Chapter 325
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 325
Chapter Title: 72. Special Grade Planet (7)
While Tomiko in Japan was discovering the naked Sword Emperor, Youngwoo's war preparations were progressing very steadily.
They were already conducting test fires of the anti-air cannons, after all.
"Fire!"
At Youngwoo's command, crimson shells launched skyward from the anti-air cannons installed one in each of Metal Seoul's eight districts.
Thud thud thud thud!
Ji-seon, who had been watching alongside him, stroked her chin and muttered.
―How much power does that thing even have?
"Who knows? If you want, you could take a hit and find out."
Youngwoo figured there had to be a reason why the anti-air cannon took the form of a shell-firing gun rather than a laser like the other large-scale weapons he'd seen before.
'Are shells just inherently more powerful?'
The anti-air cannon's tooltip didn't specify exactly what level of opponent it could shoot down.
[Anti-Air Cannon]
|The skies must be clear.
|Install eight anti-air cannons in the city's key districts to eliminate unwanted flying objects.
In other words, he wouldn't know its exact power until it was deployed in actual combat.
"Since it came up, want to really take a hit? I'm just curious."
―Is this bastard actually insane? Want to go another round?
Whoosh!
As Song Ji-seon reformed her greatsword in her grip, Youngwoo waved his hands as if to say it was just a joke and took a step back.
After all, he couldn't easily subdue his mother in her current state.
"Still, with the Four Gates having anti-air capabilities too, that makes twelve anti-air cannons in an emergency."
It might be a bit short for a barrage covering all of Seoul's skies, but it should be more than enough to pummel giant ships out of the sky.
"And there's Mom, too."
Metal Seoul's official guardian dragon, Song Ji-seon.
Come to think of it, Seoul's current defenses were more impressive than they appeared.
Eight anti-air cannons on standby at all times, up to twelve in emergencies, plus the ability to summon four annihilation robots when needed—and on top of that, a monster capable of pressuring the Myth's master, Jeong Youngwoo, serving as guardian dragon.
And to top it off, a self-destruct bomb that could take out both the city and any invaders.
'Now all we need is for the enemy to show up.'
As Youngwoo checked his watch with an anxious expression, Ji-seon asked.
―So, what's next?
For the first time, the words "nothing" came out of her son's mouth.
"Nothing."
―Huh?
"I'm telling you, nothing to do for a while."
―For real?
At Ji-seon's questioning, Youngwoo made a dejected face.
He'd been going nonstop every day for so long that even a brief lull felt unbearable.
―Isn't having nothing to do a good thing? Why the long face?
"Because I've survived this long precisely because I've never had a moment of idleness. Downtime isn't a good thing."
Current time: 4:34 PM.
About two and a half hours until the address disclosure.
―How much time left?
"About two hours."
―You lunatic. And that's downtime to you?
Ji-seon finally realized her son wasn't right in the head.
How had he even survived in this world to feel like a mere two hours was an eternity?
―What do you do after the war?
"Pay taxes at 10 PM."
―...And then?
"From 11 PM, it's the real 'night.'"
―Real night?
"Ah, you just got here today."
Youngwoo slapped his forehead.
He'd momentarily forgotten his mother was a newbie to this world.
"Starting at 11 PM, the anomalous weather begins. So normally, no one goes outside."
After Youngwoo briefly explained anomalous weather, climate immunity gear, and dungeons, Song Ji-seon tilted her head.
―So you go out at night too? Don't you sleep?
"Yeah... Huh?"
Youngwoo, who had been nodding along to his mother's words, suddenly shuddered.
"You're right. I do go out at night?"
―What the hell are you on about now?
"The war. I said we can fight at night too. And our brothers can handle anomalous weather pretty well."
―......?
Ji-seon, still unfamiliar with this world, couldn't fully grasp her son's words.
―So what?
"It means we can launch night raids. Of course, we'd have to clear the dungeons quick and get back."
Youngwoo grinned excitedly.
Then, as if he'd pulled it out of nowhere, he tucked the bastard sword back into his belt and said.
"I think I know what to do with the remaining time. I need to catch some sleep before the war starts."
* * *
Jeong Youngwoo07, the mayor of Metal Seoul, who even scrimped on sleep to devote himself to public duties.
As he entered the dedicated suite at the Parnass Hotel with his parents in tow, Seo-ok, who had been sitting in the living room with the kids, jumped in fright.
"Gasp! Y-Youngwoo-ssi?"
Of course, the reason she was startled wasn't Youngwoo, but Song Ji-seon, who had followed him in.
She'd just seen a 3-meter-tall white-haired giant in full plate armor ducking down to enter.
"Th-there's a monster behind...!"
"Ah, you two haven't met yet? This is my mom."
"......!"
"And this is Kim Seo-ok, CEO of the Moi Cultural Foundation."
As Youngwoo forced the introductions, Ji-seon extended a hand to Seo-ok first, offering a handshake.
―Song Ji-seon of Jin-hyeon. Nice to meet you.
"Jin-hyeon... Song Ji-seon?"
Seo-ok unwittingly repeated the name.
Then her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open.
"You're really Song Ji-seon?"
―Yes, haha.
Having met someone who truly recognized her for the first time, genuine laughter colored Ji-seon's voice.
―By the way, what brings you here, Director...?
Now it was Ji-seon's turn to ask about the other's story.
Seo-ok smiled and pointed at Youngwoo.
"Your son has my husband as a hostage. So I had no choice but to..."
―What?
Song Ji-seon, who had been chuckling pleasantly behind her helmet, froze at the words and glared at Youngwoo.
―What kind of crazy shit have you been up to?
"Well, it's not wrong, but it's not entirely accurate either..."
Youngwoo almost blew the whistle himself to demonstrate but held back.
He needed to use his 'friends' in the upcoming war.
"I'll show you later. It's a complicated relationship."
He'd explained a lot to his mother so far, but he lacked confidence in clearly describing the friends locked in the Returnee's Room, toiling away.
―No, it seems like all you've done is kidnap, assault, and extort people. What the hell have you even been doing?
"Ow, cut the nagging already."
Dodging his mother, Youngwoo headed to the bedroom and tried to turn on the TV, only to realize day-use service hours hadn't started yet. He lay down on the bed.
'At least the bedding isn't stone.'
It wasn't a safe zone, but his mother probably wouldn't swing her greatsword at his neck while he slept.
Which made this the safest place in Seoul, didn't it?
"Wake me around 6:30. I need to be up at least thirty minutes before."
As Youngwoo said this from the bed, Ji-seon stood at the bedroom doorway, looking at her son.
―What should I do in the meantime?
"......"
But her son didn't answer, and soon a red eyeball icon appeared above his left eyelid.
Youngwoo's mutation cornea 'Single-Eye Sentry' had activated.
―This bastard sleeps with one eye open.
Even as she said it, Ji-seon felt pity for her son deep down.
How harsh had his life been that he couldn't even lower his guard in sleep?
Well, a rootless bastard sword like that would have to achieve more than his given abilities allowed to survive pushing out the talented ones.
―What the hell is all this? I show up and it's straight to war with aliens.
Click.
Ji-seon was feeling mental fatigue too, so she plopped down right there, blocking the doorway like a guard.
Then, Jeong-gu, who had been peeking toward the bedroom from the living room, cautiously spoke up.
"Um... you must be tired. Why don't you rest?"
―...What?
Ji-seon lifted her head, which she'd unwittingly bowed.
There stood her prospective son-in-law, sword at his belt.
―Sleep? War's coming soon. Someone's gotta stay awake.
"I can stay awake. I've guarded Youngwoo before, you know."
Ji-seon immediately scoffed.
―You? Bullshit. You look like you'd fly off into space if I breathed on you.
"I-I'm a First Sword too."
Jeong-gu spoke with a hint of grievance, and indeed, the First Sword title floated above his head.
『Dobong First Sword』
But it was laughable to Ji-seon.
Her own son was already a peninsula-elected First Sword, and she herself hadn't turned into a dragon only because her chaebol chairwoman credentials were taken into account.
She had no idea how their traits had combined to produce that son, but clearly, among the three, Jeong-gu was the lowest in stature.
―Cut the crap and sleep, you. Time's short anyway.
Ji-seon was the type to yield to the weak, generally speaking.
Then, from right behind her, the crazy son's voice rang out.
"Mom, you shut up and sleep too."
―......?
Turning around, Ji-seon saw Youngwoo had actually propped himself up.
She'd thought he was in deep sleep, but he'd woken up again already.
―Why are you up? Can't you stay dead for a bit?
"Too noisy."
―What?
But the 'noise' Youngwoo meant wasn't just his parents' conversation.
The decisive reason he'd woken up was none other than the system message.
「Competing companies' business site addresses will be revealed soon!」
「Register your proxy profile and select the company to invite to the first negotiation table.」
With the address disclosure imminent, nagging notifications kept demanding he register something.
'Keeps telling me to do what? Register proxy profile?'
As Youngwoo finally opened both eyes, a fist-sized circular hologram appeared before him.
Then another system message popped up atop it.
「Approve data access. Representative keywords to provide to opposing companies will be auto-inputted.」
'A-approve?'
When Youngwoo approved data access, a long horizontal bar extended from left to right.
A loading indicator.
「Extracting Jeong Youngwoo07's data into keywords.」
Then two large rectangles appeared at the bottom.
Flash!
「While extraction proceeds, review competing proxy profiles.」
'Oh, now I can see the opponents' profiles?'
As Youngwoo blinked, waiting for the next step, the large rectangles began filling with strings of text.
『Mara』
|Proxy Type: Human
|Mara's proxy is a [Predator] type entity and quite [Rational]. Also possessing [Heavy Armament] and a [Challenging] disposition, it will be an extremely [Dangerous] competitor.
'So that's what they mean by keywords.'
Youngwoo nodded.
It extracted key traits from each proxy's data and turned them into an intro blurb.
'Next up is Remoo?'
As Youngwoo shifted to the last profile, a somewhat bizarre sentence appeared.
『Remoo』
|Proxy Type: Human
|Remoo's proxy is a [Blind] follower. Immense [Greed] drives this one, and with a strong sense of [Purpose] and even [Self-Sacrificial] spirit, it awaits competitors in the [Nude].
Strong sense of purpose and self-sacrificial spirit leading to awaiting competitors nude...
Youngwoo had nothing else to say.
"Fuck... what the hell is waiting for me?"