Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Carpe Diem
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I floor the accelerator.
『Kuaaaack!』
『Save me!』
I pull the clutch and wrench the steering wheel.
『This isn't racing!』
『Aaaack! Aaaaack!』
I lean into the centrifugal force.
Hard braking to change course, then sudden acceleration to leap the ravine.
『Run!』
『What the hell is that thing!? How's a car flying through the sky!?』
『And what's with it driving even after getting crushed under a building!?』
One hand freely maneuvers the wheel.
The other lights a cigarette.
"Flight mode guzzles fuel, right?"
I deactivate flight mode and grip the wheel tight as the vehicle plummets back to earth.
*This is fun.*
One wheel lands on a mangled steel beam.
With exquisite timing, I spin the wheel, alternating accelerator and brakes, and the car smoothly rides the beam back onto the road.
*Feels like I've become the vehicle itself.*
In wuxia novels, it's called "Man-Sword Unity." So is this "Man-Car Unity"?
*I thought the driving skill from the quest ticket was useless, but I was wrong.*
Just not safe driving, that's all.
The virtual city crafted by the Highway Hooligans was already a total wreck.
"I wanted to enjoy a fair race."
『Hiiiik!』
"Why does this keep happening?"
I slam my right foot down on the accelerator.
My left foot, poised on the brake for instant stopping, twitches as I try to pass one of the Highway Hooligans—but by the time I snap out of it, I've already hit him.
『Guhk!?』
The Highway Hooligan bounces into the sky, disintegrates into dust, and vanishes.
"He's probably at peace now?"
Is it the effect of "Dried Friendship"?
Or does my driving skill now have the power to erase them outright?
No way to know for sure.
*I was never great at driving before, but not this bad.*
At worst, I'd wrecked a few guardrails and jumped a cliff or two—nothing crazy.
Sure, I'd destroyed an independent dimension once, but the foundation vehicle helped a ton then, and same here.
Still, I could feel my skills had improved dramatically.
"Back then, the car would've been totaled at this level."
Now? Not a scratch.
I light a fresh cigarette and focus on the highway race while pondering.
"What does it even mean to be good at driving?"
Does it mean following traffic laws?
Sticking to the designated roads?
『You bastard! This isn't raci—guwek!』
『You maniac! Stay back! I said stay back!』
『We're ghosts—how the hell are you killing us!?』
Before that—what does "good" even mean?
"Being good means how well you fit the standard."
Good at studying? Solving problems right.
Good at sports? Beating records within the rules.
Good at drawing? Capturing the theme and evoking empathy.
"But those are just ordinary standards."
Truly great scholars don't just solve problems—they discover new laws.
Truly great athletes are so dominant they force new rules.
Truly great artists pioneer genres that successors imitate.
"Maybe I was always good at driving."
The world's rules just never acknowledged it.
In fact, I'd never hurt myself driving all those times.
"My survival-level driving skill, which ignored rules, got amplified as the world changed."
Through the girl with closed eyes, my physical abilities and senses sharpened.
"Dried Friendship" boosted it too.
And now, the quest ticket amplified it once more.
"If my driving skill started negative, multiplying it by anything keeps it negative."
Direction stayed the same, but the absolute value shot up—so the quest ticket's enhancement succeeded?
"At this rate, without Sarang's help, I can't drive in the city anymore."
Buildings crumbled one after another.
Some by my hand, some by the Highway Hooligans.
『Die!』
"Well, for now, I'm satisfied."
The past is useless.
The future's full of anxiety.
Only the present matters.
"Carpe diem."
So I'll savor this moment.
They were predators.
『Hee hee hee! How about this city?』
『Oh! Nice one—wide roads and plenty of mountain paths! Perfect for highway racing!』
They hunted in packs like lions.
Ran like cheetahs, trampled like elephants, survived like hyenas.
『Hey, you! You've got potential as a highway racer!』
『We too noisy? Why? Wanna kick us out? Beat us at highway racing then!』
『Beat us, and we'll vanish from here. Lose, and you join us.』
Their habitat: a grassland called a city.
Prey: the arrogance of those who challenged them.
Reproduction: chewing up losers' lives and assimilating them.
『How's it feel? You're one of us now!』
『Ooh! What a rush! If I'd known it'd feel this good, I'd have joined sooner—wasted life!』
The assimilated ones raced excellently as Highway Hooligans.
『We are the hunters.』
『We never lose.』
『We are the strong.』
They thought this life would go on forever.
No living being could beat them in a race—controlling tracks, flying skies, unkillable.
『Huff, huff!』
That's what they thought.
Until today—until Lee Seung-hoon.
『Gotta cross the finish line fast!』
One Highway Hooligan floored it like mad.
Riding a flaming motorcycle as a flaming skull, his buddies called him "Ghost Rider."
『Just cross the line!』
But no comrades left to call him that.
*'No way a living guy's beating us! I'll ram him from behind!'*
"Fire Sonic" tried ambushing but got sucked into the rear and dusted.
*'I-I'm outta here!'*
"Tofu Shop Youngest Son" fled another route but got crushed by the enemy plummeting from the sky before escaping the city.
*'Rushing one by one won't work! All together!'*
"Completed Big Rigs" led a squad assault but all got smashed to nothing.
*'Bury him!'*
Even toppling buildings.
*'Drop him in!'*
Even splitting the ground.
*'The sky! Sky's the answer!'*
Even fleeing airborne—same result.
Bursting through debris like a building collapse, tunneling like a mole, jet-engined like a plane, swimming free.
『Damn it! Where'd he get a car like that!?』
Thanks to his comrades' sacrifices, the finish line was right there.
『Just cross it!』
If one Highway Hooligan wins the race, the opponent becomes one by the rules.
The checkered finish line stretched before the giant stone Buddha statue in the distance.
『Yes! We win!』
The Highway Hooligan cheered.
Glancing back, he saw the enemy's lights far off.
『Uhahaha! You'll be one of us soon...』
Then realization hit late.
*'Wait, fuck? I gotta live with that monster?'*
Racing cities daily with that destroyer?
Even recruiting newbies or cloning new cities.
One run from him wrecks everything?
『Every day... endless struggle for survival...』
He hit the brakes.
High-pitched engine roar, bright headlights bathed him.
『I don't want that life.』
Arms spread, he embraced the light.
『Friends, coming soon. Let's race in the afterlife!』
"Whew! Thank you! The fog problem's gone!"
Highway Hooligans issue: resolved.
Right before the finish line, the last one vanished, wiping out the group entirely.
"Pity—I was curious what happens if you win the race."
Now, victory over the Highway Hooligans becomes an eternal MacGuffin.
Getting back was a hassle.
Headed to Sarang Goods, charged Sarang at Factory 1, cabbed back to Daegu, retrieved the car.
"Wanna drive myself, but no choice. Sarang, autopilot please."
『Understood.』
On the way home.
Every time I touched the wheel, Sarang blocked me.
『Lee Seung-hoon, they say in this world, simply being born is a sin.』
"Original sin from Christianity?"
『Yes. A tool to instill fear and dependency from a religious view, preaching prophets' mercy for conversion—but original sin has been observed.』
"Where?"
『In your driving skills, Lee Seung-hoon. Please remove your hands from the wheel.』
Whoa, Sarang's being blunt.
It was kinda fun, so I kept trying—overshot the rest stop.
"Wanted potatoes. And a smoke."
No stops until home.
"Stiff as a board."
Home after days away.
About to crash on the sofa when the bell rang.
"Sarang? Who’s calling?"
『Not me. No calls for you, Lee Seung-hoon.』
So what's this bell?
『Quack!』
Memory jogged—I recognized it.
"Karma Call Center."
Check your karma to know post-death: hell or paradise.
Huge backlog; you apply first for a callback, takes forever.
"But I didn't apply?"
No apps since last consult.
Grabbed the Karma Call Center phone from the bedroom.
"Hello?"
-Oh! Lee Seung-hoon! Hi! Karma Call Center Chief Director Super Strong Great King here—long time!
"Yes, long time, Super Strong Great King. Hope you've been well?"
-I have, but Hell hasn't. Suddenly villains pouring in steady. Twenty a day? Too many for extra staff, too few to hire—stuck. Whatever, I'm just call center.
Chatted idly, then to the point.
"So, why the call? No karma consult since last time."
-We contact first-timers with big karma swings for care.
Now I get it.
"Had an incident—used up all good karma."
-A transcendent used good karma? Explains the sudden drop. But it's not good karma.
"What then?"
-Evil karma.
Super Strong Great King explained my karma.
-Checked secret logs: tons of good karma potential. But tied to transcendents, so no direct accrual. Might've been Four Heavenly Kings otherwise.
"Knowing my actions count as good karma is enough.
-But you racked up evil karma too? No transcendent help—your own doing.
"What evil karma?"
Then I remembered.
-Spreading online porn. Told you: puberty's excused. Adult now...
Traces of my debate.
-Not just posting—distributed to every internet community. Evil karma exploded.
"Even with transcendent help, evil karma tallies normally unlike good?"
-Obviously. Else, transcendents could farm evil karma guilt-free.
Good karma impossible, evil karma sticks.
With Sarang's help or not, all mine.
"So how much?"
-Evil karma ate all good, left with about ten million extra?
Sarang-assisted debate piled it high.
-At this rate, hell-bound. Avici Hell specifically.
"Now?"
-Judgment's post-death. As Hell Call Center consultant, calling to help.
She asked.
-Wanna erase all evil karma, Lee Seung-hoon?
"Of course."
Then her pitch.
-Wanna save the world?
"What's that?"
Surprisingly familiar.
-Dunno if you know, but afterlife's not one. Classified, but ours is messy.
The task too.
-Among 'em, Lucifer Company?
The target too.
-Disrupt their ops!