Chapter 191
Chapter 191
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 191
Chapter Title: One Roof, Multiple Families - 3
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Bang!
The griffon crashed into the building, slamming right through.
The window frame, barely holding its shape, was crushed in an instant, and the glass shattered into pieces.
By some stroke of luck, the griffon got itself wedged into the building.
It wasn't dead, but it looked like it had passed out from the massive impact.
Once the dust settled, Shin Il-hwan and his gang members, who had fled downstairs, spotted the griffon.
"Fuck, what the hell is this thing?"
"Griffon meat... I heard you can eat it if you boil it for a few hours..."
Someone muttered that, and everyone glared at him.
"For real?"
"Uh, yeah. They say it's edible if you boil it thoroughly for a few hours. Tastier with the young ones, though."
"That's not the point right now."
Shin Il-hwan's face was lit up with excitement as he said it.
He had seen the griffon's eye twitch.
"This thing's still alive. What do you think that means?"
"Kill it and snag the skills and EXP...?"
"This guy's getting casual with me all sneaky-like."
"N-no, boss!"
Shin Il-hwan laughed cheerfully.
It was like a dumpling falling right into his mouth while he slept.
Sure, a griffon was dangerous, but it wasn't moving.
Just sneak up and stab its eye—easy, right?
He stood at the base of the stairs, staring holes into the griffon's head, then extended his arm backward.
"Long Knife."
"Y-yes, sir!"
The familiar weight settled into his hand.
He cracked his neck for no reason and started climbing the stairs.
What skills did griffons drop again?
Honestly, it didn't matter.
No matter how it played out, killing a griffon here would make his name spread far and wide.
"Ogre Killer's one thing, but a Griffin Killer..."
The tip of the long knife touched the griffon's eye.
The grin on Shin Il-hwan's face deepened.
But he had no idea.
That the Ogre Killer had fallen downstairs from the impact and was now climbing back up.
Or that his super senses had picked up every sound around him.
Meaning he'd heard Shin Il-hwan's voice too.
Suddenly, his underlings started groaning in frustration.
Shin Il-hwan brushed it off at first, then turned around and jumped in shock.
Some massive bulk was beating the crap out of his men as it climbed up!
"Urk!"
"Guh!"
His ears, deafened by the griffon fixation, finally cleared.
Shin Il-hwan's eyes met Sung-ho's.
"I went to the trouble of seasoning it for you, and you're trying to hog it all?"
"Seasoning?"
"If you don't wanna die, put the knife down nice and easy."
"..."
Shin Il-hwan gritted his teeth and tensed his arm.
It didn't matter who this big guy was.
What mattered was that someone who'd formed a major faction in the Korean Shelter was ordering him around.
It was a matter of pride—he couldn't obey some random guy's words.
His lips twisted oddly.
"Sorry, but I gotta eat this."
The long knife plunged toward the griffon's eye.
Or rather, it hit something and didn't go in.
Shin Il-hwan panicked and pushed harder, but he couldn't pierce the dimensional barrier.
Sung-ho clenched his fist.
"You wanna die that bad?"
Only then did he realize who this brute was.
The hulking figure in black body armor with short hair...
Kimbap Lover, who was supposed to have left the Korean Shelter, had come all the way here.
But how the hell did he make the griffon crash here?
While Shin Il-hwan was lost in weird thoughts, Sung-ho's fist slammed into his gut.
He clutched his stomach, unable to even scream.
Even with his tough body and pain resistance, this blow was unbearable.
Thud!
As the fist sank deep into his belly, Shin Il-hwan felt his mind go hazy.
"Guh..."
A ghostly wail-like sound leaked from his twisted lips.
Sung-ho beat him with a stone-cold expression.
To him, beating people up was as routine as killing them—no big emotions involved.
He just wanted to clear this trash out quick.
A few punches later, Shin Il-hwan was barely conscious.
Not even his physical enhancement trait helped.
Sung-ho grabbed his limp collar with one hand and hoisted him up.
"This is your warning—don't ever show up in front of me again. Next time, I'll actually kill you."
Shin Il-hwan's body flew out the broken window.
It'd hurt like hell from the impact, but he wouldn't die.
The gang members, staggering to their feet, saw it and freaked out, fleeing in terror.
Sung-ho caught his breath.
Truth be told, the only reason he didn't kill the guy touching his griffon was because this was the Korean Shelter.
He'd end up looking like the intruder who snuck in without permission and started murdering.
Plus, his Penalty Exemption kept his kill stat at zero.
No need to rack up a pointless kill here and hesitate when it really mattered later.
"Still alive, huh..."
As Sung-ho touched the griffon's head, Lee Sang-shin, Hyung-jun, and the others appeared from upstairs.
Moon Dae-ho, Moon So-yoon, and Yoon Ji-hye, who still looked at him with fearful eyes, were there too.
Looks like upstairs was the lodging area.
"Whoa, I thought some monster flew in or something..."
"Sung-ho, did you...?"
"Su-yeon said her glasses broke."
"Wow... you caught a griffon just for that?"
"Just for that? You have no idea how inconvenient it is without glasses."
Sung-ho glanced at So-yoon, who coughed awkwardly and looked away.
Sang-shin asked,
"There were some shady guys around here earlier—where'd they go?"
"I sent them packing outside."
"They're not the type to leave quietly..."
"I let them go."
"Ah."
Sang-shin nodded and stepped back, so Sung-ho looked around at everyone.
"Mind giving me some space for a bit? Got work to do."
This was their lodging, after all—he had to be polite.
Once Hyung-jun led everyone away, Sung-ho finally opened a dimension gate and called Su-yeon over.
Mi-kyung came too, from the rooftop of the opposite building.
"Su-yeon, just kill this thing. Close your eyes tight and push with the long knife."
"..."
She stared at Sung-ho for a moment, then took the long knife.
And thrust it hard into the griffon's eye.
"Ah."
Su-yeon slowly removed her half-broken glasses, and Mi-kyung freaked out.
"Whoa, unnie, you're so pretty!"
Whatever. Su-yeon marveled at her distant vision.
Without glasses, her sight was incredibly sharp.
As if it had always been that way.
She naturally dropped the glasses, but Sung-ho picked them up for her.
"You got the skill. But don't toss them. Skills can get sealed sometimes."
Su-yeon stared at him wordlessly, then stepped close and hugged him.
Mi-kyung's eyes went wide.
"Thank you... Sung-ho, really, thank you... I'm nobody, and you still care this much..."
Sung-ho patted her shoulder.
"You've got so much ahead of you—how could you be nobody? Anyway, looks good, right?"
"Yeah... really good."
Su-yeon smiled brightly, and Sung-ho was momentarily captivated by her beauty.
He'd shrugged it off with those ugly medical glasses, but she was a real beauty.
A different vibe from the wild Da-jeong.
Sung-ho cleared his throat and gently pushed her away.
"Head into the shelter for now. This place isn't officially permitted."
"Meaning you've got more to do? Got it."
After she went through the dimension gate, Mi-kyung hovered around Sung-ho fidgetily.
"Unnie's really pretty, huh."
"Yeah. Blew me away without the glasses. You head in too. If you're short on points, tell Ji-man."
It took 100 points to enter the first dimension gate.
Mi-kyung's blink ability came in handy often, so she went in and out of the gates a lot.
Ji-man handled the reimbursements.
The shelter had so much to sell that they'd already surpassed Da-jeong's points.
He distributed them to whoever needed without greed.
As Mi-kyung moped toward the gate, Sung-ho pulled her arm and hugged her.
"Good job earlier. Would've been a nightmare without you."
"Hehe."
She clung to him like nothing happened.
As they did, the surroundings grew noisy.
People had spotted the griffon and were swarming.
Mi-kyung darted into the gate quick, and Sung-ho headed upstairs.
'Why's it so rowdy outside?'
He peeked and saw Jang Won-taek and Lee Beom-seok checking on the beaten guys.
Jang Won-taek's eyes met his.
They were saying: Help me.
My plan to just say hi and leave went out the window.
Jang Won-taek came up to Hyung-jun's lodging and asked to talk to me.
It was obviously gonna be a headache and boring as hell, so I tried to refuse.
But I couldn't just ignore Jang Won-taek's lament.
I was the one who cut off his right arm, after all.
If I hadn't killed Hyun-woo, Jang wouldn't be scrambling like this.
Not that I regretted it, but I figured I owed a little help.
"...Yeouido Alliance and Hangang Faction are the main groups rallying people. They're agitating to hand over supplies. Ultimately, they want guns. To secure firearms and dominate the shelter."
Lee Beom-seok's explanation dragged on, and I suddenly wanted to bolt.
Faction fights were the most annoying shit in the world.
If that happened in my shelter, I'd kick everyone out and live alone.
Backstabbing, framing, inciting—how could anyone stand that?
Jang Won-taek looked a decade older.
I could tell how much grief he was dealing with.
I glanced outside and asked,
"Earlier, I beat up that big guy and a bunch of others..."
"Yeouido Alliance's Shin Il-hwan and his crew. Turns out they're ex-gangsters—we figured it out late."
"Gangsters in the shelter. Real classy."
"Heh... that's how it went."
"You still think that way? Shelters should always be open and accept everyone?"
I said it a bit accusatory, and Jang shook his head.
"No... but even after closing the doors, it didn't work out my way. Guess I'm lacking."
A president who'd maxed politics—lacking mediation? No way.
The problem was those two factions' outrageous demands.
They plugged their ears and threw tantrums for weapons—no one could fix that.
"If you're trying to solve it 'normally,' sure."
"...Kill them all?"
My go-to method.
And the prescription needed right now.
"If they don't wanna die, they'll run. Want me to tell you how to end this?"
"What's that?"
I held out my hand to Jang Won-taek.
"Hand over the shelter to me for a bit. I'll handle everything."
"President, that's..."
Lee Beom-seok tried to step in, but Jang silenced him with a look.
"Let's hear the rest. After kicking them out or killing them, then what?"
"Only accept selected people. Not just anyone."
"By Sung-ho's standards?"
"Not some politician's universal crap. Whatever I feel like."
"What about the rest?"
"They'll figure it out."
Jang chuckled briefly at my blunt words.
"People can't understand each other in the end."
"Plenty have proven that. Wanna wait and see more?"
"No... no."
Jang leaned against the window.
"After taking Yeouido, I navigated between tons of people and factions. Some listened, some didn't. It was fine. I had hope they'd see my sincerity eventually. The apocalypse blew that away."
"My bullshit philosophy says people live however they feel like. 'Correcting' them is nonsense. Law or violence to crush them—that's the best."
He looked at me bitterly.
"Maybe you're right... At least right now, your fix might work."
"I'll take my cut."
I'd grab it when handing back the shelter.
"...As of now, Sung-ho is the leader of the Korean Shelter. Please take care of it."
Jang bowed to me.
All supplies from the Korean Shelter, provisional shelters, and bunkers were now mine.
Just for a bit, but I'd put them to good use.
After they left, I met with Hyung-jun and the others.
They were shocked I was the shelter leader now.
"What the hell happened?"
"Just janitor duty. Cleaning up quick and leaving."
Sang-shin snapped his fingers.
"Oh, got it. Here to clean out the factions? Perfect. I was sick of those assholes."
"But Sang-shin, don't you have something to say to me?"
"Huh? No."
I stared him down.
"Straight up: wanna hunt with me?"
"That intense vibe's kinda scary... I'm not that great."
"If Gukbap Addict, who's watched my stream from start to finish, isn't great, who is?"
He stubbornly resisted my persistent coaxing.
Even flinched a bit when I said Poor Man Ji-man was waiting, but nah.
We were that close...
He sighed and spilled the truth.
"I'm not some big shot. How do regular guys like me survive long? Stay away from scary people."
"Am I scary?"
"Yeah, dangerous honestly."
Couldn't deny that—sad.
I gave my ultimatum.
"Join my shelter, free gukbap for life."
"...Pardon?"
"I'll make it whenever you want. Might take time sometimes, though."
"How...? Isn't your trait subspace?"
"Don't ask details. So, deal? Last offer. Refuse and it's done."
"...Pork gukbap?"
"Obviously."
"As much as I want?"
"Unlimited."
"Eternal loyalty."
Easy guy.
The onlookers looked dumbfounded.
"Oppa, you flipped that quick?"
So-yoon chided, and he shrugged.
"Can't resist pork gukbap."
End of One Roof, Multiple Families - 3