Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: 10. Villain Battle (4)
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“Huh…?”
The moment the woman saw Young-woo's golden eyes and made an incredulous face, a dagger sliced through the air like a shooting arrow.
Scree!
There was a whoosh of air, and then one of the bodyguards toppled backward, smashing his head into the ground.
Thud!
It happened so fast that by the time the woman and the other bodyguard turned their heads, all they saw was the massive corpse with a dagger embedded in its forehead.
Half their manpower was already gone.
“Gasp.”
“You fucker.”
But they didn’t have time to be shocked.
The dagger embedded in the corpse pulled itself free and flew back to its original position.
Swoosh!
The two of them tracked the dagger’s impossible trajectory a beat too late, then realized the outsider in question hadn’t moved a single step.
“W-Who the hell are you?”
The remaining bodyguard hunched over, intimidated by the aura of a supreme swordsman, and asked.
In that moment, he recalled the line the outsider had uttered earlier: “Drink dog death.”
It hadn’t been bravado or provocation. The opponent hadn’t even needed to cross blades with them to prove it.
Meanwhile, the woman twisted her body, spewing curses.
“Where do you think you are, causing a scene in our turf? You think you’ll get out of this unscathed?”
It was such a clichéd line that Young-woo actually felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Even in this situation, she believed Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman would avenge her—that’s why she could say something like that.
‘This woman’s going to take me right to the Greatest Swordsman.’
Young-woo glanced back and forth between the woman, the bodyguard, and the white sedan, then took a couple of steps toward her and asked.
“Who the hell are you?”
“What?”
“Who are you to talk about whether I’ll be fine or not? You think Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman’s gonna come rescue you? Why?”
At Young-woo’s blunt question of who she was, the woman’s brow furrowed unpleasantly.
“I’m…!”
But her response didn’t come smoothly.
“…”
For Young-woo, that was answer enough.
“Either girlfriend or mistress, right? But if that’s really all it is, aren’t you way too excited…?”
With that, Young-woo dashed forward in one breath and pierced the remaining bodyguard’s forehead with his Early Bird.
Scree!
His strength and senses were already so enhanced that a normal human’s skull felt like a lump of tofu to him.
Schwick.
As Young-woo withdrew the blade he’d thrust out, the unconscious bodyguard’s body was sucked into the shadows like a ragdoll and crashed down.
Thud.
Young-woo listened to the sound while bending slightly to check if anyone else was in the car.
And all of this made the woman see Young-woo as some psychopathic killer.
“You… you, what the hell are you? Why are you doing this to me?”
“I haven’t done a damn thing to you yet. Besides, you’re the one who started with the cursing and sent these guys after me.”
Young-woo confirmed the car was empty, then pointed the tip of his Early Bird at the driver’s seat.
“Drive. Let’s go to your boyfriend.”
“What?”
While the woman gawked at him like he was spouting nonsense, Young-woo rifled through the bodyguards’ Early Birds and pockets.
“Is the Greatest Swordsman paying these guys’ salaries? Why the hell are they carrying this much cash?”
“…Cash?”
“This.”
Young-woo shoved a handful of coins toward the woman’s flustered face.
28,000 karma.
“I-I don’t know. Ask him yourself when you meet him.”
She edged toward the driver’s seat as she spoke. She really intended to take this outsider to Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman.
Before she could try to peel out, Young-woo hopped into the passenger seat.
“…”
The woman’s face soured instantly, but Young-woo ignored it and pointed out the window with his finger.
“Where to now? City Hall?”
“Not City Hall. A motel nearby.”
“Motel?”
Young-woo didn’t have many good memories of motels.
His expression darkened, and the woman let out a deep sigh.
“That’s where he stays. Nothing much to do at this hour anyway.”
With that, she started the car.
She smoothly accelerated down the road cutting through Namsung-dong.
* * *
It hadn’t been long since the car started moving again.
Young-woo, gazing out the window, suddenly asked the woman.
“You didn’t answer earlier. What’s your relationship with Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman?”
Her response came much calmer and drier than before.
“You’re persistent. What’s it matter if you know?”
“I heard something on my way here.”
Even for Young-woo, who went around slicing throats, some lines were hard to spit out straight.
How could he ask to someone’s face if they were selling their body to the Greatest Swordsman?
But the woman’s reply shattered Young-woo’s basic assumption entirely.
“Relationship? If I have to put a label on it, husband and wife.”
“…What?”
“What.”
“You’re Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman’s wife?”
“That’s what I said.”
She turned left nonchalantly, sunglasses on.
They were getting close to their destination.
“What’d you hear on the way here? That people sell their bodies or something?”
“…Something like that.”
“Not wrong. So what? It’s not rape—they’re both getting what they want, buyer and seller.”
“…”
“And it’s not even illegal anymore. Why’s it matter to you?”
With the conversation going like this, Young-woo had no comeback.
But aside from that, he had a question.
“…I heard Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman was the first to start human trafficking. Doesn’t that matter to you, at least?”
“…”
Finally, the woman clamped her mouth shut. But the silence didn’t last.
“Of course I regret it, but I get it too. The world’s already fucked. Just having power and money sets you apart from everyone else—be grateful for that.”
Then she added bitterly.
“But this life won’t last forever. You showed up, after all… Even if we make it through today, we’ll die someday somehow.”
That’s why she was enjoying everything she could while it lasted, she said.
In other words, the Greatest Swordsman couple saw the world as already doomed and were burning through their remaining days.
“But you’re a Greatest Swordsman too.”
“So?”
“Why wander around? You could’ve lived like a king back home.”
“I don’t wanna die.”
“…What?”
“I’m not like you lot, just sitting around waiting for death.”
“Does it work that way?”
After that exchange, the woman pointed ahead with the hand gripping the wheel.
“Here.”
The place she indicated had a rundown building with a sign jutting out.
「Motel Honeymoon」
While Young-woo read the sign, the woman was already out of the car, heading toward the motel entrance.
The building’s door swung open, and a burly man came out to greet her.
Bow.
He bowed deeply and politely.
‘She really is the Greatest Swordsman’s wife.’
The earlier conversation made it clear it couldn’t be a lie.
Young-woo watched them talk as he got out of the car.
“That him?”
The man, mid-conversation with the woman, spotted Young-woo approaching and headed to the motel counter first.
Since the man’s axe at his waist wasn’t drawn, Young-woo kept his weapon sheathed and asked the woman.
“Who’s that? The guy.”
“Who knows. Pimp, I guess.”
“…?”
Click-clack.
The woman headed into the motel without elaborating, so Young-woo followed.
The unfolding scene was so far from what he’d imagined that he felt detached from reality.
If that guy was the pimp, it meant Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman was holed up here with other women.
‘But his wife’s alive?’
If they tolerated this from each other, it was rock bottom.
“Which room?”
At the woman’s question, the pimp bowed his head and replied.
“Room 303.”
303 was the third floor.
The woman scowled irritably and started up the stairs.
Narrow steps identical to the riverside motel he’d stayed at in Gumi.
Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Young-woo followed her up.
“…”
From around the second floor, a truly foul stench wormed its way into his nostrils—semen reek.
“What the fuck.”
Unable to hold back, Young-woo muttered, and the woman glanced back with a self-deprecating mumble.
“What else? End of the world.”
Then, almost at the third floor.
“Heyyy! Se-hwan!”
An unexpectedly booming shout erupted from the woman.
“A Greatest Swordsman from the next town over came to kill you!”
Young-woo shoved her aside and charged up the remaining stairs to the third floor.
In the dimly lit hallway stretching to the right, a hazy silhouette emerged from the back.
‘Is that the bastard?’
Young-woo reared back to hurl his dagger at the silhouette, then froze.
It was a naked woman.
But right behind her came the unmistakable bastard.
Thud.
A fairly large figure appeared behind the woman, a shimmering title hovering above his head.
『Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman』
Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman, Dokgo Se-hwan01.
2 kills, 147 defenses.
He was naked, standing behind the woman. He glanced at Young-woo, then at his own wife.
“What’d you… say? Who came?”
“You dumbass, another Greatest Swordsman came to take you out. Play your cards right, you might die today.”
The otherworldly conversation between Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman and his wife.
In the meantime, Young-woo realized the opponent was completely unarmed and hurled the dagger he’d held back earlier like lightning.
Scree!
In the shadowed hallway, the dagger shot like a bolt.
For a split second, light from a small window at the hall’s end illuminated it. Almost simultaneously, Dokgo Se-hwan01’s form flickered.
Ping!
The sound of the dagger embedding in the wall at the hallway’s end.
Young-woo’s attack—no, his ambush—had missed.
‘Crazy. He really scarfed down 3 million karma.’
Goosebumps prickled across Young-woo’s skin.
He swiftly recalled the dagger, but Se-hwan, sensing something off, had already dashed into the room next door.
“What the fuck is that guy?”
Dokgo Se-hwan’s enraged voice echoed from inside Room 303.
Probably scrambling for a weapon.
Young-woo sprinted across the hallway and arrived at 303’s door.
Then that beggar-stench hit him full force, and a horrifying message popped up.
「Your Sense stat has temporarily risen from 100 to 428.」
Thanks to Golden Flash’s Theft effect, his senses surged by 328.
Meaning the opponent’s base Sense stat was 656.
“Guh…!”
But Young-woo had no time to read messages—he assumed a defensive stance following the hologram that appeared before his eyes.
Screee!
Dokgo Se-hwan wielded an Early Bird too, and whatever his Strength was, the sword moved too fast for even Gumi Swordsmanship to find an opening to counter.
Ping, ping-pang!
As the two Greatest Swordsmen exchanged over a dozen blows in an instant, the naked woman still standing dumbly in the hallway jolted in surprise and bolted for the stairs.
She’d never imagined someone who could trade two moves with Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman would show up.
Meanwhile, Sangju’s Greatest Swordsman’s wife, Yoon Seo-yeon.
“…?”
Seeing the outsider seemingly matching her husband blow for blow, she hurriedly raced down the motel stairs.
To call for backup.
With all the monsters cleared and no special duties, every powerhouse in Sangju City would be nearby.
But at the bottom of the stairs she’d rushed down in a panic awaited a completely unexpected sight.
Boom!
Boom!
The first thing she heard was an ear-shattering roar.
With a shocked look, Seo-yeon peered out the wide-open motel entrance.
Countless pillars of light were raining down from the sky.