A World Without a King (4)

"These bastards sure run one hell of a big operation. For a bunch of trash, that is."

Crunch!

"Guh…?!"

With the last piece of trash disposed of, the Constellations' sponsorship messages floated before my eyes, but I ignored them and surveyed the rooftop.

"It hurts… it hurts, you sons of bitches…."

"Hic… sob…!"

"M-monster…."

The rooftop was filled with the pained groans of victims covered head to toe in wounds, others sobbing in the corners of the cages, and those who stared at me—the one who had so easily torn apart their tormentors—and called me a monster, trembling in terror.

A monster, huh… Well, from their perspective, it's fair enough.

I'd be lying if I said their words didn't sting even a little. Still, I didn't regret this decision or these actions.

Leave trash like this alone and they'd multiply like cockroaches, eventually turning into a full-blown disaster. And that disaster would have harmed my companions sooner or later, without fail.

Even so, the bitter feeling lingering in my chest was something I couldn't do anything about.

As I'd said earlier, these trash had quite the sizable force. At the 'Mino Soft' coin farm, Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung had each earned roughly 18,000 coins. Combined, that was 36,000. I'd just pulled in one and a half times that amount, so there was nothing more to say.

I stopped my train of thought, opened the doors of the iron cages holding the people, and spoke.

"Pick up the items yourselves. If anyone starts fighting or tries to kill someone over them, I won't let it slide."

At my words, the people flinched as one, then carefully stepped out of the cages and began collecting the items from the men I'd killed. Occasionally someone would scowl when another person snatched an item they'd been eyeing, but a quick glance at me had them moving on to grab something else instead.

To keep them from trying anything stupid, I leaned against the wall by the rooftop entrance and glared at them for a while.

Once most of them had finished looting, I continued.

"Looks like you've grabbed a decent amount of items. In that case, I'll give you one piece of advice."

"Advice…?"

I looked at the bewildered faces and slowly nodded.

"Yeah, advice. You never know when you might run into more trash like this and get hurt or killed. Make trustworthy companions. Ideally people who've felt the same pain and the same sorrow. You wouldn't want to inflict the same wounds on each other again, after all."

"Ah……."

The people who had suffered so terribly at the hands of the coin-farm operators glanced at one another and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lowered their heads. Some bit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their lips, holding back their grief; others finally couldn't contain it and burst into loud sobs.

"You're weak. Powerless. And because you're powerless, you get captured by trash like that, exploited, used, and eventually killed."

I approached them slowly as I went on.

"For people who aren't strong like me, there's only one way to survive in this world. Make companions you can trust and survive together. If you just keep that much, you'll be able to protect yourselves to some degree."

I pressed food I'd bought from the general shop into each of the victims' hands one by one and pointed toward the rooftop exit.

"Leave this place now. As far as you can."

"Y-yes, sir. And… thank you so much for saving us…."

I glanced over the people who bowed their heads in gratitude, following the lead of the man in front. Then I looked at the man who had thanked me first and asked,

"If you're that grateful, mind answering one question?"

"Y-yes! Anything I can answer."

"Do you know which district this is right now?"

"This is Dongdaemun-gu."

"I see… Then one last question. Do you know which way Cheonho Bridge or Jamsil Bridge is?"

"Cheonho Bridge and Jamsil Bridge are… that way."

I looked in the direction he pointed, nodded, and left them with final words.

"I'm going to destroy this building starting now. So like I said earlier, get as far from here as possible. No—get out of Dongdaemun-gu entirely. Understood?"

"…Understood. Then we'll be going… and thank you once again."

"Enough with the thanks. Just get out of Dongdaemun-gu already. If you get caught up in this and die on the way, that's not my problem anymore."

With that, dozens of people clutched the food I'd given them like precious treasures and scrambled down the stairs through the rooftop entrance.

After watching them leave the rooftop, I climbed onto the railing, sat astride it, and took in the view of ruined Seoul for a moment.

The rain that had been pouring from the high sky was gradually tapering off. Seoul's streets were littered with the corpses of monsters and people, buildings scarred with destruction everywhere, and the figures of those escaping this very building.

I stared blankly at it all for a while.

Drip, drip. Enjoying the cool sensation of the rain soaking my entire body, I was killing time when a Constellation's message appeared.

Ding!

"…I'm fine, so don't worry. I'm just enjoying the rain a bit."

Even though they were trash, Uriel's message fretting over me—the guy who had cruelly torn apart fellow humans—made me snort out a laugh.

It wasn't that I felt guilt or regret over ripping them apart. Nor was I feeling any great sorrow.

The Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint world was an apocalypse, a world in the middle of its collapse. I'd already known that. The ugly, obscene, violent scenes I'd just witnessed on this rooftop were, in a way, only natural for an apocalyptic world.

…The Omniscient Reader webtoon was rated 15+, not 19+.

Of course that site would have censored it, and the things I'd just seen would have been described in the original novel. It had been a bit of a shock, but I'd expected something like it to some degree, so the mental impact was milder.

No—more precisely, ever since I'd fallen into this Omniscient Reader world, ridden the same subway car as Yoo Joonghyuk, and sacrificed people's lives to survive, I'd been prepared.

"…Oh dear, oh dear. Getting gloomy and thinking too deeply really isn't like me."

As my thoughts multiplied and my head filled with increasingly negative ones, I shook my head firmly and spoke.

Just because I'd seen a shocking sight, I was getting all emotional and negative. Looks like I still hadn't fully adapted to this world. Or was this actually better?

This was proof that I was still a 'human' who hadn't lost his heart, after all.

Anyway, from now on I was going to camp out here for at least thirty minutes to an hour.

I would destroy this building thick with ugly traces while massacring the beast-type monsters and farming coins.

I pulled out the Horn of Provocation that had been sitting in my My Room and examined it carefully.

This item was the core of this operation, this plan.

"Dokkaebi Bag. Buy ten intermediate stamina recovery potions and ten intermediate mana recovery potions each, plus one megaphone (area-exclusive)."

"Ha……?"

I felt the gloomy mood that had been hanging over me vanish completely at the system messages floating before my eyes.

With trembling eyes, I tried to deny the reality in front of me and reopen Shop User.

Ding!

"………Fuck?"

But nothing changed.

Reality was cruel. Faced with that cruel reality, I ended up clutching my head hard with both hands.

"Fuck! My all-purpose Shop User?!"

Turn on the megaphone (area-exclusive), blow the Horn of Provocation into it, throw bombs at the swarming monsters, and finish by blowing up the building for a drive hunt to rake in a fat pile of coins—that had been my grand plan!!

The plan that had collapsed right from the start left me in despair.

"Why can't I just have a happy life?!"

Is that what matters right now, you crazy winged black lizard?!

"C-calm down… At least the potions are enough… right?"

I'd been badly rattled by Shop User suddenly spitting out that insane update message, but my plan still hadn't completely fallen apart.

Yeah. Just tweak the plan a little and use Flame of Destruction instead of bombs.

Using Clairvoyance, I confirmed that the people who had escaped this building had put enough distance between us and that there were no traces or signs of people in the surrounding buildings. Then I rose from where I'd been sitting on the railing and picked up the megaphone.

It was time to start the hunt.

"Ha… Finally the time has come to check off one of the items on my bucket list: blowing up a building."

At the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal's question about something so obvious, I tilted my head and replied.

"Well, destroying and blowing up are the same thing, aren't they?"

Ahh, Deidara-sensei. From this moment on, I shall realize your creed right here!

Along with my gloomy mood, I would destroy this building, massacre the monsters, and earn coins.

I held the megaphone (area-exclusive) in one hand, pressed the button to activate it, and blew the Horn of Provocation into the megaphone.

Bwooooooo———!!!

The sound of the Horn of Provocation rode the megaphone and began spreading widely across Dongdaemun-gu.

Kyaaaaaak!

Kieeeeek!

And soon, from all over Dongdaemun-gu, came the bustling noise of monsters along with their roars.

"What a spectacle."

A moment later, the sight of dozens, hundreds, maybe even a thousand monsters all charging toward the building I stood on made me wear a look of surprise.

And I was extremely happy.

"Grade 9, Grade 8, Grade 7, and even a few that look like Grade 6."

Fortunately, there were no Grade 5 monsters—the ones called minor disasters—in sight.

To check what kinds of monsters were running this way, I used Clairvoyance and observed them.

"Mole crickets, grolls, and wolf-looking ones I've seen before, plus bears, spiked horses… and whoa? There's even a giant mantis like the one Gilyoung tamed, and werewolves?"

Seeing such a wide variety of monsters, I broke into a bright smile.

"This is making me really happy. They're running so hard just to become my coins."

The peanut gallery was noisy, but in six—no, seven minutes or so, those monsters would reach this building. So it was time to get ready.

"Good question, Demon King."

I stood at the very edge of the railing and slowly leaned my body forward. Then my body plummeted toward the empty air.

Whoooooosh—!

Maybe because I was falling from so high up, a strong wind whipped around me, and my body dropped rapidly toward the ground.

Don't worry, Uriel.

"Gleipnir."

Clatter-rattle!!

Gleipnir wrapped around my waist. At the same time, it drove its body into the outer wall of the building and began slowing my falling speed.

Kwa-dududuk!

Maybe because I was falling with Gleipnir stuck in the outer wall, the building's exterior started getting torn away.

Fragments of the outer wall brushed past my body as they fell, and I felt the thrill, breaking into a bright smile.

"Hell yeah! No need to go to an amusement park just to ride a Gyro Drop!"

Thanks to Gleipnir, I landed safely on the ground and affectionately stroked it.

"Aww! You little goldmine! Finding you in the Theater Dungeon's reward room was pure luck."

"As long as I'm fine in the end, isn't that enough?"

I probably shouldn't say this, but Uriel seems like the type who's pretty fun to tease.

"Just kidding, just kidding. Well, thanks for worrying, Archangel."

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Honestly, those two might actually get along pretty well. Like close friends who pretend they're not—frenemies, maybe?

Anyway, now it was time to prepare to bring the building down. I put a little distance between myself and the building and held out my palm toward it.

"Hey, Demon King."

"You asked earlier how I was going to blow up this building, right?"

I'll show you the method right now.

"Enchant, grant explosion attribute to gloves, then activate Blackening."

I let out a snicker at the monster horde that was starting to come into view in the distance.

"I'm really glad there aren't any other people around here besides the trash I just killed."

Thanks to that, there are plenty of 'buildings' around to destroy.

"As expected of the Demon King. You know how to have fun."

At Asmodeus's words—he really knew how to party—I wore a wicked smile.

Kyaaaaak!!

Kwooooar!!

At the sight of the monsters charging at me with their eyes rolled back, completely unaware of the future about to befall them, I beamed a bright, sunny smile.

"Surprise, Motherfucker!"

"Ah, right. Explosion Enchant on Flame of Destruction too."

"Art is an explosion!!!"

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa——!!!

Maybe because I'd raised my overall stats to 60, the Flame of Destruction that poured toward the building easily surpassed the power it had shown when my overall stats were in the 40s.

Kwaaaaaang—!!

"Hahahahahahaha!! All of you die!!"

A chain of explosions erupted from the building that had taken my Flame of Destruction head-on, and the structure slowly began tilting in the direction I was standing.

Thud-thud-thud!

Crash!

Crunch!

Glass shards, outer wall fragments, and all sorts of debris rained down from inside the collapsing building, and I activated Agile Footwork to quickly get out of there.

But this wasn't the end. My battle phase—no, my desire for explosions—had not yet subsided.

Kwagagagagang!!

Kwaaaaaang!!

Puh-uh-ung!!

I thoroughly began collapsing the buildings surrounding the one the trash had used as their hideout.

Kueeeek?!

Guok! Guoooook!!

Keng! Keeeng!!

Kiiiiiii!!

Monsters that were greatly shocked by the immense mass of the buildings collapsing toward them, only to be crushed and crushed to death under the rubble.

The hundreds upon hundreds of monsters were buried under the building debris, and their numbers rapidly dwindled.

"Hahahahahahaha!! Deidara-sensei! Are you watching?! Your successor is right here!! Ha! Fuck! Thanks to this, my gloomy mood is completely gone!"

As expected, when a person feels stifled, they need to chug a bottle of cider, right?!

At the Constellations' sponsorship and the system messages that followed, I beamed a huge smile.

"Hmm… I massacred almost a thousand monsters, and all I get is 87,000 coins? That's fucking stingy."

No, actually it was fucking great. 87,000 coins alone was nothing to sneeze at.

I sneered at the messages from the few Constellations who now had fewer coins than me.

"What? You don't even have 500,000 coins? Want me to share some? Shall I give you some allowance, old-timers?"

I snickered at the Constellations' amusing reactions and looked around.

"Man, gravity and mass really are terrifying. All those guys are dead, huh?"

Not a single one of the nearly thousand-strong monster horde could be found. Even the Grade 6 giant mantis that Gilyoung had tamed seemed to have died; there was no sign of it.

All around me now were thoroughly destroyed buildings, and the collapsed rubble piles overflowed with thick monster blood.

If I'd known it would be like this, I shouldn't have bought the potions. Just wasted money for nothing.

"Okay, made money, blew off steam. Time to head out again?"

I really needed to go meet Kim Dokja now, so I ran in the direction the man had pointed earlier.

Cheonho Bridge and Jamsil Bridge were on the Gwangjin-gu side. First I'd cross Cheonho Bridge and search Songpa-gu and Gangdong-gu. Mino Soft was probably around there.

Aigoo… If only the webtoon had shown exactly where Mino Soft was…

The only hint I had was that Mino Soft was near Cheonho Bridge and Jamsil Bridge, so grinding through the surrounding area was the only answer.

Running blindly in the direction the man had told me, after ten minutes I saw a river far ahead. The Han River.

"Finally the Han River? Then there should be bridges around here…."

I looked around, searching for Cheonho Bridge or Jamsil Bridge, when far off I spotted a young girl crouching down.

What's this? That girl… she looks familiar somehow?

Curiosity piqued by the familiar-looking girl, I turned on Clairvoyance and examined the child crouching on the ground.

Plump cheeks, Western-looking eyes. Pupils with a luminous red tint. A face overflowing with exotic cuteness.

And brown hair, short bob without bangs, white T-shirt, apricot cardigan, jeans…?

Shin Yooseung…?!

The identity of the girl crouching on the ground, staring blankly into empty space with a depressed expression, was none other than Shin Yooseung.

"Wait, why is that kid here…?"

Shin Yooseung was supposed to be near Dongjak Bridge in Yongsan-gu. I couldn't understand why she was in Gwangjin-gu right now.

Did the story get twisted again because of me…?

Just walking past felt wrong—I was worried she might come to serious harm—but if I spoke to her and took her with me, I was worried the story would twist even more….

Faced with a choice like that, I had no choice but to sink into deep thought.

"Ah, fuck…."

I slowly approached Shin Yooseung. When I got close enough, the girl who had been staring blankly into space turned her head, looked at me, and tilted it curiously.

"………?"

"Hey, do you know the geography around here by any chance?"

"The geography here?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Cheonho Bridge or Jamsil Bridge, but I can't find them at all. If you answer, I'll share some food with you."

"Cheonho Bridge is that way, and Jamsil Bridge is that way."

Shin Yooseung calmly pointed out the directions to Cheonho Bridge and Jamsil Bridge.

"What a good kid. But are you alone? Where are the others?"

"……Everyone died a little while ago."

Fuck… stepped on a landmine.

At the sight of Shin Yooseung hanging her head low, eyes welling with tears and a depressed expression, I scratched the back of my head with an awkward look.

"…I see. Hmm…. Then this oppa will give good little you some food and one present."

"A present?"

Shin Yooseung lifted her head again at the word 'present.' She really was still just a kid. I set a soft cushion from my My Room on my shoulder.

Then, with careful hands, I lifted Shin Yooseung up and carefully hoisted the child who was staring straight at me onto my shoulder.

"????"

Shin Yooseung, now perched on my shoulder, wore a face that said she had no idea what was going on, and I ran toward Cheonho Bridge in the direction she'd pointed, with her still on my shoulder.

"Th-that…! Th-the food and the present?!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"I'll give you the food a little later. And the present………."

"The present…?"

"This is the present."

"Huh…?"

Looking at Shin Yooseung, who stared at me with trembling eyes, I smirked and whispered softly.

"You've just been kidnapped by me."

From now on, I'll dote on you, Yooseung!