Chapter 309
Chapter 309
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 309
Chapter Title: 70. Prestigious Family (1)
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‘What… what do you want me to do?’
In his mother’s icy embrace, Yeong-woo blinked.
The Complete Orphan achievement had reset completely, only for this new Family Heritage achievement to appear.
[Prestigious House: Root Revival]
|Complete the following three tasks. (1/3)
-Acquire a mother and father.
-Reunite your parents.
-Receive a blessing of existence from complete parents.
And anyone could see that these tasks for the achievement were...
‘Remaking the family.’
It was unbelievable.
This contradicted the existing family-related achievement ‘Complete Orphan’ perfectly.
Far from killing his parents, it demanded reuniting them and seeking their blessing... What kind of out-of-left-field instruction was this now?
‘No, fuck. With the family in this state, how the hell am I supposed to reunite them and get a blessing?’
His mother, a returned dragon who had been a chaebol chairman, and his birth father Kim Jeong-gu, one of her horrific nightmares.
Could he really succeed in ‘Root Revival’ with those two?
“......”
Some people were born with intact families, but that hadn’t been the case for Yeong-woo.
All he had now were strangers wearing the label of family.
And even he, who was supposed to play the role of their son, wasn’t fully human.
In other words, this achievement was a massive trial not just for Yeong-woo, but for the other two as well.
“Mother.”
As Yeong-woo softly called out to her, feeling her cold flesh, Song Ji-seon replied in a trembling voice from where she held him.
—Uh, yeah. Speak.
“If you truly think of me as your son, give me a family.”
—What?
Evidently not expecting such a serious conversation, Song Ji-seon unwittingly pushed him away from her embrace.
—What exactly do you mean? You already have a family...
“No.”
—...?
“What did you call me earlier?”
At Yeong-woo’s question, Song Ji-seon fell silent for a moment.
She couldn’t read his intentions.
—...Who knows?
Yeong-woo let out a shallow breath, as if his chest felt tight.
“You kept calling me your son.”
—Of, of course! Who else’s son would you be but mine?
As Song Ji-seon raised her voice indignantly, Yeong-woo shook his head.
“I’m Kim Jeong-gu’s son too.”
—You little shit.
Song Ji-seon’s voice twisted immediately.
But Yeong-woo was firm.
“So call me your son. That’s where it starts.”
—Starts? What starts?
Sensing something ominous without knowing about Yeong-woo’s Prestigious House achievement, Song Ji-seon asked back, and Yeong-woo held up three fingers in response.
“Family. The first step to becoming a family. You might feel like shit about it, but acknowledge Jeong-gu as my father anyway. And...”
—And?
“As your husband too.”
As Yeong-woo spat out the curt follow-up, a blue energy surged rapidly from inside Song Ji-seon’s ice armor.
Her blue blood was boiling in reverse.
“...Fuck.”
Anticipating a lot, Yeong-woo squeezed his eyes shut again as Song Ji-seon, her entire body tinged blue, gripped her greatsword with both hands.
Crunch.
—You mad bastard, you’ve finally crossed the line!
As expected, suggesting she take some beggar-like man as her husband was a grave insult to her.
—Better to die than have that fucker as a husband!
As Song Ji-seon ground her teeth and swung her greatsword wildly, Yeong-woo, the bastard child, countered her attacks while shouting.
Clang!
“Don’t say things you’ll regret later! Kim Jeong-gu’s out there listening right now!”
It was true.
Her dragon voice was echoing not just across Gwangjin-gu, but even to the outskirts of neighboring districts.
—Regret? Fuck, I’ve been regretting calling you my son from the start! Die!
Screeeeech!
Song Ji-seon swung her sword with every intent to erase her son, and Yeong-woo, his head spinning from the new achievement, parried his mother’s blade in heated frustration.
“Fuck! Come on! Can’t you act like a mom for once?”
Yeong-woo had been instinctively sensing it since earlier.
The Prestigious House achievement that emerged with his mother’s return was the starting point of something far bigger than it seemed.
And above all...
‘The achievement’s name is Prestigious House itself. I’d bet my dad that this is tied to establishing a cosmic family.’
Having seen countless times how crucial status and background were in the universe, Yeong-woo desperately wanted to complete this achievement somehow.
One of the three tasks was already done, after all.
“Listen to me! It’s the first thing your abandoned son’s ever asked for!”
—Fuck off with that bullshit. What makes you think you’re my son...!
As Song Ji-seon, clashing swords with Jeong Yeong-woo, exhaled blue breath and tried to deny her son once more.
Fwooooosh!
For the first time in front of his mother, Yeong-woo unleashed the full majesty of the First Sword.
“Twice! I won’t tolerate it twice! Never!”
—Hah...!
Seeing Jeong Yeong-woo’s pupils fill with golden light, Song Ji-seon let out an involuntary gasp of admiration.
She had glimpsed an immense presence in his eyes.
Jeong Yeong-woo: Elected First Sword of the Korean Peninsula and Metal Seoul Mayor of Doggo Special City.
The ridiculous title he had personally built carried tremendous authority.
“You fucking bastards! If you abandoned your kid for decades, at least act human now...!”
As something beyond anger poured out from Yeong-woo, Song Ji-seon couldn’t move a single step.
—This...!
Her blue heart was completely crushed by Jeong Yeong-woo’s majesty.
“Let’s all just die! I’ll go back to being a Complete Orphan like I used to!”
As Yeong-woo’s eyes began shooting golden lightning and he swung his Aratubank at his mother.
“Y-Yeong-woo!”
Amid the massive vibrations of the golden waves and the sharp winds of the ice energy, a very frail voice wormed its way in.
It was an aura too weak for this place, which paradoxically demanded attention.
It was so utterly out of place.
“No! Yeong-woo! You can’t do that!”
Tap-tap!
The one who dared leap into the First Sword’s majesty and ice energy domain with shallow footsteps was none other than Kim Jeong-gu.
The man from Bulkwang-dong, whose business card was embarrassingly inadequate between the Korean Peninsula’s First Sword and the Iron-Blooded Empress.
『Dobong First Sword』
“The bond between parent and child is heavenly principle! Heavenly principle! You can’t sever it like that! It’ll bring massive karma...!”
Karma.
Only at that word did something sting deep in Yeong-woo’s consciousness.
It hit hard because it came from Jeong-gu, the one most entangled in massive karma here.
“What the...!”
As Yeong-woo whipped around, spilling golden light from his eyes, he saw Jeong-gu with his skin freezing from the ice energy.
The feeble First Sword who wasn’t swift enough and had barely crossed the outer edges of the ice energy.
“Yeong-woo, I’ll apologize on her behalf. I’m sorry. For not knowing of your existence and denying you so many times.”
“......”
“But that doesn’t mean you should become a child who kills their parents. I absolutely won’t allow it.”
“...What.”
It was exactly the line Yeong-woo had thrown at Song Ji-seon earlier.
And it carried the same resolute conviction as back then.
“...Jeong-gu.”
For the first time, Yeong-woo felt the man before him like a father, yet ironically couldn’t utter the word aloud.
And Song Ji-seon, realizing Kim Jeong-gu had jumped in without the skill to escape the ice energy.
—Fuck, weaklings always try to resolve shit with melodrama.
She dispelled the ice energy just as Bulkwang-dong’s chin was about to freeze.
Whoosh!
She was repaying him since he’d come to plead for her life.
At that, Yeong-woo retracted his First Sword majesty and rushed to his father.
Tap-tap!
“You dogshit, why’d you come here again? Saving that lady just means she’ll end up in a coffin anyway.”
In response, the bluish Jeong-gu spoke with trembling lips.
“What are you saying? No son drags his mom around in a coffin. That’s not family.”
Yeong-woo wrapped a ‘Slime Core’ around Jeong-gu’s arm to heal him as he said this.
“It’s all your fault in the end. My son’s fine, but not ours.”
Even as he said it, Yeong-woo checked the Prestigious House achievement again.
Only two tasks left until completion.
-Reunite your parents.
-Receive a blessing of existence from complete parents.
He didn’t know exactly what ‘reunite’ meant, but since the first task had completed when Song Ji-seon verbally acknowledged him as her son...
-Acquire a mother and father.
“It’ll count as done if we do it.”
“...What? Do what?”
“Reunite.”
“What’re you talking about?”
Jeong-gu, vitality restored, wore his usual terrified expression.
“What now? What the hell is it?”
Even a village dog recites poetry after three years at school—Jeong-gu had learned something from playing father for a few days.
This kid never spouted nonsense without reason.
Whether it was quests from those Doggo bastards or system-announced achievements, there was always basis.
And finally.
“There’s an achievement.”
Yeong-woo confessed the truth to his father.
“An achievement? What achievement out of nowhere?”
“I’m remaking the family. In a proper form. Feels like a linked one, like the Golden Ratio achievement.”
“A proper family...?”
Hearing Yeong-woo, Jeong-gu tilted his head with a complicated expression.
All the achievements he knew his son had were garbage ones.
“W-Well, isn’t it good anyway? You’ve found both your parents in the end!”
As Jeong-gu looked at his son with eyes half hopeful, half foreboding, the son finally nodded, having decided something.
“A lot hasn’t been agreed on yet, but yeah, we’ve found them. The problem is...”
“The problem?”
As Jeong-gu urged the next line, Yeong-woo glanced at his towering mother figure in the distance and whispered so she wouldn’t hear.
“You’ll probably have to get married. Think of it as a political marriage.”