Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: 34. Tectonic Shift (2)
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Assassinate Kim Jong-un.
For General Soldier-Kim Young-heum, it was a story that made his heart race just hearing it.
He had been an army general to begin with, and he was known as a hardliner when it came to North Korea policy.
And on top of that, hadn't he just seen it with his own eyes?
Armed infiltrators from the North swinging swords through the streets of Paju.
"Yeah, that bastard really needs to be killed."
Of course, in terms of brutality, this guy Jeong Yeong-woo from their side was two levels above the ones from North Korea.
"But."
"Yes, go ahead."
"Why did this mess happen all of a sudden? They're not coming down here saying they're going to unify out of the blue, are they?"
At Soldier-Kim Young-heum's question, everyone in the room, including Yeong-woo, fell silent as if their mouths were glued shut.
"Ah... Well, about that."
In truth, the one who had pressed the start button on this war was none other than Jeong Yeong-woo.
"I basically provoked them first."
Yeong-woo briefly explained the series of events: his nighttime outing, crossing the military demarcation line, and getting ambushed there. Soldier-Kim Young-heum snorted through his large nose.
"Is that so? Then it means war was inevitable sooner or later. If things have gotten that institutionalized."
After hearing about the existence of the Stamp of Subjugation, Soldier-Kim Young-heum intuited that the disaster that had struck this world was far from over.
"It's not just North Korea that's the problem. This is the age of barbarism. Think about what happened historically when strength was everything."
No need to go far—conflicts within the country were already mostly being resolved through force.
So what about between different nations, let alone the same ethnicity?
"Of course, the most urgent issue right now is Kim Jong-un. If that guy comes back as a mutant like me, nine times out of ten he'll slaughter every human in sight."
As Soldier-Kim Young-heum said this, Yeong-woo subtly brought up his main point.
"That's why I have one fact I need to confess to you, General."
"...What's that?"
Soldier-Kim Young-heum sensed something ominous in Yeong-woo's tone.
And right on cue, the two 'friends' who had been enjoying the outside air after so long began to melt into the air.
Their summoning time had expired.
"Ah, already? Time's up!"
Yeong-tae looked up at the sky with a deeply regretful expression.
Then he shifted his gaze to the white tiger in front of him and said energetically.
"General! Come visit anytime! I'll take good care of you!"
It was practically false advertising, but anyway, Yeong-tae vanished after leaving those words.
And Representative Kim Tae-jun...
"General, you can trust Yeong-woo. But life here isn't easy."
He disappeared after delivering somewhat neutral lines.
How could Soldier-Kim Young-heum not be confused?
"What the hell is all this?"
In response, Yeong-woo gazed vaguely into the air, presumably where the Returner's Room might be.
"The truth is, if you're going with me to assassinate Kim Jong-un, you have to pay one price."
"Price...?"
By then, Soldier-Kim Young-heum had switched to a defensive stance, ears perked.
Yeong-woo laid it out without sugarcoating.
"You have to go to prison."
* * *
The Returner's Room.
A kind of isolation space where Yeong-woo's 'friends' lived their own lives until summoned.
According to Yeong-tae, the first inmate, it was initially just white walls on all sides with nothing to do.
Yeong-tae had essentially been severely tortured in there.
The flow of time he felt back then was close to an eternity.
Then he got summoned, earned his first achievement points, and learned he could buy various items with them. After that, the Returner's Room gained a glimmer of hope.
Anything was better than enduring an eternity doing nothing; having a goal made it far preferable.
Especially for Representative Kim Tae-jun, who had family back in his original world, he had high hopes for television.
However, in General Soldier-Kim Young-heum's case...
"It's been too long since my divorce. Even if I could find her, I don't really want to meet now. Especially not in this state."
He had no children, and his parents had passed from old age a few years ago.
In short, General Soldier-Kim Young-heum was essentially alone in this world.
"Isn't there a way to avoid imprisonment? We're doing pretty well here already, aren't we?"
The sight of the 6-meter-long white tiger alternately pointing at itself and the other with its front paw was quite comical.
But Yeong-woo immediately shook his head.
"If Kim Jong-un showed up today, I'd consider it, but he won't appear until tomorrow at the earliest... or even later."
On the other hand, as confirmed in this battle, the friends summoned by the whistle only grew stronger over time.
At minimum, they strengthened to the level of mutants who appeared that day.
In other words, Soldier-Kim Young-heum was already plenty strong, but as a 'friend,' he'd be summoned in an even more enhanced state.
"That's tempting."
The tradeoff was enduring potentially eternal isolation.
"It's true I took bribes. But that wasn't evil enough for a life sentence, was it?"
He had already effectively been executed once.
Hadn't he lost his life as a human under the public's one-sided judgment?
"Suddenly feeling unfortunate."
Seeing Soldier-Kim Young-heum's genuinely sad face, Yeong-woo suddenly pointed north.
Swoosh.
"But in exchange, you get a chance to throw down with Kim Jong-un fair and square."
"You think I'm a fool? Even if I'm a soldier..."
But Yeong-woo's words weren't over yet.
"Kim Jong-un has six arms."
"What? Really? Six arms?"
Soldier-Kim Young-heum's ears perked up involuntarily.
"Yes. That guy's become a Vajra Yaksha. So he'll probably wield six weapons."
"Shit... Hard to imagine. Can't not meet him now."
The Joseon First Sword enchants the white tiger with tales of Kim Jong-un appearing with six arms.
"......"
After frowning for a while, Soldier-Kim Young-heum finally made the decision of a lifetime.
"So how do I become one of those 'friends'?"
* * *
'...No way. Walking into prison of his own accord?'
Songpa First Sword Oh Yeon-hee couldn't close her mouth.
It was a total shock.
She had just witnessed General Soldier-Kim Young-heum and Joseon First Sword Jeong Yeong-woo shake hands.
Strictly speaking, it was Yeong-woo covering the return button floating on Soldier-Kim Young-heum's massive paw with his hand.
Either way, this was an absurd slave contract, and Oh Yeon-hee couldn't understand either Yeong-woo for offering it or Soldier-Kim Young-heum for accepting.
But one thing she could finally understand.
"That's why Jeong Hyeon-sik couldn't do shit and got done in."
Just like Choi Nam-hee had said moments ago—the reason Jeong Yeong-woo was so overwhelmingly strong.
"His whole lifestyle is on another level from the start."
Oh Yeon-hee muttered in a tone of enlightenment.
Jeong Yeong-woo was different from ordinary First Swords in every way.
From how he grew stronger to his very mindset.
When she first saw him, he was Gyeongbuk First Sword, then Gangnam First Sword, and how much time had passed before he became Joseon First Sword?
To keep pulling off such absurd feats, the man himself had to be anything but ordinary.
'He says he'll assassinate Kim Jong-un? He'll probably actually do it. Just how far does he plan to go...?'
While Oh Yeon-hee held her forehead, Soldier-Kim Young-heum, having finished shaking hands with Yeong-woo, began melting into the air.
Whoosh.
Like the other two mutants, he was becoming a whistle fairy.
"F-Feels kinda weird."
Soldier-Kim Young-heum, whose muzzle was half-erased, looked up at the sky.
Sss...
Finally, the remnants of his body in this world scattered into the air like smoke, leaving a golden orb in its place.
Pop!
The golden goblin darted over and swiftly tucked the golden orb into its subspatial pouch.
-Kikkit!
Now there were two golden orbs in the pouch.
"He's gone."
As the faint presence of General Soldier-Kim Young-heum vanished completely, Yeong-woo carefully picked up the whistle hanging around his neck.
Swoosh.
「Amber Whistle」 - Legendary Necklace
【Calls your friends.】
|Yeong-tae, Tae-jun, Yeong-heum
"Wow."
Sure enough, the tooltip on the whistle now listed the former army general's name.
Somewhere in another dimension, in the Returner's Room, General Soldier-Kim Young-heum's room had probably just appeared.
From now on, blowing the whistle would drop a troll, a golem, and a white tiger all at once.
This should be enough to take on even Kim Jong-un with his six arms.
"Alright, now let's check out the spoils."
With the new friend recruited, Yeong-woo let go of the whistle, and the First Swords of Seoul, who had been watching him intently, each cleared their throats.
"Ahem."
"Yeah, right."
"There were quite a few spoils..."
They knew their contribution to the battle wasn't high, but they couldn't help hoping for some scraps.
Oh Yeon-hee had even been prepared to step up and speak if Yeong-woo tried to monopolize everything.
Something like, shouldn't he at least pay labor fees to the First Swords who risked their lives to join?
And sure enough.
"Thank you all so much for coming all the way out here."
Yeong-woo spoke first.
"Fortunately, the battle ended without casualties. If it had dragged on longer, who knows what might have happened."
As he said this and carefully examined the twenty or so pieces of gear laid out on the ground, everyone in the room swallowed hard.
His decision was coming soon.
"I think I gained a lot from this today. For one, I got to recruit General Soldier-Kim Young-heum as a friend."
Yeong-woo paused there, then made eye contact one by one with the five First Swords before him.
"You might not be friends yet... but since you answered my one-sided call to arms, you're comrades-in-arms at least, right?"
Seocho First Sword Choi Nam-hee nodded with an awkward smile.
"Oh... more than comrades now. If the battle had gone much worse, we really would have fought side by side, lives on the line."
It was empty flattery, but also true in a way.
If Yeong-woo had been pushed back by the North's main force in Paju, they would have jumped in without hesitation.
It wasn't about loyalty; it was logical.
If the North Korean forces succeeded in killing Jeong Yeong-woo, who would they target next?
Obviously, they'd push through Paju and Goyang straight to Seoul.
'At least we should be grateful we met Jeong Yeong-woo as an ally, not an enemy.'
As Choi Nam-hee smiled with her eyes, Yeong-woo responded with a friendly grin.
Then.
"With that in mind, I'd like to share some of the spoils with you all. As comrades who fought together."
"......!"
"Eh."
"R-Really?"
They had hoped, but no one expected Yeong-woo to actually show such generosity. Everyone's eyes went wide.
"Yes. You can take whatever gear you want from what's here. But there are three conditions."
Yeong-woo held up three fingers as he spoke.
"First, there's a pair of swords that make a barrier among these. Please don't choose those."
"Oh... No problem."
"Yeah, that's fine."
The First Swords nodded readily.
Next, Yeong-woo stated the second condition.
"Second, no accessories. Anything else is fair game."
"Yes. That's fine too."
"Got it."
The second condition passed easily.
Finally, Yeong-woo revealed the third.
"Third, you can pick two or more items. But from the second one onward, trade them for your accessories."
"Ah...?"
"Trade for accessories?"
At the third condition, the First Swords realized.
Yeong-woo was indeed being generous, but he wasn't without ulterior motives.
'This guy's planning to strip us of all our accessories, for whatever reason.'
Dongdaemun First Sword Jang Jeong-ho eyed Yeong-woo suspiciously.
But it was an offer they couldn't refuse.
Clap!
Yeong-woo clapped and pointed to the spoils at his feet.
"Alright! Let's start. One by one, pick your gear and bring it to me. Accessory trades are very welcome."