Chapter 122
Chapter 122
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: Ramen and Revelations
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Hyperion Tower, first-floor convenience store.
“Haah~ As expected, inchworms gotta eat pine needles. Ah~ This is gonna be good.”
In one corner of the lavish Hyperion Tower’s first floor sat a modest little convenience store.
There, Yoo Seongwon had ditched his stuffy suit for a hoodie and jeans. He was heating up a tuna-mayo triangle kimbap, cup ramen, boiled egg, and sausage.
As an SS-Class Hunter, he could’ve summoned a personal chef to the lounge and had anything cooked up. But after causing a scene at the conference packed with S-Class Hunters and above, he couldn’t exactly show his face there shamelessly.
“Didn’t think you’d gone far… and you end up at a convenience store?”
“I burned all that energy, so I got hungry. Anyway, I’m human too… gotta eat to live. I’ll head out after. Oh, all done.”
Without even glancing at Baek Ga-yeon as she came down, Yoo Seongwon pulled the fully heated kimbap from the microwave, popped open the lid on his cooked ramen, and started slurping it down.
Lately, with Akaron and the others making sure he ate proper meals, the instant food hit differently—intensely flavorful, drawing out an involuntary sigh of delight.
As he ate, Yoo Seongwon started rambling to himself, loud enough for Baek Ga-yeon to hear.
“Slurp… Like I always say. Slurp… I’m just a guy who’s lacking everything except being an Awakener and this damn armor. Ah, sorry for the pointless rampage anyway. Not like they’d listen just ‘cause I said it. Puhahaha!”
“Sigh~ Yeah, we all know, but we mess up anyway. So, what now?”
“What do you mean, what? I’m hitting the dungeons. There’s still plenty of A- and B-Rank ones left in the country. Now that SS-Class rivals have popped up, I gotta hustle. After seeing those clowns, I know I need to level up as much as I can to protect myself. I’ll finish this and head out right away.”
The general assembly had ended in chaos, but Yoo Seongwon’s eyes burned with motivation—a huge win.
No trace of the laziness he showed lounging in dungeons. He was fired up, full of drive.
As long as he was dungeon-crawling without stirring up more trouble, Baek Ga-yeon could relax.
“Very well. I won’t say more about your actions. But as someone who’s truly fought the apostles of Constellation Slaughter King—Hunter Yoo Seongwon—I’d like your thoughts on a few things.”
“…Sure, whatever. Go ahead.”
“You heard the strategy earlier. Perfect timing to strike. Infighting in Slaughter King’s territory. Teaming up with Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King and the Russian Hunters for a three-pronged assault—even the remaining seven Archdemon Beasts would struggle. What do you think?”
“No brainer, great plan. Seven left? Split ‘em up or pile into one front, either way it’s favorable. Just pull back if it looks bad. Even a brute like me can see it’s solid, but…”
“But?”
“But our knights know it, the government and association know it, even a guy like me gets it easy—so the enemy sure as hell does too. And second… we probably don’t know their trump card. Elder, ever seen them use ‘Ascension’?”
The phoenix-like Ascension he’d witnessed against Archdemon Beast Legon.
Their so-called ace in the hole, a sure-kill technique that amped up already powerful S-Class monsters to another level.
“Blue Dragon Guild took down another one, Gotman, and from what I saw… no Ascension there either. Guess from that chicken-head Legon’s talk it’s a pride thing to not use it lightly. Nearly died one-on-one with him.”
“You almost died one-on-one?”
“Yeah. Though I was weaker back then… Point is, they’ve got aces up their sleeves, so we gotta be careful. Probably counters like Lemlem’s Lem Shield too.”
“Understood. Go your own way then. I’ll… head back up. They won’t ignore advice from an SS-Class Hunter.”
Yoo Seongwon’s eyes widened in surprise at Baek Ga-yeon’s words about going back up.
She’d been just as disillusioned with the world as he was.
Yet here she was, casually returning to the chaotic assembly hall.
“…I could never do that.”
“No, you couldn’t. Hahaha, I’ve lived my whole life like this. Too late to switch gears now—gives me hives. Heh heh heh.”
Baek Ga-yeon left the store for the elevator, and Yoo Seongwon cleaned up his trash before calling Shin So-mi on his phone and exiting Hyperion Tower.
From their chat, he gathered that even without him, the association and government would push ahead with the assault on Slaughter King’s forces.
Glancing up at the tower, he wasn’t thrilled, but he silently wished them victory.
‘If they fuck up… they’ll come whining to me for sure. Might as well win without bothering me. Win clean.’
***
Pyongyang, Undercity.
‘Pyongyang Undercity.’ As the old North Korean capital, it had roads, infrastructure, and buildings fit for living—naturally evolving into an Undercity.
Scavengers and enslaved former North Korean residents bustled about their tasks everywhere, while Slaughter King’s intelligent high-rank monsters roamed, trading with humans loyal to the same Constellation.
[Hey… human flesh… price… grrr… too high. Magic stones… too costly… grrr…]
“Can’t be helped. The regular human farms got wiped out, so we had to raise prices.”
[What’s that pastor… grrr… doing? He got the grace to become an Archdemon Beast!]
“How should we know? Just hand over the magic stones.”
A grumbling trade between a Scavenger and a demon monster.
At Pyongyang’s heart, the residence of the ruler—once the Kims’ deified palace, officially ‘Kumsusan Palace of the Sun’—now housed the Undercity’s Scavenger lord.
“Ooh, the pastor for real? Heard he Ascended—damn, a real Archdemon Beast now? Jealous. Puhahahahaha!”
The desk where Kim elites once sat was now a throne for the ruler.
A woman greeted the ox-like Archdemon Beast form of the pastor with a flippant laugh.
She looked like a beauty in her early twenties, but sadly, half her face was fur-covered, with a long right fang protruding.
Her body was clothed, but her right arm and left leg were beastly—furred and clawed. This half-human, half-beast was Pyongyang Undercity’s ruler.
[Mmm, my body’s changed, but my soul still serves the god faithfully. Half-blessed one. ‘Half-Demon Beast,’ ‘She Who Offered Half of Herself’—Park Sook-ja.]
“Told you not to use my real name? Huh? Should I spill yours too, pastor? Aaang?”
Park Sook-ja.
A descendant of North Korean slave residents, originally a Scavenger slave herself.
Naturally, the Scavengers forced her—young female slave—into every labor, abuse, and prostitution imaginable, destined to be sold as monster meat when used up.
But fueled by hatred, she sincerely prayed to Constellation Slaughter King. Moved by her desperate pleas, he commanded her to offer flesh equal to her true faith.
‘H-here… m-my… f-flesh… as offering.’
Ruthlessly, she hacked off her arm and leg, gouged out an eye, proving her devotion. Impressed, Slaughter King gifted her new ones.
With that power, she rose from slave to Scavenger, ruling Pyongyang Undercity.
Not on the pastor’s level, but among Slaughter King’s fanatics, she was one seriously unhinged human.
“Seriously impressive~ Failed nonstop, lost three apostles to getting chomped… and you Ascend? Puhahahaha! Unreal. Whoa, but big body means big dick too, huh? Right?”
[Still utterly vulgar as ever.]
“Plant beans, get beans; plant reds, get reds. Jealous? Be my mommy then. Grew up rolling with trash-talking Scavengers! If my mouth’s fine, that’d be the real crazy. Anyway, why’re you here?”
[Supplies from No. 1 People’s Hospital, No. 3 People’s Hospital, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Kim Il-sung University.]
“Nah, stick to your booming human farm biz. What’s this new scheme? Supplies are short, fights are breaking out more. It was a goldmine…”
[That was fine service, sure. But since He granted me a new body, I must step further. Anyway, hand over what I want. Payment’s ready—the meat and slaves from my ‘human farms’ I liquidated.]
“For real?”
Stunned by his offer, Park Sook-ja shot up from her throne.
Among Slaughter King’s Scavengers, the pastor was the richest.
His Gaesong farm was new, not huge yet, but his existing ones amassed tons of bred humans for meat and slaves.
[All told, at least five thousand heads.]
“Ooh, five thousand! F-for real? No take-backs!”
[Mooo, of course. I swear on great Slaughter King’s name.]
“Think I don’t know your powers? Swear on a Vow Scroll: Condition—Heart Destruction instead?”
[You’ve got two hearts—think I’d fall for that? Better play nice.]
Both true believers turned monsters, their talk was pure insanity.
Even slaves and underling Scavengers looked sickened, but they settled on mutual Vow Scrolls and signed the contract.
[Good. I’ll have my men deliver. Move my stuff to Kim Il-sung University.]
“Got it. Calling my guys now. But… what’re you even planning? Nothing beats ‘human farms.’”
[Heh heh, classified. And… you know I spread rumors I died, ordered the ranks to infight.]
“Huh? Why?”
[After my war failure, this’ll make ‘em think it’s time to attack. Probably hit from three sides.]
“What the hell have you been up to?! Body’s a cow, brain too?!”
Thinking the deal sweet, Park Sook-ja exploded at the war warning, glaring.
They lived ‘peacefully’(?) among themselves, occasionally raiding Russia, Korea, Japan, China(!) for minor(?) trouble—invasion news shocked Scavengers.
“Ugh, annoying~ Now I gotta round up those hated bastards. Aaaah, hate it. You lunatic—if you failed, own it. Why keep causing shit?”
[Obviously for Him. My rep’s widespread… if they learn I lived, Ascended, they’ll cower and fortify. Better lure ‘em in careless, then crush.]
“…Luring and crushing ain’t easy? Mechanized troops with magic stones and alloys? Missiles? Slaves as shields have limits, Awakeners are top-tier. You’ll win? After back-to-back fails~”
Recent double flops made him untrustworthy.
Most would cower after one failure, but not him.
Fanaticism. Mad faith in the god whose grace he’d received—he’d stake his life, unafraid even after defeat.
God proved him right.
[God proved me. And that proof moved my great ‘brothers’’ hearts. The fight to make this world His now burns with ‘sincerity.’ When time comes, all ‘brothers’ will Ascend without hesitation, fighting with full ‘sincerity’ and ‘might’!]
Park Sook-ja watched his holy-declaration pose oddly, but got it.
His ‘brothers’: Slaughter King’s apostles, Archdemon Beasts. Arrogant man-eaters now going all-out? Chills hit, and she burst into roaring laughter, compelled to praise him.