Chapter 289
Chapter 289
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 289
Chapter Title: 66. Metal Forbidden City (2)
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Metal Seoul.
Dogo offered no official response to Youngwoo's utterly absurd idea.
But since the quest contents hadn't changed either, this was essentially...
"An implicit agreement, right? If you asked me to pick Earth's capital, what else could it be besides Seoul? All my comrades are there."
Even as Youngwoo said this, he was already picturing what a metallized Seoul might look like.
Colossus Soldiers guarding the four great gates of Seoul, a Metal Gyeongbok Palace, and the like.
And above all...
'Does that mean we can mount lasers like those on the Forbidden City onto Seoul too?'
The reason Youngwoo fixated on this was none other than the mutants.
If he could establish a perfect capital defense system through city remodeling, wouldn't that naturally solve the mutant disposal issue as well?
'That would expand my range of action considerably.'
Even today, he had to return to Seoul before 1 p.m. to handle mutants.
But if those constraints vanished?
If that really happened, global-scale national management wouldn't be impossible.
He could realize the "make the nation rich and strong to pacify the world" he had proclaimed during the Supreme Swordsman selection.
And for that, what was needed was the Forbidden City's remodeling core.
'Sorry, but the Forbidden City will have to crumble.'
<Quest> Secure the Forbidden City's remodeling core and designate Earth's new capital.
Securing that core... in other words, seizing it, would obviously cause this Metal Forbidden City to collapse.
Crunch!
As Youngwoo finally stepped inside Tiananmen Gate, Im Du-byeong's voice echoed from within the palace once more.
—Righteous hero.
"Ah, you talk too much. You struck first, and now you keep calling me a righteous hero."
Of course, he didn't exactly hate being addressed as such by someone who had once been China's premier.
It was a rare experience, after all.
But if it was strategic courtesy meant to buy favor, he wanted to refuse.
—Killing intent is detected. I haven't misjudged, have I?
"No, did you really open the gates thinking we'd talk? After exchanging lasers, don't we have to see this through to the end?"
Youngwoo scanned his surroundings meticulously as he spoke.
Who knew when or where a laser beam might fire.
Clank, clank.
After taking a few more steps forward, the Meridian Gate loomed grandly right before him, welcoming Youngwoo.
The Forbidden City's official main gate at present. A Toma structure immune to the laser cannon fired from the Returnee's Room.
'Can't attack its own product...? Does that even make sense? And yet it attacked me with the Forbidden City's laser cannon.'
Swoosh.
As Youngwoo readjusted his grip on Childslayer and extended his foot toward the inside of the Meridian Gate, Im Du-byeong spoke again.
—We share the same sponsor.
"...So?"
—As you've seen firsthand, it makes no sense for us to cross swords. We should cooperate.
He was referring to how Youngwoo's bombardment hadn't damaged the Forbidden City Meridian Gate.
Since both used Toma's power, better to seek another way than fight each other.
"......"
But strictly speaking, Im Du-byeong and Youngwoo didn't share the same sponsor.
Im Du-byeong had only Toma as his backing, but Youngwoo's main sponsor was 'Dogo,' who had ordered him to extract the Forbidden City's core.
Moreover, the two companies' standings on Earth differed from the start.
Dogo was a construction firm that had legally acquired Earth's development rights, whereas Toma was merely a Reset affiliate.
And from the beginning...
<Quest> Secure the Forbidden City's remodeling core and designate Earth's new capital.
'Our company has confidence from the get-go. Casually calling it Earth's capital?'
In other words, the city Youngwoo chose would become Earth's new capital in the future.
It revealed Dogo's ambition to place Youngwoo at the helm of Earth in the near future.
"Cooperation requires aligned interests. You and I aren't on the same level."
—What?
Im Du-byeong finally seemed to be losing his temper.
Naturally, even he had limits to bending his pride.
By then, Youngwoo had already passed through the open Meridian Gate and was heading toward the distant Gate of Supreme Harmony.
The Gate of Supreme Harmony was the main entrance to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Forbidden City's most important structure. Passing it meant truly entering the palace interior.
It was also where the emperor's enthronement ceremony took place.
'What's this? It's closed.'
Spotting the locked Gate of Supreme Harmony, Youngwoo instinctively knew Im Du-byeong was hiding behind it.
And above all...
"......"
"You've come."
Two old men stood before the tightly shut Gate of Supreme Harmony.
Hyeon Bu-won, the 5th Politburo Standing Committee member, and Seong Bang-ho, the 3rd.
Both were over two meters tall, but their eyes trembled unnaturally against their massive frames.
They knew the man now arriving at the Gate of Supreme Harmony had slain the other three Standing Committee members, excluding Chairman Im.
Especially since among them was Hong Gyeong-baek, Beijing's number two.
Swoosh.
Hyeon Bu-won then stepped forward from before the Gate of Supreme Harmony and gestured for Youngwoo to stop.
"St-Stop right there."
Youngwoo took three or four more steps even after Hyeon Bu-won's line before halting.
Clank!
"Your voice is shaking, Committee Member."
As Youngwoo spoke with a grin, Seong Bang-ho, who had been standing behind with arms crossed, twitched his eyebrows.
"Ordinarily, no outsiders may enter the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but the Chairman has granted special permission. Lay down all your weapons as a condition."
Seong Bang-ho's gaze fell on Childslayer as he spoke.
A demonic sword that even a layman could tell was no ordinary blade.
"What if I don't?"
"...What?"
"If I refuse to disarm, are you going to fight me?"
"You...!"
It was an immensely pride-scraping remark, yet Seong Bang-ho didn't charge immediately.
He knew the opponent's prowess all too well, and right behind them was Chairman Im.
"You're as arrogant as they say. If you weren't the Chairman's guest, I'd rip out your heart myself."
"My heart is sword-proof, old man."
As Youngwoo raised Childslayer with those words, the two Standing Committee members flinched reflexively.
But what Youngwoo did next was...
Crack!
Merely plunge Childslayer into the ground before the Gate of Supreme Harmony.
"Even in the Forbidden City, I should follow its laws."
He then spread his arms slightly to show he had no other weapons.
"Now open the gate. I'm a busy man too."
At Youngwoo's command, Seong Bang-ho grudgingly nodded, and soon Hyeon Bu-won placed his palm on the Gate of Supreme Harmony.
Thud.
The sturdy locks disengaged on their own, and the thick iron gate began to open.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The Gate of Supreme Harmony opened.
Beyond this massive entrance lay the plaza where ancient Chinese officials had once prostrated themselves before the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
And directly opposite this vast plaza stood...
Rooooar...!
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, exuding an inexplicable chill, towered like a mountain.
Originally built atop stone steps rising from the plaza floor, now those steps were entirely metal.
The wooden Hall of Supreme Harmony itself was fully encased in metal, resembling less a palace than some battleship.
'It's enormous. So, taking that core lets me remake Seoul like this?'
As Youngwoo strolled the Hall of Supreme Harmony plaza like a visitor touring a model home, the Gate of Supreme Harmony behind him slammed shut.
Boom!
Trapping the disarmed Youngwoo before the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Then...
Shiiiine!
The central ornamental path leading to the Hall of Supreme Harmony—the imperial path—began to glow brightly.
This path, for the emperor's palanquin, was carved with dragons soaring above clouds.
Thus, what Youngwoo now beheld was...
'These Chinese guys really love their dragons...'
As Youngwoo eyed the glowing dragon on the path and stepped toward the Hall of Supreme Harmony steps...
—Graaang!
The 'Frightened Cat' in his pocket let out a sharp cry.
'Im Du-byeong?'
Youngwoo widened his eyes, and soon a massive presence stirred from deep within the Hall of Supreme Harmony beyond the high steps.
Like a great tidal wave approaching silently.
'Oh, right.'
Realizing the sky over the Hall of Supreme Harmony plaza had darkened unnoticed, Youngwoo summoned from his weapon catalog the golden trajectory, the dullahan's sword, and the white barrage in sequence.
Flash, pop!
Then Im Du-byeong's voice, which had echoed throughout, emanated from beyond the steps.
—You have so many tricks.
But the tone felt very different from before.
No more honorifics, and far more savage.
"You wanted to talk earlier, but you've changed your mind already?"
Youngwoo glanced alternately at the blackened sky and the sealed Gate of Supreme Harmony as he spoke, prompting Im Du-byeong's low chuckle.
—The sword you held outside showed excessive energy readings.
He meant Childslayer.
—But now, no 'danger' is detected from you.
"Is that so? Then show yourself already."
As Youngwoo finished and dared step onto the imperial path, an immense wave of aura erupted from the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
—How dare you!
Rumble!
Thunder cracked, and a colossal form rose before the Hall of Supreme Harmony, blotting the dark sky even blacker.
"......!"
It was a dragon.
The first Eastern-style dragon Youngwoo had seen since the Reset.
"No, fuck... what the hell did this bastard do?"
Not a typical dragon, though—this one was a steel dragon, its entire body formed of pitch-black metal, like the Forbidden City itself.
Like his eldest uncle, Song Tae-ho.
But hadn't Im Du-byeong escaped the dissolution vote and blocked all attacks coming his way?
"What? You... weren't you human?"
Youngwoo stared up at Im Du-byeong's elevated head in the sky with rare surprise, spotting a title above its crown.
『Beijing's Greatest Fiend』
"Uh."
That format was unmistakably a Supreme Swordsman title—no, a national martial world ranking.
Meaning Im Du-byeong was still classified as human.
'This mad bastard discarded his body for power?'
If so, Im Du-byeong was the epitome of Reset-optimized new humanity.
And finally...
—Ha, human? I long ago abandoned that frail form.
"What?"
—I will soon become a god.
With that, Im Du-byeong slithered down against the Hall of Supreme Harmony steps' imperial path, filling the front of Youngwoo's plaza.
Its body length defied measure; even coiling several times in the air, it obscured the Hall of Supreme Harmony behind and the sky itself.
"Hmm, looks strong."
Youngwoo wore a dubious expression but didn't miss the tiny numbers under Im Du-byeong's chin.
Something had glittered there earlier, so he'd zoomed in with his Heavenly Eye—it was a sequence of digits.
484,237,551 / 500,000,000
'Ten hundred... billion? So 480 million?'
Then the right number was 500 million.
480 million out of 500 million.
Youngwoo blinked, mind racing.
He soon reached a conclusion.
'This bastard isn't a dragon yet—it's an imugi.'
Youngwoo immediately looked up again.
As expected, the dark sky wasn't weather—it was a vast curtain over the entire Forbidden City.
In other words, Im Du-byeong had invited Youngwoo deep inside because fighting here favored him, and the reason for that was...
"Ah... you need 16 million more. To use your power outside this fortress too. That's your contract with Toma, right?"
By cosmic contract experience, Youngwoo's resume outshone it.
Impressed by Youngwoo's plausible deduction, Im Du-byeong, blotting the sky, bared teeth and lowered its head toward him.
—Insolent fool! But you're already in my grasp. The final sacrifice on my path to godhood.
As it coiled its upper body partly and extended an arm clutching a yeouiju from within.
"......!"
Youngwoo's pupils dilated right on cue.
'The core!'
He knew instinctively.
That was the yeouiju turning imugi Im Du-byeong into a god... no, a dragon. The future heart of Metal Seoul.
'Now just to take the pot.'
Having gathered all needed intel, Youngwoo smacked his lips and reached his right hand sideways backward.
Flash!
—......?
Im Du-byeong's steel brow furrowed simultaneously.
Kwaaaaang!
One side of the rear Gate of Supreme Harmony shattered, and mythic demonic sword Childslayer flew like an arrow to its master's hand.
"You're about to become a cripple."
As Youngwoo mocked Im Du-byeong's aspiration while gripping Childslayer, the god-aspirant Chairman Im raised the yeouiju high and shouted.
—Forbidden City! Switch to annihilation protocol!
"What?"
Then the four red watchtowers guarding the Forbidden City's corners—the corner towers—stood upright in unison.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Youngwoo marveled as he charged at Im Du-byeong.
Dash!
"Hand that over too! Im Du-byeong...!"