! Blink! Blink!
Near-instant teleports shredded the summoners.
"H-how?!"
"Impossible!"
Screams erupted everywhere.
Simple reason for their shock.
Teleportation was one of the hardest skills to use in real combat.
Pinpointing coordinates in a 3D XYZ cube and hurling mind and body there—a reckless gamble.
Without innate talent converting 2D visuals to 3D in the brain, you couldn't abuse it.
TL;DR: elite senses plus bone-deep grasp of spatial jumps.
Jin nailed it perfectly.
Superhuman senses collabing with force-fed knowledge.
Wham!!!
Last summoner crumpled under a full-force chain swing.
Simultaneously, the beasts chasing Jin's flashing tail splattered as blood puddles.
Dizziness hit. Jin staggered.
Overused mana blurred his vision.
He braced on something.
A cylinder with a skinned human. Gross.
"Ugh, shit!"
Jin recoiled, punching it. Glass shattered, liquid cascaded—he leaped back.
"No! You mad bastard! Stop!"
"Do you even know what you've done?!"
The few remaining foes shrieked.
Obvious panic. Amid his daze, Jin windmilled his arms.
Smashed every test tube in range.
Pointless rampage to him, apocalypse to them.
"Nooooo!!!"
Blood-and-flesh projectiles arced toward the human windmill Jin had become.
Parabola drop.
One step ahead: Blink.
Jin caught the blind spot, swung.
Crack!
Skull fractured on impact.
He was gone before it landed.
Instead, another monk's neck snapped as he whipped his head around.
One left.
Jin nudged a corpse at his feet.
"Hey. Drop it. You won't shoot anyway. Why so attached?"
The last monk, gripping Gravis with blood-slick hands, gritted his teeth.
"...I know you."
"Me?"
"Heard the rumors of the spatial sorcerer psychic among City Hall's agents. Half-truths. They said a cold-faced woman..."
Jin narrowed his eyes.
Why City Hall all of a sudden?
Deep delusion. Eyes see what they want.
Shallow logic.
Like insisting no one but City Hall would raid their factory.
"Shut it."
No interest in fixing that narrow mind. Jin advanced.
"Hand over my gun. Unless you want it painful."
The monk leveled Gravis under his own chin.
"Foolish heretic. Death is not the end. It's the beginning of all."
No hesitation. Trigger pull.
Bang—!!!
Recoil flung his body backward onto the floor.
"......"
Jin stared at the headless corpse, dumbfounded. Suicide? Unexpected.
Hiss...
Foul stench. Dead monks melted everywhere, writhing like living things, pooling together.
In seconds.
Formed a horrific monster: two heads, four legs.
Rooooar!!
Five layers of fangs bared in thunderous roar.
Jin sighed deeply, scooped up fallen Gravis.
"Crazy world. Now even this shit pops out."
As he aimed forward—
Krzzzzzt!!!
Purple lightning from behind engulfed the beast.
Under frenzied flashes, the massive form convulsed in agony—
Charred black, crashed down.
Jin whipped around.
Middle-aged man stood there.
Arm extended straight.
A pleased smile on his lips.
He spoke.
"How was that? Senior enough for you?"