Chapter 32
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Normalizing the Corrupt Forces (1)
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Jinwoo's declaration was like tossing kindling into an oil drum.
The one-sided act of violence that unfolded in front of the tavern.
The Cobra Gang thugs who got beaten to a pulp.
And the blatant mockery aimed at the so-called security force!
The rumors spread faster than the wind across all of Twin Rocks.
Of course, the first place those rumors reached was the heart of the village.
The sheriff's office, the epicenter of corruption.
"What... what did you say? All my boys got smashed by some piece-of-shit nobody we don't even know where he crawled out from?"
Sheriff Barrett couldn't believe his ears.
"Ugh! Urk! Y-yes! H-he seemed like he was from the East!"
Barrett's greasy face flushed red with rage.
The subordinate whose collar was grabbed flailed about helplessly, spitting out words.
"That bastard... dared to say right in front of me that the security force this and a new law that?"
"Y-yes, Sheriff! He shouted it in the village square, and now he's brazenly eating dinner at the tavern!"
"You little rat-shit...!"
Crack!
Barrett's fist slammed down on the sturdy oak desk.
Twin Rocks was his domain.
For years, he'd seized the legitimate sheriff position with money and muscle.
His underlings, all laundered under the name of the security force, left no one in the area who could stand against him.
Much less anyone who would dare humiliate him to his face in the sheriff's own kingdom.
"Dares to mess with the security force?"
Barrett was displeased.
This was stomping his authority into the dirt.
More than that, if he let it slide, the discontented pigs below might start getting ideas.
'Time to show them what happens.'
He immediately summoned Jackal, the second-in-command of the Cobra Gang and his personal hunting dog.
A man with a scar crossing his face burst through the door without delay.
"Jackal! We've got a job. You've heard the news, right? I don't care where this rat crawled from, but by tonight, I'll have his scalp peeled off and hanging on the office door."
"Got it, Boss. What's he look like?"
"Black hair, looks Eastern, and he's dragging around some monster bird. Go and..."
No sooner had Barrett finished speaking than bewilderment flashed across Jackal's stern face.
"Boss, that description you just gave—is it accurate?"
"What's with the backtalk? You think I'm joking around?"
"That matches the description of the guy the Federation HQ put a bounty on recently."
"Federation? What are you talking about?"
"The one who single-handedly wiped out the gangs doing business with the Federation and robbed their secret transport units twice. The bounty... it's massive!"
"What! Get the wanted poster!"
Barrett's expression went blank as he looked at the poster his subordinate handed over.
The drawing on the poster showed a black-haired young man.
Of course, due to lack of info, it differed from the real Jinwoo's face by heaven and earth.
"Easterners are rare on this Eldorado Continent. Let alone ones who can fight!"
"Right? The guy who messed with our boys might be this one!"
The rage vanished from Barrett's face, replaced by greed and cunning.
"Hahaha! A walking money bag delivered itself to my door! A gift from the gods!"
Sheriff Barrett chuckled slyly and said to Jackal,
"Perfect. That makes it even more unmissable. This isn't just some village security issue. It's the great realization of justice—exterminating a major criminal threatening the Trade Federation's order! Security Force Vice Captain!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Go make this as big as possible. Let the whole village see. Show them exactly how I protect this town from a vicious criminal like that! Heh heh..."
At his command, the Cobra Gang began moving in earnest.
The official reason: security operations.
Jinwoo calmly finished his meal.
"Hmm, the meat's definitely top quality. Potatoes are fried just right too."
"Th-thank you!"
The tavern owner trembled like an aspen leaf but handed over the change precisely when Jinwoo offered the money pouch.
Fear sometimes makes people more honest.
"Keep the change. Tip."
"Oh my! Thank you!"
Jinwoo stepped outside in a good mood.
"Steak's still a step up, at least."
It would've been better with iced cola or a cold canned beer, though.
'They should've bitten the bait by now. Time to move to the fishing spot.'
He rose and headed out of the tavern.
He glanced toward the sheriff's office in the distance.
'Gang thugs calling themselves security force?'
Gang members were busily readying horses and grabbing guns.
He spotted a wanted poster on the wall: [DEAD OR ALIVE].
"That's supposed to be me?"
Jinwoo was dumbfounded.
The illustration depicted him as some black-haired orc with buck teeth and a flat nose.
"I'm no looker, but that's not it."
Providencia's games did warp characters under the guise of realism.
But even [Rising West] didn't have uglies that bad.
"They got my features right, though."
The poster described a black-haired Eastern youth using illegal, dangerous artifacts of the Atlas civilization.
A bit exaggerated, but Jinwoo couldn't just laugh it off.
'If they know about my weapon's traits too, they'd figure it out.'
The Trade Federation wouldn't know it was a multi-playthrough perk cheat weapon, so this was their best guess.
And it was indeed an Atlas civ weapon.
Lost in such thoughts, Jinwoo slowly made his way toward the village entrance.
Glares from gang-looking guys peeking between buildings were increasing.
'This quest's precondition is minimizing civilian casualties.'
Urban combat was his forte.
But fighting inside the village was the worst choice.
In the game, the [Purify the Nest of Corruption] quest had multiple branches.
If you caused a massive shootout in town, destroying shops or killing innocents?
Depending on the branch, villagers turned uncooperative, final rewards sucked.
Worst case, it led to a bad end where the village went pro-Federation.
'For the best ending, control all damage perfectly. That means setting the stage where I want it.'
The ideal stage: outside the village.
Where villagers could see but not get directly hit.
Jinwoo walked slowly, openly giving the gang time to catch up.
It was just as he passed between the two massive rock pillars at the village entrance.
"Halt, you outlaw scum!"
Horses thundering from all sides at once!
Jinwoo roughly counted about fifteen.
The scarred man at the lead shouted.
Jinwoo turned to see Cobra Gang thugs filling the village road, guns trained on him.
Their faces mixed greed and fury.
"We already know you're the vicious criminal who hit the Federation's carriage convoys! Drop your weapons and surrender quietly! In the sheriff's name, you're under arrest!"
Jackal deliberately yelled loud enough for the whole village to hear.
"Well now?"
Jinwoo let out a hollow chuckle.
Playing security force, huh.
Labeling him a heinous criminal to justify their violence.
But Jinwoo didn't flinch.
"Talks a lot."
"What?"
"Barking dogs don't bite."
"You bastard!"
The fake security goon reached for his gun.
A smile crept onto Jinwoo's lips, as if he'd been waiting.
Red Eye
Duration extended. Movement speed enhanced.
He drew his pistol from his hip.
Vision dyed red.
Gang thugs flailing in the air.
Suddenly, Jinwoo felt his body moving faster than before.
'Red Eye's power has grown a bit?'
Even the duration felt longer.
Jinwoo's form blurred like a shadow, slipping through the encircling gang.
Phsh! Phsh!
Gunshots rocked the Twin Rocks entrance.
Jackal's fifteen gang members thought overwhelming a single foe—Jinwoo—with numbers would end it quick.
They were wrong.
"Argh!"
"Th-that guy's a monster!"
Jinwoo moved at speeds no human eye could track.
In the world of activated Red Eye.
Ordinary folk floundered in the air like slow-motion swimming newbies.
Even late-fired bullets rolled like ordinary marbles.
Jinwoo ghosted through the tiny gaps between bullets.
'It really works.'
Then, with his infinite-ammo pistol, he calmly counterattacked.
Phsh! Phsh! Phsh!
Every shot pierced gangsters' foreheads, hearts, throats—vital spots.
And the world returned to its normal colors!
"Urk!"
"Gahh!"
"Uwaaak!"
The thugs who'd been cockily aiming just moments ago tumbled from their horses without a proper scream.
Jackal lost his mind at the nightmarish scene unfolding before him.
"Y-you monster!"
Jackal wildly sprayed his lever-action repeater, but Jinwoo dove behind a nearby dirt mound.
Not even Jinwoo's coat hem was grazed.
'Not as good as the Steel Hounds, after all.'
Maybe from learning from past variables the hard way.
Jinwoo shattered the encirclement far more calmly.
Organization, marksmanship, gear— they were outclassed in everything.
The fake security force were just a mob with numbers.
To Jinwoo, those numbers were just kill counts.
"Come out! Get out here!"
Bang! Bang!
Even Jackal's frantic shooting reached its limit.
Click! Click!
"Damn! Need to reload!"
Fingers fumbling bullets from his bandolier into the chamber one by one.
Jinwoo coolly raised his head and pulled the trigger.
Phsh!
"Kuh..."
With the final muzzle flash, a hole punched through Jackal's forehead.
Silence descended.
At the village entrance remained fifteen corpses and horses whinnying uneasily without masters.
'This isn't all. The main force is still in the village.'
The scarred man he'd just killed was definitely Jackal.
Second-in-command of the so-called security force, the Cobra Gang.
'But the quest doesn't end till I get Barrett.'
Jinwoo numbly surveyed the bodies.
'Plus, gotta think about the vacuum they'll leave.'
It was depressing, but Eldorado's law and order was a mess.
Twin Rocks residents endured exploitation without resisting not just out of fear of the gang.
The gang provided surface-level protection.
If Barrett and his men vanished, playing nominal sheriff?
Every fly from around would swarm the crystal mine.
Jinwoo recalled the game's flow.
'Just wiping the Cobra Gang and corrupt sheriff leaves the village wide open—big trouble.'
The village met one of two ends.
Within days, harsher bandits from outside seized the crystal mine.
Or the Trade Federation sent troops under security maintenance pretext, turning it into full direct rule.
Either route was a disaster!
'Ultimately, Kellogg's rebels have to take this spot.'
Rebels would protect and manage the village more mercifully and morally than gangsters.
And with the crystal mine's wealth and residents' trust, grow Twin Rocks as a base.
'That's why I have to lure the snake's head out of its hole.'
Jinwoo dragged a few gang corpses and openly tied them with rope to the massive rock pillars flanking the entrance.
Then, he pulled out some paper from his pocket and wrote messages with blood from a nearby body.
[Crystal Mine Crystals for the Residents!]
[Next: The Corrupt Sheriff!]
He pinned the notes to the most visible corpse's chest with a dagger.
'Alright, time for the snake head to crawl out itself.'
He felt eyes watching from inside the village entrance.
Definitely residents.
Jinwoo admired his handiwork with satisfaction, then leisurely slipped into the canyon.