Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: 26. Long Live the King (2)
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“…….”
Yeong-woo was rifling through the corpse while surrounded by the First Swords, swept up in incredibly complicated emotions.
Jeong Hyun-sik had, after all, been the central figure holding the Seoul Alliance together until just moments ago.
But now that he was dead, he was nothing more than a sideshow spectacle.
‘What the hell is this?’
It felt profoundly off.
Were they all killers who felt no pity for one another?
Or maybe, since Jeong Hyun-sik had been born into the ruling class, everyone had been secretly hoping for his downfall.
Just like how they’d all jumped into the elimination vote the moment ‘Reset’ began, as if they’d been waiting for it.
And even amid all this, the First Swords at the gathering were meticulously scanning the headless corpse, tossing in their two cents one by one.
“From what I know, that’s ‘Wave.’”
“Isn’t there something in his inside pocket? It’s bulging.”
Their unsolicited advice poured out nonstop.
Yeong-woo half-blocked his ears to it and recovered the gear in the order it caught his eye.
The first was the ring on Jeong Hyun-sik’s finger.
Whoosh.
The moment Yeong-woo reached for the ring to pull it off, an item tooltip appeared over it.
Pop!
「Wave」 - Unique Ring
【Voice transmission to the First Sword of the acquisition area.】
|Area: Seoul
“Oh.”
“…Huh.”
The noisy venue fell silent the instant ‘Wave’s tooltip appeared.
It was finally sinking in for everyone.
The fact that everything the Gangnam First Sword had owned was passing to an outsider.
‘Wave’ in particular was gear tied to Jeong Hyun-sik’s standing within the gathering, so it hit especially hard.
Meanwhile, Yeong-woo paid more attention to the gear’s rank than its function right away.
‘Whoa, Unique.’
It was two ranks higher than Heroic.
Which meant he could finally complete one of those achievements he’d been sitting on.
[Jeweler’s Touch]
|Equip Heroic-grade or higher rings on both index and ring fingers. (3/4)
‘Finally clearing it.’
Completing one achievement spawned a new one in its place.
So Yeong-woo was actually more excited about what the new achievement would be than finishing this one.
His achievement affinity was ‘Blockhead,’ which meant he occasionally got indirect access to incredibly rare information.
Like ‘Social Worker,’ which had revealed the function of the mutants’ return.
‘There really is something in the inside pocket.’
Having pocketed Wave, Yeong-woo checked Jeong Hyun-sik’s suit’s inside pocket, following one of the bits of advice he’d overheard.
Clink.
Out came a few crimson coins along with an oval-shaped stone.
“What’s this……?”
When Yeong-woo gripped the stone, a tooltip popped up just like before.
Pop!
「Berserker」 - Mutation Talisman
【Ignores pain to a certain level.】
“Whoa.”
“What……?”
“What item is that?”
This gear seemed to be news even to the other First Swords.
But they could tell at a glance how amazing the effect described in the tooltip was.
After all, they were people who fought brutal battles against mutants every day, even without taking on challengers.
“What counts as ‘a certain level’?”
“Either way, that option alone makes it busted…….”
Amid the First Swords’ wild speculation, Yeong-woo gazed at ‘Berserker’ with a meaningful expression.
‘So this stone is why Jeong Hyun-sik was able to fight me without breaking.’
Of course, Yeong-woo had no idea exactly what level of pain the tooltip meant by ‘a certain level.’
But at the very least, the agony inflicted by the golden punishment clearly exceeded it.
“Mr. Yeong-woo, that item suits you way too well.”
Jo Sang-ik chimed in.
He was referring to Yeong-woo’s inexplicable regenerative power.
Jeong Yeong-woo was the guy who could recover good as new if given enough time, even after his body was completely pulverized.
Giving him gear that conditionally ignored pain on top of that would create insane synergy.
“Yeah. It’d pair well, but…….”
Yeong-woo trailed off.
This ridiculous new gear was sure to be recognized even by the legendary technique ‘Floor of Loam.’
In other words, the Floor of Loam—which had already been prompting self-harm tactics—now could order anything at all, impossible to predict.
“…….”
Yeong-woo shuddered at the horrific possibilities as he turned his eyes to the last visible piece of gear.
The red bracelet on Jeong Hyun-sik’s left arm.
Tug.
Peeling it off the corpse brought up a tooltip Yeong-woo knew well from personal experience.
「Self-Destructive Move」 - Mutation Bracelet
【Causes a strong explosion.】
【Increases durability by 300.】
‘Oh, even boosts durability. Amazing.’
This was another piece that meshed perfectly with Yeong-woo’s high regeneration.
Sure, an item named ‘Self-Destructive Move’ wouldn’t normally be easy to use, but for Yeong-woo, there was zero risk.
‘That it?’
He thought as much, but just in case, he glanced at ‘Serpent of Greed.’
「Serpent of Greed」 - Epic Compass
【Always points to rare things.】
-Hiss!
Unlike usual, it was glaring with eyes wide, flicking its tongue—and it seemed to have sensed something on Jeong Hyun-sik’s corpse.
“…What?”
When Yeong-woo whispered low to the serpent, the other First Swords surrounding them started murmuring again.
Wrapping a live snake around one’s arm already looked bizarre enough, but now he was talking to it?
No eccentricity like this eccentricity.
-Hiss.
Soon the serpent turned its head one way, and as Yeong-woo groped in that direction, tension rippled through the venue.
If the outsider found something more, it’d mean that snake was some kind of gear too—and if it was a bust, he was just a lunatic with a pet snake.
Either way, it was intriguing.
Rustle, whoosh.
After poking around Jeong Hyun-sik’s body here and there for a while, Yeong-woo suddenly wore a look of disbelief.
“Huh……?”
What on earth could surprise even this weirdo?
“…What is it?”
Even Oh Yeon-hee, the Songpa First Sword who’d been silent till now, urged him to answer.
Before responding, Yeong-woo unbuttoned Jeong Hyun-sik’s shirt.
“……?”
The First Swords murmured again, of course.
In the meantime, Yeong-woo saw the Serpent of Greed still pointing at the corpse’s upper abdomen and clapped a hand over his own mouth.
“Looks like there’s something inside this guy’s stomach.”
“……?”
The gathering erupted at Yeong-woo’s words.
Jo Sang-ik even spoke up as if telling him not to joke.
“W-what are you saying? What could be inside?”
“This guy doesn’t get it wrong. He’s found similar stuff before.”
Yeong-woo glanced at the Serpent of Greed.
Thanks to it, he’d once discovered a mutation cornea ‘One-Eyed Sentry’ he’d nearly overlooked.
Therefore.
“No tattoos on the stomach or chest or anything… So super high chance it’s inside here.”
As Yeong-woo said this and drew a small dagger from his pocket, the First Swords backed away indignantly.
“Hey now?”
“Unbelievable.”
“What the hell are you doing?”
But Yeong-woo ignored them.
His wrist was almost fully recovered anyway—and more importantly, this kind of brutality had to be done before the crowd grew.
“Sorry. This might be gruesome to watch, so please step back.”
Of course, most had already retreated well before he said it.
The only ones still close enough to watch were Oh Yeon-hee and Jo Sang-ik.
“You sure about this…? What if nothing comes out? This is really not okay.”
Oh Yeon-hee looked genuinely pissed.
But it wasn’t like he was slicing open a living person’s belly—it was just claiming spoils after a duel.
Yeong-woo went straight ahead.
“We’ll worry about that if nothing comes out.”
Then he immediately raised the dagger and sliced open Jeong Hyun-sik’s abdominal skin.
Slash!
“Ugh, fuck.”
“Oh god, for real.”
As the onlookers recoiled in disgust, Yeong-woo fished out the spilling entrails one by one with the dagger amid the yellow fat layer.
To an outsider, it was utterly depraved.
But to Yeong-woo.
‘Whoa, found it.’
Just a tough farming session.
And in the end, a ‘gear’ appeared, just as he’d claimed.
Squelch.
When Yeong-woo reached into the guts and pulled something out, even Mapo First Sword Yang Woo-taek finally vomited on the floor.
Announcing he had the weakest stomach in the room.
And by then, Yeong-woo slowly raised the item in question in his hand.
Gulp, glurp.
Even with its owner dead, this thing seemed to still be active.
「Self-Generating」 - Mutation Stomach
【Can live without eating.】
【Generates energy on its own.】
【--Empty Slot--】
“Mutation… stomach?”
Jang Jeong-ho unwittingly read the tooltip aloud, then hurriedly turned away. He was fighting nausea too.
Meanwhile, Yeong-woo examined ‘Self-Generating,’ which seemed to be parasitic on Jeong Hyun-sik’s original stomach, with fascination.
Looking like a clump of wet hair all tangled up, this gear was breathing shallowly like a living thing.
“Mr. Jeong Hyun-sik really was something else. To think of implanting this inside himself.”
Having experience equipping a mutation cornea himself, Yeong-woo could well imagine the massive resolve it had taken.
Implanting some unknown substance into your own body required overcoming more terror than one could imagine.
‘But how do you even attach this to a stomach? Do you swallow it?’
Of course, that was ages ago for Yeong-woo.
Since then, he’d been bisected by the Chungju First Sword and even offered up his Audi to shareholders of the alien arms company Dogo.
In other words, he’d become far bolder and stranger than when he’d just been popping a mutation cornea into his eye.
Crunch.
When Yeong-woo peeled ‘Self-Generating’ off Jeong Hyun-sik’s stomach, Seongbuk First Sword Lee Yoo-bin shrieked in horror.
“Eek! He’s really lost it—what’s wrong with him?”
Then, as he brought Self-Generating near his mouth.
“……!”
No one could make a sound.
It was an attempt far beyond their common sense.
Had Jeong Hyun-sik done this alone somewhere in life……?
‘Fuck, if he really did, he could’ve claimed not just Gangnam First Sword but Seoul First Sword and no one would argue.’
As someone in the crowd thought that, the ‘Self-Generating’ shifted to near Yeong-woo’s mouth.
Making a creepy, squelching sound as it did.
Then.
Slurp!
In the blink of an eye, it was sucked down Yeong-woo’s throat.