Chapter 247
Chapter 247
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 247
Chapter Title: 56. Great Migration of the People (2)
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BOOM!
The arrow Young-woo fired struck Geum-hwa dead-on without fail, and soon after, she plummeted amid a burst of purple smoke.
Of course, it wouldn't have killed her in one shot.
He had deliberately aimed only for one wing because he wanted to exchange a few words with her first.
'Well, now I have some idea why she's doing this.'
In truth, Young-woo had no idea that Heo Geum-hwa was a YouTuber from the Joseon ethnic community.
He had heard about the stabbing incident on the news, but he hadn't paid much attention to the surrounding details.
That was why, even as he watched her keep heading west along the river, he hadn't fully grasped the reason.
It wasn't until he noticed a sudden surge in signs written in Chinese that he started to piece it together.
Her destination was Daelim-dong, infamous as a hotspot for the Joseon ethnic enclave.
|You are currently in the 'Yeongdeungpo' area.
|There is no Greatest Swordsman in this region.
It was around then that Young-woo finally checked the status of his current location, Yeongdeungpo.
'No Greatest Swordsman here. Guess the title got stripped away.'
It wasn't uncommon for duels over titles to result in one region's Greatest Swordsman vanishing entirely.
But at least in Yeongdeungpo's case, it didn't look like the usual scenario.
Because.
"......"
The number of corpses abandoned along the main roads skyrocketed exponentially the closer he got to Daelim-dong.
'These weren't killed by mutants.'
Having passed through countless regions from Gumi onward, Young-woo could easily distinguish between corpses caused by mutants and those that weren't.
And crucially, the ones in Yeongdeungpo.
'Someone deliberately herded them to one side and burned them. And it wasn't long ago.'
One might think it was a fire-breathing mutant, but Young-woo couldn't agree.
'If it were a mutant, it would've spewed fire everywhere, leaving scorch marks all over. But this......'
Young-woo spotted perfectly circular scorch marks only on the shop walls along the road where the corpses were propped up against each other.
Even while hurtling along on the high-speed Neguig, piles of corpses processed in exactly this manner kept appearing endlessly.
In other words, a massive massacre had taken place in Yeongdeungpo, and when the excessive corpses began to decay, someone had tried to incinerate them.
'Even with all the infighting, for civilians to die like this......?'
Even in North Korea, which was notoriously brutal, the kill count by its Greatest Swordsman hadn't exceeded triple digits.
Yet the "processed" corpses Young-woo was seeing here numbered at least in the thousands.
'And this isn't the only road lined with piled-up bodies.'
That meant the population killed by fellow humans in Yeongdeungpo could be in the tens of thousands.
In short, there was a massive problem in this area that had caused even greater loss of life than mutants or variants.
And no matter how he looked at it, that was.
'...the Joseon ethnic group.'
Of course, jumping to the conclusion that all Joseon people were vicious based on this alone would be far too narrow-minded.
But given the current state of Yeongdeungpo, one thing was almost certain.
'Post-Reset, the Joseon ethnic group is even more dangerous than usual.'
Whether brutal elements had risen to prominence since the Reset, or if there was another trigger, he couldn't say.
Either way, the circumstances made it look like the Joseon people had carried out some kind of ethnic cleansing in Yeongdeungpo.
'While we were busy clashing with the North Koreans, the Joseon group was building up strength from within.'
Young-woo couldn't help but think that.
And along with it came the reasonable suspicion that if left alone, they'd soon start eyeing other regions.
KWAH!
Before long, the Neguig carried Young-woo into the heart of Daelim-dong, where the variant marker had plunged down.
Piles of corpses dotted Daelim-dong just like the rest of Yeongdeungpo, but in far smaller numbers.
As he'd feared in the worst-case scenario, all those corpses he'd seen so far weren't mere byproducts of battle—they were traces of the Joseon group's internal rebellion.
"...These bastards."
For the first time in ages, Young-woo felt a deep surge of anger.
Of course, he knew well that the Reset was a wildly chaotic event, and it was wrong to interpret related incidents in isolation.
An era where everyone was handed a blade, and survival demanded earning a daily quota of karma.
In such times, it must have been hard for the Joseon ethnic group—essentially a minority in South Korea—to act morally.
Even the native Koreans on the peninsula had been too busy slaughtering each other.
But.
'That doesn't justify wiping out entire regions. With the population already decimated by the Reset, this just makes it worse.'
Just as living space was a limited resource that was hard to restore once damaged, post-Reset population was much the same.
Childbirth and child-rearing were so daunting in this world that they were practically unimaginable.
Thus, the best immediate option was to preserve as many people as possible.
It was only Day 6 of the Reset, so until this catastrophe somehow ended, they had to keep as many alive as they could.
'And fewer people means less karma production overall. It's like tanking the GDP!'
From a macro perspective, GDP—or gross domestic product—was critically important.
With 1,000 karma equaling 1 stat point, a nation's GDP was essentially its combat power.
And that was just the start.
'Karma is currency valid not just on Earth, but across the universe.'
Thus, karma-based GDP also signified competitiveness on a cosmic scale.
And looking even further, preserving the global gross world product, GWP, was the right move.
'Of course, this is just my own view... and to some, it might sound like delusion.'
But Young-woo was deadly serious.
Already, countless alien merchants were coming and going on Earth, and unauthorized types like the Gecko could bypass the atmosphere with a single Greatest Swordsman's approval.
'With the planet in this state, what's to stop even worse ones from showing up?'
Even space pirate Gecko could seize Earth if he turned hostile.
If things had gone just a bit differently, every Earthling might now be slaving away mining sap from rocks on the Zargal planet.
'Preparation is key... especially against foreign invasion.'
Humanity's history, and that of the Korean Peninsula, had proven that time and again.
'Maybe it's not even the time for Earthlings to be fighting each other.'
As Young-woo turned his gaze forward with these thoughts, "it" finally appeared before his eyes.
[Internet Broadcaster - Heo Geum-hwa (Kind Ms. Gold)]
Heo Geum-hwa, the Day 6 variant from Gwangjin District.
"Huh? What the—."
As Young-woo recoiled at the sight of his harpy-form opponent, Geum-hwa, sprawled on the ground opposite him, painfully turned her head toward him.
「J-Joseon Greatest Swordsman......!」
It was the line most people blurted out in shock upon seeing Young-woo's title, but Geum-hwa used it differently.
Because.
「Help me!」
It was a plea for mercy directed at a complete stranger who was a raving murderer.
"W-What... what?"
Only after hearing the variant's cry for help did Young-woo survey his surroundings.
Sss...
Come to think of it, the Joseon group had now blocked off all directions, including his retreat.
Especially the nearby building windows, lined with figures gripping long spears in reverse grip.
Likely javelin throwers.
'Oh great, I walked right into a variant trap with them.'
Young-woo admired the fairly dense net of firepower while intuiting that these were the culprits who had wrecked Yeongdeungpo.
Crucially, the figure who seemed to have claimed Yeongdeungpo's title was standing right there.
"What's going on? What do you want me to help with?"
Crunch!
The one spitting furious words while stomping on Heo Geum-hwa's throat was none other than.
『Guro's Greatest Swordsman』
Guro's Greatest Swordsman Hwang Gil-hwi01.
44 years old, male, Joseon ethnicity.
The only one among them standing at 2 meters tall, he was unmistakably the leader of the Joseon group in Guro and Yeongdeungpo.
In response, Young-woo pointed at Heo Geum-hwa pinned under his foot and said.
"Hey, isn't that a bit much? If you're gonna kill her, just do it clean."
He said it after noticing both her wings had been completely severed.
Young-woo had only damaged her right wing with the arrow, but now both wings were sliced off right at the shoulders.
In other words, after she crashed in Daelim-dong from the arrow hit, they had all piled on her.
'No way... did I end up helping these guys?'
If Heo Geum-hwa hadn't been wounded in the wings, she wouldn't have been taken down so helplessly.
"......"
Having learned "romance" from the Incheon folk, Young-woo even felt sorry for the variant Heo Geum-hwa.
So.
「D-Don't just stand there, help me!」
When Heo Geum-hwa sent another pitiable plea, even his steel heart ached.
He still didn't know who she was, but she didn't strike him as some heinous variant.
Step.
Young-woo then took a large step toward Heo Geum-hwa.
At that, Guro's Greatest Swordsman Hwang Gil-hwi menacingly pointed his sword at Young-woo.
"Huh? What do you think you're doing? This is already ours."
He assumed that since the other guy was a Greatest Swordsman, he'd obviously kill the variant too.
Why pick a fight when she was doomed anyway?
But Young-woo had an option Guro's Greatest Swordsman couldn't even imagine.
Namely...
'No, wait—she's a harpy, so she doesn't have arms to begin with? How do I shake hands then?'
As Young-woo's gaze naturally drifted to Geum-hwa's two feet, Guro's Greatest Swordsman seized the opening and swung down his blade.
Shiiiing!
He figured he'd better finish off the variant before that suspicious creep tried anything weird.
「A-Aaaah!」
Heo Geum-hwa somehow sensed it and screamed loud enough to rupture eardrums, and almost simultaneously, Young-woo's figure shot up like lightning.
Thud!
"...What."
「Kyaa!」
Geum-hwa, Gil-hwi, Young-woo.
No one else in the area had any idea what had just happened.
To them, it just looked like.
"W-What?"
"Teleport...?"
"What was that? I didn't see a thing."
The Joseon Greatest Swordsman seemed to have teleported.
The guy who had been a dozen meters away a moment ago was now, in the blink of an eye, gripping Hwang Gil-hwi's blade.
Grrrrind...
Of course, the tip of Gil-hwi's sword was already slightly embedded near Geum-hwa's throat.
Even the Joseon Greatest Swordsman couldn't perfectly block a sword swung from over ten meters away.
It was only thanks to that one prior step that he'd saved her.
"Like I said earlier, if you were gonna kill her, you should've done it quick without the torture."
As Young-woo said this and yanked the blade up while gripping it with his hand, Guro's Greatest Swordsman Hwang Gil-hwi stared in disbelief.
"You... what the hell are you?"
Young-woo pondered briefly, then looked up at the sky.
"I'm Joseon Greatest Swordsman Jeong Young-woo07. The guy who might take responsibility for this country's defense."
"...What?"
"Usually I'd show off my power and collect defense contributions, but you lot cut the population so much it's pointless now."
"W-What the hell are you talking about?"
"For damaging our national GDP, I'll be taking your title. Have dinner in hell."
"You little shit talking crap...!"
Finally, golden light flickered in Guro's Greatest Swordsman Hwang Gil-hwi's eyes.
He was unleashing a Greatest Swordsman's aura.
But his opponent was the "Master of Myths," who held his majesty even before transcendent beings.
Young-woo stared straight at him with naked eyes untouched by the glow, then swung his elbow.
Shwaaaak!
And soon.
Slash!
With a chilling sound, Gil-hwi's head fell before over a hundred Joseon onlookers.
"Huh?"
"......?"
Thud, plop.
The surrounding Joseon group just blinked even after the Greatest Swordsman's head rolled a couple times on the ground.
They never imagined the man who had single-handedly subdued Yeongdeungpo's elites would be decapitated in one blow—by an elbow no less—from some weirdo who popped up today.
"G-Gil-hwi?"
"No way he's dead right now......?"
But his death wasn't in vain.
Though he'd damaged the GDP, his demise had birthed a new powerhouse.
「A Greatest Swordsman has been selected for the Seoul region!」
"Oh?"
Young-woo's pupils dilated for the first time in a while.
Now that he thought about it, yeah.
Killing Guro's Greatest Swordsman meant he'd also inherited the Yeongdeungpo title the guy held.
Thus, the Seoul-region titles Young-woo now possessed totaled three: Guro, Yeongdeungpo, and Gangnam.
'No, does that mean I'm finally Seoul's Greatest Swordsman......?'
But Young-woo's prediction wasn't entirely accurate.
「An individual has acquired 3 major-region titles!」
"Uh......?"
Gyeongbuk, Gyeonggi, and now Seoul.
Gaining the Seoul Greatest Swordsman title had bumped his major-region titles to three.
'Tetris? What is this?'
The butterfly effect from Guro's Greatest Swordsman's death.
「The 1st Great Korean Greatest Swordsman has been selected!」
"......!"
At the insane promotion speed, the surrounding Joseon group forgot their leader's death and blankly stared up at Young-woo's head.
His title had changed twice already.
But there was one final blow.
「2 divided-nation titles have converged in one place!」
"...What?"
「Jeong Young-woo07 is the sole candidate for Korean Peninsula Strongest. A yes/no vote will begin shortly. Please prepare.」
That damn preparation.
But this time, rather than tension, he felt like he'd been clubbed over the back of the head—utterly dazed.
"A yes/no vote?"
These were titles he'd earned with his own power, so why decide by popular vote?
'Is this how it normally works? Or is it special for divided nations......?'
As Young-woo stood there with a blank look, the most unprecedented ceremony in Reset history began.
「Before the vote, please review the candidate's profile.」
Then, a massive screen appeared in the sky.