Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: 21. Retribution (2)
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As all his stats rose by nearly double, the first thing he noticed was a change in how his entire body felt.
It was as if his trust in his own body had skyrocketed.
It was probably a temporary sensation, but he felt invincible.
In truth, not only had his strength increased, but his body's durability had as well, so it was only natural.
‘Holy shit.’
Young-woo clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly, letting out an exclamation.
He could somewhat understand why the Gyeongbuk First Sword (Jin), whom he had just taken down, had been so full of himself.
That guy's stats in life had been nearly double what his were now.
So how amazed must he have been at his own power?
Just two days ago, he had been nothing more than an ordinary person.
He must have felt like a god.
‘Whoa… I feel like I could punch down a building with my bare hands.’
Strength 1,200, Durability 1,050.
Compared to his initial stats of Strength 19 and Durability 13, he might actually be able to demolish a building by hand now.
And perhaps…
‘If my stats go even higher, maybe I could block bullets?’
Young-woo's gaze naturally drifted toward Officer Kwon Tae-young, who was slumped over in the distance.
He had clearly heard a gunshot that morning, but there were no bullet wounds on the dead man's body.
* * *
“…Are you okay?”
A deep voice came with a long shadow falling over him, so Tae-young lifted his head toward the source.
“Ah, Jong…”
In his disoriented state, Tae-young couldn't immediately recall the man's name.
The other man crouched down and stated his own name.
“Kim Jong-su. Not that I'm anyone important, really.”
“S-Sorry.”
“…No, I didn't mean that in a bad way.”
In truth, Jong-su was just as flustered and couldn't find more words, so he shut his mouth.
Jong-su was only 29 years old.
He was still too young to skillfully comfort someone else's grief.
His days in the previous world hadn't given him much leeway either—he had been too busy worrying about his own survival to even consider others' feelings.
“Um.”
As Jong-su scratched the back of his head with a troubled look, Tae-young spoke while staring at Byung-chul's corpse.
“To be honest… I couldn't fire right away. Or rather, I didn't fire at all.”
“……?”
Wondering what she meant, Jong-su tilted his head, and Tae-young fiddled with the pistol in her hand.
“He said he wouldn't touch me if I didn't shoot.”
“…Ah.”
Finally understanding, Jong-su nodded.
“But you did end up shooting, right? It's not like you're bad or weak, Officer. The whole situation was just insane.”
Tae-young murmured in a deflated voice.
“Yeah. Maybe that's true, but…”
What followed was shockingly hard to believe.
“Even that shot didn't work on him.”
“What do you…?”
As Jong-su asked back with a complicated expression, another shadow joined the two.
“You're saying he took the bullet, but it didn't penetrate his body?”
It was Young-woo.
He had finished greeting the women's alliance and come to see Tae-young last.
“Yes. Probably… something like that.”
Tae-young looked up at Young-woo with a slightly frightened face.
In her eyes right now, both the madman who had survived a bullet unscathed and Young-woo looked like similar monsters.
Both were First Swords… or more precisely, Young-woo was a step above.
“If Durability hits around 2,000, you can probably shrug off bullets. Though a larger caliber might be different.”
Young-woo spoke of the unrealistic as if it were everyday conversation.
But to him, at least, it was reality right in front of his nose.
He himself was already a superhuman with considerable stats, and the opponents he'd face from now on would truly be freaks immune to bullets.
“Bullets not working… Come on, does that even make sense?”
Jong-su still looked incredulous.
Meanwhile, Young-woo glanced toward Neugeug, waiting in oval form near the motel entrance.
“At this point, nothing seems impossible anymore. Who knows if people will suddenly start flying next week.”
He had been feeling some kind of vibration from Neugeug's direction for a while.
Wondering, he beckoned the creature over.
Churrruk!
Neugeug, in ‘parking mode,’ swiftly unfolded and shifted into its iron horse form.
-Kweeiii!
Startled, the people cleaning up near the motel backed away, clearing a path for Neugeug to gallop over.
“…….”
Still the Gangnam First Sword in terms of public nuisance.
But it couldn't be helped. In this world, making better use of advanced tech than others wasn't a crime.
-Kweek.
Neugeug finally stopped near Young-woo.
Current time: 10:42 AM.
It was time to head back north.
‘This is Seongnam up ahead. Then finally, Seoul.’
He'd probably enter Seoul today, before the mutants dropped.
“You still planning to head to Seoul, Officer?”
As Young-woo grabbed Neugeug's reins and asked, Tae-young hesitated briefly before nodding firmly.
“Yeah. I have to.”
Then.
Swoosh.
She pulled the pistol from Byung-chul's waistband and the thin bracelet from his left wrist.
The deceased had one more item besides the gun.
‘Oh, right.’
Watching Tae-young remove the bracelet from Byung-chul, Young-woo belatedly realized.
Byung-chul had been a First Sword who had killed a mutant.
And mutants left behind one piece of equipment at their mutation grade upon death.
No exceptions so far, so it was a basic rule.
“If it's okay… could I have this?”
Tae-young didn't dare equip the bracelet right away and asked Young-woo instead.
Before answering, Young-woo checked the tooltip.
「Crisscross Knot」 - Mutant Bracelet
【Ability Resistance 20%】
【--Empty Slot--】
Ability Resistance.
A concept he had first encountered on the Kekidite gem for slots.
‘What the hell is Ability Resistance?’
Whatever it was, it probably wasn't covered under basic resistances like fire, cold, or lightning.
That only piqued Young-woo's interest more.
There had to be a reason equipment with Ability Resistance kept showing up.
Like, perhaps he'd eventually have to fight something far more alien than monsters.
“…….”
What naturally came to mind was Dogo's shareholders.
Even they were existences that couldn't simply be called ‘monsters.’
But it wasn't time yet.
Ability Resistance wasn't so urgent that he'd betray his principles out of greed.
“…Yeah. Of course, take it. It's your comrade's keepsake.”
Young-woo gestured for her to go ahead and looked away from the bracelet.
Tae-young bowed her head and fastened it around her own wrist.
“Uh… so how will you travel, Officer? Do you have a car…?”
As Jong-su looked toward the motel parking lot and spoke, Tae-young pulled out her car keys.
“Yeah. It was still there when I checked this morning.”
This meant abnormal weather didn't damage paid vehicles.
“Good info.”
Young-woo learned one more thing about this world and mounted Neugeug.
* * *
Leaving Yongin for Seongnam.
In just one day, their group had shrunk from four to three.
So this time, Jong-su would ride in the patrol car with Tae-young.
Riding up front on Neugeug was dangerous in many ways, and for Jong-su, mounting an alien horse felt off-putting.
“Ah, I still prefer man-made stuff. Feels more familiar.”
As Jong-su slapped the passenger window frame, Tae-young gave a faint smile while gripping the wheel.
She could tell he was trying to lighten the mood, even if just a little.
“You're a really good guy, Jong-su.”
“Aw, it's just basic human decency. Especially important in a world like this.”
Jong-su shrugged his nose.
After the Reset, humans—and humanity itself—had become incredibly precious.
In the old world, fights between people rarely escalated beyond fists, and even then, police intervened before the worst.
But now, there were no cops to respond to crimes. Or more than that.
Day 3 post-Reset. Already, powerhouses immune to bullets were emerging.
“I'm just following everyone to Seoul since there's nowhere else to go, but honestly, I'm scared.”
Tae-young spoke softly, her eyes fixed on Young-woo atop Neugeug beyond the windshield.
Jong-su knew what she meant but asked anyway.
“Pardon? What are you scared of?”
“All of it. That strong people like Young-woo are appearing, and that anyone can get strong with karma.”
“Well… Young-woo hyung is the same. Me too.”
Of course, her fear was far greater, having been a cop in the old world and still wanting to live as one now.
“If all those First Swords are really that strong, there might be no rule of law left—not just in this country, but for humanity's future. At least, the justice we knew won't exist anymore.”
“…….”
Jong-su had no reply to that.
It was already heading that way.
But not all First Swords were evil.
There were those like Young-woo, who restrained their immense power, and unrealistically righteous ones like Byung-chul.
In other words, while ‘law’ was gone, what it stood for lingered in parts.
“I'm not optimistic either… but we have to wait and see. Not everyone with power turns evil overnight.”
“True. But it might make turning evil a lot easier.”
“…Can't argue with that.”
As the two conversed, their patrol car finally left Yongin jurisdiction.
And that meant—
“Huh.”
“Oh, Seongnam starts here.”
No sooner had Jong-su spoken than the regional status updated.
Paat!
This region surprisingly had a First Sword, and their profile was anything but ordinary.
|You are currently in the ‘Seongnam’ region.
|This region's First Sword is ‘Lee Nam-hee101’. 31st generation, Defense 1 time.
“What.”
“31st?”
31st First Sword.
This meant Seongnam had cycled through its First Sword thirty-one times in the past two days.