Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: 12. An Unknown World (7)
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“Strictly speaking, it’s not a return. That place is…….”
Young-woo started to explain the other world where mutants ended up after using the return function, but he shut his mouth.
Truth be told, it was just another prison, no different. Besides, he realized Jang Dae-myung—who had come back to care for his father—would never accept such an offer.
「You’re the ones who dragged me out of prison in the first place……? Even so, they said they’d leave me alone if I didn’t strike first. Why should I be the one to leave?」
His voice was as hard as his tightly clenched fists.
All the emotions he’d been suppressing were starting to surge up.
‘…I flipped the switch.’
Of course, it would have happened sooner or later even without this.
The two might have sincerely wanted to settle down quietly here, but the countless First Swords across the country wouldn’t just sit idly by.
Three million karma—that’s what a mutant was worth, after all.
And Jang Chun-yong surely knew that too. As an active First Sword, he was undoubtedly the one who’d taken down Mungyeong City’s Day 1 mutant.
“So, you plan to kill everyone who comes looking from now on?”
“I don’t really want to, but if that’s the only way, what choice do I have? That’s the world we live in now.”
Jang Chun-yong answered in place of his son.
And that was an unavoidable reality.
The moment Jang Dae-myung chose mutation over dissolution or disintegration in the first filter, his fate had been sealed.
Of course, Jang Dae-myung hadn’t foreseen the future, and Young-woo couldn’t blame him for returning to look after his father.
“…….”
In any case, Young-woo now had to make a choice.
Leave while the two were still showing mercy, or stake his life on a showdown.
“This is no easy decision.”
“Is it really? You’re still standing there, so it looks like you’ve made up your mind.”
“…….”
As Young-woo fell silent, the golden flash’s sensory hijack finally activated.
「Sensory stat temporarily increased from 100 to 417.」
In the end, Jang Chun-yong had launched the first strike.
“What a pity.”
His voice still carried a human warmth.
But the whistling slice tearing through the air at the end was razor-sharp.
Shiiieeeek!
A thrust without the slightest hesitation.
“Ugh……!”
Spotting the hologram guide for Gyeongbuk Swordsmanship appear in response to the opponent’s thrust, Young-woo swiftly assumed a defensive stance.
Left foot back.
Tap!
At the same time, right hand drawing his sword forward.
Shwaaak!
The black sword flashed out of its sheath like lightning, obliquely deflecting the blade heading straight for Young-woo’s heart.
Claaang!
“Huh……!”
Jang Chun-yong let out a sigh-like exclamation at Young-woo’s unbelievable reaction speed.
He knew no First Sword without regional swordsmanship assistance could pull that off.
“You…… what are……?”
Jang Chun-yong stared at Young-woo with eyes full of suspicion.
Meanwhile, Jang Dae-myung charged out from behind with thunderous footsteps.
“Father!”
Thud, thud!
Jang Dae-myung’s intent-filled movements radiated overwhelming pressure.
Worried the battlefield would widen, Young-woo shouted loudly.
“Jeong Myeong-ho! Run! Don’t come back until my beads are scattered!”
“What……?”
「……!」
Only then did the two men notice the SUV parked in the middle of the distant road.
「He’s not alone. Family?」
Jang Dae-myung’s gaze snapped toward the vehicle.
His body was already turning that way, clearly planning to take the people inside hostage.
So Young-woo.
“If you’re curious, go check. By then, your father’s head will be rolling.”
Spit out a line straight out of a villain’s playbook.
「This bastard.」
But Young-woo’s words were a bluff.
Hadn’t he struggled against Sangju First Sword earlier?
Due to the vast stat gap, most First Swords outmatched him in one-on-one combat.
To take Jang Chun-yong’s head, he needed Jang Dae-myung to join the fray.
That way, he could suck in more sensory stats and create variables.
“Take a good look at who I am.”
With that, Young-woo tapped his left chest to bait their joint attack.
Then.
Fwaaash!
A golden glow flashed above his head, revealing a province-level First Sword title.
『Gyeongbuk First Sword』
“Gyeongbuk……?”
Hours earlier, the system-wide alert had announced the birth of the inaugural Gyeongbuk First Sword, so Jang Chun-yong knew such a person existed.
Mungyeong was in Gyeongsangbuk-do, after all, so he’d even considered he might encounter Gyeongbuk First Sword someday.
Just not.
“So much sooner than expected.”
He hadn’t anticipated becoming the titleholder’s first defense opponent.
「This……!」
Jang Dae-myung was just as shocked by Young-woo’s identity.
「Sensory stat temporarily increased from 417 to 867.」
Soon, Young-woo’s sensory stat soared to a whopping 867.
Both father and son had now locked onto him as their attack target.
「Die!」
Jang Dae-myung’s momentum was especially ferocious.
He’d confirmed the opponent was truly capable of killing his father.
Yet his own joining the fight was what put his father in peril.
“…….”
Feeling a strange mix of emotions, Young-woo easily dodged Jang Dae-myung’s heavy assault as it flew in with a massive presence.
Kwa-jak!
The massive axe gripped by his bluish forearm smashed the empty ground, sending scattered crimson beads bouncing into the air—and at the same moment, a dozen markers cluttered Young-woo’s vision.
―Break (破)
―Break (破)
―Break (破)
‘What the……?’
Each marker clung to the beads that had just bounced up.
‘…Ah!’
Young-woo’s next move executed a half-beat faster than the Gyeongbuk Swordsmanship hologram.
He’d instantly grasped what to do.
Shwaaaak!
His sword sliced through the air like an arrow.
But the target wasn’t Jang Dae-myung or Jang Chun-yong—it was the beads.
Pang, paaang!
The beads collided with the momentum-charged blade and shot toward the two men like bullets.
“W-Watch out……!”
Jang Chun-yong realized what Young-woo was attempting and hurriedly took a defensive stance, but blocking small, fast beads with the naked eye while senses hijacked was no easy feat.
If the father struggled, how much worse for the son, whose body was several times larger?
Pik, pi-pik!
His massive frame absorbed most of the beads Young-woo had launched.
「Grk!」
Jang Dae-myung’s eyes bulged at the unfamiliar pain.
‘This is it.’
Convinced he’d found an opening, Young-woo swept his sword broadly across the ground.
Shraaala!
Far more beads than before floated into the air.
“Ah…….”
Terror crept over Jang Chun-yong’s face as he saw it.
“Dae-myung……!”
Pang-pang-pang!
Just the metallic clink of beads, yet everyone present couldn’t help but shiver at the sound.
The outcome was all too clear.
Pyu-pyuk!
Sure enough, the beads Young-woo flung embedded themselves in Jang Dae-myung’s flesh with gruesome bursts—one even piercing his right eyeball.
「Kraaaagh!」
The pain must have been excruciating.
Jang Dae-myung dropped his only weapon, the massive axe, clutching his face.
「Aaaah……!」
Hearing Jang Dae-myung’s screams tore at something deep in Young-woo’s chest, but he couldn’t end his suffering right away.
‘Killing him now drops my senses back down. Then I can’t handle Jang Chun-yong.’
A thoroughly demonic thought, but what choice was there?
Yet the ‘father’s’ reaction surpassed Young-woo’s imagination.
“F-First Sword……!”
Clang!
The instant his son took a mortal wound, he dropped his sword and knelt before Young-woo.
“Please spare my son! I overstepped……!”
At first, Young-woo thought it was an act to catch him off guard, but when the hijacked senses from Jang Chun-yong began slipping away, he realized the truth.
In that brief moment, Jang Chun-yong had resolved to forfeit his own life.
“Uh… sir.”
Was this what a father was?
The situation left Young-woo confused and uncomfortable.
If he’d meant to beg for his life, he should have done it before the fight started.
Proposing return now wouldn’t sway Jang Dae-myung to comply.
So now, killing him was the only option left.
And to do that.
‘…I have to kill Jang Chun-yong too.’
As Young-woo’s expression darkened, Jang Chun-yong desperately sought an escape, back turned to the enemy.
“Return……! Didn’t you say there was a way to return earlier?”
Crawling to his son while babbling incoherently, he pleaded in a trembling voice.
“Dae-myung! Dae-myung! Can you hear me? Go back now, even if it’s late! I’m fine……!”
Jang Chun-yong froze mid-plea while clutching his giant son.
Green blood stained his hands.
And by then.
“…Father.”
Young-woo’s shadow stretched long behind him.
Then.
Hweeeak!
A sharp whistle, and Jang Chun-yong’s throat was pierced.
In the end, Young-woo had decided to kill the father first.
Jang Chun-yong’s gaunt body slumped limply to the side.
Thud.
Jang Dae-myung, curled up clutching his face, felt an eerie wrongness and barely opened his left eye.
「……?」
His pupil dilated in an instant.
「Uh… uh.」
At five meters tall, the father’s corpse on the ground looked tiny.
Then, an utterly incomprehensible line rang out from somewhere.
“Better than letting your father watch his son die.”
「W-What……..」
As panic overwhelmed Jang Dae-myung and his bead-pierced right eye twitched.
Kwaak!
A black blade flew in, skewering his throat.
Young-woo had made his decision once more.
Kill him before he fully grasped the situation and thrashed about.
Boom!
Jang Dae-myung’s bluish bulk cast a huge shadow as it crashed to the ground.
Then.
Fwaaash!
A white beam shot up, leaving a golden orb where the corpse had been.
「Mungyeong City’s second mutant has been eliminated. Basic welfare now applies to the area.」
|Time until daily quest activation: 20 minutes.
|Time until merchant appearance: 5 minutes.
The system messages followed.
Soon, an alien merchant caravan would appear somewhere in Mungyeong City.
With the scattered beads recovered, he’d have plenty of funds for trade……
“…….”
Everything had gone according to plan, yet Young-woo couldn’t shake the bitter expression.
‘The world’s turned into a far more dogshit place than I thought.’
But he didn’t dwell on whether surviving like this was right.
Guilt was a luxury for those who still had it, after all.
Young-woo blinked hard once, then searched Jang Chun-yong’s body—which, unlike his son’s, had left a corpse in this world.