Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: A Punch to the Solar Plexus
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Choi Jun-pil, rolling on the ground, finally snapped. Seeing Ida-som looking at Si-woo with worry only fueled his rage even more.
All sorts of negative emotions flooded his mind.
Jealousy and lust intertwined, igniting within him.
The surrounding temperature spiked dramatically.
Red flames erupted from his body.
"Kyaaak!"
For some reason, the onlookers screamed and fled.
Si-woo eyed Choi Jun-pil, whose entire body was wreathed in flames. He was unarmed, but the fire itself was a grave threat.
'A flame ability user.'
Far more dangerous than any mere blade. The guy glared at Si-woo with eyes full of fury.
"Fuck...! If only you weren't here...!"
Si-woo had uncovered during his investigation of the thugs that they had targeted the sisters on someone else's orders.
But what didn't make sense was that Ida-som was a prime awakening candidate. There was no upside for non-awakened thugs like them to earn her enmity. Then something clicked from the guy's words.
"No way. You're the one who put the thugs up to it?"
The guy's shoulders twitched. Seeing that, Si-woo's gaze hardened.
'This one's gotta die.'
The guy's eyes turned feral in an instant.
"Argh! Die!!"
Choi Jun-pil kicked off the ground and charged with a tackle. He was confident he could incinerate Si-woo just by grabbing him.
Si-woo calmly aimed his sword at the guy's forehead. Choi Jun-pil grimaced and screeched to a halt, retreating.
Then he started sneering.
"Heh heh heh. Hot, isn't it?"
Si-woo was already finding it hard to breathe amid the rising heat, but looking at the guy's smug face only pissed him off more.
The bastard kept a set distance, grinning vilely.
Advance a step, and he'd back off; back off, and he'd follow. Childish games.
"Ha...!"
Mixed Origin Qi Art: Quick ()
In a flash, Si-woo accelerated, slicing through the air with his sword.
"Guhk!"
The guy barely dodged, but the distance had closed. Si-woo's blade swung. The gap in close-quarters experience was overwhelming.
He wore armor, but it was meaningless. Full of openings.
Si-woo's sword tore through an opening, drenching the guy in blood instantly.
But the growing heat was annoying. The more wounds he inflicted, the hotter it got.
Mixed Origin Qi Art: Quick (), Flame ()
Fire resistance acquired. Heat neutralized.
Adding fire attribute to his Mixed Origin Qi rendered the heat harmless. It was weak, like a candle flame, but enough for resistance.
Horror spread across Choi Jun-pil's face as he gritted his teeth and endured. Time passed, yet Si-woo remained unscathed.
"H-How...?"
A huge opening appeared in his panic. Si-woo's eyes gleamed.
'Left arm!'
Choi Jun-pil's left arm flew through the air. A horrific scream tore from his mouth.
"Kwaaaak!!!"
Si-woo went to finish him off as he rolled on the ground, but the heat surged intensely. Too hot to approach.
Si-woo instinctively stepped back.
Flames exploded from the guy like a blast furnace—nothing like before.
His clothes singed without even touching the fire.
Si-woo sliced off the charred hem and glared.
The red flames were turning dark crimson. Just looking at them felt repulsive.
Blood tears streamed down the guy's face as he glared at Si-woo.
"Aaaak!! Die!!"
Flames shot from Choi Jun-pil—not just rising from his body like before.
Si-woo frowned and enveloped himself in Mixed Origin Qi. It pushed back the flames in a tense standoff.
Sweat droplets fell and evaporated mid-air.
Si-woo grimaced in focus. The guy's mana was several times stronger, crashing like a tidal wave from all sides.
Looking down at his severed arm, Choi Jun-pil's face twisted.
"My arm!! Fuck!!!"
The dark crimson flames turned pitch black.
The fragile balance shattered. The flames Si-woo had been holding back surged in.
"Kyaaak! Oppa!!"
Si-woo tossed his sword and caught the flames with his palms.
His faint Mixed Origin Qi trembled against the overwhelming blaze.
Brute force blocking wouldn't work. Si-woo began slowly circulating his Mixed Origin Qi. And he saw the path.
Mixed Origin Qi Art: Absorb (), Flame ()
Choi Jun-pil's flames began mingling with Si-woo's Mixed Origin Qi. From the outside, it looked like Si-woo was burning.
One of the sisters screamed.
"Ahh...! No!"
The sisters' cries faded into the distance, but Si-woo focused entirely on the flames. Despite their growth, the heat he felt diminished.
Amid the surrounding chaos, Si-woo's eyes remained serene.
Following the circulating Mixed Origin Qi, Choi Jun-pil's flames lost direction.
They had surged to burn his life, aimed solely at Si-woo. But mingling with the Qi, they veered off course.
*
Choi Jun-pil wept blood tears, concentrating. He'd unleashed the fiercest flames of his life, but they were slipping from control.
Even he felt the scorching heat.
He poured in more mana, frowning. As long as the bastard died, it didn't matter.
Then...
She would come back.
Burning even his innate mana—what martial artists called congenital essence—Choi Jun-pil clenched his teeth.
This was the limit.
"Cough...!"
He spat a small amount of blood. He couldn't tell if the guy was dead or alive anymore.
The flames were too intense to see through.
'Any more is dangerous.'
He had no knowledge of congenital essence, but instinct screamed to stop. He tried cutting off the mana.
But it wouldn't stop. It was being sucked toward Si-woo instead.
"Wha—what?"
The flames spreading from Si-woo condensed rapidly.
They gathered into a dark crimson line orbiting Si-woo.
No longer radiating heat outward, but that made it more dangerous. All that intense fire slumbered within that thin line.
The crimson lines swirling around Si-woo's body converged into a single point.
A tiny dot like a candle flame before his chest.
It traveled down his arm to his fist.
Si-woo's stomp shattered the pavement block. He then unleashed a straight punch at the dumbstruck Choi Jun-pil.
The red dot plunged into Choi Jun-pil's solar plexus.
Launched dozens of meters by the fist, Choi Jun-pil shuddered and face-planted.
"Urk... Blegh! Cough!!"
Strange chunks of flesh mixed in the bright red vomit.
"Grooo...'
Grimacing, he tried to rise but collapsed.
His insides burned. Unbearable. Compared to his massive blaze, this tiny candle flame ravaged his entire body.
Flames rose from Choi Jun-pil's body. Despite his fire mastery and resistance, it burned.
"Put... it... out..."
The slow-rising blaze swelled rapidly, engulfing him. His body burned away in seconds, yet the surrounding heat was minimal.
A bizarre flame.
As Si-woo approached, narrowing his eyes, the flames returned to their master, blending into his Mixed Origin Qi.
"Hm..."
Si-woo pondered deeply when someone approached.
Ida-hye glared at the corpse, then snapped to and asked,
"A-Are you hurt?"
Si-woo checked himself. No injuries. Just some singed clothes.
"Nah. I'm fine."
"G-Good..."
Ida-som arrived a step later, voice trembling.
"Wh-What do we do...? He's really dead, right?"
Si-woo looked down at the body.
"Yeah."
"Then what! Th-The enforcers..."
Si-woo looked up.
"Yeah. They're here."
With this much commotion, the enforcers had to show.
A woman in strange gear dropped from the sky. Handcuffs dangled from her waist.
An enforcer.
One female enforcer peered down at Si-woo through a window.
The blue-haired woman who'd been freed rushed into his arms for a hug. Watching it twisted her gut.
Unhappy, she grumbled to her senior beside her.
"You're just letting him go like this?"
The senior chuckled.
"What else? No crime committed."
"No crime? He killed someone."
"CCTV shows self-defense. Obsess over every case like this, and you'll never sleep. Chill."
She looked incredulous.
"...Is that what an enforcer should say?"
"Sigh... Investigation showed he deserved it. A criminal who even attacked civilians. Why fuss over trash dying?"
"..."
"Meddle in every little thing like this, and you'll spark riots. Anyway, you handling that drug case properly, or what?"
At a loss for words, she glared at the departing Si-woo with displeasure.
Freed Si-woo tilted his head.
He'd been about to snap at the pushy enforcer when her senior showed up, bowed, and let him go.
Released before the investigation even properly started.
Too easy. Suspiciously so.
'Jang Ye-hwa pulled strings?'
Likely. Si-woo smiled warmly. He'd reward her next time.
'Anyway...'
💰 Held Karma:1,929
The karma he'd accumulated was impressive. Awakening multiple women had returned multiples in karma.
He gained a steady amount each time he slept with them.
'Kugh...!'
Seeing the total, he couldn't help but marvel.
'What to buy with this?'