Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Justice Sword
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“You don’t know where the homeless guy is?”
I went down to the first floor and asked Minwoo.
“Yes. He didn’t come to the window. Maybe he’s in one of the bedrooms?”
We checked each door one by one, searching for the homeless man who had supposedly come in a few days ago.
“Uh…. There’s…. nowhere….”
We searched the whole house, but there was no sign of the homeless man.
“I really didn’t see him leave.”
Minwoo’s face had gone pale, as if chills were starting to creep up on him too.
“Blood….”
My heightened sense of smell picked up the scent of blood and chemicals. I followed the smell to the kitchen. It was seeping out from behind the ingredient shelf.
“What’s that smell?”
Minwoo sniffed around, but of course, he couldn’t detect anything. My nose was already sharper than a dog’s.
“Something’s behind here.”
I grabbed the shelf and pushed lightly. It slid smoothly to the side, revealing an iron door.
“Hyungnim, what’s this?”
Minwoo swallowed hard as he asked.
“Can you open it?”
I pointed to the keyhole on the iron door.
“If not, we’ll smash it.”
At this point, not getting caught wasn’t the issue. It had started as mild suspicion, but hearing about the homeless man turned it into half suspicion, half certainty. Now, with the smell and this iron door leading to a basement, my suspicion had turned into full certainty.
“I can open it.”
Minwoo bent his finger and inserted it into the keyhole. It was trickier than the upstairs door, so he grunted a bit, but he soon unlocked it.
The stairs leading down were dark without any lights.
I could see fine in the darkness, but Minwoo couldn’t see a thing, so I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight.
As we descended the stairs, the basement came into view.
“Urk!”
Minwoo vomited onto the floor.
There was a refrigerator and a large, sturdy-looking worktable. The table was splattered with dark stains, and the walls held saws, hammers, axes, and the like. On the shelf beside it were dismembered human body parts preserved in liquid.
Leaving the retching Minwoo behind, I opened the refrigerator. It was filled with more chopped-up bodies. None of them had died peacefully; all their faces were twisted in agony.
I’d seen plenty of gruesome sights in my past life, so I didn’t puke like Minwoo, but it was still nauseating.
“Is this the homeless guy?”
I pointed to a head in a tub that still carried the fresh scent of blood.
“….Hurk…. Hurk…. Yeah…. Urk!”
Minwoo glanced at it, confirmed, and started vomiting again.
I snatched the phone from Minwoo’s hand as he heaved and took photos.
Since we’d trespassed and uncovered this underground dungeon, we had to report it anonymously. Without photos, they wouldn’t bother investigating properly.
“Clean that up.”
“Huh?”
“Your vomit. You trying to leave evidence that you were here? They’ll scour this place thoroughly.”
If the police found the vomit, they might suspect Minwoo.
“Grab that bucket and some detergent and wipe it up.”
“Oh…. Right….”
Minwoo cleaned up his own mess while I waited.
“Let’s go.”
We climbed the stairs, closed the iron door, and slid the ingredient shelf back into place when I heard footsteps behind us.
“Huh? I thought someone broke in, but it’s Hunter Lee Ji-seok?”
Seo Kyung-hyun was standing behind us. The basement must have blocked the sound, so I hadn’t noticed him arrive.
“Why’d you kill those people?”
“For justice. It’s my duty to clear out trash that’s no good for society, right? Everyone I killed was poison to society.”
“Who are you to decide who’s poison to society?”
Justice is like a noose—if it hangs from your nose, it’s a nose ring; if from your ear, an earring. My justice might be injustice to someone else.
“My skill is Justice Sword, isn’t it? The more righteous my actions, the stronger my sword gets. My sword growing stronger proves I’m executing justice.”
Light wrapped around his blade. It was far brighter than Sang-hun’s.
“Killing villains doesn’t automatically make it justice. And what kind of justice is butchering people like that? You’ve just twisted justice to suit your taste to strengthen your skill.”
“You see things differently.”
The smile faded from Seo Kyung-hyun’s face, and silence fell for a moment.
We glared at each other for a few seconds before Seo Kyung-hyun lunged, his light-wrapped sword thrusting forward.
I thought he was aiming for me, but he went for Minwoo’s heart.
As if a D-Rank Hunter’s move could catch me off guard. I reached out and grabbed the blade.
“Huh?”
Surprised by the block, he tried to pull back, but I gripped harder and smashed his head with my right fist.
Crack! His skull shattered with the sound.
“Hyungnim, you okay?”
Minwoo, who had collapsed in shock, asked.
“Yeah. Fine. Just a little cut.”
The skin on my palm was slightly sliced. Even without special reinforcement, for a D-Rank to wound me meant he had real talent. If the sword had been bigger, I wouldn’t have caught him so easily.
A few drops of my blood fell to the floor. I could freely control its toxicity. Normally, I kept it non-toxic, activating it only when needed, so it didn’t melt the floor. But since I didn’t want evidence of my presence, I wiped up the blood.
After cleaning up, we covered our faces and left through the front door. The security had been disarmed when Seo Kyung-hyun entered, so no alarms went off.
Outside, two cars had crashed into each other, and President Yoo lay sprawled in front of them.
“Hyungnim!”
Minwoo rushed over.
“Whoa…. Thought I was done for.”
President Yoo shook his head and sat up as Minwoo shook him awake.
“Hyungnim, what happened?”
“Those two went in, and suddenly that guy came back. He was trying to get inside, and you weren’t picking up— what was I supposed to do? I rammed him with the car to buy time. I apologized and said I’d call insurance, but the bastard attacked without a second thought. Why didn’t you answer your phone?!”
“Oh…. We were in the basement. No signal.”
“President Yoo, make an anonymous police report. Include the photos on Minwoo’s phone.”
“What photos?”
“You’ll see. Look at them in the bathroom if you don’t wanna puke.”
* * *
From the rooftop of a nearby building, I watched Seo Kyung-hyun’s house. Neighborhood police arrived first, followed by a string of patrol cars and what looked like forensics vans. Police tape went up around the area.
Satisfied, I left.
Later, the news reported that Seo Kyung-hyun had dismembered homeless people, and the killer who took him out was never found.
“The police suspect an accomplice rather than a victim, given the pattern of targeting the weak. What do you think?”
The TV news anchor asked a crime expert.
“There was no evidence of an accomplice at the scene. I think it’s most likely a solo crime by Seo Kyung-hyun. And the one who killed him? A vigilante.”
“Killing a serial killer—could that make them an apostle of justice?”
Seo Kyung-hyun had gone on about justice and ended up a serial killer himself, while I, who killed him, got labeled an apostle of justice.
Based on my past life memories, I’d listed things to do, and I’d unexpectedly crossed one off. I opened my notebook and struck through the line about Seo Kyung-hyun.
* * *
“Hyungnim, why are you staring at your phone like that?”
“Sang-hun, I think something’s wrong with my eyes. Why is the button gray again?”
I kept staring at the Gate reservation button, but it was still grayed out.
“Didn’t it unlock after you caught Na-young’s stalker?”
“It did.”
What the hell did that guy do? Did I let him off too easy?
Then my phone rang.
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok? This is Park Tae-gwan from the Awakener Management Bureau’s Gate Division.”
“I was just about to call. Gate reservations aren’t working again. I thought the claim issue was resolved.”
“Oh, it’s not the claim. General Gates are blocked due to unmet mandatory requirements.”
“Mandatory requirements?”
“E- and D-Rank Hunters must clear a certain number of Undead Gates. You skipped that and went straight to C-Rank.”
“Undead Gates….”
“Nobody likes them, so they made it mandatory.”
My reluctance must have shown in my voice.
Undead Gates offered no benefits. Without skills effective against ghost-type undead, you had to buy holy water, which cost extra money—hence their unpopularity with Hunters.
My past life death in an undead battle made me hate them even more. Now with C-Rank Regeneration, I could absorb life force after hunts for infinite combat, but undead had no life force, so that didn’t work.
“We usually notify new Hunters a few months after licensing, but we didn’t expect you to hit C-Rank that fast. We’re overhauling regulations because of it. Anyway, check the email we sent for details.”
I opened my email. There was one from the Awakening Bureau.
“With your level, Hunter Lee Ji-seok, you’ll knock out the requirements in no time. Goodbye.”
The bureau rep hung up.
“Hyung, you have to go to an Undead Gate?”
“Looks like it.”
In my past life, when Regeneration hit B-Rank, my attack options diversified. Since I’m here, I might as well not just meet the bureau’s demands—I’ll level up my skills too.
“I’ll go with you.”
Sang-hun volunteered.
“Yeah. Let’s bring Na-young too.”
Na-young and Sang-hun also had to clear Undead Gates mandatorily, so the three of us headed to one.
“Noona, this is finally my chance to show you what I can do.”
Sang-hun said, light wrapping his sword. As a light attribute user, his sword was the ultimate skill against undead.
“I’m the opposite. Aside from Mana Bolt, I’ve got nothing much.”
Na-young’s curses were far less effective on already dead and rotting undead.
“E-Rank, so Mana Bolt should be plenty.”
Passing the chattering Sang-hun and Na-young, I stood before the Undead Gate. Memories of my final battle flooded my mind, making it spin.
“Let’s go.”
Steel myselfing, I entered the Gate.
The interior resembled a gloomy cemetery. Even the ground had a distinctive purple hue.
As soon as we entered, a horde of skeletons rose from the earth to greet us.
Na-young and Sang-hun charged first.
E-Rank Skeletons were no match for me—I crushed them like snacks.
Sang-hun was thrilled, smashing skeletons left and right.
“This is too easy, right?”
Sang-hun swung his sword through empty air as he spoke.
“With you two taking them all, I’ve got nothing to do.”
Na-young only handled the ones dodging us to reach her with Mana Bolts, leaving her a bit idle.
“Drop the magic stones and move fast.”
Magic stones are crystallized life force and mana. The more a monster has, the bigger they get, and color varies by life force vs. mana dominance.
Skeletons had almost no life force or mana, so their stones were tiny—picking the small ones stuck to bones was a waste of time.
That’s why I didn’t call the Hwagog magic stone collection service today. The goal was purely meeting the Awakening Bureau’s requirements and skill leveling.
Leading the two, I smashed skeletons while exploring deeper.
“It’s out.”
Sang-hun swallowed hard, eyeing the monster ranked number one on the Undead Gate avoidance list.