Unsellable Cores and Yeouido's Shadow
April 4, 2020, 10 AM. Park near City Hall.
In the end, I couldn't sell the A-rank monster's core.
In the game, they just casually sold off even S-rank ones.
Why does it have to get all realistically stingy here of all places?
Baek Sang-woo had gone on a tirade about the dangers of an A-rank monster core, flat-out refusing to buy it.
It wouldn't mean anything even if I absorbed it myself.
At the pinnacle of monsters are the seven cadres. And among those cadres, the one with the title of "strongest" is the Phoenix of the Azure Flame.
Eating some random A-rank monster core would just pollute my pure mana for no good reason.
Should I feed it to Deok-bae, then?
That idea got shot down too. His growth is so slow he hasn't even properly absorbed a C-rank yet, let alone A.
If I'd known it'd be like this, I should've used an A-rank without holding back to make a kaijin.
If I'd known it'd succeed, I'd have definitely made one with an A-rank.
Next time I get the chance to make a kaijin, I'll definitely try using an A-rank—no, an S-rank monster core.
I glared at Deok-bae for a long moment before turning back to my smartphone.
What now?
I don't need to head to New Seoul right away. For now, Seoul—Yeouido specifically—comes first.
Because that's where it is.
God's Fragment
The divine relic of the otherworldly god, brought by the Castle Lord in an attempt to summon it, only to be shattered and scattered across the world.
It's also called the otherworldly god's core. That thing broke into 27 Cube shards, now embedded in spots all over the globe.
Half are under research by national associations, the rest hidden away.
Each shard is about the size of a sugar cube. Finding something undetectable even by mana sensors across the whole world would take insane manpower.
Destroy every last one without mercy.
Kill the final boss, the Castle Lord, and the story ends. But that's just the normal ending. To get the true ending, you have to take down the otherworldly god's incarnation that it summons too.
If the Castle Lord is the fake boss, the otherworldly god is the real final boss.
And the Phoenix only survives in the true ending.
Normal ending leaves a bad taste—like it's implying the otherworldly god has Earth in its sights and will invade someday.
Even after killing the Castle Lord and seeing the credits, someday the otherworldly god comes to Earth anyway.
The key to that is the God's Fragment—the Cube. Before it can track its physical traces back to Earth, I have to collect and destroy every shard.
Start with the ones whose locations are clear.
There are three shards dormant on the Korean Peninsula. One in Daejeon, one in Pyongyang, and one in Seoul—Yeouido.
But Yeouido's a tricky spot to hit.
I want to go, but something holds me back. It's a small island at Seoul's heart. The island hiding the God's Fragment is a major battlefield in the main storyline for Korea.
The place where the Phoenix of the Azure Flame dies.
In the game, the Phoenix flies in across the Pacific and lands amid the ruins of the National Assembly Building—that kicks off the fight.
After a massive battle across the whole Yeouido area with the protagonist's party, the protagonist—who's lost all their allies—finally faces off against the Phoenix.
The protagonist unleashes their sealed power, ready to self-destruct. The Phoenix goes berserk and awakens to its true nature as a spirit. The Castle Lord tries to re-brainwash the Phoenix just as its conditioning breaks.
With all three abilities clashing in one spot and going haywire, the Phoenix hands every last bit of its power to the protagonist for revenge against the Castle Lord—and vanishes.
I could face that future too.
A place where I might die. It really doesn't sit right, but to collect the Cube, I have to go to Yeouido.
Yeah. Collect the Cubes first, think later.
Gurgle.
"...Yeah. Guess I need to eat first, huh?"
I haven't had a proper meal since leaving Yeongjongdo.
I dug into my pocket and pulled out two bills.
20,000 won should cover two people easy.
I got up from the bench and headed toward Deok-bae, who was sitting on the opposite one way off.
He seemed to have dozed off—no movement at all—and a little sparrow was pecking away at his hood.
Bzzt.
Maybe because he's a kaijin based on natural materials, wild animals don't mind him. Do those birds really think he's just a big rock?
Flutter flutter.
As I approached, the bird startled and flew off into the sky.
At the same moment, Deok-bae opened his eyes.
"What is it."
"You're awake?"
Deok-bae straightened his hood and stood from the bench. At nearly 2 meters tall, his shadow fell right over me.
"Wasn't asleep to begin with."
"Oh yeah? Well, let's go eat then."
"...Eat?"
I nodded.
"Yeah. I might not know much, but employee welfare? That's one thing I handle thoroughly."
"You're buying food?"
I grinned and pointed at a building beyond the park.
"Yep. Kill some time, teach you a few things on the side."
"Goodbye."
Ki-woo barely glanced at the departing customer as he greeted them, then slumped into his chair.
It was the first customer in the two hours since he'd sat at the counter, but Ki-woo wasn't thrilled.
Business is dead today.
Once Incheon turned into this mess, Ki-woo had begged his parents to head to the countryside. To their grandma's place in rural Jeonju.
But that day, his dad hit him for the first time ever.
All because of the buildings they owned in Incheon and the shops on Yeongjongdo—they couldn't just abandon them.
Are a few buildings worth more than human lives?
Ki-woo couldn't wrap his head around it. Just hole up in the countryside for a bit, wait out the monster cleanup, and Incheon would bounce back.
This convenience store was one of his parents' properties too. They had plenty of cash to hire help, but even at double minimum wage, no one wanted the gig.
"We should run too."
Having grown up blowing his parents' money, Ki-woo never dreamed of ditching them and fleeing solo against their orders. So here he was, stuck guarding an empty store and playing pretend owner when he hated it.
"Anything fun?"
His one saving grace for killing time? YouTube, of course. The building's internet line hadn't cut out yet.
"Trending... oh."
Amid thumbnails of all sorts of heroes, one video with over 100 million views caught his eye.
"What kinda show is this?"
Ki-woo hit play. He skipped through the annoying commentary until the real footage kicked in.
"Holy shit."
A burly warrior in a green robe, long beard dangling from under his mask. The War God no Korean man could forget—Guan Yu—had apparently reincarnated as a modern hero, China's greatest.
Unjang strode silently across the desert, crescent blade in hand.
At the end, a pissed-off black monster rampaged wildly.
"Black scorpion?!"
Smaller than the one he'd seen before, but definitely an S-rank black scorpion.
The kind where one sting from its tail poison drops even a B-rank hero instantly.
Unjang approached without a hint of fear, spinning his crescent blade casually.
The enraged scorpion charged, claws wide, tail poised to strike his mask.
Right before—the spinning blade traced a blue arc, whipping up a vortex.
Slash! Slash!
Kieeeek!
Like weeds getting mulched, the scorpion's tail sheared off.
The poison splattered sideways from the wind pressure Unjang generated.
Hisss.
The ultra-venom that could melt desert sand on contact never touched him.
Unjang gripped his stopped-spinning blade tight and raised it high in a diagonal slash.
"Whoa! Signature move!"
Every hero has their finisher. After China's previous great hero "Jeongwi" called his Wusou, Unjang inherited the name too.
Slash!
The blade arced like a new moon, cleaving the scorpion.
One strike. Unjang halted right there.
"Huh?"
Ki-woo recalled Unjang's finisher. Wasn't it three spins, like a figure skater's triple axel?
Off day or something?
Kyaaaak...
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the scorpion let out a death screech and froze.
Its upper body slid along the blade's path and crumpled to the ground.
"Whoa!"
What did I just witness?
Ki-woo clamped a hand over his mouth and paused the video. Goosebumps raced down his back in a thrilling shiver that short-circuited his brain.
"What the—?!"
He replayed it. Unjang had bisected the black scorpion clean with one precise slash.
"Damn. Heroes got levels."
The Round Table. Heroes transcending gender, age, race, nation, ideology—for world peace under Britain's hero Sir Gawain.
Some like China's War God were national icons, but they were undeniably the best.
"China and Japan each got one... sigh."
East Asia pride, crushed. Sadly, no Koreans among the Round Table's twelve.
"Woulda been disaster if even those two vanished. Whew."
Gwanggeom and Seolhwa Gongju. Korea's only two S-rank heroes.
"If we had even one more S-rank..."
So rare, they're babied at national strongholds. Gwanggeom in New Seoul, Seolhwa Gongju in Busan.
If Seoul or Incheon had heroes on their level, the central region wouldn't be this wrecked.
But people flocked to those safe cities—Seoul's population plummeted fastest once Gwanggeom moved to New Seoul at the government's request.
Left in Seoul, Incheon, and southern Gyeonggi? Two types: those too broke to leave, or those staying for some reason.
Ki-woo's family? The latter—"real estate."
Ting-a-ling~
"New Seoul's outskirts apartments go for 2 billion each..."
Maybe try Hero Coin? Pick any hero on a hero channel, donate big, and boom—they blow up. He still remembered a buddy who scored hundreds of times his donation back.
"Nah. If I became a hero, I'd be set."
Lotto hits 5-6 winners weekly; hero awakening odds are worse. Some wake up in their sleep, others mid-monster attack—mechanism's a total mystery.
If he knew how, he'd pay billions to try.
"That's right. Hero awakening's no big deal. Mana has seven types, see? Awakening's just sensing the one that matches your constitution."
What fresh nonsense is this?
Ki-woo checked his tablet, thinking it glitched. But beyond the paused video stood a blue-haired high school girl, arms full of cup ramen, onigiri, and essentials piled on the counter.
"W-Welcome?"
Ki-woo bit his tongue in shock.
The girl pointed at the cup ramen and triangle kimbap.
"Ring me up."
"Y-Yes. Sure."
He calmed his pounding heart and scanned each barcode slowly. Not because he kept stealing glances at her.
She chattered nonstop to the hulking guy beside her. Her voice chirped like a bird.
"Mana has attributes. Played games? No? Uh, ever hear of Aristotle's four elements? Warmth, wetness, stuff like that making up elements? Turns out he found mana traits, not elements. Simple: fire, water, wind, earth—the four cardinal attributes. Well, not really, but that's the lore here. Overcomplicated it."
Thirsty mid-explanation, she added a nearby latte.
The giant eyed it, then added another drink.
"What, your fave?"
"......Buy one get one."
The giant's gravelly voice made Ki-woo jump, dropping the cola can he was about to scan. It rolled and hit his shoe.
"S-Sorry! I'll swap it! One sec!"
Panicking at his mistake, Ki-woo dashed to the fridge, grabbed a replacement, and hurried back. The hooded giant seemed to glare, hands shaking as he clutched the cola.
"Ahem. Anyway, those four are the most common attributes. Fixed per person, but how abilities manifest varies. Yours? I'd call it persistence."
Ki-woo blinked hard. Did that mean the giant was a hero?
"Me? Duh, fire attribute. What else? Azure flames blazing! The sun itself! That's me."
She stretched dramatically to the ceiling like in a play. Ki-woo's heart nearly burst. Her confident grin was adorable.
"...Bullshit."
The giant turned away, unimpressed, browsing other shelves.
She froze briefly, dropped her arm, and met Ki-woo's eyes.
He scanned the last item.
"Bag it?"
"Yeah... wait."
She scanned the counter, face scrunching at a sign. Even that pout was pretty.
"Bag fee? Seriously. They copy everything."
She slumped, gesturing at the food mountain.
"...Bag it. Ugh."
Ki-woo considered skipping the bag fee but noped out. His parents enforced it strictly post-Incheon collapse. Getting caught meant death.
"Total: 21,200 won."
"...Uh."
Her face finally showed real fluster. She yanked out cash—two green 10,000-won bills.
"W-Wait."
She rummaged wildly, then froze. Only dust came out.
"Ah, haha, ha... which to drop?"
She eyed price tags, pulling items from the pile. Her neck, half-hidden by a turquoise scarf, flushed red.
"......Hold up."
The giant returned.
She beamed like he'd saved her.
"Knew it! You can be hel—wait, what's that?"
She bit her lip at the two hot bars in his hand.
Her glare screamed incoming fury.
"Sigh. Already over budget, cutting stuff, and you add more..."
"Move."
"Huh?"
"Move it."
Her eyes widened at the giant.
He shrugged, plopping the hot bars down.
"Hey! Wait! I'm short on cash! You idiot who can't even calculate?"
Pfft.
Was that the giant's snort? Ki-woo wasn't sure.
The giant pulled 5,000 won from his pocket, snatched her cash, and handed Ki-woo three bills total.
Ki-woo punched it in, fished out change.
"Received 25,000 won."
"Keep the change."
The giant grabbed his hot bars like it was nothing.
"...Seriously?"
As she gawked, he peeled a hot bar, shoved the cold thing into her hand: "Heat it yourself."
Snatched the bagged food and marched out.
"Hey!"
She glared at the hot bar in her hand, turning to Ki-woo.
"Think this'd kill him if I whack him?"
"...No?"
She nodded at his reply and left.
Ting-a-ling.
The bell announced the customer's exit.
Ki-woo collapsed into his chair, dazed like he'd seen a ghost.
"Cash in this day and age."
He rubbed his neck, then snapped to.
"Hey! Your change!"