It's Not That You're Strong
I was dying to know what the evolution actually did, but common decency said I ought to make the call first, right?
Beep.
"Yes, old ma— I mean, Grandpa, what's going on?"
"Disaster! Those Chinese thugs are pouring into the market in a pack! I've already reported it to the hunters and the police, but... I'm afraid they're after you."
Wow. They were seriously coming after someone who looked like a grade-school girl.
He'd looked like a pathetic little loser, sure, but he'd gone and told an outright lie just to sic them on me? Impressive.
"Got it. Hold on a little. I'll be right there."
"You really mean to come...?"
"Yep. I'm short on time, so that's all."
A bit rude, maybe, but I hung up on the spot.
The time I had left to choose was shrinking far too fast.
"Me. Human. I quit."
I even pared the cool line down to the bone, then drove in the evolution wedge I'd thrown together on the spot.
Sure enough, my 3D model popped up.
"Hah... what do I pick?"
The wings had turned out great, but what would I have to choose before people started saying I'd done well? There were so many parts I had no idea where to start.
"Isn't there a recommendation for this? Not exactly user-friendly."
While I grumbled, Enuk's eyes rolled.
"Um, Your Majesty. Might that be a recommendation?"
"There's a recommendation?"
...
I lifted my gaze a little higher, and there really was a part flagged for evolution.
Ah.
Anyway, not my fault. What was I supposed to do when I'd shrunk and couldn't see it properly? This was on the unfriendly UI, designed with zero consideration for a child's proportions.
Setting that aside.
"Let's just see what's recommended."
Recommended region.
Mouth, Lower Abdomen
"Let's do the mouth."
Evolve my lower abdomen and then what? Absolutely not. I didn't even want to imagine it. The mouth, on the other hand, looked pretty practical.
Wait—my mouth wasn't already enhanced? If I felt like it, a defense-ignoring bite was already stupidly doable. I couldn't even guess how much better it would get once it evolved. I did worry my mouth and jaw might turn grotesque, but if that happened, I'd just wear a mask.
Brimming with expectation, I clicked the mouth on the 3D model without hesitation.
Only after waiting about five seconds did the doubt set in.
"Nothing's happening?"
Nothing sproinged out of me the way the wings had, and I didn't feel anything foreign in my body either. I was exactly the same as usual.
"What changed?"
Just in case, I looked up at the status window again.
"Ah."
Would you like to view the traits of Mouth Evolution?
There was another UI menu offering an explanation. There'd probably been one for the wings too, and I was a little embarrassed I'd missed it just because I was short.
"Still, I've got to do what I've got to do."
When I opened the UI, the ability wasn't what I'd expected. I'd been picturing a wisdom-tooth machine gun, or biting people from a distance, something like that...
"This is something completely different?"
I didn't know much about moths, but shouldn't this have belonged on the wings? Even so, a little laugh escaped me.
"This'd be pretty fun if I dusted the clear powder around and put it to use, huh?"
"Who's the fearless bastard messing with the Kirin Society?! You're hiding them in this market, aren't you?! Get out here right now!"
"Aigoo! I really don't know! What kind of hunter would ever come here and dare lay a hand on the Kirin Society?!"
"Shut up!!"
"Guhk!"
A middle-aged merchant went down under a Kirin Society underling's blow. The other lackeys tore through the shops in a thorough search, and every time they failed to find what they wanted, they lashed out with violence. The market became a screaming, wailing mess.
Yes. This is it.
This was Lin Yuan's favorite kind of moment. Backed by his father and the organization, he played the spoiled thug, and the satisfaction of trampling other people was one of the small joys of his daily life.
A few hunters were in the market too, but most of them read the room, went dead quiet, and slipped out as if fleeing.
A wise choice.
There were plenty of small fry, of course, but a few of the men filling the market now were different. He'd wheedled his father into letting him bring a whole crowd of Sagu—seasoned, fully initiated members of the Kirin Society. By hunter standards, some of them had to be at least C-rank, maybe even B-rank. Unless you were a mad hunter drunk on justice, keeping your head down was the wise move, wasn't it?
Even if some strong ones show up, it doesn't matter.
He had a father with vast wealth and connections. So long as no one caught him breaking the rules, he'd take a token punishment and walk free. Korea couldn't be that different from Southeast Asia or China, could it?
Drunk on his own superiority, he looked around—and his gaze stopped.
"Well, well."
A trembling young woman had entered his line of sight. Whether she felt his eyes or not, she shook from head to toe.
"Please, don't... If it's money you want, I'll give it to you..."
"Money? Money's nice."
Rip.
"Kyaaaa!"
Contrary to his words, Lin Yuan seized a rough handful of the woman's hair.
"But money from you little-country bastards is filthy. I'd rather take my fun some other way."
"Hic... P-please."
"Hold still."
"Mmph?!"
Lin Yuan grabbed her cheek roughly again with a prosthetic hand that gleamed gold. The woman squeezed her eyes shut and went silent.
"Yeah, you should've been like this from the start. I'll be reasonably sweet, so bear with it. Nod."
Creak.
His grip climbed higher, and something began to make a sound like it was slipping out of joint.
"Yes! I'm nodding, so please stop—"
"Good. Obedient really is the best. Your face isn't as good as that insolent bitch I saw before, though."
Lin Yuan turned his head toward the lookouts.
"Hey, you lot, at least block the view. I can't let just anyone watch a show this good."
"..."
"What. You crazy? I'm talking. Want me to cut a finger off?"
Even at his irritated threat, the underlings just stood there in silence.
"You sons of bitches!"
"Kyaak!"
Bang!
He smashed the back of the silent underling's head. Blood welled up as the skull caved inward, dented concave. The man went down without so much as a scream.
"What the..."
Even he felt that something was wrong. Why wasn't there a scream—why wasn't there even an answer? Why had a place that had been so loud a moment ago gone suddenly, completely quiet?
"Fuck... did you all take something together? What the hell is wrong with everyone!!"
On instinct, he looked at the fallen underling's eyes.
The man wasn't asleep, and he wasn't unconscious. His eyeballs alone were rolling more violently than anyone's, as if to prove they were still alive. The underling beside him was rolling his eyes just as desperately, and that was all he could do.
Only then did Lin Yuan realize their pupils were fixed on the yellow smoke spreading through the air. He jumped to a conclusion, frightened, and backed away—but the smoke held its boundary, never encroaching where he stood. Squinting at the subordinates near the smoke, he found the situation even more shocking.
They were frozen.
Every one of the members he had brought. Like taxidermy with only the eyes still alive, locked in the exact postures they'd held while shouting, beating people, and raising hell.
"F-fuck! Whoever you are, get out here! A hunter?! Damn it, I'm telling Dad to send me guys who are actually usefu—"
"Whoa!!"
"Aaaagh!"
A frail shove and a childish voice were all it took to send him sprawling completely. Nosebleed pouring, he trembled and looked up—and there stood the very person Lin Yuan had been searching for.
"Oppa, your blood really doesn't want to clot. How about eating more vitamins?"
"You bitch!!"
He scrambled to his feet.
But how did she show up here?
The girl had appeared without the slightest warning.
"What, did you drop out of the sky?! What kind of trick did you use!"
At Lin Yuan's bellow, the girl put on a suitably surprised face, as if teasing him.
"What, how did you know? I flew here."
"What?"
He shuddered harder. He didn't need to play along with garbage like that. He drew the blade his father had given him.
"Doesn't matter! Today's the day they hold your funeral, you bitch!"
The Yellow Dragon Heaven-Rending Blade—a relic of the Tower, bought for billions. With that, he ought to be able to cut the girl to pieces. According to his father, even someone with no talent for fighting could easily slaughter a B-rank hunter, so long as they held it.
Even faced with that majestic golden blade, the girl was utterly calm.
"Good. Plenty of people watching. If you lose, you'll stop lying, right?"
"What...? Plenty of people watching? What kind of nonsense is that!"
"Oh, you didn't know?"
Treating him as if he weren't there, the girl trotted over and turned an underling's body around.
"These misters can't move, but they can hear everything and see everything. You won't be able to lie anymore. Right?"
When he looked around, every underling's eyes were already fixed on that spot.
"S-shut up and come at me!"
There's no way I lose...!
He forced himself to believe it.
I'd thought it was all bluster, but he really was a young master doing better than I'd expected.
Nice sword. I'd take that later as damages.
He'd brought a ridiculous number of goons, too. Not one of them had held up against what my evolved mouth sprayed. All the smoke laid over the area right now had come out of my mouth.
Scale dust.
Not human waste.
When I looked it up, it said the stuff comes off moths, and if it gets in your eyes, it goes ow. I had no idea why it was coming out of my mouth, but one thing was certain: it was useful. With my powder, most people only had to breathe it in for their minds to stay perfectly clear while their bodies locked up. It said that once it wore off there'd be no harm to their health, so paralyzing a few civilians didn't seem like a big problem.
"What are you doing? Don't ignore me! Your opponent is me, Lin Yuan!"
A Chinese guy screaming provocations at a grade-school girl. Was that a Chinese tradition?
I waved at Enuk.
"I'll be back."
"Yes."
Enuk wasn't worried about me anymore. The opponent did look pretty pathetic, though.
"Kept you waiting, huh?"
"I'll make sure you can't afford that kind of leisure anymore!"
Shoulders knotted with tension, Lin Yuan swung the blade. A shockwave burst from the steel and came roaring in, and I met it by shifting my armament into a shield.
KWA-KWAKWAKWANG!!
"Whoa... it really is the good stuff."
The shield was nearly split in two, hanging in tatters. Even so, the Inexplicable had shifted like heavy plate, so the damage I took was zero—though the power was certainly no joke. I could have dodged, but if I had, the woman behind me would have been sliced to ribbons and died horribly.
Lin Yuan gathered his strength into the sword again.
The weapon was excellent. Its owner was a mismatch. This many openings...
I timed the instant before the next shockwave flew and slipped straight into Lin Yuan's guard instead.
"Damn!"
The half-split shield transformed in an instant into a double-bitted axe.
Bang!
I brought it down on Lin Yuan's prosthetic with everything I had.
The prosthetic didn't even scratch. The double-bitted axe, on the other hand, was hard enough that its edge cracked.
"Keh, kehahaha! Do you see the difference in our strength?!"
"Hmm. I see."
I should take that prosthetic too. It'd make decent material, wouldn't it? A straight-up golden goblin.
"And swing the sword while you're laughing."
I shifted the axe back into the katana that had once sent a hand flying.
Shhk!
A sound of something being cut away—louder than last time—repeated itself. Lin Yuan's arm and fresh blood, the prosthetic and the blade, scattered in a messy spray through the air.
"Gyaaak!!"
The golden prosthetic and sword lost their luster in the blood he poured out. I lifted Lin Yuan's arm—severed clean through the joint—and gave it a light shake.
"You don't work out, do you, oppa? Lighter than I thought. I'll be taking the prosthetic and the sword. Next time you come, bring something better."
No matter what I said, Lin Yuan just screamed and rolled uglily across the ground.
At this point I ought to just pull a WWE and toss him a blade so he could finish himself off. Next time I'd have to come ready to strip whatever relic he brought.
That was when it happened.
"Young master, you've gone and broken the Kirin Society's rules. Such a waste—whatever shall I do~"
In the blink of an eye, a fierce-eyed middle-aged man dropped from a building as if he'd been waiting for exactly this.
"Y-you... why are you here...?"
The middle-aged man in Chinese-style dress let a thin, creeping smile slip, formed a fist-and-palm salute, and bowed politely at the waist.
"Heh heh heh! I'm late to introduce myself! I am—"
I knew that man.
Who in the world tattoos their own name on their cheek?
That ahjussi was definitely...
?
?
Bewildered looks crossed between them.
The Chinese man who'd talked about nothing but himself for a solid hour was actually a big shot in a criminal organization?
And he hadn't even bought the sweet-and-sour pork?
Yeah. No wonder he was a criminal...