Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: 32. Trickster's Mark (4)
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“An arrow... What the hell were you planning if it had hit someone?”
Dongdaemun's Jang Jeong-ho muttered under his breath, his face twisted in displeasure.
His feelings toward Young-woo weren't exactly favorable, but he didn't have the skill to openly confront him.
‘Gangnam First Sword or not, isn't this crossing the line? Don't you think?’
Jeong-ho scanned the room, hoping the other First Swords might protest against Young-woo so he could chime in enthusiastically.
Who in their right mind shoots an arrow right into the middle of a meeting hall? Seoul's proud First Swords wouldn't stand for that.
On top of that, they'd all run here barefoot from afar, so they had to be in a foul mood.
“Ahem. Isn't this... going a bit too far? With all these First Swords here...”
Finally, Jeong-ho voiced his discomfort, subtly testing the waters.
Their side had way more numbers. This was the perfect chance to knock the Gangnam First Sword down a peg.
But.
“An... arrow? He brought a bow this time?”
“Where the hell does he even get stuff like this?”
“Where else? He went to North Korea.”
The other First Swords, however, only showed interest in Young-woo's new weapon.
At least on the surface.
‘Fuck... an arrow? I didn't even see it coming.’
‘That bastard Jeong-ho's talking nonsense again. Does he want to start a war with the Gangnam First Sword right now?’
‘The guy who beat Jeong Hyun-sik to death now has ranged weapons too. A bow... no, at this point, it's basically a missile.’
That was the true sentiment of most of the First Swords gathered at Paju City Hall today.
Of course, if everyone here rushed him at once, they might be able to take down the Gangnam First Sword.
‘But at least three or four of us would die in the process. You wanna play Russian roulette over a little bruised ego?’
That was why everyone kept their sunny expressions.
Clank!
At last, the sound of iron hooves echoed from behind the city hall, and a dark silhouette soared high into the sky.
Thud!
“Wha...”
Eunpyeong First Sword Kim Hyeong-gyu was the first to widen his eyes.
‘He's riding a horse...?’
He'd heard all sorts of rumors—that the Gangnam First Sword was insanely strong, that he ate people's guts—but this was something he hadn't imagined at all.
In a world where you could drive a car if you had the money, and running on two legs was often faster anyway, who rides horses?
Plus, what he was riding wasn't even a regular horse. It was some otherworldly creature clad in pitch-black iron armor.
-Kreeee!
Negig let out another long cry, then landed right in the center of the meeting hall where the arrow had fallen moments ago.
Boom!
A presence as heavy as the Gangnam First Sword title emanated from it.
None of the eight First Swords present had seen Negig this close up before, so they were struck anew by just how massive the creature was.
And Kim Hyeong-gyu from Eunpyeong...
“......”
He looked up at the face of Jeong Young-woo—the host of this meeting and current Gangnam First Sword—with more tension than anyone.
There...
It was the face of a thirties man who looked dozens of times more ordinary than expected.
“Huh?”
Kim Hyeong-gyu let out an involuntary gasp of surprise, his gaze drawn upward to Young-woo's head as if mesmerized. His mouth fell open.
Shaaa...
There hovered a bizarre title that perfectly suited the absolute demon Jeong Young-woo he'd imagined in his mind.
『Gyeongbuk First Sword』
A major regional title from a corrupted Earth—specifically South Korea—due to the implantation of the legendary-grade otherworldly martial art 'Floor of Room.'
Shaaa...
Purple mist swirled around the five characters of the title, demonic energy pouring out endlessly, the title itself writhing like something alive.
“B-but why Gyeongbuk...?”
As Kim Hyeong-gyu instinctively stepped back and mumbled, Young-woo bowed his head slightly in greeting.
“Nice to meet you. I'm Jeong Young-woo, the Gyeongbuk First Sword. I also hold the Gangnam First Sword title.”
He was technically also juggling the Kaesong First Sword now, but this wasn't the time to reveal that.
He needed to gauge the mood of the meeting first.
“I-I'm Kim Hyeong-gyu from Eunpyeong District. So... you're not from Seoul. Ah, I don't mean anything by it.”
Kim Hyeong-gyu fumbled his words in fluster, but Young-woo just grinned as if it was no big deal.
“Anyway, is everyone here? You all must've had a tough time coming such a long way.”
Young-woo surveyed the group from atop his mount.
The eight First Swords all stared back with innocent eyes.
‘Good.’
Young-woo breathed a sigh of relief that his not-quite-provocation had landed well.
It hadn't been laced with killing intent, but shooting the arrow into the center of the meeting hall had been very deliberate.
There were two main reasons.
First, to see how Seoul's First Swords would react to the arrow.
‘As I saw earlier, most couldn't react in time. It was a shot without hostile intent, so their regional sword arts didn't activate... but if it had been real combat, I could've taken out at least two before starting.’
Judging from the skills of the two North Korean First Swords he'd met earlier, the gap in level between the two sides' First Swords wasn't that huge.
In other words, even if North Korea's First Swords came swarming en masse, he could handle them to some extent.
Even by himself.
And the second reason: to let Seoul's First Swords confirm his prowess.
‘If they're smart, they've realized by now that I've grown a lot stronger overnight.’
His stats had increased, sure, but more than that, his experiences had elevated him to another level.
From last night to this morning, Young-woo had dungeon-explored what was essentially this world's hell, collaborated with people from Italy and Brazil via portals, crossed the border into North Korea for the first time, and killed two of their First Swords.
On top of that, acquiring a ranged weapon like the bow had expanded his very concept of ‘combat.’
Meaning no one here could replace Gangnam First Sword Jeong Young-woo anymore.
And why was this fact so crucial right before the meeting?
‘Because I need everyone's understanding soon.’
Young-woo stretched his neck forward, about to speak. The First Swords encircling him held their breath in anticipation.
“Alright, first... as announced in the meeting notice, I went to North Korea this morning.”
“North Korea? You're not joking?”
“For real...?”
“No way.”
The room immediately buzzed.
Then Songpa First Sword Oh Yeon-hee raised her hand slightly and pointed to the silver-white bow slung over Young-woo's shoulder.
“So that bow's from North Korea? I didn't see it yesterday.”
North Korean-made. An odd way to put it, but accurate in a sense.
“Yes. The production origin's completely different, but I got it by killing a North Korean First Sword.”
With that, Young-woo cycled his title through Kaesong and Hwanghae First Sword. Seoul's First Swords erupted from murmurs into outright chaos.
“Huh?”
“What the hell?”
“He's lost it, for real...!”
The gut-munching maniac from their first encounter had seemed unusually quiet, and now it turned out he'd been off slaughtering North Korean First Swords since morning.
But technically, Young-woo had been out since last night.
“Before I get into North Korea details, I should cover the nighttime dungeon in chronological order.”
“What's that?”
“Dungeon?”
“Nighttime...?”
As expected, the First Swords looked as dumbfounded as old-timers facing something new.
“Some of you might've already seen or have one. Equipment exists that ignores the anomalous weather.”
As Young-woo said this and pressed down on his long cloak, an item tooltip appeared in everyone's view.
「Black Raincoat」 - Hero Cape
【Nullifies obsidian rain.】
“There was obsidian rain last night, so I could go out. I took down a mutant abandoned on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province, and a dungeon opened.”
Young-woo's account afterward matched exactly what he'd experienced.
Powerhouses from other Phase 1 countries entering via portals.
And a dungeon of insane difficulty that you absolutely couldn't survive without teaming up with them.
Of course, he skipped mentioning the compendium reward exclusive to first place.
Instead.
“Completing a dungeon guarantees Unique-grade equipment or higher. Riskier dungeons mean higher reward grades, obviously. However.”
“However...?”
“Tell us quick.”
“What's the catch?”
Seoul's First Swords, hooked on Young-woo's story, urged him on.
Young-woo slowly scanned the gear of the assembled First Swords before continuing.
“You can't forget it's risking your life for one piece of gear. So I can't actively recommend it. But sharing the info sooner is better, so here we are.”
This time, Seocho First Sword Choi Nam-hee jumped in without even raising her hand.
“But getting Unique or better gear every day is a huge advantage, right? The gap between those who do dungeons and those who don't will only widen.”
She glanced south as she finished.
“And above all, the mutants' growth lately is unnatural. We're all desperate to get stronger somehow.”
No need to look far—just yesterday's Boxing Medalist Cha Du-seong in Gwangjin District had been no joke.
Though he'd ended up dead by Young-woo's hand.
“Yes, you're right. Dungeons aren't there for nothing. But the difficulty is sky-high...”
At that moment, Seongbuk's Lee Yu-bin lit up and said excitedly.
“But we have someone who's survived a dungeon, don't we?”
Referring to Young-woo, who was probably Asia's only dungeon veteran at this point.
“Night outings require the gear anyway, so we can't all go at once... Having the experienced one lead makes it way safer.”
“...True. He's basically a dungeon pro now.”
“That's a fair point.”
The First Swords began nodding one by one.
And this was why Jeong Young-woo could no longer be excluded from the meeting.
‘Glad it's going smoothly. I can't solo dungeons anyway, so I need party members too. And it's better to funnel the rewards to our country.’
Judging by the stigma system, they were ultimately in competition—or enmity—with other countries.
The issue for Korea was that this ‘enmity’ had arrived far sooner than expected.
“......”
So Young-woo revealed the true reason for calling this meeting.
“Now, I'll tell you why I gathered you all here.”
“The dungeon wasn't the main point?”
“What else is there...?”
As the First Swords swallowed hard, the culprit stigma popped up above Young-woo's head.
Pop!
『Trickster's Mark: North Korea』
|You have stolen North Korea's assets. To hold you accountable, all of North Korea's First Swords now know your location.
“...Huh?”
“What's this?”
“Stolen... assets?”
As Seoul's First Swords reacted with confusion, Young-woo pointed north to the sky.
Click.
“North Korea is currently sharpening their blades, waiting for Kim Jong-un to return as a mutant.”
Then he bowed his head to the assembled First Swords in apology.
“My unilateral killing spree in North Korea during all this led to this stigma.”
So soon, furious powerhouses from the north would come here, and in the process, they'd slaughter anything South Korean they found—not just the stigma's target.
Every First Sword's jaw dropped at Young-woo's follow-up explanation.
They'd only ever worried about fighting mutants daily; the idea of equally strong assassins from the north invading en masse had never crossed their minds.
“W-what happens now? War...?”
Yongsan First Sword Kim Do-ha—guardian of the New Seoul government—asked with a somewhat detached expression.
He couldn't bring himself to scold Young-woo after the prior talk, so they needed to grasp the situation first.
Young-woo nodded calmly.
“Yes, that's how it is. Sorry.”