Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: 25. Yongsan Park (1)
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“Something feels off today.”
A middle-aged man with graying hair came running up, bowed his head, and reported politely.
This man’s name was Park Sang-do162.
He was the former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and now served as the Prime Minister of the ‘New Seoul Government.’
He was the top authority in the new government that had formed after the Reset.
“What feels off?”
The young man who received Park Sang-do’s report responded with a bored expression.
The identity of the man sitting on the bench, smoking a cigarette, was.
『Yongsan First Sword』
Yongsan First Sword Kim Do-ha03.
He was the strongest human staying in Yongsan, and the New Seoul Government’s one and only combat asset.
Because all armed organizations, including police stations across the districts, had essentially become independent and privatized, the current government was literally just an administrative body.
Therefore, the government, which needed some ‘physical force’ at least outwardly, had latched onto the Yongsan First Sword. They had asked him to be their guardian.
The former presidential office, which also served as the government building, was in Yongsan, leaving them no other choice.
And so, Park Sang-do, a former and current high-ranking official, ended up bowing his head to Kim Do-ha, who had once run a convenience store in Yongsan.
After all, the only thing a nominal government like theirs could offer the real powerholders of this world—the First Swords—was protocol.
Swoosh.
Park Sang-do finally lifted his head and finished his report.
“It’s… Guro and Gangdong have sent people. They say they intend to participate in today’s meeting.”
Guro District, Gangdong District.
Neither district had participated in the last meeting, and both had turned away the envoys sent by the Seoul Federation.
Especially Guro District—it hadn’t just turned them away; the envoy had gone missing there.
The same went for the neighboring Yeongdeungpo District.
They had been planning to put investigations into Guro and Yeongdeungpo on the meeting agenda, but now Guro—one of the high-risk zones—had expressed its intent to participate first.
“Oh, really? It’s a bit unexpected that Guro’s coming.”
But Kim Do-ha, upon hearing the news, didn’t seem particularly surprised.
He knew their main goal wasn’t the meeting itself, but the ‘outsider on horseback’ that the Gangnam First Sword had announced via message.
In other words, they were coming to watch the show.
‘Guess they’re finally doing well enough to afford it. Coming all this way in person.’
In any case, it wasn’t exactly welcome news for Kim Do-ha.
The more First Swords gathered, the higher the chance one of them would be a troublemaker, and that would inevitably lead to an incident.
And whatever that incident was, it would happen right in the heart of Yongsan District.
‘Of course, it might happen today.’
The mysterious outsider the Gangnam First Sword was tracking down, and now Guro and Gangdong announcing their late attendance to the meeting.
It felt ominous.
“Tch.”
Do-ha dropped the cigarette butt, which had burned all the way to the filter, onto the ground and ground it under his foot as he spoke.
“We still haven’t figured out Guro First Sword’s identity, right? Could be some crazy ethnic Korean from China. Better not station anyone on the west side at all.”
“Yes. Understood. Any other instructions?”
Park Sang-do bobbed his head repeatedly, obsequiously.
Once the meeting ended, he wouldn’t have to face this ridiculously young First Sword again until 3 p.m. tomorrow.
If he just gritted his teeth for a couple of hours, he could spend the rest of the day living as the ‘real Prime Minister.’
“…….”
Seeing Park Sang-do still standing there, waiting without a dismissal order, Kim Do-ha asked as if it had just occurred to him.
“Oh, by the way, is something up with the Executive Director?”
“Yes? Well… I haven’t heard anything specific.”
The Executive Director referred to Gangnam First Sword Jeong Hyun-sik.
He was a key figure in the First Swords’ meetings, and along with Gwanak First Sword Jo Sang-ik, he supported the New Seoul Government.
Or more precisely, he understood the necessity of the government well.
“…Is something wrong? Should we send someone to Gangnam?”
Instead, the worried Park Sang-do asked this, but Kim Do-ha waved it off.
“No need. They’ll all be coming here soon anyway, so we’ll find out shortly.”
And Kim Do-ha’s words turned out to be true.
Not long after, a man in a police duty uniform came rushing toward the two of them.
“Urgent news!”
Thud thud!
Judging by his incredibly swift movements, he was one of the elite police stationed at the Yongsan District boundary in preparation for the First Swords’ meeting.
“Urgent news…?”
Sensing that the ominous feeling from earlier had become reality, Kim Do-ha shot up from his seat.
No ordinary patrol cop would leave their post and come all the way to Yongsan Park.
“What happened? Urgent news?”
Park Sang-do asked the police officer in alarm.
The officer pointed south, panting for breath.
“A mu… mutant seems to have appeared on Dongjak Bridge.”
* * *
The Han River.
The massive waterway that divided Seoul, the capital of South Korea, into north and south.
With an average width of 1.2 kilometers, even the superhumans that had sprung up like mushrooms after the Reset could only cross it via bridges.
As a result, even in this reset world, criminals avoided using the bridges altogether.
There was no way to evade inspections on the bridges, and if they got boxed in from both ends, escape would be impossible.
In other words, the vast width of the Han River had naturally turned the riverbanks into safe zones. Of course, strictly speaking, the safest places were the First Swords’ territories.
For these reasons, people had always wanted to live by the river, both before and after, and the resident population was the highest, which meant security forces were deployed at maximum capacity.
Just as Young-woo was seeing now.
‘How many are there…?’
Young-woo frowned as he looked at the black mass of police gathered at the far end of the bridge.
Not because he was annoyed, but purely to get a better look at them.
‘Those are probably the Yongsan police.’
When Young-woo turned around, he saw another group of police clustered at the starting point of the bridge.
‘That must be Dongjak police.’
Dongjak Bridge, 1.3 kilometers long, connected Dongjak District, Seocho District, and Yongsan District.
Young-woo had just crossed about halfway across Dongjak Bridge.
Then, police who hadn’t shown so much as a nose earlier suddenly appeared, blocking the bridge from both ends.
He had come straight across from Dongjak District without any interference when he first got on the bridge, so they must have been hiding somewhere, watching him at that time.
‘Well, whatever.’
Young-woo shrugged and urged Neugig forward again.
Clank.
For now, proceeding slowly.
There was still time before the meeting started, and he had no intention of speeding up and threatening the police unnecessarily.
After all, he held the power of life and death here.
Even surrounded by dozens of police, Young-woo’s mind was utterly calm.
Clank, clunk.
With each metallic clang of Neugig’s steel hooves, the visible length of Dongjak Bridge in Young-woo’s view shortened bit by bit.
‘Come to think of it, no monsters or mutants have appeared on the bridge, I guess. Not a single sign of damage.’
A fortunate silver lining.
Aside from the subway train turned to stone lying there like a fossil on the 11-meter-wide rail section in the center of Dongjak Bridge, it didn’t look much different from before the Reset.
Clunk.
As Neugig carrying Young-woo neared the Yongsan side of Dongjak Bridge, the Yongsan police guarding that end began to hesitate.
“The F-First Sword still isn’t here?”
“Should we buy some time somehow for now?”
“…I heard the mutant can even talk.”
They couldn’t quite bring themselves to think the rider of that bizarre iron horse was human, so they assumed it was a mutant from another district that had made it all the way to Yongsan.
“S-Stop! If you come any closer, we’ll consider it an attack and retaliate!”
Finally, the Yongsan police side issued a sharp warning toward Young-woo.
But if the opponent had truly been a mutant, their throats would have been torn out before they finished speaking—an utterly careless response.
Not that they’d ever actually encountered a mutant before.
“Hmm.”
Young-woo first halted Neugig and scanned the police blocking the exit from Dongjak Bridge.
Unlike their earlier sloppy handling, their eyes were quite fierce.
To Young-woo’s eyes, seasoned from fighting First Swords and mutants, they looked like greenhorns, but among Seoul’s citizens as a whole, they ranked in the upper tiers.
Some of the police here were even excited at the thought of getting a chance to fight a mutant this time.
They had deluded themselves into thinking they’d grown strong enough from hunting monsters over the past three days.
They didn’t know that mutant combat power wasn’t even comparable to monsters. Those who had a chance to learn that were all dead.
That was why some still thought of mutants as ‘just slightly stronger monsters.’
They just assumed the First Swords were monopolizing them because of the 3 million bounty on their heads.
But this ‘mutant’ didn’t have an owner yet.
“Ah, don’t get excited. I’m not a mutant…”
The moment Young-woo said this and started to raise his arms.
Swoosh.
“We said stop…!”
Contrary to Young-woo’s advice, some of the highly agitated officers charged to subdue the ‘mutant.’
Taat!
“Huh? S-Stop!”
“Hey!”
Of course, the majority didn’t budge from their spots.
There was instinctive fear of mutants, but more than that, it belatedly dawned on them that the opponent might be human.
The iron horse was too bizarre, but anyone could see the figure atop it wore a panicked expression like a human’s.
“Damn. Aren’t they being a bit too hasty?”
Young-woo hadn’t expected the police to jump the gun like this, so he had no choice but to unleash the ‘威勢 of the First Sword’ and tap his left chest.
Thwack!
It was to reveal the First Sword title he had deliberately concealed before crossing the bridge.
‘It might cause even more misunderstanding.’
The reason even a legitimate First Sword like Young-woo worried about this was none other than.
「Gyeongbuk First Sword」 - Epic Title
【威勢 of the First Sword】
【Voting Member】
【Bottom of the Floor of Suffering】
Because of the new technique that had replaced ‘Gyeongbuk Swordsmanship,’ the core component of the Gyeongbuk First Sword title.
Bottom of the Floor of Suffering.
Perhaps because this legendary swordsmanship had been incorporated into the Gyeongbuk First Sword tooltip, the title’s appearance had become grotesquely altered.
Shiiiaaa…!
The summoned Epic Title ‘Gyeongbuk First Sword’ finally began manifesting above Young-woo’s head.
And at that exact moment, everyone around gaped in shock, their eyes and mouths wide open.