Chapter 243
Chapter 243
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 243
Chapter Title: Conversation
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Kim Shin-hwa had been waiting for the call to end, and Jang Hyun-deok immediately spoke up.
“Um— by any chance, Mage...”
Rrrrring—
Perfect timing. Kim Shin-hwa’s smartphone cut Jang Hyun-deok off.
“Important call.”
“Uh, but.”
Kim Shin-hwa turned his head and made a gesture loaded with clear meaning. Wait a sec.
A gesture that went beyond businesslike, almost like issuing an order.
“Uh...”
“Yes, Madam Yeom, it’s me.”
A cheerful greeting mixed with crude curses. It was Yeom Geum-ja.
“Ah, I see. So you ended up stirring things up after all? A fight? It would’ve been better if you hadn’t. No need to regret it. Honestly, I half-expected it. Don’t approach any further. Pull your men back and just form a perimeter. I’ll head over right away.”
More curses from Yeom Geum-ja followed. It seemed the part about anticipating the danger had gotten under her skin.
She was yelling her curses so loudly that the sound leaked through the smartphone and reached Jang Hyun-deok’s ears.
From what he could hear, her subordinates—some people were injured, some had gone mad, and some had died.
Kim Shin-hwa responded to that.
“Didn’t I say from the start it was a high-risk operation? In return, once this is over, your influence will reach all the way to Unjeong Station. Yes. You get it, right? Then none of the Three Heads will be able to ignore you anymore. Wasn’t that what you wanted from the beginning? A problem? Oh, the monster? Didn’t I say I’d lend you my power? Just trust me and don’t worry.”
It started off sounding annoyed, but soon Kim Shin-hwa’s voice took on a low, soft, and sweetly rhythmic tone. Like a devil’s whisper, like a lover’s murmur—his persuasion flowed on.
Kim Shin-hwa’s Charisma stat had already maxed out at the human limit.
Even his actions without any intent behind them twisted into enchanting spells that stirred human emotions.
“Yes, I’m glad you understand.”
In the end, Yeom Geum-ja was convinced.
Kim Shin-hwa ended the call and pocketed his smartphone.
He’d pushed through his intentions, but he didn’t look particularly pleased. Just a brief flicker of annoyance, “Tch.”
He clicked his tongue.
“Let’s go, Hyun-deok. Plans changed. We need to hurry to Unjeong Station.”
A sudden explosion rang out.
“Whoa!?”
Jang Hyun-deok jumped in surprise and whipped his head around. It wasn’t close. The direction was... about 2.7 km northwest from here, where another explosion sounded.
Kim Shin-hwa knew what those blasts meant.
Chae Tae-won had started moving. Those were just cleanup shots for stragglers. Success was great, failure meant nothing. So Kim Shin-hwa ignored the repeated explosions and spoke to Jang Hyun-deok.
“Hyun-deok, let’s hurry.”
“Um, Mage?”
“Yeah?”
“By any chance...”
Jang Hyun-deok rolled a few words around on his tongue, searching for the right one, and spat out the easiest.
“Uh, did something happen that upset you?”
“No.”
Kim Shin-hwa answered shortly, paused for a beat, then continued.
“It’s perfect right now.”
Kim Shin-hwa had already racked up nine victories today.
Some tied to quests, some not, but he’d claimed proper rewards for most.
A string of unbroken wins. Total domination.
He’d seized the future enemies’ gathering spot, destroyed the weapons they’d wield, torched their supply lines that would raise future foes, stolen the tools they’d use for summoning, and assassinated future enemies.
The enemies fell without even fighting, and Kim Shin-hwa won without lifting a finger.
No room for complaints. He was satisfied. It couldn’t get better. He’d achieve his goals soon.
“But...”
Jang Hyun-deok’s hesitant voice trailed on.
What the hell does he want to say? I’m swamped— Kim Shin-hwa thought, but still waited for him to finish.
“You seem kinda down, Mage?”
That question sparked an inexplicable irritation in Kim Shin-hwa. He expressed it openly by turning and starting down the mountain.
“......”
Normally, anyone would sense the bad mood and shut up—
“Mage? Um, Mage?”
Jang Hyun-deok wasn’t that type.
“Mageee! Mageeee!”
He chased after Kim Shin-hwa, calling out loudly.
“Mage! Mage! Can you hear me?”
He didn’t grab or touch, but—
“Hello! Hello! Moshi moshi!”
Jang Hyun-deok’s antics exceeded Kim Shin-hwa’s expectations.
“Yoo-hoo! Mage! Mage! Hey! Heeey! Mage! Kyao! Kyaooo! Mage! Kyaooo!”
“Ah, cut it out! What the hell is ‘kyao’!?”
In the end, Kim Shin-hwa’s nerves snapped at the meaningless shrieks.
“Haha, you finally turned around. My victory.”
Jang Hyun-deok grinned with triumph. No idea what he’d won or how, but apparently Kim Shin-hwa had lost.
If anything, this was probably Kim Shin-hwa’s first defeat of the day.
“What happened, huh?”
“Nothing happened, I said.”
“Come on, something did.”
“......I don’t know what you’re getting at, but can you just act logically for once? No weird yells.”
Kim Shin-hwa tried to persuade him calmly, but Jang Hyun-deok ignored it. And like a victor claiming his rights, he barreled on.
“Whatever it is, cheer up. Or can I help with something?”
“You?”
“Yeah. Thanks to you, I’m Super-Hyper-Magical Jang Hyun-deok now, right?”
“Pfft.”
The unexpectedly lowbrow nonsense made Kim Shin-hwa laugh in exasperation.
“Ugh— pfft. Super Hyper what?”
“Super Hyper Magical Jang Hyun-deok. Hmm, Super Hyper Magical Jang Hyun-deok.”
He liked the rhythm of “Super Hyper Magical Jang Hyun-deok” and repeated it a few times. Before Kim Shin-hwa could respond, Jang Hyun-deok kept going.
“You evolved me like that, right, Mage? With that Evolution Stone thing. Now I’m a ridiculously powerful Super Hyper Magical Jang Hyun-deok.”
“What evolution... You idiot— no, forget it. Ugh.”
Only then did Kim Shin-hwa realize he’d been completely dragged into Jang Hyun-deok’s pace.
“Whew—”
A short deep breath.
Yeah. That’s right. I did that.
He mumbled incompletely to himself, recalling the conversation with Heo Sang-hyeon the day before yesterday.
And he figured out why he felt so off.
‘Damn. Shouldn’t have done that.’
Kim Shin-hwa felt a hard-to-articulate unease about “fixing” Heo Sang-hyeon.
He hadn’t listened to Heo Sang-hyeon. He’d just treated him like a malfunctioning machine—popped the hood, rewired, hammered a few times, reset the memory, and rebooted.
‘Then told him to think and desire freely? That psycho bastard.’
A brief wave of regret.
‘I was supposed to keep my humanity no matter what happened in this world.’
But he decided not to dwell deeper. No time for that anyway. And if so, no point in pointless irritation.
In the end, Kim Shin-hwa carefully tucked away his annoyance and spoke to Jang Hyun-deok.
“Hyun-deok.”
“Yeah.”
“Like you said, something did happen—”
“Yeah, and?”
“So I was annoyed.”
“Yeah, you were super annoyed. At me.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. Listening to your dumbass— no, your words made me realize it was super pointless annoyance, like you said.”
“Ah, super pointless annoyance.”
“So, I’m good now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. And if anything comes up... Super Magical Jang Hyun-deok will handle it somehow.”
“Super Hyper Magical Jang Hyun-deok.”
Kim Shin-hwa forced a laugh out loud. Haha— a dry, hollow echo through the mountains.
“Yeah. Anyway! Madam Yeom’s in a real pinch, so let’s go rescue her.”
And anyway, couldn’t apologize or undo it.
Just don’t do it again. With that thought, Kim Shin-hwa gestured to Jang Hyun-deok. Come on, let’s really go now. Follow me, I’ll lead.
This time, a softer, more human gesture—something you’d do to a friend.
“Let’s go.”
“Sounds good. But Mage, about calling me dumbass earlier...”
“Hurry! It’s urgent, come on!”
“No, Mage! Hear me out!”
“Ah, let’s go! I messed up, okay? Hurry!”
* * *
“But what’s up with Madam? What crisis, that they’re dealing with cocks or whatever?”
“......”
I briefly recalled what Yeom Geum-ja had said.
- That fucking cock-sucking bastard is fucking cocking around!
- Fucking cock! Cock, I tell you! Cock! Cock! Cock!
Yeom Geum-ja had repeatedly screamed vulgar slang for male genitals. At top volume. Jang Hyun-deok probably heard too.
“I’ll explain slowly. You know that half-built apartment near Unjeong Station?”
“Oh, the one with the lien enforcement?”
“Yeah, that. Let’s head there.”
Unjeong New Town is full of fancy apartment complexes. Would’ve been great if all buildings finished properly, but Paju’s way too dangerous.
Just past the outskirts, construction went bust mid-project, leaving skeletal apartments abandoned everywhere.
‘Monsters and cultists crawling around Paju. Construction firms can’t ignore the risks.’
Anyway, one of those was being used as a secret base by the Jeokdu gang, and something unexpected happened there.
Jang Hyun-deok and I soon reached the abandoned construction site where Yeom Geum-ja was.
“The vibe’s super hostile.”
“Forget the vibe—check the mana. The mana.”
“Ugh, what’s that?”
Unpleasant yin energy blazing from all directions. Old Jang Hyun-deok wouldn’t have sensed it, but now he should see it fine.
“About time we hooked a big one.”
By setting, this site’s been abandoned at least 10 years.
Barely shaped like apartments, but more fitting to call it gray concrete ruins.
Dozens of thugs surrounding those ruins.
And Yeom Geum-ja’s voice blaring everywhere, clanging like coins.
“You fucking dick! What’re you gonna do about those dick-stuck dicks over there! They’re just fucking dicks!”
“That’s... that’s a real monster. A real fucking monster!”
“It’s not the Jeokdu gang! Monsters are bursting out of their bodies!”
“We can’t handle that shit! We need fixers! Call the fixers!”
Fed up with her men’s mutterings, Yeom Geum-ja exploded again.
“When the fuck is that Demon Bomber getting here, you fuckerrrs!”
Good timing or worst, but yeah, no point dragging it out.
“Madam, Madam. Your awaited fixer’s here.”
I wasn’t expecting a warm welcome, but her reaction was overly heated.
“Bomb Demon! You fucking dickhead! Said it’d be safe! Fucking—”
“Please, can you tone down the dick talk a bit?”
“Talking shit with your dick!”
In the end, one of her subordinates stepped forward instead.
“Hey, you dick! Explain!”
“Uh, hello.”
Ryu Jae-geun, one of Yeom Geum-ja’s close aides. No real role in the game, no special powers—nothing memorable enough to bother with his name.
“The whole apartment complex is under a horrific curse and spells.”
But just being able to speak without curses made him invaluable here.
“Underground, there’s a massive earthworm... like train-sized. It burst out, and there were human-like things too, but...”
“Earthworms bursting from their bodies?”
Ryu Jae-geun shuddered, face pale with terror.
“Y-yes. Eyes, nose, mouth, ears—from every hole in their faces, swarms of earthworms poured out. Like they were being controlled by the worms...”
“I see.”
I knew what showed up.
“Guns—the ones you gave us, Mage. Didn’t work at all. Horrific monsters! Worms spewing from their bodies tried burrowing into us too!”
“Bomb Demon! Heard enough? Guns don’t work! What now? Our guys can’t fight those! No solution, we’re out!”
Yeom Geum-ja’s worries were valid.
If mana-stone bullets failed, magic probably would too, she figured.
But no big deal.
“Hmm, Madam. Calm down. Help with prep, and I’ll clear it in 20 minutes.”
“Prep?”
“Yeah, prep. Nothing much, simple stuff.”
I said that and explained the plan.