Chapter 279
Chapter 279
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 279
>Chapter Title: Ghosts Among the Transmigrators
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Seeing Kotaro frozen stiff, Kang Seol scanned everyone with a stoic expression.
Under that chilling gaze, the transmigrators panicked. And there was someone even more flustered than them.
‘My body….’
It was Kotaro, standing across from Kang Seol with his hand on his sword hilt, rigid as stone.
In this city of Songjo, Kotaro believed no one could stand against him. Even the dispatched central army had been swept away once, so surely no one left could challenge him, Songjo's top transmigrator and now among the strongest overall.
‘Just now… who was glaring at me?’
He had gotten rough with the soldiers and maids, but he hadn’t planned to escalate things. Of course, the water was already spilled, so he’d braced for some show of force.
That’s why he’d reached for his sword hilt. He never dreamed the sword inside wouldn’t even draw.
It was all because of Kang Seol, who had placed his hand on his own sword sheath, sealing Kotaro’s stance.
No, he could have shaken off that movement and drawn it anyway, but what made his body immovable entirely was the hazy figure visible behind the man.
When that presence looked down at him like he was insignificant, it felt like his body was being crushed.
‘How can this be….’
As if his turmoil wasn’t reaching anyone else, someone among the transmigrator group shouted.
“Kotaro!”
“Don’t oppress us! We have the right to do as we please! No matter if it’s the Khan or the Empire, they can’t just swing us around however they want!”
The transmigrator ranted like a passionate activist.
Kang Seol replied in a businesslike tone.
“I believe we’ve given you options for a certain period.”
“That’s one-sided! What else is it but ‘follow what you’ve decided’?”
Fair point.
If this were a peaceful time.
“But right now, Songjo is in a tense state where another monster assault could happen anytime. And the Khan is prepared to do whatever it takes to protect Songjo’s citizens. If we have to weigh everything on the scales of choice, the heaviest isn’t your freedom as transmigrators—it’s the citizens’ lives.”
“Th-that… uh….”
The transmigrator who had spoken fluently now stammered. Another took his place and screamed.
“Does that mean citizens’ lives come first, so we don’t matter at all?”
“A bit exaggerated, but similar, no? We’re not asking much of you transmigrators. Those who can defend the city stay, and those who can’t should leave now.”
“You bastard… you just want to chase us out!”
Kang Seol was a transmigrator himself and Seolhong’s close aide as the city’s commander. Their position was understandable at first glance, but in this case, he couldn’t side with them.
“An unclear ally right in front of danger is a potential internal threat. Especially since some turned traitor as looters in the last assault—it’s no exaggeration.”
“We have nothing to do with those guys!”
“Even so, from the perspective of defending the city, we can’t just take your word and leave you be. Citizens’ backlash is one thing, but we want to avoid holes in the city’s defense network.”
As Kang Seol calmly tried to persuade them, others appeared who only fueled their anger.
“Just leave us alone! We don’t want to leave the city or follow your control!”
“Isn’t that usually called outlaws?”
And then, anger crossed the line.
The transmigrators’ eyes began to redden slowly.
“You fuck… the more I see, the more I… Hey! You calling us outlaws?”
“Outlaws? You think you know our lives, always flirting around Yonghwa’s side while we cross the line between life and death every time?”
“Y-yeah! We have to fight endlessly, boring as hell!”
Kang Seol barely suppressed a snort.
‘What’s this about… why are they acting like this?’
Their behavior felt contradictory somewhere.
Kang Seol sensed they didn’t act like typical transmigrators.
Transmigrators were generally selfish.
Their top priority was survival, not freedom.
Ironically, that selfishness to survive alone led to bizarre group cooperation.
The central army’s conditions weren’t unfair.
Staying meant allying with them for higher survival odds; if not, leaving boosted survival even more.
Yet here they were, stirring discord while wanting to stay.
‘Doesn’t this feel off?’
- Yeah.
Jamad agreed with Kang Seol’s thought.
“Stop… just stop.”
Only Kotaro, who had glimpsed Kang Seol’s true nature however briefly, tried to halt the transmigrators’ derailment.
“What’s wrong, Kotaro? Scared? That bastard just now….”
“Anyway, let’s stop….”
“Stop what! He doesn’t know shit about us, calling transmigrators funny like….”
Kang Seol smiled faintly and replied.
“I understand you better than anyone.”
“Shut up.”
Birran shouted.
“Enough! Don’t be rude to Lord Yongseok! Lord Yongseok, you guys….”
Even Birran’s pleas couldn’t calm the chaos.
No, it only provoked them more.
“Oh, don’t defy Yongseok either?”
“Crazy bastards… should I just close my eyes and kill you all?”
“Understand? You know us?”
Harsh words spilled out.
‘Annoying….’
Honestly, he had no desire to understand or hang with transmigrators. If Kang Seol were just a transmigrator, he’d act on that thought.
But he was essentially Seolhong’s right hand, dispatched as commander here. He had to restrain violent impulses.
Finally, as tension peaked, Kang Seol decided to reveal himself.
“I’m a transmigrator too.”
“…What?”
“That’s why I can understand you. And I’m curious why this situation is unfolding like this.”
Everyone paused at Kang Seol’s transmigrator claim.
“You’re… a transmigrator?”
“Yes.”
“A transmigrator became Yongseok?”
“Yes.”
“Wait… where… fuck….”
“Pfft….”
“Puhahaha!”
The transmigrators checked something and burst into laughter.
“Nope, nothing.”
“…Yes?”
“No name like yours anywhere in Songjo’s transmigrator rankings. You’re strong, huh?”
“Liar.”
“We know everyone in the rankings. You’re either lying to escape this or so weak you can’t touch Kotaro’s heels, let alone ours.”
The transmigrators’ eyes kept reddening.
- Kang Seol, got it. These guys….
Kang Seol nodded.
‘I felt it too.’
Their reactions weren’t typical transmigrators. Sighing as he grasped the situation, Kang Seol stopped suppressing his presence with the artifact.
[Releasing Silence.]
[Base visit info exposed.]
Messages flooded in.
[Info is private.]
[Your score is 24,156,800 points.]
[Rumors spread of an incredible adventurer in Songjo.]
[City-wide crime rate drops sharply.]
[Hidden adventures in the city activate.]
[City tension eases.]
[Citizens hold slight hope for tomorrow.]
He’d expected rewards at 20 million adventure points, but nothing came.
Maybe 30 million would give a first title.
“Uh… wait, what’s this in the rankings….”
“What, what?”
“No way, right?”
“24 million? 24 million?”
“First time seeing numbers like this….”
“Is that really him?”
“What’s the name? Kang Seol?”
“Korean name… anyone know him?”
They looked around, then stared at Kang Seol like a monster and backed away.
Adventure points weren’t everything for strength, but a solid reference.
Having suffered countless atrocities from high-scorers, the transmigrators feared Kang Seol might snap and charge.
“Do you believe me now?”
“Uh… y-yeah.”
“I don’t want to make this bigger than it is.”
“We don’t have huge complaints either….”
Numbers spoke for Kang Seol’s stature, so fearing a slip could cost heads, they watched their words.
But one didn’t welcome the mood.
“So!”
“Yes?”
“Why… hey, you….”
“Because I’m a transmigrator, we have to change our attitude? Why? Why should we?”
Even transmigrators found the man’s outburst odd.
“Hey… look at the score, why are you….”
“…Didn’t see the score? Why provoke….”
“Score?”
That instant, a sharp smell hit Kang Seol’s nose.
‘…Bingo?’
- Yeah, that one.
With Jamad’s reply, the unbelievable happened.
Shing…
Splurt-!
“…Huh?”
The man who’d just spoken had his head neatly sliced by Kang Seol’s swung sword and fell to the ground.
Thud…
Shock brought silence, then fury erupted.
Shing…
Shiiiing-!
“Crazy bastard!”
“Knew it!”
“Kill anyone who doesn’t obey! Kotaro! Can’t do this, we should too….”
Transmigrators drew weapons against Kang Seol.
“Kotaro?”
“Everyone, calm down.”
“How can we calm now! That guy just….”
“Look closely.”
“Yeah! His head was just cut off… huh?”
Twitch…
The headless body convulsed.
Humans die instantly when decapitated.
But the corpse twitched, meaning the dead wasn’t human.
“Wh-what the….”
Step…
Step…
Kang Seol walked to the severed head and lifted the grotesque thing.
Squelch…
The human face melted away.
“My god….”
That moment.
Flash-!
Whoosh-!
Four figures scattered in all directions, all from the transmigrator side.
“Kyaaak!”
Kang Seol clapped.
“Koko!”
Whirl-!
Koko bit the neck of a fleeing transmigrator in an instant.
Kang Seol leaped at another no less swiftly.
Kwachiiik-!
Smashing one’s head into the ground, pulverizing it.
Crunch-!
Koko severed two necks in a flash, ending them.
The last survivor trying to vault the camp wall was caught by Kang Seol.
“Ehee! Ehehehehe!”
The captured man suddenly laughed maniacally.
Kang Seol said dryly.
“I smelled it… you guys are ghosts, right?”
“Busted! Busted! Hehehe!”
Kang Seol dragged the ghost back.
The decapitated transmigrator’s face had become a ghost’s with its tongue lolling long.
Kotaro and the others looked dizzy and flustered.
“N-no way… these guys… were ghosts?”
“Then until now….”
Kang Seol checked the transmigrators’ eyes.
The redness had faded back to normal.
“My god….”
Birran approached, covering her mouth in despair. She eyed the other transmigrators suspiciously.
They did the same to each other.
Swipe…
“N-no! B-believe me!”
“Didn’t know! Totally unrelated! I’m innocent!”
As they proved innocence to each other, Kang Seol bound the ghost and summoned Jamad.
Whoooosh…
Now Immortal-grade, the summoning looked different.
Before, it was like a shadow blob unraveling; now, black mist slowly forming shape.
It was quite terrifying, of course.
“Gh-ghost!”
“It appeared again!”
- I’m Jamad, though?
- Ghost! They say ghost! Where! Where… me?
Kang Seol’s group had witnessed godlike feats one after another.
Especially Birran, feeling fear and awe toward Kang Seol simultaneously.
Things fell into place perfectly; he wasn’t sure what was what, but clearly no ordinary man.
He’d seemed oddly relaxed in a powder-keg situation, thinking him strange—but now it was overflowing composure.
Jamad addressed the bound ghost.
- Look at me, ghost.
“Hehe… hehehe….”
Clap-!
[Jamad uses Dark Living Sorcery: Life Seal.]
[Target cannot harm its own life force for a time.]
Preemptive spell against suicide.
Kang Seol asked about the new ability.
“What’s that? Dark Living Sorcery?”
- The scripture power from that guy I mentioned getting last time.
The ancient scripture Jamad once mentioned.
- The immortality one you talked about, from that guy’s bookshelf.
Part of the Immortal’s tomes left in futility.
Unlike Jamad, Mael used all sorts of minor spells; likely the Immortal’s scripture included them too.
‘Dark Living Sorcery, though….’
Kang Seol turned to the transmigrators.
They still blamed and suspected each other.
“You’re a ghost too!”
“D-don’t be ridiculous!”
Kang Seol’s and Kotaro’s eyes met.
“You need to make it clear now.”
“…Understood.”
Kotaro strode to the ghost.
“Hey, since when?”
“Hehehe! Fooled fools are fools!”
“To be toyed by trash like this….”
“Hehehe! No, you were scared. I just amplified it! You’re so cowardly….”
Stab-!
Kotaro’s dagger pierced the ghost’s thigh.
“Kya aaah!”
“Shut that mouth.”
Kotaro turned; transmigrators hesitated, then nodded.
“Just obey control, right?”
Birran’s face brightened visibly.
Kang Seol nodded, then questioned the ghost.
“Where’d you come from?”
“Hehehe….”
“Did you orchestrate the monster assault?”
“What if we did?”
Kang Seol frowned and told Jamad.
“That living sorcery or whatever….”
Clap-!
[Jamad uses Dark Living Sorcery: Itch Curse.]
[Target feels unbearable itch for a short time.]
[Repeated use builds immunity to Itch Curse.]
“Ahaak! Ahaak!”
“Answer.”
“Stop… stoooop!”
“Aahahaak….”
Drooling, the ghost finally confessed.
“Yaksha….”
“What?”
“Yaksha shattered the boundary, so the Ghost King falls.”
“…Yaksha? Yaksha?”
“Our world has come.”
The ghost spouted riddles.
Kang Seol asked more, but seeing it clam up, ordered soldiers to take it away.
Standing dazed, he repeated the ghost’s words.
New names: Yaksha and Ghost King.
Yaksha drew him especially.
“Yaksha shattered the boundary… Yaksha, Yaksha….”
Probably not.
No, likely yes.
If the ghost uttered that name.
‘No way….’
Kang Seol intuited he was caught in something bigger than Songjo’s assault.
If this Yaksha linked to the Sword Ghost Yaksha that escaped his control long ago… things would escalate massively.